When changing the focus, you should take the same care as you did when you ini-
tially came up with it. Make sure the focus fully represents your new vision for the
project. Of course, if your focus changes radically, you will need to tell the team about
the change and make sure they all agree with it. Remember, the team needs to be
behind the project in order for it to succeed, and if you change the focus in such a way
that the team is no longer interested in working on the project, you need to rethink that
change or rethink your team.
For whatever reason or in whatever way you may change your focus, it is important
to examine what parts of the game may already exist and see how far they diverge from
your new focus. Look over the design document and realign it to your new goals. Con-
sider whatever game mechanics may be in place and see if they are sufficient to carry
the new focus. Look over whatever levels may exist (hopefully not too many have been
created at this point) and see if they fit with the new focus. Whether it is in documenta-
tion, code, level design, or art, anything that does not fit will need to be reworked so
that the new focus is properly supported.
If too many assets need to be reworked, or if it is too close to the ship date to
change them, or if there is not enough funding available to get them changed, you may
need to rethink changing your direction. Is it really necessary? Often, after you have
been working on a project for a long time, you may want to change your game just to
keep it interesting to yourself. What seemed fun to you a year ago may seem dull now,
not because it fundamentally is not fun but because you have been buried in the project
too long. Avoid changing things just because you are tired of them, since your players,
seeing it for the first time, will think it is fantastic and throwing out all the good work of
your team would be a tragedy.
However, even late in the project you may find out that your game truly is not what
you had hoped, and a refocus is necessary to fix it. At this point you need to move into a
damage control mode. Can you make the change in direction less drastic while still
solving the problems, such that the old assets can still be used? The worst decision you
can make is to create whatever new assets the game needs following a new focus, while
the old assets still follow the inferior focus you had embraced previously. Instead of
focusing the game, your two focuses will end up creating a game with a split personality,
one that is entirely unfocused. Try your very hardest to come up with a refocusing plan
for your project that will not put you over budget or schedule, if these are pressing con-
cerns (as they almost always are). Realizing your project is not as good as it could be,
but lacking the time or money to fix it properly is a tough position to be in. Finding the
best solution in such difficult situations can be extremely challenging and frustrating.
When I worked onCentipede 3D, we ended up changing our focus near the begin-
ning of the project. This resulted in some amount of work needing to be redone, but it
also led to a significantly stronger game in the end.Centipede 3Dwas something of a
special case since it was a remake of a classic and much-loved game, the original Atari
Centipede, created by Ed Logg. When doing a remake or a sequel, it makes sense to take
a look at the original game you are working from, and get a clear understanding, for
yourself, of what its focus was. This is necessary so you will have a good idea of what
exactly you are remaking. Of course I was not present when Logg was making the origi-
nalCentipedein 1979 and 1980, but I can try to guess what his focus might have been:
80 Chapter 5: Focus