Among the game devs that I mentor, it’s never the seniors that ask me the headache-causing questions. It’s the college students. Often they’re sending me some thought-provoking article or paper on the “nature of games as a medium”. These pieces get so far away from how I view design in general and art as a […]
When you’re interviewing for a dream job, remember this: everyone interviewing you has broken a live build or made some similar epic screwup in the past. Some of the people interviewing you are worried about their next performance review. They’re not a different species because they work at some company you’ve put on a pedestal. […]
Having great ideas is nice, it just doesn’t matter unless you can sell them to the decision-makers. As you gain skills as a designer, you’re more likely to know better than the people you report to. Often you’ll be reporting to someone who hasn’t thought deeply about your problem space, or isn’t a designer at […]
Here’s a design principle that I’ve known most of my career yet still find myself writing on whiteboards because it’s that important: “Never give a player a problem when you can give them an opportunity.” Quest based on clearing out a local ogre camp? Chore. Map to the evil wizard’s secret library filled with their […]
For Monetization, player perception is their reality – and it’s amazing how quickly players “assume evil intentions”. Example: Studio is going to release a new PvP fighting game with 30 characters. Buy the game for $60 and you get all the characters unlocked. This is the “good and just” way to make a fair, ethical, […]
Pro tip: You can basically ignore any headline with the word “could” in it. Examples: “Bloodborne could be coming to PC as early as August 2020!” “Activision could be starting plans for a Call of Duty theme park!” “Crash Bandicoot battle royale could be in the works!” “Valve could be about to make a full […]
Strategy is what you do because its good for business. Values are what you do even if it’s bad for business. If your company nickels and dimes their values against other metrics, they aren’t really values. They’re slogans. Strategy and Values are both incredibly important, whether building a game or a studio. Even if you’re […]
An aspiring designer asked me if I thought they were good enough for an associate role. I told them, “Not yet, but you’re almost ready for senior roles.” Here’s what I meant: People often think I learn extremely quickly. Nah, I’m a slow learner. I am very bad at rote memorization, I need to understand […]
No, you will NEVER be able to take your NFT from one game and bring it to a bunch of other games. Here’s why: Imagine you’re running a game studio, and as always you don’t have time to build everything you want. Your team has prioritization meetings every few weeks, estimating the time it will […]
There’s a step in the creative process when you reach a point of near-panic, unmoored from well-known places, where your understanding of the problem outstrips your knowledge of solutions. You’re lost at sea, surrounded by gliding monsters. Then, one by one, you chart the stars. This is not a failure of the creative process, this […]
Dan Felder 