Brent Knowles's Blog, page 9

Designer Checklists

Ages ago I bought a book called “The Writer’s Book of Checklists” by Scott Edelstein. This was a reference manual for aspiring writers, with everything they needed to know summarized in handy checklists. For whatever reason the checklist format has always been appealing to me.

As part of my efforts to create secondary, bonus content to encourage readers to consider purchasing the Lazy Designer directly from me, I decided it would be [fun|exciting|worthwhile] to create my own set of checklists for the Lazy Designer.

At the end of this point is the first third of the list. I’ll add the others in later posts. If you would like the full checklist now, consider purchasing the Complete Series + Bonus Items, which gives you all five Lazy Designer books, the Unity tutorials, a couple example design documents, and the checklists.

Of if you really just want the checklist itself, it is a free purchase, for a few days, at least :)

Get Free Checklists.

Game Design Checklist Part 1

The intent of these checklists is to prompt readers and remind them of Lazy Designer content without having to reread all the chapters. This is not a glossary, index, or table contents (though I generally indicate the chapter relevant to the checklist).

Getting Hired
Starting Your Career

From Chapter 1


Teach Yourself General Design Skills.


Find a Mentor.

Play Games!

Enhance Technical Skills.

Learn to Write Code.

Learn Excel.

Learn (simple) database design.

Learn to create basic art (suggestion: Paint.Net and Blender).

(Mod)ify an existing game.

Build a Small Game.


Being a Game Writer

Part of a Team or “For Hire/Contract” Writer.

Research Conventions.

Join Gaming Forums.

Read How-To Articles.

Write Your Own!

Start in a Different Position.

Will I Become a Better Writer? (Chapter 19)

Stepping-Stone or Dead End? (Chapter 19)

What a Writer Does. (Chapter 19)



Job Search

(From Chapter 1)


The Resume.

The Cover Letter.


You Play Games.

Focus on Skills.

Get Your Terminology Right.

Not a Stepping-Stone.

No Begging.

No Arrogance.


The Portfolio.


Avoid Huge Downloads.

Use Available Tools.

Target the Company.

Build What They Build.

Avoid the Weird.

Fancy Packaging.

Strengths versus Weaknesses.

Your Website.


Application.


Follow Company Guidelines.

Blind E-Mailing/Spamming… Bad Idea.


Interview.


Be Engaged.

Answer the Question.

Be Critical.

Confidence not Arrogance.

Past Mistakes.



Design Roles

(From Chapter 2)


Director of Design. (also Chapter 24)


Write Design Documents.

Write Status Reports.

Interact With Upper Management.

Schedule.

Run Interference.

Quality Assurance.


Test More!

Review All Bugs.


Role Model and Mentor.


Lead by Example.

Don’t Dodge Problems.

Be Available.

HR.

Mistakes Happen — Apologize.

Accountability.

Improvement.


Earn respect by Being Authentic.


Understand the Game.

Understand the Team and How Their Roles Contribute.

Prove Yourself.



Writer. (Jump)

Editor. (Chapter 19)


Editing Improves the Game.

Editing “In Context”.

When To Edit (Scheduling).

What To Edit.


Capitalization.

Punctuation.

Dialect.

Line Length.

Anachronisms.


Cinematic Editing Passes.


Initial.

High-Level.

Editor Pass.

Rough Animation.

Voice Over.

Final Animation.


Dialog Editing Passes.


Planning.

Rough Draft.

First Draft.

Sign Off.

Localization Sign Off.

Editing Voice Over.

Grammar Pass.

Voice Over Commenting.

Cinematic Pass.

Minor Passes.

Translation.


All Other Text Requires Editing Too.


Technical Designer.

Cinematic Designer.


Skill Improvement

(From Chapter 2)


Company Training.

Self Training On the Job.


Company intranet.

Past Design and Marketing Documents.

Testing Session Videos.

Internal Reviews.

Online Reviews.

Tinker. (More)


Play Games.

Free to Experiment.

Mod Away.

Teach Others.

Review Your Notes.


Other Activities(Chapter 8)


Read.

Review Forums.

Socialize.

Post Mortems.


Gathering Information.

Understanding the Information.





Task Management

(From Chapter 2)


Get Lazy (Not Really)

Technical Skill Improvement (Again!)

Estimating.


Under Promise.

Over Deliver.

Become an Expert on Something.


