Treating creativity as a practical skill as told though the lens of a senior game designer's process at Sumo Digital Ltd.

1. Game Design & Creativity as Practical Skills
Joe Kinglake
Milan | November 29 - 30, 2018

2. © 2018 SUMO DIGITAL
Game Design & Creativity as Practical Skills
Joe Kinglake
Milan | November 29 - 30, 2018

3. SUMO DIGITAL
• Founded in 2003
• Licensed developer across all Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo gaming platforms
• Expertise in developing and growing licensed IP
• Always on the cutting edge

4. STUDIOS
SHEFFIELD
Founded in 2003
300+ Staff
PUNE, INDIA
Founded in 2007
80+ Staff
NOTTINGHAM
Founded in 2016
70+ Staff
NEWCASTLE
Founded in 2018
35+ Staff
THE CHINESE ROOM, BRIGHTON
Acquired in 2018

5. WHO AM I
KILLZONE: MERCENARY
(SONY GUERRILLA
CAMBRIDGE)
HORIZON: ZERO DAWN
(GUERRILLA GAMES)
STAR CITIZEN: SQUADRON 42
(CLOUD IMPERIUM GAMES
UK)
STAR CITIZEN
(CLOUD IMPERIUM GAMES
UK)
HITMAN 2
(SUMO DIGITAL & IOI)
UNIVERSITY OF SUFFOLK

6. WHAT IS GAME DESIGN?
• Varies between companies and titles
• Creative & technical
• Focused on user experience
• Game designers handle the perception & interaction with an experience

7. MY MANTRA
• Creativity is a skill that can be practiced
• Creativity & Game design isn’t just idea generation but the whole process
• Creative game design is creating & solving practical problems
• Creativity is the culmination of our experiences & knowledge

8. WHAT DOES CREATIVITY AS A SKILL MEAN
• Creativity can be inspired through reference & research
• Limitations boost creativity through practical problems
• Constant iteration & testing will yield more informed and well rounded solutions

9. RESEARCH & REFERENCE

10. REFERENCE & RESEARCH
• Creativity is a culmination of experience
• Inspire new & evolved ideas
• Understand audience expectations
• Teach us about the conventions
• Help us break convention

11. OBVIOUS REFERENCE

12. “The industry is in danger of becoming too self referential”
- Sid Meier

13. EXPANDED REFERENCE
• Other creative or non-creative mediums
• Abstract from video games
• Help us avoid self-reference
Architecture Art Sports

15. “Music is also one of the biggest tools for generating ideas. I listen to a song and try to
recreate the feelings that it elicits in me.” - @BradleySmith93

18. RESEARCH THE SUBJECT
• Digest and understand a reference
• Understand the motivation
• Consider the theory or science
• Apply non-game theory to game design

19. MAKE IT YOUR OWN
• Inspire mechanics
• Add your flavour
• Abstract, change or combine
• Reference the emotion

20. Our experiences can
act as a palette for our
creativity

21. EXPERIENTIAL REFERENCE
• Unique identity
• Extra sensory information
• Deeper understanding
• Share & listen to experiences

22. WORKING WITH EXISTING IPS
• Understand the IP and previous entries
• Explore fan reception & expectations
• Learn from IP holders
CRACKDOWN TEAM SONIC RACING LITTLE BIG PLANET

24. HOW TO INSPIRE CREATIVITY THROUGH REFERENCE
• Inspire mechanics not just aesthetics
• Variety is the spice of life!
• Add your flavour
• Abstract references
• Experience it first hand
• Reference as a team

25. LIMITATIONS

26. LIMITATIONS
• A big part of creativity is practical problem solving
• Limitations create & define problem spaces
• Limits are meant to be pushed or broken

27. ENFORCED LIMITATIONS
• Time, technical, resources, Etc.
• Create a problem-space to work in
• Demand innovative solutions

28. FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS
• A cognitive bias that limits a person to use an object in a traditional means.
• An obstacle towards creative problem solving

29. LIMITATIONS CAN
REFRAME THE
PROBLEM SPACE

30. APPLIED LIMITATIONS
• Artificial restrictions
• Inspire out of the box thinking
• Create new problem spaces

31. PARADOXICAL LIMITATIONS
• Polarising requirements
• Can force subversion of conventions
• Unique problems & solutions

32. GAME JAMS

34. ESTABLISHED IPS
• A required coherence
• Player expectations
• Established ruleset

35. WHY USE LIMITATIONS?
• Awareness of limitations can help properly scope a project
• Limitations can help to focus attention
• Limitations encourages creative problem solving
• Limitations can reframe a problem

36. EMBRACING LIMITATIONS AS A CREATIVE TOOL
• Treat enforced limitations as a tool
• Consider that limitations have solutions
• Apply artificial limitations to a project

37. ITERATION & TESTING

38. RAPID ITERATION
• Rapid iteration is making ideas happen quickly
• Move away from paper early
• Iterate with intention based on feedback
• Experiment with new ideas even if happy

39. FAIL FORWARD
• Don’t be afraid to fail
• Learn from mistakes & failures
• Share your learnings with the team
• Its better to be bold early
• Don’t be afraid to chop ideas

40. TESTING IN CONTEXT
• Don’t develop in isolation
• Gives a holistic view of all parts
• Use testing to guide development
• Play the game!!!!!
(no context image)

41. PLAYTESTING
• Get both Quantitative & Qualitative feedback
• Avoid interference
• Feed responses into your designs
PLAYT
EST
EVALU
ATE
ITERATE

42. Don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board if things aren’t working

43. HOW CAN WE BETTER ITERATE?
• Iterate often
• Test in context
• Playtest often
• Understand feedback
• Be bold!
• Polish late

44. ITERATION AS A CREATIVE TOOL
• Iterating even on the good stuff will give perspective
• Testing often creates new problems
• Rapid iteration allows bold changes

45. CONCLUSION

46. HOW TO PRACTICE CREATIVITY AS A SKILL
• Broaden your design palette by researching from a diverse set of sources
• Embrace and apply limitations to fuel creative problem solving
• Iterate early and often based on feedback to create new problems to solve

47. THANKS FOR LISTENING!
SPECIAL THANKS TO
@JoeKinglake
Sumo Digital
Ltd.
The Topman
Team