Design Rampage

Phase Two Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:20:00 +0000

I'm very excited to announce that I've accepted a position at BioWare Montreal as a Senior Level Designer working on the Mass Effect franchise. As a huge fan of BioWare and the Mass Effect series, this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from and work with some of the best designers in the business. I look forward to contributing to an amazing series and I hope you follow my next set of adventures in Montreal. I'm hoping to be out there by September, but it is dependent on the whole Canadian Visa situation. Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes!

Phase One Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 22:39:00 +0000

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or know me personally may have already heard that I decided to resign my position as Lead Designer at Raven Software this past Tuesday, June 8. This wasn't an easy decision, but a necessary one for me. I'm really thankful and grateful for all the opportunities Raven has given me the past five years. They've let me spread my wings and grow as an individual and help play a key role in developing games. I cannot explain how much I've loved working here the past five years.

My decision to leave is my own and it's based off of personal needs, not any anger or animosity towards anyone at Raven or Activision. I have not decided where I am going yet - I am still in the process of evaluating offers and interviewing at studios. As soon as I've made a final decision, I will let everyone know.

Thanks so much for the support and look for an announcement (hopefully) soon!

Reflections of a Five Year Vet

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:18:00 +0000

Five years ago I started a journey that I had been anticipating for quite some time. I was finally going to work in the industry. The video game industry. The industry I had wanted to work in since I was 15 years old. By “wanted to work in”, I don't mean that I thought it would be fun to work in the video game industry, like so many young people I meet who inquire about getting a job. I mean, I was actively working to learn programming, making games in my spare time, and absorbing as much knowledge as possible. I knew I wanted to someday be a creative director or lead designer, but that game design wasn't something people hired new talent into. So I embarked on a journey to learn how to make video games on my own.

Seven years later I had a degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech, an understanding of the industry, contacts that would help me get a foot in the door, and an immense passion to succeed. I've been a driven person my entire life. I'm rarely content with my standing and always looking to do better. I judge myself harshly and push myself hard. It's this drive which got me into the industry.

I was confident
I was scared

Year One
And so, in May of 2005, I accepted my first job in the video game industry as a programming intern at Big Huge Games, on the real-time strategy title Rise of Legends. I started shortly after E3 finished up that year, where the team had just announced their follow-up to the acclaimed Rise of Nations. A talented, passionate bunch led by legendary designer Brian Reynolds, Big Huge Games was a AAA studio near my hometown of Rockville, MD that was willing to give me a chance. I immediately felt like a fish out of water. People were having intelligent conversations in the hallways about games in ways I had never thought about them. I was in awe, each and every day, and ecstatic to be working in the industry. I had greatly disliked the world of academia; the structure and requirements never suited me well. I felt that, finally, after embarking on the journey at the age of 15, I had made it.

What I hadn't considered was that the real journey was just starting. A month after starting at Big Huge Games, Raven Software decided they wanted to hire me full-time. While I felt awful for leaving Big Huge Games so soon after starting, Raven was a studio that I not only had known for a long time but that also offered a full-time gameplay programming position, instead of an internship. This meant, instead of writing code for save/load systems like I was at Big Huge Games, Raven would let me write game systems for weapons, vehicles, inventory, controls, and all of the other design oriented tasks that I was interested and suited for. I took the plunge, accepted the offer, and moved up to Madison, Wisconsin.

I was excited
I was scared

I was immediately put onto Wolfenstein during its early stages of development. When I got to Raven at the end of June, 2005 we were in a transitory period. Raven had just moved into a new swank set of offices, was set to launch X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse and Quake 4 that fall, with the latter being one of the first launch titles for the Xbox 360. Raven was expanding its staff, on a new console generation for the first time, and in a new set of offices all at the same time. It was hitting the same problems many studios hit around this time too; the staffing issue. It used to be 20-30 people could make a AAA game. Now you need over 70 to make a good game. That's why they took chances on guys like me, to come in and make a difference.

The first few months were great. I was just excited to have a job and be working on what I considered one of the great game franchises in Wolfenstein. After the initial honeymoon period wore off, I started to see the seedy underbelly of game development. Quake 4 shipped and didn't exactly light up the charts. In fact, in a press release id Software's Todd Hollenshead stated that “On October 18, QUAKE is dialing it up to 4.0 on the Richter Scale with this new chapter in Earth's war against the Strogg.“ That a 4.0 on the Richter Scale is considered a “light earthquake” his words may have been more poignant than anyone actually realized at the time.

Hatred is not the opposite of love; apathy is. Hatred requires passion, it's a deeply emotional state. Apathy is the lack of any emotion. So when Quake 4 was met with apathy by both critics and consumers, the toll that took on much of that development team was significant. Many of those team members were brought onto Wolfenstein. They saw many of the same problems on Wolfenstein which they felt held Quake 4 back from being a superior product. And so, misery turned into frustrations, frustrations turned into anger, and anger turned into resignations. Over the next 18 months at Raven, a very large number of people left. Many of them were my friends. Some stayed in the industry, others left the business forever. I had, for the first time, started to experience the dark side of development. The part that chews people up and spits them out.

The anger of my colleagues and the mass resignations made me realize how unhappy I was. I didn't want to get up and go to work in the morning. I didn't like my job. I didn't believe in the game. I didn't like that every week someone new would leave. I was in a dark place, brooding everyday, drinking more and more. My only friends were people I worked with, leading to drunken evenings where we would sit around and bitch forever.

I was hopeful
I was frustrated

Year Two
Sometimes, when you least expect it, life tosses you curveball. I was drinking a lot around this time. Frequently in times of stress and misery I have turned to alcohol as a way of coping, and this time was no different. This night, however, wasn't about drinking my sorrows away. My best friend from Maryland was in town visiting me, and we were out having a great time, reminiscing. I never could have anticipated what was going to happen that night and how it would change my life forever.

Sitting at the bar, talking with my friend, I noticed a beautiful woman walk up and order a drink. Knowing that I only had one shot to make a good impression, I did the only thing that made sense at the time; I made a racial joke about Indians. She too was Indian and laughed. Soon we began to talk and flirt and I quickly realized that this woman was actually intelligent, witty, and charming and not like most of the girls I met. To everyone's surprise, I didn't scare her off and soon we began to date. My first real relationship in quite some time, not counting the countless philandering one does in college, I was immediately smitten with her.

I was angry
I was in love

This love affair started at just the right time. I was starting to think about quitting and going to a new studio, even though I hadn't shipped a game yet. I was angry that things weren't going better at work. This was my dream job and it wasn't going as planned. This new relationship gave me a reprieve from my own dark thoughts and tendencies.

I've been a loner my whole life; as a child, I'd often play by myself instead of needing other kids to keep me entertained. Being alone, however, during dark periods means that you have nothing to distract you from yourself. TV, video games, and movies all only work temporarily. As soon as your head hits the pillow, it's just you and your own mind. And so, every night I would lie down and not fall asleep as my brain spun at 100 MPH about all the issues with the game, the people, who was leaving, and anything else that wasn't going well in my life. This manifestation of insomnia literally started to kill me. I was getting four hours of sleep a night and usually drinking myself to sleep to turn my brain off. I would come into work a zombie, not put forth the effort that got me here in the first place, and go home a zombie, continuing the cycle of alcohol abuse and insomnia.

