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- Oct 21, 2002
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Tags: Dan Vávra; Kingdom Come: Deliverance; Warhorse Studios
Daniel Vávra, Creative Director at Warhorse Studios, wrote a blog entry called Overkill Design.
It starts off like this:
He then goes on and talks about game design tropes and clichés, among other things. In case you forgot, Dan Vávra is one of the dudes behind Mafia 1 & 2, who decided it would be cool to make an open world RPG packed with detail. There's no news on the game yet.
Click here for the blog.
Daniel Vávra, Creative Director at Warhorse Studios, wrote a blog entry called Overkill Design.
It starts off like this:
I’m an eternal malcontent, hater and troll. When I look at something, I immediately know that, if I’d done it, I would have done it differently and naturally better. I take to few things that I would not tinker with and simply enjoy them for what they are. Many people have a problem with that and I’m not even very surprised by it. Not everyone has a need to consider things in such detail; most are content to enjoy by their reaction and grouches like me pointing out the errors only spoil their enjoyment. Who does it bother that half-naked barbarian women are running around in three feet of snow in their favorite RPG? Maybe only miserable female cosplayers who decide to have their picture taken for real in a fur bikini in a snowdrift and discover that at -20 degrees it’s good to be wearing more than a thong, tassels over your nipples and a helmet and that their sword has frozen to their hand.
Without discontent, there is no progress. If everyone were reconciled with how things work, they would have no motivation to improve them and create something new. Therefore, every poorly executed thing carries a germ of an idea how to do it differently, more logically and better – a challenge, inspiration and interesting puzzle to solve.
Most games can be criticized easily. They’re very poorly thought out and with many of them it’s easy to think of ways to improve their playing mechanics or level design. A paradise for a discontented troll like me. Or is it the naïve view of an arrogant simpleton, who has no idea why things are the way they are and who is going to burn his fingers badly when he tries to design them differently? Are game designers stupid and don’t know how to do things differently or cannot do things better, because it would be too expensive or demanding on the hardware?
Without discontent, there is no progress. If everyone were reconciled with how things work, they would have no motivation to improve them and create something new. Therefore, every poorly executed thing carries a germ of an idea how to do it differently, more logically and better – a challenge, inspiration and interesting puzzle to solve.
Most games can be criticized easily. They’re very poorly thought out and with many of them it’s easy to think of ways to improve their playing mechanics or level design. A paradise for a discontented troll like me. Or is it the naïve view of an arrogant simpleton, who has no idea why things are the way they are and who is going to burn his fingers badly when he tries to design them differently? Are game designers stupid and don’t know how to do things differently or cannot do things better, because it would be too expensive or demanding on the hardware?
He then goes on and talks about game design tropes and clichés, among other things. In case you forgot, Dan Vávra is one of the dudes behind Mafia 1 & 2, who decided it would be cool to make an open world RPG packed with detail. There's no news on the game yet.
Click here for the blog.
