Sometimes I'd like to write down analysis of some game designs, but I have no idea where to start. And it feels weird because I can easily write analysis a movie or a theater representation, but I feel like I can't do it for games, like there's too much to tell maybe or I dunno.. Any tip ?

January 13, 2016

I guess it depends on what part of the design you want to analyze. Maybe start by jotting down moments that surprised or delighted you, or maybe made you curious. Then after your playthrough, go back and think about why, come up with some theories.

Same with moments that frustrated you. Talk them out with someone. Often if I write something about design I've hashed it out in casual conversation first.

For a more practical approach, record your playthroughs, go back and watch them, then start writing down all the data points you can observe. Then go back and look at the numbers and see what analysis you can derive.

I went shopping the other day and I was thinking of the "level design" of shops, like "does this setting makes me go through the man section even if I'm a girl ?". I also analysed the game design of a simple Playground slide when I saw one in a park. Am I seeing too much game design everywhere?._.

January 13, 2016

Not at all! It's good to have insights in all places. For extra fun, visit a casino and observe how the "level design" is intentionally terrible to keep people from finding their way out. I like to go to museums and when I get to a stopping point, retrace my steps to figure out "how" I got somewhere, by which I mean how the space guided me to that spot.

I heard that getting a job in QA might be an easier way to break into design rather than straight applying for design. Is this true do you think? If so, should I still show off my design portfolio in my application? I'm not sure what I'd put on a resume except the design work I've done.

January 04, 2016

Ooops this was sitting in here and I didn't notice! Anyway, I think the design-through-QA route was much more common many years ago, when there weren't things like internships and apprenticeships, and when the tools for creating games weren't so readily available (such that it was difficult to get experience making video games when you weren't in them).

I still know people who go into design from QA, and I have no numbers to back this up, but I feel like more people go into design through things like internships, or having their own design experience on their own before applying (through things like modding, side projects, etc). Again this is a gut feeling and I have NO evidence one way or the other.

Either way, I would not say that QA is an "easier" way to get in, just a different way. Also, please know that QA in and of itself is an important job with its own skillsets. If you're applying to a QA position, I wouldn't apply with a design portfolio. QA is a bit like science - yes, it's about finding bugs, but then you have to form a hypothesis and come up with reproducible results and that is a very specific skillset. Either way, I'll ask my QA and design-through-QA friends to chime in on Twitter to this answer.

To keep up with my streak of linking Liz England's "From Student to Designer" series in every single answer I give, here's her write-up on entry-level design jobs http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/11/from-student-to-designer-part-6-entry-level-design-jobs/

What design books do you recommend?

Benn Powell

December 19, 2015

The Art of Game Design is great for a broad coverage of many aspects of the field and continues to be one of my favorites. Homo Ludens is good. The Design of Everyday Things is excellent in how it predicts a lot of modern UI trends (and also a horrifying reminder of how bad phone UI was in the 80s). Challenges for Game Designers has some great exercises for the active designer looking to stretch their brains.

Liz England runs a game design book club where we try and read a new book every month, and I've been behind, but she's been doing reviews fairly consistently. Check her blog for other good suggestions: http://www.lizengland.com/

As for non-design books that are great for designers, I wrote a thing about that here:
http://www.wertle.com/non-game-design-books-that-game-designers-should-read/

Liked by: Benn Powell

If you had any general advice for a designer going into an internship, what would it be?

December 11, 2015

Learn as much as possible from everyone you can. An internship can be the most astoundingly useful of learning experiences, so treat every person there as a potential mentor. Seek to learn from them. Come from a place of humility and enthusiasm. Try and find ways to look in on studio processes of all sorts, to get a well-rounded understanding of how they work. At the same time, understand that you bring value to the team as an intern. Students often have fresh brains and new perspectives, so don't be afraid to use what you know and speak up with ideas!

Also, I'm pretty sure that last question is asking about super smash bros.

December 11, 2015

Yeah I figured that out on twitter later, whoops! I actually don't play smash, though I enjoy watching the pros.

How important are math skills in being a designer? I've seen some postings that say they require strong math skills, and while I can get by with math it's always been my worst subject. seems strange to me because in any of my designs I've never had to really use a ton of it. Mostly level design tho.

December 11, 2015

It depends on the type of design you're doing. Maybe in level design not so much (other than being able to convert metrics when thinking about things like how fast your hero moves, etc). Systems design might involve more probability, formula modeling for things like progression, economy, etc. For implementation things like designing weapons and hero movement, you might get into more advanced stuff. Basic algebra and whatnot comes into play so often that I forget that's what I'm doing.