This new relationship gave me something to think about other than how miserable I was. For the first time in my life, I truly cared about someone other than myself. I thought about how much I loved spending time with her. I thought about all the fun conversations we had and the movies and TV shows we would share. I no longer was suffering from insomnia. I'd fall asleep just fine every night next to her. I'd wake up at 6:00 every morning while she got ready for school. I did all of this without any problems, because I had something I had been missing for quite sometime: something other than work to focus on.

But, as they say, all good things come to an end. As she was in her final year of med school, very early on I knew there was a strong chance she would be moving elsewhere to start residency. In fact, she didn't want to be in Madison anymore, as much as she loved being with me. And so, our relationship was on a timer from day one and eventually, just over a year after we met, time ran out. No matter how much I knew it was going to happen, nothing prepared me for the feelings that would ensue.

I was heartbroken
I was heartbroken

Year Three
Breakups are tough, and I had been through my share, but this one hurt more. Work was still going poorly, though I hadn't noticed as much since I had the distraction of a girl for a year. But there I was, stuck in my own head, drinking myself to sleep as the end of a relationship and realizations of the industry begun to weigh down on me once again.

Life, once again, decided to lend a helping hand and hope started to arrive. Some new creative decision makers were brought in at work and where it felt like there was no hope, at least opened up to become a glimmer of hope. After being angry and miserable for a month after she left, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself. I knew that I needed to distract myself to stop from being miserable. And so, I decided to take all my anger and channel it into something useful. I decided to funnel it all into the game.

I've always been a person with a chip on his shoulder. I've always felt like I have something to prove. When I haven't had something to prove, I've found myself inventing perceived slights to get myself worked up. When I take this anger and channel it into something positive, amazing results occur. It is the drive for success. I will outwork anyone, if I talk myself into it. I will not accept failure from myself and I will work myself to death to avoid failure. Undirected, however, this energy sends me spiraling into loops of self-destructive behavior. Compulsive drinking and eating are the usual starts. I knew I couldn't let this energy go undirected and manifest in self-destruction.

And so, all that energy got funneled into not getting mad about the game, but rather being constructive with the new leadership about how to fix the game. I was still a gameplay programmer at the time, and I started writing up documents on all the major systems. I'd identify their flaws, state what works and doesn't work, and list recommendations to fix the problem. I would do this regularly, so regularly in-fact that the new creative director set up a weekly meeting to go over my issues with the game.

Feeling like someone was listening and that I could make a difference, a feeling I hadn't had in some time, I began to speak up to the rest of the disgruntled staff. I told them it was our jobs to stand up for our game and fight for what's right. I told them we can't accept the status quo when we know it's not good enough. Others stood up beside me and said the same thing. And so, an internal revolution was born. A revolution, for me at least, born out of my need to be distracted from the biggest heartbreak of my life.

I was a revolutionary
I was heartbroken

Soon, the creative direction of the game started to sway in a more positive direction due to the hard work of all the team members and the new leadership. Scrapping many of the more outlandish game ideas for more traditional ones, we refocused the project. I refocused myself to my job, instead of just accepting bad design. I was doing many things that weren't specific to my job title, but with no one else doing them on the team I felt someone had to step up and ask the tough questions.

And so, a few months later the creative director asked me if I wanted to be a game designer instead of a gameplay programmer. I jumped at the opportunity; sure, programmers made more money but I only learned to program so I could design. Raven didn't have game designers, just level designers and encounter designers, so the thought of someone overseeing more of the systems, tweaking balance, and having a bigger picture of the game in mind was not only something that was desperately needed, but something I was incredibly interested in.

The new position brought new responsibilities. With that increased responsibility came increased workload. Still sad in my personal life from the loss of love, I was keeping my energy focused in work. The more and harder that I worked, the less I remember the pain I had. I knew I wanted to avoid the self-destructive behaviors that I'm capable of, so I vowed to put every ounce of energy into making Wolfenstein the best game it could be in the time we had left.

I was ecstatic
I was heartbroken

Year Four
There was a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. When you care so much about the game, you are willing to do anything it takes to succeed. There are no excuses; players don't care if you worked 10 hours or 100 hours. They only care if what they play is awesome. This is where another deep, dirty side of the industry reared its ugly face. In the three years I had been at Raven, rarely I crunched. But now we were a year out from shipping a game, a game we just effectively restarted.

The team was committed to putting out the best game we could. We worked our asses off. We worked long, brutal hours to make the game better. No one would have to ask; everyone knew what their job was and wanted the best quality possible.

The problem with loving what you do is that you will let your passion take over. At least I will. My passion is in creating. It's in letting people have new experiences. And so, if I work 40 hours a week and a game ships and there is something that I could have fixed had I worked a couple extra hours that ended up in the game, I'm going to be furious at myself. I will know that I had the power to make it better and I didn't.

So, like many people, I end up pushing myself hard. No one told me to. No one asked me to. I knew I had to work harder, but no one meant to the extent that I did. No, I did this because I wanted to. Because I wanted the game to be better. Because I knew we were running out of time. Because I knew, if I didn't, I would have to deal with the fact that inside I was still damaged.

I was focused
I was hurt

The human body and mind can't work that hard for that long without consequences. What's more interesting, is that you know you are working at an unsustainable pace as you are doing it, yet refuse to stop. You sacrifice long-term health for short-term goals. It's unhealthy, and yet what I did for nearly a year on Wolfenstein.

In August, 2009 the game finally shipped. After four years of hard work, I finally shipped my first title. It would be no exaggeration to say that it was possibly the happiest day of my life. I never experienced a single day or moment of such happiness. This was a volcanic rush of joy, the feeling of a creation you worked on so hard with a team of dedicated people finally being released to the public, ready for their consumption. I was and still am so incredibly proud of the effort the team put in to make that game what it was. It was a flawed game, and we knew it, but we also knew that we put so much love and effort into that game that people would still get enjoyment out of it, even if it wasn't destined to be a 90+ rated game.

I was elated
I was exhausted

Year Five
The highs of launch lasted for a bit, but were quickly followed by lows. Wolfenstein, like Quake 4 before it, didn't tear up the sales charts. Our reviews were decent, but not as high as we wanted. So, frustrations set in again. Except this time, I knew to channel them into something positive.

Determined to fix things for the next game, I started to plan for how to do things better. Wolfenstein didn't have a formal design department nor did we have a lead designer. This was one of the flaws of the team. With a lack of leadership, as well as me being a strong leader and having what I felt was a good design sense, I pushed those in charge to give me a shot as a lead designer on the next title. I was incredibly fortunate that a trusting group of people all said yes and gave me a shot, even though I was only four years into my career in the industry at this point. And so in August 2009, I became the lead designer on an unannounced title.

