Over this past weekend was another industry event that is held annually in Japan called the Toyko Game Show.
This is one of the smaller events for the global game industry mainly because it is only attended by the Japanese game industry. A few media outlets travel there to attempt to cover the news, but from what I’ve heard of the experience, it’s a difficult setting. The convention goes to no lengths to assist any western media who attend and several of the main conferences and speakers are not translated.
For many, this is just another sign of how the Japanese Games Industry is in decline, which is strange thought because in the 80’s the Japanese Game Industry singlehandly saved the global game industry from near and utter disaster. Gamasutra, the go to place for industry news, put out a few articles about why the split between East and Western development has widened over time.
One of the biggest differences is the core development process.
The big thing right now is the iterative development cycle. A game is created, the team discovers what is fun about it, that one thing is refined, and the process starts all over again.
Independent development is the peak of that. A small team only has the time to really polish one aspect of their design and that becomes the core of everything.
In the AAA development world this iterative development process usually happens between sequels. The Mass Effect franchise is an excellent example of this; the changes between 1, 2 & 3 are huge steps that drastically change the foundations of gameplay.
As a whole, the Japanese Game Industry does not tend to do this. A game director has a vision and despite what the fans or critics reaction is to it, the vision is carried out. Even between sequels there are rarely any huge leaps in innovation.
Western Developers also have a tendency to come together more and share their processes and even toolsets, the unreal engine is a prime example of this. No Eastern made game engine has, or probably ever, be released like the Unreal Development Kit.
Take for example GDC, the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco is one of the largest gathering’s of developers in the world. Yet despite that, only Western Developers have been in attendance. Japan does not host anything similar.
This critique is by far and away not an attack on a part of our industry, just observation that several others have already pointed out. The question becomes, how will the Japanese Game Industry survive if they don't learn to adapt?
Showing posts with label Thoughts on the Industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts on the Industry. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
What is Gamification?
That is one of the questions we have been getting a lot, from many people in industries far different than our own. Some have a small idea, while others come at it with no background knowledge whatsoever.
So here it is, as simple a definition as I can create: Gamification is the use of game mechanics to add interactivity and retention to any system.
Gamification, I believe, has been around for a long while. The name, “Gamification” is just a buzz word now, something to get excited over. But really it’s pretty simple.
For example: You go to your local coffee shop and you receive a punch card. For every coffee you buy they punch another hole into the card. Once you get ten punches, you get a free coffee. That’s it! That’s Gamification working right there.
Now why is that? Because, there is a system (a punch card) in place that encourages its users to take part in it, to “interact” with it (by purchasing a coffee), and it “retains” them by offering a reward (a free coffee).
But that example I have given, while simple to understand, does not showcase how we add Gamification to digital goods. And that is our current project. We are taking on the task of tackling four different, prototypes/examples of what digital Gamification would look like in four major areas: Product Promotion, HR/Training, Social Campaign, and Community.
The first three are being constructed in Flash, which is a standard web plugin, which everyone has. We unfortunately are avoiding
Unity as the Unity Web Player is such a pain to install on the user side of things and we want these examples to be as accessible as possible.
In the following weeks I will post them on this blog and break down the elements behind each example. Here is the title of our product example.
So here it is, as simple a definition as I can create: Gamification is the use of game mechanics to add interactivity and retention to any system.
Gamification, I believe, has been around for a long while. The name, “Gamification” is just a buzz word now, something to get excited over. But really it’s pretty simple.
For example: You go to your local coffee shop and you receive a punch card. For every coffee you buy they punch another hole into the card. Once you get ten punches, you get a free coffee. That’s it! That’s Gamification working right there.
Now why is that? Because, there is a system (a punch card) in place that encourages its users to take part in it, to “interact” with it (by purchasing a coffee), and it “retains” them by offering a reward (a free coffee).
But that example I have given, while simple to understand, does not showcase how we add Gamification to digital goods. And that is our current project. We are taking on the task of tackling four different, prototypes/examples of what digital Gamification would look like in four major areas: Product Promotion, HR/Training, Social Campaign, and Community.
The first three are being constructed in Flash, which is a standard web plugin, which everyone has. We unfortunately are avoiding
Unity as the Unity Web Player is such a pain to install on the user side of things and we want these examples to be as accessible as possible.In the following weeks I will post them on this blog and break down the elements behind each example. Here is the title of our product example.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Making $ with Free-to-Play
I touched on this earlier in the post about why SWTOR went free-to-play, but its an important topic, at least for us. It’s because the second title we have begun to work on will be our first foray into this model of design.
And there are a couple of reasons for this.
One, is the obvious advantage of pure numbers. Anyone can download the game, they don’t need to get over that initial barrier of entry of cost. This means that generally more people will be playing your game. And right now, that is more important. Money is a great benefit to making games, but it is incredibly difficult. By paying for our company with the contract work we bring in, it’s more important that we become a known source in the industry.
We don’t have to do a demo. Which is a nice side benefit. As we tweeted about earlier, we just sent the demo of Loc for the iPad out to Apple to be certified. As awesome as demos are for the player, on the development side they are a risk. You have to basically copy paste your entire project and start hacking away at it, sliming it down, to create a stand-alone product that quickly and easily shows all of the interesting mechanics of your game. We created one for the original launch and every time we update, to version 1.1, or now 1.2, we have to go back into that alternate project and port our own changes over.
But how do you make money off a free game?
The answer is micro-transactions. In the game, we setup a little digital economy of items and content that we allow the player to purchase. Here is an example: Through playing, the player collects gold coins. At the main menu is a shop which sells “running shoes” for their character. These costs 300 gold coins. The player can keep playing the game, collecting their gold coins in order to get enough to buy the shoes, or they can pay 99 cents and get 1000 gold coins.
