作者：Roger E Pedersen

最近我在不同游戏公司面试了一系列职位（尤其是执行制作人，制作人和游戏设计师），这个过程令我回想起自己在过去16年行业经历中所掌握的许多原则。为了体现游戏开发者需分享并交流行业信息这一原则，我决定在此列出10项游戏设计与制作原则与各位共勉。

原则1：了解设计师与制作人所扮演的角色

游戏设计师：设计师是想象家，好比是书籍作者。这一角色需负责构勒产品框架，并详细描述产品内容，以便他们了解和开发产品。正如书籍作者明白自己的作品转变为电影后会有所不同，游戏设计师也需要接受并请求团队成员的修改。游戏设计师的任务通常就是制作冗长的项目说明书。这个文件描述了玩法、角色和场景等内容（游戏邦注：其中可能还包括图表或图片内容），包含关卡描述，还有可能含有探索区域的地图，每个角色的地位、动作或职业等内容。

制作人：制作人是项目经理，项目拥护者。制作人必须确保整个团队的工作有效率和沟通流畅，要扮演外交官、政治家、纠纷调解人的角色，要保证市场营销、广告和公关团队的工作与游戏项目进展保持同步，向其传达游戏需功能、运行效果以及其他要呈现在用户面前的内容。因为这些团队需了解游戏玩法、功能以及故事情节，这样才知道制作广告，进行媒体炒作，发表杂志评论等工作的方向。而这些非技术团队成员也可通过持续与公众打交道，为开发者提供大众、杂志和零售渠道的反馈结果，让他们知晓目前哪些游戏功能最有市场。

制作人需促进整个团队间的沟通和交流，并及时为每个开发者提供帮助，要确保：

*美工和动画人员及时为程序员提供美术、动画和临时占位符等内容，直到最终定稿为止。

*程序员要为美工提供采用其美术内容的当前玩法版本。制作人还必须确保程序员能够向销售、公关及营销团队提供当前游戏版本，以及多份有关游戏最新版本的报告。这些报告会描述游戏玩法，特殊功能，硬件需求、硬件及配件支持，并包含可用于广告宣传、促销单、杂志评论的最佳视频截图。制作人还需要确保程序员与QA测试人员配合，并为后者提供玩法指导，特殊键组合、提示、无文件证明的功能及动作等。

*音频及音效工程师应及时提供语音、背景及氛围声音和音乐。这些工作师还需要查看和试玩当前游戏版本以确认自己的工作安排。

*设计师要查看当前游戏版本以确认产品符合技术说明文件的需求，以及最终的设计愿景。

*QA测试人员要向制作人汇报产品情况，将其中的问题归纳为主要问题（例如，程序崩溃、功能或动作无法运行），次要问题（例如，文本拼写错误、角色移动过快或过慢，响应时间出错等），小故障（声音或图像问题），改进空间（添加新功能，优化角色的互动或行为，理清混乱的设计或玩法等），有违行业标准的问题（例如三角形按钮并不能执行标准的功能定义），以及多平台兼容性等问题。

无论是由制作人和设计师一起，还是由其他人处理这些任务，都必须指定一名制作人拍板最终决定，其他人需要相信并遵从其决策和领导。

原则2：设计师或制作人都不是孤立的角色。

在整个产品开发周期中不断搜集信息，并了解下一步动向正是优秀设计师和制作人的特点。

设计师应做好项目主题调查工作，并评估外部建议和意见。大众一般都希望看到具有现实感和准确性的电影与书籍，电脑和电子游戏用户对产品也有相应的要求和期望。

在开发一个体育游戏项目时（例如棒球游戏），可能有设计师会想自己小时候就玩过棒球，也在电视上看过棒球赛，但也还是需要做一些市场调查，方能为用户创造出极具沉浸感的游戏体验。无论游戏是采用体育、冒险还是模拟类型，都不能回避调查同类题材游戏的这个首要步骤。你可以通过上网，到本地商店购买竞争对手的游戏，阅读类似游戏的评论内容，通过其他发行商的网站搜集其市场营销和广告资料等等。这些都是你设计一个新产品时所需的宝贵信息。

