Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
tWo criticisms oF Formal methods
continued
any design tool requires some investment to master, but we feel that learning
machinations will pay back this investment. Your design will be better because the tools
offer you an efficient way to test your mechanics quickly.
design tools support creativity
The second argument, that no formal design method can replace the instinctive creative
genius of the individual designer, is more problematic. People who subscribe to this
opinion dismiss the whole idea of design methodology. however, this opinion is often
informed by a rather naive conception of art. art is, and always has been, the combina-
tion of creative talent, practiced technique, and hard work—
a lot of hard work
. There is
no point in denying that one artist has more talent than another, but pure talent rarely
makes up for the other two aspects entirely. especially within an industry where much
money rides on the success of each project, investors simply cannot afford to gamble on
creative talent to deliver all the time.
The image of the artist as a creative genius extemporaneously devising brilliant works
with raw talent is a romantic vision that rarely fits reality. To create art, artists must learn
the techniques of the trade and work hard. This has always been the case for all forms of
art, and there is no reason to assume that games are any different. The artist's tools and
techniques are many. They range from the practical to the theoretical. Painters learn how
to use a brush with different types of paint and learn about the mathematical principles
of perspective and the psychological principles of cognition. The invention of geomet-
ric perspective—a seemingly scientific rather than aesthetic innovation—revolutionized
renaissance painting. The development of abstract art throughout the nineteenth and
early twentieth century has been a gradual and deliberate intellectual process. none of
these changes would have happened if painters treated intuition and individual skill as
their only source of progress.
We feel that skeptics of design methodologies are missing the point. Formal design
methods are created to support the creative genius, not to replace it. no matter how
good a method or tool is, it can never replace the vision of the designer, nor can it
replace the hard work involved in designing a game. at best it can ease the burden and
refine a designer's techniques. The best methods do not restrict a designer's vision.
rather, they enhance it, enabling the designer to work faster and create better results.
machinations diagrams also facilitate teamwork and collaboration. instead of arguing
about how their proposed mechanics will behave once the code is written, a design team
can diagram and simulate them before a line of code is written.
