What´s with all the bitterness lately? I realise that some of you are fed up with how things are, but all these designer discussions have really brought out the worst in the designers here... it´s either bashing other designers or spewing self-righteous crap.

Actually it´s a good idea to start out as a tester. IT MAKES YOU LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS. You can work on design flaws one by one. You can learn the proverbial walking before taking off.

And please don´t give me that crap about being a "true" designer. There´s no such thing. Nobody is perfect. Most aren´t even halfway there. And if you believe that you´ve learnt all there is to learn you´re just setting yourself up for a fall.

Now go and make the world a better place you desing gods you.

Apparently you sir have missed my entire point, everything you have metioned I have answered, example, your remark about testing letting you learn the mistakes of others? Why did you think I put those comments about Oddworld there? Decoration?

My point was that there ARE some of us out there that can point out the mistakes of others and me using the Oddworld games as an example was my showing how Im able to, Now do I need to list down twenty titles and point out each of their mistakes so you could acknowledge that I know what im talking about? As a matter of fact Ill let you pick the titles okay?

I write things to be read in its entirety, not for skimming.

And you are right, there arent any true designers, not because they dont exist, because the format for "true designing" is still waiting to be developed. Writing code and drawing dont mean dick when it comes to being a true designer. Does the fact that Jason Kidd cant shoot take anything away from him as a basketball player? Or the fact that most rock musicians cant sing correctly take away from them as musicians? I mean granted certain things do make one more multitalented, but are we looking for a Jack of All trades Master of None or are we looking for a specialist? I dont know about you but I would take a person who JUST designs who gives me a Devil May Cry or a MGS anyday compared to one who does it all and gives me a Serious Sam, which the engine is of far greater value than the game because the game isnt doing anything, and just to think if they even did something as easy as copy the old Contra games or Metal Slug games and used the Serious engine for it, imagine how much more fame they would have got and get this, they wouldnt even have to have been that original either and get touted for doing something that hasnt been seen or done yet in FPS, isnt that something?

Self righteous, maybe

But say Im wrong.

Again to all, I said it was a personal rant, not an attack on anybody, but also something to think about



Edited by - Angelstar on January 10, 2002 5:04:52 AM

Edited by - Angelstar on January 10, 2002 5:10:30 AM

Edited by - Angelstar on January 10, 2002 5:18:22 AM

Edited by - Angelstar on January 10, 2002 5:20:33 AM

Allrighty then, that will be enough. This thread has gotten too muddled and off topic. Whether it was me or someone else, I don't care - point is the discussion has lost it's tune.

I'm sorry you think my original post was discouraging, Tacit, because it wasn't. I'm not certainly not one who wants to make this industry look easier than it is. The cold, naked truth was right there in the first post and anyone who doesn't keep that in mind is in for a big letdown. The original post pretty much defines what a lot of people want to do, sell themselves and their ideas to a company. Reaity kicks in when you realize any company already has enough ideas to go around.

I've brought this thread to the attention of a few people I know in the games industry, and they've all agreed that experience makes the game designer. Passion is good for anything in life. As long as you have passion you can succeed but people are inherently cautious about taking risks and a passionate game designer with little or no experience is a risk that could make them rich with this awesome game or lose them a lot of money.

Let people's passion drive them through the years needed to gain enough experience to become respected enough to take on projects they conceived or even projects that are considered risky. Everyone wants to be an instant success story (including me) but it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Instant success stories are usually overhyped by the press and come along mostly through luck. The visionaries of today all started out doing the grunt work, there's no reason why we can't too.

In an update, this was a link posted in an industry forum I frequent:

Facts About the Computer Games Industry by Brian Reynolds

It's seems many developers are in agreement about what it takes to be a game designer.


_________________________________________________________________

Drew Sikora
A.K.A. Gaiiden

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Blade Edge Software
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3-time Contributing author, Game Design Methods , Charles River Media (coming GDC 2002)
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