Really amazing talk. I admire this dude's commitment to separating "This is a well-designed game" from "This is a fun game." Plenty of people can think something is fun when it is in fact horribly designed.

That third question is interesting. It looks like 'What do you know about Ubisoft's brands?' but it's actually 'What do you know about how Ubisoft perceives its own brands?' which is a whole other thing.

20:26 I gave the great answer! Apparently watching GDC talks for months started to pay back ✨

@michaelrice7280

5 ай бұрын

Just wanted to let you know I think about this answer ALL THE TIME because it was a unique way to solve a problem that Ive applied to other areas of life. Not just games!

As a solo dev, I've been surprised how large a percent of development is game design. Decisions, more decisions, and then more more more decisions!

@JoonasSariola

5 жыл бұрын

Well you can make millions of different things in games, implementic good/fitting ones is the thing.

I don't know why everyone is hating on this talk on Twitter as of late. The main crux of this entire talk is to make more targeted questions for your interview. Don't give out blanket 'nothing' questions like, 'How would you design an encounter in game?' Instead ask questions you would ask someone who was already on your team: questions like, 'I need to put an specific enemy in this particular game. What is the first thing you would do with it?' or 'We need to get rid of this part/feature from the game. What do you think would happen if we did that, and what would you tell the design lead?' Interview questions shouldn't be about small talk; they should be about figuring out if the interviewee can solve the problems you actually have in your business. The small talk can come later when they're on your team.

I really hope interviewers take heed. That turned a nightmare of an interview into an enjoyable experience. It was smooth, there was no anxiety. As someone fresh to the field, coming from player to designer, this felt like professional play. I can't love this enough. I hope this happens when its my turn.

Felt excellent about this one. Very sane points. Every "bad question" frustrated the hell out of me. As if the theoretical interviewer wanted to just watch entertainment. And then predict my skill based on that.

My initial reaction to the Rock Paper Scissors thing was 'oh good god...'

@MrBreakingBones

5 жыл бұрын

My reaction was "wait wtf that breaks the whole system" - but then decided that to understand what the underlying reasons for this persons conclusions were that i should ask "why do you think that?" - arguably a very diplomatic responce, i do not want to just shot my team member down since i assume they are just as concerned as me when they think that a gamebreaking element has to be removed from the system. But i also want to learn more and take their input serious, so color me suprised when i learned that i did answer the worst possible way i could, even though i did think about systems AND making sure i take my coworkers serious. at this point i became very sceptical of this talk. - at least the speakers thoughts & opinions require further evaluation.

@SolocovGE

5 жыл бұрын

@@MrBreakingBones I think it was mostly being vocal about what you are thinking, and checking if the way you think/design fits into the studio. Like just adding: ", because I think this would break the game" would already do the job.

@MrBreakingBones

5 жыл бұрын

@@SolocovGE fair enough and i was probably overthinking the issue. I'm just worried that blanket statements like "this is the worst answer you can give" get taken at face value. also jesus so many grammar mistakes in my inital reply.

@HEADSHOTPROLOL

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrBreakingBones facts bro this entire talk after that lost pretty much all credibility for me

@joshantor

4 ай бұрын

​@@MrBreakingBones the point is some folks can answer the question directly without running around it for 3 business days to stall. We call them "designers", and they have answers in spades

Wow, really helpful talk! I have been in so many interviews I was wandering "why do they ask me this question?" - now I know the answer (they just did not know what they have been looking for). And recently I needed to ask the questions instead of being at the other side and it was tough one - I was quite lost and hoping for my instincts and experience... now I will be much better prepared. Thanks for sharing your experience, Richard!

This really opened my eyes. Loved this. Thanks 🙏

Amazing talk. Very concise, informative and insightful. Thank you.

Great talk! I was answering all the "good questions" he proposed as I went along, and it is at least good to see that I'm not going in the wrong direction with my thoughts!

That was actually a fantastic video Richard. I love how you went super in-depth with showing bad questions and answers and then even the really good answers. I'm a huge Ubisoft fan and I love that as soon as I heard the tank question I paused the video and came up with a scenario for the stealth player that was quite similar to the one the guy who provided the great answer gave :)

@robertmichalic4500

Жыл бұрын

First thing that crossed my mind was for the tank to have weak spots (planting charges on tracks) or depending on the scale of how much sci-fi the setting is, to breach a hole and gas / ignite the crew to force them out. But yeah, having the tank crew chill out of the tank is a great idea - pity I haven"t played later Splinter Cells yet

You know someone like Mr. Carrillo comes from a Design background when he starts his panel off with “I noticed a problem...” 🙂

Great talk. I even think some of the lessons and methodology could be applied to areas other than game design.