I was scared
I was excited

The excitement of that time was quickly reduced when I found out we had to let people go, for the first time in Raven's history. As a new manager, I had to help with this situation. Having to look someone in the eye who busted their ass to make a game, who has a family to feed, who has been loyal to the studio for quite some time and let them know that their position is untenable is one of the most unpleasant experiences in my life. I knew it had to happen and was for the ultimate good, but that doesn't make a difference when you have to deliver that news.

Worse, for me personally, was the exhaustion I was suffering from. For over a year I had been neglecting my blog, not reading as much, going home and just sleeping and then coming to work. I was becoming a zombie again. I didn't play games for almost a year at one point. I worked myself so hard that I burned myself out. I was tired, exhausted, but I was also a new lead which meant I had a lot of work to do. I started drinking more heavily again. There were some good things I was doing; I was training for my first ever marathon which I ran in October of that year. But that didn't overcome all the negative, self-destructive behaviors I was once again engaging in. I burned myself out, because I sacrificed the long-term for the short-term.

As we started to amass a new team, regroup, and fix the mistakes of the past I had to work extra hard to keep up. There was no lead designer before me, so I had to turn to other peers in the industry often for guidance. I just wanted to take six months off to recover, but I knew to be an effective leader I had to lead by example. And so I helped rebuild the design department, a department that now is doing better than ever. I am fortunate enough to work with a talented group of people who make me love my job. They push me and inspire me to excel everyday and I hope I do the same back.

What the last five years has taught me, more than anything, is that I am capable of love. I loved a woman and she became my passion and meant the world to me. What I didn't realize was that when she was gone I didn't stop loving. I began to truly love my job for the first time. When I started in the industry it was just lust; it was new, it was sexy, it was fun. But that got squashed early when the realities of this industry set in. It took her to show me true love and leave me for me to realize I could apply that energy elsewhere. She showed me how to focus myself and my energies, and for that I thank her forever.

I've also realized, however, that there may only be so much room in my heart. Since I've started loving my job, I've found no time or energy to love anyone else. I've had meaningless relationships and flings, but nothing lasting. I don't have the time or energy for it. I am putting so much of myself into my job, that I don't wish to spend that time on a relationship. In fact, I don't know how I could possibly love someone and love my job at the same time. I can't balance my personal and professional life when I love only one, I cannot imagine what will happen if I love both. I am again sacrificing the long-term health for short-term goals.

I love myself
I hate myself

I've done some amazing things in my career. If you told me I'd be a lead designer on a high-profile game five years into my career I would have called you a nut job. If you told me I'd be speaking at high-profile conferences like GDC and DICE, I would say you have no idea what you are talking about. If you told me that I would learn what it is to love and how to apply that to the rest of my life, I would have shook my head and said that love was for the romantics not the computer scientists. I've met and been inspired by people who made the games I played when I was a kid. I've gotten into discussions on life, the universe, and everything with some of the smartest people in the world.

I've made many mistakes as well. I've been a poor son at times to my wonderful parents. I've been an even worse brother. I've pushed those close to me away to protect myself from being hurt again. I've abused alcohol and food and gotten myself into trouble as a result of both. I've isolated myself from others at times. I've come to the realization that the amount of work it will take to succeed at the levels I expect from myself may require destruction of all other parts of my being. I've come to the realization that, I may be okay with that. That is a scary thought and not one I thought I was capable of.

See, the fallacy of ambition is that those who are the most ambitious are also the least capable of appreciating success. Ambition is a moving mark, that gets higher and higher as you progress. You can never succeed enough, if you are truly ambitious. And so, instead of being happy or content, you are tortured, wanting to better and capable of loathing yourself. That's how I feel. I've succeeded, yet I've not done enough. I worry that if I keep going down this path, that I will die alone and miserable. But I also worry that if I don't go down this path, I will die unsatisfied by life and knowing that I could have done better.

My career is a failure
My career is a success

I have felt the good and the bad at the same time throughout my career. I am Schrodinger's Designer, simultaneously in a state of negative and positive emotions. At any given moment you may observe me to only be in one of those two states, but know deep inside that it's far more complex. You only see the outer-shell, the face I put on for the world, the mask I wear.

That's because, deep down, I am actually a romantic. I want to be in love. I look for love. I am in love with this industry, with this job, with video games. Love has its ups and downs. Love hurts at times, forces you to confront who you really are. Love can send you spiraling down into a self-destructive path just as easily as it can lift you up and save you. Love is both positive and negative at the same time. It's all encompassing and all consuming.

Love, it turns out, is the one thing I was missing in my life five years ago that I now have. I may struggle with how to manage my life, how to balance the personal and the professional, but I will never regret the decisions I've made. Every single decision I've made to this point has been the right one, even if it hurt and seemed wrong in the immediacy. Because, in the end I followed what I love and love is never wrong. It just is.

I love my life

DICE Panel and GDC Panel - Diversity and Race in Games

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:27:00 +0000

Been very hectic lately, but a couple of quick links. I recently was on a panel at DICE titled Games of Color, which was about the diversity (or lack thereof) of our in-game characters. It was a good, frank talk about the issues that games have right now and how we can improve them, and why it's a good idea from a creative and business sense. G4 has put up a video of the entire panel online, for your viewing pleasure (Yes, they accidentally got the names of Navid and I incorrect). There is also an interview with me in Develop on the subject.

This week is GDC and I'm on a panel there, titled What Color Is Your Hero? It's a similar panel, but not same one - we have new panelists and new questions. Our DICE talk concentrated more on the business aspects of the issue, and I'd like our GDC talk to concentrate more on the creative aspects. It's on Friday from 1:30-2:30 pm in the North Hall, so if you are going to be at GDC I hope you can stop by and hear and discuss this very important topic.

Proper blog posts will be coming shortly after GDC is over. I promise!

Podcast, Another Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Somehow I totally forgot to post this up. I was once again a guest on The Brainy Gamer podcast where I joined Chris Dahlen and Michael Abbott to talk about video games (duh!). We talked about ambiguity in games, The Path, social networking, and much more. Check it out and the rest of the podcasts in the series.

Save This!

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Because my Xbox 360 finally died I decided to play some older games that have been waiting for me in a stack for some time. One of these games is Killzone (the original not the PS3 sequel). An average shooter, the game convinced me to stop playing it after about 20 minutes. Not because of the sloppy controls or the combat. No, it convinced me to not play it because I died.

Not because the game killed me in a cheap manner. My death was entirely my fault. Rather, it's where the game restarted me. About 8 minutes earlier in the game, at the beginning of the level in fact. I had gone through three major events since then and the game hadn't saved the game a single time in there.

What the bloody hell?

I absolutely don't understand why checkpoints are far apart from each other like this in some games. I remember Resistance: Fall of Man frustrating me endlessly as I replayed huge sections of the game every time I died. The recent Ninja Gaiden games make you go through multiple boss fights without saving sometimes. This is an absolutely punishing, horrible way to treat players. Furthermore, it's hurting our ability to grow the audience and get more people into gaming.

