Instructinator

This is a questionnaire for an application I did a few years back, It should answer some of the questions about what makes me a game designer.

Why are you (or were you), interested in joining the games industry?

I chose to pursue a career in the games industry at an early age. Since then I have been watching the industry grow. I keep a close eye on companies, games,  technologies, and the trends and fads the produce.  My goal has always been to make games. All of my free-form projects in high school, university, and media college always revolved around games in some way or another. Game design is what I have always wanted to do.

Why would a mission scripting position be appealing to you?

I am a fixer by nature. I have a critical eye, and I am always looking for ways to make something better with a simple tweak. My development experience has taught me time and time again that looking objectively at a mission or environment for ways to improve it, is never a waste of time.  Each detail of a triple A product needs to be carefully considered. On PS2, this is even more the case since what you see on a PC screen is not what you will get on the PS2 hardware sometimes. I worked with PS2 development kits during my internship at Factory One Games.

What games are you currently playing?

I am always playing Morrowind. I also just finished Doom 3, Far Cry, Fable, Zelda: Wind Waker, Thief 3, Sims 2, Burnout 3, and Mortal Kombat Deception. The list goes on and on, I try to play a bit of everything that comes out, and any recomendations from my peers in the industry.
What is one of your favorite games, and how would you make it even better?

A console game that is a favorite and flawed is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Why do they make you have a sail item, for your boat, that you must go into the menu every time and re-equip, if you only ever get one sail? Shouldn’t the boat just automatically swap your inventory? Or have the sail as a function of the boat itself? Add to that the travel times between islands; one of the worst things I find about this game. Simply adding faster/better sails for the players would have made this game a lot better. They already have an item with stats, just duplicate and alter the object, hide it in the water somewhere, done. Or if they wanted to be good about it, they could make a dungeon for finding the fast sail. This would make a reason for it to be an item, solve the travel time issue, and add content and depth at the same time.
What game genre(s) do you prefer, if any?

I play everything from Massive Multiplayer Online Games like World of Warcraft, to simple puzzle  games like Tetris. I really enjoy first person shooter action games, the first person perspective is interesting because the perspective is the avatar, but beyond that it is in the first person engines from Epic and id that we often get to see the new level of graphics for the first time. Those engines are used to create all sorts of games for the coming years. It’s fun to play them in their original state.

Do you prefer PC or console games? Why?

I do not favor one or the other, I have all the consoles and my PC is always up-to-date.  I prefer first person on PC, and action/adventure on console. Also I like the PC for its ability to allow me to create my own content for the games I play.
Describe your role on the last game you worked on, if applicable.

Neosaka: The Forgotten was the last project I worked on. It is a mod for UT2004 over a 9 month development cycle.  I was the team lead, or ‘Director’ of the project. I had final say on all aspects, helped design the levels, created assets, all of the marketing materials, scheduling, recruiting for outside help like audio, and video.  I fixed-up allot of the textures, did all of the interface design and assets, and fixed a lot of the scripts in the game.

But for the most part my job was to make the team run smoothly, and make sure that things got done on time and at quality. I resolved lots of team issues and even huge technical crises (like when all of our animation data became un-useable with only 1 month left).  In the end we pulled together a very nice presentation and our mod has made it into the finals for the Make Something Unreal Competition. You can take a look and download a copy at www.neosaka.com

Have you done any scripting or programming before?

I learned Java at UNB, and I have been using JavaScript for the past 5 years. My best language is Lingo. I made a very good living doing Director CD-Roms and Shockwave back in New Brunswick for many years while I was going to school there. But even as far back as high school I was coding games from scratch in Qbasic.

Have you done any game, mission, or level design work before?

I have done level design for X2, and Factory One’s Soccer Skillz. I have scripted dozens of missions in Morrowind. I have lots of documentation and game design experience from school, and the projects I worked on as I was attending. Also, I did a lot of game, mission, and level design for Neosaka. The Dojo level in Neosaka is all my work.

List some elements you have used to make your levels or missions exciting, if applicable.

A good mission is comprised of a series of moments, and a good risk/reward scenario. I like to design the objective (reward) and the situation (risk) first. Then create an interesting series of moments to take the player through it. In Neosaka this pattern can be seen over and over again. Each moment is punctuated with a cinematic. The rewards are the power-ups, and the risk is running through the museum full of guards as you try to make your escape.

What world-building or 3D packages are you familiar with, if any?

I am very comfortable with TES Construction Set (Morrowind) and UnrealEd (UT3). I have also used Aurora (Neverwinter Nights), Woldcraft (Halflife), and RED (Red Faction). As for 3D, I am most comfortable in Maya, but my first 3D package was 3D Studio Max. I have also worked in: LightWave, RayDream, Poser, Bryce, Canoma, and Carrara.

What role in game development would you eventually like to take on, and why?

I would like to become a producer. I have been a competent manager on a variety of independent projects and have no trouble taking a leading role. I enjoy the work of scheduling and problem solving. So a management position seems like a good place for me eventually.