2. 10 Things Great Designers Exhibit
By Gordon Walton
BioWare Austin

3. Who am I? Gordon Walton, old game guy! First commercial game in 1977
Built over 30 games personally
Managed development of over 200 games
Have hired and worked with 100’s of designers

4. What we will cover Overview of Design Specialties
How Specialties Affect Designer Selection
The 10 Attributes
The Future of Design
Summary
Q&A

5. Overview of Design Specialties
The Design specialty covers a lot of territory
Is a designer a:
Writer?
Algorithm and numbers person?
Scripter?
Creative auteur?
Interface/accessibility expert?
An alchemist of interactive fun?

6. Overview of Design Specialties
The main point is to modify your selection or assignment criteria based on the specialty

7. The 10 Attributes!

8. #10 A Passion for Games (all games)
Many of you might think this is the most important point
(and it is darned important!)
Too narrow passion is less than optimal
Passion is a real “edge” for a designer (true for all jobs in fact!)
Should have said that the main way to tell how passionate a designer is to see how many games he’s made outside of work/school assignments

9. #9 A Breadth and Depth of Knowledge
What is your level of game knowledge?
Across what game platforms?
What do you know outside of electronic games?
Synthesizing knowledge is the key
Have you played enough games to know the language of games?
Do you really have a wide range of knowledge outside of games?
Best designers I know seem to know a little about a lot of things!

10. #8 Problem Solving and Analytical Skills
What is your approach to problem solving?
Can you effectively deconstruct complex problems?
How are your logic skills?
Potential Trap: over-analyzing / over-complexity
Talk about testing for this during the hiring process
See how candidates solve problems in real time, it’s not their solution as much as their process that is important to understand

11. #7 Flexibility
Design can be exciting but also frustrating due to the frequency of changes involved
Design must adapt to match the platform/business constraints along with the player feedback
Poop happens, things are always changing in game development, both in goals and constraints, if you can’t be flexible you won’t be successful

12. #6 KISS More's Law (.vs. Moore's Law)
"If some is good, more is better"
This is a common fault
KISS == Keep It Super Simple
Best to cut stuff on paper!
Note that many designers though everything into designs, including the kitchen sink!
Give examples of simplifying designs and over-complex designs that confuse players
Insecurity in serving an audience leads to designs with more features than are needed

13. #5 Player empathy Can you see the game from the player's viewpoint?
Can you understand the player’s mental models?
What can you do if you aren’t very empathetic?
Kudo’s to Will Wright for “player mental model”
Talk about extensive usability testing, how it can help cope with blind spots or lack of audience understanding/empathy

14. #4 Continuous Learning
Designers are on a journey to understand the world and translate that to other people for their enjoyment
Learning more is integral to this process – much of creation is knowledge integration not “original ideas”
Part of the learning process is integrating feedback you get from all areas
No plateau’s in game development, must be constantly upgrading your skills and retooling as the business, technologies and audience changes
Talk about the negatives too of being “stuck” or over-specialized

15. #3 Teamwork – Being a Team Player
Most commercial games are built by teams
What is most important is that the team succeeds
Talk about how talent doesn’t trump working with others
Getting the best from your team and teammates
Individual success is meaningless if the team doesn’t win

16. #2 A Positive Mental Attitude
While curmudgeons and grumps can sometimes do excellent work…
Who wants to be around them??
Enthusiasm and a can-do attitude is infectious!!
Has evolved over time to be a key hire/no hire attribute for me
Having a critical mass of people with the right attitude can take a team to a new level of performance

17. #1 Clear Communication Design is communication!
Clarity of communication drives the fastest implementation, and the most effective iteration
Remember that communication is not about what you say, it’s about what gets heard!
Designers have to get the team to understand their vision of the game (or their part of the game)
Even more importantly their design must communicate with the players in a way that enthuses them!

18. The 10 Attributes #1 Clear Communication #2 Positive Mental Attitude
#3 Teamwork
#4 Continuous Learning
#5 Player Empathy
#6 KISS
#7 Flexibility
#8 Problem Solving/Analytical Skills
#9 Broad Knowledge
#10 A Passion for Games

19. The Future of Design More specialization – big games
More generalization – small games
Do you have the attributes to be a great designer?
If so, there will be lots of opportunities! 

20. Q&A