Si Donbavand, wrkflow: No Such Thing As A Bad Idea

Today’s guest lecturer was Si Donbavand, who gave us his 3 top tips for getting into the games industry. For this report, I’ll give an overview of these tips, while looking in to one of them more in depth.

1) Your degree is important, but not alone.

Si’s point here was to do more work outside of University to make yourself stand out to employers, much like previous lecturers I have reported on. I completely agree with this tip, as hopefully me and all my current friends will have a degree, so I need to prove myself in other ways.

2) There is no such thing as a bad idea.

This tip was/is very inspiring, and fairly relaxing to be honest. Si listed off a few ideas that sound so horrendous, but when he explained them, they sound like the perfect game. He told us to make whatever we want because the only thing bad about the idea is if you don’t create it. A prime example of a game that seems like a bad idea is Goat Simulator by Coffee Stain Studios. Armin Ibrisagic, PR Manager for Goat Simulator spoke about the initial process of making the game. He says “The initial game pitch was very loose, it was basically ‘goats are funny, let’s make a goat game’.” and that was it. From there, the team started implementing different design ideas such as points, and the idea that began as a joke soon became a full on project; what once was an Unreal Engine 3 map with a goat dumped in the middle of it had now become their newest title.The process of this game being created links up well to Si’s third tip.

3) Prototying is powerful.

Prototyping is the best way for a designer to communicate their ideas into a game, even if not in code. Si assured us of how good even paper prototypes are, and that’s how Goat Simulator was created; through a series of prototypes, they produced a mad yet successful game.

References:

COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS. (2014) Goat Simulator. PC. Skövde: Coffee Stain Studios

Ibrisagic, A. (2014). How Goat Simulator really did become our next IP. Available: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ArminIbrisagic/20140304/212208/How_Goat_Simulator_really_did_become_our_next_IP.php. Last accessed 10th May 2015.