Wot I Have Been Up To: Indie Game Development

Over the past couple of years I have been working hard with a team of 6 incredibly talented game developers to establish our very own game development studio (White Paper Games) as well as develop our very own IP (Ether One) into a fully functioning and exciting PC game.

After I finished my Masters I really wanted to do something that allowed me to have a certain amount of creative control over a project and I felt that if I had gone to work in a larger studio this wouldn’t have happened for a long time. This may all sound impatient (and I may very well have been) but I had all these burning ideas inside of me that I desperately needed to get out. At the time I squashed these crazy ideas down and focused on finding a job within the industry so I could pay my bills and rent and actually live a comfortable life. That was until one night I was having a conversation with my friend Pete (who had been a peer during my MA) who was having the same thoughts as I. Two plus two equalled four and we realised that this was an opportunity to actually create something that we could call our own.

It was then that White Paper Games was born.

Pictures from our Prototype Fund final meeting in London

Two years later we are in the thick of it developing our first title Ether One, we have gained substantial funding through the Prototype Fund to aid the project, I have spoken at Develop and been in its 30 under 30 for 2012 and our game has been in the press on several occasions gaining some much needed love and support. We employ an additional 4 developers making us a team of 6 and we all share the single goal and vision for our first game and the studio. We have studio space in the centre of Manchester in a great and creative location (sharing the office area with some potters and some architects) making it great for truly creative work.

The White Paper Games Team

If I was to say that things have worked out alright then I don’t think I would be lying. Yes, I don’t have much money and yes, I do have to do up to 60 hours a week and extra work teaching at degree level to pay the bills but at least I have this opportunity.

When I am old I can tell people that I took that risk.

That I and my friends dared to follow that dream and we had a damn blast whilst doing it. With that said I don’t think I could have gone down this route without the support of the guys over at the studio as well as my family (and everyone else’s families).

Me speaking at Develop Conference 2012 in Brighton

We are hoping that Ether One will be released sometime this year before the summer is out through a variety of digital distributors and I hope even more that people out there like the work that 6 guys poured their hearts into making.

 I hope that comes through in our work.

Ether One Beta Screenshot

If you are interested in the work that we have been doing you should check out ether-game.com and whitepapergames.com for loads more info on what we have been up to.

You never know, it all may just work out fine and only time will tell. 

NJ (Our Sound Designer) is excited about our new chairs!

Guess who is back…

It has been a year and a half since I last wrote a blog post on No Rules Required. Normally I would try and justify the reason for not committing to my own creation, giving you reasons for why I have been on this hiatus. Yet this time I do not want to.

I have realised after spending the last year and a half building up White Paper Games with Pete and teaching games design at Futureworks that excuses do not get you anywhere (even on a blog) and that in fact it is best to own up to your own failures and weaknesses so that you can learn from them and move forward.

With this in mind I have decided to do just that with my blog by utilising my paper based journals as influence for my writings making it easier to commit to writing about design, games, ideas and education.

To kick start this new blogging spree I have also decided to throw a few catch up posts out there entitled ‘Wot I have been up to’ that will be looking at a few aspects of my career, achievements and challenges over the past year and half that I feel are worth discussing.

All in all I feel positive about this new venture and I feel that No Rules Required is once again going to be a larger part of my life, my company and, most important of all, my ideas and designs. 

It has been a long time...

Hello there everyone...

My last post on No Rules Required was an apology for why I haven't been posting so much. The reason, apart from working very hard to complete my Masters, is because I have been busy setting up my own game design studio White Paper Games and designing our first title named Ether. 


The past few months have been pretty tough with working at a day job and for White Paper Games but everything is finally coming together well. We have started production of our demo that hopefully we will have ready to show you around September time and maybe some screen shots even sooner. We have also been trotting around the UK and attended this years Develop Conference which was a great chance to meet people in the industry and make some new friends.

So yet again I apologise for no posts but would like to reassure you all that this is still my personal blogging site and that I will be uploading weekly blogs relating to both my academic career and my adventure with White Paper Games.

So if you haven't already you can visit us at www.whitepapergames.wordpress.com, follow us on Twitter and join our group on Facebook to see what is going on and what we have been up to!