如果你是一个棒球游戏制作人，你应该知道其他棒球游戏所存在的共同元素，以及各个产品之间的特殊功能。你需要阅读同类游戏的评论内容，以及竞争产品的功能列表。通过这些自由搜集到的信息，设计师可以了解到玩家期待的是哪些功能和玩法，竞争对手拥有哪些特殊功能，以及评论员是根据什么标准进行评价。

作为设计师或制作人，你必须自问：

*你的游戏是否也存在与之前发布的产品或类似游戏相似的设计瑕疵？注意你的游戏设计一定要能够超越竞争对手。你的设计要能够解决用户、评论员针对同类产品所抱怨的设计瑕疵等问题。作为决策制定者，你必须倾听开发团队、营销和销售团队、零售商以及游戏玩家的看法。

*游戏设计师和团队的看法是否超越了评论员的意见？要确保你们敲定的想法拥有良好的基础。所有的评论员都试图向公众详细描述和批评产品的缺陷。要知道详细列出问题，并富有针对性地挨个解决问题，往往比无视评论员的看法更有助于打造成功产品。

*你的设计决策是否考虑到了之前或潜在用户的评价情况？用户喜欢的是出色的产品。从我个人制作体育、博彩和问答/益智游戏的经验来看，用户一般都会购买自己所喜欢游戏的同类产品。他们寄希望于你的产品可以传授一些新的内容，这样他们就可以向好友和同事炫耀自己的经验，或者有朝一日能够在这款游戏中取胜。我曾收到大量粉丝的邮件，他们指出了自己喜欢游戏的某些方面设置。这些邮件让我了解到玩家希望在今后游戏中看到的内容。杂志一般也会发表读者赞扬或批评某款游戏的来信内容。市场调研和测试小组（包含之前及潜在玩家）对产品最终设计极有帮助。

*是否认真评估过团队的产品设计想法和意见？这一点详见以下的原则3。

*添加某项功能是否有利于扩大用户规模，获得更多知名度？

从Villa Crespo Software的Flicks这个评价过3万多部电影的产品案例来看，在开发过程中仅添加“关闭字幕”这一功能就为该产品增加了400万听力障碍用户以及非英语用户。

制作人应该通过团队成员搜集那些有用助于提升产品的信息，并将信息传达给设计师。制作人必须能够辨别一个想法的好坏，然后才决定是否将其用于优化游戏产品。

设计师要具有包容性，并拥有开放的思想，愿意采纳他人意见以提升游戏质量。制作人必须是管理者，领导和外交家，这一角色必须善于搜集信息，并且提出能够为所有参与最终决策的人员所理解的建议。

原则3：让专业人士各司其职，发挥长处。

多数项目都有一个由不同专业和背景的人员组成的团队，其中包括设计师、程序员、图像美工、音频技术人员、测试人员、营销负责人等。每个团队成员都是以自己的独特和重要才能为项目发挥贡献。制作人和设计师需依靠这些专业人士及其独特观点提升并推动开发过程。无论是哪类产品，每个成员都能够为打造更优质的产品出力。

例如，QA和测试人员可以在产品发布之前提出一些改进建议。团队中最常玩游戏的当属QA人员，因此他们的建议与潜在用户较为相似。事实上，QA团队接触的特定类型游戏可能超过了其他团队成员的总和。

因此制作人不能仅相信自己团队成员的直觉，还要善于听取QA和测试人员的建议以打造最出色的产品。

原则4：保持简单性。

产品的每个设计层面都要力求浅显易懂。

例如，允许玩家点击两个按钮就能访问所有的选项，可能就比要求他们摁压37个不同按键更为简单。而强迫玩家按下Alt-Ctrl-Shift A以推动角色攻击对手，这种设置就比较荒唐了。与之同理，要求玩家按下“A、B、C和D”键以控制空战模拟游戏中的飞机移动方式，也会让一般玩家抓狂不已。假如玩家需要反复摁下四个按键才能执行一项任务，这样的游戏设计就需要包含一个超级键或者一键指令以简化操作。

总之一定要保持界面设计的简单性。我曾为一家街机制造商设计游戏，该公司总裁曾告诉我一个深刻的设计道理。他说如果玩家无法掌握一款电脑或电子游戏的界面，他们可能就会去阅读游戏指导手册，因为他们已经投入50美元购买游戏。而街机游戏则不然，玩家只是投了数十美分硬币而已，如果游戏机制不能够为其所理解，不够具有吸引力，那么他们就会转向另一台机器。毕竟谁会在乎那点零花钱呢？我认为这不但对街机游戏设计来说至关重要，针对其他平台的游戏设计也同样适用。

原则5：遵从项目进程安排。

项目进程安排好比是由立法机构制定并需要他人遵从的法律条款，但也并非不允许出现异常处理情况。

如果出在开发过程中出现问题，项目开始之初就制定的时间表也可能发生变动。例如，更改原版游戏说明文件（游戏邦注：如添加新电脑设备支持，改变原来计划的美工或音频剪辑文件）以便制作更优秀的产品，就属于这种可以“违反”项目进程安排的情况。

如果多花一个月开发时间可以改进游戏玩法，移除漏洞或添加更出色的视觉效果/音效，那么项目进程安排也可以更灵活一点。假如非要让游戏在指定的日期、月份或年份发售，无视产品当时的开发状况，这可能会给产品带来更大灾难（更别提损害发行商的名誉了）。虽然错过圣诞假期季的发布时机很遗憾，但推出一款漏洞百出的劣质品无疑更是错误决策。

如果有这类情况出现，你就需要更改项目进程安排，要确保团队及发行商就延期交付可让产品受益这一点上达成共识。

原则6：确保游戏乐趣“物有所值”。

如果用户花50美元买了一款我至少投入一周开发的游戏，并表示很喜欢该游戏，那么我就会很开心。而如果玩家觉得游戏设计太糟，存在漏洞百出，障碍重重（游戏邦注：例如要求他们记下多个按键操作），音频很差等问题，那么这就是之前就知道问题所在的设计师和团队成员的责任了。

每个团队成员都应该为自己的产品而骄傲，大家应该将用户、评论员和行业的赞誉视为自己辛勤工作与付出的一种回报。

原则7：重视狂热游戏份子的作用。

不喜欢数学的学生也能通过努力学习而获得好成绩。与此同理，没有特定题材游戏开发经验的设计师或制作人，也可以创造出该题材游戏中的精品。事实上，设计师或制作人并不一定需要是该类游戏的铁杆玩家，确保团队中至少有一名成员喜欢该题材的游戏（或者深入研究过该类型的游戏）这才是关键。

通常只需要一名积极份子向团队展示自己所喜欢的同类游戏，就能够将其他团队成员转变为对该类游戏有所了解的玩家。这种铁杆游戏粉丝与其他成员的组合可能产生让你意想不到的效果。例如，其他成员可以指出自认为该游戏类型缺乏吸引力的地方，并建议对此修改游戏设计，而该游戏类型的铁杆粉丝则可运用自己的技能，让游戏忠于该题材的设计标准。

知识渊博的开发者或制作人可以要求整个团队体验一些与项目题材相似的游戏，然后让每个团队成员对这些产品进行点评。这是一种值得投入时间并且有利于开发产品的技巧。

原则8：忠于授权产品。

基于授权产品的游戏通常会让玩家对其产生特定期待，他们会对游戏玩法、内容和目标用户形成一种先入为主的概念。在商店中，授权商品无论其营销及广告方式如何，它们总会最先吸引用户眼球。游戏设计师必须 理解这种用户心理。设计师需要深入了解授权产品的各方面情况，才能为目标用户提供其预期的娱乐体验。

