I don't want a real job - Part 1.

The only place you'll ever hear the truth
User avatar
Mark
Introversion Staff
Introversion Staff
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed May 30, 2001 1:24 am
Contact:

I don't want a real job - Part 1.

Postby Mark » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:26 pm

There are many fantastic things about my job, but there are also many frustrations. Perhaps one of the most trying of these is when I get e-mails that read:

“Hey Mark, I really loved DEFCON, Darwinia and the other one and I admire what Introversion has achieved. In fact I have my own game idea and I wander if you had any advice on how to start my own games company.”

How am I supposed to answer that? It’s not that I’m unwilling to help, or don’t have the time - quite the opposite in fact, I’d love to see more independent studios set up. It’s the fact that I can’t possibly dump all of the experience we have built up into one e-mail. In my more mischievous moments I am tempted to reply with something like, “Don’t eat yellow snow”, or “Check your paper supplies before you begin”, but more often than not I go back with the classic one liner: “What would you like to know?”

Very rarely do I get a response to this and when I do it is hardly ever specific or directed in a way that I can actually answer. I can’t help these people and that is what frustrates me. I’ve got visions of developers hooking up at GDC and asking “Did you talk with Mark from Introversion?”, “Yeah he was about as useful as tits on a fish”.

So I’ve decided to do something about the problem. I’ve decided to write a guide to building a video games company. I’m not an industry analyst so I’m not going to compare different business models or analyse case studies, but I’m going to dig into my mind, and the minds of my pals in the industry, and try to build a guide to “doing it the Introversion way”. That’s not because I think we are a perfect company or that we have “cracked it”, but because I know everything about Introversion and I think we’ve done well for three guys who started out with a small stash of left-over beer money and one potential game idea.

So let’s start at the beginning, which in our business is finding the idea for your first game. People often ask about our sources of inspiration and the “creative method”, but the truth is that ideas come from all around us. We have no idea when an idea will hit or what will trigger a thought process that ends in an embryonic game design, but we need to be ready to capture it when it does arrive. What we also know is that the more we experience, the more we expose ourselves to and therefore the higher our creative potential. Chris, the creative master-mind at Introversion, describes this as feeding his inner creativity. If that part of his mind becomes starved then the ideas begin to dry up. So perhaps the first piece of advice I will impart is to expose yourself to as much stimulation as possible, read books, play games, watch films, get out there and give your brain something to work with.

Most people know all that though. Many people don’t need too much help coming up with ideas and if they do, well then they tend to be more interested in being accountants than working in the video game industry. In fact, most people who want to start a games company already have a game idea, but it seems to me that many of them don’t seem to be able to tell when their game is crap.

Now I need to be very careful at this point. It wasn’t that long ago that we experienced around twenty publishers telling us that Uplink was crap and wouldn’t sell. A few years later we were looking for distributors to shift boxes of Darwinia however it took as a long time to find someone who didn’t think it was crap. By the time we released DEFCON we’d pretty much given up on publishers, but we thought we’d give it one last go, but I think you can probably guess the response we received.

We’re not publishers and I try to be as positive as I can about new game concepts (even if I don’t understand them), but there are some features of an idea that make it bad. If we can avoid those obvious pitfalls than perhaps we have something worth taking forward.

Firstly, don’t make a game that only you are going to play. In order to be successful there has to be some market potential. Perhaps that market can be very small – with a team of three people, ten thousand sales can be a good result, but you still need some people to want to play your game. If you get your rocks off thinking about a third-person bunny slaughter set in a steam-punked Tehran fair enough, but you need to ask yourself what non-freaks will make of this idea.

Secondly don’t try to beat the big boys at their own game. “It’s like EON but better”…is not a good way to begin a pitch. The big companies spend millions developing their games and you and your mates are not going to be able to get anywhere near the production quality of these AAA titles. “It’s a cross between EON and WoW”, is another great way to shoot yourself in the foot. These are massive franchises with established players and if you create a second rate blend you’re not going to attract either group of fans. Ask yourself, what am I doing to convince a player to put down what he is playing and pick up my game?

Finally, make sure that your idea is feasible. Figure out how much work it will take to complete your game. Figure out how much work your team can complete in a day and figure out how many days it will take to get to the end of your project. Double that number. What you end up with is a realistic estimate of the time taken to get your game out the door. If you are looking at several years than you really need to find out if you are committed to the concept. All too often student teams have ideas that are way beyond their practical reach – don’t make this mistake. Keep the scope small, and sleep safe in the knowledge that you can always put more of the cool stuff in the sequel.

If your idea passes those three tests than you are on to something. What exactly you are onto is yet to be seen, but at least you know that you cleared the first hurdle!

