The topic which I’m to discuss is one that I think most people have an opinion about. Can a good game designer design any type of game?
I’ve decided that I’ll break it down to two different ways of answering that.
Can a good game designer contribute to any type of game? Yes, absolutely!
Can a good game designer unfamiliar with the type of game in focus, design that kind of game by himself? No! Well, yes… But… It depends… A definite “maybe” perhaps?
I’ll start by discussing the first answer, as it’s not only first but also simpler.
I think a good game designer is a good game designer no matter what. Even if he’s only done FPS action-games, he’s a valuable member in a design team working on a funny platformer. It’s still about making a fun experience for the player, thinking about tweaks, balance, features, pacing, interaction, etc. It’s impossible for a designer to be completely useless in one project while being invaluable in another.
Not all designers work or think the same way, nor do we all have the same set of skills. But we all have something to offer, just like even programmers (no offence) might get a good creative idea every now and then.
So therefore, if you’re a “good game designer”, we can assume that you have a broad skill set but also a good understanding of what makes a game tick, and in one way or another an idea of what “fun” is.
But of course, just as you’re probably better at cooking one kind of food than others, it’s the same with game design. You might be better at the FPS action-game or not any particular kind of game, but an area like Human Computer Interaction (HCI).
Which brings us to the difficulty of answering the second way of wording the question.
I do think expertise is needed and hence, not anyone can do everything. So if you’re gonna develop a game about social interaction and power struggle, it might be wise to get a designer that actually knows that kind of stuff.
But here’s the thing; how do the designers with the expertise know what they know? They’ve learned it! And there’s nothing that dictates that no one else can learn that stuff as well. So basically, a good designer lacking that particular expertise could work hard on “getting there”. Reading, doing research, etc.
So what it comes down to now are two things:
- The possibility to learn – A lot of the expert designer’s skill is probably based on actual experience and not just theoretical practice. Some or all of those experiences might be impossible to replicate and are therefor unique to the expert designer.
- Time – With enough time, the good designer lacking the expertise could probably get there, but time is the one thing that there’s never enough of within actual development.
Meaning? In reality the expert designer has knowledge of the particular kind of game, that a good designer doesn’t. The good designer is a truly great asset for the team and he can take the game a really long way, creating something great. But for that something special, the extra edge within the type, I do think an expert is needed.
But let me end with this. Every rule has an exception, right? So of course there are designers out there without the expertise that could elevate the type X of games onto a whole new level, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that that’s normally the case.
Arcade
Arshak Ardeshir
Gustav Ziolkowski
Severin Brettmeister
Andre Beccu
To make this clear; I interpret “any” as “every”. If there would be no game designer capable of designing any game, then we’d be in a world of shock.
Quote: Can a good game designer contribute to any type of game? Yes, absolutely!
This might bring up a philosophical issue rather than focusing at the implied topic; “Can a good game designer contribute to any known type of game?”. I feel life is a big mystery, and its possibilities are endless. This directly applies to games as well, and the sort of game we are familiar with, less familiar with and ultimately, the games that were never invented. Should a game designer be entitled ‘good’ if she is able to contribute to any currently known type of game, might be another way to toss the question around. But I’ll leave the rant where it is, since I doubt the discussion heading that road mainly is a question of defining the question, not retrieving a proper answer for it. I wished to state this thought for amusement.
Also, the question was quite clear and precise but I failed to see any clear answer to this topic. I assume this is deliberate in some sort of way, as I fail to see any way of defining
a) what makes a good game designer
b) what designing a game means
c) any discussion linking the designer to “designing any type of game”
d) what area expertise has to do with “designing any type of game” (note the ‘any’ = ‘every’ in my interpretion)
Still, the points put forward in this discussion states that any (good) designer can contribute to any type of game. Expertise “is needed”. Actually, the whole discussion about expertise eluded me in the greatest form. What is said about expertise in regard to designing any type of game, more than “it is needed”?
I hope I didn’t confuse you further. I am no game designer, and I had a hard time following the discussion, never reaching any real consensus.
By the way, if area expertise “is needed” in the form of making “a type of game”, then area experts can design “any” type of game. It is the given that if area experts “are needed” to make “a type of game”, no one designer can make “every” kind of game. This is just me toying myself with defintions again, since I still don’t understand the discussion
@Lasse Järvensivu
I’ll give answering your questions a go.
“[...]the question was quite clear and precise but I failed to see any clear answer to this topic. I assume this is deliberate in some sort of way[...]”
- Yes, I never delivered a clear yes/no answer, because I don’t feel I have any. Instead I decided to discuss it and the way I interpret it.
I do admit that there’s but a vague explanation of a “good designer” but I mean it in a subjective way. I suppose a good designer is someone with enough skill to be of great help for any game project, based on what I wrote. If you’re refering to if there’s a certain aspect of the game design or some guy having to design the entire game, I don’t think it affects the text very much. I have no “set role” for the “game designer”.
“Still, the points put forward in this discussion states that any (good) designer can contribute to any type of game.”
- Yes
“Expertise “is needed”.”
- Depending on what the game is going for, yes.
“What is said about expertise in regard to designing any type of game, more than “it is needed”?”
- I didn’t put a lot of focus on that. Maybe I should have. I felt that that wasn’t the issue in the spotlight. What I mainly ment was that with respect to time/cost in development, it’s important to have an (several?) expert.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Be sure to check back wednesday when Gustav Ziolkowski’s post goes online.
The thing is this: does being a good designer significantly differ from being good at anything else? Given that humans are a self-correcting system, as long as you get punished for doing it wrong and/or rewarded for doing something good, everyone will become an expert given infinite time. Thus it should not be about how much you know but how fast you grow compared to everyone else.
Take someone with five years of industry experience and compare them to a guy with no experience. If the first one has slacked off and only learned one years worth of new stuff, guy 2 would overtake him in 1.2 years. Just being good is not good enough, you have to be better than the opposition.
One thing that I got out of the poker community is this: what you do is not as important as why you do it. If you can explained why your idea is good and explain all the reasons why you prefer it over anyone elses, it’s probably a pretty good idea. Then you will not have to argue against the idea itself, rather you can say that your foundation for coming to that conclusion is wrong. If you have a well thought-out line of reasoning behind your decisions, they will probably hold up pretty well. This is what I like to think of as the process of design, making good decisions based upon old knowledge that help solve new problems.
That said I believe that there are a few skills that make you more suited to be a designer but they would also make you better at every type of job involving problem solving. A few skills that always come in handy:
1. Being humble and taking constructive criticism well. Your idea is not always the best one.
2. Giving good criticism. Their ideas aren’t always the best ones either.
3. Social skills. Since your ideas and everyone elses ideas all suck, you must be able to work as a team with anyone else and use the wisdom of crowds instead of being a bunch of pricks yelling at eachother.
4. Being able to simplify things and write them down clearly. If you don’t write it down, it never happened.
5. Take a simple concept and see why it doesn’t work. People are idiots, they will constantly abuse every flaw in your game even if it makes the game boring. Don’t let that happen.
/J
@Jonas Tykesson
Hey and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Your comment about having to be better instead of good is very true. That’s the truth about pretty much everything.
I like your way of thinking that designing is a social thing.
But my favorite part was: “Since your ideas and everyone elses ideas all suck, you must be able to work as a team with anyone else and use the wisdom of crowds instead of being a bunch of pricks yelling at eachother.”
If there’s something you learn at a University studying the development, that’s a problem you see way too often!