Update on lack of posting

This is just a quick post to explain why I haven’t been keeping up to date with No Rules Required recently. As you may know I have been playing around with various different ideas and have been sticking my thumbs in too many projects to actually focus on any particular one properly. In terms of my work approach this hasn’t been very productive and although I have been working continuously I haven’t managed to progress fast enough or deep enough with any one project to feel like I am achieving anything.

So with this I have decided to place to the side any projects I was currently tinkering with to start a new project with a couple of peers that I worked with during my Masters to actual create something that is professional and exciting.

In terms of information I sadly cannot divulge anything to you till we have something solid to show, but what I can say is that as soon as we have something set up to view I will be posting a link on here. As for posts of my work and articles on here or Gamasutra, unfortunately they will be on hold as all my time and effort is going into this projects design, although I do have a few interesting articles stored up in my brain for you.

Ciao 

Whats that Mr. Box? You can pick things up now?

Small post today with good news! As you may know from my last post I have been tinkering with the idea of small puzzle game involving balls, triggers, platforming and doors. Well I was pondering one of my mechanics which originally was the ability to pick rigidbodies up with your mouse and move them around and realised the problem with this mechanic is that I have used this in a number of other projects before. Knowing this I knew that I really fancied something different with the same objective as the drag/drop. So after many hours trying various scripts and asking for help from the lovely people on many a forum I have managed to make a square pick up a ball by a click of a button!


This may not seem like much to an experienced programmer but in terms of where this projects is now heading I practically have all the tools to really create something fun. This new ability limits the players to only pick objects up when they are stood infront of them. They can then move them around the game play area and drop them where they would like to.

Check the small demo out below to see how it would work with my current ideas.

Another room in a 2D style rather than 2.5D

I made an extra room in the game and changed the camera to orthographic so that the visuals were 2D rather than 2.5D.

Again like before for better quality check out YouTube.

I got distracted and made a new game...kind of!

So I said to myself I would do some work this evening on my Project Cat Boy level design document when I accidentally hit the Unity button *woops*. I then couldn't help but play around with bits and bobs that I have been doing over the past month.

I came up with a simple yet fun game, where the player has to get a pink ball into a trigger to advance to the next room. The rooms aren't mind bending but I quite liked the idea of it and since I haven't used Unity for a little while I thought I would stretch the old mind and make something out of it.

Then as I am so kind I thought I would make a little video to show people. You never know I may make it into a full game if people like the idea!

Thoughts and opinions as usual are always welcome.

If you want to see a better quality video check out the video on Youtube!

Project Cat Boy Game Play

(Updated: Due to an excellent point from a friend (See comments) The walk and run mechanics will be reversed...e.g. Run as standard, walk on press of a button. Cheers Elcura.)

Hello everyone!

This week I have been working hard on getting some level designing done for Project Cat Boy and have had a mine of creativity surface which is great news. Unfortunately the levels at the moment are Top Secret until they are in production but I can let you know some of the exciting game play elements the game is going to feature. Below there are two lists for you to view, one of basic game mechanics (so you all can see how it is going to play on a basic level) and one of the more intricate mechanics the game is going to feature. There are more to come but at this moment in time they are still being decided on.

As always any thoughts or ideas are always welcome and anybody can comment below. This game is a product of our love for videogames and the people that have helped shape the industry today, any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.


Basic Game Mechanics

1.     Walking – Cat Boy as a default will run but he can walk as well. This will be done at the push of a button to allow him to slow down and stroll at a leisurely pace.

2.     Running –Cat Boy as a default will run rather than walk. As a friend pointed out this will allow for a greater sense of energy in the game and will not frustrate when moving back and forth between puzzles.

3.     Jumping – Cat Boy also has the ability to jump at the press of a button. This allows him to reach platforms that are out of reach and to jump across gaps that may heed his progress. Sometimes he will need to jump on props to solve puzzles and progress in the game. This can be done when he is walking and running.

4.     Picking Up Objects – Throughout Cat Boys adventure he will sometimes need to pick up objects and carry them about. This is easily done as when Cat Boy runs into one of these objects he will automatically pick it up and it will be stored in his bag.

5.     Pushing Props – Sometimes Cat Boy will be required to push objects around the game stage to solve puzzles and challenges that he may face.  Pushing against the prop in the direction that you wish it to be moved does this.

