I recently picked up Uncharted 3 and played the hell out of it. I mean, I was up all night for a video game. I haven’t done that since my first tour of college. While it feels less memorable than the second game in the series (in large part due to recycled design angles), it’s still a great game. I’ll be replaying it sometime soon for the same reason I choose to reexperience select books and films.
This brought my thinking around to the ultimate goal of working as a narrative designer—a goal which has been on the shelf since I moved here for a more lucrative opportunity. Part of this goal involves critical analyses of video game experiences in order to understand why some games have great narratives, some are middling, and some are just terrible, all of which may be affected by elements such as gameplay (which I still believe to be the foundation upon which a good story can be told), the visual and audio design, and of course general stability and performance of the software. It’s a complicated web that the team at Naughty Dog have demonstrated they can weave well.
I’m so impressed with the product of their efforts—in particular by Amy Hennig, the creative director and person responsible for the narrative design—that I’ve decided to begin reinvesting my personal time to game design study and execution. I’d done some technical design work, mainly in Flash (RIP), before I switched to strictly writing, and now I’m thinking that it can’t hurt to have a technical foundation to support creative endeavors. This probably means getting reacquainted with programming, which I fucking loathe as a liberal arts man and general hater of mathematics. But them’s the breaks.
Anyway, Naughty Dog is here in Oregon, and they have a spot for a game designer. Let’s see how I measure up.
Responsibilities
- Responsible for the planning, level layout, setup and tuning of mulit-player and single player levels, from high concept to object placement and scripting
I’ve run through this process from the marketing and QA angles, but not design. Easy to understand and perform after time spent as an entry-level designer.
- Responsible for designing and producing engaging and fun third-person action gameplay and levels
Nope. No professional design experience whatsoever.
- Act as producer for levels you design, as well as other parts of the game, collaborating across disciplines to get work done and clear dependencies, ensuring deadlines are met, and championing aspects of the gameplay
I do this already. Collaboration is at the core of video game development. The more ownership I’m given, the more involved I become.
- Work directly with artists, programmers, animators and other game designers to contribute to the vision of the game
Again, collaboration. It requires organization and focus of mind, as well as enough flexibility to take suggestions from others. A basic principle of human society, really.
- Responsible for level layout by creating simplified level geometry and performing extensive play-testing and iteration
I’ve done some work with modeling, but it was years ago and not very extensive. I’ll have to include visual design basics along with programming.
- Work with programmers to develop tools on an ongoing basis
I do this now. It’s simple identification of present and future needs and ways in which tools can help manage those needs. It also takes a bit of work to communicate needs in a way that a programmer can understand and translate into the tool.
Requirements & Skills
- Experience designing single-player levels for console games
Nope.
- Minimum 3 to 5 years of games industry experience
And how.
- Strong methodology and problem solving ability and with a focus on creative, fun and innovative solutions
I solve problems and put out fires. I have to be creative to get ensure a game is properly tested. Easy shit. The fun and innovative part might throw me since the work I do is all fairly formulaic.
- Strong and effective communication skills
I communicate what needs to be said. Tact is easy.
- Exceptional team player with the ability to collaborate without losing sight of the gameplay vision
Yep.
- Willingness to take design direction when offered
I’m flexible enough.
- Experience playing 3rd person action games
I’d say most of what I play is 3rd person action games.
- Very good working knowledge of Maya, 3DS Max or similar 3D package
Does it count if it’s working knowledge from six years ago?
- Experience of developing third-person action games a bonus
Nope.
- Experience of scripting set-up for action games a bonus
Nope.
- Desire to be a part of the Naughty Dog team
Naturally.
Nothing comes easy I suppose. I’m looking at my options now, the best of which is to shut the fuck up and put out some actual work. There are enough game editors in the world to accomplish this. And writing is an ongoing endeavor.
It may be trite, but the T.E. Lawrence quote from Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which was included at the start of Uncharted 3, sums up the notion of making things happen:
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.