Stalemate

Innovation.

It's what drives the world of game modification. As creators of worlds, modders have a responsibility to produce something unique, different, special. Without that extra spark of creativity, our work and sacrifice becomes pointless.

A lot of people, especially hard-core gamers, decry the lack of originality and innovation in modern gaming and blame the industry for being overly commercial and not sufficiently dedicated to producing quality titles. While I certainly agree that there are a large number of game developers out there looking to make a quick buck as opposed to making something unique, not all developers take that tack, and I think this blanket viewpoint is both flawed and unfair to the minority of developers who really do care about what they do.

More disturbing to me is the tendency of modders to follow suit - they see the overcommercialized elements of modern games, from licensed products like the latest Star Wars game to the unceasing flow of first person shooters, and attempt to synthesize something new out of the mix. Every once in a while, someone succeeds in doing something really spectacular that hasn't been done before, but the sad truth is that, for a community that prides itself on providing a fresh experience to gamers, the modding community as a whole is no better at innovation than the industry professionals.

Part of this has to do the fact that most people in the modding world simply aren't as good at game design as they think they are. Whether it be an inability to think outside the box, a fanatical dedication to flawed ideas, or just a lack of a sense of reality when it comes to development, there are any number of reasons why many mod developers fail when it comes to producing fresh experiences in their games.

Another reason why true innovation is so unusual in modding is that, for innovation to be classified as such, it must work. By that I mean that whatever new elements are added by a developer, they must enhance the quality of the gameplay experience of the player. By the hard rules of reality, a lot of ideas that look good on paper end up being horrible ideas in practice, and rare is the developer who can separate the good from the bad.

There's also the issue of technical limitations. Many ideas that would be fantastic for gameplay are simply not easily produced in the current generation of game engines. One place where many mods falter is the misguided attempt to push a game engine beyond its limits - turning the Half Life 2 Source engine into a MMORPG engine, for instance. While certainly possible in many cases, core alterations of this sort rarely produce a stable and workable platform for a game, especially as modders rarely get access to the source code of the original engine, which complicates matters immensely. Some ideas just aren't feasible using current technology, others require financial resources well out of the reach of not-for-profit modding.

Granted, not every game modification has to be the next Counter-Strike. It's perfectly fine to produce something that's just slightly different, as long as it isn't hyped as more. But the trend of the moment is to produce bold and interesting new games with modding, and sadly, that goal remains as elusive to the mod community as it does to the mainstream commercial game industry.

So You Want To Be A Game Designer?

I posted an article on the forums at ModDB.com a couple days ago which I thought might be worthwhile to crosspost here.

The original post, with following comments can be found here.

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Let's face it, everyone in the modding community dreams of creating the Best Game Ever.

The problem is that, by and large, the majority of would-be modders do not possess enough of the necessary practical skills to turn their dreams into reality. In some cases, driven individuals and/or talented individuals can learn the necessary skills. Unfortunately, more often than not, the thought process goes something along the lines of:

I've got this great idea for a game!
...but I can't write code...
...and I can't model...
...and I can't animate...
...and I can't create maps...
...and I can't draw...

...but I think my idea is fantastic, and it really needs to see the light of day...

...so what role can I play in a development team?

Ah-ha! I can be a game designer! I'll supply all the brilliant ideas and show people just how awesome my game will be and attract people with the skills that I don't have. Perfect!

Unfortunately, that train of thought completely ignores the fact that, despite its nebulous nature, the role of game designer does, in fact, require its own, very specialized set of skills. They're not tangible in the way modelling or coding are, but they nonetheless exist, and woe to those who think it's just a matter of jotting down all your ideas in one place and asking people to implement them.

Think you've got what it takes? Here is my list of Skills Every Good Game Designer Needs. See how you measure up!

Good communication skills
This is arguably the most important skill for any aspiring game designer. In order to create a game and be the driving force behind it, you absolutely must be able to compose your thoughts in an organized and intelligent fashion.

Clarity of communication is important. That means you leave
the l33t-sp33k at the door. No AIM-chat or text message abbreviations (Using "u" instead of "you" makes "u" look foolish and immature, for instance). It also means you must be able to spell words correctly; if you have difficulty with spelling, you'd best be able to make very effective use of a spellchecker.

In order to get people to implement the ideas you have, you need to be able to tell them exactly how you'd like things to be, or be prepared to face the consequences when they add their own interpretation of your instructions. Sometimes this is fine, and adds to the quality of the project. Sometimes, though, they'll want to do things which deviate greatly from your design and will detract from it if implemented. It's the job of a designer to make sure that he keeps the enthusiasm of other project members in check, and make them understand why the changes they'd like to see would be detrimental to the project.

You have to know how to treat people respectfully and keep them motivated, too. Remember that modding is a hobby; you can't demand perfection from your development team. They aren't being paid for the "privilege" of working with you, and it's highly unlikely that anyone will work with you if you're abusive to them or can't control your temper. Remember also to be complimentary on work done if it meets or exceeds your (hopefully realistic) expectations. It's being donated to your project, and usually involves a lot of time and effort - make sure that people know that you appreciate the work and sacrifices they've made.

Comprehension of the processes of game development
Comprehension means that you absolutely must understand enough about every development discipline to hold a meaningful conversation with an expert on it - because you will have to. You don't have to understand how to write the code for a water shader, but you'd best be able to understand what your coders are talking about when they tell you there are issues with video memory management. You don't have to understand vertex optimization, but you'd best listen when your modellers are telling you that they need more time to reduce polycount on their models. You don't have to know how to generate a mipmap, but you need to understand what your texturers are complaining about when they complain that the LOD renderer isn't rendering normals at near distances.

Even if you can't do the first thing with a given discipline, you need to understand enough of the practical theory so that you can figure out why your team members are having issues, and find ways to bypass or resolve those issues.

Understanding of game design principles
This is a widely misunderstood discipline.

Many people believe that the simple act of playing a game confers insight on how good games are constructed. This is just not true. Experience with games is, of course, very useful for studying game design, but what sets the designer apart from the average player is that a game designer can correctly analyze the various aspects of a game and comment about why they're either good, bad, or indifferent towards the appeal of the game. A player looks at a pistol and says "This weapon is weak, with a short ammunition clip, and relatively low damage. I'd rather not use it in most situations against tough opposition." A game designer looks at that same weapon and says "This is my baseline barometer for the rest of the game. Players need something basic to defend themselves with, and this is it. Sure, there will be better weapons in particular situations, but this is the starting point. No weapon should be easier or weaker than this."

There's a lot of elements to understanding game design, but it all boils down to one simple concept: knowing how any specific change or game element will impact the rest. More weapon selection in an FPS game? That affects more than just the weapons. It affects the user interface (more weapons to toggle through or bind keys for). It affects gameplay balance (what role does each weapon play in the grand scheme?). It affects asset requirements (you need code, special effects, ammo, models, and animations for each weapon).

A game designer needs to be able to effectively estimate the effect of every change they are proposing to make to the baseline design. Failure to do so can result in large costs in wasted time trying to overcome impossible technical hurdles, unmanageable art asset requirements, or simply gameplay which isn't fun due to poor interface or game balance.

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So if you're looking to get your grand idea for a video game created, check your skills against the above list. Do you have what it takes? If not, perhaps you should do some research before you start.