例如，在棒球游戏标题中植入特定棒球队经纪人名称可以向用户暗示，这是一款体育策略游戏。玩家就会知道他们在游戏中可能需要制定球员的作战决策和顺序。而与职业棒球选手有关的授权游戏则可向人们表明，它的玩法更注重投球等体育动作。

所以授权游戏成本很高这是有原因的。设计师和制作人需善于利用授权产品，角色以及用户期待以打响游戏知名度。

原则9：不吝与他人分享自己的心得。

许多年来，有不少游戏开发者从我这里讨教经验，而我也总是很欢迎他们的咨询，因为我认为这有助于推动整个产业的发展。因为我一直对创造和探索新想法很感兴趣，我认为如果他人需要什么信息，我很乐意提供帮助。以下是三个值得一提的故事：

*在1985年时有个拥有雅达利520ST设备的汽车修理工经常打电话跟我聊一些游戏设计理念的问题，在我们交流的那几个月中他还向我发送了一些自己制作的美术内容，以及一些游戏理念的样本。大约在1987年的时候，他要去参加一个主流发行商的面试并带上了自己设计的样本和美术作品。我鼓励并祝他获得成功。数周之后，他宣布自己受聘成为“平台关卡”设计师。数月之内，他就成了这个公司的头号“平台关卡”设计师，并且参与制作了行业中最具知名度的多个项目。后来他离开这家公司加主了另一个大型发行公司并担任首席设计师。他曾出现在多个杂志报道中，直到今天我也没见过他本人，我只在他发送来的杂志文章中见到他的样子，但我真心为自己对其职业生涯产生的一点小小影响而开心。

*当我制作基于唐·布鲁斯（游戏邦注：《天堂狗历险记》等动画片导演）作品的PC和Amiga游戏《古惑狗天师》（All Dogs Go To Heaven）时，我遇到了一个玩街机游戏的年轻人。我多次给他价值10美元的代币让他为我展示最新的电子游戏，我就在一旁观察他并提出“你怎么会知道要这样做？”之类的问题。我们深入了解对方之后，他开始向我展示一些自己的漫画手稿，他的画工真的很棒。后来我承接制作《古惑狗天师》时，我请他帮忙绘制所有的美术内容。因为他是初次接触电脑图像及动画，我就教他使用Summagraphics Tablet的机制，以及多种图像包的功能。他很快就上手了，并制作了一些CGA和EGA可支持的最佳美术内容。这款游戏发布后，他就到一家佛罗里达的游戏发行公司担任图像美工。这家公司搬迁到加州时，他也跟着迁移过去了。后来我听说他在一家大型发行商担任高级图像设计师。

*有一个高中生向我发送了一个游戏节目理念。他的行文描述很不错，但发送来的样品却很糟糕。经过数月的电话沟通，我们修改了游戏规则和玩法的许多问题。后来我为游戏编程，并雇了一名美术人员绘制图像内容。之后我们推出了这个游戏节目《Combination Lock》，它的玩法很有趣，我和这个高中生有数年时间共享这个游戏的收益。

我提到这些故事的原因在于，我想强调帮助培养游戏开发者的人可收获的回报。所以当机会来敲门时，请友善对待这些求助者。这种情况终会产生多赢结果，不但“求知者”可以从中受益，你这个“师傅”也能得到尊敬，而引进更多新人最终又会让整个行业获益。

原则10：成功并无标准公式。

记住没有哪个人或者哪家公司能够找到“打造成功产品”的公式。和电影、艺术以及音乐领域一样，游戏用户也拥有多种品味，而品味当然是一个主观事物。

有些开发者将自己的产品成功因素归结于其使用的技术，而有些开发者认为自己的游戏是因超现实主义和沉浸感而取胜，还有些人则认为游戏是因将玩家引进极具现实感的模拟世界，以富有挑战性的设计获得成功，或者只是偶然开发出杰出游戏。每个成功游戏的背后必然都有一系列令其备受欢迎的特性。

