This is sad news...
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/25/disbarred
...well actually it made my day. Good ridance you lunatic f**k!
Showing posts with label video games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video games. Show all posts
Monday, 29 September 2008
Monday, 18 August 2008
Mine Carts - the holy grail of design(?)
Every game I've worked on I have designed a section with Mine Carts. Every game I have worked on has been released without a section with Mine Carts. Why?
Ever since I saw Temple of Doom as a kid, I've always been fascinated with the idea of getting an homage to them into a project. The whole sequence when you first see it is mind blowing - the whole rollercoaster ride feel, the danger from other carts, collapsing sections, selecting the right route.
The simple fact is Mine Carts don't actually have that much gameplay - they are quite simply a visual spectacle, but there is little interaction. You are a essentially a fixed point moving along a rail. Any kind of shooting is essentially a form of "Virtua Cop". Switching tracks or collapsing sections are extremely hard to telegraph at speed, and likely result in instant death - never fun.
Sure, a fairly good Mine Cart section could be done, but will it ever beat the thrill of seeing that sequence in Indiana Jones for the first time as a child? Simple answer: no...
Still, it won't stop me trying. It's gotta happen at least once - damn it, I need to satiate my inner child!
Ever since I saw Temple of Doom as a kid, I've always been fascinated with the idea of getting an homage to them into a project. The whole sequence when you first see it is mind blowing - the whole rollercoaster ride feel, the danger from other carts, collapsing sections, selecting the right route.
The simple fact is Mine Carts don't actually have that much gameplay - they are quite simply a visual spectacle, but there is little interaction. You are a essentially a fixed point moving along a rail. Any kind of shooting is essentially a form of "Virtua Cop". Switching tracks or collapsing sections are extremely hard to telegraph at speed, and likely result in instant death - never fun.
Sure, a fairly good Mine Cart section could be done, but will it ever beat the thrill of seeing that sequence in Indiana Jones for the first time as a child? Simple answer: no...
Still, it won't stop me trying. It's gotta happen at least once - damn it, I need to satiate my inner child!
Thursday, 14 August 2008
How to get a job in Game Design
Design is by far the hardest discipline to get into as it's difficult to show aptitude and requires a lot of knowledge in different areas. I see lots and lots of really poor applications, but very few good ones.
What I would look for in a candidate's application is:
* A level built in a world editor such as Source's Hammer (Half-Life 2) or Unreal (you get the world editors free with the game).
* A well written and presented design document for an interesting game.
* A well written design specification for a particular game mechanic.
* A well written level design overview (perhaps using Sketchup - which is now free http://sketchup.google.com/download/ ).
* A game demo written in something like XNA ( http://creators.xna.com/ ).
What I definitely don't care about:
* Reviews of existing games.
* Screenshots of 3D models.
* Screenshots of levels (I'd want to see the level itself or at least a video - preferably with commentary to explain design decisions).
* Articles about games and sociology. This seems to be a huge topic in academic circles. In commercial terms, unless it is knowing your market better, I couldn't give a shit.
All in all I want to see applications where it is obvious that some effort has been put into them. Also people often seem to mistake what the design role is. Certainly the days of level designers building all the geometry are fading. These are generally art centric roles now. Design is now much more concerned where it should be - focused on gameplay.
It is essential that an designer has a decent portfolio of work to show a potential employer. We need to know how well rounded you are, where your strengths lie and your aptitude for particular things. We also want to see real passion for games and games development.
What I would look for in a candidate's application is:
* A level built in a world editor such as Source's Hammer (Half-Life 2) or Unreal (you get the world editors free with the game).
* A well written and presented design document for an interesting game.
* A well written design specification for a particular game mechanic.
* A well written level design overview (perhaps using Sketchup - which is now free http://sketchup.google.com/download/ ).
* A game demo written in something like XNA ( http://creators.xna.com/ ).
What I definitely don't care about:
* Reviews of existing games.
* Screenshots of 3D models.
* Screenshots of levels (I'd want to see the level itself or at least a video - preferably with commentary to explain design decisions).
* Articles about games and sociology. This seems to be a huge topic in academic circles. In commercial terms, unless it is knowing your market better, I couldn't give a shit.
All in all I want to see applications where it is obvious that some effort has been put into them. Also people often seem to mistake what the design role is. Certainly the days of level designers building all the geometry are fading. These are generally art centric roles now. Design is now much more concerned where it should be - focused on gameplay.
It is essential that an designer has a decent portfolio of work to show a potential employer. We need to know how well rounded you are, where your strengths lie and your aptitude for particular things. We also want to see real passion for games and games development.
Piracy & Used Games
The great piracy debate has been around for years. I was forwarded an interesting link to a blog where a developer had questioned a bunch of pirates as to what makes them do it:
http://www.positech.co.uk/talkingtopirates.html
Personally I used to pirate the odd game on the Amiga when I was a wee lad. I wouldn't ever pirate a game now - the biggest reason being that it's pissing in my own pond. Being a game developer you have to set a good example to your audience.
