I Lied.

It has been more than a year since my last post in this blog. 

It must be said that despite my efforts to change the focus from game development to game critique, it was not meant to be. Instead of writing detailed passages about how to get good at other games, I just kept pouring my soul into my notebooks, adding layers upon layers of conceptual design for various games, RPG, board game strategy, family board games and even card games. 

I don't know at this point, if any of those ideas will become a full fledged products, that other people will buy and spend time with, but I'm hopeful. 

However, I will be saying good bye to this blog, for more than a 4 years it served me as practice point in writing, editing, working and failing with social media and many other things. When you grow up you leave your toys behind, but you never forget them. 

I will be moving to a new address and continue developing games 

and bothering other people with my work. 

All the good and new stuff at:

SWS.blogspot.com      

Restart.

Every so often bloggers, youtuber and other so-called media people post an apology for being distracted from their hobby by mundane things in life. I guess it is my turn now. I have not posted in this or other blogs for over two years.

I'm NOT sorry about it.

Happy? During those two years I've changed several jobs, girlfriends, medications and even moved to a different country twice. The only thing that happened with this blog is that Triss Merigold has crawled to the top of most viewed post. Me, on the other hand have been busy understanding and practicing various concepts for tactical, operational and global strategy wargames. Have I published anything yet? No. But I will. Most likely share it here.

But, it feels good to be back with more experience under my belt.

As always yours,
Mark-Paul Severn.

P.S.
Considering that today is Friday 13th do not be surprised if next post will come next year or so. :D
but fingers crossed.

Conflicting logic

"Never ask for anything. 

Especially from those who are stronger and 

more powerful than you are. 

When they find you worthy 

they will offer anything you need." 

That's how I have been taught. That is how it should be. But real life is not the book.


I recollect one of the conversations while i was looking for a way into design studio of one of major gaming companies. My question was "how do you recruit new designers? How do get influx of new ideas?"

The answer was a roundabout conversation about getting into the company, sending huge amount of CV, making it through the ranks of publishing industry or just being lucky. The latest addition to that design studio was a "random guy who knew our product inside out", and I was reminded again that getting a job is matter of skill and determination. You don't actually have to be "the game designer" to design our games, that was an overall impression of that encounter.

I have promised to build up my portfolio and come back later on. Then I got hooked on the freelance with other set of skills, not involving dice, rulers and book writing. (I was doing an interpreting, should you ask. ) As a result, my confidence and understanding of doing the skilled job have increased dramatically. You don't have to be a paper pusher and beg for a chance to enjoy doing what you really good at.

That of coarse leads towards to freelancer in the crowd. It is demanding, just because the product of your sleepless nights have a great chance to get lost in hundreds of other titles. Unless of coarse you will take a path of business and try to make money on the set of rules you made. Some do.

But there is a certain pride in that. You've done it yourself. Your way.
No begging. But you are open to the offers.

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul.

Revelation of the Day: Corporate culture matters

It happened again! After a prolonged internal work i spit out a short article about game designers way to glory and riches and then couple of hours later I find that it all been know before and even published. Sad face, but at least i understand that my search has its reasons and meaningful answers. I found an incredible article about birth, growth and fall of Wizards of the Coast written by John Tynes. If you my reader, knew who is it, you knew more than i did.

The article itself is here : http://www.salon.com/2001/03/23/wizards/
and its second part here http://www.salon.com/2001/03/26/wizards_part2/  

John Tynes however is described by wikipedia in following article:

John Tynes (born 1971) is a writer best known for his work on role-playing games such as Unknown Armies, Delta Green, Puppetland, and for his company Tynes Cowan Corporation. Under its imprint Pagan Publishing, Tynes Cowan Corp. produces third-party books for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game under license from Chaosium as well as fiction and non-fiction books under its imprint Armitage House.

Following the end of Unknown Armies in 2003,^[1] Tynes withdrew from the tabletop gaming industry in order to pursue other interests, particularly film^[2] and videogames.^[3] He was the producer of Pirates of the Burning Sea, a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Flying Lab Software and published in 2008 by Sony Online Entertainment. After the launch of PotBS, he joinedMicrosoft Game Studios to work on various Xbox Live Arcade titles including South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!,^[4] Toy Soldiers,^[5] and Full House Poker^[6] as a producer and game designer. 

