'Your most powerful creative tool is an organised brain allied to a healthy work ethic.
Professional game development lives and dies by effective organisation. In other
words, planning and concepting are essential to achieve successful outcomes. The
ability to demonstrate that you can generate ideas and see them through to a
successful conclusion within a fixed set of constraints and in a short period of time, is
a key professional skill you should develop.'
To begin with I agree with the initial
statement that certainly the most powerful creative tool is an organised brain
allied with a healthy work ethic.
Without these key areas your productivity
and workflow simply fall to pieces.
The very game pipeline varied as it may
be from company to company depending on desired outcome, will still always have
areas and time allocated for planning and concepting. To ignore these fundamental tasks would
spell chaos further down the line, imagine getting to a stage of final
development and optimization tweaks and then realizing you do not have a
coherent story, or rubbish game mechanics because you did not plan for it in
the beginning.
Another key aspect that is mentioned is
the ability
to demonstrate that you can generate ideas and see them through to a
successful conclusion
within a fixed set of constraints and in a short period of time.
One good quote by Jeff Bezos
mentioned in an article linked at the bottom from gamedev.tutsplus.com states:
‘I
think
frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only
ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out’.
This really emphasises the creativity
needed within the game industry to be able to solve problems that come forth.
The writer then goes on to say how time constraints are paramount stimulating
creative thinking and without them, or where more freedom has been allowed it
has ultimately ended up discouraging this and limiting new ways of solving
problems.
A prime example of this being mentioned
as well in the form of the game Daikatana:
‘Daikatana was a game created by John Romero,
one of the co-founders of id Software (creators of the Wolfenstein,
Doom and Quake series). In 1997 Romero enjoyed fame and fortune and decided it
was time to make his dream game come true. He designed the game with great
amounts of content in mind, more than 20 levels and plenty of weapons and
monsters, with no limitations in budget, team or time. Initially he planned
only seven months of development – but following multiple reschedules, changes
in game engine technologies and code rewrites, the game ended up being released
after three years.’
This proving that without the constant pressure of deadlines and constraints not
to mention proper planning and concepting there is no chance of meeting desired
goals or solving problems quickly and creatively, effectively overall there is
no drive to keep going, and there is no structure to the work.
Yet another example is mentioned, this
time in the form of Duke Nukem
Forever:
After gaining success
of Duke Nukem 3D
in the 90s, its creator George Broussard was ready to make a sequel called Duke
Nukem Forever.
However after Initially
announced in April 1997, the game was expected to release a year later, but
constant changes in game engine technology made Broussard change his mind
multiple times while trying to develop the best looking game he
could. Duke Nukem
Forever ended up being released 15 years later, in 2011.
In conclusion I will
say again that I agree with the statement, the game industry works off an
organised, structure pipeline that needs to be adhered to in order to achieve
marketable results. Tools like healthy work ethic and organised minds combined
with workable time constraints are a tried and tested method for success and
are essential for the aspiring game artist, programmer, director, or, hell
anyone that intends to work in the industry.
External References:
Gamedev.tuts
article:
http://gamedev.tutsplus.com/articles/business-articles/constraints-are-an-essential-aspect-of-game-development/
Wired, downfall of Duke Nukem
article:
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