MILESTONE CRUNCH & GAME MAKIN' LESSONS!

Hey ya'll- sorry been away for a few days. Game is in milestone crunch on all fronts and there is just no time to breathe.

Wanted to pop in and say hey and share 2 things that have come up in recent days that have really struck me as important lessons about making games or making anything creative or...hell, perhaps living life in general? Dunno. I will elaborate more when I have more time but for now, here goes:


1. BEING NICE IS NOT THE SAME THING AS BEING A PUSHOVER...AND OFTEN TIMES EVEN BEING NICE CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR BEING A PUSHOVER SO SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN- At times I've had a reputation for being kind of a hard ass to work with. Demanding, basically. I'm not a yeller or a shouter unless I'm yelling more at the tv or the game and something's not working. Then I'm all like, "FUCK THESE MOTHERFUCKING SWORD ATTACKS! NOT TRANSITIONING FROM ATTACK TO ATTACK DAMMIT!"...but It's rare that I deal with people that way. I DO sometimes, but not often.

Again, I can be demanding and very protective of a game's vision and I can be relentless in pushing myself and pushing others to improve that vision. And the people I love working with are the same in that they push me and force me to improve the vision too. Nice thing about that is, the game gets better. But you do take on a reputation for being a pain at times.

So as of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive.

Fuck that. Doesn't work.

Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision. Thank God no real harm was done to our current game because of it. Nice wake up call tho. Grateful for the lesson.

Here's the reality: on a creative project there's the vision that once it's locked, we all must be slaves to. Protect that vision at all costs. And sometimes that means you open the doors a bit to let the vision grow and be improved by the right members of the team who 'get' it. But not everyone on a game will always get it and so it's key to know when an idea improves and when it takes away from the game's core.

And never allow your desire to be nice and liked to get in the way of the vision because the game will suffer.  And the team will suffer as well because a failed game means the studio is at risk.


2. AH-HA MOMENTS ARE RARE WHEN STARTING A GAME- Been thinking about future games to make as of late and as we're head deep in this current one and it's taken on its own life and it's come together as it's own living, breathing thing, I caught myself thinking that a new game idea should have the same sense of purpose and meaning and locked vision that a game as far along as our current game should have. I felt the same after GOD OF WAR when looking for new game ideas: that the game idea should feel solid and locked and I should just 'know it' when the idea came to me or was pitched to me by someone else. But I only recently realized that it rarely works that way. Often times you just start the journey of a new creative project confident or semi confident in where you are going but until the team comes in and adds their amazing talents, before you get the- hopefully- great ideas that you contribute and see come to life, your game really is this lifeless thing. And so as I search for new ideas it's key to remember that a lot of faith is needed in knowing what idea to pull the trigger on because it's very rare that the idea itself is a slam dunk.

Ok- back to it. So slammed no time to proof read so hell if I know if what I just wrote even makes sense!
Sure there is a shit ton of typos!

Talk soon- later ya'll!

David