Developer Perspectives: Content Design
Another look behind the MMO curtain. This week, Sanya shows us some quest design.
Column By Sanya Weathers on May 29, 2009
Even at companies that launch games, content gets laid in later than you’d think in the whole process, and often finds its work bunched up at the end of the schedule. You’re at the mercy of other teams at the beginning, and at the end you’re crunching like mad to finish.
And you don’t have the big picture when you’re a content guy with his nose to the grindstone. Pat Malott is a designer with ten years of experience. He started his career with Ultima Online, which means he’s seen a lot of techniques and trends in design come and go. He says, “The biggest challenge that I’ve had to overcome is my own expectations, and being patient with the game development process. By nature, I’m a perfectionist, and I try to be proactive in identifying development hurdles that the team has to overcome. My advice to new developers is to be patient with this process. Sometimes it may feel like the people above you aren’t listening to you or your warnings. Most likely, they are listening, and they know more about the big picture than you do. Patience is definitely key in the game industry.”
So that’s the process. Now, an experienced team at a well funded studio can focus on the fun. So… what’s fun? Is it like porn, you know it when you see it?
It’s definitely subjective, and your past experiences in games inform your point of view. Really, the definition of fun comes down to the producer – that person is in charge, presumably because someone thought his or her experience qualified them to be the arbiter of fun.
On the subject of fun, Finnigan told me that getting new people into making fun encounters required two things – knowing the scripting tools really well, and having a clear vision of how to put together all the components. Trouble comes when people lack either one of those things. “I have seen encounter designers that knew the tools and were awesome with them, but really couldn't make encounters that were fun and enjoyable, just complex,” he said. “Complexity =! Fun. Designers will sometimes lose sight of fun in order to throw in bells and whistles.” When I pushed him on what he personally flagged as fun, he said it depended on the game. “With FPS games, [I want] clear objectives, some puzzles, lots to kill. With RPGs, I want to feel powerful – slaying enemies, traversing a castle, striking from the shadows. That’s fun to me. If I see an encounter that’s too precise [forces players to interact in only one specific way] that throws up a lot of red flags for me.
Being able to identify fun versus tedium during the scripting stage is what separates the warm bodies from the future lead designers, because the cost to the studio in time and money from allowing not-fun through to the testing process is enormous – studio killing enormous. When a front line content guy doesn’t execute the design properly, there are massive repercussions.
An experienced content lead on a major subscription MMO gave me this example: “In pre-production, we had written an encounter that involved a small race [with very specific behavior patterns]. When the encounter developer implemented it, instead of using the design, he decided to have this small race run around in a circle. It was contrary to the IP, it looked boring and thrown together, and the most important part, it was not fun... it was just a bunch of mobs running around in a circle.”
It got past the implementation stage, and into testing. The encounter was eventually scrapped, but here was the total of the waste: The original designer’s time writing up an encounter that wasn’t used. The implementer’s time that wasn’t spent on useful content. QA’s time, testing the functionality (more on that in a second). The play tester’s time, used on an encounter that couldn’t be made more fun. The art team’s time, spent on making props and visuals for an encounter removed from the game. Dozens of hours, gone, out of a schedule that already included weekends and fifteen hour days.
As a side note, “QA” does not actually have anything to say about the fun factor. Not officially, anyway. QA’s job is to say an encounter works, or does not work. But they can flag something for specific play testing, especially if they suspect that bug free doesn’t mean it’s worth putting in the game.
Anyway, back to our new front line dev. What advice do we have for him?
Unsurprisingly, the pros advocate not getting emotionally attached to anything, and taking feedback at face value. Finnigan says, “As a new encounter designer, you have to get used to raw feedback and be able to digest it. Those that don't digest it and take it for what it’s worth will not move up.” Malott adds, “Learn how to manage your perceptions, and foster positive relationships with your teammates. You will be working long hours with other game developers. It’s ideal that you get along.”
And one producer on an unlaunched MMO, but with five other titles under his belt, says, “When you play games, don’t just mindlessly consume the content. If you find something fun, sit down with a notebook and identify the feelings you had, what caused you to feel that way, the pace, the animations, the risk vs. reward, all of it. You can’t build something cool unless you know what makes people think something is cool.”
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I couldn't even begin to imagine what goes into some of the more elaborate quests that some MMOs have. Great article, Sanya!
A Very nice read! Well done Sanya.
I've been reading your articles for years Sanya, since my first dealings with DAOC. I think Mythic lost something great when you moved on.
Love these articles and your insight, as well as your personal "flavor." You should write a book about the MMO industry. I'd definitely add it to my bookshelf.
Great article and I look forward to hear more. These articles interest me greatly because it has been a life long dream to make my way into the game industry ever since I was a child. Over time I have kept my goals and aspirations very realistic and I understand it is hard work and can get quite tedious. Your articles help put more perspective for would be developers, and I appreciate that.