These shoes allow the players character to permanently run faster, which in turn allows them to collect more gold coins faster, which they then spend on other items that help them gain gold coins faster.
This economy loop is what drives in-game sales, known as micro-transactions. In short, the player is paying to unlock content faster. The best part is it’s just an option. The player doesn’t need to do this; they can achieve/get everything in the game, without spending a single cent. However, it is guaranteed that it will take them a longer time.
And there are a couple of reasons for this.
One, is the obvious advantage of pure numbers. Anyone can download the game, they don’t need to get over that initial barrier of entry of cost. This means that generally more people will be playing your game. And right now, that is more important. Money is a great benefit to making games, but it is incredibly difficult. By paying for our company with the contract work we bring in, it’s more important that we become a known source in the industry.
We don’t have to do a demo. Which is a nice side benefit. As we tweeted about earlier, we just sent the demo of Loc for the iPad out to Apple to be certified. As awesome as demos are for the player, on the development side they are a risk. You have to basically copy paste your entire project and start hacking away at it, sliming it down, to create a stand-alone product that quickly and easily shows all of the interesting mechanics of your game. We created one for the original launch and every time we update, to version 1.1, or now 1.2, we have to go back into that alternate project and port our own changes over.
But how do you make money off a free game?
The answer is micro-transactions. In the game, we setup a little digital economy of items and content that we allow the player to purchase. Here is an example: Through playing, the player collects gold coins. At the main menu is a shop which sells “running shoes” for their character. These costs 300 gold coins. The player can keep playing the game, collecting their gold coins in order to get enough to buy the shoes, or they can pay 99 cents and get 1000 gold coins.
These shoes allow the players character to permanently run faster, which in turn allows them to collect more gold coins faster, which they then spend on other items that help them gain gold coins faster.
This economy loop is what drives in-game sales, known as micro-transactions. In short, the player is paying to unlock content faster. The best part is it’s just an option. The player doesn’t need to do this; they can achieve/get everything in the game, without spending a single cent. However, it is guaranteed that it will take them a longer time.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
How the MMO Tables have turned
I’ve been gone for the past five day on vacation, but that doesn’t stop the game industry from turning. And right as I did, one of the largest announcements happened. Star Wars the Old Republic, (SWTOR) has gone free to play.
For those who don’t know SWTOR is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) set in the star wars universe. Thousands of players play with and against one another in this huge digital space. To put things into perspective, most high quality (known as AAA) games cost around $300,000. SWTOR was estimated to cost between $150 million and $200 million. Within the first month alone they had nearly a million subscribers. But since that successful launch the game has been slowly bleeding subscribers. This is the reason for the switch.
So why is this free to play model so popular? Why is everyone switching over to it?
It’s all about the money. These games, more than almost any other, are built to take in revenue because they take a a serious investment in capital and time. At Champlain we had a visit from the president of Turbine who explained it all with a single set of graphs.
The first, is the subscription based model. As you can see the target market is ultimately restricted to a select audience who is willing to invest in paying a subscription fee. Many gamers, myself included, refuse to pay for a game more than once. We are represented in the white section on the left. On the right is a more casual audience, who might be interested in playing, but would do irregularity and not enough to justify the subscription cost. So as the graph illustrates, the game only services a particular audience.
The graph below illustrates a free-to-play model, which obviously hits a larger audience. Not only does the game target those who are interested in playing an MMO, but the other two who didn't want to pay the subscription fee.
This ultimately leads to more revenue, the more people playing your game, the higher the potential someone is willing to spend money on it. In a free to play model, all sales are made either through purchasing the game in the first place, that initial $60 or through in-game purchases that unlock content. This way of revenue generation is known as a freemium model.
For those who don’t know SWTOR is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) set in the star wars universe. Thousands of players play with and against one another in this huge digital space. To put things into perspective, most high quality (known as AAA) games cost around $300,000. SWTOR was estimated to cost between $150 million and $200 million. Within the first month alone they had nearly a million subscribers. But since that successful launch the game has been slowly bleeding subscribers. This is the reason for the switch.
So why is this free to play model so popular? Why is everyone switching over to it?
It’s all about the money. These games, more than almost any other, are built to take in revenue because they take a a serious investment in capital and time. At Champlain we had a visit from the president of Turbine who explained it all with a single set of graphs.
The first, is the subscription based model. As you can see the target market is ultimately restricted to a select audience who is willing to invest in paying a subscription fee. Many gamers, myself included, refuse to pay for a game more than once. We are represented in the white section on the left. On the right is a more casual audience, who might be interested in playing, but would do irregularity and not enough to justify the subscription cost. So as the graph illustrates, the game only services a particular audience.
The graph below illustrates a free-to-play model, which obviously hits a larger audience. Not only does the game target those who are interested in playing an MMO, but the other two who didn't want to pay the subscription fee.
This ultimately leads to more revenue, the more people playing your game, the higher the potential someone is willing to spend money on it. In a free to play model, all sales are made either through purchasing the game in the first place, that initial $60 or through in-game purchases that unlock content. This way of revenue generation is known as a freemium model.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Time Out
Ok, I'm breaking away from the game industry for a moment to talk about the Olympics. They have been awesome so far and anyone not tuning in, is missing some great events. But the Olympics have been dulled by my experience with NBC.
