December 6th, 2007
Make Awesome Games
I had the pleasure of speaking at DePaul again a couple weeks ago, which has become a semi-annual treat for me. Joe asked me to give his class some useful advice for their final projects, so I sat down and thought about it, and wrote down the game design advice I’d want to go back in time and give myself.
I’ve paraphrased the advice here for you, as I think it can be helpful for anyone endeavoring to make games. Especially if you’re setting out to make your very first game!
Achievable
Don’t start on what you can’t finish. Start with designs for games that you believe you can finish. A completed game is so much better than one that’s half-finished. You’ll learn tons more, and it will look much better on your resume. This might mean that you need to make a few smaller games before you attempt the big one, but so be it! But which would you rather have, three completed games, or one massive incomplete game?
Well-Planned
Have a gameplan. Don’t go running face-first into the minefield that is game development. Make a plan of what you want to accomplish, how you want to accomplish it, and how long you want it to take. If you make a schedule for your game and you find that you need twelve weeks to make a game that’s due in three, that’s a pretty clear message that you need to cut some features (or make another pot of coffee). I won’t go so far as to say that you need a game design doc, a tech design doc, and a hard-core schedule… but if you get into the habit of some planning up front, it will pay off in the long run.
Use an Engine
Don’t reinvent the wheel. If someone has solved the hard problems, like how to write a renderer or scripting language, learn from them! Don’t stop there. Beg, borrow and steal from them. Lots of good engines are free these days, and the ones that aren’t free can be acquired for the price of a new PC game.* Now, if you’re one of those guys who wants to write every line of code by hand, by yourself, that’s cool. But don’t kid yourself… the big-boys reuse their own code all the time. Carmack and Sweeny don’t start from scratch every game… they take what they have from the last one, upgrade or rewrite a few features and then add a few new features. So write little bits of new code for each game you make, and slowly build up towards an engine that’s 100% yours.
* You don’t get the full source code for $50, but you do get enough to make a game.
Simple
Make your game simple to understand, simple to play, simple to implement. Just because a game is big, doesn’t mean it needs to be senselessly complicated. I don’t mean that your game needs to be “easy” or “small” though. Small and easy games are great, and a good place to start. But no matter what the size of your game project, keep it simple. If a feature is simple to describe, it’s simple to implement. If a game is simple to explain, it’s simple to play. As a game designer we spend so much time communicating - talking to each other about ideas, communicating these ideas to the rest of the team, and eventually trying to communicate them to players. Simple concepts are just easier to pass on.
Original
Make something new. Now is your chance! Now might be your only chance! When you get a job in the game industry you’ll probably have to work on some games that you’re not a huge fan of. That’s life. But now when you’re a student make new crazy games. Make games that don’t exist yet. Make games that try something new. Recreating old games is a great way to learn how to program, or how to make art. But to learn to be a game designer you need to experiment with new designs and learn how to mold them into something fun. So be original.
Meaningful
Make games that are meaningful to you. If you’re into animal rights, make your game about saving animals. If you’re into chemistry, make your game about molecules and stuff. If you’re really into hackysack, make your game about kicking around a hackysack. Don’t just make another game about shooting people… it’s just not that meaningful. Make games that say something about you and what you care about. Now is your chance to push your ideas in videogame form. Make a game that says more than “I love videogames.”
Exciting
Make a game you’re excited about. If you’re excited, other people will be excited. Excitement is contagious! It’s much easier to get your friends to work on your game with you when they’re excited about it. And believe it or not, it will be easier to get your friends to play your game when they’re excited about it. And if you’re excited to play the game, it will be easier for you to make it. Making games is really hard work, and if you can’t get up in the morning with the drive to work on your game, then you’re either making the wrong game, or you’re not cut out to be a game designer. It’s tough, but it’s true.
Final Thoughts
Ok, I know this is a mouthful. But hey, if I’m going to go back in time I really should have something important to say. And just to make it easy to remember, there’s a nice little acronym for you. ACHIEVABLE, WELL-PLANNED games with an ENGINE that are SIMPLE, ORIGINAL, MEANINGFUL, and EXCITING. That’s A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I want you to make awesome games. Gimmicky? Yes, sorry. But hopefully you won’t forget it. 
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