Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Dialog writing
(drama) is needed for audio voiceovers and cinematic material.
Dialog conveys character, and it also can form part of the plot. A class in playwrit-
ing or screenwriting teaches you a lot about writing dialog.
A designer must be able to convey the details of the design to the rest of the team,
create the textual and spoken material that appears in the game, and help sell the
idea to a publisher. Good writing skills are essential to accomplish these things
successfully.
Drawing Skills
Some skill at basic drawing and sketching is highly valuable, although not abso-
lutely required for a designer if you have a concept artist to work with. The vast
majority of computer games rely heavily on visual content, and drawings are essen-
tial when you're pitching a product to a third party. Game-publishing executives
are interested in a hot concept, a hot market, or a hot license, but only pictures
really excite them. The images remain in their memories long after they forget the
details.
The Ability to Synthesize
Synthesis, in this context, means bringing together different ideas and construct-
ing something new from them. Different people on the development team and at
the publishing company have concerns about their own areas of expertise (pro-
gramming, art, music, and so on), and their opinions pull and push the design in
different directions. A professional game designer must be able to synthesize a con-
sistent, holistic vision of a game from this variety of opinions. As the designer, you
may be tempted to seek sole ownership of the vision and insist that things must be
exactly as you imagined them. You must resist the temptation to do that, for two
reasons:
First, you must allow your team some ownership of the vision as well, or its
members won't have any motivation or enthusiasm for the project. No one builds
computer games solely for the money; we're all here so that we can contribute
creatively.
Second, a designer who can't deliver in a team environment, no matter how
visionary she may be, doesn't stay employed for long. You must be able to work
successfully with other people.
Game design always requires compromise. Compromise means more than just
negotiating with other people, however; it also means working within the prevail-
ing circumstances. In many cases, you are given a task that limits you to designing
a genre clone or a heavily restricted licensed property. On a commercial project,
you are almost certainly told, rather than get to choose, the target hardware upon
which your game will run. Your project always has a desired budget and schedule