@freddiekarlbom

8 ай бұрын

Yes! They could just replace 'game designer' with 'product manager' and everything is just as on point. It's not about having the best ideas, it's about ensuring the best ideas gets built and that they fit together into a coherent whole.

Having recently done some job interviews for game design, I can say I have only gotten bad questions so far. I would've much more preferred to get the good ones, since I often felt like I wasn't really being interviewed, just talking about random things that really didn't have much to do with the job.

Great talk! This is applicable in other areas as well (for example web-development etc.)

OMG what an awesome revelation about "Two Guys in a Tank." I love it. I was thinking the solution would need to revolve around avoidance - i.e Tanks work with infantry. Take them out and the tank cannot spot and begin firing on anything that is not obvious. Another option would be that the Tank operates with the hatch open and the captain looking around a lot of the time until the tank is "alerted" at which point they button up. If the player is stealthy enough they could just snipe the captain. If the player is hiding and there is no infantry the tank captian might unbutton just to attempt to spot the player.

@AnarchistMetalhead

4 жыл бұрын

those are quite good solutions too i"d have come up with wet sand and gravel to gum up the barrel to hopefully make it backfire

@maybegreat

4 жыл бұрын

Having recently rewatched Indiana Jones movies, there's an awesome tank sequence in the Last Crusade. My mind went there and how you are running on the tank's belts, stick whatever in the exhaust pipe, or even jump in and punch/knife people inside. Overscoping a simple encounter, but hey! :)

This guys book “the role of a great game designer” is absolutely fantastic I would recommend it to anyone

This guy might be the total opposite of Jesse Schell. (Unity Trainer, Book of Lenses) Jesse thinks that EVERYONE is a designer.

@harleighawner6565

5 жыл бұрын

They are different philosophies to a huge spectrum. This was a good talk but is also incredibly focused on systemic open world games. Not applicable to every studio, and not applicable to what Jesse does.

@KuroKarma

4 жыл бұрын

Jesse is right

@gamongames

4 жыл бұрын

everyone is a game designer in the sense that everyone that has ingredients, utensils and an able-body is a cook. its just that some are better at it than others.

@princealmighty5391

3 жыл бұрын

@@KuroKarma no he is not

First thing that came to my mind with the Rock Paper Scissors question was the JonTron meme "Why would you do that? Why would you do any of that ?" If this was an actual interview I probably would have had a confused look on my face before answering. It seems so obvious that this game now doesn't work, but that's the point "it doesn't work, fix it !" That's a great question, and a great talk, thank you.

Awesome talk, speaking about design sessions is important.

My idea about the tank was either (since it's roaming around) would either be in 1) some sort of convoy where the enemies have weapons so if your not prepared for the fight you could take out gaurds that have what you need, and since the gaurds would be tailing the back you could take them out which would provide a stealth option. (As typically the infantry units are always tailing the heavy artillery in real world strategies. Or 2) maybe the tank had some sort of weak spot, when you think of tank you think of a heavy bulky piece of machinery but in Farcry 5 the tank they use in a mission is actually a makeshift 18 wheeler, maybe this tank is actually something created in someone's garage and has some sort of weak point in the back (though this might not work in all themes)

@HandmadeGoose97

4 жыл бұрын

I forgot to mention the point of the weak points would be for stealth play as a non stealth player would charge up to the thing

I've always felt that creativity and game design goes hand in hand. This guy is adamant to keep them apart. Sounds like too many cooks to me.

@Butch989

5 жыл бұрын

Creative Problem Solving still uses creativity so what you and this talk are saying aren't mutually exclusive

@Ebb0Productions

5 жыл бұрын

@@Butch989 Fair point. I was thinking that new ideas (i want tank) and implementing new systems (the tank system) goes hand in hand. That they're the same. It's like the person with the idea is only doing 10% and letting someone else do the hard work :p

@pushkar000

4 жыл бұрын

@@Ebb0Productions but that is how games like far cry are made. people on top tell people below what to do. the person who has the new idea(i want tank) is also a game designer, just a senior designer. man in these big studios there are teams of hundreds to create the vision and ideas of maybe 10-12 senior game/art/story/whatever directors, and even they have to adjust with each other. everybody else is basically designing tanks that they dont think is a good idea, writing dialogue for npc's who they dont understand why they need to be in the game, making the tooth of a baby fox that does nothing except run in circles...etc.