But my God, his style of write up is brilliant! That's the no-nosense, objective truth in your face without the corporate politeness and glamour. Geeks are geeks, and money making is money making. The hard reality is there and you can actually see how different approaches to same business clash and create another evil Mega-Corporation from a very different idea.

We were young, overeducated and underemployed. Wizards was my first job in the real world — if you can call it that — and I was hardly alone.Above all, we were equals. Peter Adkison told us so. He had left Boeing with a sacrament of buzzwords and platitudes that he transmuted into full-bore Utopian evangelicalism. We would work in organic cross-departmental teams, study the esoteric principles of “Continuous Quality Improvement,” and always strive toward the paramount goal of consensus, the magical process that somehow replaced old-school hierarchical decision making. 

I guess today is my day of revelation.

Yours,
Mark-Paul Severn
An Enlightened Megalomaniac with Corporate ambitions.
(muhahaha)

Path to glory of Game Designer

I have a confession to make. I believed that becoming game designer is similar to becoming a pop star. Not because you automatically become rich, famous and can pull any Blondie with your picture in latest gaming magazine. But because you have a chance to become one of the few whose job is to do something they love.

I've been following Jake Thorton's blog  for some time now, as well as pushing my research of game rules and game designers. He wrote quite brilliant descriptions on game design ABC as well as some hidden psychological obstacles in this creative process. Perhaps Murder Your Darlings  is one my favorites. 

However more I look at the industry the more down-to-earth my point of view becomes. There are loads of gifted people, there are hundreds of already tested and played game systems. Those few giants who manged to build their name thanks to GW or Boardgame geek website are few, and they are hardly rich and famous of this world. The amount of rules, both fan-made and pro-made is demonstrated here: http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/. 

Number of companies that started their journey to success in gaming industry is growing day by day, as well as number of gonners from this business. In short, its a highly competitive area, with quite limited demand and unpredictable return of time and money investment. So where do the game designer finds his employment and becomes one of those geeky icons? What paths takes those people to the cave full of glory and riches? How does one makes it from humble dreamer of fan of certain game to next Father-of-all-gaming? 

1. Servant of Evil Mega-Corporation. 

Yes, my friends. You have to get a job in the Mega-Corporation which has been on this market before you were born. You have to sell your creative soul for their dirty money, crawl through the rank of other puny mortals, get to design studio and then do their marketing department bidding. Then you can quit, tell the whole world about unjust and greedy MegaCorp and how you fought for your creative freedom. Now you have some street-cred, as well as backing of well respected experience in the business. If you are lucky enough to save some of your creative soul you may even start freelancing and blogging. Thus you ultimately become the Master of Rules and Dice for all those puny mortals who did not get the job or were born too late.   

2. Street Fighter.

Those chaps like the thrill of one-shot assignments. The started somewhere in the shed of their house, torturing their pets, friends and family members with their incredible inventions. They don't really care about money, they love the thrill of pulling off next big thing, making this idea work in someones plan. Street Fighters are always waiting  to be carried away by next Big Idea or paycheck from next employment. There is many of them, few want fame, but most hunger for achievement. When occasionally their Idea takes over the world they become the Masters of Rules and their blog so far visited by robots and occasional friend rival major news channel. In the end, your portfolio is stained with blood of your Achievements, which makes any Servant of MegaCorps shiver from envy. But forget about safe pension if you take this path. 

3. Empire Builder. 

As game designers they are not exactly in the same league as most. Empire Builders take theirs or someone else idea and make it profitable. If they are lucky enough, their Empire will grow into Mega Corporation, if not they at least make enough money to break even. With the arrival of Kickstarter and Lulu there will be more and more of them, less adventurous but practical, calculating and dream-driven at the same time. The Universes and Galaxies they spawn will hardly be totally new and incredible, but they will sell. Then with addition of zombies, superheros, starfleets, comic books and growing fan base they will make someone rich. Empire Builder may not have the creative energy, but they will have the Endurance. Few of the Servants and Street Fighters would  understand this path, for it takes the game out of pocket reality into the real world around us.     

