Chris Kolmatycki

Catching up on work,

No stress, but anxiety,

Days go by too fast.

I guess seeing as how I quit work at HB Studios last August (funnily one week to the day of my first day of work), I guess I’m going to stop writing about my experience in the game industry and shift this back to a bit of a personal blog.  I am going to try and write every day or two about what has occurred since my last post.  Hopefully I can keep them very concise posts so I look at this as less of a chore.  Let’s try haiku, limmerick, and sonnet postings for the next while and where we go with that.

As a Game Designer, there is one skill that trumps all others in importance. The skill of communication is absolutely invaluable when dealing with all facets of a game’s life cycle. How do you want the soccer players to move following a cross into the box? Should the Carolina Hurricanes play the trap more often than other teams? Do the enemies have a high skill in using lead pipes? If they do, does it follow that they can use similar blunt objects just as well? As a designer, you should know the answer to these questions and why they are so.

There are many different components of a team (art, design, programming, etc.) and as teams often shuffle from project to project, not all members are educated in how things have worked in the past or, given something like a sports game, work in the real world. A programmer’s job is to create the vision of the designer and work around problems and bugs in order to do so.

In the example of a baseball game, the average person would likely not understand the in depth strategy of defensive shifts and fielder positioning. It is not a programmer’s job (though it would be extremely welcome and beneficial) to discern that since Ryan Howard is naturally a pull hitter, the CPU should move their fielders to the right side of the field. What they need to be able to do, is program the CPU to do that after the designer has properly communicated and explained that fact. The programmer can worry about how they wish to develop a system to determine how the defense plays for certain players.

Perhaps, even with a properly communicated explanation of why Ryan Howard pulls the ball when he hits, and why the fielders would want to adjust for that, the programmer could set up a system that, given certain attributes, can provide defensive shifts for other players such as Jim Thome or David Ortiz. Taking it a step further, if they are aware of other resources such as batter spray charts, the programmer could facilitate a script wherein the designer could create a criteria for when an AI ‘manager’ would call for his players to perform a defensive shift. This could go miles in establishing both a way of establishing manager ratings, AI, and even offensive player tendencies.

The point is, the greatest ideas mean nothing if you can’t communicate them effectively.  Though everyone thinks of communicating their ideas to an audience, people rarely seem to think about how they can communicate their ideas to the people responsible for building the game.  What do I suggest (strictly my opinion) for people trying to get into design?  Take some English or communications courses.  The skills of oral and written communication are always in high demand.

Getting Your Values Straight

To follow-up on my previous posting, it’s important to remember that a game with mass-market appeal, can still be a great game. An important part of what I do as a game designer, is the ability to not just know what is fun for myself, but to know what is fun for other people. Can you create a game that you don’t find challenging, but your target market will? Can you create a game that provides a playing experience that your grandmother would rather have, than yourself? In my opinion, you need to be able to answer ‘Yes’ to these questions in order to be a versatile designer.

As I had mentioned in my previous posting, there are several types of games I would absolutely love to see designed and created. With that said, I’m completely aware that the feasibility of these products simply are not there. I may love my baseball GM simulator, business sims, and point n click adventures, but the fact is that consumers (including even myself) seem to love their sports games, first person shooters, and party games. If I were designing a baseball game for myself, I would love to see the ability to demote and promote prospects through various levels (careful not to run out of options!) and participate in the rule 5 draft. The fact is though, you don’t always get to design games for yourself. Sometimes, you design games for people who want to take their Wii Remote, swing for the fences, and hit a home run that causes the scoreboard to explode.

It’s important to know your market and be aware that you’re not the only one who plays games. Always be aware of your market and, most importantly, make a game that’s fun. Just because you don’t always like what your market likes, doesn’t mean you can’t understand them and give them what they want. To the ‘hardcore gamer’, grab a copy of that ‘casual game’ that’s been dominating the sales charts and give it a play. You’ll better understand the direction that games are heading, and who knows, you may even have fun.

