IamA game design veteran of 15 years (SOE, Insomniac, and Blizzard). I recently started my own company and our first game launches today. Ask Me Anything.

Let's start with an easy one :-D

Which game project was most enjoyable or most satisfying for you to work on and why?

You say that's easy, but it's like choosing your favorite baby!

Every game had its perks:

• Diablo was a lifelong dream, so that's probably the easiest choice.

• Working at Insomniac in general was the most camaraderie I've ever felt in my life. The crunches were insane and the talent of everyone else at that studio always pushed us to drive harder.

• Getting my foot in the door at SOE and working on EQOA was exhilarating and I knew from then on this was my career.

• Throwing caution to the wind and starting my own studio, being my own boss, and putting my money where my mouth is has an amount of freedom behind it that I've been craving for years.

If I was a multi-millionaire, how much would I need to set aside for you and some close friends to program me a Druid for D3 with three sets of armor and weapons?

Could you and five friends do it in three months for $50k each?

Assuming your millions also bought us the entire code base for Diablo 3, and for some reason Blizzard was okay with it, and that was the only thing we were working on... Yeah!

If any of the above are not true, there's not a chance. :P

What aspect of game design were you generally working while you worked on the "big games"?

It was different at different companies. Mostly level design and UI design.

• Diablo 3 : Almost the entirety of Act 3
• Insomniac Games : Mostly UI design, some Mini Game Design, Level Design, and Scripting
• Champions of Norrath : I worked on everything that wasn't abilities or UI, there was only 1 other designer, he handled all the big decisions.
• EverQuest Next/Landmark : Designing ways to build that taught new players how to make things in 3D without being overwhelmed

Alright, WRT act 3, can you please shed some light on why the hell Azmodan feels the need to spout of his 'masterful plan' every time you turn the damn corner? Was your design team responsible for any of the writing/story, or was it more just the quests/zones you designed?

Act 3 is definitely my favorite act in the campain, but my god, the script for that game is just.....just awful.

Hahaha! I love this question!

When we were initially playing through Act 3, we didn't have the visions of Azmodan at all. When we eventually got to Azmodan, we had gone through the act and encountered the siege breaker and the maiden of lust (who also had yet to taunt you before her fight), and folks felt like you were trudging along and eventually this boss fight comes seemingly out of nowhere and nothing in the story made it seem like Azmodan was a big deal (I mean, aside from that super sweet cinematic, but maybe that's just me). So I got a task to add in those visions of Azmodan all over the place, starting at the beginning of the act, and continuing on EVERY... DAMN... LEVEL... afterwards.

Now you shall never forget the Lord Of Sin.

See...this is maybe the difference in dev teams, but I actually prefer the first approach. Maybe some scripted dialog in town, or chatter amongst the guards hinting at a big baddie, so it wasn't totally out of the blue, but the taunting was just way overdone. It could've been toned back and been just as effective, without making it feel so...comical.

Appreciate the honest answer though!

Another question, this one you may not be as forthcoming with but I have to ask: What was working for Jay Wilson like? He really took a proverbial beating online for how vanilla D3 turned out. It seems like he was just totally out of touch with what the players really wanted. Was there a lot of animosity among the team due to this? Or was everyone generally in agreement with a lot of the choices that were made? I would be surprised if that were the case, given Blizzards usual style, but I'm very curious.

I definitely think we went too far in how we addressed the problem. I think the ideal solution is probably somewhere closer to what you proposed.

Jay is a good guy that got caught in some unfortunate situations. I genuinely believe that he wanted to make an amazing game that would fix what few complaints there were with Diablo 2 and inject some new flavor into the series without spoiling what everyone loved about the previous games. The problem (in a similar vein to the Azmodan visions) is finding the right balance. Working on a game that is so beloved by so many is a totally paralyzing experience. I agree with pretty much every else's assessment that at launch the decisions that were settled on played it too safe.

Before launch there were definitely differing opinions (about most things) on the team. At the end of the day, the buck stopped with Jay. He was running the team and his decisions were law.