For me, personally, the maths that I run into most often that I wish I were better at (and on occasion Khan-academy up) are: vector math of any sort, basic trig, probability and statistics. Things I want to level up on: 3D math, understanding cross products, etc.

Perhaps other designers on twitter will have additional input, so check there for more.

This reminds me, years ago I did a presentation for high school students about the sorts of math they learned that we used in game development, with real-world examples from all departments. i should dig that up.

Hey Lisa who's yr main (melee)

December 04, 2015

Wait what game are you talking about? What if my main is not melee? I have no idea what game so I'll just list off games I can recall that I've ever had a "main" in and just ignore the melee part

World of Warcraft - Tauren warrior (tank)
League of Legends - I played Kog'Maw exclusively for ages, and then Thresh for subsequent ages
Nuclear Throne - Crystal
Destiny - Warlock

What other games do people have mains in? I just got back from traveling and am tired so I'm probably missing a considerable number.

If you had the chance to sit down one on one with somebody whose work you admire, what would you ask?

December 03, 2015

Usually when I do get the chance to sit with people whose work I admire, I am intensely interested in how their brain works more than their work itself. So I usually ask questions that dig into that. I love to ask if they've had any insights recently.

My favorite work-related question for interesting people is "what is the hardest thing about making the thing you're working on right now?" It has never failed to yield fascinating answers.

Liked by: John Fio

Graduation is scary. I'm just a few weeks away and worried I may not find a job right away. How long did it take you to land something in the AAA space? And when did you feel like you had "made it"? The more I learn, the more it feels like I have further to go.

December 03, 2015

I don't know if I'm really the best benchmark for this. I got an internship my one summer in grad school and, seeing as an internship is really a 3 month long interview, they made me an offer upon graduation and I accepted. But mine is one of many different experiences, some people don't find work right away, and have to spend more time refining their portfolios.

I'm going to once again recommend reading Liz England's "From Student to Designer" series if you have any interest in working in AAA. I should just keep a permanent link to that in my profile, really.

As far as "making it," I'm not sure I know what that's supposed to feel like. You have to understand, I spent 8 years trying to figure out what to do with my life so I feel like I "made it" when I finally figured out I was a game designer, completely outside the context of a job.

I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life anymore. Will game design god come to me and bring me back on the right path ?

December 03, 2015

I'm afraid I don't believe in the game design god. If you are feeling uninspired, take some time to devote to your health, mentally and otherwise. And I don't mean "if only I could figure out what to do I would be happy, but I can't figure it out so why bother." Take action, and the simplest action to take in the face of indecision is managing the baseline. Note I said simplest, not easiest. Easier said than done, always. It happens to everyone.

I'm awful at getting back to people, both professionally and personally, as I'm the type of person to isolate myself when depressed. Do you have any advice or tips for breaking out of that? I feel like I've left too many awesome potential connections just hanging. :/

December 03, 2015

Going through something similar right now, I think it's important when taking care of yourself to not get knocked further down by guilt about your own inaccessibility. It's difficult because it's a cycle that feels like it drives you further and further into isolation.

Jakub once mentioned something about this that seemed like good advice to me, for those situations where you have an email that is literally months old that you intended to reply to and aren't sure how to pick it back up. Maybe just reply to it, and say to the sender that you did get the email, and did read it when you got it, and just weren't in a place at the time where you could reply to it. Simple as that, without having to come up with justifications or explanations or apologies. A lot of people can relate to this situation, and so just knowing "Okay, that person did see my email, they didn't ignore it" can set people at ease.

Fries: ketchup, mayo or both?

November 26, 2015

I hate mayo. Let me tell you a story...

When I was little, our next door neighbors were more or less family to us. They were like second parents and their kids were like another set of siblings, so it was common for us to wander between the two homes. Supposedly, according to the Fowlers, they would often sit down to dinner, then look up to see me staring in through the screen door, and so would have me in to join them. I was some kind of meal hustler.

Anyway, the Fowlers had some snacks that we never had at home, so I would scavenge for things like Frankenberry cereal or whatever. One day, I was over playing with my friend and I noticed a large jar of some kind of white stuff on the counter.

"Marshmallow creme!" thought child-Lisa, her eyes wide and bright and her brain operating in classic child-Lisa logic.

I got a spoon.

I removed the lid.

I prepared my being for the joyous experience of devouring a spoonful of marshmallow creme in one bite.

And this is the origin story of my hatred of mayonnaise

Hey Indie Lisa! How has itch.io been treating you so far? If you could make sure one request fell into the ears of the team, what would it be?

