Ardent Meridian

I have been writing code, in one form or another, for over 30 years.  I’ve built games at a hobby level, business and entertainment software at a commercial/shrink-wrapped level, and had my hand in projects that have, individually, touched almost half a billion people.

In short, I know my craft.

During that time, across the many and varied projects I have been involved in, I have worked with a wide variety of extremely smart and talented developers, some incredibly talented graphic artists and animators, and several musicians whose creations can literally move the soul.

These people have talent, dedication, skill and creativity – not to mention more ideas for things they want to try or tackle than they will ever have time for in their life-times.

During my time in the software world, there is another class of person I have come across repeatedly.  Some of them consider themselves “designers”, others just say they are “ideas people”.  But one thing they have all had in common is a near total absence of any actual skill or ability at all.

Now, before I say more, a true games designer is worth their weight in gold.  Whether that design is constrained to environment or level design, or is broader in scope and vision, understanding the medium, and the technical aspects of software and its engines is a crucial aspect of that role.  And this type of designer is usually skilled with one or more tool sets for creating geometry, scripted events, terrain layout, and so on.

In short, those designers are the sorts of people that create works like Gears of War or Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy or Gran Turismo.  They go beyond mere ideas and add to both the content and the delivery of the project as a whole.

Writers, too, for many genres, expand the overall experience for the player in ways that would be at best hokey (to the extent that modern games are not almost all clichés in one area or another), and at worst pointlessly shallow, without them.

All of these people are crucial to modern games development.  They are talented, hard-working, highly-skilled, and either experienced professionals, or motivated and enthusiastic hobbyists.  Some games put more or less emphasis on certain roles, but all are important in a general sense.

Now, bear with me, I am going somewhere with this …

I have recently been working on iPhone development.  It is a new, exciting, platform in a fast moving and dynamic environment.  The potential for a successful release, commercially or artistically, for the right, project is huge, and consequently there is enormous (and growing) interest and competition in that space right now.

On a few iPhone-centric message boards/forums that I participate in, I recently made a few posts looking for a specific type of graphic artist.  I know what style I want for the first three titles I am working on (a related series – if not something one might formally describe as a “trilogy”), and the quality of presentation I want far outstrips my artistic abilities.

I got two primary types of responses:

The first group were from actual graphic artists, either experienced in games work, or eager to break into that field, all of whom were coherent, could illustrate their thoughts and style, and had ideas/requirements about the type of compensation they sought or desired.

Some of these responses were from veterans with 20 years experience, some from high-school students with talent, and passion and just wanting to participate.  Almost all of them, across that spectrum, were realistic and capable.

To that group I say “Thank you!”

The second group were people that had, apparently, not read any further than “iPhone developer seeking …”.  All of those had “ideas” for games or applications that would be (in their opinion) “massive hits” … and almost all of them had precisely nothing but an idea – not so much as a story-board among the lot of them, and no implementation or design skills at all.

Ironically all of this second group seemed to think that the “idea” was by far the most valuable part of the process, and was worthy, all on its own, of at least half the total proceeds of the project.

In some, exceedingly rare, cases that might be true.

Take, for example, Alexey Pajitnov, creator not only of Tetris, but of the entire action-puzzle gaming genre. Or Peter Molyneux, generally considered instrumental in the invention of the “god game” genre, seminally represented by Populous.  Both are designers that have had a huge impact on gaming as a whole and their ideas truly have been vastly more important than the games that initially stemmed from their vision and conceptualization.

In my case though, the “ideas people” (their description, not mine) were not even close to this level.

A few examples of what I received from this second group includes such gems are:

i gotz a gr8 idea dat wud make $$$$$$$$$ bank!!!!! i wud make it but dont wanna lrn 2 program n dont wanna spend $$$$$ for a mac. ill tell u the idea but wanna 50% split

Yeah?

Sorry … assuming I did not already have more ideas, fostered over 30+ years playing and creating computer games, than I could ever hope to implement properly, the mere fact that you are less literate than the tomato plants in my garden means there is no chance, ever, of me even responding to you.

But still, 50% of proceeds, for an idea?

Yes, sure!

If that idea is another Tetris or Populous.

For anything less, that level of return is entirely delusional.

More than likely said idea would be no more developed than:

Write Metal Gear for the iPhone, but make it first person and have graphics like Crysis and  make it use cover like Gears of War, and have environments and interaction like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune!

Sure thing, getting right on that …

… just as soon as Apple invent a time machine and bring the “iPhone 20G-VR” forward in time 10 years.

And yes that was another actual suggestion I received.

All of this ignores the fact that I was just looking for someone to do the graphical aspects of a game I already wanted to build.  I have books full of my own ideas.  And if an idea is all you bring, or offer, it better damned-well be unique and not even vaguely derivative.

I think the most recent mail I received as a result of those posts is the most amusing though; or at least the most illustrative of the complete lack of cognitive function present in the vast array of people that wrote with “ideas” and yet possessed no “skills”.

And that was …

 

You should make a Michael Jackson app!!!!

Really?

For the iPhone?

What on Earth would it do that you could not already do with the built in browser, Google, You Tube, and the ability to play Michael Jackson’s music and movies (ripped from your own collection or purchased via the iTunes Store)?

You know, if I was cynical, and sufficiently bored (or at least out of things to stab myself in the eye with), I suppose I could hack something together in about 20 minutes that was Michael Jackson “themed”.  It would be entirely trivial to throw half a dozen, graphically adorned, buttons on a view and have them launch the browser or You Tube, or the iPod application with the search terms “Michael Jackson” …

I am just not that big a bastard.

On top of which, I would be very surprised if someone had not already beaten me to it.

Fundamentally though, this seems to be the level at which those peddling “ideas” seem to operate.  If your idea is so poorly developed, or you have so little belief in it that you are not willing or motivated enough to learn something that would let you contribute to its realization – well … the idea is probably worth less than the paper you would require to write it down on.

Typically about half a sheet of single-ply toilet paper would more than suffice!  And would be far more useful in “dealing” with your “idea” than anything I could throw up in code.

Seriously … if your idea is not worth your effort … why the hell would it be worth mine?

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