1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:05,040 All of us are set in our own little 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,520 worldview. 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,679 We think we see the big picture, but we 4 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:11,920 all see a little slice of the world 5 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,719 through our own little lens. 6 00:00:14,719 --> 00:00:16,720 I would like to imagine that people have 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,039 the opportunity to see a much wider set 8 00:00:19,039 --> 00:00:21,600 of perspectives on the world and that 9 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:23,840 games might be the mechanism, the 10 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,680 vehicle that brings that to them. 11 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,760 You can take almost anything and make it 12 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,119 a fascinating interactive experience. 13 00:00:34,559 --> 00:00:36,000 What I'm really doing is I'm giving the 14 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,719 player a toy and the player is turning 15 00:00:38,719 --> 00:00:42,360 it into a game. 16 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:46,719 Every designer has the opportunity to 17 00:00:46,719 --> 00:00:50,000 create something incredibly unique. 18 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,160 At the same time, every designer faces 19 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:54,000 the risk of creating something that no 20 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,600 one will be able to understand. 21 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,840 As a designer, you're actually dealing 22 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:01,920 with two computers. First, the 23 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:03,520 electronic one sitting on the table in 24 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,920 front of you, but more importantly, the 25 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:07,680 player's imagination, the player's 26 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,720 brain. And that one is far more complex, 27 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,400 and we have barely scratched the surface 28 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,640 of it. 29 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,200 during the course of this class. I'm 30 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:38,640 going to expose you to a number of kind 31 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,079 of fundamental concepts about game 32 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:43,280 design. uh basically psychology of the 33 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,119 player, the mental modeling that goes 34 00:01:45,119 --> 00:01:48,159 on. Uh how to use game mechanics as part 35 00:01:48,159 --> 00:01:49,920 of your tool set and how to develop your 36 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,880 tool set as a designer. How to think 37 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,520 about the overall structure of what's 38 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,119 going on underneath the hood. How to 39 00:01:57,119 --> 00:02:00,399 build emergence, surprise, cool, 40 00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:02,560 detailed worlds. 41 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,719 uh and to try to predict what's going to 42 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:07,840 motivate players of your games and pull 43 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,200 them in and get them emotionally 44 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,000 involved to the point to where they get 45 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,080 into communities that are built up 46 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,000 around these. And so there many 47 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,080 different levels of game design and 48 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:19,040 we're going to kind of start with the 49 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,280 fundamentals and work our way outwards 50 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,800 towards larger and larger more strategic 51 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:26,640 levels of thinking around it. Every 52 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:29,200 designer is unique in some way and my 53 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,080 games have tended to be very uh specific 54 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,160 in terms of real world simulations 55 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,959 generally. Games that tend to encourage 56 00:02:36,959 --> 00:02:39,599 player creativity, player storytelling. 57 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:40,879 Uh there are a lot of other approaches 58 00:02:40,879 --> 00:02:42,239 to game design, but I think a lot of the 59 00:02:42,239 --> 00:02:43,519 fundamentals that I'll be talking about 60 00:02:43,519 --> 00:02:45,280 in this class are going to be things 61 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,599 that could apply to any genre of game. 62 00:02:47,599 --> 00:02:49,120 And I think by going down to that 63 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,200 fundamental level, it's going to give 64 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,920 you a lot more opportunities to kind of 65 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:55,760 come up with creative inspiration to 66 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:57,519 bring in new approaches, new ideas, 67 00:02:57,519 --> 00:02:59,760 basically how to amplify your own 68 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,720 internal creativity in ways that are 69 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,560 coming from a fundamental level rather 70 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,519 than just the feature level. I'm Will 71 00:03:07,519 --> 00:03:09,360 Wright and this is a simulation a 72 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,760 simulation a simulation of my master 73 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,760 class. 74 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,120 So, you're probably watching this 75 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,200 because you have an interest in games. 76 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,440 But what are games? We all know what 77 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,159 games are. We play games. Uh, more 78 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:32,560 recently with electronic devices, games 79 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:33,920 have taken a totally different kind of 80 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:35,840 turn and gotten much more elaborate, 81 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,920 more ubiquitous in our lives, I think. 82 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,640 But games really are something that have 83 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,159 been around for thousands of years. 84 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:44,159 Different cultures have played games, 85 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:46,319 board games, social games for a long, 86 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:48,640 long time for a lot of reasons. Games 87 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,040 really right now have different genres. 88 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,560 We have things like puzzle games, 89 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,120 first-person shooters, strategy games. 90 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,000 These are different subsets of the game 91 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,120 space, but games really are a subset of 92 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,159 a larger thing called play. 93 00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:06,640 Play is just exploring. It's 94 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,000 experimenting. It's trying different 95 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,760 things, usually in some symbolic 96 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,360 representation, you know, some little 97 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,519 toy of the real world with a very low 98 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:16,799 cost for failure. In a lot of ways, I 99 00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:17,759 think games have been somewhat 100 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:20,160 misaligned. Uh we've associated games 101 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:21,840 with violence, you know, something that 102 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:23,600 little kids play. But that's actually 103 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:24,960 been true of any kind of new media 104 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,040 that's come along in any kind of media. 105 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,080 You know, radio was actually looking 106 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,320 down on film when film became popular. 107 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:31,759 Film looked down on television. 108 00:04:31,759 --> 00:04:33,919 Television looks down on games. So it's 109 00:04:33,919 --> 00:04:35,199 really these you know games are the 110 00:04:35,199 --> 00:04:37,199 upand cominging thing that in some sense 111 00:04:37,199 --> 00:04:39,120 is breaking boundaries doing new things 112 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,520 and that's what makes games interesting 113 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,400 to me as kind of a topic as a medium. 114 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,080 Games borrow from so many other 115 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:47,600 different design fields, you know, not 116 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:48,880 just entertainment, you know, 117 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:50,960 storytelling, things like that, but also 118 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,639 things like architecture, product 119 00:04:52,639 --> 00:04:56,320 design, fine art, mathematics, cognitive 120 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,560 psychology. Games incorporate all these 121 00:04:58,560 --> 00:04:59,840 different design fields in an 122 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:02,160 interesting way. And the more you can 123 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:03,360 expose yourself to these different 124 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:05,600 design fields, the better designer 125 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,919 you'll be. 126 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,360 I think game design is probably one of 127 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,039 the most challenging design fields there 128 00:05:17,039 --> 00:05:19,520 is. And I think to be a good game 129 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,759 designer, you first and foremost have to 130 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:24,560 be a good designer. And so I think just, 131 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,000 you know, getting into the idea, the 132 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:27,600 mode of thinking of, you know, how does 133 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,639 a designer think? Uh how do they learn? 134 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:32,800 Uh where do they pull inspiration from? 135 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,479 And don't close yourself into just the 136 00:05:34,479 --> 00:05:36,160 gaming world. You know, look at all 137 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,320 sorts of things all over. I've learned 138 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,800 so much from weird fields like you know 139 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,039 Japanese gardening or biology or 140 00:05:45,039 --> 00:05:47,120 economics whatever you know you can pull 141 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,280 all these things in you know and as a 142 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:51,520 designer use these as parts of your 143 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:53,600 creative pallet one of the things I 144 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,400 really would inspire try to inspire up 145 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,800 and coming game designers to do is think 146 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,360 how do I learn continually you know from 147 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,440 other people learn from myself my own 148 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,400 mistakes but then also just do it try it 149 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:07,600 you know you can do something as simple 150 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:08,880 as design a little game on a piece of 151 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:10,800 paper and go show your friend. Let's 152 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:12,400 play this game. Here are the rules. See, 153 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,160 you know, see how that works out. And 154 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:15,520 the more you're doing that, just always 155 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,039 inventing little games, you know, even 156 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:19,520 if it's with toothpicks on a tabletop, 157 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:21,520 uh you're going to learn a lot that way. 158 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,919 And that's much better than just, you 159 00:06:23,919 --> 00:06:25,520 know, sitting in your head for two years 160 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:26,880 coming up with your master design and 161 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:28,639 then one day trying to realize it and 162 00:06:28,639 --> 00:06:30,479 finding out that it's too complex to 163 00:06:30,479 --> 00:06:33,520 realize. you'll be much better off 164 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,000 doing, you know, continual ubiquitous 165 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:41,080 everyday kind of local game design. 166 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,759 Any designer basically when they're 167 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:49,440 designing something has to look at a 168 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,360 number of factors. Uh you know, 169 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:52,639 basically you're trying to balance all 170 00:06:52,639 --> 00:06:54,479 these things against each other. So 171 00:06:54,479 --> 00:06:56,479 think about just a chair and all the 172 00:06:56,479 --> 00:06:57,759 different things that you kind of would 173 00:06:57,759 --> 00:06:59,120 like a chair, you know, different 174 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:00,479 properties you would like from a chair. 175 00:07:00,479 --> 00:07:02,319 you want it to be, you know, cheap, easy 176 00:07:02,319 --> 00:07:04,880 to move, easy to produce, comfortable. 177 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,840 Uh, and these functions can actually be 178 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:09,680 kind of broken down into a tree, you 179 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,479 know. So, games have very much the same 180 00:07:12,479 --> 00:07:14,240 property. You know, there's certain 181 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:15,520 functional things about them. There's 182 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:16,880 certain things that are economic about 183 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:18,080 what does it take to produce the game, 184 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,680 how much does it cost, what kind of a 185 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:21,759 team do I have to build, uh, what kind 186 00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:24,319 of skills do I have to have as designer? 187 00:07:24,319 --> 00:07:25,919 And the designer needs to kind of 188 00:07:25,919 --> 00:07:27,360 understand how to balance all these 189 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:28,880 different things against each other 190 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,400 because your final design is going to be 191 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:31,680 a balancing act. You're basically 192 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,120 balancing all these plates on top of 193 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:34,800 each other and it's the designer's job 194 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,240 to make them balance well. Now, as 195 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:39,919 you're exploring your design, you're 196 00:07:39,919 --> 00:07:41,919 actually going through this very large 197 00:07:41,919 --> 00:07:43,759 branching tree of possible designs. You 198 00:07:43,759 --> 00:07:45,360 know, there infinite number of designs 199 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,599 that you could be building in your game, 200 00:07:47,599 --> 00:07:49,120 and you're going to end up with one very 201 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,960 specific design. And when you start out, 202 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:52,560 you might have some sense of about where 203 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,639 you're going or kind of the area you 204 00:07:54,639 --> 00:07:56,879 want to be, but you do not know exactly 205 00:07:56,879 --> 00:07:58,560 how to get there, you know, and you're 206 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,800 basically exploring this branching path 207 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:02,479 of design decisions, you know, starting 208 00:08:02,479 --> 00:08:04,160 with very fundamental design decisions. 209 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:05,440 You know, what kind of game am I making? 210 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,840 What's it about? What are the controls 211 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:09,120 down to very incremental design 212 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:10,560 decisions, you know, what color is this 213 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,400 button? You know, how tall is the 214 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:13,919 character? Very, very minor things. And 215 00:08:13,919 --> 00:08:15,360 a lot of these decisions are distributed 216 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,599 throughout your team. And you need to 217 00:08:17,599 --> 00:08:18,639 make sure that your team kind of 218 00:08:18,639 --> 00:08:20,479 understands the vision so that as 219 00:08:20,479 --> 00:08:22,000 they're balancing their little parts of 220 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,319 that tree that they are in line with the 221 00:08:24,319 --> 00:08:25,840 creative vision for the whole product. 222 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,039 Basically, as you're exploring this 223 00:08:27,039 --> 00:08:28,000 tree, there are a lot of different 224 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,319 methods you have as a designer for 225 00:08:30,319 --> 00:08:31,919 figuring out which direction to go on 226 00:08:31,919 --> 00:08:33,360 what branch. Now, you're really trying 227 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,360 to prune these branches as efficiently 228 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:37,120 as possible. That's why when we build a 229 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:38,560 prototype, we want an answer from that 230 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:40,000 prototype. We want to find out, you 231 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,000 know, do we go down path A or B? If the 232 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:43,519 prototype can't answer that, it's 233 00:08:43,519 --> 00:08:45,279 basically failed as a prototype. So, 234 00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:46,959 we're really trying to efficiently prune 235 00:08:46,959 --> 00:08:49,279 the branches and continue down the right 236 00:08:49,279 --> 00:08:51,839 path toward our final design. You know, 237 00:08:51,839 --> 00:08:53,200 as I said, you don't know exactly where 238 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:54,399 you're going to end up on this tree, but 239 00:08:54,399 --> 00:08:56,640 the designer also needs to kind of know 240 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,399 when you've gotten there. A lot of times 241 00:08:58,399 --> 00:09:00,080 I've seen, you know, game designs or 242 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,720 even other designs where somebody went a 243 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,399 little bit too far. You know, they, you 244 00:09:04,399 --> 00:09:06,399 know, some movies, you know, I think had 245 00:09:06,399 --> 00:09:08,000 a perfect ending, went a little bit too 246 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,399 far. And the designer is going to know 247 00:09:10,399 --> 00:09:14,040 you've hit the sweet spot. 248 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,040 One of my design heroes is Charles 249 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,040 Emmes. Charles Ray Emmes were design 250 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,959 team husband and wife. And he had a 251 00:09:24,959 --> 00:09:27,279 great quote which was simply that design 252 00:09:27,279 --> 00:09:30,320 is constraint. You know design really is 253 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:31,920 how do you you know work around 254 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,120 constraint and without constraint 255 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,200 there's no design. Uh you know it's just 256 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,440 pure imagination. So you know to be a 257 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:38,480 good designer you have to kind of 258 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:39,680 embrace that constraint and say okay 259 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,839 within this constraint what can I do 260 00:09:41,839 --> 00:09:44,000 that's really cool and you know that 261 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,120 constraint is really going to become 262 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:46,880 your foundation it's going to be okay 263 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,320 here was my starting point and within 264 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,160 that constraint I was able to do this 265 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:51,839 the constraint could be you know the 266 00:09:51,839 --> 00:09:53,360 technology in front of you how fast the 267 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,120 processor the graphics but the 268 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:56,880 constraint can also be you know what 269 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,240 does my player know what kind of skills 270 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,080 do they have uh where does their 271 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,440 imagination take them those are 272 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,519 constraints just as well and the more 273 00:10:03,519 --> 00:10:05,279 you understand your constraints you know 274 00:10:05,279 --> 00:10:06,880 the more you can now kind of use as your 275 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:08,320 starting point to go off and do 276 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:09,440 something really cool that nobody else 277 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,200 has done against those same constraints. 278 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:21,440 In a competitive game, you know, usually 279 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,920 with two players, uh there's a concept 280 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,399 of a zero sum game, which is that if a 281 00:10:26,399 --> 00:10:28,160 player wins, he gets, you know, a 282 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,240 positive one. The losing player gets a 283 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,920 negative one. Uh if it's a tie, they 284 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,959 both get zero. So basically the sum of 285 00:10:34,959 --> 00:10:36,880 the two players is always zero. You know 286 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,120 either I won, you lost, you know, and it 287 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,519 sums to zero or it was a tie, sums to 288 00:10:41,519 --> 00:10:43,200 zero. That's a zero sum game. So you 289 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,440 can't have two winners or two losers, 290 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,200 you know, out of a two-player game. A 291 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,519 non-zero sum game, you can both people 292 00:10:49,519 --> 00:10:52,320 can win. The kind of games I do uh are 293 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,279 not zero sum games at all. In fact, uh 294 00:10:55,279 --> 00:10:57,040 most of the things I do don't even 295 00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,279 really have a clear win state. when you 296 00:10:59,279 --> 00:11:00,560 play something like Sim City or The 297 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:02,880 Sims, uh, what actually I found very 298 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:04,640 interesting was to leave it to the 299 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,760 player to define the goal state. 300 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:14,079 When a person sits down to play some 301 00:11:14,079 --> 00:11:15,279 city, I don't tell them they have to 302 00:11:15,279 --> 00:11:16,399 build the biggest city or have the 303 00:11:16,399 --> 00:11:18,720 happiest people or the least crime. 304 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,320 Players in their own mind decide that, 305 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:21,680 you know, they think, okay, what is, you 306 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:23,360 know, my ideal city and they try to 307 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:24,480 build that. So, the player is actually 308 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,160 the one building the rule set and the 309 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:27,839 structure and the player is the one 310 00:11:27,839 --> 00:11:29,519 scoring it. I'm really just kind of 311 00:11:29,519 --> 00:11:32,160 giving them an open-ended toy. And then 312 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:33,600 you get a lot of kind of interesting 313 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,839 different play styles. You know, certain 314 00:11:35,839 --> 00:11:38,560 players trying to achieve things. Other 315 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:40,320 players don't even really try to achieve 316 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:41,680 anything at all, but try to use it for 317 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:43,519 creative storytelling or creativity. A 318 00:11:43,519 --> 00:11:45,200 lot of people were playing sport, not 319 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:46,240 really trying to get through all the 320 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:47,600 levels, but trying to just make really 321 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:49,440 cool things within the game that they 322 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:50,640 would then go out and share with other 323 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,720 players. So for them the win state was 324 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:54,640 more social. Can I make something really 325 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:56,240 cool in this game? Maybe even just tell 326 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:58,320 a story that other people really like 327 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,800 and to me that's the win state. So you 328 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,480 know I think games have the opportunity 329 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:04,320 to go you know way beyond just this kind 330 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,279 of zero sum approach. 331 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,240 You can take almost any uh technology 332 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,639 that we have and view it as an extension 333 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:20,800 of the human body. For instance, you 334 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:22,959 know, television, telescope, our eyes, 335 00:12:22,959 --> 00:12:25,760 our vision, telephone, you know, our 336 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,000 speech, car really kind of extends our 337 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,959 legs. If somebody hits your car, you 338 00:12:30,959 --> 00:12:33,200 know, you don't say that, you know, my 339 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:34,639 car was hit. You say somebody hit me 340 00:12:34,639 --> 00:12:36,399 when I was driving, you know. So me, you 341 00:12:36,399 --> 00:12:37,760 know, the car becomes me. It becomes an 342 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:39,680 extension of your body. I think the 343 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:41,440 computers and games and things that 344 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:42,800 we're dealing with on entertainment side 345 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,399 can extend a lot of these in a lot of 346 00:12:44,399 --> 00:12:46,160 ways. When I was watching players play 347 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,399 the Sims, initially it was like he was 348 00:12:48,399 --> 00:12:49,920 hungry, then he did this, then he did 349 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:52,000 that, and they very smoothly shifted to 350 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,920 then I got tired and I went to bed, and 351 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:55,279 then I woke up. So, they kind of shifted 352 00:12:55,279 --> 00:12:58,399 from he to I very smoothly. We now with 353 00:12:58,399 --> 00:13:00,320 these little micro worlds have the 354 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,639 ability to basically externalize what's 355 00:13:02,639 --> 00:13:04,160 in our imagination and share it with 356 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:05,600 other people. You know, it used to be 357 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,279 that you had to have, you know, a very 358 00:13:07,279 --> 00:13:09,040 rich skill set. Like you'd be a fine 359 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:10,959 artist to do that, you know, to paint 360 00:13:10,959 --> 00:13:12,240 something in your imagination and then 361 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:13,839 share with other people. But now with 362 00:13:13,839 --> 00:13:15,360 these tools, the creative leverage they 363 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,920 give us, uh, you know, average casual 364 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:19,200 game players have the ability to 365 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:20,639 externalize, you know, create things out 366 00:13:20,639 --> 00:13:21,760 of their imagination, share it with 367 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:23,440 other players and actually have these 368 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,000 shared imaginary worlds. In sport, we 369 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,200 actually had all these editors where the 370 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:28,720 players were making cool things. And 371 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,560 some of the levels, the design of your 372 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:32,399 creature really influenced, you know, 373 00:13:32,399 --> 00:13:33,839 the way you play that creature in the 374 00:13:33,839 --> 00:13:36,079 world, its performance. Uh, other parts 375 00:13:36,079 --> 00:13:37,279 of it, you know, like designing your 376 00:13:37,279 --> 00:13:38,320 spaceship, didn't really have a whole 377 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:39,519 lot to do with the performance of the 378 00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:41,440 spaceship. It was purely aesthetic. But 379 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,200 people would spend just as much time, 380 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:44,560 you know, crafting this very unique 381 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:45,760 thing that was part of their player 382 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,079 identity in the game. And as they were 383 00:13:48,079 --> 00:13:49,279 playing in the space level, they were, 384 00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:51,040 you know, it was front and foreground 385 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,279 all the time was your spaceship. And so 386 00:13:53,279 --> 00:13:54,560 they really felt, you know, like that 387 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:56,480 was them. When you get to the space 388 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:57,920 phase, there are actually millions of 389 00:13:57,920 --> 00:13:59,680 planets you can go to. And we could 390 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:01,600 never create millions of creatures. So 391 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:03,040 we decided that every time a player made 392 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,720 a creature, it would go up to our server 393 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:05,760 and we would use it to populate 394 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:07,279 everybody else's world. And we were 395 00:14:07,279 --> 00:14:09,440 hoping to get, you know, maybe 100,000 396 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,680 of these creatures. you know, in the 397 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:13,120 first month, you know, after we had 398 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,120 uploaded the creature editor, uh, 399 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:16,959 instead it was so popular we got a 400 00:14:16,959 --> 00:14:19,760 million uh, in the first week. In fact, 401 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,880 we passed, I think, five or six million 402 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,519 in the first month, which is more than 403 00:14:25,519 --> 00:14:28,000 the number of species on Earth. So, uh, 404 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:29,760 it was, you know, kind of extraordinary 405 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,360 how much players embraced that. 406 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:32,639 Basically, we were turning the average 407 00:14:32,639 --> 00:14:34,320 player into a Pixar artist. They were 408 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:35,920 able to create a, you know, a brand new 409 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:36,959 character out of their imagination and 410 00:14:36,959 --> 00:14:39,519 have it come to life. uh and so I think 411 00:14:39,519 --> 00:14:42,399 this is one of the uh examples of the 412 00:14:42,399 --> 00:14:44,399 computer giving creative leverage a 413 00:14:44,399 --> 00:14:46,320 creative amplifier and a lot of people 414 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,240 are using you know computers for 415 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,399 different creative fields but same thing 416 00:14:50,399 --> 00:14:52,079 it's a creative amplifier for everything 417 00:14:52,079 --> 00:14:54,320 they 1 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:11,679 I don't actually start by concepting a 2 00:00:11,679 --> 00:00:15,280 new game. I read a lot. I like learning 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,440 new things and at some point I'll just 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:19,039 trip over a subject or some material 5 00:00:19,039 --> 00:00:21,760 that I find particularly fascinating. So 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:23,199 it's not like I sit down and say, "Okay, 7 00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:24,240 I'm going to come up with a new game 8 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:26,880 idea." It's more like I'm kind of just 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,840 exploring, browsing the world. Then it's 10 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:31,920 like, ooh, maybe I can make a game out 11 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,000 of this. 12 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:40,719 When I went to college, I studied all 13 00:00:40,719 --> 00:00:42,160 these different things and, you know, I 14 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:43,440 don't want to become an architect or an 15 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,440 engineer or an artist, what you know, 16 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:47,280 and uh by being a game designer, I found 17 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:48,960 that I could study whatever I want, you 18 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:50,800 know, and my excuse is I'm making a game 19 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,120 about it. So for me, you know, being a 20 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,199 game designer, you know, turned into a 21 00:00:55,199 --> 00:00:56,719 lifelong learning process where I can go 22 00:00:56,719 --> 00:00:59,199 off in any subject I want to. And it's 23 00:00:59,199 --> 00:01:01,760 taxdeductible. For me, it's usually, you 24 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,879 know, some kind of interesting thing 25 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:07,280 about the world or in the world that as 26 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,600 I dig deeper, it gets more interesting, 27 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,760 uh, not less. You know, that that didn't 28 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,280 sound that interesting to me, but as I 29 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:14,400 read about it a little bit more, it 30 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:15,920 actually sounded kind of fascinating. I 31 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:17,200 read some more and it actually really 32 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:18,799 grabbed me and pulled me in. A lot of 33 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:20,400 the games I've done actually were based 34 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,400 upon cool subjects, usually books that I 35 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,400 read. Sim City, you know, was very 36 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,240 influenced by the work of a guy named 37 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,080 Jay Forester who was the first person to 38 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,520 actually model cities on the early 39 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,280 computers back in the 50s. His models 40 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:32,560 were not spatial. They were just like 41 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:33,920 little numbers. How many people did the 42 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:35,759 city have, you know, how much land, how 43 00:01:35,759 --> 00:01:37,840 many roads, you know, but uh he was 44 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:39,680 actually the father of what became known 45 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,119 as system dynamics, which I'll talk 46 00:01:41,119 --> 00:01:43,360 about a little bit later. Uh Sam Ant was 47 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,040 very much inspired by the work of Edward 48 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,600 O. Wilson very famous or mmacologist 49 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,240 studies ants uh he wrote this great book 50 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:51,759 won the bullet surprise called the ants 51 00:01:51,759 --> 00:01:53,439 but he actually in some sense was 52 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:55,680 reverse engineering the way ants work 53 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:56,799 you know little ants are almost like 54 00:01:56,799 --> 00:01:58,240 little robots and it's pretty simple to 55 00:01:58,240 --> 00:01:59,759 figure out in the presence of this 56 00:01:59,759 --> 00:02:01,600 pheromone the ant does that in the 57 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:02,880 presence of that pheromone it does this 58 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:04,719 and he actually reverse engineered that 59 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:06,079 and discovered a whole level of 60 00:02:06,079 --> 00:02:08,239 emergence you know an ant colony in fact 61 00:02:08,239 --> 00:02:09,840 is incredibly smart it's about as smart 62 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,000 as a dog an individual ant is incredibly 63 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,000 stupid and so ant colonies are really 64 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,360 one of the few forms of intelligence 65 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:17,120 that we can deconstruct and understand 66 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:18,720 at that level. And he was the guy who 67 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,599 did it. These kind of subjects uh are 68 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:22,800 things that when you read about them, 69 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,239 they they're kind of dry and boring. 70 00:02:24,239 --> 00:02:26,239 They're filled with technical jargon. 71 00:02:26,239 --> 00:02:28,800 And what I always aspired to do was to 72 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:29,760 take these things and make them 73 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,360 approachable, turn them into a toy. How 74 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,280 can I turn an ant colony into a toy? So 75 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:34,319 other people come in and start 76 00:02:34,319 --> 00:02:35,920 interacting with it. And when players 77 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:37,599 are actually manipulating these things 78 00:02:37,599 --> 00:02:39,680 and building them, they take ownership 79 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,599 and they get so involved, so much more 80 00:02:41,599 --> 00:02:42,959 emotionally connected to these and then 81 00:02:42,959 --> 00:02:44,800 the subject becomes utterly fascinating. 82 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,000 As soon as I built the very first 83 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,080 prototypes of Sim City and I was running 84 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:49,840 a little simulation, it was very coarse, 85 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,720 very crude, but still my interest in 86 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:54,400 urban planning skyrocketed. All of a 87 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:55,840 sudden, you know, oh, this is really 88 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:56,959 cool. I want to find out about traffic 89 00:02:56,959 --> 00:02:58,080 modeling. I want to find out about this, 90 00:02:58,080 --> 00:02:58,959 that, and the other. You know, these 91 00:02:58,959 --> 00:02:59,680 things that would have sounded 92 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,360 incredibly boring to me when I had a 93 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,599 little, you know, guinea pig in my room 94 00:03:03,599 --> 00:03:05,920 to play with. uh became fascinating. 95 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,680 Likewise, you know, other games I did, 96 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:09,440 the Sims was very much influenced by 97 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,120 Christopher Alexander's work in 98 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,280 architecture. So for me personally, I 99 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,200 find a lot of inspiration in books also 100 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,599 in fields I think that are u 101 00:03:17,599 --> 00:03:19,120 interdisciplinary, you know, or things 102 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,360 that are almost controversial. Sim was 103 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,200 very much inspired by James Lovelock's 104 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,040 Gaia hypothesis. It's about the earth 105 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,680 and the way it regulates itself. And you 106 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,120 know, usually that's where the areas of 107 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,040 science are moving the fastest and the 108 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:32,560 most interesting. And those are the 109 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:33,920 things I tended to gravitate toward. 110 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:35,200 This is me personally as a designer. I 111 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,720 think every designer is going to find 112 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,879 their own kind of pallet of inspiration, 113 00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:40,400 their own direction, their own kind of 114 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,400 voice. 115 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,360 When I was starting out in game design, 116 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:52,560 there wasn't this thing around called 117 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,599 the internet. Uh um and actually I had 118 00:03:55,599 --> 00:03:56,959 to go to this place they used to call 119 00:03:56,959 --> 00:03:58,720 libraries where they had these things 120 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,519 called books and uh I would read these 121 00:04:01,519 --> 00:04:03,840 books you know and learn about things 122 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,680 that way. Uh nowadays it's so low 123 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:09,120 friction to go on the web and find 124 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:10,400 anything you want to anything at all 125 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,959 about anything you want to. So I think 126 00:04:12,959 --> 00:04:16,959 that now designers you know have so much 127 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:20,400 more uh so much less friction you know 128 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,919 to do research around an idea that you 129 00:04:23,919 --> 00:04:27,759 know for me it's it's almost magical um 130 00:04:27,759 --> 00:04:29,680 that I can kind of pick any topic and go 131 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:31,600 down any little weird path and find 132 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,600 material about it. On the simulation 133 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:35,199 side, it was really interesting to me to 134 00:04:35,199 --> 00:04:36,400 kind of go back into the history of 135 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,560 simulation, you know, back into the 60s 136 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,560 and 50s and even all the way back to 137 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,199 Bonoyman and Turing and see what they 138 00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:44,880 were trying to do with these super 139 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:46,400 primitive computers. And some of the 140 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:47,360 things they were trying to do were 141 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,360 amazing, you know, way way beyond 142 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,600 anything a computer could do. But they 143 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:52,880 would imagine that one day a computer 144 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,040 could do this, you know, and right now, 145 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,840 you know, my watch has, you know, much 146 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,759 more power than they ever envisioned. 147 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:01,680 you know, at least as a designer, I 148 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:02,960 don't feel like there are any meaningful 149 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,840 limitations beyond my own imagination. 150 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,919 And so I think to me that's, you know, 151 00:05:07,919 --> 00:05:09,600 really the thing that, you know, I have 152 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,199 to kind of flex and exercise and push is 153 00:05:13,199 --> 00:05:16,080 my own imagination. Uh, if I can do 154 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:17,840 that, it's actually pretty 155 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:18,960 straightforward and easy for me to 156 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:20,639 figure out, you know, the research, the 157 00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:22,320 technology, 158 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,639 um, to do it. feels to me like so many 159 00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:26,960 designers always think about and even 160 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,919 communicate their game idea relative to 161 00:05:29,919 --> 00:05:32,720 other games. You know, it's going to be 162 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:34,400 World of Warcraft on the moon, it's 163 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,240 going to be whatever. Uh I think that, 164 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:39,440 you know, there's so much more 165 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,360 opportunity out in the world to take 166 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:42,639 things. You know, you can just take a 167 00:05:42,639 --> 00:05:44,320 rock off the ground and look at it the 168 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:46,560 right way and it has little microbes 169 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,560 competing on the surface for territory 170 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:50,160 and there's sunlight and environmental 171 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:51,440 consideration. you know, you you could 172 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,360 turn that into something fascinating. 173 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,600 Um, you can take almost anything and 174 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,080 look at it the right way, make it a 175 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,199 fascinating interactive experience. 176 00:06:07,039 --> 00:06:08,960 With The Sims, it wasn't really apparent 177 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,080 what I should be researching. But uh as 178 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:13,520 I started digging into the game design, 179 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:14,720 we started getting this thing with the 180 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,400 Sims motives and they had to go to work 181 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,080 and all this stuff, it became pretty 182 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,440 apparent that this is really kind of a 183 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,600 game about time management in some sense 184 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:22,880 on their side. You know, how do you 185 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,639 manage their time to maximize their 186 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:28,160 motives to make them happy? Uh and after 187 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:29,600 quite a bit of digging, I came across 188 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,319 the work of a guy named I think uh James 189 00:06:32,319 --> 00:06:34,319 Robinson and he did all these time 190 00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:35,759 studies of Americans, you know, how they 191 00:06:35,759 --> 00:06:37,199 spent their time. He actually kept logs 192 00:06:37,199 --> 00:06:38,880 every day. They spend 20 minutes of 193 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,759 time, you know, doing their stuff in the 194 00:06:41,759 --> 00:06:43,680 morning to get ready, this amount of 195 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:44,800 time with their kids, this amount of 196 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:46,240 time in front of the TV, you know, and 197 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,240 he actually broke it down and it ended 198 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:49,759 up that we were matching those numbers 199 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:52,160 fairly closely. We took the simulation 200 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,000 and tried to match the real numbers, the 201 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,240 percentage of time that people actually 202 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:57,919 spend doing each of these activities in 203 00:06:57,919 --> 00:07:00,240 the sims. So, that was something that 204 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:01,360 wasn't apparent that, you know, 205 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,199 something we could even research. 206 00:07:03,199 --> 00:07:05,039 another area of research. I forgot the 207 00:07:05,039 --> 00:07:06,880 name of the guy who did this, but he was 208 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:08,240 interviewing all these people about what 209 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:10,240 their most prized possessions were at 210 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,160 different ages. And it was actually 211 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:13,680 quite interesting stuff. Some of which 212 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:14,720 kind of made it into the game, some of 213 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:16,240 which didn't. It turned out that like 214 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,400 for kids and really old people, their 215 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,720 most prized possession was their bed, 216 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,039 you know, and in midlife, you know, and 217 00:07:23,039 --> 00:07:24,880 TV was second. Midlife, it was like 218 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:26,240 their car, their house, all these other 219 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:27,759 things. But it was interesting that the 220 00:07:27,759 --> 00:07:29,360 kids list of their top possessions was 221 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,120 almost the same as like an elderly 222 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,360 person's top possessions. But uh so some 223 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:34,960 of this stuff will kind of become part 224 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,960 of the game or not. But still as 225 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,240 designer if you kind of understand and 226 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,400 absorb all this stuff it helps you kind 227 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:41,759 of think about directions you might take 228 00:07:41,759 --> 00:07:43,440 it or you could take it even if you 229 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,080 don't end up using it. 230 00:07:51,599 --> 00:07:53,199 Even when I'm kind of initially 231 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:55,199 imagining okay I'm make a game about 232 00:07:55,199 --> 00:07:58,720 this thing. Uh I don't start by thinking 233 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,160 what's the game going to be or what's 234 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,000 the game going to be like. I just dive 235 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,599 deeper and deeper into the subject and 236 00:08:03,599 --> 00:08:06,639 the research and then I start trying to 237 00:08:06,639 --> 00:08:08,560 kind of look at the components, you 238 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,479 know, what are the different aspects of 239 00:08:10,479 --> 00:08:13,039 this that are interesting to me and it 240 00:08:13,039 --> 00:08:15,680 might be the process, it might be the 241 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,160 structure, it might be um the science 242 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,120 behind it, uh whatever historical 243 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,039 context from those things I start 244 00:08:23,039 --> 00:08:25,759 imagining, okay, you know, how would I 245 00:08:25,759 --> 00:08:27,599 really like to kind of view this or 246 00:08:27,599 --> 00:08:29,680 manipulate it or play with it or create 247 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:31,599 it? uh you know if this is a piece of 248 00:08:31,599 --> 00:08:34,080 clay you know how do I want to sculpt it 249 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:35,760 what are my tools I started just 250 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:37,440 imagining 10 or 20 different 251 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,360 perspectives on that subject and uh I 252 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:42,880 think the perspectives are far more 253 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,680 valuable than particular um solutions or 254 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:50,560 approaches and so actually after kind of 255 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:52,080 rotating this thing around through 20 or 256 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,240 30 perspectives two or three usually 257 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,320 will start to kind of get traction in my 258 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,399 head and I'll start exploring those a 259 00:08:58,399 --> 00:09:01,360 little bit further So I'm trying to 260 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:02,720 describe something that in my head is 261 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,240 really a much more kind of abstract 262 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,399 process, but that's how it kind of feels 263 00:09:06,399 --> 00:09:09,600 to me. But I in some sense I'm kind of 264 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:11,920 circling the idea and slowly zeroing in 265 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,720 on it. I don't dive right at it, but I 266 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:15,839 sit there and just kind of let it turn 267 00:09:15,839 --> 00:09:17,760 over my mind. I'll sit there and do like 268 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:19,200 this research thinking about it phase 269 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,360 for a year before I even think about 270 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:22,800 what, you know, what kind of game it 271 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,200 might be. And during that time, I will 272 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,040 even, you know, I'll build models of it 273 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,760 or draw pictures of it or try to 274 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,640 recreate it in different forms tangibly. 275 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,560 And that again just kind of puts my 276 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,240 brain in a little bit different spin, a 277 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,320 little bit different perspective. And 278 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,320 all new ideas will pop up, you know, 279 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,080 just as a result of me building a model 280 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,320 of something 281 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,959 spore. The original concept was based on 282 00:09:52,959 --> 00:09:55,920 a couple of things. Uh I did a box 283 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:57,440 design, original box design. It was 284 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,080 actually I called it sim everything. Uh 285 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,839 but there were two things that really 286 00:10:01,839 --> 00:10:04,800 fascinated me especially. Number one was 287 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,000 old uh film Charles Mames powers of 10. 288 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,880 We begin with a scene 1 meter wide. Now 289 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,040 every 10 seconds we will look from 10 290 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,440 times farther away and our field of view 291 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,440 will be 10 times wider. 292 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:18,640 It was the same thing starting with 293 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,040 atomic scale. everyone a powers of 10 294 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:22,959 bigger and bigger and bigger. I love 295 00:10:22,959 --> 00:10:25,600 that idea of scale across the galaxy 296 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,880 across the universe and within that 297 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,200 dimension of scale that the most 298 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,279 interesting thing at every single scale 299 00:10:33,279 --> 00:10:36,240 that we know of is life you know 300 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,160 everything else is fairly deterministic 301 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:42,240 fairly you know uh predictable dry but 302 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,160 life is the one unpredictable aspect in 303 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:45,680 every single skill you know starting at 304 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,240 the cellular level. The other big uh 305 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,959 inspiration was basically astrobiology. 306 00:10:50,959 --> 00:10:52,959 The idea of you know how prevalent is 307 00:10:52,959 --> 00:10:54,800 life out in the galaxy and what forms 308 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,800 might it take. And so it was those two 309 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,560 ideas that came together and I you know 310 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,800 was really thinking about can I tell a 311 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,120 story about the journey of life from the 312 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,000 cellular level up to you know galactic 313 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,720 expansion and make that kind of 314 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,600 game-like like a toy. 315 00:11:41,519 --> 00:11:44,480 As a designer, I I I tend to of go with 316 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,399 my gut feel in terms of that's going to 317 00:11:46,399 --> 00:11:48,399 be something cool and I can't always you 318 00:11:48,399 --> 00:11:52,480 know express exactly on what dimensions 319 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,959 it's going to be cool but I hope that my 320 00:11:54,959 --> 00:11:56,560 instincts will bring me to a place where 321 00:11:56,560 --> 00:11:59,360 a wide range of people will enjoy it and 322 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:00,800 I wasn't always that way. It took me a 323 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,000 while to kind of to realize that when I 324 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,639 was first uh working on Sim City by 325 00:12:06,639 --> 00:12:08,399 myself I showed it to a few people and 326 00:12:08,399 --> 00:12:09,920 they thought it was kind of cool. I 327 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:11,360 showed it to my eventual partner Jeff 328 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,600 Braun and he was like, "Oh yes, we have 329 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:14,720 to do this. Let's start a company." We 330 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:16,959 started Maxis and did Sim City. But in 331 00:12:16,959 --> 00:12:18,160 my mind, even at that point, I was 332 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:19,360 thinking, "Okay, this is a game that 333 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:20,959 maybe a few strategy gamers or 334 00:12:20,959 --> 00:12:22,880 architects maybe might enjoy." It didn't 335 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,240 occur to me that a wide range of people 336 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:26,000 would enjoy that. To Jeff, it did. Jeff 337 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,120 kind of understood that, I think, more 338 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:28,639 than I did. After that, I started 339 00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:30,000 learning to trust my instincts that if 340 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 if I really find this cool for some 341 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000 reason, I'm gravitating toward that. 342 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,320 Just trust that we can find a way to 343 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:37,839 bring other people and they'll enjoy it 344 00:12:37,839 --> 00:12:40,639 as well. Uh it's very hard as a designer 345 00:12:40,639 --> 00:12:42,800 for me to design for somebody else. You 346 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,160 know, this is how that person thinks. 347 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:45,279 This is what they want. This is what 348 00:12:45,279 --> 00:12:47,839 they believe. Uh it's easy to do for 349 00:12:47,839 --> 00:12:49,440 myself and then figure out why am I 350 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,920 enjoying this? Why am I motivated? And 351 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,639 you know what about other people's 352 00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:56,800 thought process will let them see this 353 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,560 and enjoy it and experience it the same 354 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:00,880 way I 1 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,120 Once I have an idea for a game, I start 2 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,519 making prototypes as soon as I can. The 3 00:00:15,519 --> 00:00:17,680 early prototyping is probably the most 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,920 important stage. We're trying to imagine 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:21,760 different types of rules that might be 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,320 applied to the system that we're basing 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,199 the game on. You're basically trying 8 00:00:27,199 --> 00:00:29,279 everything you can think of for how to 9 00:00:29,279 --> 00:00:31,840 turn this concept into a game. Whatever 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:33,760 it takes for you to cheaply get a sense 11 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,440 of that's fun, that's not fun. 12 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:46,480 Well, a prototype is usually 13 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,280 interactive. Not always, but usually. 14 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,520 Uh, and we're taking like some little 15 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:53,520 bit or part of the game that we have a 16 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,680 question about. Should we go this way or 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:57,120 that way? And it might be an interaction 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,320 question. Is it better to have the 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,800 controls work like this or like that? It 20 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,000 might be a visualization or a graphics 21 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,760 question. Should we do this point of 22 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:07,280 view, that point of view? Should it be 23 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,680 this style, that style? Uh, but it's 24 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:10,880 something that we feel like we can't 25 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,200 answer unless we actually touch and play 26 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:14,799 with and interact with a little bit and 27 00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:16,560 even it's just turning the the world 28 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:17,840 around and looking at different, you 29 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:19,680 know, camera angles. And that's when we 30 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:20,640 decide, okay, we're going to build a 31 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:22,240 prototype and we're going to build the 32 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,400 simplest possible thing we can that will 33 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,159 help us answer that question. As I'm 34 00:01:26,159 --> 00:01:27,200 playing with this one little piece in 35 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:28,320 hand and imagining the rest of the 36 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:30,240 experience, can I answer that question? 37 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:31,680 Oh yeah, this would be much better top 38 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,920 down. This would be much better 3D. This 39 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:35,520 would be much better with that kind of 40 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,920 player control. Uh, but it, you know, it 41 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:39,840 really needs to be answering a question 42 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,200 as cheaply as possible. And you don't 43 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:42,320 want to go spend weeks and weeks 44 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:43,759 building this. you want to build the 45 00:01:43,759 --> 00:01:45,200 cheapest, simplest little thing that you 46 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:46,960 can build that you can sit back and say, 47 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,399 "Okay, I'm pretty confident now that we 48 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:50,960 go this way." As we get further in down 49 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,640 the path, it's, you know, can somebody 50 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,240 learn how to use this interface? And we 51 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:55,520 can find out what the failure states 52 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,200 are, how we need to change it to make it 53 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,119 work better. And even further down the 54 00:01:59,119 --> 00:02:00,719 road, it's how engaging is this to 55 00:02:00,719 --> 00:02:03,119 players? And that's a much much more 56 00:02:03,119 --> 00:02:05,840 open-ended question and a much broader 57 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:07,040 range of answers that for certain 58 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:08,319 people, this is very motivating. Most 59 00:02:08,319 --> 00:02:10,000 people, it isn't. or it's somewhat 60 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,440 motivating for a lot of people but if we 61 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:12,879 did this it would be much more 62 00:02:12,879 --> 00:02:14,720 motivating or you know the social 63 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:16,319 component is working well here but not 64 00:02:16,319 --> 00:02:20,319 the individual. So those are much more 65 00:02:20,319 --> 00:02:22,319 uh I'd say subjective in terms of 66 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:24,400 interpreting the results. the very 67 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,720 initial ones are very clear usually in 68 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,680 terms of okay we go with A instead of B 69 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,239 and uh I think you know we think of it 70 00:02:32,239 --> 00:02:35,720 in those terms 71 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:42,319 prototyping can take different forms I 72 00:02:42,319 --> 00:02:43,440 mean sometimes it's cutting up little 73 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:44,800 pieces of paper and these are now game 74 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,239 units and you have you know basically 75 00:02:46,239 --> 00:02:48,000 rules and you can move your thing two 76 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,680 spaces every turn and you might have a 77 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,920 very simple you know turnbased 78 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:53,040 two-player game that you're moving 79 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,720 little pieces of paper round. Other 80 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,360 times it might be uh a more constructive 81 00:02:57,360 --> 00:02:58,720 experience where you're actually drawing 82 00:02:58,720 --> 00:02:59,840 something on a piece of paper and you 83 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:01,360 have rules about how much you can draw 84 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:02,800 and you add up how many things you've 85 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,400 drawn and what the cost is and you're 86 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:05,840 actually doing like your own little kind 87 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,720 of economic bookkeeping alongside of it. 88 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,280 Uh you know what we call paper pro paper 89 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,280 prototyping isn't so much it has to be 90 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,599 paper. It really more means that it's 91 00:03:15,599 --> 00:03:17,280 off the computer. You know you're not 92 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:18,480 really programming but you're doing it 93 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,480 with tangible little objects. One of the 94 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,319 things I tried strong a long time ago 95 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:24,720 was when uh I was first coming up with 96 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:25,840 the game and starting to pitch it 97 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,760 around. I would actually make two or 98 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,000 three different box designs 99 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,640 myself. You know, I just put, you know, 100 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:33,920 printing the stuff out, glue it to the 101 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:36,080 side of a box, put them up there, and 102 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:37,120 show them to people. Which one of these 103 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:38,319 games would you like? It's all the same 104 00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:39,760 game in my mind, but you know, these are 105 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,840 three different ways of kind of uh 106 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:43,280 informing, you know, what the game is 107 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,440 about and presenting it. Uh and in some 108 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,680 sense, that's a marketing prototype. uh 109 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:49,040 and I would see that oh people really 110 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,120 get box B but A and C they don't like it 111 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:52,799 all that would just tell me a little bit 112 00:03:52,799 --> 00:03:54,480 about how somebody initially thinks 113 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:55,599 about this whole idea and which 114 00:03:55,599 --> 00:03:56,720 direction I should go in terms of 115 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,400 communicating it so that's kind of in 116 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,120 some sense a communications prototype uh 117 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,120 you know later on as you start kind of 118 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:04,879 playing with how I present this to the 119 00:04:04,879 --> 00:04:06,480 player or what's the interface you know 120 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:07,599 those are things that are fairly simple 121 00:04:07,599 --> 00:04:08,799 and again sometimes these are things you 122 00:04:08,799 --> 00:04:10,720 can just pull off the shelf and say you 123 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,280 know this game uses control scheme A 124 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:14,799 that one uses control scheme B and 125 00:04:14,799 --> 00:04:16,479 they're both driving tanks which one 126 00:04:16,479 --> 00:04:18,000 feels better as I'm imagining the rest 127 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,280 of my game, which might be completely 128 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:20,720 different than these off-the-shelf 129 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,240 games, but at least in terms of the 130 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:23,759 controls, I can sit there and imagine my 131 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:26,639 game with these controls. So, these 132 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:28,240 prototypes can take any form. It's 133 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,800 anytime you have a question answer and 134 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,160 you feel like if you could build 135 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:33,280 something, whether it's, you know, a 136 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,160 fake box or a control scheme prototype 137 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,000 or even two games off the shelf that 138 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,080 you're playing one little part of, uh, 139 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:41,919 will that help you figure out which 140 00:04:41,919 --> 00:04:44,560 branch down that design tree that you 141 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,800 want to take? 142 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,720 I found that when I make games a lot of 143 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,360 times I it actually helps me to build 144 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,560 real tangible things uh from the game 145 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,240 before I actually build the game. When I 146 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,320 was actually working on the Sims at some 147 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:05,360 point I decided I wanted to have a 148 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:06,400 little neighborhood for the original 149 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,160 Sims and you would pick a house and 150 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:09,360 build a house and you eventually build 151 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:10,720 little houses in the neighborhood. I 152 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,639 actually first built a real model of a 153 00:05:12,639 --> 00:05:15,360 little, you know, few houses and little 154 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,520 landscape. And this is the model I 155 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:18,960 actually built for the Sims. And this is 156 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:20,720 actually the original Sims, what it 157 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:22,400 looked like. So, it was actually a 158 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:24,880 fairly close representation for Sim Ant. 159 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:26,639 I built a giant ant. And for everything 160 00:05:26,639 --> 00:05:28,960 I've made, I've tried to bring it to the 161 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:30,639 tangible, and it helps me think about it 162 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:32,240 in certain ways when I'm actually 163 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:33,759 touching it. And I wonder like in the 164 00:05:33,759 --> 00:05:35,840 game, how can I make it feel tangible? 