ignored the pleadings of coworkers and friends when they said something needed to be
reworked or changed. I was reluctant to throw away perfectly good work, even though
it no longer fit with the game. Thus I can say from my own experience that sometimes
the first step in fixing the problems with your game design is admitting that you have a
problem.
Of course, you have to be careful not to go too far in the other direction by discard-
ing usable content. As you work on a project, you are likely to become overly familiar
with some of the content you have created, and familiarity can breed contempt. For
example, after working with a level for a long time, a designer is likely to become sick of
looking at the same geometry day after day. The designer may then feel the need to
rework that level, not because it really needs it, but simply because it will be something
new. This is wasted effort, since for first-time players, the level will be new and excit-
ing. Changing your game’s content just for the sake of changing it can lead to extra
debugging time, delays in shipping your project, and general frustration for team mem-
bers who do not know why perfectly good work is being thrown away and redone.
First impressions are very important, especially in game design. Always try to
remember how you first felt when you played a level or tried to pull off a particular
move. Was it too hard or too easy? Was it intuitive or confusing? Another big problem
with working on a project for a long time is that the designers can grow accustomed to
flaws in the design. Maybe the controls are unintuitive or a particular enemy attacks
players in an arbitrary and unfair way. As they play the game repeatedly, designers will
learn to overcome and avoid these problems in the game design, giving them the false
impression that nothing is wrong with the game. Playtesting is an essential tool for
revealing the weaknesses in the game design that the development team has grown
accustomed to, as I discuss in Chapter 25, “Playtesting.” However, before you get to
the playtesting stage, try to always remember your first impression of a particular
aspect of the game. It may even be appropriate to take notes when you first play a
mechanic or section of the game; do not assume you will remember your impressions
later. You may not fix everything in these notes right away, but for problems you keep in
the back of your mind as needing improvement in the future, the notes will prove
invaluable. As you near the end of development, ask yourself if the problems you saw
back when you first played the game have been fixed or if they are still present, creating
frustration for others who experience the game for the first time. Whenever possible,
even if you do take notes, it is best to fix these problems as soon as you observe them
because over time you are likely to forgive the game’s subtler problems.
Programming ................................
This chapter is written from the point of view of someone who is a designer and a pro-
grammer, as I have been on all of my projects. Being in such a position has many unique
advantages, especially in terms of being able to experiment with gameplay. A
designer/programmer is able to have an idea for some gameplay and then can instantly
attempt to implement it exactly how she wants it. A designer who does not program is
forced to first communicate her idea for the gameplay to the programmer and hope that
the design is understood. Often the communication will break down and the designer
will not get exactly what she wanted or the feature in question may have an inferior
Chapter 15: Getting the Gameplay Working 291