New Rule

One of the things I find most attractive about game design is the need for true multi-disciplinary thinking. A diverse mind engaged in diverse pursuits is a far more fertile designer than one that is focused, however nimble or learned that mind may be. Game designers create whole universes, and no mere education in digital modeling or interactive design or industrial design or whatever can possibly prepare you for the wealth of knowledge and insight necessary to pull that off. It requires a real Renaissance man (or woman).

Because I find kinship with polymaths and enjoy the pursuit of learning in literally every subject (I mean it), I attended Trinity University and sought a broad curriculum. I can say without hesitation that that decision was instrumental in my subsequent interest in and success with game design (moderate success, of the student variety of course :)). But for those not so fortunate as to enjoy the opportunity to learn from great minds in a wide variety of fields — such as those poor souls attending art school — I offer my suggestions for the Top Ten Noble Sciences for Game Design: the disciplines every game designer should endeavor to study and apply to their work. Obvious one such as math or writing or drama are left out because they are so pervasive that if you are trying to design games without knowing them, you probably ought to stop. Presented in order of least to greatest importance, they are all nonetheless important and indispensable to great design:

10. Art. Yes, believe it or not, understanding of aesthetic representation is the least useful field when studying to make games. If you’re studying to sell games, it’s a good one, but most game designers agree: art is fluff, mere window dressing, a compliment to the design at best and a distraction at worst. Art will not save a bad game, and it will not condemn a good one.

9. Physics. While a solid understanding of physics is essential to the craftsmanship that goes into a good digital game, much of the hard work of solving physics simulations on a computer has been solved and bundled into physics engines. The designer need only understand the theory and application of physics and how it might apply itself to various mechanics. Would you game be improved by exploding barrels and destructible walls? Only a knowledge of physics can answer that.

8. Geography. No matter how advanced or how complex culture and civilization becomes, it is always shaped by one immense thing: the environment. People who adapted to live in frozen tundra have a different perspective on life from jungle tribes. People who were blessed with a land rich in natural resources will develop differently than those born to a desert. Understand how the land works, how it is made and how it runs. That is the engine that drives your civilization.

7. Engineering. I mean this in the applied sense. Do you know how engineers build bridges? Roads? Skyscrapers? Do you know why the water pipes are where they are, or why elevators are the size they are? Do you know how many bathrooms should be on each floor of an office building? Do you know why power plants or airports or fortresses are laid out the way they are? An engineer does, and if you want to create a world that is even remotely believable, you better have at least a basic understanding of engineering.

6. Architecture. Hand-in-hand with No. 7, architecture is likewise critical to the creation of a believable world, especially in fantasy/sci-fi settings where much of the culture is imaginary. To create a world populated by people, you need to imagine where those people came from and how their culture evolved, and architecture is the best visual manifestation of their cultural values. Look at the way people built in Ancient Rome, or Soviet Russia, or 1920s Middle America. Each reflects a living world that grew out of effort and ambition and caprice of countless people stretching back generations. They weren’t just dropped there out of some sci-fi netherworld. They have a depth and character and realness wholly unknown to environment modeler spasms like Unreal III. Learn what’s real. Study architecture.

5. Politics. Believe it or not, politics matters. Imagine if Hitler had never existed. The entire culture and landscape of Europe would be different. American might not be a superpower. The Cold War may never have started, or it may have ended in a nuclear exchange. One politician did that. Don’t care about politics? Start. Even to be aware of how it works, and how political forces shape the world. It’s more than just having NPCs who lament about guilds or tyrant kings. It’s a real, breathing presence, the collected expressions of every person living in the state. If you want to make your people seem real, make their lives seem deep and believable, study politics.

4. Sociology. The study of societies and their birth, development, and dynamics could not be more critical to your job as creator of an imaginary world. Why is there racism or sexism? Why does the caste system exist? Slavery? Communism? These are interdisciplinary questions, but their all about groups of people figuring out how to interact with other groups of people, and what happens along the way.

3. Religion. Essentially equivalent to sociology to the establishment of depth and believability is religion, but a little bit more important. Religious ideals and movements have been at the root of the most awesome changes in the history of our planet, and it stands to reason they’ll be damned important to your imaginary one. Religion is more than getting healers for your party or getting some cool powers from your god. People’s entire lives revolve around religious dogma, often without them ever realizing it. Study it.

2. Psychology. Like sociology of one, psych is about understanding what people do with all the stimuli from their world (as elucidated in points ten through three). From the lowliest NPC to the player himself, you need to be in that guy’s head and have an intimate understanding of what it’s up to and why. Psychology is all about cause an effect — a stimulus here, a response there. Add a new stimulus, and get a new response. String them together, and you get a personality.

1. Economics. Darkly called “the dismal science,” it remains the most critical science to understand. Literally defined, it is the study of how and why people make decisions. And what is a game again? A sequence of meaningful decisions. More than any of the other disciplines, economics is present at every level of game design, from HUD and UI design to music and sound to the game’s appearance to level design and layout to everywhere. Economics teaches that everything — everything – that can be expressed in terms of human desire can be quantized and plotted and measured using economic principles. To make your game seem real, you need to study points ten through two. To make your game actually real, study economics.

Tags: Game Criticism, General //