Featured Game Mechanics

1.     Collecting Thoughts – In each game world there are a certain number of forgotten thoughts that Cat Boy needs to collect in order for the world’s creator to remember who they are. These thoughts are often hidden in the dark parts of the occupier’s mind as game objects, the parts they wish to forget although the thoughts themselves are pleasant experiences from their previous life. Cat Boy needs to overcome challenges to obtain these thoughts and convince the occupier they are in a dream world and that they are being harvested.

2.     Obtainable Abilities – During each world Cat Boy will receive an ability that he will be able to use in the episodes to come. For example in the first world he gains the ability to push objects around to solve challenges. This will allow the game play to stay fresh and gives the player the element of wonder when they play a new episode.

3.     Evolving Levels – As you start to convince the worlds host that this is all an hallucination the world will start to crumble and change. This affects previous challenges and areas helping keep game play alive and interesting whilst bringing the games narrative to the forefront to show advancement. 

Design: Inspirational books as a games designer

The original post was a way for me to share my research ideas with the public and my academic peers on my Masters in Games Design. Since I have now completed the course I have decided to expand the original post with other texts that have been influential to my design process and me. If anybody has any other books that they have found particularly inspirational towards games design please link them or write about them in the comments.

1# FLOW.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In terms of design this textbook discusses the psychology of how to understand as well as to achieve happiness. This may seem a bit ‘hippy like’ to some but if we take and step back and look at the larger picture the information inside becomes invaluable when designing a game. Videogames are meant to ignite enjoyment, achievement and a sense of fulfilment. These are not possible without the understanding of happiness and how the human mind achieves this state. It also will allow you to understand how to take control of your life to an extent and to identify the many elements that can take that control away from you. In the process you may even end up happy yourself…

 

2# The Writers Journey.
Christopher Vogler

If you want to design your own games then this book is excellent when it comes to writing stories. It gives us a systematic understanding of how stories affect people as well as how to write them. Game narrative as a rule is more complicated than writing for a film or writing a novel yet these guidelines will allow us to understand the psychology of consumers when posed by certain types of stories. With a little intelligence and risk this should help you create stories that are worth playing through whether they are 4 minutes long or 60 hours.

 

3# Homo Ludens. Johan Huizinga

A brilliant theory book that looks into the reasons man needs to play. Homos Ludens itself means, “Man the Player” and discusses the importance of play in culture and society. I guess the questions may arise in yourself of how can you create a truly remarkable game without knowing the real reasons that one needs to play? Or you may gain some insight into the human need to enjoy themselves through games? Maybe the realization that videogames are an important cultural medium will give you confidence? Any of these things may occur when reading texts that investigate the reasons why we want to play videogames and in turn will help you create better and more substantial games. Anyone can make games that may be true, but knowing why and how they work will help you make better games.




4# Creativity.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Another great textbook by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that looks into the theory of flow in order to understand creativity. This book in itself may not explain how to make better games but what it does do is help you understand the creative process as well as help you enrich your work with a great creative ethos.


5# Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames.
Chris Bateman (Editor)

This was the first book I read when writing a report on narrative design in videogames and although I am not a game writer the lessons I learnt in game structuring has stayed with me. The book goes into many different aspects of games design and game writing and is written by various different professionals to give you a broad view. As narrative in videogames goes the theories and ideas on show often dictate what is already used in the games industry thus giving any games designers a strong foundation of what does work. This will allow them, as it did me, to stray from the path and experiment with game mechanics and game narrative.



6# Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals.
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman

This is probably one of my favourite books on games design. Not because it is one of the better know books on games design but because it doesn’t just focus on video games, it looks at all times of games from board games to sport games and of course computer and video games. The book works its way through 8 games design “schemas” such as games being a storytelling medium and contexts of social play and gaming. Out of all the books I have read on games design this is the one that helped me as guide the most. It allowed me to make rational choices and risks by understanding the aesthetics of games design whilst still feeling creative. I also helped me identify with myself as a games designer rather than just a “video” games designer.