其实很简单，只要是由团队齐心协力在合理时限中开发而成，并且拥有良好设计和界面布局的游戏就有望获得成功。

游戏邦注：原文发表于2001年3月16日，所涉事件及数据以当时为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Pedersen’s Principles on Game Design and Production

By Roger E Pedersen

Recently, I interviewed for a number of positions (specifically executive producer, producer and game designer) at various game companies. Throughout each interview, many principles learned from my 16+ years of industry experience were recalled. In keeping with my philosophy that game developers should share and exchange information relevant to our industry, I present ten principles of game

design and production that everyone in the industry should be acquainted with.

Principle 1: Understand The Role of the Designer and Producer

It’s vital to know what lines of responsibility are drawn within game development organizations. This knowledge gives you an understanding of which people are responsible for which game components, who makes design and production decisions, and so on.

The game designer. The game designer is the visionary, somewhat like a book’s author. This person has outlined the scope and description of the product with sufficient detail so that others can understand and develop the product. Just as a book author sees his creation develop differently when made into a film, the game designer needs to accept and solicit modifications from the team members, the publisher and the public during the development process. Often , one of the game designer’s tasks is to create the project Bible – the game’s lengthy technical specification. This document details the gameplay, describes characters and settings (possibly including diagrams or drawings), includes level descriptions and possibly maps of areas to explore, positions and actions for each character or class of character, and so on.

The producer. The producer is the project’s manager, its champion. The producer must keep the entire team productive and the lines of communication open. This person is a diplomat, a politician, a trouble-shooter, a force needed to produce the product. The producer must keep marketing, advertising and public relations teams up to date with the progress of the game, and honest about its features, performance, and other claims that will be made to consumers. These teams must understand the gameplay, its features and story line to generate great ads, media hype, magazine previews, and so on. In return, these non-technical team members, by virtue of their continuous contact with the public, provide the game developers with feedback from the public, magazines and retail channel about what features are currently hot in games.

The producer needs to facilitate communicate between the whole team, and provide timely support for each developer, which includes ensuring that:

•Artists and animators provide artwork, animations, temporary placeholders to the programmers on time, until the final artwork is available.

•Programmers provide the artists with current versions as to see their artwork in a real time gameplay mode. The producer must also make sure that the programmers provide a current version of the game to the sales, public relations and marketing teams, along with various reports about the latest version of the game. These reports describe gameplay, special features, hardware requirements and supported hardware and peripherals, screen shots that best portray the product for ads, promotional sheets, previews and reviews for magazines. The producer also needs to make sure that programmers work with the quality assurance (QA) testers and provide them with the play instructions, special key combinations, hints, undocumented features and actions.

•Audio and sound engineers provide voice, background and atmosphere sounds and music. These engineers also need to view and play the current version to check and validate the timing, usage and clarity of their work.

•The designer (if not a member of the day-to-day team) sees the current version to confirm that the product is in line with the technical specifications and design originally set forth.

•The QA testers report problems to the producer. The problems must be categorized as major (crash, function or action not working), minor (text misspelling, character movement to fast or slow, response time feels wrong), glitches (sound or graphic problem), improvements (add a new feature, improve the character’s interaction or behavior, clarify a confusing aspect of the design or gameplay), a videogame standards issue (the triangle button does not perform as the standard function definition), and multi-platform inconsistency (PC version vs. videogame version).

Whether one person assumes the role of both producer and designer, or several people handle these tasks, there must only be one producer whose word is final, whose decisions are followed and whose leadership is trusted and motivating.

Principle 2: No Designer or Producer is an island.

