Todd Howard - Omniscience Critical Path 2023-06-23 | Within the game, the character knows about past events than they player does and this gap of knowledge should be closed to create a nicer flow for the story."...You know everything he or she knows, so that you get a nicer flow and that you feel that it's your story more than watching somebody else's."
CRITICAL PATH—Damien Kieken—Balancing Unconventional Multiplayer Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Damien Kieken, Game Director, Ubisoft AnnecyCredits include: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Assassin’s Creed: Unity---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Damien Kieken—Using Audio for Player Feedback Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Damien Kieken, Game Director, Ubisoft AnnecyCredits include: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Assassin’s Creed: Unity---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Patrick Plourde—Communicating Emotion with Art Style Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Patrick Plourde, Creative Director; Game DesignerCredits include: Assassin’s Creed Series, Rainbow Six Series, Far Cry 3, Child of Light---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Dean Takahashi—Origin of Virtual Goods Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Dean Takahashi, JournalistCredits include: Lead Writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—David Helgason—The Latent Value of Game Tech Hobbyists Critical Path 2023-02-25 | David Helgason, Founder, Unity Technologies---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Keiji Inafune—Rallying the Community in Crowdfunded Games Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Keiji Inafune, Game Designer; Producer; Illustrator; Founder, Comcept Inc.Credits include: Mega Man series, Onimusha series, Dead Rising series, Lost Planet series, Mighty No. 9---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Don Daglow—Thousands of Small Experiences Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Don Daglow, Game Designer, Programmer, ProducerCredits include: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001, Madden NFL 98, Tony La Russa Baseball, Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon, Utopia---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Davey Wreden—Phases of Emotion Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Davey Wreden, Game Designer; WriterCredits include: The Stanley Parable---------------------------------------------------------------------Instagram: instagram.com/criticalpathprojectTwitter: twitter.com/crtclpth
CRITICAL PATH—Ray Muzyka Greg Zeschuk—Avatar Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Ray Muzkya and Greg Zeschuk, Game Development Studio Co-FoundersCredits include: Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur’s Gate series, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect seriesHow avatars and progression give players a sense of accomplishment.
CRITICAL PATH—Ken Levine—Start with Player Experience Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Ken Levine, Creative Director, WriterCredits include: BioShock Infinite, BioShock, S.W.A.T. 4, Freedom Force, System Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project"I don't start with a story, we don't start with the story, we start by thinking, what um, you know, what are we trying to accomplish here. What feeling do we want the player to have. What experience, kind of experience do we want them to have. What are the emotions we're trying to get out of the player."
CRITICAL PATH—Susan Wu—Internal Obstacles Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Susan Wu, EntrepreneurCredits Include: City of EternalsGames tap into human's innate goal-orientation, which chemically rewards completing objectives.
CRITICAL PATH—Dean Takahashi—Social Whales Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Dean Takahashi, JournalistCredits include: Lead Writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat"People who don’t spend money, but they actually are so friendly that they draw a lot of people into the game and they keep them playing."
CRITICAL PATH—Keiji Inafune—Staying True to Your Concept Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Keiji Inafune, Game Designer; Producer; Illustrator; Founder, Comcept Inc.Credits include: Mega Man series, Onimusha series, Dead Rising series, Lost Planet series, Mighty No. 9"There are many obstacles you face when developing a game which can draw you off course. Even if you face a challenge, you have to stay with your concept."
CRITICAL PATH—Cliff Bleszinski—Show Dont Tell Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Cliff Bleszinski, Founder, Boss Key Productions Credits include: Gears of War series, Unreal/Unreal Tournament series, Jazz Jackrabbit series"In film they say show don't tell. I'm a big believer in games of play don't show."
CRITICAL PATH—Bei Yang—Customers as Guests Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Bei Yang, Creative Technology Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering"The more interactivity you have, the more control you give a player, the more agency someone has, the more they will feel gypped that you are taking control away from them."
CRITICAL PATH—Tracy Fullerton—The Good Mystery Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Tracy Fullerton, Game Designer, Educator, WriterCredits include: webRIOT, The Night Journey, Walden, a gameWhen you’re dealing with a game, the bad mystery is “How do I do this?” right? And the good mystery is, “Oh, what’s out there to do?”
Chris Hecker - The Word Game Critical Path 2023-02-25 | While the word "game" may be inaccurate, the games industry must use the simplest terms that are already established to describe its products to its consumers."So 'play,' 'game,' things like that, will kind of mean what we make them mean by doing the work later."
Chris Avellone - Moral Choice Critical Path 2023-02-25 | The goal of moral choice in games is to encourage the player to think about the actions they take and to see the consequences of those choices."When the player puts the game down and they're able to think about it for a while, some of those moral situations will keep circling in the back of their head."
CRITICAL PATH—David Helgason—The Relative Health of the Game Industry Critical Path 2023-02-25 | David Helgason, Founder, Unity TechnologiesAn analysis of the state of the games industry
Chris Avellone - Natural Conversations Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Voice sets can be expensive and don't conform to the multitude of possibilities that a natural conversation can have in a game. In the future we may see increased role-playing opportunities by allowing for natural conversation in which the player can speak directly to the NPCs. "I also think [voice sets] limits your role-playing opportunities, because that voice is not your own. "
Stig Asmussen - Story Structure Critical Path 2023-02-25 | In the telling of a story, a three-act story structure is effective because it is familiar and your audience will understand it."And even though most people don't even know what the three-act structure is, they do, they get it because it's the way that we tell stories."
Matt Boch - Gender Assumptions in Mocap Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Should avatars be gender-defined?"What I want to do is let the player decide what's valid in their context."
Raphael Colantonio - Interactivity Critical Path 2023-02-25 | It's better to have less objects in an environment and make them all interactive, then to create a visually realistic setting without interaction."We like that anything that looks like it should be interactive is interactive."
Chris Avellone - Time Limits Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Time limits always work as they enact a sort of adrenaline focus on the affected person to reach a goal. As a game designer the tricky aspect of time limits is to instill a sense of urgency while not having large repercussions from the time limit. "As soon as you tell everybody at the table that, in 30 minutes, you'd better figure out a way out of this locked room or everyone's going to die, suddenly everyone's really focused."
John Carmack - What an Artist Sees Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Artists can imagine levels of detail that the average person might overlook."I think what separates artists from other people is the resolution of their imagination."
Chris Avellone - Evolving Installments Critical Path 2023-02-25 | Concentrating on a few key elements on a game is crucial but at the same time the new elements of a game must be introduced in the sequels to evolve the title game as a whole. The evolving nature of the game in the next installments keeps the game's focus narrow and fresh."The player may actually have more fun if you just concentrate on a very few elements and you do them just really well."
