Serious Player

Last monday, I was at the 2nd edition of e-virtuoses in Lille, which is a convention of serious games producer. There are around 60% of french products and all the others were international products (from India, USA, Sweden, Netherland, UK, etc.). During this event I was moderator of the workshop on high-risk job (e.g. firefighter). I could talk a lot about what I have seen and who I have met but for this post I will only focus on the Noah Falstein’s opening talk. Just to recap, Noah Falstein was an employee at LucasArts Entertainment (formerly Lucasfilm Games) and later at 3DO Company. For instance, he worked on two great adventure games: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992). Currently he runs The Inspiracy, a consulting firm specializing in game design and production for international clients and tries to focus on serious game development. During the opening session of the convention, Noah Falstein gave a twenty minutes talk about his 30 years of experience in the video game industry and about serious game production. He presented 10 tips to lead a serious game project to a successful production :

1 – As simple as possible

Falstein summarizes this advice in a single quote by A. Einstein: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”. It means that it is important to create an accessible game by simple interface for instance without having too simple content.

2 – Prototype quickly, Iterate often

Falstein emphasizes the fact prototypes are very important in a project. It doesn’t matter which tools you can use to create your prototype, it can be made of paper and scissor, C++, PHP, Flash, you name it… the most important point about it is that your prototype must represent your concept. A first prototype can always be enhanced and modified, so don’t be affraid to draw and build the basis of it because it will provide you with a concrete and substantial object to work with.

3 – All games are about learning

Falstein argues that learning is at the core of why we play: “learning may be the source of the feeling we call fun”. His point reminds me alot the Raphael Koster’s books titled A theory of Fun in which he wrote: “the definition of a good game is therefore one that teaches everything it has to offer before the player stops playing.” Basically from this theory, fun and games stick together by the process of learning.

4 – Mutual respect

This point is about the work of each person involved in your project. There is a need of willingness to learn from each others area. Programmer, publisher, marketer, etc., subject matter, so you better not denigrate what others area can bring to you and to the project.

5 – Fit game genre to serious purpose

Falstein talked about the fact that too often people are tempted by what is the most popular in order to paste the concept to their projects. That’s definitely a bad idea. For instance, he  described World of Warcraft as the perfect exemple to not follow in a serious game production, unless you really have enough budget and, most of all, it really serves your purpose.

6 – Fun is not magic

It is not because a good game designer can turn a dull subject into a pretty funny one that the dullest topic will be transform into a very fascinating one. Game designer are not magician, even if sometimes they can be ! A serious game can be fun, but do not overestimate the “potential fun” of a very serious topic.

7 – Stealth learning

The process of learning can occur indirectly. For instance, if you play to a FPS game, you will be more likely to improve your orientation skill in a three dimension space, without being aware of it. If you are interested in this topic, I really recommend you to have a look at an interesting book by Paul Paul Gee  titled What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Falstein also raised the importance to not directly connect the player to the serious lesson that is behind the gameplay or the narrative. It is important to do it subtly than too directly. Falstein suggested the more player succeed in the game, the  more (serious) content they should receive.

8 – Consider testing and assesment

In a traditionnal game project, test sessions are crucial so they are in a serious game project. It is important to plan test and assessment in the budget production. A good consideration of this can prevent you a lot of bad surprises at the end of the production.

9 – Different countries, different cultures

There is many serious game which don not travel well from a country to another. According to the subject your game covers you might have to consider differences in culture, language, environment, but also uniform, vehicule, etc. These considerations also apply to business development and distribution, because usually each country has its own way to do and its specific rules (not only law, social habits are important).

10 – Clarify roles of everyone involved

This last point and the 4th go together. Here, Falstein underlines the fact each role has to be properly define in the team. Because each party’s member has a role to play in the project, everyone should mainly sticks to his field of expertise and not overflow on the work of the other. Be sure to clarify roles of everyone involved in the project in order to not lose time and get good synergy between them.

I would like to thank Noah Falstein for this nice speech he gave during the e-virtuoses convention opening and Etienne Armand Amato for the picture he shot during the talk.

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