Mike Bithell was a new name to me; this is certainly not to say that he is a new or small name in the industry but more that he has slipped away from my radar! With that said I was eager to see what he had to tell us today. Stepping into the lecture room we were introduced to Mike Bithell of Bossa Studios.
Mike began with a PowerPoint presentation to which he titled “15 things that no-one told me about game design”. He explained how he was going to run through points that would collectively make us all understand the needs and expectations of the games industry.
1. Design is not about Ideas.
2. Solve Problems.
3. Steal other peoples solutions, but only if they have the same problem.
4. Never stop making stuff.
5. Seek out the projects that challenge you, not the ones that demonstrate you’re genius.
6. Play Games.
7. Stop playing Games.
8. You have no idea whether your design works. That’s everyone else on the planets job.
9. It’s not a meritocracy learn a little PR.
10. Never forget how impressed nine year-old you would be with your job.
11. You will be paid, very, very badly.
12. Learn to code, no-one wants to make your game.
13. 90% of your heroes and inspirations in the games industry would reply to a tweet for an email.
14. Speak slower, listen more.
15. Design on Paper.
These points are very self-explanatory, although I would go as far to say they are more constructive guidelines than anything else. I do believe by following these guidelines you will indeed achieve more in the way of getting yourself into the games industry. Mike has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to making games and this is his advice to us. I can personally say that I have certainly adopted points from these guidelines to the way in which I work and I am already seeing better results.
It was from this that Mike introduced us to a game that he is working on independently called Thomas is Alone; this game is a linear based side scrolling platformer that involves the players creativity and puzzle solving skills to advance through the game and complete the objective. After explaining how the game works Mike expressed his interest in making games like this one in his spare time as well as working on big projects with Bossa Studios. I was inspired by this and I am certainly going to give it a try myself as being Mike playing his own game with such passion and accomplishment I too would enjoy playing a game that I knew was a product of my own hard work.
It was from this that Mike opened up to a Q and A where he was asked a variety of questions spanning from his inspirations and his views on fermium titles; he expressed his love for creativity as a child which was the foundation of his desire to create video games, as well as a love for old school shooter Half-life. When asked about Freemium Mike expressed a keen interest in it and would maybe implement it into one of his games in the future however he was turned off on the idea of additional items being bought to enhance your skills with online multiplayer. This is an issue that I share Mike’s negativity for; it is a way of companies to make extra money from an unfair advantage. I personally love to hear pro and con arguments regarding issues such as this one; it’s this kind of attention and passion for the games industry that has kept my aspirations and attention to Confetti’s industry week at such high standards.
By Samuel Johnston, FDSC in Games Technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment