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Posted November 25, 2012 by Dan Spiler in Features
 
 

Game Schools: A Look At The Faculty

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As game schools become more popular and abundant, finding the right one for you can be a bit of a chore. Luckily, I did my undergrad in one, and am currently doing my post-grad in another. I found my education was, and continues to be, pretty well-rounded, and it’s in large part due to the faculty I interface with on a daily basis. To that end, I’ll be interviewing some of those faculty to better give potential game-schoolers an idea of the kinds of people a good game school employs.

For my first interview, I’ll be featuring Brad Furminger. Many of you will remember the Gamecube gem ‘Eternal Darkness‘, but you might not know that Brad was the Lead Designer for the game. He was also involved on Too Human (before it transformed into a hideous pile of slime), as well as a few other games. He’s a really interesting guy, and he loves his gamerscore (something he mentions at least once a week), and he’s also a Professor of Game Design Development. Check out what he has to say about gaming, design, and the best games of all time.

 

What first got you interested in games?

My first console was a Coleco Telstar Pong clone back in the 70′s. I knew from that moment that I was hooked. Imagine the hours we spent playing such a simple and nondescript game compared to the level games are at today. That first experience fueled an obsession that turned into a career in development and a lifelong love affair with gaming. It wasn’t until years after my first experiences that I became interested in pursuing gaming as a career. That moment of inspiration came while playing Sierra On-Line’s King’s Quest game on my PCjr. Something about that game clicked with me, and I became determined to pursue a career in game development. It took awhile to get there, but eventually I realized my dream.

 

What was the first amateur game or game-related media that you ever made?
The first amateur game I made was actually a board game which I made for a school project in the sixth grade. I don’t remember much about it, but I do recall it was based on Greek mythology and included some basic strategic elements.
Where did you get your start in the industry?

After working 6 or 7 years in the retail gaming sector, I met a number of Silicon Knights employees who regularly stopped into the store I worked at in order to satisfy their gaming fixes. I would engage in regular lengthy discussions with them about games, and abstractly about game theory and design. Most of these conversations took place with Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights. I must have impressed him, because I was invited to the Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain launch party, at which an interview was set up for the following week. The interview went well, and eventually I was offered a position as a Game Designer with the studio in 1998 – specifically to work on Too Human (for the original PlayStation).

 

What kinds of projects, both successful and cancelled, have you worked on before moving on to the company that you’re most noted for working at?

SK is the company I’m probably most noted for working at. While I was there, I served as a Lead Designer on Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and both the PS1 and GameCube versions of Too Human. I moved off Too Human shortly after work began on the Xbox 360 version, and led the Design team on the unreleased project recently revealed as The Box. Most of my career has been spent developing action adventures, or action RPGs, though I have also done unreleased work in the music/rhythm genre as well.

What was the title/role you held for the longest time or that you enjoyed the most, and what was a typical day like for someone in your role?

I held the title of Lead Designer the longest – almost my entire career. I can’t really tell you what my typical day was like, because there was seldom a “typical” day. Every day brought something different – which was a great part of the job. I spent my time in a lot of meetings, and engaged in a lot of informal discussion with other members of the Design, Code, and Art teams. Design really has to interface with all departments very closely, and my role as a Lead made me the principal point of contact on a number of issues. It wasn’t all glamour and rock star fantasy that many people may perceive it to be. In addition to working to generate creative content and craft fun and exciting gameplay experiences, there is a lot of documentation, people management, risk mitigation, project management, and quality assurance that goes with the territory.

 

Now for some fun personal questions! If you could work with any one designer or developer that you haven’t worked with before, who would it be?

I’m sure that I really would have liked to work with Ken Levine of Irrational Studios, or Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions. Ken was behind a couple of my favourite adventures, being System Shock 2 and BioShock. And Tim is simply a living legend. I respect the work he did way back on Full Throttle, and he continues to expand the envelope with uniquely creative ideas today. I’d also love to work with David Crane, who really set my world on fire with Pitfall! back in my early days.

