"Freedom, or Constraint?" says the next slide, as Saltsman talks about the difference between AAA and Indie and the troubles that both types of games face.
Alec Holowka takes the microphone by talking about his "fractured selves" due to social awkwardness and all sorts of different parts of his life (family, friend, church, games, etc.). He asks "What are games? They are a [subset of] interactive multimedia." Holowka goes on to point out "We don't review movies like we review games." He lists off of how game reviewers would take Citizen Kane into cinematography, gameplay, special effects, and how absurd that would be. He makes a similar statement about how games should not be split into their individual components, but rather taken as a whole (and how it relates to "holistic design"). "Games right now are still the Wild West. They are a vast, largely unexplored space." Holowka then talks about the unnecessary subdivision of "games" into Mainstream Games, Indie Games, Art Games, Not Games, and joking that "Poo-Poo Games" is about "as mature" as "Not Games."
"I want to ask you as game developers: what is the basis for your games? For the games you create that you are most passionate about, what is the starting point, the seed that grows a great oak..." He lists potential examples like films, books, images, memories, emotion, and so on. "Many different opinions + inspirations = a good thing" says the next slide. For Alex Holowka, it's a character and a world that motivates him. He defines "storytelling" as "meaningful connections between the mediums to form a cohesive experience that draws the player into another world." He also answers the question of "Are stories important to games?" and provides the context of Super Mario Bros. as being integral to the integrity of the game. "Tasty, tasty context adds so much to basic gameplay. [...] Players see more than just the raw components."
Holowka tackles "Emotion Spaces" next; "like a level is a designer-crafted context for physical exploration. A story framework can be a designer-crafted context for emotional exploration." Using an example from Marian, "is world context a metaphor for gameplay?" To which Alex says "No." Then talking about the advantages of storytelling in indie games: "small teams, auteur theory ("hear the voice of the creator"), more personal, affecting, diverse ("able to avoid the marketing committees"), and meaningful connections between medias ("not just a big-budget film story slapped on some boring gameplay.")
Schatz takes the microphone now with a slide saying "ANDYTRON UNITE." "AAA vs Indie Design Process" as he talks about his AAA background from 1998-2005, then going to web games during 2000-20001 and ending with his transition into indie games from 2005 to the present. Schatz asks the question "What's the main difference between AAA production and indie game production? Team size." Citing how incredibly different games with two-hundred-plus people teams working on a single game over a number of years versus a smaller, more focused team. [...] Why does team size matter? When the team gets large, you have to keep your pipeline full. You end up doing concurrent work in order to keep the team busy rather than finding the shining gems and building upon those." Working as an indie allows developers to focus on niche audiences; Schatz cites "kids games, non-violent games, strategy games, and new platforms."
Schatz changes the topic to "Designing an (Indie) Game." It's "best to approach the design differently than one would a AAA game." Starting with the AAA approach to game design for comparison: "Make a Sims-Killer." Elaborating, he asks "why is this not feasible for indies? Most likely the other guys will just release a sequel with more money and an existing fan base (this rarely works for AA studios either, CoD notwithstanding)." Something that indie and AAA studios can both do: "design a game around a way to build an audience, create a customer, make money. Both big companies and small ones do this [but it's] probably the subject of another talk entirely." Similar to this is an approach for indies: "Sometimes it's possible to design a game around a market that is currently unfulfilled. This can work for indies because you are not competing with existing products."
The "Theme/Character Based Approach" allows developers to "design new, creative mechanics around a theme or character. Your central theme or character can act as a great touchstone for ideas and a central, guiding premise to the design. AAA studios avoid this because it can be a blind approach -- it's hard to describe to publishers or [executives] what the game will feel like." Schatz cites the work that Dan Paladin does (The Behemoth) does in his/their games and it allows designers to build a fully unique and personal game by basing their design on the personality and features of a specific, original character. Schatz uses his work on Venture Africa as an example where he looked to nature for inspiration.
The "open-ended approach" is "the equivalent of stream of consciousness, game design style. This one is dangerous [as] it's easy to confuse the 'exploration of design' approach that the Experimental Gameplay Project espouses with the concept a design without direction." Schatz says he hasn't had much luck with this approach but "to each his own."
Now Adam Saltsman, creator of Canabalt and Gravity Hook, now takes the microphone once again to talk about indie game developers and small team size. "Novels, symphonies, operas, plays, paintings, sculptures, screenplays, albums, restaurants..." says the slide as Saltsman said "all of these things have a small group of people behind them; usually one, two, or three." "Some of the largest game companies that make some of the best games break themselves up into teams" (citing Treasure, Valve, Blizzard, Pixar, and id Software").
"Why?" Saltsman asks. "Communication -- we're all pretty bad at it. [...] Think about how hard it is, you've got this idea in your head that you're trying to communicate... [...] and you're making typos or you can't find the right word. Basic communication is really difficult" especially, Saltsman says, when dealing with a new, interactive art form. "What you could do is hire Robin [Hunicke], she makes everything really good but I can't hire her." Next, Saltsman lists "responsibility" as to why small teams work. "The stuff you do has to matter or else you won't feel good about it, you won't enjoy it, you won't put effort into it." And, finally, "design." "You won't figure out how to make your game work when you have forty people throwing their ideas at it." Saltsman wraps this up by saying "Focusing on systems (vs. content) makes this much work."
"The logical conclusion is the one-man non-team" as a sort of "frictionless design environment." Saltsman also says "so man is an island." Unfortunately, Saltsman runs out of time and tries to find a single, conclusive thought halfway through his lecture. His thought: "Learn to do everything you can yourself, not so you won't collaborate anymore but so you don't have to."
