Lenses for the Designer

In the Beginning, There is a Designer §

• Game Design requires confidence, both in one’s design abilities and in one’s knowledge for a variety of disciplines.
• The most important skill for a game designer is to listen - listen to the team, the audience, the game, the client and the self. Listen deeply and thoughtfully. [^1]
• The major gift you can have when it comes to game design is to love the art of Game Design.

The Designer Usually Works With a Team §

• The secret to successful teamwork is love. Everyone in the team has to love the game being made. The challenges to teamwork, then are:

  • Team members incapable of loving any game. Usually, these are the team members in charge of management. The solution is to get rid of them.
  • Team members in love with a different game than the one they are making. The key is to work with them to see if there is something about the current game they can fall in love with.
  • Team members in love with different visions of the same game. Everyone may have different ideas about what the game will be like. The trick is to get everyone on the same page about the design as soon as possible. Do so through Communication and respect. No decision is final until the team agrees it is final.
  • If you can’t love the game, love the audience. Think of the game as something intended as a gift for an audience.
  • If all else fails, pretend And when you pretend eventually real love will emerge. Ask yourself what kinds of things someone who really loved the game would say and do, and start doing those things.

• For some designers, it is terrifying that other members of the team will contribute design ideas that threatens their status as a designer.

  • The key is include the team as much as possible in the design process. Set your ego aside. Take every idea and suggestion seriously and you will
    • Have more ideas
    • Remove the flawed ideas
    • Have a multifaceted view of the game
    • Make everyone feel they own the design.
  • Leave some ambiguity in the detailed design so that the team members who specialize in these aspects can come up with their own solutions.
  • The typical process involves
    • Initial brainstorming
    • Independent design
    • Design discussion - aim for a consensus
    • Design presentation - allow for comments.

• Team Communication is critical. We need the following

  • Objectivity - use the problem statement. All design decisions must solve the problem statement personal preferences aside.
    • No one owns the idea (so say, the X idea rather than P’s idea)
    • Phrase alternatives as questions.
    • Critique must be objective
  • Clarity - if communication is not clear, there will be confusion.
    • Check if people understand what you mean
    • Illustrate whenever possible.
    • Don’t pretend you understand things when you do not. Ask unashamedly to clarify.
    • Be specific and concrete.
  • Persistence - write things down. Things recorded can be checked for later.
    • Make sure someone is taking notes.
    • Make sure to inform everyone of anything design related.
  • Comfort - when people are comfortable, they are less distracted and communicate more freely.
    • The room where communications happen should be physically comfortable.
  • Respect - people who do not feel respected speak little, and if they do, they are not genuine.
    • Empathy.
    • Be polite and patient at all times.
    • Find nice things to say.
    • Remember to consider the possibility that you are wrong.
    • Rush to sincerely apologize than to defend yourself.
  • Trust - the quality of communication matters less than the quantity of communication. There is constant communication and constant problem solving.
    • Prefer face-to-face communication over digital communication.
    • Observe which team members are with each other.
    • Give the team every opportunity to communicate together, even if it is not related to the project.
  • Honesty - if one is dishonest, others will find it to be honest around them, which inhibits communication.
    • Make the team feel certain they are getting the truth from you.
  • Privacy - take time to speak privately with each member when you can. This is for the ideas that they cannot discuss publicly.
    • This jumpstarts a feedback loop of more trust and more honesty.
  • Unity - every design decision must be agreed upon by everyone.
    • When there are disagreements, seek a meaningful compromise.
    • Ask those who disagree why they disagree.
    • Ask “What would it take to bring you in”
    • “Disagree and Commit” - team members sometimes need to be able to go down a path they don’t agree for the sake of unity.
  • Love - when you have all other qualities, the love will shine through.

• Relevant lenses: Love, The Team

The Team Sometimes Communicates through Documents §

• The magic template does not exist. Game Design Documents are out of date the moment you write them. GDDs are theories not specifications.
• GDDs have two purposes memory and communication. They record the design decisions that went into the game.

