technology will lend itself to specific types of games and stories. One designer may con-
sider these requirements to be limitations, while a more positive designer may
consider them to be simply constraints. Indeed, many people do their best work when
operating inside constraints; having limitless options can be quite intimidating and con-
fusing. It is the designer’s job to establish what constraints the project has, find the
perfect parts that fit within those limitations, and finally make all the pieces fit together
in a compelling game.
It is a very rare case indeed for a designer to be able to think of whatever game she
wants and then search out the perfect implementation of that idea. In almost all cases,
the designer is limited by the situation that is presented to her. The limitations may
come in the form of the technology available, the team she has to work with, the budget
available to develop the game, and the amount of time allowed for its creation. Though
the producer is primarily responsible for making sure the game is on time and on bud-
get, the designer must concern herself with all of the limitations she is faced with if she
hopes to create a good game in the final analysis.
Established Technology..........................
Often a designer at a larger company is required to work with whatever technology that
company has. This may be an engine left over from a previous game, or it may be that
the programming team only has experience working in 2D and as a result the only tech-
nology they will be able to viably develop in a reasonable time frame will be 2D. Even if
the designer is fortunate enough to be able to seek out a technology to license for a pro-
ject, that designer will still be limited by the quality of the engines that are available for
licensing and the amount of money she has to spend. Engines are becoming increas-
ingly versatile and affordable, but it will be some time before they can be used for all
game types on all budgets.
If the developer is a lone wolf, working solo as both designer and programmer on a
project, one might think the designer could make whatever she wants. Of course this is
not the case, as the designer will quickly be limited by her own skills as a programmer
and by the amount of work she can actually accomplish by herself. Except in rare cases,
no single programmer is going to be able to create a fully featured 3D technology to
rival what can be built by the large team at Criterion or John Carmack and his id Soft-
ware cohorts. It is simply not possible. Functioning as the sole programmer and
designer on a project has many benefits, but it certainly limits what one will be able to
accomplish.
Even if a programmer is able to create the perfect engine for her game, what if it is
simply too slow? If a large number of fully articulated characters in an outdoor real-time
3D environment are required for your gameplay and the technology is not specifically
built to support this, the frame rate is going to be languid. Throw in some truly sophisti-
cated AI for each of those creatures and your game will slow to 1 FPS, becoming, in
essence, a slide show. If she must make that game, the designer has to wait until the
processing power required is available, which may not be for years to come. Unfortu-
nately, suggesting that a project be put on hold until the technology improves usually
has the direct result of causing the publisher to stop making milestone payments.
Of course, if a designer is truly committed to making a certain game, before giving
up she may need to be more clever in how she implements it. Are there tricks that can
Chapter 3: Brainstorming a Game Idea 53