PAX 2008: Power-ups to the people

SEATTLE--Over the course of the three-day Penny Arcade Expo, there is perhaps no conference session, no concert performance, no gamer-centric activity that suits the show better than the panel discussion on Democratizing Design. After all, PAX itself is the product of gamers with a do-it-yourself mentality who turned a gleefully vulgar webcomic into a successful business, a thriving charity, and of course, a rapidly growing open-to-the-public gaming convention.

As has become a common sight at PAX, a line of attendees snaked through the Washington Convention Center's corridors, waiting to pack the intimate "Wolfman Theatre" to the gills with would-be game developers. Although the event program didn't advertise the panelists, attendees were rewarded for their patience by a worthy panel consisting of Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft veteran Mark DeLoura, Daxter producer and EA creative director Michael John, former EA designer Will Kerslake, and Reset Generation executive producer Scott Foe. As moderator, Foe set the tone for the entire discussion straight away.

"Anybody can make a game," Foe stressed. "And if you take anything away from this conversation, I ask you to take that."

But the process of actually making a game can be a difficult one. To help would-be designers get off on the right foot, Foe asked the panel what the first thing designers need to consider when making a game, before they've even decided on what type of game they're going to make.

Kerslake answered first, saying the first things a designer needs to consider are the capabilities of the team that will be working on the game. "Building a game is complicated and difficult to do," he said. "There are a whole bunch of places where you can fall down. But if you focus on what you're good at, you can make it work."

John took a different tack, saying designers need to ask themselves why they're making the game in the first place.

"That's the underlining principle behind all good game design," John said. "Games are always meant to be played by someone that isn't you, and in my opinion, that means asking why. Why would I do this? If you know the answer to that one question that informs all your decisions later."

Foe also asked the panelists about different methods of prototyping that may help aspiring developers ensure their ideas are fun before they commit to a full project. John said that prototyping with board games or card games has become popular, although it does have its own problems. While his team was prototyping The Godfather II for EA, Kerslake got so caught up in prototyping the game's strategy elements with a board game mock-up that they began making a better board game where not every aspect would map well to a video game.

DeLoura added that a key aspect of prototyping was that it be possible to quickly iterate on ideas and try them out. He also talked about his time with Nintendo, and the way that company's famed designer Shigeru Miyamoto would oversee the prototyping process.

When Nintendo added a development team, DeLoura said the Mario creator would task the team with a series of simple month-long projects, like making a car driving on a track or a character doing backflips. After a few such assignments, Miyamoto would get a feel for what the team was good at, and then they would create a game based around those skills.

The panel discussion wrapped up with a demonstration from Kerslake to show how quickly ideas could become prototypes. He showed off to the audience a foosball game he'd made using Microsoft's freely distributed XNA development tools. While the game had a variety of issues--John picked up the controller and shortly thereafter joked, "This is all smoke and mirrors, kids"--the game worked. What's more, Kerslake built the whole thing in a weekend.

"Give it a shot," he told the crowd. "The tools are out there for you to play with."

For more from the convention, check out GameSpot's complete coverage of Penny Arcade Expo 2008.