Do Not Deliver Low Quality Work. Ever.

Single-Tasking.

Test Cycle.


Test Your Own Work and Others.

Provide Effective Feedback.


Respectful.

Detailed.

Comparative.

Progressive.


Understand how to Take Criticism.


Ask For Feedback.

Make it Easy for Feedback to be given (Automate?).

Beware Opinions.

Manage Subjective Feedback.



Purge Thy E-mail.


Beware Folders.


Learning From Failure. (Chapter 3)


Learn from Rejection.

Inconsistent Rejection.


Squash Bugs. (Chapter 3)


Be Prompt.

Manage Your List.


Staying Sane. (Chapter 3)


Handling Crunchtime

Bad Crunch vs. Good Crunch.

Planning a Game
Game Development Cost

(From Chapter 3)


The Cost of Videogames.


Team Size.


Complexity.

Too Many Bees.


High Fidelity Art is Expensive.

Visual Realism Challenges Balancing and Reactive Gameplay.

Complex Conversations.

Pre-game Considerations

(From Chapter 3)


Who Makes a Game.


Go Indie?


Form a Squad.

Start Up.

Publish It.

How About a Movie?


Small Team Versus Big Team. (Chapter 2)


Team Building. (Chapter 24)


Structure.


Promotion.

Fluid Subteams.

Team Composition.

A Team From Scratch (New Company).


Genius Or Passion?

Office Layout.


Mobile Offices.

Flexibility.

Not Everybody is the Same.


Newcomers Versus Oldtimers.


Make Newcomers Comfortable.

Give Oldtimers a Reason to Stay.

Why Game Schedules Falter (How to Avoid).


Under performing Employees.


Performance Can Be Improved.

Learn Their Strengths.

Correct Their Weaknesses.


Real Life Problems.


Tears.

Birth.

Death.




Planning

(From Chapter 4)


A New Game.


What Game Will Be Made.


Platform Choice.

Long Game.

Pick up and Go.

Competitive.

Cooperative.

Social.

DRM.


Planning for Piracy.



What Game Should YOU Make?

Costs.


Sales Goals.

Originality.

Complexity.


Can You Hide Complexity? Do You Want To?


Simplify Platform.

Move the Choice.

Like Human.

Approachability.


Recognize Your Bias.

Developer and Publisher.

Why Make This Game.


Sequel.

Gameplay/Technology.

Wish Fulfillment.

Setting Opportunity.

Understand Expectations.


Established Studio vs. Indie.




Detailed Planning. (Chapter 26)


Be Inspired and Build What You Love.

Core Features.


Feature Development.


Sprint Versus Standard Schedule.

Feature Interconnections.

Scope.

Tools.


Consistency and Caps.


Set Limits.

Limits Cannot Be Added After Ship.

Limits Can Be Removed.

Even When Innovative, Be Consistent with the Innovation.


Managing Internal Expectations.


Groups — Not Individuals — Build Games.

Features Evolve Through Negotiation.

What If You Do NOT Agree With Project Direction?

Squash Inappropriate Expectations.


Manage External Expectations.


Ship the Game You’ve Promised To Make.

Different People Interpret Promises Differently.

Do Not Mislead Players.



Core Assets.


Asset Types and Sub-assets.


Plots.

Characters.

Abilities.

Environments.

Creatures.

Items.

Stores.

Vehicles.

Interface Screens.


Asset Based Design.


Brainstorm Everything You Need and Commit to it.

No Flexibility.

No Changes.


Budget Based Design.


Build a Piece at a Time… Within a Set Budget.

Put all the Pieces Together.

Incremental Construction.

What if the Pieces Don’t Fit?


Middleground.


Light Plan.

Build Incrementally… Plan is a Guide.

Early Prototyping Provides Better Answers than a Document.



Prioritize Features and Assets.


Each Component (Asset or Feature) has Mandatory and Optional Parts.



The Lead as Reviewer. (Chapter 26)


Your Team Can Plan Subcomponents.

Requirements and Guidance.


Crystal Clear.

Create Templates.

Encourage Positive Development.

Consider Their Experience.

Specific Criticism.

Take Responsibility.

Do Not Underplay Weak Deliverables.


Out Of Your Element.


Rely on Specialists.

Stick to What You Know.

Specialists are Devoted.


The Bad.

The Good.



Giving Advice.