4. Universal Soldier.  

The choice made those who took this path was simple: career. Universal Soldier studies his craft in University, makes first games or programs as part of group assignment, graduates (or not in some cases), but his skill is good enough for immediate employment. As they progress, Universal Soldiers pick up extra programming languages, side skills, and connections within industry. One company is not different from another but pay is better and free pool is there. You have seen them on numerous promotional videos as part of highly creative group of people who are so happy to do their job and bring you the next big thing. Sometimes Universal Soldiers appear next to the Masters of Rules providing necessary fire support on topics of technical issues and patches. The most ambitious ones even take the role of Leading Game Designer and thanks to marketing bombardment are counted as Masters of Rules. 

5. Prophet of Game.

There are people who don't create game - they give birth to entire Universes. Prophets usually are great writers, directors and thinkers. Their reflection on the world around us are melted into the text and then into the game. Those creation are then visited by countless day dreamers and they make it grow and evolve. Prophets may not be great on writing the rules but those rules make sense thanks to meaning put into them and narrative supporting it.  But as soon as money rolls in every Prophet faces a great challenge: the sale must go on. If that would be a Daniela Steel, this question would not be even asked, if that would be Andzei Sapkowski or Frank Herbert I'd struggle to define the answer. Unlike anyone else in this business, Prophet of Game does not create the game itself, he catches the essence of our desires and gives it a form which could be translated  into game by others. How to become one? Just be one and let the Universe decide whether you are Prophet of Regret or Prophet of Truth.         

Yours,
Mark-Paul Severn.

1000 views of my blog. Ironic achievement

Today 01 May 2013 my blog statistic told me that it has been seen for 1000 times.
Hurraay! Yuppi! Or whatever you say on such great occasion. To celebrate it, I'm going to put here a speech:

Thank you! Thank you all! Thanks to all of my unknown visitors for popping in and having a quick look at what is posted here. I do understand that thanks to excessive amount of letters and broken English i use to express my thoughts it is a strange source to read from. Thank you all for looking at my harem of femme fatales, I do hope their real equivalents are at least as stunning as pictures. Thank you all for downloading my Elysian Drop Troopers Codex. It might not be a big achievement but it is important for me. Thank you for NOT posting any feedback on Elysian Codex, that means its either absolute crap or I'm genius (insane megalomaniac laughter) and my ideas will conquer the world to make me its ruler, owner and pimp. Muhahaha! (insane megalomaniac laughter even louder). 

Well and since 1000 vies is such a great occasion We are going to open a can of Fosters to celebrate it. May be even two... or three. Cheers!

Games Workshop vs. the World

Every now and then I hear  from fellow gamers in private conversation and online rants how bad and greedy GW is. I must admit, these cries of pain have their point, and I do share some of the less-than positive opinions about how GW handles its clients, their policy towards certain games, competitors and retailers. However, in this post I will try to remind why we, as gamers and human beings must be grateful to Games Workshop.

First of all, Games Workshop  as company a  should have ceased to exist at after 5 years of operations.

Reason? GW  as a business became trapped in high licensing fees for games like Dungeons and Dragons and multiple computer games, while sale figures were declining. By trying to grab every bit of gaming market company almost went bust. GW at that point (1976-79, I believe) was saved by Citadel, paints and accessories company which bought large packet of shares thus providing vital money influx. That save the company from bankruptcy.  

GW's management, was replenished by "suits", and "geeks" were forced to step down. They might have had  misty-eyed understanding of games and rolling dice, but lost the battle to those who knew rules of the money-making game. Ironically they were helped by company who was selling support products. If that would not happen, we would not have a hobby in the first place. (I re-tell this story from one of my well-informed source inside of the company. The official history is much more shiny.)   

Next strategic move of GW made our beloved hobby into what we know today: shops as hobby centers. It is best seen in UK, and probably less around the world. GW shops are first of all game hubs, where people gather to have a game, socialize and thanks to friendly and professional staff buy more toy soldiers. Three main products, three distinct universes and lot of room to play and most important friends to share the hobby.