I don't think that anyone can argue with how well Blizzard reacted to the fans once the criticism was received. I wasn't on the team after Diablo launched, but I was really proud of how they pivoted to fix the issues that the public brought up.

Awesome! Big fan of almost all the games you've mentioned so thank you for your contribution to them :). Another question though, being the one who designed the game (or rather aspects of the game) does it feel different playing games you've worked on versus other games?

Yeah. I'm definitely not playing games I've worked on as a player. It's weird, I feel like I get the same experience of playing a game that I DIDN'T work on when I WATCH someone play a game that I worked on. I haven't been able to turn off the critical eye when playing back through something I worked on. I only see the flaws and things that were planned but didn't happen.

Since you brought up things that didn't get included but were planned, what was the coolest/most significant feature of a game you worked on that was planned but never made it in? (If this is even something you can answer.)

In the Ratchet & Clank games, there's usually a secret level called the museum where you can try out some of the failed/half-implemented ideas.

On Ratchet & Clank: Crack In Time we spent MONTHS working on a procedurally generated platforming level. We couldn't spare the artists time to help us make it look super good and the more senior designers & producers were always nervous that something could break and the player would be trapped in a level they couldn't beat/escape. I think there's a lot of promise in randomly generated platforming games, endless runners are now much more prevalent than they were at the time.

"shovelware" seems to be a somewhat derogatory term among gamers/developers. Is there a story or special purpose behind choosing that name for your own game company?

It's got a bunch of points behind it, actually:

• It's motivation to not make a terrible game. I don't wanna make it too easy for reviewers to say "I should've known this would be terrible, I mean, look at who made it!"
• On the same side, I hope people see it and think "Well, they obviously wouldn't call themselves that if they were trying to sneak us some crap."
• It's kind of a joke about the fact that our first game could EASILY be misconstrued as actual "shovelware." I mean, we made a mobile game that has zombies, match-3, and tower defense... some of the most shovel-tastic elements that exist today. I'm hoping it comes across that we obviously put more thought into it than slapping some crap together and kicking it out the door.

What is your favorite thing about D3?

As a player: Finding loot that does something interesting and figuring out how I can build around it and change up my play style.

As a designer I didn't get to toy with that, the system guys handled it.

In terms of things that I worked on, I REALLY enjoyed working on the random level generation. The tools for it were fun and the guys who wrote it worked down the hall so I could pop in and ask them to add features or explain what's going on under the hood.

Did the other game teams have fun things like D3's Diabeard challenge?

Nothing like that is coming to mind, but your name reminded me of a tradition that we had at Insomniac. Whenever someone left we would go out for Korean BBQ at this place with HUUUUUUGE long tables (the kind where you grilled your own meat). This place was really special to us, probably because someone would eventually tell the staff that it was someone's birthday and they would completely drench that person by dual wielding bottles of spewing champagne.

We know and read the horrors of developing for major titles, stories about how stressful the work and deadline is. Do you have any memory you can recall that you can say: "F**k it, I'm not paid enough to do this"?

edit: grammar

There was a point where I was looking back at my career and thinking: "Well... I've got all this experience at some amazing companies, I've done pretty well with a games career... but what could I do if I decided to change industries? I don't have a college degree. I've never worked at an office where it wasn't normal for a Nerf Gun war to break out... I think I'm pretty much stuck here."

What made you choose zombies at the main concept for your new game?

I was challenged by a friend to combine all of the most over-used tropes in mobile games into one cohesive mechanic and have it end up being fun. Zombies were the first thing I had to add... form there I also added some mechanics from Plants Vs. Zombies and the most over-done, totally generic mechanic of all: Match-3.

I know it sounds horrible, and I did it as a joke at first... but goddamn if I didn't have fun going back and playing the silly prototype over and over again... that's when I decided to actually go all in and make the game properly.

Looking back now, what is the major thing that you would change in Diablo 3?

