I work as a Game Design Instructor on the college level. Knowing this, I've heard plenty of game pitches; I incorporate it in my curriculum to help students flex their game design muscles.
But on the other hand, I also hear game pitches from people that aren't my students. I go to plenty of game conventions and I talk with a lot of people. I see people pitch here on the BGDF forums. Some are legitimately solid, some are entertaining, some are downright hilarious.
There's a common thread when I hear a lot of these pitches...people are always attempting to create games that are far beyond their current skill level. Maybe it's that people think that because they've played games their whole life that they can somehow create a game that attempts to do everything. Maybe it's that they really really want to break into the game industry that they want to hit the industry so hard with their design that they believe they can do it.
Don't get me wrong, I believe people should have goals and dreams, but you have to be able to leverage your belief with what your current skill set is...and if you don't have that skill set, then you're actively trying to get the the skills you need in order to get to that goal.
Let me make an example. A person may love cars. They may mod their car, go to car shows, drive all the time. But driving a car and making a car from scratch are two completely different things.
Another example. I love stand up comedy. I watch everything from Bill Cosby to Eddie Murphy to Jerry Seinfeld to Kat Williams. I appreciate and respect the stand up comedy industry. But far be it from me to go up on stage and do it myself. Yes, I'm an instructor, but to keep a crowd laughing consistently is an art form I don't believe I have. Even the best comics take years to get big and all of them have bad jokes and bad days.
A game (analog or digital) is deceptively complex. We believe that because it's entertainment we understand it and therefore we can create it. This is true to a point. Making entertainment according to how YOU want it may not be entertainment for others. At some point you will have to test and adjust your work so that others will share in your vision. The best cars are engineered and tested in every aspect before it's released to the public, stand up comics constantly test their work in night clubs in the after hours when the main acts have finished. Games must be tested and engineered in the same way, whether analog of digital.
If you're going to make a game with a grand vision, start small. Develop and refine games that are low risk. You're going to make mistakes, that's a given. Things are going to happen that you're not going to see when you initially plan it. Make those mistakes in the small realm before going to the bigger vision. If you start big, you'll make big mistakes that can often be fatal. Do I need to mention The Doom That Came To Atlantic City?
But some people hold onto their vision so tightly that they aren't willing to change their vision because it's a violation of THEIR dream. I can understand that. You create a game from scratch, it's like your baby bird. Still, at some point you're going to have to let the bird go and you will know for a fact if you've taught it to fly on its own. It will be obvious to everyone if you've succeeded or failed.
I teach a class called Game Design and Gameplay. In that class, the students group up and create an analog game for their final project to mimic the game design pipeline in a low risk environment.
The successful games always have 2 important elements: 1) It's a simple concept with a strong hook and 2) They were tested constantly and adjusted accordingly.
The groups that failed hard always had these qualities: 1) Their vision was too big; they tried to put too much into their game and 2) They rushed because they underestimated the work they needed to do.
If you want to create a game, you're going to have to deal with deadlines if you want to have something out in a decent amount of time. Creating games is a lot more than just "I've been playing X game for a long time and therefore I know how to make the perfect X game". That's an illusion. Laughable. Start small and work your way up. I'll guarantee you that the lessons you learn making a small game will translate into avoidance of MAJOR issues when you create your larger game.
You'd think that a person like me, with all the video (I worked on major AAA games), analog (worked at an analog game company for a year, graduated with a degree in Game Art and Design), playing (been playing games since the Atari 2600) and educational game experience (teaching Game Design at the college level for over 5 years) that I have that it would be easy for me to create a game. Not in the slightest. Even I made mistakes in creating my game. I tested my game for months in its final stages, but when I went to GenCon, I asked a Board Game Manager at Fantasy Flight Games to play my game...and he found so many "mistakes" that I overhauled ALL the text in my game. HIs criticism was so fine tuned that he even said that "the normal person wouldn't catch these mistakes", but when I made the fixes, the game became that much better and its communication was instantly crystal clear. Did I have an advantage in making my game? Absolutely. I used every ounce of game theory, industry information, graphic design knowledge, and practical knowledge I had...and again I still made mistakes.