165 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:37,120 How can I make the player feel like 166 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,400 they're actually touching something real 167 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,280 here? 168 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:47,520 As we start building prototypes, we 169 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:48,960 might find, you know, kind of sweet 170 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:50,479 spots, really fun things. That's a 171 00:05:50,479 --> 00:05:52,080 really cool dynamic, or I like that 172 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,400 tool, or it's really enjoyable making 173 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,280 this thing. Um, then we start figuring 174 00:05:57,280 --> 00:05:58,800 out how can we, you know, take those 175 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,520 really good spots and spread it out 176 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:03,039 through the rest of design and make it 177 00:06:03,039 --> 00:06:05,520 part of the spine. on a game like Spore, 178 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:06,800 you know, we started building some of 179 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,680 the editors very early on and it was so 180 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:11,120 fun building things in the creature 181 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,880 editor, we decided, hey, let's see if we 182 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:14,319 can do a building editor. Oh, that's 183 00:06:14,319 --> 00:06:15,440 cool. Let's see if we can do a vehicle 184 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,199 editor. And so, we decided that the 185 00:06:17,199 --> 00:06:19,759 editors would be, you know, consistent 186 00:06:19,759 --> 00:06:21,039 across all the levels. They would 187 00:06:21,039 --> 00:06:23,280 operate pretty much the same. Uh but 188 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:25,840 each one was its own special thing but 189 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:27,840 yet it was kind of a core activity that 190 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:30,080 kind of gave connection across the 191 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:31,680 different levels because sport really 192 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:33,199 you know otherwise was like five 193 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:34,400 different games that happened to be 194 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,479 connected. Uh but the editors you know 195 00:06:36,479 --> 00:06:38,880 gave kind of thematic consistency across 196 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:40,639 there and player familiarity when I got 197 00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:41,840 to the next level I already knew how to 198 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,160 use the editor. Uh so I think we look 199 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:45,840 for things like that or you know even 200 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:47,759 like the tools in Sim City you know when 201 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:49,039 you're laying down this you know that 202 00:06:49,039 --> 00:06:50,479 tool operates pretty much the same like 203 00:06:50,479 --> 00:06:51,919 you know roads operate almost the same 204 00:06:51,919 --> 00:06:53,680 as the water pipes. You look for things 205 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,120 that you can kind of leverage across the 206 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:56,880 design so once the player learns one 207 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,680 thing they've learned five things uh but 208 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,520 also gives you know kind of a consistent 209 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,240 feel to the whole experience. 210 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:11,840 Well, as a designer, I'm going to look 211 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,680 at these prototypes, interact with them, 212 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,440 you know, and come up with some decision 213 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,280 about where we should go. I don't care 214 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:19,440 what they're built out of. Uh, so 215 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:20,960 typically, depending on the programmer I 216 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,400 was working with, we be they might be 217 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:23,440 very comfortable with their own little 218 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,120 codebase, and they could very rapidly 219 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,960 iterate that. So, from my point of view, 220 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:28,080 whatever was the least amount of 221 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,160 friction for the programmer creating 222 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,560 this uh because the end, I just want to 223 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:33,919 be able to interact with it for a few 224 00:07:33,919 --> 00:07:36,000 hours and then make a decision. and 225 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,199 we're basically going to throw that code 226 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:38,400 away or the programmer might actually 227 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,400 take that codebase and evolve it into 228 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:41,919 the next prototype. There's so many 229 00:07:41,919 --> 00:07:43,120 different programs. It could be, you 230 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,199 know, JavaScript, it could be Unity, it 231 00:07:45,199 --> 00:07:47,360 could be, you know, hardcore C, I don't 232 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,880 care again, but uh that really depends a 233 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:52,560 lot on, you know, the programmer and 234 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:53,840 their familiarity, you know, again, 235 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,440 whatever is going to they can create the 236 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:56,879 fastest possible thing for you at the 237 00:07:56,879 --> 00:07:59,120 least possible cost. So, I'm totally 238 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,440 agnostic in terms of what platform or 239 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,440 codebase it's built in. As a student, 240 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,440 you want to learn prototyping. You know, 241 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,080 again, I would say find some system that 242 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,199 you can program to some degree or script 243 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:13,280 uh whatever you're familiar with and 244 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,000 then imagine how you could actually 245 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:17,360 create some simple interactive 246 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,440 experience with that. Do that a few 247 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,319 times and now start imagining, okay, how 248 00:08:22,319 --> 00:08:23,759 can I make that better? You know, what 249 00:08:23,759 --> 00:08:25,280 questions do I need to answer? You know, 250 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,240 so basically this again is a navigation 251 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,319 instrument for you. It's a compass to 252 00:08:30,319 --> 00:08:31,599 help you figure out I want to go this 253 00:08:31,599 --> 00:08:33,680 way or that way. And just playing with 254 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:36,080 simple rule sets, uh, you can kind of 255 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,000 get a sense of how you navigate the kind 256 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,719 of a tree. 1 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,599 games uh in story I think have a very 2 00:00:15,599 --> 00:00:17,680 interesting relationship with each other 3 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,680 and uh you know I see a lot of game 4 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,279 designers that really are aspiring to be 5 00:00:21,279 --> 00:00:23,840 storytellers uh and I've always thought 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,680 that the coolest stories are always 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:27,119 coming from the players. I mean, it's 8 00:00:27,119 --> 00:00:28,480 nice to have a backstory or here's the 9 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,320 world and all that, but really, you 10 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,320 know, you want every player to basically 11 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:33,840 encounter their own story, create their 12 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,680 own story by what they do in the game. 13 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,200 That's the really interesting story for 14 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,120 me. But as creatures, as organisms, we 15 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,440 are faced uh with this kind of 16 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,920 fundamental dilemma, which is that, you 17 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:48,239 know, we're here, the world's out there. 18 00:00:48,239 --> 00:00:50,320 You know, basically, we have a limited 19 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,079 bubble of experience. Things that we, 20 00:00:52,079 --> 00:00:53,440 you know, know about the world, will 21 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,360 experience directly about the world. 22 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,120 Basically we take this in through our 23 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:58,719 senses. We see the world. We perceive it 24 00:00:58,719 --> 00:01:00,800 in certain ways. Uh it goes into our 25 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:02,320 imagination. You know we actually start 26 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,320 building little models of it. And you 27 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:06,000 know based upon how we interpret the 28 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,840 world around us, it influences our 29 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,240 behavior. You know how we act out there. 30 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,080 Now that limited bubble of experience uh 31 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:15,920 is not really enough to for us to build 32 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,080 very effective models of the world. And 33 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:19,280 it's that experience that we're building 34 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,680 these models of the world from. So over 35 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:23,360 time you know actually through evolution 36 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:24,880 I think we've discovered two other 37 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,520 methods. One is to have toy experiences 38 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,520 where we have symbolic experiences you 39 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,280 know and kind of abstract that back into 40 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:32,880 the real world. The other one is to 41 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,119 learn from other people's experiences. 42 00:01:35,119 --> 00:01:37,200 If my friend the caveman comes back and 43 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,119 says a tiger almost ate me when I left 44 00:01:39,119 --> 00:01:41,040 the cave. I didn't have that experience 45 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,159 but I know the next time I leave the 46 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:43,759 cave I'm going to look out for a tiger. 47 00:01:43,759 --> 00:01:45,520 Uh I was able to learn from his 48 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:46,880 experience without having that 49 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,920 experience directly myself. Now over 50 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:51,680 time through our culture we've come to 51 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,600 call one of these things play these toy 52 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,640 experiences and the other one story. Uh 53 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,240 these are both though fundamentally 54 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,399 educational technologies. I think this 55 00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:02,399 is why we enjoy consuming these things 56 00:02:02,399 --> 00:02:04,320 um because they actually help us build 57 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,159 more elaborate more detailed world 58 00:02:06,159 --> 00:02:08,800 models with a limited experience base. 59 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:10,560 Now story and play I think have a really 60 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,920 kind of interesting uh two sides of coin 61 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:15,840 relationship here. Some of the really 62 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:16,879 cool stories, the ones that really 63 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:19,040 capture your imagination, uh, you can 64 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,000 deconstruct into characters, you know, 65 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,640 worlds, locations, objects. I watch my 66 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:26,480 8-year-old playing, you know, with Star 67 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,400 Wars Legos, and he creates his own 68 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,000 stories with the Stormtroopers and this, 69 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,200 all the components from Star Wars, and 70 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:32,800 he kind of understands that universe, 71 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:34,879 but now becomes kind of a set of things 72 00:02:34,879 --> 00:02:36,959 for him to play with. I think some of 73 00:02:36,959 --> 00:02:38,640 the best games where players have a lot 74 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:40,800 of freedom, creativity, lead to really 75 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,560 cool stories. The games are actually 76 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,640 generating stories as the players play. 77 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,319 So in some sense I think you know really 78 00:02:46,319 --> 00:02:48,080 good stories can generate play and 79 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:49,599 really good play can generate stories. 80 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:50,640 So I think the two are kind of 81 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,160 self-supporting but they are very very 82 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,480 different actually. 83 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:01,360 A lot of times you hear that you know 84 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,280 stories have such a deep emotional 85 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,000 connection uh whereas games are flat. Uh 86 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,040 I don't really think that's true. I 87 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:08,319 think the games really you know haven't 88 00:03:08,319 --> 00:03:10,159 matured as much but I think what it is 89 00:03:10,159 --> 00:03:11,120 is that they have very different 90 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,200 emotional pallets. The emotional pallet 91 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,000 of film is totally based upon empathy. 92 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,680 You know, you can look at characters 93 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,599 these actually simulations on the screen 94 00:03:19,599 --> 00:03:22,080 which we call actors pretending to be 95 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,040 these characters and they're basically 96 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,200 pretending to have emotions and we're 97 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:28,959 empathizing with those emotions and so 98 00:03:28,959 --> 00:03:30,959 when they feel sad we you know feel that 99 00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:33,519 sadness. Uh when they're happy we feel 100 00:03:33,519 --> 00:03:37,280 happy. Um games you know the emotional 101 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,000 pallet is based upon agency. the fact 102 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,680 that I did it, you know, that I'm 103 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,040 responsible, I have accountability, I'm 104 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,640 the one that pushed the joystick in that 105 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,959 direction. So, I think that the kind of 106 00:03:46,959 --> 00:03:48,720 emotions that we can actually get out of 107 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,400 games are very different. Uh things like 108 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,760 guilt, pride, accomplishment, 109 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,680 um teamwork are things I've felt in 110 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:01,840 gaming I've never felt in linear media 111 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:03,200 because they were things that I was 112 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,879 actively involved with. You know, I 113 00:04:04,879 --> 00:04:06,000 remember when I played black and white 114 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,439 the first time and you have this 115 00:04:07,439 --> 00:04:08,959 creature you're doing, you know, 116 00:04:08,959 --> 00:04:10,959 basically raising and you can discipline 117 00:04:10,959 --> 00:04:12,799 it or reward it and I just started 118 00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:14,239 slapping it to see what would happen and 119 00:04:14,239 --> 00:04:16,079 it got really downtrodden and sad and 120 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:18,079 all that. I actually felt so bad even 121 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:19,359 though I knew it was a digital 122 00:04:19,359 --> 00:04:21,759 character. Uh, but I felt so bad and I 123 00:04:21,759 --> 00:04:24,000 felt guilty for having done that. Uh, 124 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,440 there was a much earlier game called 125 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,360 Choplifter where you flew this little 126 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,280 helicopter around. You were rescuing 127 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:30,800 these little tiny people which were 128 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,520 really like 10 pixels high and I'd pick 129 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:34,800 them up in the helicopter and bringing 130 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,639 them out. They'd get out after I rescued 131 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:38,400 them. They jump out the helicopter and 132 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,280 wave at me. And I felt so proud and it 133 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:43,280 was 10 white pixels I'd rescued, you 134 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:45,040 know, but it was just funny that it was 135 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,040 able to kind of tweak that circuit in my 136 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:48,960 head, you know, a feeling accomplishment 137 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,360 and pride. Uh, and again, this is 138 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:52,639 something I've never really felt, you 139 00:04:52,639 --> 00:04:54,000 know, watching a movie. I felt 140 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,080 indirectly you know that some a 141 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,919 character in the movie felt proud or 142 00:04:57,919 --> 00:04:59,840 accomplished or guilty but I didn't 143 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:01,680 directly feel you know I was responsible 144 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,720 for it. So I think that is the primary 145 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,800 distinguishing factor between the 146 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,680 emotional pallet and both. 147 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:17,520 As we were getting closer to finishing 148 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,600 the very first version of the Sims, we 149 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:20,720 were, of course, bringing people in, 150 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:22,800 watching them play it, just observing. 151 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:24,960 And uh, as designers, you know, we were 152 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:26,080 sitting back and watching them play the 153 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,080 game. And as they were playing the game, 154 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:29,440 they were telling each other the story 155 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,120 of what was happening. And it was 156 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:32,800 hilarious. I really enjoyed hearing the 157 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,400 stories, you know, and it was, you know, 158 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:35,520 based upon what was actually happening 159 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:36,960 in the game, but they would elaborate, 160 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,880 they would add details, and they gave it 161 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,880 almost, you know, themes. And it was 162 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:42,800 just fascinating to me how readily 163 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,479 people would build a story around this. 164 00:05:44,479 --> 00:05:46,560 I think it's a fundamental way for us to 165 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,120 convey things to another person uh is 166 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,919 through story. And so we decided that 167 00:05:51,919 --> 00:05:53,440 you know we should at the very last 168 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:54,639 minute we decided we wanted to put a 169 00:05:54,639 --> 00:05:56,240 feature in so players could basically 170 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,800 capture screenshots, write text and 171 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:00,160 basically build a little comic book, 172 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:01,520 little illustrated comic book and then 173 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:02,800 upload it with one click. They didn't 174 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,000 have to know anything about the web. It 175 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,520 was just built into the game. You know 176 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,000 capture a story, write it uh under the 177 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,160 pictures, press a button, it goes on the 178 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:12,000 web. And so we had, you know, a section 179 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,479 of our website with player stories and 180 00:06:14,479 --> 00:06:16,319 became uh immensely popular and 181 00:06:16,319 --> 00:06:17,680 initially it was, you know, kind of 182 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,600 predictable silly stories about 183 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,639 superheroes or whatever. Um, but very 184 00:06:22,639 --> 00:06:25,360 rapidly we started seeing these very uh 185 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,680 heartfelt deep real stories. You know, 186 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,479 there was one of the early ones was a 187 00:06:30,479 --> 00:06:32,160 woman who got out of an abusive 188 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,240 relationship and she was trying to tell 189 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:35,840 that story to inspire other women in the 190 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:39,440 same position. Uh other ones were, you 191 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,160 know, how this guy had a horrible senior 192 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,080 year in high school. Some of these were 193 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,240 just like almost uh rants. One was a 194 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:47,520 rant about how they hated this one 195 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,280 particular Starbucks in New York City 196 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:50,319 because the homeless people would go in 197 00:06:50,319 --> 00:06:52,000 there and drink the cream or I mean just 198 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:53,840 weird things like that. It was amazing 199 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:55,520 that these are people that probably 200 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:56,639 never would have written these things 201 00:06:56,639 --> 00:06:58,319 down at all. You know, they didn't 202 00:06:58,319 --> 00:06:59,759 really have a creative outlet. But once 203 00:06:59,759 --> 00:07:01,840 they started playing the game and they 204 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:02,960 started actually kind of recreating 205 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:04,479 these things and they found how easy it 206 00:07:04,479 --> 00:07:07,360 was to share. And also these people 207 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:08,639 would post these stories and other 208 00:07:08,639 --> 00:07:09,840 people would comment on them, you know, 209 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,240 and rate them. And for all these people 210 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:13,599 who have never once been told they were 211 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:16,080 creative or done anything interesting to 212 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:17,759 just have five people, you know, random 213 00:07:17,759 --> 00:07:19,759 people say that was really cool made 214 00:07:19,759 --> 00:07:21,360 them tremendously motivated. They would 215 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:22,720 go back and do much more elaborate 216 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,160 stories after that. You know, it took 217 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,960 very little uh positive reinforcement um 218 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,440 or recognition for these people then to 219 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,360 dive in, you know, and obviously these 220 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:32,639 people, you know, had things they wanted 221 00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:34,560 to express. So basically this game for 222 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:36,400 them turned into a creative tool, a tool 223 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,280 of self-expression and uh so we later 224 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,039 kind of developed that you know in the 225 00:07:41,039 --> 00:07:42,319 Sims where you're capturing movies and 226 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:43,840 much more elaborate things and of course 227 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,759 alongside of games there's been this 228 00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:48,000 really interesting field of machinima 229 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,520 where people are actually using game 230 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,520 engines to tell stories you know very 231 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,080 very cheaply and so that's something for 232 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,319 the same reason has been growing up 233 00:07:56,319 --> 00:07:57,759 alongside of games and has turned into 234 00:07:57,759 --> 00:08:00,960 its own kind of whole medium. 1 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:10,800 More than anything else, I found the 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,320 psychology to be the really tricky 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:13,920 challenging part of game design. The 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,000 technology is advancing every year. What 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,480 we can do on modern computers makes me 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,000 as a designer feel almost unlimited. You 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,160 know, you can do amazing things on these 8 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,880 electronics. Player psychology though, 9 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,720 human brains are not advancing. They're 10 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:29,039 kind of same they've been 100 years ago. 11 00:00:29,039 --> 00:00:30,960 We have to learn how it works. What are 12 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:32,880 the inner workings of that computer and 13 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:34,480 how can we exploit it and use it, you 14 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,680 know, to our advantage. 15 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:38,960 There's actually a great book, I think 16 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:40,239 it's out of print now. It's called maps 17 00:00:40,239 --> 00:00:43,280 of the mind. Each page was kind of a 18 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,600 visual representation of one 19 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,600 psychological theory. It might be 20 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,280 Maslo's pyramid or Freud and the id. 21 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:53,360 Each one of them was a different way, a 22 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,280 different perspective on the human mind 23 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:56,640 and human psychology and the way it 24 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,239 worked. 25 00:00:58,239 --> 00:01:00,239 Each one is kind of a tool, you know, 26 00:01:00,239 --> 00:01:01,840 and it has its particular purpose and 27 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,600 works well in certain situations and not 28 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,439 well in others. And none of them are 29 00:01:05,439 --> 00:01:07,280 really, you know, the right approach 30 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,360 that I'm going to, you know, religiously 31 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,520 adhere to, but each one contains 32 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:12,880 something valuable that might be of use 33 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:14,640 to me in the future. You know, Maslo's 34 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,080 pyramid turned out to be very useful for 35 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,119 the Sims, for instance. 36 00:01:26,159 --> 00:01:29,159 More 37 00:01:50,799 --> 00:01:54,840 tweet tweet tweet. You la 38 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,160 planet planet. 39 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,480 Aha. Very base core of the Sims had to 40 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,640 do with feeding the uh the motives of 41 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:37,440 the Sims. Hunger, entertainment, sleep, 42 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,080 all those things. Uh we started building 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:41,840 very very simple little prototypes that 44 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:43,440 was just a set of sliders and buttons 45 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,040 like you know press a button for food, 46 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,760 sleep, you know, entertainment and 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,200 basically trying to balance these little 48 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,120 sliders. 49 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:52,560 At some point, you know, we decided, 50 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:53,920 okay, one of the major goals in the Sims 51 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:55,040 would be to have them actually go to 52 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:56,400 work and earn money so you can go out 53 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,840 and buy more junk for your house. Uh 54 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:01,519 now, you know, we basically had a reason 55 00:03:01,519 --> 00:03:03,200 to get all these sliders up to some 56 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:04,560 state that, you know, they go to work in 57 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:06,080 a good state. The better their state is, 58 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:07,680 the more money they earn. So, we're 59 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:09,920 connecting kind of these base motives to 60 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:12,959 the larger aspirations, which is exactly 61 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:17,560 what Maslo's pyramid was all about. 62 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:24,959 The game designer is really kind of 63 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:26,560 playing with the player psychology, you 64 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:28,400 know, by giving them certain freedoms, 65 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,159 certain limitations, certain goal 66 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:32,400 states. you know, you're trying to get 67 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,120 them into a certain motivation within 68 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,280 this little world that you've crafted 69 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,440 and uh make them want to do things or 70 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,200 want to avoid things happening. You 71 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,879 know, you basically kind of want to set 72 00:03:44,879 --> 00:03:46,560 up this structure in their head that 73 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,640 they're motivated to do this and avoid 74 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:50,400 that. But you want to have an 75 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,080 environment where they start feeling 76 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,720 strong motivations for their actions. 77 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,519 And then now it's up to them to kind of 78 00:03:57,519 --> 00:04:00,080 start testing their model against your 79 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:01,439 model. and they start building that 80 00:04:01,439 --> 00:04:03,519 mental model against your game. I think 81 00:04:03,519 --> 00:04:05,040 it was PT Barnum that said something 82 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,640 like uh no entrepreneur ever went broke 83 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,280 uh overestimating the intelligence of 84 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,519 the American public. 85 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:15,120 So kind of my version of that is no game 86 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:16,799 designer ever went wrong by 87 00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:18,959 overestimating the narcissism of their 88 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:22,000 players, you know. And so the more it is 89 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,199 about the player, the more the player 90 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:24,400 celebrated, the more the player is the 91 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,280 center of that universe, um generally 92 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:30,840 the more they like it. 93 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,600 At the very beginning, you know, one of 94 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,199 the 95 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:42,639 chief fundamental components of game 96 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:43,919 design, one of the skills that you 97 00:04:43,919 --> 00:04:46,400 really want to master as a game designer 98 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,040 is the ability to build a mental model 99 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,240 in your player's head. And this is 100 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,960 really kind of an art form. Uh this is 101 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:56,639 something I've learned from magic 102 00:04:56,639 --> 00:04:58,560 actually for magicians is that when a 103 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:00,560 magician is performing a trick. What 104 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:01,759 they're actually doing is they're 105 00:05:01,759 --> 00:05:03,759 getting the viewers, the audience to 106 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:06,720 craft a mental model of what's going on, 107 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,000 but they're getting them to craft 108 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:09,919 exactly the wrong mental model. You 109 00:05:09,919 --> 00:05:11,280 know, such that, you know, you think 110 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:12,639 this is in my hand, you think this is in 111 00:05:12,639 --> 00:05:14,160 my hand, I pull the handkerchief back. 112 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,240 It's not. I've actually through a lot of 113 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,199 different techniques as a magician got 114 00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:21,520 you to build an incorrect mental model. 115 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,199 And then when I do the reveal, you see 116 00:05:23,199 --> 00:05:25,199 that, hey, my middle model was wrong. In 117 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:26,639 fact, what the magician was doing was 118 00:05:26,639 --> 00:05:28,800 some other manipulation over here. And 119 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,199 as a game designer, we take that kind of 120 00:05:31,199 --> 00:05:32,960 approach in some ways. You know, we were 121 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,120 actually having our players interact 122 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:36,960 with little pieces of computer memory 123 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,320 and code and interface buttons, but in 124 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,000 their head, they're building a entirely 125 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,680 different model. There's a world that 126 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,400 they're in with verbs and nouns and 127 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,199 affordances and agency and actions and 128 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:51,280 possibilities and goal states. that's 129 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:52,560 what we're actually building in our 130 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,720 player's head. And so, in some sense, 131 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,280 the game designer is a much more 132 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:02,680 elaborate magician uh doing this. 133 00:06:07,759 --> 00:06:09,440 We're modeling things all the time. You 134 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:10,960 know, you're modeling other people all 135 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,280 the time. I'm imagining what my friend 136 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,479 is thinking about me. I'm imagining what 137 00:06:16,479 --> 00:06:17,840 they know about me. And I try to be 138 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:19,199 consistent with that. So I'm not only 139 00:06:19,199 --> 00:06:21,600 building a model of my friend, but I'm 140 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:23,440 building a model of their model of me. 141 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:25,120 You know, it's recursive. You know, I 142 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:26,880 can kind of remember what they have seen 143 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:28,720 me do, how they see me behave, and I 144 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:29,919 have a very rough sense of what their 145 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:31,520 model of me is. And I try to be 146 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:32,720 consistent with that. So this modeling 147 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,560 is pretty deep and recursive in that 148 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:36,800 sense. Uh you can put any kid in front 149 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:38,080 of a video game and right off the bat 150 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:39,360 they start mashing buttons looking at 151 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,600 what's happening they observe and it's 152 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:43,280 very much the scientific process you 153 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:45,280 know where they're doing hypothesis 154 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:48,400 experiment look at the result go back 155 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,039 refine the hypothesis experiment look at 156 00:06:51,039 --> 00:06:52,720 the result and it's that iterative 157 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:53,919 scientific process that you know and 158 00:06:53,919 --> 00:06:55,759 that is basically model building of a 159 00:06:55,759 --> 00:06:58,479 different sort now you know in building 160 00:06:58,479 --> 00:07:00,400 models we take in a lot of data a lot of 161 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,479 examples and from that we start looking 162 00:07:02,479 --> 00:07:04,960 for patterns in that data and things 163 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,479 that you know are different, things that 164 00:07:06,479 --> 00:07:09,120 are the same and after that we start 165 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:10,800 building abstractions out of that. These 166 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,199 we call schema and basically these are 167 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:15,120 patterns that we see in the world. Any 168 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:16,160 you know kid can tell you the difference 169 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:17,840 between a dog and a cat and that's a 170 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:19,599 schema that we have internally and it's 171 00:07:19,599 --> 00:07:21,120 really a very fine set of features to 172 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,319 distinguish the difference between a dog 173 00:07:22,319 --> 00:07:24,160 and a cat. But it's a schema that we 174 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:25,840 have and so we can look at any new dog 175 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,680 or cat say right off the bat is a dog or 176 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,199 cat against our schema. Now from that we 177 00:07:31,199 --> 00:07:32,960 start building more elaborate things 178 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,639 called models. you know the schema these 179 00:07:34,639 --> 00:07:36,560 patterns now become the components of 180 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,560 the models that we're building and that 181 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:40,560 now influences our behavior you know we 182 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,319 behave against these models you know 183 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:44,160 basically running scenarios that you 184 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:45,440 know should I do this or that should I 185 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,199 get this job or that job should I say A 186 00:07:47,199 --> 00:07:49,120 or B and so all of our behavior really 187 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,440 is based against us playing these models 188 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,160 in our head about what we should do now 189 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,639 schema are really interesting in that we 190 00:07:56,639 --> 00:07:58,319 have schema for so many different things 191 00:07:58,319 --> 00:08:00,639 for instance in a restaurant we have 192 00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:02,240 this rough idea of things that happen 193 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,840 when we go into a 194 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,160 Now, not all these things always happen, 195 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:07,680 but in general, that's a pretty good 196 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,280 schema for what to expect when I walk 197 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,280 into a restaurant. Some of the schema 198 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:12,720 that we are dealing with. 199 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,639 Classification, who are the good guys 200 00:08:14,639 --> 00:08:17,360 and the bad guys? Causality. If you find 201 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,160 a pot of gold, you'll be rich. Empathy. 202 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:21,759 If you see a hungry dog, you feel bad 203 00:08:21,759 --> 00:08:25,280 for it. Agency, if you have control, you 204 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,280 can command your fate. We have schema 205 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,840 for all of these different things. And 206 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,240 you're controlling the player schema in 207 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:33,919 some sense as a designer by what you 208 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:35,360 present them with, how it operates, how 209 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:37,680 it behaves. When I see five turtles 210 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:39,279 commit me in a row and all attack me, I 211 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:40,479 start saying, "Okay, turtles are a bad 212 00:08:40,479 --> 00:08:41,599 thing in this game." You know, that's 213 00:08:41,599 --> 00:08:43,039 the schema I'm building as I play the 214 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:44,480 game, part of the model building. And 215 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,720 games in some sense are generating these 216 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,680 worlds from the models. So a game is 217 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:51,200 really almost the reverse of science. 218 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:52,480 Science is really taking all this data 219 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,160 from the world, compressing it down into 220 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,360 a very concise, small rule set, laws of 221 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,440 physics. games take a very concise 222 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,839 codebase and try to expand it into a 223 00:09:01,839 --> 00:09:03,120 wide range of possibilities that the 224 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:04,320 player is going to encounter in your 225 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,399 game and then the player is trying to 226 00:09:06,399 --> 00:09:08,080 reverse engineer that process and now 227 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,080 build a concise representation of that. 228 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:11,519 So it's really kind of interesting the 229 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:13,120 way these models are coming and going 230 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:14,959 against the data and the operation of 231 00:09:14,959 --> 00:09:16,480 the world. But again, these mental 232 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:18,240 models are key I think for a game 233 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:19,680 designer to realize that's what they're 234 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:22,680 building. 235 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,120 The middle model that we're trying to 236 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,760 create in the player is something that 237 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,760 uh may or may not have a purpose really 238 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,680 for you. You know, I might be building a 239 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:38,320 mental model for some player of Sim City 240 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,640 about how cities work. But I know as a 241 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:42,480 designer of Sim City that that model is 242 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:43,760 not going to be correct. You know, there 243 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,200 are things about Sim City that do not 244 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:46,880 match the real world. 245 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:48,640 uh you know a lot of times games and 246 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,680 filmmakers as well will actually uh 247 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:52,880 build a model that they know is 248 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:54,160 incorrect because that's what the 249 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,360 players expect. You know we uh since 250 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,040 2000 I know that if the nuclear power 251 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:00,399 plant caught on fire there'd be a giant 252 00:10:00,399 --> 00:10:02,720 nuclear explosion which doesn't happen. 253 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,480 It doesn't happen that way. Uh there's 254 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,320 fallout but no nuclear explosion but all 255 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:07,519 the players expected that you know and 256 00:10:07,519 --> 00:10:08,640 when it didn't happen there was like why 257 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,880 didn't it blow up you know so we made it 258 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,120 behave that way you know in movies you 259 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:14,320 know you see people shooting guns all 260 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:15,760 the time and never hitting each other or 261 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,279 cars always blow up and they crash you 262 00:10:17,279 --> 00:10:18,640 know all these things that you know 263 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,320 you're building you know the wrong model 264 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,560 in the player's head compared to reality 265 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:24,320 but as an enjoyable experience you know 266 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:25,680 they kind of expected why didn't the car 267 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,720 blow up you know so I'd say that what is 268 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:30,480 correct is really the open question here 269 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:31,680 you know are you trying to build you 270 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:32,959 know if I'm trying to build a training 271 00:10:32,959 --> 00:10:33,760 simulator 272 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,079 for an airline pilot, then yes, I want 273 00:10:36,079 --> 00:10:38,079 that simulator to actually train them to 274 00:10:38,079 --> 00:10:39,360 build a model of the way that plane 275 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:40,880 really behaves, you know, and that's my 276 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,839 target. Uh, as an entertainment designer 277 00:10:43,839 --> 00:10:46,079 and if I'm designing a city simulator 278 00:10:46,079 --> 00:10:48,079 and you know, most of these players are 279 00:10:48,079 --> 00:10:49,279 not going to be designing a city like 280 00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:50,640 this. In fact, real cities are not 281 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:52,560 designed with one person as the overlord 282 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:53,920 like that. You know, it's much more 283 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,480 political. So, I'm not that concerned 284 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,240 that we take liberties, you know, like 285 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,240 that. 286 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:07,600 As an interactive experience, we want 287 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:08,959 this whole thing to be centered on the 288 00:11:08,959 --> 00:11:11,600 player and, you know, understanding that 289 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,760 every player is different is kind of key 290 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,200 to that. We want every player to be able 291 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:16,399 to take their own path, have some 292 00:11:16,399 --> 00:11:19,600 freedom, agency within our games. Uh, so 293 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:21,120 we need to start thinking about, you 294 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,560 know, how the players see themselves, 295 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:24,560 you know, their identity. Now, 296 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,640 everybody, you know, kind of wraps a lot 297 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:28,800 of things around who they are. when you 298 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,160 present yourself to other people 299 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:31,839 depending on the context there's a place 300 00:11:31,839 --> 00:11:33,519 where you live your neighbors you know 301 00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:36,320 I'm from Ohio whatever it is your job 302 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,720 your profession your skill set hobbies 303 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,959 things that you do or brands products 304 00:11:40,959 --> 00:11:42,399 that you you know maybe have some 305 00:11:42,399 --> 00:11:44,640 allegiance to all these things 306 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,279 components of your identity and you know 307 00:11:47,279 --> 00:11:48,959 when you're interacting with other 308 00:11:48,959 --> 00:11:50,640 people you know these are ways in which 309 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,240 you kind of mark yourself you know you 310 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:53,920 kind of surround yourself with these 311 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:55,600 things saying you know this is part of 312 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,720 what defines who I am Now we actually 313 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,560 have you know a lot of very personal 314 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,920 aspects to our identity but also we have 315 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:05,360 communities that we live in you know 316 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,120 sometimes real geographic communities 317 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,360 other times online communities some of 318 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:10,959 these are based upon location some are 319 00:12:10,959 --> 00:12:13,760 based upon interest profession uh and 320 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,600 then there's the world around us you 321 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:17,200 know that we all kind of share you know 322 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,200 what's going on in the wider world it's 323 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:20,800 almost like this target with successive 324 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:22,880 rings going outward the innermost ring 325 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,240 being the most personal the thing that 326 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:26,639 most defines me as most unique going to 327 00:12:26,639 --> 00:12:28,079 the very general. We all live in the 328 00:12:28,079 --> 00:12:31,760 same world. Now, we find that uh as 329 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,160 players get into games, you know, they 330 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,160 kind of all come in like in the same 331 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:37,760 way. They're all kind of casual players. 332 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:38,720 I'm going to check this out, see what 333 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:39,920 it's like. Some people really get into 334 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:41,760 it, you know. Uh other people might play 335 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:42,800 it for a little while, put it aside. 336 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,880 This game isn't for me. But the players 337 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,560 that kind of keep going down that path 338 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:50,880 into your game, uh have a trajectory and 339 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:52,399 depending on what kind of game it is, 340 00:12:52,399 --> 00:12:54,399 you know, they can take different paths 341 00:12:54,399 --> 00:12:56,320 into that. uh what a lot of times 342 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,880 becomes a community. For the Sims, we 343 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:00,800 actually had a lot of casual players 344 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:02,160 started to turn into what we called 345 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:03,839 collectors. They would go on the web and 346 00:13:03,839 --> 00:13:05,440 they found a lot of other people had 347 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,200 made objects or characters that they 348 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:08,399 could download into their game. And so 349 00:13:08,399 --> 00:13:09,600 they would start collecting specific 350 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:11,200 things. You know, some people would 351 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:12,320 actually kind of specialize their 352 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,720 collections. I want to do Wild West 353 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,760 stuff or Star Wars things or whatever it 354 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,480 is. Other people were actually the ones 355 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:21,920 starting to kind of build these 356 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,760 collections on their websites. And at 357 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:24,959 first they would make a few objects, 358 00:13:24,959 --> 00:13:26,560 make a website, but then other people 359 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:27,680 would start contributing to their 360 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:29,200 website. Some of these websites grew 361 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,839 very large and even became subscription. 362 00:13:31,839 --> 00:13:33,440 People were paying money just to 363 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,200 download content from that other players 364 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,160 had created and the core creators that 365 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:39,279 were doing the really cool stuff were 366 00:13:39,279 --> 00:13:40,800 the ones kind of feeding these websites. 367 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:42,800 So there was kind of an ecology that was 368 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,480 happening here over time as the player 369 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,560 got more and more involved, you know, 370 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:48,000 and they became more and more part of 371 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:49,040 their identity. The ones that were 372 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:49,839 actually creating this stuff for the 373 00:13:49,839 --> 00:13:51,519 sums, this was their hobby. They spent 374 00:13:51,519 --> 00:13:53,920 many hours doing this stuff and you know 375 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:55,440 it's kind of how they saw themselves as 376 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,920 a creator of stuff for this game. In a 377 00:13:57,920 --> 00:13:59,040 lot of ways it's kind of like an 378 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,519 ecological pyramid and the numbers kind 379 00:14:01,519 --> 00:14:03,519 of decrease as you go up. But there's 380 00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:05,360 also a base to that pyramid that's 381 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,120 supporting the upper people. The 382 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,519 creators the very skilled people who are 383 00:14:09,519 --> 00:14:11,839 making cool things are supported by this 384 00:14:11,839 --> 00:14:14,480 very wide base of casual players. 385 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,760 There's flow within this ecology of 386 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:19,519 recognition. the casual players are 387 00:14:19,519 --> 00:14:20,800 saying, "Oh, that person's stuff is the 388 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:22,560 best, or this is the coolest website." 389 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,240 And that's what was fueling the people 390 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,800 building these things. They just liked 391 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,800 having that recognition. 392 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,600 That whole thing has given rise to 393 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,680 fairly large online communities around 394 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,639 games. And these communities, a lot of 395 00:14:36,639 --> 00:14:38,560 times, the people involved these 396 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:39,600 communities don't even play the game 397 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:41,040 anymore. That's actually kind of 398 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:42,639 interesting to me is that the people 399 00:14:42,639 --> 00:14:44,079 that were doing the Sims for instance, 400 00:14:44,079 --> 00:14:45,440 some of them were running big websites, 401 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:46,959 creating all this stuff and they hadn't 402 00:14:46,959 --> 00:14:48,560 played the game in, you know, months or 403 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,560 years, you know, but still these are 404 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:51,839 people they knew, they had 405 00:14:51,839 --> 00:14:53,680 relationships, they had a place in this 406 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,600 community, they had a recognition, they 407 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,480 had uh reputation and for a lot of 408 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,160 people this, you know, these games 409 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,320 become kind of a hook into a social 410 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,160 network of sorts or different types of 411 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:05,519 social networks. And there are other 412 00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:06,639 games that are more competitive where 413 00:15:06,639 --> 00:15:07,839 they're actually playing, you know, 414 00:15:07,839 --> 00:15:10,160 professional sports like in these games 415 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:11,519 and their whole leagues and things like 416 00:15:11,519 --> 00:15:14,320 that. So these games for a lot of people 417 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,760 became a doorway into these communities 418 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,440 which now becomes a very integral part 419 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,360 of their identity, which is kind of a 420 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:23,279 different thing than having the game 421 00:15:23,279 --> 00:15:24,560 just be focused on what the player's 422 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,880 doing in the game. But now the game is 423 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,040 kind of part of how they think about 424 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,560 themselves and how they present 425 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,279 themselves to the world. 426 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:40,880 I've heard a lot of stories from players 427 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:42,480 about how they've taken their game 428 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,959 experiences and how it's, you know, 429 00:15:44,959 --> 00:15:47,600 changed their life. Uh for some people, 430 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,240 they became storytellers. You know, they 431 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:51,600 started making a few stories either 432 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,040 machinima or whatever, uploaded it and a 433 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,399 lot of people liked it and love their 434 00:15:56,399 --> 00:15:58,160 style or the stories they told and so it 435 00:15:58,160 --> 00:15:59,519 kind of really pushed them into creative 436 00:15:59,519 --> 00:16:01,759 writing or filmm. Other people I've 437 00:16:01,759 --> 00:16:02,800 talked to a lot of people actually who 438 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:03,920 played some city went into civil 439 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,160 engineering you know just because they 440 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:07,920 enjoyed dealing with that kind of 441 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:09,600 system. Other people that have gone into 442 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:11,519 biology because of you know semant 443 00:16:11,519 --> 00:16:13,440 things like that. So sometimes it's 444 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,079 motivational and in fact in education I 445 00:16:16,079 --> 00:16:18,800 think the fundamental issue we have in 446 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,360 education isn't so much how we teach 447 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,519 kids but it's how we motivate kids. If 448 00:16:23,519 --> 00:16:25,920 you can get a kid motivated in a subject 449 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,440 they have plenty of resources you know 450 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,600 to go learn it on their own. Uh, in 451 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,199 fact, you know, I have three boys at 452 00:16:31,199 --> 00:16:32,399 home and they're learning more on 453 00:16:32,399 --> 00:16:33,519 YouTube right now than they are in 454 00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:35,600 school by far. And they're following 455 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:36,800 their own interests. You know, once they 456 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:38,240 get motivated, you know, my 8-year-old 457 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:39,759 wants to learn about Minecraft and he 458 00:16:39,759 --> 00:16:41,920 finds these Minecraft videos and he can 459 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:43,600 learn at his own pace exactly what he 460 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:45,440 wants to learn. So, once you can get 461 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,519 them motivated about something, uh, just 462 00:16:47,519 --> 00:16:50,320 get out of the way, basically. Uh, I 463 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,279 think that's the key. 1 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,240 One thing that game designers really 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,799 should know is that, you know, it's 3 00:00:14,799 --> 00:00:16,560 about the player. You know, it's a 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:18,240 player centered experience and the 5 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:19,760 player is the one driving that 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:20,880 experience. You know, it's the 7 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,320 difference between being on a roller 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,240 coaster and being in a car behind the 9 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:26,800 steering wheel. Uh, now that player, 10 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:27,840 because they're holding the steering 11 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:29,119 wheel, they're responsible for where 12 00:00:29,119 --> 00:00:31,359 they go. they have choice, they have uh 13 00:00:31,359 --> 00:00:33,920 decisions to make and because of that 14 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,880 they take ownership and that totally 15 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:38,640 changes their relationship to whatever 16 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,079 it is. You know, the fact that they were 17 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:41,760 the ones that decided to steer left or 18 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:43,600 right and because it went off the cliff, 19 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,920 it was their fault or because they, you 20 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,200 know, won the lottery, they did it 21 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,039 because they picked those numbers. So, I 22 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:51,200 think that uh that's the first and 23 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:52,719 foremost thing is that when somebody 24 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,079 feels like they're in control of a 25 00:00:54,079 --> 00:00:57,760 process, um they own it and it now has a 26 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,320 fundamentally more personal connection 27 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,640 to them than something that's one 28 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,559 sizefits-all. Here's the ride. Get on 29 00:01:04,559 --> 00:01:08,280 it. Hope you enjoy it. 30 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:16,000 Flow is kind of a state that the player 31 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,439 can get into. And I think of it as 32 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:20,799 basically something that's right at the 33 00:01:20,799 --> 00:01:23,280 limit of your abilities. Uh it's pushing 34 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,600 you mentally, you know, but it's not too 35 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,119 easy, not too hard. If it's too hard, it 36 00:01:27,119 --> 00:01:29,280 seems random. It seems arbitrary. It's 37 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,439 frustrating. Uh if it's too easy, it's 38 00:01:31,439 --> 00:01:33,439 predictable. It's boring. Flow is 39 00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:34,880 putting you right on that edge of your 40 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,119 abilities and really testing them. I 41 00:01:37,119 --> 00:01:38,799 used to actually race cars and there was 42 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:40,479 kind of a rule of thumb in racing that 43 00:01:40,479 --> 00:01:41,840 if you didn't crash 10% of the time, you 44 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:43,600 weren't trying hard enough. You need to 45 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,759 design the game such that failure is 46 00:01:45,759 --> 00:01:47,119 interesting and understandable. so that 47 00:01:47,119 --> 00:01:48,960 you go back and say, "Aha, now I need to 48 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,720 avoid the turtles or whatever it is in 49 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,439 the game. And then you kind of build and 50 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:55,439 grow that model, but also you're 51 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:58,240 building your ability to problem solve 52 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,560 and strategize. Every player is going to 53 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,159 be different. Different abilities, 54 00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:04,719 different skill sets. Uh, in a lot of 55 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:06,159 ways, you want to make the game such 56 00:02:06,159 --> 00:02:08,080 that the player is the one adjusting the 57 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:09,920 difficulty. You know, they can choose to 58 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:11,440 go a little bit further, try for this 59 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,200 harder thing or stick with the easy 60 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,239 stuff until they're more comfortable. 61 00:02:14,239 --> 00:02:16,000 So, in some sense, a lot of it can be 62 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,480 kind of player paced. Uh, there are more 63 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:20,319 advanced systems that are called DDA or 64 00:02:20,319 --> 00:02:22,319 dynamic difficulty adjustment where the 65 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:23,520 computer behind the scenes is kind of 66 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:24,720 watching what the player's doing, and if 67 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:26,319 they're failing too much, the computer 68 00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:27,920 can actually lower the difficulty level 69 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:29,280 or increase it, you know, if they're not 70 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:31,120 being challenged enough. But in a lot of 71 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:32,480 games, you know, by giving the player 72 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,879 enough freedom, but also enticing them 73 00:02:34,879 --> 00:02:36,319 to try for the hard things. You know, if 74 00:02:36,319 --> 00:02:37,680 you try for this harder thing, you might 75 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,440 get this bigger reward. So, at that 76 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:40,800 point, the player can kind of choose 77 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,800 their own level and put themsel in the 78 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,599 flow state. 79 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,280 There is a whole topic known as 80 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,000 failure-based learning you know and you 81 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,760 know we have this you know failure is a 82 00:02:57,760 --> 00:02:59,840 loaded term and that we think of no 83 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,560 failure is bad I don't want to fail uh 84 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,360 there was a great story I heard it was a 85 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,200 art teacher in an art class it was 86 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:09,440 actually a pottery class and at the 87 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:10,959 beginning of his class the beginning of 88 00:03:10,959 --> 00:03:12,959 the year he did divided the class into 89 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:13,840 two halves 90 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,920 And the first half he said, "Okay, your 91 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,000 final grade is going to be based upon 92 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,519 one pot that you make. I want you to 93 00:03:19,519 --> 00:03:20,959 make the best pot you can possibly make, 94 00:03:20,959 --> 00:03:22,159 and your grade is going to be based upon 95 00:03:22,159 --> 00:03:24,080 that." The other half of the class, he 96 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:25,599 said, "Okay, your grade is going to be 97 00:03:25,599 --> 00:03:27,120 based on how many pots you make. I don't 98 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:28,879 care how bad they are, just the more you 99 00:03:28,879 --> 00:03:30,959 make, the better your grade." At the end 100 00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:32,400 of the year, of course, it turns out 101 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,080 that the half of the class that was 102 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:35,920 building the most pots were also 103 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,080 building the best ones by far. They had 104 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:39,760 built so many bad pots and had iterated 105 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,000 so many times. They learned very rapidly 106 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,760 and by the end of the class they were 107 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:45,599 building these amazing pots. Whereas the 108 00:03:45,599 --> 00:03:46,959 other half that was spending all their 109 00:03:46,959 --> 00:03:48,239 time thinking about the one pot that 110 00:03:48,239 --> 00:03:50,080 they were going to build you know never 111 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,480 got anywhere. So it was the failure that 112 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:54,159 accelerated their learning on the other 113 00:03:54,159 --> 00:03:56,799 half. You know when players play games 114 00:03:56,799 --> 00:04:01,040 again they are failing most of the time. 115 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,720 And again, if you can make that 116 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,280 understandable, humorous, enjoyable in 117 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,000 some way, 118 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,080 then that can be an enjoyable process, 119 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,840 especially when you get past that first 120 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,400 failure to the next level. 121 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,280 pass it on. 122 00:04:27,919 --> 00:04:30,479 So, as a designer, we're constructing 123 00:04:30,479 --> 00:04:32,720 this middle model in the player, and 124 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,280 it's important that we ramp that model 125 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,919 up smoothly and gradually for the 126 00:04:37,919 --> 00:04:39,840 player. You don't want to pile all this 127 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:40,960 complexity on them right at the 128 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:42,000 beginning of the game. It's 129 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,759 overwhelming. to actually present them a 130 00:04:43,759 --> 00:04:45,440 simpler model. They can start building 131 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,160 from that simple model layers and layers 132 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,400 of complexity onto it in their head as 133 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:51,600 they encounter more and more things in 134 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:53,600 the game either through you know more 135 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,960 elaborate uh world items, monsters, 136 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,080 opponents, abilities, tools, whatever. 