This is a talk I gave to some games and animation students at Norwich University College of the Arts. I spoke about my background, Honeyslug and my views on game design. I also mentioned my recent visit to GDC. Most of the slides don't have any text on them...so if you want to know what I was talking about - just ask!
You're a designer? So...You do the art? (NUCA game design talk)
1. Nat Marco Designer and Co-Founder of Honeyslug. Pre-Honeyslug I was a Designer at Morpheme Game Studios, a satellite studio of Eidos Interactive. [email_address] @whenDoWeEat www.honeyslug.com @whenDoWeEat
5. Studied animation at Uni – specialising in Claymation. Work experience at Morpheme Wireless. Try thinking outside the box! (Show old Uni Showreel here.) @whenDoWeEat
7. About Honeyslug 3 full time employees (design, code, production, QA).. .. plus freelance artists (both visual and audio). We have developed games for multiple platforms and are working on more! @whenDoWeEat
14. Ideas Paper Design vs Flash Prototyping Brainstorm Collaboration Let ideas evolve over time Re-visit/re-hash old (discarded) ideas Take inspiration from everywhere – not just other computer games! @whenDoWeEat
18. Work Flow No set work flow! Initial Idea/Work for Hire Flesh Out Idea/Flash Prototype Self Fund? Publisher? Costs! Who should we work with…? Make Game! Focus Testing & Testing Marketing @whenDoWeEat
21. Design Principles Fun! Accessible Keep things simple! Surprise the player Reward rather than punish Be open to whimsy Don’t be precious about ideas Playfulness @whenDoWeEat (Play Dara O’Briain Clip)
I’ve always loved games! Some of my favourite childhood games – too many to fit on 1 slide! My parents are gamers too – so I was never discouraged. Continue to love them – not only console, but board games and card games too! (More about that later.) I spent a lot of time making board games out of old cereal boxes, my own top trumps, various card games of my own etc.
I fell in love with claymation – I wanted to work with plasticine – either for kids tv or games. Once I’d played The Neverhood my dream was to make a clay game too! The visuals and sound in that game are amazing – Terry Taylor is a genius!
Whilst at school I decided to start a Web Comic – Jaded Chaos. This was before web comics were really the ‘in thing’ – It was around the time Penny Arcade started so actually had a fairly good following as there weren’t many around! Started in ms Paint – moved to flash – then Plasticine! 3 strips a week (one on a Magna Doodle) – as far as I know it was the only plasticine webcomic – and only magna doodle one! Made some animations, interactive things and flash games for the site too – still online ( www.jadechaos.com ) ….Loved making interactive stuff/games/animations the most!
After school – I did a degree in animation – specialising in claymation. Part of my course was to get work exp – tried the usual method of emailing/calling companies – got no where – Searched for game devs/animators on icq – found one – chatted to them for a while– asked for work exp. I worked and I went to Morpheme Wireless for a week! I then worked there on days off uni – got a job there after my course!
I started as junior designer/tester on mobile games – then became designer. Morpheme changed from mobile studio to casual/flash games. Eidos bought us – made us redundant – we carried on coming into work and formed Honeyslug.
Developed games for windows in C++., flash, iPhone/iPad, PSP/PSN. Currently working on a couple of funded games for diff platforms, prototypes and self funded titles – spend a lot of time pitching/writing pitches etc. We’d like to keep making more interesting games – for PSN, XBLA, Steam etc.
A few of our released games as Honeyslug.
You can probably see a link between Kahoots and my early work! I didn't have to stop doing what I love.
I’m always asked this question! My roles include things like concept design/ideas, design docs/pitches, pitching, concept sketches, character design, script/story writing, level/feature/puzzle/GUI design, scripting in lua and xml, art, animation, managing coders/artists. Biz dev, project management, marketing/PR, testing and SFX. Because there's only 3 of us our roles merge.
We wouldn’t necessarily do all those tasks in one game – e.g. I might do level/feature design for one of Ricky’s concepts – but sometimes we do! In Happily Ever After I was responsible for almost every aspect of the game. Love fairy tales (Grimms, Fforde’s fairy crime books, Rankin’s Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, The 10 th Kingdom etc) – wanted to make a fairy tale adventure – I’ll briefly talk about making this game here. Mention never touching code before but being thrown in the deep end with HEA – learning lua coding and XML. Talk about Ren'Py and Python as great ways for beginners to start.
It’s awesome to be able to make whatever you want (within reason!). Working in a small studio means I get to come up with silly ideas like this!
And this! I was lucky enough to be given freedom by the publisher!
No wrong or right here. People like to work in different ways – I love working on paper – goes with the handmade/traditional approach. Ricky doesn’t – he works straight into flash and stumbles onto ideas through coding a lot. I tend to plan things out on paper/ see if it feels fun (often make paper cut outs of puzzles etc – draw levels and play them in my head before making anything. Brainstorm for ways to expand sparks of ideas – keep a notepad with you at all times – incase you’re inspired (especially one by the bed for dreams!). Collaboration – working with other people often produces great ideas – bounce off each other – see things from a direction. Sometimes ideas take time – let your subconscious work on them whilst you do something else. Hohokum has a process like this. Go back to old un-used ideas steal things that might work in a different idea – combine to create new things. Be inspired by anything not just other comp games– play all sorts of games – boardgames, card games etc – tv, movies, books , history – everywhere! Try designing board games/card games too – tons of fun and might help you come up with a comp game idea!
