I am currently reading Gut Feelings: Short Cuts to Better Decision Making
However this post isn’t about the book (I’ll save that for when I’ve finished it and filled it full of post-its). It’s actually about what I’m doing on this site.
When I write a blog post I am not so much telling the world things or laying out facts. This is part of my learning process. By writing about the things I discover or have learnt I’m helping to improve my understanding of them. I actually use this blog as a mnemonic device. By the act of writing about a topic I am ushering that information into my unconscious and hopefully helping it to become intuitive.
In short I’m writing this for me and not you. If you find it helpful than I’m glad. But be aware that what you see on these pages is rarely ever backed up by anything resembling evidence or research. It’s either all cribbed from books I’ve read or lessons I’ve learnt so take it with a pinch of salt.
Like a lot of Designers I tend to operate on my gut instincts a lot. When generating a new design or mechanic I tend to operate on automatic, letting my instincts rule the creative process. I believe that in the early stages of Design when you are roughing out what you want this is the best way to operate. By Instinct. Our unconscious mind is powerful as anybody who does anything remotely Creative will attest. Companies pay a lot of money for people with good instincts.
There comes a point however when Instinct isn’t enough. When your design that you felt in your gut was perfect turns out to be exactly the opposite. For whatever reason nobody is having fun playing your game and you don’t know why.
This is why I feel that a good Designer never stops learning. A good Designer doesn’t copy what other games have done without first trying to understand why it’s worth copying.
There have been several movements within Games Design to try and create a lexicon or identify good mechanics and while I find this very honourable and interesting I often feel like a it is only focusing on “What or How” and not “Why”.
“Why” is a word that drills down to the core of a subject. It’s the basis of the Scientific Method and Philosophy. By continually asking “Why?” we might eventually get at the truth of things.
“Why?” is all about Critical Analysis.
I am reminded of my GCSE History lessons, I had a Teacher who was something of an inspiration to me (one of very few) who I believe taught me not just about dates and wars but taught me how to think about things critically. To try and seek the truth behind things. The importance of continuing to ask the question: “Why?”
It is in order to help me answer this question that I am teaching myself as much as I can about Cognitive Psychology. In this I am not alone. Just as I know Designers who are comfortable never understanding “Why” I know of those that strive to understand and have also inspired me along this path.
We have reached a point in the Games Industry where Play-testing and Usability studies have spawned an entire industry purely devoted to providing a Designer with feedback on their work long before their game ships. This information is incredibly useful in identifying what does and doesn’t work but rarely ever gives you the reasons. For this we must turn to Critical Analysis. This is where our instincts begin to fail us.
Faced with a problem in a Game Design and with no clear understanding as to what may cause it we typically resort to trial and error. A costly process which can take several failures before you hit upon a solution. Even if you do find a solution you still may be none the wiser as to why it worked when previous attempts failed. You may have added a technique or mechanic to your arsenal but you are no closer to a real understanding of the problem or the solution.
This is not inherently a bad thing. Clearly we’ve managed to make some amazing videogames this way. I wouldn’t be able to tell you which ones but I’d be willing to bet it’s a large number.
However speaking personally I find these victories to be hollow. I’m not satisfied having just solved the problem. I want to understand why it was a problem and why the solution worked. I believe that by understanding this I will add that knowledge to my unconscious and refine my instincts meaning I will intuitively avoid or identify those problems in the future. This is the point of Critical Analysis, to help make the concious unconcious.
The ability to think critically about your work though is hindered by your own knowledge. So I push myself to learn and understand more outside of videogames. I don’t believe that everything we can know about videogames can be taught by them. The realm of interactive entertainment didn’t pop into existence with the microchip. People have been playing and interacting with each other since… well since I don’t know when. The medium may be new and unique but the principles are not, Philosophers and Psychologists have been striving at the nature of enjoyment, fun and imagination for centuries.
So I write this blog and try to understand what it is they can teach me. And I pray that I never understand everything because then I would have nothing left to learn.
Similar Posts:
- Gut Feelings: A Review
- Understanding Games
- Failure and Learning
- The Curse of Perfectionism
- Level Design – Further Reading
