Blog Archives
Creativity Within Constraints
Many people thinking about entering the video game industry do so under the impression that they will get have creative freedom to do whatever type of game they want. Unfortunately, the reality is that they will be working on whatever they are assigned, just like any other job. If they are programmers, they will be coding the game mechanics and game rules determined by the game’s designers. If they are artists, they will be creating the pieces specified by the game design under style guidelines enforced by the art director. And if they are game designers, they might not even be designing for their own game idea, but for a concept thought up by their boss or their publisher.
And so many wannabe game developers dream of starting their own companies, of being indie game developers, rather than working as an employee of an established game studio or publisher. Yet, even then there are constraints. If you are self-funded, you are constrained by the budget you have available for developing your game (this is, of course, true, for any game project, but indie game developers work under much tighter budgets than do developers working on AAA games for major publishers). If you do manage to get investors who can contribute a substantial budget, they will undoubtedly also demand some say-so on your project so that they can ensure that their investment is being spent wisely. Even if you raise money through crowdfunding, your supporters will put pressure on you to stick to the vision that you outlined in your initial proposal.
Then there are the technical constraints. Every platform — console, pc, mobile, browser — has constraints in terms of screen resolution, processing speed, internal memory, external storage memory, download speed, input device capabilities, and so on. There may be additional constraints imposed by the features of your game engine or the capabilities of your fellow development team members.
Your team members may also put up additional constraints in terms of their own ideas about the direction and details of a project; after all, game development is a team sport. And if you are working on a console project, you can bet that the console manufacturer will have a long list of changes they will want you to make on your game before they will license it for their system.
Finally, there’s the player, the one you ultimately have to please. No matter how much you love your game idea, if the customers don’t like it, they aren’t going to buy it. So, to prevent yourself from finding that out after spending many months and millions of dollars on your project, you should be constantly holding playtest sessions with target players, listening very carefully to their reactions to your game, and make the necessary changes needed to please them.
There are a lot of constraints developers work under in game development, but that does not mean that there is no room for creativity. In fact, quite the opposite. What restrictions do is take away some of the choices available to us, and with them, the paralysis of choice that may stop you from starting to do actual work. If instead you are given a blank, white page from which to work and you allowed to do whatever you want, it s almost too much freedom.
Many creative people are actually inspired by their constraints. Constraints often force you to think outside the the box and come up with innovative ideas that you might not have otherwise. You should think about your constraints not as obstacles to your ability to innovate, but instead as a puzzle that holds the opportunity for creativity and great work.
On the other hand, if you cannot be bothered to strive for creativity in spite of whatever limitations are placed on you, or to revise your initial idea when you run into a roadblock, you better get used to saying the phrase, “Would you like fries with that?”
Brainstorming Ideas And Turning Them Into Concepts
All games start out as ideas. Some games come from one powerful idea, but most are formed by combining many ideas to create a unique whole. It’s very possible that initial ideas will be (or should be) abandoned, and lots of new ideas will be considered during the process. It is usually the responsibility of a game designer to come up with ideas for a new game, but often the entire development team participates in generating ideas during what is called a brainstorming session. At one game development studio I worked at, Jet Morgan Games, we always kicked off a new game project for a client by inviting everyone in the company — designers, producers, programmers, artists, even the bookkeeper — into the conference room for an initial brainstorming session.
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique in which members work together to find a solution to a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by everyone in the group. In games, brainstorming is used to generate a large number of ideas about game’s concept, mechanics, setting, characters, etc. The term “brainstorming” was popularized by advertising executive Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination.
Osborn’s method of brainstorming has four general rules:
- Focus on quantity: Try to come up with more ideas than you think you need because you may discover you need them later. You may find that some ideas that sounded really good during a brainstorming session turned out not to be so good when they’re actually implemented, and you’ll have to turn to other ideas.
- Withhold criticism: Don’t inhibit members by judging their ideas, even if they seem unrelated to the problem you’re trying to solve. Besides, ideas that sounded bad during a brainstorming session may actually turn out to be the ones that lead to solution that your are trying to solve.
- Welcome unusual ideas: “Outside the box” ideas are great, even if they seem unworkable or inappropriate, because they can help stimulate other ideas.
- Combine and improve ideas: This is why you don’t rule out any idea as inappropriate, unworkable, or bad. All ideas can serve as fuel for generating better ideas.
Here is a brainstorming exercise I do with my students at The Los Angeles Film School.
I divided my students into groups of three and ask them to come up with 100 game ideas in one hour. I give them 100 ideas as their goal so that they will stay focused on quantity rather than quality, and I keep the time limited so that they don’t spend too long on the exercise. I want them to keep a fast pace. However, I do give them the restriction that it needs to be a game that their group can develop within a two-week period (the remainder of the course).
I allow them to leave the room and go to a more playful environment, such as a lounge or somewhere outside. Anywhere that can help stimulate their imaginations. I do require for them to write down their ideas. Ideally, they should use a whiteboard because it’s best to put ideas on a wall for everyone to see, but that’s not always possible, so I allow them to use index cards, post-it notes, or just sheets of paper.
When they return from their completing their assignment (in all the times I’ve given this assignment, no student group has failed to come up with 100 ideas), I tell them not to get too attached to their ideas, because they are going to narrow it them down their lists. I explain that while there is no such thing as a bad idea during the brainstorming session, there are lots of reasons to set aside ideas afterwards:
- Technical Feasibility: The programmers don’t know how to implement the properly.
- Market Opportunity: The marketing people doesn’t think there’s a market for the idea.
- Artistic Considerations: The development team decides they just don’t like the idea.
- Design Experience: The designers don’t think they can make engaging gameplay based on the idea.
- Innovation Needs: The idea just isn’t innovative enough to stand out from the competition.
- Marketing Goals: The idea doesn’t fit in with the company’s long-range marketing plan.
- Business and Cost Restrictions: The projected revenues for the idea are less than the projected costs of implementing it.
With these idea filters in mind, I then have the students edit their 100 game idea lists down to the top 5 to 10 ideas and discuss each thoroughly. I have ask them to remain positive during their discussions and discuss the strengths of each idea.
Next, I have them narrow down their list down to their three favorite ideas and for each one, write a 3-to-5 concept treatment describing the game’s theme, play mechanics, controls, art style, storyline, and audio.
If I had more time in my class, I’d have them create a mock advertisement and packaging for their game and then hold focus group sessions with target customers to determine which ideas resonated with them more. If you are working for a real game development company, this may be something you should try so that you have a better idea about the appeal of your game idea before you spend too much development money on it.
David Mullich 