I’ve been watching the Olympics exclusively online, since I don’t have cable, and let me tell you, it’s been lackluster. It began last Friday when NBC decided to pass up the opportunity to live-stream the opening ceremony. To ensure that none of the American audience would get to see it, they were extremely aggressive in shutting down any third party site that attempted to stream it in the US. So by the time the real event was over NBC was showing their taped version on prime time, in order to maximize their ad revenue.
Every other country in the world had access to the event live, and we were stuck watching a tape…
All of the events, some 300 of them are being live streamed by NBC to be watched, and while that is extraordinary, they promised this prematurely. For anyone else watching the events online they are familiar with the almost consistent freeze frames, slow downs, flash player crashes or even having their browser hang. Yes I understand that there are a lot of people watching these streams, but NBC had four years to prepare for this event. How did they not get ready for this worst case scenario?
Certain streams were simply absent from being online. The great race between Phelps and Lotche just didn’t air, I read about it as it happened on Twitter… Other comments/complaints I have heard is that the NBC news desk has been reporting about the Olympics before the taped coverage has even played, spoiling the event for viewers.
In our age of social media and instant communication how does a single cooperation own exclusive rights to a global event? I am unsatisfied by NBC’s attempt at coverage and would gladly turn, even pay someone else to do it, but that is simply not an option. Looks like I might be on the hunt for a proxy in London, that might give me at least a constant feed of what’s going on.
I’ve been watching the Olympics exclusively online, since I don’t have cable, and let me tell you, it’s been lackluster. It began last Friday when NBC decided to pass up the opportunity to live-stream the opening ceremony. To ensure that none of the American audience would get to see it, they were extremely aggressive in shutting down any third party site that attempted to stream it in the US. So by the time the real event was over NBC was showing their taped version on prime time, in order to maximize their ad revenue.
Every other country in the world had access to the event live, and we were stuck watching a tape…
All of the events, some 300 of them are being live streamed by NBC to be watched, and while that is extraordinary, they promised this prematurely. For anyone else watching the events online they are familiar with the almost consistent freeze frames, slow downs, flash player crashes or even having their browser hang. Yes I understand that there are a lot of people watching these streams, but NBC had four years to prepare for this event. How did they not get ready for this worst case scenario?
Certain streams were simply absent from being online. The great race between Phelps and Lotche just didn’t air, I read about it as it happened on Twitter… Other comments/complaints I have heard is that the NBC news desk has been reporting about the Olympics before the taped coverage has even played, spoiling the event for viewers.
In our age of social media and instant communication how does a single cooperation own exclusive rights to a global event? I am unsatisfied by NBC’s attempt at coverage and would gladly turn, even pay someone else to do it, but that is simply not an option. Looks like I might be on the hunt for a proxy in London, that might give me at least a constant feed of what’s going on.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Sports for the rest of us.
So I am a self professed MLG (Major League Gaming) fan.
Ya, it’s kind of that peak of geekdom, but it is a heck of a lot of fun to watch. This past weekend was the Summer Arena for Starcraft II, one of my favorite games of all time, and I got to watch a decent chunk of it.
What is so exciting about it? Why do these events have tens of thousands of people pay to attend in person, or tune in for free online, to watch a bunch of twenty-something year-old's play video games?
Well, it’s just like any other sport, we all want to watch people do the things we could never do. Whether is the incredible strength of soccer players, or the rapid 300 actions per minute and decision making of Starcraft players, it’s all the same.
It started to watch a little after Starcraft II came out and it is incredible how fast this sporting industry has grown. This weekend, this kid of Korea walked away with a $10,000 check for winning 1st…
I’m sure that thirty years ago no-one would have guessed that someone could make a living playing video games professionally. If you at all interested, head on over to majorleaguegaming.com to see what the fuss is about.
Ya, it’s kind of that peak of geekdom, but it is a heck of a lot of fun to watch. This past weekend was the Summer Arena for Starcraft II, one of my favorite games of all time, and I got to watch a decent chunk of it.
What is so exciting about it? Why do these events have tens of thousands of people pay to attend in person, or tune in for free online, to watch a bunch of twenty-something year-old's play video games?
Well, it’s just like any other sport, we all want to watch people do the things we could never do. Whether is the incredible strength of soccer players, or the rapid 300 actions per minute and decision making of Starcraft players, it’s all the same.
It started to watch a little after Starcraft II came out and it is incredible how fast this sporting industry has grown. This weekend, this kid of Korea walked away with a $10,000 check for winning 1st…
I’m sure that thirty years ago no-one would have guessed that someone could make a living playing video games professionally. If you at all interested, head on over to majorleaguegaming.com to see what the fuss is about.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Storms Coming
The video game industry is still extraordinarily young. Its roots can only be traced back to the beginnings of modern computing in the 70’s. In comparison, film has been around for more than a century and even comics got their start in the 30’s.
And as such the industry was this weird, interesting mix of talent from all corners. One of the first developers I ever met was a level designer at Idol Minds, a small studio in Colorado. He had a degree in English Lit. A programmer I met touring one of the studios in Montreal used to work in taxes, he left after feeling like his soul was being destroyed. The lead artist at Funcom in Montreal used to be a professional actor, who fell into performance capture and then animation.
This great diverse set of talents gives the game industry a huge array of different skill sets and backgrounds. There were never any schools that offered a dedicated game development degree, the industry just picked up passionate people who had a drive to learn.
Now all that is changing. We were the fifth graduating class of students from Champlain College who have a Bachelor of Science in Game Design, Game Art, or Game Programming. We are the new generation. We grew up in the “modern console” age; games are part of our culture, part of our everyday life. Being able to go to college and study it as a viable degree shows how seriously the game industry is taken as a competitive field.
So what is going to happen?
Who knows?