The reason why I pirated was simply price and it was so easy to do - like making a copy of a tape. When I were a lad I didn't have much money, so copying off your friend was an easy thing to do - all it required was a (pirated) copy of XCopy (how ironic). These days it's a little trickier (for consoles at least). It requires dedicated hardware to create discs, chip modifications or weird work arounds to get things running. The business of piracy makes some serious money for those involved. It certainly doesn't have the same "romantic" vision of the bedroom copying days.
As a member of the industry I do find it hard to justify the price of modern console games. Even I struggle to be able to afford them. If they were cheaper then I would most certainly buy more of them - it's as simple as that. When a game costs £50 a pop, you have to be damn sure that you are going to get your money's worth out of it (and I don't just mean in terms of number of hours - I mean quality of experience).
The excuse for these high prices is often the level of piracy that occurs forces them to hike costs, but this is a vicious circle. This ends up pushing more people to pirate games.
This has also caused the rapid growth of the second hand market, to the point where you can only make a £5 saving on a used game. This is ridiculous - and extremely bad for the whole industry. Developers and publishers are quick to blame retailers for this problem, but does it actually lie with publishers pushing for such high retail prices? It certainly fosters a market. If you only made a saving of £1 or £2 on a second hand game, then why would I buy the used copy over the new one?
Perhaps the industry needs to look hard at pricing and think about ways to get the costs of the products down (without increasing shovelware). I truly believe if we managed to get a game to the cost of a DVD - maybe a blueray (about £20), we'd get a lot more customers that pirate or buy second hand to "opt in" and buy the brand new copy, in the end giving us the developers and the publishers more profit.
Who jumps first?
http://www.positech.co.uk/talkingtopirates.html
Personally I used to pirate the odd game on the Amiga when I was a wee lad. I wouldn't ever pirate a game now - the biggest reason being that it's pissing in my own pond. Being a game developer you have to set a good example to your audience.
The reason why I pirated was simply price and it was so easy to do - like making a copy of a tape. When I were a lad I didn't have much money, so copying off your friend was an easy thing to do - all it required was a (pirated) copy of XCopy (how ironic). These days it's a little trickier (for consoles at least). It requires dedicated hardware to create discs, chip modifications or weird work arounds to get things running. The business of piracy makes some serious money for those involved. It certainly doesn't have the same "romantic" vision of the bedroom copying days.
As a member of the industry I do find it hard to justify the price of modern console games. Even I struggle to be able to afford them. If they were cheaper then I would most certainly buy more of them - it's as simple as that. When a game costs £50 a pop, you have to be damn sure that you are going to get your money's worth out of it (and I don't just mean in terms of number of hours - I mean quality of experience).
The excuse for these high prices is often the level of piracy that occurs forces them to hike costs, but this is a vicious circle. This ends up pushing more people to pirate games.
This has also caused the rapid growth of the second hand market, to the point where you can only make a £5 saving on a used game. This is ridiculous - and extremely bad for the whole industry. Developers and publishers are quick to blame retailers for this problem, but does it actually lie with publishers pushing for such high retail prices? It certainly fosters a market. If you only made a saving of £1 or £2 on a second hand game, then why would I buy the used copy over the new one?
Perhaps the industry needs to look hard at pricing and think about ways to get the costs of the products down (without increasing shovelware). I truly believe if we managed to get a game to the cost of a DVD - maybe a blueray (about £20), we'd get a lot more customers that pirate or buy second hand to "opt in" and buy the brand new copy, in the end giving us the developers and the publishers more profit.
Who jumps first?
Top Ten Games
Top Ten Lists - everyone's favorite pastime. Well, I thought I may as well do it myself (well if it's good enough for Warren Spector on his blog (http://junctionpoint.wordpress.com/2008/02/) then I think its probably good enough for me).
So - the list:
1. Half-Life Series
Bit of a cheat to begin with. I can't decide between Half-Life 1 or 2. The first was the game that really got me into game design by giving me the chance to edit my own levels in a real fashion - it eventually led to me getting a job in the games industry. The sequel however took everything in the first game and turned it up to 11. A beautiful and consistent world - a compelling story and believable, likeable characters. I particularly like the dystopian, Orwellian themes going on throughout City17, the wonderful character and audio design of the striders, and the incredibly well made set pieces that encourage emergent play within constained areas.
If it is purely on the game alone, it would have to be Half-Life 2, but I owe so much to the first game that it will always have a special place in my heart. If I'm really cheating I'd have to add deathmatch and Counter-Strike in with these as well. The joy of first entering the games industry really hits home on your first lunchtime, where you realise you have a large LAN and a room full of avid gamers. The number of deathmatch and CS sessions in the early days boggles belief!
And for a final cheat I'd also throw in Portal. In-fact - I should probably rename this Valve. Without a doubt in my mind they are the finest developers in our industry.
2. Civilization
If the award were to go to the game which has sucked up the most hours of my life, then Civilization would be the hands down winner. I have literally played civ for 20 hours straight some days (ah the joys of being a student). This game has really reached its peak with Civ IV, a really well crafted and balanced revision of the original.
