WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.090 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:02.490 align:middle line:84% The following content is provided under a Creative 00:00:02.490 --> 00:00:04.030 align:middle line:90% Commons license. 00:00:04.030 --> 00:00:06.330 align:middle line:84% Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:10.690 align:middle line:84% continue to offer high quality educational resources for free. 00:00:10.690 --> 00:00:13.320 align:middle line:84% To make a donation or view additional materials 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:17.250 align:middle line:84% from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 00:00:17.250 --> 00:00:18.420 align:middle line:90% at ocw.mit.edu. 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:22.754 align:middle line:90% 00:00:22.754 --> 00:00:23.670 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: So, yeah. 00:00:23.670 --> 00:00:25.630 align:middle line:84% So the publisher can demand, you know, 00:00:25.630 --> 00:00:27.540 align:middle line:90% I want to see this feature. 00:00:27.540 --> 00:00:30.660 align:middle line:84% EA demands that this game works with Origin. 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:32.549 align:middle line:90% Ubisoft demands that U-- 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:33.330 align:middle line:90% is it Uplay? 00:00:33.330 --> 00:00:37.180 align:middle line:84% Is that what-- that their universal sign-up system gets 00:00:37.180 --> 00:00:38.520 align:middle line:90% added on. 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:41.370 align:middle line:90% Things like that, right? 00:00:41.370 --> 00:00:43.470 align:middle line:90% That happens all the time. 00:00:43.470 --> 00:00:47.280 align:middle line:84% Other stuff that's maybe money-related or 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.400 align:middle line:90% market-related? 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:53.200 align:middle line:90% 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:54.796 align:middle line:90% Sometimes expectations just-- 00:00:54.796 --> 00:00:57.170 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: This feature in the past didn't sell very well, 00:00:57.170 --> 00:00:58.524 align:middle line:90% so you should add it to every-- 00:00:58.524 --> 00:00:58.990 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:00:58.990 --> 00:01:00.970 align:middle line:84% That usually is similar to the publisher thing. 00:01:00.970 --> 00:01:02.220 align:middle line:90% Someone's trying to push that. 00:01:02.220 --> 00:01:05.485 align:middle line:84% But somebody could come internally from the development 00:01:05.485 --> 00:01:05.985 align:middle line:90% team, right? 00:01:05.985 --> 00:01:08.318 align:middle line:84% They look at competing products and say, hey, this thing 00:01:08.318 --> 00:01:11.210 align:middle line:90% seems to be doing well. 00:01:11.210 --> 00:01:12.460 align:middle line:90% You know, let's add hacks. 00:01:12.460 --> 00:01:14.590 align:middle line:84% Because hacks seem to be doing well for some games. 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:16.950 align:middle line:90% So we can add hacks to our game. 00:01:16.950 --> 00:01:19.360 align:middle line:84% It's not going to necessarily change 00:01:19.360 --> 00:01:21.940 align:middle line:84% the way how the game functions, but it's still a new feature. 00:01:21.940 --> 00:01:23.140 align:middle line:90% It's still a new-- 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:25.820 align:middle line:84% you've still got to come up with mechanics to unlock new hacks, 00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:28.770 align:middle line:84% and equip new hacks, and make sure they animate correctly, 00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:29.920 align:middle line:90% and things like that. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.280 align:middle line:84% Even if necessarily the gameplay decision making you 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.760 align:middle line:90% make in the game doesn't change. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:38.800 align:middle line:84% Of course, hacks actually do change the way some games work. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:41.680 align:middle line:84% The changes in marketplace in general. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:44.130 align:middle line:84% And sometimes they're making a sequel to a game, 00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:48.100 align:middle line:84% or sometimes you're adding number two, or number three, 00:01:48.100 --> 00:01:49.100 align:middle line:90% at the end of the title. 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:51.970 align:middle line:84% And your players are going to expect something new. 00:01:51.970 --> 00:01:53.710 align:middle line:84% And so there's some pressure for you 00:01:53.710 --> 00:01:57.370 align:middle line:84% to sort of add new mechanics instead of simply, 00:01:57.370 --> 00:01:58.960 align:middle line:90% say, iterating on the old ones. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:01.570 align:middle line:90% 00:02:01.570 --> 00:02:03.486 align:middle line:90% Why would you cut mechanics? 00:02:03.486 --> 00:02:05.360 align:middle line:84% Not necessarily cutting features, but cutting 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:07.020 align:middle line:90% mechanics-- game mechanics. 00:02:07.020 --> 00:02:10.556 align:middle line:90% 00:02:10.556 --> 00:02:12.430 align:middle line:84% There's one good reason I've been drilling in 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:13.690 align:middle line:90% to you all semester long. 00:02:13.690 --> 00:02:14.190 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:02:14.190 --> 00:02:16.690 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Simplify gameplay and decrease the learning curve? 00:02:16.690 --> 00:02:19.220 align:middle line:90% Or decrease whatever-- 00:02:19.220 --> 00:02:20.720 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Decrease learning curve 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:23.480 align:middle line:84% is a little bit separate from simplify gameplay. 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.080 align:middle line:90% Both good points. 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.180 align:middle line:84% Decreasing the learning curve is like-- 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:31.955 align:middle line:84% testers just don't get how this game functions. 00:02:31.955 --> 00:02:34.780 align:middle line:84% We've got too much stuff going on simultaneously. 00:02:34.780 --> 00:02:36.912 align:middle line:84% You could try to tune those mechanics to make 00:02:36.912 --> 00:02:38.870 align:middle line:84% it a little bit more legible, or you could just 00:02:38.870 --> 00:02:41.119 align:middle line:84% try taking the mechanics completely out so that people 00:02:41.119 --> 00:02:42.113 align:middle line:90% can actually learn it. 00:02:42.113 --> 00:02:45.140 align:middle line:84% Simplifying the game-- could be that, 00:02:45.140 --> 00:02:48.820 align:middle line:84% but it also could be just trying to make what's core 00:02:48.820 --> 00:02:50.170 align:middle line:90% about the game more obvious. 00:02:50.170 --> 00:02:53.540 align:middle line:84% You know, this game is really about generations 00:02:53.540 --> 00:02:55.820 align:middle line:84% and generations of heroes, you know? 00:02:55.820 --> 00:02:56.850 align:middle line:90% That is a game, right? 00:02:56.850 --> 00:02:57.327 align:middle line:90% Hero Generations? 00:02:57.327 --> 00:02:57.827 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:02:57.827 --> 00:02:59.590 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:01.820 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:03:01.820 --> 00:03:05.120 align:middle line:84% And you've got, say, some sort of very elaborate weapons 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:06.940 align:middle line:84% crafting mechanic or something in there. 00:03:06.940 --> 00:03:08.450 align:middle line:84% Well, the weapons crafting mechanic 00:03:08.450 --> 00:03:10.840 align:middle line:84% may not be really what your game's about. 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:12.270 align:middle line:84% So you might want to take that out 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:15.511 align:middle line:84% because people sort of forget about what the core experience 00:03:15.511 --> 00:03:16.760 align:middle line:90% of the game is supposed to be. 00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:20.150 align:middle line:84% So focusing back on the core of the game. 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:20.690 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:03:20.690 --> 00:03:27.060 align:middle line:90% 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:28.195 align:middle line:90% Say your game-- oh, yeah. 00:03:28.195 --> 00:03:30.324 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: New technologies come out? 00:03:30.324 --> 00:03:30.990 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Oh. 00:03:30.990 --> 00:03:32.630 align:middle line:90% New technologies come out-- 00:03:32.630 --> 00:03:33.450 align:middle line:90% like what, physics? 00:03:33.450 --> 00:03:34.280 align:middle line:90% You know-- maybe? 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:35.280 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.780 align:middle line:84% Or has something to do with things like-- well, 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:41.636 align:middle line:84% they mentioned-- well, I don't know. 00:03:41.636 --> 00:03:43.540 align:middle line:90% 3D, for example. 00:03:43.540 --> 00:03:46.030 align:middle line:90% 3D comes out it changed-- 00:03:46.030 --> 00:03:48.490 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Well, that's true, right? 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:51.040 align:middle line:84% I'm trying to think of a game where that's 00:03:51.040 --> 00:03:52.390 align:middle line:90% a really obvious example. 00:03:52.390 --> 00:03:55.300 align:middle line:84% Can of think of a game mechanic that substantially changed 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:56.780 align:middle line:90% when it went from 2D to 3D? 00:03:56.780 --> 00:03:58.178 align:middle line:90% I'm thinking Mario, but-- 00:03:58.178 --> 00:03:59.365 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Mario-- 00:03:59.365 --> 00:04:01.990 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Movement, because now, instead of moving left, right, 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:02.620 align:middle line:90% up, down-- 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:04.245 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Just straight-up movement. 00:04:04.245 --> 00:04:07.520 align:middle line:84% Well, the way how the camera responds to movement as well-- 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:08.920 align:middle line:90% that's a big one, right? 00:04:08.920 --> 00:04:11.800 align:middle line:84% In a 2D game, say a side-scrolling game, 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:13.900 align:middle line:84% like Metroid or something like that, 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:15.940 align:middle line:84% you don't have this situation where 00:04:15.940 --> 00:04:18.160 align:middle line:84% the place where you're trying to go to 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.529 align:middle line:84% is obscured, unless it's actually physically 00:04:20.529 --> 00:04:23.770 align:middle line:84% blocked by something that you have to destroy or open up 00:04:23.770 --> 00:04:25.240 align:middle line:90% or something. 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:27.700 align:middle line:84% But in a 3D space, that happens all the time. 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:31.270 align:middle line:84% You know, you've just got bits of background scenery getting 00:04:31.270 --> 00:04:34.300 align:middle line:90% in the way of the camera. 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:37.300 align:middle line:84% Mario just changed the way jumps work entirely, 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:41.710 align:middle line:84% when it went from the 2D Marios to Super Mario 64. 00:04:41.710 --> 00:04:43.870 align:middle line:84% And every iteration on top of that has 00:04:43.870 --> 00:04:46.470 align:middle line:90% added new ways to jump-- 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:48.970 align:middle line:84% double jumps, triple jumps, jumping off the wall, 00:04:48.970 --> 00:04:51.770 align:middle line:84% and stuff like that-- now, the latest Mario games expect 00:04:51.770 --> 00:04:52.930 align:middle line:90% that you know all of that. 00:04:52.930 --> 00:04:54.596 align:middle line:84% Which is why I can't play Mario anymore, 00:04:54.596 --> 00:04:57.779 align:middle line:84% because I didn't go through that process. 00:04:57.779 --> 00:04:59.320 align:middle line:84% Although the games are not that hard, 00:04:59.320 --> 00:05:03.460 align:middle line:84% at least the first couple of levels are not that hard. 00:05:03.460 --> 00:05:04.930 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:05:04.930 --> 00:05:07.180 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:09.745 align:middle line:84% There's one that I've been always mentioning, 00:05:09.745 --> 00:05:11.605 align:middle line:90% this entire semester. 00:05:11.605 --> 00:05:14.265 align:middle line:90% 00:05:14.265 --> 00:05:15.215 align:middle line:90% It-- hmm? 00:05:15.215 --> 00:05:16.962 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Maybe just to try something. 00:05:16.962 --> 00:05:18.420 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Just to try something? 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:18.843 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:05:18.843 --> 00:05:19.759 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Oh, yeah. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.200 align:middle line:84% Yeah, just to see how it's going to change 00:05:22.200 --> 00:05:23.450 align:middle line:90% how the gameplay works, right? 00:05:23.450 --> 00:05:25.680 align:middle line:84% You know, let's take something out 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:27.320 align:middle line:84% and see whether that was actually 00:05:27.320 --> 00:05:29.212 align:middle line:84% essential to the experience or maybe getting 00:05:29.212 --> 00:05:30.420 align:middle line:90% in the way of the experience. 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:31.390 align:middle line:90% You don't know. 00:05:31.390 --> 00:05:32.850 align:middle line:84% You know, and the emergent results 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:34.620 align:middle line:84% of taking out a mechanic might actually 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:38.990 align:middle line:84% end up as a more interesting experience. 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.220 align:middle line:84% One thing that the book does mention 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:45.210 align:middle line:84% is to take stuff out that might actually change the ESRB 00:05:45.210 --> 00:05:47.350 align:middle line:84% rating of the game, or the PEGI rating if you're 00:05:47.350 --> 00:05:52.950 align:middle line:84% selling something in the UK or in Europe. 00:05:52.950 --> 00:05:56.520 align:middle line:84% So for instance, if you're building 00:05:56.520 --> 00:06:00.240 align:middle line:84% on top of a game engine like Unreal or something 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:04.200 align:middle line:84% like that, which has body location damage-- 00:06:04.200 --> 00:06:06.780 align:middle line:84% and then you shoot a head, the game 00:06:06.780 --> 00:06:09.130 align:middle line:90% knows that you shot the head. 00:06:09.130 --> 00:06:12.126 align:middle line:84% But maybe you don't want your game to be that specific. 00:06:12.126 --> 00:06:14.250 align:middle line:84% Maybe you're designing a game for kids or something 00:06:14.250 --> 00:06:16.743 align:middle line:84% like that, and it's like, well, rewarding 00:06:16.743 --> 00:06:20.100 align:middle line:84% kids for head-shotting each other is maybe not the feel 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:21.080 align:middle line:90% that we want to go for. 00:06:21.080 --> 00:06:24.370 align:middle line:84% It might actually push us out of the E for everyone 00:06:24.370 --> 00:06:26.520 align:middle line:90% and into the-- 00:06:26.520 --> 00:06:28.090 align:middle line:90% what's the next rating, T? 00:06:28.090 --> 00:06:29.431 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: And E-- 00:06:29.431 --> 00:06:30.180 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:32.750 align:middle line:90% There's like an E-10 rating. 00:06:32.750 --> 00:06:34.700 align:middle line:90% At least there used to be. 00:06:34.700 --> 00:06:36.930 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:06:36.930 --> 00:06:39.480 align:middle line:84% And sometimes, you've just got to cut mechanics because you 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:41.270 align:middle line:90% don't have time to do them. 00:06:41.270 --> 00:06:42.120 align:middle line:90% They're great ideas. 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:43.950 align:middle line:84% They would actually make your game better, 00:06:43.950 --> 00:06:46.402 align:middle line:84% if you had time to be able to polish them and make them 00:06:46.402 --> 00:06:48.110 align:middle line:84% understandable and smooth and everything. 00:06:48.110 --> 00:06:49.693 align:middle line:84% You just ran out of time, and you just 00:06:49.693 --> 00:06:51.280 align:middle line:90% want to be able to ship. 00:06:51.280 --> 00:06:54.676 align:middle line:84% So that's a perfectly legitimate consideration. 00:06:54.676 --> 00:06:57.650 align:middle line:90% 00:06:57.650 --> 00:07:01.520 align:middle line:84% So that's this process of, like, generating ideas. 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:04.650 align:middle line:84% Say, this is like an x or something, the number of ideas 00:07:04.650 --> 00:07:06.300 align:middle line:90% that you've got in your game. 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:11.770 align:middle line:84% And mechanics in terms of either rules, and in a computer game, 00:07:11.770 --> 00:07:13.866 align:middle line:90% there'll be code. 00:07:13.866 --> 00:07:16.815 align:middle line:84% In these games, that's just the rules, it's pieces, 00:07:16.815 --> 00:07:20.550 align:middle line:84% it's boards, it's everything that you actually 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:22.650 align:middle line:90% have to make your game work. 00:07:22.650 --> 00:07:25.050 align:middle line:84% And you kind of go through this brainstorming phase 00:07:25.050 --> 00:07:27.320 align:middle line:84% where you get a ton of ideas, right? 00:07:27.320 --> 00:07:29.010 align:middle line:84% You've got some good ones up here. 00:07:29.010 --> 00:07:31.780 align:middle line:84% You've got some crappy ones down there. 00:07:31.780 --> 00:07:36.200 align:middle line:84% Actually, it's probably more like that. 00:07:36.200 --> 00:07:38.160 align:middle line:90% A whole bunch of crappy ideas. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.605 align:middle line:84% And you've got a couple of good ideas. 00:07:40.605 --> 00:07:41.980 align:middle line:84% But yeah, there's a big explosion 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:47.260 align:middle line:84% of ideas, where ideas turn into experiments. 00:07:47.260 --> 00:07:48.960 align:middle line:84% Some of them are thought experiments, 00:07:48.960 --> 00:07:50.775 align:middle line:84% that you're thinking-- just discussing them 00:07:50.775 --> 00:07:53.400 align:middle line:84% among your team-- what if we did this, what if we did that, how 00:07:53.400 --> 00:07:55.580 align:middle line:90% would you solve that problem. 00:07:55.580 --> 00:07:59.300 align:middle line:84% They may be real, testable experiments where 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:01.340 align:middle line:84% it's something that you can play, 00:08:01.340 --> 00:08:04.784 align:middle line:84% something that you whip up within an hour or half an hour, 00:08:04.784 --> 00:08:06.450 align:middle line:84% and you actually put it in front-- we've 00:08:06.450 --> 00:08:09.609 align:middle line:90% been doing that all semester. 00:08:09.609 --> 00:08:11.025 align:middle line:84% Some of the ideas may just come up 00:08:11.025 --> 00:08:14.250 align:middle line:84% off different ideas interacting-- and just, what 00:08:14.250 --> 00:08:17.550 align:middle line:90% if we had dogs in our game? 00:08:17.550 --> 00:08:19.289 align:middle line:84% What if we had solar power in the game? 00:08:19.289 --> 00:08:21.205 align:middle line:84% What if we had solar-powered dogs in our game? 00:08:21.205 --> 00:08:22.580 align:middle line:90% And things like that. 00:08:22.580 --> 00:08:26.320 align:middle line:84% You know, and then ideas just happen. 00:08:26.320 --> 00:08:31.530 align:middle line:84% However, it's important-- so far I've sort of been describing 00:08:31.530 --> 00:08:34.169 align:middle line:84% the brainstorming process that you've all been through 00:08:34.169 --> 00:08:34.950 align:middle line:90% already. 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:37.559 align:middle line:84% But one thing that we haven't necessarily 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:39.929 align:middle line:84% asked you to do nearly as much is 00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:44.460 align:middle line:84% to come up with actual discrete experiments. 00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:46.620 align:middle line:84% You know, it's like, here's an idea. 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:50.610 align:middle line:84% Actually come up with a criteria of success 00:08:50.610 --> 00:08:52.200 align:middle line:90% that you're looking for. 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.580 align:middle line:84% How do we know whether this particular idea, 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:57.030 align:middle line:84% this particular experiment version of the idea 00:08:57.030 --> 00:08:59.650 align:middle line:90% is succeeding or not. 00:08:59.650 --> 00:09:01.170 align:middle line:90% And you're going to need that. 00:09:01.170 --> 00:09:03.160 align:middle line:84% Because you're going to need to cull. 00:09:03.160 --> 00:09:06.330 align:middle line:84% You're going to need to like reduce this back down, 00:09:06.330 --> 00:09:08.924 align:middle line:84% try to keep this, or maybe even build this up a little bit. 00:09:08.924 --> 00:09:10.340 align:middle line:84% Actually, it's probably more like, 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:12.585 align:middle line:84% you're going to cull a little bit. 00:09:12.585 --> 00:09:15.554 align:middle line:84% Then you want to bring this up again. 00:09:15.554 --> 00:09:20.610 align:middle line:84% And then each time this goes, you 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:23.200 align:middle line:84% have kind of an increase in that you'll 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.780 align:middle line:84% have an increase in bad ideas, but a decrease of bad ideas. 00:09:25.780 --> 00:09:31.570 align:middle line:84% But your total number of good ideas just keeps going up. 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:34.420 align:middle line:84% And by good, I'm using a very vague term. 00:09:34.420 --> 00:09:35.910 align:middle line:90% It could mean polished. 00:09:35.910 --> 00:09:39.030 align:middle line:84% It could mean actually good for game play. 00:09:39.030 --> 00:09:41.120 align:middle line:84% It could mean something that's been proven 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.290 align:middle line:84% in a marketplace, something desirable that you 00:09:43.290 --> 00:09:44.422 align:middle line:90% want to keep in your game. 00:09:44.422 --> 00:09:46.130 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: Things that could be-- like, 00:09:46.130 --> 00:09:48.330 align:middle line:84% it should be good for the core experience, 00:09:48.330 --> 00:09:50.650 align:middle line:84% but one of the problems could be, they are just-- 00:09:50.650 --> 00:09:53.848 align:middle line:84% they're good working mechanics, but actually don't 00:09:53.848 --> 00:09:55.712 align:middle line:84% help the core experience, or detract 00:09:55.712 --> 00:09:56.872 align:middle line:90% from the core experience. 00:09:56.872 --> 00:09:57.705 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Mm-hmm. 00:09:57.705 --> 00:09:59.660 align:middle line:90% Yep. 00:09:59.660 --> 00:10:02.990 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:10:02.990 --> 00:10:04.920 align:middle line:84% There are a couple of dangers, even 00:10:04.920 --> 00:10:06.495 align:middle line:84% in this early brainstorming process. 00:10:06.495 --> 00:10:13.490 align:middle line:84% So I'm just looking at this whole part here. 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:16.800 align:middle line:84% One is that you pretty much already think 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:19.380 align:middle line:84% you already know what game you're going to make. 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:22.800 align:middle line:90% You've got a single solution. 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:25.530 align:middle line:84% Say you're taking the computer game version of this class 00:10:25.530 --> 00:10:27.670 align:middle line:84% and you decide that you're going to make an RPG. 00:10:27.670 --> 00:10:31.500 align:middle line:84% And your model is Final Fantasy 6. 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:34.080 align:middle line:84% OK, so everything is going to basically follow 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:35.550 align:middle line:90% the Final Fantasy 6 template. 00:10:35.550 --> 00:10:39.410 align:middle line:84% So you're basically pursuing one single solution. 00:10:39.410 --> 00:10:42.100 align:middle line:90% 00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:45.960 align:middle line:84% And the problem with that is that your implementation 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:48.870 align:middle line:84% ability of actually making all of those things 00:10:48.870 --> 00:10:52.800 align:middle line:90% fit that template is already-- 00:10:52.800 --> 00:10:53.841 align:middle line:90% you are not Square. 00:10:53.841 --> 00:10:54.340 align:middle line:90% Right? 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:56.640 align:middle line:84% You don't have all of the resources 00:10:56.640 --> 00:10:59.760 align:middle line:84% that Square had, even back when Final Fantasy 6 came out. 00:10:59.760 --> 00:11:01.942 align:middle line:90% How old is Final Fantasy 6? 00:11:01.942 --> 00:11:05.430 align:middle line:90% 1994? 00:11:05.430 --> 00:11:05.980 align:middle line:90% 2? 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:07.310 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: I don't know. 00:11:07.310 --> 00:11:08.700 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Something like that. 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:11.520 align:middle line:84% I mean, even then, they were a large team with many years 00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:13.020 align:middle line:90% to work on-- 00:11:13.020 --> 00:11:15.420 align:middle line:84% at least a year to work on that game. 00:11:15.420 --> 00:11:18.750 align:middle line:84% I don't know how long they actually worked on that game. 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:21.930 align:middle line:84% There's a very, very good chance that your ability 00:11:21.930 --> 00:11:24.060 align:middle line:84% to actually even implement something 00:11:24.060 --> 00:11:26.250 align:middle line:84% that you know how it already works 00:11:26.250 --> 00:11:28.240 align:middle line:90% may not be able to meet that. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.025 align:middle line:84% So you will have a failed experiment 00:11:30.025 --> 00:11:32.440 align:middle line:90% and then you're kind of stuck. 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:33.570 align:middle line:90% You don't know what to do. 00:11:33.570 --> 00:11:37.050 align:middle line:84% So you're going to have to do lots and lots of experiments. 00:11:37.050 --> 00:11:39.700 align:middle line:90% But experiments are expensive. 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:41.320 align:middle line:90% Everything takes time. 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:44.920 align:middle line:84% Everything is going to need culling at some point in time. 00:11:44.920 --> 00:11:47.430 align:middle line:84% But you need a certain amount of time 00:11:47.430 --> 00:11:51.620 align:middle line:84% that isn't going to end up going into the game-- this chunk. 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:55.130 align:middle line:90% Actually, it's agood chunk. 00:11:55.130 --> 00:11:57.630 align:middle line:84% Which is why we've been trying to teach you how to prototype 00:11:57.630 --> 00:11:58.900 align:middle line:90% really, really quickly. 00:11:58.900 --> 00:12:00.480 align:middle line:84% It's a little bit of [INAUDIBLE]. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:03.687 align:middle line:84% Because we want you to try to be able to get on to experiments, 00:12:03.687 --> 00:12:05.520 align:middle line:84% come to a conclusion about whether that idea 00:12:05.520 --> 00:12:08.430 align:middle line:84% was good or not as fast as possible, 00:12:08.430 --> 00:12:10.710 align:middle line:84% so that you kind of reduce the cost 00:12:10.710 --> 00:12:12.510 align:middle line:90% of doing a single experiment. 00:12:12.510 --> 00:12:13.070 align:middle line:90% And yes. 00:12:13.070 --> 00:12:14.160 align:middle line:84% It's true that you're not going to be 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:16.410 align:middle line:84% able to conduct an experiment on every single idea 00:12:16.410 --> 00:12:17.760 align:middle line:90% that you've got. 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:25.345 align:middle line:84% So you have to kind of pick and choose a select number of ideas 00:12:25.345 --> 00:12:26.720 align:middle line:84% to be able to take the experiment 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.479 align:middle line:90% to the experimental stage. 00:12:29.479 --> 00:12:31.770 align:middle line:84% Now, there are a couple of things that you can look out 00:12:31.770 --> 00:12:34.200 align:middle line:84% for to say, maybe we don't want to conduct an experiment 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:35.040 align:middle line:90% on something. 00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:36.780 align:middle line:90% One is a brittle idea. 00:12:36.780 --> 00:12:40.470 align:middle line:84% And a brittle idea is that you kind of 00:12:40.470 --> 00:12:43.890 align:middle line:84% have to kind of twist it really, really, really hard 00:12:43.890 --> 00:12:46.010 align:middle line:84% to be able to make it fit with any idea 00:12:46.010 --> 00:12:47.010 align:middle line:90% that you've already got. 00:12:47.010 --> 00:12:49.560 align:middle line:90% 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:51.436 align:middle line:84% I'm assuming that you've already got 00:12:51.436 --> 00:12:53.310 align:middle line:84% a concept that your team was kind of building 00:12:53.310 --> 00:12:54.240 align:middle line:90% around this concept. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:56.880 align:middle line:84% Somebody comes up with an idea and a huge amount 00:12:56.880 --> 00:13:00.180 align:middle line:84% of twisting and turning to be able to even make it fit close, 00:13:00.180 --> 00:13:01.770 align:middle line:84% even though you think that on its own, 00:13:01.770 --> 00:13:05.100 align:middle line:90% this idea is a really good idea. 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:09.810 align:middle line:84% You might actually want to see how many different ways could 00:13:09.810 --> 00:13:13.620 align:middle line:84% this particular idea be executed before you actually 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:15.390 align:middle line:84% decide on the way-- on an experiment 00:13:15.390 --> 00:13:17.840 align:middle line:90% to conduct on that idea. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:19.890 align:middle line:90% Two ways that you can do that. 00:13:19.890 --> 00:13:27.300 align:middle line:84% One is that you just specify, what 00:13:27.300 --> 00:13:31.020 align:middle line:84% is the goal of this possibly brittle idea? 00:13:31.020 --> 00:13:32.370 align:middle line:90% It takes a lot of twisting. 00:13:32.370 --> 00:13:34.590 align:middle line:84% Why do we need this idea in the first place? 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:37.042 align:middle line:84% Is it because the challenge in the game is too low? 00:13:37.042 --> 00:13:39.000 align:middle line:84% Is it because players have too much information 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.230 align:middle line:84% or not enough information about what they're supposed to do? 00:13:43.230 --> 00:13:44.760 align:middle line:84% Is it because you want to introduce 00:13:44.760 --> 00:13:48.940 align:middle line:84% a little element of chance or maybe give 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:51.780 align:middle line:84% some sort of strategic decision making? 00:13:51.780 --> 00:13:54.000 align:middle line:84% Try to identify, what is this problem 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.980 align:middle line:84% that you're trying to solve in the first place 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:59.230 align:middle line:90% with this kind of unwieldy idea? 00:13:59.230 --> 00:13:59.730 align:middle line:90% All right? 00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:01.710 align:middle line:84% And once you've been able to identify that, 00:14:01.710 --> 00:14:04.000 align:middle line:84% then you come up with, all right, 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:05.730 align:middle line:84% what are all the different ways that we 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:08.220 align:middle line:90% could address that problem. 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:10.430 align:middle line:84% As opposed to, here's this one solution that's 00:14:10.430 --> 00:14:13.620 align:middle line:84% kind of unwieldy, that might very well solve that problem, 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:15.930 align:middle line:84% but maybe there are alternatives. 00:14:15.930 --> 00:14:18.300 align:middle line:84% Has anyone encountered this in your own prototyping? 00:14:18.300 --> 00:14:20.970 align:middle line:84% Maybe in this assignment, maybe in a previous assignment. 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:23.970 align:middle line:84% Like, somebody had an idea that was just kind of hard to use, 00:14:23.970 --> 00:14:26.330 align:middle line:84% but then what the idea was trying to solve 00:14:26.330 --> 00:14:27.985 align:middle line:84% was actually a good problem to solve? 00:14:27.985 --> 00:14:30.620 align:middle line:90% 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:31.120 align:middle line:90% No? 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:31.812 align:middle line:90% Not yet? 00:14:31.812 --> 00:14:34.660 align:middle line:90% I thought I saw some nods. 00:14:34.660 --> 00:14:36.220 align:middle line:84% If you've encountered it, I'd love 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:38.059 align:middle line:84% to get an example from one of you. 00:14:38.059 --> 00:14:39.100 align:middle line:90% I can throw out examples. 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:43.838 align:middle line:84% But I'd love to be able to hear examples from one of you. 00:14:43.838 --> 00:14:44.338 align:middle line:90% No? 00:14:44.338 --> 00:14:52.120 align:middle line:90% 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:53.620 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I guess in our first game, 00:14:53.620 --> 00:14:55.617 align:middle line:84% we realized a couple problems with the game. 00:14:55.617 --> 00:14:57.950 align:middle line:84% So we came up with various ways of trying to resolve it, 00:14:57.950 --> 00:15:00.700 align:middle line:84% that didn't really work for the game itself, 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:04.050 align:middle line:90% but solved the smaller problem. 00:15:04.050 --> 00:15:06.050 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Can you be more specific about what 00:15:06.050 --> 00:15:06.790 align:middle line:90% the problem was? 00:15:06.790 --> 00:15:09.206 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, I'm trying to think back to specific ones. 00:15:09.206 --> 00:15:13.500 align:middle line:84% One of them was that the way our game 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:16.250 align:middle line:84% was with the set of the tic tac toe, 00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:20.060 align:middle line:84% it was really hard to see what sets 00:15:20.060 --> 00:15:21.280 align:middle line:90% were available on the board. 00:15:21.280 --> 00:15:21.580 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Right. 00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:22.760 align:middle line:90% This was the set assembly game. 00:15:22.760 --> 00:15:23.050 align:middle line:90% Sure. 00:15:23.050 --> 00:15:23.674 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah. 00:15:23.674 --> 00:15:25.370 align:middle line:84% And so one of the things we tried to do 00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:27.935 align:middle line:84% was removing the center tile altogether, 00:15:27.935 --> 00:15:29.810 align:middle line:84% so that you could only play around the edges. 00:15:29.810 --> 00:15:32.480 align:middle line:84% Which did solve the problem of, now you 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.370 align:middle line:84% could really see what everything was, 00:15:34.370 --> 00:15:36.080 align:middle line:84% so it was a lot easier in that sense. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.260 align:middle line:84% Except it was just a lot less interesting of a game, 00:15:39.260 --> 00:15:42.175 align:middle line:84% because there was a lot less strategy to it. 00:15:42.175 --> 00:15:44.300 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: So you had a version of the game where 00:15:44.300 --> 00:15:47.090 align:middle line:84% all the squares were in play, including the center tile, 00:15:47.090 --> 00:15:49.049 align:middle line:84% and it just made it confusing for your players. 00:15:49.049 --> 00:15:51.506 align:middle line:84% And then you have a version of the game where there's just, 00:15:51.506 --> 00:15:52.450 align:middle line:90% like-- 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:55.130 align:middle line:84% this one possible solution to this problem 00:15:55.130 --> 00:15:57.135 align:middle line:84% is just take the center tile out. 00:15:57.135 --> 00:16:00.350 align:middle line:90% But that made it trivial, or-- 00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:01.040 align:middle line:90% yeah. 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:02.956 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: So we tried to find a middle ground. 00:16:02.956 --> 00:16:04.760 align:middle line:84% And that's how we ended up with the idea 00:16:04.760 --> 00:16:06.755 align:middle line:84% where we had one single card in the middle. 00:16:06.755 --> 00:16:08.450 align:middle line:84% Because you could still use it, but you 00:16:08.450 --> 00:16:10.485 align:middle line:84% didn't have to worry about the lines of play 00:16:10.485 --> 00:16:13.090 align:middle line:84% going through the middle, and how incredibly complex 00:16:13.090 --> 00:16:15.284 align:middle line:84% it is to try and reason about that. 00:16:15.284 --> 00:16:15.950 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: OK. 00:16:15.950 --> 00:16:18.170 align:middle line:84% So it sounds like, instead of a brittle idea, 00:16:18.170 --> 00:16:19.940 align:middle line:84% you actually had a good, robust idea. 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:24.390 align:middle line:84% Which is, that center square is really problematic. 00:16:24.390 --> 00:16:26.299 align:middle line:84% It has hope-- it has possibilities. 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:28.340 align:middle line:84% It has really interesting gameplay possibilities. 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:31.210 align:middle line:84% But for learning the game and starting up the game, 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:33.890 align:middle line:90% it's problematic. 00:16:33.890 --> 00:16:36.140 align:middle line:84% So you found a way to say, all right. 00:16:36.140 --> 00:16:38.210 align:middle line:84% How do we deal with the center square, 00:16:38.210 --> 00:16:41.680 align:middle line:84% instead of the solution of just delete the center square. 00:16:41.680 --> 00:16:45.320 align:middle line:84% You know, let's find a different way to work it in the game. 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:50.150 align:middle line:84% And your final game actually does that. 00:16:50.150 --> 00:16:52.265 align:middle line:84% Something else that you can do is, 00:16:52.265 --> 00:16:54.970 align:middle line:84% if you've got an idea for your game that's kind of unwieldy, 00:16:54.970 --> 00:16:57.386 align:middle line:84% and you're not quite sure what to do about it-- discuss it 00:16:57.386 --> 00:17:00.110 align:middle line:84% among your team, but don't experiment on it. 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:02.150 align:middle line:90% Don't work it into your rules. 00:17:02.150 --> 00:17:03.380 align:middle line:90% Don't try to implement it. 00:17:03.380 --> 00:17:05.390 align:middle line:90% Just get into everybody's heads. 00:17:05.390 --> 00:17:08.839 align:middle line:84% Because that idea may come bubbling up later. 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.950 align:middle line:84% And little bits of it might be applicable and slightly easier 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:14.916 align:middle line:84% to implement as you make progress in your game. 00:17:14.916 --> 00:17:16.790 align:middle line:84% So in other words, put it on the back burner. 00:17:16.790 --> 00:17:19.248 align:middle line:84% But make sure you have actually had a chance to discuss it, 00:17:19.248 --> 00:17:21.709 align:middle line:84% so that everyone's kind of thinking about it, 00:17:21.709 --> 00:17:24.000 align:middle line:84% even if it's not something that you've decided that you 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.640 align:middle line:90% actually want to do right away. 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.258 align:middle line:84% It might be a lot faster to just have 00:17:27.258 --> 00:17:29.882 align:middle line:84% a quick discussion in that case than to conduct the experiment. 00:17:29.882 --> 00:17:33.140 align:middle line:90% 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:33.640 align:middle line:90% Yep. 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.300 align:middle line:90% 00:17:36.300 --> 00:17:38.910 align:middle line:84% So those are a couple of strategies 00:17:38.910 --> 00:17:41.460 align:middle line:84% on how do you sort of focus your experimenting time. 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:42.960 align:middle line:84% And this is probably not going to be 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:44.543 align:middle line:84% very useful for assignment two, but it 00:17:44.543 --> 00:17:47.820 align:middle line:84% is going to be useful for assignment three. 00:17:47.820 --> 00:17:50.100 align:middle line:84% Because in assignment two, hopefully you're 00:17:50.100 --> 00:17:53.640 align:middle line:84% well past the creating and adding new features part 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:55.890 align:middle line:84% and now you're just trying to get this out 00:17:55.890 --> 00:17:59.230 align:middle line:90% of the door for Wednesday. 00:17:59.230 --> 00:18:02.440 align:middle line:84% So let's talk about this stage now. 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:04.314 align:middle line:90% Well, yeah. 00:18:04.314 --> 00:18:07.176 align:middle line:84% In fact, I'm going to focus on this one instead. 00:18:07.176 --> 00:18:08.550 align:middle line:84% The sort of, like, cutting phase. 00:18:08.550 --> 00:18:10.980 align:middle line:84% Where you're both cutting good stuff and bad stuff. 00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:14.580 align:middle line:84% But you're cutting stuff in general, because you have to. 00:18:14.580 --> 00:18:16.680 align:middle line:84% Maybe because you're running out of time. 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:23.130 align:middle line:84% Maybe because you are trying to get rid of the bad stuff. 00:18:23.130 --> 00:18:25.500 align:middle line:90% So, things that you need to do-- 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:27.840 align:middle line:84% and this is something that I'd like you to do today, 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:30.105 align:middle line:84% when you meet up in your teams-- is 00:18:30.105 --> 00:18:33.360 align:middle line:84% to determine what is the criteria for which you're 00:18:33.360 --> 00:18:35.880 align:middle line:90% going to cut a feature. 00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:39.739 align:middle line:84% For instance, come up with a quick description 00:18:39.739 --> 00:18:41.780 align:middle line:84% about what your game is supposed to be all about. 00:18:41.780 --> 00:18:43.470 align:middle line:84% You may have already written this in your rules. 00:18:43.470 --> 00:18:46.011 align:middle line:84% It might be in the very first paragraph of your rules, saying 00:18:46.011 --> 00:18:52.290 align:middle line:84% that our game is about getting entangled with other people, 00:18:52.290 --> 00:18:56.805 align:middle line:84% you know, or pushing them over, for instance. 00:18:56.805 --> 00:18:58.230 align:middle line:90% Which is it? 00:18:58.230 --> 00:19:00.150 align:middle line:90% And being able to identify it. 00:19:00.150 --> 00:19:03.120 align:middle line:84% And then, when you look at all of your rules in your game, 00:19:03.120 --> 00:19:07.920 align:middle line:84% you can actually determine, OK, which chunks of our mechanics 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.790 align:middle line:84% actually serve that goal, and which ones don't. 00:19:10.790 --> 00:19:13.440 align:middle line:84% You know, there are things that are there just 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:14.810 align:middle line:90% to keep your game going. 00:19:14.810 --> 00:19:17.130 align:middle line:84% Those may be fine to keep, but those aren't directly 00:19:17.130 --> 00:19:19.200 align:middle line:84% contributing to how good your game is. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:23.134 align:middle line:84% Those are just basically there to keep the thing working. 00:19:23.134 --> 00:19:25.300 align:middle line:84% And maybe they can take a little bit of improvement, 00:19:25.300 --> 00:19:27.550 align:middle line:90% but they're kind of suspect. 00:19:27.550 --> 00:19:29.100 align:middle line:84% And there's things that'll directly 00:19:29.100 --> 00:19:33.120 align:middle line:84% contribute to your core gameplay that you're trying 00:19:33.120 --> 00:19:34.472 align:middle line:90% to achieve with your game. 00:19:34.472 --> 00:19:36.180 align:middle line:84% And those are probably things that you'll 00:19:36.180 --> 00:19:37.920 align:middle line:84% want to spend a lot more time making sure 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:39.420 align:middle line:84% that the rules are absolutely clear, 00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:41.920 align:middle line:84% and your players understand what they mean, 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:45.660 align:middle line:84% that if there's any other mechanics in your game, 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:46.770 align:middle line:90% they're supporting that-- 00:19:46.770 --> 00:19:52.230 align:middle line:84% you know, that those meet your criteria for what 00:19:52.230 --> 00:19:53.471 align:middle line:90% should stay in your game. 00:19:53.471 --> 00:19:58.842 align:middle line:90% 00:19:58.842 --> 00:20:00.675 align:middle line:84% Because once you know what your criteria is, 00:20:00.675 --> 00:20:03.270 align:middle line:84% it becomes a lot easier to be able to just look at everything 00:20:03.270 --> 00:20:05.311 align:middle line:84% that you've got, deciding what to keep and invest 00:20:05.311 --> 00:20:07.622 align:middle line:90% more time in, and what to cut. 00:20:07.622 --> 00:20:09.630 align:middle line:84% Now, there's a couple of problems 00:20:09.630 --> 00:20:12.090 align:middle line:84% that people typically run into when 00:20:12.090 --> 00:20:14.670 align:middle line:90% it comes to cutting stuff out. 00:20:14.670 --> 00:20:18.000 align:middle line:84% A couple of game developers refer to this as culling. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:20.530 align:middle line:84% If you come from 3D graphics, culling 00:20:20.530 --> 00:20:23.220 align:middle line:84% is a very common way just to be able to just cut all the stuff 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:26.509 align:middle line:90% out that you don't need. 00:20:26.509 --> 00:20:28.800 align:middle line:84% So, for instance, if you don't have an explicit culling 00:20:28.800 --> 00:20:32.670 align:middle line:84% criteria, then you don't actually 00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:38.280 align:middle line:84% know why a certain mechanic exists, 00:20:38.280 --> 00:20:40.560 align:middle line:84% and you don't actually know whether you should keep it 00:20:40.560 --> 00:20:41.490 align:middle line:90% or not. 00:20:41.490 --> 00:20:46.230 align:middle line:84% So that discussion should be something that happens today. 00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:49.680 align:middle line:84% In the end, what is your game about, and does your game 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.190 align:middle line:90% actually meet that? 00:20:52.190 --> 00:20:55.140 align:middle line:84% You might have other culling criteria that aren't that. 00:20:55.140 --> 00:20:56.867 align:middle line:84% Does this game run in five minutes. 00:20:56.867 --> 00:20:58.200 align:middle line:90% What was the limit for this one? 00:20:58.200 --> 00:20:59.605 align:middle line:90% 10 minutes, I believe? 00:20:59.605 --> 00:21:00.291 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 2: 20. 00:21:00.291 --> 00:21:01.290 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: 20 minutes? 