Blurring the Lines

The movie industry has had nearly 100 years to perfect its medium. It started with a very simple black and white film with the only sound produced by a piano that was played in the theater itself. They had virtually no script and even less in the way of props.

Today the movie industry is one of the biggest entertainment mediums around. With entire teams of concept designers and script writers, not to mention the directors, props managers and makeup crews, there is virtually an entire army of people working to produce a blockbuster film. Each one of these people make a huge contribution to the film and the movie would not be a big hit, if each one didn’t put his or her ‘all’ into the production.

The same cannot be said about the games industry. The games industry does often have a team of people working to produce the script, concepts and storyline of a game, however they are rarely professionals in that area. I’d like to point out that each games company has a small army in itself working to produce a game, from the design team to the modellers, to the animation team, level design staff, sound techs, lighting crew, motion capture team, programmers and not to forget the quality and assurance staff. Each has a vital role to play in the making of a game.

The problem lies in the fact that a common misconception is that the models, animations, levels, programming, and sound are the most important part of a game. To a certain degree this is true, each game must have a strong design team otherwise the scripts etc. will be found lacking.

The design team starts off by producing a ‘treatment document’, while the terminology may change the essential elements of this document are the same. The ‘treatment document’ is a small two to four page document that is supposed to sell the idea to the financial backers. With a brief outline of the storyline, gameplay elements, characters and even some concept art, the ‘treatment document’ is arguably the most important document that is produced, without it there would be no game. It sells the game to the publishing house and is the base for the ‘design document’.

Once a game concept has been approved for production, a team is assembled to produce the primary ‘design document’ that will show every element of the game from beginning to end. It will contain the detailed storyline, script, characters, model types, level layout and many other important elements for each of the designers can follow. There are also many concept art images so the character modellers can follow its direction, as well as landscape and model images for the level designers and props modellers. The ‘design document’ is one of the largest documents around. I remember doing a very limited ‘design document’ for part of a level, for my degree and it was over 40 pages long (double sided). If I had a lot longer I could easily have tripled that figure. The 40 page document only gave details to the end of the first level as well.

Let’s just say that the design team has their work cut out for them. However this is where the problem lies. A design team should really be comprised of professionals in each of the fields involved. There are a few game companies that have hired professional script writers for their games, and those games often become the blockbuster hits. Often the script writer, in game companies, produced substandard work and we, the players, can easily see the poor work produced by the design team. Each design team needs to be made up of professionals in their field, a person who has worked on TV or Movie scripts, is a huge advantage. As an example: for character creation and wardrobe there should be a professional costume designer to produce a great idea for the characters and their wardrobe, which is then sent to a concept artist who’ll stylize the costumes, all of which can then be sent to the character modeller.

The quality of a game has to be consistent throughout its production, from the design team to the coders, modelers, animators, sound and lighting crew, and then to the testers. Each part of the production is vitally important. There must be a balance to producing a game, if even one element is not up to a professional level it can turn a blockbuster game that sells millions of copies to a game that is considered fun however struggles to make it out of the gutter. Until game design companies work this out we are going to be surrounded by many games that fall short simply because they have lost their understanding of how important balance can be. Each element of making a game has to be as important as each other, forming a balance that makes each part of the design process as important as the each other. This is not to mean that they should slack on everything but to excel at every part of the game!

There is also one element that is very often lacking in the design process: the testers and quality monitors. These people are supposed to test the hell out of a game to make sure there are no bugs, graphical glitches and to make sure each elements of the game looks and works perfectly. These people are supposed to report any problems with the game mechanics as well as flaws in the script. However, this is often the one element upon which a games design company spends the least amount of time and money. Sony has entire facilities dedicated to testing games and reporting each and every failure. Valve have a great testing department, where they check every single element and area of a game to make sure everything from the character animations, models, levels and so much more, are perfectly aligned with the game and its original intent.

Each element of a game is supposed to be at a strong balance with the other aspects. One day game companies will realize they are supposed to use the same type of people to make their games, as who are making the films and movies. As an example I have seen many games that are based on blockbuster films and the storyline element of the game is terrible. Yes, it follows the film but, that in itself is the problem. Films are set up very differently to games and a game that has come from a film should be designed like any other blockbuster game. From scratch they should decide if the current storyline of the film is appropriate for the game. If not, then they should redesign it for the game, using the same major points but not being tied down to the exact scene by scene movement of the film. The designers shouldn’t be afraid of introducing new scenes to the game or putting in levels that you don’t see in the film.

Game designers need to look closer at the movie industry and utilize the skills that are involved there and to ensure that each element of every game uses the best person for that field. As game companies employ people from the film industry we’ll be seeing a much stronger and more solid games industry.

As the train of thought of game designers becomes more in keeping with film designers, there will be a blurring of the lines. One day you’ll look at a trailer and wonder is this for a game or for a film. When you play the game you’ll be thinking this would work great as a film and you’ll enjoy the game itself just as much as if you were watching a blockbuster movie.

The day will come that games will have the same hype as films and people who would not normally play games would be playing them simply because of the quality that is put into making the game. This is the day I long for!