My Favorite Job Interviews
Do you want to get a job in the videogame industry? Or some other "Information Technology" job somewhere else in the industry?

One of the most intimidating aspects of a programmer's career is the job interview. Unless you go the purely entrepreneurial route and never work for someone else (even as a contractor) , you are going to be in the situation where you are going to feel like you are being sized up like a slab of beef by a panel of judges, all the while trying to sell yourself without coming across as a conceited jerk.

The worst cases are the ones where you think the interview went very well, but you don't get the job. You second-guess yourself, trying to figure out what went wrong. You are never told that one of the other three finalists is actually an old college friend of the team lead - instead you sweat over what you must have done to blow the interview.

I've been on both sides of the interview process more often than I can remember - both within the videogame industry, and outside of it doing "applications" for businesses. Many of the job interviews were not very pleasant. Sitting at a table being grilled on nuances of the Java language isn't exactly a great way to spend a lunch hour. Some have been pretty fun. Two jobs (one for a videogame programming position, one for an Artificial Intelligence-related job) had me do some puzzle-solving so they could analyze my problem-solving strategy. Those are stressful but entertaining. Interviewing a person with ZERO social skills is also entertaining, but not in a good way.

Here are four of my favorite job interview experiences. All were with me in the interviewee position, and ended with me accepting the position, which is probably part of why they are my favorites. I thought these might be at least entertaining. I provide some helpful tips at the end, though I'm not a job interview expert or anything. There are many sites online with more valuable tips. But I thought these might be helpful, and demonstrate that not all job interviews are created equal.

#1 - A Minor Disaster
Fresh out of college in 1994, I found myself in two job interviews for videogame companies practically back-to-back. The first one I chronicled in "How Do You Create 'Fun'?" The next one was at a new start-up game company called "SingleTrac," located in downtown Salt Lake City.

I didn't know downtown Salt Lake very well, so I came VERY early for the interview. As I was pulling into the far right lane to get on the offramp, I realized I had forty-five minutes to kill before the interview. Then the car began to SHUDDER. Blow-out on the freeway. And as a poor, starving college student, I didn't have a spare. So I needed a tow (fortunately a tire company was very nearby), and I was nearly an hour late. (Note: The tow cost me nearly as much as a spare tire. There's a lesson...)

They gave me the interviews when I arrived, and made some jokes about me making up the story about the blown tire to cover for how late I was. I think I was less worried about the interview BECAUSE I figured I'd already blown it. That, and I may have already been offered the other job (I don't remember if it had come in yet or not). However, things went well, I got along great with the people I talked with, and I was offered a position there the next day. I spent about five-and-a-half years there, and we made some really awesome, best-selling games.

#2 - From Laid Off To Better Off
SingleTrac grew too rapidly, and was pretty much struggling from day one. Then one day (Valentine's Day, 2000, to be exact) the axe came down on about half the company. It was the second or third major layoff, and the company wasn't going to survive the year. I'd come in extra early (about 4 in the morning) to get a bunch of work done that day, and was not expecting anything like that. At noon, half of us found ourselves ushered into the break room with the H.R. manager, and dismissed without so much as a thank-you. Well, okay, I did get some severance. But this was the first time I'd ever actually lost a job, and I was panicked. What would I do? How would I feed my family? Would I be able to find something else?

Well, it turns out nearby Acclaim Studios was panicking as well, desperately trying to find experienced game programmers. When they heard about the layoffs, they snagged a bunch of us up, gave us a group interview, which mainly consisted of showing us around the company and telling us how awesome it was there, and then asking how much salary we wanted.

In fact, they told us they didn't need us for a couple of weeks, but they needed assurance to the point that they would PAY us from the day we said "yes." I answered in the affirmative the next day. It was a pretty significant salary increase (though I'd been earning so much in bonuses from SingleTrac that it felt like a step down). And they didn't need me for two weeks. AND I had severance. So effectively, I had two weeks off with more than double pay.

I knew that sort of thing was HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen again. So what did we do? We immediately headed out for a trip to Disneyland.

#3 - You Want Me To Program In What?
Unfortunately, the Acclaim thing was actually not so hot. They went from having a mandate to add a new team to having to downsize the entire studio - TWICE - within two months of my starting. I survived the layoffs that time, but I saw the writing on the wall. I decided to exit the games industry (and become an indie game developer, though I didn't know there was such a thing at the time). It seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, there were all these paper millionaires appearing during this whole "Dot Com" boom...

So in 2003 - in the wake of the dot-com bubble burst - I found myself out of work again. I was much less stressed about it this time around, even though there were lots of out-of-work programmers in my area.

I got an interview at Symantec, an office which was still largely staffed with members of the original company whom Symantec had bought out a few years earlier. I took a laid-back attitude towards this interview - the pay wasn't great, and the commute would be long.

But I went, not expecting much. I think it helped me relax. There were lots of people interviewing that day. One guy hadn't shaved that morning before donning his buisiness DRESS. Complete with white stockings. Considering that this office was in pretty conservative Utah Valley territory, I figured that at least my chances were better than his. After all, forgetting to shave can really give a bad first impression.

During one part of the interview - with the guy who would be my immediate supervisor - I struck up a pretty good conversation. Turned out he was a gamer, so he liked my background as a videogame developer. So then he asked me some hard questions. "How's your Java?"

I prefer to be honest with these things. I answered, "Well, my Java looks a lot like C++. I can work with it, but it's not my strong suit."

He asked me a few follow-up questions, and then he asked, "So, how are you at Python."

I continued the brutally-honest approach. "I've never programmed a line of Python code in my life."

We talked a little more about what programming experience I did have (almost exclusively C and C++), and then I asked, "So... what languages do you use here?"

He answered, "Oh, a little bit of everything... C++, Ruby, Perl... but mainly Java and Python."

Oh, JOY, I thought. So much for that job. Much to my surprise, a couple of days later, they offered me the position. It turns out that this particular manager realized that a good programmer with a Computer Science degree is actually capable of programming in MANY languages, and he assumed I could pick up Java and Python easily enough. And I did. And I fell in love with the Python language. Overall, it turned out to be a pretty good job (most of the time), and I learned a lot there.

#4 - A Unique Challenge
My current "day job" came about in a pretty unusual manner. I already knew the Wahoo Studios (aka NinjaBee) guys, and had met with them a few times before as an indie game developer. They were planning on releasing Outpost Kaloki as a downloadable title, and I knew a little bit more than they did about that space. They were impressed with my work on Void War, and we already got along pretty well.

My job interview in this case was --- different. There was no question of whether or not we wanted to work with each other. It was just a question of if we could figure out a way to structure the deal so that it would work out for both sides. We went in very open-minded, and promised each other that it would be no big deal if we couldn't make it work.

It's been a little over six months now (longer than I was at Acclaim), and while I'm making less money working in the games industry than I was "on the outside," and while the actual work is largely the same, I do have to admit it's a lot more enjoyable that what I had been doing the last couple of years. And they've been extremely supportive of my indie game development business which I have on the side.

And it's been over six months, and they haven't fired me yet, so I guess I'm doing okay. The worst part of the job has been that my motivation with Rampant Games has dropped somewhat. Part of it is because I'm doing game development work all day, which makes it harder to go back to doing it at night. Part of it is that I don't hate the day job, which I found was a pretty strong motivator.

