Observations and discussion stimuli on the use and training of game designer, presented at Northern Game Summit 2012.

1. Game
Designers
Who are they?

2. Game Designers
Ville ”Burgeri” Vuorela
• 38 and a Bachelor of Arts
• 9 years in the business
• 20+ games, 5 RPGs, 2 books on
game design, 3 novels...
• Sumea, Digital Chocolate, Rovio,
Recoil Games, Casual Continent…
• Now a freelancer in game design,
narrative design, producing and
games education (Burger Games)
• Quite a bit of lecturing, really…

3. Game Designers
Boring Facts
• Games are the second-largest
branch of the entertainment
industry.
• Global revenue ~€50B (2011)
• In Finland ~€165M (2011)
• Roughly 200 companies
• Most of them relatively unknown
• Employs 1000-2000 people

4. Game Designers
Go Team!
• Dev teams have defined roles
• Bigger teams have more roles
• Role definitions stay the same
from company to company
• Most roles have applications also
outside the games industry
• We KNOW how to make more

5. Game Designers
Okay, so who is THAT?
• Designer roles are ill-defined or
made up as you go
• Every company or even project
uses them in a different way
• There is nothing quite like it
outside the games industry
• We don’t really know where they
come from or how to train them

6. Game Designers
How do we make a Game Designer?
• Must know something about
practically everything
• At least basic math and statistics
• Expressive skills and social ability
• Wide-ranging expertise on games
• Including bad games and non-
digital formats
• Willingness to try, fail and learn

7. Game Designers
Personal Observations
• Today, the actual game design is
done mostly by a committee of
interested parties
• These parties then externalize
their responsibilities by
appointing a Game Designer
• Game Designer is a not really part
of the dev team but a contractor
to a higher power
• Dev Team is a subcontractor

8. Game Designers
The Prime Directive
Gaming is non-profitable activity for
the user that is undertaken for
entertainment and has set rules and a
victory condition.
-Greg Costikyan
The goal of all commercial game
design is to ensure that the interests
of the owners meet the interests of
the players in the best possible way.
- Ville Vuorela

9. Game Designers
Those Greedy ***tards!
• Sufficient markets
• Adds value to the brand
• Within limits and resources
• Stands out from competition
• Easy to find
• Viral, Hype and Shock Value

10. Game Designers
Those Whiny ***tards!
• To Have Fun!
• Value for money
• Satisfy a need(s)
• Enhance personal image
• Lots of players, lots of needs

11. Game Designers
The Game Designer Cosmology
Players
Investors Marketing
Dev Team

12. Game Designers
The Expert Role
• Game Designer is the expert on
the finished product
• Which can get awkward…
• Thus Game Designer gets
involved in marketing and
product pitches to investors
• Many responsibilities overlap with
those of the Producer

13. Game Designers
The Social Nexus
• We are an industry of misfits
• Game Designer talks to everyone
• ”The Creative Confessional”
• No es nada personal!

14. Game Designers
The Essential Skills
• Not really a creative discipline
• Design skills alone don’t cut it
• This is an expressive discipline
• Without communication skills,
nothing else matters
• Documentation, presentations,
pitches, wireframes, one-to-one
consultations, dev-build testing
and iteration sessions…

15. Game Designers
In conclusion…
• Game design is an emergent skill
• And even after nine years, every
project is a learning experience
• Design skill requirements differ
vastly from one project to another
• Yet social and expressive skill are
absolutely vital every single time
• Are we teaching the right things?

16. Game Designers
Thank You!