GAME DESIGNERS - STUCK IN A RUT ? Sent in by Brian Burke Not being an egotist I am very much aware of my own limitations. Like most people I suppose the reality is that we undervalue ourselves and ignore the accomplishments we have have achieved in our lifetime to date. I'm speaking from an intellectual viewpoint here although physical achievements have their place though not usually relevant to computer games players. Bear with me please 'cos I'm drifting gradually towards the point. Even if you passed your Maths and IT exams at GCSE level, or whatever, that doesn't make you a genius. Sure, a level of attainment has been reached but there's a way to go before Einstein's place in history is threatened. What then is the basis and the qualifications needed to become a successful programmer or designer of games? How did the likes of David Braben, Richard Garriott or Sid Meier begin their illustrious, not to mention very well paid, careers? Is it important that a game designer even knows how to program a computer? Don't look at me - I haven't a clue, but I can make a few suppositions along the way. In our chosen hobby we have preferences. Just like readers of books who have a best selling novel inside them, we too have a game just itching to get out. Like the potential authors, after the first paragraph we contract writer's block. The words that sound so good in our head look trite when seen in print. The plot falters on sandy ground and our dreams fade as rapidly as a child's sandcastle is washed away by an incoming tide (Phew, got carried away there!). Unlike a novel there's not an infinite number of game scenarios. What works well as a novel may not be transferable to a computer game. If you do pick a popular novel as a subject, like Infocom did with James Clavell's "Shogun", then it's likely that the player knows the plot and thus has a flying start to puzzle solving (acting as Devil's Advocate for a moment we know in most RPG storylines that good must conquer evil by the endgame). The solutions become a matter of trial and error till our expectations are justified and on we go. Whilst I've always been attracted by the medieval storyline and turned off by most games set in Space (no, I've never played Elite, yes, I'm the one that hasn't!) I believe that there is opportunity somewhere out there for alternative plots. I'm talking graphical here. Infocom had a super go at several settings in their text adventures and maybe this is the attraction of those text games - you're never far away from the power of the narrative creating YOUR vision of the scene in your own mind. Accept though that the vast majority of the games computer market is for graphic games. Visual impact, and sound now we have CD-ROM established, is a prerequisite for a successful game. There are now one or two dispensing with Space and Fantasy as the inevitable game setting. I'm thinking of "Alone in the Dark" I & II, "Cruise for a Corpse" from Delphine was a good effort. Sierra's "Police Quest" and "Laura Bow" series of games are quality stuff. The Sherlock Holmes series on the PC is said to be excellent. BUT these are mainly adventures. The character doesn't grow or become smarter as puzzles are solved or situations overcome. Is it possible, I wonder, to have a sort of James Bond RPG type of game rather than James the middle aged Gnome wizard? New games like "Doom" are making an effort in this direction and that's really refreshing to see. But 'Doom" still looks like a 'shoot-em-up' for all the splendid scenery. The horror genre is still adventure based too. Western RPGs probably don't appear 'cos even I can accept that shooting Indians is politically incorrect and that blasting Buffalo is an ecological 'faux pas' too. The ability to think through a concept, storyboard it and subsequently sell that idea to a software house is a rare one indeed. To do that successfully just once would be great. To do it time and time again is awesome and the individuals who do have my utmost respect. I'd put the likes of Garriott and company up there with Tom Clancy (my favourite) and Joanna Trollope (my wife's favourite) and the like. Point to consider though is that the gaming envelope will only be pushed back by constructive criticism. By us. It's simply not enough to accept some of the mediocre stuff that's pushed out to us month after month by software companies chasing a quick buck. Are we really so desperate to part with our hard earned money on yet another variant on the same old themes? It's great that technological developments give us better, smoother graphics and stimulate our senses with superb music and sound effects. We also need to be convinced by a believable and rational storyline. Storylines that span a whole range of possibilities and don't just centre on the easy and predicable (for predicable read boring) scenarios. The time for graphical game designers to match their text adventure forerunners is nigh, let's hope that somewhere out there there's a budding game designer with the vision and imagination AND the skill to turn those dreams into reality. - o -