Why? Because a player's time is precious. We are all busy people in this world. We have lives, jobs, families, and responsibilities. The amount of time we can game isn't huge. Every time you make the player replay large sections of your game because you want to artificially make the game more difficult, you give them an out to quit your game and go be entertained by something else. Maybe they'll go watch TV. Maybe they'll play Guitar Hero. Or maybe they'll write an angry blog post talking about how this design is piss-poor.

Forcing players to replay large sections of your game after death is a barrier to entry for many players and a clean, easy place to opt out for most. Ask yourself this. What's more important? That the player get through 10 minutes of gameplay without dying or that the player keep playing your game? I would guess that the vast majority of the time the goal is for the latter to occur. That gets people playing and enjoying more of your game. It gets them to tell their friends or have other people try the game. If you really want to punish players for dying, why not make it only on your hardest difficulties for those players who want that sort of challenge?

We're getting better at this as an industry but still have a long way to go. The answer isn't, in my mind, let the player save anywhere. It's almost 2010. Save state should be invisible to the player. The player should never worry about if the game is saved and how to reload and which reload to use. The game should automatically do the right thing. I'm not saying we need to go the Bioshock or Prey model and remove any punishment from death. I'm saying a light slap on the wrist is sufficient. Don't kick me in the scrotum.

There are, as always, exceptions. Survival horror games would lose much of the horror if there wasn't a significant negative consequence for death. Games who's appeal is purely based around extreme challenge would also fit in as an exception. Most games, however, implement checkpoints poorly due to them being low on the rung of important things to do during development of the game. Sometimes they are the last thing to get put in. Other times, no one is checking them to make sure they aren't too far apart.

This isn't a good reason. We need to break the mold that punishes the players for playing and trying, and instead let players embrace failure not fear it. Let's start treating our players with some amount of decency and maybe they'll actually finish our games. The best part is, this is an easy to solve problem that just takes some forethought and common sense and testing to make sure you got it right.

We can do so much better. Let's start.

Life is a Series of Down Endings

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:48:00 +0000

Lately I've been thinking a lot about game endings and how they aren't living up to expectations. I'm the type of gamer who goes out of his way to beat a game if I start it. I want to know how the story goes, no matter how insipid it is. However, I find myself being more and more frustrated with video game endings. Most of them end predictably. Or they end with a horrible cliffhanger that has no closure, all in the name of the all-mighty sequel.

Why don't we see more ambiguous or downer endings in games? These sorts of endings are prevalent in film and novels. Blade Runner spawned the debate on whether Deckard was a replicant or not for many years. 2001: A Space Odyssey's surreal ending has confused generations of people. 12 Monkeys and Se7en have two of my favorite endings in film history, both with protagonist "losing" in the end.

So why not games? Does player agency mean that players are unwilling to accept that their actions could still not save the day? Or are we, as an industry, too immature to know how to pull off a sad ending? Or do we just lack a set of balls?

We need to explore concepts further such as sacrifice, symbolism, tragedy, fate, inevitability, and failure in our games. We should be willing to do something outlandish that will cause players to talk about the game and consider the ramifications of what they just experienced. We shouldn't be scared to incite outcry in players, just to sell sequels. We don't do these things to anger and piss off players, but rather to push players to new levels of understanding. Life, after all, is a series of down endings if you believe Dante from Clerks.

Of course downer endings can also backfire. Just ask Jerry Seinfeld.

Wolfenstein Released

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:03:00 +0000

I'm really happy to announce that Wolfenstein is now on store shelves in North America and should be slowly trickling onto store shelves worldwide over the next few days. The game has been a long time coming for us at Raven and we're very proud of the game at the end of the day. I hope you are able to find the time and money to pick up a copy of the game and check it out. It's a really fun shooter experience that I think any action fan will enjoy.

Big thanks to everyone who supported us during the development of this game, id for the awesome license and help, Activision for the support throughout the life of the project, Endrant for the multiplayer component, and all the Wolfenstein fans.

Like any game, Wolfenstein isn't perfect and we understand that. We're getting overall positive reviews so far and I'm sure reviews will continue to trickle in over the next couple weeks. So I'd love to hear what you love about the game and what you didn't love. I want to know what works and doesn't work for you as a gamer. This way we can learn some lessons and improve for our next game. You can add a comment to this thread or hit me up on on Twitter and I'll try to respond.

On to the next game!

Design Lesson 101 - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:16:00 +0000

Monsters are a key part of our culture. Whether it's vampires, werewolves, zombies, or any number of weird creatures we've created in video games, monsters have always been a huge draw. Much of Greek mythology revolves around the slaying of monsters such as the Hydra and Medusa.

The concept of something wholly sinister, wholly inhuman, and wholly foreign to us scares us and enthralls us. These creatures don't exist in the real world, so instead we read about them, watch them on film, and of course kill them in video games.

The thing about monsters is they often represent something very supernatural and different. As a result, they can act anyway we want them to and players will buy it. A monster can fly, teleport to any location, or turn you to stone by looking at you and players are willing to suspend any disbelief because monsters don't need to act like humans. However, when we put monsters in a game, this freedom can pose a problem. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, by Naughty Dog, exhibits this problem towards the end of the game with the introduction of monster enemies.

Design Lesson: When introducing new enemies, it's important to build off of the original strategies of combat instead of creating a completely different style of combat that is at odds with the player's original combat strategies

That's a long way of saying, don't make me change the way I play your game completely when you've taught me to play a certain way for the last six hours. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune spends a lot of time teaching you to use cover. It teaches you to stay behind cover, to move from cover to cover, to pick your shots and execute them carefully. It's not Halo, where you run around circle-strafing and firing from the hip.

That is until you get towards the end of the game and the monsters show up. Let's ignore the fact that monsters didn't fit my narrative view of the game world (I viewed the game world as being a realistic world, whereas I've had friends tell me that they viewed it as more of an Indiana Jones style world where monsters do exist). The issue is that the behaviors and optimal way to defeat the monsters is completely at odds with the combat for regular enemies.

The monsters have a melee attack only and frankly it's rather powerful. They also have a tendency to swarm you and move fast, making it hard to aim and take them out methodically. They will attack you at once and kill you fast. You cannot sit still. The monsters encourage a frenetic set of behaviors. In fact, they encourage behaviors that are the exact opposite of what you do the rest of the game.

The first time I encountered the monsters I tried to line up my shots and aim faster, not moving much from where I was. I died an awful lot doing this. Then I picked up the shotgun, started to run around in circles and fired from the hip instead of aiming, letting the auto-aim take control. This is how I succeeded. Combat completely changed with these enemies. There I was running around in circles like an idiot just firing over and over until everyone was dead, instead of jumping from cover to cover, thinking about how to flank the enemy, and being patient.

So why is the run and gun strategy to kill the monsters so bad? Because nothing in the game ever prepared me for this style of combat. In fact, the game actively discouraged this style of combat, by killing me if I tried to run and gun. I was taught, and fast, that I needed to be cautious. Instead of having their monsters build upon the basic behaviors and strategies I had already learned, Naughty Dog opted to have me change the way I played the game dramatically.

Instead, it would have been better for the game to encourage new behaviors and strategies that built upon the previous ones. For example, the monsters could required me to quickly move between cover and take shots instead of being cautious and biding my time, due to a ranged attack they have.

This would still have me using cover, trying to take the careful shot, but make me do it at a far quicker pace and up the tempo of the game. Or the monsters could have been used in conjunction with other enemies to make them stronger and more powerful, making it so I needed to take out the monsters first to make my own life easier. The game would force me to prioritize my enemies due to threat.

There are a number of ways the monsters could have been implemented better in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It's a shame that they weren't. Fortunately the monsters aren't introduced until late in the game and they aren't too prevalent even late. It certainly didn't ruin the game experience, but there was potential to take the game to the next level and I think the game missed that potential with their decision.

Having the monsters' AI force the player to build upon already taught strategies would have made the enemies more fun, engaging, and fit the game better. Instead, they feel out of place. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the upcoming Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Until then, I can only hope any monsters reading this column will heed this advice and try to “play nice” with the rest of the game.

Designing Ethical Dilemmas Video and Slides - The Longer Version

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Last week I got the chance to give a 30 minute version of my Designing Ethical Dilemmas talk at the Madison Chapter IGDA meeting. I expanded on a number of points, included some basic theory, and overall fleshed out some of the ideas. I still think there are some parts that need work, but slowly expanding the talk has helped me understand the concepts better as a result. I'm hoping to really nail this talk down and refine it some more, so I'm going to continue to research and consider the ideas to really nail them down as well as how to expand the concept from dilemmas to full ethical game systems.

There is video available of the talk. I would love for you to check it out and give me some feedback. Also, I've uploaded my slides (which are also partially embedded in the video thanks to the diligent work of Matthew Ciarlante). You can get the basic points from the slides, but I think the talk is obviously a better way to digest the information.

Authorship in Games and More Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:07:00 +0000

Michael Abbott of the always insightful Brainy Gamer invited me onto his podcast recently to talk about the conversation that started with my talk on 'Designing Ethical Dilemmas'. I joined Clint Hocking of Ubisoft Montreal and Borut Pfeifer of EALA. There is an interview with Clint Hocking followed by the segment I am on with all three of us. I hope you enjoy the podcast and please leave comments on Brainy Gamer's site (or here).

As a side note, I'm currently working on a blog post that goes into more depth about my thoughts on authorship and the role of narrative in games that I hope to have up this week. Also, I'm working on expanding my talk to around 20 minutes for next week's IGDA Madison Chapter meeting.

E3 Games I Forgot To List

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Wow, there were a couple omissions of games on that E3 list I threw together that I wanted to mention. No idea how I just missed mentioning these games, but I'm a little ashamed, I'll admit!

Mass Effect 2 - I really enjoyed the story and feel of the original Mass Effect. The cookie-cutter secondary missions I could have lived without. Mass Effect did a good job at times at making me consider what type of player I was trying to be and make choices wisely. The combat was decent, but not great. If they can fix that stuff, and keep the great epic feel (and get rid of the atrocious load-time elevators) the game will be a big win. It's "Looking Good".

The Last Guardian - Fumito Ueda is quickly becoming one of the best game director's in the business. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are two of the most beautiful, emotionally impactful, and fun games I've ever played. The Last Guardian looks to keep it up, with the same feeling of isolation and probable redemption. I've still never cried while playing a game, but I feel like this game could do me in with its beautiful looking gryphon-like creature. This is an absolute, must-have game. I don't know how I left this game off the original list - it is literally the game I am probably looking forward too the most.

No More Heroes 2 - This game was amazingly subversive on the Wii and I enjoyed it a great deal, for the most part. I loved the style, the humor, the commentary on games and America's fascination on Japanese culture. I did not enjoy the poorly implemented sandbox elements of the game, however. I've read some interpretations as that being part of the subversion of the game, standing the genre on its head and making people take a look at it - but the game was genuinely poor at these moments, so I think maybe the message was either overstated or a poor choice if that's the case. In any event, I think No More Heroes 2 will be fantastic and it's definitely also "Looking Good".

I think those were my only major omissions. Not sure how I feel about Splinter Cell: Conviction yet - though it does have potential.

E3 Is The Place To Be

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, E3 returned (with a vengeance) after two years of being a much smaller and more intimate event (or, as many dubbed it, "teh suck"). I didn't attend the expo itself (In fact, I've never been to E3), but as I'm sure all of you did, I followed coverage of E3 all over the place. I just wanted to throw together some thoughts on things I'm excited about or surprised me at E3 that I am looking forward to (and some things I'm not looking forward to).

Surprises
Project Natal - Possibly the biggest news that came out of E3 was Microsoft's full-body motion sensor Project Natal. The possibilities for this thing are huge! I had heard rumors about Microsoft doing a motion controller, but I never imagined it would be something this ambitious. At the same time, the developer in me is not excited to use this as a platform to make games on... yet. I need to see and try it with my own hands before I can become super excited about this product.

Tales of Monkey Island - Yes! Yes! Yes! Monkey Island is one of the greatest adventure series of all time, and having Telltale work on new episodic games in the series is really exciting. I had no idea anyone was considering re-launching the Monkey Island series, so this came out of left field. Thank you LucasArts and Telltale!

Metroid: Other M - I expected another Metroid game, but not from Team Ninja at Tecmo. I wondered what they would do next with Tomonobu Itagaki leaving the company after Ninja Gaiden 2. The game looks very cool. Confession time: I haven't played a single Metroid Prime game, but I plan on it when the re-releases hit Wii later this year.

Must-Have Games
Modern Warfare 2 - Yeah, Infinity Ward is pretty much the king of FPS games. The climbing the ice wall, the snowmobile section, the explosions, the custom animations and unique breaks in combat. Sign me up. Game is so awesome looking, no wonder it doesn't need the Call of Duty franchise tag on it.

God of War III - The massive scale, Kratos looking like even more of a bad-ass than before, the over-the-top violence. There's not much not to love about this game. Really crazy how the series has had three different Creative Directors and seemed to keep the same feel and core gameplay that make it special.

Brütal Legend - I heart Tim Schafer and Double Fine. Could this game look any cooler? Awesome visual style, looks to be hilarious, tons of metal. I want this game now.

Alan Wake - This game has been on vaporware lists for a while now, but it really blew the socks off me. I love the concept and creep factor that it seems to have. Using light as a signficant weapon and part of the game is interesting and puts a slight twist on the horror genre. It looks to be worth the long wait.

Wolfenstein - Yeah that's right, I'm whoring myself out. August 4th people - pick it up for the 360, PS3, or PC. Nazis, Particle Cannons, occult, sci-fi, upgrade systems, tons of gameplay. Pretty much guaranteed to be the best game of 2009 (named Wolfenstein).

Looking Good
BioShock 2 - Not sure about the multiplayer side, but the single player looks to be right on-track for what I expect (and really I don't want BioShock for multiplayer anyway). I like the idea of being the original Big Daddy. Wish I saw more coverage and new stuff from the single player portion of the game, but I either missed the coverage or there wasn't much new shown that wasn't multiplayer.