Franchises

(From Chapter 26)


Sequels.


Leverage Full Potential of Franchise.

Withhold Some of the Cool (But Not Much).

Types.


Continuing Story.

Same World But New Characters and Story.


Ensure You Wrap Up Previous Story.

DLC.


Same World… New Game.


Accounting For Change in a Sequel.


The Official Path.

Plan Sequel Before First Game.

Remove Some Choices When Necessary.

Consider Long-Term Impact of Plot Deviation.



Ancillary Products.


Appropriate.

Advertising… Not Revenue.

Use Internal Talent… or Strategic External Talent.


Secondary Game.


Same Universe But Completely Different Gameplay.

Can Original Game Content Be Repurposed?

Hooks.



Table of Contents

How to Prepare for a Career in Game Design

The Job Search

What to Expect

Task Management

Giving and Receiving Feedback

The Cost of Videogames

Communication and Meetings

Failing and Fixing

Crunch

What Game Will Be Made?

Platform Choice.

Digital Rights Management

What Game Should YOU Make?

Originality and Complexity

Bias and Expectation

User Interface and Experience

Player Flow

Designing Frustration

Engine and Pipeline

Data Management

Keeping Busy

Game Scripting

Finding Items

Crafting Items

Improving Items

Extending Item Systems

Triggers and Waypoints

Audio

Stores and Economy

Rule Systems

Player Progression

The Ability System

Combat Abilities

Non-Combat Abilities

Difficulty Balancing

Combat Look and Feel

Systems

Beyond Singleplayer

Achievements

Downloadable Content

Presenting Story

Beginnings

Pacing and Change

Endings

Better Story Through Adversity

Multiplayer Gaming and the Story Game

What is a Writer?

Types of Adventures

Planning

Gameplay and Characters

Character Design

Choice and Conflict

Structure

Voice Acting

Process

How Different is Too Different?

Reinforce the World Through Gameplay

The Role of the Design Lead

Communication

Team Building

Realizing a Need for Change

Making the Decision

Change

A Sense of Wonder

The Guide

Other Planning

Writing Documentation

Managing Documentation

Types of Documentation

Slender Man

The other day my eldest came home and went on and on about a new game of tag they were playing at school. They called it “Slender Man Tag” and as he detailed all the weird rules they had created for it, I have to admit to no small amount of confusion. I had no idea what a Slender Man was or why kids would play a tag variant based on it.

So, after assuring him that the game sounded absolutely fun, I scurried to the Internet. ( Wikipedia is my friend.)

I learned that Slender Man is an Internet meme about a tall, spooky looking dude who has cropped up all over the place, a creature in Minecraft is even named in honor of it. While that’s interesting, I am a bit more intrigued by the “real world” implications. This meme has moved from the Internet to the playground and judging by my son’s (and his friends) interest in it, is rather important to them.

Of course my son does not believe this is how Slender Man originated… he believes the “myth” behind Slender Man, it is what they talk about on the playground and ranks up there for him with Bloody Mary and other “classics”. Many of his friends have supposedly seen the Slender Man on the playground, which is not creepy at all.

(And something somewhat random: Has anyone else noticed their kids using “software speak” when describing playground games? My son and his friends routinely “roll out” an improvement to a game and occasionally have to “roll it back” if it turns out to not be fun.)

Contributor copies On Spec #96!

My contributor copies for my story “Sin and Toil” have arrived!

This is my fifth published story in On Spec. My previous stories include: A Ragman’s Vow, From the Sea, Touch the Dead, and A Terrible Loyalty.

There’s already a bit of a review (though more commentary, I suppose) over at Apex Magazine, on “Sin and Toil”.

Update

We had a bit of a sump pump malfunction so that last couple weeks have not been as productive as I would have liked. I’m nearly ready to deploy the complete Lazy Designer series to those who have purchased it from my direct buy site. Hopefully this week. A couple weeks after that I should be ready to release the bonus content to those same customers (a Unity Tutorial, an Example Design Document, and a post-mortem on a Unity game I deployed).

And for those who have not read it, the excerpt for my novel “The Pool” is available from Amazon (it is a quarter finalist in their Breakthrough Novel Award).

Some We Eat and Some We Keep

As I mentioned earlier, my story “Some We Eat and Some We Keep” was published earlier this year in the second issue of Robot and Raygun. The issue can be purchased via Amazon.

However, if you just want to read my story, it is now available as a free read on the Robot and Raygun website. The link will take you to the story — the other parts are available as links at the end of the first part.

Let me know what you think.

Sin and Toil in On Spec Magazine

My story “Sin and Toil” is now available in the latest issue of On Spec Magazine!

You can buy the print copy (or subscribe!) here or check out their ebook version here.

How to be a Lead Designer

The final book in the Lazy Designer game design series is now available.

This standalone volume in the Lazy Designer series provides insights on becoming an effective lead designer or creative director. Learn to manage large teams of specialized designers, improve your decision making process, and write clear and usable documentation.

http://www.amazon.com/Lead-Designer-Lazy-Game-Design-ebook/dp/B00JUYRB18/

I know I mentioned this last week as part of another post, but every other book has received its own post, and I want to be fair :)

And the excerpt for my Amazon Breakthrough Novel quarter finalist, “The Pool”, is still available to read here. I don’t know if reviews/downloads matter much at this point in the contest, but if you have the time to check it out, I would appreciate it.

http://www.amazon.com/Pool-2014-ABNA-Entry-ebook/dp/B00JOU2GBI/

The OTHER Solution in Game Design

I’ll refrain from asking all of you to check out my quarter finalist in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award to talk briefly about game design stuff today.

The Other Solution

For the most part throughout my Lazy Designer series I focus on what I believe is the right way to implement particular design tasks. Based on my experience I have a recipe book, so to speak, of design solutions to specific problems. Throughout the books I make reference to these.

The other day I was wondering if there was a different way to go about solving problems. What if you selected a random, or rather bizarre, solution? (Admittedly I hadn’t slept much the night before).

Low Morale

Some early RPG games (including Baldur’s Gate 1) allowed enemies to flee once their morale broke. The players basically kick the enemy’s butt so bad they try to get away.

Over time BioWare stopped doing this. Players did not like to chase down enemies — and occasionally the fleeing could mess with plot completion. The solution to the “running away” problem was to cut the morale system. Admittedly most of BioWare’s game had lots of other cool stuff going on that this was not a huge loss.

But what if a different solution was adopted? What if players could lasso fleeing enemies or corral them somehow? Maybe they could teleport to them, or activate a device that teleported the enemy to them. So we eliminate the fleeing with a new game mechanic. It would not have made a lot of sense in the context of most of BioWare’s games, but it might be an interesting way to experiment with reintroducing the morale mechanic.

(I’m actually experimenting with this in a game I’m working on.)

Other solutions might be to introduce a “frozen with fear” mechanic — panicked enemies only run away a bit and then cower and try to hide.

Friendly Fire

Another mechanic I enjoy is the tactical element of having to control area-of-effect devasatation. Not being able to just toss a fireball for fear of crisping your friends. Forcing the player to make the tactical decision of using consumeables to protect against flame.

Unfortunately most games cut friendly fire… friends are not hurt by anything their allies do. This makes the games easier to implement, and easier for players to understand (and control) the combat situations.

But what if…

Being hit with friendly fire (assuming it does not kill you) makes you try harder to win the battle, swiftly. That is, the fighter gets hit by his friend’s fireball and now does additional damage and maybe even additional attacks. He’s so freaked out that his crazy wizard friend is going to kill him with another fireball that he just wants to end the battle. And now.

Thoughts

The idea is to take an odd solution to a classic problem and then turn it into variant gameplay. Can you think of any others?

The Game: Status

I’m not going to get into the habit of updating the prototype game I’m working on, but I’ve made decent progress recently and figured a once-in-a-while update wouldn’t hurt anything.

To this point I am:

Fairly confident in my procedurally generated environments. They don’t look good enough for release, but they are substantially better than any manual level I’ve built previously.
Targeting system is about 75% complete. Players can cycle through enemies and get appropriate targeting information.
Faction system is about 90% complete. There’s a system for tracking like/dislike between groups, adding new groups dynamically, and adjusting reactions as necessary.
Save/load System is in place.
Conversion to a new GUI system is in-progress.
A handful of conversations have been written and testing in-game, but I need more work here, to figure out the direction I need to go.
The movement system is adequate by I need to work on it. In fact my current sprint is pushing me towards completing procedural content generation and refining the movement and camera controls.
No combat system… other than a placeholder.

The Lazy Designer: How To Be a Design Manager

Also, “How to be a Design Lead”, the final book in the Lazy Designer series is now available too, though the official announcement won’t be until next week.

(I’m editing the bonus content for the Lazy Designer series… which I need to get back to now.)

Amazon Quarterfinals

Last week I mentioned my novels “The Pool” had made it to the quarterfinals in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest.

Now the excerpt I submitted is available for anybody to read and review, for free. If you are interested, I’d appreciate you taking a look at it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pool-2014-ABNA-Entry-ebook/dp/B00JOU2GBI

The editors from Publishers Weekly make the decision of who advances and I do not think feedback on the excerpts, negative or positive, influence the decision at this stage. But I noticed that several of the other entries have started to receive customer reviews (on their excerpt) and figured I should at least mention this…

(p.s., A big thanks to the Amazon reviewers who passed my submission along and provided excellent feedback — both in the public comments available here as well as the more detailed review sent to me via the contest.)

Story Review and an Amazon Update

SOME WE EAT

I stumbled across the following review for my story “Some We Eat and Some We Keep” which appeared in the second issue of Robots and Rayguns:

“And Brent Knowles unique style was also awesome….reminded me of Blade Runner for some reason, which is great! I can see Philip K. Dick in him for sure.”

I was very pleased to see that! I am always grateful when somebody enjoys something you wrote enough to take the time to write a comment about it. You can read the full review here: http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Raygun-2-Brent-Knowles-ebook/dp/B00J3519O4

(And as an aside, this particular story was written as an experiment. I wanted to try to write a somewhat snarky & fast-based classical action story. I thought it worked out well and that it found a worthy home at Robots and Rayguns. It is also the sequel to an unpublished story I wrote as a teenager.)

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest – 2014

Earlier I mentioned that I had made the first cut in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest for 2014. That rounds of selections was determined by brief blurbs for each novel. The second round is determined by the quality of the excerpts (the first few chapters of each novel) and the entries that move on are selected by Amazon reviewers.

It looks like I am a Quarter Finalist and I’m thrilled. If I understand correctly what happens next is that Publishers Weekly editors will make the next selections. I won’t find out more until June.

The announcement page is here. The direct link to the pdf listing the science fiction novels still in the running is here.

The Last of the Lazy Designers

The final volume in the Lazy Designer series is near complete. This book on design management should be available on Amazon next week. When it is it should appear on my author page: http://www.amazon.com/Brent-Knowles/e/B0035WW7OW

Back In Province

We had to make a quick trip out of province, but are finally back home. I don’t have much to say, still busy catching up on late tasks, but I’ll provide a quick update and if you have any questions throw them into the comments and I’ll be sure to reply.

Lazy Designer — The Design Manager

The final book in the Lazy Designer series is almost ready to go. I anticipate by the end of April, it will be available on Amazon. At that point I’ll start editing the variety of bonus materials I’ve written for those who have bought copies directly from me.

My Unity Game

Meanwhile I’m continuing to prototype a game and though progress is never what I wish it would be, it is progressing. Not much I want to say about it yet but my focus right now is procedural content and quest generation. I’ve also incorporated a couple addins (i.e., I now have a functional, if rough, conversation system.)

Writing!

During the trip I wrote the rough draft for a sci-fi story that’s been swirling about in my head for some time, so I now have a couple stories in rough form to consider bringing to final polish, time permitting. I also solved a nagging problem with the world design for the novel I’m considering to write next.

And On Spec Magazine sent me an e-mail letting me know that one of the stories they previously purchased will appear in their next issue!

Really Old Game Design Articles

And because I stumbled across them the other week, here’s some links to some really old game design articles of mine, from back when I wrote pen and paper gaming articles:

“Article – Acting like Animals” — Pyramid Online, 1999

“Article – Epic Campaigns” — Pyramid Online, 2001

“Article – Gatherings” — Sabledrake, 2004

“Article – Give them Pidgins” — Dragon Magazine, 1998

“Article – Making Society Work For You” — Pyramid Online, 2000

(Note: You can only read the Sabledrake article in its entirety.)

And hey, if you’re bored, check out my word connection site, Englex. It is just a for-fun (mine) project that I built earlier this year and there’s only a few thousand words in it and about a million sites doing the same thing, but I have some cool ideas for it, once I have a sufficient word base. You only need to register if you want to add words or influence word connections.