This is a game to appeal to the power freak in us, it isn't for everyone. It's not high action, it's not frantically paced. Instead it sucks up hours as you micro-manage cities and carefully build your empire. I'm so power mad I have to play it on the easiest setting with the largest world. For me this game is not about the challenge, it is about constructing my perfect empire. I like to play the waiting game, building a massive powerful empire, then when my tech is so far advanced from my neighbours (i.e. tanks vs catapults) then it's time to crush them.
3. Syndicate
Playing this for the first time on the Amiga blew me away. A superb dystopian future world, realtime strategy gameplay and cyborgs with guns - does it get much better than this?
For me the persuadatron was the real gem of the game. I liked nothing more than attempting to persuade every single person on the map - thus resulting in an army of devotees following you around and a wall of machinegun fire everytime you pressed a button.
4. Dune 2
Another RTS, but probably the godfather of the genre. Again this is a megolmaniac's dream. The perfectionist in me relished the opportunity to build the most awesome defensive spectacle of a base I could - no matter that the way to win the game was to amass units.
Sure, there have been better RTS's since, but nothing has quite captured the same element of magic as the original in my eyes.
5. Legend
This is a bit of an obscure one - an RPG for the Amiga. Basically it had four characters: assassin, mage, troubadour and berserker, each with their own skills. The dungeons were designed to use interplay between each of the four character's skills. Some of the puzzles were particularly devious.
What was really fascinating was the magic system, which allowed you to construct your own spells out of runes. Through a simple system of basic mechanics you could create some complex behaviour - fantastically done.
6. Final Fantasy VII
The one everyone quotes and with good reason. The thing about FFVII for me though is the Materia system. I couldn't give a shite about the story, the characters or really the world itself for that matter (though I did well up a bit at the famous death). It's the purity of the battle system and the way the Materia system works that really sells the game for me. They haven't achieved as good a system since - at least not one that I have played.
It was the first and so far, last JRPG that I've gotten into and played to completion. I've played a few others since, but the mechanics haven't really gripped me in the same fashion.
7. Resident Evil
I was tempted to put Resident Evil 4 in place of the original, but I can't quite bring myself to do it. The original was truly great. It brought the element of horror and the first genuine jump moment for me into a game. Sure the acting was utterly terrible and the dialog worse, but it didn't mar the atmosphere of the game.
The fourth incarnation is by far a more polished and enjoyable experience, but the original has a special place in my heart - a fond memory of playing through the game with my flatmates at the time, lights down and eyes glued to the screen. Good times!
8. Call Of Duty 4
This is the most recent addition to the list, and I was initially tempted not to put it on. These "all time" lists tend to make it feel that you have to put older experiences in place of newer ones. However, COD4 is such an amazingly polished rollercoaster ride, so far beyond any "war" experience I've had before, it fully deserves to take its place in the top ten. In fact, I suspect it may climb higher in the years to come.
It succeeds so well at created scripted sequences that you believe in - particularly the fantastic "All Guillied Up" mission. There are so many lessons to learn from this game, that for the first time I'm inclined to play through the whole game again at home with my design anaylsis hat on. And I'm looking forwards to doing so!
9. Battlefield 1942 (Desert Combat Mod)
My earlier comment about the games industry and the realisation of a LAN and avid gamers most certainly applies to this entry. The Desert Combat Mod became a regular lunchtime and afterwork fixture.
This game has more frantic, laugh out loud moments than any other. It's particularly poingnaint for me as my wife started playing this game when we worked together as well. I could hear her laughter from the other side of the room during lunchtime sessions, and there was always a good post match discussion down in the smoking area on completion. Just a fantastic, fun game in the right scenario.
10. Wipeout 2097
This really crystalises the games becoming cool moment for me. Up until the orginal wipeout games still had a geeky vibe. All of a sudden Sony come out with this ultra cool looking game, with Designer's Republic designs and thumping tracks and slapped me in the face. I felt at this point the games industry had turned to a new direction and would soon become an industry to be reckoned with.
However, the original Wipeout had its issues. It was unforgivingly hard. A tiny tap of the edge of the circuit resulted in an immediate stop. It took the second revision - 2097 - to make it really playable and give it that real mass-market appeal. I can still look at 2097 and appreciate its asthetics now - and they still haven't managed to better the experience in the series since (though they did get a lot closer with Pure and Pulse).
So - the list:
1. Half-Life Series
Bit of a cheat to begin with. I can't decide between Half-Life 1 or 2. The first was the game that really got me into game design by giving me the chance to edit my own levels in a real fashion - it eventually led to me getting a job in the games industry. The sequel however took everything in the first game and turned it up to 11. A beautiful and consistent world - a compelling story and believable, likeable characters. I particularly like the dystopian, Orwellian themes going on throughout City17, the wonderful character and audio design of the striders, and the incredibly well made set pieces that encourage emergent play within constained areas.
If it is purely on the game alone, it would have to be Half-Life 2, but I owe so much to the first game that it will always have a special place in my heart. If I'm really cheating I'd have to add deathmatch and Counter-Strike in with these as well. The joy of first entering the games industry really hits home on your first lunchtime, where you realise you have a large LAN and a room full of avid gamers. The number of deathmatch and CS sessions in the early days boggles belief!
