Licensed Games

MegaMovie Studio will soon be releasing their big summer movie, Big Bob Broadshoulders, and they want a game to go along with the movie. The project has wended its way through layers of bigshots and has landed on your shoulders. You must now design a game about Big Bob Broadshoulders. My advice is simple: Grab any plausible existing game design and re-create it with Big Bob cosmetics. Use lots of Big Bob images, stills from the movie, and sound grabs of some of Bob's more distinctive pronouncements. Get the studio to film a few snippets of video for direct inclusion in the game. The game itself could be anything: Tic-Tac-Toe, Monopoly, Space Invaders, or Quake. It really doesn't matter what game you choose, so long as it gives you plenty of opportunity to slap in lots of Big Bob cosmetics. Use an already-established, absolutely conventional design; the only place to exercise any artistic energy is in the insertion of Big Bob cosmetics.

The one thing you don't want to do is waste time and energy trying to get creative with the game design. This will only cost money and cause you grief. Consider the economic realities: Nobody is going to purchase a Big Bob Broadshoulders game for the creativity of the game itself; they are buying it solely because of the brand. Any exertions you make to give them creative design are wasted; they don't want creativity, they want Big Bob. Moreover, the licensor retains veto power over your design. Licensing people have no sense of good game design; all they know and care about is maintaining the value of their brand. Never forget that the greatest bomb in the history of videogames was E.T., which was approved by Steven Spielberg himself. The primary role of licensing people in the game development process is necessarily negative. They can proscribe certain features as incompatible with the Big Bob brand, but they can never suggest anything useful. Therefore, your primary problem is to create nothing that these people could disapprove of. Stick close to what already exists, and you're safe; wander away and you'll spend months fighting a losing battle.

LESSON 28

Build licensed products for money, not creative challenge.



Chris Crawford on Game Design
Chris Crawford on Game Design
ISBN: 0131460994
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 248

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