Today we had guest speakers in from the computer games industry. They work for a company called 'Zoe mode', based in Brighton. The two guys had very different background experience to each other which was interesting as we often stereotype game makers to be people that have been making games since they were 16 and nothing else....
John Taylor started out doing an art degree and got into concept art and character design. He worked for several comapanys over the years such as 'Dreamweavers, Gremlin, Infogrammes.' Now his job 0ften varies, depending on the game that their working on. Sometimes he might be designing environments, and sometimes he may be making spread sheets!
Ste Curran on the other hand was an avid gamer from a young age. But did not get into games design until later in his life. He did a degree in maths, and went on to train as a teacher. On the side he developed his writing and started writing columns and reviewing games for edge. From there he got employed for his critical views and went on to be a producer and then a creative director.
They both crossed paths and now work for Zoe Mode where they made games that are considered to be outer edges of game design, in terms of what the market wants. Games such as Singstar, Music Go, Melody, Crush, Utopia, Dance Star.
When questioned on how ideas come about, it was pritty much the same answer you'd get from any artist of some form. "whilst down the pub," or "having a shit." They themselves combine ideas in a room they call the lab. It seemed like their ideas where put into a database which could then be devoloped, re-used or altered. So for instance they could re-use certain aspects of ideas that they've already had, but then change and add new ideas. Ste made a point that there are more possiblitys when making games that would appeal to non gamers. This is due to not having to stick with formulas that are popular and sell. Such as 1st person shooters, driving games, sport games ect ect... Whereas games like Singstar and even bizzare games such as 'Brap the rapper,' where in which your a rapping dog and must rap to get the girl, which is infact a flower??? uh?
Anyway i found the talk as a good but brief insight into the games design world and particually interesting as alot of the games they desinged were music games. However it is too late into the project to start thinking about more ideas of muscial games!
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