@kkmaink5653

2 жыл бұрын

@@pushkar000 perfectly said my guy

Okay, so my thought to the Rock Paper Scissors question was something like this: If you remove one option, you are left with one option that can never win and one option that can never lose. So if you want to win, you would always pick the better option so each game would end in a tie unless the other player gets so bored he picks the other one just to end the misery. As for the tank question: If the encounter can happen at any time, it's stats need to vary over the course of the game or else an early encounter may be devastating and a late encounter rather lame. But the changes can be invisible to the player, like a reduced attack power / reduced ressistance to the player's shots / reduced radius in which the player is spotted, when the game is still in the earlier parts. As for playstyles: Stealth could be done via secretely placing bombs and then activating them from afar or maybe even entering the tank and eliminating the crew from the inside. As for aggressive attacks: Offer grenades or other large explosives, while gunshot may do hardly any damage. Again, adjust the difficult based on how long the player had time to familiarize themselves with the game or make it obvious that this enemy should be avoided in the early game. Maybe with some warning shots from a distance that will always miss.

This guy is so smart. currently, I am looking for work as a game designer or technical director at a studio and to me. This guy is just right on the money. My first answer was, this would break the conundrum. It's not a logical goal. although I would try to see their point of view in this particular case the systems would not support it in the particular game. A/B select flip flop works but that's not exactly the goal of the game "rock paper scissors" its now "Heads or Tails"

really great talk :)

Great talk

thank you for sharing this learning experience, definitely not scared off and has lead me to think more about systems, this may mean that i need to play Far Cry, UbiSoft has been a leading designer in the gaming industry for years

@indifavs

Жыл бұрын

after researching on Steam i found that Far Cry is not a F2P game, this will limit my ability to play it for the learning experience, for now, still i am grateful for the opportunity to learn

@musikalniyfanboichik

Жыл бұрын

@@indifavs pirate

@indifavs

Жыл бұрын

@voops thanks for the idea, however if i am ever able to get past the obstacles in my way one day to work in the gaming industry i need to maintain my good name and pay for Far Cry when i can, if it ever got out i was a RL user of pirated software how would the company which hired me be able to trust me?

Great talk!

wow I aced all the questions from this guy

This. I needed this

Okay so I really liked the idea of Tank for stealth style players

Really well said.

I went into an existential crisis on the Rock Paper Scissor question

Excellent tips here for hiring, applicable to any field, really good talk. Edit: And for those of you saying "Ah well this is why all Ubisoft's games are the same, they take all the creativity out of it", aren't limitations the mother of invention? This is about taking the unknowns out of the hiring _process_ and making it somewhat quantifiable, making sure it actually tests for skills they want rather than how good they are at stage improv and talking. Of course it shouldn't be the only factor but it works as a filter because the results are objective. If different things are important to you then design different questions, but the process for getting objective answers outlined still seems sound.

What's with the repeating part about the next far cry?

24:23 Funny, my answer to the left one would have been: either more far cry or less far cry. Which quite comically brings the idea of the right question into the picture. :p

definitely did not use it to ckeck if I had chance to pass those good questions I'm completely confident that I have what it takes to be a game designer... ...I hope

Meanwhile Ken Levine being interviewed at Looking Glass: "I am a playwright, not playwrite." "Hired."

Well my thoughts on rock paper scissorS... The game works as a circle, whereby 1 loses to 1, wins against 1 and draws against 1. Taking one out would have an option that either wins or draws and 1 that always either loses or draws. Rock Paper Scissors is more of a mind game than anything, as the choice you make is solely dependant upon your thoughts on what the other player picks. So essentially you need to guess what he picks and pick your best option to either win or draw. This is basically a game of psychology and game theory. Reducing this to 2 possible options will have anyone with a brain always pick the win or draw option and never go for the draw or lose pick. By doing this, you have removed the psychology portion of the game and you are therefore left with the game theory part. The takeaway from that thought experiment is 1) if you have the choice between 2 weapons, where 1 is always weaker than the other, why even bother having it in the first place and, 2) Dont simplify your design if you remove a core gameplay requirement (psychology in the case of RPS) leaving you with gameplay that can basically be numerically summed up as: If A > B, pick A.

