New World Designer

Online gaming

2009-12-16T17:54:00.000-08:00

Richard Anderson

2009-11-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

Guild Wars

Richard Anderson, concept artist at ArenaNet, the developer behind the brilliant Guild Wars, enlightened NWD to the world of the game concept artist.

I was a great kid because ... all my brothers and sisters were worse than me! :)

I was a bad kid because ... I got caught!!!

When did you first become interested in art?
Mmmm....that would be really early, I remember, like most little kids, loving drawing since an early age. When I think of it now, my imagination was awesome. I would lose myself so easily by just drawing.

How did you become involved in the game industry?
Well I went to the Art Institute of Seattle, and after that I spent 3 months just applying everyday to every studio that had a position open. It was the worse! Everyday ... wake up, apply, get rejected, (laughs) but it turned out ArenaNet was just starting and was looking for some new artist and gave me a chance which turned out great! I love it there!

If I was not a game designer, I would be ... a waiter, or maybe a bar tender, not good enough to cook, but I like to eat and drink so I figure those positions would be fun :)

What type of things inspire your work?
Friends, co-workers, a lot of others art work! I love looking at art. Sometimes movies and good stories.

How do you remain fresh and innovative in your design work?
I just try to challenge myself, i always ask for others to look and critique me, I guess. I am always looking for inspiration.

ArenaNet seems like a wonderful place to work. Can you tell me a little about it?
Yeah it's great! The team is really close knit, everyone really pushes each other and pulls to make each other and the game better. It's really great for artists ... how much freedom they give us as well. Plus working under Daniel Dociu is really a great learning experience, I've learned tons from him.

Can you briefly outline how a new Guild War level is taken from concept to completion?
Usually the designers will write something up for us and we take their descriptions and bust out a few sketches and concept work. Sometimes we'll have to do a few inspirational pieces and then break it down to individual props for the 3D artist. From there the 3D artists finish the prop and the level artists place it in the map... which, at this point, it's tested and if it works, and looks good, it goes on to ship.

Your art is incredibly rich and 'painterly'. Do you lament the loss of these qualities when it is rendered as a 3D game environment?
Oh, a bit gets lost, but really in the end when it's placed in the world it begins to match pretty well with the initial illustration. The guys are great at getting it close as possible.

Does music and film inspire your work in any way? How?
Oh yeah, great movies always inspire me ... usually the lighting, the composition ... stuff like that.

Has a particular person/people been an inspiration in the work that you do?
There is tons! Ashley Wood, Craig Mullins, older artists like Frazetta, Sergio Toppi, John Williams Waterhouse, Robert McGinnis, Mucha.

One CD I have on high rotation at the moment is ... White Lies. A British band, pretty good

My favourite films are ... Gladiator, Amelie, Stranger Than Fiction, Fellowship of the Ring, Saving Private Ryan ... just a few i like.

What do think the next big revolution in gaming will be?
Pppfffff you got me, i don't know but i have a feeling that once 'fighters' get better for online play they will sky rocket.

My favourite game so would be ... haha ... this will be funny but really its Heroes of Might and Magic 3 ... my favorite game of all time! It doesn't look very good at all, but it's super, super fun, and never gets old :)

What advice would you give a designer who wants to bring a depth and rich aesthetic to their game environments?
I can only speak for the art side but i think concept art is very important ... and that down the art pipeline that the game development follows closely to it. In that way it will always have it's own personality.

One game I feel all game designers can learn from is .. haha .... Heroes of Might and Magic 3 :)

What traits make a great game level designer?
Being open minded, and being super creative, always looking for new things but also keeping your head in the clouds. Its important to give people something to relate to.

What aspirations do you have for your future career?
Well I would love to work on something sci-fi in the future, and hopefully a console game! :) Basically I just love working on something I'm totally into. GuildWars 2 is going to be awesome, and then after that i don't know, but work is much better when your hearts in it i would have to say.

Nicholas Clark

2009-11-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Flower

flOw

Cloud

Nicholas Clark, designer at The Game Company, took some time out of his busy schedule to illuminate NWD about the art of game design, the growing genre of 'art games' and the secret to creating lush gaming environments that both enthrall and challenge the modern gamer.

I was a great kid because ... I was easy to keep track of. I was at either one of three places: at home drawing or playing video games, at a friend's house drawing or playing video games, or at school... drawing or playing video games.

I was a bad kid because ... I wouldn't eat my Lima beans!

How did you become involved in the game industry?
While pursuing an undergraduate degree in computer science at the University of Southern California, I met Jenova Chen and teamed up with him to create his thesis project, flOw. Shortly after completion, Jenova and Kellee Santiago founded thatgamecompany and began pitching to publishers. Sony was interested in an expanded version of flOw for Playstation Network on the Playstation 3. I was asked to come on board as an engineer and designer for the project. That summer was hectic because I had accepted an internship at Electronic Arts, which I unfortunately had to quit early in order to start production on flOw. I also ended up taking the following semester off of college to work full time on the project.