Maybe more independent student made studios? That’s what we did, but even then we were an outlier. Half of our graduating class was able to get a job in the industry and that after our original freshmen class size for Electronic Game Design (EGD) was reduced to nearly 60, half of the 120 we started with.
Either way, by being immersed for so long in video games, after studying it for four years, we get to make our mark. A storm is coming, just wait, our generation has only begun to get started.
And as such the industry was this weird, interesting mix of talent from all corners. One of the first developers I ever met was a level designer at Idol Minds, a small studio in Colorado. He had a degree in English Lit. A programmer I met touring one of the studios in Montreal used to work in taxes, he left after feeling like his soul was being destroyed. The lead artist at Funcom in Montreal used to be a professional actor, who fell into performance capture and then animation.
This great diverse set of talents gives the game industry a huge array of different skill sets and backgrounds. There were never any schools that offered a dedicated game development degree, the industry just picked up passionate people who had a drive to learn.
Now all that is changing. We were the fifth graduating class of students from Champlain College who have a Bachelor of Science in Game Design, Game Art, or Game Programming. We are the new generation. We grew up in the “modern console” age; games are part of our culture, part of our everyday life. Being able to go to college and study it as a viable degree shows how seriously the game industry is taken as a competitive field.
So what is going to happen?
Who knows?
Maybe more independent student made studios? That’s what we did, but even then we were an outlier. Half of our graduating class was able to get a job in the industry and that after our original freshmen class size for Electronic Game Design (EGD) was reduced to nearly 60, half of the 120 we started with.
Either way, by being immersed for so long in video games, after studying it for four years, we get to make our mark. A storm is coming, just wait, our generation has only begun to get started.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Valve is Awesome.
That’s it, that’s all you need to know.
So I guess why this point was driven home again was just yesterday they announced Greenlight. A community service that helps give more exposure to independent games!
So here is how it works, a developer submits their build to Greenlight and all steam users vote on them. When games reach a certain threshold of positive votes they launch on Steam! So what does this mean? Well, Steam is undeniably the largest market for digital games anywhere that I know of. So these smaller independent games, like us, who don’t have a marketing team, like us, can actually get exposure. And the timing couldn't have been better!
We announced earlier that Loc already came out on Indievania, a great digital distribution service, but one that does not get a lot of traffic. Thus far our sales have not been all that stellar. So Greenlight has the potential to be a huge help for us.
Keep your eyes peeled, because on August 30th when Greenlight goes live we will be submitting Loc to Steam and then it’s up to you all to help us get accepted.
So I guess why this point was driven home again was just yesterday they announced Greenlight. A community service that helps give more exposure to independent games!
So here is how it works, a developer submits their build to Greenlight and all steam users vote on them. When games reach a certain threshold of positive votes they launch on Steam! So what does this mean? Well, Steam is undeniably the largest market for digital games anywhere that I know of. So these smaller independent games, like us, who don’t have a marketing team, like us, can actually get exposure. And the timing couldn't have been better!
We announced earlier that Loc already came out on Indievania, a great digital distribution service, but one that does not get a lot of traffic. Thus far our sales have not been all that stellar. So Greenlight has the potential to be a huge help for us.
Keep your eyes peeled, because on August 30th when Greenlight goes live we will be submitting Loc to Steam and then it’s up to you all to help us get accepted.
Friday, July 6, 2012
What Games are changing the Industry?
The Game Industry is a young fast paced environment that continually sees innovation. There always seems to be one or two games every year that simply blows away the preconceptions of what video games are and what they could be. Already, there has been one in 2012 that has done this.
-Journey-
Journey released in March and became the most purchased game on the PlayStation Network(PSN) ever. Created by ThatGameCompany, Journey is a unique experience that takes the player to a world blanketed in sand. As an unnamed character the player begins a journey to the top of a distant mountain.
Besides the outstanding visuals, which have to seen to be even be believed, there is a unique twist that is a breakout from what has ever been done before in the industry.
By chance, one single other player can join your game. This is entirely random, happening only if two players are in the same environment at the same time. Somehow a server watching the game seamless syncs two different player’s games into one.
This opens a new world of cooperation that has never been done before; people who joined my game would actually go out of their way to help me. Not for their own survival, not to speed up the progression of the story, and not for any additional value.
For me, I felt as if my unique story merged with these strangers, and together we were making our own new one. That floored me. But I wanted to push the bounds, I wanted to see what happens if I separated from them. Well, it turns out that the stranger just disappeared. But then they reappeared later! As if we had parted ways, had our own adventures, and somehow bumped into one another. After the excitement wore off, I realized that the stranger wasn’t the same as the first.
And while I still had a great time moving through the world, running into these other people, it dimmed the experience. It felt as if the empty sandy world of Journey was actually teeming with life. My choice to leave the first player was diminished as the consequence was mitigated by the fact that just around the corner was another player.
As the game ages and more people put the game aside, Journey will become barren and finding that one person, that oasis in the middle of the emptiness, will have a greater impact. Yet the game is a herald of that which is yet to come. New ways of cooperation are open to us in games that transcend all other mediums.
-Journey-
Journey released in March and became the most purchased game on the PlayStation Network(PSN) ever. Created by ThatGameCompany, Journey is a unique experience that takes the player to a world blanketed in sand. As an unnamed character the player begins a journey to the top of a distant mountain.
Besides the outstanding visuals, which have to seen to be even be believed, there is a unique twist that is a breakout from what has ever been done before in the industry.
By chance, one single other player can join your game. This is entirely random, happening only if two players are in the same environment at the same time. Somehow a server watching the game seamless syncs two different player’s games into one.
