The realities of work as a game designer in a big studio on the example of BioWare
Today, in the blog of the Gaming Internet Projects Management program , we are starting a new rubric of translation of articles on game design from foreign experts. And the first article with which we want to introduce you was written on the lecture of Bioware Game Design Director James Olen , on the theme “The Realities of Game Designer in a Large Studio Using the Example of BioWare”.
James Olen has been in the gaming industry for many years. Of these, he spent 20 years at BioWare, owned by EA and known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. As a director of game design at BioWare, James must help hundreds of game designers and developers interact with complex and large-scale game worlds. At the Austin Game conference, he gave friendly developers an insight into the essence of the ideas and concepts that underlie such large studios as BioWare.
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“The reality often doesn’t coincide with dreams ,” says Olen, explaining to novice game designers that the game industry does not always meet your expectations. Students often imagine how they will become game designers and begin to embody their vision of the ideal game worlds. But when they are released, they can get into a team of 100 or more people, and their ideas will not be translated into reality.
“For many people, adapting to this environment can be very tough,” says Olen. “But still, don't be discouraged. Game design is one of the best works in the world. It gives millions of people the opportunity to touch what you have done. ”
In BioWare, game designers are divided into script writers, level designers, game systems, and gameplay . This approach requires game designers to shift their attention from extensive ideas to something more worthwhile and concrete.
BioWare was created to grow game designers from the entry position of a junior game designer to a creative director.
“We often have to let new game designers make their own mistakes. Senior employees should always remain open to the ideas of their younger colleagues. ”
The BioWare editorial team includes about 20 people from three different studios. They are engaged in dialogue, history and narrative design.
Level designers are the most common and most stressful position in BioWare. “Level designers are actually subservient to all other units on the project. This is a good job, similar to the primary Lego detail, but subject to enormous stress. ”
Game system designers work a lot with programmers and graphic designers. For example, the systems of the in-game economy fall within their competence.
"More than everyone else, gameplay designers have to work as a team with other departments to succeed." Their work is very important, because it is for it that players will evaluate the final product.
BioWare's mission is to make the best stories you can play, so one of the most important values ​​for a company is a high-quality product and high-quality working conditions.
Quality product and quality working conditions are often mutually exclusive when it comes to such a big company like BioWare. Of course, the company will not sacrifice people for the sake of the product, because it threatens the deterioration of the atmosphere in the team and the loss of many talented employees. But at the same time, its ability to meet quality standards and compete in the market depends on the efficiency of the studio.
“I believe that modesty is the key to success. Make all your everyday interactions a little more modest and you will see how this can help you improve efficiency. But being humble does not mean allowing yourself to be lazy or a limp rag. It means to admit the thought that there are better solutions than those that you propose. It seems to me that the job of a game designer is to offer the best ideas for solving problems. You need to get rid of all selfish thoughts, because they always make the whole project suffer. Do not think that you have the best vision, do not think that you have the best solution - I bet you are wrong. One of the worst things a game designer can do is hide their work from the team until it is perfect in his opinion. You have to share your ideas with people and collaborate with them.
One of the most destructive thoughts: "I am the best because it is written on my business card." You may be well versed in your work, you may have enough experience, but you will never know absolutely everything.
When you stop working with other areas, you begin to lose important skills. Based on the concept of teamwork, Olen identifies 2 basic requirements for game designer:
You must be able to understand someone else's vision. You must be able to communicate the vision of others in the correct form.
But sometimes when working in a large company, where creative decisions are made from above, you may think that these decisions are not very successful. In this case, all is not lost, you can still regain a passion for a project with the idea of ​​which you initially disagree. But it takes effort.
Be understanding with the idea, its author and the people involved in the process of its development.
Practice active listening, it helps to better understand the interlocutor.
Dive into projects with a similar idea (play all the games of your studio and games with a similar idea, read books and watch movies with a similar theme).
In other words, try to take everything positively and look for ways to get carried away with this idea.
Olen says that he was once the very man who literally criticized everything. The idea that this approach was wrong dawned on him for the first time in the late 1990s, after watching the film The Matrix. Everyone around was delighted, and only James did not like it. Then he realized that his critical attitude prevents him from enjoying anything.
“To be able to analyze work and to approach it is critically very important, but sometimes you need to be able to turn it off in yourself.”
To be successful is to know what an ideal is, always strive for it and seek compromises. One should never get upset if the ideal has not been achieved.
“This happens often and but use such situations to gain experience and motivation so that you can do better next time. This is just part of the work in game development. Designers must love problems and be able to solve them. ”
“Stress helps creativity. If you have no limits, you will continue to do what you did before. ”
Identifying problems and finding the best solutions by any means is a topic to which Olen returns again and again. His mantra: “For every problem there is always a creative solution. Sometimes you may not have the time or money to find it. ” Do not reproach yourself for this, but always keep looking.
Improve constantly . Plan, execute, check your results and make reports. Then start again, taking into account the conclusions you made earlier and try to do the job better. The work evaluation stage is often the most difficult because you have to listen to a lot of reviews, often critical ones, and approach them constructively.
“This is the most important game design challenge,” he says.
In the meantime, we will be preparing new articles that we hope will be interesting and useful for you.
James Olen has been in the gaming industry for many years. Of these, he spent 20 years at BioWare, owned by EA and known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. As a director of game design at BioWare, James must help hundreds of game designers and developers interact with complex and large-scale game worlds. At the Austin Game conference, he gave friendly developers an insight into the essence of the ideas and concepts that underlie such large studios as BioWare.
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Game Design: Dreams vs. Reality
“The reality often doesn’t coincide with dreams ,” says Olen, explaining to novice game designers that the game industry does not always meet your expectations. Students often imagine how they will become game designers and begin to embody their vision of the ideal game worlds. But when they are released, they can get into a team of 100 or more people, and their ideas will not be translated into reality.
“For many people, adapting to this environment can be very tough,” says Olen. “But still, don't be discouraged. Game design is one of the best works in the world. It gives millions of people the opportunity to touch what you have done. ”
In BioWare, game designers are divided into script writers, level designers, game systems, and gameplay . This approach requires game designers to shift their attention from extensive ideas to something more worthwhile and concrete.
BioWare was created to grow game designers from the entry position of a junior game designer to a creative director.
“We often have to let new game designers make their own mistakes. Senior employees should always remain open to the ideas of their younger colleagues. ”
The BioWare editorial team includes about 20 people from three different studios. They are engaged in dialogue, history and narrative design.
Level designers are the most common and most stressful position in BioWare. “Level designers are actually subservient to all other units on the project. This is a good job, similar to the primary Lego detail, but subject to enormous stress. ”
Game system designers work a lot with programmers and graphic designers. For example, the systems of the in-game economy fall within their competence.
"More than everyone else, gameplay designers have to work as a team with other departments to succeed." Their work is very important, because it is for it that players will evaluate the final product.
Product quality versus quality of life
BioWare's mission is to make the best stories you can play, so one of the most important values ​​for a company is a high-quality product and high-quality working conditions.
Quality product and quality working conditions are often mutually exclusive when it comes to such a big company like BioWare. Of course, the company will not sacrifice people for the sake of the product, because it threatens the deterioration of the atmosphere in the team and the loss of many talented employees. But at the same time, its ability to meet quality standards and compete in the market depends on the efficiency of the studio.
“I believe that modesty is the key to success. Make all your everyday interactions a little more modest and you will see how this can help you improve efficiency. But being humble does not mean allowing yourself to be lazy or a limp rag. It means to admit the thought that there are better solutions than those that you propose. It seems to me that the job of a game designer is to offer the best ideas for solving problems. You need to get rid of all selfish thoughts, because they always make the whole project suffer. Do not think that you have the best vision, do not think that you have the best solution - I bet you are wrong. One of the worst things a game designer can do is hide their work from the team until it is perfect in his opinion. You have to share your ideas with people and collaborate with them.
One of the most destructive thoughts: "I am the best because it is written on my business card." You may be well versed in your work, you may have enough experience, but you will never know absolutely everything.
When you stop working with other areas, you begin to lose important skills. Based on the concept of teamwork, Olen identifies 2 basic requirements for game designer:
You must be able to understand someone else's vision. You must be able to communicate the vision of others in the correct form.
But sometimes when working in a large company, where creative decisions are made from above, you may think that these decisions are not very successful. In this case, all is not lost, you can still regain a passion for a project with the idea of ​​which you initially disagree. But it takes effort.
Be understanding with the idea, its author and the people involved in the process of its development.
Practice active listening, it helps to better understand the interlocutor.
Dive into projects with a similar idea (play all the games of your studio and games with a similar idea, read books and watch movies with a similar theme).
In other words, try to take everything positively and look for ways to get carried away with this idea.
Olen says that he was once the very man who literally criticized everything. The idea that this approach was wrong dawned on him for the first time in the late 1990s, after watching the film The Matrix. Everyone around was delighted, and only James did not like it. Then he realized that his critical attitude prevents him from enjoying anything.
“To be able to analyze work and to approach it is critically very important, but sometimes you need to be able to turn it off in yourself.”
To be successful is to know what an ideal is, always strive for it and seek compromises. One should never get upset if the ideal has not been achieved.
“This happens often and but use such situations to gain experience and motivation so that you can do better next time. This is just part of the work in game development. Designers must love problems and be able to solve them. ”
“Stress helps creativity. If you have no limits, you will continue to do what you did before. ”
There is always a solution
Identifying problems and finding the best solutions by any means is a topic to which Olen returns again and again. His mantra: “For every problem there is always a creative solution. Sometimes you may not have the time or money to find it. ” Do not reproach yourself for this, but always keep looking.
Improve constantly . Plan, execute, check your results and make reports. Then start again, taking into account the conclusions you made earlier and try to do the job better. The work evaluation stage is often the most difficult because you have to listen to a lot of reviews, often critical ones, and approach them constructively.
“This is the most important game design challenge,” he says.
In the meantime, we will be preparing new articles that we hope will be interesting and useful for you.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/313322/
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