Brenda Brathwaite, Ian Schreiber and John Sharp
So, a game designer, an art historian and a programmer go into a bar...John Sharp and I were recently interviewed for a Brainy Gamer podcast.
Had your fill of the “Are Games Art?” debate? This edition of the podcast, featuring an interview with veteran game designer Brenda Brathwaite and art historian John Sharp, takes the conversation in a different and, I hope, more useful direction. Focusing on Brenda’s remarkably poignant game Train, we discuss the intersection of art and game design and consider how a designer’s personal vision and game design skills dovetail in the conception and development of a new game.
Chris Avellone, Aram Jabbari and I appear on a podcast for Bitmob this week talking about RPGs. The Chrono Trigger section is my favorite.
Chris and Brenda have worked on some of the most significant Western RPGs. Chris was the lead designer for Planescape: Torment and also worked on Fallout 2 and the Icewind Dale series, among others. Brenda is one of the most respected voices in RPG design, and her credits include the landmark Wizardry series and Jagged Alliance.
If you haven’t played Chrono Trigger, please do.
At the end of this quarter, I am returning to the game industry full-time. It is happening fast (from an academic perspective), and it still feels somewhat unreal. I am chronicling the whole trip from A to B for a publication.
As anyone who’s a senior level game designer knows, opportunities come along pretty regularly, but I love my teaching gig and my students. This was literally the opportunity of a lifetime, and one I am very excited about. When I am able to, I will provide more info.
If truth be told, the reason that I lost my first 35 pounds was because of an epic bet. I wanted the prize, and I simply refused to lose that prize and what I perceived to be a game of sorts. I lost the 35 pounds, claimed my prize, and have continued to lose since then.
It occurs to me this same form of incentivizing would be helpful to everyone. While I am not in a position to offer epic bets, the following are now available:
Badges:
- Operation DeFlab: Lost 5% of goal
- Rolls Away: Lost 10% of goal
- Quarter to Slim: Lost 25% of goal
- Body Blast: Lost 50% of goal
- Ass Be Gone: Lost 75% of goal
- SuperMega DeFlab: Lost 100% of goal
- Loss Streak: Continuous weight loss for 2 weeks
- Super Loss Streak: Continuous weight loss for 4 weeks
- SuperMega Loss Streak: Continuous weight loss for 8 weeks
- Better on the Plate: Resisted Temptation (didn’t eat something you wanted to)
- Off the Couch: Started exercise program
- Muscle Shakes Less: Maintained exercise program for 1 week
- Muscle Mass: Maintained exercise program for 3 weeks
- Super MegaMuscle Mass: Maintained exercise program for 7 weeks
Got others? Add them here in comments, and I will update the list above.
If you’re a game developer who’s interested in losing weight, you may want to join us on Twitter (see my previous post on this for the optimized method of doing this). Last April, I decided that I had enough, and I was going to lose the weight that I’d put on over the course of the last few years. As of today, I’m closing in on 60 pounds gone, and I have 23 more to go.
On Twitter, we use the hashtag #gamedevdiet, and most of us have set up TweetDeck (or whatever client we use) with a column dedicated to posts to the thread. So far, we’ve talked about weight loss, shoe recommendations and random exercising tips.
Here’s how to participate:
- Become a game developer (that’s the hardest part).
- Get a twitter account, if you don’t have one. Get TweetDeck or another program that lets you set up a column for #gamedevdiet.
- Post to #gamedevdiet, state that you’re in and note your desired weight loss goal in pounds or kilos. You don’t need to say your actual weight. Something like this is fine: “I am joining #gamedevdiet and hope to lose 23 pounds.”
- Every Wednesday, we weigh in. Weigh ins follow this format: Week Loss / Loss So Far / Desired Total. In my case, and if I weighed in today, it would be “This Week -2 / So Far -56 / Goal -78″
Then, go adjust your diet and start losing weight. As a note, some of our participants are actually trying to gain weight. So, you’re welcome to join us to do that, too.
I am on twitter at @bbrathwaite.
