Thread by @delaneykingrox

#gamedev tip of the day: communication is hard.

Have you ever described something to someone and they enthusiastically agree, seem to get it, then go off and do something completely not what you wanted?

Communication is one of the hardest and most vital parts of a collaboration.

"Can you make him look more tougher" may sounds like a clear instruction, but it actually isn't. It leaves a huge amount of space for interpretations. What does "tough" look like? What does it mean?

To some, 'tough' may mean:

Muscular, bulky
Emotionless
Angry
Cruel
Square jawed
Cropped hair
Scarred
Angular

You may picture a character who is angular and chiselled with less soft curves... but what you get back is a giant swole dude covered in spikes who looks like he eats babies.

Communication requires ideas to be transmitted from one brain to another using limited language.

Some teams work because they just get what they all mean when they say things like "oh, hey, we should make this more like that bit in Hellraiser" and everyone knows exactly what they are saying because they all watched that movie until their vhs copy wore out.

Other teams this doesn't happen, and what seems like a straightforward instruction turns into days or weeks of back and forth.
This can be because the team members all have dramatically different life experiences, levels of technical understanding or generational language shifts.

But it also can come from other issues like

□ The person wants to make a different game and is imposing their ideas.

□ The person is socially anxious and wants to not have to have the discussion any more so they agree and nod to everything even though they don't get it.

□ The person is in over their head and worried if they ask lots of questions and reveal they don't understand they will lose their job.

□ Their idea and yours overlap enough that you both think you have it pictured.

□ They just agree with you but think they are better.

Finding out the root of the issue can be hard. Interpersonal skills may not be a strong point.

Also in a team if you have to describe in minute detail every single aspect then at some point the time sunk means you may as well do it yourself.

So communication is hard.

So here is some tips:

1: always be specific. Don't say "a bit bigger but not too much"- say, make it .5 units taller... or give them a sheet showing things in relative scale to each other.

2: encourage a culture of repeating tasks back in your own words.

"Okay, so you want me to add wooden trim boards to the heroes home modules to help make the walls feel more grounded to the floor."

"Okay, so you want me to cut that into the mesh? Or sit them ontop?"

3: look for ambiguous words in your briefs. Things like: meaner, bigger, more punk, more edgy, better, cooler, sexier.

4: define things you don't want to help lock down the things you do. Think of it like defining a support structure.

5: get it down in writing and...

...in one place, like a wiki, and really set up a culture of checking that place for reference and instructions.

6: make as much concrete as possible. If something is kinda loose in your head, gather reference, get a concept artist to hep you nail it down.

Zoom /skype /discord meetings make communication harder because they can make us uncomfortable- especially if they show your own face (which I absolutely think should be optional).

You often focus on what YOU look like and that distracts and unnerves.

You lose a lot of communication like hand gestures and expression when you turn off your camera, so it sucks that it is either or.

Now let me just highlight how important communication is for games.

Let's say you have a game about shooting bad guys in the face. Original concept, I know. Don't steal it.
So to make the game feel good, you have to get a whole bunch of people working together.

The feel of your gun comes from the animation of the gun, the sound of the gun, the impact effects, the enemy hit reaction, the physics of kick back, movement, input timing, the ragdoll of the enemy rig.

That is...

Games design
Sound design
Modelling
Rigging
Animation
Collision set up
Physics rigging
Physics values
Event scripting
Particles on gun and hit effect
Hit effects in textures

And

The producer talking to publishers who worry about the rating board making the game an R rating

Screw any of these up and shooting the gun can feel weird, or weak, or unsatisfying, or sound like a coin in a tin can being rattled, or be OP, or make multiplayer frustrating.

See?

That is just shooting a gun.

So that leaves me with saying, once again, communication is hard.

Happy game developing everyone.

Take breaks, make backups, deink water and learn the peacemaker choreography. X

You can help support my free lessons by saying "hail to the king" as you give me some sugar baby here:

ko-fi.com/dellak

(That means I accept small donations of money as a reward for help you- but only if you want to).