Games Workshop opening day at 1 Dalling Road, Hammersmith, London, in April 1978.
Source: Wikipedia

I strongly believe that social aspect was the main driver behind GW success. Sales were coming after, as a need to compete, share games and have fun demanded more toy soldiers. Secondly, those who grew up and left the hobby in search of job, marriage and  other game non-relevant stuff, brought their kids into GW hobby. I can bet my hat, that those kids will do the same when they reach the age of their parents.

On a grand scale, GW products are known all over the world, thanks to hobby centres/shops and the vibe which they have and still do spread. Thanks to this, after 25 years of such practise, table top games are well established time passing and multi-billion business. You can walk in any shop from Nottingham to Los-Angeles or Tokyo and you will find someone who would like to play with you.

Third thing we, as human beings, should be grateful for: quality of GW products.

To make matter simple look at those two pictures. One on the left is a simple toy soldier, on the right Space Marine. Notice the difference? Before the arrival of GW and their Space Marines, Elves, Orkz and Hobbits our ancestor were playing with that on the left.

Guess what? There were no rules. At all. But now we can discuss the higher math and probabilities as well as curse the dice for not giving us desired victory.

So thank you for that Games Workshop. Thank you for giving us 25 years of gaming and excitement. 

    

Game designer: Richard “Lord British” Garriott

It is a rare chance when hero of your story can describe both his past achievements and current mega-project in a matter of 5 minutes. So, let me introduce you to Lord Richard "British" Garriot, author and designer of mother of all Massive Online Role Play Games - ULTIMA. On the other note, in preparation to his new project "Shroud of the Avatar", he released a controversial statement that, I quote:

"I think most game designers really just suck, and I think there's a reason why. It's really hard to go to school to be a good designer. If you're not a good artist and not a good programmer, but you still like games, you become a designer, if you follow me. You get into Q&A and often design..."

Ironically I found his interview with PC Gamer  just after I posted about job in InnoGames and got all philosophical about my career prospects. Thank you, Mr. Garriot, now I know that I suck, and I will dedicate the rest of my life to proving you wrong. However, man with his achievements can allow himself a bit of honest arrogance, especially if he's actually got quite a point there:

“And the most valuable part of creating a game is the design, which the programmers are technically executing. And they’d be happy to just execute some of them. But in my mind, most artists and programmers are just as much of gamers as the designers, and I usually find in my history that the artists and programmers are, in fact, as good of designers as the designers. They’re often better, because they understand the technology or the art.“So we’re leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they’re not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer. It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer."       

Really? Most of game designers have not got a schools of game design to attend! They learn from films, writing, programming, world creating, modding other games, stealing ideas and mad sleepless trips on LSD and alcohol just to get things done by the deadline. Do I even have mention the strain of mundane life, bills, children and social obligations?

"I really push my team on how to make a scenario map. How do you really think about the whole thing holistically, to go, ‘yeah, it’s fine to wander through and kill a few things and get a treasure at the end, but why? What’s your motivation for being into it? What are the side stories? If you have these characters in there, what were their lives before they showed up on this map? If you didn’t think of one, go back. Do it again. I want you to know it.’”

Frankly, it would a blessing to work under him. Lord Garriot is a visionary and demands others to have or share vision with him. But in most cases game designer is facing a unrecognizable mumble of subconsciousness  describing how cool this game should be. Now we hire you to make something out this mumble and let us make loads of money. If you don't make it by next Friday it will be your fault and we would have to find someone cheaper to do the job. 

Game designers, IMHO have two distinct categories: the Digger and THE Architect. 

Digger does the dirty work: maps, individual quests, parts ans concepts. All those skills could be learned and practiced.

The Architect runs around with a majestic vision (as Mr. Garriot for example), he is GOD, he sees every detail, every strain of game DNA, he knows where player is going to do, how and why he will do it and what he will feel inside of his doomed soul. The Architect demands from the poor Digger to rise to his level o thinking, without the pay rise. Can those skills be learned? No. It's a talent. So I suck again. And if you read this so far, so do you.      

In conclusion, check his video on Kickstarter, there the majestic Lord Garriot describes what he has done and what he is going to do with the newly acquired $1 million. In short, he will make a most brilliant MMORPG game ever. I wounder if he is going to space again? Just to make sure that we all, you know ... 