So there we go. Here beginneth the advice. Any use anyone?
Rkiver
level5
level5
Posts: 6405
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 10:39 am
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Postby Rkiver » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:29 pm

Something that many on here could use. The amount of "We're making a game" posts we see on the forums that eventually lead to nothing is astounding. Once in a blue moon something may actually come of it, but it's usually vapourware. Why? Because they don't have a clear plan on how to start their company.

Hopefully this will give them an idea on how to do it properly, so vapourware posts start disappearing, and we see more actual games appearing.
Uplink help: Read the FAQ
Mas Tnega
level5
level5
Posts: 7898
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2002 11:54 pm
Location: Edinburgh
Contact:

Postby Mas Tnega » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:05 pm

Actually, I can think of a question off-hand:

What consitutes the bare bones of a games company's staff?
martin
level5
level5
Posts: 3210
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:37 pm

Postby martin » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:33 pm

Mas Tnega wrote:Actually, I can think of a question off-hand:

What consitutes the bare bones of a games company's staff?


actually that's quite an interesting question, and one that introversion would have a different answer to compared to most artist stocked studios ;)
GENERATION 22:The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.
User avatar
kipper_308
level1
level1
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:00 pm
Location: Southampton, England

Postby kipper_308 » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:41 pm

Wise words indeed.

From my own experiance developing games, I would add / emphasise the following:

1) Scope.
As is pointed out above... "think of a number and double it". No matter how long you think something will take, you will always underestimate the amount of work involved. Developing code is never a fast process and even simple jobs end up eating your time. It's the collection of insiduous setbacks, where a "simple" 15 minute task ends up taking an hour that accumulate and slows everything. All it takes is something as simple as a typo to lead to half an hour of hair-tearing while the code mysteriously fails to work as you expected, usually in unintuitive and intersting ways!

To help counter this you need planning. Be ruthless about your design / idea. Cut away the fat and work out what is really at the core of the idea. What is the most basic mechanic that defines the game, the thing that, if implimented, makes the game. Then, plan to make this happen. Work out exactly what you will need to support this and prioritise the key elements.

Finally, set deadlines. Pick a small set of the key elements, pick a short deadline which seems appropriate and get working. When you hit the deadline, stop, and don't worry if you have missed it. (Internal) Deadlines are not so much for getting things done by, but for making you think about what you are doing. Evaluate how far along you are with the work you planned to do, what got finished, what didn't and why. Then, do the same thing again, pick your elements and a new deadline and try again. Each time you do this you will get better and better at estimating the time you need to get things done, or the ammount that you can get done in the time available.

2) Concepts
I think one of the main reasons that games fall appart in development is that the developers actually don't have a clear idea about the core of the game to start with.
Someone has a brilliant idea for a game. The concept sounds great, with an awesome setting and some really cool sounding features. It's totally going to revolutionise genre x. But... what will the player actually be doing? How will they interact with the game? How will the baseline mechanics work? What is the incentive for the player? How do you make it not be repetitive?

These are all questions which MUST be looked at in detail BEFORE starting to write any code. Use your creativity to really explore the concepts and ideas you all have. Brainstorm. Come up with as many crazy, stupid and wierd ideas for how things will work as possible. Don't be afraid to think up things that you don't think would work, just get as many ideas down as possible and use them to spark new ideas.

Then, go through the list and mark the things that look the most promising. Never throw anything away totally, keep a record of it, but prioritise the best ideas. For each one, look into it in detail. Imagine your game is finished, and has all the look and feel and polish you could wish for. Put yourself in the shoes of a player and sketch out the flow of what they would actually do. Prototype the idea using charts, or paper, whiteboards are your best friend. Think sideways - use things from around the office to mock up your ideas and then BE the player. What ACTUALLY happens when you pick this up, or click on this? Do you know? Work out details, try variations and see what feels right. You may find that a brillinat sounding idea falls down when you get right up to it, because of something you hadn't thought of, or that a less exciting idea works really well when you come to have to use it.

Really explore the central ideas of your game in this way, the mechanics that will be driving your game and which the player will be interacting with constantly. If you rush ahead with all the excitemtent generated by the initial concept, without going into this kind of thing you are inevitably going to get bogged down. People will have different pictures in thier head of how something works which will lead to problems integrating code. There will be arguments and you will have to discard work and start bits again. You may even end up putting a lot of time and effort into something which ends up being boring.

This is the common misconception, that because games are fun to play they are fun to make. Games are HARD to make and require a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It is also an inredibly exciting and enjoyable experiance, but the more work you put in as the start of a project really clarifying your ideas and thinking ahead, the smoother the project will go and the more fun you will have doing it.
"Time is an illusion... lunchtime doubly so..." - Ford Prefect, The Hitchikers Guite to the Galaxy.
Obscurity
level0
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:09 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Postby Obscurity » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:14 pm

I feel I must chime in to agree with kipper_308 and the original post. It must be emphasized that scale and core gameplay are key, especially if you have only 1-3 developers.

