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0s | hello everyone and welcome back to the |
---|---|
2s | fifth episode of deconstructing this |
6s | month on the podcast community manager |
8s | Megan Everett sits down with game |
9s | designers John Gogol and Shervin Goswami |
12s | to talk about how warframe is made also |
15s | you should note there are some mild |
16s | spoilers ahead for the movie Armageddon |
18s | but without further ado sit back and |
21s | enjoy welcome to episode 5 of the |
41s | deconstructing podcast my name is Megan |
43s | Everett I'm the community manager for |
45s | warframe and I have two very special |
48s | warframe designers here with me today I |
51s | have names my name is John goal I've |
54s | been here de for a little while now a |
56s | technical designer |
58s | hey it's chirpin Casas Annie I've been a |
61s | technical designer for a little bit |
63s | shorter and yeah working on warframe as |
66s | well alright so before de before working |
69s | here what kind of schooling or maybe |
72s | even jobs that are relevant or not |
74s | relevant did you guys have oh yeah so |
77s | for me before before here I went to |
80s | school at the University of Waterloo I |
82s | did engineering there before de I did a |
85s | bunch of jobs used to be a math tutor I |
87s | used to be an IT tech technician and I |
90s | had a little small gig at IBM as well |
92s | and then my first gig here at D was a I |
96s | got my start working QA on Dark Sector |
98s | so I've been here ever since |
100s | IBM OLC like a software more more |
105s | software engineering kind of thing as |
106s | more of a testing gig as well verifying |
108s | like web software like yeah no no it's |
111s | not as exciting as games at the end of |
112s | the day but you know I last night this |
115s | is stupid but I was on Netflix I was |
117s | watching jeopardy and they had that |
119s | Jeopardy show with the Watson idea but |
125s | that was this is like ages and ages ago |
128s | I don't want some super big now but yeah |
130s | that's the extent of that do you is my |
132s | first game gig and |
133s | yeah I've been here ever since so thanks |
135s | worked out pretty well for me so I went |
137s | to Carleton University for computer |
139s | science down in Ottawa and then I worked |
144s | at a variety of places actually IBM as |
147s | well I did a co-op there coops |
152s | yeah and then and then after that I |
155s | worked at a startup and did that for a |
159s | while we were actually at the beginning |
161s | trying to make mobile games and then we |
164s | ended up transitioning to mobile apps |
166s | and then I ended up moving to New York |
168s | City and I did my graduate studies at |
171s | the NYU game center so I actually have |
173s | like a master's in game design John's |
178s | throwing like air quotes Erica yeah it |
181s | means I think I know stuff but I really |
183s | don't he knows a lot I did a couple |
185s | internships there on some mobile games |
187s | in New York and then I moved back to |
190s | Canada for De no it wasn't that bad of a |
193s | change so what does it really mean to be |
194s | a designer |
195s | it's a I think it's a broad term like |
198s | you guys work on a lot of things you |
200s | might have a small hand in one thing a |
203s | large hand in something yeah it's a good |
205s | question because you know you'll see in |
207s | a lot a lot of different other Studios |
209s | you know designers have a lot of |
210s | different categories like your content |
212s | designer your narrative designer your |
214s | sound sound is its own thing as well you |
216s | could be a sound designer a system |
217s | designer systems design yeah and the RUS |
220s | were technical designers which just |
221s | means hey you can write some code as |
224s | well along the way right is I think I |
226s | think the the meaning behind that so for |
230s | us we're doing you know we're always in |
231s | the codebase we're always scripting you |
233s | know we have a hard skill associated |
235s | with it right but in terms of being a |
237s | designer it's it's 90% problem solving |
240s | right it's just hey there's a there's an |
242s | issue with XYZ system right like can you |
245s | help us so and of course you know the |
249s | idea process is also part of it but from |
252s | a day-to-day perspective it's always |
254s | just you know how do we help how do we |
256s | fix something that's broken right at |
258s | least that's that's my perspective of it |
260s | yeah the way I look at it like from a |
262s | day-to-day perspective here's you're |
264s | kind of like |
265s | spiritual producer no no but like I know |
269s | that sounds like with well it's |
271s | intentionally like wishy-washy which is |
273s | like okay like people come and we'll ask |
275s | you questions about like a certain |
277s | feature or thing about the game that |
279s | like you're known as being responsible |
281s | for sure like you're essentially just |
284s | making sure that this thing you were |
286s | under this category of things that |
287s | you're working on ends up being good or |
289s | as good as it can be and that involves |
291s | curating ideas and and on top of that |
294s | like John said you're technically a |
297s | technical designer you're writing code |
298s | so you're prototyping testing out ideas |
302s | playtesting doing things like that just |
304s | to make sure that like the thing you're |
305s | working on is actually good right there |
308s | are game designers who don't code and so |
310s | those guys have to operate within the |
313s | engine as well as they can or they'll |
314s | pull in a programmer to help them like |
316s | make the thing they need to make and |
317s | then test it and then give feedback and |
319s | have a slightly longer iteration loop to |
322s | us but the tech guy is just kind of like |
323s | diving headfirst and try to make the |
325s | thing work like that you mentioned like |
329s | something that you've been working on to |
331s | make sure that it works so what's one of |
334s | the projects that you've been a part of |
335s | that you're most proud of |
337s | Oh for frame specifically are here at D |
341s | yeah for work frame for me at least the |
345s | the big the big thing I really shifted |
347s | at least the way that we thought about |
348s | the game was was POV plans Eidolon |
351s | so as soon as we we shifted to that |
353s | first open world and we started doing |
354s | you know a bounty system we started to |
356s | trying to do open world missions we |
358s | tried to be more dynamic it really you |
361s | know I mean it made us think had to have |