By Ian Schreiber
Continuing my food theme, it occurs to me that not all successful Facebook games follow the Farmville model of forcing the player to come back. In fact, on reflection, I think this strategy will backfire in the long run. If players come back to a game regularly because they feel forced (rather than because they want to play), once they break out of that endless feedback loop they will not play another game like that again.
There is a class of other games that predates Farmville, but that seems equally popular. Bejeweled Blitz is the canonical example.
Continuing with my snack food theme, consider potato chips. Lay’s even mounted a whole advertising campaign on how you couldn’t eat just one. Because each chip is so small, you just eat one more. Then one more. Then one more. Until the bag is empty.
This model works well for very short games (1 to 3 minutes). You play once, you get your result, and then you get this nice shiny “Play Again” button. So you play one more time. These games need enough variation and enough of a luck factor to give occasional big wins, but enough depth of skill/strategy that you don’t feel like you’re just mechanically clicking away arbitrarily.
So, you can spend a minute there or an hour. Your call. But it will suck up as much of your time as you have available. And then when you do leave, you’ll be thinking about it until you come back to your next game.
Once you break away, how does the game give you incentive to return? Mostly, it seems like weekly high-score lists are sufficient. Each week you have a new chance to beat your friends (and beat your personal best). In some of these games (not Blitz) there are explicit rewards for daily logins. I do not generally see any kind of experience-point-based progression system (Blitz does have “levels” but they have no gameplay effect), and I wonder if a game that added such a mechanic would be even more compelling… or if the progression would somehow cheapen the experience, as players would know that persistence would count at least as much as skill. It would be an interesting experiment, at any rate.
I see the “potato chip” model as being much less likely to cause player backlash than the “Milano cookie” model, because each play experience is still designed to be fun, and if you stay it’s because you want to, not because you feel forced to.
See Facebook, Farmville and Milano Cookies for my previous food themed article.
A collection of stuff that I’ve picked up from art and design people in the industry.
Basic Presentation
- Dress = business casual (no ties).
- DVD in plastic case with professional looking cover.
- Links are easier to misplace than DVDs.
- DVD should automatically start when inserted into drive – no data disks.
- No flatbooks.
- At the beginning of your reel, don’t use flying logos or text.
- Open your reel or your website with a killer image, not your bio. They don’t care where you’re from or what you’re about (not yet, anyway). Include your basic identifying information.
- Do not use Quicktime or anything else which requires frequent updates. This makes recruiters insane.
- Only your best work. You are only as good as your weakest piece.
- Proofread your resume, site and cover letter.
- Be selective when including previous experience on your resume. Jobs at gas stations aren’t necessary to list.
- On resume, state your objective, list your skills/abilities, separately list the software you can use, list awards.
Game Artists in General
- Asset creation is based on and placed in current-generation game engines. It is suggested that students use either Epic’s Unreal3 or Valve’s Hammer editors and engines.
- Show separate renders with a separate normal map, texture map and wire mesh.
- If you show cars or motorcycles in your reel, make them creative expressions, not duplicate factory models (i.e. crazed ice cream truck vs. Chevy Impala).
- Know if the company is a 2D or 3D house, and reflect that in the work you show.
- Show how you might differentiate a single thing through a variety of different color palettes. Show color palette.
Character / Creature Artists
- Study the existing work of the studio to understand what appeals to them.
- For many game companies, the following applies:
- Strong silhouettes.
- Superhero proportions.
- Vibrant colors.
- Show things in different poses.
- Note software used.
- Note # of polys.
Texture Artists
- Show hand-painted textures placed on material in a game engine.
- Showing hand-painted textures on objects not in a game world is also okay, provided that you also show some in a game engine.
Animators
- Animation sets created for games and placed in a game. Companies like to see game-themed animations. Showing a baby crying could be game-themed, but is probably not going to be. Not everything needs to be in a game engine, but some of your work should be in a game engine to show that you know how to integrate your work.
- For presentation purposes, be sure to include Max or Maya renders for clarity’s sake.
- Note software used.