What was it about gaming that made you want to pursue a career in game design?
From an early age, I knew that I wanted something to do with creating the games that I loved playing. When I was in 5th grade I discovered Visual Basic (then edition 4.0) and was immediately hooked. My first complete application let the user launch one of three games -- tic-tac-toe, a guessing game, and a dice-rolling game. Thinking back, I was initially most excited about the ability to create a Windows GUI application like the ones I had been using for years. The ability to create a GUI button of any size, with an adjustable bevel, custom text, and my own effect upon being pressed was completely captivating to me. Creating the games was a bonus! It wasn't until I created my own version of Atomic Bomberman that I fully appreciated the creative expression possible with programming.

If I was not a game designer, I would be ... studying economics. I'm very interested in economics as a study of human action, as presented by the Austrian school of thought. The irrational rationality and rational irrationality of human decision making is fascinating to me. The interaction of economic agents on small and large scales is extremely complex and almost completely uncharted and only minimally understood. And yet, those systems are comprised entirely of the decisions we each make every single day -- quite an amazing situation, similar to our brain asking itself how it works.

What type of things inspire your work?
Everything! I enjoy seeing (or hearing) fantastic displays of talent, whether it be a work of art, an awesome game, or some crazy hardware gadget. The effort and passion that individuals put into a labor of love is very inspirational. It motivates me to keep doing my best and to continue working hard at creating something great.

Can you briefly outline how Flower moved from it's initial conception to completion?
It was two years of hard work and several breakdowns where we asked ourselves: what are we doing, what’s the plan?! The team was always on board with the concept of Flower, but we were unsure of exactly how we wanted that concept to manifest itself as a playable game. Jenova and I spent six months prototyping game-play mechanics on the PC while the rest of the team was developing the PS3 engine and technology. After the prototyping phase was complete, we still weren’t sure exactly what the experience should be for the player. We began a second, more focused prototyping phase directly on the PS3 for another six months until we settled on using collectible flowers to activate sequences of events and effects in the environment, including unlocking gates to new areas. After many mediocre play tests, we went back and reanalyzed several rules we had established about what to avoid with the mechanics. Initially, we were very opposed to having boundaries or walls of any type in the game. Ultimately, constraining the player until they completed certain objectives within an area proved to make the experience function as a game without detracting too much from the sense of freedom we wanted. We were also very opposed to any type of scripted camera sequence as we didn’t want to remove control from the player at any point. Despite a long battle against it, scripted camera sequences proved to be essential in teaching players what to do without any on-screen text or tutorials. We tried our best to minimize the number of sequences and the amount of control we took away.

What challenges are you finding in developing "Core Games", given that you have such a huge market to cater for?
Achieving broad accessibility without sacrificing depth or satisfaction for more seasoned gamers is one of our toughest challenges. A prime example is our choice to use the SIXAXIS motion tilting capability of the PS3 controller instead of the traditional analog sticks. This debate comes up frequently within the team during development. Personally, using two analog sticks proved to be very unintuitive and difficult for me to learn. In my experience, a non-gamer trying to play Halo for the first time will often spend more time looking straight up or down or frantically spinning than shooting. However, once mastered, the analog sticks allow for great precision and control. Do we cater to the majority of gamers who have already mastered analog stick control? Do we cater to gamers who have never touched a controller? Do we compromise (usually a bad idea!), or do we try something new? In flOw and Flower, we experimented with the intent of placing everyone on equal footing and hopefully creating a memorable experience for both groups. Still, the SIXAXIS controls weren't perfect and it’s always a tough decision to make.

There is a growing interest in 'Art Games'? Do you see this a being a maturation of the gaming community?
Yes, and more importantly there an increasing number of discussions centered on the merits of art games in gaming media publications. Even so, the art game movement still has plenty of room to grow, both inside and outside the gaming community. Art games are most interesting to long-time gamers who are broadening their horizons and can appreciate how these games break out of the mold. These games are still a hard sell to a fifty year old parent that has only played a handful of video games in their life, or to a hardcore gamer that has firm beliefs on what should and shouldn’t be called a game. As the medium continues to mature, hopefully gamers and non-gamers from all walks of life can play and appreciate these creations.

You have a small team at That Game Company. Would you consider TGC part of the new indie game developer vanguard?
I'm not sure thatgamecompany qualifies as "indie" given our financial backing by Sony, but that distinction is irrelevant to me. Either way, we will continue to make innovative games. Our team is small at ten people, but it's vastly different from the team of three we had developing flOw! It has been fun to grow and tackle larger and more challenging projects. As for the rest of the indie developer community, I'm having a great time playing all of the latest releases. I'm continually impressed by the innovative games from other small studios and individuals. The latest I've played is Small Worlds by David Shute. Awesome!

What game engine do you use to create your games?
We use our own home-grown engine and Maya toolset written in C++ and Lua under the direction of our lead engineer John Edwards. We also use a few pieces of middleware such as PhyreEngine for our rendering. It's been an iterative process and we've improved our technical underpinnings with every project.

Do you see a bright future for the independent game developer/company?
The recession is hurting everyone and will be for the foreseeable future. Beyond that, I'm only echoing the sentiments of industry consensus that the advent of online distribution is a boon for independent developers who can now avoid large fixed costs. It will only get better with time. That being said, I think there's a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about what this means for the average indie developer. I've heard the "long tail theory" mentioned numerous times as a justification that a niche market exists for every kind of indie creation. Sure, an indie developer may have an easier time getting their game posted on an aggregator like D2D, Steam, or the iPhone app store, but that is by no means any indication that the game will actually receive significant sales! In fact, if the long tail theory is true, it dictates that the game will most likely not receive any reasonable amount of money. I think the burden is still very much on the indie developer to make an awesome game -- no future is going to remove that pressure. Certainly the freedom to share and market great ideas exists and that is an ideal circumstance to be working under.

