Developing Thoughts 6

Yet another installment of my column from 2004.


Researching the Unexpected

The key to establishing authentic detail is plenty of research – geography, terminology, clothing, equipment or historical facts, for instance. The level of authenticity can determine how deeply players will immerse themselves into the world that’s been created.

In the early stages of Revolution Software’s game, Broken Sword – The Sleeping Dragon, I was looking for some historical hook that would give a good starting point to build the story around. I knew that we wanted to tie the game back to the first Broken Sword game, and in a way that would complete the trilogy in a tidy manner. With this in mind I started exploring connections to John Dee, who was mentioned in the earlier games. It wasn’t long before I turned up a reference to something called the Voynich Manuscript.

This was exactly the starting point I needed – a genuine historical document written in a bizarre code that, to this day, no one has been able to decipher. This meant that the contents of the manuscript could be invented to match the needs of the story – the perfect device upon which to hang a historical mystery. Tying in a Templar power conspiracy was relatively straightforward, but what was it that the Voynich Manuscript hid within its code? We decided that it held the secret to unlocking the power of the Earth itself.

Coincidences can be more than a little spooky. When I started reading up on ley lines – because the idea is that the Earth’s energy travels along these channels – my research kept pointing to many of the same things over and again. Not only did many of the ley line references lead to Glastonbury – which we used in the game – but there were also a number of them that mentioned York, where Revolution Software is based.

I read a little further and found that a number of the churches inside the old walls of the city were built along a straight ley line, including the huge York Minster. Ever curious, a couple of us went up to the top of the Minster tower and looked out over the city, expecting at best to see a vague approximation to a line. But there, in a perfectly straight line as clear as day, were the towers and spires of half a dozen churches as well as Clifford’s Tower, all lining up with the junction of the two rivers, Ouse and Foss.

The coincidences continued. The land at the river junction is actually named St George’s Field and the hero of the games is also named George. Even spookier is the fact that this land used to belong to the Templars. When we came down from the tower we were to get an even bigger surprise.

Outside the Minster a statue has been erected of the Roman Emperor, Constantine, a man who brought Christianity to the Roman Empire. The statue has him seated and looking at the pommel of his sword in a contemplative way. Yet the sculptor created the statue with the blade of the sword broken!

Although the York material didn’t make it into the game, this research helped establish a feel and flavour that ensured the game as a whole really did have an air of authenticity. When you’ve made striking connections through research on the internet and actually seen genuine ley lines for yourself, you get to thinking that there’s a kernel of truth in the stories you’re making up and the whole becomes so much more believable.

© Steve Ince, 2004

Developing Thoughts 5

A further installment of the original Developing Thoughts Column.


Let me tell you a story...

At school one year, when I was about eleven, we used to have one hour each week put aside for writing stories. It was always the final hour before lunch every Wednesday and I would look forward to that part of the week like no other. No thoughts of fame or money drove me, I simply loved to write stories and it’s been a passion that’s burned within me ever since.

We all love to be told stories; particularly ones that capture our attention and make us hang on the very words of the teller, whatever the medium. A good story, told well, will transport us to new worlds, to new situations that we could never experience for ourselves. It will allow us to see into the mind of an evil antagonist and empathise with the most downtrodden of heroes as the plot unfolds.

The principles behind the construction of stories has been with us for thousands of years, ranging from tales of Greek Gods to epic mediaeval poems; from heart-rending romance to futuristic high adventure. Many fundamentals have stayed with us through that time, yet many more subtleties and sophisticated variations have been developed to allow the act of story telling to remain fresh and relevant.

Though it is in the field of video games that story faces its biggest single upheaval, as challenges arise to tell stories in ways that adhere to the many established frameworks, but do so in an interactive manner also. Not only must the story be revealed by the actions of the player, it must respond to those same actions in some degree or other.

