Communication, systems view, and time management are the most important skills for game developers. To practice communication, one can play MMOs with disliked players. To practice systems view, one should play hardcore, complicated games with long tutorials. To practice time management, one can play sandbox games and try to progress within a set time frame.

1. Game Designer's point of view:
Want to be a better developer — play!
Eugene
Shevchenko,
GAMELOFT

2. Disclaimer
All the trademarks mentioned belong to their owners
and are used in this presentation only as the
educational example

3. •
5 years of experience
•
WAP, Browser, Mobile games
About the speaker:

4. How long are you in gamedev?
•
Just going to
•
Less than 2 years
•
2+ years

5. Why?
Link Link
●
Game dev is far away of
your dreams of it
●
Games can be usefull in
learning

6. Profit?
Game Consumer Game Developer

7. Experience takeaway
Most important
everyday skills:
●
Communication
●
Systems view
●
Time management

8. Communication
•
Wording makes
a difference
•
Context is important
•
Be constructive!
Clipart
Senseless and merciless

9. COMMUNICATION:
Don'ts
•
Never rage
•
Listener is not idiot
•
Bring details only when
asked

10. COMMUNICATION:
What to play?
Chinese whispers
/ Telephone
MMORPG raiding

11. COMMUNICATION:
My experience
Guild Wars 2:
●
Party dungeons
●
One awful player
●
But she is a girl,
everybody loves
●
Challenge:
not to butt-hurt

12. System view
•
Complex – is the unity
of simple
•
Any methodology
of software
development is
systematic

13. SYSTEM VIEW:
Don'ts
•
Don't overcompicate (KISS)
•
Don't try to 'fix', when you
don't understand

14. SYSTEM VIEW:
Games
Construction set Minecraft

15. SYSTEMS VIEW:
My experience
Dark Souls 2:
●
You have to learn
under the stress
●
You have to
remember everything
●
More challenge?

16. Time management
•
Skill of completing
task due to date
•
Skill of making
precise estimations
•
Skill of building
pipelines with others

17. TIME MANAGEMENT:
Don'ts
•
Don't do everything at the
last moment
•
Don't waste time on
unimportant (prioritize
and optimize)
•
Don't hesitate to add
'Producers coefficient'
to your estimate

18. TIME MANAGEMENT:
How to evolve?

19. TIME MANAGEMENT:
Games
Planning poker Darkest dungeon

20. TIME MANAGEMENT:
My experience
Albion Online
●
You can do
everything
●
Pick one or level-up
for 10 years
●
Challenge: stop
collecting trash

21. OTHER TOOLS:
English

22. OTHER TOOLS:
Drawing
Frank Ching,
Prof. Emeritus at
the University of Washington
„The active seeing [..] can
often lead to better
understanding and more
vivid visual memories.“

23. OTHER TOOLS:
Gamer’s diary
•
Note important /
interesting stuff while
playing
•
Develop the rules
of noting

24. OTHER TOOLS:
Engines

25. Summary
•
Communication, Systems view & Time management are
the most important skills for a game developer
•
To practice Communication:
play MMO's with the people you don't like
•
To practice Systems view:
play hardcore, complicated games with a 10+h tutorial
•
To practice Time management:
play sandbox games and try to progress inside
the time frame

26. QUESTIONS?
Thank you!