Lessons Learned
Okay, so I skipped a whole bunch of other interviews I have had, most of which didn't pan out for one reason or another. One amusing incident was when - working under a fairly oppressive management regime - I ran into another coworker interviewing at the same place I was. We didn't tell on each other :)

And I skipped an equally innumerable interviews where I was the one conducting the interview. While it's somewhat less stressful (especially when the potential hire won't be a direct report to you), it's got its own set of frustrations. Especially when you are interviewing a candidate for someone who may be your own manager.

But if you happen to be starting out on your career and need some pointers, here's what I've learned. Bear in mind that as far as my videogame job experience, I've generally worked the back-roads, so these suggestions may or not apply if you are applying for Electronic Arts (think of it as an apprenticeship rather than surfdom...)

* Who you are is as important as what you can do. Be yourself (as best as you can under the circumstances). You are being hired into a social environment ... yes, even videogame programmers are social. We have to work together and communicate. We have to work together long hours. We have to work together long hours when stress level is high, we are tired, and our patience is exhausted and our nerves, frazzled. While it may be second to actually being... you know, competent... being someone with the right personality and "fit" for the team is critical. (In fact, one of the big questions I get asked whenever I have been one of the interviewers is, "Will this candidate fit into our culture here?")

* It's a two-way street - you aren't the only one under scrutiny. You are making a business agreement. YOU need to be asking them questions as well to make sure it's a reasonable match. Some potential employers may be annoyed by this, but those aren't the kind I'd want to be working for anyway. I know that for me (as an interviewer), being asked intelligent, reasonable questions is actually a plus. It shows me the candidate knows enough about what he'll be doing that he can ask the intelligent questions, shows he's not afraid to ask questions, and thinks highly enough of his own skills to want to make an informed decision. (I say "he," but "she" applies, of course, though it's a little less frequent in the IT industry).

* Don't ever be desperate. Anything I've ever read about negotiation notes that the first rule of negotiating is that you should always be prepared to leave with no deal. Not only should it be a reasonable proposition for you, but you should also go into any negotiation (or interview) with a good idea of where that threshold is where you'd be better off saying, "No, thank you." Yes, getting a job in the videogame industry sounds like a "dream job." And some days, it is. But it's not the only way to do it. Look at all of the indies out there.

* Always be honest. This doesn't mean volunteering your faults or anything. But I have found (through hard experience) that I really prefer working with people who are up-front and open, and people who expect the same in return.

* Use good social skills. Learn 'em if you don't got 'em. Look them in the eye, shake their hands firmly, call them by name.

* Don't trash your previous employers. Be honest, but this is not the time to vent your spleen. That just comes off as a bad attitude. And in fact, it very well may be, so you may want to do a little self-analysis. Also - at least in my area - the IT industry is fairly small. The games industry is even smaller. People talk, word gets around. Trashing on people CAN come back to haunt you.

* In the videogame industry, I DO feel it's important to actually LIKE GAMES. Some employers may not care, but I feel that people who like and are enthusiastic about what they do, who have a personal investment and pride in their work, will do a better job. If you are interviewing with a games company, be prepared to talk about your favorite game and why.

* Even for a videogame job, dress appropriately for a job interview. There may be exceptions (I came pretty casually to the Wahoo interview, but I talked to Steve about that first), but in general the suit & tie is in order. And a fresh haircut. Oh, and don't wear a shirt that you just barely bought, which still has the fold-wrinkles in it from the store. Or the cardboard collar support still in it (I won't talk about who made THAT mistake... though it wasn't in an interview)

* Though the emphasis is on you as a candidate, you should be focusing on their needs as a prospective employer. Look at it this way - they need help making money. They are shopping around for someone to help them make money. You need to provide them with a convincing argument as to why you'd be the best investment. Tailor your answers to their needs.

* Most job opportunities (and certainly the best ones) I've had came from contacts, not public ads. Once you get started in your career, you should always be networking. In fact, my first job interview - at SingleTrac - came about because of a couple of students in Artificial Intelligence class I was a Teaching Assistant for my senior year in college. One was the wife of one of the founders, and another was one of their first employees (when they still weren't sure they actually had funding to afford employees).


(Vaguely) related musings:
* How Do You Create "Fun?"
* No Excuse for IT Ignorance
* How Do You Start Making Games (getting started in the games industry)
* Working For the (Game) Man!

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:00 AM (Permalink) 5 comments links to this post

 
Combat Games Trigger "Fight Or Flight" Insticts. Media Shocked.
The study itself seems like it was performed in a lab built upon the slopes of Mount Obvious. The SPIN on it by the media is... predictable but annoying.

"Violent Video Game Effects Linger In Brain"

So these videogames trigger the "fight or flight" response. Ummmm.... well, mission accomplished, pat the designers on the back, as that was the intention. Just as thrill rides at the amusement park are designed to trigger these instinctive reactions. The most interesting and noteworthy part of the study quoted in the article is that other high-excitement games (like racing games) don't trigger the same emotional response. That's not exactly surprising, but I tend to think that adrenaline is adrenaline.

But of course, the spin hints that this primitive reflex which enabled our ancestors to survive being eaten by tigers is turning teenagers into violent, angry machines. I'm exaggerating the title and the opening sentence, but that's definitely where it's going. I mean, it "lingers in the brain," and increases "activity in areas of the brain linked to emotional arousal and decreased responses in regions that govern self-control."

Somehow this reminds me of the science fair project about the Dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide, which was actually a little psychology experiment about how gullible people are. Forty-three out of fifty people surveyed favored banning water after hearing the shocking facts!

In other political news, Illinois has failed in its appeal of its anti-videogame law. The courts have once again demonstrated that just because the medium is new and popular with the younger generation doesn't make it an exception to Constitutional law. But the state of Illinois apparently doesn't have much respect for the court anyway, as they still haven't paid up the over half-million dollars they were ordered to pay BY said court to cover legal fees for the. According to this article, they haven't provided an official reason, but some of the excuses sound a little bit like, "Oh, I left my wallet in my other pants." (Hat tip to GamePolitics.com for that one)


(Vaguely) related junk
* Illinois Video Game Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
* Why Are There So Many Violent Videogames?
* Congressman Matheson Defends Anti-Videogame Bill

Labels: Politics

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:00 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Smash My PS3!
So we have the most expensive game console launch since the 3DO, the usual new-gen console hype, coupled with a ludicrous manufacturing shortfall and shortage, stories of violence erupting in lines, and the most fanboy posturing since Nintendo tried to wrest its market share back from Sega.

So what do you do about it?

How about buying one of the hard-to-acquire PS3s, which are selling for as much as $10,000 on EBay, and you SMASH IT WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER in front of a line hopeful fanboys who have been waiting for hours in hopes of being one of the lucky ones who's pre-order was able to be fulfilled.

Warning: Some harsh language from observers in the video.



As I've NOT ordered a PS3 (Hey, I spent my gaming money on a new PC this year, life is good...), this video does not inspire much emotional reaction other than amusement. Though I think it's pretty obnoxious.

Labels: Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:05 AM (Permalink) 3 comments links to this post

 
Design Dumps
Remember how I talked about how you can't design fun on paper?