One of the largest misconceptions people seem to have is that a great idea will land them a job in the video game industry. While there are a multitude of reasons wrong with that, one common problem I’ve seen is that people design games for themselves, not everyone else. While every so often you get lucky in having your own personal tastes directly lined up with everyone else’s, that’s not always the case.

In fact, great ideas can be a dime a dozen in the gaming world. It can’t be emphasized enough how not only a great idea is needed, but great market research, and proper implementation. I’ve experienced first hand that in our studio of about 100, there have been several awesome ideas…games I think I’d love to play. What many don’t realize is that there’s a bigger picture than, “Is the game fun?”. Studios, especially independent ones, can be made or broken on their releases. On more than one occasion, the poor sales of a single title have been enough to bring down a studio.

What is more important than simply having a ‘great idea’, is doing some market research into what people are currently playing, who your market is, and can your market sustain your product. Wow, it’s almost as if the sexy world of video games is the same as every other product. You may have come up with a way to make the best hang-gliding simulator game in the world, but how many people are going to pony up the cash to make the effort worthwhile and justify the cost of production and publication?

One of my favourite games of all time has been Trevor Chan’s Capitalism 2. In a world of First Person

Shooters dominating the marketplace, it takes very careful production and marketing to develop a new idea. Would gamers today appreciate the ability to play in a near fully functional economic playground? Would they appreciate the ability to dominate the world by cornering the global markets of strawberries and motorcycles, playing the stock market, or becoming the next Best Buy? Maybe they would. But would they still be interested once they learned that every aspect from the quality of their engines (influenced of course by the training of the staff in their factories or that of the factories they’ve sourced production out to, and the quality of steel being used), the distance of the engine factory to the motorcycle assembly plant, and even the economic impact of the city they’re selling in, affects their success? I think you’ve just cut a significant part of your market out.

With that said, some people absolutely adore that kind of control. The concept and idea of Capitalism is absolutely amazing, but it definitely does not have the mass market appeal. As such, a game such as this would likely only see the light of day if its production were kept extremely tight and a smart budget were developed. While I was unable to find sales figures on the critically acclaimed title, I can’t imagine it had sold the amount that other genres have.

Conversely, looking at the Call of Duty franchise, specifically Call of Duty 4, we have a game that has sold over 10 million units. How many people enjoy shooting? How many enjoy saving the world and killing terrorists? Well, judging by the sales numbers, many many people. A franchise like COD can afford to have more polish put into it.

Being a large fan of COD4, I also take note that the game itself isn’t that ground-breaking a game. The game is definitely scripted gameplay at its finest, but it is indeed just that…scripted gameplay. The story is amazing and engrossing, they do a fine job of immersing you into the game world, and the game mechanics are solid. COD 4 doesn’t challenge the user to solve puzzles using time shifting mechanics, become Liberty City’s most wanted in a near-completely open world, or become an entrepreneur in a fully comprehensive economic climate. It does something simple and ordinary in an absolutely amazing and stunning way.

By no means is this a shot at the COD series, but it is akin to listening to Pop music vs. Classical, an Art Exhibit or a 3D Eye Painting, or Ballet vs. a Striptease. They’re all entertainment, but some have far more mass appeal than the other.

Now more than ever, games aren’t just for gamers. They’re for everyone. I’ve seen some amazing ideas fall by the wayside due to the fact that not nearly enough people would appreciate them to justify the cost of production (I’m looking at you, point and click adventures). It’s a shame that this is the case, but it’s difficult to put developers and publishers at fault for wanting to ensure their own survival. In my opinion, the most important thing for a game to do is create fun. If you can’t create a fun experience for the people who vote with their wallet, no amount of ‘revolutionary design’ can make up for your failure.

