lessons from the 90's

LESSONS FROM THE 90'S

What We Believed Then and Why it Matters Now

Brief Bio From 1989-1999

worked on AAA titles

In 1999 -2011 took a break from games

In 2011 revived by Playdom

How Different Can It Be?

File Sharing

…now

How different can it be?

File Sharing

…then

How different can it be?

Communication

…now

email

How different can it be?

Communication

…then

email

How different can it be?

How different can it be?

Target Audience

…now

How different can it be?

Target Audience

…then

So… have you fought any imperials lately?

I’ve been.. away

What makes you think you can fight imperials in today’s rebellion?

I was fighting imperials when you were a tadpole. I know how to fight imperials

…. the Interview

rules that still work(aka fighting imperials101)

There are lessons that we can draw from making games in the 90’s that serve us well today

Because of the differences in market and environment perhaps they are durable

Lessons We Can Learn:

Lesson 1: be earnest; love your audience; love your characters

So much of movie acting is in … loving your characters. I try to know them, and with that intimacy comes love. And now, I love Voldemort.

Ralph Fiennes

Examples Outside of Games:

• (US) Advertising• Politics• And any other kind of confidence game

be earnest; love your audience; love your characters

Lessons We Can Learn:

Lesson 2: a clear story

a clear story

It takes seven seconds for us to judge another person when we first meet them.

Most healthy teenagers and adults are unable to sustain attention on one thing for more than about 20 minutes at a time

Lessons We Can Learn:

Lesson 3: size matters

size matters!

size matters With floppies, size

meant cost of goods

CDs and DVDs, size management went out the window

Now, size matters again both in loading time and server processor cycles

Lessons we can learn:

Lesson 4: the theater of the mind is alive and well

Love story? Chinese New Year?

theater of the mind

"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water."

- Death In the Afternoon, Hemingway

theater of the mind

Lessons we can learn:

Lesson 5: understand need versus want and what risk of originality you can afford

Originality Risk: Want vs Need

Jose Ortega Y GassetSome Lessons in Metaphysics

Want: to desire more of something that existsNeed: to crave something that does not yet exist

Originality Risk: Your Decision

• A sequel to a movie, a second episode of a show or playing a game “from an established genre”, are fulfilling a ‘wants’

• The majority of economic activity is ‘want’ fulfilling

• There is an established desire for it, as long as you can recreate or slightly improve on the status quo – society is set up for this

• ‘Needs’ are tricky/risky because there is no roadmap

• No guarantee that people share your need

• Some original games can be a runaway success, start a new genre, create new wants

• In the end, you make the money off of the ‘want’ – maybe you arrived there from a ‘need’, but it’s the ‘want that paid off

One of the newest things I had to learn

Casual gamers are like hardcore gamers but they wont put up with your bullshit

ConclusionThank you for putting up with my B***t

Q&A

Additional Questions and Comments?dmcclure@playdom.com