November 26, 2015

Itch.io is a lovely platform! I don't think I've had any issues with it, with the exception of a few games that I just haven't been able to put up on there because they are web or server-based (Rosa Neurosa is like this because of the story-sharing feature, and I recall Jurie and Liz had that issue with Mainframe). However I don't know if that'd be a good feature request, to be able to make a page for a game hosted elsewhere, because it might open multiple cans of logistics worms that probably wouldn't be worth it. I do miss having Rosa Neurosa in my collection, though!

It would also be nice to have some information on best practices for repurposing a game. For example, if I made a game for a jam that was hosted on itch.io, and later I wanted to keep developing it and do another release (but still preserve the jam entry), I wouldn't be certain the best way to do that. Should I make a new entry and then rename the old entry's url so I can use it for the new one? Can you even do that? Does changing an entry's status from "prototype" change how it is searchable? I really have no idea.

What do you find yourself doing more often with game balance? Easing up sections that are too hard, or making sections that are too easy more challenging?

Miodrag Kovacevic

November 26, 2015

Probably the former. It is very easy to make things too hard, because you often test your own game with a skewed mindset of the stakes involved (testing a setup in isolation from the context of the whole game, no risk of loss of progress, it often makes you approach things with a detached sort of fearlessness that can give you an inaccurate sense of difficulty.)

It's not always the case, of course, but if I had to run straight numbers I'd probably have more instances of tuning down than tuning up (maybe this says something about my habits as a designer)

Liked by: Miodrag Kovacevic

In a few weeks I'm speaking to a group of 10 year olds about being a game developer. What would you liked to have known about being a game developer when you were 10?

November 26, 2015

At 10 years old I had no idea that game development was even a thing. I loved playing games but never gave any thought to how they were made or the sort of people that made them. I think just showing them how to make a simple game, or even show a game that's already made and how you can modify it, would have stirred up a lot of curiousity.

pizza or tacos?

November 24, 2015

These two things vary so much in quality that it's hard to say. I guess pizza?

Serious question here... favorite color?

November 22, 2015

Purple!

Why do so many AAA games these days feel boring and annoying to play? Every year the number of them that look like they might actually be fun/interesting seems to get lower and lower. :(

November 22, 2015

Ah, the classic dilemma. Pull up a chair, my friend, for it is time for some uncomfortable life truths. This thing you're feeling is a natural feeling, and it actually has less to do with the games themselves and more to do with you and your growth as a person over time. It helps to keep in mind that the old feeling you long for of the amazing/fun/interesting nature that AAA games used to have, that feeling is still there for people who are experiencing AAA games for the first time.

When you've played those sorts of games for years, they get boring, but that very same game that is boring and annoying to you can be incredible for someone who has only played a couple of AAA games ever. So the reason that so many AAA games these days feel boring and annoying to play is probably because it is likely you have played many AAA games in your time, you've processed the fantasies that those first games had to offer, and you're seeing that the differences from game to game often are the smallest of details.

But do not worry! This isn't necessarily something to be upset about. As my mentor, Jason Vandenberghe, told me: "the ' is SO BORING these days! It was so much better !!' meme is actually a natural cycle of becoming a master of that form."

Your tastes are becoming more refined because you have (probably) played many games. That's not a bad thing! But it does mean that it's harder to get that old magic feeling. You could try taking a break from the genre, in hopes that when you return you get that magical feeling again. You could opt for the vicarious experience through someone else who is playing these sorts of games for the first time. You could dive in and revel in the details of the craft that *are* advancing from game to game, but that's a different sort of love, admittedly.

I hope this doesn't come off as too much of a downer, but perhaps this perspective can empower you to try other ways to get that magic feeling back!

How amazing are pancakes?!

November 22, 2015

Pretty amazing! Especially when served with nutella. Or maybe if they are Dutch pancakes with apples in them, those are pretty great. Crepes count well enough. Mmm crepes with nutella and bananas...

PANCAKES ARE AMAZING

yo LISA what do u think abt MINIMAPS and games that are DESIGNED AROUND EM

November 10, 2015

Ah, the minimap! Such a hard balance of useful navigation tool and "the player is only looking at this thing on the screen and is that a problem?

I think the best minimaps are the ones that take advantage of how your peripheral vision works, so that you can use them effectively while your focus is on screen. I have a suspicion that a lot of games that have the issue of "I'm just staring at the minimap" might do so for a few reasons.

1. They've decided that it's okay that this is the case, because the player still needs to return focus to the screen for other things. It's okay if this is the preferred way of the player experiencing the game. It's kind of like how people would gripe about WoW having all the focus on the action bar instead of the beautiful art in battle, when in fact there was something gratifying and captivating about managing your rotation, and the environment was a framework for context.

