This blog was created with a certain intent, and that internt quickly disappeared, and I never returned. So desperate to validify by goals to become a game designer I jumped in to do everything I hadn’t done yet. Read books, create a blog, engage in useless debates about games as art. I quickly lost site of this blog, as with out any real understanding or certain desire it served no purpose.
But months later, here I am. And hopefully this blog will now serve its purpose. A lot has happened since. I have stopped talking and started doing. I became employeed at Disney Interactive Studios as a Production Intern. I work under an amazing VP with great credits in her career, and an equally great producer. They both took me on, and have become true mentors. With in a month or two, I was truly being treated as an Associate Producer. My EP saw my passion for design, and I even began to design gameplay elements for titles, some of which are implemented in soon to ship releases. Exciting for sure.
While Disney Interactive may not seem the best place to develop designer skills, especially those who aim for a more artful product, its proven quite the opposite. An editing teacher once told me that making a film is nothing but problem solving. People can preach art and emotion, but in the end you are setting up problems to be solve. Its not about “I want to make a gamer cry”. Its “how do I make a gamer cry?”. Make him connect with the characters. “What mechanics make the player feel connected to their avatar?”. And so on. But also like film, all goals of art and quality collide with obstacles of commerce and practicality. This is where DIS has been an amazing experience.
The people I work with want to make the best games possible. But we must do so with in some incredibly difficult restrictions. Restrictions of time, of money, of developers we can work with, and most importantly, of dealing with the brands and IPs that Cooporate Disney is so rightfully protective of. To not only produce, but design games in this atmosphere, underneath the guidance of experience professionals, has been far more useful than any blue sky design I did as a student.
I have also been fortunate enough to get in contact with a USC professor and begun to do free lance design work for his starting company. Many of the projects are for students to work on in classes, but I have also designed a serious naval simulator which I wish I could say more on. That was an incredbily challenge as well, and my first design assignment. And like a Disney Game it was not exctly what I had imagined. It wasn’t a narrative action game like Prince of Persia, or a sick Half Life 2 type shooter. It wasn’t even a game meant to be “fun”. It was a challenge, a problem to be solved. And soon I realized how interchangable so many game mechanics are. Whether it be childresn games, serious simulators, or a gore fest shooter, all games are about creating experiences for an audience, and creating toolsets and rules that emerge and give the player choice in that experience.
Unfortuntely as I write this, my job position is shadow of its former certain self. I did quite well at Disney, and was getting ready (multiple times) for a promotion. But this economy and lack of sales across the board has made hiring a difficult thing right now at my current company – as it has for many others. My fate is not yet sealed, and some opportunites are presenting itself. But right now, my most played game is shotgunning resumes to every game company I can.
I hope to use this blog to write down my growing views on game design. I hope others get something from it, but I think it will be of most use to me as a way to solidify my learning into something more tangible than brief thoughts at free moments. I also hope to spread the word about many indie games out there, and examine and discuss games in a more stimulating manner than your average review.
Quick note.
The two best games of 2008 were: Left 4 Dead and Burnout Paradise
0 Responses to “A return and a beginning”