137 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,320 So the designer in some sense is 138 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:04,080 responsible for ramping that model in 139 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,800 the player's head. Now, when you're 140 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,400 playing an interactive experience, 141 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:09,600 you're actually going through this set 142 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,960 of kind of nested loops of success and 143 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:14,639 failure. When you first start playing 144 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:16,320 Mario, you start mashing the buttons and 145 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:17,680 you find out that that button makes him 146 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:19,680 jump. This control makes him move, you 147 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,479 know, side to side. Uh, about 10 seconds 148 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:23,759 for you to kind of figure that out. So, 149 00:05:23,759 --> 00:05:25,199 there's a kind of 10 seconds I don't 150 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:26,960 know how to control Mario. Then, I 151 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:28,240 succeed and finally know how to control 152 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,000 him, which brings me kind of the next 153 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,440 level of interaction, which is maybe a 154 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:32,960 more a minute. I start encountering 155 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:34,400 objects in the world. Is that good? Is 156 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,720 that bad? I learned from that. And then 157 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:38,400 you go from kind of the very tactical, 158 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,039 very granular to longer and longer loops 159 00:05:41,039 --> 00:05:43,520 of success and failure. Now, at every 160 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:44,560 level, you're probably going to 161 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,639 encounter failure. And the failure 162 00:05:46,639 --> 00:05:48,720 actually is something that uh most 163 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:49,759 people are spending most of their time 164 00:05:49,759 --> 00:05:52,720 in a game failing really uh at different 165 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,960 ways in different loops here. And it's 166 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,240 not that you don't want the player to 167 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:57,840 encounter failure, but you want them to 168 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:00,560 understand the failure and build a model 169 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:01,919 around that failure so that next time 170 00:06:01,919 --> 00:06:03,120 they will succeed. That's part of the 171 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:04,880 motivation is now I understand that 172 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:06,720 that's good and that's bad. Next time I 173 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,360 will not get stuck by that. Let me uh 174 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:10,800 show you an example of that on the 175 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,280 whiteboard here 176 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:20,400 in a game like the Sims. You know, 177 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:21,919 basically you have little characters 178 00:06:21,919 --> 00:06:24,479 that you're controlling here and uh 179 00:06:24,479 --> 00:06:25,919 initially you need to understand first 180 00:06:25,919 --> 00:06:27,199 of all just how to make them move and 181 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:28,960 walk around and interact with things, 182 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,319 you know. So in some sense that's kind 183 00:06:30,319 --> 00:06:31,840 of like the very first game loop we're 184 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,240 dealing with here. Um on one side of 185 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,360 that you know is failure 186 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,120 and you know this is me not being able 187 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,440 to control my character and once I learn 188 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:42,800 how to make them walk around interact 189 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,720 with things you know then I've succeeded 190 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,080 and uh this is you know it's called 191 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,160 interaction loop you know after that you 192 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:53,360 know I start dealing with they have 193 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,440 these little needs they get hungry they 194 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,600 get tired they want social they want 195 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,080 entertainment and those things fail so 196 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:01,759 right off the bat you know they're 197 00:07:01,759 --> 00:07:03,599 sitting there and they're crashing on 198 00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:05,440 energy, they're bored, they're basically 199 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,160 unhappy. And so the next level loop I 200 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:09,199 really have to kind of do is figure out 201 00:07:09,199 --> 00:07:10,880 how to bring their happiness up. So 202 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,319 that's kind of like the happy loop. And 203 00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:13,840 that's a little bit longer time scale. 204 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,680 You know, that takes several minutes 205 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,680 within the Sims. And again, you know, 206 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,120 there's kind of a success side to that 207 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:21,199 and a failure side to that loop. Now, 208 00:07:21,199 --> 00:07:22,720 there also things, you know, within 209 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,080 these loops and we kind of keep going. 210 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:24,880 You know, the next one might be 211 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:26,400 economic. at some point they want to 212 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:27,759 start improving their house, getting a 213 00:07:27,759 --> 00:07:30,160 job, getting skills, you know, so let's 214 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,639 call that jobs, you know, and that's an 215 00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:35,840 even longer loop here. Uh, but a lot of 216 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:37,520 games like the Sims or creative games, 217 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,000 you know, also involve uh basically 218 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,000 orthogonal creativity, you know, so in 219 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,039 addition to playing the game, in 220 00:07:43,039 --> 00:07:44,080 addition to kind of dealing with all 221 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,560 these game loops, um, I'm doing just 222 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,000 weird stuff like telling a story with 223 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,319 this or trying to replicate my family or 224 00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:51,919 just exploring, seeing, I wonder if my 225 00:07:51,919 --> 00:07:53,520 Sim can do that. And so there are 226 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,599 probably, you know, other loops that are 227 00:07:55,599 --> 00:07:57,440 uh in a different dimension really than 228 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,840 this, kind of more like there that don't 229 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:01,680 have a lot to do with me succeeding on 230 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,400 the overall game success curve, but have 231 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,000 more to do with the player exploring 232 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,199 their own creativity, their own 233 00:08:07,199 --> 00:08:09,120 expressiveness. And some players, you 234 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,840 know, get totally invested in this uh 235 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:13,840 and eventually start ignoring that, you 236 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,720 know, but most games have some version 237 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:18,080 of these different loops, you know, and 238 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,400 it might be uh learn to shoot, then 239 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,479 learn to unlock the door, then learn to 240 00:08:22,479 --> 00:08:24,960 defeat the evil boss at the end. You 241 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,800 know, this is pretty much, you know, the 242 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,639 same graph of the player building up 243 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:30,479 this mental model. So the players, you 244 00:08:30,479 --> 00:08:32,320 know, model, the player is up here 245 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,680 controlling this game and, you know, in 246 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:38,320 their head, you know, they're basically 247 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,080 building this mental model, you know, 248 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,200 kind of one layer at a time 249 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,839 of your game. And those layers of that 250 00:08:45,839 --> 00:08:47,360 model are very much aligned to these 251 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,000 interaction layers. 252 00:08:55,839 --> 00:08:57,360 as players are going through these loops 253 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,040 and slowly building this model, you 254 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,360 know, uh, you know, again, really it's 255 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:02,880 that most of what they're going to 256 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:04,959 experience is failure again and again 257 00:09:04,959 --> 00:09:06,880 and again, which doesn't sound very fun, 258 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,720 but it's the game designer's job to 259 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:10,160 present that in a way that it's 260 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,120 entertaining and informative and that 261 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,200 it's not frustrating. Uh, I don't want 262 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:16,720 to be failing on, you know, exactly the 263 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:17,920 same thing over and over and over, 264 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:19,760 especially when I know why I'm failing. 265 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,279 uh some games, you know, some platform 266 00:09:21,279 --> 00:09:23,200 games, you have to time it exactly right 267 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:24,720 and it's really hard and those kind of 268 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,480 get very frustrating, you know, when you 269 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:27,680 know that you have to acquire the skill 270 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,200 and you can't quite acquire it. So, 271 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,360 you're not failing uh because you don't 272 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,120 know what you need to do. It's just that 273 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:34,480 it's so hard for you to kind of get into 274 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:36,240 that skill set, that sweet spot for some 275 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,720 people, it becomes frustrating. So, when 276 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:40,240 somebody fails in a game, you want it to 277 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,600 be understandable. You want to be 278 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:42,880 something that they can overcome once 279 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,920 they understand it. Uh also again humor 280 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,880 you know can be a great tool uh to 281 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:50,800 alleviate the frustration. You know when 282 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:52,720 somebody fails in a certain very basic 283 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,880 thing in the game. Uh sometimes you want 284 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,760 to actually have a variety of failure 285 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,320 states that become humorous. So at least 286 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:01,760 when they're failing again and again and 287 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:03,680 again um it's not exactly the same 288 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:04,959 repetition over and over. You know you 289 00:10:04,959 --> 00:10:06,320 might just have different animations for 290 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,480 the same failure. Uh but again humor I 291 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:10,480 think can be a great tool here. But um 292 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,320 if presented right, you know, players 293 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:14,079 get very motivated when they understand 294 00:10:14,079 --> 00:10:16,079 why they failed to then go back and do 295 00:10:16,079 --> 00:10:19,240 it again. 296 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,079 The kind of games I tend to make uh tend 297 00:10:26,079 --> 00:10:29,040 to be more system level games and you 298 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,360 know they frequently like you know Sim 299 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:32,640 City or the Sims involve you 300 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:34,800 constructing something that you know 301 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,600 gets more and more elaborate over time. 302 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,760 uh as you achieve success and your city 303 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,640 grows or your Sims, you know, get more 304 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:44,959 stuff in their house, uh you're adding 305 00:10:44,959 --> 00:10:47,600 more complexity to their world, uh you 306 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,040 know, in the Sims, there's kind of this 307 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,760 promise that, oh, you buy this crap for 308 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,440 your Sims and it'll make them happy. Get 309 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,839 them a big screen TV here or better bed 310 00:10:55,839 --> 00:10:58,000 there. But in some sense, as you acquire 311 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,120 more and more of these items, they 312 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,320 become time bombs. Each one of these 313 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:01,920 things has a failure state or some 314 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:03,600 maintenance requirement or whatever. So, 315 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,040 as you fill your house with all this 316 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:06,800 junk, what you're really doing is these 317 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:08,560 things are potential time syncs down the 318 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:10,640 road which add complexity to their world 319 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:12,160 and make it much more difficult to play 320 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:13,760 the game. Same in Sim City, you know, 321 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,600 first you're just, you know, zoning a 322 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:16,720 few little plots of land and building a 323 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:18,160 few roads and you see a few things pop 324 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:19,680 up and pretty soon they need power. 325 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:21,040 Okay, you give them power. Now they need 326 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:22,560 water. Now they want a school. Now they 327 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:24,399 want a hospital. Now, you know, and so 328 00:11:24,399 --> 00:11:26,560 as they make progress in the game and 329 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:28,560 the system is growing, the complexity is 330 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:31,360 growing as well. And so it's a very 331 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,760 natural smooth ramp in complexity. It's 332 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,519 not like, okay, you finished level one, 333 00:11:35,519 --> 00:11:37,200 now here's level two where we're adding 334 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,360 two more rules. It's, you know, very 335 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:40,959 smoothly based upon and in some sense 336 00:11:40,959 --> 00:11:42,640 the player's asking for it. You know, as 337 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:44,240 the player, you know, gets their city to 338 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:45,760 that size, of course, they need a 339 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,560 hospital now. So it totally fits in. It 340 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:49,839 doesn't feel arbitrary either. It kind 341 00:11:49,839 --> 00:11:53,959 of feels natural in that way. 342 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,000 It's not just how much difficulty is in 343 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,320 the path, but also how many paths are 344 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,160 there. You know, I think that the really 345 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:07,760 interesting games are ones that allow 346 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:09,440 different paths towards some kind of 347 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,600 success. And in particular, the kind of 348 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,399 games I do don't even make success that 349 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:16,000 explicit. You know, in the Sims, you can 350 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,600 decide you want them to have a good job 351 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,120 or want them to be happy. Same in Sim 352 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:20,160 City, you can want, you know, the 353 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:21,600 biggest city you can build or the 354 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,600 happiest residence or least crime. So in 355 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:25,040 some sense, the player is choosing the 356 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,040 goal state. Now, each one of these goal 357 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:28,160 states is going to have kind of a 358 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,800 different path of difficulty. And so for 359 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,560 me, it's more about there's a landscape 360 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,120 here of paths that the player can take. 361 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,680 And each one has different peaks, but 362 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:39,200 none of these have a cliff where you hit 363 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:40,240 the cliff and all a sudden, you know, 364 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:41,600 now it's really hard to get up. You 365 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,120 know, they all have kind of different 366 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,839 moderations of slope up those 367 00:12:45,839 --> 00:12:48,399 achievement peaks. And that's something 368 00:12:48,399 --> 00:12:51,600 that, you know, again, it's really hard. 369 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,120 It's an emergent property. So, it's very 370 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:54,639 hard to just say, "Okay, here's how we 371 00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:56,880 code that." Uh, a lot of times players 372 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,120 will find exploits around it or it'll 373 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:00,560 turn out that, you know, again, pressing 374 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:02,880 the red button is not that obvious. So, 375 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,480 this is again something we actually will 376 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:05,760 capture metrics on. We will actually 377 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:06,959 have a lot of people as we start getting 378 00:13:06,959 --> 00:13:08,160 more and more testers, we're capturing 379 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:09,839 metrics. How long is somebody spinning 380 00:13:09,839 --> 00:13:11,920 in that stage or this stage? How many 381 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:13,600 people are failing on this point or that 382 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,680 point? And so, that's stuff that you all 383 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:18,000 want to make fairly parametric that you 384 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,480 can adjust fairly granularly in testing. 385 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,120 Rewards in the game can come in many 386 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,680 forms. Uh, you know, there's just the 387 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:33,120 advancement, how far did I get in the 388 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:34,959 game? Or there's special abilities that 389 00:13:34,959 --> 00:13:36,720 you might gain that now allow you to 390 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:37,920 achieve things you could not achieve 391 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,639 before. Uh, I think sometimes rewards 392 00:13:40,639 --> 00:13:43,279 are a little uh overly relied upon. You 393 00:13:43,279 --> 00:13:44,320 know, when you have power-ups and stuff 394 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,240 in a game, it's just it gets, you know, 395 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:48,399 wrote, boring, a little too obvious. I 396 00:13:48,399 --> 00:13:49,600 think a lot of the really interesting 397 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:51,360 player rewards are things that they 398 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:52,800 think they came up with themselves or 399 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:54,800 they discovered this thing in the game. 400 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,720 Uh and I think discovery is a huge part 401 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,800 of this is that if you leave areas of 402 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,279 the game uh that are maybe closed off to 403 00:14:01,279 --> 00:14:03,440 the player, but at some point you just 404 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,040 open one of these little gates and let 405 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:06,320 them see that hey, there's a lot of 406 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,240 stuff hidden in here if you look a 407 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:09,440 little bit deeper or try a little bit 408 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,720 harder. And players love that. you see 409 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,320 things, you know, people playing Grand 410 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:15,839 Theft Auto or whatever, and they manage 411 00:14:15,839 --> 00:14:17,440 to get on top of places they weren't 412 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,880 supposed to be able to or do things, 413 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,199 exploits. Uh then of course they they 414 00:14:21,199 --> 00:14:22,560 make a movie of it and it becomes kind 415 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,480 of a machinimo of sorts. I remember back 416 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,199 in Sim City 2000, which was a very old 417 00:14:27,199 --> 00:14:29,760 game, uh, we had, you know, of course, 418 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,639 landscape, terrain, rivers, you know, 419 00:14:32,639 --> 00:14:34,560 uh, but we' actually programmed in that, 420 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,800 you know, once in a very very seldom 421 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,000 while, like if you were playing the game 422 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,079 for 100 hours, it might happen for, you 423 00:14:40,079 --> 00:14:42,240 know, a few seconds in 100 hours. We 424 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,920 actually had this little monster appear 425 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,320 in the water, pop his head out. And 426 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:47,760 there was a kind of rumors amongst the 427 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,199 players that I think I saw a monster in 428 00:14:49,199 --> 00:14:50,639 the water and no, no, no, I've never 429 00:14:50,639 --> 00:14:52,800 seen that. Somebody once eventually got 430 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,040 a screenshot of it. It was like this 431 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:56,959 very hard to achieve reward just kind of 432 00:14:56,959 --> 00:14:58,240 capturing a screenshot of this one 433 00:14:58,240 --> 00:14:59,279 little thing and it didn't help them in 434 00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:01,040 the game at all. But they were so 435 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,519 motivated to do this and capture it that 436 00:15:03,519 --> 00:15:05,360 um it became actually a lot of players 437 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:06,639 were trying to discover and take a 438 00:15:06,639 --> 00:15:10,360 picture of Loch Ness Monster. 439 00:15:12,959 --> 00:15:15,279 Rewards are just a mechanism in a game 440 00:15:15,279 --> 00:15:16,959 that you put in there, you know, maybe 441 00:15:16,959 --> 00:15:18,320 to help guide a player in a certain 442 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,079 direction or achieve certain levels. 443 00:15:22,079 --> 00:15:24,480 But the incentive in a game really is 444 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,240 coming from the process of the player 445 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:27,839 playing that game, whatever that is, you 446 00:15:27,839 --> 00:15:30,000 know, and I think that's something 447 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:31,600 that's coming internally from the 448 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:33,519 player, not externally from the game 449 00:15:33,519 --> 00:15:35,440 designer, but the process that they're 450 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:36,320 going through. And it might be a 451 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:37,600 creative process. It might be a 452 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,600 skill-based process. It might be a 453 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,760 social, you know, kind of challenging 454 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:43,120 process. That's something that the 455 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:47,120 player um kind of innately has a desire 456 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,240 to achieve. And that's a much much 457 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:51,839 broader thing. And it's a much deeper 458 00:15:51,839 --> 00:15:53,279 thing, too. You know, I think that's why 459 00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:54,639 people really will get really hooked on 460 00:15:54,639 --> 00:15:56,639 a game is their own internal incentive. 461 00:15:56,639 --> 00:15:58,399 You know, I want to get to level 30 in 462 00:15:58,399 --> 00:16:00,480 Warcraft or this or that. They come up 463 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,800 with their own goals really for that. uh 464 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:04,240 rewards in a game are really like these 465 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:05,839 little mechanisms the you know game 466 00:16:05,839 --> 00:16:07,600 designer puts in there to kind of 467 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,440 moderate the game play. So I'd say 468 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,000 they're very very different things and 469 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,320 the player incentive is really the much 470 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,199 more important one. 1 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:13,759 As a designer, you're putting a player 2 00:00:13,759 --> 00:00:16,240 into this world of yours. And through 3 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:18,720 their interactions and freedom and 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,119 agency that you give them in your world, 5 00:00:21,119 --> 00:00:22,480 you're actually kind of developing a 6 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,960 language with the player. The players 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,640 are basically learning this language and 8 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,800 playing the game. And it's the designer 9 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:30,560 that's creating the world that is 10 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,120 defined by that language. 11 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,520 There's kind of an interesting aspect to 12 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,840 games which is and this really this idea 13 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:39,680 was way before computer games of the 14 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,239 magic circle. And this is the idea 15 00:00:42,239 --> 00:00:44,079 especially in social games that you 16 00:00:44,079 --> 00:00:45,280 have, you know, kids come together and 17 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:46,079 they decide they're going to play 18 00:00:46,079 --> 00:00:48,879 whatever hopscotch. And the players of 19 00:00:48,879 --> 00:00:51,120 the game are basically now within this 20 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:52,719 thing we call the magic circle. they are 21 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,559 bound by the rules of that game. Other 22 00:00:54,559 --> 00:00:56,399 people might be outside observing 23 00:00:56,399 --> 00:00:57,920 watching the game and they're not in 24 00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:59,840 that circle. In some sense, you're kind 25 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,480 of building a temporary community with 26 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,159 the players within that game and they're 27 00:01:04,159 --> 00:01:05,920 all basically bound by the game rules 28 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:08,479 and living in that world together. Uh 29 00:01:08,479 --> 00:01:10,159 this is in some sense one of the 30 00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:12,640 fundamental parts of game language. You 31 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,240 know, are you playing or not? You know, 32 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,360 who's playing in that game right now? 33 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:24,799 as a language within games. You know, I 34 00:01:24,799 --> 00:01:28,400 think that we do have the same types of 35 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,880 grammar that real language has. In the 36 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:32,240 world, things are basically kind of 37 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,880 nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Uh I might 38 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,640 go out the door and see this dog barking 39 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,560 at me. The dog, you know, is basically 40 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,960 the noun. It's the thing. The verb, you 41 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:41,920 know, might be bite. You know, I'm 42 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,040 afraid he's going to bite me. You know, 43 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:44,880 adjective is mad. He's a mad dog. He's, 44 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,040 you know, barking at me. based upon that 45 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,600 you know I will you know decide me run 46 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,520 fast away from the dog whatever but you 47 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:53,119 can come almost interpret everything in 48 00:01:53,119 --> 00:01:54,479 the world according to these you know 49 00:01:54,479 --> 00:01:56,320 parts of speech in a game players will 50 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:57,600 encounter the same thing you know what 51 00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:59,920 is that what can it do what is my agency 52 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,240 allow me to do against it and so that's 53 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:03,759 the kind of language that the players 54 00:02:03,759 --> 00:02:05,360 need to kind of learn in your game very 55 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:06,960 rapidly and feel very comfortable and 56 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,119 almost transparent in learning that when 57 00:02:09,119 --> 00:02:10,479 you're designing you know what the 58 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:13,120 language of your game is the nouns verbs 59 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,360 adjectives uh of course it depends 60 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:16,879 entirely early on kind of the setting in 61 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:19,280 which you're placing a player into. Uh 62 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:20,720 you can kind of describe a setting or 63 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,319 show a player a screen and kind of tell 64 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:23,520 them, you know, what would you imagine 65 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:24,720 wanting to do here? You know, I think 66 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:26,160 that's a good starting point. As a 67 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:27,680 player, what are the things I think I 68 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,360 should be able to do? What things occur 69 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:31,520 to me, you know, right off the bat? And, 70 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:32,879 you know, you can actually just talk to 71 00:02:32,879 --> 00:02:34,160 people and show them, you know, kind of 72 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,080 the setting and and see what they say. 73 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,360 See what, you know, the most common 74 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,840 answers are as they move through your 75 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:41,680 space, however that space is kind of 76 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:43,920 displayed. Um things will occur to them. 77 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:45,280 Oh, I wish I could do that. Can I move 78 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,840 this? Can I pick that up? Uh, can I put 79 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,080 something there? You know, and so for a 80 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:51,040 lot of people, it's just going to be, 81 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:52,319 you know, once they kind of immerse 82 00:02:52,319 --> 00:02:54,319 themselves in this little world, they're 83 00:02:54,319 --> 00:02:55,360 going to be a set of things that they 84 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:56,480 would like to try. And if you give them 85 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:57,920 a goal state, say, okay, you know, try 86 00:02:57,920 --> 00:02:59,680 to do this, it's going to be much more 87 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,280 specific. Oh, okay. Well, in that case, 88 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,040 can I move? Can I open that door? Do I 89 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,959 need a key? That's where you're going to 90 00:03:04,959 --> 00:03:06,879 start deciding, okay, how much freedom, 91 00:03:06,879 --> 00:03:08,239 you know, or agency does the player have 92 00:03:08,239 --> 00:03:10,319 in this world? Uh, what are the things 93 00:03:10,319 --> 00:03:11,840 which are you going to manipulate? And 94 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,040 what kind of interface are we going to 95 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:14,560 basically give the player so they do 96 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,959 that very naturally and you know you 97 00:03:16,959 --> 00:03:18,640 also need to present these things in the 98 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,720 world you know such that it's fairly 99 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:22,480 obvious that these are nouns they're you 100 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,400 can manipulate or part of the game world 101 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,280 you know part of the game actions and I 102 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,519 think that you're informing the player 103 00:03:29,519 --> 00:03:30,959 about these things in a lot of different 104 00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:33,120 ways sometimes it's just the art style 105 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:34,400 these things stand out a little bit 106 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:35,599 against the background and so they're 107 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:36,959 important a lot of times you'll have 108 00:03:36,959 --> 00:03:39,040 like the background trees and landscape 109 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:40,959 is a little more muted whereas the 110 00:03:40,959 --> 00:03:42,080 foreground ground things like maybe 111 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,280 tanks and jeeps are more uh saturated in 112 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,280 color. So it could just be artistic. It 113 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:48,879 could be the way you highlight these 114 00:03:48,879 --> 00:03:50,319 things, you know, the way they animate, 115 00:03:50,319 --> 00:03:51,519 you know. So in some sense, you're kind 116 00:03:51,519 --> 00:03:52,959 of informing what are the important, you 117 00:03:52,959 --> 00:03:55,680 know, nouns in a scene by the visuals. 118 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:58,319 And the verbs, you know, are going to be 119 00:03:58,319 --> 00:03:59,760 very dependent upon the interface and 120 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:00,799 the point of view of the game, whether 121 00:04:00,799 --> 00:04:02,560 it's first person, third person, 122 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,560 whatever. Um, for instance, you know, I 123 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:05,920 show somebody a terrain and say, okay, 124 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:07,200 you're going to build a city here, you 125 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:08,400 know, and ask them what's the very first 126 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:09,760 thing that would occur to you. People 127 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,120 might say, you know, I don't know, roads 128 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,280 or houses or whatever it is, but they'll 129 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:14,560 start telling you, you know, verbs that 130 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:15,840 they would, you know, expect to play 131 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,560 with in this playset. Uh, if it's a 132 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,400 first-person game, you know, and they're 133 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,079 trying to escape something, they're 134 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:23,360 going to be looking, you know, for 135 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,199 doors, keys, you know, a whole set of 136 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:26,800 things will occur to them and a whole 137 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,160 set of verbs will occur to them, you 138 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:29,199 know, and at some point you're going to 139 00:04:29,199 --> 00:04:30,479 start developing this language, you 140 00:04:30,479 --> 00:04:34,520 know, verbs, nouns, and adjectives. 141 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,720 Also part of the language uh metaphors 142 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,080 are very very useful uh as a tool for 143 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,000 designers so the player can come in and 144 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,919 have at least some grounding for what 145 00:04:49,919 --> 00:04:51,280 kind of a system they're dealing with 146 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:54,400 you know and even if it's not direct uh 147 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,160 it can be an indirect metaphor command 148 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:57,199 and conquer which is one of the old 149 00:04:57,199 --> 00:04:58,880 games I used to play a lot basically me 150 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:00,000 and my friend used to play with our 151 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,160 little model tanks and make up rules and 152 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:03,840 have these whole little battles with our 153 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:05,520 little toy tanks and it It was basically 154 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,680 Command and Conquer brought to life. 155 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,120 Game like Quake or Doom or one of these 156 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:10,479 first prison shooters. It's kind of like 157 00:05:10,479 --> 00:05:11,840 kids running around playing Cowboys and 158 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:13,520 Indians. It's the same basic activity 159 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:14,639 and you know when you get in there, oh 160 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:16,560 yeah, this feels just like that. 161 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:17,919 The Sims I used to refer to as 162 00:05:17,919 --> 00:05:19,360 dollhouse. 163 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:20,479 Really? That's the metaphor for the 164 00:05:20,479 --> 00:05:21,919 Sims. When you see the Sims, okay, it's 165 00:05:21,919 --> 00:05:23,600 a little house with little characters 166 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:25,280 and it pretty much is like kind of an 167 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:28,080 animated brought to life dollhouse. When 168 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,199 I was building Sim City, I really kind 169 00:05:31,199 --> 00:05:33,360 of felt like in some sense it was a 170 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,479 digital train set. You know, people 171 00:05:36,479 --> 00:05:37,680 these model train sets, these little 172 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:39,440 recreate little towns. And I had a 173 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:40,720 little train set, several train sets 174 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,520 when I was a kid. And I wanted Sim City 175 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:45,199 to kind of have that feel of crafting 176 00:05:45,199 --> 00:05:47,759 this little world that came to life, 177 00:05:47,759 --> 00:05:50,479 this little automa. But I designed it. I 178 00:05:50,479 --> 00:05:52,080 built it. It had dynamics and it could, 179 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,039 you know, live or grow or die. Uh but 180 00:05:55,039 --> 00:05:57,759 for me that that metaphor of the train 181 00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:00,400 set was kind of like a guiding principle 182 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,880 you know for Sim City and even when it 183 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:04,240 came to how we visualize it and how we 184 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:05,759 the graphics look we try to kind of make 185 00:06:05,759 --> 00:06:07,440 it look like a little train set. I 186 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,520 reference a lot these kind of childhood 187 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:10,960 experiences you know whether it's you 188 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:12,720 know cowboys and Indians or playing with 189 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,240 model trains. Uh these aren't things 190 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:18,080 that you know were invented during my 191 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,919 childhood. These are actually you know 192 00:06:19,919 --> 00:06:21,280 activities that were probably around for 193 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:23,120 hundreds if not thousands of years. 194 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:24,720 people were building, you know, small 195 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,919 recreations of real spaces or playing 196 00:06:27,919 --> 00:06:29,919 games where they ran around and, you 197 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:32,400 know, played tag or whatever. Uh, these 198 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,960 are kind of basic aspects of play. A lot 199 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:36,639 of these dynamics and activities and 200 00:06:36,639 --> 00:06:38,160 thought processes that people are doing 201 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,880 in digital entertainment, digital games 202 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:42,240 are things that they've done before in 203 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,319 other formats, you know, before they had 204 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:46,080 computers and all that stuff. I'm 205 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,800 certainly not advocating that every idea 206 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,400 that you come up with, you know, has to 207 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,880 be have some precedent, you know, either 208 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,199 in your childhood or in history or 209 00:06:55,199 --> 00:06:58,080 gaming in general. Uh in fact I'm sure 210 00:06:58,080 --> 00:06:59,599 there are a lot of very cool unique 211 00:06:59,599 --> 00:07:02,000 experiences that you know are totally 212 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,800 unique to this medium that we are have 213 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,360 yet to discover. 1 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,120 As you start to refine your prototypes, 2 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:14,559 you'll reach a stage where you need to 3 00:00:14,559 --> 00:00:16,960 define an aesthetic. The visual 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:18,560 aesthetic is going to add a whole new 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,279 layer of meaning and depth to your game. 6 00:00:21,279 --> 00:00:23,279 This is one of your primary ways of 7 00:00:23,279 --> 00:00:26,000 communicating to the player. Finding 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,560 your own style is up to you as the 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,279 designer. 10 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,480 I would tend to 11 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:38,960 approach, you know, finding, discovering 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,280 an art style, I think, very much in the 13 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:42,719 same way that I would approach, you 14 00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:46,320 know, game concept research. uh 15 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:47,840 basically go out and look, you know, 16 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:49,680 there are a million, you know, 17 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,719 references out there uh not just games 18 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:55,360 obviously, you know, back in historical 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,960 fine art or in whatever. You can just 20 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,559 imagine all these different areas to 21 00:01:00,559 --> 00:01:02,399 grab visual inspiration from. You know, 22 00:01:02,399 --> 00:01:04,000 we got a huge amount of material 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,000 inspiration from those comic book covers 24 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,159 from the ' 40s. And that was a really 25 00:01:08,159 --> 00:01:10,479 rich body of work, you know, that had a 26 00:01:10,479 --> 00:01:13,600 very cohesive style and feel to it. 27 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,119 uh you know sometimes it'll be something 28 00:01:15,119 --> 00:01:17,119 that you find like that um that you kind 29 00:01:17,119 --> 00:01:18,400 of reference and say we want to kind of 30 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,720 feel like that. Uh other times it might 31 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,799 be something kind of up and coming. It's 32 00:01:22,799 --> 00:01:25,759 funny how even you know nowadays I see 33 00:01:25,759 --> 00:01:27,360 kids playing these retro games or they 34 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:28,720 play Minecraft you know which is 35 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,759 incredibly you know basic visuals but 36 00:01:31,759 --> 00:01:33,759 you know like Lego it has become a style 37 00:01:33,759 --> 00:01:36,000 to them. you go and look at these Lego 38 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:37,840 movies which are great, you know, and 39 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:39,119 it's amazing that they make these 40 00:01:39,119 --> 00:01:40,880 amazingly entertaining, very visually 41 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,280 rich movies, you know, out of a Lego 42 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,680 world, you know, rendered, of course, 43 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,280 animated, you know, much more 44 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:48,640 differently you can do with real Legos, 45 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,479 but yet uh as a style, it's um it's 46 00:01:52,479 --> 00:01:54,560 delightful. So, I think that there are a 47 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,240 lot of things that may not obviously 48 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:57,520 right off the bat feel like, oh, that's 49 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,399 a good visual style, but uh if you think 50 00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:01,759 about certain things a little more 51 00:02:01,759 --> 00:02:03,520 deeply to the next level, you know, how 52 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:05,119 could that be a style? You know, what 53 00:02:05,119 --> 00:02:06,079 would it look like? How would it 54 00:02:06,079 --> 00:02:09,039 animate? Uh you might discover regions 55 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:11,440 that are very unique. I kind of like the 56 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,440 games that I work on to have almost a 57 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,640 toy- like feel to them. you know, like 58 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:18,000 bringing up a little bit more saturation 59 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,040 on the colors. Uh maybe things being a 60 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:22,959 little bit more abstracted, 61 00:02:22,959 --> 00:02:24,640 feeling a little more again, you know, 62 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:27,520 kind of model train like uh to me that 63 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:29,599 kind of makes it feel more playful and 64 00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:32,160 approachable. Uh one of the things I 65 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:33,840 really enjoy looking at is things like 66 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,080 tilt shift photography, you know, where 67 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,280 they're actually taking pictures of the 68 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,120 real world and now making it look like a 69 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,800 model by changing the depth of field 70 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,239 and, you know, saturation and a few 71 00:02:42,239 --> 00:02:43,920 other things. It's funny how you can 72 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:45,440 take one of those photos, the original 73 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,760 photo, and it's of some downtown area, 74 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,840 do tilt shift version of it, and now it 75 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,040 looks like something that I want to 76 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:52,720 touch and grab and play with and 77 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:54,400 manipulate. Instantly, I have this 78 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,480 instinct to go in and start imagining 79 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,000 things that I would want to do with it. 80 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,480 In some sense, it's an invitation to 81 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:02,400 agency. You know, it's saying, "This is 82 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:04,480 a toy. This is a model. It's here for 83 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,280 you to manipulate, play with, go at it." 84 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,519 you know, so I think in a subtle way to 85 00:03:09,519 --> 00:03:10,879 me by making it feel a little more 86 00:03:10,879 --> 00:03:13,920 toy-like or modellike, um, you're kind 87 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,159 of getting the player into that mindset 88 00:03:16,159 --> 00:03:18,000 that this is something for you to 89 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,680 interact with, not something for you to 90 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,400 just sit back and look at. 91 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,239 One of the things I did on Spore that I 92 00:03:30,239 --> 00:03:32,720 really enjoyed, uh, and this is in the 93 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,720 fairly early stages, is I went back and 94 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,959 I was collecting, just downloading 95 00:03:36,959 --> 00:03:39,360 hundreds of these images that were 96 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:41,280 appearing on the Pope comic books back 97 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:43,920 in the 50s and 40s, and these are like 98 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:45,760 science fiction stories or, you know, 99 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,519 whatever. And it was always like, you 100 00:03:47,519 --> 00:03:49,440 know, some weird tentacled alien holding 101 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:51,599 a blonde who's passed out and spaceship 102 00:03:51,599 --> 00:03:54,080 in the background. the things in those 103 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:55,280 images, not just the way they were 104 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:56,640 rendered, but even just the items. You 105 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:57,599 know, there was usually some kind of 106 00:03:57,599 --> 00:03:59,360 alien, some kind of spacecraft, some 107 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,920 alien planet, some muscle clad 108 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,560 astronaut. But I loved looking at just 109 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,200 the style of those comic book covers, 110 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:08,640 you know, in fact, we printed them all 111 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,959 out, put them all over the office, and 112 00:04:10,959 --> 00:04:12,640 it kind of became a guiding principle 113 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,720 for the entire game, and it gave it a 114 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,799 consistency, and almost, you know, I 115 00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:18,320 don't even think it would be nostalgic 116 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,560 for any kid playing this. They probably 117 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:22,720 didn't even see those covers, but yet 118 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,000 there was almost a whimsy to it that it 119 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,160 brought into the game at a very subtle 120 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,160 level. 121 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,040 The visual style within my games, you 122 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,040 know, initially it was on these 8bit 123 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,560 computers and, you know, we were 124 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:43,840 counting how many pixels we had, how 125 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,000 many colors and it was really severely 126 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,160 limited. Over time, you know, those 127 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,800 limitations eased up more and more until 128 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,320 at some point we were getting high 129 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,120 powered graphics card with pixel shaders 130 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,320 and whatnot. Uh, in which case, you 131 00:04:58,320 --> 00:04:59,759 know, we got to the point where we could 132 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:01,919 achieve pretty high levels of realism, 133 00:05:01,919 --> 00:05:03,120 which I didn't really feel like I 134 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,520 needed. But on the other hand, we were 135 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,039 able to use these things in ways that 136 00:05:07,039 --> 00:05:08,960 were kind of unexpected. Like for 137 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,199 instance, in Spora, 138 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:13,759 one of our programmers uh discovered 139 00:05:13,759 --> 00:05:16,639 that um I think it was Kate Compton that 140 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:19,120 she could use the pixel shaders in the 141 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:20,639 graphics card to actually simulate 142 00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:22,720 turbulence on a gas giant and she was 143 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:24,080 getting like these beautiful turbulence 144 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:25,840 patterns and it's just very simple 145 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:27,360 manipulations of the UV coordinates 146 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:29,600 within the graphics card. So I think 147 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,440 that those kind of opportunities, you 148 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:32,960 know, things that we never would have, 149 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:34,240 you know, if we had to just do that from 150 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,720 scratch, calculate it all out, uh we 151 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,520 never would have done it. uh but also 152 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,919 you know things more like getting the 153 00:05:41,919 --> 00:05:43,840 player more involved and more creative. 154 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:45,199 So the fact that we could do procedural 155 00:05:45,199 --> 00:05:47,600 animation in Spore was really a result 156 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,720 of the horsepower and the programming uh 157 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,360 and it reflected itself in the fact that 158 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,039 you know the graphics looked in the 159 00:05:55,039 --> 00:05:56,639 style but the really important part was 160 00:05:56,639 --> 00:05:59,440 the player created it you know and you 161 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:00,400 know at that point it doesn't even 162 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:01,759 really matter so much what style it is 163 00:06:01,759 --> 00:06:03,120 if the player created it it's a whole 164 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,680 different ballgame and so I think I've 165 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,919 been uh on the art side you know kind of 166 00:06:07,919 --> 00:06:09,919 more in the direction of what can we do 167 00:06:09,919 --> 00:06:11,680 to have the player more responsible more 168 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,560 creative more uh involved olved in these 169 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,280 assets, you know, in a way that where 170 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:21,080 it's natural and fun. 171 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,720 Well, I've actually had uh the luck and 172 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:30,319 privilege to work with really great art 173 00:06:30,319 --> 00:06:33,280 directors, you know, and generally for 174 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:35,120 me, it's more been a matter of their 175 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,759 vision bringing really good alternatives 176 00:06:37,759 --> 00:06:40,160 to me, you know, so I usually have two 177 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:41,520 or three really good alternatives to 178 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,600 choose from. And I don't feel like I can 179 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,600 really take the responsibility for the 180 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,120 quality of how that ended up because I 181 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:48,240 really think it was my art director 182 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:49,759 that, you know, had a lot more to do 183 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:52,479 with it than I did. Uh, but in general, 184 00:06:52,479 --> 00:06:53,759 you know, when confronted with 185 00:06:53,759 --> 00:06:55,840 alternatives, you know, I would tend to 186 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,160 say, okay, which one of these feels more 187 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,400 playful to me? Which one of these feels 188 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:01,680 like something I would want to go in and 189 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,520 pick up and grab and manipulate? That's 190 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:04,960 the way I would just kind of view it as 191 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,960 a designer. When we started working on 192 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:08,800 the very early levels of the spore, the 193 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:10,479 very first level is microscopic, a 194 00:07:10,479 --> 00:07:11,919 little creature swimming around in a 195 00:07:11,919 --> 00:07:14,080 drop of water. My art director I worked 196 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:15,840 with for many years, Ocean Quigley, 197 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,919 Ocean and I both as kids had 198 00:07:17,919 --> 00:07:19,919 microscopes. You know, I still have a 199 00:07:19,919 --> 00:07:21,680 microscope and we started thinking, 200 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:23,039 okay, what would this look like under a 201 00:07:23,039 --> 00:07:25,440 microscope, under a slide? And Ocean 202 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,680 would actually kind of prototype that. 203 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,039 And there's this thing when you have the 204 00:07:29,039 --> 00:07:30,880 old microscopes that, you know, as you 205 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:32,800 move the focus lever just a little bit, 206 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:34,800 you know, things here were now going out 207 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:36,319 of focus and things deeper were going 208 00:07:36,319 --> 00:07:37,759 into focus. You're actually manipulating 209 00:07:37,759 --> 00:07:40,560 the Z plane where the focus was set. And 210 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,560 so you were actually able to move in 211 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:44,479 that third dimension, you know, through 212 00:07:44,479 --> 00:07:47,520 a drop of water or whatever it was. And 213 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:48,720 uh we both thought about that. And the 214 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,000 notion went back and found a way to 215 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,000 render it such that he could take any of 216 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,400 the planes and focus or defocus it at, 217 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,560 you know, at his whim. And we could have 218 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:58,479 several of these in a row. So you could 219 00:07:58,479 --> 00:08:00,639 have, you know, layers of this that were 220 00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:02,080 out of focus, but only one layer that 221 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,240 was really in focus. That actually kind 222 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:05,520 of brought up the idea that, okay, maybe 223 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:06,720 as you're playing this cellular game 224 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:08,240 that you're actually getting larger and 225 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:09,919 larger, in which case you'd be moving 226 00:08:09,919 --> 00:08:12,000 from one plane to the next. So as your 227 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,319 thing grew, we would now defocus the 228 00:08:14,319 --> 00:08:16,240 layer that you were on and bring into 229 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:17,599 focus the layer that was above you, 230 00:08:17,599 --> 00:08:19,280 which were much bigger things that you 231 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,000 just saw as fuzzy blobs before. Um, then 232 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:23,440 as soon as you grew to that size, they 233 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,160 became uh, you know, in focus and now 234 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,280 part of your game world, you know, so 235 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:28,479 you were only interacting with that 236 00:08:28,479 --> 00:08:30,879 layer that was in focus. So that was 237 00:08:30,879 --> 00:08:32,000 kind of a back and forth thing that 238 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Ocean and I did for a few weeks, you 239 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,440 know, kind of coming up with and then 240 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,839 realizing that idea, but it became kind 241 00:08:37,839 --> 00:08:39,279 of very fundamental to the way that part 242 00:08:39,279 --> 00:08:42,320 of the game worked. 243 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:48,880 Finding a good art director is probably 244 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:50,080 going to be very similar to finding a 245 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,120 good sound director. Uh you want 246 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,560 somebody who listens first of all and 247 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:58,320 tries to understand you know your 248 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:02,560 vision. Um somebody who can uh come up 249 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,200 with ideas that you can't. you know, 250 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,480 maybe go off in creative areas that they 251 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,279 are aware of because of their specific 252 00:09:11,279 --> 00:09:13,279 expertise, you know, whether it be sound 253 00:09:13,279 --> 00:09:16,959 or art or whatever. Uh, bring them back 254 00:09:16,959 --> 00:09:19,360 to you in a format, you know, to where 255 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,880 they offer you some choice. And, um, I 256 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,120 think that there's no, you know, one 257 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,200 sizefits-all. Sometimes, you know, 258 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:28,800 you'll want a very very particular style 259 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,760 as a designer and you don't really want 260 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,440 somebody giving you five other styles 261 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,440 when you know you want that style. In 262 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:36,640 which case, you might, you know, look 263 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:38,959 for somebody who specializes in that. 264 00:09:38,959 --> 00:09:41,680 Uh, but other times, you know, you might 265 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,040 be a little more open to, you know, 266 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:44,480 should it be more like this or more like 267 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,480 that? Should it be more Twilight, more 268 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,800 realistic? Should it be darker? Should 269 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,760 it be more humorous? Uh, I think that if 270 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:53,040 you can speak in that kind of a 271 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,040 language, you know, to anybody on your 272 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:56,640 team, no matter what they're doing, you 273 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,000 know, that I really think we want to go 274 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,800 for humor and whimsy here or dark and 275 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,360 gothic here. Um, if they can now 276 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:04,720 interpret that and come back to you with 277 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,040 really good alternatives that feel right 278 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,440 to you, uh, I mean, that's how you know 279 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:10,800 you've got a good one. You know, if 280 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:11,760 you're telling them you want to go in 281 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:12,959 this style, but they keep pushing you to 282 00:10:12,959 --> 00:10:15,600 Disney, uh, then, you know, they've kind 283 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:16,800 of got their own agenda. They've got 284 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:18,880 their own, you know, dogma. It also 285 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:19,920 depends on the size of your team. You 286 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:21,040 know, if it's a very small team, your 287 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:22,480 art director is also going to be one of 288 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,480 your artists, maybe your only artist. 289 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,279 Uh, if you're on a big team, the art 290 00:10:27,279 --> 00:10:28,399 director is really going to be more 291 00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:30,480 managing a team of artists. And so, your 292 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:31,760 art director will have the opportunity 293 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,839 to find the right artist to match that 294 00:10:33,839 --> 00:10:35,839 style for you. Really, you want somebody 295 00:10:35,839 --> 00:10:37,440 that's going to mesh with you in 296 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:39,920 particular. Uh, I think that somebody 297 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:41,680 who might be a great art director for me 298 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:42,880 might be a really bad choice for 299 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,120 somebody else. So, you know, first and 300 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,640 foremost, you have to have really kind 301 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,079 of enjoy collaborating with them. You 302 00:10:48,079 --> 00:10:49,279 know, and I think that's true of, you 303 00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:51,279 know, most of your team that these are 304 00:10:51,279 --> 00:10:52,560 going to be people you're going to be 305 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:54,399 working alongside of for a long time. 306 00:10:54,399 --> 00:10:55,600 You're going to be putting a lot of time 307 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,000 and passion and effort into this. And if 308 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,279 you don't actually really enjoy being 309 00:10:59,279 --> 00:11:00,880 around these people and enjoy working 310 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,360 with them, uh it's going to be work, you 311 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,839 know, but if you really enjoy the 312 00:11:05,839 --> 00:11:07,120 process of being with these people and 313 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:08,320 collaborating and creating something 314 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,720 with them, uh it's going to be something 315 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,160 that uh you do for free. 1 00:00:10,639 --> 00:00:14,160 There are tools or mechanisms or 2 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:16,880 patterns of interaction that you can use 3 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:18,880 that you give the player this kind of 4 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,279 creativity, this kind of affordance, uh 5 00:00:21,279 --> 00:00:23,439 this kind of agency underneath the hood. 6 00:00:23,439 --> 00:00:25,439 you know, the game is actually doing 7 00:00:25,439 --> 00:00:27,519 some causal connection between when the 8 00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:30,160 player does that, this happens, or 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,719 here's the limitation. And it really 10 00:00:32,719 --> 00:00:34,480 kind of comes down to an affordance or 11 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:36,559 an action that the player is allowed in 12 00:00:36,559 --> 00:00:38,239 a game and how the game responds to that 13 00:00:38,239 --> 00:00:41,200 action. And it kind of defines what the 14 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:42,480 challenge is. 15 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:44,399 If it's a locked door, what is the 16 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:45,760 puzzle or what are the items needed to 17 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,480 unlock that door? 18 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:50,719 If it's an exploration thing, what path 19 00:00:50,719 --> 00:00:52,640 you have to take through this maze to 20 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,800 get to the exit? If it's a resource 21 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,440 allocation thing, it's what are the 22 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:58,800 basic resources? How are they being 23 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,320 consumed? How are they being earned? 24 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:01,440 Each one of these is kind of what we 25 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:02,960 call a game mechanic. They're like 26 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,479 little closed system uh of somehow 27 00:01:06,479 --> 00:01:09,439 interaction, balance, uh economy that 28 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:11,600 you can connect together to make a 29 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,720 larger interactive experience. 30 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:22,560 mechanic is some kind of process going 31 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,759 on between the player and the game uh 32 00:01:25,759 --> 00:01:27,360 that you might attach metrics to. You 33 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:28,960 might attach a leaderboard or scoring 34 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:32,400 system to that. Uh but once you have 35 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,880 that that process going on, you can now 36 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,720 use that process either to moderate the 37 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,439 player's progress. Uh you can use that 38 00:01:39,439 --> 00:01:42,880 process to, you know, add difficulty. uh 39 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:44,560 you can use that process to make the 40 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,640 world more interesting, more mysterious, 41 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:48,960 more uh kind of tangible. You know, 42 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,960 there are a lot of ways to use these 43 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,079 kind of what I'd call like 44 00:01:52,079 --> 00:01:54,399 microprocesses to build up that larger 45 00:01:54,399 --> 00:01:55,759 process of here's what it feels like to 46 00:01:55,759 --> 00:01:58,479 be in that world. Uh in some sense, I 47 00:01:58,479 --> 00:02:00,880 think of this as the dynamics, you know, 48 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:02,399 as a player's doing things in the game, 49 00:02:02,399 --> 00:02:04,159 how is that game responding to the 50 00:02:04,159 --> 00:02:05,439 player? You know, what is the 51 00:02:05,439 --> 00:02:07,520 conversation that the player's having 52 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:10,239 with the game system? And each one of 53 00:02:10,239 --> 00:02:13,200 these mechanics is kind of one type of 54 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,560 uh phrase or interaction or you know uh 55 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,720 word the player can kind of express 56 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,879 within that system against the game and 57 00:02:20,879 --> 00:02:22,400 the game will respond in certain ways 58 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:24,080 and the player is kind of learning to 59 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,640 kind of uh converse with the game system 60 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:30,120 through these mechanics. 