Raph's Website. Mailbag: what is a bad design decision? Dear Mr.Koster,I’m a design student studying at __________, of ____.
I’ve read a lot of your blog entries and they’ve helped me a lot through my design project especially your article on “good design, bad design and great design.”I would just like to ask you as a designer, what is a bad design decision? What are the points we often forget to incorporate in our designs .Thanking you in advance,R___ J_____ A decision that works against the soul of the work. A decision that leads to intended functionality not actually functioning.
A decision that treats your customer, user, player, audience, viewer, reader, with contempt. A decision that considers money to you more important than value to your audience. The single biggest thing that we forget to do in our designs? To see through the eyes of the audience rather than our own eyes. Cara Ellison » Condemnation & Iteration. The critical process of games is different from the critical process of other media.
Games can now be continually iterated on, even after they have been released, because they are usually entirely in a patchable electronic form – though board games also bear some post-release iteration by house rules. Criticism of any kind can be important at any part of the life cycle of a game. Games are not the technological artefacts that work or don’t work that we used to think of them as. They need a variety of perspectives to explore them, get inside them and rattle around in them. No one person will have the definitive experience of a game, and so it’s up to the creator to decide which critics they’re pleasing, if any. Jay Rosen interviewed Brian Stelter from the New York Times in 2010 on whether he thought there was objectivity in American journalism.
“Let some in the press continue on with the mask of impartiality, which has advantages for cultivating sources and soothing advertisers. The Border House. Plot is Gameplay's Bitch: _________________________________ Welcome to the brand spanking new - and therefore thoroughly work in progress - resources section of Plot is Gameplay's Bitch.
This section is intended to pool together all the bits of theory, advice and work samples from genuine development projects as a sort of guide for anyone considering making the jump into games writing. I hope it might also grow to contain some useful material for current writers. It'll be starting off fairly me-centric, since I have lots of stuff sitting on my hard drive that I can easily publish. I'd encourage anyone with anything to add (script samples in particular) to drop me a note via the comments at the bottom of the page, or via email. Birkbeck students - the slides from our workshop are second item down in 'Theory, Advice & Other Guff'. Development Docs: Script Samples & MoreDriver: San Francisco Sample - One character from the D:SF passenger NPC library.
Lost Horizon Script Sample - Lots of the time as a games writer you'll be working in Excel. I stayed up all night last night doing this BUT. Once asked the SIG for a comedy writer. A Manchester lad exported to various parts of the country, depending on where the wind of work blew him, Andrew now lives in London.
When not scribing, Andrew's out on his motorbike; exploring London's galleries, museums theatres and pubs; or occasionally torturing himself in the gym. A festival addict he's counting the days until the next week of camping in the rain. He wishes he could do some more scuba diving and talks about this when nursing a half full pint of real ale with his mates. Videogame Credits Confidential : Narrative consultant and writer. Confidential : Writer and Voice director.
Pirates! Need for Speed : Most Wanted : Writer, speech designer, voice production and direction. LEGO City : Undercover : Script Editor and story consultant. XCOM : 2K Marin. BodyCount: Story consultant, narrative and speech design, scriptwriting. Create : Text. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Narrative and speech design. WRC 2010: Voice Over Director, confidential project.
Feature Credits.