Well off to polishing my demo reel.
Sanya, again another great write up that helps explain the inner workings of the MMO gaming community.
At the end of the first page you made a statement about finishing up the last 25% of the content in the last 2% of the calendar. In my opinion this is one of the key statements about the way gaming companies approach creating games. Back in the old days of pen and paper RPGs the GM/DM would come to each session with the materials fully prepared. I personally played in a group of about 20 to 30 people that met two times per month. Our playgroup had 3 different DMs and each couple of months we would rotate our groups between the DMs. It was very rare for one of them to show up unprepared for a session, and the few times that it did happen it was usually due to extreme circumstances, such as a medical emergency or family emergency.
It would seem, just from the comments made, that gaming companies are not putting the effort into the games they are creating during the initial phases. Project planning and implementation, along with employee selection, can make a huge difference in the success or failure of any project. I think this is even more pronounced in an environment that relies of the capabilities of so many individuals working on a singular project.
The short of this is something I was told alot back when I was in the army - "Piss poor planning makes for piss poor performance!". With some better initial planning and management gaming companies would probably have less of a crunch at the end of implementation. I also know that in a programming environment, bugs can come out in places that seem to have perfect coding, and these bugs can really have an impact on the timeline. Gaming companies know this and should plan accordingly, ie - dont set a release date that is based on everything running smooth with very few hiccups. Along with this, gaming companies should be a little more willing to back off the release if they run into major problema rather than releasing a game that may have been rushed to completion.
Most of the forums and sites that I visit all seem to have the same messages comming from the player base. WE ARE TIRED OF PAYING FOR GAMES THAT SUCK! There is even a TV commercial out about this very subject. Games that are unfinished and unpolished just plain out suck, specially when you have to pay for the game and the monthly subscriptions.
I would willing pay an extra five dollars a month and ten dollars upfront for the release of a truly great game that was well thought out with meaningful content and interactive storyllines.
The only way that will stop is for people to stop paying to play games released in beta shape. Despite the outcry from the community when it happens too many people sub anyways. It has become such common practice that it almost seems companies do it deliberately. They know they will lose a lot of subs in the short run but that they can con enough to pay the bills to get it to the point where they might win back some gamers months/years later.
The only way that will stop is for people to stop paying to play games released in beta shape. Despite the outcry from the community when it happens too many people sub anyways. It has become such common practice that it almost seems companies do it deliberately. They know they will lose a lot of subs in the short run but that they can con enough to pay the bills to get it to the point where they might win back some gamers months/years later.
The other problem is that most of the players don't want storylines in their quests and don't bother to read them when provided.
As for paying to play a game in beta? /shrug, development on an MMO is never ending; content should be periodically revisited and revamped, it just needs to happen more frequently when the game is young. Heck, why not make if official; charge people $15.00 to start playing the game a month before launch with the explicit understanding that their characters will be wiped. Give them a few days head start after the character wipe and before launch as compensation.
The other problem is that most of the players don't want storylines in their quests and don't bother to read them when provided.
As for paying to play a game in beta? /shrug, development on an MMO is never ending; content should be periodically revisited and revamped, it just needs to happen more frequently when the game is young. Heck, why not make if official; charge people $15.00 to start playing the game a month before launch with the explicit understanding that their characters will be wiped. Give them a few days head start after the character wipe and before launch as compensation.
Hey if people want to willingly fund the development of a game to release quality more power to them. As long as they are aware in advance and recieve no meaningful in game benefit post wipe.
As far as the tried and true smoke and mirror argument about mmo's never being "finished", sorry that dog dont hunt any more. Huge difference between a game being released with minor bugs,dialogue errors,etc and a game with major tech issues (constant ctd, major mem leaks,etc.) and primary aspects (combat,crafting,skill development,class balance,leveling,etc.) being broke.
Problem that players dont read quest text is because they know its the same pos of bringing 10 boar meat, killing 10 more trolls etc... Who would wana read this kind of crap?!
Back to the article,
" And one producer on an unlaunched MMO, but with five other titles under his belt, says, “When you play games, don’t just mindlessly consume the content. If you find something fun, sit down with a notebook and identify the feelings you had, what caused you to feel that way, the pace, the animations, the risk vs. reward, all of it. You can’t build something cool unless you know what makes people think something is cool.”""
Wonder really how many devs does that anymore...
Great write up again Sanya....
Excellent article, shows the true nature of game dev., especially the 15+ hour days and having to accept Criticism without being offended.
Most game dev employees have some prima donna in them, with giant egos and visions of creating their magnum opus, otherwise they wouldn't be working there, The amount of "company politics" and in-fighting can be a real bitch sometimes.
Really, the definition of fun comes down to the producer – that person is in charge
Yep, the Producer in gaming is like the Director in films, product quality depends almost entirely on that persons skill and talent. or lack thereof.
Originally posted by Elricc
you made a statement about finishing up the last 25% of the content in the last 2% of the calendar.