7# The Laws of Simplicity.
John Maeda

Games design textbooks are all well and good but it is basic design philosophies that will allow us to make clear, concise and accessible titles. I found the “The Laws of Simplicity” allowed me to understand why it was important to create challenges, controls and mechanics simply. In my last post The Rules of Three I talk about design in process being broken down simply, without this book those ideas would not have been fully realised or at least not as clearly. The book itself is not too academic and easy enough to read, or should I say simple to read, and Maedas simple advice proved influential on my work. I suggest picking it up to see if it has the same effect on you.




These books have been highly influential to me and have helped me when I am stepping through the design process. If you design games and don’t read I highly recommend to start with some of these titles and see if they help you when you are creating. On top of these books there are some others that I intend to read but have not yet gotten round to doing so. These are the following:

1# Universal Principles of Design
2# Emotional Design – Donald Norman
3# The Design of Every Day Things - Donald Norman
4# How’s and Whys of Level Design – Sjoerd De Jong
5# House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

Hopefully I will get to read them soon, as for now back to ideas factory to makes some games.

Design: The rule of three

The rule of three is used in many things, from film and literature to comedy and religion yet is something that I had never really consider before when designing levels and game mechanics. It wasn’t until I was reminded of the rule at a workshop on how to do successful presentations that I even considered its uses in games design and consequently ended up fascinated with the number and the constraints it gave me when designing challenges, tasks and pacing in my games.

                                

I have recently been working on an iPhone title where the player controls aspects of the environment to create a safe path for a character to reach his goal. Now although the idea itself and the mechanic had proven to be fun and entertaining I hadn’t really thought about it as a structured game yet and with this simple idea plaguing my mind I decided to use the rule of three to structure the game on various different levels. The first structural problem I tackled was that of the levels themselves, I wanted to create an experience that was humorous, fun and bite-sized so players could easily pick it up, have a go at a challenge then put it down again, ideal for people on the move.
So I set about playing with the rule of three and placing constraints on the game. I structured each level into three parts as follows:

1. The player has a certain amount of unseen time to survey the environment to understand the structures that they can interact with and try and figure out the idea of the puzzle.
2. The player then gets notified that the character is about to set off from the starting area. Here a timer appears and the player can now interact with the objects in the level to form a safe pathway.
3. When the time is up the character will start to walk along a linear path through the level. Players can still interact with the level but will have the added pressure of the character moving through it. If the player is successful, the character will reach the goal.

Now that the level structure was in place I could focus on the puzzles and decided to also structure those with the rule of three in mind. They would need the following:

1. An original point of interest that would draw the player to the origin of the puzzle. If there were multiple puzzles in the level each puzzle would need an origin point of interest.
2. The origin point would need to lead onto a mid puzzle point. This would need to be obviously linked with the origin point but not in a way that solves the puzzle out right. For example if you needed a seesaw type apparatus to help the character reach a higher level, the origin point could be the pivot and the mid puzzle point could be the plank. Useless on their own until the third part of the puzzle is involved.
3. A final puzzle point that would bring the puzzle together in a way that allows the player to see how it solves the original dilemma. Using our seesaw example it would be something that would weigh one side of the seesaw down to create a ramp allowing the character to reach the desired higher level.

So using the rule of three I had come up with a clear and constrained level structure and puzzle structure to aid me when designing my game. I found that these constraints helped me be more creative in the designs I have come up with so far as they never allow me to stray off the path. Hopefully this will allow for a more thought out game that is still enriched with creativeness and is still fun. But I couldn’t stop there; because once I had started I thought of all the other game elements that I could create around this simple rule. The first that came into my mind after the initial game play was that of logistical games design. How was I going to keep my customers playing my game? It is here that I thought of collectibles and using the rule of three broke it down into three simple actions that could be used and why they would be used. They are as follows:

1. As we know through the level plan that there is a point in each level where players can interact with objects. These objects are often moved, levitated or destroyed to aid the characters progression.
2. Sometimes when these objects are moved cogs will appear that can be tapped and collected.
3. These cogs can then be used to unlock new rescue missions for your character to go on. This gives the game longevity and challenge.