Dream job description

Innogames, company behind the the Best Strategy Browser MMO of 2013 -  Forge of Empires has a job offer. Dream job for someone I guess. I read that and and Dostoevsky question goes through my head.

Am I good enough or...

Game Designer (m/f)

InnoGames, based in Hamburg, is one of the leading developers and operators of online games with more than 100 million registered players around the world. We have been characterized by dynamic growth ever since the company was founded in 2007. In order to further expand our success and to realize new projects, we are constantly looking for young talents, experienced professionals, and creative thinkers.

Your Tasks

• Development of game processes
• Drafting new game features and game events
• Drafting the menu navigation
• Balancing game contents
• Drafting game texts
• Documentation for developers and graphic artists
• Actively monitoring the market and analyzing the competition

Requirements

• A degree (e.g. in media informatics or business informatics), or comparable training
• Comprehensive knowledge of and demonstrable experience (through work experience or projects) in the field of game design
• A good understanding of mathematics, and a distinct ability to thing logically
• Basic knowledge in graphics software and programming
• A passion for online games (browser, mobile)
• Profound experience in playing browser games, and knowledge about the games market
• Knowledge of good menu promt and user guidance
• Very good knowledge of English
• A high degree of individual initiative and commitment
• Good communication skills, and the ability to work in a team

We Offer

• Constantly new challenges and projects in a sound and constantly growing company with flat hierarchies
• Responsibility and creative tasks, including a high degree of professional freedom for your own ideas
• A very good atmosphere in an intercultural environment, focused on teamwork
• Flexible working hours (core time 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and many team events
• Supporting and contributing to the company retirement arrangement
• Further training on a regular basis, and a flat rate for reference books
• Supporting your move to Hamburg (e.g. through temporarily staying at our company apartment, and allround support if moving here from abroad)
• Funding your parking spot on the premises, or your ticket for local public transport
• Preventive health care
• Creative breaks, e.g. during table soccer, at the PlayStation, or in a beach chair outside
• Complementary soft drinks and fresh fruit for all employees

Taken from here: http://corporate.innogames.com/en/jobs/offer/job/show/Job/game_designer_mf.html

Yamamoto Isoroku: book critique

I was not  planning to expand my little blog into the area of historical publication and analysis but during research for one of my projects a came across this book: Yamamoto Isoroku by Mark Stille, published Osprey publishing in Leadership-Strategy-Conflict series. The reason behind this purchase was lack of English printed source on this famous admiral. The result of reading through this book is a really mixed feelings about book and the way in puts an information an facts. 

Perhaps it was my expectations were a bit too high, for I wanted to see and in-depth analysis of Yamamoto's past, turning points, important influences, positions on key events in World War 2, analysis of strategy and tactics used by him, and perhaps even reflection on his actions and overall Japanese strategy in WW2. That was not to be. 

"Mark E. Stille (Commander, United States Navy, retired) received his BA in History from the University of Maryland and also holds an MA from the Naval War College. He has worked in the intelligence community for 30 years including tours on the faculty of the Naval War College, on the Joint Staff and on US Navy ships. He is currently a senior analyst working in the Washington DC area. He is the author of numerous Osprey titles, focusing on naval history in the Pacific." 

So naturally, reader would succumb to the weight of authority and expertise. Well why shouldn't you? Author stands his position in the beginning of the book that: "as with any famous military commander there is always reality and myth. For Yamamoto they stand in stark contrast." After that author goes in lengths about how overestimated, under planned and with how many gross mistakes Yamamoto went through his career until his death by heroic American interceptors. He pinpoints and emphasizes Yamamoto's weakens, sins and mistakes puts a label on them and then describes how Americans were superior to Yamamoto.