Gathering information throughout the product development cycle and knowing what to do with it is the trait of a great designer and producer.

Designers should research their subject matter and evaluate outside suggestions and opinions. The audience demands and expects films and books to seem realistic and accurate. The computer and videogame audience should accept nothing less.

When undertaking the development of a sports game (e.g., Baseball), a designer may feel that he knows the sport from playing it as a child and viewing it on TV. However, much more research must be undertaken to create an immersive experience for consumers.

Whether the game genre is sports, RPG, adventure or simulation, the first step is to research similar titles in that game genre. You can do this by surfing the Internet, visiting the local store and purchasing competitive games, reading reviews of similar genre titles, collecting marketing materials and advertisements from other publishers’ websites, and so on. This information is invaluable when you are designing a new product.

If you are the producer of an upcoming baseball game, you ought to know the common elements found in other Baseball titles, as well as special features that differentiate each product from its competitors. You should read reviews of similar titles and the competing titles’ list of features. From this freely collected information, a designer can understand which features and game play customers expect, special features that the competition offers, and the criteria upon which the reviewers will base their critiques.

As the designer and/or producer, you must ask yourself:

•Does your game suffer the same poor or awkward design flaw as a previously released title or similar genre titles? The design of the game needs to address how to be better than its competitors.

The design must be able to handle flaws, difficulties and problems that reviewers and customers have complained about in previous versions of this product or in other similar genre titles. As the decision maker, you must listen to your development team, your marketing and sales team, retailers, and your game playing audience.

•Do the ideas of the game designer and the team outweigh those of the reviewer(s)? The ideas that are made must have a good foundation. All reviewers try to accurately explain and criticize the product to the public. There’s a real difference between discarding a reviewer’s opinion and listing the problems and how your design addresses each one.

•Does the design consideration include comments from previous or potential customers? Customers enjoy great products. My experience (in producing sports, gambling and trivia/puzzle titles) indicates that customers (fans) will buy any product in the genre they enjoy. Their expectations are that your product will teach the something new about the activity, they will gain experience and be able to brag to their friends and associates, and/or that they’ll be able to someday beat the game. I’ve received a great deal of fan mail in which consumers have cited the aspects of my games that they enjoyed. These letters also tell me what additions to the game that they would like to see in future releases. Magazines publish reader’s letters that praise and criticize the products.

Market research and beta test groups consisting of potential and previous customers can be worthwhile in the final design stages to tweak the product before its release.

•Are the team’s ideas and opinions seriously evaluated in the design of the product? See Principle #3 for more information about this.

•Can the addition of a feature expand the customer base and get more publicity

In Villa Crespo Software’s Flicks, a product that reviewed 30,000 films, a field for “close-caption” was added during the development, instantly adding four million hearing-impaired and non-English speaking audiences to the product’s customer base. Newsletters reaching that consumer sector gave the product free, positive reviews because the product included information vital to their readership.

The producer should collect information from team members about improvements that can be made to the product, and relay this information to the designer. The producer must be able to recognize a good idea when he hears it, and implement that idea in the game to make it a better product.

Designers should be adaptable and open minded to ideas that can make their games better. Producers need to be managers, leaders, and diplomats who can take information and in getting good suggestions understood by all involved with the final decisions.

Principle 3: Let Professionals do their jobs.

Most projects have a team of talented professionals working on them, made up of designers, programmers, graphic artists, audio technicians, testers, marketing coordinators, and so on. Each of these team members brings their own unique, important talents to bear on the project. A producer and designer must rely on these professionals and their particular points of view to improve and facilitate the development process. Regardless of the product’s genre, each member can make a product better.

For instance, the quality assurance (QA) and testing people can suggest gameplay improvements before the product is shipped. No member of the team plays the game for hours at a time like a QA person does, therefore his/her suggestions are similar to that of the potential customer. In fact, members of the QA team have probably played more games in a particular genre than the rest of the team combined.