And for a final cheat I'd also throw in Portal. In-fact - I should probably rename this Valve. Without a doubt in my mind they are the finest developers in our industry.
2. Civilization
If the award were to go to the game which has sucked up the most hours of my life, then Civilization would be the hands down winner. I have literally played civ for 20 hours straight some days (ah the joys of being a student). This game has really reached its peak with Civ IV, a really well crafted and balanced revision of the original.
This is a game to appeal to the power freak in us, it isn't for everyone. It's not high action, it's not frantically paced. Instead it sucks up hours as you micro-manage cities and carefully build your empire. I'm so power mad I have to play it on the easiest setting with the largest world. For me this game is not about the challenge, it is about constructing my perfect empire. I like to play the waiting game, building a massive powerful empire, then when my tech is so far advanced from my neighbours (i.e. tanks vs catapults) then it's time to crush them.
3. Syndicate
Playing this for the first time on the Amiga blew me away. A superb dystopian future world, realtime strategy gameplay and cyborgs with guns - does it get much better than this?
For me the persuadatron was the real gem of the game. I liked nothing more than attempting to persuade every single person on the map - thus resulting in an army of devotees following you around and a wall of machinegun fire everytime you pressed a button.
4. Dune 2
Another RTS, but probably the godfather of the genre. Again this is a megolmaniac's dream. The perfectionist in me relished the opportunity to build the most awesome defensive spectacle of a base I could - no matter that the way to win the game was to amass units.
Sure, there have been better RTS's since, but nothing has quite captured the same element of magic as the original in my eyes.
5. Legend
This is a bit of an obscure one - an RPG for the Amiga. Basically it had four characters: assassin, mage, troubadour and berserker, each with their own skills. The dungeons were designed to use interplay between each of the four character's skills. Some of the puzzles were particularly devious.
What was really fascinating was the magic system, which allowed you to construct your own spells out of runes. Through a simple system of basic mechanics you could create some complex behaviour - fantastically done.
6. Final Fantasy VII
The one everyone quotes and with good reason. The thing about FFVII for me though is the Materia system. I couldn't give a shite about the story, the characters or really the world itself for that matter (though I did well up a bit at the famous death). It's the purity of the battle system and the way the Materia system works that really sells the game for me. They haven't achieved as good a system since - at least not one that I have played.
It was the first and so far, last JRPG that I've gotten into and played to completion. I've played a few others since, but the mechanics haven't really gripped me in the same fashion.
7. Resident Evil
I was tempted to put Resident Evil 4 in place of the original, but I can't quite bring myself to do it. The original was truly great. It brought the element of horror and the first genuine jump moment for me into a game. Sure the acting was utterly terrible and the dialog worse, but it didn't mar the atmosphere of the game.
The fourth incarnation is by far a more polished and enjoyable experience, but the original has a special place in my heart - a fond memory of playing through the game with my flatmates at the time, lights down and eyes glued to the screen. Good times!
8. Call Of Duty 4
This is the most recent addition to the list, and I was initially tempted not to put it on. These "all time" lists tend to make it feel that you have to put older experiences in place of newer ones. However, COD4 is such an amazingly polished rollercoaster ride, so far beyond any "war" experience I've had before, it fully deserves to take its place in the top ten. In fact, I suspect it may climb higher in the years to come.
It succeeds so well at created scripted sequences that you believe in - particularly the fantastic "All Guillied Up" mission. There are so many lessons to learn from this game, that for the first time I'm inclined to play through the whole game again at home with my design anaylsis hat on. And I'm looking forwards to doing so!
9. Battlefield 1942 (Desert Combat Mod)
My earlier comment about the games industry and the realisation of a LAN and avid gamers most certainly applies to this entry. The Desert Combat Mod became a regular lunchtime and afterwork fixture.
This game has more frantic, laugh out loud moments than any other. It's particularly poingnaint for me as my wife started playing this game when we worked together as well. I could hear her laughter from the other side of the room during lunchtime sessions, and there was always a good post match discussion down in the smoking area on completion. Just a fantastic, fun game in the right scenario.
10. Wipeout 2097
This really crystalises the games becoming cool moment for me. Up until the orginal wipeout games still had a geeky vibe. All of a sudden Sony come out with this ultra cool looking game, with Designer's Republic designs and thumping tracks and slapped me in the face. I felt at this point the games industry had turned to a new direction and would soon become an industry to be reckoned with.
However, the original Wipeout had its issues. It was unforgivingly hard. A tiny tap of the edge of the circuit resulted in an immediate stop. It took the second revision - 2097 - to make it really playable and give it that real mass-market appeal. I can still look at 2097 and appreciate its asthetics now - and they still haven't managed to better the experience in the series since (though they did get a lot closer with Pure and Pulse).
Monday, 14 July 2008
Why I should have paid attention in school
I was thinking the other day of how many subjects are useful for the field of game design and I came to the realisation that pretty much every single subject has some sort of use for a game designer.
There's the obvious subjects such as Maths, English and Science, but even more obscure subjects hold some useful information.