This opens a new world of cooperation that has never been done before; people who joined my game would actually go out of their way to help me. Not for their own survival, not to speed up the progression of the story, and not for any additional value.
For me, I felt as if my unique story merged with these strangers, and together we were making our own new one. That floored me. But I wanted to push the bounds, I wanted to see what happens if I separated from them. Well, it turns out that the stranger just disappeared. But then they reappeared later! As if we had parted ways, had our own adventures, and somehow bumped into one another. After the excitement wore off, I realized that the stranger wasn’t the same as the first.
And while I still had a great time moving through the world, running into these other people, it dimmed the experience. It felt as if the empty sandy world of Journey was actually teeming with life. My choice to leave the first player was diminished as the consequence was mitigated by the fact that just around the corner was another player.
As the game ages and more people put the game aside, Journey will become barren and finding that one person, that oasis in the middle of the emptiness, will have a greater impact. Yet the game is a herald of that which is yet to come. New ways of cooperation are open to us in games that transcend all other mediums.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
What Lies Behind Door Number 1?
Thinking over the ideas I proposed yesterday I now want to add an addendum to what makes a great game that drives unique player stories: Choice.
Choice is one of those underlying factors that make us all human and one of the most interesting aspects in video games. Games, unlike all other mediums are not a passive experience; they are interactive, driven by the choices the players make while playing.
To have a unique adventure there must be enough choices within the game to keep players engaged and provide possibilities for differences. Games such as the ones I called out earlier, Skyrim or Minecraft both give a vista of possibilities for player driven choice.
But what makes a choice worth while? The answer is consequence as it is how ultimately how choice X is weighed against choice Y. In Civilization for example, am I going to build this settler to expand my empire, knowing full well that I cannot do anything else for 15 turns? Or am I going to build a warrior incase that barbarian camp just a few tiles away spawns a barbarian who could capture the settler I was going to make on his way to expand my empire.
I had the excellent opportunity this year at GDC to listen to Sid Meier break down and explore his famous quote, “A game is a series of Interesting Decisions”
What he talked about at GDC is that games should have multiple levels of decision making. Snap, or reflexive decisions made in the spur of the moment, whether it is which unit should I make this turn in Civ, or which one of the five enemies who are trying to kill me to shoot first in an FPS (First Person Shooter). Then there are choices that affect the immediate future, which one of these enemies, who cannot see me yet should I eliminate to make this next engagement easier. And lastly there are long term choices that dictate the way a player ultimately enjoys their experience. Choosing a class, from a list of other classes, is a prime example of this. After making their choice the player can never reverse it.
Every game is full of these kind of choices, but not all have a significant consequence attached to them. This is what I feel is missing from a large portion of the industry. Take for Instance the Mass Effect franchise, which is one of my favorite experiences of all time. Yet the choice it strives very hard to instill in the player is diluted by having the option to, forgive the pun, “game” the system. If played in a particular way, pure paragon/pure renegade, the player can get the benefits of both choices in certain scenarios.
So it’s kind of depressing to see that the hardest choices to make in Mass Effect 3 was which one of these skill upgrades should I get? Especially since the game is all about what does the universe sacrifice in order to survive.
I feel as if just having this option obtainable by the player ruins the system. When players get to those major choice points and see a choice greyed out, they perceive that they have “failed” at the game and are unsatisfied by their experience.
So in short, choices are weighed by their consequences. Everything (In a perfect design world) should have an impact on the players experience and force them to reflect and analyze the choice they are confronted with. Only then will our interactive experiences reach a point that is truly unique and give our players an individual story.
Choice is one of those underlying factors that make us all human and one of the most interesting aspects in video games. Games, unlike all other mediums are not a passive experience; they are interactive, driven by the choices the players make while playing.
To have a unique adventure there must be enough choices within the game to keep players engaged and provide possibilities for differences. Games such as the ones I called out earlier, Skyrim or Minecraft both give a vista of possibilities for player driven choice.
But what makes a choice worth while? The answer is consequence as it is how ultimately how choice X is weighed against choice Y. In Civilization for example, am I going to build this settler to expand my empire, knowing full well that I cannot do anything else for 15 turns? Or am I going to build a warrior incase that barbarian camp just a few tiles away spawns a barbarian who could capture the settler I was going to make on his way to expand my empire.
I had the excellent opportunity this year at GDC to listen to Sid Meier break down and explore his famous quote, “A game is a series of Interesting Decisions”
What he talked about at GDC is that games should have multiple levels of decision making. Snap, or reflexive decisions made in the spur of the moment, whether it is which unit should I make this turn in Civ, or which one of the five enemies who are trying to kill me to shoot first in an FPS (First Person Shooter). Then there are choices that affect the immediate future, which one of these enemies, who cannot see me yet should I eliminate to make this next engagement easier. And lastly there are long term choices that dictate the way a player ultimately enjoys their experience. Choosing a class, from a list of other classes, is a prime example of this. After making their choice the player can never reverse it.
Every game is full of these kind of choices, but not all have a significant consequence attached to them. This is what I feel is missing from a large portion of the industry. Take for Instance the Mass Effect franchise, which is one of my favorite experiences of all time. Yet the choice it strives very hard to instill in the player is diluted by having the option to, forgive the pun, “game” the system. If played in a particular way, pure paragon/pure renegade, the player can get the benefits of both choices in certain scenarios.
So it’s kind of depressing to see that the hardest choices to make in Mass Effect 3 was which one of these skill upgrades should I get? Especially since the game is all about what does the universe sacrifice in order to survive.
I feel as if just having this option obtainable by the player ruins the system. When players get to those major choice points and see a choice greyed out, they perceive that they have “failed” at the game and are unsatisfied by their experience.