I think most things that I would change have already been changed. :D

I would really like to see abilities not so closely tied to armor & weapons. It would be cool if the abilities had their own items that modified how they worked, not just mechanically, but also statistically.

What was your opinion of Jay Wilson while you were working at Blizzard?

From a level design standpoint, what is your favorite level (in any game)?

Jay is a really friendly and jovial dude. I can't say that we always saw eye-to-eye on design calls.

My favorite level is the intro to Half-Life 1. The way that you are constrained to the tram car, but can move around within it and explore the controls while being exposed to the moving world around you was an amazing way to immerse the player in the world and let them learn not just about the setting, but also how to navigate without feeling threatened. It was nothing short of genius. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUDNiyOf92o

Except, you know, fuck that loser.

That was a really bizarre thing to experience. I'm friends with most of the people on that thread. I saw this in my feed... and then I saw it on news sites.

What is your advice for a game developer-wannabee? (aka me. .p.)

I say make something!

Unity and Unreal are both free and have amazing step-by-step tutorials to follow. Make one of the demo games they teach you how to do from scratch. Along the way you'll learn how to make a game, you'll toy around with some values and see how changing them affects the game, and when you're done you might have an idea for making something original. It won't make you a million dollars, but it'll be fun to have something to interact with that you made. Eventually if you want to be a professional, you can bulid on this knowledge to make a demo that you'll use as part of your portfolio when applying for jobs.

Sidenote: The biggest mistake I see most fledgling developers do is try and make a game that has a little bit of everything in it. It's too big a project to take on at first. Make tic-tac-toe first. Build on things from there.

What are the coolest business cards that people have given you?

At GDC a few years ago, a guy gave me a clear plexiglass business card that was probably 1/8 of an inch thick. It must've cost him a couple bucks per card. He was an event coordinator and I told him I had no need for his card and felt bad taking it because it was so expensive, I told him should save it and give it to someone that could make use of his services.

This would be a great time to tell you his name, but his card is probably buried in my garage somewhere and I can't remember his name or the name of his company. Oops.

What's next for you? you seem to have worked on some awesome games, what would you like to do next?

Thanks!

I started my own studio: Shovelware Games back in November. I just wrapped up our first title: Zombie Match Defense.

If this game does well, I'd really like to keep working for myself and make enough money to hire someone on full time to work with me. Whether that's another mobile title or something bigger, only time will tell. If it doesn't work out, I'll start begging old friends for jobs working on big games again. :D

Do you have any childhood games that you still enjoy playing?

I play through Day Of The Tentacle and Full Throttle once a year or so.

Until the Wii-U (which I don't have yet), I've picked up just about every iteration of Mario and Zelda.

Hi, How do you plan a game? I know story boards can be used alot but I wondered if there are any tools that make planning the initial stages of a game easier than scraps of paper and post it notes!

Thanks for Diablo 3 btw!

The initial stages are the most fun for me. At that point a game can be ANYTHING and one idea can take a weird turn and end up being something completely different. In terms of methodology, I think it's most fun to bounce ideas off other people and gauge their reactions. In terms of tools, I'm a fan of documenting things however you feel most comfortable. Personally, I like drawing schematics that explain mechanics and then figuring out how those fit into a larger system of the game. I know folks who tackle it from the exact opposite with story boards and post-it notes like you mention. I don't think there's a real industry standard for that aspect.

Thanks for playing Diablo 3! I was really just a small part of an amazing team.

During any of your game projects, has there been a feature or facet of the game that you didn't particularly agree with, but due to majority rules or higher ups, was left in the project?

Yeah. This happens in most projects. In some cases it's because you don't have the full picture, in some cases it's because the higher ups don't understand the implications of what they're asking for.

I think the most notable of this would be the Auction House in Diablo 3, which has since been removed.

What's the biggest mistake that you see in games today, and how do you avoid making those mistakes in your own work?

Probably a combination of scope control and wasted iteration. There are certain design ideas that are flawed from the start, attempting to iterate them until they're good doesn't help anyone.

