During the production of The Incredible Hulk I made a rather flippant comment to a production assistant who was hassling me that the “First Rule of Game Design is Don’t Be a Dick”. I wish I could remember the context of the quote – sadly that is lost in the mists of time – however it was the genesis of a much longer on-going conversation between the awesome Johnny Chu and myself about what the “Rules of Design” really were.
Ever since then we have both been compiling a list of these rules – with notes to remind us why it’s a good idea not to break them. We even made a presentation together about them for the University of Texas’ EGaDS. In our presentation we decided to use the “J’accuse” approach of highlighting a game that didn’t follow a particular rule (this is something that I’ve continued with this write-up).
Since all this “hard” work would go to waste if I didn’t put them somewhere for other people to read I thought I’d write them up and post them to the Internets for posterity.
Introduction
The first rule is “there are no rules to game design” – Noah Falsteen can go fuck himself.
As much as you try and create a roadmap to the ultimate game you will realize that the landscape of every single game is different – the best you will ever be able to do is create some signpost which might point people in the right direction.
Why are these the “rules of game design”?
I wish we had a better name than the “rules of game design” for that reason – rules implies that if you follow them then everything will be okay. It’s very possible that the rules are wrong (I don’t think so – but what do I know?) and they don’t just apply to game design but all of game development – so really the “rules of game design” is just about the most misleading name ever.
Maybe they should be considered the “Habits of good Game Developers” – but that doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue. So until I get a book deal or solve this little conundrum these are the “rules of game design”.
Oh … and before I forget – the “rules” have no particular order – Johnny and I disagree on the order of importance so they are presented in no particular order. Which you think is most important is up to you.
Design for the game, not for yourself
From the beginning, you have to know the game you’re making, and that includes knowing the genre, the “hook”, and the target audience. That might seem obvious, but you also have to restrain from adding things that appeal to yourself if they don’t fit the above.
There are a lot of cool sounding ideas out there – but not all of them are right for your game’s design. Just because you like Idea X, doesn’t mean you should add it to design Y without thinking through how it will affect the end result of the design. A super complicated engine customization system won’t magically improve a cartoon Kart Racing game. Look beyond your own gaming tastes and think about how your idea matches up to the design you are working on.
In addition, design within your limitations – take what you have and do things people never expected, try to be original and daring with what you have. Push it as far as you can, get it to do things that it was never really meant to do. That is the challenge of design – and the is how you continue to make your job fun and rewarding.
J’accuse : Braid
Jonathan Blow said that when he made Braid he made sure he didn’t repeat a puzzle – and that Braid “has no fat”. To Blow, repeating content is bad thing, he sees it as unnecessary or even lazy hence the “fat” comment, however the issue with this is that Braid never really makes a player feel that they’ve learnt a lesson from a previously beaten challenge. The player never has a chance to feel superior because they never come across a puzzle that they are familiar with.
Kill your Darlings
The hardest skill for any designer to learn is to be their own harshest critic. If something is struggling to work, or is just too much work to support – cutting it from the design is easier if it comes from you than if you are told to do it. Learn to look at everything you make with a detached point of view – can you justify to yourself the cost in making sure this feature/mission/idea carries on? Sometimes the best option is to admit defeat – and that’s easier if you decide when to do that, rather than being forced to it.
Even if you created the perfect system or idea for the game, if it turns out that the idea either doesn’t work as is, ends up not testing well, or has simply run out of resource time at the end of the project, you must be able to at least change the idea to fit the end product, and you also have to be willing to scrap it entirely.
J’accuse: The Incredible Hulk
There were many ideas that should have been cut that weren’t – this means that valuable development time was spent on features that really didn’t add to the general play experience. Make sure your design focuses on the key features – having two or three polished and fun features is better than having fifteen half-baked or poorly implemented ones.
Begin with the end in mind
This is shameless borrowed from Stephen Covey and his “7 Habits of High Successful People” – because it is a truism that can be applied to just about any field, and is something we all tend to forget. Here is this rule summed up in a question:
Why?
What are you trying to make? Do you have a vision of what that thing will be? If so, make sure to include as many of the details as possible. The clearer you are about what you are asking people to do, the closer the end result will be to your “ideal”. Inspire people with your design – make sure they fully understand it, as it helps them build upon the idea and make it better. Think it through – think about how the “end user” will experience it and what they will see, hear and do with it.
All these are questions you should be able to answer, or at least have tried to answer for yourself. How do we know that the journey is worth taking if we don’t know what the destination might be. Bottom-Up Design is expensive and rarely produces good results – think of it like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without looking at the picture – you’ll eventually put it together, but the time and effort you waste could have been avoided if you knew what the picture looked like.
J’accuse : Duke Nukem Forever
Bottom-up game design rarely works. The best example of this is the ironic title, Duke Nukem: Forever. Essentially, you’re introducing feature-creep before you even get into the end of production.
Ideas don’t work unless you do
When I worked at Rockstar San Diego, this quote was scrawled on a whiteboard after someone found it on a Bazooka Joe wrapper. I’ve used it ever since as a reminder that the real “magic” in game development comes from hard work.