Games will develop stories that serve different purposes, depending on the requirements of the genre and the degree to which each particular game stresses the importance of the varying possibilities. Is the story, for instance, one with a linear plot that takes the player from the start to the end through a series of connected set-ups and scenarios? Or is it one that ends in the same place, but allows the player to choose the order based on parallel plot threads? Do the actions of the player lead to plot consequences that change the story ending, and so tell a different tale to the one that would have been revealed had the player taken a different course through the game? Or will it be a completely open-ended story; one that is, effectively written by the actions of the player?

Clearly, the next few years, decades even, will be an exciting time, as more variations and complexities arise from the need to tell stories in an increasingly interactive manner. But it will also be a time fraught with frustration and confusion, for we must define the new story-telling rules that will help us speak a common vocabulary.

Many books already exist which cover the telling of stories in other media – film, TV, novels, plays, etc. – but we’re only now beginning to scratch the surface of what constitutes telling interactive stories. There has already been some tendency to establish camps of what should be the way forward, as though one method of interactive story telling is somehow better than another.

I feel, though, that all are equally valid and that in the future we will see people choosing a game based upon how it tells a story as much as what the gameplay delivers.

© Steve Ince, 2004

Independent Games Festival - Audience Award

Please go and vote.

You will have to register (free) in order to do so, but it's the only way that you can help your favourite indie game to get the votes it needs.

Best of luck to the creators of all the games shortlisted.

Developing Thoughts 4

Continuing the posting of the Developing Thoughts column from 2004.


Taking the Rough with the Smooth

When Revolution released In Cold Blood, after working on it for nearly three years, one of the first magazines to review it gave it only four out of ten. I remember being quite shocked that this thing of beauty, this long labour of love, was not being adored by everyone who played it. What were these people thinking? Did they not realise how much sweat and sleepless nights went into the making of this game?

When you do anything that involves putting your soul on display for everyone to see, there will always be times when some of those people will brandish the whip of harsh criticism as they pass by. Taking your chances in game development’s creative free-for-all, means there are times when you've got to be prepared for any ensuing pain.

Of course, there are those of a masochistic nature who revel in the barbed comments that come their way, and others who use it as ammunition to condemn the masses as ignorant plebs, for not finding everything they create to be of sublime merit. But the majority learns to take it in their stride or run the risk of becoming a casualty of criticism.

Personally, I enjoy constructive feedback. In fact, this edition of the column was inspired by an e-mail I received offering some thoughts on my writing. This guy was clever – by starting with compliments on my work in general, he was then able to sneak in some pretty insightful remarks that got me thinking. How evil is that? To get a writer thinking about his own work. And on a weekend, too! If only all criticism was so fair.

Fairness, after all, is the only thing we should hope for when being reviewed or criticised. We have no right to expect kind words or high scores, even when we know it is the best work we could possibly have done; for every person has their own subjective viewpoint which will colour how they approach the material under review.

It is incredibly hard, however, not to feel frustrated by people who write off a game without even seeing it; who seem to think that no one has a right to experiment in a genre that was once renowned for its innovative development. To me, this not only lacks any semblance of fairness, it is also not really criticism – constructive or otherwise.

Whatever the tone of real criticism, I always find that the positive aspects outweigh the negative by a long way. Yes, take on board what is being said in the averse pieces and learn from them if you can; but use the positive to drive you forward with a will that enables you to deal with the negative and make your next project better still.

I once had a guy come up to me in a supermarket and point at the Beneath a Steel Sky T-shirt I wore. “That’s the best game I ever played! You should convert the Broken Sword games for the Amiga!”

I welcome your constructive feedback, for I want to give you games, in return, that instil those kinds of responses in people.

© Steve Ince, 2004

Developing Thoughts 3

The third of my Developing Thoughts columns from 2004.


Getting the ball rolling

When starting out on the process of making a game, the initial concept – the project vision – is vitally important to get right, whether you’re developing your first game or your tenth. If the direction is not clear from the outset, then the more likely it is that the project will drift aimlessly and require more work than necessary to pull it back on course later.

