Opinion: Everything I know about game development I learned from the '80s

[In this reprinted #altdevblogaday opinion piece, Vigil Games' senior designer Mike Birkhead imparts some advice for game developers that he's picked up from '80s action films and their soundtracks.] I'm here to tell you that if you ain't down with '80s films, particularly action films, then you ain't down with me. It's as simple as that. Behind the goofy dialogue, sweet-ass roundhouse kicks, mysterious teachers, cruel dojo masters, muscle-bound heroes, and beautiful dames beats the thunderous heart of pure awesome; a heart that will guide you, mold you, and train you — if only you would listen. Thankfully, you have me, and I'm here to impart the great wisdom that I have learned — in between sessions of breaking bricks over my face and climbing trees to karate chop coconuts. Read on and, for maximum effect, do read each section with the accompanying video. Taking a chance, risking it all

[Youtube] Rad – Thunder In Your Heart

A lot of what we do is about taking a chance. We take chances on a feature, take chances on a puzzle, but most of all, we take chances on ourselves. Little known fact: when I first started out as a designer, I thought I was pretty terrible. So terrible, in fact, that at one point during God of War: Chains of Olympus, I took my lead aside and told him that I was thinking of giving it all up. I was going to throw in the towel. I was taking my ball and going home, which for me meant going back to being a programmer – shock! awe! Look: meetings with talented, smart people are incredibly intimidating. Ideas are popping, and when you finally work up the courage to contribute, your ideas can be ripped apart in mere seconds; it's sorta like that scene in Jurassic Park, when they feed the velociraptors. Except, ya know, in a conference room. Don't get discouraged!

No one ever got where they are being 100 percent right all the time, and I am so thankful to my lead for giving me the courage to suck it up, stick it out, and learn from my mistakes. In the end, I realized that they weren't ripping my ideas apart through any kind of malice, but because they respected me enough to teach me the things I needed to know. And I can assure you, once you get that taste of the glory, you won't ever be turning back. You need to have that thunder in your heart. I've worked hard every night and day

[Youtube] Stan Bush – Fight to survive (Bloodsport)

If you wanna be the best, then you gotta work hard. What free time I have is spent on tempering myself into the best game designer I can be. I say temper, because that's what it takes: the heat of passion pounded against the anvil of determination. There is so much wisdom out there, and most of it is not trapped inside a game console. But you know what? I've seen a lot of talk about how game design is all about "like, game design is everything man – go and live your life." This bothers me. Here's the thing: I too, at one time, gave advice like this, and while on the surface it seems like good advice, it now rings as fluffy and directionless to me. Directionless, because advice like this doesn't actually point you to anything that really teaches. Put yourself into the shoes of a young game designer. All you want to know is how to be the best that you can be. But is the phrase, "just, live your life man" going to honestly tell you anything of value? It might get you out from behind your controller (a good thing), but it also doesn't point you anywhere. Living life, to me, is less about being on a path to knowledge, and more about being a key to the subconscious. Pick up any book on writing, and you will see advice on how to crack through writers block. These books will almost always include advice about going for a walk; of stepping away from your work, and just letting your mind wander. This is good advice, but it only works when your subconscious is packed full of win. First, before anything, you gotta stuff that mind to the brim with all sorts of great knowledge, so that when you do access the vault of your subconscious, you find it overflowing with a bounty of precious gems.

[Youtube] Willie Hutch – The Glow (The Last Dragon)

My great fear is that designers out there are reading directionless advice like this and feeling that it frees them from the responsibility of doing their research, so let's fix that right now. You need to be reading books on economics, and books on psychology, and books on story writing, and books on cinematography, and books on architecture — oh god, so many books! In order to get the most out of just "living life," you would do well to seriously consider and digest the following books: