Month: September 2018

Industry Insights – Advice for job applications: level designer edition [Mike Bithell, 2018]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

This is going to be a very short and sweet entry to my Industry Insights series in which Mike Bithell of Thomas Was Alone and Quarantine/Subsurface Circular fame goes over his own advice on creating a good level design portfolio, inspired by his recent search for a freelancer on an unannounced project. This is a rare chance for direct and soberingly honest advice that many aspiring developers will benefit greatly from.

Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

  1. Communication skills are number one priority, especially in junior hires. You can learn almost anything if you’re willing to listen, and you can’t be a designer without being able to explain a position and fight your corner (professionally)
    1. So make sure to spell check. Arrange your CV/portfolio clearly. Show that you can get an idea across (in this case, the idea that you’re fantastic). Show that you pay attention by following the instructions (despite asking for email, he still got a fair few DMs, twitter applications etc.)
  2. Show what you did on games, don’t just offer a softography. It is of course impressive if you worked on a game that is known and even liked, but game dev is a team effort, so you need to highlight what you actually did, and the limits of that responsibility.
    1. The strongest candidates take you through their work history by naming projects and then actually bullet pointing “I was responsible for these specific areas of design in these specific parts of the game, or its systems”. That helps the recruiter.
  3. If they haven’t heard of your game, that presents an opportunity. If you’re just starting out and all your work is student or indie projects, then you have an amazing opportunity to walk them through your process. Some great students presented playthrough vids of their levels.
    1. One idea that wasn’t seen but might be worth a day’s work for any students about to start job hunting – make a GMTK style break down video of a level that was designed. Similar to the dungeon mapping ones – show the recruiter. SHOW NOT TELL.
  4. Be incredibly careful about oversharing personal info before work info. They shouldn’t have to get to know you personally before seeing your portfolio, so keep it fresh and professional. This is in your best interest: they might be a jerk who doesn’t like you immediately…
    1. It’s 2018 so if they’re into your work, they will google you and check out twitter to see if you’re an arsehole before getting back to you, but it’s a risky play to put your personality too far ahead of the work you’re hoping to wow a prospective employer with.
  5. One great tip for students is to share analysis of other people’s levels – one of the best portfolios ever seen included, among other things, a 5 page analysis of why and how rocket launchers were placed in Quake maps. Brilliant.
  6. They’re not going to download an executable. They’re not going to download a mod, a map or anything else at the first round of review. a) It’s slow b) I’m doing this on a Mac that doesn’t support your game c) I’m not logging into steam on this work machine. It sucks, but it’s true.
    1. Time is limited, so make it profoundly easy with PDFs (opens on anything these days) and YouTube/embedded videos. Flash intros are, thankfully, much less popular these days, but bear in mind that you have 5 minutes to earn their attention for another 5 before moving on.
  7. Show debug rendered overviews of maps that were made. In a very big pile of applicant, the ones that did it could be counted on one hand. It’s exciting to see level maps and layouts. A sexy gameplay shot is fine, but it’s more a showcase of the environment artist(s) you worked with. Show the unsexy debug view with spawner gizmos and grey boxed layouts. Show that you’re able to build and pace a space. It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly, for a level designer, it’s the meat of what they’re hiring you to do.
  8. The final one – if you don’t get hired for a job it’s almost certainly not because you were shit.
    1. No single application this time around managed all 7 of the above
    2. He was hiring for a genre you have no experience of
    3. You were second best, but there is only one job

Sources

Twitter

Industry Insights – Let’s Be Realistic: A Deep Dive Into How Games Are Selling On Steam [GDC 2018]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

This will be a more bite-sized entry to my Industry Insights series in which Mike Rose from More Robots goes over his own research into sales numbers and trends on Steam. The market of Steam has dramatically changed over the past years, going from a once highly-selective curate market to the current “everything goes” open market that even recently approved it’s first hardcore porn game. In this climate, it is more important than ever to get as much insight into trends as possible if you want to have any chances of succeeding as a small developer. Mike Rose does his best to do the research so you don’t have to – giving ballpark figures that should help with estimating development return on launch.

Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

It must be pointed out that Steam sales are notoriously obfuscated and with Valve’s new API (part of their Steam store redesign) this has further become the case (for more information, refer to the excellent NoClip interview with the creator of SteamSpy) requiring additional effort to squeeze out any hopeful bit of data that you can. Hopefully, going forward this will shift as a mentality, given that for most industries relevant numbers are widely available – from books, through records and to movies. For now, we have Mr. Roses’s estimations – as follows:

These estimates are for the “average” Steam game – eliminating outliers like the increasingly prevalent shovelware and asset flips that are drowning the platform.

In February 2018 the “average” game

  • Sells 2,000 copies
  • Has an average price of $12
  • Makes $12,500 in revenue during its first month

So as a rough revenue estimate (keep in mind this is for a successful Steam game) it’s:

  • 1st Year = (1st Month x 2.5) = (1st Week x5)
  • Or, on average, around $30,000 in first year

Now, that’s not a bad sum but considering the quality and caliber of game that must be released on Steam to have any hope of standing out, it quickly becomes a very worrying picture. For comparison, the average US salary is just under $45k. Not great.

An interesting additional insight is that, somewhat counter-intuitively, people are eager to pay more for games. Most likely, this is due to the flood of cheap, low quality games and the subconscious association with the dreaded mobile market. As a result of this, increasing the price of your game to $10 or more might actually help it sell more, due to user perception of quality.

“If they are asking this much, surely it must be better, otherwise they’d be mad?”

“Why do they think they can charge more?” etc.

In conclusion, I’d definitely recommend giving the full talk at least a quick skim, though most of the insights can be gathered from just the numbers. It is an estimate, a rough one at that, but could prove invaluable for any amateur developers out there subsisting on nothing but rationed ramen and stubbornness.

Sources

YouTube

GDC Vault

Industry Insights – 30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch [GDC 2017]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

This issue of my fledgling Industry Insights series I will have a look at a highly controversial 2017 talk from Brian Upton from Game on the Rails who is going to go over what he believes are some key mistakes and counterproductive things that trip up people who are trying to pitch to a publisher that he learned over his decades of experience. While many might view this advice as highly anachronistic, given today’s market where reductions in software prices and different distribution methods have transformed the landscape – freeing many from the dreaded publisher chains – there is still a lot to be learned from this. It is harsh and aggressive advice that is not for the faint of heart or those of a particularly delicate disposition.

Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

This talk was mostly delivered as a very rapid fire series of 30 “common mistakes” and some additional tips on what NOT to do when pitching to a publisher.

I encourage even novice developers to look into, even if they are far from the pitching stage with a larger publisher (or perhaps discounting the idea in general) – as there is a lot to learn about synthesizing your vision.

As always, take everything with a grain of salt – this is advice and should be treated as such, not gospel. The text is taken straight from the talk, so expect some controversial wording and aggressive phrasing. Without further adieu:

  1. I don’t give a crap about your backstory
    1. Very important. Don’t present 100 pages of lore before the core concept is defined
  2. I don’t give a crap about your inventory system either
    1. Don’t go into needless details. Focus on the core.
  3. I’m not going to design your game for you
    1. Be expected to answer questions and fill in gaps. Don’t leave open ended questions and uncertainties.
  4. Pillars are not hooks!
    1. They are the essence of the game but won’t necessarily pull the player in
  5. You never explained what the player does
    1. Don’t focus only on the story or other auxiliary elements. Games are interactive. You play them. Focus on that first and foremost.
  6. Don’t use realism to excuse bad design
    1. Just. Don’t. For an example look at the dreadful design decisions behind the ill-fated Bravo Team
  7. You don’t need a framing device if it’s not necessary
    1. Stick to the core
  8. Is it really a game, or just a knockoff
    1. Originality isn’t the most important but don’t just ape existing things
  9. You never mentioned your glaringly obvious tech risk
    1. Don’t forget games are technical products with their own unique challenges
  10. Your proof of concept does not prove your concept
    1. Self-explanatory 😛
  11. Having lots of shitty art doesn’t make it less shitty
    1. If you can’t make good art, don’t have any or hire someone. DO NOT use programmer art. That’s the first impression of your product and it just might be the last.
  12. I can’t tell what’s placeholder and what’s not
    1. Explicitly state this
  13. You polished too early
    1. Again, focus your effort on things that matter
  14. Your sample dialogues suck
    1. Again, first impressions are crucial
  15. You’re pandering to the latest tech craze
    1. Don’t
  16. You just pitched a phone game to a console publisher
    1. This is more common than you’d think
  17. You’re making a Gone Home/Minecraft/PUBG ripoff
    1. “Insert latest fad here”
  18. You want us to negotiate a risky IP deal for you
    1. You should be the one negotiating
  19. I know more about your monetization than your mechanics
    1. Games are a business like any other but this is not a business pitch
  20. You have no idea how much money/people/time you need to make this thing
    1. This is notoriously hard to answer and prepare for, comes with time
  21. You don’t have a team
    1. This is crucial, don’t expect the publisher to handle this for you
  22. Your business plan is based on outliers
    1. Again, plan as best you can
  23. You seem like you’d be a huge pain in the ass to work with
    1. This might seem silly but you deal with people, not robots and that relationship is crucial, especially when projects hit crucial stages
  24. You expect me to know who you are
    1. Have a proper intro and be humble
  25. You’re annoyed that I’m asking questions
    1. This is the publisher’s job
  26. We’re trying to watch the pitch on your phone
    1. Come prepared, don’t ruin a great idea at the presentation stage
  27. You brought a laptop but no headphones
    1. Pitching often happens in loud, public venues so come prepared for this
  28. You’re hungover/drunk/high
    1. …
  29. Don’t trash other games/companies/developers
    1. Very important, respect is crucial in this industry, so is humility
  30. You need to take a shower
    1. Again, harsh but something that sadly needs to be said way too often

The Root Questions:

A) Is this game worth making?

B) Can this team make the game?

 

And for a little sprinkle of positivity, several Do’s:

  • Be enthusiastic
  • Be honest
  • Sell your hook
  • Know your scope

Sources

YouTube

GDC Vault

Industry Insights – Classic Game Postmortem: Deus Ex [GDC 2017]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

In this article of my Industry Insights series I will be looking at a very exciting 2017 talk from Warren Spector who is going to go over some key development insights from the development of one of gaming’s biggest classics – the original Deus Ex (2000), which incidentally is one of my all time favourite games. He goes over how the whole inspiration behind the game was to have a cohesive thread of meaning interwoven throughout the development. This, while primarily a narrative conceit, is what helped drive the choices in the game and ultimately creating one of the best immersive sims of all time. Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

This talk focuses goes over a lot of key aspects of the development of Deus Ex and its hour long runtime is far too loaded with development gems for me to truly summarize it.

As such, I will focus on the advice given by Warren that could be applied to most developer’s projects. It is broken down loosely into 9 “guiding design questions” (with example answers) as follows:

  1. What’s the core idea?
    1. Elevator pitch
    2. Example from Deus Ex – “The real world role playing game where players tell their own stories”
    3. Doesn’t need to be too descriptive or unique but should contain the core & soul of the game
  2. Why do this game?
    1. Why? – a simple but incredibly difficult question to answer – think of all angles from creative to business ones
    2. Is it gonna be a hit? – artistic expression is great but so is being able to survive
    3. Is it something you burn to make? – game development is hard, really hard so if you’re going to make something you best be sure your heart and soul are really into it otherwise you will easily burn out and creativity will be stifled (for reference, most of the mobile market)
  3. What are the development challenges?
    1. Hard is good, impossible isn’t
    2. It’s good to push to break new ground and do something unique or challenging but it should also be at least remotely feasible. Don’t try and make an MMO with 10 people or tackle a huge technical challenge if you are a fledgling development studio/team
  4. How well-suited to a game is it?
    1. “Doing” is better than “Being”
    2. Think of the verbs and exploration of spaces
    3. What might be an awesome concept in your head might end up better as a book, movie or another kind of more static media format
    4. Games are interactive – use that to its advantage, make games in which it is fun to do things and have spaces that are enjoyable to traverse, explore and interact with
  5. What’s the fantasy?
    1. Is it being a badass? Very charming? Unique situation?
    2. What is going to captivate player’s imaginations
    3. Example from Deus Ex: “You’re a James Bond figure who is equally good at sneaking, fighting and charming”
  6. What are the verbs?
    1. Sneaking, doing, talking, fighting etc.
    2. As popular as walking sims and narrative games are, try and utilize the interactivity of games as a medium to its fullest
  7. Has anyone done this before?
    1. If so – what can you learn from them? Do your research.
    2. If not – What does that tell us? Is it just a bad idea, or was it simply not feasible before due to other factors (technological etc.)
  8. What’s the one thing?
    1. What is the one thing that hasn’t been done before
    2. You need this unique defining feature that will surprise players (personal addendum – it could also be doing something others have done before but doing it better than ever – though this is a bold approach – not every game can be Spiderman [2018])
    3. Example from Deus Ex: unique combination of genres and player freedom
  9. Do you have something to say?
    1. Is there a meaning behind the game, a message?
    2. Deus Ex was heavily loaded with messages about technology, the future of mankind and the power of governments and corporations
    3. (personal addendum) Not every game needs to have a profound message, but having something to say is always important

In conclusion, this is an excellent talk that I HIGHLY recommend watching in full but if you don’t – keep in mind the above list is, as always, one approach to looking at Game Design and is naturally not suited to all development scales and aims. Nevertheless, it is always important to keep asking yourself questions as you design something and when someone with such a pedigree speaks – you listen.