There's the obvious subjects such as Maths, English and Science, but even more obscure subjects hold some useful information.
- Maths -for programmers it's an essential, but a designer definately needs a knowledge of mathematics. It helps when devising rules for mechanics and plays a hand in analysing playtesting data. It allows the designer to calculate desired angles and distances when building geometry, calculating the speed of elements and plays all sorts of other roles.
- English - a designer is a communicator. Thus english plays a vital role in defining how well a designer can communicate with others, both in the written word and verbally. Also english literature is a vital skill. Knowing stories, tales and the structure of writing will help enormously when working on narrative driven games. I'm not saying the designer should be writing the story, but they should definately have the knowledge of what works and what doesn't.
- Science - all the sciences hold a great deal of knowledge that is rich pickings for a designer. Chemistry and its compounds and formulas, Physics with its modelling of the real world, and Biology with its analysis of life - all these give the designer a starting point for simulation and ideas for twisting known science to produce something new (science fiction).
- Geography - the knowledge of geology, population, migration, peoples & culture is also essential to a designer. They need to know how real world populations develop to make their own worlds believable, they need to know how various strutures are formed so they can be twisted into something even more impressive.
- History - the knowldege of the past, events that shaped our culture and people that affected human development - all of these are vital to creating more believable worlds. They also provide immense inspiration.
- Design and Technology - this has pretty obvious translation to game design - the crafting of a product and the design process itself.
- Art - again art has a pretty obvious application in design.
- Religious Education - the study of other cultures is extremely useful to a designer, being able to understand these differences and imbue their own worlds with such details again will increase believability. Tackling the subject of real world religions in games does however is still a bit of a hot potato.
- Physical Education - this one I struggled with for a bit, but there is still plenty that applies to game design. Firstly the rules of team sports can have a direct correlation. But further elements such as muscle structure, movement and other aspects of physicality can also be applied.
In short, I didn't realise how useful this stuff was at the time. If you're wanting to be a game designer and you're still at school - pay attention - it will all be useful some day.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
Been given a fantastic book to read called "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" by Matthew Frederick. It's amazing how many parallels can be drawn between the worlds of building design and level design.
I'm in the early stages of writing an article on level design using architectural theory, so this book is very useful, but it also contains a number of more generic design guidelines that I thought I'd share here:
1. "The more specific a design idea is, the greater its appeal is likely to be."
Designing for everyone often results in a watered down, uninteresting design. Designing specfically for one person or group of people will make that group much more interested in it, and in turn may attract more attention.
2. "Any design decision should be justified in at least two ways."
Having a single reason for a design decision might not be enough. The more justifications you have for a mechanic or level design, the more solid it is likely to be.
3. "Draw Hierarchically."
Changing this to "Design Hierarchically" makes sense - start with broad brush strokes to define the design then burrow down into the details. If you start with the details, that particular section of the game might be amazing, but might not work well in the whole composition.
4. "An architect knows something about everything. An engineer knows everything about one thing."
This really does apply to game designers. Artists and coders are effectively like engineers - very specialised in their fields, where as designers need to have working knowledge of all areas.
5. "Good designers are fast on their feet".
Design changes over the course of the project. A designer that is open to change will be a better fit than one who steadfastly sticks to the original vision.
6. "A good designer isn't afraid to throw away a good idea."
Sometimes a great idea just isn't right for the current project., no matter how great it is. Save it for a later date if it's really that good, but don't try and shoehorn a mismatching idea into your game.
7. "Being process-orientated, not product-driven is the most important and difficult skill for a designer to develop."
Something we are really focusing on at Ninja Theory is process-driven design. And it really is reaping its rewards. Sometimes it is hard to trust in the process and see it through, but by doing so it really does make things easier in the long run.
8. "If you can't explain your ideas to your grandmother in terms she understands, you don't know your subject well enough."
All too often people use terminology that is overly complex and elaborate when it doesn't need to be. Sometimes this is masking a lack of understanding, or is used to purposely bamboozle or impress other people.
9. "An effective oral presentation of a studio project begins with the general and proceeds toward the specific."
Presenting the design to the team can be tricky. It's too easy to start with minute detail and bore your audience. This advice is really useful. Begin with the broad picture and narrow it down as you get further along.
10. "Design with models!"
We use Sketchup to create our level designs, and it really allows us to understand spatial relationships as we build and also forces to think more about how elements are interwoven.
11. "Limitations encourage creativity."
There are many limitations when designing computer games. Work with these limitations and see them as aids rather than obstacles. They give you a framework within which you can build rather than being free to do whatever you want, which is often overly daunting.
I'm in the early stages of writing an article on level design using architectural theory, so this book is very useful, but it also contains a number of more generic design guidelines that I thought I'd share here:
1. "The more specific a design idea is, the greater its appeal is likely to be."
Designing for everyone often results in a watered down, uninteresting design. Designing specfically for one person or group of people will make that group much more interested in it, and in turn may attract more attention.
2. "Any design decision should be justified in at least two ways."
Having a single reason for a design decision might not be enough. The more justifications you have for a mechanic or level design, the more solid it is likely to be.