00:21:01.290 --> 00:21:01.800 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:21:01.800 --> 00:21:04.920 align:middle line:84% So if the game needs to run in 20 minutes, 00:21:04.920 --> 00:21:07.650 align:middle line:84% because we as instructors gave you that limitation, 00:21:07.650 --> 00:21:11.146 align:middle line:84% then that's probably a perfectly reasonable culling criteria 00:21:11.146 --> 00:21:11.770 align:middle line:90% for you to use. 00:21:11.770 --> 00:21:15.603 align:middle line:84% What in our game is sort of contributing towards this, 00:21:15.603 --> 00:21:18.186 align:middle line:84% and what's actually getting in our way of hitting that target. 00:21:18.186 --> 00:21:23.680 align:middle line:90% 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:24.255 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:21:24.255 --> 00:21:26.760 align:middle line:90% 00:21:26.760 --> 00:21:30.310 align:middle line:84% Something else that comes into play, and that affects culling, 00:21:30.310 --> 00:21:33.817 align:middle line:84% that affects this phase, is when you conduct experiments here, 00:21:33.817 --> 00:21:36.270 align:middle line:84% but your experiments are not very tangible. 00:21:36.270 --> 00:21:39.600 align:middle line:90% They're kind of floaty and wavy. 00:21:39.600 --> 00:21:41.970 align:middle line:84% This usually happens in teams that 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:43.637 align:middle line:84% like to talk out all of the ideas, 00:21:43.637 --> 00:21:46.095 align:middle line:84% but don't actually like to do a lot of hardcore prototyping 00:21:46.095 --> 00:21:47.750 align:middle line:90% and playtesting. 00:21:47.750 --> 00:21:50.610 align:middle line:84% I hope that that's not so much of a problem for anyone 00:21:50.610 --> 00:21:51.690 align:middle line:90% in this class by now. 00:21:51.690 --> 00:21:53.970 align:middle line:84% You've got in a lot of practice in that. 00:21:53.970 --> 00:21:57.120 align:middle line:84% But you may have a couple of rules and mechanics 00:21:57.120 --> 00:22:00.689 align:middle line:84% that have ended up in your game, that you never actually 00:22:00.689 --> 00:22:02.730 align:middle line:84% prototyped, that you've never actually tested out 00:22:02.730 --> 00:22:03.510 align:middle line:90% with real people. 00:22:03.510 --> 00:22:07.770 align:middle line:84% Make sure that whatever actually ends up in the version 00:22:07.770 --> 00:22:09.690 align:middle line:84% that you hand in on Wednesday is something 00:22:09.690 --> 00:22:10.910 align:middle line:90% that you've actually tested-- 00:22:10.910 --> 00:22:12.284 align:middle line:84% is something that you've actually 00:22:12.284 --> 00:22:14.860 align:middle line:84% gotten some real data about whether it's working or not. 00:22:14.860 --> 00:22:20.370 align:middle line:90% 00:22:20.370 --> 00:22:24.700 align:middle line:84% This one happens with every student project. 00:22:24.700 --> 00:22:27.420 align:middle line:84% Students-- game developers in general 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:29.820 align:middle line:84% always assume that adding more stuff is better. 00:22:29.820 --> 00:22:32.400 align:middle line:84% It takes a very, very, very seasoned game designer 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.540 align:middle line:84% to realize that sometimes simplicity is good. 00:22:36.540 --> 00:22:40.020 align:middle line:84% And again, I hope this is not a terribly new revelation 00:22:40.020 --> 00:22:41.250 align:middle line:90% to the people in this class. 00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:43.980 align:middle line:84% But I see it in student projects all the time. 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:45.720 align:middle line:84% I see in student projects where they 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:49.450 align:middle line:84% assume that more features and more complexity 00:22:49.450 --> 00:22:50.517 align:middle line:90% is going to be better. 00:22:50.517 --> 00:22:52.600 align:middle line:84% And in fact, I saw some of them in assignment one. 00:22:52.600 --> 00:22:54.849 align:middle line:84% And we're going to be talking a little bit about that. 00:22:54.849 --> 00:22:56.942 align:middle line:84% More complexity doesn't necessarily always 00:22:56.942 --> 00:22:57.900 align:middle line:90% make for a better game. 00:22:57.900 --> 00:22:59.880 align:middle line:84% It may make it a more interesting 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:01.580 align:middle line:90% intellectual problem. 00:23:01.580 --> 00:23:04.050 align:middle line:84% It doesn't necessarily always make it 00:23:04.050 --> 00:23:07.030 align:middle line:90% into a more entertaining game. 00:23:07.030 --> 00:23:10.170 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:23:10.170 --> 00:23:12.780 align:middle line:84% One thing about culling is that cutting features 00:23:12.780 --> 00:23:16.020 align:middle line:84% and cutting stuff out kind of takes practice. 00:23:16.020 --> 00:23:20.100 align:middle line:84% You've got to do it fairly regularly. 00:23:20.100 --> 00:23:22.790 align:middle line:84% For assignment three, which is going to be starting 00:23:22.790 --> 00:23:24.540 align:middle line:84% on Wednesday, right-- we actually cut that 00:23:24.540 --> 00:23:25.770 align:middle line:90% on Wednesday-- 00:23:25.770 --> 00:23:27.780 align:middle line:84% what I'm going to ask you to do is try 00:23:27.780 --> 00:23:30.600 align:middle line:90% cutting a feature every week. 00:23:30.600 --> 00:23:34.530 align:middle line:84% You know, just say, what's on the chopping block this week? 00:23:34.530 --> 00:23:36.660 align:middle line:84% Every Monday, or every Wednesday, 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:38.880 align:middle line:84% or if you have a regular meeting time on Saturday 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:40.110 align:middle line:90% or something like that-- 00:23:40.110 --> 00:23:45.150 align:middle line:84% just, like, what is the least useful thing that we've 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:46.920 align:middle line:90% got in our game right now. 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:48.600 align:middle line:90% And just try that. 00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:52.420 align:middle line:84% Because you can always add stuff in later. 00:23:52.420 --> 00:23:55.731 align:middle line:84% Remember, this is a cyclical thing. 00:23:55.731 --> 00:23:58.230 align:middle line:84% You're going to be adding, then cutting, adding and cutting, 00:23:58.230 --> 00:24:00.830 align:middle line:90% adding and cutting. 00:24:00.830 --> 00:24:04.480 align:middle line:84% I think you've got in a lot of practice on the adding part. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:06.420 align:middle line:84% But you've got to practice a little bit more 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:07.770 align:middle line:90% on the cutting part now. 00:24:07.770 --> 00:24:09.270 align:middle line:84% And you've got time to be able to do 00:24:09.270 --> 00:24:10.040 align:middle line:90% this for assignment three. 00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:11.470 align:middle line:84% You've got a little bit more time on assignment three 00:24:11.470 --> 00:24:13.320 align:middle line:90% than you had on assignment two. 00:24:13.320 --> 00:24:16.814 align:middle line:84% So, start setting yourself a schedule, of all right, 00:24:16.814 --> 00:24:18.480 align:middle line:84% we're definitely going to cut something. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:19.420 align:middle line:84% I don't know what it is, but we're 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:21.837 align:middle line:84% going to meet up as a team and we're going to decide that. 00:24:21.837 --> 00:24:24.128 align:middle line:84% And if it turns out that it was the wrong thing to cut, 00:24:24.128 --> 00:24:25.260 align:middle line:90% you can add it back later. 00:24:25.260 --> 00:24:28.170 align:middle line:84% But that allows you to focus your efforts on the things 00:24:28.170 --> 00:24:30.448 align:middle line:84% that you've deemed as more important 00:24:30.448 --> 00:24:31.572 align:middle line:90% for a short amount of time. 00:24:31.572 --> 00:24:36.350 align:middle line:90% 00:24:36.350 --> 00:24:40.500 align:middle line:84% It can be hard to be objective about this process. 00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:41.780 align:middle line:90% Something that we've done-- 00:24:41.780 --> 00:24:46.550 align:middle line:84% in mostly our video game development, but you 00:24:46.550 --> 00:24:48.500 align:middle line:84% can do this in paper prototypes-- 00:24:48.500 --> 00:24:50.630 align:middle line:84% is to hand people very, very simple survey 00:24:50.630 --> 00:24:55.340 align:middle line:84% forms that basically say, how fun did you find this? 00:24:55.340 --> 00:24:57.150 align:middle line:90% How fun did you find that? 00:24:57.150 --> 00:24:59.600 align:middle line:84% Say your game has different roles. 00:24:59.600 --> 00:25:02.630 align:middle line:84% You have a tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:04.935 align:middle line:84% These are your four roles in your game. 00:25:04.935 --> 00:25:06.560 align:middle line:84% And you just hand out the survey form-- 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:08.400 align:middle line:84% how fun did you find being a tinker? 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:10.670 align:middle line:84% How fun do you find being a tailor? 00:25:10.670 --> 00:25:13.820 align:middle line:90% Just one to five. 00:25:13.820 --> 00:25:18.334 align:middle line:84% And that isn't terribly much information, 00:25:18.334 --> 00:25:20.000 align:middle line:84% but it gives you just enough information 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.760 align:middle line:84% to help you concentrate your efforts on what's 00:25:22.760 --> 00:25:25.946 align:middle line:84% the most problematic thing in our game right now. 00:25:25.946 --> 00:25:28.010 align:middle line:84% You can go into greater details, like do 00:25:28.010 --> 00:25:34.040 align:middle line:84% you think that the game was too long, too short, too 00:25:34.040 --> 00:25:39.260 align:middle line:84% challenging, too easy, too luck-based, 00:25:39.260 --> 00:25:41.570 align:middle line:90% required too much thought. 00:25:41.570 --> 00:25:43.760 align:middle line:84% You can put these things on these five-point scales 00:25:43.760 --> 00:25:45.759 align:middle line:84% to be able to give you a little bit of feedback. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.020 align:middle line:84% They don't necessarily tell you what the problem is. 00:25:48.020 --> 00:25:50.750 align:middle line:84% But it tells you where the problem might lie. 00:25:50.750 --> 00:25:52.521 align:middle line:84% And that will help focus your discussion 00:25:52.521 --> 00:25:53.770 align:middle line:90% and your efforts a little bit. 00:25:53.770 --> 00:25:56.940 align:middle line:90% 00:25:56.940 --> 00:25:57.440 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.589 align:middle line:84% And finally, the most important thing 00:25:59.589 --> 00:26:01.130 align:middle line:84% is that you've got to keep doing this 00:26:01.130 --> 00:26:02.890 align:middle line:90% over and over and over again. 00:26:02.890 --> 00:26:06.300 align:middle line:84% If you just do this once, you kind of end up 00:26:06.300 --> 00:26:08.810 align:middle line:84% in this situation where you've got a bunch of good ideas 00:26:08.810 --> 00:26:11.990 align:middle line:84% but the bad ideas are still there. 00:26:11.990 --> 00:26:15.710 align:middle line:84% I'm going to expand this for you. 00:26:15.710 --> 00:26:17.170 align:middle line:84% What you eventually want to get to 00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:20.420 align:middle line:84% is a situation where the only stuff that's left in your game 00:26:20.420 --> 00:26:25.557 align:middle line:84% is the stuff that is worth keeping and that works well. 00:26:25.557 --> 00:26:27.890 align:middle line:84% And all the stuff that was bad, you've either completely 00:26:27.890 --> 00:26:30.740 align:middle line:84% cut it out or you've improved it to the point where it is 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:32.024 align:middle line:90% actually a desirable feature. 00:26:32.024 --> 00:26:34.190 align:middle line:84% And you're only going to be able to get through that 00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:35.145 align:middle line:90% through multiple iterations. 00:26:35.145 --> 00:26:36.950 align:middle line:84% You're not going to get through that just 00:26:36.950 --> 00:26:39.560 align:middle line:84% by introducing something at the last minute 00:26:39.560 --> 00:26:41.087 align:middle line:90% and hoping that it works. 00:26:41.087 --> 00:26:43.670 align:middle line:84% Because you haven't had time to actually improve it and polish 00:26:43.670 --> 00:26:44.560 align:middle line:90% it yet. 