I try to avoid them by attacking a design idea from every angle before becoming too attached to it that I get stuck in a wasteful iteration loop.

In terms of scope control, I try to focus on a single mechanic at its core and get that mechanic as close to perfect as I can before adding layers. Bottom up is much more responsible than top down.

I'm a Software Architect, I founded my own company almost 20 yrs ago. I never worked for a big company and it's something I might be willing to do in the future. What was the most exciting part of your job and how was the feeling to be part of such an important team like the Diablo one was? Cheers and good luck on your next games!

Grats on running your own company for 20 years!

Diablo was an interesting experience because of how recognizable it is. I've worked on 12 other games, but that's usually the only one folks have heard of unless they're gamers. Even though I'm not there anymore, I still feel very prideful when I hear someone mention it. The day-to-day it was just like any other job, we had tasks and deadlines, annual reviews and meetings. Aside from enjoying the tasks and my co-workers, the only real difference was interacting with folks outside of work and seeing their reactions when I told them that I worked on something that they had obviously enjoyed. It sounds like total cheese when people say stuff like "I do it for you guys, the fans." But it's totally true. To phrase it a little more selfishly: The feeling I got when I saw someone genuinely react to something I worked on was the best feeling in the world.

Hey. Im hoping to be a game designer one day and i have some questions.

1)Do you prefer AAA game development or indie? Why?

2)What is your favourite programming language/engine?

3)What is your most important advice for newcomers to the industry?

1)Do you prefer AAA game development or indie? Why?

They both have their benefits. The steady paycheck and built-in work friends of AAA is really nice, I miss both of those. The complete freedom of being indie is exhilarating. If I had a family to take care of, I would be looking for a steady paycheck. Since I enjoyed that bounty for a while, I'm able to live off savings and try my hand at being Indie. I wouldn't suggest going full-time Indie until you've got a lot of experience or you've got someone to pay your bills for you.

2)What is your favourite programming language/engine?

My dirty secret is that I'm really not much of a programmer. This project has taught me a lot of things, but most importantly it's taught me that.

I'm confident in my scripting ability, and I think in todays age of free game engines, that's all you really need.

I built this game in Unity, using the Futile framework, which is C3 based. I really enjoy working with an engine that does the heavy lifting for me. I prefer LUA, but that might just be because I've spent more time with it.

3)What is your most important advice for newcomers to the industry?

Create. At every stage you should be making things on your own time. If you're working at a fast food restaurant or a huge AAA studio, you should be doing SOMETHING on your off-time that is different from work and excites you.

Your Mobygames said you worked on Cataclysm, what did work on in that expansion?

I was on a strike team for Cataclysm. I played the game earlier than other internal testers and gave my feedback (but not so early that I could stop the abomination that was Vashj'ir). I was working on the Diablo 3 team at the time.

which is the worst system or platform to develop for, and how would you design the dream console to develop for?

That's a really interesting question. I'm about to dive into porting my current game to Android and I'm afraid of all the millions of configurations for screen ratios and processing power/memory constraints... there's just so many devices that it's impossible to test them all.

My dream console would probably be a version of AR that accurately tracks the players hands and movement. Removing any barrier of controller and screen is really exciting to me.

Lode Runner, Dig Dug or Donkey Kong?

I'm gonna assume you're referring to the original, and BRUTALLY difficult Donkey Kong, not the platformer by Rare.

I played Lode Runner on the C64, but I was so young that I barely remember it.

I've definitely got the fondest memories of Dig Dug... it was probably tuned a little too easy for the arcade, but it was fun to actually feel liek you were getting somewhere on a single quarter.

I have a lot of questions so I might have multiple comments, so forgive me if you see me ask a lot. Question: What game inspired you to be a game designer or made you want to make games?

When I was younger I played PC games CONSTANTLY. I had a computer in my house since the day I was born (It was a TI-89 at first, followed by a C64, then a 286). I played SOOOOOO many games and eventually discovered Q-BASIC and snake. It blew my mind that I could change something in the code and have ti affect how the game was played. From then on, I knew it was something I had to do.

