Delivered at Casual Connect Europe 2016 With the ever increasing level of competition in the games industry, how can you ensure that your game stands out for its innovation and quality? In this talk Mark will look at using playtesting to help with ideation, what companies can learn from game jams, drawing inspiration from outside the games industry and the four fundamental secrets to making great games.

1. Designing For
Innovation
Mark Backler
Founder
Fourth State

2. Intro

3. Intro

4. Intro
• Filmmaking, music and photography

5. Intro
• Filmmaking, music and photography
• Barriers

6. Intro
• Filmmaking, music and photography
• Barriers
• Only one remains

7. Intro - Summary

8. Intro - Summary
• Creative Process

9. Intro - Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games

10. Intro - Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Creativity Through Productivity

11. Intro - Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Creativity Through Productivity
• Three Tools to Help You Innovate

12. Creative Process
• What is innovation?

13. Creative Process
• What is innovation?
• “ The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods”

14. Creative Process
• What is innovation?
• “ The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods”
• Creativity

15. Creative Process
• What is innovation?
• “ The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods”
• Creativity
• Idea gathering

16. Creative Process
• What is innovation?
• “ The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods”
• Creativity
• Idea gathering
• Multiple sources - cooking

17. Creative Process
• What is innovation?
• “ The act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods”
• Creativity
• Idea gathering
• Multiple sources - cooking
• Good artists…

18. “The good game designer welds their theft into a whole of
feeling which is unique, utterly different from where it was torn;
the bad designer throws it into something which has no
cohesion.”
Creative Process

19. “The good game designer welds their theft into a whole of
feeling which is unique, utterly different from where it was torn;
the bad designer throws it into something which has no
cohesion.”
T.S. Eliot (1888 – 1965)
Creative Process

20. “The good game designer welds their theft into a whole of
feeling which is unique, utterly different from where it was torn;
the bad designer throws it into something which has no
cohesion.”
T.S. Eliot (1888 – 1965)
Creative Process
poet
poet

21. Summary

22. Summary

23. Summary
1676

24. Summary
1159

25. Summary

26. Summary

27. • “By connecting ideas together creative leaps can be made”
Kirby Ferguson - Everything is a Remix
Summary

29. • Time
Creative Process

30. • Time
• Constraints
Creative Process

31. • Time
• Constraints
• a starting point
Creative Process

32. • Constraints
• a starting point
• no blank page [pic]
Creative Process

33. • Constraints
• a starting point
• no blank page
• platform, genre, release date, audience etc
Creative Process

34. Creative Process

35. • John Cleese on Creativity
Creative Process

36. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
Creative Process

37. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
Creative Process

38. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
Creative Process

39. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
1. Space
Creative Process

40. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
1. Space
2. Time
Creative Process

41. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
1. Space
2. Time
3. Time
Creative Process

42. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
1. Space
2. Time
3. Time
4. Confidence
Creative Process

43. • John Cleese on Creativity
• Open vs Closed Mode
• Creativity = Play
• Requirements:
1. Space
2. Time
3. Time
4. Confidence
5. Humor
Creative Process

44. • Notepad > screen
Creative Process

45. • Notepad > screen
Creative Process

46. • Notepad > screen
Creative Process

47. • Notepad > screen
• Write it all down
• Drawing
• Dave Perry
Creative Process

48. • Breaks
Creative Process

49. • Notepad > screen
• Write it all down
• Drawing
• Dave Perry
• Breaks (doing anything other than being sat at a desk)
• Change of scenery
Creative Process

50. • Sustained thought
Creative Process

51. • Notepad > screen
• Write it all down
• Drawing
• Dave Perry
• Breaks (doing anything other than being sat at a desk)
• Change of scenery
• Stugan
• Mulling it over
• Shower
Creative Process

52. • Notepad > screen
• Write it all down
• Drawing
• Dave Perry
• Breaks (doing anything other than being sat at a desk)
• Change of scenery
• Stugan
• Mulling it over
• Shower
• Going to bed
Creative Process

53. • Sustained thought
• Shower
• Going to bed
Creative Process

54. • Sustained thought
• Shower
• Going to bed
• Any activities - walking, running, dancing etc
Creative Process

55. • Needing vs Wanting
Creative Process

56. • Needing vs Wanting
• Jon Blow - Attempting Deep Work
Creative Process

57. • Needing vs Wanting
• Jon Blow - Attempting Deep Work
• “It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in
the shower” Paul Graham
Creative Process

58. Creative Process
• Innovation through development

59. Creative Process
• Innovation through development
• designer + implementer

60. Creative Process
• Innovation through development
• designer + implementer
• inspiration

61. Creative Process
• Innovation through development
• designer + implementer
• inspiration
• experiments

62. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features

63. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence

64. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this

65. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world

66. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing

67. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

68. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

69. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

70. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

71. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

72. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

73. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence
this
world
Nothing
persistenc
e

74. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Test

75. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Test

76. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic
Test

77. Creative Process
• Development Innovation
• design + implementation
• bugs into features
• see things in a different light
• coming to life
• TLW mechanic