Scribblenauts - This may be the game that actually forces me to get a DS. It pretty much lets you input any word and drops it into the world. The possibilities are endless and I love the cute style and look of it.

Assassin's Creed 2 - For all of its flaws (repetition, weak combat system, poor assassination system), I really enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed game. This game looks like it's fixing a lot of the core problems that existed and may fully realize the potential of the game. I love the new setting and the fact that your character is apparently friends with DaVinci in the game, who builds you gadgets like the flying machine. Awesome.

Mafia II - Before GTA3 hit, there was Mafia and it really did a lot for the open-world genre. The original Mafia is one of the most memorable games I have ever played (At least on PC - ignore the poor console ports of the game). The sequel looks like it's updating everything into a time-period that is really interesting when you start talking about organized crime.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Classic 2D with co-op. Sold! Way more interesting than Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - I need to actually play the original (only played the demo, but I enjoyed it). This game got huge buzz at the show and looks very cool and stylish. Really like the variety of locations it looks like you play in. Naughty Dog has really shown they get how to do more mature stories, which is surprising if you only knew them from their Jax & Daxter and Crash Bandicoot days.

Cautiously Optimistic
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Relic has done a fantastic job with the RTS genre, and the idea for a 3rd person action game in the Warhammer universe is great. A little concerned that they won't live up to expectations, but I'm keeping an eye out.

Aliens vs. Predator - Rebellion is back at the helm, which could be a good or bad thing (They haven't done anything spectacular since their did AvP a number of years ago). Still, I like where they are going with it and I think it has got a shot of being a really fun game. Hopefully this time you can save the game more than 3 times.

Heavy Rain - This game is starting to look like a Dragon's Lair QTE fest. I think there is more to the game than that, but I'm starting to become skeptical. The storytelling, acting, and narrative look to be top-notch. Hopefully the gameplay matches all the hype that the story has been getting.

Let-Downs
PSP Go - Yawn. Expensive, no touchscreen... not a surprising move, but it doesn't excite me at all (and I own a PSP).

Halo: Reach - Mostly just because I tire of game announcements that tease and show nothing. We all knew Bungie wasn't done with Halo after ODST. Good for the hardcore fans of the series, but I just want more when you deliver "earth-shattering" news like this.

No Console Price Cuts - I suppose I should expect price-cuts in August, but part of me thought Sony may try to get an early start and price-cut now. Guess not.

No Shows
Blizzard - I didn't see anything on Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2. Surprising that Blizzard just skipped the event all together, but maybe they are saving everything for their own con. Still skeptical on if Starcraft 2 comes out this year.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 - The teaser from a while back got me really excited and I was hoping to get some more on this game. Instead I get nothing. Sigh - come on UbiSoft don't you know some of us are crazy to know the details of this game?

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 - It's been said a million times, but it bears repeating. These are not episodes.

Anyway that's enough random commentary on games. What games did I miss on this list that got you excited (or really let you down)?

Designing Ethical Dilemmas - Slides and Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Update: The audio should be all fixed up on the slides - sorry for any inconvenience. Please let me know if you have any issues with the presentation. Here is a download of the slides directly too if anyone is interested.

Well, I'm back from the conference (Actually, I never left since the conference was in Madison, but I'm back mentally). My talk at GLS 5.0 went very well, I thought. The talk was on "Designing Ethical Dilemmas" and I've embedded the slides below as well as included synced up audio so you can listen and get the full experience of the talk (The slides are idiotic out-of-context, and probably just plain stupid in-context).

The talk is about 6 minutes and 40 seconds (20 slides for 20 seconds each) and is fast paced. I've also uploaded my notes I used for the talk if you prefer to read those notes instead of listen to me speak. The actual talk starts with the second slide, as the first slide is just a title slide.

I have to apologize for the sub-standard audio quality - the only microphone I own is attached to a rather crappy Logitech headset I use for gaming, so the quality isn't all that fantastic. The conference will also be making their video and audio of me speaking available in the near future.

Next, I'm going to work on expanding this talk to be about 20 minutes for the Madison Chapter IGDA Meeting next month. So, if you have comments or criticisms concerning this talk, please let me know. I obviously want to improve and start expanding upon the ideas that I included and I welcome any input.

Thanks to everyone at GLS and everyone who showed up.

Enjoy!

Designing Ethical Dilemmas

View more OpenOffice presentations from Manveer Heir.

Quick Update - Twitter, GLS, E3 and Release Dates

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:19:00 +0000

Haven't updated in a while so I wanted to throw a few quick notes out. First, I've joined the Twitter revolution, so those of you who are on Twitter please feel free to follow me @manveerheir. I'm going to try to keep the vast majority of my tweets to do with video gaming in some way. For those of you not on Twitter, why aren't you?

Second, I'm giving a talk on Designing Ethical Dilemmas at GLS 5.0 tomorrow. It's a fast-paced 6 minute 40 second Pecha Kucha style presentation. It's my first full game design talk and I'm really excited to be giving it. If everything goes well, I'll get a version of the talk up online. I'm also going to be expanding the talk a little and giving it at the Madison Chapter IGDA Meeting next month.

Third, I have some thoughts on E3 that I'm going to throw your way in the next couple days so stay tuned. You should hopefully start seeing a lot more blog posting from me very soon in general (I feel like I said that before). Why?

That brings me to my fourth and final point. Wolfenstein has an announced release date of August 4th, 2009. I'm really excited to let you play the game I've been working on the past four years with the guys and gals at Raven. We're finishing everything up now and soon it'll be in your hands for you to enjoy and criticize. Obviously, Wolfenstein is what's been taking up most my time lately, so almost being done is going to free up a lot of time.

Mea Culpa - The Black and White World of DRM

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:44:00 +0000

IMPORTANT NOTE: I originally wrote a rant about DRM and how Demigod and Stardock's failure to include a CD-Key in the game was unethical and irresponsible. Thing is... the game has a CD-Key. I had bad information, and it's my fault for not fact-checking it. So, my sincere apologies to any who read the original post (it wasn't up long) and to Stardock and Brad Wardell for calling them out when I was just straight up wrong. I will strive to do a better job in the future about getting my facts straight before writing blog posts. I've include the original post below so you can mock me and because I believe in owning up to one's mistakes. Again, apologies. Also, DRM apparently doesn't include technologies such as CD-Keys so I've also stretched the definition of DRM. Yeah, that makes me 2-for-2 in making a fool of myself.

Original Post
When you ask most people about Digital Rights Management (DRM), they usually treat the issue as black and white. Some feel like the image on the left - DRM exists only to screw you. Others say DRM is necessary to combat piracy and is the only way companies can stay afloat.