3. "Draw Hierarchically."
Changing this to "Design Hierarchically" makes sense - start with broad brush strokes to define the design then burrow down into the details. If you start with the details, that particular section of the game might be amazing, but might not work well in the whole composition.
4. "An architect knows something about everything. An engineer knows everything about one thing."
This really does apply to game designers. Artists and coders are effectively like engineers - very specialised in their fields, where as designers need to have working knowledge of all areas.
5. "Good designers are fast on their feet".
Design changes over the course of the project. A designer that is open to change will be a better fit than one who steadfastly sticks to the original vision.
6. "A good designer isn't afraid to throw away a good idea."
Sometimes a great idea just isn't right for the current project., no matter how great it is. Save it for a later date if it's really that good, but don't try and shoehorn a mismatching idea into your game.
7. "Being process-orientated, not product-driven is the most important and difficult skill for a designer to develop."
Something we are really focusing on at Ninja Theory is process-driven design. And it really is reaping its rewards. Sometimes it is hard to trust in the process and see it through, but by doing so it really does make things easier in the long run.
8. "If you can't explain your ideas to your grandmother in terms she understands, you don't know your subject well enough."
All too often people use terminology that is overly complex and elaborate when it doesn't need to be. Sometimes this is masking a lack of understanding, or is used to purposely bamboozle or impress other people.
9. "An effective oral presentation of a studio project begins with the general and proceeds toward the specific."
Presenting the design to the team can be tricky. It's too easy to start with minute detail and bore your audience. This advice is really useful. Begin with the broad picture and narrow it down as you get further along.
10. "Design with models!"
We use Sketchup to create our level designs, and it really allows us to understand spatial relationships as we build and also forces to think more about how elements are interwoven.
11. "Limitations encourage creativity."
There are many limitations when designing computer games. Work with these limitations and see them as aids rather than obstacles. They give you a framework within which you can build rather than being free to do whatever you want, which is often overly daunting.
Monday, 26 May 2008
My Top 10 Memorable Gaming Moments
We've all had moments in games where we finish them and feel utterly exhilerated, moments where we were "in the zone" or where events occured that had us mesmerised - things we won't forget. I thought I'd try and compile my top 10 most memorable moments:
10. F.E.A.R. - The fat programmer activates the turret
One of the hardest things to achieve in gaming is motivation for the player to feel emotion towards characters. In F.E.A.R. they achieved the need for retribution with aplomb. I have never before wanted to really kick the living shit out of a character as much as I wanted to when the fat programmer turns the security systems against you. Unfortunately I didn't have the same inclanation to actually finish the game. Running around a dull office block environment with a rather hackneyed story for a carrot just didn't do it for me. Shame, as the psychological scares were really well done.
9. Final Fantasy VII - Aeris Dies
It's a daring move by Square to kill of a party member which the player has spent hours nurturing and building up, but it sure does have an impact. I was quite honestly agape when she died - and really quite shocked. It sure does give you impetus to right the wrongs in the world. And having spent 100 hours in completing the game, it sure left an impression on me.
8. Resident Evil - Dogs jump through the window
Games never really tried to be scary. Then along came Resident Evil, and with the exception of the hammiest acting ever, really set a new standard in just how to make a scary game. The epitome of this is the dogs jumping through the window in the corridor, very near the start of the game. I really haven't had a shock like it before or since!
7. Shadow of the Colossus - the Eagle colossus
The game is elegant and beautiful, yet odly desolate and bleak. Killing the colossus truly feels like a crime, particularly when they are as well realised as the eagle. When you first jump up onto it, and the music rises in tempo in a crescendo, it really does make your heart soar. Flying through the air clining to various parts of the beast is a truly magical moment.
6. Grand Theft Auto IV - The heat style gun battle
This is probably only in my top ten right now as it's so fresh, but the heat style gun battle after robbing a bank in GTA IV really hit a chord with me. The battle in Heat is one of my favourite moments of cinema, so to be able to actually play through it was truly satisfying. When I died playing through it the first time, I was actually pleased, as I got to have another pop.
5. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - The Strider Attack
The final part of episode 2 is a real heart attack moment. I don't think I've ever felt such an adrenaline rush, or being quite as on the edge of my seat as this section of gameplay. I almost had to stop playing because I was finding it almost too stressful. I died a few times, and was beginning to feel a vein of frustration. But then I finally completed it just as the final strider was charging up a shot to destroy the rocket. Talk about nick of time - virtually perfect balancing to get that feeling of overwhelming danger, but still make it possible, but then Valve really are the masters of fine tuning.
4. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - the ant lion attack in the tunnels
Yes - the Half-Life series is my favorite, so it is appearing several times. Episode two had one really defining moment for me that made me go "wow", and that was the fight in the tunnels where the ant lions begin to attack. The setup and characterisation is brilliantly executed, making the moment where the attack begins feel truly tense and nerve-wracking.
3. Call of Duty 4 - The Sniper Mission
COD 4 is a superb set piece extravaganza, but it really shines in the sniper mission, which is both fast paced and tense. The real heart pounding moment occurs when running through the field and a group of soldiers approaches. Ducking down in the grass you really start to sweat as you have to second guess where the enemy soldiers will walk and move out of the way.