I'm in the middle of that right now.

I've got three levels left to "rough out" (gameplay finished, content and details needing polish), and while I'm "almost done" with one, it's feeling stale and un-fun. Oh, it's challenging, to be certain (probably too much so)... but it is feeling too much like "more of the same." I already planned it out too large. The map looked fine on paper, but in actual gameplay it felt too long and boring. I've cut maybe 25% from the size already, which is going to effect gameplay (some of that size was side-passages you had to take to pick up keys... yes, you gather keys in a helicopter. So sue me.)

So I'm struggling with ideas to make it fresh and interesting without adding six weeks to my development time. I've been lurking a little bit on SHMUP-DEV.COM and playing some late-80's shooters for ideas, but the problem is that Apocalypse Cow isn't that kind of game. Not really.

Right now, I'm considering moving on to the other two levels and coming back to this one (hey, it's an effective test-taking strategy, why not use it here?), and then just taking some time and trying to think outside of the box a little. Maybe going with some more weird puns and word-associations.

So, creative people - what do you do to get yourself out of the design doldrums?


(Vaguely) related teeth-gnashing:
* You Can't Design Fun On Paper
* Kicked In the Butt By A Metal Cow
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:52 AM (Permalink) 3 comments links to this post

 
Stop the Long-Winded Intros!
Ever get stuck in a conversation with someone who at first strikes you as interesting with fascinating things to say, but who then keeps talking and talking without letting anyone else get a word in edgewise... even to say, "That's interesting?" Before long, you start making up some lame reason to excuse yourself from the conversation, like, "Oh, hey, I just remembered my wife's hair is on fire, and I promised her I'd help her put it out." And you find yourself avoiding the formerly-interesting person after that, not because you are afraid they'll ask you about how your wife's hair turned out (because they probably won't), but because you expect you'll be wanting to jab a spork into each ear to make the pain of their talking.

Maybe they were just nervous about meeting you, and went on yammering out of a self-defeating effort to make a good impression. If you stick with it long enough, maybe they'll actually prove to be fun people to know. But in the meantime, you are stuck with impression of them being someone that just won't shut up.

Too many games are like that these days.

The latest offender is Kingdom Hearts 2. My girls love Disney (especially after the trip to Disneyland earlier this year), and my oldest loves the Final Fantasy games. So I thought this would be perfect. So I rented the game for the holiday weekend, and we all gathered around the television set in some parody of the Ward Cleaver household to enjoy this game.

Fifteen minutes later, I think I'd only pressed one button (on the main menu screen), and my daughters began asking me, "Is this a game, or a movie?"

I didn't know how to respond. "I really thought it was a game when I rented it," I responded.

I usually don't just skip past these things. After all, I love a good STORY in games. I worry about missing out on clues as to what I'm actually supposed to be doing. And on top of this, Square-Enix is known for its captivating 3D work and storylines. Of course, in many previous Final Fantasy games, I'd already be up to the first level-boss of the bunny-slope dungeon by now. But I stuck it out, growing more and more irritated by the minute.

A few minutes later, I was utterly startled by actually finding myself in a segment where I could actually.... well, PLAY. What a concept! I walked around and talked to people. And then found myself in my very first combat. Nifty!

But by this point, nearly a half-hour had gone by, and as an adult I had things to do. As a GAMER, I have no problem sinking a half-hour (or even more) into a game in a single session. I frequently do. But as a grown-up, I have to always deal with the nagging concern in the back of my mind that keeps asking, "Don't you have something else you should be doing right now?" By this point, I was growing bored with the game (just as it was getting to the "good part"), and I'd been hogging up the console for a half an hour.

So I handed the controls over to my daughter and said, "There you go."

The girls were actually kind of reluctant to play at this point. They'd been watching Daddy play for the last half hour (not that I'd actually been playing most of that time - I'd been a passive viewer most of that time, too.), and it wasn't particularly exciting.

But they stuck it out. And unlike their father, they DIDN'T have better things they needed to be doing. And they played the whole weekend. Loved it. And I enjoyed popping in on them for a few minutes and watching them play. It looks like the game gets pretty fun. And I nearly bust a gut laughing when I saw them get to the Tron and Nightmare Before Christmas worlds. I mean, watching Squall from Final Fantasy VIII watch in horror as the hero, Donald Duck, and Goofy get "digitized" by the Master Control Program was priceless.

But the introduction felt like having to sit through a class before being allowed to have fun.

These are games! Interactive entertainment! If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd have rented a movie! I'm ripping on Kingdom Hearts 2, but this is a problem I'm seeing too often --- even in indie games, which don't even have the budget for a well-made introduction like the one in Kingdom Hearts. The point of a game is to play - to interact with it. While I love a good introductory cut-scene or well-told explanation, it's gotta get me into the "action" (even if the action is a little slow-paced) quickly. Othewise, it's like that bore at the party who won't quit talking.

As I said, I LIKE deep storylines and clever dialog in my games. And I don't consider myself to be that impatient of a gamer. But they have to be games, dang it!


(Vaguely) related posts:
* How to Get Me To Buy Your Indie RPG
* Why Battlefield 2 Sucks
* Rules of Combat According to FPS Games

Labels: Game Design, Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:18 AM (Permalink) 7 comments links to this post

 
Empires & Dungeons Strategy Tips Needed
So I'm playing Empires & Dungeons on EASY difficulty, and it's still taken me four tries to win the "Cauldrons of Blood" scenario. Four lords at once is pretty challenging. So far my best strategies (tactics) tend to rely heavily on luck:

#1 - Hit the closest town (the one to the south) immediately and capture it.

#2 - Hit dungeons early and often to build up levels & money for troops.

#3 - Burn the eastern city when possible to deny the eastern lord access to easy cash. That way I only have to worry about defending one city.

#4 - Avoid engaging the enemy lords until level 7 or 8, when money is very plentiful.

I don't really bother hiring the "cheap" troops in that scenario unless I happen to be a square away, or if I really want to deny an enemy lord access to it. If I can't find dungeons fast enough before the enemy lords get their keeps and can push into my territory, I'm pretty much screwed.

Anybody got any good strategy advice for this game?


(Vaguely) related somethingoranothers:
* New Game: Empires & Dungeons
* Are Hybrid RPGs Just a "Poor Man's RPG"?
* Game For the Weekend: Styrateg

Labels: Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 2:19 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
The Great Games Experiment
GarageGames recently opened The Great Games Experiment for beta testing. If you have logged into a GarageGames account in the last year, you are automatically signed up. Otherwise, you can either email a request to join the beta, or you can find an existing beta member who hasn't used up his two invitations yet.

What is it? Well, it looks to me to be sort of a MySpace for gamers. The intended purpose seems to be to bring game makers and game players together in a social community. Ideally - if the game PLAYERS can be motivated to join the community - it could be a great opportunity for less-well-known games to be discovered, and for communities of gamers to form around them. And retro-gaming, though there are already some specialized communities out there for those, too. They've not neglected mainstream games, either.