Okay so the last idea was relatively loose on the rule of three but still the principle is the same. Using three rules allows us as designers to structure our ideas into separate bundles, such as the way the game is presented. We don’t want to over complicate the menu system and risk losing the player before they even try the levels. So we can structure them simply with:

1. A main menu screen that gives an overview of the game and a general feel to the player as well as three options. Play, Quit, Options.
2. A level select screen that can be navigated easily to see the various different rescue missions on offer as well as levels that are locked to the player till they gather enough coins.
3. An option screen that allows the player to change the music volume, sfx volume and other aspects of the game.

I even used the theory when designing the main character and based him on three simple shapes, a square, an oval and a circle. It simply stops me over complicating things and going overboard when coming up with ideas. Keeping things simple will always allow for cleaner design and the rule of three allows for this as designers and allows players to understand the game and its ideas easier.  There will always be exceptions to the rule of course but as a design constraint it’s a mighty fine one and will give you a challenge. Why not give it ago yourself? I’m finding it quite inspirational making a puzzle game and wonder how it could be used in other genres.

Design: The control system difficulty barrier.

Image taken from http://www.gamepodunk.com/

I remember that fateful morning when I awoke to the Christmas present that was set to steer my future career. I made my way downstairs to the joyous site of a Sega Megadrive beneath our humble television set and was bewildered by the fantastic graphics and smooth game play of Sonic the Hedgehog. I picked the simple control pad up and after a few missteps I managed to pick the control system up easily enough, after all, all I needed to do was push forward to run and the B button to jump; a simple control system for a fantastic videogame.

18 years later a similar picture unfolds in my parent’s living room, yet this time the person receiving the games console for a Christmas present isn’t myself, but my Dad. Now, make no mistake, my Dad is not a newcomer to the videogame scene. When I first got my Sega Megadrive I watched in bewilderment as he blazed through Ghouls and Ghosts twice to reach the final devil boss, something that I have never seen anybody else do. He also recently completed Resident Evil 4 on my 17-year-old sisters PlayStation 2, a game which he is so satisfied with he has unlocked many items including Leon’s “pimp suit”. Yet when he set up his PlayStation 3 and placed Uncharted: Drakes Fortune into the silvery disc tray and powered the game up we came into a problem. My father could not control Nathan Drake properly, because the right analogue stick controlled the camera.

Now when my Mum told me she had seen a PS3 bundle and wondered whether he would enjoy the game I automatically said “yes” when Unchartered was mentioned. After all, he loved playing Resident Evil 4 so much and although the game’s themes are different, they both involve shooting and adventure. Unfortunately I had not thought as a designer that he might for a second have any troubles with the control system.

So we sat down and I tried my hardest to get him accustomed to the control system that was set in place for him to use, yet he still struggled to control both Drake and the camera at the same time. At this point I could see my Dad was getting frustrated with the game, yet, as an old gamer he desperately wanted to enjoy the game. He then turned to me and said, “This doesn’t feel natural to me” “Its not how I would control myself in my head in real-life”. He then said “People should be able to change the control system to something that they feel comfortable playing, especially when they spend so much on a game”. It then dawned on me that he was correct in a way. The twin stick control system isn’t one that comes to us naturally as when we move around we control ourselves as one unit and choose to look around with our head as another, something that is replicated, albeit clumsily, in Resident Evil 4; a control system that my Dad found easy to adjust to.
So I came home to Manchester after Christmas and started to ponder my Dads reaction to Uncharted’s control system and what he said about choosing your own control system for a game. I thought about whether implementing several control systems into a game for players to choose from would be beneficial to a games accessibility or whether a control system that is ergonomically designed for maximum accessibility would be better and less time consuming. After contemplating the issue I realised that as the main fundamentals of design, if we are to achieve ultimate accessibility in games, simplicity in control systems needs to be achieved and at this moment in time I don’t think many games have quite hit it on the head. I loved Uncharted and I found the control system easy to use, yet I have been playing games from the 16-bit generation through to the current one and have grown up and evolved with videogame controls. Gamers who haven’t, such as my Dad, feel overwhelmed by the complexity of our modern day control systems which do often demand a certain skill set to play.