Exceptional presentation, perhaps mellow out a bit though :)

so, if i understand it, game design is more about "how" than "what" right ?

it seems I'm actually a full fledge game designer, I mean if my stamina allow I would go to ubisoft and offer my talents but I'm just out of control for my physical body and my mind is pure insanity.

Made me realise what the term "Opened my eyes meant"

Actually for the rock paper scisor questions, I had a mix of the first don't with some of the does. Question to the boss should be: what problem do you want to solve by removing one option? It is a much better answer to me as the question being asked of me is to find a solution, and finding a solution before spelling out the problem first... is doom.

@PrecookedEagle

5 жыл бұрын

That's not what he's looking for in the interview though, it's not about roleplaying the hypothetical scenario but about you as a designer sharing your thought process when faced with a very clear problem.

@ZoidbergForPresident

5 жыл бұрын

@@PrecookedEagle I stand by what I wrote in the post: we still need to know what the problem to solve is.

@zinetx

3 жыл бұрын

He mentioned the problem, He said the system is too complex with 3 options to the player, 2 would be easier.

Makes me wonder about good answers to bad questions

My thought process was, remove rock, because paper and scissors go together, and then the game would transform into a chase/evade system

honestly, my very first answer to the RPS questions was to remove the timer - not the greatest answer but definitely an answer.

21:23 shouldn't of had the smoke break haha keep on keepin on

from GMTK eyy

👍

Yes. A thousand times yes. I still remember an interview when I was asked the same, vague, open ended questions... and when I tried to offer spontaneous systemic solutions I was met with comments like: "Oh, this is actually clever and a valid answer, bravo! But it's WRONG, I expected you to say XYZ which is the standard answer you should provide." -_- One episode I remember: "we are adding a 4th option to Rock, Paper, Scissors... how would you balance that?" I offered options, considerations, analyses, questions. The response was: "Awesome! But WRONG, I expected you to say that you would add a 5th option. Any other answer is valid, but not what we are looking for." -_- Meh :P

Thinking outside of the tank

i would actually remove creative director

I wholeheartedly disagree with the bad answer being "I would ask why he wants to change it". If a manager asks me such a stupid question, I would honestly be baffled and would like to check if he's drunk.

anyone else has a scheduled interview and is here for research puporses? what you guys think about interviews with a single algorithm to solve on websites like hackerank and testdome?

I was thouroughly disapointed by the answer of the RPS questions, if you remove one option, you look at possible outcome and realize it's a prisoner dilemma situations, that's doable, no need for an extra step!

@Luxalpa

5 жыл бұрын

It's not a prisoner dilemma. If you only have the 2 options then one always wins or draws while the other always loses and draws, so nobody would ever take the one that loses, which completely breaks the game.

@NeoShameMan

5 жыл бұрын

@@Luxalpa I said it was a prisoner dilemma "situation", you can use the tool (the outcome matrix) to define a solution, I was pointing to the design tool. The simplest way is to introduce assymetry of "goal", ie one win with when the input are different, while the other win when the input are similar, so you have to guess the opponent move to get the desired outcome.

@NeoShameMan

5 жыл бұрын

@@Luxalpa Oh wait if you have a progression gauge "ie a health bar", you can turn the game into a production game by delaying the win the condition and having some move not just removing life from the opponent but also gain life for yourself (ex cooperation), by balancing the gain, it's about out producing your opponent, the tension introduce by the gauge management will automatically create stakes where you want to gain life but the opponent will try to anticipate that to lend a max blow, which create a weighted rps situation. Basically you don't select the right option, you try to create the right outcome. Thanks for that one I hadn't noticed that possibility lol.

@Bloodyshinta1

5 жыл бұрын

@@NeoShameMan the whole point of the question to to remove one to simplify the game, you're trying to make it more complicated.

@SlaRs133

5 жыл бұрын

@@NeoShameMan At that point, you're not making Rock Paper Scissor, you're making a completely different and more complex game

tfw when you don't know Rock, Paper, Scissors.... *I'M JOKING.*

When that Rock Paper Scissors question was asked I was just like, "Interesting, that would severely impede game-play balance. How would I correct that uneven balance?"

Okay so I promise, i pauses the video and I thought about the tank question and the “great answer” is exactly what I came to. I mean exactly. Should I go for a game design interview?? LOL

OMG, when he showed the rock paper scissors question I paused the video to think about and I literally imagind what he said later on about the great answer. I'm happy. :) Edit: Freaking the same thing for the tank encounter. am I hired?