I guess that's going to be the big hinderance to see if www.greatgamesexperiment.com gets off the ground - will gamers be interested in joining a big general gaming community like this when there are already several specialized communities out there? About the only thing somewhat unique that it might offer is (at the moment) an emphasis on indie games... and there has not yet been a community that has really formed around PLAYING indie games (that I know of). Even so, the Great Games Experiment doesn't really enforce an indie slant - though it does seem to encourage it with demo / download / buy now links for every added game that are enabled by default.

I guess we'll see if it really takes off or not.

If you are interested (and have an account), I'm available there as the Rampant Coyote. If you don't have an account and need an invite, let me know. I only have the two, but I may as well use 'em.

Labels: Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:07 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Games For Castaways
No, I'm not talking about Virtual Villagers - though it's a pretty awesome game about castaways. And I guess the Monkey Island games had you getting stranded on islands. But that's not what I'm talking about.

Let's say you were marooned on a desert island, but you somehow magically became stranded with an awesome computer and plenty of power to run it (maybe you are stranded on the island in the TV Show "Lost" or something). But NO INTERNET CONNECTION. (Suckage!)

Now, you get to choose THREE GAMES to take with you. These will be your entertainment to keep you sane for the indefinite period of time you are gonna be stranded on the island (we'll assume about 3 years), so you'll want games with replayability in spades.

Pick your games.

Me? Well, my top three would probably be:

#1 - Civilization
Any version, I assume, though I haven't played the latest. Still - a single game of Civilization can last many, many hours. And you can play through many sessions with MANY variations, difficulty levels, and different national abilities. This game was nicely methodical and turn-based, which would help keep my mind sharp in the otherwise mind-numbing, lonely day-to-day struggle for survival on my island.

#2 - Daggerfall
Yes, Daggerfall... Elder Scrolls 2. Simply because it's so much more friggin' huge than its sequels. Sure, the formulaic quests and random dungeons can wear on me during a single game. But compared to gathering coconuts, it shouldn't be too bad. A single game can last hundreds of hours... more if I keep exploring. There were rumors of all kinds of hidden, unique elements buried within the procedurally-generated Tamriel. Even a (gasp!) dragon! I never heard of it being found, which probably means it was a false rumor, but I could verify it by my thorough exploration of the world. And I could play through it as every character class - feats requiring hundreds of hours each - before experimenting with custom classes.

Yeah. Daggerfall would be a good option to take with me into my desert-island hell.

#3 - Falcon 4.0: Allied Force
I chose Allied Force because it includes a new compaign and more "stuff" than the original release. While it only offers a few starting conditions in two campaigns, the little virtual war quickly evolves into a unique situation with every game. Besides, this game's documentation is so hefty that I could chew through an entire week just studying up on all the functional systems of an F-16.

Also, the real-time action would be a nice counter-point to the turn-based gameplay of Civilization, or the somewhat less action-dependent Daggerfall. Now if only I could set up a wireless connection with the next island over to play the game AGAINST a fellow castaway in another bunker somewhere...

Runners Up
What I'd also have seriously considered taking with me on my date with destiny, but ultimately left to sink beneath the waves due to the arbitrary restriction of only bringing three with me...

Neverwinter Nights (Platinum Edition): This one might be a keeper if I was also allowed to bring the entire contents of Neverwinter Vault with me. Over 5,000 user-created modules would keep me pretty busy for a while.

Nethack (with a graphical front-end, like Falcon's Eye): Close, but I'd be cheating on this little excursion anyway and making sure my computer had programming languages installed. They aren't games! So I would just create my own version.

Unreal Tournament 2004: Three or four years stuck battling bots in this game, and I might FINALLY not suck at it. When I'm finally rescued, I might actually be able to play online without having my butt handed to me.

Master of Orion 2: A single game could last the whole time :) Seriously, if it weren't for Civilization covering the same general gameplay, this would be a top choice.

Age of Empires 2 (with the expansion): Perhaps the finest RTS of all time. With plenty of nations, randomly generated battlefields, and an almost obscene number of variations and difficulty levels, this one would keep me occupied for a while and feed my RTS hunger.


Okay, there's my shot at it. I'm sure you could do better. What games would you take with you?

Labels: Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:00 AM (Permalink) 8 comments links to this post

 
Is $42,000 All You Can Make With Indie Games?
Phil Carlisle (Zoombapup) participated in a "So You Want To Be An Indie Developer" blog project this week. I wish I'd known about it, but I doubt I could have said anything that the participants already said. Many of the articles are well worth reading, but I liked Phil's in particular.

Many new aspiring indie game developers ask, "How much can I make on an indie game?" The frequent response is something along the lines of, "That's like asking `How long is a piece of string'." There are too many variables.

Not one to shy away from the tough questions, Phil broke it down to a science. Well, math. How much can you make from an indie game?

His answer (and link): $42,000.

Before sixteen-year-olds with dreams of buying a new car with an Aquanoid clone developed in Flash get too excited, I should interject that I ASPIRE to making that much on an indie game. I doubt it's gonna happen on Apocalypse Cow. It sure didn't happen with Void War. By my understanding, the majority of indie games don't do that well. In fact, most make close to nothing.

Now, one other note is that there are plenty of indie games doing better than that. Some are achieving that via portals, though if portals are a significant part of a game's strategy, it's average revenue per unit (to the developer) is going to be a lot less than $15.

To a point, he's pulling numbers out of the air, and the formula isn't perfect, but I think the basic premise is pretty solid, and based on discussions with other indies (and sales stats provided like the links above from GameProducer.net), it seems to be in the right ballpark for a reasonably successful indie PC games.

Is $42,000 that all you can make? Well, obviously not. Not that I have first-hand experience at this ("yet," i interject optimistically). But some possibilities:

* Make an extraordinary game that bucks the odds
* Release the game on multiple platforms (Mac, Linux, XBox 360, whatever)
* Make more than one game per year.
* Additional revenue streams (such as affiliate game sales, or advertising revenue)
* Alternative distribution methods (OEM, retail sales, unconventional channels)
* Contract work
* Licensing your IP

I wrote a whole article about this once upon a time. But the trick of it is that it all requires a ton of work. My total part-time efforts over the last couple of years haven't yet come close to earning me minimum wage yet. But I believe I've been learning a lot during that time, and in a way it has already paid off. It was my efforts as an indie that got me a new job that I'm much happier in now. And it's presented me with other great opportunities and experiences that I'd hate to have missed.

If you are doing what you love, then dollars and cents aren't the only measure of success.

(Vaguely) related blitherings:
* 20 Ways to Make Money Making Indie Games
* How to Avoid Making Money Making Games
* Profit or Passion?
* The Casual Game Industry Sucks Too

Labels: Biz

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:30 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
A Twisty Little Maze of Passages, All Different
> Kill Dragon

WITH WHAT, YOUR BARE HANDS?

I never had to answer that question myself. But that dragon was my first significant exposure to the world of computer games.

I didn't play the game myself. Instead, I was given a walkthrough by my buddy in fifth grade, Craig Bucher, who had played it over the weekend on some "minicomputer." I don't even know if the computer even had a monitor - the game was played on the printer, recording his explorations to be shared later. With the huge printout in hand, he took relish in showing me the most interesting parts. Through his printout, I was able to share in his adventure (which I didn't realize had the name, "Adventure," at the time). I witnessed him being attacked by nasty axe-throwing dwarves and giant snakes, saw him trying to deal with the "troll bridge," navigate the twisty little mazes of passages, and witnessed him face down a fierce green dragon sprawled out on a Persian rug.