The producer must not only trust his team members, but also rely on them for input to create the best product.

Principle 4: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

Every aspect of a product should be obvious and easy to understand.

For instance, allowing players to access every option within two button clicks may be simpler than having thirty-seven unique keys to press. Forcing a player to press Alt-Ctrl-Shift A to get his character to kick an opponent would be ridiculous. Likewise, having to press “A,” “B,” “C” and “D” to control the movements of a plane in a flight simulator would drive the average player crazy. If a player has to repeatedly press four keys to perform a task, the game design should include a super key or a one-key macro to simplify the operation.

Keep design interfaces simple. I once designed games for an arcade manufacturer, and the president of this company taught me a valuable lesson about design. He said if a player doesn’t grasp the interface of a computer game or videogame, that player will read the manual since $50 (or so) was invested in the game. With arcade games however, the player has only invested a quarter or two, so if the game isn’t understandable, addictive and compelling, the player moves on to the next machine. Who cares about wasting pocket change? While this is especially critical for arcade games, I think it’s important to remember when designing games for any platform.

Principle 5: Schedules are like laws.

Schedule are like laws; they are created by legislative bodies and meant to be obeyed, but they are also designed to allow exceptions if evidence warrants special circumstances.

Likewise, milestones are created at the beginning of the project may need to be changed based on problems that occur during development. For instance, the decision to change the original game specification (e.g., to support a new computer, a new 3D card, alter pre-planned artwork or audio clips) in order to make a better product is a situation which may warrant “breaking the law” that schedule spells out.

If another month of development time would greatly improve the gameplay, remove non-show-stopping bugs or allow for better visuals or audio effects, then circumstances justify deviating the schedule. To ship a game on a target day, month, or year regardless of the state of the product at that time can spell disaster for that product (not too mention the harm it does to the publisher’s reputation). Missing seasonal dates like Christmas is bad, but shipping buggy or a poorly made product is worse.

You should only modify a project schedule if there are valid reasons. The team and publisher must agree that the additional time will substantially benefit the product.

Principle 6: The Yardstick: One Day’s Pay for a Week’s Worth of Fun.

If a customer pays $50 (plus tax) for a game that I’ve worked on, that amounts to the average person’s one day net pay. (A person earning $21K a year brings home $14K which is $54 a day.) If the player reports enjoying the game that I worked on for at least one week, then I am happy. If the player feels ripped off due to poor game design, numerous bugs, obstacles in playing the game (e.g., multi-CD swaps, memorizing numerous keystrokes, and so on), poor audio, or some other problem, then the game designer and any team members who knew of these problems beforehand are to blame.

Every member of the team should be proud of their product. They should consider the praise from consumers, reviewers and the industry as their reward for they time and work they spent on the game.

Principle 7: I Never met a Genre that I didn’t like.

A student who doesn’t enjoy math can study hard and still earn an “A” in class. Similarly, a designer or producer does not have to have experience working on a particular genre to create a good game within that genre. In fact, a designer or producer doesn’t have to even be an enthusiast of that genre in order to get good results. Putting together a team in which at least one member enjoys the genre (or studying competing products of the genre) is what is critical.

Often just one enthusiastic team member can show similar games that he/she has enjoyed, and thereby turn every team member into a knowledgeable player of the genre. Combining fanatical genre loyalists along with non-genre players on the development team can result in benefits you may not have considered. For instance, a non-genre player can suggest modifications to a game’s design by pointing out aspects of the genre he finds unappealing, whereas a fanatic of the genre can lend his expertise and advice to keep a game faithful to the genre.

A knowledgeable developer or producer may ask the entire team to play similar games in that genre and ask each team member to critique the products. This technique can help the development of your

product, and it’s time well spent.

Principle 8: Be true to your license

Games based on licensed products often cause players to make certain assumptions about those titles. There are preconceptions about the gameplay, content, and target audience. In stores, it’s the licensed titles that get noticed first, regardless of their marketing and advertising. Game designers must understand this customer mentality. The designer must understand everything about that license in order to provide the kind of entertainment that the target consumers have anticipated.