I can understand why motion gaming has become so popular with the casual gamers, not because motion controls particularly offer a simpler route for designers (if anything it can be more complex), but because it is a new control method for us as well as the consumers. Similar to that of Mario and Sonic all those years ago with their 2 button combos it is a young control method and that reflects in the audience that it attracts. Yet it is our duty as designers in the future to make mainstream games as accessible as casual games, because if we cannot achieve this then we cannot achieve that overall art status we seem to desperately want. My Dad can sit down and watch any film, he may not like all of them, but there are no barriers there to stop him. That is something we have not yet achieved in the games industry.

This is my new showreel which features three titles that I have been working on over the past year. The first title Littleton to the Rescue was my MA final project, Catnapped is an iPhone project I have been working on and Through the Light is a conceptual project for the Nintendo Wii where you use a camera to take photographs of hidden platforms to make them solid.

Re-designing the already designed.

Games design is a funny thing sometimes. One minute you feel like your game idea is the greatest thing on the planet then all of a sudden you figure out that you can make it better in so many different ways. Take for example my final Masters projects, when I was building the demo I felt like the idea and its technicality was wonderful. Then all of a sudden I started seeing the cracks in the design and wanted to refine the idea some more, till it was as tight as tight can be. Incidentally this has led me on to actually redesigning the idea and working away at it some more.

Maybe its because the pressure of a course didn’t allow me to see the design for what it truly was, although nothing disastrous and completely playable, the essence of what I really wanted to capture had stealthily slipped from my grip without me realising. I wanted the project to be accessible and easy to get into, so with this in mind I have taken the characters, the world and the core game mechanic and gone back to the drawing board.

The game now consists of three main stages in each level.

1. The opening stage that has a countdown. This countdown represents the time the player has to solve the puzzle and piece the environment back together before “Littleton” (main character) a rescue robot, lands and starts his journey to rescue a stranded robot.

2. The middle stage is when “Littleton” lands and starts moving on a linear path towards his target. Now depending on the level players may need to interact with aspects of the environment to help him reach his goal.

3. The end stage is when “Littleton” reaches the stranded robot closing the level and showing a score screen.

These stages are a set pattern that I can stick to when designing levels to form a pattern that players can continuously relate to, yet they also give me freedom to lengthen each stage as well as what goes into them. With this redesign I also decided to keep the camera isometric and fixed so that players can easily navigate around the level with simple swipes of their finger.

This rule of three is something that I have come across before but has been brought too my attention most recently when I attended a workshop on how to present something successfully. After I did a little bit of research I realised as a design philosophy it allows us to create tasks and objectives that can be easy to understand yet difficult to master. If you want to hear more thoughts on this please read my developer blog post  The Rule of Three.

...and so MA Games Design 2011 comes to an end

As I am sure you know it has been a while since I have written a blog post and this has been due to my MA course which I am proud to tell you all has just been completed! Now I know the last time everyone saw any work from me I had just created a little robot and a 2D style 3D world that as you can see in my previous post was uploaded on here. That project has now been completed and I am happy to say that I can now show you all the work that I have been very busy doing over the past 3 months.

Firstly the name of the game changed to “Littleton to the Rescue” and the level I was building changed in style somewhat to make it more appealing to a younger audience. The game mechanic for the game stayed the same all the way through which was the original starting point for the project. The demo was made in Unity and considering I had never used the programme before was a complete success and is fully playable. At my MA show the game was fully playable and it was extremely interesting to see how different people reacted to the game. This has spurred me onto to do some research into accessibility and this is where I think my next project will head.

So with the project complete, my dissertation done and my MA show going very well I am now about to venture into the real world of a games designer. I know it isn’t going to be an easy journey but with a little hard work and perseverance I believe I can achieve all of my goals within my career. Here’s to the future…

Not another Robot...

So it seems I am here again designing yet another videogame for my MA course, yet this time it is different. The difference being that this is my very final project and that the work I am doing as we speak is the most important work I have done so far in my life. In short, this had better be a class A piece of work for my portfolio so I can get a job in the industry.

The project I am currently doing is my advanced practice three and for it I am designing and building an isometric puzzle game featuring a little robot. Without giving too much away the main idea for the game is that this robot can use an electric grapple to move objects and this forms the basis of the puzzles. Story wise the robot wakes up in a city that is desolate with no understanding of who he is, he is seeing the world for the very first time and it is up to you to guide him around the city solving puzzles and discovering what happened to this place. The overall look of the game is fairly illustrative with little texture and plenty of block colour.