I think I’ve finally pinpointed the reason for my lack of blogging.  While the rest of the world has gone about specializing and finding a niche within the world, I’ve spent my time trying to learn a little about everything.  While this has opened my world up to being able to interact with people from many walks of life and communicate very effectively, it’s also proved to be a double edged sword in my attempt to obtain any form of expertise or specialization.

Given this, I’ve never felt like I could offer the Internet anything better than what already exists.  The original intent of this blog was to migrate away from my putting my random musings and personal events up for the world to see, and actually talk about something meaningful and interesting.  In this case, I was hoping to talk about my passion for the sport of baseball and my career in video games.  Unfortunately, my passion for the sport of baseball statistics is not enough to overcome my shortcomings in my inability to actually perform the calculations necessary to create my own statistical analysis.  Sites such as The Hardball Times do a better job of statistical analysis than I ever could and there are enough quality baseball blogs to keep the world happy for a long time.  Even my small market Blue Jays have a near-saturated blogosphere.

While I love playing games, problem solving, finding creative solutions to mundane problems, and all the things that are required in a Game Designer, I still feel too green to comfortably critique and share my experience with the masses.  Perhaps several released titles down the road, I can always return to share what I’ve learned…but until then, it’s probably better for all if I keep quiet on the matters.  That said, I’m sure people can learn from inexperience just as well as experience…

There is also the possibility that I am not lacking a niche at all, but that I have just not correctly identified it.  Instead of sharing expertise in a few areas, maybe my competitive advantage is being able to share my random thoughts with the world.  I’ll try that direction for a while.  May God have mercy on your soul.

People toss around hero a lot more than they should.  However, this man is indeed…a hero.  The story of Lionel Rodia is enough to melt the heart of any baseball or sports fan.  He’s done things I can only dream of and it’s a real (sort of) rags to riches type story about a die hard sports fan down on his luck, getting his 15 minutes of sorts working his way into the Philadelphia Phillies’ World Series winning game and celebration.

“Lionel goes 5′8″, 240, and he’s got the same shirt and lei as the players, so he looks like a player, which is maybe why he’s suddenly in the middle of every hug. And that’s about when Chase Utley says to Jimmy Rollins: “Let’s go celebrate!” And Lionel says exactly what you’d think he’d say, which is, “I’m with you guys!”

You’d be hard pressed to find a fan not wanting to be in his shoes for a day with their own team.  Though it may be a while before the Jays get any sort of playoff hardware…

Josh at Jorge Says No! has a great article on Vernon Wells’ ludicrous contract.  If Jays fans are complaining about not getting any big free agents, don’t expect them for a while.

Wells is set to make a meager $1.5 million this year before his contract explodes to $12.5 million in 2010, $23 million in 2011, and then $21 million until 2014.  All with a full no trade clause to boot.  In my opinion, Wells is a good player that has had severe injury problems.  As Josh states in the article, he is by no means an elite player.  The Jays are overspending and considering that Wells will make up just over 1/5 of what the Blue Jays have as their regular payroll (It’s just under $98 million this year), we better hope to God he opts out when he gets the chance in 2011.

To follow up a previous entry, I decided to take some newbie analysis at comparing Toronto Blue Jays shortstop, John McDonald, with his Detroit Tigers counterpart, Adam Everett. Why? Because Adam Everett is projected to be the best defensive shortstop this season, and many seem to act like John McDonald holds that role. Personally, though I think McDonald has great spirit and hustle, I think he’s an offensive cancer on the Jays lineup and I don’t think there’s any way he should be a starting player. We’ll soon see if my feelings are misplaced or not.

Here are their projected ‘09 lines:

John McDonald

Adam Everett

Offense

The first thing to note is that Adam Everett is projected to have about double the number of AB as McDonald. This will make it somewhat difficult to analyze many of the stats, but with some creativity and statistical leniancy, we can perhaps make some projections on these projections .