Document	Source	Target	Description
Game Design Overview	Design	Production and Management	Overview of what the game is and who it is for
Detailed Design Document	Design	Engineers and Artists	Messy and not intended for outsiders. Details all the mechanics and interfaces
Story Overview	Design	Writing	Describes the narrative elements
Technical Design Document	Engineers	Engineer	Deal with the technical non-formal needs to get the game to operate
Pipeline Overview	Engineers	Artists	Impose restrictions to properly integrate art assets. Should be simple and brief
System limitations	Engineers	Designers	Establishes certain technical limitations that should not be crossed.
Art Bible	Artists	Artists	Establishes guidelines to maintain aesthetic consistency
Concept Art Overview	Artists	Designers	Gives a prototype vision of what the game looks like aesthetically
Game budget	Production	Production	Establishes game costs. Typically a spreadsheet
Asset tracker	Production	Production	Keeps track of what has been created and what state it is in
Project Schedule	Production	Design	Frequently updated. Lists all pending tasks, how long they take and who will do them
Story bible	Writing	Writing	Lays down what is and is not possible in the story world.
Script	Writing	Design	Lays out the dialog of the NPCs. The designers review this to check for inconsistencies with gameplay
Game Tutorial and Manual	Writing	Players	Helps players understand the game. Should be accurate to the current game implementation
Game Walkthrough	Players	Players	Study what players write about the game to gain additional feedback.

• Each document should fit with the needs of the game. Remember each game is unique.

• The document grows as follows

  • Start with bullet points
  • Raise questions and write down your design decisions and the rationale for them
  • Categorize the document into sections.

• Relevant lenses: Documentation

Your Game will Probably Have a Client §

• Unless you are making a game as a hobby, or are independently wealthy, the client is paying to make the game.

• Most of the time, the client will have very strong opinions about how the game should look, act, and play.

  • There are two kinds of game designers — happy and cranky. The happy ones are either independently wealthy or good at dealing with the strong opinions of their clients. The cranky ones are not good at dealing with strong opinions.

• Learn to deal with your client’s strong opinions.

  • The key is empathy. Understand why the client is making the suggestion.
  • It is safe to assume the client has no incentive to make the game bad, especially when they are financially invested.
  • Figure out what problem the client is trying to solve.

• Sometimes, even the client will not be able to figure out what they want. Thus, know the client better than the client knows themselves.

  • Understand what is important to the client. Profiling them may prove beneficial.

• The principles in Upstream Prerequisites and Planning also help.

• Relevant lenses: The Client.

The Designer Gives the Client a Pitch §

• As the game’s designer, you should know the game and why it is great better than anyone else.

  • However, even within the team, you must be able to pitch your ideas.
  • The foundation of a good pitch is knowing what you want and knowing what they want.
  • Ideas are not judged on merit, rather they are judged on how useful they are, right now, to the person they are pitching it to.

• Tips from The 48 Laws of Power apply here because it involves persuasion.

• Schell gives the following tips for a successful pitch

  • Get in the door - have an audience with the client. Use the back door — someone on the inside who can vouch for you. Get the audience’s trust.
  • Show you are serious - when you pitch a game, you have to show you are serious about building it. Make a prototype. Believing is not enough, you must show you’ve done the work.
  • Be organized - make sure the pitch is well planned. The more organized, the more serious, calmer, and in-control you appear.
  • Be Passionate - be genuinely excited about the game. Passion represents drive to deliver a good game at any cost.
  • Assume their point of view - listen and try to solve the audience’s problem. Make sure to explain the game in a way they can easily understand. Make your audience a fan of the project
    • Get straight to the point. Start by stating your platform, audience and genre.
    • Do not begin by telling a story. Tell them what fantasy the game fulfills.
    • Give your ideas handles — make short phrases that summarize the idea.
    • Show don’ tell
    • Make it easy for them to pitch. Use pitch materials that speak for themselves.
  • Design the Pitch - the pitch is an experience so any advice about making a good experience.
  • Know all the details - be prepared to be asked questions. The audience will ask questions about things they think are important. You should know the following:
    • Design details - What are the game’s features?
    • Schedule details - How long will it take? What’s the fastest it can be done?
    • Financial details - How much will it cost? How much money will this make?
    • Risks - What are the biggest risks on the project?
  • Exude Confidence - being confident means that you are sure the game will be perfect for the client.
  • Rehearse - the more comfortable you are talking about your game, the more natural your pitch will be. The chain of ideas need to be able to spring forth naturally. Rehearse any demos as well. Don’t play while pitching. Don’t expect executives to play the prototype.
  • Get Them to Own It - make the audience come away from the pitch thinking of the game as “their game”. Have someone presold on the audience or integrate the client’s ideas into the pitch.
  • Follow Up - within a few days of the pitch, find an excuse to follow up. Subtly remind them they owe you feedback. However, do so with patience and understanding.