The initial concept may start from a single idea, but in order to approach publishers or to give clear direction to the project’s team, it has to be expanded into a fully realised vision document. Until this is done to a satisfactory level, the project will be going nowhere.

It’s likely that a few people will be involved in working towards defining the initial concept, but the majority of staff on the project will not be brought on board until the document states everything that the project aims to do. This should cover the game genre, the intended art style, the technical advances, the unique selling points, a brief story synopsis, and anything else that is deemed necessary to paint the right picture.

Although the document should be a brief, high-level statement of the project’s aims, it is still a very difficult one to create and not one to be taken lightly. In many respects it’s the most important document that the team will undertake, for it defines the flavour of the rest of the development. It must read well and lay everything out in a manner that means others in the company understand the aims and buy into the vision it portrays.

One of the most difficult hurdles to overcome when dealing with an important document like this is coherence. Part of the process of developing the vision will often entail brainstorming, where a number of people will throw a great variety of ideas into the mix. The intention being that the concept becomes one that is rich with diversity. If there is a lack of cohesion when pulling these ideas together, this will show in the final vision document and any readers may well be left with a feeling that there is something lacking. Each idea and suggestion has to be examined and questioned to determine if they add to the vision in a cohesive way, or simply feel bolted on and out of place.

Very occasionally, this examination will lead to the initial idea being removed or modified in favour of a combination of ideas that give a greater cohesion to the vision. While that may feel a little like throwing the baby out with the bath water, if the result is something better the project is going to benefit greatly as a result. For instance, when the first work began on the game In Cold Blood, the intention was for it to be the third in the Broken Sword series. It quickly became clear that it wasn’t a Broken Sword game and so a new hero was born and a great game produced; one that could have felt very forced and artificial, had this been ignored.

The key to success in creating the vision for a game is to be as objective as possible when analysing the overall structure of the document. Only then will you ensure you have a vision that hangs together well.

© Steve Ince, 2004

Developing Thoughts 2

The second in my series that's reproducing the original column here on the blog.


A Penny for Your Thoughts

While thinking of a way to open this piece, I pondered on the number of times I’ve read of writers proclaiming that, on meeting readers, the first thing they are asked is, “where do you get your ideas”. Now this only happened to me for the first time recently, so it’s not something I particularly gave a lot of thought to, until now.

To be honest, I have no idea where my ideas originate, or why they pop into my head at the most inappropriate moments. For those who know me, the glazing over of my eyes mid-way through a conversation, is not because the subject holds no interest, but that an idea has suddenly given birth to itself and is demanding my time in its need to be fed and nurtured. Can I help if my little babies need all the love and attention I can lavish upon them? Would you expect me to cast them out into a cruel world at the height of the blizzard?

Of course, many of my ideas are weak or malformed. Even with the greatest will and attention, they will not survive much beyond the birth process. These are the ideas that no one sees; the ones I forget almost instantly. But for every ten of these poor creatures, there is one that’s worth making a mental note of, scribbling down on a piece of paper, or placing in the ideas file on my computer. These are thoughts deserving of serious consideration.

Yet, even then, not all of these ideas are great ones. If twenty percent of them turn out to have any genuine value, I would consider that to be a good result. It is much better to have twenty ideas and throw sixteen away, than to only have only four ideas to begin with. The likelihood of each of those four ideas being a winner is very small. By my twenty percent estimation, you’d be fortunate if one of those ideas bore fruit. Unless, of course, you happen to be a unique individual whose every idea is a gem.

The hardest thing in dealing with ideas is discarding them. There are times when a person has to accept that even the best idea won’t work and must push it to one side – the context may be wrong, or it conflicts with the style of the project. If it’s a genuinely good idea, they always keep it on file, hopefully to be used in another project. But a person should be prepared to discard the idea and move on – ignoring the pleadings of their babies.