How did you get into the game industry?

I started out working in customer service as an EverQuest Game Master. I asked everyone working on the game how they got where they were and most of the designers were GMs that got accepted to the apprenticeship program. I became an apprentice and worked my way on to a team, doing their grunt work like naming trash loot in a spreadsheet for months on end.

• cracked bone chips
• brittle bone chips
• shattered bone chips
• cracked bone shards
• brittle bone shards
• shattered bone shards
• ad infinitum

Slowly I got to do real design work and learned a lot from watching others.

Is an apprenticeship still a viable option for someone looking to break into the video game industry?

I'm not aware of companies that still offer them. Any way that you can get your foot in the door is good, but you'll probably have to work on your own outside of work hours to prove that you're determined and capable. I'd suggest looking for entry level positions at bigger companies: QA, CS, Facilities, Support... whatever... if you get an interview ask them if there's a career path that leads to where you want to be. If they say no, ask them if they're comfortable with you trying to start one.

Do you have any tips on how to become a good game designer?

There are some great books out there. The defacto standard is Jesse Schell's Art of Game Design. In this day and age there are so many tools to let you get started making your own game. I say just do it. Pick up Unity or Unreal and just make SOMETHING... it'll probably suck at first, my first game was terrible, but it was fun to see something I made just be interactive, if not fun. Eventually, if you keep at it, it'll get better.

Couple of questions I've been wanting to get a serious, non-bias answer to:

• Why are so many PC games released in an almost unplayable state? AC: Unity, CoD: Ghosts, Batman etc

• Do developers actually believe 30fps is more cinematic than 60fps or is it simply because the game was designed for consoles and it's too difficult to port?

Thanks!

• Why are so many PC games released in an almost unplayable state? AC: Unity, CoD: Ghosts, Batman etc

I can't say for those titles specifically, but it's usually a date that was agreed to far ahead of time by someone really far up the chain. As the game gets closer to release the entire team is most likely trying to get the date pushed. The folks in charge aren't willing to budge, so everyone goes into triage mode and focuses on fixing the worst offending bugs (or, god forbid, just trying to get all the of the content in and deal with bugs later).

• Do developers actually believe 30fps is more cinematic than 60fps or is it simply because the game was designed for consoles and it's too difficult to port?

It always comes down to trade off, you can ALWAYS hit 60fps if you're willing to get rid of something else. Usually the "something else" isn't worth getting rid of. Either there are so many things that rely on each other that it's too difficult to pull one of them without affecting others, or folks just don't think 60fps is that important to anyone but a small (but very vocal) minority.

Personally, I'll take a steady frame rate with pretty effects over a framerate that spikes, sometimes hits 60, or looks super bare bones in the name of fluidity.

A lot of gamers want to be game designers, thinking they just get to play video games all day. What are some things that a game designer does that really aren't all that glamorous or fun?

The vast majority of making games isn't glamorous. Every single thing that exists in a game has to be implemented. The more polished your game is, the more time you spend looking at mundane details and adding in all kinds of fluff that doesn't have anything to do with the fun part of the game. Whether that be entering tons of values into a spreadsheet or trying to figure out which asset in your scene of 10,000 objects is causing the framerate hitch.

What is your college background? What do you study to have so awesome jobs?

Im interested on working on some of this company but does not have any skills so i want to develop them, what do you recommend start doing for someone like me to get where you have been?

Btw, your game looks awesome, congratulations!

I didn't actually go to college. I started working in customer service just after high school. An apprenticeship and on the job training got me to where I am now.

Back when I started there wasn't any sort of game specific education, nor did we have all the tools necessary to easily make games on our own. If you're looking to get into games now, I would suggest making a demo, in addition to showing a potential employer that you're capable and determined, it's also the best way to learn.

The industry has also progressed to a point where getting your foot in the door is more and more difficult to do. Once you know what kind of work you want to do, I would study something in school that supports that. A game specific college isn't necessary, but if you want to be a designer, they can help you find a good path.