Take Brad Wardell. Wardell is the CEO of Stardock, the publisher responsible for games such as Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, and the recently released Demigod. Wardell is also stuanchly against DRM. He feels he can run his company and still make plenty of money without having to use DRM to protect himself from pirates. In fact, last year he announced the Gamer's Bill of Rights. The list included the following rights that seemed aimed directly at DRM:

6) Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
8) Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9) Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10) Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Now, I agree in principle with these items - they make sense. However, when I find out a game like the recently released Demigod had over 100,000 pirated copies in use compared to 18,000 legit copies during peak hours at launch, I get very angry at Wardell. Yes, I get angry at Wardell, not the pirates. Why?

Demigod is a primarily multiplayer game. Its single player mode is just playing multiplayer against the computer. There is no campaign. There are no tutorials even. The game is intended to be played online. Yet, this online game doesn't even have a CD-Key system. A SIMPLE CD-KEY system that have existed since CD-ROMs became standard in PCs. The only explanation as to why, is because CD-Keys are a form of DRM and Wardell is above that.

You've got to be kidding me! CD-Keys don't solve the piracy problem, but they stop an awful lot of casual pirates. The game connects to Stardock servers - it puts Wardell in control of shutting people off from his game who aren't legitimate users. Which one of his rights does a CD-Key violate? Typing in a CD-Key one time at install does not treat me like a criminal anymore than typing in my user name and password when I sign into Amazon.com does.

I am not naive enough to think that every pirate would go out and buy the game. Hell, I don't know if even 1% of those pirates would go buy the game. However, I'm 100% positive that at least one person who would have pirated the game will buy it. I'm confident in stating that. There is at least one person out there who would have bought Demigod if their attempt to pirate it failed.

So why am I so angry about this? Because, by being an eternal optimist (or making a strategic business move that may very well fail for this product) he is hurting the industry. Gas Powered Games, the developer of Demigod, is still independent and recently had layoffs. Any lost revenue due to piracy hurts GPG more than Stardock. Stardock is diversified enough amongst enough products to keep their heads afloat through a few bad products. Developers, especially independent ones, are not.

The companies with the most money that are independent are diversified in product range: Epic Games has the Unreal Engine. Valve has Steam. Gas Powered Games and other developers for publishers have the advances given to them in their contract as well as the hope for future royalties if their game is a substantial hit. Often, the success of a developer is directly tied to a single game's success (See Hellgate: London and Flagship Studios if you don't believe me).

By not including the most basic form of DRM, a CD-Key, Wardell and Stardock have robbed Gas Powered Games of at least one sale for no good reason. What if the studio shut down because of Demigod's sales (there is no indication that's actually going to happen, I'm just presenting a hypothetical)? It doesn't mean things would be better if there was a CD-Key. But they wouldn't be any worse. At the very least, the legitimate customers wouldn't have had so many connectivity issues the launch weekend, primarily due to pirates.

Publishers like Stardock have an ethical obligation to do everything in their power to make sure their developers succeed. That includes basic forms of piracy protection. Failure for a developer is a failure for the community - it robs us all of the next potential game, the next potential hit.

DRM isn't the Anti-Christ. We are allowed to protect our products with at least basic features such as CD-Keys and user accounts. Sure, we don't need crazy activation and de-authorization schemes, but sometimes the debate isn't just black and white. There are shades of gray to consider. I hope Wardell is able to come to grips with that for future products. I would hate to see a game or a company fail because of piracy when a publisher doesn't even attempt to stop it. It strikes me of being disrespectful to the developer and the community as a whole. Or maybe I'm just the eternal pessimist.

I'm On A Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Michael Abbott of The Brainy Gamer was kind enough to invite me back onto his podcast for some GDC wrap-up thoughts. I've been meaning to write-up some thoughts post-GDC (this was my second year attending) and I haven't had a chance just yet, so this should do for now. My co-guest is the esteemed N'Gai Croal, formerly of Newsweek and the Level Up blog, and we had a facinating talk about GDC, what was said, and what wasn't said (hint: if you listened to the last podcast I was on, you have an idea of one of the topics we talk about for a bit).

There are two volumes of podcasts out there, with a ton of guests that you should go listen to. Lots of riveting conversation abound. Special thanks to Michael for having me back on and N'Gai for being so interesting to talk with.

Play is Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:09:00 +0000

On my way back from GDC in San Francisco last week, I had a layover in the Minneapolis airport. Walking through the terminal to find my new gate, I came across something I hadn't seen before. It was an advertisement installation from the Traveler's Group that was interactive. I found video of the installation on YouTube, which you can watch here. This should save me from having to explain how the installation works.

What amazed me was what I saw people doing with the advertisement. They were playing. They were running across the screens to change the shape. They were hooting and hollering and laughing. Not children mind you, but rather grown-ups. Some would play as they walked by, waving their hands to break up the image but never stopping or slowing down, as if they had only a moment for play in their busy day of flying to wherever their destination was. Others would stop and try different things, such as trying to destroy the entire umbrella in one swoop, inventing games from the play. They would try to break the rules of the system, as if something so simple would break easily. Others would try to figure out how it all worked. Even those who walked past unwittingly were participants of play. They caused the image to change for others, causing laughter or excitement. Who would think something so simple could be so interesting and entertaining?

This made me think about the nature of play and how it really is ingrained in us as humans and how we can find play anywhere. It's easy when you are engulfed in video games at all moments of your life to forget about play. It's what we did when we were kids, chasing each other in the park. It's how Calvinball was invented. It's why tag was created and how I scraped my knee countless times as a child. Play exists without video games; video games do not exist without play.

Play is around you right now. There are things on your desk you can play with. There are toys in your garage you can play with. There are sticks outside you can play with. We need to never forget this. Play is what teaches us about new parts of ourselves. Play is what helps bring out our inner-child and keep us youthful. Play is beautiful and inspiring, and it rarely lets you down because play is whatever you make of it.

It was nice to have that put in perspective this past weekend. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I forget that there was this world of play and games long before computers came along. I shall not forget about play anytime soon, however. Play will always remind me about itself, even if I forget. There is one simple reason for this.

Play is everywhere.

Wolfenstein Re-Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:31:00 +0000

There's a lot of press kicking up for Wolfenstein lately, which is pretty much what I am up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's really exciting to have this press out there and let everyone see what we've been up to lately at Raven, especially after having had the game under wraps for so long.

First, Spike TV aired a half-hour show, GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley, on Wolfenstein Friday night. That entire show is now available on GameTrailers.com if you missed it (It did air at 1 AM, so I am sure most people missed it). There is an exclusive trailer near the top of the show, an exclusive cinematic that shows one of the more horrific creatures we have in the game, a number of interviews with developers, and tons of in-game footage. Geoff got a chance to play the game himself and he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, so it's good to know we're doing the right things. If you just want to see the new trailer, it's available here.

Next, this month's Official Xbox Magazine (April 2009) has Wolfenstein on the cover with the first hands-on. It should be on newsstands now, so go pick it up if you want to read up more on Wolfenstein. If you live outside of the United States, we are also on the cover of the UK OXM as well as a number of other magazine covers. We had an entire international media day in February, and got a chance to show off the game first hand to members of the press. It was really awesome to see their reactions and now their subsequent write-ups of what they saw.

