GK3 Designer Diaries - by Jane Jensen

October 14, 1997

Well here I am at the beginning of another new project - GK3 - my 5th. I keep telling myself I'll find some way of making my life easier. So far, the fulfillment of this promise eludes me, and the ultimate goal, the goal of reaching the audience with the story, keeps sucking me into the fray.

In this first entry at least, I'm not going to talk in happy terms of my daily routine. I brush my teeth just like you do, and I can't imagine that you really want to hear the million-and-one different directions I head each day. I thought instead that I'd talk about the industry a little and the business of being a designer, that is, from my POV, which is admittedly narrow.

Besides, to really have you understand where my heart and head are for GK3, I have to go back a bit to GK2.

So, to the heart of it...

Project burnout

GK2 was my first taste of serious burnout. Before that, I was too busy driving myself, too anxious to make my mark, to let the inevitable hurts and endless hours and burdens get me down. But by GK2, when the real politics of that project began to unfold like clockwork, I found myself already rubbed raw. In what was then three years with Sierra, I'd shipped three adventure games and I was tired.

On the early phase of a project, writing the initial plot and structure, you work alone (usually). That's not to say it isn't difficult - it is the hardest part in many ways. You are creating something from nothing, pulling things out of thin air. The previous GKs all took about five months in this stage. At the end of it, you have a brand new story, something you suddenly care very much about getting to the audience. It's like an infant. You want to see it reach adulthood and have a life of its own. That can feel even more important than your own life sometimes, just like being a parent.

Then implementation begins. I'm quite protective of my design by the time I'm done (no doubt childishly so). I've had five months to visualize how I want the experience to be for people. Suddenly another 10-15 people get involved. Their job is to assimilate the story I've given them and to somehow get a vision of their own - to adopt it. Often their thinking is parallel to mine, which is wonderful. But sometimes they say, "Gee, why couldn't Gabe do this" (i.e., shoot a gun or jump on crates like a certain tomb raider I know) and "I don't see why Gabe has to go here" (i.e., cut this location - a comment reserved for the most significant plot points). I can only look at them in slack-jawed astonishment and wonder what planet they're from. Inevitably it's my bosses who say this sort of thing.

Troubles in budget land

Then there's fun in budget land. We ended up nowhere near our original modest GK2 budget. The story was done before we decided on its technology. It was not small nor the locations easily accessible (Germany), but I felt quite strongly that it shouldn't change much. We all follow the hi-tech horse in this business, and at the time it was live action video. I was willing, even eager, to jump on that horse, but I felt that if we were going to do live action we must do it professionally and not have it look like a 12-year-old shot it in the barn.

Let's just say that the struggles between budget and schedule vs. production standards vs. story and content were about as bad on GK2 as I've ever experienced, not just for three months or so, but for the entire production phase, about 18 months. For 18 months I had the Sword of Damocles - that ultimate designer threat of either cancellation or serious cuts and restructuring hanging over my head. And then there was the process itself: huge, foreign, complex, intimidating, and at times just plain exhausting.

Was it worth it? Of course. It's worth it when the product gets into the hands of users, when I know they've had a great experience by their letters or posts. But when it's hard, and it often is, I wish to god there were an easier way.

What is different about writing a game and a book?

Some of you may know that I've spent some time writing books lately. I mention it because the contrast is quite keen between the two processes, and the experience has pointed out to me just how difficult designing games really is. You see I begin each GK with a complex story, just as I'd begin a book. But with a game, you spend another nine months to a year adding in all sorts of things - puzzles, alternate paths, additional dialogue, and funny messages to accompany the art, etc. Nothing is ever easy to write. The character can't simply talk to someone to get that critical piece of information. No, that someone's house must be designed and illustrated. There must be other things to do at the house besides talk. And when your character finally talks to this person, there have to be other things to talk about besides the main point. So the original story gets expanded by about another ten times. During the writing of GK2 I made a sign and put it above my desk to make myself feel better and put things in perspective. It said "Interactivity: what a pain in the ass," and it made me laugh. I usually feel that way most keenly about three-quarters of the way into the full detailed script, when I feel as though I'd rather eat worms than write one more line of dialogue.

The trade-off, of course, is that with a game you're creating an entire world for your audience, and it comes much closer to immersing them in a story than any linear tale can do. Is the ultimate experience for the audience worth the additional effort? Yes. I just wish more people played these darn things.

The state of adventure games

Sierra's PR guy, Eric, suggested that I talk about adventure games, the future, an' all that. The current state of adventure games is certainly an important part of how it feels to be an adventure game designer right now. See, I thought we'd done a hell of a job on GK2. I thought it would appeal to that mass market out there. I thought it would be top ten. And it was - for about a week. I watched the charts in the months after shipping and saw the games that outsold GK2 and I thought, "Ya know, I'm in the wrong industry."

Okay, so we all know this industry is about hi-tech. Content is nothing if you don't look fer-gosh-sake COOL. That's okay. I like looking cool. What's harder to take is this industry's nosedive towards carnage games and arcades, and the general disregard of story and content. What's the future of adventure games? I've always believed in the concept of interactive fiction, of the ultimate power of being the ego in a great story, of solving the mystery yourself instead of just turning the page. That's why I got into the business. Unfortunately, the real story audience, moviegoers and book readers, aren't playing computer games. Our industry has fallen into a comic book type niche - the mainstream adult audience snubs us. Naturally, games like DOOM, which are our industry's equivalent to Spiderman and Batman, rule. They will do so unless and until we change the clientele. Will it happen? It was the big promise of CD-ROM, but CD-ROM didn't take our products to mainstream. If we ever reach that mass market it will probably be years from now and it won't be on computers, it will be in something like virtual reality theaters.

Too many good designers too fed up

So that's my two cents, but what the hell do I know?

For hard-core adventure game designers like me, it's a labor of love that all too often becomes not worth the price. Some of the designers I've admired most have given it up. I went to a conference last fall with the designers of two of my all-time favorite adventure games. Both of them have left full-sized adventure game design for children's games or small strategy games. Both of those designers talk about how rewarding and refreshing it is to work on something that can be fun and entertaining but also sweet and simple. And, most importantly, can be conceived of and shipped within six months. Two years is a long time to wait for satisfaction, for a response, for a break.

Highs and lows of being a designer

So that's what it's really like to be a designer. Have I depressed you? Have I made you want to run out and preorder GK3? Well, a diary is a diary is a diary, warts and all. I took a year off after GK2 and I needed it. I've been working on GK3 for the past eight months. It's been much easier than GK2 so far, because the team is all in-house and we understand each other better. We're doing 3D, not live action, which gives us more flexibility and control, less pressure. I haven't faced any cuts yet and so far things are looking really juicy art-wise, which is always exciting. It's a pleasure to see the story and characters come to life. I'm about three-quarters into the main script for GK3, so the fun of writing dialogue is wearing thin. I'm lucky that Gabe and Grace [characters in the game] almost write themselves by now.

In short, I'm still here doing this because I love the characters, Gabriel and Grace. Because I love this story I'm working on - it would take the Inquisition to make me give it up now. It will be sitting there waiting on a shelf for you one day soon - you can bank on it. And finally, I do it because I'm first and foremost in life a writer, and I've found an audience, and you, dear gamers, are it. So upgrade your computers. I'll be there as soon as I can. Next time more on GK3. For now, visit our web page at www.sierra.com/titles/gk3.

Jane

Last update: October 24, 2007

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