Developer Interview: Rick Goodman
SSSI | 03/17/03

Q: I am young and interested in programming games. What do you recommend I do now, to prepare myself for my future?

A: You should decide what area of game programming you like best and wish to specialize in. In the games business, you will be focused on one of several areas of programming, as follows: Graphics programming Artificial Intelligence and path finding Multiplayer communications and networking General game features/Game engine  You should focus/specialize on one area -- the one you enjoy most. 

Each specialty is very different.  We have programmers who love their area of expertise, but working in other areas would be less interesting for them.  The most important thing you can do before you graduate from school is to Create a small game on your own time, (or for school project), in order to show off your abilities to a future employer.  A good demo is essential for a college graduate (which we don't hire, because we need folks with experience).  A good demo is what may get you into the door of your favorite game company, so, you'll want to make sure that whatever you do, its impressive. Obtain an internship with a game company over your summer breaks.  Work for free if you have to.

Q: How many years do you think should somebody work as an employee before he could establish his own company?  

A: As many years as it takes until you learn the full life cycle of the product production; how to run a small business, manage and hire people and how to attract and manage the Publishing relationship.

Q: Why does a developer, such as SSSI, not rather publish it's own game?

A: For the same reason that a book authors don't publish their own books.  Writers are good at writing, publishers are good at publishing, so its a good partnership.  At Stainless Steel Studios, for example, we don't have access to manufacturing facilities; we don't have a multimillion dollar marketing budget and we don't have a world-wide sales force.

Q: How would you recommend I go about getting a job in the game industry?

A: Here is some great advice from my friend Brian:
http://www.bighugegames.com/jobs/industryjobtips.html

And, more information:
http://www.arena.net/news/jobs061802.html

Q: What are the most important skills to posses for the role of game designer?

A: The game design process is one of creativity and communication.  Creativity is required in order to devise the game mechanics and communication is required so that all other team members can implement the design.  You must communicate the look and style of the graphics to artists.  You must communicate every tiny detail of game play to the programmers who will implement the features.  You must communicate precisely how features will work to the test team so they can verify that the game is working as intended.

Q: What sorts of teamwork and meetings are required on a daily basis?

A: I create design documents on a daily basis.  These are as detailed as possible, so that little room for miscommunication is left.  Much of the rest of the communication is done through constant meetings.  We have weekly meetings with various departments to discuss issues and company meetings to discuss broad issues.  Steering Committee meetings allow management to discuss strategic issues.  We have an open door policy, which allows any employee to walk into my office and have a meeting with me, if they feel it necessary.  We also perform employee surveys which enable employees to provide feedback to management on our performance.

Q: Does a game designer need excellent writing skills?

A: Writing skills are important.  Technical writing skills, to be precise, are needed in order for you to communicate with detail and precision.  You also need to understand the importance of constantly communicating the vision of the game to other employees through email, design doc.s meetings, presentations and slide shows.  When developing a game, it is, in fact, unfinished until the very end of the cycle.  Therefore, you need to be able to communicate what the game is "supposed to look like", since,  you are the only team member who has a good picture of the final product in your head, during development.

Q: How important is it to communicate the design of the game with other departments?  With the publisher?

A: Both are of great importance.  Internally the goal is this:  To have everyone be knowledgeable about the latest design decisions at exactly the same moment in time.  If you could achieve this, then, employees would rarely have differing interpretations about the intent of game designers.  However, often, people in the organization believe different things about the game design and therefore, confuse themselves and others.  Publishers and developers typically have a contentious relationship, since they have different values.  It takes a great deal of communication between these parties to keep the relationship healthy and intact -- its a full time job.

Q: How did you start Ensemble?  Were you lucky enough to have an inheritance to help you get started, or did it start on a shoestring budget?

A: Hehe… the latter! I started Ensemble Studios with my brother who was president of a small computer consulting company.  At the time, 1994, I was working for him.  We decided we would rather be programming games than computer applications.  We went into work one day and gathered up the programmers.  We asked them if they would rather be programming games than database applications.  The programmers looked around the room, then, a few hands went up in back.  I think they must have assumed this was some kind of test, and if they raised their hand they would be fired!  But, they took a chance, and discovered we were serious.  

The three of us got together after the workday and began the process.  Our programmer learned the C programming language and I started thinking about what types of game we should create.  We didn't have any artists at the time.  After 4 or 5 months, Angelo, our programmer, learned the C programming language and had completed a little sprite-based FPS game, in which the player drove a tank around and could fire at an enemy tank. 

 As for the game we wanted to design, we all discussed several ideas, including a Cowboy & Indians game, a Railroad Train game and a game about being marooned on a deserted island where you had to solve puzzles to figure out how to get off.  Finally, we decided on a concept we called "History of Man" which we described as Civilization in real time.  

We then hired one artist to fill out the team of 4 people.  We paid the artist, but the rest of us worked for free in our spare time after work.  Nine months later we had a game in which a little villager was able to chop 1 tree down and deposit the wood he had gathered back at the Town Center.  We showed this to Microsoft and they liked it enough to offer us a publishing agreement. 

Q: When did Ensemble Studios and Microsoft hook up?  

A: When we invited Microsoft to visit us, they came and we spent about 10 minutes demo-ing a man chopping a tree. Truly, there wasn’t much to show, you couldn’t construct a building, research a technology or conduct combat. But, a villager could chop a tree. Microsoft saw this and concluded that we were working on a “Life Sim”. Apparently, they needed a “Life Sim” in their portfolio. So, soon afterwards Microsoft offered us a publishing agreement. I’m still exactly sure why.

Q: At what point did you realized Age of Empires was going to be a huge success?  

A: I guess there were a couple leading indicators for us. As I recall, Microsoft forecasted world-wide sales of around 425,000 units over the game’s life time. That doesn’t sound like large sales by today’s standards, but back then, only Flight Sim and MS Golf were bigger for Microsoft.

Initially Age of Empires sold well, so that was a positive sign. But, soon thereafter, stores ran out of stock and MS was not prepared to replenish the game. So for about 10 days during Christmas season, you couldn’t find a copy of AoE on the shelves. I guess that was also a good sign, too, in a way.

Q: What other games influenced the early design?

A: Warcraft 1 & 2 and Civilization were the biggest influences. There were elements of all three games, which I liked. I liked the epic scope of Civ. and the random maps, but I really wanted our game to be multiplayer. I liked the graphics and action orientation of Warcraft, but I felt that a historical “realistic” game, would have a broader world-wide appeal.

Q: Age Of Empires has on many occasions been called a ‘real-time Civilization’. Was this the game’s vision from the start?  

A: Yes, that was, indeed, the very original vision. Over time, the vision changed, as development progressed from the conceptual stage to the implementation stage. Its safe to say that none of us had any experience creating a game, so we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. As a result, the game charted its own direction, much more so than any one team member charted the direction for it. Are philosophy was this: As long as the game was becoming more fun to play, each day, then we felt were on the right path.

Q: How much research was done into the subject matter before work on Age of Empires began?  

A: None. We liked historical subject matter. We thought it would be readily understood by a world wide audience. Civilization seemed to be a good data point proving this. And, we felt that the ancient Greek and Egyptian time period might have an especially compelling interest for gamers. It did for me :-)