Putting the Cart Before the Horse:

1
Putting the Cart Before the Horse

• Reformulating Business Objectives as Aesthetic
  Goals
• Jonathan Hamel
• Game Design Tuning Workshop

2
Overview

• Part I Introduction 10 minutes
• Part II Brainstorming 10 min.
• Part III Analysis 10 min.
• Part IV Exercise 60 min.
• Part V Demo 20 min.
• Part VI Wrap-Up 10 min.

3
Introduction

• 10 minutes

4
MDA Meets Reality

• It can be challenging to use the MDA framework in
  a real business setting.
• But well worth the effort
• Focuses team on project goals
• Helps you deal with feedback
• Herds feature creep in the right direction

5
Everybodys a Critic

• You want the game to be better, but
• The client or publisher wants
• The contract says
• Your company strategy is
• The latest market research shows
• The system performance is...
• The schedule has time for...
• etc.

6
Design vs. Commerce

• Who wins?
• Usually, they do, right?
• Are we fixing the game or breaking it?
• Clients, publishers, marketers, business
  requirements place unreasonable demands that are
  ruining the game
• Nobody else knows what MDA is.
• Your aesthetic goal should be for it to be
  fun.
• (Schedules arent very good listeners, anyway.)

7
Mantras for Staying Calm

• Focus on the client
• It's not a better game if it still doesn't meet
  the business objectives of the people funding and
  selling it.
• Define Design
• The application of creative expertise to solve
  problems.

8
Quick Examples

• Compare design in other industries
• Architecture
• How do I plan for the flow of people through a
  physical space?
• Engineering
• How do I make the paperclip grip better and not
  rust the paper?
• Advertising
• How can I communicate that this brand is
  sophisticated and dangerous?

9
The Point

• Design is the application of creative expertise
  to solve problems.
• Whose problems?
• The people with the money.
• Client/publisher/business concerns are central to
  the design.

10
Brainstorming

• 10 minutes

11
Ethnology of Business Concerns

• AKA War Stories
• Time to vent and/or brag
• What curve balls have you been thrown?
• Did you design your way around them in a cool way?

12
Inspiration

• The client or publisher wants
• The contract says
• Your company strategy is
• The latest market research shows
• The system performance is...
• The schedule has time for...
• The marketing dept. wants...

13
Analysis

• 10 minutes

14
The Ideal

• When game design and business are seamless we
  feel great.
• Role-playing and subscriber loyalty
• Casual games and their demographic
• But when business objectives feel tacked on...
  ugh

15
The Question

• Can business objectives be reformulated in a way
  that is more useful to us as designers?
• Can we make an even better game by seeking out
  business objectives and exceed expectations?

16
A Possible Plan

• First ask Why?
• Find out how much flexibility you have.
• While youre at it, ask What else?
• Then try to restate the problem in terms of
  Aesthetic Goals

17
Ah, but how?

• Business Objectives Aesthetic Goals?
• Rarely
• Business objectives are often not easy to
  translate into aesthetic goals.
• Business Objectives Aesthetic Models?
• This is the theory Im working on.
• Whats an Aesthetic Model again?

18
Goal Competition

• Model A game is competitive if
• Players are adversaries.
• Players have an ongoing emotional investment in
  defeating each other.
• Some failure modes
• A player feels that he cant win.
• A player cant measure his progress.

19
Goal ________

• Model A game is ________ if
• Players feel a sense of community
• Appeals to women ages 35-45
• Some failure modes
• Drives players apart
• Attracts teenage boys to the player community
• What fills in the blank?

20
Objective Aesthetic Model

• You may need multiple models / goals
• Now that you know your aesthetic goal, what
  changes do you need to make to the game mechanics
  or dynamics to better support this goal?
• Sounds like a good subject for an exercise!

21
Exercise

• 60 minutes

22
Sissyfights Revenge

• Design on Sissyfight was done.
• Youve just received a memo.
• The memo is unreasonable.
• Your job depends on success.
• Break into groups of six
• Pick a memo (1d6) each group should do a
  different one if possible.

23
Sissyfights Revenge

• Everyone have a memo?

24
Sissyfights Revenge

• Try to resist the temptation to satisfy the memo
  with pure content changes. Thats what we mean
  by tacked on.
• After 5 minutes be prepared to share
• Your memo
• One or more aesthetic models
• At the end be prepared to demonstrate gameplay.
• Iterate quickly!

25
Goal Competition

• Model A game is competitive if
• Players are adversaries.
• Players have an ongoing emotional investment in
  defeating each other.
• Some failure modes
• A player feels that he cant win.
• A player cant measure his progress.

26
Demo

• 20 minutes

27
Wrap-up

• Thanks!