One side note: more advanced middleware such as Unity and higher level languages like Actionscript 3.0 and C# / XNA will only make it easier for indie developers to create high quality titles - but are the improvements in middleware ahead, behind, or just keeping pace with the curve of improvements in general technology? This isn't something I have researched but it's an interesting question to ponder.

Does music and film inspire your work in any way? How?
Sure. Film more so than music. We frequently have lunch-time discussions about films we've seen recently. One of the topics that comes up often is the narrative presentation. Was the film too heavy handed? Did it evoke an emotion or cause a reaction in an unexpected way? Was the plot irrelevant or was it central to the success of the film? These questions are similar to the ones we ask ourselves when judging design ideas, and having more points of reference is always useful. Any kind of visual story telling can inform our process.

Has a particular person been an inspiration in the work that you do?
No particular person stands out as my inspiration. Anyone who creates the aforementioned impressive works of art inspires me.

One CD I have on high rotation at the moment is ... currently, the Chillout or PsyChill channels on di.fm.

My favourite films are ... anything fast-paced that doesn't exactly follow the beaten path - Children of Men is a good example.

What do think will be the next big revolution in gaming?
If I knew I'd be working on it! Or spending sleepless nights waiting for it to arrive... Part of me hopes that it will be Starcraft 2.

The levels in your games are gorgeous! What advice would you give a designer who wants to create lush and compelling game environments?
It's tougher than it looks! Never underestimate how long graphics and polish can take... With that being said, the most important thing I've learned is to focus, focus, focus! Find the one or two aspects of your environment that make it unique and spend your energy making those elements stand out. Not everything needs to be new or top of the line -- it's impossible to pull off in a reasonable amount of time. In Flower we obviously focused on the grass simulation as we felt it was central to the experience of freedom and flying across open fields. Less obvious, but equally important, we devoted a large amount of time to keeping the environments interesting without cluttering them up with hundreds of meshes and doodads. After all, it was the sense of freedom and openness that was compelling and we tried our best to reinforce that without sacrificing game-play depth. Of course, as the story progressed throughout the levels, so too did our focus on the level design. In flOw, one of the pieces of tech available to us was an additive blending system... in fact, it was one of the only graphical effects we had in the game. Making good use of the blending on the avatar and in the levels was a central theme of the design process, and during one deliriously late night of crunching we devised an all-encompassing "glow theory." I didn't remember much of it come the next morning, but many times during the project thereafter we justified decisions based on how much it impacted "glow theory" -- the gist of it was the more use of additive blending, the better! Many of our environmental particle effects, creature placements, and avatar abilities were informed by this focus.

My favourite game so would be ... in order of hours logged: Quake 2, Diablo 2, Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Starcraft, Materia Magica, and Defense of the Ancients. If you can't tell, I'm a hardcore PC gamer at heart! Of course, growing up I loved Blades of Steel, Guerilla War, Battle Toads, Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, GoldenEye, and countless others. It's too difficult to pick a favorite!

One game I feel all game designers can learn from is .. off the top of my head, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They did an excellent job in the single player campaign -- it actually felt like playing in an action movie! Right off the bat, I completed the tutorial training course three or four times to attempt a high score and receive praise from the captain. After I realized what I had just done, I knew I'd be in for a great ride. Their dynamic re-spawning of enemies in certain sections of the map was at times very well done and contributed immensely to the intensity and confusion of battle. At others it was painfully obvious that I simply wasn't moving forward in the map as fast as the designers intended. In either scenario, the title is very informative.

What traits make a great game level designer?
A great game level designer should be an advocate for the player, be persistent, and have knowledge of computer systems and programming. Of course, these describe some of my strengths, so I'm sure every designer will have their own list of unique traits. The truth is, there is no secret sauce or recipe to being a great designer any more than there is for being a great artist or musician. The definition is too broad and the medium too diverse!

What aspirations do you have for your future career?
Right now my goal is to grow the design team at thatgamecompany into a world renowned force to be reckoned with!

Time spent gaming

2009-10-01T17:35:00.001-07:00

poll by twiigs.com

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Michael Licht

2009-09-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Medal of Honor: Airborne - schematic and final level

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter - schematic and final level

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault - Secret Area

Michael Licht is a freelance game design consultant, based in Los Angeles. He has designed for such high profile developers like Electronic Arts and LucasArts. Michael talks to NWD about secret levels, games addiction and departs some secrets to great game design.

I was a great kid because ... I would keep to myself most of the time playing with blocks and models. Always into my own head.

I was a bad kid because ... I used to take things apart to see how they worked, but I was never able to put them back together again.

I wanted to become a game designer because ... it was either that or starve as an Architect. Frankly, I was far more interested in designing cool sci-fi 3D worlds than the commercial drivel I was forced to do as a young architect. It was a constant struggle for me to keep focused on my work when I knew my passion wasn’t in real world projects. I was also a hardcore gamer, and living in San Francisco at that time I knew there were several good game studios all around me doing the cool stuff. Finally, my girlfriend (and future wife) suggested I stop fighting my nature and find a way to earn a living with video games.