61 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:36,720 When we talk about game mechanics, you 62 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,319 know, again, to me, these are parts, 63 00:02:40,319 --> 00:02:42,959 okay? And, uh, you know, it could be a 64 00:02:42,959 --> 00:02:44,959 part that's been used many, many times, 65 00:02:44,959 --> 00:02:46,080 uh, or it could be, you know, a brand 66 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:47,519 new part that you've invented all on 67 00:02:47,519 --> 00:02:51,599 your own. Um, and to me, you know, what 68 00:02:51,599 --> 00:02:53,200 really matters is the whole that's built 69 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,000 out of these parts. uh you know so I 70 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,599 might have let's say you know a fuel 71 00:02:59,599 --> 00:03:02,720 injection unit and an engine and a 72 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,959 differential and wheels and I start 73 00:03:04,959 --> 00:03:06,319 putting these together to make some kind 74 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:08,800 of a car and maybe I decide I want a 75 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:10,080 flux converter you know and I'm going to 76 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:11,519 invent a flux converter and stick it in 77 00:03:11,519 --> 00:03:14,640 there uh that's great you know uh but 78 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:16,480 what really matters is the entire car 79 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:17,920 you know how's that car going to drive 80 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,879 or not um you know with the existing 81 00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:23,200 mechanics that we have right now uh 82 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:24,959 obviously we can build, you know, a huge 83 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:26,319 number of different kind of interactive 84 00:03:26,319 --> 00:03:29,280 experiences. Uh, but every now and then, 85 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:30,480 you know, you might want that flux 86 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:31,680 converter. You might want some, you 87 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,280 know, brand new thing. I don't think 88 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,040 it's that, uh, you just kind of come up 89 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:36,560 with a cool mechanic and say, how do I 90 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,280 use it? I think it's more like, here's 91 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,519 an interactive experience that I want to 92 00:03:41,519 --> 00:03:44,159 create now, what do I need to create it? 93 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:45,840 And if it turns out that, you know, 94 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,360 there's something brand new, you know, 95 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:48,480 there's basically something you need in 96 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,159 this that uh you cannot figure out an 97 00:03:50,159 --> 00:03:52,640 existing mechanic that will provide 98 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,400 that, that's when you go off and make 99 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,280 your own. I am, you know, very uh happy 100 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,200 to go off and make my own mechanics if I 101 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,280 need to. Um I don't even really think 102 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:02,799 about it so much in terms of, you know, 103 00:04:02,799 --> 00:04:04,799 this is a new mechanic or not. It's more 104 00:04:04,799 --> 00:04:06,480 like this is the right mechanic, you 105 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,239 know, whether it was invented by me or 106 00:04:08,239 --> 00:04:10,400 somebody else. You know, I just I think 107 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,159 there's always kind like the right part 108 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:16,519 to fill in that gap in your design. 109 00:04:21,359 --> 00:04:23,040 If we talk about rules for a game, I 110 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,759 think that they're almost like two kinds 111 00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:27,680 of rules. You know, they're the really 112 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:29,520 overt rules that you want to inform the 113 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,199 player about. You know, you need to 114 00:04:31,199 --> 00:04:33,680 escape the dungeon or, you know, this is 115 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:35,120 a torch, you know, whatever it is. You 116 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:36,160 know, certain things you're very clear 117 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:37,600 with the player about right off the bat. 118 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:38,560 you're going to say, "Okay, to control 119 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,639 your character, use the WASDY keys or 120 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:42,639 this or that." Uh, so again, some things 121 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:43,919 you're very overt about. Other things 122 00:04:43,919 --> 00:04:46,080 that they discovered, you know, a trend 123 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,479 that started 10-15 years ago was that 124 00:04:48,479 --> 00:04:50,160 part of the gameplay, the early gameplay 125 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,320 is the tutorial and you encounter 126 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,240 objects, you know, as part of directed 127 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,720 gameplay early on. And the game itself 128 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:57,840 is kind of teaching you how to use a 129 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,520 sword in Zelda, how to do this, how to 130 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,600 do that, how to cast a spell. But then 131 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,360 there are a lot of other ones that you 132 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:04,720 want to hide from the player that are 133 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,720 under the hood that become mysterious. 134 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,240 In a lot of ways you want your game 135 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,560 world to be kind of a black box at some 136 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,120 level. Uh and this is actually kind of 137 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,199 gets to the idea of emergence that uh a 138 00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:16,320 lot of times somebody will look at a 139 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:17,440 system when people look at the 140 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,360 simulation of Sim City they start 141 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,240 imagining you know this ungodly 142 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:23,840 collection of mathematics and things 143 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,520 calculating this incredibly complicated 144 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,440 city. In fact it's far far simpler than 145 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:28,960 that you know in fact we found a fairly 146 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:30,639 nice emergent system. So, it was a 147 00:05:30,639 --> 00:05:32,720 fairly simple set of rules that kind of 148 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,520 emerge into the complexity of a city 149 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,000 simulation. Uh, if players, you know, 150 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,600 saw under the hood, in some sense, it 151 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:40,880 would kind of destroy a lot of the 152 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:42,800 illusion of complexity there, the 153 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,960 illusion of life. Uh, it's, you know, 154 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:46,560 very similar to the same reason why we 155 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,479 didn't have the Sims speak, you know, in 156 00:05:48,479 --> 00:05:50,800 a known language because as soon as they 157 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:51,919 started repeating the same things over 158 00:05:51,919 --> 00:05:53,520 and over, they would seem incredibly 159 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,360 simple and robotic. But when you 160 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:56,639 couldn't quite understand them, you tend 161 00:05:56,639 --> 00:05:59,520 to read in a lot more. Uh there was this 162 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:00,800 thing that we started calling the 163 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,759 simulator effect uh after watching the 164 00:06:03,759 --> 00:06:04,960 first, you know, kind of batch of 165 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:06,960 players playing Sim City a lot and then 166 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:08,479 some of our later games that they would 167 00:06:08,479 --> 00:06:09,840 write letters to us. Oh, I love this 168 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:11,120 game. And they would describe stuff that 169 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,000 happened to them in the game and the 170 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:13,919 letters they were writing to us and they 171 00:06:13,919 --> 00:06:15,840 would describe, you know, things like, 172 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:17,039 you know, the airplane crashed over here 173 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:18,479 and hit the power line and caused a 174 00:06:18,479 --> 00:06:20,319 surge there and then this thing caught 175 00:06:20,319 --> 00:06:22,000 on fire. And they would describe all 176 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000 these causal linkages that did not exist 177 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,600 in the game. you know, I knew they did 178 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:27,280 not exist, but in the player's head, 179 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:28,560 they did, you know, and nothing about 180 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,600 the game uh dissuaded them from the 181 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:33,199 fact. And so, they were building up 182 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:34,800 their own models of the way this 183 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,400 simulator was working, you know, that 184 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,080 were very elaborate and interesting. And 185 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,120 that's when I kind of realized that 186 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:42,479 there's certain parts of a simulator 187 00:06:42,479 --> 00:06:44,560 like that you want to keep a black box. 188 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:46,240 You know, the players, you know, can 189 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,759 actually imagine their own simulation 190 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:52,160 usually far more interesting than yours. 191 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:53,680 you know, as long as you present them 192 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,080 with enough scaffolding to build that in 193 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,720 their imagination. And so we ended up 194 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,000 calling that the simulator effect that 195 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,520 when players are imagining that your 196 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,599 your world, your simulation is more 197 00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:06,080 detailed, more rich, more uh complicated 198 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:08,800 than it actually is, uh don't talk them 199 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,120 out of it. And so, you know, part of 200 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,599 exploring the world is in fact kind of 201 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:16,240 uncovering these loops of complexity and 202 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,319 these rules. And so part of learning the 203 00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:20,080 rules of the game uh are actually 204 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:21,680 embedded in the game which is actually 205 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,919 very natural. 206 00:07:29,759 --> 00:07:30,800 There's this thing called the Monte 207 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,000 Carlo method uh which is using chance 208 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,080 basically in the place of calculus. You 209 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:37,599 know a lot of things that would be 210 00:07:37,599 --> 00:07:39,360 simulated in the natural world you know 211 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:40,960 we have established mathematics which is 212 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,840 linear calculus. Um, but it turns out 213 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,599 that for most of these things with a 214 00:07:45,599 --> 00:07:46,800 computer, there's a whole another 215 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,319 approach that basically can solve the 216 00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:50,160 same set of problems, which is basically 217 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:52,319 throwing darts at a dart board and you 218 00:07:52,319 --> 00:07:54,240 have shapes on that dart board that are 219 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,720 about, you know, the right area. I'm 220 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:58,080 going to go to the whiteboard to kind of 221 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:02,520 give you a simple illustration of this. 222 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,039 And just to keep it very simple, you 223 00:08:07,039 --> 00:08:09,440 know, let's assume that we have some 224 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,000 area and that we have within that area 225 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,199 some regions, you know, and maybe this 226 00:08:13,199 --> 00:08:15,360 is the amount of area developed, you 227 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,360 know, in Sim City or the areas with 228 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,080 police coverage, whatever it is. Now, 229 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,919 um, normally if you wanted to measure 230 00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:25,680 what percentage of this entire area is 231 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,479 occupied by these blobs, you know, 232 00:08:28,479 --> 00:08:30,319 there's some very elaborate mathematics 233 00:08:30,319 --> 00:08:31,680 kind of going down the calculus path 234 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:32,959 that you would use to measure that and 235 00:08:32,959 --> 00:08:34,719 give you a pretty accurate answer. But 236 00:08:34,719 --> 00:08:36,479 if you have a computer, you know, and 237 00:08:36,479 --> 00:08:37,839 computers are very fast and good at just 238 00:08:37,839 --> 00:08:39,680 doing simple things repetitively. It 239 00:08:39,680 --> 00:08:40,800 turns out there's a much simpler 240 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:42,159 technique. And they call this the Monte 241 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:43,839 Carlo method, which is that we just sit 242 00:08:43,839 --> 00:08:46,080 here and we just randomly throw darts at 243 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,880 this board, you know, and then we just 244 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,040 count over time how many of the darts 245 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,680 land inside of these areas and how many 246 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:58,240 land outside. And you know, you throw a 247 00:08:58,240 --> 00:08:59,519 few hundred darts at there, you know, 248 00:08:59,519 --> 00:09:00,880 and it turns out that, you know, let's 249 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,160 say out of a 100 darts, you know, 67 250 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,760 land outside of these zones and let's 251 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,080 say 33 252 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,000 land inside the zones. That's the basic 253 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:13,839 percentage. You basically that's 33% of 254 00:09:13,839 --> 00:09:16,320 the area of that. This is the kind of, 255 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,640 you know, simple mathematics, you know, 256 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,360 that we use a lot in simulations. And so 257 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:23,680 this in fact is relying very much on 258 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:27,040 just probabilities. And it's uh the way 259 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,120 a lot of the emergence that we get out 260 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,440 of some of these systems works as well. 261 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,200 So from a design point of view, it's 262 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:34,800 amazing how you can build super simple 263 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,040 things like that in place of what used 264 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:38,399 to be very kind of elaborate 265 00:09:38,399 --> 00:09:41,399 mathematics. 266 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,240 There's another kind of chance though 267 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,720 that I encounter as a designer which is 268 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:52,399 that a lot of times I'll be making 269 00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:55,200 something doing prototypes whatever and 270 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,839 something just pops up unexpectedly you 271 00:09:57,839 --> 00:09:59,440 know either we made a put a bug in the 272 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,120 program or it's not behaving the way I 273 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,240 thought or something uh happens that 274 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,440 surprises me and uh through pure chance 275 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:09,519 I might trip over some new mechanic or 276 00:10:09,519 --> 00:10:11,279 some new feature or that reminds me of 277 00:10:11,279 --> 00:10:13,279 this let's try that you And this is like 278 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:14,880 serendipity. This is me, you know, kind 279 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:16,480 of accidentally discovering something 280 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,320 very cool, you know, either in 281 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,480 prototyping or testing or just even on 282 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:21,920 paper as I'm kind of thinking through a 283 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:23,760 design that causes me to go off in a 284 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:24,800 totally different direction, you know, 285 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,279 tangent to where I was going initially. 286 00:10:27,279 --> 00:10:28,880 Now, this is all from the designer's 287 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:30,079 point of view, you know, kind of how you 288 00:10:30,079 --> 00:10:32,720 use probability to your advantage. Um, 289 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:33,920 you know, from the players point of 290 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,279 view, you know, again, uh, there'll be a 291 00:10:37,279 --> 00:10:38,160 lot of things happening in your game 292 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:39,680 that might be purely random. You know, 293 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:41,279 and you know that they're random. The 294 00:10:41,279 --> 00:10:42,560 players are always going to be trying to 295 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,480 assign causality to something. You know, 296 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:46,480 if all a sudden that torch goes out or 297 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:47,839 there's a sound over there, the player 298 00:10:47,839 --> 00:10:48,800 in their head is going to be building 299 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:50,560 some model of, you know, what caused 300 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:52,079 that to happen. Was it something I did? 301 00:10:52,079 --> 00:10:53,200 Is it some indicator? Is it 302 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,839 foreshadowing of some event? And I think 303 00:10:55,839 --> 00:10:58,399 that um you actually want a kind of a 304 00:10:58,399 --> 00:10:59,600 balance there a little bit, you know, 305 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:01,760 kind of signal the noise so that there's 306 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,160 some stuff happening in the world that 307 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:05,760 again remains kind of a black box to 308 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:06,880 them. whether you know from their point 309 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:09,120 of view it's random chance or it's some 310 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,079 elaborate deep you know behavior of your 311 00:11:12,079 --> 00:11:14,640 you know your world um the player is 312 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:16,000 going to assume it's some deep behavior 313 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,760 of your world I think in most cases but 314 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,200 if it's something that the player did 315 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:20,880 and you want clear feedback that the 316 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,680 player did this and the door unlocked uh 317 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:24,560 that's where you have to make sure 318 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:26,399 you're getting above that that noise 319 00:11:26,399 --> 00:11:28,240 level and it's totally signal to the 320 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:29,760 player and so you need to make sure that 321 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,200 the feedback you're giving to the player 322 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:33,519 is signal and not noise against this 323 00:11:33,519 --> 00:11:37,200 kind of random world churning 324 00:11:42,959 --> 00:11:44,480 Well, because my games don't have an 325 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,959 overt instinct, 326 00:11:46,959 --> 00:11:49,440 uh, you know, I don't think it really 327 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,839 changes the nature of wanting to present 328 00:11:51,839 --> 00:11:53,920 an interesting, challenging kind of 329 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,480 creative world. Uh, I don't think that, 330 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:57,920 you know, I think that's kind of almost 331 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:59,360 world building is almost a different 332 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,720 kind of uh level to that. uh the chance 333 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:04,480 and probability 334 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,240 um for a player, you know, again, it can 335 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:07,519 depend on the game. If you know, you're 336 00:12:07,519 --> 00:12:09,120 playing casino games, you know, you're 337 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:10,240 kind of expecting these things to be 338 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,560 based around chance and probability. Uh 339 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:13,839 if you're playing something like a 340 00:12:13,839 --> 00:12:15,360 first-person shooter, you're kind of 341 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,440 imagining that, you know, if I aim at 342 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:18,720 that guy, it's going to hit that guy 343 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,399 that, you know, I don't want a chance of 344 00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:22,480 having a dud bullet or my bullet, you 345 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:23,920 know, going off target, you know, just 346 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,079 through random chance. So, I want my 347 00:12:26,079 --> 00:12:27,920 actions to be clearly, you know, kind of 348 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,639 almost deterministic in that sense. Uh, 349 00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:32,000 so I think it depends on the feature of 350 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,200 your world as to what you're talking 351 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,200 about. If it's something like Sim City 352 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,839 and you know when does a fire occur? You 353 00:12:37,839 --> 00:12:39,600 know that actually is a little bit of a 354 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:40,880 combination. It's a combination of how 355 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,040 much have I done with my fire services, 356 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:44,320 but there's still a chance. It's 357 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,399 changing the probability of a fire 358 00:12:46,399 --> 00:12:47,839 actually happening. It could still 359 00:12:47,839 --> 00:12:49,200 happen even if I have good fire 360 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,000 coverage, but uh the chance is lower. 361 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,720 And you know, for the player, you know, 362 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,240 that's kind of the expectation coming 363 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:58,480 into a world like that. And so really, I 364 00:12:58,480 --> 00:12:59,519 think at that point, you're really kind 365 00:12:59,519 --> 00:13:00,959 of falling back into what feels like an 366 00:13:00,959 --> 00:13:02,399 expectation on the player. You don't 367 00:13:02,399 --> 00:13:03,680 want the world to feel like, you know, 368 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,519 arbitrary things are happening for 369 00:13:05,519 --> 00:13:07,200 absolutely no reason. You know, so even 370 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:08,800 when a fire occurs in Sim City when 371 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:10,560 there's a low probability, the player 372 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:12,000 can imagine that occurring. You know, 373 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,720 it's not an unimaginable situation. What 374 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,000 you really don't want to do is you don't 375 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:17,839 want the game to feel capriccious in 376 00:13:17,839 --> 00:13:19,040 terms of killing the player for no 377 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:21,040 obvious reason. You know, that, you 378 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,160 know, is really major no. The player 379 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:25,440 always wants to feel like their success 380 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,279 or failure is coming back to their 381 00:13:27,279 --> 00:13:28,880 agency. You know, it's their fault. They 382 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:30,399 are the ones responsible for their own 383 00:13:30,399 --> 00:13:33,399 fate. 384 00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:40,320 depending on the kind of game you're 385 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:41,760 doing, you know, it does put the player 386 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,440 into a certain kind of mindset and they 387 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:45,360 build a certain kind of model whether 388 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,200 it's like a first-person kind of game 389 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,839 with exploration and combat or it's a 390 00:13:49,839 --> 00:13:51,440 third person game with resource 391 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,560 management. Uh, you know, they all at 392 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:56,560 some level share a set of features, 393 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:58,160 share, you know, certain amounts of 394 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,959 player agency. Uh, they share world 395 00:14:00,959 --> 00:14:03,279 dynamics, you know, so that's the level 396 00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:04,959 which these things are all pretty common 397 00:14:04,959 --> 00:14:07,680 across there. But uh you know I think 398 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:09,920 there are so many game mechanics that 399 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:12,000 have been used and so many more yet to 400 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,240 be discovered. I think the designer will 401 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,480 develop an intuition for which one of 402 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:17,760 these things they want to put into their 403 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,000 pallet of tools and which ones they want 404 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,360 to become a master at because I think 405 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,680 that certain game designers you know get 406 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,360 very specialized and very good you know 407 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,040 within certain kind of mechanics using 408 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,079 certain parts to build their games. And 409 00:14:30,079 --> 00:14:31,120 over time you know you'll start 410 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:32,240 expanding that palette you'll start 411 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:33,279 trying other ones. you'll play other 412 00:14:33,279 --> 00:14:34,639 games, games that you would not normally 413 00:14:34,639 --> 00:14:36,240 play, and just to kind of get a sense of 414 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:37,600 what those mechanics feel like. Is that 415 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,760 a tool that I use, a part that I can use 416 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:40,959 next time I build, you know, one of my 417 00:14:40,959 --> 00:14:42,480 game engines? I think for most 418 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,959 designers, you know, get familiar, get 419 00:14:44,959 --> 00:14:47,440 some mastery and skill at, you know, 420 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,279 using certain kind of mechanics, but at 421 00:14:49,279 --> 00:14:51,199 the same time, always be looking at new 422 00:14:51,199 --> 00:14:52,399 ones and trying to imagine, you know, 423 00:14:52,399 --> 00:14:55,519 could I bring these into my toolbox? 1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:03,840 A lot of aspiring game designers come to 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,120 me with ideas and their designs, and I'm 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:08,559 very familiar with kind of looking at 4 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:10,400 them with fresh eyes and maybe giving 5 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:11,759 them a different perspective on where 6 00:00:11,759 --> 00:00:14,240 they might go with it. So, we've invited 7 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,000 an aspiring game designer to come share 8 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,720 a game she's currently working on. I'll 9 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:20,720 be looking at her game, trying to get a 10 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:22,320 sense of where she wants to go with it, 11 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,519 and giving her feedback on it. 12 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:38,879 So my is a sidescrolling puzzle 13 00:00:38,879 --> 00:00:39,600 platformer. 14 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:40,000 Okay. 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,239 And the premise is that uh you play as 16 00:00:42,239 --> 00:00:44,640 this woman named Nina who has been uh 17 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,600 stranded on this abandoned space colony 18 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,200 and she's trying to find the equipment 19 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:50,640 she needs to get back home. 20 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:50,960 Okay. 21 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:52,719 Um so the game play is definitely like a 22 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,320 traditional Metroid Via game. 23 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:55,760 All right. And the premise of a lot of 24 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:57,840 the upgrades are you're changing around 25 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:58,879 gravity. 26 00:00:58,879 --> 00:01:00,000 Changing gravity. 27 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,840 Yes. So you can change it up, down, 28 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:02,480 left, right. 29 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,239 So you're jumping and the gravity allows 30 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:06,000 you Oh, let's take a look at it. 31 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,920 Sure. We can take a look here. Um, so as 32 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,000 you can see 33 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,479 under this giant room and you can change 34 00:01:14,479 --> 00:01:15,600 gravity around. 35 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,040 Oh, you're changing the angle of 36 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:17,680 gravity. 37 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:18,640 Yes. Yeah. 38 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:20,159 Oh, I see. Okay. 39 00:01:20,159 --> 00:01:22,240 So if you fall too far, you can die. So 40 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:23,680 that's kind of like the main thing. But 41 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:25,119 the camera doesn't rotate, so you have 42 00:01:25,119 --> 00:01:26,479 to turn in your head. Okay. 43 00:01:26,479 --> 00:01:27,119 Right. 44 00:01:27,119 --> 00:01:27,920 All right. 45 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,040 So, at this point, she's just 46 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:30,240 So, you're actually pressing something 47 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:31,840 on here to change gravity. And you can 48 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:33,280 pick one of the four directions. 49 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:33,840 Yes. 50 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,200 Exactly. 51 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:36,880 Okay. I mean, right off the bat, 52 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:37,360 Mhm. 53 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,360 looking at this game, it looks cooler to 54 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,439 me now than when you first pitched it to 55 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:43,280 me just a few seconds ago. 56 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:44,640 Uh, you started by saying it's a 57 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,040 sidescrolling duh. Immediately in my 58 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,799 head, I think Mario, whatever. It brings 59 00:01:48,799 --> 00:01:49,600 a lot of baggage. 60 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,159 Sure. Um, I think and I don't really 61 00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:53,360 care about the character's name, but if 62 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,520 you say she's stranded on this ship 63 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,200 exploring it, but she gets all for 64 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:58,799 gravity, all a sudden that sounds kind 65 00:01:58,799 --> 00:01:59,840 of interesting, intriguing, something 66 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:01,520 I've never heard. I think maybe to start 67 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,200 with that and seeing it now, it looks 68 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:04,560 just so much cooler to me. 69 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:04,880 Okay. 70 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:06,880 And I like the style a lot, too. 71 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,239 Thank you. Um, 72 00:02:10,239 --> 00:02:12,239 yeah. So, the idea is you are running 73 00:02:12,239 --> 00:02:13,760 around trying to find like scrap that 74 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:14,400 you need. 75 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:15,520 It's a bit dark and that's part of the 76 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:16,959 game mechanics is that you really need a 77 00:02:16,959 --> 00:02:18,319 light to kind of see Yes. 78 00:02:18,319 --> 00:02:20,319 things. So, one of the mechanics or one 79 00:02:20,319 --> 00:02:21,599 of the things you're upgrading is that 80 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:22,800 eventually you'll find a light. You 81 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,239 don't always start with it. So, there's 82 00:02:24,239 --> 00:02:25,599 like a lot of danger of just kind of 83 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:26,640 wandering around in the darkness. 84 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:27,680 In the dark. Okay. Yeah. 85 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:28,720 Mhm. 86 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,120 Um, now I'm not hearing any sound. Is 87 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:32,160 that just part of the game you haven't 88 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:32,959 developed yet, 89 00:02:32,959 --> 00:02:34,080 right? Exactly. 90 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,280 Because I think when you're dealing with 91 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,120 limited perception like this flashlight, 92 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:38,239 sound is going to be a huge part of 93 00:02:38,239 --> 00:02:39,920 that. You hear something scary or 94 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:41,200 creaking. You don't know if it's good or 95 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:42,800 bad. It might be a door. It might be a 96 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,319 monster. Who knows what? But I think, 97 00:02:44,319 --> 00:02:45,519 you know, the sound is going to be just 98 00:02:45,519 --> 00:02:47,200 as important as the visuals for a game 99 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:47,760 like this. 100 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,120 Oh, yeah. Definitely. Especially when 101 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:50,480 you're running around in the dark like 102 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:51,760 Exactly. And that's, you know, one of 103 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:53,200 your primary senses now. 104 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,760 So, yeah, for this puzzle specifically, 105 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,000 uh, you're supposed to like go up and 106 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,760 these like boxes will fall upward and 107 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:01,360 then you have to like race to finish the 108 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:02,640 other side before they fall back down. 109 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:03,120 Okay. 110 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,040 Um, so that would be a huge part where 111 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:06,080 sound is going to be like a 112 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:07,280 and it feels like you should do that 113 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,040 fairly soon because you obviously pretty 114 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,319 established here on the visuals and some 115 00:03:10,319 --> 00:03:11,440 of the game mechanics 116 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:12,640 and if you're lacking the sound, you're 117 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:14,239 lacking like 30% of the experience right 118 00:03:14,239 --> 00:03:15,840 now. So, even if you're just going to 119 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:17,840 stub in some sound, I would stub it in 120 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:18,800 as quickly as possible. 121 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,879 Sure. Okay. 122 00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:22,800 Um, yeah. So, that's like it's a pretty 123 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:23,680 short demo. 124 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:24,239 Okay. 125 00:03:24,239 --> 00:03:25,840 Um, so if you want to play 126 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:27,440 What was the inspiration for this? Uh, 127 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,920 yeah. Move it around. Oh, I just moved 128 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:31,440 gravity way over there. Oh, I killed 129 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:32,959 myself. So, that's how you change 130 00:03:32,959 --> 00:03:34,080 gravity, right? 131 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,239 Yeah. So, Wazda is supposed to move. 132 00:03:36,239 --> 00:03:37,599 Oh, gotcha. Okay. 133 00:03:37,599 --> 00:03:42,000 So, I I love games like Limbo and Inside 134 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,400 I forgot that I can go that way. 135 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,080 Oh jeez, 136 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,159 this is actually kind of fun. Failing 137 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:49,360 good. 138 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:50,080 That's excellent. 139 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,760 No, I think that's actually for me one 140 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,159 of the important parts is not just uh 141 00:03:54,159 --> 00:03:56,000 that I'm failing, but it's presented in 142 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,599 a humorous way. I think humor is like 143 00:03:57,599 --> 00:03:58,560 one of the 144 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:00,159 like really superpowers that game 145 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:01,680 designers have at their disposal. They 146 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:03,599 don't always use. Uh a lot of times 147 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:04,959 people will be looking for extremely 148 00:04:04,959 --> 00:04:06,640 elaborate technical solutions 149 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,959 to something uh where in fact just a 150 00:04:08,959 --> 00:04:10,799 little bit of humor can solve it. 151 00:04:10,799 --> 00:04:12,400 There was a door there, right? Or maybe 152 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:14,879 not. So, if I change gravity, 153 00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:16,079 if you can make it to the other side, 154 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:16,799 there's a door. 155 00:04:16,799 --> 00:04:18,239 Oh, I see. Okay. 156 00:04:18,239 --> 00:04:22,000 You will. Those boxes are deadly. 157 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,199 I really do like the look of the world. 158 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:24,639 I notice there's almost like a raster 159 00:04:24,639 --> 00:04:26,240 scan quality to the graphics here. Is 160 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:27,120 that on purpose? 161 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,919 Yes. So, that is a a post uh processing 162 00:04:29,919 --> 00:04:30,479 effect. 163 00:04:30,479 --> 00:04:30,960 Yeah. 164 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,960 Um, so the idea is, and this will kind 165 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:34,400 of unfold in the story, that you're 166 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:35,919 being like watched by somebody. 167 00:04:35,919 --> 00:04:36,240 Okay. 168 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,320 So, I wanted to do an effect that was 169 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:39,520 sort of subtle, like maybe you didn't 170 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,600 notice it at first, right? And uh the 171 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,040 story would kind of give you meaning to 172 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:43,759 it later. 173 00:04:43,759 --> 00:04:46,560 All right. And uh so one of your primary 174 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:48,240 mechanics here is changing gravity, the 175 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:49,600 orientation of gravity. 176 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,280 Um which seems like a pretty rich thing 177 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:53,199 to explore. How much have you tried 178 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:55,360 different level designs against that? 179 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,040 I mean, do you have like a level editor 180 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,400 right now for this? 181 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,040 Um so yeah, the system is set up so I 182 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:02,639 can pretty easily build things out, 183 00:05:02,639 --> 00:05:02,960 right? 184 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:04,800 And that's where I've just gotten. So, 185 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:06,080 I've just gotten to the point where like 186 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,360 the vertical slice is complete. 187 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:08,479 Because it kind of feels like you have a 188 00:05:08,479 --> 00:05:10,080 fairly open-ended design space now of 189 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:11,120 how to play with that mechanic of 190 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:12,240 changing gravity. Exactly. 191 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:13,520 And now, as a designer, what you want to 192 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,360 be doing is trying a lot of different 193 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,039 level designs, just experimenting to 194 00:05:17,039 --> 00:05:18,320 find out which ones really work with 195 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:19,759 that, which ones don't. 196 00:05:19,759 --> 00:05:20,720 That's going to be a lot of learning on 197 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:22,479 your part, right? You know, and then 198 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:23,840 kind of leaning into the ones that work 199 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,680 well. So, you're really maximizing that 200 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,120 dynamic, the game mechanic. 201 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,280 Yeah. I you know I think that and the 202 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:31,360 sound design feel like to me the two 203 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:32,880 areas you should really be focusing on 204 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,120 right now as a designer. Have you put 205 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:36,560 this in front of other people? 206 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:37,039 Yes. 207 00:05:37,039 --> 00:05:37,440 All right. 208 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:37,919 Yes. 209 00:05:37,919 --> 00:05:40,479 And uh what is the most typical 210 00:05:40,479 --> 00:05:42,479 confusing thing at first for a new 211 00:05:42,479 --> 00:05:43,360 player? 212 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,720 Um so in my initial play test I think I 213 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:48,639 had puzzles that were probably more 214 00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:50,240 complicated than a game like this needed 215 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:50,720 to be. 216 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:51,039 Okay. 217 00:05:51,039 --> 00:05:52,960 So it was a lot of like struggle to get 218 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,240 through those uh mechanic wise. Like I 219 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,479 haven't found people being frustrated 220 00:05:58,479 --> 00:06:00,400 with the gravity and stuff. So, 221 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,160 and is this basically kind of a puzzle 222 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:03,680 game where there's one solution? You 223 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,199 have to, you know, unlock that door, 224 00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:06,560 unlock that door. Kind of a gated 225 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:07,680 experience, 226 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,199 right? And that's something I kind of 227 00:06:09,199 --> 00:06:13,039 have to test out still because 228 00:06:13,039 --> 00:06:14,400 part of the mechanic is you can jump 229 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,080 around to any part of the ship, right, 230 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:17,919 once you find these like checkpoints. 231 00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:19,360 So, theoretically, you could run through 232 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,440 a puzzle backwards, all right? And so it 233 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,240 still has to be like solvable or right 234 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:25,280 to to get back. 235 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:26,800 Right. That makes the design thing a 236 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:28,160 little bit more tricky. 237 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:29,280 Right. Exactly. 238 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,560 Um and what just in your overall vision 239 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,319 of this as a product, how long do you 240 00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:35,440 think an average player is going to 241 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,360 spend playing this all the way through? 242 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,440 Um I'm aiming for about three hours. So 243 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,199 three hours experience. Yeah. 244 00:06:41,199 --> 00:06:42,800 Well, that's fairly long though. I mean, 245 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,400 for this kind of puzzle game. 246 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,160 Okay. you know, uh, do you have a sense 247 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:48,560 of how many levels or how big of a space 248 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:49,919 you're going to have to build out 249 00:06:49,919 --> 00:06:51,520 for it to be a three-hour experience? 250 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,680 So, how I've been thinking about it is I 251 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,520 broke it down by each of the upgrades 252 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:56,319 that you're getting. 253 00:06:56,319 --> 00:06:56,800 All right. 254 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,120 And based on the upgrade, I was my 255 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:00,880 thought is like, okay, well, how cool is 256 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:02,400 this upgrade and how much time do I 257 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:03,599 really want to make the player, 258 00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:05,039 right, like to earn it, right? 259 00:07:05,039 --> 00:07:06,080 Tell me what happens when you get these 260 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:07,840 upgrades. What do they do? They actually 261 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:09,120 change your abilities in the game like 262 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:10,160 you're talking about getting a better 263 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:11,840 flashlight and stuff like that. Uh they 264 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,840 will change your abilities like uh the 265 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,360 gravity ability itself is something that 266 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:16,160 you will unlock. 267 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,160 Oh, I see. Okay. So the as you move 268 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:19,759 forward through this ship, you get to 269 00:07:19,759 --> 00:07:20,880 places where you have to have these 270 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,199 upgrades to complete the level. Exactly. 271 00:07:23,199 --> 00:07:23,599 Okay. 272 00:07:23,599 --> 00:07:24,000 Yeah. 273 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:25,680 And is it always going to be basically 274 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:27,680 kind of a linear I need this, then I 275 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,000 open B, then I need that, then I open C. 276 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,759 Or is there some combinations that can 277 00:07:31,759 --> 00:07:33,280 give you shortcuts or different paths 278 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:34,240 through there? 279 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:35,440 Because that would make it a much more 280 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,199 replayable game, right? And that's kind 281 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:38,639 of a big question between how much time 282 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:41,280 do you want to spend opening more player 283 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,680 opportunities in this versus having it 284 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:45,199 be replayable, you know, and I'm not 285 00:07:45,199 --> 00:07:46,400 sure if this is something you intend a 286 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:47,599 player just to sit down, play for three 287 00:07:47,599 --> 00:07:49,520 hours, and then put away. That was fun. 288 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,039 Or if it's something, you know, where 289 00:07:51,039 --> 00:07:52,400 you want them you're going back and 290 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:53,919 trying again, you know, and some of the 291 00:07:53,919 --> 00:07:55,360 Mario games if you collect all the coins 292 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:56,960 on a level, you know, you get other 293 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,120 things unlocked, you know. So that's 294 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:00,240 something you can think of down the 295 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:01,280 road. You don't have to think of right 296 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,280 now, but in terms of the overall player 297 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:04,319 experience, I think you should be 298 00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:06,400 thinking about. I have thought about at 299 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,160 least in the sense I do like the idea of 300 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,720 them like strategizing because when you 301 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:12,560 look at the map you can see where like 302 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:14,319 the scrap is that you need to collect 303 00:08:14,319 --> 00:08:15,680 right so you can 304 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,759 like know that okay well this part of 305 00:08:17,759 --> 00:08:19,199 the ship I'm being blocked because I 306 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:20,960 can't do this ability and there's all 307 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,879 that scrap there and then maybe this 308 00:08:22,879 --> 00:08:24,479 part of the ship is also locked and 309 00:08:24,479 --> 00:08:26,160 there's all this scrap so they have to 310 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,080 judge like what is the the best thing 311 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,240 for do for them to do at that moment. 312 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,360 Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Interesting idea. You 313 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,440 know, I think that And just one last 314 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,440 question. Is the gravity thing like your 315 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,039 primary game dynamic? Is that really 316 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:40,880 what you think distinguishes this game 317 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:42,880 versus other games like this? 318 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:44,240 Uh yeah. Yeah. 319 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,320 Okay. And you know, obviously you have 320 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,000 some backstory, but that's, you know, 321 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,200 the backstory that everybody's going to 322 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,920 have obviously, but uh I think that you 323 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:53,279 could do a whole lot with sound design 324 00:08:53,279 --> 00:08:55,519 in this that I'm not seeing right now. 325 00:08:55,519 --> 00:08:56,640 Uh, I think that you have the 326 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:57,600 opportunity to do a lot of really 327 00:08:57,600 --> 00:08:58,800 interesting level design, but you're 328 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:00,160 going to have to explore that space as a 329 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,000 designer, you know, and whatever you're 330 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,920 using for a level editor, you want to 331 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,839 make as, you know, kind of seamless and 332 00:09:05,839 --> 00:09:07,760 easy to use as possible. Even if it's 333 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:08,959 just a prototype, you don't have the 334 00:09:08,959 --> 00:09:10,080 full rendering of the character. If you 335 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,240 have like a little toy prototype of 336 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,240 being able to do this in a very easy to 337 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:15,519 use level editor, 338 00:09:15,519 --> 00:09:16,800 I think you could probably, you know, 339 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:18,880 explore that space much more efficiently 340 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,720 than getting it into the full game. You 341 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,080 know, maybe, maybe not. It's just a 342 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:22,399 thought. 343 00:09:22,399 --> 00:09:24,720 Sure. But uh and just the very last 344 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,720 thing is, you know, I think that I would 345 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:28,480 refine your pitch a little bit more and 346 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,120 don't start with it's a sidescroller. 347 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:32,160 You know, start with something like it's 348 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:33,360 a game about gravity, 349 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:34,480 you know, or something like that that 350 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:35,680 right off the bat it's like, oh, okay, 351 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:36,800 gravity. It sounds kind of cool and 352 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:38,160 interesting. Uh and you know, 353 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:39,279 eventually, in fact, it's not 354 00:09:39,279 --> 00:09:40,399 necessarily a sidescroller because 355 00:09:40,399 --> 00:09:41,760 you're going up and down and you know, 356 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,320 all different directions, but uh it's a 357 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,160 cool idea. I love the uh the visuals on 358 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:46,959 it right now. 359 00:09:46,959 --> 00:09:50,560 Thank you. Thank you. 1 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:11,840 As we get further down the development 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:13,840 process, the prototyping we're doing is 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:15,519 far more granular. There are a lot of 4 00:00:15,519 --> 00:00:17,920 things that you can do and a very small 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:19,600 subset of that is what you should do for 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,320 the player. Scoping really is going to 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,199 come down to what is the right sweet 8 00:00:25,199 --> 00:00:28,720 spot for complexity and interest. And so 9 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:30,000 you're trying to find that sweet spot 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,679 with scoping. And prototyping is one of 11 00:00:31,679 --> 00:00:34,320 your tools for discovering that. For 12 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,559 spore, we did 50 or 60 prototypes of 13 00:00:36,559 --> 00:00:38,559 different areas of science that we might 14 00:00:38,559 --> 00:00:40,480 have included in Spore. And again, you 15 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:42,160 know, most of them were not included. 16 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:42,960 You know, after playing with the 17 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,239 prototypes, we decided either, you know, 18 00:00:44,239 --> 00:00:45,360 didn't really fit in with the overall 19 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,680 concept or that system as a little toy 20 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:49,520 just wasn't a very fun toy to play with. 21 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:51,120 But the ones that were fun to play with, 22 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:52,719 we figured out, okay, which one of these 23 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,800 can we now, you know, put together and 24 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,280 build into a larger experience. And then 25 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:58,480 eventually they turn into gameplay 26 00:00:58,480 --> 00:00:59,920 prototypes, you know, where actually 27 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:03,640 there is a game there. 28 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,439 A lot of the prototypes uh that we 29 00:01:11,439 --> 00:01:13,600 developed for Spore had a scripting 30 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,080 language and in fact I could take the 31 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,159 same little codebase I as a designer 32 00:01:18,159 --> 00:01:19,439 could go in and change the scripting of 33 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:21,280 it and change the rules within the 34 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:23,840 simple prototype. Uh, and so I in fact 35 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:25,520 was doing a lot of the programming on 36 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:27,520 these prototypes to explore different 37 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,600 rule sets. And in fact, I was able to 38 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,119 recreate like very simple versions of 39 00:01:31,119 --> 00:01:32,799 Sim City and a few other games within 40 00:01:32,799 --> 00:01:34,960 these four prototypes. Some of them were 41 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:36,400 using very interesting kind of systems 42 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,799 and topologies. Some were network based, 43 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:40,720 others were kind of grid cellular 44 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,759 automata based. And the fact that as a 45 00:01:43,759 --> 00:01:45,360 designer, I could very quickly go in and 46 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:46,960 script over one evening. I could try 47 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,399 five or six different rule sets, play 48 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:50,320 with them for a while, gravitate toward 49 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,560 an area. Once I got roughly in some area 50 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:54,240 I liked, I could take it back to the 51 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:55,520 programmer and say, "Now build me a 52 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,920 better version of this." Uh, or maybe 53 00:01:57,920 --> 00:01:59,280 had some limitation. I wanted to add a 54 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:00,640 little couple more commands to the 55 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,000 scripting language. But in fact, I was 56 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:03,920 doing some of the programming on the, 57 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:04,960 you know, the last half of the 58 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,240 prototype. The programmer would give me 59 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,399 like a little scripting engine and 60 00:02:08,399 --> 00:02:10,479 codebase that I could script and change 61 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:13,120 the rules on. So again, it very rapidly 62 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:14,560 allowed me as a designer to explore 63 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,040 different rule sets. 64 00:02:22,959 --> 00:02:25,280 A lot of times, you know, I would work 65 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,599 with design teams and, you know, every 66 00:02:27,599 --> 00:02:29,200 week there would be kind of a triage 67 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:30,560 session and we would kind of say, okay, 68 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:31,920 what are the biggest risks of this 69 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:33,360 project? You know, they could be 70 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:35,040 technological risks, they could be 71 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,440 design risks, they could be production 72 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,080 risks. Um, and then we step back and 73 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:41,680 say, okay, how do we mitigate that most 74 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:43,760 effectively? Uh, you know, sometimes 75 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,040 it's technological risk. Can we actually 76 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:46,400 build this? Let's build a prototype and 77 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,319 see if it's a design risk. Let's see if 78 00:02:48,319 --> 00:02:49,519 we can find some, you know, build a 79 00:02:49,519 --> 00:02:51,120 prototype or find some other game that 80 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,000 shows us this will be fun. Uh, can the 81 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,440 production team, you know, manage these 82 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,920 assets in time, whatever it is. And 83 00:02:57,920 --> 00:02:59,519 hopefully, you know, every week we're 84 00:02:59,519 --> 00:03:00,800 trying to basically attack the top 85 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:02,800 things on that list to where they get 86 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,319 lower on the list. Now, something else 87 00:03:04,319 --> 00:03:06,640 becomes the top design risk. So, I think 88 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:08,560 that as you're going through iteration, 89 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,000 you know, it's continually that process 90 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,800 of attacking the highest risk items. One 91 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,720 of the typical aspects of risk in this 92 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,360 kind of development is that the longer 93 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:21,200 you uh delay it uh the more expensive it 94 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,599 is. Okay, if I can mitigate that risk 95 00:03:23,599 --> 00:03:25,519 this month, it's going to cost me, you 96 00:03:25,519 --> 00:03:27,519 know, $10. If I wait 3 months to 97 00:03:27,519 --> 00:03:29,360 mitigate it, it's going to cost me $100 98 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:30,799 because all these other things now have 99 00:03:30,799 --> 00:03:32,959 to change around it. So, you know, 100 00:03:32,959 --> 00:03:34,560 again, this is about efficiency. you 101 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:36,799 know, how efficiently can I prune that 102 00:03:36,799 --> 00:03:38,640 design tree? You know, and I want every 103 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,799 pruning of every branch to be as 104 00:03:40,799 --> 00:03:44,159 expedient as as efficient as possible. 105 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:46,159 And a lot of times you really want to 106 00:03:46,159 --> 00:03:47,360 put it off. You really want to say, "Oh, 107 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:48,319 I know it's going to work. I know it's 108 00:03:48,319 --> 00:03:49,840 going to work." But if you can mitigate 109 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:51,840 it early, it gives you more confidence 110 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,120 later on that you're on the right path. 111 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,879 There's so many times when you you're 112 00:04:02,879 --> 00:04:04,560 developing something and it gets to some 113 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:05,519 point where it's really starting to 114 00:04:05,519 --> 00:04:08,159 coales and starting to feel pretty good. 115 00:04:08,159 --> 00:04:10,640 Uh but it feels that no matter where you 116 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:12,000 push it from that direction, it gets 117 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,519 worse. You know, this is you being stuck 118 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:16,079 on a local maxima. And at that point, 119 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:17,440 it's it can be kind of apparent 120 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,359 intellectually to you that what you 121 00:04:19,359 --> 00:04:21,199 really need to do is, you know, again, 122 00:04:21,199 --> 00:04:22,800 rip this thing out, add that thing, do 123 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,840 some major change to it. And you feel 124 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:27,199 like it's going to go here. you're not 125 00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:28,320 sure, but you you you're pretty sure, 126 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:29,600 but you know that you're stuck here on 127 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,240 this peak. And that's a very hard thing 128 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,000 for you to kind of actually take that 129 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,520 hit and try it. And you know, maybe when 130 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,000 you do that, it's now worse. But with a 131 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,040 little bit of iteration around there, 132 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,560 you find that in fact, you are on a 133 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,520 taller slope. But that's a very kind of 134 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,520 stressful kind of process to go through, 135 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,280 especially with a team who's invested a 136 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:51,360 lot of time and effort to get you here. 137 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,040 Now, really, you always do have the 138 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:54,560 opportunity to kind of fall back. If 139 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:56,080 this is a total failure over here, come 140 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,120 back to this thing and try a different 141 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:58,080 direction. But that's incredibly 142 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,639 expensive. In my experience, all the 143 00:05:00,639 --> 00:05:02,080 very best games and all the games I 144 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:03,680 worked on that ended up, you know, as 145 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,440 hits were things where we went through 146 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,360 that several times, you know, where we 147 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:08,479 really had to kind of take this hit and 148 00:05:08,479 --> 00:05:09,840 say, "Okay, look, we're going to have to 149 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:11,280 do something pretty radically different 150 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,280 here." And I think it'll get us onto a 151 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:15,199 taller slope. And in most cases, it did. 152 00:05:15,199 --> 00:05:16,479 A few cases it didn't, and we had to 153 00:05:16,479 --> 00:05:18,639 kind of go back and do it twice. But, 154 00:05:18,639 --> 00:05:19,840 uh, it's almost like you're kind of 155 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:21,680 dropping little paratroopers in to do 156 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,759 recon. Uh each one of these is very 157 00:05:23,759 --> 00:05:25,120 expensive, but you know, if they land on 158 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:26,639 a slope, they can now tell you, oh, it's 159 00:05:26,639 --> 00:05:29,199 a good slope or a bad slope. Uh but I 160 00:05:29,199 --> 00:05:30,479 think, you know, that's really the 161 00:05:30,479 --> 00:05:32,240 difference between making a really good 162 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:37,160 kind of mediocre game and a hit 163 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,240 tuning can be very very challenging. Um 164 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:45,759 and in fact, you know, it's really more 165 00:05:45,759 --> 00:05:49,199 a process of discovery. uh and what I 166 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:50,479 was doing for a lot of the things like 167 00:05:50,479 --> 00:05:52,080 for Sim City I would actually build test 168 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:53,919 patterns. I would say I would expect 169 00:05:53,919 --> 00:05:55,919 with this you know pattern of roads or 170 00:05:55,919 --> 00:05:57,360 buildings I would expect to see this 171 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,039 result on the traffic layer in my head 172 00:05:59,039 --> 00:06:00,000 and I would actually draw these out. 173 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,440 This is kind of what I would expect and 174 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:02,960 then I would run the model and it would 175 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:04,880 be nothing like that. And it wasn't 176 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:06,639 apparent to me how I would change it to 177 00:06:06,639 --> 00:06:08,800 make it like that. But instead what I 178 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,759 found was I had to make it easy to just 179 00:06:11,759 --> 00:06:13,919 explore that space change the rules very 180 00:06:13,919 --> 00:06:15,840 rapidly very quickly and look at the 181 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:18,240 result to zero in on the right rule set 182 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,000 and again because it's an emergent 183 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,400 system there's no really predictive way 184 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,560 to know which way to go it's more like 185 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:26,319 you have to learn to explore this space 186 00:06:26,319 --> 00:06:28,560 very very rapidly and in more just kind 187 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,520 of typical parametric tuning uh Sidmer 188 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:32,880 had actually a really good rule of thumb 189 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,720 which is that uh whenever you're tuning 190 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:36,960 a variable in a game don't move it by 191 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,840 10% % 20% double it or half it, you 192 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:42,319 know, initially and usually it's going 193 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:44,240 to be way off. So you double it or half 194 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:45,360 it, you know, whichever direction you 195 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,280 need to go until you're in the region, 196 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:48,479 then you can do the tuning, you know, 197 00:06:48,479 --> 00:06:50,240 but really you're probably way off to 198 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,000 begin with on almost everything. And 199 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:53,520 don't be afraid once you have it running 200 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,199 to try it. Just, you know, just for the 201 00:06:55,199 --> 00:06:57,039 hell of it, try doubling some value and 202 00:06:57,039 --> 00:06:59,039 see maybe this result might surprise 203 00:06:59,039 --> 00:07:00,319 you. It might not be something you were 204 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:01,360 looking for, but it might be something 205 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:06,039 very cool that you discover that way. 206 00:07:10,639 --> 00:07:13,199 Most of the prototypes that uh we've 207 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:14,479 created, you know, for the games I 208 00:07:14,479 --> 00:07:16,880 worked on were failures, which is good, 209 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:17,919 you know, because again, they're helping 210 00:07:17,919 --> 00:07:19,520 us prone design branches. Do we want to 211 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:20,880 go that way? No. Do we want to go that 212 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:22,800 way? No. You know, if you actually look, 213 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,000 you know, once I've taken this 214 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,720 branching, you know, decision tree all 215 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,120 the way down, most of the branches are 216 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:30,400 going to be pruned. They're failures. 217 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:31,680 You know, we don't want to go that way. 218 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,440 We did some really cool prototypes for 219 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,360 SPORE of the galactic dynamics. Uh the 220 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,520 balance between interstellar matter and 221 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,120 stars which I can spend quite a while 222 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:44,319 talking about it but is a very cool 223 00:07:44,319 --> 00:07:46,479 dynamic of the way stars are formed. The 224 00:07:46,479 --> 00:07:48,319 gas cools it coaleses again into 225 00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:50,800 molecular clouds and starts more star 226 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,400 formation which propagates a wave around 227 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,520 the galaxy. Very very cool dynamics. But 228 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,199 uh as we started scoping the rest of the 229 00:07:57,199 --> 00:07:58,560 game, we realized this really just had 230 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,560 no part in the context of the rest of 231 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,240 the game, you know, with the kind of 232 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,520 point of view the player had and the 233 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,759 tools and all that. So that was it would 234 00:08:05,759 --> 00:08:07,759 have been a very cool part of sport. In 235 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:08,879 fact, would have been a very cool part 236 00:08:08,879 --> 00:08:10,160 of a different game, not Spore. And 237 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:11,680 that's what we determined. That's a cool 238 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:13,599 game, but it's not Spore. It's really 239 00:08:13,599 --> 00:08:15,440 hard when you've invested a lot of time 240 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,759 and effort into you know one of your 241 00:08:17,759 --> 00:08:19,759 just you know kind of passionate 242 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:22,960 features or components and you know 243 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:24,319 either through prototyping testing 244 00:08:24,319 --> 00:08:26,720 whatever it just doesn't have a place in 245 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,039 your eventual design emotionally I think 246 00:08:29,039 --> 00:08:30,080 you need to kind of step back and 247 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:31,680 designer and say okay you know am I 248 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:33,680 designing something that you know for 249 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:36,159 myself aesthetically or something that I 250 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:37,680 really want to impact a large number of 251 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:41,599 people uh other times you know it'll 252 00:08:41,599 --> 00:08:43,120 really surprise you the very First game 253 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,760 I did involved flying this little 254 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:47,600 helicopter around this world and bombing 255 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,240 things. Uh, one of the things I built as 256 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,080 part of that was this thing where I 257 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:53,200 could scroll around and create the 258 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,080 world, you know, to bomb, you know, and 259 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:57,440 that thing which was originally going to 260 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,120 be a throwaway. This is the editor I 261 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,480 built for bombing the world. Uh, later I 262 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:03,920 was so into that I had so much fun 263 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,360 playing with that little world builder. 