• The same principles apply when crowdfunding. However there are some more things to keep in mind

  • It is a lot of work - expect to take months to design the crowdfunding campaign.
  • It’s a preorder system - Most people who fund something are doing so because they are excited about getting something special, getting it before everyone else, and getting it at a good price.
    • Crowdfunding works best with things that have a physical component or with games that have a high fixed price.
  • Ask for as little as possible. Set the lowest funding target you can manage. If your campaign takes off, you can always get more
  • Shorter is better - You get the most funding the first week and the last week.
  • Keep rewards simple - reduce your workload and don’t overwhelm funders with too many choices
  • Show don’t tell - give a taste of the game in action. Show them a slice of the game in action.
  • Hustle - do anything you can get the word out about the game. The campaign will not take care of itself.
  • Have stretch goals - stretch goals help with virality. If people can get others to pledge money, then they’ll get more for the money needed at no cost.
  • Be famous - the most likely games to get funded are the ones by people who already have a following.

• Relevant lenses: Pitch

The Designer and Client Want the Game to Make a Profit §

• Form follows funding - decisions that the people funding the game make impact the game design. Conversely, game design decisions impact profitability.

• To understand any business, follow the money—where it goes and why.

  • Retail - most of the money goes to things that are not related to the game.
  • Direct Download - what Steam uses. Although most profits go to the game (with some going to the service), if the game costs more than the income, there would be no profit.
  • Free-To-Play - get more players by selling the game for free. Microtransactions are essential to gain money from this model.
    • Many won’t pay, but some will pay a lot.
    • As a consequence of supply and demand in terms of marketing costs, the cost a game is sold was driven toward 0. Hence, the rise of the F2P model

• Know your competition. Make sure the game fills a gap in the market.

  • The challenge isn’t to get the game to the store, it’s to stand out from the rest.
  • Marketing has become more important.
    • Red Ocean Markets - bigger competitors survive. The small fish are driven away
    • Blue Ocean Markets - relatively few competitors. Very new but sometimes there are barriers to entry.

• Know your audience, how they pay and why. Consider if you are making a hardcore or a casual game. Pareto Principle applies.

  • Hardcore gamers are willing to pay a high price for content that means a lot to them.
  • The casual market is hard to appeal to, although there are a lot of casual gamers.

• The lingo of general business terms applicable for games.

  • SKU - stock keeping unit. Unique inventory item for a store. Each console release and language version is a SKU
  • COGS - cost of goods sold. What does it cost per unit to make the game
  • Burn Rate - what does it cost to keep the studio open (i.e., due to salaries and rent)
  • Sold in - the retailer buys the game and sells them in the store
  • Sold through - the customer buys the game. In the end, only sold-through matters .
  • Units sold - how many times the game has been purchased
  • Breakeven - how many units have to be sold before the publisher makes back the money invested into the game
  • Churn - what percent of players do you lose each month. Bigger churn = worse retention
  • Cost of Acquisition - how much do you have to get someone to download the game
  • Daily Active Users - how many people played the game in the last 24 hours. More = better.
  • Monthly Active Users - how many people played the game in the last month. High churn means that MAU is higher than DAU. Look at the ratio between MAU and DAU to measure the game’s long-term retention
  • ARPU - Average revenue per user. Calculated by money made in the month divided by MAU
  • ARPPU - Average revenue per paying user. We look at only the paying users.
  • LTV - lifetime value. How much money are you making from the average player from when they first try the game until they quit. It informs you how much you can safely spend to acquire new players.
  • K-Factor - how many new players does your average player bring in. Higher = more virality = more acquisition
  • Whales - players who spend a lot for an F2P game. F2P designers pay a lot of attention to whales since they contribute significantly to revenue.

• Know the top sellers. The games industry is a hit-driven business. Know why these are the top sellers ¹

• Barriers for entering the market

  • Technical Barrier - games that solve problems others can’t easily replicate.
  • Hardware Barrier - games that run on new hardware platforms
  • Expertise Barrier - having unique, expert-level knowledge about the market
  • Sales and distribution barriers - if you (or a business partner) have a special sales relationship, think about how to take advantage of it.
  • Imagination barriers - a unique approach especially for the marketing and selling.
  • Relationship barriers - some games require a special partner for a franchise license. These franchises only work with people they trust.
  • Uncertainty barriers - taking a risk and jumping on new, unknown technology.