I have currently designed and built my main character and have been constructing scenery in Maya.

Here are a few pictures...enjoy :)

Want To Be a Games Designer? Read These!

Following up on my last substantial blog post that was about looking outside of the box when researching I have decided to form a list of text books that I have read that I think are invaluable to creating videogames on every level (as well as creating many other things in the design spectrum). I will also throw in a few books that I have not yet read but have had recommended to me. If anyone reads them before I do or has read them already let me know what you thought of them please. On that note lets see what books I think are important.

1# FLOW.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In terms of design this textbook, as I discussed in my last major blog post, discusses the psychology on how to understand as well as to achieve happiness. This may seem a bit ‘hippy like’ to some but if we take and step back and look at the larger picture the information inside becomes invaluable when designing a game. Videogames are meant to ignite enjoyment, achievement and a sense of fulfilment. These are not possible without the understanding of happiness and how the human mind achieves this state. It also will allow you to understand how to take control of your life and to identify the many elements that can take that control away from you. In the process you may even end up happy yourself…

2# The Writers Journey. 

Christopher Vogler

If you want to design your own games then this book is excellent when it comes to writing stories. It gives us a systematic understanding of how stories affect people as well as how to write them. Game narrative as a rule is more complicated than writing for a film or writing a novel yet these guidelines will allow us to understand the psychology of consumers when posed by certain types of stories. With a little intelligence and risk this should help you create stories that are worth playing through whether they are 4 minutes long or 60 hours.

3# Homo Ludens. Johan Huizinga

A brilliant theory book that looks into the reasons man needs to play. Homos Ludens itself means, “Man the Player” and discusses the importance of play in culture and society. I guess the questions may arise in yourself of how can you create a truly remarkable game without knowing the real reasons that one needs to play? Or you may gain some insight into the human need to enjoy themselves through games? Maybe the realization that videogames are an important cultural medium will give you confidence? Any of these things may occur when reading texts that investigate the reasons why we want to play videogames and in turn will help you create better and more substantial games. Anyone can make games that may be true, but knowing why and how they work will help you make better games.

4# Creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Another great textbook by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that looks into the theory of flow in order to understand creativity. This book in itself may not explain how to make better games but what it does do is help you understand the creative process as well as help you enrich your work with a great creative ethos.

These are the books that I have recently read and have helped enrich my creativity as well as help me focus on my own work. In terms of my work ethos it’s also made me want to create exceptional pieces of work for others to enjoy and not myself. In light of this I have also started seeing games design (not games art) as I huge jigsaw puzzle that needs to be pieced together to see the whole picture which gets me highly excited when embarking on a new project.

Other books that I have been recommended are below. I hope to obtain these sometime this month so I can have a read of them before I go back to finish my MA in September.

1# The Laws of Simplicity – J Maeda

2# Universal Principles of Design

3# Emotional Design – Donald Norman

4# The Design of Every Day Things - Donald Norman

5# Hows and Whys of Level Design – Sjoerd De Jong

Differences in research – The obvious and not so obvious

One day you hand in that final piece of work for your first MA year before it seems to fast forward to the day that you receive your module marks to suddenly discover that you are in fact in the middle of the summer and that the beginning of your final (and most important) term is only three months away. Three months away? Surely that is plenty of time to enjoy the glowing summer months, to stretch ones feet and bask in the warm weather? Not so it seems when I realised a few weeks ago that I would have a dissertation to write as well as plan a final practical project that must showcase my work in a professional and academic manner. So with this impending doom lurking over me I decided that it would be a wise idea to start researching into material that would benefit the direction that I have already started to take, and thus the first question arises. What books and materials should I pursue in the name of video-games research?

This at first seems like a simple question. Obviously I want to look at material that is relevant to my design discipline and in the case of games design this could mean a number of things. Naturally my first port of call would be to look at various “Games” themselves be that video-games, board games, playground games or role-playing games, before moving onto literature that has been published surrounding my given subject. Chances are these have been written by professionals and academics that have a word or two to say about how a game should or should not be designed. Now there are plenty of great and interesting books out there that are written by well-respected games designers, narrative designers and level designers that are worth reading to gain some insight into how the professional world works.

