If You Choose Not to Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice........
So often producers, programmers, artists, and designers fail to consider the limitations
of the game idea they are planning to develop. Whether it springs from notions of
gameplay, suggestions of technology, or thoughts about a story, as soon as a game idea
takes on form it begins limiting what the game can be if it is to be successful. Game
developers need to understand that not every technology will work with every game
design, nor every design with every story, nor even every story with every technology.
Often developers will try to take a bunch of compelling concepts and attempt to
stuff them all into one game. The lead programmer may be interested in developing a
cutting-edge human body physics system. The lead game designer might have wanted
to try a real-time strategy game ever since she playedAge of Empiresfor the first time.
The game’s writer may think there’s entirely too much violence in computer games
and therefore wants to write a tale of romance. If the producer is a fool, she may even be
thrilled that the members of her team are so excited about what they are developing
and that, by combining physics, RTS, and romance, the result will be a breakthrough
game.
Of course anyone with a whit of sense knows this game is doomed to fail. Without a
consistent and unified vision, no game will have a fighting chance. Though each mem-
ber of the team may have a valid case for pursuing her idea, if the ideas do not work
together, at some point the group will need to pick one and go with it. If, at the brain-
storming session, the team decides which idea they want to concentrate on, the team
can work to make the game as a whole as good as possible. Suppose they choose phys-
ics as their most promising strength. Then the designer can mull it over and realize an
RTS is probably not ideal but a circus-themed game could be an inventive use of the
human body physics simulator. It could include launching performers out of cannons,
having acrobats create human pyramids, and allowing players to perform complex tra-
peze stunts. From there, the writer could come up with a love story about two aerialists
whose relationship is tested by the arrival at the circus of a stunning new strong man,
with everything coming to a climax during a complex high-wire act where the safety net
has been removed. This game has a fighting chance of being fun to play because all of
the components are working together. In the end, you do not want your game to consist
only of an excellent technology or a compelling story or a brilliant game design. If none
of these components support each other and you lack a unified vision, your game will be
just as bad as if you were working with a hackneyed story, a thin game design, and an
incomplete technology.
56 Chapter 3: Brainstorming a Game Idea