264 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,560 I took that it turned into Sim City. So 265 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:09,680 what would have been a throwaway 266 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:11,440 prototype actually evolved into my first 267 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,320 big hit. So sometimes if that thing that 268 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:15,680 you really passionately care about 269 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:17,440 doesn't have a place in your design, 270 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:18,640 that doesn't mean it doesn't have a 271 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,560 place somewhere else in some other 272 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:22,320 design. It might be that's going to be 273 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:23,920 you know the thing that you eventually 274 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:25,680 turn into what it should have been or 275 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:27,279 maybe even you jump ship and you go with 276 00:09:27,279 --> 00:09:28,800 that instead and throw away your 277 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,880 original idea. I mean there's no hard 278 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:32,880 and fast rule for this and you know 279 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:34,560 again that's a lot of times very hard 280 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,320 emotionally when you've invested that 281 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,399 much in a certain direction to throw it 282 00:09:38,399 --> 00:09:41,760 away but uh that's something that's you 283 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:43,440 know I think every field you need to 284 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,760 kind of learn when to uh fail and 285 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,360 recognize that failure and some 286 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:49,440 celebrate it you know don't say oh my 287 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,519 gosh poor me I failed it's more like 288 00:09:51,519 --> 00:09:52,880 okay I failed let's learn from this 289 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:54,399 let's you know kind of make it a 290 00:09:54,399 --> 00:09:57,600 monument you know to learning 291 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,040 any design, you know, at some point 292 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,200 you're going to have to finish it, 293 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:08,399 finish building it. You know, you have 294 00:10:08,399 --> 00:10:11,440 to scope your design. Uh it's important 295 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,160 to kind of not overreach, but at the 296 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:15,200 same time, you don't want to make it too 297 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:16,800 simple. you want to do achieve something 298 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,000 kind of cool, but uh you know it's 299 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,440 really kind of a sweet spot of 300 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,760 diminishing returns in some sense, but 301 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,320 also it's surprising how the simplest 302 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,160 little things in a game sometimes can be 303 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:29,519 the biggest features that people just 304 00:10:29,519 --> 00:10:32,079 love that you spent no time at all. And 305 00:10:32,079 --> 00:10:34,000 a lot of times you'll spend all this 306 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:35,279 time and effort on some elaborate thing 307 00:10:35,279 --> 00:10:37,200 that you you think will be cool and it 308 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,680 turns out to just fall flat. Uh if you 309 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:41,040 can discover that in prototyping early 310 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,600 on, that's the best way to deal with it. 311 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,160 But overall in terms of scope, you know, 312 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,160 I think you want to put the player into 313 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:50,399 an experience where they have kind of an 314 00:10:50,399 --> 00:10:52,800 understanding of the boundaries to some 315 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,760 degree, you know, and again, it's almost 316 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:57,600 like you can put uh a kid into any game 317 00:10:57,600 --> 00:10:58,959 and within a few minutes they can kind 318 00:10:58,959 --> 00:11:01,760 of intuit it uh how open-ended that game 319 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,000 is, you know, how much freedom, how much 320 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,399 uh agency they have in that game. You 321 00:11:06,399 --> 00:11:07,680 put a tiger in a cage, first thing he 322 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:09,200 does is walk around the perimeter to 323 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:10,720 define his space. You know, how big is 324 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,720 my world? A lot of times people 325 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:16,640 overengineer things, you know, and 326 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:17,920 programmers tend to do that. You know, 327 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:19,279 what if you decide you want this later, 328 00:11:19,279 --> 00:11:20,399 so I'm going to go ahead and put it in 329 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:22,160 now. And they'll build something twice 330 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:23,680 as complex as what you actually need for 331 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:25,519 the game. Uh, and this happens all the 332 00:11:25,519 --> 00:11:26,720 time, especially on the programming 333 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,480 side. Uh, the artists, you know, I think 334 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:31,920 are a little bit better about that kind 335 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:33,200 of understanding, okay, here's the 336 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:34,800 resolution we're working at. Here's the 337 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:36,399 way the animation is going to behave. 338 00:11:36,399 --> 00:11:37,760 and they're pretty good at like hitting 339 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,920 their mark in terms of the sweet spot, 340 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:41,600 amount of time and effort and budget 341 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,920 spent on it. I think the designer has to 342 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:45,839 have some understanding almost as a 343 00:11:45,839 --> 00:11:48,240 psychology of the different components 344 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:49,920 of your game team. This is the way 345 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:50,959 programmers think. This is the way 346 00:11:50,959 --> 00:11:52,800 artists think. This is the way the 347 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,240 writers or the sound people think. And 348 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,200 make sure that uh nobody no one side of 349 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:00,880 that is spinning way too much relative 350 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:02,720 to the others. So, I think a lot of it 351 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,279 really is more balancing act across the 352 00:12:05,279 --> 00:12:06,320 different components of your game 353 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,160 design. So, players going to come to 354 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,519 your game with a certain expectation as 355 00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:11,120 well. They're going to see, you know, 356 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:12,480 it's an open-ended game. I expect to be 357 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:14,399 able to do this, you know, many things. 358 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:16,079 I expect the world to be this big. 359 00:12:16,079 --> 00:12:17,200 Especially if somebody says, "Oh, I like 360 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:18,959 your idea. I like your idea." And then 361 00:12:18,959 --> 00:12:20,800 you ask them to describe it back to you 362 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:22,399 and see which parts of your idea that 363 00:12:22,399 --> 00:12:24,399 they're actually repeating back to you. 364 00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:25,839 And are they adding things to it or 365 00:12:25,839 --> 00:12:29,480 removing stuff from it? 366 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:35,680 As we're going through this process in 367 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:38,240 game design, uh, one thing that I found 368 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:39,600 incredibly useful, and a lot of design 369 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:41,200 teams do this, is basically a form of 370 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,160 triage. Uh, the designers once they have 371 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:45,760 some handle around what this game might 372 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:47,519 be, will come up with a set of features. 373 00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:49,040 It'd be cool if it had this, that, and 374 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,440 the other. Uh, designers will actually 375 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:53,200 put value judgments. You know, that 376 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:54,480 would be really cool. That's kind of 377 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,360 cool, that's so so. And so the designers 378 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,040 might go in and give to A, B, and C in 379 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,880 terms of, you know, this is what we 380 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:02,320 would like to have at the game. Then you 381 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:03,440 bring it to the engineers and the 382 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:05,200 engineers will assign a cost to each one 383 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:06,560 of these things. You know, that's, you 384 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:08,079 know, a seven, that's a one, that's a 385 00:13:08,079 --> 00:13:09,839 10. That's really hard. And so then you 386 00:13:09,839 --> 00:13:10,639 have to kind of look at the two 387 00:13:10,639 --> 00:13:11,760 together. You have to say, you know, the 388 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,040 designers think that's an A, but the 389 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,000 engineers say it's 10 hard. Uh, you 390 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:17,120 know, this one, the designers say it's 391 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:18,880 an A, but the engineers say it's two. So 392 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:20,240 that's a much better kind of return on 393 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:21,279 investment, you know. So basically, 394 00:13:21,279 --> 00:13:22,399 you're going for the low hanging fruit 395 00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:24,720 here. And you use this to reorder a list 396 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:25,680 and say, "Okay, we're going to go for 397 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:27,120 the things the designers want the most 398 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:28,800 and the engineers say will cost the 399 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,480 least." And you reorder the list and now 400 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,399 imagine we just had those features. Is 401 00:13:32,399 --> 00:13:33,920 that something, you know, viable? 402 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:35,920 Probably not. So, we keep going through 403 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,639 this over and over again. And but still, 404 00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:39,920 you know, this might really influence 405 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,200 the order in which we build this because 406 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:42,639 we could have something playable much 407 00:13:42,639 --> 00:13:44,399 more early, you know, if we pick the 408 00:13:44,399 --> 00:13:45,600 things that are a little bit easier, 409 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:47,279 faster for the programmers to produce 410 00:13:47,279 --> 00:13:51,560 even as just milestone prototypes. 411 00:13:56,639 --> 00:13:58,399 There have been examples I mean 412 00:13:58,399 --> 00:14:01,519 situations where it was so important to 413 00:14:01,519 --> 00:14:04,000 the designers the cost was almost 414 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,160 irrelevant. You know it was really could 415 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:07,680 we do it or not and you know can we 416 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,240 afford that cost? Uh when we did Spore 417 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:11,839 we really wanted players to design the 418 00:14:11,839 --> 00:14:13,360 creatures and we wanted to have a wide 419 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,240 variety of possible creatures and we 420 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:17,600 basically couldn't figure out how to 421 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:18,800 animate these things because we didn't 422 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,399 know what they were yet. Uh typically 423 00:14:20,399 --> 00:14:21,920 animation is very data driven. You know 424 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,519 the skeleton, you know how it's moving, 425 00:14:23,519 --> 00:14:25,839 has two feet, you know, a head. Um in 426 00:14:25,839 --> 00:14:27,040 this case, we had no idea, you know, how 427 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:28,399 many legs does this creature have, 428 00:14:28,399 --> 00:14:30,399 what's its shape, you know, where's the 429 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:32,880 spine go. Uh so we kind of realized 430 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:34,639 early on that, you know, we had to crack 431 00:14:34,639 --> 00:14:36,880 this nut of procedural animation to make 432 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,839 it even viable. And uh you know, without 433 00:14:39,839 --> 00:14:41,120 that, you know, we couldn't go down that 434 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:43,839 path at all. And so we kind of stopped 435 00:14:43,839 --> 00:14:46,000 everything you know put got some very 436 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:47,600 skilled people very smart people working 437 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,560 on this problem for a few months and 438 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,000 after a few months they had actually 439 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,600 said we can do this and they were 440 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,519 actually showing us you know examples 441 00:14:55,519 --> 00:14:56,639 you know prototypes they had built where 442 00:14:56,639 --> 00:14:58,320 they were doing it and once we were 443 00:14:58,320 --> 00:14:59,279 convinced that they could do it and it 444 00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:01,360 was expensive thing to do we decided to 445 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,440 go down that design path. So that was 446 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,240 one where it was you know basically 447 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,040 imperative you know to have that feature 448 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:10,480 and we just had to find out if we could 449 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,480 do it. Other times, you know, there were 450 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,279 things in a game where like in Sim City, 451 00:15:15,279 --> 00:15:17,680 we wanted to have, you know, boats and 452 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:19,760 water traffic in Sim City 2000. And 453 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:20,720 because the way we were doing the 454 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:22,399 telegraphics, you know, we would had to 455 00:15:22,399 --> 00:15:23,920 go back and really change a lot of the 456 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:25,440 graphics system to do that. And the 457 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,279 value was very low for that version of 458 00:15:27,279 --> 00:15:28,880 Sim City. We eventually added in later 459 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:30,639 versions. That was one where the, you 460 00:15:30,639 --> 00:15:33,279 know, the design value of the feature uh 461 00:15:33,279 --> 00:15:35,360 was really pretty low and the cost was 462 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,279 really high. And it depends also on all 463 00:15:37,279 --> 00:15:38,639 the other features you currently have. 464 00:15:38,639 --> 00:15:39,920 You can't take any one feature in 465 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:41,199 isolation. you have to say, okay, how 466 00:15:41,199 --> 00:15:42,399 does that, you know, influence 467 00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:43,839 everything else? You know, ideally, 468 00:15:43,839 --> 00:15:44,959 every time you add something to a game, 469 00:15:44,959 --> 00:15:46,720 it's a force multiplayer. It's making 470 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:48,399 the other stuff even cooler, making the 471 00:15:48,399 --> 00:15:50,880 world seem even richer or more emergent. 472 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,600 So, uh, you know, it's it's important 473 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,040 that as a designer, you're always 474 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,279 keeping in mind the entire design, not 475 00:15:57,279 --> 00:16:00,720 just one little set of it. 1 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,280 Inside of each of us, there's a 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:12,960 subconscious. 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,120 There's a whole region of who you are 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:16,960 that is in some sense inaccessible to 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,840 you, but drives your behavior. 6 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:21,520 The game I'm working on now, it's called 7 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,880 Proxy. And my core motivation there is 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,560 can I build a gameplay experience, an 9 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:28,800 entertainment experience where the 10 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,519 computer is actively trying to gain a 11 00:00:31,519 --> 00:00:34,399 deeper understanding of the player 12 00:00:34,399 --> 00:00:36,320 primarily through the player's past 13 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:38,239 experiences through their memories. Can 14 00:00:38,239 --> 00:00:40,320 I kind of interpret the memories of your 15 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,320 life, the most important memories that 16 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,760 made you who you are? And from that come 17 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,320 to some understanding of how you think, 18 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:49,760 what makes you behave the way you 19 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,280 behave, 20 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:52,719 why you connect these certain things in 21 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:53,840 your mind that most people don't 22 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:55,360 connect, 23 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,360 what drives your interests, you know, 24 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,600 how much can I get a computer to learn 25 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,760 that about you? And then try to build a 26 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:03,359 representational avatar of your IT, of 27 00:01:03,359 --> 00:01:05,920 your subconscious that you can now 28 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:08,240 interact with. And as it learns more and 29 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,640 more about you, it kind of in some sense 30 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,799 comes to life and can now interact with 31 00:01:12,799 --> 00:01:14,640 other people's ids kind of 32 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,960 asynchronously, uh, it can go off in the 33 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:18,640 world and interact with your friends or 34 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,439 with, you know, real or historic or 35 00:01:21,439 --> 00:01:23,119 fictional characters. You know, how does 36 00:01:23,119 --> 00:01:24,560 your proxy get along with Homer 37 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,200 Simpson's proxy or, you know, the Pope's 38 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,759 proxy or Mother Teresa? I want to know, 39 00:01:29,759 --> 00:01:32,159 can we build a map of that? Can we start 40 00:01:32,159 --> 00:01:34,159 to understand it? We build, you know, a 41 00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:36,560 structural description of how this thing 42 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:38,799 works and the connections it makes and 43 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:40,240 what makes you different from another 44 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,400 person. How is your id different than 45 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:44,240 that person's id? How does it make you 46 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:45,840 behave in a situation differently than 47 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,119 they behave? Uh if we can start getting 48 00:01:49,119 --> 00:01:51,040 that level of understanding and we're, 49 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:52,960 you know, I think that analyzing 50 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,280 memories and life experience is the path 51 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:56,640 there. And I'm not sure about this. This 52 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,439 is just kind of my my theory. Um but 53 00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:00,479 that's kind of what we're trying to do 54 00:02:00,479 --> 00:02:03,640 with proxy. 55 00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:05,360 Today we're going to walk through the 56 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,840 process of creating a game prototype. 57 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,119 Basically, we're always doing this to 58 00:02:09,119 --> 00:02:10,800 answer some specific question about the 59 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:12,959 design that we're working on. Uh I'm 60 00:02:12,959 --> 00:02:15,920 here with uh my programmer Zegmo and 61 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:18,000 we're working on this project here. And 62 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:19,840 in this project, the user is creating 63 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,000 memories that come into this world and 64 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,280 basically turn into this kind of 65 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,280 landscape. And this is what we have so 66 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,200 far. We're trying to figure out how 67 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:28,480 should these memories come into the 68 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:29,920 world. Right now, when I create a 69 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:31,120 memory, it just kind of pops randomly 70 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:32,000 into the world, right? 71 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:32,400 Yeah. Yeah. 72 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:33,599 Yeah. It feels like it should be more 73 00:02:33,599 --> 00:02:35,280 tangible, though, like this world really 74 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,200 should have more rules and more specific 75 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:38,080 interactions. 76 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:38,480 Yeah. 77 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,800 So, uh I want to prototype something 78 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,800 where we try different ways to bring new 79 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,640 memories into the world here. I've been 80 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,160 kind of thinking about the idea of maybe 81 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:47,599 they come in on boats because it's 82 00:02:47,599 --> 00:02:48,480 supposedly ocean here. 83 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:49,599 Yeah. And they can wander around and try 84 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:51,040 to find a good place to land or 85 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:51,280 something. 86 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:52,800 Yeah. We could actually maybe have when 87 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:54,959 I create a new memory, it actually is on 88 00:02:54,959 --> 00:02:57,040 a little boat coming into the world and 89 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:58,480 it sails around kind of looking for a 90 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,319 place to live. You know, it I'm sitting 91 00:03:00,319 --> 00:03:01,440 here, you know, seeing this little boat 92 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,120 and I want to put it somewhere 93 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:04,720 and as I'm looking at this world, I get 94 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:05,920 the opportunity, in fact, I have to 95 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:08,560 offload the memory and as I do, it will 96 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,000 actually kind of change the terrain. 97 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,680 It'll actually make continents bigger, 98 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,440 change the form, and then the boat just 99 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:14,640 kind of disappears. The boat's really 100 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:15,760 just kind of like the messenger, but 101 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,200 then it feels more tangible, right? 102 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,360 Yeah. Uh, so I think if we can kind of 103 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:20,959 prototype this, you know, this little 104 00:03:20,959 --> 00:03:23,760 world with, you know, landscapes, but at 105 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:25,280 the same time have new memories come in 106 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:26,959 as boats and let me kind of manipulate 107 00:03:26,959 --> 00:03:29,440 the memories off the boats. Let's just 108 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,840 see how that feels. 109 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,200 So, show me how this works. 110 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:40,959 Yeah. So, the players just created new 111 00:03:40,959 --> 00:03:42,480 memory and they've come back and so 112 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:43,440 we're going to simulate this with a 113 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:44,319 simple button press. 114 00:03:44,319 --> 00:03:44,640 All right. 115 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:46,000 And so, here's a new memory they just 116 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:46,560 made. 117 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,000 Okay. And what do I do with it? 118 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:48,879 Yeah. So, it's wondering around. 119 00:03:48,879 --> 00:03:50,000 Hopefully, you want to touch it. 120 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:50,959 Do I grab it? 121 00:03:50,959 --> 00:03:52,319 Yeah. So, there you go. 122 00:03:52,319 --> 00:03:53,920 Oh, I see. So, I pulled the memory off. 123 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:55,040 Oh, it made it 124 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:55,680 terrain, right? 125 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,280 Okay. So, can I put more boats in there? 126 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:58,560 Yeah. So, they made a couple new 127 00:03:58,560 --> 00:03:59,200 memories. 128 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:00,319 More. Oh, two boats. 129 00:04:00,319 --> 00:04:01,200 Maybe they made two and then they came 130 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,080 back to this area. 131 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:03,519 And so, basically, I'm grabbing the 132 00:04:03,519 --> 00:04:05,439 memory off the boat. Oh, I see. As I 133 00:04:05,439 --> 00:04:07,040 move it around, I get a sense of the 134 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:07,760 landscape. Huh. 135 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:09,519 Yeah. Try some good feedback so you know 136 00:04:09,519 --> 00:04:09,840 Yeah. 137 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:11,280 what the connections are. 138 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:12,879 Oh, and I actually get to see the train 139 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:14,799 before I release it. That's okay. That's 140 00:04:14,799 --> 00:04:17,199 different. That's kind of cool. Um, I 141 00:04:17,199 --> 00:04:19,280 like the tangibility of this. Uh, these 142 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:20,799 buds could have a lot more elaborate 143 00:04:20,799 --> 00:04:22,639 rules if we wanted to. 144 00:04:22,639 --> 00:04:23,440 Path finding. Sure. 145 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:24,880 Yeah. We could have shipwrecks. We could 146 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,199 have collisions. Uh, the buds, you know, 147 00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:28,639 maybe have path finding and gravitate 148 00:04:28,639 --> 00:04:30,240 towards certain areas where it thinks it 149 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,759 wants the memory to be. 150 00:04:31,759 --> 00:04:32,720 I could tell you that in another 151 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:33,520 iteration. Sure. 152 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,440 Yeah. So, this is adding a certain level 153 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,240 of tangibility to our world. And, you 154 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:39,600 know, kind of going with that landscape 155 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,160 metaphor a little bit more heavily. Mhm. 156 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:43,280 I'm going to play with this a bit 157 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:45,360 longer, but I think this is actually a 158 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,479 good direction for us to go now. I think 159 00:04:48,479 --> 00:04:51,280 maybe we're done with this prototype. 160 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:52,320 I'd like to play with it a little bit 161 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,600 longer and figure out, you know, do we 162 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:55,199 want to elaborate on this prototype or 163 00:04:55,199 --> 00:04:56,720 maybe go to another one? But I think 164 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,520 right now this feels much Oh, I got to 165 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:00,160 turn all this stuff down. 166 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:01,840 Yeah, you know, I had some time. I 167 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:02,800 finished a little early. So, I'll throw 168 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:03,759 in a little fun thing like that. 169 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:04,960 Well, actually, I mean, that's an 170 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:06,720 interesting idea. It could be that the 171 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,880 memory type is somehow related to the 172 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,600 vessel. You know, I hadn't thought about 173 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:12,639 that, but just playing with this 174 00:05:12,639 --> 00:05:14,240 prototype. 175 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:15,440 Just because you threw that in there 176 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,120 makes me think that, you know, somehow 177 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,240 the system could actually look at the 178 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,080 memory type you're doing, put it on a 179 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,759 sailing ship, on a motorboat, on a 180 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:22,960 turtle, whatever. Yeah. 181 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,240 Uh so it could have different kind of 182 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:25,120 classes of memory. 183 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:26,400 Yeah, I could definitely add that if we 184 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:27,440 want to iterate on this one more time. 185 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:29,039 That would not be hard to to test out. 186 00:05:29,039 --> 00:05:29,280 Sure. 187 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:30,560 Okay. We might do one more iteration on 188 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:32,479 this prototype, but I think uh this 189 00:05:32,479 --> 00:05:34,320 clearly kind of answers this feels a lot 190 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:35,600 better than it was before. 191 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:36,320 Yeah, definitely. 192 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:37,680 And it's a fairly simple code fix, 193 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:39,600 right? I mean to actually realize this. 194 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,120 Yeah, I could do another less than a 195 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:42,320 day. I could Okay. 196 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:42,960 What you're talking about? 197 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:43,600 Sure. 198 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,840 So, in this case, we've established 199 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:47,360 basically a resolution to this question 200 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,680 of how new memories come into the world. 201 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:51,199 And just playing with this for a few 202 00:05:51,199 --> 00:05:52,960 minutes, I can clearly see that it feels 203 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:54,000 much better than what we were doing 204 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,800 before. And not only that, but it uh 205 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:58,479 based on just some things that Zegma 206 00:05:58,479 --> 00:06:00,320 threw in there, it kind of inspired me 207 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:01,680 to think in a different design direction 208 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:03,440 slightly. So, I'd say this, you know, 209 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,000 was a very worthwhile prototype for the 210 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,600 amount of time spent. And again, it's 211 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:08,800 not like we spent a lot of time on this 212 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,280 prototype, but uh it gives us much more 213 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:16,360 clarity on going down the design branch. 214 00:06:21,759 --> 00:06:23,440 So, I think the prototypes like this are 215 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,080 really helping us explore the space much 216 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:27,680 faster and more efficiently. Yeah. 217 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,919 Um, we're still basically in an overhead 218 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:31,039 world here. 219 00:06:31,039 --> 00:06:32,080 And I think one of the other things 220 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:33,360 we're going to want to prototype is 221 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:34,400 different renderings of the world, 222 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,400 whether we go to 3D isometric. 223 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:36,880 Yeah. 224 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:38,720 Uh, where the full camera rotation and 225 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,400 all that. It's going to be a real 226 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,319 balance there, I think, between 227 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:45,120 legibility of the world and, you know, 228 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:46,800 the player being able to do interesting, 229 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,080 exciting things in there without having 230 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:49,600 to worry about the camera angle, 231 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:50,800 right? Uh, 232 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,560 well, if we're looking at doing a 3D 233 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:54,720 version, I could take another day or two 234 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,639 to a very simple version where just 235 00:06:56,639 --> 00:06:58,560 simple objects, basic terrain 236 00:06:58,560 --> 00:06:59,759 generation, and just dragging things 237 00:06:59,759 --> 00:07:01,680 around and see how we like that. 238 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,280 Uh, if we can do it without the user 239 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,280 getting too involved in the c the camera 240 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,039 manipulation is the key. So perhaps just 241 00:07:07,039 --> 00:07:09,759 lock it to like 90° 45°. 242 00:07:09,759 --> 00:07:11,520 So freeze them from that constraint but 243 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:13,440 focuses on just where you placing in the 244 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:13,759 world, 245 00:07:13,759 --> 00:07:15,120 right? But also this landscape, you 246 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:16,560 know, it's kind of a pneummonic. So as I 247 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,160 get a sense of that landscape, all a 248 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:19,360 sudden you rotate it looks different to 249 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,039 me. And I, you know, the memory that I 250 00:07:21,039 --> 00:07:23,039 put in the upper right corner is now in 251 00:07:23,039 --> 00:07:24,319 the lower left corner. 252 00:07:24,319 --> 00:07:26,080 And so that's why I'm a little reticent 253 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,160 to go to full 3D or at least constrain 254 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,400 the camera direction, but we could still 255 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,400 kind of tilt it back. I got some pitch 256 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:32,720 on it. 257 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:34,560 Okay. So no rotation, just locked 258 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:35,759 orientation. I got you. and just had 259 00:07:35,759 --> 00:07:37,440 that sort of gradual pitch that 260 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:38,639 and probably we're definitely going to 261 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:40,240 want some amount of zoom in. So the zoom 262 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:41,680 might be relative to the pitch of the 263 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:43,360 camera. So maybe one of the things we 264 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,520 might want to prototype is a world like 265 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,919 this where I can now, you know, zoom in, 266 00:07:47,919 --> 00:07:49,840 have the camera pitch change with the 267 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:51,840 zoom, pull back out, get the overhead 268 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:52,560 map. 269 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,479 Uh then I think we've gone a long way 270 00:07:54,479 --> 00:07:56,479 toward establishing kind of the user 271 00:07:56,479 --> 00:07:58,960 interaction and the look and feel that 272 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:00,479 we now have to kind of produce, you 273 00:08:00,479 --> 00:08:02,560 know, at a production level. Yeah, I 274 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,160 think those simple restrictions would 275 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,160 help me produce it faster. So that's 276 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:06,400 idea. 277 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:07,759 Yeah. Yeah. And again, we don't want to 278 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:09,360 spend more than a few days a week at the 279 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,039 most on, you know, prototyping that. 280 00:08:11,039 --> 00:08:12,479 Yeah. And if we had that plus this 281 00:08:12,479 --> 00:08:13,520 prototype, 282 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:14,960 now we're well on our way to kind of 283 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:16,080 knowing what's happening in that world, 284 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:17,520 what the affordances are, 285 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:19,440 how the users, you know, picking the uh 286 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:21,440 the camera angle and all that stuff. 287 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,280 And, you know, I think it won't take too 288 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:24,960 many more prototypes like this to get 289 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,599 pretty far down the design tree and we 290 00:08:27,599 --> 00:08:28,639 can actually start committing real 291 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:30,400 resources to it. 292 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,360 Sounds good. 1 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:11,759 Well, as you work on a project, you 2 00:00:11,759 --> 00:00:13,519 know, at early stages, you're going to 3 00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:15,280 want to just get a sense of what does 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,520 this thing feel like for me to interact 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,760 with or the other people on my team. How 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,119 do we feel about interacting with this 7 00:00:21,119 --> 00:00:23,359 very simple little system? Uh, sometimes 8 00:00:23,359 --> 00:00:24,880 it might not even be a prototype that we 9 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,160 made or it might be a game we pulled off 10 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:27,119 the shelf. You know, what do we like 11 00:00:27,119 --> 00:00:28,480 about that game or this game? Those are 12 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,320 the cheapest prototypes really. If you 13 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:31,840 can find some other game that has some 14 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,719 aspect of what you want to include, then 15 00:00:34,719 --> 00:00:36,719 as you start building something, you'll 16 00:00:36,719 --> 00:00:38,559 start building not just the system, but 17 00:00:38,559 --> 00:00:41,360 also the interface, the player controls. 18 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:42,960 Typically, you'll want to bring in a few 19 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,559 people who play games but have never 20 00:00:44,559 --> 00:00:46,480 seen this just to figure out the 21 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:47,840 interface. You know, can they understand 22 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:49,680 the control scheme you've got? Does that 23 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:51,680 make sense to them? Can they understand, 24 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,440 you know, reading the topography, the 25 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,120 landscape? You know, do they have some 26 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:56,239 sense of what they're supposed to do? 27 00:00:56,239 --> 00:00:57,760 you know what occurs to them as you drop 28 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,840 them into this environment. So it's 29 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:01,920 actually u can become a fairly granular 30 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:03,520 process. It's not like you know we build 31 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,040 the game build the game now we start 32 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:06,720 play testing. It's really like we're 33 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:07,920 building prototypes from the very 34 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:09,920 beginning that we're testing ourselves 35 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:11,840 and then over time starting to test 36 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,159 little game parts with a few people you 37 00:01:14,159 --> 00:01:15,840 know here and there and eventually we're 38 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,159 bringing in larger groups and maybe even 39 00:01:18,159 --> 00:01:19,520 at some point hundreds of thousands of 40 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,360 capturing metrics and building these 41 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,920 fairly complex diagrams of them moving 42 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,360 through the game space. 43 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,960 This is the first time you really have a 44 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:36,640 little bit of a peak into the player's 45 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,880 mind about how they're going to interact 46 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:40,640 with this thing that you've built. You 47 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:42,240 know, as a designer, you kind of had 48 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:43,920 this idea all along that I'm going to 49 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:45,119 give them this. They're going to be able 50 00:01:45,119 --> 00:01:47,200 to do A, B, and C. They're going to try 51 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:49,520 to get to D, whatever. You know, this is 52 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,680 what you're kind of imagining. And as I 53 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,119 am a designer, I'm trying to imagine, 54 00:01:53,119 --> 00:01:54,399 you know, what would I enjoy? how would 55 00:01:54,399 --> 00:01:56,079 I think about this? But I put it in 56 00:01:56,079 --> 00:01:58,240 front of somebody else and right off 57 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,079 that you start learning things. You know 58 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:02,159 that maybe that wasn't as easy as you 59 00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:03,840 thought or they're not even trying to 60 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,360 get to D, they're trying to get to F 61 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,759 over there for some reason. And you go 62 00:02:07,759 --> 00:02:09,200 back and revisit your assumptions or 63 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:10,720 maybe ask them why, you know, what did 64 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,000 they see that caused them to think that 65 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,360 way or maybe there was just something 66 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,200 they thought of that you didn't that 67 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:16,879 would be really cool to try, you know, 68 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:19,520 and then again, you're learning. So I 69 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,160 think that uh this is you know we're for 70 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:23,599 the first time designers taking this 71 00:02:23,599 --> 00:02:26,160 concept out of their head and trying to 72 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,000 put it into other people's heads and 73 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,480 seeing how it fits. 74 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,319 It's frequently very hard to kind of 75 00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:39,920 imagine the way other people are going 76 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:43,120 to see or understand what you've made in 77 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,640 a game. Uh, and there's really no 78 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:49,120 replacement for actually testing it. Uh, 79 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:50,959 we did a lot of what we called Kleenex 80 00:02:50,959 --> 00:02:52,319 testing where we'd bring people in who 81 00:02:52,319 --> 00:02:54,879 had never seen the game before, put them 82 00:02:54,879 --> 00:02:56,160 in front of it with absolutely no 83 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,239 instructions and just watch what they 84 00:02:58,239 --> 00:03:01,040 start doing uh, and see where they fail. 85 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,720 See what's obvious. A lot of times, you 86 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,080 know, it's so obvious to you that they 87 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:05,920 should press the red button, but it will 88 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,280 not even occur to them to press the red 89 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,720 button. and you sit there and watch 10 90 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,560 people not press the red button and you 91 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,720 start realizing, okay, that's not the 92 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,080 typical person's understanding of the 93 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:15,760 way this thing works. One thing that was 94 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,680 very important is so we put two people 95 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,159 in front of one computer. Uh if you put 96 00:03:20,159 --> 00:03:21,200 one person in front of a computer, 97 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,200 they'll sit there, but they don't talk. 98 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:24,560 They just get very quiet. You don't know 99 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:25,840 what they're thinking. If you take two 100 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:26,879 people and they have to know each other, 101 00:03:26,879 --> 00:03:28,239 there might be friends or spouses or 102 00:03:28,239 --> 00:03:29,840 whatever. Um they'll be talking 103 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:31,680 non-stop. You know, press the red 104 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:32,959 button. No, not the red one. That makes 105 00:03:32,959 --> 00:03:34,480 that happen. Oh, no it doesn't. And 106 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:35,599 they'll be explaining to each other what 107 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:37,760 they think. And so those two people, you 108 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:38,720 just sit back and listen to what they're 109 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,319 saying and you understand how they 110 00:03:40,319 --> 00:03:42,159 understand the game in front of them. 111 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:44,239 After we use these people and learn 112 00:03:44,239 --> 00:03:45,920 these things, we go back, you know, we 113 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:47,440 make the red button more prominent or 114 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,440 whatever. Then we never use them again. 115 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:50,480 We bring in a whole different set of 116 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:51,680 people who again have never seen the 117 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,000 game before. So, you know, they're kind 118 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,120 of unpolluted. That's why we call it 119 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:56,640 Kleinex testing. We use the tester once 120 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:58,959 and throw them away. But, uh, there's 121 00:03:58,959 --> 00:04:00,480 really no replacement for that. And it's 122 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,200 amazing as a designer how frustrating in 123 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,560 some ways it is to sit back and watch 124 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,080 these people not do the obvious thing 125 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:07,680 you were sure they were going to do. 126 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:09,040 Instead, they're all doing this other 127 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:10,720 thing. And you have to adapt to that and 128 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:11,920 start realizing, okay, well, the model 129 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:13,360 that they're coming to this game with is 130 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,920 different than what I was thinking. Uh, 131 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,440 so that's probably the most important 132 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,440 thing. 133 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,040 Play tests. Usually it's, you know, a 134 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,479 large room. The designers are sitting, 135 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:31,040 you know, kind of back a few feet away. 136 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:32,800 And there'll be five or six different 137 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,479 workstations set up. In front of each 138 00:04:34,479 --> 00:04:36,240 workstation, we'll have two people, 139 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,520 again, people that know each other, 140 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,240 friends, spouses, whatever. We put, you 141 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:41,840 know, each group down. We give them 142 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:44,080 some, you know, very, very rough sense. 143 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:45,680 Oh, here's a game about controlling 144 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,280 little people or here's a game about 145 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:49,600 building cities. Um, and then we just 146 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,440 turn it on and from that point on, we 147 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:53,199 don't say a word unless they have some 148 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:55,360 technical problem. They'll sit there as 149 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:56,960 a pair and try to basically figure out 150 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:58,320 how the game works. What do we do here? 151 00:04:58,320 --> 00:04:59,759 What does that do? You know, maybe 152 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:02,639 that'll make this happen. Uh, and the 153 00:05:02,639 --> 00:05:04,160 designers will kind of rotate, you know, 154 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:05,600 and just be listening over their 155 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:07,600 shoulder to each group. The designers 156 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:09,759 also at that point are not interacting 157 00:05:09,759 --> 00:05:10,880 with each other. You know, typically 158 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:12,160 this will be a design team of three or 159 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,160 four designers and we're all coming to 160 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,160 our own conclusions independently 161 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,240 observing this group. After it's all 162 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,000 over, the designers, you know, will sit 163 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,759 down, kind of collate their notes and 164 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:23,120 then we will come together as design 165 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:24,960 group and say, "What did you see?" You 166 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,600 know, what were our biggest issues? And 167 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,199 usually it's pretty clear that there'll 168 00:05:29,199 --> 00:05:31,039 be one or two or three things that we 169 00:05:31,039 --> 00:05:32,479 all agree on. We all agree that, you 170 00:05:32,479 --> 00:05:34,240 know, that was not obvious. This was too 171 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,120 hard. They didn't enjoy this part. Uh, 172 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,639 and those are the things we focus on, 173 00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:40,000 you know, for the next iteration, which 174 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,360 might be a few weeks from then. You 175 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,120 know, these become design risks for us. 176 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:44,240 You know, we're always mitigating and 177 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,400 triaging design risks. These are now the 178 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:48,160 top three design risks we've discovered 179 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,320 from our play testing. We will pick 180 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,160 action items. How can we basically 181 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,800 mitigate those risks effectively, very 182 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,039 rapidly do that, you know, and the next 183 00:05:57,039 --> 00:05:59,120 time we bring in a group, we see if we 184 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,199 were right. And if we're right, the next 185 00:06:01,199 --> 00:06:02,800 group is going to have three different 186 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,639 risks, you know, and we're repeating 187 00:06:04,639 --> 00:06:06,080 that over and over. Always basically 188 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:07,440 looking at the top risk, you know, the 189 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:08,560 top thing that people were not getting, 190 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,560 not enjoying, getting confused about, 191 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:12,639 whatever it might be. Uh, and basically 192 00:06:12,639 --> 00:06:15,960 attacking it. 193 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,039 to test the engagement, uh, you have to 194 00:06:23,039 --> 00:06:24,400 have so much of this really kind of 195 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:26,960 coming together as a whole. And it's so 196 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,919 far down the path that, uh, the early 197 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:31,840 testing is really nothing to do with 198 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:33,600 that. You know, the early testing is, do 199 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:34,960 they know how to operate this windshield 200 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,520 wiper or that headlight control? That's 201 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:38,639 not going to tell you how well the car 202 00:06:38,639 --> 00:06:41,520 drives. Uh as a designer though, this is 203 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:42,880 where I think your vision has to carry 204 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:44,319 you through. Not just your vision, but 205 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:46,319 your ability to communicate that vision 206 00:06:46,319 --> 00:06:48,800 to the other stakeholders in the project 207 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:50,080 that you know I know that if we can get 208 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:51,280 the windshield wipers working and the 209 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:52,479 steering wheel and the brakes and all 210 00:06:52,479 --> 00:06:54,880 that that way over here somewhere, this 211 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:56,160 is going to be a really cool car to 212 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,479 drive. And that really is going to be 213 00:06:58,479 --> 00:07:00,639 more right now instinct, you know, and 214 00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:03,199 salesmanship on your part as a designer. 215 00:07:03,199 --> 00:07:05,680 as you get later on the process now you 216 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:06,639 know and you have your working 217 00:07:06,639 --> 00:07:07,759 windshield wiper control and your 218 00:07:07,759 --> 00:07:08,960 steering wheel and your brakes and all 219 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,039 that now you need to put those things 220 00:07:11,039 --> 00:07:13,039 together and actually say okay now let's 221 00:07:13,039 --> 00:07:14,240 start getting some sense that this 222 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,479 actually will be engaging and as soon as 223 00:07:16,479 --> 00:07:18,400 possible try to get you know some set of 224 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,479 these things working together as a whole 225 00:07:20,479 --> 00:07:21,840 such that you can sit back and see 226 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:23,280 another person actually enjoy it start 227 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,039 building the model and start trying to 228 00:07:25,039 --> 00:07:27,280 head for the goals and get that flow 229 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:28,319 state that you're really trying to 230 00:07:28,319 --> 00:07:31,120 achieve as a designer 231 00:07:36,319 --> 00:07:37,520 When you put a tester in front of your 232 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,919 game, you know, they are not going to 233 00:07:39,919 --> 00:07:41,759 sit there and tell you exactly what 234 00:07:41,759 --> 00:07:43,360 you're hoping to hear. You know, they're 235 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:44,800 having an experience and you can, you 236 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,000 know, again, by putting them with 237 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,360 somebody else, have them verbalize their 238 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,680 experience. But as a designer, you have 239 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,680 to kind of decipher that. You know, you 240 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:53,199 have to understand they say, "I think 241 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:54,639 it's really frustrating doing this, but 242 00:07:54,639 --> 00:07:55,919 what they might really mean is they wish 243 00:07:55,919 --> 00:07:57,759 they had another option to do that 244 00:07:57,759 --> 00:07:59,680 instead." You know, so a lot of times 245 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:01,280 what they will express directly and a 246 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,360 lot of times they'll come back and say, 247 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,840 "Oh, I want, you know, X, Y, and Z." 248 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,520 They'll start describing solutions to 249 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,919 you rather than the problem, you know, I 250 00:08:09,919 --> 00:08:11,599 would love this game if I only had, you 251 00:08:11,599 --> 00:08:14,400 know, a jetpack and a laser beam, you 252 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,080 know, but in fact, what they're really 253 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,400 mean is that they don't like getting 254 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:19,759 stuck on the ground level when they want 255 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:22,000 to climb that mountain. So you have to 256 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,720 distinguish them offering you solutions 257 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,039 and from you know what do those 258 00:08:27,039 --> 00:08:28,560 solutions what problem does that 259 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,639 actually point back to and that's the 260 00:08:30,639 --> 00:08:32,000 problem you need to solve as a designer 261 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:33,839 because probably their solutions suck 262 00:08:33,839 --> 00:08:35,200 but the problem they're referencing 263 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,240 doesn't that problem is real 264 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,320 well when you're looking at a play test 265 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,480 uh the signal noise issue really is 266 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:49,920 going to be a matter in some sense of 267 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:51,600 data you You know, if you do enough 268 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,519 testing with enough people, you'll start 269 00:08:53,519 --> 00:08:55,279 to be able to distinguish the signal 270 00:08:55,279 --> 00:08:57,120 from the noise just because that's 271 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:58,880 consistent. You know, the noise is all 272 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:00,320 over the place random. But when the same 273 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:01,839 five people are all saying they didn't 274 00:09:01,839 --> 00:09:03,600 know to press the red button, but then 275 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:04,720 they give you totally different feedback 276 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:06,399 on everything else, you know that the 277 00:09:06,399 --> 00:09:08,640 red button is definitely signal. Uh, and 278 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:10,000 I think that signal comes in two 279 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:11,519 dimensions, which is why I was kind of 280 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:14,959 saying that you want to uh listen, you 281 00:09:14,959 --> 00:09:16,160 know, to what all these groups have in 282 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:17,600 common. What problems and frustrations 283 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,600 are they all having in common? But also 284 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:20,800 as designers when you go back and 285 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:24,560 compare notes you know what problem do 286 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,519 all the designers agree that is pointing 287 00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:29,360 to you know because this designer might 288 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,279 think oh that problem is you know their 289 00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:33,279 character creator this problem is their 290 00:09:33,279 --> 00:09:34,959 navigation system you know but if all 291 00:09:34,959 --> 00:09:37,040 the designers can agree that those 292 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,120 results point to the same problem now 293 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,680 that signal for sure too often you know 294 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,040 you're expecting your players to be game 295 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:44,720 designers when a player is describing to 296 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,160 you that in their head if you added 297 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:47,519 garbage systems it would be so much 298 00:09:47,519 --> 00:09:49,839 cooler they're imagining it a certain 299 00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:51,200 way that's probably not the way it works 300 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:52,959 or the way you're thinking about it. But 301 00:09:52,959 --> 00:09:54,240 if you can understand kind of why 302 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:55,279 they're saying that, what, you know, 303 00:09:55,279 --> 00:09:57,839 what limitation or failure or flat sput 304 00:09:57,839 --> 00:09:59,760 are they hitting that makes them think 305 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,720 that that addition would make it better. 306 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,800 Uh, then that's good, you know, and a 307 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,080 lot of times sometimes they're telling 308 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,240 you to add stuff and in fact it's about 309 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,399 removing stuff. Uh, a lot of times 310 00:10:10,399 --> 00:10:11,600 you've got too much stuff, too much 311 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:13,360 noise from the player's point of view. 312 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,680 One of my favorite quotes uh about 313 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:18,079 Japanese gardening is that your garden 314 00:10:18,079 --> 00:10:19,839 is not complete until there is nothing 315 00:10:19,839 --> 00:10:23,560 else that you can remove. 316 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:30,480 Engagement is one of those things that 317 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,079 uh 318 00:10:32,079 --> 00:10:35,920 has a very wide range. Uh when we 319 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,000 initially have prototypes and we bring 320 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,040 players in to try it out, uh it's more a 321 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:42,160 matter of getting them to stay there in 322 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:43,120 front of the computer, keep playing it, 323 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,200 keep playing it, keep playing it. Um 324 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:46,560 toward the end, if you're really kind of 325 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:48,240 starting to nail it, it's a matter of 326 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:49,760 you trying to pull them away from it. 327 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,399 Okay, time to stop. Time to stop. Uh I 328 00:10:52,399 --> 00:10:53,519 think, you know, right off the bat, 329 00:10:53,519 --> 00:10:54,720 there are a couple like very simple 330 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,640 little tricks. A lot of times, if I'm 331 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,160 showing somebody a game and I'm, you 332 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,480 know, actually playing it, explaining 333 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:02,079 how it works, if they all of a sudden 334 00:11:02,079 --> 00:11:03,279 want to grab the mouse and say, "Let me 335 00:11:03,279 --> 00:11:05,040 try. Let me try." or if I see a game 336 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:06,160 that somebody's showing me and all a 337 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,079 sudden I feel the urge to, hey, let me 338 00:11:08,079 --> 00:11:10,000 see if I can do it. That's a great 339 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,279 measure right there. You know, right off 340 00:11:11,279 --> 00:11:12,720 the bat, just by watching somebody play 341 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,480 it, I've understood enough to think 342 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,720 that, you know, I want to go in and try 343 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:18,320 something. You know, I have some of the 344 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:20,399 model. In fact, this starts even before 345 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:21,680 you see somebody playing it, it starts, 346 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:22,959 you know, maybe when you see the box or 347 00:11:22,959 --> 00:11:24,720 see an ad for it, you know, at that 348 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:25,920 point you're starting to say, "Hey, that 349 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:27,120 sounds fun. That sounds kind of cool. I 350 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:28,800 want to try it." You know, so that's a 351 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,560 certain level of engagement right there. 352 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:31,920 And then later down the road, if you 353 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,399 have, you know, something really good, 354 00:11:34,399 --> 00:11:35,680 you'll start having people writing you 355 00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:36,720 back that I was up all night playing 356 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:38,000 this thing and I couldn't stop it. I 357 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,200 didn't realize it was 5 in the morning, 358 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:40,720 whatever. That means you really kind of 359 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:43,839 nailed it. Uh, but I think along the 360 00:11:43,839 --> 00:11:45,920 way, you know, again, there going to be 361 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:47,120 uh certain players that maybe just love 362 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,880 what you've made, a few that hate it, or 363 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,079 maybe it's the other way around. most 364 00:11:50,079 --> 00:11:52,160 people hate it, but if you love it and 365 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:53,600 you need to be willing to kind of 366 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:55,680 experiment by, you know, changing a few 367 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:57,200 rules or a few parameters or making the 368 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:58,720 game a little more dynamic in terms of 369 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,720 the player choosing to try and balance 370 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:02,480 that out. And there's really no 371 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:03,839 substitute for capturing, you know, 372 00:12:03,839 --> 00:12:05,920 metrics. If you can capture metrics on a 373 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,079 large number of players, you can really 374 00:12:08,079 --> 00:12:10,800 balance this out nicely, you know, over 375 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:13,120 a wide range of people. Uh it used to be 376 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,279 much more anecdotal. You know, we would 377 00:12:15,279 --> 00:12:17,040 sit and watch 10 people do it and try to 378 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,200 go with our gut instinct in engagement 379 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:20,639 and difficulty. You know, some of it 380 00:12:20,639 --> 00:12:22,160 could be player moderated. The player 381 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:23,680 chooses to go down this path, which is 382 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:25,600 more difficult. Uh or they choose to 383 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,760 just sit back here and enjoy this. If 384 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:29,519 they're enjoying it, again, you know, 385 00:12:29,519 --> 00:12:31,279 that's engagement. Uh it doesn't have to 386 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:32,560 be challenging to be engaging. Some 387 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:33,760 people like to do creative weird 388 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,000 experiments. Uh and they find that very 389 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,600 engaging. You know, other players are 390 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,120 going to want continual challenge all 391 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,120 the time as fast as possible. letting 392 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,120 that be player moderated is probably the 393 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,279 best choice. Um there are things where 394 00:12:45,279 --> 00:12:46,720 you actually see the players like trying 395 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:47,920 to make achievement and getting 396 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:49,360 frustrated. They're failing too often 397 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:50,800 and that's where I think the metrics 398 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:52,639 come in a little more heavily. You can 399 00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:54,160 actually kind of measure you know how 400 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:55,839 many people are filling the first time, 401 00:12:55,839 --> 00:12:59,040 the second time, the third time. Uh and 402 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,200 I think that's something where it's a 403 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,040 little more metric driven, but also it's 404 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:04,959 player kind of categorized. You know, 405 00:13:04,959 --> 00:13:05,839 certain players are going to go down 406 00:13:05,839 --> 00:13:06,959 that path, other ones are going to be 407 00:13:06,959 --> 00:13:08,240 different. So the metrics will be very 408 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,000 different for those types of players. 409 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,279 And that's where as designer you have to 410 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:12,720 kind of sit back and say, okay, you 411 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,240 know, here we're dealing with the trophy 412 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:15,839 seekers, here we're dealing with the 413 00:13:15,839 --> 00:13:17,839 socializers, whatever it is, however you 414 00:13:17,839 --> 00:13:19,120 choose to categorize your different 415 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,200 players, um you need to understand that 416 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:25,079 they're going to have different metrics. 417 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,160 Sid Meer had a great quote is that uh 418 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:33,839 some games you design for the players 419 00:13:33,839 --> 00:13:36,079 and some games you design for yourself. 420 00:13:36,079 --> 00:13:38,480 And uh I experienced that I think with a 421 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,480 game I did way back called Sim Earth. 422 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,160 You know I got fascinated with building 423 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,160 this elaborate model of the planet earth 424 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,959 and the climate and the you know the 425 00:13:46,959 --> 00:13:49,279 oceans and the life forms and everything 426 00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:52,320 the geology and uh you know it was a 427 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:53,920 pretty cool little model for its time 428 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,399 running on a PC and it had all these 429 00:13:56,399 --> 00:13:57,680 little controls where you could adjust 430 00:13:57,680 --> 00:13:59,519 things about the planet. Uh, but it was 431 00:13:59,519 --> 00:14:01,440 very complex, you know, as a model. And 432 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:02,800 I really enjoyed kind of playing with 433 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,440 that model. But, uh, later I realized as 434 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:06,399 we were putting this in front of 435 00:14:06,399 --> 00:14:07,600 players, you know, it was kind of like 436 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,680 putting them in the cockpit of a 747 437 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:11,199 that's in a tail spin heading to the 438 00:14:11,199 --> 00:14:12,959 ground and all the gauges are spinning. 