So in short, choices are weighed by their consequences. Everything (In a perfect design world) should have an impact on the players experience and force them to reflect and analyze the choice they are confronted with. Only then will our interactive experiences reach a point that is truly unique and give our players an individual story.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Why I like Fireworks.
It’s the fourth, work is closed for the holiday, but I still wanted to write about something. So I am going to deviate from the subject of Game Design, though I will attempt to circle back to it at some the point, and share with you why I still enjoy fireworks on the 4th of July.There is something magical about them, even after a lifetime of schooling and developing an understanding about how such things are made. Seeing that first one go off and explode in the sky, it has to be magic.
The interesting thing about fireworks is that they are a universal experience we have all had. It transcends geographical boundaries, age differences, and even language. Nearly everyone has seen fireworks at some point in their life. Because of this shared experience you can ask just about anyone what their favorite firework is. And here is what happens.
First, they get this look in their eye, because they are remembering back to a specific event, probably a childhood where they found wonder watching the sky, or from running away after lighting a bottle rocket, or holding a sparkler. And the secondly they will proceed to try to explain these colors and these motions of the firework they remember, looking goofy all the while.
Another interesting thing I find about the 4th is the experience you end up sharing with the people around you. It’s like a movie theater effect, where as soon as the first one goes off, all eyes turn towards the sky. I watched the fireworks on the 3rd, this year in Burlington with something like 100,000 other people. And for that moment, while you’re watching the fireworks you become connected to everyone else by this one experience.
This happens at sporting events, at concerts, at rallies, where we become part of a larger whole, selfless for a time. Afterword everyone dissects the experience, relating their own opinion on what they saw and comparing their thoughts to the person sitting next to them.
Games do this too, but in a different way. Two people, who play the same game, share the same experience, but it happens at different times and sometimes with minor differences. Yet afterword we do come together, just like at after fireworks, and reflect and share our interpretations of it.
Games that allow for a wide diversion for individual adventures are the ones that do this the best. They get people talking, get them engaged and excited about the subject. How many Minecraft stories have you heard? How many different adventures have you been on in Skyrim? This is all thanks to procedural content generation.
As a designer I am hugely interested in this field. I want players of our future games to tell their own unique stories about their experiences and to get excited about what else they could discover next. Loc does this, but in a very small contained way. By having players able to potentially create their own path on the levels they can create their own unique story. Watching two people in the same room play is fantastic, “How did you do that?” or “Oh, I did it this way.” A dialog begins that bridges two people's experience.
This is just the beginning hopefully, and with our second game, whenever we get around to it, we can explore this phenomenon further. But for now, I can just be satisfied by hearing about what someone thought of the fireworks.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Indie Game: The Movie
It finally came out!
This film is spectacular. Marguerite and I saw it while attending GDC with a
huge group of developers from all over the world and the place was packed, the line wrapping around the conference floor. When it was over a standing ovation was given to James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, the two who directed, produced and shot the film. The showing was especially awesome because after we watched the film the Team Meat folks, Jonathan Blow, as well as Phil Fish took the stage and answered questions from the audience.
What the film does amazingly well from my point of view, is that it brings the experience of game development down to a easily digestible level. My friends back home and my family know that I am a developer, but when they ask me what exactly I do sometimes it can be incredibly hard to encapsulate all the hard work, coding binges, late night meetings, art integration, and systems design.
If your a long time gamer, if you know someone who works in the industry, or if you just enjoy a sweeping heartfelt documentary, go watch this film!
You can purchase it here at their website, http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/
On Itunes or even on Steam
This film is spectacular. Marguerite and I saw it while attending GDC with a
huge group of developers from all over the world and the place was packed, the line wrapping around the conference floor. When it was over a standing ovation was given to James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, the two who directed, produced and shot the film. The showing was especially awesome because after we watched the film the Team Meat folks, Jonathan Blow, as well as Phil Fish took the stage and answered questions from the audience.What the film does amazingly well from my point of view, is that it brings the experience of game development down to a easily digestible level. My friends back home and my family know that I am a developer, but when they ask me what exactly I do sometimes it can be incredibly hard to encapsulate all the hard work, coding binges, late night meetings, art integration, and systems design.
If your a long time gamer, if you know someone who works in the industry, or if you just enjoy a sweeping heartfelt documentary, go watch this film!
You can purchase it here at their website, http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/
On Itunes or even on Steam
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Piece of advice
On Tuesday we had the great pleasure of talking with a group of highschool students who are interested in potentially pursuing a career in game development. It was a humbling experience, for me at least, because I was in their exact shoes not that long ago.
They asked us what skills they would need to be successful/survive in the industry and that made me think back to one of the first pieces of advice I remember being given. It goes a little something like this, “Don’t join the game’s industry”
Our speaker, Adrian Earl, a twenty year veteran of the industry told us to, “Get out and leave while you can.” He took a pause, looked at all of us before he continued, “Well, if you’re stubborn enough to ignore that piece of advice, here is what you need to know in order to survive.”
And he was right. These are some of the harsh realities of our industry, but just like everyone in the Industry we are too stubborn to give up and work in another field. Nothing comes close to the feeling of bringing something absolutely new into the world and watching your players reactions.
They asked us what skills they would need to be successful/survive in the industry and that made me think back to one of the first pieces of advice I remember being given. It goes a little something like this, “Don’t join the game’s industry”
Our speaker, Adrian Earl, a twenty year veteran of the industry told us to, “Get out and leave while you can.” He took a pause, looked at all of us before he continued, “Well, if you’re stubborn enough to ignore that piece of advice, here is what you need to know in order to survive.”
