So You Want To Make Games? Advice From: FuturLab

Lots of people out there want to get started creating their own games, which is an extremely daunting task in the gaming world of today. So, I thought about how I could help those people, and decided to get in touch with some successful independent developers and ask about their experiences. This not only gives us a better idea of how games turn from being mere ideas into what we play on our consoles, but also may hopefully give those budding indie/independent developers a nudge in the right direction.

I’m starting off with an interview with James Marsden, Managing Director of FuturLab. James has done everything from designing websites, creating flash games and even constructing the PRISM Game Engine. His most recent project was the wonderful Coconut Dodge (you can read our review here), a self-published PlayStation minis title.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Q: Did you study at University and which course did you take? Has it helped you?

James: Yes, I studied Fine Art at University. A lot of people will poke fun at a Fine Art degree, myself included, as on the face of it, it’s pretty useless in the ‘real world’. However, I wouldn’t be doing what I am today if it weren’t for that course, as it taught me how to set my own goals with confidence. Many degrees, whether they are creative or academic are led by brief or curriculum. In contrast, our course had an extremely open minded view of what constituted ‘Fine Art’, and we simply had to decide ourselves what we were going to do for three years. I had to get up every morning and decide for myself what I was going to do that day/week/month. Those three years gave me the confidence to think independently – which is something a sad proportion of humanity seem incapable of doing. So, thumbs up for Fine Art I say!

The answer to this question goes deeper for me – School is geared up to teach creative people they are worthless, as the odds are they’re unlikely to be great at Maths, Science or Sport. A Fine Art degree does a great job of reversing this, as you come out realising that it’s everyone else that has it the wrong way round – the vast majority of people that excel at school are lining up in the hundreds of thousands to follow other people’s orders rather than thinking for themselves; thinking creatively about what they can do with their lives    .

Q: What inspired you to take the plunge and start making games?

James: WipEout. I played it so much and got so good at it that I reached another level of consciousness; the flow state. Racing in Phantom Class on WipEout 2097 was so blindingly fast that if I thought about what I was doing for a split second, I’d crash. Maverick had that right!

That’s the point when I realised that all other art forms would pale in significance in comparison to computer games. Look at what the Depthcore artists are doing with PhotoShop compared to what the Impressionists were doing in the early 1900s. One day games will enable artists to eclipse other art forms in the same way, and I want to be part of that! Jenova Chen is the first artist of that generation in my opinion.

Q: Before starting on your own projects would you advise getting experience in the industry first, such as working with an established studio?

James: Well, this continues from the last answer actually – it depends on what your goals are. I wanted to take my Fine Art degree and apply it to games, which means being able to creatively direct. I’ve taken a long way around, but I am now in a position where I have the experience, both professionally and creatively, to lead a project in the direction I think it should be led in – I know game designers that have been in the industry a lot longer, in high profile roles, but have yet to realise their own ideas.

The industry now allows small teams to get their games out on miniS or iPhone, so there is scope for someone fresh out of University, College (or even school if they’re switched on enough), to make a game and sell it, learn from it, and go from there.

However, if you want to do a specific job to an excellent standard, such as 3D Modelling, Animation or Game Engine Programming, there probably is no substitute for getting a job in a company that gives you the time and experience to develop your skills. Does that answer the question? I’m not sure!

Q: Are there any core skills which need to be learnt, such as a particular programming language?

James: Again, it depends on what your goals are – If you want to be a programmer, then yes there are certain languages you will need to learn. C/C++ for native console/PC programming, but also Lua, Flash ActionScript and Unity are well established game development tools that will help anyone get started. It’s how I got started.

Q: How much planning and preparation would you advise before getting stuck in with development?

James: That depends on what kind of game you’re making. If you’re using the game mechanics of an established genre, then you probably will need to do plenty of game design planning; designing the aspects of your game that are different or better than other games, what’s known as the Unique Selling Points (USPs).

However, if you’re trying to design a completely new kind of game, then it’s best to just get started testing your ideas as soon as possible. If the game isn’t fun in a prototype state, then it’s not going to be fun no matter how much artwork, sound or story you hang around it.

When you know you’ve got a core game mechanic that is fun, then you can start planning how to flesh it out with a design document.

In terms of scheduling the project however, if it’s your first game, and it’s a new type of game, then it’s actually impossible to schedule. Scheduling effectively only becomes possible once you’re experienced, so… I don’t recommend doing any scheduling at all if it’s your first game project.

The prototype is the most important thing. If you don’t have a fun prototype, you don’t have a game. Your prototype doesn’t have to be in code either – we’ve designed a couple of our games using paper cut outs, and it helps you solve a lot of the problems you’re going to encounter without writing a single line of code.

Once you’ve got a prototype that is fun, you can build out your design document and look for the best artist you can, and the best musician you can, and let them play the prototype. You can then sell them on the ideas in your design document and get them invested in your game idea!

Q: What were the main challenges that you faced during development, and how did you overcome them?

James: The biggest challenge was finding an excellent team to work with – it’s very hard to do everything yourself, and if you do manage to do everything yourself, it’s probably not very good!

Q: Now that Coconut Dodge has been released, is there anything you would have done differently looking back?

James: No, we did what we could with the resources we had. That said, we are already working on an update in response to some of the feedback we have received. Now that the game is out there, and selling a few copies (hopefully), we can spend a bit more time polishing the game to the standard we would have polished it if we had the time.

Things like quitting from the pause menu, extra little sound effects and animations, and making the game more accessible for less skilled players whilst still recognising that bad-ass players want a hard challenge, and still rewarding them for being bad-ass.

Q: Any last freestyle advice you would like to give?

James: Be nice to people. We have managed to get a lot of help and support with Coconut Dodge by being polite and friendly. At the end of the day, the game industry is run by people, and interpersonal skills are the unpublicised requirement for a) Getting a job, b) Keeping a job and c) Being able to create jobs for other people

Secondly, read this book: http://artofgamedesign.com/ – it will teach you everything you need to know about designing games that push the right buttons.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

A massive thanks to James for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish the FuturLab team the best of luck with their next project. Hopefully James’ answers have provided an insight into world of game development for those of you considering taking the plunge into the world of independent game development!