439 00:14:12,959 --> 00:14:14,320 No matter what they do, it's going to 440 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:15,920 crash. You know, they try everything 441 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:17,360 they they can think of and it still 442 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:18,480 crashes. You know, that's kind of what 443 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,480 it felt like to the players. I got so 444 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:22,079 caught up in the idea of building this 445 00:14:22,079 --> 00:14:24,160 little, you know, planetary model on a 446 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,920 computer for myself. And uh I think that 447 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,240 you know kind of reinforces the idea of 448 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,920 testing but also as a game designer uh 449 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:35,120 you have to be able to kind of go back 450 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:36,560 to the drawing board when you see people 451 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,639 interpret what you've done uh in a 452 00:14:38,639 --> 00:14:39,920 totally different direction. The Sims is 453 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,000 a better example of that where you know 454 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,000 I was so fixated on the architecture and 455 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,120 then we started putting in front of a 456 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:47,120 few people and saw how fascinated they 457 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,320 were and it makes sense that they were 458 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,160 fascinated basically messing with these 459 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,720 little Sims. um the house is a backdrop 460 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,399 for it and it was one of the kind of 461 00:14:54,399 --> 00:14:56,399 challenges and became an integral part 462 00:14:56,399 --> 00:14:58,560 of the gameplay. But the real focus of 463 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,320 the game that the average player came to 464 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,639 it with was on messing with the people. 465 00:15:02,639 --> 00:15:04,079 And so as a game designer, I had to kind 466 00:15:04,079 --> 00:15:05,199 of sit back and say, "Okay, look, you 467 00:15:05,199 --> 00:15:07,360 know, I think that really, you know, is 468 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:08,959 the way I need to go with this," which I 469 00:15:08,959 --> 00:15:10,880 did. So I think you need to kind of be 470 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,959 able to revisit your assumptions at the 471 00:15:12,959 --> 00:15:15,040 very beginning. uh when you see the way 472 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,399 people are interpreting what you've done 473 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,079 I think in terms of the people we would 474 00:15:26,079 --> 00:15:28,240 type to bring in initially it's going to 475 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:29,680 be a pretty wide range of people but 476 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,360 still we have some sense of this is a 477 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:32,480 game that you know older people will 478 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,560 enjoy younger once we get a sense of 479 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,720 like where it's really uh hitting the 480 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,240 mark we can get a little bit more 481 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:39,360 specific about the kind of people we 482 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,480 want to bring in maybe we want to bring 483 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,639 in more women or more younger players 484 00:15:42,639 --> 00:15:44,480 whatever that is uh and get more 485 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:45,839 detailed in terms of, you know, also 486 00:15:45,839 --> 00:15:46,959 maybe these are people that are really 487 00:15:46,959 --> 00:15:48,800 creative. They're not so much achievers, 488 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,079 but they want to do creative stuff in 489 00:15:50,079 --> 00:15:51,680 there. More storytelling, more 490 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,160 customization, more personalization. Uh 491 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:56,320 this other group might be more into, you 492 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,320 know, advancement and showing off in the 493 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,320 social, you know, groupings, whatever it 494 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,880 is. But, uh that's something that you 495 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:04,959 kind of again discover over time. And 496 00:16:04,959 --> 00:16:06,320 then as a designer, you can kind of say, 497 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:07,680 okay, we're going to go down that path 498 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:09,040 or we're really going to focus on these 499 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:10,560 people or maybe we want to keep it 500 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:12,079 broad. we actually want to kind of bring 501 00:16:12,079 --> 00:16:13,279 in those other people that weren't as 502 00:16:13,279 --> 00:16:14,639 interested and try to keep these at the 503 00:16:14,639 --> 00:16:15,839 same time. That's when you're making a 504 00:16:15,839 --> 00:16:18,000 design decision as to which demographic 505 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:19,920 group you're going to be going after. 506 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:21,440 But even then, the demographics are 507 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,639 frequently uh very misleading with the 508 00:16:24,639 --> 00:16:26,720 Sims. Again, you know, initially sold 509 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:28,000 this to gamers. The gamers thought, "Oh, 510 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,199 it's a weird new thing. I'll try it 511 00:16:29,199 --> 00:16:31,360 out." They played it for a few weeks, 512 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:32,959 and what happened is these were mostly 513 00:16:32,959 --> 00:16:34,639 teenage boys, and what happened is their 514 00:16:34,639 --> 00:16:36,480 sisters were watching them play. Their 515 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:37,600 sisters for the very first time said, 516 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:39,199 "Hey, I want to try it." they bring it 517 00:16:39,199 --> 00:16:40,959 to their hand-me-down computer and that 518 00:16:40,959 --> 00:16:42,560 turned out to be our big hit, you know, 519 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:44,320 initially for the Sims was like 520 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,800 12-year-old girls. So, you can't always 521 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,880 predict and even if you can predict, you 522 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,800 might not hit that target demographic 523 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:52,000 right off the bat. There might be 524 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:53,759 actually kind of a viral component to 525 00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:56,079 how it spreads to them. Cuz these 526 00:16:56,079 --> 00:16:57,360 12-year-old girls were not going into 527 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:58,399 computer stores and buying computer 528 00:16:58,399 --> 00:16:59,839 games. they just happen to see it on 529 00:16:59,839 --> 00:17:03,320 their brother's computer. 530 00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:10,400 In my experience, focus group testing 531 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,120 has been pretty close to useless. Uh, 532 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:14,959 you know, so many times, you know, we 533 00:17:14,959 --> 00:17:17,439 had focus group many, many years ago and 534 00:17:17,439 --> 00:17:19,520 we had like four game designs that we 535 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,520 were basically just describing to this 536 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,720 audience of gamers. And uh, one of those 537 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,839 four was The Sims. Uh, we described each 538 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:28,960 one of these game concepts, what it 539 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:30,320 would be like to play, would they be 540 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:32,080 interested, would they want to play it? 541 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:33,760 The other three they all liked, thought 542 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,039 was great. The Sims was the one idea 543 00:17:35,039 --> 00:17:36,480 they all hated. No, I would never play 544 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,400 that. Never touch it. Uh, I don't even 545 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:39,840 remember the other three games, what 546 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:40,960 they ended up being, you know, but I 547 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:43,360 know they weren't a big hit at all. So 548 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:44,960 um you know in that sense you're kind of 549 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,880 expecting your your players to be 550 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:50,080 designers you know because when we were 551 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,080 describing the Sims to them I know they 552 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,000 could not unpack it in their head and be 553 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:55,280 playing in their imagination the game 554 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,120 that I was envisioning and there was no 555 00:17:57,120 --> 00:17:58,480 easy way for us to communicate it to 556 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,240 them. So it doesn't surprise me they 557 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:01,520 hated it because the game that they 558 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:02,880 designed based on the description was 559 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,600 horrible. Uh and I think that's the you 560 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,120 know one of the real limits of focus 561 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:08,960 group testing. Play testing on the other 562 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:10,240 hand, you know, as soon as we brought a 563 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:11,440 few people in, the same type of people, 564 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:12,640 same demographic, and put them in front 565 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:13,440 of the system where they could 566 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,679 manipulate people and live their little 567 00:18:15,679 --> 00:18:17,600 lives, they loved it. They really had 568 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,360 fun getting in and doing it. So, in that 569 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:20,799 case, you know, they weren't doing the 570 00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:22,640 heavy lifting of imagining how this 571 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:24,240 would actually work. You know, we had 572 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:25,280 already done that. Now, they were 573 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,840 actually in the experience. 574 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:34,720 People have different definitions of 575 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:36,080 what beta test is. is, you know, in my 576 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:37,360 mind, I tend to think of, you know, beta 577 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:39,520 test is basically roughly your complete 578 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,280 game, you know, with all the components, 579 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,120 all the functionality in it that you're 580 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:44,559 handing over to people, you know, 581 00:18:44,559 --> 00:18:46,799 usually a fairly large group of people, 582 00:18:46,799 --> 00:18:49,840 and you're basically um confirming, you 583 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:51,120 know, that it has the right kind of 584 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:53,360 motivational hooks, the right player 585 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:56,160 agency involvement, uh, that you thought 586 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,480 it would. Uh, also, you know, a much 587 00:18:58,480 --> 00:18:59,600 more mundane aspect is you're 588 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:01,280 discovering bugs. You know, where is it 589 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:02,480 crashing? what are people doing with it 590 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,000 that cause it to do things you didn't 591 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:05,679 intend, you know, and it might be, you 592 00:19:05,679 --> 00:19:07,280 know, a hard crash or it might be they 593 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:08,559 just kind of got stuck in this game 594 00:19:08,559 --> 00:19:10,160 space that you didn't never expected 595 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,919 they would get into. And a lot of times 596 00:19:11,919 --> 00:19:13,840 you'll discover things in beta testing 597 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:15,760 that are, you know, serendipitous 598 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:17,200 upside. You know that, wow, you know, I 599 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:18,240 never thought players would do that and 600 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,520 it actually works and it's kind of cool. 601 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:20,640 So there might be things that you 602 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,080 actually decide to lean into as a result 603 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:23,360 of beta testing, but that's not the 604 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,120 primary purpose. I think the primary 605 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:27,200 purpose is making sure that you know in 606 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:28,480 general this thing is behaving the way 607 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,039 you thought it would at scale and that 608 00:19:31,039 --> 00:19:32,240 you know the players might be fanning 609 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,080 out in different directions in there. At 610 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:35,120 this point you finally have an 611 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:36,640 opportunity to get a sense of how many 612 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,160 players are going this way versus that 613 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:39,840 way. You know maybe in play testing it 614 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,080 might have been five versus four and in 615 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:43,840 beta testing it turns out to be you know 616 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,080 5,000 versus 1,000. Maybe the ratios are 617 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,440 way off from what you thought. 1 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,559 Sound design is a huge potential force 2 00:00:10,559 --> 00:00:12,800 multiplier. Sound design can, you know, 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:14,240 take a really good game and make it 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,240 great. 5 00:00:17,359 --> 00:00:18,800 If you ask a player why the game is 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:20,000 great, they probably won't even tell you 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,720 it's because the sound design. 8 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:24,560 if it is really that good, it'll 9 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,599 probably be unconscious to the player, 10 00:00:27,599 --> 00:00:29,599 but yet it's influencing their emotional 11 00:00:29,599 --> 00:00:30,720 state. You know, they're actually 12 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:32,079 experiencing the graphics as being 13 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:33,920 better or the gameplay is being better. 14 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:35,600 Everything seems better to them because 15 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,120 the sound design is kind of putting them 16 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:38,960 in the right state of mind. So, the 17 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:40,079 sound design, I think, is kind of 18 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:42,800 queuing up the player's imagination in 19 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,040 the right state for everything else to 20 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,440 do its thing. 21 00:00:50,239 --> 00:00:52,000 Sound design is usually the thing that 22 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,160 gets a short shrift in a lot of game 23 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:55,440 designs. It's kind of like, you know, we 24 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:56,480 know we have to do the programming, we 25 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:57,920 know we have to do the art, the UI, and 26 00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:59,440 all that. Oh, by the way, we need to do 27 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,079 sound some point, you know. Uh, but more 28 00:01:02,079 --> 00:01:03,840 and more, I think sound is becoming one 29 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,920 of the really primary, you know, upfront 30 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:07,680 components of a lot of games. You know, 31 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,040 more and more games are actually based 32 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:10,799 upon, you know, music or, you know, 33 00:01:10,799 --> 00:01:13,680 that's the overt theme of the game. Uh I 34 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,920 think that um 35 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:17,600 sound design, you know, if I'm including 36 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,200 music as well, uh is at least as tricky 37 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,400 as the art side of things nowadays and 38 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,040 at least as rich. 39 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,360 I think the primary 40 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,600 indicator for me as to the quality of 41 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,119 sound design is whether I turn the sound 42 00:01:39,119 --> 00:01:41,040 off or not. 43 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,240 You know, there are a lot of games where 44 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:43,840 it's just like that is annoying as hell 45 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:45,680 and I turn it off. You know, maybe the 46 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,399 game's fun and I enjoy the game, but uh 47 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:50,240 really great sound design is something 48 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,079 that I notice. Uh I mean, I'd say that, 49 00:01:54,079 --> 00:01:55,840 you know, good sound design is something 50 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:57,439 that, you know, okay, it's tolerable. 51 00:01:57,439 --> 00:01:59,600 It's nice. It informs me. It serves its 52 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,759 purpose. Um every now and then I play a 53 00:02:01,759 --> 00:02:03,040 game where the sound design just blows 54 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,560 me away. Uh there was an old old game, I 55 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,160 think it's Clive Barker's Undying. It 56 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:09,280 was like a horror game and you're going 57 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,000 through this old house and it's dark and 58 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,640 it was a first person kind of scary game 59 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,640 and most of the sound design in there 60 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,599 was like the wind howling. Uh some of 61 00:02:19,599 --> 00:02:20,800 the windows were open. You were seeing 62 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,640 drapes move, creaking, and it was done 63 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:27,680 so well. uh the blending between the 64 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,200 creaking of your footsteps and the 65 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:31,360 creaking of the wind and every now and 66 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,959 then a monster would pop out, 67 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,680 but it would be a little bit slightly 68 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,040 different creek and you were starting to 69 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:40,720 imagine all these things in the 70 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:42,319 soundsscape that you were about to 71 00:02:42,319 --> 00:02:44,640 encounter. And so they were really 72 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,239 tweaking your imagination with the sound 73 00:02:46,239 --> 00:02:48,400 design in a beautiful way. And every now 74 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:49,519 and then I see a game that does 75 00:02:49,519 --> 00:02:50,640 something like that that really just 76 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:54,400 kind of uh the sound is really adding uh 77 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,280 a whole level of dynamics to what I'm 78 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,680 building in my imagination. And I think 79 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:00,959 that's an indicator of great sound 80 00:03:00,959 --> 00:03:03,959 design. 81 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,440 Within sound design, there are a lot of 82 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,519 components to it. Uh you know, you'll 83 00:03:13,519 --> 00:03:16,080 have sound effects within your world. Uh 84 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,319 typically you'll have music, you'll have 85 00:03:18,319 --> 00:03:20,560 a lot of times user interface sound 86 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:21,760 effects which are very different from 87 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,319 the end world sound effects. Uh you know 88 00:03:24,319 --> 00:03:29,120 voices, voice acting. Um 89 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,120 so you know across all these things 90 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:32,239 you're going to have to have somebody 91 00:03:32,239 --> 00:03:33,519 that kind of understands all these 92 00:03:33,519 --> 00:03:35,440 components at some level and brings them 93 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,440 together. Now from the design point of 94 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:38,959 view, you know, the designer can kind of 95 00:03:38,959 --> 00:03:40,319 say, you know, I want these things to 96 00:03:40,319 --> 00:03:42,319 sound realistic or deep and I want the 97 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:44,720 interface to be quiet or I want the 98 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,879 voice acting to be like this. That's 99 00:03:46,879 --> 00:03:49,519 something where you really need almost a 100 00:03:49,519 --> 00:03:51,599 jack of all trades, you know, for your 101 00:03:51,599 --> 00:03:53,680 main or only sound person, you know, 102 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,360 somebody who's pretty comfortable at 103 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,280 doing a lot of different things. Uh, 104 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,280 again, I was lucky to work with guy 105 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,599 named Ken Jolly as my sound director. 106 00:04:01,599 --> 00:04:03,200 Um, and you know, he would basically 107 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,560 oversee the music and the sound effects. 108 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:07,840 A lot of games, you know, the sound is 109 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,080 going to be very localized, very, you 110 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,519 know, in the world. You know, these are 111 00:04:11,519 --> 00:04:12,799 the objects in the world making noise, 112 00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:14,560 and as you move the camera around, they 113 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:16,239 need to kind of fade up and fade down. 114 00:04:16,239 --> 00:04:17,680 You know, a lot of it's very kind of 115 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,040 tactical like that. Uh, other times it's 116 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:22,560 more global. It's like, I want to have 117 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,160 this zen experience and I want to hear 118 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:26,800 this soothing music as I play this and 119 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,479 all the sound effects are going to blend 120 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:30,880 into the music, you know? So there's 121 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,520 pretty wide variety of approaches 122 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:34,720 depending on what kind of game you're 123 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,600 doing that you would take to sound. But 124 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,600 uh I think that your sound director 125 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,199 probably has the opportunity to present 126 00:04:41,199 --> 00:04:43,040 you with even more options than your art 127 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,440 director. Uh because it's pretty easy 128 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:46,960 and quick, you know, to prototype some 129 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,840 of these things on the sound side. 130 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:57,759 Well, I think for the sound to really 131 00:04:57,759 --> 00:04:59,199 immerse the player effectively in a 132 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:01,680 game, it has to live alongside, you 133 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,400 know, the art and, you know, even the 134 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,160 player interactions, you know, but it 135 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:07,520 has to feel like it's part of the same 136 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,280 world. You know, the sound feels 137 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,360 cohesive with what you're seeing on the 138 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,520 screen. Then it comes together and 139 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:14,960 that's when all a sudden this becomes a 140 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:16,960 real tangible world and I can kind of 141 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,240 mentally displace myself into it. So, I 142 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:21,759 think that you can't just deal with the 143 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:23,919 sound apart from the art. The two 144 00:05:23,919 --> 00:05:25,360 basically have to live in the same kind 145 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,120 of universe together. You know, what's 146 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:28,880 this world's made of? What's the scale 147 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:30,320 of this world? Is it, you know, 148 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,600 whimsical? Is it serious? Is it spooky? 149 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,919 Is it uh, you know, fantastical? So, I 150 00:05:37,919 --> 00:05:39,600 think that there's like the style of the 151 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,919 sound, but there's also, you know, how 152 00:05:41,919 --> 00:05:43,360 overt is it? You know, is this, you 153 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,440 know, a very foreground sound? Is it a 154 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,280 background ambience? Is it something 155 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:49,440 that um 156 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,120 sounds very consistent through the whole 157 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:52,720 world or is it something that indicates 158 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,880 something special here? That kind of 159 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,080 thing, you know, again, it's it's very 160 00:05:58,080 --> 00:05:59,919 brittle in a way and that, you know, 161 00:05:59,919 --> 00:06:01,600 it's a little bit too much and it 162 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:02,880 totally blows it. A little bit too 163 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:04,479 little and you don't hear it and there's 164 00:06:04,479 --> 00:06:06,479 a very very narrow sweet spot I think 165 00:06:06,479 --> 00:06:08,160 that you have to achieve on the sound 166 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,280 design, especially when you're putting 167 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:11,280 sounds against each other. on the music 168 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:14,479 side that is you know kind of a much 169 00:06:14,479 --> 00:06:17,360 more subjective decision I think on the 170 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,039 designer's part but um one of the things 171 00:06:21,039 --> 00:06:23,680 we want to do in sport again was to make 172 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:25,360 each one of these worlds seem unique and 173 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:28,960 special and uh you know we couldn't 174 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,960 really have music coming from these 175 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:32,240 little cities that were supposed to be 176 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:33,919 on different planets playing the same 177 00:06:33,919 --> 00:06:37,600 tune so we decided we took a stab at it 178 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,319 uh and I'd say reasonably successful 179 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:41,919 We had a generative music system. We 180 00:06:41,919 --> 00:06:44,000 actually had Brian Nino come in and help 181 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,520 us design the music system in uh he had 182 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:48,800 been actually doing generative music for 183 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,280 many years and he worked with my sound 184 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:53,039 director Ken Jolly. Kim was actually 185 00:06:53,039 --> 00:06:55,120 coding up these systems that Brian had 186 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,680 been doing manually. And so in fact in 187 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:58,960 sport you could actually open the little 188 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:00,720 city hall building and adjust the 189 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,479 parameters of the procedural music. But 190 00:07:02,479 --> 00:07:04,240 every city in fact has a different 191 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:05,759 little melody played because it's all 192 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:09,160 computer generated. 193 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,000 in sport. In fact, you know, depending 194 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,919 on where the camera is, how high it is 195 00:07:23,919 --> 00:07:25,919 above the ground, you get kind of a 196 00:07:25,919 --> 00:07:27,680 different layers of effects that would 197 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,120 come in and out. You know, way up high, 198 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,120 you'd get more environmental wind 199 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,039 effects. You know, like you're up in the 200 00:07:33,039 --> 00:07:34,639 clouds. As you came in, you'd start 201 00:07:34,639 --> 00:07:36,880 hearing the things, you know, creatures, 202 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,800 people, whatever, moving on the ground, 203 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:40,960 vehicles. Uh, if you came all the way 204 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,120 down to ground level, there was another 205 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:44,960 kind of ambience of almost like, you 206 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,759 know, gravel going blowing across the 207 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:50,880 terrain or, uh, wind, you know, going 208 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:52,800 through leaves, that kind of thing. But 209 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,560 it's actually a fairly technical system. 210 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,400 And I think more and more of sound 211 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,639 design in games is getting to that level 212 00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:00,639 of sophistication. 213 00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:04,000 And uh so you know I would kind of 214 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 describe to Kent, you know, oh I think 215 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,120 that should sound more like we're going 216 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:08,560 into space. What would it sound like? 217 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:09,599 You know, if I was going from the 218 00:08:09,599 --> 00:08:11,120 atmosphere 219 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:12,879 with the camera all the way out into 220 00:08:12,879 --> 00:08:14,720 space, what would the sound do at that 221 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,800 point, you know, and we basically had to 222 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,160 cut out all the environmental sound 223 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,319 effects and we actually went to music at 224 00:08:20,319 --> 00:08:21,599 that point, you know, and there was a 225 00:08:21,599 --> 00:08:22,800 whole different soundtrack for the music 226 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,160 depending on what scale you were at in 227 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,879 the space. So we kind of figure out you 228 00:08:26,879 --> 00:08:28,639 know where does the music inhabit 229 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:31,039 different parts of the game and what is 230 00:08:31,039 --> 00:08:32,719 the transition really the transition 231 00:08:32,719 --> 00:08:35,680 between those is the trickier part uh 232 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:37,120 because especially if the player is 233 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,120 moving or move the camera between these 234 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,800 you want a very smooth seamless you know 235 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,839 sound design and that's why sound feels 236 00:08:45,839 --> 00:08:47,279 kind of more brittle in a way. It's 237 00:08:47,279 --> 00:08:48,880 pretty obvious that you know when this 238 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:50,480 object goes behind that object it is 239 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,000 oluded. You know the visuals are pretty 240 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,519 obvious in terms of where they should 241 00:08:53,519 --> 00:08:55,600 appear and when they should appear. The 242 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,560 sound is a lot less obvious. 243 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:06,240 It seems like every game you kind of 244 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:07,839 expected to have some background song 245 00:09:07,839 --> 00:09:11,040 playing. Uh, you know, I think that when 246 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:12,959 we watch film and somebody scores a 247 00:09:12,959 --> 00:09:14,560 film, there there typically is, even at 248 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:16,959 a very very low ambient level, a little 249 00:09:16,959 --> 00:09:18,399 bit of a film score kind of running 250 00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:19,839 through the whole thing, you know. So, I 251 00:09:19,839 --> 00:09:21,279 think part of this is maybe the 252 00:09:21,279 --> 00:09:24,880 expectation we bring in from film. Uh, I 253 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,480 think that um there's maybe this thought 254 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:30,959 that, you know, more is always better. 255 00:09:30,959 --> 00:09:32,720 So, the more music we have playing, the 256 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:34,720 longer it plays, the better the game is, 257 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:36,000 which isn't necessarily true. I think 258 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,480 it's in fact a delicate thing. I think 259 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:39,839 in terms of how you approach it and you 260 00:09:39,839 --> 00:09:42,160 bring it in to a product. When I was 261 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:43,519 working on the Sims, one of the things I 262 00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:45,519 really wanted to try and I did try and 263 00:09:45,519 --> 00:09:48,240 it was a failed try, but it was fun to 264 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,640 try. I wanted to put a laugh track in. 265 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,240 And in fact, I put a laugh track in the 266 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,560 Sims during certain things. And I 267 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,080 actually started study I spent some 268 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:57,519 time, a few weeks researching laugh 269 00:09:57,519 --> 00:09:59,680 tracks, which turns out to be this 270 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:01,920 amazingly secretive thing. There are 271 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:03,760 just a few people that really do most of 272 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:05,600 the laugh tracks. They're very secretive 273 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,440 about how they do it and the machines 274 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:09,360 they use are customuilt. I mean, it just 275 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,279 surprised me that it was such, you know, 276 00:10:11,279 --> 00:10:14,399 a black box. But, uh, yeah, it just 277 00:10:14,399 --> 00:10:16,800 didn't work, you know. But, and it was 278 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:18,880 because it was so abrupt, you know, cuz 279 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,000 people were building in their head these 280 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,279 whole little stories of these people 281 00:10:21,279 --> 00:10:22,640 doing these things and the player 282 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:23,920 stories, it would be like, oh, her 283 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:25,279 grandmother just died because of this, 284 00:10:25,279 --> 00:10:26,720 that, and the other all of a sudden 285 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,880 laugh kicks in, you know, and so it 286 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:30,320 would actually interrupt and conflict 287 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,320 with their stories. And so one of the 288 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:34,000 reasons why we never, you know, we took 289 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,240 it out forever was the fact that we 290 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:37,440 realized that it was stepping on the 291 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:39,600 player stories that seemed like the most 292 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,440 emotionally engaging part of the 293 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,440 product. 294 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:51,120 One of the general things I found as a 295 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,920 designer that's actually very useful is 296 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:55,519 that a lot of times we'll hit a problem 297 00:10:55,519 --> 00:10:57,200 that's seems almost intractable or how 298 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:58,560 do we solve this? It's really messy 299 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,880 problem and so many times we just fall 300 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,440 back on humor and humor is so underused 301 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:06,720 in some ways. Some games, you know, are 302 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:08,880 trying to be comedies and all that, but 303 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:10,240 uh even just a little bit of humor every 304 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,240 now and then when you're dealing with a 305 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,160 hard design problem sometimes can make 306 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,600 it work okay, you know, in the Sims they 307 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:19,440 had to pull things out of drawers or 308 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:20,959 whatever, which is really hard to deal 309 00:11:20,959 --> 00:11:22,640 with. So we had them always reach behind 310 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:23,440 their back and pull it out of their 311 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,200 butt, whatever it was that they needed 312 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,200 in their hand. Uh, and it became like 313 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:29,680 this humorous little kind of uh thing 314 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,399 cliche about the Sims and The Voice kind 315 00:11:32,399 --> 00:11:34,160 of supported that a little bit. You 316 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:35,440 know, the way they talk, they sound like 317 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,600 a little teeny little, you know, strange 318 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:39,040 people speaking some weird language that 319 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,399 you never heard of before. So uh I think 320 00:11:42,399 --> 00:11:44,880 that you know if you know kind of the 321 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:46,480 metaphor the unconscious metaphor we 322 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:48,959 were promoting was this was a dollhouse 323 00:11:48,959 --> 00:11:50,399 then you know these wanted to be like 324 00:11:50,399 --> 00:11:51,920 little tiny people and they want to have 325 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,279 high pitched little voices and sound 326 00:11:53,279 --> 00:11:54,800 like little tiny people you know walking 327 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,880 around inside a little dollhouse. Uh 328 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,560 again this is kind of a little bit more 329 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:00,560 subconscious subtle but I think it kind 330 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:01,680 of supported the idea that you're 331 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,200 dealing with a little toy world in front 332 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,720 of you and little toy people that you're 333 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,720 manipulating. 334 00:12:12,399 --> 00:12:13,440 friend of mine designed this game that 335 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,600 we published called Sim Life many years 336 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,240 ago and it was an evolution game, fairly 337 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,079 serious evolution game, you know, 338 00:12:20,079 --> 00:12:21,440 actually tracking the genetics of these 339 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:23,040 little creatures and they could, you 340 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,440 know, mutate and evolve over time. One 341 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:26,720 thing he just threw in at the last 342 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,160 second before he shipped the game is 343 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:29,600 that whenever two creatures came and 344 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,680 mated, you know, at first they would 345 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:33,600 just kind of do this little mating uh 346 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,920 animation that was, you know, very PG. 347 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:38,399 He threw in the sound effect that uh he 348 00:12:38,399 --> 00:12:40,639 made with his wife, I think, but 349 00:12:40,639 --> 00:12:42,160 basically a little sound effect was like 350 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,200 la, you know, just a little silly little 351 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,200 thing. 352 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:49,920 And everybody who played that game, that 353 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,040 was the one thing they remembered about 354 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,720 it, you know, and every time they heard 355 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:53,839 that, they would just laugh 356 00:12:53,839 --> 00:12:55,839 hysterically. And for a lot of players, 357 00:12:55,839 --> 00:12:58,560 that was like 10% of the entertainment 358 00:12:58,560 --> 00:12:59,839 value of that game was that one little 359 00:12:59,839 --> 00:13:01,600 tiny sound effect, you know, that took 360 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,320 him five minutes to throw in there. Uh 361 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,680 so it's really funny you know and in 362 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:09,600 that case you know it was actually the 363 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:11,040 whole game was so serious that that one 364 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,040 little bit of humor really stood out to 365 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:17,079 people and surprise them 366 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:24,000 on a game like the Sims. You know we 367 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,680 obviously wanted to kind of hear the 368 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:27,600 Sims. You know initially we thought you 369 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,040 know do we want to record people saying 370 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:30,639 real things? No. That's going to get way 371 00:13:30,639 --> 00:13:32,720 too repetitive. you know, it's going to 372 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,399 break the illusion because really the 373 00:13:34,399 --> 00:13:35,519 idea was that, you know, if you were 374 00:13:35,519 --> 00:13:37,360 watching people from a balcony and you 375 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:38,880 couldn't hear what they were saying, you 376 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:40,000 could still kind of get a sense of their 377 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:41,680 emotional state by the way they animate, 378 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,000 they gesture, their body language, and 379 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,360 the tone of their voice. Not what they 380 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:46,639 were actually saying, but the tone. Are 381 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:48,560 they excited? Are they sad? Are they 382 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:51,839 quiet? Loud. So, we basically wanted to 383 00:13:51,839 --> 00:13:55,200 go in and record something that sounded 384 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,079 real, but was not understandable. Uh I 385 00:13:58,079 --> 00:14:01,519 initially brought in a few voice actors 386 00:14:01,519 --> 00:14:03,600 using languages that we just were not 387 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,079 very familiar with. Uh we first tried 388 00:14:06,079 --> 00:14:08,160 Estonian because Estonian sounds very 389 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:09,519 strange. You know, it doesn't sound 390 00:14:09,519 --> 00:14:11,680 Slavic. It doesn't sound European. Um 391 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:13,199 but we couldn't find enough Estonian 392 00:14:13,199 --> 00:14:15,279 voice actors. Uh then we found actually 393 00:14:15,279 --> 00:14:16,639 a few voice actors that actually spoke 394 00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:19,600 Navajo. Um but that sounded actually a 395 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:21,760 little too American Indian. Uh 396 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,120 eventually we found these two voice 397 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,680 actors that were also improv comedians 398 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,240 uh that knew each other. uh a ma a man 399 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,720 and a woman and you know we tried to 400 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,120 describe to them you know what we wanted 401 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,199 and you know they just started kind of 402 00:14:35,199 --> 00:14:37,360 speaking of this gibberish to each other 403 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:39,120 and you know we listened to it for a 404 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,279 while and we started actually giving 405 00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:42,480 them a little bit of direction sound 406 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:43,839 direction and I was on the sound stage 407 00:14:43,839 --> 00:14:47,040 with the other designer uh Claire 408 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:49,040 Curtain and we were kind of saying okay 409 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:50,160 can you do a little bit faster can you 410 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:51,839 make it a little bit more cartoonish and 411 00:14:51,839 --> 00:14:53,040 we were kind of giving them a little bit 412 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:54,000 of direction but the whole time they 413 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,399 were kind of developing this whole 414 00:14:56,399 --> 00:14:58,399 gibberish language. Um to the point 415 00:14:58,399 --> 00:14:59,760 where they were kind of speaking the 416 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,360 same language. You know, the kind of 417 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:02,720 things he was saying sounded like the 418 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:03,839 things she was saying. They were kind of 419 00:15:03,839 --> 00:15:05,519 basically meeting. They were both 420 00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:06,800 starting with like random gibberish, but 421 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,480 they kind of met in this area where they 422 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:09,920 sounded like they were speaking the same 423 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,079 thing, you know, in a male and female 424 00:15:12,079 --> 00:15:14,560 voice. 425 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,560 It was just through the talent of those 426 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,120 two actors that we kind of zeroed in on 427 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,680 what we ended up with. But that was very 428 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,600 much kind of a discovery and an 429 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:30,800 exploration that we were doing on the 430 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,959 sound stage. 1 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:11,440 Whenever I got to the point where I 2 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:12,719 decided, okay, I'm building a game about 3 00:00:12,719 --> 00:00:15,440 this, I started imagining, how do I 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,680 present this idea to other people? What 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,600 am I kind of imagining the process to 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,760 feel like the activities, the agency I 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:23,760 have in this? I'm starting to actually 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:25,840 play that game in my own head at a more 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,439 and more detailed level while at the 10 00:00:27,439 --> 00:00:28,960 same time trying to imagine, okay, how 11 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,760 do I offload or download that play 12 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:32,880 experience into somebody else 13 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:34,399 effectively? And that becomes kind of 14 00:00:34,399 --> 00:00:37,880 the part of the pitch 15 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,719 whether you're trying to communicate 16 00:00:44,719 --> 00:00:48,800 your design vision to your team or to 17 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,000 executives or to your audience. 18 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,960 uh you need to kind of remember why you 19 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:56,800 want to do it. What got you excited? You 20 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,160 know, what is the key thing that's 21 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,879 really motivating you? And then you kind 22 00:01:00,879 --> 00:01:03,120 of step back and say, okay, how can I 23 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,119 recreate that process in that person's 24 00:01:05,119 --> 00:01:07,200 head? You know, how can I make them, you 25 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,040 know, see or understand or feel the way 26 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,159 I feel about this design direction? And, 27 00:01:12,159 --> 00:01:14,159 you know, maybe it's not the, you know, 28 00:01:14,159 --> 00:01:16,240 explicit overt description of what your 29 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,080 game is going to be. you know, maybe 30 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,320 it's more a, you know, getting into 31 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,600 their head into the emotional motivation 32 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,119 that drives you and, you know, maybe 33 00:01:25,119 --> 00:01:26,960 it's more about the creativ creativity 34 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:28,240 you'll have in this or the 35 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,000 expressiveness or what it's going to 36 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,720 feel like nostalgic to go back to your 37 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:33,759 childhood playing this thing that you 38 00:01:33,759 --> 00:01:34,960 used to play. You know, there might be a 39 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:36,240 lot of direction you should kind of take 40 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,400 that, but in some sense, you know, like 41 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,159 game design itself, you're hacking 42 00:01:40,159 --> 00:01:42,400 psychology. You know, you're trying to 43 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:44,079 imagine, you know, what does it take to 44 00:01:44,079 --> 00:01:46,560 make that person feel the way I feel? 45 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,560 Uh, it's almost like reverse empathy, 46 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,560 you know, how do I push, you know, my 47 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:51,840 feelings into that person? 48 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,479 Interestingly, you know, most of the 49 00:01:54,479 --> 00:01:56,159 hits I've had, the really big hits, Sim 50 00:01:56,159 --> 00:01:59,119 City, The Sims, were the ideas that I 51 00:01:59,119 --> 00:02:01,840 got amazing amount of, uh, push back 52 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,159 from with almost everybody I described 53 00:02:04,159 --> 00:02:09,360 it to, uh, initially and, uh, at some 54 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:10,319 point I actually had to kind of 55 00:02:10,319 --> 00:02:11,920 reformulate the way I was thinking about 56 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:14,640 it to then communicate it effectively. 57 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,400 Uh, and I did, you know, I kind of 58 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:17,360 thought, you know, okay, what is it 59 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:18,720 about the way I'm talking about this 60 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,480 thing that's not hitting the mark in 61 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:21,680 their head, the way it hits it in my 62 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,000 head? And eventually I found ways to 63 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,599 actually communicate what I was really 64 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:28,000 thinking. Um, which wasn't an explicit 65 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,080 description of the game design, but more 66 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:31,680 the feeling I was going to have playing 67 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,080 this game. And if I could now figure 68 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,000 out, okay, now how can I make them 69 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,160 imagine that feeling? And what do I say 70 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:39,599 to them to imagine that feeling that I 71 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:41,360 would imagine feeling playing this game? 72 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,680 So, it's like one step deeper really. 73 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:52,000 Right off the bat, as soon as you think, 74 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:53,840 "Oh, I have an idea for a game." Tell 75 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:55,360 your friends, see what they say. Tell 76 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,239 other people. Tell people you meet. Uh, 77 00:02:58,239 --> 00:03:00,160 and you can just observe and learn from 78 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:01,680 the result of what they, you know, the 79 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,840 questions they ask you, what they seem 80 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,440 interested in or they want to know more 81 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:06,800 about it or they want to talk about 82 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,400 something else. You'll learn very 83 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,400 rapidly. And then when it comes to the 84 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:11,920 point of now you're pitching to team 85 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:14,480 members or executives, you will have, 86 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,159 you know, refined that idea quite a bit 87 00:03:16,159 --> 00:03:17,680 up to that point already. You don't want 88 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:18,800 to wait until you're actually pitching 89 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,879 it to somebody who matters. Typically, 90 00:03:20,879 --> 00:03:22,000 we try to go for what's called the 91 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:23,519 elevator pitch eventually. You know, 92 00:03:23,519 --> 00:03:24,959 initially when I'm working on a game, 93 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:26,159 I'll sit there and I'll describe for 10 94 00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:27,360 minutes. Oh, there's a game where you do 95 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:28,400 this, that, and the other, and it works 96 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,239 like that, da da da da. But eventually, 97 00:03:30,239 --> 00:03:31,920 you want to get that down to like one 98 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:34,400 minute or 30 seconds. There's no easy 99 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,280 formula for that at all. Uh I think 100 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,599 repetition or trying, you know, 100 101 00:03:39,599 --> 00:03:41,040 different things is probably the most 102 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,280 effective thing I found. Uh one thing 103 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,319 that we uh would do on the larger games, 104 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:47,840 you know, we would go to trade show like 105 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,280 E3 and a lot of times, you know, we 106 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,200 would be talking about a game before 107 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,440 release pretty early on to certain press 108 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,080 members. Uh a lot of times I would be in 109 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,640 there kind of giving a description, you 110 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,799 know, to interviewers. Uh but it would 111 00:04:02,799 --> 00:04:04,000 be you know every five minutes a 112 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,200 different interviewer comes in and then 113 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:06,239 another one comes in another one comes 114 00:04:06,239 --> 00:04:07,840 in another one comes in. So that 115 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,200 actually became a great opportunity for 116 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:10,720 me to figure out how to refine the 117 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,560 pitch. You know I would try a pitch with 118 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,239 this person. I would notice them getting 119 00:04:14,239 --> 00:04:16,000 kind of bored looking at their thing 120 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,759 during that part of the pitch. They'd 121 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:19,759 get wideeyed and look at me attentively 122 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:21,600 during another part of the pitch. So the 123 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:22,720 next person that came in the room I 124 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,160 would kind of expand on those areas 125 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:25,919 prune the other ones try on that person. 126 00:04:25,919 --> 00:04:28,479 So I was actually iteratively evolving 127 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:31,199 the pitch you know rapidly over the 128 00:04:31,199 --> 00:04:34,080 course of one day and that I found 129 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,400 actually and we would also across team 130 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,160 members other designers or team members 131 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:39,360 might be there talking to people about 132 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:40,639 it and they would come back to me and 133 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:42,560 say oh they really got you know 134 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:44,320 interested when they heard this part but 135 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:45,440 they didn't seem to care about that part 136 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,199 and so we'd actually compare notes and 137 00:04:47,199 --> 00:04:49,520 we'd actually together as a team try to 138 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,199 refine that pitch okay let's you know 139 00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:53,280 talk more about this lean into that lean 140 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,160 away from there uh so The pitch is 141 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:57,280 something that, you know, I think will 142 00:04:57,280 --> 00:04:59,199 be evolving over time. Initially, you're 143 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:00,560 going to come up with this idea and you 144 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,280 might, you know, tell somebody uh at 145 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:05,680 your company or a friend or whatever and 146 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:06,720 that's going to be the very first time 147 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:07,919 and it's going to be horrible. I mean, 148 00:05:07,919 --> 00:05:09,360 you're just not going to convey it very 149 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,280 well. And maybe the idea in your head 150 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,039 isn't very well formulated either. Maybe 151 00:05:13,039 --> 00:05:15,360 you just have a very fuzzy idea of the 152 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,360 kind of game you're thinking of. So in 153 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,000 your head as well, you're refining that 154 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,440 model and trying to make that thing more 155 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,520 and more fun. As you interact and tell 156 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,160 more and more people about it, uh I 157 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:27,840 think you will naturally evolve it, 158 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:30,080 naturally discover the most effective 159 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:31,199 way to communicate it. So I'd say 160 00:05:31,199 --> 00:05:34,000 repetition is probably the best rule of 161 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 thumb. 162 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,880 frequently uh the game designer is also 163 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:46,240 the person that's starting to assemble 164 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:47,840 the team that's going to build this 165 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:50,160 product. And as you're building that 166 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,000 team, you know, one of the very first 167 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,680 things skills that you really have to 168 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,320 have is the ability to communicate your 169 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,039 design to your team. And continually, 170 00:05:59,039 --> 00:06:01,120 even when you're refining your idea or 171 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:02,800 changing it, you need to make sure the 172 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,600 team is aware of that. And it's more 173 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:06,960 understanding the direction you're 174 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,520 going, not the destination. And you know 175 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:11,039 over time as they come to you with you 176 00:06:11,039 --> 00:06:12,880 know should we do A or B and you start 177 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:14,800 saying you know BB B they'll start 178 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,039 learning you know to predict your 179 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:18,800 decisions and they'll start making more 180 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:20,720 and more of those decisions. Uh if 181 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:21,919 they're unclear they'll still come to 182 00:06:21,919 --> 00:06:23,840 you. So in some sense you're educating 183 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:26,080 your entire team ongoingly about what 184 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:27,360 the design is and where it's going to 185 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,160 head. Uh this is a more granular version 186 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:31,360 of the same process you're going to use 187 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,199 to pitch your idea when you go out to 188 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:34,400 other people and try to sell them on the 189 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,479 idea to fund it or whatever. uh you're 190 00:06:36,479 --> 00:06:37,919 going to basically try to communicate 191 00:06:37,919 --> 00:06:39,759 very clearly to them what's in your 192 00:06:39,759 --> 00:06:41,840 head, you know, what you're imagining. 193 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,639 When I did The Sims, uh it was a big 194 00:06:44,639 --> 00:06:46,800 challenge for me, you know, and I was, 195 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,160 you know, within my own company, it was 196 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,560 rejected many times because I was 197 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,880 describing this game. First of all, I 198 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:54,960 never after the product uh was about 199 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:56,400 halfway done, I never once called it 200 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:57,520 this again, but I used to call it 201 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:59,360 Dollhouse. That was the initial name for 202 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,120 the game. And I found that it was such a 203 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,360 loaded term that you know any male gamer 204 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:04,479 you know they you hear a game called 205 00:07:04,479 --> 00:07:05,759 dollhouse they're not going to play that 206 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:07,759 game. So that was uh one thing I 207 00:07:07,759 --> 00:07:10,479 learned. Uh also as I pitched this to 208 00:07:10,479 --> 00:07:12,639 executives and stuff you know I was 209 00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:13,840 talking about this cool game where 210 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:15,440 you're managing these people and they 211 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,039 have limited time and all this stuff but 212 00:07:17,039 --> 00:07:18,720 what they were hearing was here's a game 213 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,319 where you take out the trash and load 214 00:07:20,319 --> 00:07:22,400 the dishwasher. Uh which didn't sound 215 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,120 very aspirational. So uh you know I 216 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,880 found that I had to kind of rethink the 217 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:28,560 way I was presenting the whole concept 218 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,960 and idea to somebody you know that now 219 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:32,080 it's little people you can mess with 220 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:33,919 them and they live lives in your 221 00:07:33,919 --> 00:07:35,759 computer and it's up to you you know to 222 00:07:35,759 --> 00:07:37,520 make them happy and that was kind of a 223 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,840 much more interesting rich kind of 224 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,199 metaphor for them to kind of wrap their 225 00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:43,759 heads around. So you're not just 226 00:07:43,759 --> 00:07:45,520 learning to pitch to your design team or 227 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,840 your production team but also to people 228 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,599 outside within your company and then 229 00:07:49,599 --> 00:07:51,199 eventually to the end consumer. You 230 00:07:51,199 --> 00:07:52,560 know, eventually you're gonna put an ad 231 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,479 on the web or in a box or whatever, but 232 00:07:54,479 --> 00:07:56,319 you're g have to clearly and concisely 233 00:07:56,319 --> 00:07:58,240 communicate to somebody, you know, what 234 00:07:58,240 --> 00:07:59,599 this game is, why they want to play it, 235 00:07:59,599 --> 00:08:00,400 because they're going to start playing 236 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:01,840 in their head as soon as they hear about 237 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,199 it. You know, before they even see the 238 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:04,560 game, as soon as somebody describes, oh, 239 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:05,440 you should check out this game. It's 240 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,280 about X, Y, and Z. They're going to 241 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:08,720 start imagining, okay, that sounds kind 242 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:09,919 of fun, you know, and they're actually 243 00:08:09,919 --> 00:08:11,360 playing the game, a very simple version 244 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:12,400 of the game that they're imagining in 245 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:13,919 their head. And that game has to be fun. 246 00:08:13,919 --> 00:08:14,960 That's the first game you're actually 247 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,160 designing is the pitch. 248 00:08:23,599 --> 00:08:25,599 If you're pitching to your team members, 249 00:08:25,599 --> 00:08:28,720 designers, whatnot, you know, they want 250 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:30,400 to know, they're going to want to hear 251 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:31,599 something that's unique and interesting. 252 00:08:31,599 --> 00:08:34,000 They're going to be proud to build. Uh, 253 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,680 and something that's buildable because 254 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:36,719 they're going to be responsible for 255 00:08:36,719 --> 00:08:39,200 actually having to build it. Uh, and 256 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,560 something that sounds creatively 257 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:41,919 challenging. you know, that's what 258 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:43,680 they're, you know, they're looking for. 259 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:45,040 And so, you have to pitch, you know, 260 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:45,920 here's something that's going to be 261 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,399 really cool to build, unique, people are 262 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:50,959 going to love it, uh, and we can make 263 00:08:50,959 --> 00:08:52,800 it. When you're pitching to the 264 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,040 executives, you know, you know, it 265 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:56,080 depends on the company, how big it is, 266 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,160 and all this stuff, but basically, you 267 00:08:58,160 --> 00:08:59,600 know, whatever the big hit was last 268 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,720 year, it's like that but better., you 269 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,200 know, that's kind of the the cliche. 270 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,399 Obviously, the the most successful genre 271 00:09:08,399 --> 00:09:11,360 in any format almost is the sequel. So, 272 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,040 you know, if it's a sequel, they're just 273 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:13,839 going to want to know that you're going 274 00:09:13,839 --> 00:09:16,880 to execute it well and not screw it up. 275 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:18,959 Uh, if it's an original thing, you know, 276 00:09:18,959 --> 00:09:20,720 they're going to basically be measuring 277 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,399 against that. You know, should I invest 278 00:09:22,399 --> 00:09:25,200 in this original thing or put more money 279 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,000 into the next version of this, you know, 280 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,800 popular franchise. And, you know, at 281 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:32,800 that point, you know, a lot of it's just 282 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:33,760 going to be based upon your track 283 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,440 record. Now, as you're pitching to an 284 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:36,720 audience, you know, of course, now 285 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,480 you're kind of saying, "Try my game 286 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,240 out." Or a journalist is a whole 287 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,360 different thing. You know, pitching to a 288 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:42,640 journalist, you know, they're going to 289 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:44,959 want to write an interesting story. Uh 290 00:09:44,959 --> 00:09:46,240 something where they can actually 291 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:47,920 exhibit a fair amount of creativity in 292 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,480 their review or their writing of it. Um 293 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,160 so, if you give them something where 294 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:53,519 they can all a sudden take a creative 295 00:09:53,519 --> 00:09:56,000 spin in their writing, that sounds more 296 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,440 attractive to them. There's actually a 297 00:09:57,440 --> 00:09:59,279 pretty big distinction, I think, between 298 00:09:59,279 --> 00:10:01,920 what I call game journalists and general 299 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,080 media. Uh when you're pitching to a game 300 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:05,519 journalist, they're gonna be very jaded. 301 00:10:05,519 --> 00:10:06,640 Everybody's coming to them saying, "Oh, 302 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:07,760 I'm gonna build the next big hit and 303 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,000 it's gonna be duh duh duh duh, you know, 304 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,839 and they're gonna want to hear something 305 00:10:11,839 --> 00:10:13,760 that to them actually sounds, you know, 306 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:17,040 like creative, unique, uh something that 307 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:18,720 really is fresh, you know, within the 308 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:20,640 game industry and because they hear all 309 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:21,839 these ideas within the game industry, 310 00:10:21,839 --> 00:10:24,560 but also they want to uh believe that, 311 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:25,920 you know, whoever is pitching them can 312 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:27,600 actually execute this. You a lot of 313 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:28,800 people can give a great pitch, but they 314 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,440 can never build a product." Um, digital 315 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:32,880 media, you know, I think it's a little 316 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:34,399 bit different story. You know, for them 317 00:10:34,399 --> 00:10:35,920 it's going to be more like, why does my 318 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,320 audience care? You know, it's a game. 319 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:40,320 Uh, so there almost has to be a hook 320 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,720 into them where, oh, you know, people 321 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:44,240 that don't even play games will be 322 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,560 interested in this because of X Y and Z. 323 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:49,600 Maybe it's topical or maybe, uh, it's 324 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,000 involving some new technology or 325 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:53,600 something, whatever it is. but they 326 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:55,760 almost need another hook to understand 327 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,480 why their wider audience is also going 328 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,640 to tune in to this thing that they kind 329 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:02,480 of think of as a niche product. So I 330 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:03,760 think you need to kind of understand the 331 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:08,440 motivations of each of these groups. 