- “You better not be in it for the money.” Which has become readily apparent over the course of my college career. As a designer we only make somewhere in the realm of 40K, with senior positions position’s ( 3+ years industry experience) making $77,000. And while these numbers can look high, they are actually far lower than what is normally paid to a highly technical/ creative individual in other fields like Engineering, IT, and Software Programming.
- “Be prepared to get laid off” The industry is an ever changing landscape that is intensely competitive. 38 Studios, just laid off their entire staff of nearly 400 people after selling nearly 1.3 million copies of their first ever IP. The majority of the people I have talked to in the industry change jobs about every three years, with larger studios like Ubisoft with a turnover of around 2 years because of the intense working conditions.
- “Communication skills” This is a team environment, almost no one makes games by themselves anymore. In order to thrive you must be able to successfully communicate your ideas to the rest of your team as well as being able to take criticism. If not, you will quickly find yourself without a job.
- And last, but not least, “You need to love it” Because If you don’t, everyone is going to know. Passion is one of the binding features that everyone in our industry has, we wake up to build games, go home to play them, and build more of them in our free time. The best minds in our field love the industry and the work they do every single day, and to be one of those you need to as well.
And he was right. These are some of the harsh realities of our industry, but just like everyone in the Industry we are too stubborn to give up and work in another field. Nothing comes close to the feeling of bringing something absolutely new into the world and watching your players reactions.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Perception
There is a moment in time where when you become a Game Developer your perception shifts. You begin to take those fifteen minutes in Rage to just sit there and argue with your fellow developers about how id, the creator of Rage, got those textures into the game, about how the stairs in Mass Effect 1, aren’t really stairs but some amazing normal map work. You begin to notice the seams in the environment, the small touches that an artist added to a room, or the trigger volumes that initiate a dialog sequence.
Our perception of games has been altered by our knowledge we have gained in making games. But this doesn’t ruin the magic for us, no, not by a long shot. Watching all of the debut new videos that are coming out of E3 is a tremendous amount of fun, because now we are trying to break down how the game was built.
For example, we were watching the Watch_Dog’s trailer and immediately were all struck by the sheer number of textures, spec maps, animations, that was going on in the opening scene. We began to speculate how much of the interactions, mostly that crazy intersection crash is scripted or not. When those cars crashed I was struck by the fact that bystanders were helping people out of the ruined cars, that a man is trying to wake his dead wife who is in the driver’s seat and what it all means if that was actually a dynamic instance.
There is a moment in the Beyond trailer as well where I saw the fan, which was across the room of that office, actually causing ripples on the main characters shirt. How in the heck was that accomplished? Tesselation? There is no way it’s animated for something so small.
So go ahead, take a look at these videos and ask yourself what is it that you are noticing?
WatchDogs
Beyond
Our perception of games has been altered by our knowledge we have gained in making games. But this doesn’t ruin the magic for us, no, not by a long shot. Watching all of the debut new videos that are coming out of E3 is a tremendous amount of fun, because now we are trying to break down how the game was built.
For example, we were watching the Watch_Dog’s trailer and immediately were all struck by the sheer number of textures, spec maps, animations, that was going on in the opening scene. We began to speculate how much of the interactions, mostly that crazy intersection crash is scripted or not. When those cars crashed I was struck by the fact that bystanders were helping people out of the ruined cars, that a man is trying to wake his dead wife who is in the driver’s seat and what it all means if that was actually a dynamic instance.
There is a moment in the Beyond trailer as well where I saw the fan, which was across the room of that office, actually causing ripples on the main characters shirt. How in the heck was that accomplished? Tesselation? There is no way it’s animated for something so small.
So go ahead, take a look at these videos and ask yourself what is it that you are noticing?
WatchDogs
Beyond
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Reaction
And that is the reason I am a Game Designer and not a Game Analyst, but that is perfectly fine because there was some really awesome games shown yesterday!
Microsoft
I admit it. I am not a Microsoft fan, and having worked in the IT industry for three years doesn’t help. They gave a strong lineup, Gears, Call of Duty, and of course Halo. But these were all known sources, nothing surprising, nothing terribly innovative. Microsoft held the course this year.
EA
While EA was honored with the prestigious Worst Company in America, I still am holding out hope that they slowly come around. The EA partners program is a great system for smaller companies to get their feet wet. Tomb Raider looks amazing, a gritty Uncharted like adventure that has some truly cinematic moments. Dead Space is a great horror franchise and though everyone saw it coming, at least Dead Space 3 is confirmed.
Ubisoft
Finally some groundbreaking innovation in the Assassin’s Creed. Moving through the trees looked so fluid and the rock climbing on irregular/diagonal surfaces is perfect. In addition, Ubisoft should get a tremendous round of applause for 1. Creating a wholly new IP and 2. Being able to keep it secret for so long. Watch_Dogs looks like a great original new concept that everyone will be holding their breath to hear more about in the coming months.
Finally Sony.
Who in my opinion gave the strongest presentation of them all, thanks to Jack Tretton who had a great stage presence. Opening with David Cage, and Quantic Dream’s new IP Beyond was fantastic. Since the Kara trailer came out everyone here at Birnam Wood has been excited to see what they come out with and Beyond exceeds expectations. Finally Naughty Dog closed up the night with one of the best in-game experiences I have ever seen in The Last of Us. Can’t wait to see more.
Ok, note to team, one day we are going to be up there on that stage.
Microsoft
I admit it. I am not a Microsoft fan, and having worked in the IT industry for three years doesn’t help. They gave a strong lineup, Gears, Call of Duty, and of course Halo. But these were all known sources, nothing surprising, nothing terribly innovative. Microsoft held the course this year.