Ideas are cheap – anyone can have an idea, but turning that idea in to a real workable concept is the hardest part of being a developer. Title does not imply entitlement. No matter what you are called at your job – if you have an idea, be prepared to work on seeing it through. You can’t delegate an idea and expect people to just get it right – you have to work with them to help them understand why it’s a good idea, what shape or form it should take and how it should feel to the end user. The more involvement and effort you personally put in to realizing the idea – the closer the execution of that idea will be to what you wanted.
This isn’t about working long hours and “quality of life” and all that jazz – it’s about involving yourself in the development of your ideas. Valve has a rule that “whoever designs something, builds it” (I got that quote of a message board so I can’t give you a reference to it) – which is a sensible way to think about all game design and development. You could also draw parallels to the “Ham and Eggs” principal in SCRUM development. You should have total commitment to your idea (or design) … rather than just “contributing” it.
As someone far smarter than I said: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” – Thomas Edison
J’accuse: Shigeru Miyamoto
The greatest Game Designer ever – stopped design directing games to concentrating on PR and Management duties within Nintendo EAD. Now he supplies ideas to his development teams and it’s down to others to realize those ideas. While Miyamoto is still mildly involved in the development of these games – they lack the level of polish and charm associated with his best work because he is unable to provide with enough of his attention.
Fit a story into the game; don’t fit the game in to the story
Even though stories are a big part of many games, especially in the RPG and Adventure genres, it is rare when a game fit into a story works out. Movie license games are perfect examples of story being more important than gameplay.
J’accuse : Metal Gear Solid 4
Great movie – I hope they make a game of it someday! The best moment in MGS4 was playing Metal Gear Solid 1. Don’t put the coolest parts of your games in cutscenes – let the player do cool stuff. The Raiden fights Vamp sequence is a typical annoying MGS4 moment – one of the coolest fights in the game is going on while the player is shooting Geckos. The player’s attention is on staying alive not watching the fight. The only bit of this sorry game that stayed with after the credits rolled was the “Hyper Wave corridor” sequence – and while it was simple a button mashy “quicktime event” – it was interactive, unlike about 90% of that game.
Be the master of your own destiny
Do not let other people make decisions for you, look for feedback early. Make decisions yourself – force people to agree. Be the Shepherd, not part of the flock. Even a decision that is wrong is better than no decision. Be clear and be decisive.
Remember the designers’ adage: “It’s better to beg for forgiveness, rather than for permission”. No effort is ever wasted – take the initiative and try and make something happen on your own. Often if the work has already been done – who is going to throw it away?
J’accuse: You
Don’t be lazy!
Don’t be a dick
When it comes to design, be forgiving. People do not play games to be punished – they come to be challenged, and more importantly entertained. Always play fair – and if you are going to punish the player, make sure they understand why.
Think of this rule having two messages – one for the game, and the other for the game’s development
In a game, don’t be cruel to the player. Awesome moments should never have an anticlimax unless the anticlimax is the moment itself. Skill challenges should never only have one very precise, perfect solution if the player’s progression depends on succeeding. People play games to be challenged and entertained, not punished. People like to finish games – in fact if you think about your favorite games – how many of those have you beaten? The answer is probably all of them. It is a typical rookie error to tune your game too be too difficult – if in doubt, err on the side of easier.
Game development is a team venture, and a subjective one at that. Inevitably, you won’t please everyone, but that doesn’t mean that the opposing opinions and concerns aren’t valid. Teamwork relies on give-and-take.
J’accuse: Ninja Gaiden 2
While being an exhilarating ride through the world of Ryu Hayabusa – it suffers from poor camera development and overly aggressive AI. Many players will die from enemies attacking off screen or from overly aggressive AI being well … overly aggressive. While some might argue that is exactly what they want from Ninja Gaiden 2 – our goal is to provide entertainment to all of our customers. Each one we frustrate is someone who wont recommend your game to their friends – and thanks to EA we know that’s the most effective form of advertising.
Play Games!
Arguably the most ignored and yet the most important rule – in any industry, you keep abreast of the current trends and direction of the trade. Fashion designers look at other new lines, movie directors watch both mainstream and independent films. Game designers must play games to evaluate what works and what doesn’t in current games. Even in bad games, there is often one nugget that can be salvaged. It’s also much easier to convey ideas to the team if there is a base comparison.
Expose yourself to new ideas. Play anything that catches your attention. You never know when you will find a “diamond in the rough” – even the most mediocre games have important lesson for you to learn. Don’t just play games within your favorite genre(s) – try some weird Japanese puzzle games, or a super detailed Eastern European war sim now and again.
Use Xbox Live or PSN to download demos – you can usually get a good feel for a game and it’s systems from a demo. Watch movies, read books, play board games or Collectible Card Games – ideas can come from anywhere. At Rockstar a lot of the mission ideas for their games were inspired by documentaries from similar subject matters. Don’t just rehash tried and true formulas – go looking for inspiration in the strangest places.
Use Rental services like Gamefly and Netflix to save on having to pay full price for things. Pay attention to forums to find out what the underground or cult hits are and take a look and see why they are “successful”.
… And so ends Part One. I’m reserving the right to do Part Two much further down the line – because I’m sure there are more design related maxims to be discovered, but you often have to be in the “heart of darkness” of game production to be able to see them properly.