Man is that ever true, so much time is wasted in the front end of a project. Half the problem is human nature, people will come in whenever they feel like it, screw around half the day, go home early and miss milestones because there is no pressure early on with a multi-year project.
The other half of the problem is senior devs and producers who let people get away with this crap because they refuse to be The Bad Guy in the dept., afraid to offend the star players. The result on EVERY project is Crunch Time - literally working 20 hour days, 7 days a week, sleeping on / under your desk, for the last 3-4 months before the drop-dead release date.
And then after release half the good people quit because they're unwilling to put up with such bs on yet Another project.
I wonder why the game world and the 'mechanics' aren't created first and then the content after, I imagine it would be a much more creative process if a content creator could manipulate his npc's in a realtime environment .
Great Artical Sanya!!
You highlight here one aspect of why so many games are unfinished at release. This is doubly compounded with IP holders that are trying to tie in all aspects of some Media launch event with the MMO. For instance a movie, book, card game etc, etc. all being pushed at the sametime by marketing.
MMO's are a seperate orgainism that should be concieved, grown fully and launched without strings to fly on thier own meret. They have potential to bring incrediable long term attention to a given IP and make revenue as a cash cow. The trouble is IP holders vision is limited to the box currently on the shelf mentality.
Thanks for your article, you provide us with things we could never imagine going on.
And I have a bet on that major MMO title with the small race scraped, it makes me think about WoW's racing track in Thousand Needles, I just felt something empty in there when there was all that racing atmosphere going on and we don't get to play in it and just get some bring X quests and many of them making you go to many other zones to grab stuff.
Lame game design happens for 2 reasons in my opinion:
1. Lead crew lacks the creativity / knowledge / self-management to make a great game.
2. Important tasks such as CONTENT DESIGN get passed on in a factory manner to people other than the lead crew. It only
deludes the vision and creates a reason for the producer scum to exist.
I'm not saying leads should make the whole game (I totally would, hell..the only other employees i'd have would be
an army of codemonkeys doing EXACTLY what i tell them because stuff like AI is creative and i wouldn't trust anybody with it but i
don't know syntax so that's their job, and forget anyone even touching the art), i'm saying leads should at least make sure to be
in charge of what happens in game and never let lowers have any influence.. What? Makes it a boring job for employees? So is
pencil pushing in the office, but people do it cause it pays good so employees can shut up.
Because the mechanics are clockwork coding that is practicaly copy-pasted seing as the most complex thing that could ever
happen in any game today would be a triggered, scripted event. The content (models, animation, etc) allways takes longer
thereforeis priority. It's allready possible to manipulate npc's real time.. Many engines feature the ability to select an object in
the editor, and drag and drop a script on it...
Excellent article. It seems to me the crux of the issue is the insipid practice of quantifying and/or qualifying "fun". As big as the game industry has gotten, and as much of a treasure chest as MMOs have become to all the treasure-hunting gaming companies, the job of figuring out exactly what "fun" is has become completely validated as a legitimate position. Do they have a Director of Fun? Senior Exec V.P. of Fun? CFO (Chief Fun Officer)? The whole thing is symptomatic of what is wrong with gaming today.
What's fun to me is not what's fun to 99% of the content developers out there; that much has been shown to me by what's been released and what's been overwritten. Yes, I realize that the job of most of these designers is to determine what is fun to the most people, not to everyone. But, as has been stated a few times in this thread already, successful release absolutely requires a polished product. Put enough different content in the game and people will find their own fun; make the product appeal to a wide enough range and people will find their own fun; includes the tools and people will MAKE their own fun. But in today's ADHD world of gaming, nobody wants to play a game they have to load 3 times because the damn thing crashed on the startup screen. And nobody wants to be TOLD what is fun. We're the customers, we'll tell YOU.
I'd say if the developer has talent, fun will be dictated to the masses and not the other way around.
When the player can't recognise an obvious pattern of what the game is going to be like before actually playing it, that's when the
player is most open to an experience whether positive or negative.. How to achieve that? Easy: Don't advertise gameplay
elements the player allready expects, as key features on the box. Make them have a vague presumption of what the game genre
is so they decide wether to play it or not, and then force your take on the genre upon them. So that in the end only your creativity
is the defining factor, not wether what you advertised met their expectations.
If that doesn't work...Accept the fact today's players want to be spoonfed, and forget about videogames ever being a serious
medium.
Who the hell goes from Lead Content Designer to QA?
That's going from head chef of a restaurant to operating the fry machine at McDonald's.
Therein lies one of the problems. QA is too often regarded as the minimum wage training area for people who will grow up to get a 'proper' job in the industry, rather than what it really is - a vital part of making a good product that holds an ever more restless MMO audience.
Despite the hype about "we got 1, or 2, or 200 million the players at release date", it's far more important to keep them, but shoddy product loses players and wastes the potential of the game.