One of the few label author puts are: gambler, womanizer, indecisive and political admiral. Only by the end of the book, he gives a voice to people who served under Yamamoto's command to mention that he was a very humble person, disliked the "aura of heroism" around him and was loved and obeyed without question by his men. His major achievement: the attack on Pearl Harbor is portrayed as work of one man in charge of planning Commander Genda Minoru and his attempts to persuade reluctant Naval General Staff as behavior of capricious and moody gambler not a calculated risk of an admiral. Mark Stille rejoices in scrutinizing mistakes, but gives no clue of whatsoever under what conditions, intelligence, resources and strategy Yamamoto was operating. By the end of the book he gives a portray of Admiral Nimitz, who (as you might expect) is decisive, aggressive and dedicated to the victory of his nation. To make matters even more propagandistic, he is compared to Yamomoto, suffering from illness, stress, fatigue but still enjoying good food and luxurious quarters and his flagship Yamato. 

The strong and positive sides of Yamamoto's character are generally mentioned in the descriptive manner: like his mastery of kendo, skill in appointing the right people for the job, or mentioned in diminished manner: like Yamamoto's service in aviation and impact of his activities on creation of Japanese naval aviation are mentioned as non-sufficient, despite the fact that he lobbied creation of G4M bombers and creation of carrier fleet in opposition to battleship-emphasized navy. The fact that he actually succeeded to influence that policy is not even mentioned. 

To make matters worse author shows complete lack of understandings of Japanese culture, it "yes" and "no", its obvious differences from American culture and approach. To be frank, there is not even an attempt to do so. To illustrate that, author emphasize that Japan's supply lines suffered heavily from American submarines, while Allies enjoyed relatively undisturbed shipping and suppl lines. Author does not notice the fundamental difference in psychology and means of waging the war: Japanese saw conflict as battle of two equals, two samurais if like, while American approach emphasizes production numbers and undisturbed supply line. 

"Liberty ship" - the famous transport was an epitome of this thinking: build more than they can sink. While Japanese preferred (and frankly were capable) of building less ships, but with better capabilities.Yamato - is a one of kind (plus its sistership) example of this thinking.  

In conclusion, should anybody consider buying this book? If that is your first book on Admiral Yamamoto, then avoid it. Wikipedia with its article on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto does similar job and largely unbios towards him. If you already have a strong opinion or looking for it then you may try it. Even if you will find it lacking analysis (as i did) book still provides an overview of Yamamoto's life and biographies that followed on him. 

Sincerely yours,

Mark

  

      

Game designer.

Human perception is a strange thing, we love stories and things which resonate with our emotions, but rarely we care about who created this story we just consumed. Unless this person have created numerous stories or something which became a main stream of our culture. Cinematography is perhaps one of the biggest examples of that, James Cameron received a PhD degree in oceanology for his work on Titanic, but what most of us care is poor chap played by Leonardo di Caprio and tragic love story between him and redhead.
   
Most people who like games are no exception. Who created Doom? Quake? Starcraft? Total War? Dungeons and Dragons? Warhammer? Axis and Allies? Settlers? Panzer General? Need For Speed? Tetris? Minesweeper? (I am going a bit over the top with some games). 

Civilization series are probably the lucky ones: they proudly carry name of Sid Meier who actually wrote and designed only first game. But thanks to his marketing department his name became well-known, and In a way a mark of quality. 

In posts labeled Game Designer I will try to look at some inspirational figures in game desing, their careers and lifepaths, probably to justify my own dreams and avoid anonymity of Wikipedia, and acknowledge people who's games made an impact on my perception and flow of ideas.

Sincerely, yours

Mark. 

first steps

There will be hardly place for popular culture discussions, or weather, or politics. At least i really hope so...

This place is born for my weird need to tell what i think about games i love and hate, about my attempts to create and all the fuss associated with that.
   Feelings, plans, jokes of fate and final products of sleepless nights. 

Games! 

Card-games, table-top, computer games, life games, role-play games, books about games and may be some psychology behind the games.  Perhaps some distraction in the way of reviews on various cultural feeds. I generally avoid doing something in well-established manner, so it will mostly be an experiments, attempts to understand something by writing it out, by feeding it out. 

So the first step, the beginning. Definitely as strong as first step of a child.  
Unsure of how to do that, looking over the shoulder on others, but stepping it, making it, falling and raising again, and again to walk. To step firmly and easy toward the goal. To go through darkness and light of journey. To stand on its feet and keep going.  

But it all begins with small first step, 
today, 
now!      
   

Sincerely yours,

Mark.