2. Half-Life - the introduction
Considering what FPS meant before Half-Life, the introduction was truly daring - 20 minutes of nothing but scene setting. We are placed in the shoes of Gordon Freeman's everyday life, giving us a sense of normality before it is all turned on its head. For me this left a real impression of how games can be fascinating and interactive without relying on conflict. It was something that was mirrored in the beginning of Half-Life 2 to great success.
1. Half-Life 2 - the fight under the bridge
I find it hard not to put the entirety of Half-Life 2 as the most memorable moment, for me a perfectly crafted game. It is in reality a constant procession of memorable moments sewn together - a real rollercoaster ride. But the moment that sticks in my mind the most must be the fight against the helicopter underneath the bridge. The feeling of danger is overwhelming with little room to move and a dangerous drop directly beneath. The satisfaction of taking down the chopper is really unparalled. A truly great moment.
10. F.E.A.R. - The fat programmer activates the turret
One of the hardest things to achieve in gaming is motivation for the player to feel emotion towards characters. In F.E.A.R. they achieved the need for retribution with aplomb. I have never before wanted to really kick the living shit out of a character as much as I wanted to when the fat programmer turns the security systems against you. Unfortunately I didn't have the same inclanation to actually finish the game. Running around a dull office block environment with a rather hackneyed story for a carrot just didn't do it for me. Shame, as the psychological scares were really well done.
9. Final Fantasy VII - Aeris Dies
It's a daring move by Square to kill of a party member which the player has spent hours nurturing and building up, but it sure does have an impact. I was quite honestly agape when she died - and really quite shocked. It sure does give you impetus to right the wrongs in the world. And having spent 100 hours in completing the game, it sure left an impression on me.
8. Resident Evil - Dogs jump through the window
Games never really tried to be scary. Then along came Resident Evil, and with the exception of the hammiest acting ever, really set a new standard in just how to make a scary game. The epitome of this is the dogs jumping through the window in the corridor, very near the start of the game. I really haven't had a shock like it before or since!
7. Shadow of the Colossus - the Eagle colossus
The game is elegant and beautiful, yet odly desolate and bleak. Killing the colossus truly feels like a crime, particularly when they are as well realised as the eagle. When you first jump up onto it, and the music rises in tempo in a crescendo, it really does make your heart soar. Flying through the air clining to various parts of the beast is a truly magical moment.
6. Grand Theft Auto IV - The heat style gun battle
This is probably only in my top ten right now as it's so fresh, but the heat style gun battle after robbing a bank in GTA IV really hit a chord with me. The battle in Heat is one of my favourite moments of cinema, so to be able to actually play through it was truly satisfying. When I died playing through it the first time, I was actually pleased, as I got to have another pop.
5. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - The Strider Attack
The final part of episode 2 is a real heart attack moment. I don't think I've ever felt such an adrenaline rush, or being quite as on the edge of my seat as this section of gameplay. I almost had to stop playing because I was finding it almost too stressful. I died a few times, and was beginning to feel a vein of frustration. But then I finally completed it just as the final strider was charging up a shot to destroy the rocket. Talk about nick of time - virtually perfect balancing to get that feeling of overwhelming danger, but still make it possible, but then Valve really are the masters of fine tuning.
4. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 - the ant lion attack in the tunnels
Yes - the Half-Life series is my favorite, so it is appearing several times. Episode two had one really defining moment for me that made me go "wow", and that was the fight in the tunnels where the ant lions begin to attack. The setup and characterisation is brilliantly executed, making the moment where the attack begins feel truly tense and nerve-wracking.
3. Call of Duty 4 - The Sniper Mission
COD 4 is a superb set piece extravaganza, but it really shines in the sniper mission, which is both fast paced and tense. The real heart pounding moment occurs when running through the field and a group of soldiers approaches. Ducking down in the grass you really start to sweat as you have to second guess where the enemy soldiers will walk and move out of the way.
2. Half-Life - the introduction
Considering what FPS meant before Half-Life, the introduction was truly daring - 20 minutes of nothing but scene setting. We are placed in the shoes of Gordon Freeman's everyday life, giving us a sense of normality before it is all turned on its head. For me this left a real impression of how games can be fascinating and interactive without relying on conflict. It was something that was mirrored in the beginning of Half-Life 2 to great success.
1. Half-Life 2 - the fight under the bridge
I find it hard not to put the entirety of Half-Life 2 as the most memorable moment, for me a perfectly crafted game. It is in reality a constant procession of memorable moments sewn together - a real rollercoaster ride. But the moment that sticks in my mind the most must be the fight against the helicopter underneath the bridge. The feeling of danger is overwhelming with little room to move and a dangerous drop directly beneath. The satisfaction of taking down the chopper is really unparalled. A truly great moment.
The Use of Metacritic
Metacritic is becoming more and more the barometer of determining game quality. Is it a great scale to use?
Yes and No.