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:47.320 align:middle line:90% 00:26:47.320 --> 00:26:51.410 align:middle line:84% Now something that's less of a problem for this class, 00:26:51.410 --> 00:26:54.879 align:middle line:84% but may be a problem in your other game design experiments 00:26:54.879 --> 00:26:56.420 align:middle line:84% outside of class, is that you may not 00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:59.990 align:middle line:90% know when to call it a day. 00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:02.384 align:middle line:84% You can repeat this process forever. 00:27:02.384 --> 00:27:04.550 align:middle line:84% And you've heard about games that have been going on 00:27:04.550 --> 00:27:06.760 align:middle line:90% for four or five years. 00:27:06.760 --> 00:27:09.320 align:middle line:84% How long was Duke Nukem Forever in production for-- 00:27:09.320 --> 00:27:10.970 align:middle line:90% 15? 00:27:10.970 --> 00:27:13.160 align:middle line:90% At least 10. 00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:16.160 align:middle line:84% And that was actually one example 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:20.319 align:middle line:84% of where new technology just ended up 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:22.610 align:middle line:84% changing the foundation of which the game was built on, 00:27:22.610 --> 00:27:24.640 align:middle line:90% over and over and over again. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:27.034 align:middle line:84% It just kept resetting the game engine development 00:27:27.034 --> 00:27:27.950 align:middle line:90% and just took forever. 00:27:27.950 --> 00:27:30.580 align:middle line:90% 00:27:30.580 --> 00:27:34.460 align:middle line:84% One thing that that game could probably have used 00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:37.790 align:middle line:84% is just some sort of standard criteria of saying, 00:27:37.790 --> 00:27:41.210 align:middle line:84% once we hit this criteria, we're shipping this game. 00:27:41.210 --> 00:27:43.550 align:middle line:84% It could be, once we've spent x amount of money. 00:27:43.550 --> 00:27:47.540 align:middle line:84% That probably should've been the case for that particular game. 00:27:47.540 --> 00:27:52.150 align:middle line:84% But it could have been, once our informal internal surveys hit 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:55.940 align:middle line:90% a rating of four out of five. 00:27:55.940 --> 00:27:58.190 align:middle line:84% You know, that might have been good enough. 00:27:58.190 --> 00:27:59.840 align:middle line:84% Some companies don't settle for that. 00:27:59.840 --> 00:28:01.298 align:middle line:84% There are companies that say, we're 00:28:01.298 --> 00:28:03.470 align:middle line:84% only going to release the absolute best games 00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:06.020 align:middle line:90% that we absolutely can. 00:28:06.020 --> 00:28:07.610 align:middle line:90% But, don't kid yourself. 00:28:07.610 --> 00:28:09.419 align:middle line:84% Internally, they do have criteria on when 00:28:09.419 --> 00:28:10.460 align:middle line:90% these games have to ship. 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:11.750 align:middle line:90% Even Nintendo does. 00:28:11.750 --> 00:28:15.587 align:middle line:84% And Nintendo's notorious for shipping late games. 00:28:15.587 --> 00:28:17.420 align:middle line:84% Because they have this mantra that a game is 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:23.270 align:middle line:84% late for a short while and a bad game is bad forever. 00:28:23.270 --> 00:28:25.000 align:middle line:84% So that's what they say to the public. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:26.810 align:middle line:84% Internally, they ship by Christmas. 00:28:26.810 --> 00:28:29.540 align:middle line:84% They get those games out to the market. 00:28:29.540 --> 00:28:31.010 align:middle line:90% Because they have a time box. 00:28:31.010 --> 00:28:32.760 align:middle line:90% That's the other way to do it. 00:28:32.760 --> 00:28:35.000 align:middle line:84% And so it's like, well, we have to be 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:37.430 align:middle line:84% able to get into the manufacturing process 00:28:37.430 --> 00:28:38.766 align:middle line:90% to print those discs-- 00:28:38.766 --> 00:28:40.220 align:middle line:90% less of an issue nowadays. 00:28:40.220 --> 00:28:43.730 align:middle line:84% But Nintendo still operates in disc fashion 00:28:43.730 --> 00:28:46.676 align:middle line:84% because they grew up as cartridge manufacturers. 00:28:46.676 --> 00:28:48.050 align:middle line:84% So they actually had to print it. 00:28:48.050 --> 00:28:51.874 align:middle line:84% Now when it comes to publishing a paper game, 00:28:51.874 --> 00:28:53.540 align:middle line:84% that timeline can be even longer, right? 00:28:53.540 --> 00:28:57.290 align:middle line:84% Because you have to put ink on paper, 00:28:57.290 --> 00:29:00.190 align:middle line:84% you have to have it folded, you have to get all the plastic 00:29:00.190 --> 00:29:03.560 align:middle line:84% and stuff put in plastic bags, and put it into the box, 00:29:03.560 --> 00:29:06.380 align:middle line:84% and then put into pallets, and then shipped from China, 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:09.970 align:middle line:84% usually, over to stores all over the United States 00:29:09.970 --> 00:29:11.970 align:middle line:84% so that they're in stores in time for Christmas. 00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:14.440 align:middle line:84% And that's, like, a huge timeline. 00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:17.470 align:middle line:90% So that became the time limit. 00:29:17.470 --> 00:29:19.400 align:middle line:84% Sometimes you just set the time limit 00:29:19.400 --> 00:29:24.320 align:middle line:84% because you have to be able to meet ship dates. 00:29:24.320 --> 00:29:25.775 align:middle line:90% It's not very complicated. 00:29:25.775 --> 00:29:28.460 align:middle line:84% Now, when you're working on your own internal Kickstarter 00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:30.434 align:middle line:84% project or something, where you already 00:29:30.434 --> 00:29:31.850 align:middle line:84% know who's going to buy your game, 00:29:31.850 --> 00:29:33.500 align:middle line:84% because they paid for it upfront, 00:29:33.500 --> 00:29:38.470 align:middle line:84% before you even started manufacturing-- 00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:41.695 align:middle line:84% I think we'll hear more about that maybe in about two weeks, 00:29:41.695 --> 00:29:43.045 align:middle line:90% or about one week. 00:29:43.045 --> 00:29:44.173 align:middle line:90% April 9? 00:29:44.173 --> 00:29:45.670 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 2: 9th. 00:29:45.670 --> 00:29:46.420 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:29:46.420 --> 00:29:52.390 align:middle line:84% We'll have a couple of folks who actually work in the board game 00:29:52.390 --> 00:29:55.970 align:middle line:84% publishing industry talk a little bit about how they set 00:29:55.970 --> 00:29:59.140 align:middle line:84% goalposts and deadlines for themselves, what are 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:00.890 align:middle line:90% the considerations for that. 00:30:00.890 --> 00:30:03.760 align:middle line:84% But in the end, it's just-- they had to set a goal, somehow. 00:30:03.760 --> 00:30:06.850 align:middle line:84% Either it's a quality goal or it's a time goal. 00:30:06.850 --> 00:30:08.970 align:middle line:84% And once you hit that, you have to ship. 00:30:08.970 --> 00:30:10.462 align:middle line:90% Because you can always do-- 00:30:10.462 --> 00:30:11.920 align:middle line:84% if you have set a quality goal, you 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:13.810 align:middle line:90% can always do better than that. 00:30:13.810 --> 00:30:17.045 align:middle line:84% The more time that you spend, theoretically, 00:30:17.045 --> 00:30:19.420 align:middle line:84% if you are sticking to this, the higher quality your game 00:30:19.420 --> 00:30:20.086 align:middle line:90% is going to get. 00:30:20.086 --> 00:30:21.520 align:middle line:90% But then you don't ship. 00:30:21.520 --> 00:30:23.930 align:middle line:84% You just have diminishing returns. 00:30:23.930 --> 00:30:26.460 align:middle line:84% You'll never be able to move on to your next project. 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:31.820 align:middle line:84% You're never going to get revenue from the project 00:30:31.820 --> 00:30:32.880 align:middle line:90% that you started. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:36.280 align:middle line:84% And your game may not be improved by that much more, 00:30:36.280 --> 00:30:38.210 align:middle line:84% just by spending extra time on it. 00:30:38.210 --> 00:30:41.100 align:middle line:90% 00:30:41.100 --> 00:30:42.370 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:30:42.370 --> 00:30:46.870 align:middle line:84% So again, we're going to talk a little bit about things 00:30:46.870 --> 00:30:50.290 align:middle line:84% that are relevant to this from what we've 00:30:50.290 --> 00:30:52.372 align:middle line:90% observed from assignment one. 00:30:52.372 --> 00:30:56.470 align:middle line:84% And then for your team time today, start 00:30:56.470 --> 00:31:00.010 align:middle line:84% talking about, what is your culling criteria. 00:31:00.010 --> 00:31:02.159 align:middle line:90% What are you trying to achieve-- 00:31:02.159 --> 00:31:03.700 align:middle line:84% what's the simplest thing that you're 00:31:03.700 --> 00:31:06.820 align:middle line:84% trying to achieve with this game, and the simplest way 00:31:06.820 --> 00:31:07.900 align:middle line:90% to describe it. 00:31:07.900 --> 00:31:10.090 align:middle line:84% And then look at all the things in your game 00:31:10.090 --> 00:31:11.910 align:middle line:90% based on that criteria. 00:31:11.910 --> 00:31:14.044 align:middle line:84% And whatever doesn't meet that might be something 00:31:14.044 --> 00:31:16.210 align:middle line:84% that you want to cut out, especially if it's already 00:31:16.210 --> 00:31:18.580 align:middle line:90% causing you problems. 00:31:18.580 --> 00:31:21.060 align:middle line:84% And maybe you'll just save some time-- 00:31:21.060 --> 00:31:22.690 align:middle line:84% free up a little bit more time to work 00:31:22.690 --> 00:31:24.210 align:middle line:84% on the stuff that's already working, 00:31:24.210 --> 00:31:26.001 align:middle line:84% and you can polish it up a little bit more. 00:31:26.001 --> 00:31:29.230 align:middle line:90% 00:31:29.230 --> 00:31:32.430 align:middle line:84% So any questions about adding and cutting features? 00:31:32.430 --> 00:31:37.230 align:middle line:90% 00:31:37.230 --> 00:31:39.565 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:31:39.565 --> 00:31:42.900 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: So, taking all this and relating it to assignment 00:31:42.900 --> 00:31:45.120 align:middle line:84% one-- and then going into assignment two-- 00:31:45.120 --> 00:31:48.460 align:middle line:84% also starting with when you cut in assignment one. 00:31:48.460 --> 00:31:54.200 align:middle line:84% So, when it comes to advanced rules and basics rules, 00:31:54.200 --> 00:31:56.940 align:middle line:84% if you're going to do an advance and a basic rule set, 00:31:56.940 --> 00:31:58.892 align:middle line:84% make sure your basic rule set matches 00:31:58.892 --> 00:32:01.225 align:middle line:84% the core experience you're trying to make with the game. 00:32:01.225 --> 00:32:03.367 align:middle line:84% It's really, really important for assignment two, 00:32:03.367 --> 00:32:04.450 align:middle line:90% for this third assignment. 00:32:04.450 --> 00:32:06.158 align:middle line:84% Because that's what we said when set out, 00:32:06.158 --> 00:32:08.687 align:middle line:84% right, is we said, come up with something that's 00:32:08.687 --> 00:32:11.020 align:middle line:84% going to have a very particular experience that you want 00:32:11.020 --> 00:32:12.186 align:middle line:90% the players have at the end. 00:32:12.186 --> 00:32:15.190 align:middle line:84% So if you're going to do advanced rules and basic rules, 00:32:15.190 --> 00:32:18.040 align:middle line:84% that criteria should be part of what your basic rules are. 00:32:18.040 --> 00:32:22.230 align:middle line:84% The advanced rules, as Philip mentioned yesterday, 00:32:22.230 --> 00:32:24.630 align:middle line:84% for some of them, it could add more interest. 00:32:24.630 --> 00:32:27.220 align:middle line:84% It could be more intellectually stimulating. 00:32:27.220 --> 00:32:29.360 align:middle line:84% But really, the basic rules should support 00:32:29.360 --> 00:32:30.460 align:middle line:90% everything the game has. 00:32:30.460 --> 00:32:34.500 align:middle line:84% The advanced rules are just add-ons, actually. 