I don't know why it was - but the fact that the dragon was on a Persian rug really stuck with me. For the rest of my life, my mental image of a dragon wasn't lounging Smaug-like on a bed of gold and silver, but rather sprawled out on a large, expensive Persian rug. My parents bought a Persian rug for our home, and I always thought it seemed a bit bare without a fierce green dragon on it.

I don't know if you could call my career and hobby of making videogames a "life's calling." But if you choose to, then you could say that I realized it on that winter morning. I was an avid reader, and here I was reading what looked like a book (or at least a short story) that had been written by the computer in reaction to my friend's voyages through an imaginary world. I was struck by the possibilities of it all.

I went home that night and wrote up something without the benefit of a computer on several pages of lined notebook paper. It was an adventure, and its format was vaguely reminiscent of a "choose your own adventure" book (I hadn't yet discovered Dungeons & Dragons). I worked on it for days, and filled several pages with text and options. Much was original, but it also had nasty little dwarves with axes, and the obligatory dragon sitting on a Persian rug.

When I felt all was ready, I ran my brothers through my adventure. I played the part of the computer, reading text according to their choices.

The entire adventure ran maybe five minutes, and that was including the time necessary to give them instructions. I'd apparently underestimated the content requirements by a hair. This is a problem I still struggle with today.

I taught myself to program on my first computer, a Sinclair ZX80, which lacked the capacity to actually run any of these games (one kilobyte of memory is apparently only enough for about a paragraph of text). Later, when we got the Commodore 64, I finally had enough memory (and storage space) to start making my dreams come true. First off, I was finally able to PLAY these adventure games myself, and finally follow in the footsteps of my friend. I finally encountered the fierce green dragon on the Persian rug, the axe-throwing dwarves, and the notorious TWISTY LITTLE MAZE OF PASSAGES for myself. And I was able to explore the Great Underground Empire, gathering the treasures I'd heard so much about. The experiences were satisfying and thrilling, but still a little short of what I'd felt a couple of years earlier.

But the best thing was that I was able to create these experiences. I started perhaps a dozen adventure games, most left incomplete in one form or another. I even collaborated with a schoolmate on one. I wouldn't go anywhere without my notebook full of maps and notes for my next awesome project. The two adventure games I actually finished, "The Dungeons of Doom" and "The Secret of Red Hill Pass" are long-gone now. And even at the time, I realized their weaknesses (though I thought they were a bit more sophisticated than the original Colossal Cave Adventure or Scott Adams' adventures). And of course, as I already knew the games intimately well, they weren't so much fun for me to play.

But it was during the development of these games that I felt the magic of the dragon on the Persian rug the strongest. I still get a taste of it in other games, some of which I record in my "Game Moments" articles. Part of my anticipation for Mike Rubin's Vespers 3D project is a hope to catch another taste of the magic, as I haven't really been able to get into pure text adventures again (though I've tried, and I don't fully understand why I haven't gotten very far). But those are enough to continue to drive me to play... and to create.

After all this time, that dragon is STILL there on that Persian rug. Oh, he's available in a free download, if anyone feels like challenging him - though I doubt the magic is still there. I don't think it ever was captured in the bits of data that made up the game. Where he really lived, for me, was in my mind. My imagination. The simplicity and abstraction of the text was what invited me to create him, to give him life, and to even give him some amount of power over me.

That was where the immersiveness came from. That's something that fantastic shaders and voice-overs cannot reproduce, and may even hinder (though I'm not quite willing to give them up and go back to text-only). It's all about capturing the imagination. Once that happens, the game - the medium - takes on a life of its own. The player is not just a consumer, an audience, but a participant, and the game becomes much more than the sum of its code and data.

And that's the power of the dragon.

In spite of all his power, the dragon was actually pathetically easy to slay. That was the whole trick. The key was to think outside of the box. It was to realize that in this new medium, the rules of the "real world" didn't necessarily apply. Adventurers were confounded, sometimes for weeks, sometimes forever, because they brought with them assumptions and baggage from the outside world with them into this new but familiar one. Because obviously, slaying a dragon is going to have to take something SPECTACULAR. Maybe something you haven't found yet. All the tricks that worked against the other monsters in the world failed utterly before the power of the dragon.

But the solution was both simple and outrageous. It was spectacular by being non-spectacular. It involved nothing that the adventurer didn't already have with him at the start of the game. For all his intimidating might, the dragon could be defeated by the simplest (but not the most obvious) means possible.

I lied when I said at the beginning of this article that I never had to answer that question myself. Sure, I knew the answer for the Colossal Cave Adventure. But as it set me on my path to making games, to trying to share that little bit of magic with others, particularly as an indie game developer with little resources. I haven't felt extremely successful at it. The dragon on his Persian rug keeps defeating me, as I find myself having to answer that question over and over again. But I keep trying.

I wonder if the answer is really any different?

> Kill Dragon

WITH WHAT, YOUR BARE HANDS?

> Yes.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE JUST VANQUISHED A DRAGON WITH YOUR BARE HANDS (UNBELIEVABLE, ISN'T IT?)


(Vaguely) related rambles:
* How Do I Get Past the Harpies?
* Interview with Mike Rubin (developer of Vespers 3D)
* Losing Your Limits Without Losing Your Mind
* Interview with Scorpia
* How Do You Create "Fun?"

Labels: Adventure Games, Indie Evangelism, retro

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:00 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Mistakes in Game Design
Mark Rosewater has written up a great article about the common mistakes made by aspiring game designers in Magic: The Gathering (tip o' the hat to Damion Schubert at Zen of Design for pointing this one out).

The principles Mark lays out are 100% applicable to computer and video games. Here's my effort to convert these to the digital gaming medium:

Mistake #1: Making the Player Do Something They Don't Want to Do
Gameplay is all about risk and reward, and balancing the good with the bad --- then allowing the player to make the choice between choices, hedging their bet and trying to stack the odds in their favor. They may have a prime sniper position that gives them an awesome vanatage point to gain some easy kills, but it also allows them to be easily taken from behind.

That's all good.

But making the players engage in un-fun activities in order to get bonuses to make the game more fun later? Not cool.

Perhaps the most un-fun activity of all is... waiting. Not pausing for the best moment to act (which was lots of fun in the Thief and Rainbow Six games), but actually sitting waiting for something to happen or actually being able to do something.

The worst example I can think of is EverQuest --- the whole sitting in front of the spellbook thing to meditate. Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs have it tough - they have to prevent people from racing through the content faster than they can generate it. So much of the balance has to be focused on progression over time. But did they have to make it so overt? And stuck looking at a little 2D picture for minutes at a time in the middle of what was (for the time) a really cool 3D virtual world?

Granted, they whittled away at that later, and most games nowadays have learned their lesson from that embarassing little gameplay mechanic.


Mistake #2: Making the Player Do Unnecessary Work
Because computers are capable of automating so many of the player's book-keeping tasks, this one kinda blurs into the first mistake. But the evil comes when there are tasks the computer really should automate (or allow the option to automate) micromanagement tasks.