Thanks for checking out my game!

Do you have any fond memories of Asheron's Call?

Also, how, if at all possible, can an average guy get his video game idea heard by major companies? I'm starting with mobile games, but hope a fortune allows me to create a game I've been imagining for over a decade. Seems a more reasonable approach than a random and unlikely meeting with executives who could care less about what I think.

Also, what's been you're funniest experience while just walking around (anywhere).

I somehow never got into playing AC.

Sadly, I don't really think most companies are interested in just an idea. You've got to bring something more than just the idea to the table. If you've worked your idea into a playable prototype, you're on the right path, but you've still got to prove to someone that you're worth investing in. It's a long way between working in the games industry and your game idea being something that an entire studio will get behind. Granted I didn't take the most direct route, but this is the first game I've worked on that's based around my idea, and I've been doing this since 1999.

My most fun experience just walking around? I love walking. San Francisco is one of my favorite places to walk because each neighborhood has such a different vibe. You can feel them change as you cross from one block to the next.

Once I was walking through the Tenderloin (an area that's pretty dirty and has a high crime rate) during the day and this guy runs past me on the sidewalk at full sprint. He jumps up into the air and slaps a street sign so hard that it sounded like a drum symbol. Everyone on the street looks at him trying to figure out what's going on. He busts into a touchdown dance and looks disgusted when nobody joins him. He then shouts the greatest phrase I've heard in my entire life before sprinting off in another direction. He looked at all the people around him and bellowed: "THIS DIMENSION IS BORING!"

Hi, As a high schooler reasonably well with computers, what course should I pursue to be a game developer? What is your education and did you wanted to become a game developer?

I would highly highly HIGHLY recommend looking into programming/computer science courses. Learning how to program is the most amazing thing. Realizing the power that comes with getting a computer to do whatever you want is my favorite experience I've ever had... and I'm a pretty terrible programmer!

Once you know how to code, you're not just limited to games. You can do whatever you feel like.

Who are the people that prevent you from doing effortless but drastical changes? For example, buffing Diablo 3 drop rates by 10x.

Now that I'm on my own, I've done this a few times and regretted it... I've also done it a few times and it worked out wonderfully.

When you're at a large company there's lots of checks and balances, usually drastic changes skew lots of things and affect lots of other systems. Making a drastic change may be effortless, but taking the time to study all of the other affected systems is time consuming for people across multiple disciplines. I think it's smart to be wary of drastic changes.

Diablo 3 drop rates are a good example because they started off as a fun thing where people were willing to overlook the repercussions in the name of fun. Doing so they were able to get a good look at how it affected everything, eventually determining that it didn't throw the entire game out of whack.

What's your favorite class and build in d3?

I actually haven't logged in for a while, but my main was a DH. I got him up to the point where he had TnT w/ a full Marauder's set bonus (before the big change)... To be honest, I think I stopped playing because the tactics for that class just forced you to lay down turrets and dance around. I liked it more when the class was about balancing offensive and defensive maneuvers.

As someone with decent computer knowledge, but not much with coding etc, what do you think the best steps to become a game master (or customer support) for a company, use blizzard for example, would be? It's something that has interested me for a while, and now that I'm 25 and want to get into the field, want your personal opinion on the matter!! Thanks for everything man! Can't wait for your game to hit Android!

Customer Support is usually an entry level position. That may not be the case for "top tier" companies like Blizzard, Valve, or Riot, but you should be able to find a job like that without much direct experience at a mid-tier company. I'd try and see if there are any openings in a city near where you live. Brush up on your game knowledge for the games they make and similar games by competitors. For customer support, have a good understanding of writing. If you've got experience doing anything where you interact with a customer, like retail or food service, that'll probably give you a leg up.

do you ever think there's gonna be this massive nuclear holocaust, and after all the major nations are destroyed there'll just be the tribes in the jungles, and they'll rise up and survive, and jungle warfare is gonna rule the world?

You mean again?