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:36.670 align:middle line:84% If you don't want to send us advanced rules, 00:32:36.670 --> 00:32:38.230 align:middle line:90% don't just cut it completely. 00:32:38.230 --> 00:32:41.987 align:middle line:84% Say, we're not going to use the advanced rules because we just 00:32:41.987 --> 00:32:43.445 align:middle line:84% could not get them to work in time. 00:32:43.445 --> 00:32:45.190 align:middle line:84% And that's absolutely, perfectly fine, 00:32:45.190 --> 00:32:48.315 align:middle line:84% so long as the basic rules still match the core experience 00:32:48.315 --> 00:32:50.070 align:middle line:90% you're trying to get across. 00:32:50.070 --> 00:32:52.720 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: I think one thing I do 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:55.370 align:middle line:84% want to add to that is that for the most part, 00:32:55.370 --> 00:32:58.130 align:middle line:84% your basic rules are pretty darn good. 00:32:58.130 --> 00:33:01.800 align:middle line:84% Much better than a lot of the advanced rules. 00:33:01.800 --> 00:33:04.815 align:middle line:84% Maybe because the wording in the basic rules 00:33:04.815 --> 00:33:06.150 align:middle line:90% had a little bit more care. 00:33:06.150 --> 00:33:08.054 align:middle line:90% Maybe you tested it. 00:33:08.054 --> 00:33:14.490 align:middle line:84% We found the basic games very playable and pretty enjoyable, 00:33:14.490 --> 00:33:17.726 align:middle line:84% was probably just fine for what we were 00:33:17.726 --> 00:33:19.375 align:middle line:90% expecting from assignment one. 00:33:19.375 --> 00:33:21.640 align:middle line:84% So a lot of the stuff that you had in advanced rules, 00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:24.437 align:middle line:84% I do realize, some of those were things that came up 00:33:24.437 --> 00:33:26.520 align:middle line:84% in the testing process, and you thought, you know, 00:33:26.520 --> 00:33:30.010 align:middle line:84% this is a game that our game has evolved into. 00:33:30.010 --> 00:33:34.920 align:middle line:84% But once you realize that there is a core, basic game that 00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:38.170 align:middle line:84% works, and then that this sounds like a slightly more 00:33:38.170 --> 00:33:41.880 align:middle line:84% complicated version of the game, that slightly more complicated 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:45.797 align:middle line:84% stuff is all candidates for cutting. 00:33:45.797 --> 00:33:47.380 align:middle line:84% Because you've already identified what 00:33:47.380 --> 00:33:50.000 align:middle line:84% the important part of this [INAUDIBLE]. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.250 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: When it comes to time and your deadlines, 00:33:52.250 --> 00:33:55.980 align:middle line:90% of course, adopt a common lingo. 00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:57.270 align:middle line:90% Adopt a common language. 00:33:57.270 --> 00:33:58.560 align:middle line:90% Stick with it. 00:33:58.560 --> 00:33:59.867 align:middle line:90% Proofread your rules. 00:33:59.867 --> 00:34:01.950 align:middle line:84% I think I have it written down in the very bottom. 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:02.880 align:middle line:90% Proofread your rules. 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.904 align:middle line:84% So I'll say that a third time later on. 00:34:04.904 --> 00:34:06.570 align:middle line:84% And that means, like, naming conventions 00:34:06.570 --> 00:34:08.153 align:middle line:84% for the pieces, for what you've chosen 00:34:08.153 --> 00:34:09.914 align:middle line:90% to call things in your game. 00:34:09.914 --> 00:34:12.080 align:middle line:84% That could be naming conventions based on the rules, 00:34:12.080 --> 00:34:13.949 align:middle line:84% but also proofreading your cards, too. 00:34:13.949 --> 00:34:18.840 align:middle line:84% Making sure all your pieces are using the same language. 00:34:18.840 --> 00:34:21.546 align:middle line:84% When it comes to talking about what the player does, 00:34:21.546 --> 00:34:26.610 align:middle line:84% we did notice some should versus may versus must, kind 00:34:26.610 --> 00:34:28.080 align:middle line:90% of getting mixed up. 00:34:28.080 --> 00:34:29.760 align:middle line:84% So when we're playing the game, we're 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:32.670 align:middle line:84% not quite sure, well, if I should do this, 00:34:32.670 --> 00:34:36.350 align:middle line:90% if I may do this, why-- 00:34:36.350 --> 00:34:38.800 align:middle line:84% if it's may here, is it also may over here, 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:40.100 align:middle line:90% or is it should over here? 00:34:40.100 --> 00:34:41.909 align:middle line:90% Just wasn't quite sure. 00:34:41.909 --> 00:34:44.070 align:middle line:90% Wasn't quite clear. 00:34:44.070 --> 00:34:46.075 align:middle line:84% So I definitely recommend spending today 00:34:46.075 --> 00:34:47.070 align:middle line:90% working on your rules. 00:34:47.070 --> 00:34:51.330 align:middle line:84% Spend today having us play your game using your current rules, 00:34:51.330 --> 00:34:54.420 align:middle line:84% and then taking our feedback and then working on it 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:57.800 align:middle line:90% for turning it in on Wednesday. 00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:01.260 align:middle line:84% And again, when it comes to cutting things-- 00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:04.440 align:middle line:84% when you are cutting, making sure that you 00:35:04.440 --> 00:35:05.940 align:middle line:90% are filling in the gaps. 00:35:05.940 --> 00:35:09.109 align:middle line:84% So if you cut something out, there might be a system, 00:35:09.109 --> 00:35:10.650 align:middle line:84% there might be a rule-- in this case, 00:35:10.650 --> 00:35:12.390 align:middle line:90% it generally was polish issues. 00:35:12.390 --> 00:35:16.980 align:middle line:84% So if something was removed from one of the rule sets, 00:35:16.980 --> 00:35:19.420 align:middle line:90% we saw a little bit of-- 00:35:19.420 --> 00:35:20.520 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Remnants. 00:35:20.520 --> 00:35:22.960 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: --remnants of it, spread in the rules. 00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:24.810 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: So for instance, say 00:35:24.810 --> 00:35:26.310 align:middle line:84% you are one of those groups that had 00:35:26.310 --> 00:35:28.092 align:middle line:90% basic rules and advanced rules. 00:35:28.092 --> 00:35:29.800 align:middle line:84% And you took a chunk of the game that you 00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:31.729 align:middle line:84% moved into advanced rules because you 00:35:31.729 --> 00:35:33.270 align:middle line:84% realized that the core-based game was 00:35:33.270 --> 00:35:34.580 align:middle line:90% more playable without that. 00:35:34.580 --> 00:35:37.675 align:middle line:84% But your basic rules still refer to bits of the advanced rules. 00:35:37.675 --> 00:35:39.386 align:middle line:90% And that gets really confusing. 00:35:39.386 --> 00:35:41.760 align:middle line:84% Because advanced rules are a completely different section 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.884 align:middle line:84% of your rules that we haven't even gotten into yet. 00:35:43.884 --> 00:35:44.511 align:middle line:90% But we will. 00:35:44.511 --> 00:35:48.820 align:middle line:90% So do that cleanup work. 00:35:48.820 --> 00:35:50.340 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 2: For setup-- 00:35:50.340 --> 00:35:51.870 align:middle line:84% so if you're going to have a setup 00:35:51.870 --> 00:35:53.280 align:middle line:90% section before your rules-- 00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:54.696 align:middle line:84% it's actually highly recommended-- 00:35:54.696 --> 00:35:56.290 align:middle line:84% have a setup section that is split out 00:35:56.290 --> 00:35:58.040 align:middle line:84% that is different from your rules section, 00:35:58.040 --> 00:35:59.869 align:middle line:84% so we know exactly how to set up the game. 00:35:59.869 --> 00:36:01.035 align:middle line:90% Include diagrams and photos. 00:36:01.035 --> 00:36:03.940 align:middle line:90% 00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:05.700 align:middle line:90% Where do players sit? 00:36:05.700 --> 00:36:07.190 align:middle line:84% What is the orientation of cards? 00:36:07.190 --> 00:36:10.219 align:middle line:90% 00:36:10.219 --> 00:36:12.510 align:middle line:84% If you have a card that has all this information on it, 00:36:12.510 --> 00:36:15.454 align:middle line:84% what is that common information across all cards? 00:36:15.454 --> 00:36:17.370 align:middle line:84% If you think about a Magic the Gathering card, 00:36:17.370 --> 00:36:18.630 align:middle line:90% and all the different icons-- 00:36:18.630 --> 00:36:20.760 align:middle line:84% hopefully your cards aren't as complex-- 00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:23.730 align:middle line:84% but you'll have the same thing in the same place 00:36:23.730 --> 00:36:25.470 align:middle line:84% on all the cards, so you can then tell us 00:36:25.470 --> 00:36:27.240 align:middle line:84% what that thing is, and why it's useful, 00:36:27.240 --> 00:36:31.570 align:middle line:84% and how to use it as you're playing the game. 00:36:31.570 --> 00:36:35.250 align:middle line:84% And in particular, let your game teach us how to play, 00:36:35.250 --> 00:36:35.813 align:middle line:90% if possible. 00:36:35.813 --> 00:36:37.300 align:middle line:90% If you've got time. 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:39.715 align:middle line:84% If not, it should still be in the rules. 00:36:39.715 --> 00:36:41.507 align:middle line:84% What I mean by let your game teach us is, 00:36:41.507 --> 00:36:43.590 align:middle line:84% if you're going to have a board, and the board has 00:36:43.590 --> 00:36:45.970 align:middle line:84% a lot of empty space on it, you can put some your rules 00:36:45.970 --> 00:36:47.040 align:middle line:90% into the board. 00:36:47.040 --> 00:36:49.872 align:middle line:84% You can put some of the setup features into the board, 00:36:49.872 --> 00:36:51.080 align:middle line:90% if you've got time right now. 00:36:51.080 --> 00:36:54.330 align:middle line:90% 00:36:54.330 --> 00:36:55.620 align:middle line:90% Proofread your rules. 00:36:55.620 --> 00:36:58.120 align:middle line:84% And turn in as many copies of your rules 00:36:58.120 --> 00:36:59.760 align:middle line:84% as you have players in your game. 00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:03.660 align:middle line:84% So, the assignment did say, it's a set number of two, three, 00:37:03.660 --> 00:37:05.460 align:middle line:90% or four players for your game. 00:37:05.460 --> 00:37:10.370 align:middle line:84% If it's a four-player game, give us four copies of your rules. 00:37:10.370 --> 00:37:13.420 align:middle line:90% That's all the basic stuff. 00:37:13.420 --> 00:37:13.960 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:17.050 align:middle line:84% And then we'll be getting your feedback, 00:37:17.050 --> 00:37:21.930 align:middle line:84% specific feedback for each individual game, tomorrow. 00:37:21.930 --> 00:37:22.510 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:37:22.510 --> 00:37:22.885 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:37:22.885 --> 00:37:23.260 align:middle line:90% Tomorrow. 00:37:23.260 --> 00:37:24.593 align:middle line:90% I'm not sure what time tomorrow. 00:37:24.593 --> 00:37:28.490 align:middle line:84% But we'll get you that before you're actually turning in. 00:37:28.490 --> 00:37:29.460 align:middle line:90% That's it for me. 00:37:29.460 --> 00:37:30.676 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: I just want to clarify one thing 00:37:30.676 --> 00:37:31.676 align:middle line:90% about should, may, must. 00:37:31.676 --> 00:37:34.770 align:middle line:90% 00:37:34.770 --> 00:37:36.880 align:middle line:84% I'm not sure, because I'm trying to think 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:38.900 align:middle line:90% of a more concrete example. 00:37:38.900 --> 00:37:42.900 align:middle line:84% So it's like, if in your rules, you say, 00:37:42.900 --> 00:37:48.940 align:middle line:84% the player should move his or her piece from one square 00:37:48.940 --> 00:37:51.560 align:middle line:84% to another, we're not quite sure whether you're describing 00:37:51.560 --> 00:37:53.670 align:middle line:90% this as a good strategy-- 00:37:53.670 --> 00:37:57.490 align:middle line:84% as something that the player should generally 00:37:57.490 --> 00:38:00.070 align:middle line:84% be doing because it's going to put the player ahead-- 00:38:00.070 --> 00:38:03.250 align:middle line:84% or something that the player must be doing because the rules 00:38:03.250 --> 00:38:06.140 align:middle line:84% require the player to do this thing. 