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Tag: design

Can a test help find a good game designer anymore?

Published by Paolo on 05/01/2022

Technical tests are part of the selection processes of the majority of big games companies all around the World. I tell you something: I have never passed a single one. Am I a bad designer, or is it just not the proper thing to do to find people like me?

Today we are in the times of multipotential. Profiles like a game designer are hard to find, because our value is shown more on the long term. I mean: a programmer can show instantly her C++ skill. An artist can show off 3D Studio Max abilities. When I say instantly, I mean the very first days working at a company.

A game designer is a facilitator of the act of game design inside of a team. We have technical skills that are just hard to show off in a small test. That is why usually the technical tests last one week. But, there is people like me that struggles really to work on anything for free. It is a matter of respect, a matter of professionality. Our time working has a value in money. Full stop. That is why people like me put a small effort in those tests.

“Oh, but if you want to join our company that is your goal!”. Unless you are very big and important, times are not like that anymore. Nowadays I don’t really know if I want to work with you, unless I spent some month already living the reality in working with you.

You can see my portfolio, you can speak with me and check out how I face the problems. That’s it. You don’t need a test, you just need to work with people like me and see what I am capable of.

Less broken features are more value

Published by Paolo on 04/01/2022

These days I am reading the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It is definitely not an easy lecture, for a non-english speaker. You need time and dedication to fully understand it. I am sure I will need more lectures.

In the edition I have, on chapter 15 called “Linda: Less is More” there is a paragraph where the author reports an experiment run at the University of Chicago. Professor Christopher Hsee asked people to name a price for sets of dinnerware, using a method called “joint evaluation”. The method consists of compare two different sets of things and propose a value. The Set B had a list of items, all in good conditions. Set A, instead, contained the same items of Set B plus more items partly broken.

Since Set A contained exactly the same things that B, but with more things (partly broken), logically participants valued Set A more than B: $32 versus $30 (average).

The professor run the same experiment but with single evaluation. The result is quite interesting: Set B was priced way more than A. $33 versus $23 average.

What does that mean to us game designers? Sometimes the best you can do for a game is to remove some part that is broken. Having a feature that does not work can be a problem. It is better to remove features, and test if the things improve without them. Players can genuinely value our game better without that synchronized broken multiplayer mode, believe me!

My resolution for this year

Published by Paolo on 02/01/2022

My main professional resolution for the next year is to try to build a new reality. A new metaverse, where millions of people will use their cryptocurrencies to buy NFTs and trade them… no, I am joking.

I feel the need of build something, so that this new year I will try an experiment: invest in young talents to make simple games. We will start from mobile, but I do not exclude to try other platforms, too.

Barcelona is a city full of high-level games studies centers. A lot of people every year comes out from universities and private schools. Many of them are real talents, but they struggle in finding their job in the industry. The industry asks to be a “ninja”, to become a “unicorn”, to have “talent”, without defining anything of this. Then they ask for 5 years of experience, which is almost impossible for a junior professional. Only the best joins directly the industry.

What about the others? The others, I believe, have their talent too. Maybe we should stop asking for a lot of references and just believe in the people. Leave them grow, make their mistakes. Support them.

That is my resolution for the next year. I want to build the talents of tomorrow. I want to create a team capable of completing very simple games. And of course, I want to dedicate part of my time in find funds for it.

Game design predictions for 2022

Published by Paolo on 01/01/2022

It is really hard to spot the future and make predictions. Hard and funny at the same time. Funny because if they work, you told it. If they do not realize, you just stay in silence and nobody cares.

For 2022 I don’t know what will happen, of course. The market is growing but its growth is slower. The Pandemic probably is coming to an end and people will enjoy different forms of entertainment.

What I can say is what I see right now. I see that the interest toward campfires is growing. For campfire I mean a virtual and small virtual place where people share a common interest. The community around a game like Clash Royale, compared with Facebook for instance, can be considered a campfire.