An example: Well, these are rare nowadays, but RPGs without automapping. Yeah, automapping takes out some of the tricks that you could pull off on the poor player (like the old teleporting squares and reverse-direction squares of the old Wizardry days), but those tricks were more of an irritation than a fun element anyway.

Another example, also from RPGs: The need for food and drink for character maintenance. Sure, a constant flow of gold for character upkeep is a fairly interesting mechanic, especially for low-level characters. Gotta keep 'em hungry so they keep hunting for gold, right? But keeping track of food stores (and their associated inventory slots or whatever) is usually a pain in the butt. I give an exception to the Ultima Underworld games... where actually trying to survive and find food was a part of the game.

I also recall the painful experience of putting task forces together in Master of Orion 3. Shamefully, they put one of the most entertaining elements of the original game... building fleets - and made it painful and frustrating with all sorts of limitations on what ships could go together in what sort of task force mission.


Mistake #3: Putting Things The Player Cares About Out of His/Her Control
Fortunately, in single-player games, control is rarely more than a "Load Game" menu option away. But that is a meta-game element, not a game mechanic, and ideally shouldn't be a key part of the player experience.

An example of this is old-school (non-LucasArts) adventure games, where you could die by making an unfortunate choice. Later graphical adventures did a pretty good job of easing the player's transition from (usually amusing) death scenes to restoring from a previously saved game. Many RPGs borrowed this trick, having the player character instantly resurrected upon death.

Excessive randomness in a game is also a mistake. Some randomness is okay - even desireable - but when it gets to the point where it gets out of the player's ability to manage, it's a problem.

Another thing to watch out for is a condition where certain combinations of actions are undefendable against. The game that comes to mind is the original Command & Conquer. I don't remember all the details (it's been HOW MANY YEARS since I've played it), but I seem to remember that your starting building was not something that could ever be rebuilt. Two opposing players could team up on you with the Light of Nod (or something like that) and destroy that building INSTANTLY, effectively ending the game for the victim. This wasn't too big of a problem, as this particular weapon took a while to build... so while the victim might not be able to defend or recover from it, it was still at least preventable.



Mistake #4: Forcing the Player's Hand Too Much
This mistake comes into play where one style of play or one strategy has a clear advantage of any others, rendering the entire gameplay a one-dimensional exercise in optimization. Much of the fun in games comes from the player making decisions that appear equally attractive, but the player may be able to nudge some factors to be more in their favor.

Some of the early (and lower-quality) RTS games had this problem, where the entire game became exercises in who could make the most effective early-game rush.


Mistake #5: Making The Gameplay Match the Wrong Audience
This is a pretty common one, and probably merges with mistake #1 a lot. This is frustrating as a game designer, because you are at once trying to add variety to the gameplay to keep it fresh, AND deal with the expectations of the audience. It CAN be done, but it takes a light touch, a skilled hand, and the proper presentation. But you always have to aske youself what your target audience wants to play, and why they are playing your game instead of a different one.

Perhaps the most common example of this mistake is the practically obligatory jumping puzzles in first-person shooters. Many FPS players hate them. Others tolerate them. A few players at grudgingly appreciate the change of pace and variety. But I don't know if anybody actually looks forward to the jumping puzzles. If they did, they'd be playing a different game. Probably on a Nintendo.


(Vaguely) related comments on other fun mistakes!
* How to Avoid Making Money Making Indie Games
* Rules of Game Design Part 1
* A Counter-Manifesto
* More Bad Game Design Decisions
* What Kind of Gamer Are You?
* How Do You Create "Fun"

Labels: Game Design

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:09 AM (Permalink) 8 comments links to this post

 
Game Moment #15 - Neuromancer
Neuromancer, the novel by William Gibson, blew my mind when I read it in the late 1980's. I think it blew the minds of a lot of people. It created the (short-lived) Cyberpunk genre. It was heady stuff when it was published, theorizing virtual reality mingled with a world-wide computer network before the "Internet" was in anyone's vocabulary. It combined a uniquely 1980's era dystopia with a vision of computers and communications melding seamlessly with everyday life - and even within the human body itself. The line between computer programs and the human mind was blurred, and the result was both tantalizing and nightmarish.

Very cool stuff. And more plausible every day. Well, except for the idea of the Soviet Union still being a major player.

Around 1988, the computer game based on the book was created. Published by Interplay, it was a graphic adventure / RPG hybrid by Troy Miles. It even included part of a song (horribly rendered in MIDI glory on the PC) by Devo (How's that for 1980's?). The graphics on the PC version were standard 320 x 200 16-color EGA, and not nearly as attractive as other EGA adventure games of the era.

I didn't get around to playing it until 1991, shortly before I became hooked on Wing Commander. I hadn't even heard of the game before, but I found it discounted for $20 at a little computer shop in northern California early that summer. I wasn't yet plugged back into the gaming scene, so like most uninformed gamers I was as likely swayed by the license as anything else. Although I was saving money for my upcoming wedding and the next two semesters of college (yeah, it was quite the summer), I figured $20 wasn't a very big risk. I bought the game and tried it out that night.

Instead of playing the hero of the novel, you instead played another hacker of a user-supplied name on a somewhat parallel journey. For an adventure game, Neuromancer had a surprisingly small number of physical locations. Most of the game took place along three streets in Chiba City, with a trip near the end-game into orbital space stations. The game borrowed descriptions and characters from the novel, but also included some of its own own humor to the setting. Like the "Church of Pong."

The segment of the game taking place in "meat-space" was almost pure graphic adventure game, with the exception of the flow of cash. There was no combat - saying the wrong thing, going somewhere unprepared, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time could get you killed, or arrested and fined. Like most games of its kind, you learned to save early and often to avoid re-tracing your steps after a disasterous experiment.

The other side of the game was "Cyberspace," where you upgraded your "cyberdeck" and your software to hack into computers. The combat was in real-time, but it didn't exactly require fast arcade reflexes. It involved analyzing the opposing computer's strengths and weaknesses, and using the right combination of intrusion software to force your way in.

Success netted you access to bank accounts to raid, clues to your next move in cyberspace or in meat-space, upgraded intrusion software, passwords to be used in systems that were too hard to hack through brute force, access to security systems or other controls which affected the meat-space world, background information on the world itself, and some amusing little side-stories. It was perhaps more interesting "treasure" than any +2 sword of ogre decapitation.

In spite of its second-rate graphics (even for the time), the game had something to make it powerfully compelling. It drew me into the world and left me thinking about it when I wasn't playing --- planning my next move, musing over puzzles I hadn't yet solved. As this was still prior to the era of the World Wide Web, the solutions were not to be found in a quick Google search.

No, I had to figure this one out on my own. As any old-school adventure gamer is aware, this led to trying out sometimes irrational behavior in-game to either stumble across a solution, or maybe gain some other clue as to what really should be done, or reveal some previously overlooked option that could break apart several roadblocks at once. As always, I saved the game, experimented, and often found myself having to re-load after experiencing a minor setback or disaster.

My brain was so engaged in this tiny, fictional, 16-color universe that this game "moment" occured in the real-real-world. After playing the game for a couple of hours earlier in the evening, I found myself in a conversation with my in-laws-to-be. I don't remember what it was about, but they asked me a question, and I found myself trying to "save game" prior to answering them. Just in case my answer wasn't a good one.

