SXSW Interactive: March 13-17, 2009

Paul Tozour, Design Lead for Intel’s Project Offset, sat down to discuss design ideas in our second installment of inspirational interviews for the ScreenBurn at SXSW’s Game Design Competition. To submit your idea, click here, the deadline for entries is this Friday, December 5.

SXSW: What games have you previously worked on?
Paul Tozour: I've worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Deus Ex: Invisible War, MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, and WarBreeds. I'm currently the Design Lead on Project Offset at Intel.

SXSW: What do you use for inspiration?
PT: Inspiration can come from anywhere -- for me, I usually find I'm overwhelmed with ideas just as I'm trying to get to sleep, and I end up jumping out of bed and running to the kitchen to find something to write it down on so I can give it a try when I go in to work the next day. [Note from Michael T: this is why I sleep with a digital recorder on my nightstand]

My biggest problem is usually not in coming up with ideas in the first place but picking the best out of all the ideas and piecing them together into a coherent and unified whole. 90% of my best ideas have never made it into any of the games I've worked on -- not because there was anything wrong with those ideas, but because they didn't fit with the game we were making at the time, or they weren't technically feasible, or they would require us to redesign something else, or because there wasn't enough time in the schedule to make them happen.

Game development is much more about changing, molding, combining, and very often discarding ideas to create a single well-crafted experience than trying to find any one magical idea.

SXSW: Any suggestions for up and coming game designers and / or programmers?
PT: Stay humble and learn as much as you can. Force yourself to play a lot of games you wouldn't normally play. Read Joseph Campbell's A Hero With a Thousand Faces and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow and the proceedings of past Game Developers’ Conferences.

Remember that a skilled team is a million times more important than any individual. You will never succeed on your own.It's important to play games, but it's even more important to analyze them:

What makes them fun? Talk to your friends about the games you play, and when you find that you disagree about a particular game, drill down and find out why you disagree.

Did you play the game differently and end up with different experiences, or did you have different reactions to the same experience? If you had different reactions to similar experiences, why did one of you find it entertaining and the other not have the same reaction?

When you get an idea you think is good, build lots of prototypes, and be ready to be surprised when it works out differently in your prototype than it does in your imagination.

Don't try too hard to force a game to match the perfect idea you have in your mind -- games are a medium where the canvas doesn't just fight you, it sometimes starts to take on a life of its own, outside of anyone's control.

Be prepared for that, and be ready to throw away your preconceived notions of what it is you're building and listen to what the game is telling you it wants to be.

"So....? Did you enter?"

The student looks confused, "Enter what?"

"The game idea you told us about in our last session. Did you enter it into the 2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW Game Design Competition?"

"Oh that! Nah, I think I missed the deadline. I probably wouldn't win anything, anyway."

"Are you really going to give up that easily? You still have time. The entry deadline isn't until the end of this week. We all thought it was a great idea, didn't we?"

The class chatters enthusiastically. "YES! It was great!"

"See! This is too easy not to try. You've already done most of the work. You're idea is well organized and fully fleshed-out. Now all you have to do is write a description in 200 words or less, then go to the website and fill out the simple online application form. On Friday, January 16th 10 semi-finalists will be announced in each category. You know you're idea is strong enough to get at least that far, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, I do."

"And all semi-finalists who send in a final slideshow presentation that graphically illustrates their idea will be give a FREE 2009 SXSW Interactive registration. That's all the great Interactive festival panels, keynotes, book readings, parties, networking and fun, plus access to all ScreenBurn at SXSW activities, for FREE if your idea is chosen as semi-finalist. I think that's worth entering, don't you?"

"You know what? It is! I'd be crazy not to give it shot."

"That's what I like to hear."

In honor of the day in which we are allowed to eat as much as we want without the judgment of others, we here at SXSW would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy spending time with your friends and family, watching football (even if the Seahawks, Lions and Eagles are a combined 7-23-1), and giving thanks for all the things that make your life great. We'll be back next week with new announcements about programming and our new Accelerator showcase, and we'll be quickly approaching entry deadlines for the both the Screenburn Game Design Competition and the Web Awards.

Given the huge numbers of bloggers, mainstream media and tech industry taste-makers who attend the event, SXSW Interactive provides a great venue to launch your web-based product or service. For 2009, we have made this process that much easier with the addition of yet another element to our umbrella of March activities. Scheduled Monday, March 16 at the Downtown Hilton, SXSW Accelerator will highlight innovative online audio / video technologies as well as the latest ideas in social networking tools. Click here for more information -- or e-mail Chris Valentine for complete details.

With the addition of ScreenBurn at SXSW, video games have become an even bigger part of all that is cool about Austin in March. Learn more about this medium by attending the numerous panels on this topic at the 2009 event. This week, we have added several more video game sessions to the mix including "Guitar Hero Mobile: From Console to Mobile" and "iPhone: The New Gaming Platform". See the most current lineup of SXSW Interactive programming by clicking on the Panel Page. Also be sure to check out all the new Core Conversations that have been confirmed in the last few days. Ready, set, SXSW, go!

Photo courtesy of Cassie Wright.

To the Green Room that is. This "backstage" lounge of the Interactive Festival is where the hundreds of festival speakers go to prep their panel, enjoy complimentary beverages or just get away from it all. Sponsorship of the Green Room provides direct exposure to the industry leaders and taste-makers at SXSW. To learn how your company can take advantage of this unique opportunity or other premier marketing opportunities, please contact Katie King.

Ken Eklund, designer of the award-winning ARG WORLD WITHOUT OIL, sat down with us to discuss avenues of inspiration for those future game designers wanting to submit to the Game Design Competition at ScreenBurn at SXSW.

SXSW: What games have you previously worked on?
KE:My latest game was WORLD WITHOUT OIL (2007), a prescient, massively collaborative online "historical pre-enactment" of a global oil crisis. And that kind of serious, socially relevant alternate reality game is my project of choice these days – especially those that create playful “what if?” spaces that invite public participation.

Before ARGs, I had about 18 years' experience as a freelance game designer and writer. I worked on at least two-dozen titles, including a Star Trek game, some great kids' games, and some classic DnD RPGs.

SXSW: What do you use for inspiration when thinking up new game concepts?
KE: Fun. I have a little alarm bell that goes off in my head when I start engaging with someone or something in a fun way. When the alarm goes off I think: this is fun, can I make a game out of this?

SXSW: Any suggestions for up and coming game designers?
KE: Bring your whole self into the design process. It's a trope these days that too many games are by gamers for gamers. Games have roles to play in making people's lives better. And that will never happen if game designers don't bring their own morals and dreams for tomorrow into their games.

When I look at the world today, I see troubles ahead, which I think can only be avoided if we can find some way to get people organized in huge democratic collaborations that envision some other future and how to make it happen instead. And I think games are that organizing principle, the way in which this will get done.

The future is: play for a purpose!

SXSW: What’s your vision for the future of gaming?
Ever since WORLD WITHOUT OIL, there's been an explosion of interest in serious alternate reality games as a fun way to get people engaged with real-world issues and to explore alternative futures. So I think that players can look for more games like it in 2009, and I encourage them to add their narrative-building skills to these projects. ARGN, the Alternate Reality Game Network, is a great place to start.