Because the creation of games is built on originality, ideas are a valuable commodity, particularly to those who struggle to come up with ideas themselves. Where would the industry be without the people to originate the ideas? A game needs more than a single gameplay mechanic to succeed in the current market. A couple of one-dimensional characters are not enough to give a game depth. And if it hadn’t been for the wealth of technical ideas that have abounded over the years, we would not have the high standards we have come to expect from our games.

A penny? Thoughts appear highly under-valued.

© Steve Ince, 2004

Merlin helps out

Or not...

He scared the living daylights out of me when he suddenly leaped onto the desk. Not something I ever encountered with Acrasia.

Developing Thoughts 1

Because the Randomville site appears to have removed my Developing Thoughts column, I thought it might be a good idea to re-publish them here on the blog. They will be reproduced exactly as they originally appeared and I shall be taking them in order. Perhaps I'll even continue the series once I'm caught up.


Oh Lucky Man...

I’ve recently had cause to look back over the last eleven years of my life and take stock. Often when you embark on such a reflective journey the gems and turds you discover along the way surprise you. Fortunately for me, my introspection turned up far more gems than turds and for this I consider myself a very lucky individual. For instance, how many people get given their chance on the say-so of a talented comic artist of the calibre of Dave Gibbons? Or to work on a day to day basis with a gaming luminary such as Charles Cecil?

I must admit to bluffing my way through those first few weeks in the job. I knew next to nothing about computers, and less than nothing when it came to creating and editing graphics on one of the damn beasts. But I’ve always been a quick learner and this, along with the support and understanding of other talented individuals in the team, enabled me to pull through. It wasn’t long before the feeling I was going to be rumbled began to recede. From such a humble beginning it’s been an uphill road the whole way, due to the constantly shifting goalposts of the gaming market, but the satisfaction I’ve derived from it has more than kept pace.

One of the most gratifying aspects of my time in development has been the chance to meet and to work with so many talented individuals – programmers, artists, animators, musicians, designers, writers, directors, producers, and testers. People who have made my work much easier. People who have helped catalyse brainstorming sessions to the point where an electric charge fills the air. People who have put in long hours of very hard work in order to add the polish prior to immovable deadlines. People I have a great deal of respect and admiration for.

My eleven years have seen a lot of exciting changes in the way that games are developed and the way they are presented to the player. What was once seen as sophisticated at a screen resolution of 320x200, is now relegated to the realms of the retro section at the back of many gaming magazines. Where once a team of eight completed a game, a top-flight game will now pull in the talents of forty, fifty, sixty or more people. From counting the number of 2D sprites a game would put on screen, we now measure the number of 3D polygons and texture memory a game is able to wring out of state-of-the-art graphics cards.

For me, the most exciting time in game development is still to come, in the area of my own field of expertise – writing and design. Long gone is the time when a superficial story would do and the quality of translations didn’t matter too much. Now we endeavour to tell a story through dynamic dialogue that would be at home in the best Hollywood films and ensure that the translated versions are equally powerful.

With such exciting challenges still ahead of me, is there any wonder I consider myself so lucky?

© Steve Ince, 2004

Design Jobs

I just received an e-mail from an agency looking to fill three design positions at an undisclosed developer based in London. The positions are Intermediate, Senior and Lead Games Designer, so if you feel this is something you might want, drop me a line and I'll pass on your details. The genre is RPG/FPS.

inceSIGHT - Updated web pages

I've just overhauled the inceSIGHT web pages to keep the look fresh. You can see the results here.

Deviant Art

I've just joined a site called Deviant Art, which is not actually really deviant at all, but I guess it sounds good. You can see my page, here.

This site has an enormour number of members and, while some of the stuff posted varies in quality enormously, it's really worth taking a look for there's an awful lot of really good stuff, too. For instance, take a look at Itto's page. His collage paintings are among some of the most exciting works I've seen in a long time.

