Principle 6: The Yardstick: One Day s Pay for a Week s Worth of Fun
Principle 6: The Yardstick: One Day’s Pay for a Week’s Worth of Fun
If a customer pays $50 (plus tax) for a game that I’ve worked on, that amounts to the average person’s one-day net pay. (A person
earning
$21K a year
brings
home around $14K, which is $54 a day.) If the player
reports
enjoying the game that I worked on for at least one week, then I am happy. If the player feels ripped off due to poor game design,
numerous
bugs
, obstacles in playing the game (e.g., multi-CD swaps,
memorizing
numerous keystrokes, and so on), poor audio, or some other problem, then the game designer and any team
members
who knew of these problems beforehand are to blame.
Every member of the team should be proud of their product. They should consider the praise from consumers, reviewers, and the industry as their reward for the time and work they spent on the game.
Principle 7: I Never Met a
Genre
I Didn’t Like
A student who doesn’t enjoy math can study hard and still earn an “A” in class. Similarly, a designer or producer does not have to have experience working on a particular genre. The producer can educate himself to create a good game within that genre. In fact, a designer or producer doesn’t have to even be an enthusiast of that genre in order to get good results. Putting together a team in which at least one member enjoys the genre (or
studying
competing products of the genre) is the critical part.
Often just one enthusiastic team member can show similar
games
that he has enjoyed and thereby
turn
every team member into a knowledgeable player of the genre. Combining fanatical genre loyalists along with non-genre players on the development team can result in benefits you may not have
considered
. For instance, a non-genre player can suggest modifications to a game’s design by pointing out aspects of the genre he finds unappealing, whereas a fanatic of the genre can lend his expertise and advice to keep a game faithful to the genre.
A knowledgeable developer or producer may ask the entire team to play similar games in that genre and ask each team member to critique the products. This technique can help the development of your product, and it’s time well spent.
Principle 8: Be True to Your License
Games based on licensed products often cause players to make certain assumptions about those titles. There are preconceptions about the gameplay, content, and target audience. In stores, it’s the licensed titles that get noticed first, regardless of their marketing and advertising. Game designers must understand this customer
mentality
. The designer must understand everything about that license in order to provide the kind of entertainment that the target consumers have anticipated.
For instance, a baseball game that uses a particular baseball team’s manager in its title suggests a strategy sports game. Players would probably assume that they would be responsible for making decisions about the players and batting order. On the other hand, a licensed product linked to a professional baseball player would suggest an emphasis on sports action, such as pitching and batting.
There’s one reason why licenses cost big bucks. Designers and
producers
must use the license and the game’s
characters
to leverage consumer preconceptions to the title’s benefit.
Principle 9: Share Your Toys!
Throughout the
years
, many game developers have bounced ideas off me, asked me questions, and so on. I have, and will always, welcome these inquiries because I believe it’s for the greater good of the industry. Since I have always been interested in creating and exploring ideas, I’ll gladly help when someone wants information. Three occasions in particular are worth relating:
-
In 1985 an auto
mechanic
who owned an Atari 520ST called me to pick my brain about game design and various game projects that he was working on. For several months we talked, and he often sent me samples of his artwork as well as demos of the concepts we’d discussed. Sometime around 1987 he had an interview with a major publisher and discussed taking the demos and artwork with him. I encouraged him and wished him success. A few weeks later he announced that he was
hired
as a “platform level” designer. Within months he became the top “platform level” game designer for this company, and he worked on the most well known titles in the industry. He eventually left this publisher to join another equally large publisher as the head of game design. He appeared in several magazines displaying his platform level designs. To this day, I’ve never met him and have only seen him in the magazine articles that he sent me, but I feel happy that I was a small influence in his life and in the industry.
Today he
writes
a column for gaming sites like Gignews.com helping other “wanna-be” game designers.
-
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When I was working on All Dogs Go To Heaven, a game for the PC and Amiga based on the Don Bluth film, I met a young man who worked at an arcade. On several occasions I gave him $10 in tokens to show me the latest video
games
. As he
played
, I
observed
him and asked questions like, “How did you know to do that?” After we got to know each other better, he showed me several comic book
sketches
that he had drawn, which were great. When I was contracted to produce and develop All Dogs Go To Heaven, I asked him to do all the artwork. Since he was new to computer graphics and animation, I taught him the mechanics of using a Summagraphics tablet and the functions and features of various graphics packages. He learned quickly and produced some of the finest artwork that CGA (four-color palette) and EGA (16-
color
palette) would allow. After the release of this title, he went to work for a Florida publisher as a computer and video game graphic artist. When the company moved to California, he moved with them. The last I
heard
, he was moving on to one of the big publishers as a senior graphics person.
-
A high school student sent me a concept for a game show. The description read well, but the demo he sent me was terrible. Over several months on the phone, we fixed many of the game’s rules and aspects of the gameplay, which greatly improved the game show. I programmed the game and hired an artist to provide the graphics. When I went to Villa Crespo Software outside of Chicago, we published this game show, which we called Combination Lock. The game was fun to play, and it was the first product to feature on-screen players of all races. The high school student and I shared in the profits for several years.
The reason I relate these stories is that I want to
emphasize
the benefit to those who help budding game developers. When the opportunity to help someone comes knocking on the door, offer that person hospitality and kindness. The results will benefit the “seeker of knowledge,”
honor
you, “the master,” and benefit the industry as more creative thinkers join in.