Also, the official website launched and there is some media up there you can check out. Additionally id Software is twittering about Wolfenstein, so you can follow their tweets (Or whatever Stephen Colbert likes to call them) if you enjoy that sort of thing.

So now you know why I've been so busy lately. I hope you enjoy all the new Wolfenstein press and get a chance to check it out. Feel free to leave your impressions or thoughts (positive or negative) on this post. You won't hurt my feelings - I read Kotaku comments. I'm used to it!

I'm ReAnimated!

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:29:00 +0000

Remember how I said I would post more after New Years? Yeah, I'm doing a fantastic job about that. The truth of the matter is, I've played about 2 hours of video games in the past two months due to work, unfortunately, but I have a few blog post ideas in the pipe and hope to get at least one of them up and out there later this week. It's hard to post about games when you don't play them. It's an issue I am trying hard to resolve shortly.

In the mean time, however, I was invited to join the ReAnimators on their podcast. We discussed race and ethnicity in games, which is a topic I feel strongly about. I hope you get a chance to check out the podcast - it was an interesting discussion and I hopefully I didn't ramble too much.

Check out the ReAnimators Podcast here. Thanks to Mike, Ryan, and Rick for having me on.

Why I Love the Worst Game Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Recently I came across the Worst Game Ever. That's the game's actual name, not some description I've decided to bestow upon it. Available at adultswim.com, Worst Game Ever is an Aqua Teen Hunger Force themed flash game. Before I go into detail on the game, I'd like to invite you to go and play it for a few minutes. You don't have to beat it, but play it for a good two to four minutes - it takes a little bit of play to truly get the game. It's crazy how many things this game does well in order to make it feel like the Worst Game Ever.

The game starts off with it's main screen proclaiming in all caps "Go Right!!". Towards the bottom of the screen it says "Finish the game to see an exclusive clip from the movie". So immediately, the game has told me what my goal as a player is and what my reward is for finishing the game. Great job of motivating the player (assuming they are an Aqua Teen fan and would want to see an exclusive clip).

The screen is fairly basic during actual play. There are the characters of Master Shake and Meatwad on the screen, who you control. There is the ground you walk on. There is an empty bar labeled "progress", the number of lives you have, a score, and a counter for the number of exclusive clips viewed. That's about it.

As you move right in the game, your score increases and the progress bar slowly fills. What you may immediately notice is that you can't move left. There is no going back - you must keep moving towards the goal at all times. To cure the boredom of just moving, you may try hitting space bar to jump and make the game a little more entertaining. Don't. You don't get points when you jump.

You may try to put something heavy on the right arrow so you can leave the computer. Don't. While in the beginning of the game there is only a couple meatballs to jump over that will block you, eventually you come across a pit and even an enemy you must attack to continue. Leaving your computer with something heavy on the right arrow and coming back 30 minutes later is a sure way to have wasted time (though, playing this game properly is a sure way to waste time).

The game is literally trying to punish you for attempting to do anything that may alleviate you of the boredom of just moving right the entire time. It forces you to stay at your computer, much like the Desert Bus mini-game on the Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors game for the SegaCD (the game was never actually released, but you can find it out on the internet if you search). It lasts around 30 minutes (yes I played through the whole thing). It even mocks you!

There is a voice that spouts different things during the game. One time it said "It sure would be mean if there were no exclusive clip at the end of the game. Not saying there isn't. Just want to plant the seeds of doubt". Another time the voice said, "You ever play Gears of War? I bet it's pretty good! Better than this." The voice asks you if you are playing at work (how did it know?) and warns you to look out for your supervisor. It mocks you. It reminds you of the exclusive clips. It varies itself enough to just keep you barely entertained enough to sit there and play through the whole game.

This is why I love this game. It's delightfully subversive. Everything in its game mechanics is there to make you miserable and bored. To succeed at the game, you must pay attention and hold down right the entire time. The game makes fun of you for playing it. It punishes you for trying to entertain yourself within the game space. It eventually delivers an exclusive clip that underwhelms. But it gives you a score and lets you see other people's high scores. Clearly, that is all the motivation some people need to play a game.

This is why I love the Worst Game Ever. This is why I will never play it again.

New Year's Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Well, 2009 is upon us and I feel that I should make a few New Year's Resolutions (otherwise known as goals). Some of these are goals for myself and others are goals for the blog. There are all obtainable, though not all of them are in my control.

Here we go!

Update this blog more consistently, especially with non Design Lesson 101 columns
Never write "filler posts" or post after having too many drinks (you can not imagine how tempting it is to blog when drunk)
Become a more well-rounded designer and contribute more to the overall gaming community
Make at least one small game and post it on the internet (I have a bunch of games I've started but I keep losing focus to finish them - I need to fix this in 2009)
Play at least 20 full-length games from start to completion and learn something from each of them
Ship a game after being in the industry for almost four years
Update the layout of the blog page

Holiday Hiatus and Update

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:13:00 +0000

You may have noticed the lack of posting, especially lack of Design Lesson 101 columns lately. It's mostly because I do not have the time nor the energy to write as of now. I've decided to take a slight hiatus until the New Year, to get my head screwed on straight and all that jazz. I may make a post or two before then, but nothing major.

So, instead I can give you an update on games I'm playing. Gears of War 2 was a lot of fun, and will be the focus of the next column I write. I'm really loving the co-op nature of Left 4 Dead and looking forward to starting Far Cry 2 and Dead Space soon. Fallout 3 is gigantic, and captures the overall feeling of the original games... I'm not very far yet (I play RPGs very slow and methodically), but I really love it. And LittleBigPlanet is absolutely fantastic... haven't made any levels yet though. At least nothing real.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy holidays and I look forward to posting with renewed energy around then!

Leadership from the Trenches - Talk and Slides Available

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:58:00 +0000

I just got back from the IGDA Leadership Forum in San Francisco. There were a ton of inspirational and informative talks, as well as some really interesting people to me. I gave my talk the first day and have put up the full text and slides of the talk online for everyone to see. The text isn't formatted very well, it was just what I used for the purposes of speaking. So, if you attended the conference and wanted to go over a part of the talk or you are just interested in what I ended up talk about, check it out.

The IGDA will be posting video of all of the talks at some point, so when that happens, I'll post a link to the actual thing. Also, the talk was live blogged about, so a summary version exists here.

Thanks to everyone who came out and special thanks for the IGDA for putting on a great conference and inviting me out to speak.

IGDA Leadership Forum This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Manveer Heir) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:30:00 +0000

For those of you wondering why blog output as slowed so much, it's due to many factors, including the IGDA Leadership Forum that takes place this Thursday and Friday, November 13-14, in San Francisco. I am giving a talk at the conference titled "Leadership from the Trenches", and that plus work plus regular life (plus Fallout 3 and the other billion games that just dropped) means I don't have time to blog as much as I'd like. I want to get some more non-Design Lesson 101 posts up in the near future, but no promises as to when.

Anyway, if you are going to the conference this week, come to my talk and stop by afterward and say hi. If you're not going, shame on you. This is my first professional public talk. Don't you love me? After all I've done for you?