 One that springs to mind is the collaborative text book “Game Writing: Narrative Design for Video-games” edited by the renowned Chris Bateman, which showcases many different ways to implement narrative into video games successfully as well as talk about the problems that narrative designers face when writing for a game, a great title to draw points out of for what has and hasn’t worked in the past. Another title that I found interesting was that of “The Ultimate Guide To Video Game Writing and Design” by Flint Dille and John Zuur Platten which not only talks about writing for games but the design of them as well, a decent book which again serves as a guide of sorts to creating video-games.

Yet this is where I start to have a problem with my research direction. Many people may feel that this sort of research is enough and maybe at an undergraduate level it is, yet at a master’s level of study surely we should be pushing these writers theories or at least pursuing our own ideas into what creates a ‘better’ video game? This thought process is a new branch of independent thinking for me where instead of looking further into the subject for research inspiration you dare to look away from the discipline to search for new points of interest to aid you in your design work.

So we embark on a research journey of not so obvious research material. One of my main influences to turn away from using games and video games texts as my only research came in the form of an interview in ‘Edge magazine’ with Jenova Chen, lead designer at Thatgamecompany.  During the interview Chen talks about his design philosophies and why he thinks they are highly relevant to keeping his games unique and his creativity at a maximum. “People who write games design books make traditional games, so its not really theory. I find things that are already proven, more well-developed – architecture, psychology or sociology – help games design more”. It is from this quote that my mind got thinking about how games are made, why they are made in certain ways and what is to say that we as games designers have to conform to what has been done in the past. Surely as a design discipline that at times even borders on art we should be looking at new and involving ways to make games and push the boundaries of what we played when we were growing up.

So from that point onwards, without dismissing traditional games design texts and games themselves completely, I have been looking into more philosophy and sociology to help me understand what people will find fun and emotionally engaging. Looking outside of games themselves will also help me avoid making games that have already been or games that are similar to those that are already on the market. People don’t want another game like Gears of War when they already have Gears of War, Gears of War 2 and they are looking forward to Gears of War 3 coming out next year.

Thus I ventured online and started to look at texts that I had spoken to a friend who has a masters in philosophy about a few years back and branched to new texts from there. The first two that I have picked up are that of “Flow” and “Creativity” both by renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The first text talks about the theory of ‘Flow’ and how and why people are (as well as not) happy. This so far has provided me with a huge amount of insight into what people find engaging and why they feel certain emotions which, as well as helping myself, allows me to craft stronger ideas for better games.

The second text ‘Creativity” talks through how ‘flow’ can help explain the creative process and show how creativity can enrich people lives. This obviously applies to myself as well as giving me insight into important psychological processes that affect all of us. There are also a number of other books such as “Homos Ludens” by Johan Huizinga, “Emotional Design” by Donald Borman and “The Laws of Simplicity” by J. Maeda that I am looking at picking up and reading to help build up a research base that I can then refer to when I start my dissertation. I also believe this research will help me when building up my practical project and the direction I want to head in with that.

At the end of the day it is always important to see what designers before you have done so that we can analyse what is still relevant and what is not. Yet it is even more important for us as designers to stray beyond the path and explore other streams of thought so we can design stronger, more fun and individual games whether large or small for people in the future to enjoy.

So Why A New Blog?

So, I have started a brand new blog to chronic my thoughts, ideas and general games design gibberish in a seperate place to that of my reflective diary, To Play or Not to Play. Why you may ask, must I have more than one blog displaying and discussing my work? Well let me explain a little bit. Over the past few weeks I have been doing quite a bit of work out side of academia developing an iPhone game as well as writing news articles, reviews and previews for a gamer website If Men Had Wings. With this additional work on top of my current academic design research I feel like I have started a new beginning of sorts, and with this feel the need to start something new and seperate to accompany my new fully video-game orientated lifestyle.

The basic gist then is that this new blog is going to cover my entire life in games design, professionally and academically week in week out. This will include on going projects as well as ideas, theories, critical responses to games and their designs, links to stories I have written or have found interesting and of course things that amuse me in the world of games.

So keep posted and subscribe to my feed if you are interested in video-games and the design of them, and thanks for visiting.