Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Michael Fitch
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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

• So, who is this guy?
• Creative Manager at THQ
• Previously at Red Storm Entertainment
• Before that, at Atomic Games
• A long time ago a dreamer

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

• The Dream of the Designer
• Think up cool game ideas
• Make the games you want to play
• Become a game god

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

• The Reality of Design
• Ideas are easy, design is work
• Coordinating all the pieces
• Respecting the budgets
• Solving problems two years before they happen
• Designers always work for someone
• Producer, studio, publisher, audience
• Results are what matter

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

• So, whats in a pitfall?
• Structural problems
• It happens to everyone, sooner or later
• Issues of design process
• This is not about content
• Knowledge is half the battle
• Its also only half the battle

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer

• A few debts to acknowledge
• Richard Dansky, and the entire design team at Red
  Storm
• Keith Zabaloui
• Everyone who takes the time to publish their own
  lessons on the web, in books, at events like GDC

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Failing to Define Design
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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Design is difficult to define
• Design is a creative process
• A lead designer wears many hats
• Storyteller Marketer
• Visionary Historian
• Psychologist Mediator
• Cheerleader Psychic

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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Design is team and project specific
• There are no industry-wide standards
• Every team is different
• Designers have to be flexible
• Deliverables can be difficult to sort out
• Every game has its unique issues

So, what can you do?
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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Establish approval paths
• Consensus is great, but someone needs to have the
  final say
• Not always the lead designer
• Approval is a gate
• Backing up will result in severe tire damage
• The shorter the loop, the better

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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Manage team input
• Make design a visible process
• Tell the team why, not just how
• Create specific times and deadlines for feedback
• And pay attention to what you get
• Provide closure for the team

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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Schedule Design Tasks
• Set concrete goals
• Prototype design process, if necessary
• Periodically check your assumptions against
  reality
• Make sure the team gets fed

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Pitfalls Failing to Define Design

• Ad hoc design is a recipe for disaster!

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Too Many Cooks
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Pitfalls Too Many Cooks

• Ideas are great fun
• This is a problem
• There are always already too many
• Beware the two-man effect
• A is a great idea!
• It is! And so is B!
• Yes, exactly! A and B and C are great!
• We need A, B, C, and D in our game!

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Pitfalls Too Many Cooks

• Ideas are hard to resist
• Saying no makes you the bad guy
• Sometimes, you are the one you need to say no
  to
• There are some people who wont take no for an
  answer

So, what can you do?
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Pitfalls Too Many Cooks

• Capture the magic
• Dont start with no
• Get the full picture
• Collaborate run with the idea
• Clarify the goal
• Find the motivation
• Give them what they want, not what they ask for

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Pitfalls Too Many Cooks

• Dont be that guy!
• Make your approval gates reliable
• When you get the urge, get a gut check
• Separate enthusiasm from workability
• You are not an exception to your own rules

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Pitfalls Too Many Cooks

• Design is more about eliminating ideas than
  coming up with them!

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Believing the Hype
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Pitfalls Believing the Hype

• Design takes marketing
• Bullet points on the back of the box
• First, you sell the people with the money
• Then, you sell the people with the skills
• Why its the designers that do the pitch
• Plotting the path
• The leap of faith

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Pitfalls Believing the Hype

• Theory comes before practice
• It takes months of work to shape the game
• Thats a huge investment, and a huge risk
• Each feature locks you in more tightly
• There is always a limit to the budget
• What happens if the theory is wrong?
• There are no takebacks in marketing
• There are no changes without costs

So, what can you do?
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Pitfalls Believing the Hype

• Build a solid sand castle
• Prototype, prototype, prototype
• Be prepared to throw out your work
• Assess your status with a critical eye
• If youre too close, get an outside opinion
• Move from the center to the fringe
• Theres the core of the game, then theres
  everything else

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Pitfalls Believing the Hype

• Make a contingency plan
• Build scale into the project
• Plan for adjustments they always happen
• Know what can be cut before youre asked
• Features and content
• Everything has a priority
• Last in, first out

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Pitfalls Believing the Hype

• You have to create the hype, but you cant let it
  blind you!

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
The Devils in the Documents
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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• Designer ? Writer
• Sooner or later, everything will be documented
• Level of detail is a Catch-22
• You get what you ask for, not what you want
• Living documents require constant attention

So, what can you do?
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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• Target your audience
• Keep documents short and clear
• Only as much as is needed
• Adjust the language appropriately
• Marketing vs. Management vs. Test
• Avoid the monolith
• The era of big bibles is over

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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• Establish a standard
• Templates save time
• Consistent formats are easier to scan
• Use version control
• Put everything in plain sight
• Intranet, Wiki, network drives, etc.
• Work from the high level down
• Vision, approach, implementation, asset

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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• Work for the team
• Dont assume that you know what works
• Use drafts to revise presentation as well as
  content
• Change your formats if needed
• Sometimes visual is faster than text
• Foreground goals and rationale
• Someone may know a better path to the prize
• Context clarifies key concerns
• Give the team what they need now
• You can only be so far ahead of the curve

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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• No document survives an encounter with production
• Revise, revise, revise
• Highlight changes in the documents
• Keep whats new front and center
• Push old information to the back
• Add specifics, but keep the logic
• Answering one question vs. establishing a method
• Avoid document fatigue

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Pitfalls The Devils in the Documents

• The only useful document is the one that gets
  read!

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Bright, Shiny Objects
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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• Developers play games
• Most of us are here because were gamers
• Competitive research
• The wow reaction
• The transplant theory, or when
• This is cool
• becomes
• We need to do this

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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• A single feature cannot be lifted
• Everything is connected
• Actions are defined by context
• Feedback is a loop
• The gun example
• Balance AI
• Effects Level Design
• Physics UI
• Level Design Story

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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• Timing is everything
• You and everyone else on the planet
• From you to the customer
• You always remember your first time
• Leader of the pack
• Trends vs. watersheds

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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• Moving the goalposts
• Every change costs more than you think
• Tuning touches all systems
• Something has to give
• Back to the stone age
• Is it worth it?

So, what can you do?
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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• Keep your eyes on the prize
• Know a convention when you see one
• Insist on a zero-sum approach
• Set a high standard
• Protect the core
• Use those approval gates!

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Pitfalls Bright, Shiny Objects

• Games are not the sum of their features!

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Pitfalls of the Working Lead Designer
Conclusion
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Pitfalls Conclusion

• The focus of design is production
• Best practices trump best theories
• Every team and project is different
• Know the red flags when you see them
• Have solutions before you need them
• Its not about you its about the game

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Pitfalls Thats all, folks.

• Thank you for coming!