How did you get started as a game designer?
I tried it the stupid way first. I kept submitting portfolio after portfolio to LucasArts and several other studios in the area, thinking I could impress them with my modeling skills. Here’s a hint, any monkey can model a good building, it takes a real artists to make it something special. Figure out what your really good at and make sure your portfolios reflect your talent. I finally woke up and decided that if I was going to apply for work as a video game designer, than I should show them some design work, so I sent in my architectural graduate school project. A building I designed and built completely in 3D for my masters graduate from Virginia Tech. It showed my thought process and my design intent and I got a call from several studios almost on the exact same day about a week after I sent it in. LucasArts was the first to call and the one I REALLY wanted, so I practically passed out when they called.

If I was not a game designer I would be ... a broke architect wishing I was a game designer.

How many hours a day do you work when involved in a project?
As a consultant, I work on average 6-8 hours a day (depending on the project(s)). When I was an employee I would work from 9am – 7pm most days (this is post-EA Spouse, I don’t even want to get into what it was like before!), but I don’t think I really got more than a few hours of REAL work done in any day. The larger the corporation the more diversions they have to keep you from being production. When I work now, its dedicated and I feel I’ve done what I needed to do for that day.

Where do you find inspiration for your level designs (quests, tasks, environment design)?
Inspiration can come from ANYWHERE, but Max or Maya! Look to the real first, you’re not as creative as you think you are my friend! Too often what we think of as creativity is really just regurgitation of something we’ve already seen or played. When I start a project, I spend days reading articles, listening to interviews, watching raw footage, collecting images, and just completely immersing myself in the subject matter. Sometimes, I get lucky and I can actually interview some vets and record their stories. That’s when you can really start to feel the emotion of the event that you want to try to re-create in your game.

Who would you consider to be a big influence/inspiration on your design?
I always draw inspiration from the real, not so much from an individual. Even in the case of fictional subject matter such as Star Wars, I will still follow the same process of researching as much material as I can find about the subject matter till I’m just overflowing with ideas and inspiration to draw on as I design.

Would you consider level design more of a science or an art?
Absolutely an Art, but not in an “artsy” way. Level designers who focus too much on the visuals of their levels often are sacrificing crucial time needed to tune the end user experience. (I don’t trust level designers who behaves like artists, their levels often look great, but play like crap. ) As well, designers who spend too much time messing with the tools and tech, like over scripting, or making a “really cool” particle effect, are making the same sacrifice. Focus on the experience and leave the art and tech to the artists and engineers. I say level design is an art, because like art, level design should invoke an emotional response. Good games focus on how the player feels during the experience, and don’t fall back on crutches like over the top visuals that only draw on the game performance and try to force an emotion that the core experience isn’t delivering.

What are the best aspects in the work that you do?
I always try to respect the subject matter and go for the real. I try to instill the realism in everything I do so when you play my games you feel like you’re really there. The environments feel authentic.

What are the least enjoyable aspects in the work you undertake?
Performance tuning. It’s a necessary evil that often will sacrifice the visual or emotional experience to save some frame rate. I hate cutting down levels to fit in memory or above the required minimum FPS. A smart designers knows the tech enough to keep within these specifications, but there will always be the last minute “Oh, Shit! We forgot to add the music tracks, quick we need 5 more megs of space, everyone cut 25% of your levels!!”

My favourite films are ... Fifth Element, Aliens, SNATCH!

A CD I have on high rotation at the moment is ... Andres Segovia – The Art of Segovia

The best game I have played so far would be ... going to list a few here; BioShock, Dead Space, & No One Lives Forever 1 & 2

A game I wish I had had a role in designing would be ... I used to say that about Medal of Honor, but hey…J Now it would be BioShock! What a fabulous story and environment. I actually had a chance to work on BioShock 2, but like an idiot I turned it down because I couldn’t swing the move. I should call those guys back…

People can become addicted to gaming because ... most people say immersion, and that is part of it, but I think it’s the addiction to learning. Every time we get a new piece of armor, a new magic sword, cool pair of anti-grav boots, whatever, we just LOVE to learn how to use them, (and then get creative with them). When we stop learning new things and master a game we get bored quickly. Keep teaching the player new things ... or at least keep giving the player things they can get creative with in their own way, and you’ll keep them playing.

Do you think that World of Warcraft should have in-game counselors for WoW addicts?
Yeah, I had to go “cold turkey” on that one. I found myself calculating the time it takes my wife to take a shower to see if I could get in to check my auctions before she got out. It was BAD!

What was the most enjoyable project you have been involved in so far?
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. I LOVED the research. We really tried to draw from the real on that one and give the player an authentic experience. I personally spent months trying to re-create a single experience I read about during the attack on Pearl Harbor inside the West Virginia. It was very rewarding!