EA
While EA was honored with the prestigious Worst Company in America, I still am holding out hope that they slowly come around. The EA partners program is a great system for smaller companies to get their feet wet. Tomb Raider looks amazing, a gritty Uncharted like adventure that has some truly cinematic moments. Dead Space is a great horror franchise and though everyone saw it coming, at least Dead Space 3 is confirmed.
Ubisoft
Finally some groundbreaking innovation in the Assassin’s Creed. Moving through the trees looked so fluid and the rock climbing on irregular/diagonal surfaces is perfect. In addition, Ubisoft should get a tremendous round of applause for 1. Creating a wholly new IP and 2. Being able to keep it secret for so long. Watch_Dogs looks like a great original new concept that everyone will be holding their breath to hear more about in the coming months.
Finally Sony.
Who in my opinion gave the strongest presentation of them all, thanks to Jack Tretton who had a great stage presence. Opening with David Cage, and Quantic Dream’s new IP Beyond was fantastic. Since the Kara trailer came out everyone here at Birnam Wood has been excited to see what they come out with and Beyond exceeds expectations. Finally Naughty Dog closed up the night with one of the best in-game experiences I have ever seen in The Last of Us. Can’t wait to see more.
Ok, note to team, one day we are going to be up there on that stage.
Monday, June 4, 2012
E3 Week!
E3 has arrived! Well, almost for us here on the East Coast. The Microsoft Press Conference will start at around noon, so until then I am going to wildly speculate about what is going to happen in the next several hours.
But for those of you who don’t know what E3 is I’ll break it down quickly. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, is an annual event for the game industry at the LA convention center. It functions as the largest press event for the industry. All of the current generation of gaming consoles and last generation have been announced during the conference.
In addition some of the biggest games of the coming year are announced or playable for the first time ever. So let the predictions begin!
1. Console Announcement’s
This current generation is coming to an end and everyone knows it. With the advent of the WiiU finally joining the PS3 and the Xbox 360 as an actual HD gaming console it would be in Microsoft’s and Sony’s best interest to announce their own new hardware.
The Windows 8 OS will be launching later this year, as will the Windows 8 phone & tablet. Since all of these will incorporate Windows Live Game center in some way shape or form, and a new console would be another logical step for them in order to coordinate the appearance and feel of all of these new devices.
Sony has caught up to Microsoft in a lot of ways this past few years, and the decision to drop the price of the PS3 was one of the best they ever made, yet I cannot help but feel like they are always one step behind. Xbox Live is still the powerhouse of connected gaming and even still the PSN has a long way to go to catch up. The development of new hardware would allow them to retool their framework and take more than a few hints from the obvious success of Xbox live.
2. Games
So many games have been leaked already to the public and press, but every time someone always has an ace up their sleeve.
Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia franchise has floundered ever since the majority of the staff got up and left to go make Assassin’s creed. However, the POP franchise has a huge loyal fan base that has been oddly enlarged by the decent Hollywood blockbuster by the same name. It’s been two years since Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which while being a decent game it lacked the magic that made the original trilogy so iconic.
Beyond Good and Evil
If a new Sony console is announce I can only hope that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will announced with it. Unlike The Last Guardian, (Sorry folks, I gave up hoping for that after Ueda left to go work on mobile games) I do believe that it has a chance of resurfacing and from the rumors I’ve read about, it would be as a title for the next generation.
Ok, back to work. The countdown has begun and I don’t have enough time to fill out the rest of my predictions. Look here tomorrow for a reaction to the conferences.
But for those of you who don’t know what E3 is I’ll break it down quickly. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, is an annual event for the game industry at the LA convention center. It functions as the largest press event for the industry. All of the current generation of gaming consoles and last generation have been announced during the conference.
In addition some of the biggest games of the coming year are announced or playable for the first time ever. So let the predictions begin!
1. Console Announcement’s
This current generation is coming to an end and everyone knows it. With the advent of the WiiU finally joining the PS3 and the Xbox 360 as an actual HD gaming console it would be in Microsoft’s and Sony’s best interest to announce their own new hardware.
The Windows 8 OS will be launching later this year, as will the Windows 8 phone & tablet. Since all of these will incorporate Windows Live Game center in some way shape or form, and a new console would be another logical step for them in order to coordinate the appearance and feel of all of these new devices.
Sony has caught up to Microsoft in a lot of ways this past few years, and the decision to drop the price of the PS3 was one of the best they ever made, yet I cannot help but feel like they are always one step behind. Xbox Live is still the powerhouse of connected gaming and even still the PSN has a long way to go to catch up. The development of new hardware would allow them to retool their framework and take more than a few hints from the obvious success of Xbox live.
2. Games
So many games have been leaked already to the public and press, but every time someone always has an ace up their sleeve.
Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia franchise has floundered ever since the majority of the staff got up and left to go make Assassin’s creed. However, the POP franchise has a huge loyal fan base that has been oddly enlarged by the decent Hollywood blockbuster by the same name. It’s been two years since Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which while being a decent game it lacked the magic that made the original trilogy so iconic.
Beyond Good and Evil
If a new Sony console is announce I can only hope that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will announced with it. Unlike The Last Guardian, (Sorry folks, I gave up hoping for that after Ueda left to go work on mobile games) I do believe that it has a chance of resurfacing and from the rumors I’ve read about, it would be as a title for the next generation.
Ok, back to work. The countdown has begun and I don’t have enough time to fill out the rest of my predictions. Look here tomorrow for a reaction to the conferences.
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