As you can see, each of their averages, on base, and slugging are nearly identical with Everett showing a little bit more power. McDonald is rocking a meager .592 OPS while Everett is holding up with a .620 OPS. Everything else seems to give Everett a slight edge in everything from power to contact to eye when you pro-rate them over the same number of appearances.

The other category I suppose we can look at is R/150, or the linear weights runs above average. This value is adjusted for league and ballpark and pro-rates (I assume) the number over 150 games. We see here that Everett only performs at a rate of 30 runs below average as opposed to McDonald’s 36 runs below average.

Defensive Rating

John McDonald has a defensive rating of 8 at shortstop while Everett is rated at a 19 RZR. Using these ratings we can see that Everett is a significantly better defensive player. What I woud like to see though would be some Runs Saved statistics for each player as I believe pitching would come into play on each player’s performance. It would be interesting to see the effects that each player’s performance would have. Regardless, based on defensive ratings, Everett easily takes the defensive crown.

Valuation and Quasi-Conclusions

Though I’m not sure if I’m using the 4th table on each player page correctly, I am thinking the values are calculated based upon finding the player’s defensive rating and moving across to find the player’s valuation.

John McDonald (+8 RZR used)

Adam Everett (+19 RZR used)

Now assuming I’m using this data correctly, we have a pretty decisive showing that overall, Everett is not only the better defensive player, but the better overall player as well. When factoring weighted batting runs, position, field, running, and defensive ability, Everett is hands down an overall better player and is worth 3 times as many wins. Even placing McDonald on the same defensive grouping as Everett, we can see that Everett is still worth about double the number of wins as McDonald. I suppose I could’ve just stuck to using the ‘Simple Valuation’, and not bothered with anything else in the posting, but where’s the fun in that?

What did I learn from this? I already had been of the opinion that McDonald was horrible and Everett couldn’t hit. What I did learn is that given the affection Jays fans have for McDonald, their minds may be blown if Everett would come here. I learned that despite my beliefs that anyone would be a better shortstop than McDonald, he is actually better than a replacement level player. I’ve also learned that according to this simple valuation, McDonald was also priced somewhat appropriately at the 1.9 million dollar contract he has and that the Tigers got an amazing deal on Everett with their 1 million dollar contract with performance incentives (though I’m unclear as to what those incentives entail).

It’ll be interesting to see how next season unfolds and I may find myself watching the relatively unexciting offensive performances of these players closely and seeing how these projections work out.

Taken directly from the best of Craigslist. An amazing anonymous posting of advice.

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Date: 2007-02-15, 9:08AM PST

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man
1. Don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Don’t antagonize the strong without cause, its stupid.

2. Don’t hate women. It’s a waste of time

3. Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that have self actualized.

4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.

5. As a former Marine, take it from me. Don’t join the military, unless you want to risk getting your balls blown off to secure other people’s economic or political interests.

6. If something has a direct benefit to an individual or a class of people, and a theoretical, abstract, or amorphous benefit to everybody else, realize that the proponent’s intentions are to benefit the former, not the latter, no matter what bullshit they try to feed you.

7. Don’t be a Republican. They are self-dealing crooks with no sense of honor or patriotism to their fellow citizens. If you must be a Republican, don’t be a “conservative.” They are whining, bitching, complaining, simple-minded self-righteous idiots who think they’re perpetual victims. Listen to talk radio for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. 90% of all advice is intended to benefit the proponent, not the recipient. Actually, the number is probably closer to 97%, but I don’t want to come off as cynical.

9. You’ll spend your entire life listening to people tell you how much you owe them. You don’t owe the vast majority of people shit.

10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.

11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.

12. Young men provide the genius and muscle by which our society thrives. Look at the Silicone Valley. By in large, it was not old men or women that created the revolution we live. Realize that society steals your contributions, secures it with our intellectual property laws, and then takes credit and the rewards where none is due.

13. Know that few people have your best interests at heart. Your mother does. Your father probably does (if he stuck around). Your siblings are on your side. Everybody else worries about themselves.

