THE ROLE OF THEGAME DESIGNER

Session 1

David Mullich

Game Design 1

The Los Angeles Film School

Who Am I?

David Mullichdmullich@lafilm.edu@David_Mullichwww.electricsheep.biz

Instructor at LAFS Game Designer at Electric Sheep

Game Consulting Co-creator of Boy Scouts of America

Game Design Merit Badge

PROFESSIONALISM

How to Succeed in LAFS

Be your own Career Entrepreneur 3 Keys:

DevotionPersistenceRe-invention

This is a College Class

Studying game development at college is still college study.

Take Notes Study Read

Take Notes

Having one of these is a minimum requirement.

At all times.

Study

Review the Lecture Notes

Think Understand Reflect and

Connect

How to Read

Reading assignments are not mandatory but strongly encouraged

Make notes or highlight key concepts

Leave time to reflect and connect

Do You Have Skillz?

Gamers are good at digital interfaces

Gaming professionals are good at both digital and human interfaces

This means communication.

With grammar‐Nazis.

“...the different ways they done it like in the game play and the scenes ad the props”

...is not communicating and will incur their wrath.

Game development is a team sport for Geeks.

All Business is Communication

Publisher to Player Developer to Publisher Producer to Team Team to Producer Team Member to Team Member

Good Communication

Precise

Clear

Brief

Written Communication

Informal Communication

Its cool to werk in gamez.u get too do anything u want & stuff

Formal Communication

It’s cool to work in games. You get to do anything you want and stuff.

Written Communication

Capitalize the beginning of sentences, names, game titles, and the word “I”

Use proper spelling and punctuation Put a space between punctuation mark

ending a sentence and the start of the next sentence

Don’t use “u” for “you”, or “&” for “and” Don’t confuse “its” and “it’s”

Attention to detial

It matters.

Assignments

If you can’t be bothered to: be creative strive for originality even within established

norms or constraints look beyond your initial idea actually enjoy and actively want to do the above

Then get used to the phrase

“Would you like fries with that?”

Drop Box

You will be invited to the instructor’s DropBox folder “Game Design 1”.

There is one subfolder for each class assignment (for example, “Assignment 1”).

Save each class game or written assignment into a subfolder with your name. For example:

Dropbox Game Design 1

○ Assignment 1 Laura Croft

game.exe

report.pdf

Make It Easy To Review Your Work

Sending bosses or potential clients or instructors files in a format they can’t open will just make them angry! And you don’t want angry people evaluating you!

So, always send documents in PDF format!

And send executables in EXE format!

“I just want to pass this class”

Classes are not kidney stones.

If you think about them in these terms, maybe you’re on the wrong career path?

<<<Expand your horizons>>>

Just because it doesn’t have the word GAMES in it, doesn’t mean it’s not going to inspire, inform or be useful to you every day for the rest of your creative life.

This is especially true of non‐electronic information such as: Books Museums Art History

Impressions

Your colleagues and faculty will most likely be your doorway into the industry.

How do you want them to think of you?

Leave a professional and lasting impression. They’re your first referees, either on paper or via word of mouth.

The Golden Rule

Send an email to dmullich@lafilm.edu

from your lafilm email account

Designer Perspective: Warren Spector

G4 Icons Episode #30: Warren Spector

THE ROLE OF THEGAME DESIGNER

Roles

Builder Engineer Scientist Dreamer Teacher But NOT Boss

Main Role

The game designer’s main role is to be an advocate for the player.

In some ways, designing a game is like being the host of a party. It’s your job to get everything ready and then open your doors to guests to see what happens.

Skills A Game Designer Needs

Animation Anthropology Architecture Brainstorming Business Cinematography Communication Creative Writing Economics

Engineering History Management Mathematics Music Psychology Public Speaking Technical Writing Visual Arts

But The Most Important Skill Is LISTENING

To Your Team To Your Audience To Your Game To Your Client To Your Self

Design Specialties

Lead Designer System Designer User Interface Designer Technical Designer Level Designer Content Designer Game Writer

Players vs. Designers

Players want the fun of playing a game as well as the enjoyment of being with their friends.

Game designers are focused on how the game works: How do you make it, and how to you break it? What are the different elements and how do they fit

together? What skill level does a player need to successfully play

and win? Does each player have an equal chance of winning and a

fair chance of experiencing all that the game has to offer?

The Designer’s Journey

Stage 1: Consumer Stage 2: Tinkerer Stage 3: Masher Stage 4: Creator

Teale Fristoe

Stage 1: Consumer

We all begin our game designer lives as game consumers. Most children play games, and for many people games are significant and meaningful. If you want to make games, you probably already love games.

To consumers, game design is pure magic. Consumers believe that a game designer imagines a game, then creates it exactly as he or she envisioned it.