- Collections of walk cycles.
- Great execution of the 12 principles.
Effects Artists
- Effects should be placed in game and working as they would in a final, production game.
- Provide an idea of how it’s constructed in Max, Maya or another software package. For instance, in the portfolio, each effect starts showing the Max viewport capture of animating bones/effects/etc., then another showing the effect in the game or fully rendered.
- Note software used.
Level Designers / Environment Artists
- Fully playable and complete level with props and with gameplay ready to go.
- Map of level including all trigger points, spawn points, etc.
- Props for use in levels.
- Show environments that tell a logical story.
- Note software used.
Game Designers
- A blog is not enough, unless you already have a solid ludography.
- Fully playable and FUN games, at least one but preferably two in a digital format.
- Show articles written professionally.
- Show photographs of game and possibly play sessions. Provide rule sets of non-digital games.
- Link to design documentation sample.
- Link to narrative content sample, if applicable.
Programmers
- A small sample of code which you consider to be your best work. Make sure it does something interesting but not too complex.
- Make sure it is well commented, formatted consistently and uses an industry standard naming scheme. This shouldn’t be longer than 2-3 pages.
- A copy of a working game that you programmed (or helped program) with description of how to play the game. Be sure to specify what parts you worked on if it is not entirely yours.
- Be prepared to provide additional code samples based on the specific needs of the hiring manager. They will tell you what they need. Listen to these instructions. Don’t simply ignore them and give a piece of code which doesn’t fit their request.
- Be prepared to take a programming test. You can find sample tests online.
Bonus Info
- Make sure you get social media and Facebook games.
- If you’re hesitant about putting work in your portfolio because they ask for only a specific type of work, have a “backup” of work handy on your PSP, iPod or iPhone.
- Be prepared for catastrophic internet failure. Have a copy of everything locally.
- Don’t ask dumb questions that waste their time.
- They don’t care how long you spent working on your portfolio, your favorite color or anything like that.
If any industry producers or audio people happen to read this, please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments. It would be much appreciated.
Like Brenda, it has been awhile since I posted something here. I’ve been busy with other things this summer, and am finally resurfacing.
I’ve been taking another look at some Facebook games recently. When I start seeing that ten or twenty of my Facebook friends are all dropping newsfeed items about a game, I’ll play it just to see what the big deal is. It was through this that I encountered FarmVille, by Zynga, an iteration on Farm Town by SlashKey. I have since encountered similar games with different themes, but I’ll talk about FarmVille specifically.
The basic mechanic here is that you plant crops (which costs money), the crops take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to grow, and then you come back later and harvest them (which gives you more money than it cost you to plant them). If you wait too long, the crops wither, and you get nothing. There are other mechanics in the game, but this one is the core that drives everything else.
I realized why this is so insidious. I’ve been calling it the Milano Cookie Effect.
When you open a bag of Pepperidge Farm® Milano® Cookies, you see five cookies there in a paper sleeve. Your first expectation is that this is a single serving, so you eat the cookies. And then there’s just this paper thing in the bag, and it doesn’t take that much effort to get rid of the thing, so you take the paper out. And then you look back in the bag. And now you see five new cookies just staring back at you, so you eat them. And you repeat this process until the entire bag is empty. (Okay, maybe this doesn’t apply to you, personally, but this is what happens to The Rest Of Us.)
What’s going on here is that the product is intentionally designed with a never-ending feedback loop. Doing one thing naturally leads to the next, and each extra step is just one little extra thing, and so you keep going because the behavioral loop you’re in has no natural exit point.
Yummy. And evil.
How does this apply to FarmVille? First, you plant crops. Suppose you plant something that takes a full day to grow. You have now just made a contract with the game. You have said that you will come back tomorrow to harvest your crops. If you weren’t planning on coming back, after all, you wouldn’t have bothered to plant anything. The effort to plant the crops isn’t much – just click on a square – but you have taken some effort (and spent in-game currency), and this creates an emotional bond between you and the game. Oh yes, you’ll be back.