332 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:14,880 The pitching style I eventually 333 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,839 developed um which I'm not sure is even 334 00:11:17,839 --> 00:11:21,360 that successful is trying to get people 335 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:22,880 back to the original topic. you know, 336 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:25,200 here's why I think ants are cool. Here's 337 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,680 why I think, you know, it's cool to, you 338 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:30,480 know, construct little buildings and put 339 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,000 little people in it. Here's why I think 340 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,320 evolution is cool. So, I try to usually 341 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:35,760 start kind of with the topic, why I 342 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,240 think I got motivated in that, and then 343 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:39,760 kind of back into and here's a game 344 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:41,519 where you get to make this and do that. 345 00:11:41,519 --> 00:11:43,680 And I found that the more we could 346 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:46,079 reference, you know, the player in the 347 00:11:46,079 --> 00:11:48,000 pitch, generally the better the pitch 348 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,440 went. You know, it's not like, you know, 349 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,200 here's a world in which this happens, 350 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:52,800 but here's a world in which you are the 351 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:54,160 mayor and you get to decide where to put 352 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:55,600 the roads and you get to do this, that, 353 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:57,040 and the other, you know. So, if you 354 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:58,399 start saying these are the things that 355 00:11:58,399 --> 00:12:00,959 you can do in the game, uh, and make 356 00:12:00,959 --> 00:12:03,440 that sound interesting. Uh, that kind of 357 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:04,880 reverses the whole thing rather than 358 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:09,320 here's this thing I want to sell to you. 359 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,240 One of the fundamental questions that 360 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:17,920 you're probably going to get um 361 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:19,279 especially if the pitch is very 362 00:12:19,279 --> 00:12:22,000 unrefined is you know why is that going 363 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,040 to be fun you know which is a hard 364 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,040 question to answer because if your pitch 365 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:28,720 you know really conveyed what it needed 366 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:30,560 to convey they wouldn't be asking that 367 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:32,639 question you know it would already be 368 00:12:32,639 --> 00:12:34,320 fun in their imagination they wouldn't 369 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:35,839 ask you that question so that that 370 00:12:35,839 --> 00:12:37,920 really indicates you know a key part of 371 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:39,839 your picture missing people will try to 372 00:12:39,839 --> 00:12:42,000 triangulate your idea against other 373 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,720 games and they'll say, "Oh, is it kind 374 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,560 of like this game but a little bit of 375 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:49,680 that or this game that's turnbased, you 376 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:51,600 know, instead of real time?" In their 377 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,360 mind, they're kind of looking landscape 378 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:55,279 of all the games they know about and 379 00:12:55,279 --> 00:12:56,639 trying to figure out where yours falls 380 00:12:56,639 --> 00:12:58,399 into that landscape, you know, by 381 00:12:58,399 --> 00:13:00,240 finding landmarks nearby, saying it's 382 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:01,760 somewhere between there and there, you 383 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,480 know, and uh that's going to be very 384 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:06,000 common. And if your game is not in that 385 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,519 landscape at all, if it's an outlier 386 00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:10,800 over here, um that's both good and bad. 387 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:11,920 It's hard for them to triangulate 388 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:12,959 because they've never seen anything like 389 00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:14,720 that. But on the other hand, it can feel 390 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,240 fresh if you can pitch it the right way. 391 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:17,760 You can almost kind of take the outliers 392 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:19,200 in that direction and say, "Oh, it's 393 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:20,320 kind of like this, but we took it in a 394 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:21,200 totally different direction that 395 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,040 nobody's ever done before." Now, if it's 396 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,519 understandable, and you can basically 397 00:13:25,519 --> 00:13:27,839 again download that it's totally 398 00:13:27,839 --> 00:13:30,399 different in this way, so they can 399 00:13:30,399 --> 00:13:32,240 actually start imagining why that's 400 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,560 good, why that's fun. That can be very 401 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:37,560 successful. 402 00:13:42,399 --> 00:13:44,000 a lot of startup pitches, you know, 403 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,839 somebody says, "Okay, here's the cool 404 00:13:45,839 --> 00:13:47,600 new trend that's just popped up, you 405 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,920 know, in social media or in platforms or 406 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,519 whatever it is, and we're going to, you 407 00:13:51,519 --> 00:13:52,800 know, be right on it." You know, we're 408 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,120 going to be riding that wave. And so, I 409 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:56,480 think that the people that are really 410 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:58,079 involved in these industries, again, 411 00:13:58,079 --> 00:13:59,440 they're kind of jaded. You know, they 412 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:01,120 know that every pitch coming this month 413 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,839 is going to involve Facebook or this or 414 00:14:03,839 --> 00:14:05,199 that or whatever the hot thing of the 415 00:14:05,199 --> 00:14:06,720 month is going to be. So, I think that 416 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:07,839 you have to be a little bit careful 417 00:14:07,839 --> 00:14:10,720 about that. Uh, in particular, I think 418 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,480 you need to feel like your thing, 419 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:13,839 whatever it is, is standing on its own 420 00:14:13,839 --> 00:14:16,000 legs, on its own merits, and it's not 421 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,240 just going to be successful because it's 422 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:19,839 part of this trend that's happening this 423 00:14:19,839 --> 00:14:21,839 month. There's another actually really 424 00:14:21,839 --> 00:14:23,199 important part to I think pitching, 425 00:14:23,199 --> 00:14:26,000 which is that uh recognizing when you've 426 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,560 sold your idea, don't continue and 427 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,440 unsell it. Uh, a lot of times if you 428 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:33,680 give somebody a fairly brief explanation 429 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,480 of your idea, leave a lot of blanks in 430 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,880 there. Um, the person you're pitching to 431 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:40,720 will generally fill the blanks in in 432 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,560 your favor. You know, this is the way I 433 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:43,680 would fill in those blanks. They're 434 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:44,959 probably going to do it the way I would 435 00:14:44,959 --> 00:14:46,800 want to. And so, if you leave those 436 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,399 blanks, they're going to imagine those 437 00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:49,600 filled in the way they would want to 438 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,360 fill them in. If you keep going with 439 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:52,639 your pitch and start filling in those 440 00:14:52,639 --> 00:14:53,920 blanks in a different direction that 441 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,320 they don't like, you've now unsold the 442 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,399 idea after you just sold it to them. So 443 00:14:58,399 --> 00:14:59,760 I think you know it's very important to 444 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:04,120 kind of realize when to stop. 445 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,880 The one thing that I think um is the 446 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,959 biggest mistake that I see is when 447 00:15:12,959 --> 00:15:15,199 people lead with genre, the first thing 448 00:15:15,199 --> 00:15:17,199 they say is I want to build a firsterson 449 00:15:17,199 --> 00:15:18,959 shooter that does da da d d d d d d d d 450 00:15:18,959 --> 00:15:19,120 d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d 451 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:19,279 d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d 452 00:15:19,279 --> 00:15:21,920 d d d d d d d d d d d d um you know to 453 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,000 me as soon as I hear genre you know in 454 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:25,519 my mind that they've already basically 455 00:15:25,519 --> 00:15:27,680 compartmentalized you know how far 456 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,519 they're going to go they not even 457 00:15:29,519 --> 00:15:30,880 willing to think of it outside of that 458 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,639 genre an expansion of the genre but 459 00:15:32,639 --> 00:15:34,240 they've already put themselves in a box 460 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,160 you a fairly limited box that's been 461 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,160 very thoroughly explored. You know, now 462 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:39,360 it's okay if it's a first-person 463 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:41,279 shooter. That's fine. But maybe it's a 464 00:15:41,279 --> 00:15:42,959 first-person shooter with relationships 465 00:15:42,959 --> 00:15:44,240 and social networks and, you know, it 466 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:45,760 might be a lot of other things involved. 467 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:47,519 But when they say first-person shooter, 468 00:15:47,519 --> 00:15:49,040 in my mind, I'm automatically putting it 469 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,639 in this very limited little box of 470 00:15:50,639 --> 00:15:53,199 experience. I think other ones is people 471 00:15:53,199 --> 00:15:55,120 tend to be too verbose. You know, they 472 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,600 tend to add way too many details way too 473 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,839 early. Uh there was that saying about, 474 00:15:59,839 --> 00:16:01,199 you know, your garden is not complete 475 00:16:01,199 --> 00:16:02,480 until there's nothing else you can 476 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:03,920 remove. you know, I think for your 477 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:05,839 pitch, you want to remove every possible 478 00:16:05,839 --> 00:16:08,480 word, you know, that is unnecessary and 479 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,160 refine it down to that level of 480 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,199 conciseness. And uh those are, I think, 481 00:16:13,199 --> 00:16:15,759 the two most common mistakes I hear when 482 00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:19,199 people give pitches. The third probably 483 00:16:19,199 --> 00:16:23,279 comes more down to energy. uh that if 484 00:16:23,279 --> 00:16:24,959 the person giving you the pitch doesn't 485 00:16:24,959 --> 00:16:26,880 really feel excited about it and it's 486 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,120 more like oh yeah I got this game idea 487 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,680 you know uh how can they expect me to be 488 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:33,519 excited about it you know but if 489 00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:35,120 somebody comes up to me with a very 490 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,360 concise idea they you know lead with 491 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:38,959 kind of the topic or what's cool about 492 00:16:38,959 --> 00:16:41,199 it to them they don't say anything 493 00:16:41,199 --> 00:16:43,519 unnecessary and they're really into it 494 00:16:43,519 --> 00:16:46,399 that's an effective pitch 1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:03,200 Now, let's check out another game from a 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:07,080 different aspiring designer. 3 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,800 So, my game is Flooded Market. It's a 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,039 multiplayer strategy game where you're 5 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:25,359 going to enter the cutthroat real estate 6 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:28,000 market of the sinking city of San 7 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,519 Francisco. 8 00:00:29,519 --> 00:00:31,599 Yeah. So, you're going to be out bidding 9 00:00:31,599 --> 00:00:32,719 other players. You're going to be 10 00:00:32,719 --> 00:00:34,160 renting. You're going to be renovating 11 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:35,920 these properties. And all the while, 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,239 turn by turn, climate change is going to 13 00:00:38,239 --> 00:00:40,160 cause the sea level to rise as it is in 14 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:40,960 our starting screen. 15 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:42,079 This is fast global warming. 16 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:44,399 Yeah. Accelerated global warming. And as 17 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:46,160 it moves up, it's going to transform 18 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:48,719 these properties from their their 19 00:00:48,719 --> 00:00:52,000 regular selves into pristine highquality 20 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,320 beachfront property and then destroy 21 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:55,840 them right afterwards. And so you're 22 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,480 trying to catch that that wave of 23 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,320 inflated prices and uh that along with 24 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:03,760 paying off the right politicians will 25 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:04,080 let 26 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:04,559 multiplayer 27 00:01:04,559 --> 00:01:06,080 it's multiplayer up to 50 players can 28 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:06,960 play in a game. 29 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:09,040 Uh we haven't tested it with 50 players 30 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,760 but the the system is there to support 31 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,600 it. Uh and the notion is that you have 32 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,000 all these players creating an economy uh 33 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,119 that you're then going to try to 34 00:01:17,119 --> 00:01:19,040 optimize and act inside of. And ideally 35 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,200 all the player actions are driving the 36 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,600 simulation while the simulation drives. 37 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:24,880 Right off the bat, I love your intro 38 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:26,240 screen. I mean, it looks fun already. 39 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:27,759 Just look at the intro screen. 40 00:01:27,759 --> 00:01:29,439 Yeah, the intro screen is supposed to to 41 00:01:29,439 --> 00:01:30,799 make that that striking first 42 00:01:30,799 --> 00:01:31,200 impression. 43 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,000 Okay, so let's see the game. 44 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,680 Yeah, let's get into it. 45 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:34,960 So, you're playing. We're going to 46 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:37,040 create a game here. 47 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:38,240 I like the pitch, by the way. I mean, 48 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,079 it's very succinct, concise, and it 49 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:40,799 sounds fun. 50 00:01:40,799 --> 00:01:43,680 This Will's game. So, we can launch in 51 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:44,960 here. 52 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:46,079 So, right now, we're going to kind of 53 00:01:46,079 --> 00:01:47,520 get the gist, the lay of the land. 54 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:48,799 There's San Francisco for those who 55 00:01:48,799 --> 00:01:49,600 recognize it. And 56 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:50,799 so, you have a real map of the real 57 00:01:50,799 --> 00:01:51,200 city, 58 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:52,799 right? Yeah. We pulled from map data to 59 00:01:52,799 --> 00:01:55,439 help get elevations and and um locations 60 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:57,360 and also house prices to start off with. 61 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,280 So we have a house in downtown. It's 62 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,520 worth 1.3 million. It's five stars. 63 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:02,719 Are these all things for sale? 64 00:02:02,719 --> 00:02:03,840 These are all things for sale. Yeah. 65 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,040 So I have a budget and I'm choosing how 66 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:06,320 to spend invest in real estate here. 67 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:07,680 That's right. Yeah. You have $3.8 68 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:09,520 million up here. And let's say we can 69 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,520 even select this house. We can bid on 70 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:12,239 it. 71 00:02:12,239 --> 00:02:14,239 Uh this one we can take a look at and 72 00:02:14,239 --> 00:02:16,480 say, "Okay, it's got some nice views. 73 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:18,000 It's got decent quality. We can upgrade 74 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,000 that later if we want. It's kind of 75 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,680 getting close to the water. 20% water 76 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:22,959 level. Yeah, we can check its 77 00:02:22,959 --> 00:02:24,879 elevation's at 50 m. The water right now 78 00:02:24,879 --> 00:02:26,640 is at 0 m, but that'll change as soon as 79 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:28,160 the turn ends, which is fast approach. 80 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:29,040 So, it's turn based. 81 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:29,760 Turnbased game. 82 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:30,480 Okay. 83 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,160 Uh, so we can also place a bid here. And 84 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:33,840 then our first property, what are you 85 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,200 thinking? You want to list it? Get rid 86 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:36,319 of it? You want to upgrade it? You want 87 00:02:36,319 --> 00:02:37,519 to start renting? 88 00:02:37,519 --> 00:02:39,120 Let's upgrade deals. Okay. So, we're 89 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,239 going to put that up to six stars. And 90 00:02:40,239 --> 00:02:42,080 now it jumped to 1.4 million. So, 91 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:43,280 I really want to go one turn to see how 92 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:44,319 far up the water is going to go. 93 00:02:44,319 --> 00:02:46,400 Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, we can zoom out. If 94 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,440 I can zoom out here. So, the water only 95 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,120 went up 2 meters. So, we got some time 96 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,200 that will increase uh as the game goes 97 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:54,319 on. So, it will be kind of this 98 00:02:54,319 --> 00:02:54,720 building. 99 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:55,760 So, I'm guessing it's kind of like a 100 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:57,920 sweet spot I want to get in here where I 101 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,000 hold it long enough for it to appreciate 102 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,200 before it's inundated. 103 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:02,720 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it takes a 104 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,319 couple turns to kind of do the actions 105 00:03:04,319 --> 00:03:05,760 you want to to kind of flip these 106 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:06,640 houses. And so, 107 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:08,480 now am I buying and selling these houses 108 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:10,480 to other players or from the computer? 109 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,959 So, you're doing both. Uh if no one bids 110 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:14,239 on it, the computer will pick up the 111 00:03:14,239 --> 00:03:15,599 slack and buy it. There's kind of this 112 00:03:15,599 --> 00:03:17,840 secret economy guy who's making sure 113 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,760 that everyone gets paid, right? Uh, but 114 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,120 other players can buy your house once 115 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:22,000 you list it. Okay. 116 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:23,840 And so right now we have, if we zoom 117 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:25,840 out, we have all these different player 118 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,159 icons and those are all the 49 other AI 119 00:03:28,159 --> 00:03:29,680 players that are playing with us. Okay. 120 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:30,959 And so if I hit the end turn, you'll see 121 00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:32,319 them actually kind of run around. So 122 00:03:32,319 --> 00:03:34,239 they'll all move around the map buying 123 00:03:34,239 --> 00:03:35,599 and selling properties. We can also do 124 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:37,280 that. Uh, these green properties are the 125 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:38,159 properties we can move to. They're 126 00:03:38,159 --> 00:03:39,920 adjacent to downtown. So we can hop over 127 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,319 here to Civic Center. And now we have 128 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:44,080 new properties that we can buy in, new 129 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:45,200 neighborhoods we can buy in, and new 130 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:46,480 properties or new neighborhoods. 131 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,400 Oh, so we have a location in this world. 132 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,640 Yeah, we have this tiny little 133 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,239 bing stuff from near me, 134 00:03:52,239 --> 00:03:52,640 right? 135 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:53,440 Okay. 136 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,360 So, right now we're we're trying to 137 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:56,799 incorporate as much player to player 138 00:03:56,799 --> 00:03:58,159 interaction as possible. Right now, 139 00:03:58,159 --> 00:04:00,640 they're kind of uh using this middleman. 140 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:02,080 That's the simulation. So, I buy and 141 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:03,599 sell properties. I can upgrade and 142 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:05,200 affect properties and then other players 143 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,120 can interact with those properties, but 144 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,280 I can't interact with players so much. I 145 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:10,159 can outbid them, 146 00:04:10,159 --> 00:04:10,720 right? 147 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,480 And if we 148 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:14,000 I presume you played mule. 149 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:14,879 I have played mule 150 00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:16,639 way way back. I mean, that cool auction 151 00:04:16,639 --> 00:04:17,440 interaction. 152 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,040 Yeah. Yeah. No, that was 153 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:20,400 almost expecting, you know, some kind of 154 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:21,519 like exciting point here where I'm 155 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:22,720 trying to bid with other players for a 156 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,160 property that's very desirable. 157 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,280 I I think showcasing that might be might 158 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:29,040 be a good direction to go or creating 159 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:30,880 some sort of moment where everyone's 160 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:31,759 throwing money at each other. 161 00:04:31,759 --> 00:04:32,720 Dramatic tension. Yeah. 162 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,320 Yeah. Yeah. And that might that could be 163 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:35,759 broadcasted out to other players where 164 00:04:35,759 --> 00:04:38,240 they get to watch this this battle of of 165 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:40,080 bucks and dollars go go back and forth, 166 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:40,960 right? It was actually also an 167 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:41,840 interesting combination of kind of 168 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:43,440 turnbased and real time. Yeah. 169 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:44,639 Because that part of the auction was 170 00:04:44,639 --> 00:04:45,680 real time. Rest was 171 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:46,960 turn based. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you had 172 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:48,560 this constant uh tension between whether 173 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:49,600 or not you were paying attention to the 174 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:50,880 real time component of the game. 175 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:52,320 Yeah. So if I'm playing this online 176 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,600 against other players and you would be 177 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:54,000 playing this, 178 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:54,960 how long is a turn? 179 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,720 So a turn is an average of about 35 180 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:00,639 seconds. The early turns you have more 181 00:05:00,639 --> 00:05:00,800 time. 182 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:01,680 Oh, so it's fast. 183 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,120 It's fast. Yeah. The early turns you 184 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:04,720 have more time. You have 45 seconds and 185 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:05,919 then near the end of the game you have 186 00:05:05,919 --> 00:05:06,720 about 25 seconds. 187 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:07,840 So that's a lot of your dramatic tension 188 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:10,000 is how much you can accomplish in 35 40 189 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:10,320 seconds, 190 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:11,600 right? I'm not sure how much of the game 191 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,479 I want to be about time management, 192 00:05:14,479 --> 00:05:16,639 right? I would like players to feel 193 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:18,639 comfortable enough with the time they're 194 00:05:18,639 --> 00:05:20,080 given to make the decisions and choices 195 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,360 they have. So that was one of the 196 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:22,960 reasons why we limited it to five 197 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,160 properties. Right now we have two of 198 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:24,639 five max. 199 00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:25,520 Much easier to Yeah. 200 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,120 Yeah. Previously you didn't have a limit 201 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,280 and I got up to 40 properties and so I 202 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:31,280 had 45 seconds to make decisions on 40 203 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:32,880 properties and I was having a very 204 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:33,840 stressful time of it. 205 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:34,880 Tell me a little bit about what you've 206 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:36,479 learned in testing. 207 00:05:36,479 --> 00:05:39,440 So we've learned uh that people really 208 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,560 like they see houses as almost like 209 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:43,199 people. 210 00:05:43,199 --> 00:05:44,800 Okay. They see houses as having 211 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,600 identities and having stories and 212 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:49,520 locations as having those identities and 213 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:51,840 stories. They see this as a tragedy 214 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:53,440 playing out before them, right? This is 215 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,360 a train wreck happening and they're 216 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,120 trying to profit from it, which is 217 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:58,320 uncomfortable for some people. 218 00:05:58,320 --> 00:05:59,199 You know, I think it's going to have a 219 00:05:59,199 --> 00:06:01,440 whole lot to do with the pacing of it. 220 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,919 Uh, you know, 35 seconds is a new player 221 00:06:03,919 --> 00:06:05,039 going to feel like it's overwhelming. 222 00:06:05,039 --> 00:06:06,319 All the other people are know exactly 223 00:06:06,319 --> 00:06:07,759 what they're doing and I haven't even 224 00:06:07,759 --> 00:06:09,039 started in 35 seconds. 225 00:06:09,039 --> 00:06:09,520 Yeah, exactly. 226 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:10,639 Is there some way to kind of moderate 227 00:06:10,639 --> 00:06:11,600 that? 228 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,000 Yeah. some some delicate onboarding is 229 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,199 probably a good next step because 230 00:06:15,199 --> 00:06:17,039 that'll also let us get to new testers 231 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:18,880 without having to sit them all down like 232 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:20,000 this and walk them through all the 233 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:20,479 steps. 234 00:06:20,479 --> 00:06:21,919 I almost wonder I've never really seen a 235 00:06:21,919 --> 00:06:23,199 game like this. I could almost imagine 236 00:06:23,199 --> 00:06:25,360 something where you're interle players 237 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,680 are in certain zones where they get a 238 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,120 minute and one of their turns is equal 239 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:30,639 to two turns of an experienced player. 240 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:30,880 Oh. 241 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,560 And so you keep it in lock step, but the 242 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,400 new players actually get longer and 243 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,800 they're on the same time cycle, but it's 244 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:38,479 kind of a interled. 245 00:06:38,479 --> 00:06:40,160 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe they're 246 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,720 okay. I can certainly see some really 247 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:44,400 interesting balance point being reached 248 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,800 there. We could even use them as the 249 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,400 generators of content for the players 250 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:49,919 who are playing faster games. So instead 251 00:06:49,919 --> 00:06:52,479 of having that invisible economic agent 252 00:06:52,479 --> 00:06:53,280 behind the 253 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:54,080 maybe they're buying the cheaper 254 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,199 properties, maybe the residential 255 00:06:55,199 --> 00:06:57,199 properties are on this every other time 256 00:06:57,199 --> 00:06:58,720 scale, you have a minute, when you get 257 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,080 into the more expensive commercial 258 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:01,680 properties, it's every 30 seconds and 259 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:02,639 that's experienced player. 260 00:07:02,639 --> 00:07:04,960 Yeah. Yeah. And so we have a way for 261 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,440 them to play together but also at their 262 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:07,840 own 263 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:08,960 at their own pace and they don't feel 264 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:10,160 like they you know it doesn't feel too 265 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:11,520 fast for the beginning player or too 266 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:12,639 slow for the experienced player. 267 00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:13,360 I hadn't thought of that. 268 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,360 I grew up playing turn-based games and 269 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,360 some of these like you know turn-based 270 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,280 war games I'd spend an hour sitting 271 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:20,479 there playing every little thing. You 272 00:07:20,479 --> 00:07:22,080 know other times they go a lot faster 273 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:23,120 but when you're having to wait for other 274 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:24,720 players and I've done all my stuff in 30 275 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:25,680 seconds and I'm waiting for the 276 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:26,960 fiveminute turn to end. Yeah. 277 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:28,240 You know it's incredibly boring. 278 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:29,360 Absolutely. So, I think figuring out 279 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:30,720 some way to where players can kind of 280 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,000 select the time uh scale at which 281 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:35,919 they're comfortable, which also might be 282 00:07:35,919 --> 00:07:37,599 the level of experience or risk, you 283 00:07:37,599 --> 00:07:39,520 know, that they're encountering. 284 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:40,960 Can I zoom into the visuals like where 285 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:42,080 the water's coming up? I just want to 286 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:42,720 Let's get in there. 287 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:44,960 Oh, yeah. That's cool. I like this. 288 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:46,000 Yeah. So, we can look around. 289 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,440 Can you rotate the map or is it 290 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,319 Right now it's staying north to west to 291 00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:52,000 southeast. Um, it's staying kind of 292 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:52,319 locked. 293 00:07:52,319 --> 00:07:53,280 You can kind of zoom in and see this is 294 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,599 where I live. All the water. Um, 295 00:07:55,599 --> 00:07:56,720 you know, you mentioned it right at the 296 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,039 beginning that some players found it uh 297 00:07:59,039 --> 00:08:01,039 little macob or uh 298 00:08:01,039 --> 00:08:02,080 a little distressing. 299 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:02,639 Distressing. 300 00:08:02,639 --> 00:08:03,199 Yeah. 301 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:04,879 I find that interesting and actually I 302 00:08:04,879 --> 00:08:06,479 think that's kind of cool because that 303 00:08:06,479 --> 00:08:08,000 in indicates a level of emotional 304 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:09,120 involvement that they're emotionally 305 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:10,639 involved in what this is. 306 00:08:10,639 --> 00:08:13,199 Back when uh Kubric did Dr. Strange Love 307 00:08:13,199 --> 00:08:14,319 way back 308 00:08:14,319 --> 00:08:15,680 a lot of people criticized him for 309 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,360 making fun of nuclear war, 310 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,360 but at the same time he actually got a 311 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,160 whole generation of kids, you know, 312 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,960 aware of how stupid nuclear war was. by 313 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,960 making a dark comedy about it, you know, 314 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,199 and uh I think that is one of the things 315 00:08:29,199 --> 00:08:30,960 that really attracts me to this concept. 316 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,279 I think that the turnbased thing is kind 317 00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:34,560 of old school, 318 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:36,320 but has a lot of cool opportunities. I 319 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:38,240 really enjoy turn-based gaming. 320 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,320 And I think that uh there might be some 321 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,399 opportunities to kind of do things with 322 00:08:42,399 --> 00:08:43,680 turn-based gaming that haven't been done 323 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:44,720 before. 324 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:46,240 And I think in some sense you might be 325 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,399 able to attract a lot more players to it 326 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:50,080 if I have a spin on that kind of thing. 327 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:50,800 They're expecting 328 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,080 but and keep it approachable like this. 329 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:53,760 But uh I think it's a very cool unique 330 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,560 idea and I think that you know the 331 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:57,680 biggest challenge I would see right off 332 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:00,880 the bat is going to be um moderating the 333 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:02,800 player involvement and skill level such 334 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:04,720 that new players don't feel overwhelmed 335 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:06,560 by the pace of the game. Yeah. Or the 336 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:08,640 opportunities that the other players are 337 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:09,920 taking from them, you know, that you 338 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:11,360 don't have the new experienced players 339 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,519 preying on the the newbies, you know. 340 00:09:13,519 --> 00:09:15,839 But I I really like the idea and I think 341 00:09:15,839 --> 00:09:17,760 uh your pitch was very effective and 342 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:19,680 intriguing as well because right off the 343 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:21,600 bat you didn't really uh talk about 344 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,440 genre. You just kind of talked about 345 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:24,800 here's the topic, here's how it plays 346 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,560 and in my mind I was starting to play 347 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:28,560 the game and it sounded fun. So I think 348 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,399 it's a a great idea and I I think you'll 349 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:32,080 learn a lot you know watching the 350 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,279 players as you scale up. 1 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,080 As I think about platforms, you know, 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:13,200 and maybe I think about them in a 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,920 different way than most people, but uh I 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,320 think of the technology as just one part 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,720 of the platform. Um I think just as 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,119 important is the cultural platform. What 7 00:00:23,119 --> 00:00:24,640 kind of culture is this being played in 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,119 China, in America? Is it being played by 9 00:00:27,119 --> 00:00:29,599 serious gamers in Germany? And the third 10 00:00:29,599 --> 00:00:31,439 being the actual demographic, the 11 00:00:31,439 --> 00:00:33,280 person. Is this being played by young 12 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,760 girls, by older men, by a whole family 13 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,680 together? Is it a very social 14 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,600 experience? So really there almost like 15 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,280 three platforms we're dealing with here. 16 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,200 There's the technological platform, the 17 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:44,640 cultural platform, and the kind of 18 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,120 demographic platform. Understanding all 19 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,120 three is totally important. You know, I 20 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:50,239 think that we are getting a lot of 21 00:00:50,239 --> 00:00:51,680 freedom on the technological platform 22 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,760 that we did not have before. If it's a, 23 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,760 you know, really big game, you can 24 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:57,199 eventually put it on any platform you 25 00:00:57,199 --> 00:00:58,719 want to really. you know, it's a matter 26 00:00:58,719 --> 00:01:00,640 of where you start. You know, the other 27 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:02,239 ones, you know, are really going to be 28 00:01:02,239 --> 00:01:03,760 much more constrained over time. You 29 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,280 know, if this game is really targeting 30 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:06,960 12-year-old girls, it doesn't matter 31 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:08,799 whether it's on an iPad or a PC. You 32 00:01:08,799 --> 00:01:11,040 know, that's kind of what the game's DNA 33 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,040 is about. So, I tend to think of all 34 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,000 three together as the platform. 35 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,000 The whole world has changed so much you 36 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,159 know in terms of you know app markets, 37 00:01:26,159 --> 00:01:30,320 mobile tablets uh online and you know it 38 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:31,920 looked you know with console development 39 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:33,600 and really big PC game development you 40 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:34,960 know the teams were getting larger and 41 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:36,400 larger the budgets in the tens of 42 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,360 millions of dollars and uh all of a 43 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,360 sudden you know it looked like you know 44 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:42,799 we were doomed that you know you had to 45 00:01:42,799 --> 00:01:44,640 have $50 million and a team of you know 46 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,960 100 people to design a game. Now it's 47 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:48,640 totally reversed. Now, you know, we're 48 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,000 back to where a small group of 49 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,159 passionate people can create a cool game 50 00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:54,960 on an iPad or whatever and release it 51 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:56,799 pretty effectively on the app store. 52 00:01:56,799 --> 00:01:58,079 Now, it's a matter of, you know, press 53 00:01:58,079 --> 00:01:59,280 and marketing and how you actually get 54 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:00,479 people to download it and try it out, 55 00:02:00,479 --> 00:02:01,840 but at least you have the ability to 56 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,399 create and have it available to people 57 00:02:04,399 --> 00:02:05,840 and also to learn about it, you know, 58 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,000 very quickly and iterate on it. So the 59 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:09,840 dynamics have changed dramatically and I 60 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,000 like that idea just as a design point of 61 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,800 view that um now I have the opportunity 62 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,120 to learn much more effectively and much 63 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,680 faster for our players and shift 64 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:21,920 directions you know pivot very easily 65 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:23,760 whereas before pivots were incredibly 66 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,400 expensive. So to me and you know also 67 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,560 the fact that it's now kind of more 68 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,400 ubiquitous in terms of I might have my 69 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,280 you know my laptop my laptop my uh iPad 70 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,519 or my phone with me in my pocket. I can 71 00:02:35,519 --> 00:02:36,879 have, you know, parts of the game that 72 00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:38,400 are very interstitial. I can pull out of 73 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,160 my pocket, my phone, and play for a 74 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,640 minute or two, go home, pick up my iPad, 75 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:44,480 do something else, but still play it, 76 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,000 you know, in a browser on my PC if I 77 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:47,440 want to. So, the fact that the game is 78 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:48,560 becoming kind of more platform 79 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,519 independent, uh, is very attractive to 80 00:02:51,519 --> 00:02:55,000 me as a designer. 81 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:01,760 I think nowadays we actually have a much 82 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:03,519 wider range of potential business models 83 00:03:03,519 --> 00:03:05,280 than we used to. You know, it used to be 84 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:06,800 that you basically had to put this in a 85 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,800 box and sell it for $40. You know, 86 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:09,760 unless it was something that people 87 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:11,840 would pay $40 for and go to the store 88 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,159 and buy off the shelf, you know, it 89 00:03:14,159 --> 00:03:15,840 wasn't going to make sense. Now we have 90 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,400 a wide range of ways, freeto play, 91 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:20,720 monetize incrementally, you know, 92 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,519 whatever it is. But uh I think from the 93 00:03:23,519 --> 00:03:24,720 designer point of view, you 94 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:26,400 fundamentally have to create a 95 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:27,920 compelling 96 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:30,799 uh excellent unique experience. And if 97 00:03:30,799 --> 00:03:33,440 you really hit that mark now, you have 98 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:34,720 all number of opportunities for 99 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,480 monetizing. You know, I I don't really 100 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:38,319 think in terms of let's first decide how 101 00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:39,760 we're going to monetize this and now 102 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,599 let's design it. I think in terms of 103 00:03:41,599 --> 00:03:42,799 let's design something that's going to 104 00:03:42,799 --> 00:03:44,879 be just so damn cool that people are 105 00:03:44,879 --> 00:03:47,120 going to want it. And now we have this 106 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:48,480 whole range of ways in which we can 107 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,720 choose to monetize it, you know, and 108 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,799 over time as we're developing the game 109 00:03:52,799 --> 00:03:54,720 and the world around us is changing very 110 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:56,560 rapidly as well. And look at the 111 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,560 platforms we're on, we can zero in on 112 00:03:58,560 --> 00:03:59,920 the right monetary model or we might 113 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:01,200 even offer several different monetary 114 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,959 models. It didn't have to be just one. 115 00:04:02,959 --> 00:04:04,560 We have this wide range of economic 116 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,799 models now, how to monetize your game. 117 00:04:06,799 --> 00:04:08,159 Uh, and a lot of that's going to be 118 00:04:08,159 --> 00:04:10,319 relative to your player base. You know, 119 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:12,319 who who are expecting to buy this game 120 00:04:12,319 --> 00:04:14,400 or play this game. And these people, 121 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,079 depending on who they are, are going to 122 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:18,639 be have certain comfort zones and 123 00:04:18,639 --> 00:04:20,560 certain kind of uncomfort zones. And 124 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:22,400 some people, they were coming from World 125 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:23,840 of Warcraft and they're used to, you 126 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:25,759 know, subscription. Other people aren't. 127 00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:26,800 You know, for them, they have to 128 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:28,080 download it for free and be able to play 129 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,000 it for 5 hours before they will spend a 130 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,080 dime on it. Uh, that's going to depend a 131 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,400 lot on that. So, I think once you start 132 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:35,680 zeroing in and getting a sense of who's 133 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:36,800 playing this game, what their prior 134 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,120 experience is, and how they are used to 135 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,759 monetizing their entertainment, then you 136 00:04:41,759 --> 00:04:43,360 can figure out I think it's easier to 137 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:44,800 now adapt your game design to that 138 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,880 monetary model than it is to pick a 139 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,199 monetary model and then force it on 140 00:04:49,199 --> 00:04:53,240 people that are uncomfortable with it. 141 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,840 I tend to not want to get too uh 142 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:04,160 dependent on specific affordances, you 143 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,039 know, through interface or otherwise in 144 00:05:07,039 --> 00:05:10,160 a platform, but uh if they're there, 145 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,080 happily use them, you know, and again, 146 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,479 the goal being that the interface and my 147 00:05:14,479 --> 00:05:16,320 agency through into this game should be 148 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,000 transparent. So, if anything actually 149 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,680 makes that, you know, agency feel more 150 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:21,440 transparent and disappear in my head, 151 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,840 fine, I'll use it. uh whether it's VR, 152 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,919 whether it's an accelerometer, my phone, 153 00:05:25,919 --> 00:05:28,960 or a joystick on my desktop, I'd say 154 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:30,560 that I would not want to build a game 155 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:32,000 concept that's just built around the 156 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,919 accelerometer for instance. I mean, 157 00:05:33,919 --> 00:05:35,280 maybe parts of the game could be used 158 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:37,360 that uh but not a critical part. You 159 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:38,479 know, if I have to have the phone, but 160 00:05:38,479 --> 00:05:40,000 maybe I'm using my iPad, I don't want to 161 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,759 tilt the screen, whatever it might be. 162 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:43,280 So, I'd say I would use these things as 163 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:48,400 kind of like upside or um affordance uh 164 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,639 should I say lower the friction of the 165 00:05:50,639 --> 00:05:52,560 interaction with the player, but not 166 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:53,840 something that the game features are 167 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,080 totally dependent upon. But, uh 168 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:57,440 occasionally, you know, I'll find things 169 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,120 like that that change the way I feel 170 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:00,880 about a game. I played a lot of racing 171 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:02,479 games on the PC and they're kind of fun, 172 00:06:02,479 --> 00:06:04,400 you know, and all that. And first time I 173 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,400 played a racing game on my iPad, I was 174 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:07,680 actually holding it and just turning the 175 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,520 whole iPad. And it felt so much more 176 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:10,960 natural to me than using a joystick or 177 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:12,319 the keyboard. I really enjoyed it. I 178 00:06:12,319 --> 00:06:13,440 found that I actually enjoyed racing 179 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,520 games on my iPad more just because it 180 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,680 felt so natural tilting it back and 181 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,960 forth. So sometimes these things will uh 182 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:22,960 zero you in on something that gets you 183 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:24,479 into a different dynamic than you had 184 00:06:24,479 --> 00:06:27,479 before. 185 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,800 I always preferred PC development just 186 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,360 because it was in some ways a lot more 187 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,440 malleable. It was easier to iterate, 188 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:40,960 easier to kind of try out and go 189 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:42,800 different directions. You know, the 190 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,039 consoles, you know, were in this very 191 00:06:45,039 --> 00:06:47,919 kind of lockstep uh generation release 192 00:06:47,919 --> 00:06:49,600 cycles. You know, every 5 years it'd be 193 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,160 the next Xbox or the next PlayStation. 194 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:53,919 Uh the PC was something that was kind of 195 00:06:53,919 --> 00:06:57,440 slowly ramping the whole time. And uh 196 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,639 also the PC initially was a much better 197 00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:02,800 platform for social sharing and things 198 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,319 like that. People on their PCs were 199 00:07:04,319 --> 00:07:06,479 connected to the network uh much more 200 00:07:06,479 --> 00:07:08,240 readily until the consoles were and even 201 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:09,840 the consoles typically was like these 202 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:11,680 walled gardens where if you did on this 203 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:12,880 platform you couldn't really cross over 204 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:14,800 to that platform and a lot of licensing 205 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:16,479 restrictions and things like that. So 206 00:07:16,479 --> 00:07:18,400 the PC just you know to me was always 207 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,199 kind of a more free open-ended design 208 00:07:21,199 --> 00:07:23,280 platform. to become a console developer, 209 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:24,720 you also needed to buy an expensive 210 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,440 console system and so many workstations 211 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:28,800 and you know there's a lot of expense to 212 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,759 it you know and you know we started my 213 00:07:31,759 --> 00:07:33,759 first company Maxis on a shoestring and 214 00:07:33,759 --> 00:07:35,120 you know it was we can always just buy 215 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,440 PCs cheap get programmers you know so 216 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,319 economically it was much uh easier entry 217 00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:42,960 but uh also you know in the early days 218 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:44,800 we were actually developing most of our 219 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,800 stuff on the Macintosh first and we 220 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,039 would convert to the PC later uh the 221 00:07:49,039 --> 00:07:50,639 Macintosh was just kind of a joy to 222 00:07:50,639 --> 00:07:52,080 program it was very clean system didn't 223 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:53,759 have all the different, you know, video 224 00:07:53,759 --> 00:07:55,840 card and configuration issues. But there 225 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:57,280 turned out to be something else that was 226 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,520 actually really to our benefit, which is 227 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,520 that in the early days, most of the 228 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,080 journalists out there had Macs, not PCs. 229 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:05,599 And since our games were released on the 230 00:08:05,599 --> 00:08:06,960 Mac first, they were some of the very 231 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,840 first decent games on the Mac. And so 232 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:11,199 writers that were writing for these 233 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:12,560 different magazines, you know, they 234 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:14,000 would tend to, you know, see our games 235 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,120 as one of the few they could actually 236 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,080 kind of try. And uh then if they liked 237 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:19,199 it a lot, they would write about it 238 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:20,400 because that's what they wrote on was 239 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,080 the Mac, you know. So our first big 240 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:23,840 break was I think it was in Newsweek 241 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,319 magazine. You know the first full page 242 00:08:26,319 --> 00:08:28,000 review of a computer game was in 243 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,759 Newsweek and it was because the writer 244 00:08:29,759 --> 00:08:31,120 happened to have a Mac and our game was 245 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:32,240 available on the Mac, one of the few 246 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:33,839 games and he loved it and he wrote about 247 00:08:33,839 --> 00:08:36,159 it. know the Mac was kind of in a sense 248 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:37,599 a hidden advantage for us and that we 249 00:08:37,599 --> 00:08:41,680 tended to get more press because of 1 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:10,800 Within these games, within these worlds, 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,080 there are a lot of moving parts, you 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:13,519 know, a lot of dynamics. You want this 4 00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:15,280 to be a rich, interesting environment 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,520 for the player to explore. My approach 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:18,880 has always been to kind of step back and 7 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:20,160 think of this whole thing as a system. 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,760 You know, what is the system that's 9 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:23,199 happening here? And actually, when you 10 00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:24,480 get down to the engineering of things 11 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,400 like simulations, you really do need to 12 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:27,920 think of it as a system. And you need to 13 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:28,880 kind of think about, you know, what is 14 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,480 my paradigm? What is the way in which 15 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:31,840 I'm going to structure the world? How is 16 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:33,120 it going to operate? What are the parts? 17 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,000 How do they interact with each other? 18 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,640 Systems are interesting. Uh, in some 19 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,079 sense, what they're going to lead us to 20 00:00:50,079 --> 00:00:52,320 is this idea that everybody in a game is 21 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:53,600 going to be exploring the possibility 22 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:54,960 space of that game. What are all the 23 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:56,960 possible states that that world could be 24 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,520 in? uh for something like chess uh it's 25 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,440 fairly obvious although it's a fairly 26 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:03,680 big branching tree it's a you know it's 27 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,519 a branching tree every move in chess 28 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:07,760 leads to another set of possible moves 29 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,680 and you unfold that branching tree of 30 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,600 all the possible moves of chess and you 31 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:13,280 come up with an astronomical number but 32 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:14,960 it's still finite there are finite 33 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:17,200 number of kind of possible states in 34 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,040 chess um the very early games had very 35 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:22,640 simple branching trees you know very 36 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,640 much like chess basically structured 37 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,320 branching trees that were explicitly put 38 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:27,920 there by the designer And this is very 39 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,200 much like one of those old choose your 40 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:30,960 own adventure books. You know, if you're 41 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:32,560 going to go into the cave, go to page 42 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,240 seven. If you're going to go to the top 43 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,240 of the hill, go to page 20. But 44 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:37,600 basically, the writers having to fill 45 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,360 out every possible branch of that book. 46 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:40,960 So, it's a very limited kind of 47 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:42,320 structure, a very limited world to 48 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:44,640 explore. Later, games started doing what 49 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,520 I call gated experiences. uh a game like 50 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:49,840 let's say Quake or Doom, you're within a 51 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,119 level and you have all this kind of 52 00:01:51,119 --> 00:01:52,720 agency and freedom within that level, 53 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,159 but until you get through the level and 54 00:01:54,159 --> 00:01:56,880 get to that locked door at the end, uh 55 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:58,079 you basically you're in this little 56 00:01:58,079 --> 00:02:00,240 room, this little small regional 57 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,079 possibility space. Once you get through 58 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:03,759 that, it opens another regional 59 00:02:03,759 --> 00:02:05,200 possibility space. So, you basically 60 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:06,399 have these like little islands of 61 00:02:06,399 --> 00:02:08,239 possibility space with gates between 62 00:02:08,239 --> 00:02:11,360 them. Uh and then there have been basic 63 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,840 hybrids of these two models over time. 64 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,920 But then as players and designers 65 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:17,280 started building more open-ended 66 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,520 simulations, it opened up a lot more, 67 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,360 you know. So as we start building 68 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,599 open-ended games, uh, sandbox games, 69 00:02:23,599 --> 00:02:25,599 Grand Theft Auto, The Sims, we're 70 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:27,120 actually looking at a possibility space 71 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:29,200 that's vast, large. And this is when we 72 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:31,200 really have to now view it as a system, 73 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:32,720 not as a branching tree of poss. You 74 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:33,760 know, we're not going to map out every 75 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:35,280 possibility. What we're going to do is 76 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:36,400 we're going to build a set of things 77 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,720 that interact in a way to basically 78 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:40,959 generate these possibilities for us. For 79 00:02:40,959 --> 00:02:43,280 the Sims, the way I visualized it was 80 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,519 that basically you had kind of two 81 00:02:45,519 --> 00:02:47,360 directions you could go for achievement. 82 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,200 You could go for social achievement or 83 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:50,720 material achievement. You know, you 84 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,160 could try try to make a lot of friends 85 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,000 in the Sims, build a big family, have 86 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,680 people like you, or you could try to 87 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:57,840 make a lot of money, buy things for your 88 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,440 house, grow, acquire that. Uh, and 89 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,280 really the way I visualized it was 90 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:04,879 almost like a bowling alley here. and 91 00:03:04,879 --> 00:03:06,800 that if I went down one path or the 92 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,239 other, it was like getting stuck in a 93 00:03:08,239 --> 00:03:10,959 gutter. To achieve maximum success, you 94 00:03:10,959 --> 00:03:12,400 had to balance the two achievements 95 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,159 together to get the highest level of 96 00:03:14,159 --> 00:03:15,519 achievement, which is right down the 97 00:03:15,519 --> 00:03:16,959 middle. If you went too far to one side 98 00:03:16,959 --> 00:03:18,159 or the other, you would actually get 99 00:03:18,159 --> 00:03:20,239 stuck on a local maximum on either side. 100 00:03:20,239 --> 00:03:22,000 So, this is basically the way I was 101 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:23,920 visualizing a certain region of the 102 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:25,680 possibility space within the Sims the 103 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:27,360 players would encounter. And we use that 104 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,680 as kind of a guideline for tuning the 105 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,239 game. uh after we actually were really 106 00:03:32,239 --> 00:03:34,000 in deep tuning of the game and we had 107 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,840 thousands of players playing it, we in 108 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,200 fact were actually mapping the real 109 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:38,799 possibility space that they were going 110 00:03:38,799 --> 00:03:40,239 through and we were actually looking at 111 00:03:40,239 --> 00:03:41,840 how the players would fan out across 112 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,080 these dimensions. These are graphs here 113 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,080 of the way players were actually fanning 114 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:47,599 out. At first we saw them, you know, too 115 00:03:47,599 --> 00:03:49,200 many on this side, not enough on that 116 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:50,720 side. We changed the parameters of the 117 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,159 game a little bit and actually kind of 118 00:03:52,159 --> 00:03:54,239 evened out so that these were equally 119 00:03:54,239 --> 00:03:56,319 attractive, you know, to a wide group of 120 00:03:56,319 --> 00:04:00,439 players that whole space. 121 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:06,959 going a little bit deeper into you know 122 00:04:06,959 --> 00:04:08,159 actually how do we build this how do we 123 00:04:08,159 --> 00:04:10,400 think about it how do we engineer it uh 124 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,400 I need to define two things here the way 125 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:13,760 I think about them you know one is 126 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,160 structure what is something made of you 127 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,400 know what are its parts uh structure of 128 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,320 a tree it has a trunk it has branches it 129 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,600 has leaves uh then there are dynamics uh 130 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,360 and this is process this is what happens 131 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,120 over time in this case it's you know 132 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:28,560 what can happen to a tree how does it 133 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:30,560 Oh, what happens? Can you cut it down? 134 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,320 Can you turn it into firewood? What 135 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,479 happens over the seasons? So, those are 136 00:04:34,479 --> 00:04:36,000 all the dynamics that can happen to a 137 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,680 tree which are very different than the 138 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,440 structure of a tree. From that, uh, I 139 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,520 started imagining the different things I 140 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,199 use as a designer to build these 141 00:04:45,199 --> 00:04:48,639 systems. And structurally, I basically 142 00:04:48,639 --> 00:04:50,720 think in terms of three types of 143 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,199 structure. One is what I call agents. 144 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:54,800 These are objects, you know, that can 145 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:56,320 move around, interact in a world 146 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,880 somehow. Next is networks. These are 147 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:00,240 things that are connected through some 148 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,280 type of relationship uh formally. And it 149 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:05,120 could be relationships, it could be 150 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:06,880 economic, it could be biological, it 151 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,320 could be anything. And the last one is 152 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,240 layers. Uh and this tends to be more 153 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,000 spatial. Something like Sim City, you 154 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,520 know, there's basically the pollution 155 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,680 layer. Uh there's the traffic layer. 156 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,000 These are things that are spatialized. 157 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,120 Um and everything in the game like Sim 158 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:22,800 City is one of these three things. It's 159 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,120 either an agent, a network, or layer. 160 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,120 The road basically is kind of a network 161 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:28,960 of you know intersections connecting 162 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,919 areas something like pollution crime are 163 00:05:31,919 --> 00:05:34,320 layers uh cars moving around people 164 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,639 moving around even buildings are agents 165 00:05:36,639 --> 00:05:38,080 you know sitting on the landscape with 166 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,520 some identity and some parameters now so 167 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,759 that's kind of the topologies or the 168 00:05:43,759 --> 00:05:47,120 structure of games the way I think of 169 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,280 systems 170 00:05:55,199 --> 00:05:57,120 Next when we get into dynamics you know 171 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,680 across any of these topologies 172 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,280 any one of these dynamics can occur 173 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:02,720 things like propagation how something 174 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,560 spread through that uh growth grouping 175 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,600 order allocation mapping specialization 176 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,400 all these are dynamics that occur within 177 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,800 these topologies in some sense these are 178 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,120 now the verbs the topologies These are 179 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:18,400 the nouns that we're building the game 180 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,440 out of. These dynamics are the verbs. 