Carmack on game design -- repost from Slashdot
by Pat Wilson · in General Discussion · 01/02/2002 (5:19 pm) · 4 replies
This is a repost from the Slashdot forums:
slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=25551&cid=2774808
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To elaborate a bit:
Probably everyone reading this has done some "game design" while talking with friends. In an evening, you can lay out the basic character of a game -- what the player does, what the environments are like, what the obstacles are, what the tools in the game are like, what the plot is, what the style of the game is, and a few unique hooks for the game.
There is not a hell of a lot of difference between what the best designer in the world produces, and what a quite a few reasonably clued in players would produce at this point. This is the "abstract creativity" aspect. This part just isn't all that valuable. Not worthless, but it isn't the thing to wrap a company around.
The real value in design is the give and take during implementation and testing. It isn't the couple dozen decisions made at the start, it is the thousands of little decisions made as the product is being brought to life, and constantly modified as things evolve around it. If you took two game designs, one good and one bad, and gave them to two development teams, one good and one bad, the good dev team could make a good, fun product out of a bad design, but the bad dev team could ruin the most clever design. The focus should be on the development process, not the (initial) design.
The games with 500 page design documents before any implementation are also kidding themselves, because you can't make all the detail decisions without actually experiencing a lot of the interactions.
Putting creativity on a pedestal can also be an excuse for laziness. There is a lot of cultural belief that creativity comes from inspiration, and can't be rushed. Not true. Inspiration is just your subconscious putting things together, and that can be made into an active process with a little introspection.
Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.
John Carmack
slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=25551&cid=2774808
---------------------------------------------
To elaborate a bit:
Probably everyone reading this has done some "game design" while talking with friends. In an evening, you can lay out the basic character of a game -- what the player does, what the environments are like, what the obstacles are, what the tools in the game are like, what the plot is, what the style of the game is, and a few unique hooks for the game.
There is not a hell of a lot of difference between what the best designer in the world produces, and what a quite a few reasonably clued in players would produce at this point. This is the "abstract creativity" aspect. This part just isn't all that valuable. Not worthless, but it isn't the thing to wrap a company around.
The real value in design is the give and take during implementation and testing. It isn't the couple dozen decisions made at the start, it is the thousands of little decisions made as the product is being brought to life, and constantly modified as things evolve around it. If you took two game designs, one good and one bad, and gave them to two development teams, one good and one bad, the good dev team could make a good, fun product out of a bad design, but the bad dev team could ruin the most clever design. The focus should be on the development process, not the (initial) design.
The games with 500 page design documents before any implementation are also kidding themselves, because you can't make all the detail decisions without actually experiencing a lot of the interactions.
Putting creativity on a pedestal can also be an excuse for laziness. There is a lot of cultural belief that creativity comes from inspiration, and can't be rushed. Not true. Inspiration is just your subconscious putting things together, and that can be made into an active process with a little introspection.
Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.
John Carmack
About the author
#2
01/05/2002 (9:14 pm)
I would have to agree for the most part as well. But I still find it interesting coming from someone(JC) who makes great engines, but has basically made the same game over and over for almost a decade.
#3
01/06/2002 (1:43 pm)
I agree with his remarks, but what explains the success of his franchise? Is mindless blood and gore so creative?
#4
Alc
01/07/2002 (9:01 am)
I don't think that says anything about JC, he's not the game designer after all. Look for Doom III to rock though.Alc
Torque 3D Owner Phil Carlisle
Games are work, hard work, anyone who ships a game knows that. Its not just a "lets make a design, lets make that design into a game, lets get a publisher and all become millionaire's" fantasy.
Completing a game can be like running a marathon, the sheer mental pressure involved in creating one thing after another has to be experienced. But there are rewards.
Having your product on a shelf, seeing someone talking about how they had a great time with your game, thats something to be proud of.
Lets hope we get some games to be proud of out of this community, there's certainly enough energy here!
Phil.