• Following the crowd means eventually fighting the crowd. Many successful developers have found that choosing the road less traveled by has indeed made all the difference.

• Relevant lenses: Profit

Games Transform Their Players §

• Games have several benefits attributed to them. They can transform their players via transformative play.

  • Emotional maintenance
    • Venting anger and frustration
    • Cheer up
    • Gain perspective
    • Build confidence
    • Relaxation.
  • Connections
  • Exercise - both physical and mental.
  • Education.
    • In a sense, education is a game, but current systems often make the game have a lack of surprise, pleasure or projection.
    • Games can keep the brain fully engaged.
      • Using visible progress and puzzles to motivate learning.
      • Making the abstract concrete.
      • They allow the game to engage fully with the lessons.
      • They give the student interesting goals. Short term goals chain to form long term goals.
    • Games help learn about facts. They can help reinforce facts by giving rewards.
    • Games are problem solving activities.
    • Games can teach about systems of relationships. They allow for interactive demonstrations, and if being able to do something is the end goal of learning, games excel at teaching this.
      • Games are simulations; Games are systems. The player can experience these systems for themselves.
      • That said, simulations often work better with a live instructor who can point out the discrepancies between simulation and real life and use these as teaching moments.
      • However, even the limitations of the simulation can lead one to ask “why these loopholes don’t exist in the real world?”
    • Games give more insights. Games can change the players’ perspective to give them a new lens to look at the world.
    • Games foster curiosity. Curious learners are better leaners. Games can promote a curious and playful attitude.
    • Games create teachable moments. They ready the student by priming them with a scenario and letting the teacher provide additional insights.

• Tips for making transformational games

  • Define the transformation - how exactly, and specifically, will the game transform its players. State it as a problem statement.
  • Find great subject matter experts - align yourself with experts that both know the facts and how to teach them.
  • Ask what the instructor needs - in most cases, transformational games will be used in a setting where an instructor is available. The instructor will know more about the game (in theory), so the game should instead be a tool for the instructor.
  • Don’t do too much - pick one key transformation and do it especially well. Only do more when there is demand for more.
  • Assess transformation appropriately - determine if the intended transformation actually took place. In ascending order of rigor and effort required.
    • The player felt like it happened
    • The player gave anecdotes that indicate that it happened
    • The subject matter expert approved of the transformation
    • Using surveys and assessments
    • Using scientific testing and assessment
  • Choose the right venue - Think of the context in which the game will be played.
  • Accept the realities of the market - transformational games are hard to turn into a profitable games. Have someone with business expertise.

• Some issues are associated with games — instead of transforming people for the better, they transform the players for the worst

  • Violence - especially when it is visually graphic (i.e., there is blood on the screen). The fear is that violent content might desensitize people to real-world violence or make them feel that it is fun and pleasurable.
    • Still, the average (non-psychotic person can see behind the violence and treat the game as a problem solving endeavor.
  • Addiction - playing too much interferes with more important things in life. It is a fear of the person being unable to give up despite the harmful consequences

• Relevant lenses: Transformation

Designers have Certain Responsibilities §

• People generally do not care who makes the things they like. But only the game designer can take responsibility for what they create. If you cannot take responsibility for the game, you shouldn’t be a game designer.

• It is also your responsibility that, if you wish, you create a game that improves people’s lives. This is your secret agenda.

  • You can only impact many people if you get them to play your game.
  • One thing players like is the feeling of being cared for.

• The experiences a game create is one where people live out their fantasies and strive to become what they have secretly wanted to be. It is not enough to think of how games affect people today — we must consider how they will affect people tomorrow.

  • Is there any human activity that can benefit from the principles of game design?

• Relevant lenses: Responsibility

Each Designer has a Purpose §

• The most important type of listening is listening to yourself.

• Because time is finite, focus on what is important. The only way to know that is to listen to yourself. No one needs to know why you made the game except you.

• Figure out your personal theme. Your true motivation for making the game.

• Relevant lenses: The Raven, Your secret purpose.

Footnotes §

1. A good exercise as well: look at flavor of the month games and try to analyze them — what is the appeal? why? how long will they last for? Will it inspire a new market for similar games? ↩