Looking at new trends of Web3 and Decentralized Finance, I think that this interest for virtual campfires will join with the need of community creation. So that probably the next big thing in videogames will pass from there. Let’s take a successful genre: shooters. Those are successful on AAA, indie and free-to-play. I would probably look for shooters which permit to the Players create their own campfires (look at club features in mobile games) and create meaningful content for their campfire mates. I could apply the same reasoning to different genres too.

LasWish for 2022

Published by Paolo on 31/12/2021

My final wish for this year is to see all the realities I help really grow as they deserve.

I am a lucky guy. I have a great employer, which really cares about my progress as professional and lets me work also in other projects. And I have clients which always pay on time and respect my time.

They both value me a lot, this year I felt really an expert. This is not because I know everything, but because they made me feel like this.

I wish you all to feel the same, have a great year people!

New Year Wishes 2022 #5 – See the early fruits of the sudden expansion

Published by Paolo on 30/12/2021

This year (and the past one, too) has been very fruitful on the M&A side of things. We saw a whole lot of companies being acquired or merged with others.

For the next year I hope to see the early fruits of all that movement. I would like to really see how big corporate can improve their portfolio giving always better experiences to the people.

Also, I hope to see more deals made with small realities. I am noticing that investors are always more betting on teams without a single game published. I suppose they bet on their own experience bias, because the founding teams are always composed by industry veterans.

Young talent has a lot to say, and also if I am aware that investors are not willing to trust newbies, I believe that corporates should. They were young and junior at some point. They know how hard is getting. And maybe they can delegate to young startups some quick prototyping or more in general activities which are not core to the business but still really important.

New Year Wishes 2022 #2 – Wider Heterogenity

Published by Paolo on 27/12/2021

For the next year I dream of an industry always more diverse and fresh. 

I hope that all communities and also minorities will feel more included in it.

I hope to see also people from other sectors joining the industry bringing some fresh air.

I hope to see more junior professionals with an opportunity to really show off their talent.

I really hope to see this thing expanding as it deserves!

Noob, Pro, Hacker

Published by Paolo on 23/12/2021

This year I have worked a lot on hypercasual games. I like the fact that its development requires you not to get attached to any specific idea. You design a game mechanic very quickly, put your hand on the engine with few specifications and then you speak on something done. 

It reminds me of a method proposed by Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia. 

Working on hypercasual games I learnt that:

  • The Players hate to lose. The failure rate of your levels is directly related with drop off of people, day to day.
  • Players are more tolerant to ads that we may imagine. As a game designer, I hate those freaking ads! Anyways, if your game is good people accept your ads easier than you may expect
  • Players live the experience in three main stages: 

The noob, they really have to understand things well. You need to slow down that difficulty curve, believe me

The pro, they like to have games which permit to spot a perfect path to follow and win

The hacker, they will try to hack the rules of your game. Best games out there permit them to do that, for instance Aquapark.IO

Definition of mechanics and features

Published by Paolo on 22/12/2021

How do you define mechanics and features? This is very important for the success of the development. Many times, we think that just talking about something makes that clear for anyone. This is the most common mistake of inexperienced game designers.

“It’s simple, the character moves with the stick and shoots with the right trigger!”

With this sentence I have a gameplay in my mind and you have another.

You should really make the effort of empathizing with the people you are speaking with. Be as visual as possible. 60% visuals, 30% multimedia and only 10% written content is what I try to follow. It is better to speak on something visual and then find and solve all the related problems. 

Often, the things we define will require some further set up. Maybe you will have to decide the speed of something. Maybe the odds for some reward. The best way to communicate this is to show clearly how you would like to set up the things, in the engine you are using or in some spreadsheet! 

Do them a favor: speak about your needs!

Have you created your framework yet?

Published by Paolo on 19/12/2021

I have been observing the profiles of the most renowned game designers for some time. They all have one thing in common: they have developed frameworks and shared them with the world.

What are the tools and methodologies you use the most to tackle problems? Group everything, create a mind map, and share your thoughts every now and then. Your framework is interesting to the world, believe me!

Don’t waste any more time, start building your frameworks. It helps to think about everything in the form of a system. Excellent tool for optimizing times!