InsaneBear

Our Adventures: PAX East Day 2 liveblog

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Just because you have an idea doesn’t make you a game designer panel: Starting a few minutes late here, so I missed the who’s who.
-Answering some twitter questions: “Can I be a game designer even if I don’t have an idea?” Yes. Can you be a creative director without an idea? No. Creative director is Miyamoto–the guy who comes up with the idea. Game designer is the nuts and bolts guy who makes levels, etc. But it’s important to note that everybody can come up with ideas. It takes more than that.
-Next question: The guy wants to become a game designer to create this one game he has an idea for. The panel says that “nobody cares about your idea.” It’s “mental masturbation.” It’s hard to convince other people that your idea is more important than theirs. Build it yourself, even if it’s only a conceptual board game. If you can’t explain your idea to someone else to the point where they can then go explain that idea to someone else just as well, then you won’t get very far.
-”Vertical slice” concept – demo a level that shows the core concepts of your game.
-Any idea you have needs to be fueled by your passion, but actually have a chance of making money as well.
-Next question: “Is programming the most necessary skill stat for a game designer?” You don’t need to have that scientific basis to be a designer, but you do need to know enough to string a system together logically. You need a tool to prototype with, but it doesn’t necessarily be have to be programming knowledge. It certainly helps, though. -C++ is the most useful language because it works everywhere. Actionscript 3, Python, Pigame.org, Unity,are all useful programs for beginning level coders. But if you’re not a coder, you might be better served focusing on your trade and finding a friend to code for you.
-”I don’t know anybody who was hired as a game designer.” You can work your way to the top, even if you start in the mail room, but nobody will hire you as a game designer right away. “Yeah, but don’t be a dick.” “No, I totally disagree with you. Be a dick…” “Okay, so be a diplomatic dick.”
-”Go out there and be completely gutsy.” You can’t just get a job out of college. You need to network.
-Next question deals with how useful design school is. You can learn great writing or level design skills at school, but school’s generally don’t teach the intangibles necessary for a game designer. The games you’ve made are more important than your education in getting hired.
-Academic institutions are a great resource for indie developers. Indie development is bigger now than ever before. “Especially if you don’t like eating.”
-If you’re going to start your own studio, you need to decide that your game will not fail no matter what. “If you haven’t made that decision, you are fucked.”
-Didn’t hear the next question because some smelly mooks next to me are talking over the presenters…classy.
-They’re discussing how important math is to game design. They give Limbo as an example of a game that probably didn’t require a lot of math in designing mechanics. Communication is the most important skill a designer can have. You need to be able to communicate effectively with all different departments of a studio.
-”What techniques do you use for brainstorming?” – “Putting people in a room where they can’t do anything else.” Coming up with initial ideas isn’t that hard, but coming up with ideas when you’re stuck is hard. “Take a few days off and do anything else.” “My last great idea, which happened a while ago, happened in the shower.”
-Question about getting your idea off the ground. Boardgamegeek.com Game jams. These are things where people just get together and make games.
-”How did each of you get your start in game design?” – “I was on a clusterfuck project that went to hell in a handbasket.” A bunch of people left and everything was going wrong, so he had to take up additional responsibilities. “Do you think failure is integral to game design?” “Oh yeah, oh yeah” (in Kool-aid man voice). Just get back on the horse. “You don’t want to get back on the same horse.” “Yeah, find a new horse.” Another guy made a board game with friends in college, which eventually led to a QA position and onward from there.
-How do you know your game’s going to be successful? Get it into as many hands as you can and listen to their feedback. If you have something really really bad or good, you’ll know. The scary part is when you’re in the middle, because that’s when you or your friends won’t be honest in their feedback. You need to understand the difference between the potential of your game and the current state of your game. Polish doesn’t necessarily fulfill potential if the mechanic is just mediocre. If you believe you have something really good but other people aren’t seeing it, find out why they aren’t seeing it.
-”Is there a time to ignore criticism?” “Almost never.” Obviously the number of people giving negative feedback influences whether or not you should act on the criticism, but you should never pick and choose what you listen to. “One of the biggest insults you can give to somebody at Zygna is ‘You seem really attached to that idea.’”
-Next question deals with someone who’s worked at a company for a couple years as a QA guy and he wants to know how he can get noticed as a designer. Don’t just say you have ideas, build solutions and demo them. Make yourself helpful to the designers. QA is almost the best way to get into design because you’re constantly looking at problems and giving solutions to games. Don’t just find a problem and give one solution, though. If you can give multiple solutions to your designers then you’ll have a design job within a year.
-”What’s the biggest dead baby you’ve ever had?” – I should clarify, that a dead baby in this context is an idea that had to be killed off. “When you make a game try to do one thing really well before you try to do many things really poorly.”
-”What if I have tons of ideas but no technical skill?” – If you have no skills you suck. Get programming or art or QA skills. If you don’t have any skills, then find friends who do and then make a game with them. You’ll learn skills in the process.
-What sort of things in an entry-level designer set off red-flags? If you have no communication skills, if you’re close-minded, or if you make eye contact (scratch that last one) then you won’t make it.
-”How does a marketer make it into game design?” – Marketing is creating something that everybody wants, so the skills lend themselves to game design well. At Zygna, almost all design decisions are influenced by market trends. So a marketing background is very useful, but it doesn’t tell you how to fix the problems in your game.
-If you’ve got all the skills but you don’t have a job, what do you do next? Make a game, preferably a somewhat original one. There’s nothing wrong with making it small. “I look good naked.” You don’t need any context for that.
-”At what point is getting into code a good idea?” After the vertical slice. Get your core mechanic down before you deal with code.
-Parting comments – “Do one thing and do it right.” Don’t overwhelm yourself with a million features. Gives Braid as an example.
“If you’re interested in making games, make games.” Do it all the time.
“Start doing what you’re doing and don’t stop.” He promises an island off of Bermuda if you do this.

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Tags: deus ex: human revolution, eidos montreal, game design, game marketing, game writing, insanebear, Our Adventures, pax east 2011