78. Creative Process

79. Creative Process
• Innovation through collaboration

80. Creative Process
• Innovation through collaboration
• Inspiration from anywhere

81. Creative Process
• Innovation through collaboration
• Inspiration from anywhere
• Look outside of games

82. Creative Process
• Careful thought - stick with it
• Meditation - Jon Blow Attempting Deep Work
• helps with ideas - clearing your head
• Inspiration can come from anywhere
• Look outside of games.
• Prison Architect - Alcatraz

83. Creative Process
• Careful thought - stick with it
• Meditation - Jon Blow Attempting Deep Work
• helps with ideas - clearing your head
• Inspiration can come from anywhere
• Look outside of games.
• Prison Architect - Alcatraz

84. Creative Process
• Careful thought - stick with it
• Meditation - Jon Blow Attempting Deep Work
• helps with ideas - clearing your head
• Inspiration can come from anywhere
• Look outside of games.
• Prison Architect - Alcatraz
• Zelda - Shigeru Miyamoto's explorations

85. Creative Process
• Careful thought - stick with it
• Meditation - Jon Blow Attempting Deep Work
• helps with ideas - clearing your head
• Inspiration can come from anywhere
• Look outside of games.
• Prison Architect - Alcatraz
• Zelda - Shigeru Miyamoto's explorations

86. Creative Process

87. Creative Process
• Creativity is not a talent - it is a way of operating

88. Creative Process
• Creativity is not a talent - it is a way of operating
• We are all creative

89. Four Secrets to Making Great Games

90. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
1.Identify the Experience

91. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
1.Identify the Experience
• What?

92. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
1.Identify the Experience
• What?
• Essence

93. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
1.Identify the Experience
• What?
• Essence
• Hooks (Ryan Clark - What Makes an Indie Hit?)

94. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
1.Identify the Experience
• What?
• Essence
• Hooks (Ryan Clark - What Makes an Indie Hit?)
• Why? To move people? To entertain? To inform?

95. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
2.Prototype

96. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
2.Prototype
• Iteration

97. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
2.Prototype
• Iteration
• Agile - Reduce wasted time

98. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
2.Prototype
• Iteration
• Agile - Reduce wasted time
• Game jams

99. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams

100. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand

101. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills

102. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible

103. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible
• People

104. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible
• People
• Companies

105. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible
• People
• Companies
• Teaches the value of prototyping

106. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible
• People
• Companies
• Teaches the value of prototyping
• Proving concepts

107. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• Game jams
• Deadlines - tasks expand
• Learning new skills
• Achieve the impossible
• People
• Companies
• Teaches the value of prototyping
• Proving concepts
• Inspire and motivate staff

108. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest

109. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique

110. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique
• Ideas

111. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique
• Ideas
• Playtest sooner than you think

112. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique
• Ideas
• Playtest sooner than you think
• Frequency

113. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique
• Ideas
• Playtest sooner than you think
• Frequency
• Mix of people

114. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
3.Playtest
• Technique
• Ideas
• Playtest sooner than you think
• Frequency
• Mix of people
• Taking criticism

116. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
4.Polish

117. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
4.Polish
• Good to great

118. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
4.Polish
• Good to great
• "The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the
development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other
90 percent of the development time" — Tom Cargill

119. Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish

120. Creativity Through Productivity

121. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity

122. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work

123. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work
• Procrastination

124. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work
• Procrastination
• “It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are
not urgent (like thinking)” John Cleese

125. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work
• Procrastination
• “It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are
not urgent (like thinking)” John Cleese
• 90 minutes

126. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work
• Procrastination
• “It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are
not urgent (like thinking)” John Cleese
• 90 minutes
• Finishing

127. Creativity Through Productivity
• Productivity
• Types of work
• 90 minutes
• Procrastination
• “It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are
not urgent (like thinking)” John Cleese
• To Do List
• Finishing - John Cleese on Creativity - Open vs Closed Mode
• Art is never finished, only abandoned

128. Three Tools to Help You Innovate

129. Three Tools to Help You Innovate

130. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages

131. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates

132. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates
3. Innovation Through Leadership

133. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates
3. Innovation Through Leadership

134. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates
3. Innovation Through Leadership
• Just and understanding

135. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates
3. Innovation Through Leadership
• Just and understanding
• Attention to detail

136. Three Tools to Help You Innovate
1. Morning Pages
2. Artist Dates
3. Innovation Through Leadership
• Just and understanding
• Attention to detail
• Co-operative

137. Summary
• Creative Process

138. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games

139. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience

140. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype

141. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest

142. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish

143. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish
• Creativity Through Productivity

144. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish
• Creativity Through Productivity
• Three Tools to Help You Innovate

145. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish
• Creativity Through Productivity
• Three Tools to Help You Innovate
• 1. Morning pages

146. Summary
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish
• Creativity Through Productivity
• Three Tools to Help You Innovate
• 1. Morning pages
• 2. Artist dates

147. Conclusion
• Creative Process
• Four Secrets to Making Great Games
• 1. Identify the Experience
• 2. Prototype
• 3. Playtest
• 4. Polish
• Creativity Through Productivity
• Three Tools to Help You Innovate
• 1. Morning pages
• 2. Artist dates
• 3. Leadership

148. Summary
• Conclusion

149. Summary
Questions
Mark Backler
Fourth State
@MarkBackler