00:38:06.140 --> 00:38:11.300 align:middle line:84% Should is a very, very difficult word to figure out for us. 00:38:11.300 --> 00:38:12.650 align:middle line:90% And if you're to begin-- 00:38:12.650 --> 00:38:15.795 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Would you suggest not using the word should? 00:38:15.795 --> 00:38:17.195 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: It's possible. 00:38:17.195 --> 00:38:19.270 align:middle line:84% Sometimes context explains it for you. 00:38:19.270 --> 00:38:23.810 align:middle line:84% But it does muddy things more often than it helps. 00:38:23.810 --> 00:38:25.870 align:middle line:84% I find should makes perfect sense 00:38:25.870 --> 00:38:27.493 align:middle line:84% if you're going to give an example. 00:38:27.493 --> 00:38:30.650 align:middle line:84% If you're going to give an example, make it [INAUDIBLE]. 00:38:30.650 --> 00:38:31.370 align:middle line:90% Make it obvious. 00:38:31.370 --> 00:38:32.147 align:middle line:90% Or even, like-- 00:38:32.147 --> 00:38:33.730 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: Put it in a sidebar, or-- 00:38:33.730 --> 00:38:34.521 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Right. 00:38:34.521 --> 00:38:36.270 align:middle line:84% Do indents, or a sidebar, or something, 00:38:36.270 --> 00:38:38.811 align:middle line:84% to make it clear that this is not actually part of the rules. 00:38:38.811 --> 00:38:41.296 align:middle line:84% This is an example of how this set of the rules plays out. 00:38:41.296 --> 00:38:42.920 align:middle line:84% And then you can use words like should. 00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:43.300 align:middle line:90% Right? 00:38:43.300 --> 00:38:44.890 align:middle line:84% You know, player one should do this. 00:38:44.890 --> 00:38:47.310 align:middle line:84% Because you're describing a strategy. 00:38:47.310 --> 00:38:51.250 align:middle line:84% You're not saying that the rules require this to happen. 00:38:51.250 --> 00:38:56.290 align:middle line:84% Must-- say must when it's must, if a player must do something. 00:38:56.290 --> 00:38:59.530 align:middle line:84% And when you say a player may, be very, very clear 00:38:59.530 --> 00:39:01.870 align:middle line:90% of what else the player may do. 00:39:01.870 --> 00:39:06.510 align:middle line:84% Say, for instance, it's one out of five different options. 00:39:06.510 --> 00:39:11.494 align:middle line:84% You say, the player may do one of these five options-- 00:39:11.494 --> 00:39:13.785 align:middle line:84% bullet point, bullet point, bullet point, bullet point. 00:39:13.785 --> 00:39:18.610 align:middle line:84% And the last bullet point is probably, like, do nothing. 00:39:18.610 --> 00:39:19.894 align:middle line:90% If a game allows something. 00:39:19.894 --> 00:39:22.060 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: Bullet points are really, really useful 00:39:22.060 --> 00:39:24.190 align:middle line:90% if there's any kind of option. 00:39:24.190 --> 00:39:28.150 align:middle line:84% Even if it's just, like, a player may do this or this, 00:39:28.150 --> 00:39:31.410 align:middle line:90% break up the or in its own line. 00:39:31.410 --> 00:39:32.380 align:middle line:90% Give it bold. 00:39:32.380 --> 00:39:34.190 align:middle line:90% Put a couple lines around it. 00:39:34.190 --> 00:39:35.900 align:middle line:84% Put the next thing that they can do-- 00:39:35.900 --> 00:39:37.525 align:middle line:84% the other thing they can do-- after it. 00:39:37.525 --> 00:39:40.030 align:middle line:84% Make it really, really clear it's one or the other, 00:39:40.030 --> 00:39:40.900 align:middle line:90% not both. 00:39:40.900 --> 00:39:41.650 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:39:41.650 --> 00:39:43.660 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:39:43.660 --> 00:39:48.340 align:middle line:84% Yeah, that goes the same for not just your printed rule sheet, 00:39:48.340 --> 00:39:51.670 align:middle line:84% but also cards, stuff on the board. 00:39:51.670 --> 00:39:53.260 align:middle line:84% Because sometimes there are games 00:39:53.260 --> 00:39:55.160 align:middle line:84% where you have options on the card, right? 00:39:55.160 --> 00:39:58.330 align:middle line:84% And you may do this or you may do that. 00:39:58.330 --> 00:40:00.010 align:middle line:84% It's not entirely obvious if, say, 00:40:00.010 --> 00:40:01.850 align:middle line:84% the card does both of those things, 00:40:01.850 --> 00:40:03.810 align:middle line:84% or you get to choose from one of those things, 00:40:03.810 --> 00:40:06.160 align:middle line:84% and who gets to choose one of those two things. 00:40:06.160 --> 00:40:11.050 align:middle line:84% So that's something to keep in mind. 00:40:11.050 --> 00:40:13.480 align:middle line:84% You only use numbered bullet points-- 00:40:13.480 --> 00:40:15.490 align:middle line:90% 1, 2, 3, 4-- 00:40:15.490 --> 00:40:17.830 align:middle line:84% if something's going to be sequential. 00:40:17.830 --> 00:40:19.990 align:middle line:84% It's good for things like, here are the steps 00:40:19.990 --> 00:40:21.940 align:middle line:90% of a round of game play-- 00:40:21.940 --> 00:40:25.237 align:middle line:84% first you do this, then you do this, then do-- do, do, do. 00:40:25.237 --> 00:40:27.320 align:middle line:84% Don't say the player may do one of the following-- 00:40:27.320 --> 00:40:29.850 align:middle line:84% 1, dot, 2, dot, 3, dot-- it's like, uh, 00:40:29.850 --> 00:40:33.350 align:middle line:84% now I'm not quite sure what's going on. 00:40:33.350 --> 00:40:33.960 align:middle line:90% OK? 00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:34.710 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 2: Yeah. 00:40:34.710 --> 00:40:38.196 align:middle line:84% Yeah, and actually, this brought up rounds, stages, phases, 00:40:38.196 --> 00:40:38.900 align:middle line:90% turns. 00:40:38.900 --> 00:40:40.390 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: That's the vocabulary thing again. 00:40:40.390 --> 00:40:41.050 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:40:41.050 --> 00:40:42.250 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 2: Choose one. 00:40:42.250 --> 00:40:43.719 align:middle line:90% Stick with it. 00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:44.260 align:middle line:90% Proofread it. 00:40:44.260 --> 00:40:45.280 align:middle line:90% Make sure you chose it. 00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:47.020 align:middle line:90% Make sure it works. 00:40:47.020 --> 00:40:49.230 align:middle line:84% Especially if you're going to make any changes today, 00:40:49.230 --> 00:40:51.640 align:middle line:84% and you're turning it in in two days, 00:40:51.640 --> 00:40:53.680 align:middle line:84% have somebody who is not you proofread it 00:40:53.680 --> 00:40:56.740 align:middle line:84% and make sure you're using the same language throughout. 00:40:56.740 --> 00:40:59.680 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Rounds usually involves everybody 00:40:59.680 --> 00:41:03.086 align:middle line:84% around the table doing one thing in sequence, the same sort 00:41:03.086 --> 00:41:04.520 align:middle line:90% of thing, in sequence. 00:41:04.520 --> 00:41:07.330 align:middle line:90% Steps are really big. 00:41:07.330 --> 00:41:16.320 align:middle line:84% Phases-- it's usually describing large chunks of game. 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:21.300 align:middle line:84% you know, things like opening [INAUDIBLE], 00:41:21.300 --> 00:41:25.870 align:middle line:84% mid-game, end-game phases, and usually not used in rules. 00:41:25.870 --> 00:41:27.530 align:middle line:90% But I know that some games-- 00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:28.905 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: Connect those games. 00:41:28.905 --> 00:41:29.850 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:41:29.850 --> 00:41:30.595 align:middle line:90% Use those. 00:41:30.595 --> 00:41:33.400 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Sometimes they use other terms. 00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:35.570 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: I know This is why it's maddening. 00:41:35.570 --> 00:41:39.159 align:middle line:84% Because it gets used in both contexts. 00:41:39.159 --> 00:41:40.950 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: So what would you use to describe 00:41:40.950 --> 00:41:43.300 align:middle line:90% the individual pieces of a turn? 00:41:43.300 --> 00:41:44.790 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Steps. 00:41:44.790 --> 00:41:47.190 align:middle line:84% Especially if it's a sequential sequence of things. 00:41:47.190 --> 00:41:50.180 align:middle line:84% Like, this is my turn, in a round, 00:41:50.180 --> 00:41:54.770 align:middle line:84% and here are the three steps I get to do. 00:41:54.770 --> 00:41:56.130 align:middle line:90% Step 1-- draw a card. 00:41:56.130 --> 00:41:58.720 align:middle line:84% Step 2-- choose a card from my hand. 00:41:58.720 --> 00:41:59.640 align:middle line:90% Step 3-- play it. 00:41:59.640 --> 00:42:00.140 align:middle line:90% Right? 00:42:00.140 --> 00:42:01.790 align:middle line:90% You know, things like that. 00:42:01.790 --> 00:42:03.540 align:middle line:90% That sort of works. 00:42:03.540 --> 00:42:07.715 align:middle line:84% Phases-- I've also heard it described in things like there 00:42:07.715 --> 00:42:12.929 align:middle line:84% is round one is one kind of action, 00:42:12.929 --> 00:42:14.970 align:middle line:84% and round two is like a completely different kind 00:42:14.970 --> 00:42:17.476 align:middle line:84% of action, and round three is [INAUDIBLE] like phases. 00:42:17.476 --> 00:42:18.600 align:middle line:90% And it was like, oh my god. 00:42:18.600 --> 00:42:21.260 align:middle line:84% That's-- [INAUDIBLE] that, actually. 00:42:21.260 --> 00:42:23.633 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:42:23.633 --> 00:42:25.091 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: In [INAUDIBLE], there are 00:42:25.091 --> 00:42:30.740 align:middle line:84% turns in phases within rounds in phases. 00:42:30.740 --> 00:42:31.572 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yes. 00:42:31.572 --> 00:42:33.530 align:middle line:84% This is why the game is actually so much harder 00:42:33.530 --> 00:42:35.010 align:middle line:84% to learn than it is actually play. 00:42:35.010 --> 00:42:36.650 align:middle line:84% To play is actually not that hard. 00:42:36.650 --> 00:42:37.050 align:middle line:90% But when they desc-- 00:42:37.050 --> 00:42:38.466 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The phases don't matter, 00:42:38.466 --> 00:42:40.203 align:middle line:84% but the turns and everything else 00:42:40.203 --> 00:42:41.880 align:middle line:84% was actually really, really good. 00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:42.630 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR 1: Yeah. 00:42:42.630 --> 00:42:47.162 align:middle line:84% So that's why phases complicate things. 00:42:47.162 --> 00:42:48.870 align:middle line:84% Sometimes it is, in fact, the right word, 00:42:48.870 --> 00:42:52.039 align:middle line:84% but it's just hard to be able to expect 00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:53.955 align:middle line:84% that every single player is going to interpret 00:42:53.955 --> 00:42:57.700 align:middle line:90% that word the same way. 00:42:57.700 --> 00:42:59.629 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:42:59.629 --> 00:43:01.670 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: So you can break up into your teams, 00:43:01.670 --> 00:43:03.400 align:middle line:90% continue working on your games. 00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:05.060 align:middle line:90% This is playtest time. 00:43:05.060 --> 00:43:07.490 align:middle line:84% So, in particular, playtest your rules. 00:43:07.490 --> 00:43:09.027 align:middle line:84% If you want us to play your rules 00:43:09.027 --> 00:43:10.860 align:middle line:84% and give you feedback before you turn it in, 00:43:10.860 --> 00:43:12.310 align:middle line:90% today's the day to do it. 00:43:12.310 --> 00:43:13.842 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: And attendance sheet-- 00:43:13.842 --> 00:43:15.675 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 2: Attendance sheet's right there. 00:43:15.675 --> 00:43:17.466 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR 1: Attendance sheet's over there. 00:43:17.466 --> 00:43:19.860 align:middle line:90% [SIDE CONVERSATIONS] 00:43:19.860 --> 00:43:23.868 align:middle line:90%