Merlin has arrived

Our new cat, Merlin, arrived last night, so I thought I'd post a couple of quick pictures. He's obviously still settling in and is a bit wary of everything, but he's very friendly and likes having his ears scratched.

Tile based game art

When I set out to make Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso I never realised how much fun I'd have rising to the challenge of creating the tiles for the game's locations. Even though this style has been around for a long time, this is actually the first time that I've created tiles for a game.

Part of the initial experimentation was in working out methods to make the tiles join seamlessly where appropriate and how to apply shadow to give them depth, even though perspective is non-existent. As I work through the game and fefine my techniques, I find that I often return to earlier tile sets in order to improve them and ensure a consistency.

Sometimes the creation of unique tiles and game objects means that I have to call up knowledge that I first learned thirteen years ago when I joined Revolution. There's an awful lot to be said for manipulating individual pixels to get the effect you desire.

Removing the Haloscan comments

As I think it's confusing to leave two lots of comments active on the blog, I'm going to remove the Haloscan comments in a couple of days. If you have anything that you want to migrate over to the Blogger comments system (assuming that you can see the original comments), please do so.

When it's gone it's gone...

Looks like it's just me...

I'm still unable to see the comments. I've therefore activated the Blogger comment system to see if that's a better alternative. I'll leave the Haloscan comments up for the moment, but probably take them down at some point.

Problems with the comments?

Is anyone else having problems seeing the comments? Each time I click on one of the comments links at the bottom of each entry, here, nothing happens. If this persists, I may have to resort to the Blogger comments...

Of course, if I see that people are posting comments, but can't read them myself, I'll just have to assume that it's just me. :)

Blue Cat Jam T-shirts

I ordered a couple of my Blue Cat Jam T-shirts and they arrived this morning. The T-shirts themselves are of excellent quality - quite a thick cotton - and the print quality was superb. Both of the T-shirts were dark blue and the colours were incredibly strong and vibrant. I'll post some pictures later so that you can see for yourself.

A new cat

June and I have just been to see a new cat, a stray found by the Cats Protection people. He's a tabby of about 2 years old and very friendly. With a bit of luck we'll be taking ownership at the end of the week - we've got to wait for him to be neutered and micro-chipped. When he arrives I'll post some pictures.

Nutso Progress

Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is progressing very well, but because I'm working so hard on putting it together I'm frequently in danger of being too close to be properly objective. So I occasionally let a few trusted people take a look - people whose opinions I respect and who I know will tell me what they really think.

I received some feedback a little earlier from Martin Ganteföhr (the writer and designer of the wonderful The Moment of Silence). His comments were very encouraging and proved that the game is developing in exactly the way I'd hoped. He also described it as "too addictive", which is very good news indeed.

Better get on with putting it together...

Presentation

I've just arrived back from a visit to Hull University where I gave a presentation of a game design I'd created specifically for the students on the MSc course. Although I'm not a strong speaker in these situations, the presentation went very well and the students very responsive to what I had to offer.

The idea behind the coming up with the design is one in which the students have industry contact and get to work on a design in a way that resembles the type of work they'd be expected to complete once they get jobs in the real world. Hopefully, what they create from the design will go a big way towards landing them a position.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Book Cover

Yesterday I saw the first roughs for the cover design of my book, Writing for Video Games. It's a very strange feeling seeing this project drawing closer to becoming a reality. Suddenly it seems a lot more serious than it previously did and the pressure is mounting to deliver a book that's a worthwhile read.

While I always approach my work with complete professionalism and have been working through the chapters with a view to giving the readers the best I can, there's still an element of nervousness on my part. With very few books on the subject, it's a big responsibility to write something that will be relevant in a constantly changing industry.

Although I've obviously been involved in the creation and release of some very big games, they've always been a team effort. This book is a solo work and so the pressure seems greater.

Still, it's a great buzz to see the cover and I'm really enjoying writing the book, so on balance I'm feeling pretty pleased with the progress.