Stage 2: Tinkerer

Tinkerers tend to imagine new games in terms of modifications (often additions) to existing games, sticking closely to their underlying rule sets.

Many games come with a level editor. This allows Tinkerers to get involved with a game in a whole new way.

However, Tinkerers begin to realize that game design is not magic, but it is a lot of work.

Stage 3: Masher

At this point, the designer is creating entirely new games, but the design process tends to involve mashing existing genres, mechanics, and themes together.

Mashers envision new games as collages of existing game components. They tend to focus on the mechanics and theme rather than on the player experience.

Stage 4: Creator

Before long, a game designer will shift his or her focus and work style. Instead of having visions of a specific game, the designer will be interested in exploring broad or incomplete ideas. The ideas can be about theme, they can be about mechanics, they can be about player experiences… really, they can be about anything.

Stage 4: Creator (cont’d)

Designers at this stage approach new games with a healthy emotional distance. Obviously, they are excited by their ideas, but they know many ideas never work out, so it’s dangerous to become attached to an untested one. They also know that the initial conception is very rarely the best implementation, so keeping an open mind and keeping nothing sacred will tend to result in better final games.

Extra Credits, Season 1, Episode 16 - So You Want To Be A Game Designer (7:36)

Discussion

Why is communication the game designer’s core skill?

What other skills does a game designer need? Why is “idea guy” a poor definition for what a

game designer does? Why shouldn’t game designers get too attached

to their ideas? What is the number one cause of failed games?

THE PLAYCENTRICDESIGN PROCESS

Aesthetics of Play

Extra Credits: Aesthetics of Play (9:41)

Discussion

What are Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics?

Which does a Game Designer handle first when creating a game?

What does a player experience first when playing a game?

So what does Extra Credits think Game Designers should focus on?

Playcentric Design Process

Involving the player in your design process from conception to completion.

Setting Player Experience Goals Prototyping and Playtesting Iteration

Tracy Fullerton

Player Experience

A game designer does not create games.

A game designer creates experiences.

What experience do I want the player to have? What is essential to that experience? How can my game capture that experience?

Jesse Schell, Lens #1

What Experience Do I Want The Player To Have?

Immersion: the illusion that you are another person or in another place.

Novelty: New or unexpected experiences.

Challenge: meaningful “work” where the player can make clear progress and has incentive to try again if s/he fails.

What Experience Do I Want The Player To Have?

Stimulation: the emotional element of play: victory, defeat, humor, suspense.

Harmony: Player-to-player engagement.

Threat: when the player feels tension, danger, provocation and humiliation.

.

What Is Essential To That Experience? Immersion: premise, environment,

character, story. Novelty: fantasy, artistry, surprises. Challenge: difficulty, order, obligations,

achievements. Simulation: pace, thrills, joy, multiplayer. Harmony: competitiveness, trust, glory,

integrity, help. Threat: tension, gloom, danger.

How can I capture that experience?

Game mechanics Goals Obstacles Story Art Audio

Step 1: Brainstorming

Set player experience goals Come up with game concepts or

mechanics Narrow down the list to the top three Write up short, one page description of

each Test your written concepts with potential

players

Step 2: Physical Prototype

Create a playable prototype using pen and paper and other craft materials

Playtest the physical prototype Modify physical prototype until it meets

player experience goals Write 3-6 page gameplay treatment

Step 3: Presentation

Presentation is often made to secure funds to hire the prototyping team

Your presentation should include demo artwork and a solid gameplay treatment

If you do not get funding, get feedback from your funding sources about what to modify or start over again

Step 4: Software Prototypes

Create rough computer models of gameplay

Playtest the prototype Modify prototype until it achieves your user

experience goals

Step 5: Design Documentation

Use the notes you’ve been taking during prototyping (you have been taking notes, haven’t you?!) to create a first draft design document

Work with team members to make sure the design is achievable and correctly described in the design document

Some designers now prefer creating a wiki to a static design document

Step 6: Production

Staff up and create real artwork and programming

Don’t lose sight of the playcentric process during production!

If the designer waits until production to really start designing the game, it can lead to all sorts of problems!

Step 7: Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance, or QA, is the testing of your game by professional testers

Make sure your gameplay is solid before your game goes into QA!

Designing For Innovation

Design games with unique play mechanics – think beyond the existing genres of play

Appeal to new players – people who have different tastes and skills than hardcore players

Try to solve difficult design problems like: Integration of story and gameplay Deeper empathy for characters in games Creating emotionally rich gameplay Discovering the relationships between games and learning

Ask difficult questions about what games are, what they can be, and what their impact is on us individually and culturally

Let’s Go Make Some Games!

1. Download Game Maker 8.0 for Windows from http://www.yoyogames.com/legacy

2. Download GM Tutorial - Catch The Clown.zip from the LAFS GD1 website Resources page

3. Create a Catch The Clown game