For instance, a baseball game that uses a particular baseball team’s manager in its title suggests a strategy sports game. Players would probably assume that they would be responsible for making decisions about the players and batting order. On the other hand, a licensed product linked to a professional baseball player would suggest an emphasis on sports action, such as pitching and batting.

There’s a reason why licenses cost big bucks. Designers and producers must use the license, its characters, and leverage consumer preconceptions to title’s benefit.

Principle 9: Share your Toys!

Throughout the years, many game developers have bounced ideas off me, asked me questions, and so on. I have, and will always, welcome these inquiries because I believe it’s for the greater good of the industry. Since I have always been interested in creating and exploring ideas, I feel that when someone wants information, I’ll gladly help. Three occasions in particular are worth relating:

•In 1985, an auto mechanic who owned an Atari 520ST called me and to pick my brain about game design and various game projects he was working on. For several months we talked, and often he sent me samples of his artwork as well as demos of the concepts we’d discuss. Sometime around 1987, he had an interview with a major publisher and discussed taking the demos and artwork with him. I encouraged him and wish him success. A few weeks later, he announced that he was hired as “platform level” designer. Within months, he became the top “platform level” game designer for this company, and he worked on the most well-known titles in the industry. He eventually left this publisher to join another equally large publisher as the head of game design. He appeared in several magazines displaying his platform level designs. To this day, I’ve never met him and have only seen him in the magazine articles that he sent me, but I feel very happy that I was a small influence in his life and in the industry.

•When I was working on All Dogs Go To Heaven, a game for the PC and Amiga based on the Don Bluth film, I met a young man who worked at an arcade. On several occasions, I gave him $10 in tokens to show me the latest video games. As he played, I observed him and asked questions like, “How did you know to do that?”. After we got to know each other better, he showed me several comic book sketches that he had drawn, which were great. When I was contracted to produce and develop All Dogs Go To Heaven, I asked him to do all the artwork. Since he was new to computer graphics and animation, I taught him the mechanics of using a Summagraphics Tablet and the functions and features of various graphics packages. He learned quickly and produced some of the finest artwork that

CGA and EGA would allow. After the release of this title, he went to work for a Florida publisher as a computer and videogame graphic artist. When the company moved to California, he moved with them. The last I heard, he was moving on into one of the big publishers as a senior graphics person.

•A high school student sent me a concept for a game show. The description read well, but the demo he sent me was terrible. Over several months on the phone, we fixed many of the game’s rules and aspects of the gameplay which greatly improve the game show. I programmed the game, and hired an artist to provide the graphics. When I went to Villa Crespo Software outside of Chicago, we published this game show, which we called Combination Lock. The game was fun to play and it was the first product to feature on-screen players of all races. The high school student and I shared in the profits for several years.

The reason that I relate these stories is that I want to emphasize the benefit to those who help budding game developers. When the opportunity to help someone comes knocking on the door, offer that person hospitality and kindness. The results will benefit the “seeker of knowledge,” will honor you “the master”, and will benefit the industry as more creative thinkers join in.

Principle 10: There’s no magic formula for success

Keep in mind that no one individual or company of any size has discovered the formula for “what makes a successful product.” Like film, art and music, games appeal to a variety of consumer tastes, and of course taste is subjective.

Some developers of past hits have credited their success to the underlying technology that their game used. Other developers claim that their game transported the player into a surreal and immersive universe. Yet others feel that their game’s success was due to the way it engrossed the player in a realistic simulation, challenged them with its compelling design , or simply made a great game accidentally. Behind each successful title is a unique list of traits that made it popular with consumers.

The bottom line is simple. A well-designed product based on a team effort with an user-friendly interface developed within a reasonable time frame will be successful. （source:gamedev）