Do you create secretive areas in your game levels?
Yea, I did that once on Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. At the end of mission 4_1 NightMoves chunk 3, I have this big battle up a hill to take a radio tower. Well off to the left, there is an outhouse. I modified the outhouse to have a door that could be broken and inside is a Japanese officer doing “number 2” and reading a girly magazine. It was pretty funny. (See Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault - Secret Area image) He gets pretty mad and chases after you with a pistol. (Don’t ask me where he was hiding that pistol. J) But for the most part, I try to avoid doing that. We cut so close to the performance budgets these days that you don’t want to add anything that might take from another part of your actual level. Also, if one of these “secret” places gets shipped and it turns out to be a major exploit or breaks the rating of the game, you’re going to lose your job. When all was said and done, you might think that “Hot coffee” was another promotional tool for RockStar, but the $20M law suit couldn’t have gone over well with the execs. You know someone lost their job over it. Don’t take the chance.

One game I feel all game designers can learn from is ... No One Lives Forever 2. That game is 7 years old now and it’s still GREAT! Visually it’s still stunning, the environment is always alive with activity, the characters are compelling and often hilarious, the systems are deep and fulfilling, and the gameplay never ceases to surprise and entertain the user. A samurai duel, in a trailer park, during a tornado? Who thinks up that stuff?? I love that game!

What do you think the "next big thing" in gaming will be?
It’s an interesting time in the video game industry. The big budget games are just TOO expense to keep making unless you can sell 5+ million copies like RockStar or Infinity Ward. You just have to sell SO many copies to re-cop expenses on these games that the risk is just too high. Then you have simple sprite games like Club Penguin bringing in a consistent yearly revenue estimate at $50 - $150 million a year (DFC estimated), you can see why there are SO many new casual MMO’s coming online these days. It seems strange to say it, but I think the age of PC gaming is going to come back strong!

Is gaming the "new Hollywood"?
I HATE that comparison! We make games, let them make their static spoon fed experience. Were nothing like hollywood and we should stop hiring ex-movie producers to “help” us make our games. They don’t get it!

What advice do you have for people wanting to break into game design?
Quit whining about it and make something already. There are more than enough free tools out there to the best engines on the market. If you want in, make something cool and get someone with some connections to play it. If it’s good, you’ll get hired.

What traits make a great game level designer?
Humility, an open mind, selflessness, a problem solver, self motivated. Great level designers know that the ego only gets in the way and that there are NO excuses. At the end of the day, your job is the fun and if you can’t find the fun, find another job. Also, remember that the work isn’t yours, it the end users (and the team that has to make the level your designing). Make sure your work is compelling to a large number of people and also make sure you designing something the rest of your team can deliver. You should also have a love of reading, travel and, in general, life. No one can design compelling experiences if they haven’t had a few of their own. Get out there and do something besides play games. This is why so many GREAT designers often don’t reach their true potential till their later years. Ok, yeah so I’m getting old, but I’m not just talking about level designers here but ALL kinds of designers. Heck, check out Syd Meads latest. That guy just gets better and better.

Can you tell me about the latest project you are working on?
I just finished a really cool consulting gig and I’m starting a completely new project right now. I’m really exciting about doing something a little different, and NO sorry, I can’t talk about it.

What aspirations do you have for your future career?
I’m looking forward to starting my own design studio. I’d like to focus on innovative game design theory, compelling level designs and highly immersive virtual worlds. Basically like an architectural design studio, leaving the engineering to the engineers.

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Aimee Weber

2009-09-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

Aimee Weber

The Avastar

Midnight City

American Apparel virtual store

Aimee Weber is a Second Life designer/celebrity that has taken that, and this, world by storm. She has been actively involved in SL for many years now, developing fashion, architecture, cities for her own person projects as well as for corporate clients. Aimee took some time out from her busy schedule to answer a few questions for NWD.

Can you give me your perspective on the current state of Second Life (SL)? It certainly seemed to swell in popularity a couple of years ago but this soon seemed to wane.
Second Life rode a publicity bubble where all kinds of unrealistic expectations there thrown about. When the bubble popped, there was a bit of a fall where people overreacted, and many bloggers and people in the press delighted in declaring Second Life's demise. Since then I think the platform has evened out and grows steadily. We now have realistic expectations of SL.

What type of design work have you been involved in recently for SL?
Aimee Weber Studio has mostly been doing work for government and military simulations and prototyping. We've created simulated environments and provided training to the Navy as well as some anti-terrorism organizations. We've created a nuclear reactor and working radiological experiments for Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We've prototyped models for Siemens and we also did work for the MacArthur foundation.

Does your design work extend into other metaspaces, other than SL?
Well much of our work also occurs in Maya and Blender, and some of our projects involve server side programming. These basic sills are very transferable. Right now we're looking at Blue Mars.

What challenges do you face as a designer for metaspaces?
The biggest challenge is platform stability and limitations in the platform feature set. Many of our projects have been hindered by Second Life's lack of convenient export features and collaboration tools (transferring entire sims to a client is never an easy task.)

What is the most enjoyable aspect of working in your design business?
It's an aesthetic business. I love simply looking at what we've done. The prettier the build the better.

What is the least enjoyable aspect of working in your design business?
Well as a serious business much of my day-to-day work involves proposals, payroll, taxes, grant applications, and other organizational tasks. This leaves less room for getting my hands on the prims. I try to build whenever I can but it's not as much as it used to be.

Who has been an influence in your work?
My formative years in Second Life were heavily influenced by Francis Chung, Mistress Midnight, Chip Midnight and Nepheline Protagonists. I also spent a lot of time in video games like Half Life trying to deconstruct how they made such attractive environments so that I could incorporate those techniques into my own work.

What type of things inspire your creative process?
I love dramatic environments (which, unfortunately, most serious clients don't request) such as heavy shadows from multiple light sources, and eerie color schemes. I love gritty city streets and builds with lots of little nooks and hidden places. I also love weather, rain especially. That always gets me in a creative mood.

What advice would you give a designer who is new to developing environments/experiences for SL or other metaspaces?
Take the time to thoroughly learn the tools. It can be boring going through every tutorial and reading a Photoshop book cover-to-cover ... but learning the correct ways to accomplish a task can really save you time. Also, try to spend a lot of time tinkering. Do free-form experiments on how badly you can torture a prim, or how you can play with baked textures. Finally, be persistent and patient. Don't become frustrated if you aren't a superstar or millionaire overnight. Most of the big names in SL took years to get to where they are. You can do it too but you might have to put in at least as much time as they did.

What are the greatest challenges you find in developing metaspaces for corporate clients?
Like in any consulting business, it's managing client expectations. When a client constantly pushes for more work than was agreed, that can be exhausting. Clients with vague, unattainable aesthetic goals can be difficult to manage when their dreams aren't possible with modern 3D technology. We've been fortunate to have some great clients with a robust technical background.

Can you enlighten me to your thoughts on sound in an immersive environment?
Sound effects are absolutely essential for an immersive environment. Ambient sounds, even if barely perceptible, can go a long way to set the mood of your build. Wav files can also create illusions of motion, for example a door scripted to silently close may "feel" as though it is lightly touching the stops ... but if you script a well-timed "SLAM" then the same exact motion will feel stronger and will imbue the door with a sense of weight. All that said, builders should avoid intrusive or distracting sounds.

What tips and tricks do you have for designers that would encourage users to revisit the space?
Assuming the content is worthy in the first place, regular and frequent updates will keep people coming back to see what's new. Hosting events (parties, dances, discussions, etc.) is a good way to drive traffic your way. Also, if you can make visitors feel somehow involved with the project, they will keep coming back. Perhaps you can create a sandbox, or give people small parcels so they can add their own touches to your space.

Being a major fashion purveyor within SL, what are your tips for next seasons SL fashion? And which outlets would you recommend SL fashion junkies visit?
My work has moved away from fashion and is almost exclusively corporate and government contracts. In fact my avatar (clothing and all) is now a registered trademark! I never change my clothes! So to be perfectly honest I'm not sure what's hot in SL fashion right now. I'd say designers should just look at whatever Lady Gaga is doing. She even sort of LOOKS like an SL avatar.

If people wanted to discover some truly amazing architecture or environments in SL, what would be your top three recommendations?
I'm going to pass on this one since I have a bias towards my own work and the work of my friends.

What are your future aspirations for your career?
I'd like to see Aimee Weber Studio grow into a major art house providing 3D content, designs, and programming to all kinds of platforms, from virtual worlds to video games to animated Hollywood productions.

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Bio-chip

2009-09-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

poll by twiigs.com

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How do you play?

2009-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

poll by twiigs.com

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Matt Bromley

2009-04-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

Unreal Tournament 2004

Matt Bromley, a Senior Level Designer at Kaos Studios in New York, took some time out to share some of his design wisdom with NWD. Here is what he had to say.

How did you get started in game design?

I'd poked and prodded at the occasional editor over my many years of games. However, once I got a decent internet connection back in 2003, and found out that the mod community was a valid way to get into the industry, and also found out that Unreal Tournament 2004 would ship with a bonus edition containing video tutorials, I decided to try level design. I'd tinkered around with it sometimes on older games and really enjoyed it. After I got the disk and played the game, I watched a bunch of the tutorials, and started doing community level design. A little less than 2 years later I got an email asking me if I was interested in applying for an level design job. I haven't looked back since.

If you were not a game designer, what would you think you would have become?

Probably still working a work-a-daddy job trying to get into the industry.

How do you go about creating a game world? Can you talk us through one of the design briefs you have been involved with?

The conceptual process is fairly simple in essence. Decide on the type of encounter, or experience, the player is supposed to have, survey the player's available tool set. Decide on a setting. Compare what you've put together so far to the technical and artistic limitations you have. After those high-level goals are met appropriately, it's all about implementation and iteration.

What things inspire your world design?

Everything. I will say I have a penchant for perusing architectural books in bookstores, and I've got a backlog of personal settings I'd love to realize once I have the time. But everything from books, to movies, to graphic novels, to photographs, to music, to other 3D art and games, to simply a walk down the street on the way to work all are inspirational to me.

What was the first game you experienced that took your breath away?

I'd been playing games and loving them for a long time before this, but there was one specific encounter in Doom that really cemented my fascination with them.

What album is on high rotation in your music collection at the moment?

I'm probably the one of the worst people you could ask about this but right now, it's They Might Be Giants' The Else.

Who has been an influence in your design work and why?

Well, probably everyone who made levels for all the games I've played. I don't think I could honestly boil it down to just one or two people. Being able to review past experiences, draw from them, and then output something new or different is a critical component to all creativity, in my opinion.

What has been the most enjoyable project you have worked on so far? Why?