14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

15. Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills, or you’ll find your wife fucking somebody else.

16. Keep fit.

17. Don’t speak ill of your wife/girlfriend. Back her up against the world, even if she’s wrong. She should know that you have her back. When she needs your help, give it. She should know that you’ll take her part.

18. Don’t cheat on your wife/girlfriend. If you must cheat, don’t humiliate her. Don’t risk having your transgressions come back to her or her friends. Don’t do it where you live. Don’t do it with people in your social circle. Don’t shit in your own back yard.

19. If your girlfriend doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and bring joy to your life, fire her. That’s what girlfriends are for.

20. Don’t bother with “emotional affairs.” They are just a vehicle for women to flirt and have someone make them feel good about themselves. That’s the part of a relationship they want. For you it is a lot of work and investment in time. If they are having an emotional affair with you, they’re probably fucking someone else.

21. Becoming a woman’s friend and confidant is not going to get you into an intimate relationship. If you haven’t gotten the girl within a reasonably short period of time, chances are you won’t ever get her. She’ll end up confiding to you about the sexual adventures she’s having with someone else.

22. Have and nurture friendships with women.

23. Realize that love is a numbers game. Guys fall in love easily. You’re going to see some girl and feel like you’ll die if you don’t get her. If she rejects you, move on to the next one. It’s her loss.

24. Don’t be an internet troll. Got out and live life. There is not a cadre of beautiful women advertising on Craigslist to have NSA sex with you. Beautiful women don’t need to advertise. The websites that advertise with attractive women’s photos and claims of loneliness are baloney. All they want is your money and your personal information so that they can market to you. The posts on Craigslist by young “women” seeking NSA sex, and asking for a picture are just a bunch of gay troll pic collectors. This is especially true if the post uses common gay lexicon like “hole” as in “fuck my hole” or seeks “masculine” men, or uses the word cock (except in the context of “Don’t send a cock shot.”) There are women on Craigslist. They are easily recognizable by their 2-5 paragraph postings. Most are in their 30’s or older.

25. When you become a man in full, know that people will get in your way. People who are attracted to you will somehow manage to step in your path. Gay guys will give you “the look.” Old people will somehow stumble in front of you at the worst time. Don’t get frustrated. Just step aside and go about your business. Know that these are passive aggressive methods to get you to acknowledge their existence.

26. Don’t gay bash. Don’t mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. It’s none of your business to try to intimidate people into conformity.

27. If your gay, admit it to yourself, your parents, your friends and society at large. Be prepared to get harassed. See rule 14. If someone threatens you or assaults you, call the cops. Have them arrested. You have no obligation to self sacrifice because of who you are. As a gay person, you’ll have more social freedom than straight men. Use it to protect yourself. Be prepared to get out of Dodge if your orientation makes your life unbearable. Move to San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or New Orleans. You’ll find a welcoming community there.

28. Don’t be a poser. Avoid being one of those dudes who puts a surfboard on top of their car, but never surfs, or a dude with a powder coated fixed gear bike and a messenger bag, but was never a messenger. Live the life. Earn your bona fides.

29. Don’t believe the crap about the patriarchy. More women are accepted and attend college. More degrees are awarded to women than men. Women outlive men. More men commit suicide. Men are twice as likely to be victims of violence, including murder. If you consider sexual assaults in prisons, twice as many men are raped as women (society thinks prison rape is funny). The streets are littered with homeless men, sprinkled with a few homeless women. Statically, women are happier than men. The myth that girls are being cheated by are educational system is belied by the fact that schools are bastions of femininity, mostly run by and taught by women. Girls outperform boys in school. It is the boys in school getting fucked over, and prescribed ritalin for being boys. Real wages for men are falling, while real wages for women are rising. Just because someone says something enough times, doesn’t make it true. You have nothing to feel guilty about.

30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.

vicioustwist
san francisco
02-15-07