Great advice from both of you. Thanks.
User avatar
shinygerbil
level5
level5
Posts: 4667
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:14 pm
Location: Out, finding my own food. Also, doing the shinyBonsai Manoeuvre(tm)
Contact:

Postby shinygerbil » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:39 pm

Fascinating and helpful stuff :)
Here is my signature. Make of it what you will.
Image
Mas Tnega
level5
level5
Posts: 7898
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2002 11:54 pm
Location: Edinburgh
Contact:

Postby Mas Tnega » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:38 pm

martin wrote:
Mas Tnega wrote:Actually, I can think of a question off-hand:

What consitutes the bare bones of a games company's staff?


actually that's quite an interesting question, and one that introversion would have a different answer to compared to most artist stocked studios ;)
I'm wondering if the difference is a matter of "but"s and "however"s.
User avatar
indirectx
level0
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:33 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Postby indirectx » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:54 pm

I suspect a few of the people you are talking about, just want a little personnal moral support from an industry veteran.

I once emailed Yahn Bernier from Valve software, asking him about advice on 'getting into the industry' as a programmer. I knew perfectly well what the answer was but it was exciting to get an email back from one of the programmers who made half life even though it was a simple "make a tetris clone and go from there".

I hope in the future, when you get 'need help' emails, you'll link to this blog but also pop in a few words of encouragement, it'll make their day!
User avatar
zach
level5
level5
Posts: 1350
Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:21 pm
Location: Denmarkia
Contact:

Postby zach » Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:39 pm

Having tried this myself a few times, I really agree with kipper_308 also - a more or less clear idea is a must before starting to code. I've hit this block way too many times in the past myself :oops:

I've yet to make any digital flow charts for game development, but I am a huge fan of squared paper, and always keep at least two blocks of this in my bag, often times much more than that. Some are filled from start to finish with maths- and philosophy- theories, others have game ideas, some even structured game design descriptions. But they're all a great look into my thoughts, especially half a year later, when my way of thinking has changed.
I've gotten numerous game ideas just reading some of my own old notes.

Also, I don't think the tetris clone is a bad idea.
Especially not if you follow up with an internet launch and everything - that means you have to make the game accesible to others than yourself, even though you know that noone will want to play it. It's the experience in this very process that is worth your time, in my opinion.

If you can, you should aim for a "version 1.0".
It gives a great sense of scope (time- and skill-wise) to actually have to "complete" working on a game, and making it ready for the public - even if it is only a tetris clone.
X-reX
level1
level1
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:08 pm
Location: Israel
Contact:

Postby X-reX » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:49 am

indirectx wrote:I suspect a few of the people you are talking about, just want a little personnal moral support from an industry veteran.

I once emailed Yahn Bernier from Valve software, asking him about advice on 'getting into the industry' as a programmer. I knew perfectly well what the answer was but it was exciting to get an email back from one of the programmers who made half life even though it was a simple "make a tetris clone and go from there".

I hope in the future, when you get 'need help' emails, you'll link to this blog but also pop in a few words of encouragement, it'll make their day!

He he, that's good advice.

Great post mark, it's useful for me.
Acid Raw
level1
level1
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:35 am
Location: Northern Ireland

Game creation

Postby Acid Raw » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:34 pm

Was just wondering what software you used or would advise to use when creating a game. the only programming software that I have experience with is a small amount of C++ and quite a lot of Visual Basic 6 during my HNC and HND in Software Development
You cant run from DEATH but you can make him run for you
User avatar
prophile
level5
level5
Posts: 1541
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:17 pm
Location: Southampton, UK
Contact:

Postby prophile » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:55 pm

I received some great advice when I emailed Mark asking about publishers.
estel
level4
level4
Posts: 690
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:20 pm
Location: Bristol
Contact:

Re: Game creation

Postby estel » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:29 pm

Acid Raw wrote:Was just wondering what software you used or would advise to use when creating a game. the only programming software that I have experience with is a small amount of C++ and quite a lot of Visual Basic 6 during my HNC and HND in Software Development


C++ is by far the main staple of every game programmer's diet.
User avatar
Pox
level5
level5
Posts: 1786
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:23 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Game creation

Postby Pox » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:17 pm

estel wrote:
Acid Raw wrote:Was just wondering what software you used or would advise to use when creating a game. the only programming software that I have experience with is a small amount of C++ and quite a lot of Visual Basic 6 during my HNC and HND in Software Development


C++ is by far the main staple of every game programmer's diet.


Indeed, for any game requiring high performance C and C++ are about as high-level as you can get - however, if it's a fairly simple, low-intensity (computation wise) game, Python and C# (amongst many others) can also be suitable (and easier ;)) depending on the target platform.

Return to “Introversion Blog”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests