The Creative Process

So, it's time to create an original product. Where do you begin? Every game designer tackles the problem in his or her own way, but Schafer described his own way of thinking and it was fun to hear where he comes from.

Schafer admits that he's obsessed with miniature worlds. As a kid he was mesmerized creating elaborate train sets and peering into every nook and cranny. He always begins any game idea by creating a cool world, a really wild place.

Of course, "games about tourism aren't interesting," he says, so designers then need to create a character for the player to relate to. He's got a foolproof trick for where to begin: he asks himself, "Who's the coolest character in that world?" Who's the coolest pirate? The coolest biker? Wouldn't it be cool to be the Grim Reaper himself?

Sometimes lead characters will emerge from where you least expect. (This screne from Full Throttle, 1995)

"All games are wish-fulfillments," he explained. And this led into a great anecdote relating to Psychonauts: originally the main character was an ostrich. He loved it. He said there was this cool control scheme where one stick would move around and the other stick would peck. All of the ostrich's powers came from the fact that he was mentally imbalanced and had multiple personalities. Then, he caught himself, and asked himself: how many people fanaticize about being a insane ostrich?

Schafer told the audience: "Sometimes you have to kill your ostriches... as they say."

To continue with that point, he said that all games were like MechWarrior, in that you as the player were strapping on a special suit enabling you to do cool things. The suit is your character. He may be a giant robot, or he may be James Bond; but when you're wearing that suit, you get to do awesome stuff.

Art and Fear

He also had some advice for would-be game designers that probably applies to anyone creating characters, inside the industry or no. He said sometimes you have to trick yourself into taking risks. When he was working on Full Throttle, the team agonized over what the main character should look like. They came up with character after character, and kept shooting them down, worried if people would like him or not. 'That guy's too big, his jaw looks funny, he's too menacing, etc.'

So, the team decided to table the issue and just draw the biker gang instead. That should be easy. They could look as cool or as weird as they wanted. They went nuts! Fat guys, skinny guys, crazy-looking guys, on and on. One of those characters somebody drew up really stuck out. He just looked interesting. 'That's the main character!' Schafer remembers realizing. The lead character came about because the art team had tricked itself into taking risks.