When I realized what I'd been thinking, I figured I'd probably had enough Neuromancer for the day. I figured my brain had been at it too long, anyway. And that was another thing about old-school adventure games: the solutions often revealed themselves only after you took a break from the game and let your subconscious wrestle with it for a bit.

Incidentally, whatever answer I gave to my wife's folks was evidently the correct dialog tree option. I didn't find myself needing to re-load the game afterwards.

Labels: Adventure Games, Game Moments, retro, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:46 PM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Blogger Upgrade
I just upgraded to the new version of Blogger (still beta). The two immediate advantages I've seen are labels (something I've envied for a while), and that email notification of comments actually includes the TITLE of the post now.

For the labels, you can click on the labels at the bottom of most blog posts (not this one... some just don't have a good category) and see the (possibly gigantic) list of past articles with that same label.

Not that I can really imagine why anybody would WANT to read all that crap, but hey... the option is available. I guess there are a few good ones in there.

As to the email notification thing - in the past, if you commented to a post, Blogger would let me know a comment has appeared so I could respond to it. Which is nice. Except it didn't tell me what POST it was in. Sometimes it was obvious (and usually it's a recent). But if you commented on a old post, I might have to spend a lot of time hunting it down.

It's also useful for me to weed out the occasional spam comment that appears in old blog posts. Man, I hate those. The word verification thing stops most spammers in their tracks, but a few determined weasels do get in.

Anyway, please let me know if you've found any problems with the new setup.

And if you are REALLY bored, here are some of the label categories:

Roleplaying Games (Why is it I talk more about RPGs than any other genre here?)
Interviews (Interviews here, and indie interviews on other sites)
Indie Evangelism (Why Indie Games are so freaking awesome)
Game Announcements (News about our games, our affiliate games, and the games we like!)
Retro (Nostalgia, old games, stories of game development from the 90's)
Biz (Business & the game industry)
Mainstream Games (Yes, there are other games out there besides indie...)

Have fun!
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:53 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Attack of the Zombie Game Legislation!
Oh, boy. Here we go again. The "Videogames Are Porn" bill is back here in Utah. Swell.

Won't someone please shoot this horrible piece of attempted anti-game legislation in the head? Because, zombie-like, it keeps rising from the dead.

It died in committee. They changed some "ors" into "ands" and snuck it back through when nobody was looking.

It died on the Utah Senate floor. Hogue anticipated bringing it back.

Then Hogue lost his bid for state senate (THANKFULLY). So he got a buddy to introduce it for him, all the while spouting almost verbatim Jack Thompson hyperbole as if it were fact. And now it's passed committee again. In spite of warnings from the Attorney General and others that it would most likely, like the similar state bills before it, get overturned for being unconstitutional after an expensive court battle.


(Vaguely) related tales of battling this undead monster:
* Games As Porn Bill Quietly Fails
* Games As Porn Bill Passes House
* Fragged the Bad Bill
* Cool! I get to be a FELON now!
* My Rant Is Printed

Labels: Politics

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:03 PM (Permalink) 3 comments links to this post

 
Programming Tip: Comment First
Here's a little programming tip that helps me write better code... when I remember to do it. I don't have a really good name for it. I'll just call it the "Comment First" technique for now. I find this trick helps me focus on programming tasks better, helps me stay on target when I'm interrupted, and provides me with nicely commented code.

The technique is simple: When I create a function / method / whatever, I create a stub, and I write the details of the function implementation in plain English inside the stub. (I suppose if English isn't your primary language, another language of choice would suffice. I dunno, I haven't tried.) I format the description as comments, and I try to break them into steps with whitespace between them (blame my learning procedural programming back in the early 80's).

This is sort of like writing pseudocode, which is one of those almost-perfectly-useless things they taught me in college. I never really understood the purpose of using pseudocode outside the language-agnostic classroom. Unlike pseudocode, what I'm talking about is not writing anything that resembles machine-readable instructions. This is purely human-oriented instructions to yourself on how you are implementing the function.

For example, here's a simple function I was working on tonight. This is nothing more exciting than implementing queue behavior in TorqueScript:

function WBQueue::Pop(%this)
{
// Is the list empty? If so, quit.

// Grab the top element in the queue.

// Does the first element have a successor? If so, point the Qeue to this second element.
// Otherwise, set the Queue it to NULL (0).

// Return the original top element

}

The first benefit I gain from doing it this way is that it forces me to analyze the problem from a higher level before I start coding. For example, this code (with some expansion to functionality) was being used in tonight's project to keep track of a scrolling, ordered selection of graphics objects. I was going to implement it with an array. As I thought through it, I realized that it was simple queue behavior. As soon as I think queues, I think "linked list." I'd never implemented a linked list in TorqueScript before, but as I thought about I imagined it would be very easy. And much cleaner than the array approach.

Once the instructions are written out this way, writing the code itself is almost trivial. At this point, I can put my brain on auto-pilot and code away. A side benefit is that if I'm interrupted, it's easier to eyeball what I was doing when I left off, and to pick it back up again.

Another advantage is that, when I am done, those little instructions to myself remain as comments for my code. When I come back to it six months and try to figure out what the heck I was thinking when I wrote the code, I'll take a look at the comments and realize I wasn't such an idiot after all. That does wonders for my self-esteem.

So there you go. Nothing rocket-science-y about it, but I thought I'd offer it here as a suggestion to any other code monkeys reading this.


(Vaguely) related items of questionable value
* Biting the Silver Bullet
* The Joy of Debugging
* Fitting Game Development Into a Full-Time Schedule
* Fighting Procrastination: The Local Maxima Problem

Labels: productivity, programming, Torque

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:12 AM (Permalink) 17 comments links to this post

 
I'm not a real game developer. I'm a gamer who learned how to program
The title above is a quote by Brad Wardell in his interview at GamaSutra that's well worth reading.

Brad's company, Stardock, is a fairly unusual indie game developer. In order to finance making games (I think), they got into doing "serious" utilities for businesses. So there are two halves of the company, but they've managed to come up with some really great games.

I haven't played Galactic Civilizations 2 yet (I may wait for the expansion), but I loved the first game and the expansion. It felt more like the classic "Master of Orion" games than... well, more than Master of Orion 3, that's for sure! But by the same token, GalCiv had a feel all of its own. I did miss the tactical combat of MoO 1 and MoO 2, though. (MoO 3's combat.... well, the most powerful weapon was the mind-numbing BOREDOM combined with the complexity of micromanagement... I really should work harder at repressing).

Anyway, here are a couple of choice quotes from Brad's interview:

"...the game industry is so stratified right now that it takes a guy like Will Wright, who's been around for five thousand years, to come up with something like Spore. Everyone says "Oh wow, that's so cool!" In the old days, we had a game as innovative as Spore coming out every year. Nowadays, they're so few and far between that we're starving for innovation. Something like Xbox Live Arcade can open up the doors for the next generation of game developers who will come up with clever stuff."

And concerning Microsoft's XNA initiative:

"I love it. I'm not a real game developer; I'm a gamer who learned how to program so that I could make the games that I wanted to play. I figure the more they open it up for more people to make games, the better off we all are."

