Do you ever wonder how your favorite game was made? Who came up with the idea? What’s involved in taking a concept and turning it into hours of gameplay for you to enjoy?
The Scoop is here to help you answer some of these questions. We’ve talked to the Publishers and Developers of our Best Games of 2008 and asked them to share their creative process with us.
Building Games is certainly a collaborative, team endeavor. Even though there is usually one giant brain behind every great game, in the words of Arthur Humphrey, Virtual Villagers - The Secret City, “It takes a lineup of talented artists, engineers and producers to bring these games to life.”
After speaking to the companies behind the Best Games of 2008 to find out what is involved in a game’s development, they all had one thing in common: great stories to share. The typical day (if this even exists) of a Game Developer/Publisher includes the following components: brainstorming ideas, lots of meetings, problem-solving, and content design. I think Phill Simon, Creative Director and Co-founder of Mondo Studios, may have said it best: “Think, write, manage, design, think, test, design, repeat”.
Angel Inokon, Producer on Dream Chronicles 2-The Eternal Maze, described her job “a little like being a midwife, except, well, it’s for games, not babies…equally messy though.” Angel is certainly not the only one with a sense of humor. I started to think about her quirky comparison and suppose it most likely rings true to a lot of people in the games industry. Developing a game is a lot like having a baby. You first “conceive” the idea for a game and then find support to help you grow the plan. Then, once the foundation has been laid, there is a lot preparation to be done and obstacles that you had never imagined when you first started. Now the gameplay has changed and things you thought would be so easy are just a little more painful and scary than originally anticipated. Then finally, it all comes together and you can see that all of the work you put into developing this beautiful creation has paid off and your baby is there for the world to see.
Across the board, the publishers and developers seem to work long, hard hours. But most importantly, they all love their jobs. “Apart from the waking up and going to sleep part, there really isn’t a typical day,” says Christian Holland, Creative Director, Drift ‘n’ Burn 2 My Racer.
Inspiration for each of our winning games has one common source from which ideas were drawn: nature and everyday life. Vitaliy Kit, CEO of Absolutist, got his idea for the game Patchworkz! from the patchwork above the bed in his grandma’s house.
The hit game Amazing Finds was inspired by the love of going to flea markets. “I looked at one of the stalls and realized that a flea market would make a great backdrop for a hidden object game. The setting is almost tailor made for such an experience, all sorts of different objects arranged artfully in a small space. It seemed natural,” said Phill Simon.
The Carrie the Caregiver series has a very specific origin. A few years ago, Rob Gordon of Article 19 got back in touch with an old schoolmate. They hadn’t seen each other in many years and were now both married with children. They started a light email dialog about parenthood. It touched on the joys, the pains and the more comic aspects of raising kids. Pretty soon they started writing in game-like term such as “What’s the reward for taking two kids to the park by yourself?” and so on. It became clear that there was a game in all this, and no one had ever really featured babies in a title. Carrie was soon born.
Like most projects, game ideas evolve over time. Take Dan Chao’s story of Cooking Dash for example. “When I had written a prototype awhile back, it was a pretty far cry from what the game is today. However, once Aliasworld started development on the project, the core gameplay didn’t change much at all. Adding some key power-ups helped increase how much the player could handle. It also provided a few different strategies, which really helped it become a great game instead of just a good game.”
Fashion Solitaire began as a much more traditional Klondike-style game according to Daisy Pilbrow, Producer. Making outfit design more of a focus resulted in a switch to a more flexible mahjong style. In the downloadable version, Large Animal Games also added a full featured clothing designer where you can choose from different articles of clothing, add colors and patterns, and can use your very own designs in the solitaire game-play. This feature, as well as the ability to send photos to friends, were late additions to the downloadable version.
One of the challenges of creating a new game, is making it stand out from the great content already on the market. The recipe for success for our racing game winners, such as Burnin’ Rubber 2 and Rumble Town Racing, was the incorporation of more content into the game, like different tracks, a bigger selection of cars, rolling pit stops and the introduction of new environments to create a more cinematic feel.
Keeping things interesting wasn’t hard for a game like The Daily Diff, being the only daily online spot-the-difference game in the world. Perhaps one of the reasons for this game’s success is using actual pictures from our audience. Sarah, Shockwave’s Daily Diff Master-Illusionist, let us in on exactly what she’s looking for in a photo to use. “I look for images that have a lot going on in them: a certain amount of detail and busyness is necessary to allow 10 differences to be made. Most spot-the-difference games have only 5 differences. Favorite subject matter for Daily Diffs include city scenes, buildings, boats, interiors, playgrounds, cars and general clutter. It’s great if a photo has lots of vibrant colors, varied shapes and crisp focus - an image that keeps your eye moving. “
Others tried to increase the player’s game strategy elements, like allowing a player to create their own plan of action for serving each customer in Ranch Rush. Dream Chronicles 2-The Eternal Maze did this by increasing the involvement of the user - allowing them to choose which clues are most important to solve, and by increasing the variety of puzzles (image, sound, logic, word, and nature). The most important element was to get the users as immersed as possible in the entire gaming experience.
It was obvious to me, after reading the feedback from our winners, that these individuals are a cut above the rest: incredibly creative and forward-thinking leaders in their field. We have only touched on a portion of what a game goes through before it’s published and what makes one game stand out among the rest. Stay tuned as we dig deeper with our game developers throughout the year.
Check out all the ‘08 Winners: Best Download Games | Best Online Games