Some of my paper designs. Some levels for Kahoots and puzzles for Happily Ever After along with some Kahoots character sketches.
Flash Prototypes – Ricky will often have an idea – then spend a couple of days making a flash prototype. He’ll then come to me to flesh out the ideas – e.g. features, levels etc. Rather than taking a design doc to a publisher – we’ll often pitch with a flash demo instead! These games are inspired by things other than other computer games – e.g. extreme trawler tv shows and scratch cards!
In Hohokum – Ricky and Dick let there ideas for the game evolve over a few years…they’ve taken ideas from earlier versions and mixed them up to get the current (final) version of the game. I’ll talk about this process here.
This totally varies from project to project. One of us will come up with an idea (own IP)– or a company will approach us with an idea either our IP or theirs. Flesh this out for pitching – either sketches/mock up screen shots and a design doc – or a flash prototype. If our own idea – do we pitch it to publishers/tv companies/advertising agencies or do we self fund? Work out costs. Establish the team – which of us will work on it – what contractors do we need to hire? Make the game (not much time to go into detail here). Consider focus testing throughout the project – really useful. Then marketing – attempt to create a buzz as early as possible – even a few years ahead – e.g. hohokum. Use social networks - Twitter/Fb/Blog – all very useful – reviews and interviews – magazines.
Kahoots work flow as an example…Ricky’s Prototype, paper feature/level design, level builder/make levels, character design, modelling, animating, buying bits, scanning, pegbeast, blocks, putting new art in game, in-game doodles, writing poems/songs/recording songs, poloroids – taking the kahoot around london – real model – so why not use it!
Final flash game – went on G5 etc. Sony saw it – wanted it for PSP – PSP/PSN version. Pocker gamer award – promo picnic, PS HOME posters, nominations, magazine reviews. Develop talk. iPhone version, more promo stuff – music vid with Tootleg Boy, new website, promo games made with work exp students. FB adverts, spamming review sites etc.
Games should be fun! If something doesn’t feel fun – or it’s annoying – get rid of it! Keep things accessible – we often have 2 routes round a level – easy way to complete it so everyone can play – harder way round with collectable/increased score etc. We often have all the levels unlocked – if you get stuck – it doesn’t matter – just go to the next one. A bit more like a book – you can skip ahead if you want…You pay for the game – so you can decide how you want to play it. HEA – has hints and different routes round – so if stuck – skip the level. This doesn’t mean difficulty curve isn’t important – it really is! Try to ease players into a game – remember, it’s good to have an easier level amongst tough ones as a bit of light relief! introduce things at a good pace – try to keep players on their toes and surprise them with new features – don’t let them get bored. Keep things simple – simple controls, simple GUI (no viva pinata disasters!). Try to minimise the need for long boring tutorials and instructions – no one reads those anyway! Easy for anyone to pick up and play – multiple control systems are good as people like to play in different ways. Don’t punish the player – unless you’re making an old school JRPG (but even I find that annoying!) – reward instead! Be open to whimsy – sometimes the ideas you think up on the spot are best – don’t worry if they don’t make sense – go with it and see what happens! Don’t fall in love with your ideas – be prepared to change it if something isn’t working. Remember – it’s a game – let the players play! Hohokum has Hoon Zones for messing around – incorporate areas for messing around! E.g. kahoots messing around spelling things with the alphablocks.
GDC was awesome – so cool to be nominated for an IGF award. Went to a couple of talks – my fav was Stone Librande’s talk about board and card games he makes for his family every Christmas. Also went to a great one about what comp games can learn from CCGS. Working on the stand is great fun but very tiring! Meet lots of interesting people – esp other indie developers. Some very cool games in the IGF – annoyingly next to spy party – it’s a great game but the screaming got very annoying! On the other side was super crate box – it’s amazing – play it! Played B.U.T.T.O.N a lot! Some interesting art games like Cat in the Coup. Giant pixel wall – made a Kahoot before it was turned into a GDC logo… Photo of me in a super cool Minecraft head – sad news is I no longer have it – the Chambermaid took it out the room – she either thought it was rubbish, or she's a Minecraft fan too?
The IGF award ceremony was awesome – never been to one before so exciting! Mega64 made some very funny videos – one even featured Hohokum! I stood on a screaming Monkey Toy when sneaking out for food during the ceremony! Ooops!
Went to a Killscreen Scandinavian games party – in a warehouse in San Fran! Played B.u.t.t.o.n – on button robots!! Also played Monkey See Monkey Mime! Speak about CphGC ethos here.
What’s Hot? I love B.U.T.T.O.N! If you haven’t played it – get it now!! The Copenhagen Game Collective are awesome! The Danish Game is very cool too – it’s a clapping game we all played it a lot at GDC! Personally – I always think MTG is hot!! Although Dixit seems to be hot right now too!
![Nat Marco Designer and Co-Founder of Honeyslug. Pre-Honeyslug I was a Designer at Morpheme Game Studios, a satellite studio of Eidos Interactive. [email_address] @whenDoWeEat www.honeyslug.com @whenDoWeEat](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/nucatalk1-110326062913-phpapp01/85/You-re-a-designer-So-You-do-the-art-NUCA-game-design-talk-1-320.jpg)