181 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,880 And lastly, how do we think about this? 182 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,319 You know, what is our underlying 183 00:06:26,319 --> 00:06:28,319 metaphor for bringing these things 184 00:06:28,319 --> 00:06:29,440 together? And that's what I call 185 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,680 paradigms. Initially, there were things 186 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:33,440 way back in the 40s called it 187 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,440 cybernetics, but really it was very 188 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,360 simple systems like a thermostat. And 189 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:38,720 originally, this was developed for 190 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,880 things like autopilots or very simple 191 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:42,639 machine control. Governors on steam 192 00:06:42,639 --> 00:06:44,720 engines even are an example of a 193 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,039 cybernetic system. But in essence, it's 194 00:06:47,039 --> 00:06:48,960 a very simple little system trying to 195 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:50,960 seek a behavior, seek some set point. It 196 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:52,400 might be a temperature, might be the 197 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,199 speed of an engine, whatever. Uh it was 198 00:06:55,199 --> 00:06:56,720 only in the 50s when the very first 199 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,240 primitive computers started coming 200 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,199 around that the idea of system dynamics 201 00:07:01,199 --> 00:07:03,199 came out. A guy name Jay Forester kind 202 00:07:03,199 --> 00:07:05,280 of came up with this concept and it's 203 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,599 almost uh hydraological. It's it's 204 00:07:07,599 --> 00:07:09,919 almost based upon like a chemical 205 00:07:09,919 --> 00:07:12,160 refinery. And that in system dynamics, 206 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,520 you just basically have valves and flows 207 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:17,520 in containers. A container might be 208 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,599 population or it might be number of 209 00:07:19,599 --> 00:07:21,759 cars. You know, a flow might be birth 210 00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:24,000 rate or death rate. And you have little 211 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:25,680 algorithms that will adjust the flows, 212 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:26,720 you know, for the birth rate, death 213 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:27,919 rate. You can see what the population 214 00:07:27,919 --> 00:07:29,680 does over time. and he would build these 215 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:31,599 very elaborate models of very 216 00:07:31,599 --> 00:07:33,039 complicated systems. You know, things 217 00:07:33,039 --> 00:07:35,039 like the world, you know, food 218 00:07:35,039 --> 00:07:36,720 production or in fact he was the first 219 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:38,639 person to actually build a city model 220 00:07:38,639 --> 00:07:40,639 using this kind of paradigm. The next 221 00:07:40,639 --> 00:07:41,919 one I'm going to talk about is cellular 222 00:07:41,919 --> 00:07:44,479 automa which really kind of came to its 223 00:07:44,479 --> 00:07:47,280 own uh when PCs were really starting to 224 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:48,560 come out and people had access to 225 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,240 cheaper computers although in fact 226 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,479 cellular automter were predated system 227 00:07:52,479 --> 00:07:55,280 dynamics. So automa are basically the 228 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:59,520 idea that there's a grid and cells and 229 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,520 these cells can have you know either be 230 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,680 on or off or have quantities in them but 231 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,520 basically all the dynamics within that 232 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:07,199 are based upon the neighbors and the 233 00:08:07,199 --> 00:08:09,039 behavior of neighbors. The simplest 234 00:08:09,039 --> 00:08:11,280 example of this is a game called life. 235 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,039 Uh John Conway mathematician came up 236 00:08:13,039 --> 00:08:15,120 with this very simple system and it's a 237 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:16,879 grid. Actually I'm going to go to the 238 00:08:16,879 --> 00:08:19,599 whiteboard uh just to explain this 239 00:08:19,599 --> 00:08:23,800 because it's actually quite simple. 240 00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:26,960 So in Conway's life, you basically have 241 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,319 a little world. It's a grid. Uh within 242 00:08:30,319 --> 00:08:33,200 this grid, every cell 243 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,039 can either have one of two states. It's 244 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:37,360 either alive and it's full or it's dead 245 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,839 and it's off. Now, the rules for life 246 00:08:39,839 --> 00:08:43,200 basically say that, you know, if one 247 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,320 cell right here has exactly three 248 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:47,920 neighbors, and we're counting all the 249 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:49,839 neighbors like that. If there are 250 00:08:49,839 --> 00:08:53,040 exactly three cells alive around it like 251 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,440 so, this empty cell now comes to life. 252 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,760 On the next turn, a new cell appears 253 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,000 here. Now, if a given cell is already 254 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,320 alive and it has 255 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:10,560 three or two neighbors, it stays there. 256 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:12,880 If it has less than two or more than 257 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:14,480 three, it dies. So, this one only has 258 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,800 one neighbor, so it dies. So basically 259 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:18,880 that's the whole rule set for Conway's 260 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,279 life. Now it sounds very simple you know 261 00:09:21,279 --> 00:09:22,240 you're just counting whether it has two 262 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:23,920 or three rule you know neighbors and 263 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,160 whether it comes to life or dies. Turns 264 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:27,600 out that when you turn this on and you 265 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:29,839 put a few cells in there's an explosion 266 00:09:29,839 --> 00:09:31,760 of complexity. All this stuff starts 267 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,080 happening really unpredictable uh 268 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:35,760 surprising stuff and people have studied 269 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,240 this thing for years. I spent months 270 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,000 studying you know in fact I taught 271 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:41,920 myself programming trying to program 272 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:43,360 life and make it faster and faster and 273 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,560 faster. So uh and you can take something 274 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,680 in as an example 275 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,480 if you put this shape into life at the 276 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,279 very beginning and just start it, it 277 00:09:55,279 --> 00:09:57,680 will explode into this whole set of 278 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,040 hundreds of things that start moving 279 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,839 around and have behavior and it's always 280 00:10:01,839 --> 00:10:02,880 exactly the same every time. It's 281 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,839 deterministic. Uh but it's all a result 282 00:10:05,839 --> 00:10:08,800 of that two simple little rules. And 283 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:10,399 this is, you know, one of the best 284 00:10:10,399 --> 00:10:13,120 examples of emergence that, uh, Conway, 285 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,440 who programmed this, discovered it. Uh, 286 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,880 there was no way he could have predicted 287 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:18,399 the elaborate behaviors that were going 288 00:10:18,399 --> 00:10:19,519 to happen in this little world based 289 00:10:19,519 --> 00:10:21,839 upon those two rules. Uh, it just 290 00:10:21,839 --> 00:10:23,600 emerges as a result of that. And it's 291 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:25,600 emergent complexity. So, you have this 292 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:27,680 amazingly complex little world that's 293 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:29,360 emerging out of this incredibly simple 294 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,600 little rule set. Somebody asked me just 295 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:33,040 recently what my favorite game was, and 296 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,519 it's Go. And the reason Go is my 297 00:10:35,519 --> 00:10:37,120 favorite game is because Go has very 298 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,600 much the same property. Go has two very 299 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,200 simple rules, one of which almost never 300 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,839 happens, but yet the strategy of Go is 301 00:10:43,839 --> 00:10:46,079 incredibly complex relative to the rule 302 00:10:46,079 --> 00:10:47,920 set. And for me, that's a wonderful 303 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:49,519 aesthetic for game design. What is the 304 00:10:49,519 --> 00:10:50,880 simplest set of rules that you can 305 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,920 create that leads to the widest range of 306 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:55,519 complexity and the most interesting 307 00:10:55,519 --> 00:10:58,320 world that you can explore with strategy 308 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,800 and behavior? Sell automa actually 309 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,200 became a key part of sim city and the 310 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,200 way it operates. Uh basically a lot of 311 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,800 the complexity of sim city comes from 312 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,760 this connected to a system dynamics 313 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:11,920 model like J forester had. Again, Jay 314 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,000 Forester's, you know, model was kind of 315 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,920 basically containers, you know, with 316 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,399 whatever, let's say, population and 317 00:11:18,399 --> 00:11:20,880 then, you know, little valves that would 318 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,720 control, you know, this might be birth 319 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:24,640 rate, 320 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,800 this might be death rate, you know, 321 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,680 later on we might have uh another one 322 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,560 that we add for migration, whatever we 323 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:36,560 want to. Um now 324 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:38,320 Jay Forester came up with this model 325 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:40,160 system dynamics and people started 326 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:41,200 trying to model a lot of different 327 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,560 things with it. Uh back in the late 60s 328 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:47,279 early 70s there was a group that started 329 00:11:47,279 --> 00:11:48,560 building what they called the world 330 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:50,480 dynamic model and they actually started 331 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,000 modeling the world economy food 332 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:53,920 production population growth all this 333 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:55,519 stuff to get some sense of where the 334 00:11:55,519 --> 00:11:58,160 world was headed. uh in fact they 335 00:11:58,160 --> 00:11:59,600 started a group called the club of Rome 336 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,040 and there was a very famous book 337 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:02,959 published called the limits to growth 338 00:12:02,959 --> 00:12:05,120 and in that book they were basically 339 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:06,639 showing the results of their world 340 00:12:06,639 --> 00:12:09,200 simulation they were running around 1970 341 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:10,880 and it was showing that the world you 342 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:12,880 know economy would collapse around 1985 343 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,279 to 1990 and food production people would 344 00:12:15,279 --> 00:12:19,040 starve and it didn't happen uh what 345 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:20,240 turned out is they looked back at the 346 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:21,680 model and they found that they were off 347 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:22,959 on a few little factors they didn't 348 00:12:22,959 --> 00:12:24,480 foresee the green revolution for 349 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,320 instance that you know the efficiency of 350 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,240 food production per land area was going 351 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,000 to go up a little bit more than they 352 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 thought. And what was surprising was 353 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,160 that that little bit that they were off 354 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,040 led to an incredibly different result 355 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,200 than what really happened. And that was 356 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:40,720 really our first inkling into what 357 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,040 became known as chaos theory. The idea 358 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,279 that, you know, sometimes the initial, 359 00:12:45,279 --> 00:12:47,760 you know, starting position of something 360 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,279 can lead to a totally different outcome 361 00:12:49,279 --> 00:12:51,200 if it's just a little bit displaced. You 362 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:52,639 know, a good kind of way to think about 363 00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:54,959 chaos theory. We have basically what we 364 00:12:54,959 --> 00:12:57,360 call chaotic systems and stable systems. 365 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,680 If I take a a bowl, for instance, like 366 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,800 that, and I drop a marble into it, you 367 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:04,800 know, it might land here, or I might 368 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:06,959 drop it there. Uh either way, it's going 369 00:13:06,959 --> 00:13:08,000 to roll around a little bit. It's going 370 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,440 to pretty much end up at the bottom. 371 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,440 Okay, that's a stable system. uh a 372 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,279 chaotic system. If we take that ball and 373 00:13:13,279 --> 00:13:16,399 we invert it like so and we drop a ball 374 00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:17,839 and displace it a little bit, you know, 375 00:13:17,839 --> 00:13:19,680 if it lands here, it might roll way off 376 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:22,320 over here. If it lands right there, it 377 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:23,839 might roll way off over there. So, this 378 00:13:23,839 --> 00:13:26,240 is really a chaotic system where a very 379 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,639 small change in the initial position can 380 00:13:28,639 --> 00:13:30,959 lead to a wildly different outcome. And 381 00:13:30,959 --> 00:13:33,279 that's kind of what they discovered in 382 00:13:33,279 --> 00:13:35,360 uh the world dynamic model and all of a 383 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,120 sudden chaos theory started putting real 384 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,120 limits on things that we could predict 385 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:40,480 with simulations. You know, it turns out 386 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,839 that things like weather uh and even 387 00:13:43,839 --> 00:13:45,760 other things like economies tend to be 388 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,399 chaotic. So that uh even if we have a 389 00:13:48,399 --> 00:13:49,920 very detailed simulation and we put a 390 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,519 lot of horsepower behind it, there's 391 00:13:51,519 --> 00:13:54,000 still going to be a very deep level of 392 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:55,519 unpredictability to these kind of a 393 00:13:55,519 --> 00:13:57,760 system. Another direction that these 394 00:13:57,760 --> 00:13:59,519 paradigms have taken is what we call 395 00:13:59,519 --> 00:14:01,920 network theory. And you know a network 396 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,560 is just anything kind of containing 397 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,320 nodes and links like that. Uh turns out 398 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:10,959 you can visualize so many things as a 399 00:14:10,959 --> 00:14:13,440 network. You know you can visualize you 400 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,079 know biological systems, metabolic 401 00:14:16,079 --> 00:14:17,680 systems, you know things within your 402 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:19,040 body, the way chemicals and proteins 403 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,760 flow through your body, economics, 404 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,519 uh social systems, all these things can 405 00:14:23,519 --> 00:14:25,839 be visualized as a network and of course 406 00:14:25,839 --> 00:14:28,560 you know including the internet. Now it 407 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:30,800 turns out that these networks have some 408 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,320 surprising properties things that are 409 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,279 just not obvious. One of those things is 410 00:14:35,279 --> 00:14:37,519 that if you have a disconnected network 411 00:14:37,519 --> 00:14:39,440 like this 412 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,240 and you start randomly 413 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,680 connecting these things like just 414 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:45,920 randomly 415 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:47,839 it turns out that all you need is the 416 00:14:47,839 --> 00:14:50,240 average of about one connection per node 417 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,880 to have a fully connected network 418 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,360 basically for any size network. Uh so 419 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:56,880 over time if I just do like one 420 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,959 connection per node I almost always end 421 00:14:58,959 --> 00:15:00,320 up with almost a fully connected 422 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,160 network. Another kind of surprising 423 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,560 result is that you know for any size 424 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,040 network above a very simple one like 425 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:09,360 this that the distance what they call 426 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,079 the graph width between any two points 427 00:15:12,079 --> 00:15:15,279 in this network is almost never more 428 00:15:15,279 --> 00:15:18,800 than six steps you know so from point 429 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,240 there to point there one two three four 430 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:23,600 and this is of course you know the six 431 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,639 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing that uh you 432 00:15:26,639 --> 00:15:28,480 know even across the earth they've shown 433 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,720 that you know I can find any other 434 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,440 person on earth through you know six 435 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,519 steps of people that I know what this 436 00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:36,720 person that person knows that person 437 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,240 that person knows that person I can 438 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:39,519 connect myself to almost any other 439 00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:42,399 person on the planet uh so these are 440 00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:44,800 very kind of non-intuitive things but 441 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:46,959 actually as a designer this is part of 442 00:15:46,959 --> 00:15:48,399 your language that you can use within 443 00:15:48,399 --> 00:15:50,800 your game to build these systems uh you 444 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:52,880 can represent you know any kind of 445 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:54,720 system in your game using multiple 446 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,240 paradigms you can kind of choose which 447 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,000 paradigm is best suited for my game when 448 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,839 I'm building a system and this occurs 449 00:15:59,839 --> 00:16:01,839 you know both kind of at the conceptual 450 00:16:01,839 --> 00:16:03,440 level but also at the engineering level 451 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,680 as well. 452 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,360 So these become a lot of things that I 453 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,920 think of as a designer of systems that I 454 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,639 use to build games. On top of this, 455 00:16:18,639 --> 00:16:20,720 there are also certain properties that I 456 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,240 find interesting to think in terms of 457 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,480 dimensions within a system. One is local 458 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:26,399 to global. How much are local effects 459 00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:27,839 versus global effects? And you know 460 00:16:27,839 --> 00:16:29,600 where do they meet in sub city? you 461 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,680 know, something like uh traffic is very 462 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,800 local to that one spot on the road. Uh 463 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,639 the overall tax rate of the city is 464 00:16:36,639 --> 00:16:37,759 global, you know, and there's some 465 00:16:37,759 --> 00:16:38,800 things that are kind of in between. You 466 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:40,320 know, what's the police effectiveness 467 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,759 within the city? Uh order to disorder. 468 00:16:43,759 --> 00:16:45,600 Uh things that are, you know, very very 469 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:47,120 ordered become, you know, very 470 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,880 predictable and sometimes you want that 471 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,639 in a game. Other things are totally 472 00:16:50,639 --> 00:16:53,759 disordered, random, chaotic. And even 473 00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:56,079 things like cooperation to competition, 474 00:16:56,079 --> 00:16:58,160 you know, is a dimension within a game. 475 00:16:58,160 --> 00:16:59,600 You know, you can have some games that 476 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:01,279 are very competitive, others that are 477 00:17:01,279 --> 00:17:03,360 very cooperative, but there are also a 478 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,360 lot of spot spots in between those two 479 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:06,880 and sometimes the game can actually 480 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:08,480 shift where one moment you're playing 481 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:09,839 cooperatively, another time you're 482 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:11,600 playing competitively. One of my 483 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:13,919 favorite old games is Mule. And Mule had 484 00:17:13,919 --> 00:17:16,000 that beautifully done where you're kind 485 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,439 of competing with the other players, but 486 00:17:17,439 --> 00:17:18,720 at some sense if you don't cooperate 487 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,000 with them to some degree, the entire 488 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,919 colony collapses and so you all lose. 489 00:17:21,919 --> 00:17:23,439 And so I love the fact that that game 490 00:17:23,439 --> 00:17:25,199 actually had cooperation and competition 491 00:17:25,199 --> 00:17:29,120 in the same game structure. 492 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,039 I tend to be a very visual person. Uh 493 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:39,120 you know in school I didn't think math 494 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,520 was that interesting at all until at 495 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,360 some point I started realizing that I 496 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:45,280 could basically turn almost all of math 497 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,000 into geometry and I could take almost 498 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,600 any branch of math and as soon as I can 499 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,400 imagine it as geometry I love it and it 500 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:53,760 makes sense and it's totally intuitive 501 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,160 to me. So that's just kind of the way I 502 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,720 think about things is I tend to try to 503 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,720 bring it into the visual realm in 504 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,559 essence. You know there's a certain part 505 00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:04,559 of my mind that you know I think does 506 00:18:04,559 --> 00:18:08,080 very good spatial uh 507 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,240 reasoning. Other people tend to do 508 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,000 better I think you know with audio 509 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,120 reasoning or something else. But uh as a 510 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:17,039 game designer you know I'm imagining 511 00:18:17,039 --> 00:18:19,200 even as a game player when I come into a 512 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:20,799 game I'm trying to imagine you know what 513 00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:22,080 are the things I could do in this game 514 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,480 you know how far can I go? Uh, how hard 515 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,160 is that? You know, in some sense, I'm 516 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:27,760 building a map, not a, you know, an 517 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,039 explicit overt map of the terrain, but a 518 00:18:31,039 --> 00:18:33,360 map of, you know, my abilities, my 519 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:35,760 agency, my freedom. I always tend to 520 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:37,679 visualize that as some type of topology. 521 00:18:37,679 --> 00:18:40,640 You know, if it's a gated experience, 522 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:42,080 you know, maybe with rooms, you know, I 523 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:43,679 see these as nodes with connectors, you 524 00:18:43,679 --> 00:18:45,200 know, and that's just a way for me to 525 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:46,720 visualize the topology of that, you 526 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:48,720 know, structure. It might be more free 527 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,280 floating you know agents moving around 528 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:52,799 or it might be something you know very 529 00:18:52,799 --> 00:18:56,960 rigid like a cube or layers but um even 530 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,360 the behavior the the what we call phase 531 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:01,520 space in mathematics you know can be 532 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,760 viewed as a topology. A lot of the 533 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,320 really cool work in chaos theory has 534 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,880 come by visualizing these systems you 535 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:10,880 know collapsing you know fairly complex 536 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:12,640 system down into something that you can 537 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:14,799 now look at as a picture. You take 538 00:19:14,799 --> 00:19:16,160 something as simple as a pendulum, you 539 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,799 know, swinging back and forth. And in a 540 00:19:18,799 --> 00:19:20,799 chaotic system, you know, basically it's 541 00:19:20,799 --> 00:19:23,039 going from, you know, zero movement, 542 00:19:23,039 --> 00:19:24,960 fast movement at the bottom back to zero 543 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:26,640 movement. One dimension is, let's say, 544 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:28,400 the kinetic energy, and the other one is 545 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,080 the potential energy. So the potential 546 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,320 energy is how high it is. Kinetic energy 547 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,240 is how fast it's going. If you imagine 548 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,880 these drawings of curved spaceime, you 549 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:38,320 know, you put a planet on spaceime and 550 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,320 it bends it down here. Okay? So you're 551 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,960 actually bending space there. Turns out 552 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,520 time bends exactly the same way. So if 553 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,919 something is going past that planet 554 00:19:47,919 --> 00:19:50,000 through that bent spaceime, the timeline 555 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,840 for that is a lot longer than if the 556 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:53,600 planet weren't there. And that's a 557 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,200 really clear way of visualizing time 558 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,240 dilation and relativity. So I love the 559 00:19:58,240 --> 00:19:59,520 fact that you can just take things like 560 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,760 that as soon as you make them visual. 561 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,320 It's so instinctual and intuitive. Uh 562 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:05,520 which is actually kind of a good lesson 563 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:06,960 I think you know for your players if you 564 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:08,799 can take things in your game that seem 565 00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:11,440 overly complex at first and make them 566 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,200 more visual. So the player can inter, 567 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,559 you know, interpret it with their 568 00:20:14,559 --> 00:20:16,799 intuition rather than, you know, having 569 00:20:16,799 --> 00:20:19,280 to do some more abstract reasoning. Uh 570 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:20,640 you can make something that's very 571 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:21,840 complex actually seem much more 572 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,840 approachable. 573 00:20:29,679 --> 00:20:31,520 Just to recap, you know, basically we 574 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,679 have these things that we can build our 575 00:20:33,679 --> 00:20:36,480 systems out of. Agents, networks, 576 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:39,120 layers. Layers tend to be more rigid. 577 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,679 Agents tend to be more flexible. 578 00:20:41,679 --> 00:20:43,600 topologies that we can kind of structure 579 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,159 from these things. And these networks 580 00:20:48,159 --> 00:20:49,840 also are not just within the systems of 581 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,480 our games. You know, the overall context 582 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,480 of what we're dealing with, the players, 583 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,240 the world, the way we distribute market 584 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,400 games can also be viewed as networks. We 585 00:20:58,400 --> 00:20:59,679 have the technology networks of our 586 00:20:59,679 --> 00:21:00,799 computers being connected to the 587 00:21:00,799 --> 00:21:03,039 internet. We have, you know, platform 588 00:21:03,039 --> 00:21:05,840 networks of different types of platforms 589 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:07,360 that our games might play on this or 590 00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:11,200 that or iPad or PC. We have the formats, 591 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,280 you know, networks, the kind of games 592 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,120 that we're playing, brain networks that 593 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:16,559 we're dealing with in the player, and 594 00:21:16,559 --> 00:21:17,840 the social networks that we're dealing 595 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,400 with in the communities of the players. 596 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:22,080 So all these things really these 597 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:23,919 topologies and systems aren't just 598 00:21:23,919 --> 00:21:24,960 things that we're going to use to 599 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,440 construct our simulations and our games 600 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,280 but these are also things that we can 601 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:31,520 use to represent and understand the 602 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,200 overall world in which these games are 603 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,600 being played 1 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,559 A design leader on a team, you know, can 2 00:00:12,559 --> 00:00:13,920 take a number of different roles. You 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:15,440 know, they can start the vision for 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:16,720 design. This is where I think we should 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:18,640 go. They can be the one initially 6 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:20,400 pitching the team members, you know, 7 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:21,680 hey, doesn't this sound cool? Don't you 8 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,519 want to come build this with me? 9 00:00:23,519 --> 00:00:25,760 uh at some point you know I think if 10 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:27,920 things are running kind of nicely you 11 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,199 know that's when I start feeling like a 12 00:00:29,199 --> 00:00:30,880 traffic cop like you know all the ideas 13 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:32,399 are pretty good and you know it's more 14 00:00:32,399 --> 00:00:34,079 just me matter of saying you know let's 15 00:00:34,079 --> 00:00:35,520 do that one now this one later let's see 16 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:36,960 if these two let's build a prototype for 17 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,200 that you know it's more a matter of that 18 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,360 sometimes you do have to get dictatorial 19 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:42,399 you know and you have to just kind of 20 00:00:42,399 --> 00:00:43,920 put your foot down you know a lot of 21 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:45,360 times you'll get stuck in this kind of 22 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,360 standoff stalemate and you just have to 23 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,039 make a decision and that's where you 24 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:50,320 just have to go with your gut your 25 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,719 intuition your instinct and say Okay, 26 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:54,000 look, I'm just going to resolve this 27 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,199 now. Uh you try to avoid that if you 28 00:00:57,199 --> 00:00:59,520 can, but um at the same time, you're 29 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,160 also you're not just uh leading the 30 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,479 design of your product, but you're 31 00:01:04,479 --> 00:01:06,880 leading the process of your design team. 32 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:08,000 You know, you're telling your design 33 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:09,520 team, okay, look, this is how I want us 34 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,159 to resolve uh disputes or this is how I 35 00:01:12,159 --> 00:01:14,720 want us to make creative decisions. And 36 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,119 so you basically establish a process on 37 00:01:17,119 --> 00:01:19,920 etiquette uh some kind of rules of the 38 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,560 road for how these design decisions can 39 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,560 get made how you want them to work on 40 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,720 your team what you want the team's uh 41 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,200 basically philosophy to be for design 42 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:30,479 you know I've always wanted to have 43 00:01:30,479 --> 00:01:32,000 design spread out through the entire 44 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,840 team if possible and so that's a 45 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,360 philosophy that you try to instill in 46 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,960 the team so I think that's probably one 47 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:38,400 of the more important roles the designer 48 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:39,680 plays that's kind of separate from the 49 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,920 actual 50 00:01:47,759 --> 00:01:49,280 I've been talking about kind of like the 51 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,840 design team, you know, almost like it's 52 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:53,439 separate from the rest of the team, 53 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:56,880 which it's not. Um, and, you know, on a 54 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:58,240 lot of the larger games I've worked on, 55 00:01:58,240 --> 00:01:59,600 you know, we had, you know, several 56 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,920 people that were purely designers, but 57 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:03,439 yet everybody on the team was 58 00:02:03,439 --> 00:02:05,360 contributing to the design, you know, 59 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,840 all the way down, uh, at some level. you 60 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,200 know, any idea could bubble up from 61 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,000 anywhere, you know. So, really, ideally, 62 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,920 you want to start actually distributing 63 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,000 a lot of the design tasks to the entire 64 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,640 team because somebody working down here 65 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:20,879 on the sound system or that guy on the 66 00:02:20,879 --> 00:02:23,040 graphic system might have some really 67 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:24,560 creative ideas and they probably know a 68 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:25,760 lot more about the way that thing 69 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:27,680 actually works and what you could do 70 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,760 with it than you as a designer might 71 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,440 know. uh as a designer you want to have 72 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,200 a rough idea of the way all these things 73 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:34,400 worked but you're not going to have 74 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:36,080 necessarily the specialized knowledge of 75 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,920 the way that particular you know cell 76 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:40,080 shader works or something like that. 77 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,360 Ideally, you want to find the design 78 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,319 talent within your team. Um, learn to 79 00:02:46,319 --> 00:02:48,640 rely on it. You know, basically make it 80 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:50,560 visible to other members. So, it's not 81 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,080 just that person going around, you know, 82 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:53,680 somebody's back, but you know, you 83 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,000 really respect that person's idea. Uh, 84 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,400 you want to go with it. Um, a lot of 85 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,879 times people will enter a game team as a 86 00:03:00,879 --> 00:03:02,720 programmer, an artist or whatever, but 87 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,080 their real aspiration is to be a 88 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:05,360 designer. You know, that's where they 89 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,280 really want to go. And so if you can 90 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,800 help nurture that and help them down 91 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:10,959 that path, uh, you know, one day you 92 00:03:10,959 --> 00:03:12,080 might end up with a great designer 93 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,680 alongside of you. We're competing with 94 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,680 you. 95 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:23,680 I usually think when I hear the word 96 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,120 document, I think of something that you 97 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:26,560 you write down and then you print it out 98 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,040 and get ready to copy of it. Um, you 99 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,040 know what I think is typically much more 100 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:32,560 useful in game development is something 101 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,120 like a wiki. you know where it's 102 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:36,879 changing all the time to show you know 103 00:03:36,879 --> 00:03:38,879 the current thinking because I think you 104 00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:40,239 know even a game designer is going to be 105 00:03:40,239 --> 00:03:42,239 changing you know if not daily at least 106 00:03:42,239 --> 00:03:44,080 weekly you know aspects of your games 107 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:45,760 are going to always be changing and you 108 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:46,799 don't want to have everybody on your 109 00:03:46,799 --> 00:03:48,239 team have to come back to you and say 110 00:03:48,239 --> 00:03:50,480 what's the plan this week but as you're 111 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:51,920 making these incremental or iterative 112 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,080 changes you're updating it on the wiki 113 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,319 you know pretty consistently everybody 114 00:03:56,319 --> 00:03:57,599 can always go back there and find out 115 00:03:57,599 --> 00:03:59,280 okay what's the current plan for our 116 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,480 animation system or this or that uh and 117 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,959 we found that to be pretty uh effective 118 00:04:04,959 --> 00:04:06,239 you know just in terms of time 119 00:04:06,239 --> 00:04:08,000 management and all that. One thing I 120 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,439 noticed you know when I started doing 121 00:04:09,439 --> 00:04:11,200 games I was doing almost everything. I 122 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:12,799 was writing the manual doing the art 123 00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:14,720 sound and all that. Uh then I started 124 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,639 working in small teams you know four or 125 00:04:16,639 --> 00:04:18,959 five people eventually it was like 10 20 126 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:21,519 people. When I was teams are around 10 127 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:23,680 or 20 people I found that we would spend 128 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,320 about three hours actually doing work 129 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,080 for every hour we spent in meetings 130 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,560 together. As I started working on larger 131 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,280 and larger teams up toward 80 people, 132 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,240 90, 100, uh it was the inverse. We were 133 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,680 spending actually three hours in 134 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,440 meetings for every 1 hour we spent at 135 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,800 our desk working, you know, and that is, 136 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,280 you know, obviously 137 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,120 topheavy and you know, you're wasting 138 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,400 way too much time on communication 139 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,080 there. But now we have more and more 140 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:51,919 tools coming online that allow us to 141 00:04:51,919 --> 00:04:53,919 collaborate more effectively with a lot 142 00:04:53,919 --> 00:04:55,360 less effort. We don't all have to sit in 143 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,360 a room at the same time for an hour 144 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,280 having a meeting about something all the 145 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:00,160 time, you know, we can actually 146 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,080 eliminate most of those meetings. So 147 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:03,840 these documents really I think it's more 148 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:07,360 a matter of uh group memory, you know, 149 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,280 and that's what a wiki for me kind of is 150 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,199 is like, you know, me and two other 151 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:12,560 designers decided we're going to do 152 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,720 this. We put on the wiki. If you know, 153 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:15,680 somebody wants to find out what we're 154 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:16,880 doing, they look at that or if they have 155 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:18,240 an issue with that and they look at it 156 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:19,199 and they come to us and say, "Hey, 157 00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:20,080 there's a problem with what you 158 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:21,600 decided." You know, then we kind of 159 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,440 revisit it. But you kind of wait for 160 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,600 these things to happen and you basically 161 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,160 try to get everybody on the team to 162 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,360 respect that mode of communication. 163 00:05:37,919 --> 00:05:40,560 Well, criticism uh actually depends a 164 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:41,759 lot kind of on your background. You 165 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:43,360 know, we find that you the artists on 166 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,120 our team are very familiar with the idea 167 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:46,400 of criticism because they go through art 168 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:47,680 critiques and art school and stuff like 169 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:48,560 that. You know, they're very comfortable 170 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:50,080 with that idea. Programmers are not. 171 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:51,280 programmers hate other people looking at 172 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:54,080 their code and criticizing it. Uh, you 173 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,120 know, designers tend to be uh somewhere 174 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,560 in between really, but um I'd much 175 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,039 rather feel like an idea was tested 176 00:06:03,039 --> 00:06:06,160 against criticism and survived it than 177 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:07,919 feel like it sailed through, you know, 178 00:06:07,919 --> 00:06:10,400 unchallenged. Uh, and if somebody comes 179 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:12,479 to me with a criticism of my design, you 180 00:06:12,479 --> 00:06:14,080 know, at first I will try to, you know, 181 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:15,440 just kind of say, okay, well, I'm glad 182 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,039 that you're at least speaking up and I 183 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:19,440 might disagree and but I will, you know, 184 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,520 in the back of my head it might just sit 185 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:22,560 there for a while, sit there for a 186 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:23,759 while, you know, everybody's going to 187 00:06:23,759 --> 00:06:25,680 have an initial kind of defensive 188 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,680 reaction, I think, to criticism. And if 189 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,039 you can just kind of take a deep breath, 190 00:06:29,039 --> 00:06:31,039 get past that defensive reaction, even 191 00:06:31,039 --> 00:06:32,319 to yourself, and you imagine, okay, 192 00:06:32,319 --> 00:06:33,919 well, what if that is a good idea, you 193 00:06:33,919 --> 00:06:36,080 know, let me just try to blank my mind, 194 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:37,440 live in a different world where that's a 195 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,560 great idea. um and imagine it that way. 196 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,840 If somebody comes to me with uh creative 197 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:45,360 criticism, you know, real constructive 198 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:49,919 criticism um and I really eventually do 199 00:06:49,919 --> 00:06:52,000 think it's a good idea or they sell me 200 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:53,680 on it. And that's a big process. You a 201 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,520 big part of it is when somebody's 202 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:57,039 criticizing it, can they present an 203 00:06:57,039 --> 00:06:59,440 alternative? You know, it's not okay to 204 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,840 just say that's bad. I don't like that. 205 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:03,599 But if they say, I think this would be 206 00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:05,440 better than that. and they can really 207 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,440 sell me that this is better than that or 208 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:08,880 maybe even sell other members of the 209 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,039 team you know so maybe I don't agree but 210 00:07:11,039 --> 00:07:12,880 maybe the other designers start thinking 211 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:14,960 hey I think that is maybe a better idea 212 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:16,880 uh and I'm trying to sell my idea 213 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:18,319 against that you know now it's in a 214 00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:20,560 Darwinian process and I think that's you 215 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,639 know a place I would like it to be you 216 00:07:22,639 --> 00:07:24,400 know I'd like you know you don't want an 217 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:25,919 idea that you know is getting through 218 00:07:25,919 --> 00:07:28,720 nepotism or favoritism or you know will 219 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,840 set it so it has to be um but if you 220 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:33,599 feel like your idea went out there in 221 00:07:33,599 --> 00:07:35,680 you know in the thunder drrome and 222 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:37,440 battled the other ideas and came out the 223 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,280 victor. Uh then I think that's that's a 224 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:42,479 nice way to approach it as long as you 225 00:07:42,479 --> 00:07:43,919 just don't end up with a blood bath of 226 00:07:43,919 --> 00:07:45,759 ideas fighting forever. You know, at 227 00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:47,039 some point you do have to kind of make a 228 00:07:47,039 --> 00:07:49,680 decision, move forward with some path, 229 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,120 but you want the whole team to feel good 230 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:52,880 about that path too. You don't want to 231 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,000 feel like everybody on the team thought 232 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,680 we should do this, but the designer said 233 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,680 that. 234 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,000 In any type of collaborative 235 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,680 uh endeavor, you want somebody who is 236 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,400 not going to be too dogmatic, but at the 237 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,720 same time uh is going to have a very 238 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:16,720 clear strong voice for what they 239 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:18,000 believe. And it's going to be pretty 240 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:19,280 they need to be pretty clear about what 241 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,199 they believe. You know, not just they 242 00:08:21,199 --> 00:08:22,800 say everything is great or I love all 243 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,720 that or that, you know, if they really 244 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:25,759 don't like something, they just get 245 00:08:25,759 --> 00:08:27,680 quiet and don't say anything. I would 246 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:29,199 rather them, even if I think they're 247 00:08:29,199 --> 00:08:31,199 wrong, I would much rather them speak up 248 00:08:31,199 --> 00:08:33,599 and clearly say what they think. That's 249 00:08:33,599 --> 00:08:34,880 the thing that I think is missing kind 250 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:36,800 of the most on the teams I built is 251 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,519 enough constructive criticism. Uh you 252 00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:40,719 don't want people just saying, "Okay, 253 00:08:40,719 --> 00:08:42,719 we'll do whatever you say and go do it." 254 00:08:42,719 --> 00:08:44,000 You know, I'd love to have people push 255 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,240 back on me and do things like that. Um 256 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:47,839 and not just on the design, you know, 257 00:08:47,839 --> 00:08:49,519 also just on the team dynamics and 258 00:08:49,519 --> 00:08:51,200 everything. My art director I worked 259 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,360 with for many years, Ocean Quigley, uh 260 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,519 he became what we call the canary. And 261 00:08:55,519 --> 00:08:56,880 that, you know, we would have these big 262 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:58,240 team meetings all the time and at some 263 00:08:58,240 --> 00:08:59,360 point, you know, the meeting would just 264 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,360 kind of drag on and on and there'd 265 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:02,480 always be some point in the meeting at 266 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:03,920 which Ocean would put up saying, "Can I 267 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,839 leave now? Can I leave now?" And that 268 00:09:05,839 --> 00:09:07,440 basically we knew that the meeting had 269 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:09,279 hit the mission returns at that point. 270 00:09:09,279 --> 00:09:11,120 Whenever Ocean left, it was like the 271 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,000 canary died in the coal mine. And so, 272 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,440 uh, but actually it turned out to be a 273 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:16,959 very valuable dynamic. As soon as Ocean 274 00:09:16,959 --> 00:09:18,640 left the meeting, everybody, oh, Ocean 275 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,160 left, all right, let's we're we're 276 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,399 wasting our time here. And we usually 277 00:09:22,399 --> 00:09:23,920 stop the meeting. And it ended up being 278 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,040 very valuable actually. 1 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,360 I think recently we've seen games evolve 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,120 in an area that was kind of unexpected, 3 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,279 let's say, 15 years ago when we had the 4 00:00:17,279 --> 00:00:20,240 rise of the app market and tablets and 5 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:22,800 smartphones. We're seeing a lot of what 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:24,800 I would call interstitial gaming now. 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,880 These are very short consumable game 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,199 experiences on a small screen that I can 9 00:00:29,199 --> 00:00:31,439 do in a few minutes on my smartphone. 10 00:00:31,439 --> 00:00:32,800 I've seen some of the most creative 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,360 games I've ever seen appearing on 12 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,840 tablets. Uh, you know, it's actually a 13 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,160 really nice format for gaming wherever 14 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,960 you want to be. And, uh, it's, you know, 15 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,079 something that's not doesn't have the 16 00:00:44,079 --> 00:00:45,280 stigma of I'm carrying around a game 17 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:46,399 machine everywhere because they're using 18 00:00:46,399 --> 00:00:48,960 tablets for everything now. So, I think 19 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:50,719 those have allowed games to reach a much 20 00:00:50,719 --> 00:00:54,559 wider audience. Um but uh and it's also 21 00:00:54,559 --> 00:00:56,879 allowed diversification and exploration 22 00:00:56,879 --> 00:00:58,800 of kind of indie games and new 23 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,600 experimental gameplay that uh probably 24 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:03,359 would not have been economically viable 25 00:01:03,359 --> 00:01:07,000 on the older platforms. 26 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,840 Going into the future, I think uh you 27 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:15,840 know we have VR starting to become more 28 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:17,840 and more accessible. You know, I've 29 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,159 played a lot of the VR games, which I 30 00:01:20,159 --> 00:01:22,080 enjoy, and it's interesting. As 31 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,200 immersive as VR is, though, it's not the 32 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:26,240 type of thing where I'm going to be up 33 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,640 all night like I was playing Doom in a 34 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,119 dark room for 5 hours, you know. Uh 35 00:01:31,119 --> 00:01:33,600 there seems to be for almost everybody a 36 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,360 limited time that you can kind of be in 37 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,320 that box, in that world, uh and you 38 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:39,439 know, without starting to feel really 39 00:01:39,439 --> 00:01:40,560 uncomfortable. You know, I think part of 40 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:41,600 it is the fact that you're totally 41 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,600 blocked off from the world around you. 42 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:44,799 And there's something, you know, kind of 43 00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:47,759 inherently disconcerting about that. Uh, 44 00:01:47,759 --> 00:01:49,600 and for that reason and a few others, I 45 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,920 really think that um there's a much 46 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,360 bigger potential, you know, for gaming 47 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,240 and augmented reality games that now are 48 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,159 I'm consuming, you know, without closing 49 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:01,759 off the world around me and in fact are 50 00:02:01,759 --> 00:02:03,920 occurring placed in the world around me 51 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:05,680 that have maybe some context even to 52 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,680 where I am and what I'm doing. I think 53 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:09,679 that the technology there that I've seen 54 00:02:09,679 --> 00:02:12,400 is still several years off, but that 55 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,319 stuff is coming at us so rapidly. You 56 00:02:14,319 --> 00:02:15,599 know, I wouldn't be surprised if I was 57 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:16,959 seeing some really cool creative stuff 58 00:02:16,959 --> 00:02:18,879 in about 5 years from now, you know, as 59 00:02:18,879 --> 00:02:20,160 the headsets get lighter, more 60 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,319 transparent, less uh kind of social 61 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:27,400 stigma with Google glasses and whatnot. 62 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:34,959 Alongside of augmented reality, I think 63 00:02:34,959 --> 00:02:38,720 that uh AI in fact really is going to 64 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,280 make the biggest impact by far. I think 65 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,760 that um and when I mean say AI, I don't 66 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,840 mean, you know, intelligent opponents, 67 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,160 but I mean an intelligent game system 68 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:49,920 that is understanding the player, you 69 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,120 know, that is watching what the player 70 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:53,519 is doing and understanding what 71 00:02:53,519 --> 00:02:54,800 motivates the player, what they enjoy, 72 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,640 what they don't like, topics they find 73 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,040 interesting, things that it can pull in, 74 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:00,400 other people they might want to meet or 75 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,640 interact with on certain topics. I think 76 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:05,360 that uh AI as a moderating either as a 77 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,400 game master or even as a game designer 78 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,800 uh can fundamentally alter the landscape 79 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,400 you know of game design. If you can 80 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,440 imagine an AI that could actually craft 81 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,200 a game uniquely for you. You know it 82 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:18,640 might be that we all start with the same 83 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:20,640 kind of generic game as we start playing 84 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,040 it starts learning more about us. Uh 85 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:24,560 there's a great book by Neil Stevenson, 86 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,640 Diamond Age, and he describes this, you 87 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:28,239 know, magical book, which is in fact a 88 00:03:28,239 --> 00:03:30,480 supercomput that understands this little 89 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,319 girl, understands the world she lives 90 00:03:32,319 --> 00:03:34,799 in, the context of her uh day-to-day 91 00:03:34,799 --> 00:03:36,560 life, and starts teaching her very 92 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:38,000 effectively the things that she needs to 93 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,519 know to survive. She's like actually a 94 00:03:39,519 --> 00:03:41,760 homeless girl on the streets, but I can 95 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:43,120 imagine a gaming system very much like 96 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:44,400 that that sits there and starts 97 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,640 customizing itself to you. This is 98 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,560 extreme personalization. Basically, if 99 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,319 you had a master game designer sitting 100 00:03:50,319 --> 00:03:52,720 over your shoulder very quickly and 101 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,360 rapidly uh iterating, reprogramming the 102 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,200 game around you to make it more 103 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,120 interesting to you. If an AI could 104 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,760 understand you to that degree, it could 105 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,680 also find other people that are that 106 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,599 similar to you and put you in a shared 107 00:04:07,599 --> 00:04:09,200 experience, you know. So it could be 108 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:10,959 that it finds, you know, what other 109 00:04:10,959 --> 00:04:14,239 people have had their game world evolve 110 00:04:14,239 --> 00:04:15,920 to fit them in exactly the same way that 111 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,680 you've had your game world evolve to fit 112 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,799 you and, you know, all a sudden put you 113 00:04:20,799 --> 00:04:22,160 in this, you know, together in the same 114 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,800 world. Uh there might also be, you know, 115 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,560 collaborative experiences based upon 116 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:28,960 this kind of an idea where the AI is 117 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,440 trying to moderate, you know, based 118 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:33,759 upon, you know, different people their 119 00:04:33,759 --> 00:04:35,600 shared vision or which parts they share, 120 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:37,280 which parts they don't. And it might be 121 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:38,960 this would be a very interesting way to 122 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,360 kind of figure out which parts of the 123 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:42,880 vision we share, which ones we don't. 124 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:44,720 And maybe the parts we don't become ripe 125 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:46,479 for gameplay, you know. So there are a 126 00:04:46,479 --> 00:04:47,919 lot of different things this could lead 127 00:04:47,919 --> 00:04:50,720 to. Uh but step one is can we build an 128 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,120 AI that really is starting to understand 129 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,520 the player at a deeply fundamental level 130 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,520 the same way a game designer tries to. 131 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,440 In some sense it scares me. I mean it 132 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,759 almost sounds dangerous that you know 133 00:05:01,759 --> 00:05:03,120 something like that could be so 134 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,919 addictive you know if it was effective. 135 00:05:05,919 --> 00:05:09,199 I almost um wonder you know if we should 136 00:05:09,199 --> 00:05:11,120 somehow avoid it but I know we won't. I 137 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:12,720 know that you know if it's possible we 138 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,800 will build it but I think that more than 139 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,720 anything else that is going to be um the 140 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,479 most interesting uh disruptive 141 00:05:22,479 --> 00:05:25,199 fundamentally uh gamechanging thing 142 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:26,320 that's probably going to happen in our 143 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:27,520 field and I think that could happen 144 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,360 within 15 years or less. 145 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,440 The most fundamental aspect of the 146 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,560 future of game design is it like almost 147 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:44,479 everything else it's becoming more and 148 00:05:44,479 --> 00:05:46,400 more unpredictable. 149 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,120 You know if you went back a 100 years 150 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,120 ago and asked people what's the world 151 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:52,960 going to be like in 50 years I think 152 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:54,080 they would have given you a pretty 153 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:55,759 reasonable description of the world you 154 00:05:55,759 --> 00:05:58,960 know in 50 years later. If you, you 155 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:00,639 know, went back, let's say, to 1950s and 156 00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:01,600 said, "What's the world going to be like 157 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,360 in 2000?" I think they would have been 158 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:04,960 quite a bit farther off. It's still in 159 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,199 the ballpark. You go to 2000 and ask 160 00:06:07,199 --> 00:06:08,960 what's the world be like in 2050? I 161 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,880 don't think we have a clue, you know, or 162 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:12,080 maybe we have a little bit of a clue, 163 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,240 but basically the future is increasingly 164 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,039 becoming less and less predictable. Uh, 165 00:06:17,039 --> 00:06:19,120 and this ties into this kind of basic 166 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,680 idea known as the singularity that all 167 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,319 in almost any dimension we measure 168 00:06:24,319 --> 00:06:26,080 humans. you know it could be energy 169 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,400 consumption it could be population it 170 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:29,919 could be intelligence whatever it is you 171 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:32,800 know technology it's uh accelerating to 172 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,360 this asmtopic curve and so there these 173 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,600 transformative technologies approaching 174 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,280 us and it might be biotechnology 175 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,319 nanotechnology AI any one of these 176 00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:43,759 things could radically alter the world 177 00:06:43,759 --> 00:06:45,520 around us pretty rapidly over a few 178 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,600 decades um and that's an indication that 179 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,199 our future is becoming less and less 180 00:06:51,199 --> 00:06:53,440 predictable 181 00:06:59,039 --> 00:07:00,240 Games design is one of these fields 182 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:01,120 where you know you're basically 183 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:02,720 committing yourself to lifelong learning 184 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:04,479 you know because it's not only so 185 00:07:04,479 --> 00:07:06,560 rapidly advancing but also you have such 186 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,479 a wide pallet of things you can do 187 00:07:08,479 --> 00:07:11,759 within that field. Uh I think that you 188 00:07:11,759 --> 00:07:14,240 know don't get too dogmatic about any 189 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,520 approach any platform any philosophy. 190 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,520 Uh, it's really about being adaptable 191 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,160 and flexible and open-minded and looking 192 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,080 ahead, you know, not too far, but far 193 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:27,680 enough ahead to get some sense of, okay, 194 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,280 I think in three years we're going to be 195 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,080 going there or there. And assume that 196 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:33,599 you're standing on shaky ground. You 197 00:07:33,599 --> 00:07:34,800 know, you're not standing. We used to 198 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:36,720 live in this world where every four or 199 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:38,240 five years predictably there would be 200 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,319 another platform coming out on the 201 00:07:40,319 --> 00:07:42,800 console side and then we would know that 202 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:44,000 five years later would be another one 203 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,720 and it was like very predictable almost 204 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,720 deterministic world that we lived in as 205 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,560 game designers. Uh that's not so 206 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,199 anymore. You know now you know five 207 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:54,319 years from now there could be some 208 00:07:54,319 --> 00:07:56,319 platform we're not even aware of right 209 00:07:56,319 --> 00:07:58,720 now that's the big fad. You know things 210 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,440 are moving that fast. So that's probably 211 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:02,960 the best advice I can give to up 212 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,479 andcoming game designers right now. 1 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:11,679 Well, thank you for going through this 2 00:00:11,679 --> 00:00:14,639 entire course. And I hope that from this 3 00:00:14,639 --> 00:00:17,520 point on, you'll go out into your field, 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,480 whatever that is, and use these new 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:22,880 tools in your toolbox to do something 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,640 maybe a little bit more outside your own 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,960 box and create things that even surprise 8 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:28,880 yourself. Really, more than anything 9 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,560 else, I'm looking forward to seeing the 10 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,360 games that you'll create. The generation 11 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,520 that's creating games now has so many 12 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,600 opportunities and the things I'm seeing 13 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,719 come out right now are amazing. And I 14 00:00:40,719 --> 00:00:42,480 really want to sit back, have 15 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:44,640 comfortable retirement, and play these 16 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,719 cool games that I only right now can 17 00:00:46,719 --> 00:00:49,039 imagine, but I know that one day you 18 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:52,840 will make as designers. 19 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:57,840 The possibility space for your next game 20 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,160 is huge. So find something you're 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,199 passionate about and start exploring. 22 00:01:06,479 --> 00:01:08,799 Remember, look around you. Your next 23 00:01:08,799 --> 00:01:11,360 idea might be lurking somewhere nearby. 24 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,000 Go out and catch it. 25 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,720 I'll be here anxiously waiting, ready to 26 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,720 play.