My kind of indie! You can read the entire interview at the link below, where Brad talks about MMORPGs, what happened with the Master of Magic license, how they'd like to do an RPG, and his views on copy protection.

Master of the Galaxy: Stardock's Brad Wardell


(Vaguely) related verbal doodling:
* Game Moment #1: Master of Orion
* A Pirate Story
* Game Design: Speed of Game
* Profit or Passion?
* Interview with Amanda Fitch, Indie RPG and Casual Game Designer
* The Five A.M. Hall of Fame

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Interviews

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:44 PM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Roleplaying and Computer Roleplaying Games
Some interesting conversations have come up surrounding the topic of roleplaying in computer RPGs. Is it possible in single-player games? Is it even desireable or possible? Is an RPG really an RPG without the "R"?

The discussion frequently comes around to comparisons to multiplayer and "live" RPG sessions.

Me? My best roleplaying experience ever wasn't in an RPG at all. And it got me slapped.

Articles
The first article was over at GameWatch.com, an editotorial entitled, "Where Is the 'R' in RPG?"

Scorpia has since responded in a pair of articles, ROLE Playing? and ROLE Playing? Part 2. Bruce Nielson pointed out an article he'd written called Roleplaying Styles and Roleplaying Conflict, primarily referring to roleplaying in multiplayer Neverwinter Nights.

I think this is one of those arguments that will never be resolved. Like the chicken and the egg, or storytelling vs. gameplay (AKA narrativism vs. simulationism, in Bruce's article), or Democrats vs. Republicans. The value is in the discussion, not in any nebulous resolution.

What's In A Name?
First of all, RPGS were invented before they were even called "roleplaying games." So, to me, arguing about whether or not something is a "true" roleplaying game based upon the term that eventually stuck to the category rings artificial to me. In some ways, it can be counter-productive.

It reminds me a little of the (Indian?) parable of the blind men describing the elephant based upon the single feature they experienced. For me, a key part of the experience is using the attributes (stats) of my character(s) to accomplish a task, rather than my own personal abilities. To many game developers, that's no longer aspect of what they consider to be RPGs.

Naturally, I think my point of view is the right one. But we could all be arguing over parts of the elephant.

My Best Roleplaying Experience
High School.

Drama Class.

Improvs.

I was to play a lecherous broadway producer. She was to play my former lover, a woman developing a good prima-donna complex. The situation: I was getting rid of the prima-donna in my new play, replacing her with the new hottie. With all the emotional baggage that entailed. Two other actors were playing the young hottie and one other role in our little improvisational drama, and some other situation that I forget.

Now, it just so happens that this girl and I were really good friends, admired each other, but had zero physical attraction to each other (as far as I know) in real life. We had a couple of classes together, often had lunch together with the same group of friends, etc. But we both really got into our assigned roles.

And it got heated. Very heated. It ended with the two of us screaming at each other, and she hauled off and slapped me. Ear-ringingly hard. I didn't even notice. Or rather, I noticed, but it didn't dawn on me that I'd been slapped by one of my good friends. No, she was a a total bitch-queen who I'd been supremely stupid to get involved with in the first place, and if I had my way she'd never work in this town again. And I proceded to tell her so at high-volume.

It finally dawned on us that our drama teacher was screaming "cut" or "stop" or something at all of us. Oh, right, we were in this improv. I became aware of a stinging sensation in my left cheek and a ringing in my ear. Suddenly, my partner's eyes widened in horror at what she'd done. She grabbed hold of my arm and apologized repeatedly, explaining that she hadn't even thought about what she was doing. I told her it was fine, I'd been right there with her, and it hadn't thought twice about it until the scene had ended.

Now THAT was roleplaying. And I am pretty sure we got an "A" in class that day.

And Best Experiences in Roleplaying Games
Have I had anything even approaching that sitting around the table with dice and a character sheet in my hand? Not in the same league as far as emotional intensity, no. But I have had some awesome moments that reminded me that THIS was what it was about.

Ducking behind an overturned table in Call of Cthulhu with the rest of my companions, as pistols and a tommy-gun were pulled out to deal with the horde of ghouls that had chased us into this dead-end, hearing them howling and gibbering in the darkened hall...

Getting caught in an ambush in a ruined town, trying to find cover as our supply truck with all our precious food, medicine, and ammunition took a direct mortar hit in Twilight: 2000...

Playing a poor blue-collar worker with a sleep disorder trying to maintain a romantic relationship with a wealthy industrialist, and dealing with the stress of shared friends, social pressures, her tendency to glow blue when excited, and of course horrible super-villains and invading aliens threatening to destroy us and civilization as we knew it in Champions....

And playing a local city councilman (and, secretly, a voodoo priest) in New Orleans, and having to choose between accepting campaign support from local organized crime, or allowing certain vampires to bolster their own political power in the city in an online World of Darkness game.

Can This Happen In A Single-Player CRPG?
I think, to a large degree, roleplaying is a social experience. It's about having reinforcement from other participants (even unwitting ones) and audience. Take away the other players, and it becomes a story rather than roleplaying. It may be an interactive story, but it's still "just" a story. At the time I was on the stage with my friend, or at the time the moments in the game were taking place, I was roleplaying. But now, telling about them, no matter how I might try to get back into the mindset of my character, I'm still just telling a story.

The computer can simulate an opponent or another player for some games, but they still suck horribly at simulating a true social experience. Maybe someday people might be able to roleplay with C3PO as a partner, but not now. Likewise, a book may be extremely well-written, but even though you might have been able to make some interesting choices based on "playing a character" in those Choose Your Own Adventure books in the early 1980's, that didn't constitute roleplaying either.

So in that respect, I'm going to have to say "no, you can't have roleplaying in a single-player roleplaying game."

But There's A But...
However, the fun of roleplaying - the "goal" if you will (which is why it is used as a tool by therapists, trainers, and others) is that it allows us to explore possibilities in a safe social environment. Well - relatively safe. Apparently, I could still get slapped.

But even in a fantasy roleplaying game like D&D, where we're fighting dragons and demons in full melodramatic and larger-than-life glory, there are points of verismilitude with our real lives that make it compelling, that give the experience power, and can actually teach us in some ways.

No, we're not going to be chucking fireballs at black dragons when we step out the door to go to work in the morning, and our memorization of the grappling rules isn't going to do us much good on that physics test tomorrow morning. However, everyone deals with facing apparently insurmountable odds as part of the basic human experience. It's nice to know what it feels like to be victorious once in a while.

We often have to choose the lesser of two evils. With my city councilman / voodoo priest, I was able to safely explore possible repercussions of doing so. We often face trials in relationships with others, particularly romantic ones - and in the Champions game, we could blow up those trials to fantastic and melodramatic proportions to explore how to deal with them without the dangers of harming a real-world relationship. In Twilight: 2000 and Call of Cthulhu, I got to explore my own emotional reactions to dire emergencies in a safe, slow-paced environment. Not that they resembled anything I expect to face in the real world (I certainly hope not), and I doubt I'd actually have such coolness under fire as my characters, but whether or not they have any actual value or application to the real world, the thrill was similar to the thrill of riding a roller coaster - the emotional reaction was invoked without an act