Climbing Mountains

1
Climbing Mountains

• What it takes to make AAA games

2
The Doughnut

• The Blizzard Mission Statement

• The hole is the core gamer market
• The doughnut is the broad gamer market
• All Blizzard games are aimed at both markets

3
Definition of the AAA game

• High production values
• Appeals to a wide audience
• Considered the top game in its genre
• Usually a commercial success

4
Pros and Cons

• Team is motivated
• Easier to recruit top talent
• Big potential rewards
• Fame and Glory

• Long development times
• Very draining
• Lots of arguing
• Crunch time

5
Profile of the AAA game developer

• Must love games
• Only gamers will put in the extra effort at the
  finish line
• Team player
• Huge egos equates to huge problems
• Willing to throw away work
• Iteration is very important

6
Culture of Criticism

• Everyone should care about the quality of the
  game
• Criticism should be encouraged and expected
• Never directed at a person
• Strike teams
• Must remember the customer

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Who is your customer?
8
Are they your customer?
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Is it this guy?
Thanks Penny Arcade
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These are your customers
BlizzCon 2005
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Game Designers

• Why do you need them?
• Games are too big
• What are they?
• Implementer of ideas
• How to find them?
• Hard to find since everyone can design a little
  bit (like writing)
• Look for experience and referrals

12
Pick your Battles

• Nothing in game design is black and white. Every
  decision costs
• You need to understand your highest priorities
• Dont take the obvious stuff for granted

13
Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master

• Make game for the core gamer first
• Especially important for multiplayer games
• Then make game accessible for broad market
• Very difficult to take shallow concepts and add
  depth

14
Some Examples
Chess
Poker
Civilization
15
Innovation is Overrated

• Who rewards innovation?

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Top Selling PC games in the U.S. (October 2005)

• 1. Age of Empires III
• 2. The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack
• 3. Civilization IV
• 4. Black and White 2
• 5. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
• 6. World of Warcraft
• 7. Call of Duty 2
• 8. Quake 4
• 9. F.E.A.R.
• 10. Battlefield 2

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Game Rankings.comTop rated games for 2004
18
Innovation is Overrated

• Who rewards innovation?
• Execution is equally important
• Different is not better
• Disclaimer Innovation IS important
• Need features that identifies your game
• Industry need innovation over time

19
Control is King

• If your basic controls are sloppy, then the rest
  of the game suffers
• Frame rate and control are linked
• Cannot spend enough time on this
• Took months to refine mouse cursor on Warcraft
  III
• Games like Mario and God of War made their
  reputation on control

20
Pacing

• The common denominator among all addictive games
• Player must feel accomplishment at a fairly rapid
  rate
• Varies somewhat by game
• Can only determine proper pacing through
  extensive play testing

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Examples of pacing problems
Everquest
Psychonauts
God of War
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Examples of great pacing
Civilization
Half-Life 2
World of Warcraft
23
Polish or Perish

• Many games fail due to being bug ridden or
  difficult puzzles
• Polish does not just happen at the end of a
  project
• Dont take the small decisions for granted

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Dont

• Get sucked into market timing
• Retrofit popular features from other games if
  they are not a fit for yours
• Believe your own hype

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Happy Ending

• Make games you love
• If you are not passionate about a genre, you
  cannot make a game within it
• Take the time to make it right
• It is also in the publishers best interest
• Work hard
• you only have 10-12 games in your career to
  make