Using an average does give you a statistically better score than relying on one particular source. However, the review process metacritic does have issues:
* It is suspected by many that review scores are subject to many factors including advertising dollars spent with the publication by the publisher, or even how many free lunches the journalist got. Of course many journos can also get caught up in the hype machine and be swayed simply by that.
* Some reviewers like to be purposely harsh to get noticed, throwing in a contradictary opinion.
* Small scores like out of 5 skew results so 3/5 which is a fairly decent score when considered in that sense become 60% as a score out of 100, which is considered to be bad.
* Reviews without a score are attributed a score by metacritic themselves based on the content of the review, which is extremely subjective.
* Review scores are weighted according to the publication by metacritic themselves. This process is not transparent, and has no feedback to the public lending the sense that this is somewhat arbitrary.
So - is it reliable? Again - I think it does actually produce fairly decent results. The main problem is not from metacritic themselves, but the whole reviewing process. However, for all the corruption and one-up manship it generally does reflect the quality of a game.
Some publishers are now tying developer bonuses to metacritic scores. In a way I like this. It is a way of preserving the chances of a developer being paid that bonus - old style dirty tricks in this case (like purposely reducing the metacritic score) would simply be shooting themselves in the foot.
It's interesting to see that people have been analysing metacritic scores by publisher to show their quality bar:
http://kotaku.com/393104/the-big-publishers-metacritic-averages
Yes and No.
Using an average does give you a statistically better score than relying on one particular source. However, the review process metacritic does have issues:
* It is suspected by many that review scores are subject to many factors including advertising dollars spent with the publication by the publisher, or even how many free lunches the journalist got. Of course many journos can also get caught up in the hype machine and be swayed simply by that.
* Some reviewers like to be purposely harsh to get noticed, throwing in a contradictary opinion.
* Small scores like out of 5 skew results so 3/5 which is a fairly decent score when considered in that sense become 60% as a score out of 100, which is considered to be bad.
* Reviews without a score are attributed a score by metacritic themselves based on the content of the review, which is extremely subjective.
* Review scores are weighted according to the publication by metacritic themselves. This process is not transparent, and has no feedback to the public lending the sense that this is somewhat arbitrary.
So - is it reliable? Again - I think it does actually produce fairly decent results. The main problem is not from metacritic themselves, but the whole reviewing process. However, for all the corruption and one-up manship it generally does reflect the quality of a game.
Some publishers are now tying developer bonuses to metacritic scores. In a way I like this. It is a way of preserving the chances of a developer being paid that bonus - old style dirty tricks in this case (like purposely reducing the metacritic score) would simply be shooting themselves in the foot.
It's interesting to see that people have been analysing metacritic scores by publisher to show their quality bar:
http://kotaku.com/393104/the-big-publishers-metacritic-averages
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
GTA IV
Bought a nice shiny copy of GTA IV yesterday morning for my PS3 (still keep meaning to buy a 360, but lack of cash and the red rings of death keep putting me off).
The game is very similar in feel to old GTAs (which is no bad thing), but the polish level has been turned up to 11. This is the GTA i've always wanted to play. The only current bugbear is the slow acceleration of the cars, but I imagine when some more beefy cars are acquired this issue will melt away. The old frustrations of saving the game and restarting a mission have evaporated, as these functions are a couple of button presses away.
As I heard someone say they were surprised when they found they couldn't do something - and that really sums it up. The attention to detail is exquisite. The depth is astounding.
I haven't even touched multiplayer yet - the urge to drive me through the singleplayer is too strong. The value for money with this game is insane.
Well done Rockstar - you've lived up to the hype.
The game is very similar in feel to old GTAs (which is no bad thing), but the polish level has been turned up to 11. This is the GTA i've always wanted to play. The only current bugbear is the slow acceleration of the cars, but I imagine when some more beefy cars are acquired this issue will melt away. The old frustrations of saving the game and restarting a mission have evaporated, as these functions are a couple of button presses away.
As I heard someone say they were surprised when they found they couldn't do something - and that really sums it up. The attention to detail is exquisite. The depth is astounding.
I haven't even touched multiplayer yet - the urge to drive me through the singleplayer is too strong. The value for money with this game is insane.
Well done Rockstar - you've lived up to the hype.
Monday, 28 April 2008
Sketchup
Sketchup is becoming widely used by designers in the games industry for creating 3D visualisations of level designs.
Originally designed as an Architect's sketching tool, the workflow allows you to very quickly build up 3D space by drawing and extruding various elements.
Best of all the basic version is now free since google bought the product:
http://sketchup.google.com/
Personally I would never use it for building in game geometry, even though the pro version is capable. Maya, XSI and Max are much more powerful tools for building geometry. We use it at Ninja Theory as a tool to help build documentation and to provide a walkthrough of the level for the whole team.
Originally designed as an Architect's sketching tool, the workflow allows you to very quickly build up 3D space by drawing and extruding various elements.
Best of all the basic version is now free since google bought the product:
http://sketchup.google.com/
Personally I would never use it for building in game geometry, even though the pro version is capable. Maya, XSI and Max are much more powerful tools for building geometry. We use it at Ninja Theory as a tool to help build documentation and to provide a walkthrough of the level for the whole team.
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