What are your top 5 games on your smartphone?

My phone is for phone calls. I get plenty of gaming done on my Xbox 360 these days. I still have a huge backlog of games on my shelf that I’m in the process of completing.

 

What are your top 3 games of all time, and what about them makes them your favourite?

With a gaming habit that has spanned over 30 years, that’s an almost impossible question to answer. Here are some highlights that immediately come to mind, though I’m sure I’ll think of many more by the time I’m done:
  – Truckin’ (Imagic, Intellivision)- There was something incredibly fulfilling about choosing a cargo and plotting a route across the continental US in a big rig that had more depth than any Intellivision game I had played to date.
– Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady, Xbox 360) – Superhero games have had a colourful history to say the least. It was great to see one really make you feel like you were the title character. The grace and fluidity with which the Dark Knight executes his combat combos is like a well-orchestrated dance number. Pure magic.
 - MVP Baseball 2005 (Electronic Arts, Xbox) – Yes, I put a sports game in here. These days I have difficulty finishing a full season in most sports games. But in this one I played every game on the schedule for all 4 levels of my team (A, AA, AAA, and the Majors) for three full seasons. That’s somewhere around  1800 games. And it was all about the gameplay, without just enough focus on the presentation.
– Goldeneye 007 (Rare, Nintendo 64) – This game really made me a believer in 4-player couch co-op. So long as nobody cheaped out and took Oddjob. The campaign was also a ton of fun to play, and trying to beat the challenges at each difficulty level gave it a long lifespan in the cart slot of my 64.
– Star Castle (Cinematronics, Arcade) – As much as graphics have advanced over the years, the clean crisp lines of a vector-based arcade machine hold a special place in my heart. The simple elegance of Star Castle’s gameplay cost me more quarters than I could possibly remember back in the early 80s. I love my consoles, but I dearly miss the days when arcades were in full swing.
Honorable mention has to go to a number of titles that I still recall spending an incredible amount of time playing: Pitfall!, BurgerTime, Populous, Duke Nukem 3D, Tetris, Gyruss, R-Type, Lock ‘n Chase, Burnout, and Baldur’s Gate.

 

Any parting words of wisdom to your fellow developers in the industry and the newbies just breaking in? What about for potential/current students?
Never get too attached to an idea. Ideas are infinite, it’s the execution that really pulls things together. Sometimes an idea just doesn’t make sense for the project you’re working on, and you can’t take it personally if it gets shot down. If it’s a really unique one, file it away somewhere, because it may prove useful somewhere down the road. Though chances are, you’re going to come up with some even better ideas by then. A producer I once worked with gave me these words of wisdom: “The difference between a good Designer and a great Designer is being able to put a bullet in your baby’s brain.” A grim metaphor, but very true.

Play everything you can. You never know where inspiration can come from. And document your experiences. What did you like, what didn’t you like. How did the game make you feel? What would you have changed, and how would that have affected the overall design of the game? Think about all aspects of the game beyond core gameplay, from the visuals, to the menus, to the sound effects and music. As much as we learn best from our mistakes, it’s even better to learn from others’ mistakes. Games which don’t execute well can teach us just as much as games that fire on all cylinders. And don’t just stick to a genre where you’re comfortable. Are you a big FPS fan? How about trying an RTS, or an RPG, a racing game, or even some childrens’ games. You’d be amazed at the unique perspectives you can develop by exploring avenues you seldom travel.
Finally, make sure your communication skills are the best they can be. Communication breakdown can be the worst headache for any game project. Poor communication leads to wasted time, wasted money, and frustrated teammates. In the end, all these things are detrimental to the end product. Keeping everybody on the same page and abreast of any changes and why they take place, or subtle nuances of the game’s design, will ensure that the end result is polished, and cohesive.


Dan Spiler