Take This Job and Love It! - Designers - David Jaffe Feature on GamePro.com

Feature: Take This Job and Love It! - Designers - David Jaffe

Feature by Dan Elektro | 09/06/2002 | 13:53:56 PM PST

Name: David Jaffe
Title: Game Director/Lead Designer - Incog, Inc.
Notable Past Projects: Twisted Metal 1,2, & Black
Current Project: Not allowed to say yet.
Schooling/Degree: 2 classes shy of graduating from the University of Southern California with an English degree.

General duties of your position/title: My job is to make sure the player gets his money's worth. I am responsible for making sure that everything in the game (play mechanics, level design, characters, story, art, music, etc.) fits into the overall vision that I have for the game. Sometimes the work I do is very high level (figuring out the pacing of the overall game or the world map) and sometimes it's micro level (laying down waypoints for AI; setting up cameras; tuning the physics of the main character).

How many people are in your department/team? If you are a manager, how many people do you oversee? There are about 30 people on the team. I used to manage the people as well as direct the project but that always ended up in cancelled projects. I do not have the ability to manage people...this is a major job and a very important one. I don't know how to reprimand someone who comes in late or who is spreading a negative vibe onto the team. So what we do in Santa Monica is bring in experienced managers who worry about those details. This allows me to focus only on creative issues. I work with one of the best managers in the biz, I think. The way I always describe the relationship is that she keeps the ball rolling and I get to decide what the ball is (with tons of input from the team, obviously).

What was the most valuable bit of knowledge or experience you brought with you to the job? Analytical skills that I probably got from taking so many literature classes and psychology classes. Game Design is 30 percent creative and 70 percent analytical. You have to know why something works and why it doesn't, you have to be able to think ahead to how a particular game mechanic may or may not break the game. And you have to be able to think about the gameplay on many levels. In a fighting game for example, there is the visceral aspect of 'Oh I wanna have all these cool bone crunching moves' but you also have to be worried about what is going on in the player's head in terms of strategy. Besides Analytical skills I think I've always looked at games in the same light as movies in terms of their cultural importance and in terms of how much love and care and personality of the creators need to be infused into them. I probably got this from my love of the movies.

What was the first major lesson you learned once you started working in the industry? That making games is NOT like making movies. Even thought my title is director, I don't - like a film director - stand around and shout out commands. I tried that on my first game and it was a disaster. Games is a collaborative art and while I think it is imperative to have one person at the helm to make sure the vision of the game is focused, it is SO not about just one person. Don't get me wrong. I feel totally creatively fulfilled in my work and I feel like my personality is all over the games I have done. But it is not all me. If you have a good team, you should be able to see little bits of every member in the title. Learning that GAME DIRECTOR and FILM DIRECTOR are different things was a major lesson. Try leading a team that isn't capable of or interested in executing your ideas OR adding to and improving your ideas. It's a sad time because you are in love with your ideas but if the team can't bring those ideas to life in a quality way, it's heartbreaking.

What academic focuses would you recommend for someone who wants to do your job someday? Study what interests you. If you look at some of the best game designers - like Will Wright and Miyamoto - they are a hell of a lot more well-rounded than I am. And I think this shows in the games they make. This is not to say 'go be well-rounded'. I hate hearing that because if you're into movies, games, and comic books and nothing else- and you are happy- then why try to change that? Trust me...as long as you are passionate and disciplined, you can find a way to make games.

Common misconceptions about your job? I have no idea what people think about my job. I DO hate the game media's desire to portray game development teams as wacky, M*A*S*H-style characters who have NERF fights in the office at 2am and are just crazy, wacky kids. I think that's really obnoxious and disrespectful to the fact that making games is hard, creative work. As for other misconceptions, I did hear the other day that I lived in a mansion on the beach and I was rich! This, sadly, is not true. But- to parents out there who are worried about such things- you CAN make a GREAT living in games...at least if you work for a great company like SONY.

Is college a necessity, a really good idea, or not required for your line of work? It is 100 percent not required. There are tons of game editing tools people can learn the craft with well enough to get an entry level job in game design. And I never care where someone went to college or even if they went to college when looking for a new designer. I look at sample levels, design tests we give out,etc. However, I think going to college is great fun (I met my wife at USC!) and will probably open your mind to lots of ideas for games if you plan to direct games. If you want to be a nuts and bolts implementer of games (setting up AI, building levels,etc) and you don't want the college experience, just jump right in, build levels on the PC and start sending them out to game companies.

What tools and software do you use on a regular basis? Photoshop, Maya, Visio,Qradient (Quake Level Editor).

What's your advice for breaking into your line of work? Either build a body of work using editors that ship with games like HALF LIFE and QUAKE or start as a tester (like I did) and work your way up. Also, PLAY LOTS OF GAMES and take them apart. Understand WHY they work.

Artist	Designer	Game Tester	Producer	Programmer	Sound Designer
Chad Dezern Sal DiVita Lorne Lanning	Mark Turmell David Jaffe Brian Allgeier Michael Perry Chris Stewart	Colin Munson Christopher Nelson Eric Wackerfuss Sean C. Johnson	Ted Price John Schappert Fred Dieckmann Brian Fleming	Graeme J. Devine Brian Hastings Brian Smolik	Tommy Tallarico George Alistair Sanger Erik Kraber