And then you come back tomorrow. You harvest your crops. And then what do you do? You could walk away… but instead, as long as you’re already here, you may as well plant more crops. It’s like the paper wrapper with the cookies that just begs to be removed. It hardly takes any effort, you may as well plant some more crops… and now you’ve guaranteed that you are coming back again. In cookies and games, there is no natural exit point, no time when you can just say “okay, I’ve done all I want to with this game, I think I’m done.” Because there are those crops you just planted that you need to come back to harvest. Or you’ve harvested, and with minimal effort you may as well just plant some more since you’re already in the game.
Add to this all of the modern innovations in game design – achievements, unlockables, gifts, experience points – and you have a game that is very sticky. I expect that in the future, Facebook games will need to start doing this more, giving the players endless feedback loops to keep them invested and coming back regularly. How else could you make a popular game where the main activity is watching grass grow?
- Ian
For years – years! – I have had what is known in game developer parlance as a “play pile” – an often monumental pile of games I have decided that I must play for one reason or another. At present, that pile contains everything from Prototype to Wolfenstein 3D to the latest WoW expansion to post it notes referencing games I have yet to get or which are online in one form or another.
This pile stares at me, judging me for my failure to address it. At some point, it makes me feel like I am not keeping up and slipping behind my peers. Eventually, it drives me somewhat mad, and I blow through it in a week to collect mechanics, menus, UI structures and so on. I am like someone who goes to Disney in order to take pics of everything and get the hell out as fast as possible.
Mind you, not a day passes that I don’t play or at least watch a trailer of 8-10 new games. Every day. It is the gift of being a game designer for a living – I get to play stuff, screw off, have fun and actually claim that it furthers my career (somewhere, somehow, it will). Tonight, I still have two games to go, one that I heard about on Facebook and ye olde favorite, Civ Rev. The play pile, though, it makes me anxious. It makes me feel like I should be playing something else instead of a game I have clearly already grokked to death.
A close friend of mine says, “I don’t have a play pile.” He’s a crazy successful game designer, and frankly, this surprised me. “I just play what I feel I want to play and need to play at the moment,” and we talked about the games that he’d recently played. There was a very clear connection between all of them, and knowing about the product that he’s working on as well as his general play preferences, it was obvious to me why he had played every last one of those games.
I thought some about this while we talked and after, and then I came to a freeing conclusion: I ditched my play pile. Why?
- Distilled quantities of like info: Moving from game to game organically is often what the designer does when he or she is looking for a solution to a problem or following their curiosity. That persistence builds collections of orthogonal knowledge from which answers or new patterns may be built. Playing a collection of like games in search of something is likely to bring me more than playing a random collection of potentially discrete experiences for no reason other than to play them.
- I’m not done yet: If I am still playing Civ Rev after a year, it is clearly because there’s still something I am getting out of it. On the surface, this might seem absurd, particularly if you know how much I’ve played Civ Rev, but I am sure that somewhere in my cave mind there’s a reason for this persistent play, even if it is to appreciate how important the state of immersion is and how magical it feels to be within it.
- There’s always a mental playpile, anyway: I am currently doing some work for a client, and I need to do research into a specific style of play. In my play window tomorrow morning, I will likely use that time to sample a collection of games in that style. The notion that what’s sitting in my pile will, somehow, answer all my questions is an illusion.
Of course, I will still probably play Prototype, Wolfenstein 3D and the new WoW expansion when my play experience naturally leads me that way. Ultimately, like my friend, I trust that I will play what I need to play as long as I keep playing. There is great and wonderful freedom in that. Tonight, I will play that Facebook game and Civ Rev without thinking that I am wasting my time playing what I have already played. In giving up that pressure, I will actually enjoy my pure play so much more, like a player would, going game to game, enjoying the trip, the similarities, and the differences.
If I miss something critical, I will trust that it will show up in another game, or my excellent collection of game designer friends will start tweeting about it as if it were Christmas morning. Then, I will look, I will buy, I will pay attention.
Goodbye, play pile. Hello, Civ Rev.