Don't be fooled. Game Design is not easy. Start small. Have fun.
Good luck everyone!
Comments
Where do you teach? I took an
Where do you teach? I took an online course in game design through EDX just to see if they had anything I could learn that I haven't already pick up in the last 13 years designing games.
It was an interesting exercise but not too educational. I did learn that the use of the term playtesting means something very different in the digital game design world. What they call playtesting in the class I would call brainstorming.
Where I teach
I teach in San Bernadino at the Art Institute.
Usually in online courses, it's not as as strong as, say, an in-class course. My teaching is far more practical while teaching planning and theory.
Good Observations
Thanks for this post.
Around 12 years ago, I created a game and thought of publishing it myself. I was so starry eyed and enthusiastic on doing it I almost spent a significant amount of money to do so. Thankfully I play tested my game with some very objective and kind hearted people who basically told me the game was no good. In reality they were right.
I can understand that sometimes people fall in love with their vision and ignore the facts. I did so.
It was a great learning experience. Designing a good board game that people will play and have fun is extremely difficult. To be perfectly honest, I have not been able to do so. But I keep trying off and on, and hope one day to do so.
On the positive side of things, I just want to point out that one can definitely get better at it. So it is not just doom and gloom.
The key things I have learnt is the following:
- keep it small. No over arching grand vision. Come up with one mechanic and just work on that.
- iterate, iterate, iterate. It is a hell of a lot of hard work but your game is going to stink from the get go. Rarely a perfect game will appear. You need to keep trying thing and playtest it to death.
- Keep it as simple as possible! To me this is the most important thing. Streamline things make a rule holds it weight. Only add a rule if absolutely necessary. Strive for absolute simplicity - least amount of dice, cards and so on. Any cool new feature leave it out. Once you have the main engine in place then things can be added later.
Anyway, building a good board game is extremely challenging, but one can get better at it. And with anything in life it takes a lot of work, dedication and sure joy of the process.
--DarkDream
Great post DD!
Around 12 years ago, I created a game and thought of publishing it myself. I was so starry eyed and enthusiastic on doing it I almost spent a significant amount of money to do so. Thankfully I play tested my game with some very objective and kind hearted people who basically told me the game was no good. In reality they were right.
I can understand that sometimes people fall in love with their vision and ignore the facts. I did so.
It was a great learning experience. Designing a good board game that people will play and have fun is extremely difficult. To be perfectly honest, I have not been able to do so. But I keep trying off and on, and hope one day to do so.
On the positive side of things, I just want to point out that one can definitely get better at it. So it is not just doom and gloom.
The key things I have learnt is the following:
- keep it small. No over arching grand vision. Come up with one mechanic and just work on that.
- iterate, iterate, iterate. It is a hell of a lot of hard work but your game is going to stink from the get go. Rarely a perfect game will appear. You need to keep trying thing and playtest it to death.
- Keep it as simple as possible! To me this is the most important thing. Streamline things make a rule holds it weight. Only add a rule if absolutely necessary. Strive for absolute simplicity - least amount of dice, cards and so on. Any cool new feature leave it out. Once you have the main engine in place then things can be added later.
Anyway, building a good board game is extremely challenging, but one can get better at it. And with anything in life it takes a lot of work, dedication and sure joy of the process.
--DarkDream
Those are great points, DD. You're right, the more you do it, the better you get. The good news is that designers always have game designs on the back burner so in reality, making those back burner games (even though they almost never get finished) trains your mind to design. I've got many...many designs on the back burner and while most will not see the light of day, I'm still grateful for them.
When you build a board game, it's like trying to align the stars. Keep it simple, finding the right playtesters, getting the right idea married with the right people that will publish it, etc.
You can do it, DD!