2. The minimap provides too much information instead of supplementary stuff. Like actual pathing on the minimap can sometimes cause this, because it's just more optimal to navigate by the map than the world.

3. The minimap relies on presenting information in a way that caters to your foveal vision instead of your peripheral vision. Like over-reliance on color and under-reliance on movement. Did you know that, if you are looking at the center of the screen, the place in your vision where you can *actually* see color is a pretty tiny circle? Everything else is just fill-in by your brain.

I feel I'm getting a bit ramblesome, and I'm not sure if I actually answered the question, but there's some thoughts on minimaps all the same!

hi lisa did u play undertlale yet

November 10, 2015

I did! I liked it a lot! Spoiler warning ahead, I guess...

If you've been following me at all, you know that I've had a rather sickly year this year, and just recently took a long break to recoup. I saved Undertale to play on this vacation, and tried very hard to keep my analytical designer brain at bay while playing, because I really, really wanted to play a game again for the sake of the game.

Undertale has such a delightful cast of characters, it strengthens everything else about it. It made me long to make a content-heavy game, which I've honestly never longed for. I loved the meta design with the saving bits, mostly because it served the narrative but wasn't in-your-face about it being fourth-wall breaking and "Ooo look how we're playing on game tropes aren't we clever!" It only said what it needed to say in terms of the game, and in that sense, it *did* come off as clever, and I liked it.

Let's see, what else. My favorite boss was Muffet, my favorite track is Dating Start, my favorite character is Sans, and of course I did the true pacifist ending, because that is a perfectly Lisa way to play a game. If you want to chat about particulars, poke me.

Liked by: John Fio

this might seem like a strange question but how much does it help your application to have a connection with someone who currently works at the studio you're applying to? Like a family friend or something. Referring to the large AAA studios here mostly.

October 28, 2015

I guess it depends? Some places have sections on the application where you can list if someone from the company referred you, but often that's more useful for the person doing the referring (sometimes studios will give a referral bonus to someone who recommends a badass who then gets hired). There is the advantage that they can provide more nuanced information about you if asked by the team doing the hiring, since they know you (though that can be a disadvantage if you happen to be a jerk, though that varies on place - California has weird blacklisting laws that can affect that sort of thing).

Knowing someone at a studio that you want to apply for can also be helpful in getting you more clear information about things like company culture or environment that aren't as easy to convey, but that's not the same thing as "will this help me get hired." In that sense, I don't think it has a huge impact, other than both you and the studio having access to more information. Sometimes this can be helpful if you're a good fit, not helpful if you aren't (though if you aren't a good fit for a place and don't get hired there, I guess that's actually helpful to you in a roundabout way).

Is there a difference amount of experience or number of portfolio pieces for an internship as opposed to a full-time job?

October 20, 2015

If you're applying to an internship, people are going to expect you to be a student, so will probably be looking at your projects through that lens (expecting a lot of class work and personal projects).

Applying to a full-time position they're going to expect more of you just because the *role* requires more of you. An internship implies a lot of teaching, more of an educational experience for the student than a full-time role, where it's heavier on the "we need these skills to get this work done."

I literally just plugged this my last answer, but anyway, read this: http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/06/from-student-to-designer-part-2/

What do you think of Mario Maker levels as portfolio pieces? Too simplistic? What about just side projects to show off?

October 20, 2015

I think you could use them as supplements of interest but that they wouldn't be great primary portfolio pieces for a couple of reasons...

1. Accessibility. It's kind of a pain to play them. You have to own the game, get the code, search for the code, and then download it versus a "here is a download link."

2. Showing skill relevancy. Assuming you are trying to get a job at a studio, the primary purpose of your portfolio is to show that you have the skills they need to do the work that they have (showing that you are a good designer is secondary, for better or worse). This is why making a game in a relevant toolset can be so valuable (if the studio uses Unreal or a proprietary tool that is similar, having a project that shows that you know the ins and outs of Unreal is great, etc.). Even with mod tools, which MarioMaker is more similar to than a game engine, most of them mirror actual development tools more closely versus MarioMaker which is more or less intended to be a toy.

Like I said, I think a good MarioMaker level might be a decent supplement to a strong portfolio, especially if it's showing off something really specific or relevant to the job being applied to, but it would have to be REALLY good and REALLY relevant. However, it should be a supplement, like an interesting experimental game jam entry might be, not the meat.

I feel like I plug Liz's From Student to Designer series every other answer, but that's only because it's really good. Here's her entry on portfolios which is really useful:
http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/06/from-student-to-designer-part-2/

Lisa Brown

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