It doesn't destroy the game to have RPS as a two options game. You just have to come up with a mechanic that compensates for it. Like: 1. You only get two options *at a time*, where you're randomly given two of the three to choose from each turn. 2. The third option is an uncontrollable entity, like it's a battle system where the third option randomly chooses one player to destroy (like a prisoner's dilemma game.) 3. (The boring way) Make the options blind; each player chooses one of two cards. Maybe they're even the same two cards and the winner chooses the position and the losing person chooses.

@ngrader

2 жыл бұрын

" You just have to come up with a mechanic that compensates for it." ... The game was always planned for three options, but we ran into problems with integrating one of them. But we still have a ship date and investors. So we'll fix it in post, apply a hotfix or three, and make Scissors DLC. Problem == Solved.

This guy sounds smart but then why this company makes games like assassin creed ?

@forasago

Жыл бұрын

Because games like Assassin's Creed make a lot of money and that is the goal of a game publisher like Ubisoft.

This didn't age well. Ubisoft, one bad release after another. Fortunately, Tencent came to their help but... maybe Ubisoft needs to change their game design team and interviews.

@musikalniyfanboichik

Жыл бұрын

so fucking what lol? are you really that dense to think that designers decide anything? investor daddy said "i want 18th assassin's creed". you make 18th assassins creed. done deal. he literally said that in the video, designers don't have that kind of power. i guess some people aren't intelligent enough to even listen lmao.

8:35 "DLC has gone too far I say... Too far!"

had way too many interviews with super open questions. jeez...

This guys thought process (argument) for game design vs game ideas is the best clue to know why a big studio like ubisoft has no idea on making a good game instead of just rehashing mechanics from other games without understanding their application -_-

:V

I’m sorry but these questions could easily be answered by anyone when given time to think in a relaxed environment. The person who answered poorly to the RPS question was clearly having tunnel vision and was over thinking due to the stress of the situation. I have just asked this question to my grandmother who hasn’t played a video game in her life. After matching her answers with the “good” and “great” answers, she now thinks she’s a professional game designer lol

@VykxTre

5 жыл бұрын

Well being under pressure when you have to give an answer is useful for checking if you can work under pressure or not. And I think it's a important skill.

@ziloe

5 жыл бұрын

And yet, game design is not a stress free environment. You're there to work, not slack off and banter all day. The interviewer needs to know you can react well to high stress situations, like huge bugs weeks before launch, or that you can think quick on your feet when your superior asks you for a solution to a specific issue. They do not have time to sit with you for 2-4 hours hashing things out like you did with your grandma, they have dozens of other employees they need to talk to as well

@MeanMachineOnline

5 жыл бұрын

ziloe trust me, I know it’s not a stress free environment. But you can not compare the stress of an interview situation to the environment of solving problems as a game designer, completely different. What I’m saying is that these questions are not ironing out who’s a good designer versus a bad one, all it is doing is seeing who is good at interviewing.

@ziloe

5 жыл бұрын

@@MeanMachineOnline I'm speaking As a game designer. The bad questions are soft balls that don't display how the interviewee thinks. That's the point, to get to the core of who is worth investing in and taking to the second round, versus who is there with little to no experience in the field

"If it's a 90 you should have played it" So no Ubisoft game then, got it.

Nice talk, unfortunately most design interviews are a farce as many design devs are not really good designers, and event if they are they are shitty interviewers/recuiters.

Turns out I'm a game designer.

I was very excited about the topic of this vid until I saw "Ubisoft". Misunderstanding between designing and engineering are truly fundamental here.

Lmao...Ubisoft of all companies talking about 'cool design.' Please, this company makes the most generic fetch-questing crap fests in the industry

Listening to this dude kind of explains why I don't like Ubisoft games so much. Decently designed, but extremely boring and uninventive systems and game loops.

This studio has never worked on an original or inspired title. Videogames are headed for a crash, and innovation is the only thing that's wearing it's seatbelt.

First

@vandriff

5 жыл бұрын

Wow, look at you go. Keep up the good work, buddy.

@WickedFlamezZ

5 жыл бұрын

vandriff thank you

@OhManTFE

5 жыл бұрын

Congrats mate

@NeoShameMan

5 жыл бұрын

The early bird get the worm!

Dude has amazing experience for interviewing and weeding out the people who wouldnt be qualified. But he is seriously terrible at finding talent. Constant occurrence of “hopefully scares them away” like we get it you don’t want someone who THINKS they can do game desgin, but your setting yourself up for losing employees with a high level of potential.