I also recommend the excellent and thought-provoking Deck of Lenses by Jesse Schell – the companion to the equally useful The Art of Game Design book. It is essentially a deck of cards containing various guiding questions that aim to break your design down to bits. If it survives, you have a solid idea 😛

Sources

YouTube

GDC Vault

Industry Insights – 10 Biggest F-ups from Drinkbox Studios [GDC 2016]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

In this article of my Industry Insights series I will be looking at a 2016 talk from Drinkbox Studios best known for standout luchador platformer Guacamelee and it’s recently released sequel (both games that I highly recommend!). Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

This talk focuses on their experience as a longtime indie developer. These tips might not necessarily apply to large studios or solo projects but there is a lot to learn here, so without further adieu:

1) Be careful with referrals – make sure you can trust the people you hire, especially “experts”. Be mindful of taxes and bureaucratic overhead.
2) Ensure comfort and Quality of Life in studio – Lack of comfort means notable drop in quality of work done. Studio tried to cheap out on this early on and it had catastrophic consequences.
3) Be careful with launch date announcements – hold back as long as you can to guarantee flexibility. Getting locked into a set date can be extremely tough to get out of, especially for a small team that doesn’t have the marketing budget to afford spreading news of changes.
4) Use a PR company – saves a lot of money in the long run, especially if you are small and/or not well established. They displayed stats that it very quickly pays off and you shouldn’t be scared of the initial cost.
5) Choose your ports wisely – Make sure that the adaptation to a different platform doesn’t ruin the experience. Making a quick extra buck is nice but often times consumer good will and studio reputation is more important.
6) Use at least a day of buffer before events – accounts for emergencies that might come up & feeling fresh is crucial for important events and public appearances. Very important for showing off at expos – a crucial chance for exposure when a small studio.
7) Handle side projects with tact – employees having their own projects on the side can be great for creativity & productivity but keep it open and transparent to avoid them interfering with studio performance.
8) Beware of hidden costs (mostly for smaller devs) – for expos it might end up being cheaper to just outright buy equipment instead of hiring from the event host or third party providers. They showed that after doing the math it ended up being cheaper for them to buy their own TVs and setup for expos than to hire.
9) QA patches thoroughly – even a seemingly small patch can have a huge impact so never skip on QA time, particularly with regards to save data testing. Be mindful of certifications and other headroom for fixes/reverts. In their case, a seemingly small change to chicken mode meant that player saves could be corrupted and the game unbeatable. Pushing a fix through console certs took ages.
10) Stay cool – even with leaks/reviews keep in mind that everyone is just doing their job. Business relationships are very important and as good as it might feel in the moment – anger and outbursts are never the way to go and will just hurt you and your studio long term. Important for when a journalist slips up.

Sources

YouTube

GDC Vault

Industry Insights – Made out of Meat: Health Systems in Video Games [GDC 2016]

Posted on by Stoyan Stoyanov

Intro

In this first article from my new Industry Insights series I will be looking at a 2016 talk from Catacomb Kids creator Tyriq Plummer. Keeping with the spirit of this series, I will do my best to be as brief and concise as possible, hard as that may be for me.

As a disclaimer –  I will inject some of my own interpretation and expansion of the ideas, as this is unavoidable. For the full picture, always refer to the sources, listed at the end.

Summary

The concept of the talk is to have a frank discussion about health systems in video games. One of the first points raised is that if your character can be replaced by a ball, then you’re probably working with a very high level of abstraction.

People are sacks of meat, after all – the author states in a very HK-47-esque twist.

This statement echoes throughout the talk as developers are urged to think of reinforcing a more authentic and engaging player experience – not just with narrative and aesthetic conceits but also through gameplay and mechanics.

Dwarf Fortress is cited as an interesting example – it’s stupidly in depth damage and affliction mechanics making it possible for people to get sick or get crippled and a hundred other cases that enhance its emergent gameplay. This is of course a very extreme example, that while great in that particular case for enhancing player engagement, is obviously not exactly well suited for wide scale application.

A potential middle ground is to have a sectional damage system – splitting the player into “chunks” as to better simulate a living being. An overall health total can result in a death state past a certain margin but getting to that point can happen through multiple different afflictions. Perhaps these could also change gameplay – could you still use a shield if your left arm was lobbed off?

Thing to keep in mind when designing a more engaging or authentic (not realistic!!) health system is to consider how real human beings work. We can recover from small and large ailments but it takes us time (and resources).

Simulation – defines as employing the rules of the game to work with the representation accurately. A balancing act between Abstraction, Simplification and Simulation.

Aftermath – once the damage is done and time has passed, how do you recover from it? Play around with this. Doesn’t have to be as boring or as linear as most “one solution solves all” implementations currently out there

Active healing – do thing, get better. Besides small animations there is rarely waiting in games – especially meaningfully done. Think of resting in D&D or Banner Saga. Try and tie multiple mechanics to it, to transform it into a unique action, rather than an annoying chore.

In summary – be mindful of your character, how they work and how they might hurt. We are but meat, after all.

Sources

YouTube

GDC Vault