That's really difficult since I've enjoyed every project I've worked on. I would have to say my first industry experience because I was thrilled to be there, we all loved what we were doing, and it was a small team with a family atmosphere.

What are the most enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?

Besides doing what I love? :) Creating something beautiful that I get to take a walk in once I'm done. It makes all the work up to that point worthwhile.

What would be the least enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?

Rebuilding and crashes. It is software, after all. :)

What has been the most challenging aspect of world design?

Creating a compelling experience. The implementation almost feels like the easy part. Especially since the experience is always subjective in the end.

How do you envision the future of gaming and game design? Particularly world design?

I think that as tools continue to improve, and we're already seeing this, we'll need more people to tackle more specific parts of level creation. Eventually, I hope the ease of use quality of the tools would increase and come back around to re-unify some aspects that are currently getting split up now.

Do you see a future where world designer will become highly sought after for their individual styles. Say, in much the same way that a film production company will seek the skills of a certain director, actors, cinematographer etc?
I'm not so sure about this idea. More and more level design is factoring into more pieces. In the past, a level designer could handle everything from art creation and implementation, to audio implementation, to initial geometry setup, to game play scripting, and everything in between. Now, depending on the company and the pipeline, there are artists who create assets, artists who place the assets, sound designers who implement the audio, game play designers who layout the initial geometry, and scripters who handle only the scripting. With the greater variety of tools and their depth, this has become somewhat of a necessity since it's difficult for any one person to be an expert in all of those departments. However, with this kind of breakdown, it's hard to have and communicate an individual 'style' when the task becomes so focused on only one aspect of the gestalt.

What project/s are you currently working on?

The next project from Kaos Studios. Sorry, but it's too early to be any more specific than that.

What are your aspirations for your future career?

I've found what I love to do so really, just to continue to evolve and grow as a level designer. You can never know everything, and I doubt I'll ever be the 'best' level designer out there. But I can be the best level designer that I can be. (There's a difference there.) So I'll continue to reach for that.

What advice do you have for people who are interested in a career in the gaming industry?

Have a passion for what you are trying to become, and the industry in general. If you don't, it will be just another job where life becomes a series of days that are spent waiting for Friday.

What skills/character traits would an individual need to possess to become a world designer?

Communication and teamwork skills for working with the development team. Specifically for design, certainly the ability to give and receive constructive criticism.

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Rachel Cordone

2009-04-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

Sub Rose - Unreal Tournament 2004

Elven Dreams - Unreal Tournament 2003

Prometheus - Unreal Tournament 2002

Rachel Cordone is a world designer with a singular vision. Her worlds exude finesse in every detail, her staging epic yet inviting. NWD chatted to Rachel about her designs and inspirations.

How did you get started in game design?
I got my start with the Half Life editor in 1998, but I never released anything I made with it. When Unreal Tournament came out I really loved what UnrealEd had that Hammer didn't, so I've been using UnrealEd ever since.

What things inspire your world design?
I get my inspiration from everywhere really. CTF-Catherine was inspired by the Myst books, DM-Reconstruct was inspired by a Cher video (really). Mostly I try and think of new ways to make gameplay, some wacky new idea, and see if I can find a way to make it work.

Who has been an influence in your design work and why?
Nobody specifically. I try to make things that are unique and innovative, and being influenced by other people's work goes against that.

You have worked for the legendary gaming company Epic. Can you tell us a little about your experience with the company?
It wasn't much, just a contract job for the Mega Bonus Pack. The Community Bonus Pack team was working on CBP3, and Epic posted on our private forums asking if anyone would like to submit their map to be included in the Mega Bonus Pack. I had to change a lot about the map (it was originally an assault on Epic headquarters to steal the UT2050 demo and upload it to the internet), but it was worth it to have my map included.

Are you now more aware of your real world surrounds now that you are creating virtual worlds? How do you real world experience translate in your virtual world design?
I love exploring and seeing nature, but it doesn't really influence my design. I like to see things in games that you can't see in real life, and I like to go out and see things in real life that you can't experience in games.

What are the most enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?
Just being able to do what I love for a living. Not many people get a chance to do that.

What would be the least enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?
Having my ideas ignored. There are probably some reasons behind it sometimes, but I like to think that when left to do my thing that I can make really great games.

What has been the most challenging aspect of world design?
Trying to stay original, and being able to outdo myself with everything I make. I'm always afraid that when people really love something of mine, that I will never get any better and that is the best I will ever do. It keeps me motivated to improve myself.

How do you envision the future of gaming and game design? Particularly world design?
I see it developing into more about designing the experience than worrying about where a door will go or what texture to use. With things like SpeedTree out there, I think it will get to the point where designing the world will be the easy part, and designing the experience is where the challenge will be.

What are your aspirations for your career?
I've just taken a job as a Senior Level Designer, but I'm hoping that even if I don't win the Make Something Unreal Contest with Prometheus that I can still get it published and put on store shelves. I don't think I'd want to start up my own studio, I think the future of the industry is in smaller games that can be developed by fewer people for less money, and you wouldn't necessarily need a studio for that.

