Comments on: Sketch on the art of #gamedev Thanks for your explanations! Though I am opposed to ask “what does this say about me” as it takes the focus away from the problem to solve or the principles I value highly and puts too much emphasize on “I want to express myself”. That’s something my unconsciousness can do for me just fine (a bit along the line of your Kleist link on twitter The tech should be an expression of what you want to say, yes. But I think it's important that all the tech *together* adheres largely to a single voice. You probably want to say something different with the tech than you are with the game. But maybe not. That's up to you. But one thing that I've found is that you know you've got something when it makes choices *easier* not harder. It's not that you need the internal data formats themselves to 'say something' (although that's a super-interesting thought...), it's more that they should serve some real purpose. Especially when choosing *features* - does a feature serve what you want to express, or does it not?More generally, and to your last question, I think your beliefs guide your work. Whether you're aware of it or not. But if you *are* aware of it, and can guide your work to be self-consistent with what you want to express as a person or artist, the work becomes so much more than just a task to be done. And finding a way to make that fit inside the larger direction and all the individual conflicts of day-to-day work is an enormous challenge to the self. Which is a good thing! So really, if you do nothing besides simply *ask* yourself 'what does this say about me?' in everything you do, you will be better. In the data, in the coding, in communicating with others, in email, in meetings, in deciding how you will act.Not sure if that helps. Or complicates things. :) The tech should be an expression of what you want to say, yes. But I think it’s important that all the tech *together* adheres largely to a single voice. You probably want to say something different with the tech than you are with the game. But maybe not. That’s up to you. But one thing that I’ve found is that you know you’ve got something when it makes choices *easier* not harder. It’s not that you need the internal data formats themselves to ‘say something’ (although that’s a super-interesting thought…), it’s more that they should serve some real purpose. Especially when choosing *features* – does a feature serve what you want to express, or does it not?More generally, and to your last question, I think your beliefs guide your work. Whether you’re aware of it or not. But if you *are* aware of it, and can guide your work to be self-consistent with what you want to express as a person or artist, the work becomes so much more than just a task to be done. And finding a way to make that fit inside the larger direction and all the individual conflicts of day-to-day work is an enormous challenge to the self. Which is a good thing! So really, if you do nothing besides simply *ask* yourself ‘what does this say about me?’ in everything you do, you will be better. In the data, in the coding, in communicating with others, in email, in meetings, in deciding how you will act.Not sure if that helps. Or complicates things. :)

]]>
By: Bjoern Knafla/2011/02/02/sketch-on-the-art-of-gamedev/#comment-450 Bjoern Knafla Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:44:04 +0000 Great post Mike. Something definitely to keep in mind during the strenuous long months of development. It's easy to become short sighted and lose track of what the overall feeling, what the overall experience should be. Not just on an experience level but on a development level like you wrote about. A great reminder of how we should express the game not only to our audience but to ourselves through our work. Great post Mike. Something definitely to keep in mind during the strenuous long months of development. It’s easy to become short sighted and lose track of what the overall feeling, what the overall experience should be. Not just on an experience level but on a development level like you wrote about. A great reminder of how we should express the game not only to our audience but to ourselves through our work.

]]>
By: Mike Acton/2011/02/02/sketch-on-the-art-of-gamedev/#comment-448 Mike Acton Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:15:00 +0000 I recently started reading 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School (
). It’s basically the core of a design, the fundamental thing that everything else is designed in service of. Similar to what you’re talking about, perhaps. It’s definitely something I’m going to try to consider more when approaching new designs.

]]>