What advice do you have for people who are interested in a career in the gaming industry?
Anyone who really has what it takes to make it isn't interested in advice, they're nose deep in code or UnrealEd already. The ones that have the passion already know what they need to do to get there. :)

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John Mundy

2009-04-02T00:06:00.000-07:00

Fat Princess

Gods and Heroes

John Mundy is a game developer whose passion for creativity runs the gamut - from film and music to computer science and game design. NWD chatted to John about his adventures as a creative in the game design industry and his future career aspirations.

I was a great kid because I played games instead of making trouble.

I was a bad kid because I played more games than I read books.

What was the first game to knock you off your feet?
I was lost in a sea of games! I love from LucasArts (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle), Nintendo (Mario 3, Mario Kart), Sega (Sonic, Shinobi, Toe Jam and Earl) and so many more.

A game I could can play over and over again is Counter Strike Source.

How did you get started in game design?
As most people do before the invention of game development school, I think I have a unique story. My county fair decided to be all about tech one year and listed in the local paper all the game and software companies in the area. I took this as an opportunity to send unsolicited letter to all of them asking if they had work for a 15 year old. Most sent generic post cards saying they would keep my resume on file, but a few responded. Stormfront studios sent a personalized letter about how cute it was to have a 15 year old want to work for them. Ronin Entertainment took me up on my offer and gave me an interview...and hired me at 15. Kalani Streicher changed my life by hiring me.

If I wasn't a game designer I would be trying to be one.

What things inspire your world design?

Conflict, of course. A world that is interesting to be in is one with conflict. The key is finding what conflict is unique and interesting, but still topical. Post-apocalyptic is kinda generic, but something about climate change, for example, is quite different and worth using as inspiration. Other things that inspire me are the countless movies I watch. I watch 8-12 movies a week. Not new ones always...sometimes the same movies I've seen over and over again.

Who has been an influence in your design work and why?

I always seem to have a muse when I am designing. Right now my muse is my fiancee. She helps me wrangle good ideas and turns them into excellent ones. In the past, my influences have been other coworkers. Generally, though, my influence happens to be not people but other forms of entertainment. Books, movies and TV. I find my influence not usually in people but in other published media.

Does your interest in film have a bearing on your game design? How?

Absolutely. I think games have a lot to learn from film, but don't know how to learn quite yet. I am always driven by games that want to do something interesting emotionally, because I believe these are the games that try to reach out in ways that movies do. Sure, we will never be interested in Schindler's List the game, but that doesn't mean that we can't play an game and find a way to morally question humanity.

Are you now more aware of your real world surrounds now that you are creating virtual worlds? How do you real world experience translate in your virtual world design?

Of course the real world contains inspiration, but the real inspiration I find is in my imagination. I love to imagine. Maybe the closest way to say that the real world influences me is through my dreams. Whenever I remember a fantastical dream, I write it down...and try to find how it is connected to things I did in real life. At least for me, almost every moment in dreams can be connected to a real world event that I experienced. Other than that, I don't really use the real world because the things we experience that are amazing in real life seem totally fake and unbelievable in games.

What are the most enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?

The two most enjoyable aspects of this industry to me are the camaraderie experienced when everyone is working hard and then seeing the project finally come together. The team you work with really becomes your family.

What would be the least enjoyable aspects of the work that you do?

I don't happen to enjoy the politics that occasionally pop up. Politics exist in any industry and don't for a second think that they don't exist in games. Some companies are worse than others for sure and occasionally you find a gem of a team that is all on the same page and headed in the same direction.

What has been the most challenging aspect of world design?

I'd have to say the most challenging aspect is knowing when to stop. There is this silly saying that "Good enough is the enemy of excellence," but really at some point in your design you have to put it down and move on. I often say that we could keep working on a world or a game or a level forever, constantly tweaking and improving it, but at some point you really do just have to stop.

How do you envision the future of gaming and game design? Particularly world design?

I see world design becoming more difficult, actually. With the size and scope of some projects these days, its no wonder that there are so many mediocre games. Just because we can make a world the size of Rhode Island, it doesn't mean we should. World designers need to not forget that a highly polished 5 hour experience is far better than an 80 hour so-so experience.

A game I wish I had a part in designing is ...
Day of the Tentacle for sure. It was just so witty and well thought out that I wish there was a sequel that was in the works even today.

The most fascinating thing that has ever happened to me in a game was falling asleep on pain killers after getting my wisdom teeth taken out. I was playing the first Shenmue and was so out of it that the game world existed in my mind for 30 min as I then woke and continued playing as if I hadn't missed a beat. I realized then how much I extended the world of the games I played into my imagination.

What project/s are you currently working on?

I am working on Fat Princess, the Playstation Network Game about cartoon mayhem, gibs, cake, teamwork and gore. Oh yeah, and a few other things I can't talk about. :P

What are your aspirations for your future career?

Right now I am working towards leading my own project. That's enough for me to wrap my head around at the moment. I am working with some great people right now, so leaving all possibilities open for the future is what I am interested in.

What advice do you have for people who are interested in a career in the gaming industry?

Well, don't expect a game school to make you into a good game designer or programmer. Make some mods for an existing game or make a level for something like Team Fortress 2. That's the kinda thing that will get you noticed faster. Not to say there is anything wrong with a game school, but the things you learn there you will most likely throw right out when you get a real job, so save yourself the time and hunker down on a personal project with a few friends.

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