363s | to think laterally in a lot of different |
366s | situations and of course there's |
368s | inspirations that you can draw from but |
369s | it was a big shift for us because |
371s | especially as a studio we've always been |
373s | making sort of linear based games like |
375s | you know whether it's Dark Sector for |
377s | the darkness 2 or our Star Trek game or |
380s | things that we've made before that but |
384s | we've we've always sort of been in that |
386s | vein right we've always been a |
387s | story-driven kind of studio and making a |
389s | a 2 a to be a to be game and then when |
392s | as soon as we we made that shift to p OE |
395s | you know all the open world |
397s | games that we've all been playing along |
399s | the way we could sort of leverage that |
401s | and you know draw some inspiration and |
403s | it was fun it was fun to think about it |
405s | a different way right in terms of |
406s | warframe that was where I probably had |
408s | the most most fun thinking about stuff I |
410s | guess so was there a game and specific |
412s | that you drew inspiration from when we |
414s | started playing for personally I know |
417s | everyone here was probably playing |
419s | horizon zero dawn and stuff like that I |
421s | don't know maybe Shervin you've got I |
424s | heard horizon a lot like that wasn't on |
426s | POV that Maurice I came on really late |
429s | to it but from what I remember seeing it |
431s | was yeah a lot of talk about horizon |
434s | later on people started talking about |
436s | breath of the wild a lot yeah that's |
438s | true that was the big one yeah Grand |
439s | Theft Auto is obviously like there's |
441s | there in super early on that stuff too |
443s | so in terms of projects then I guess |
447s | peewee and Venus was an extension but |
450s | and the scope is a little little larger |
454s | was it much different designing Valis |
457s | and Venus considering we've already done |
459s | planes and Cetus it was tougher because |
461s | you know you your port you pour most of |
464s | your ideas into the first the first |
465s | iteration there and you don't want to |
467s | repeat yourself too much you can't want |
469s | to try new things and and try and use |
472s | the space differently especially it's a |
473s | different landscape different weather |
475s | systems things like that how do we tie |
477s | it all together you don't to just be you |
478s | know jump it to Pele we do your do your |
482s | normal missions then if you jump into |
483s | Venus and you're sort of doing the same |
484s | thing it does don't feel too great so it |
487s | you have to keep thinking and coming up |
489s | with new content new ideas and making |
491s | sure it's fun so it's always going to be |
493s | tougher as you go on right today to |
496s | build new content but I mean that's part |
498s | of the fun of it to you you have to just |
500s | keep thinking but it probably helped to |
502s | have like the skeleton kind of an open |
504s | world and a vendor system essentially |
507s | mm-hmm absolutely |
508s | yeah so it was like we could reuse the |
510s | bounty system in a lot of cases you know |
511s | just a few improvements here and there |
513s | to make it work but it was good to have |
516s | the base to work for him like you said |
517s | so Sherman is there a project you've |
520s | worked on that year super proud of for |
523s | warframe probably the rail Jack stuff |
526s | like the latest stuff just because it's |
528s | like it's |
529s | cutting-edge air quotes again everything |
533s | on that stuff is just like we're taking |
535s | the best thing we can the best tech we |
537s | have and trying to use it to show off |
539s | like the coolest version of a game right |
541s | so it's it's that's really fresh - which |
544s | is which is nice you get to think you |
546s | know there's a whole new space to sort |
547s | of explore there right yeah and whenever |
549s | you look up a concert like whenever you |
550s | look whenever you look back on stuff you |
554s | always hate it at least with me like |
556s | with my work so like you can see the |
559s | improvement as you go on ya always feel |
561s | embarrassed when you especially with |
562s | code like when you go and look back at |
564s | your code you're like who the hell wrote |
565s | this so yeah the real check stuff was a |
570s | big step I came on right when venus was |
573s | like getting started so I really kind of |
576s | like dope then on on Venus a bit with |
578s | regards to like the general like going |
581s | back to what John was saying about like |
582s | trying to do it differently I think |
583s | that's basically where I'd tried to help |
585s | out a lot so the global alert system was |
587s | something that I talked about a lot |
589s | reverencing GTA right like that was the |
591s | first thing I noticed and I thought it |
594s | would be a good way for giving the |
595s | control to the player of like how while |
597s | they want their their version of |
599s | warframe to be some guys like fishing |
601s | other people want to just blow up |
602s | everything they can and I thought that |
604s | star system was a big thing mhm and then |
607s | obviously I basically started and |
609s | finished the conservation system |
611s | actually I'm joking they call myself the |
615s | animal man so dude I had you as |
617s | conservation king or king of concept |
619s | that also ever actually go with that I |
621s | keep always expecting and I was it |
624s | obviously never happened but I was |
625s | hoping to wear like a fox hat I was not |
631s | gonna go that far I don't think I think |
633s | we're like we're like very different |
635s | sizes of people it's like baggy on me |
645s | yeah there's only one external con it's |
651s | happening you can wear my corn costume |
653s | oh yeah I could do that too alright so |
656s | some of the projects and I know you've |
658s | worked on because I write the patches |
662s | keeping my stuff break out the team |
669s | before many live streams but I do read |
673s | everyone's changeless what I'm making |
674s | patch you have to do all the patch notes |
676s | so of course you have to read them all |
677s | make sense when you see how many |
679s | submissions have been on a day to day |
681s | basis you're like oh my god yeah and |
683s | that's like like I don't read literally |
686s | every submission every day because we |
688s | don't do a main line every day when it |
690s | is a main line and I have to go through |
691s | literally everything I've ever been |
693s | submitted from you know respect man |
697s | respect thank you all right that's fine |
700s | but I do get to see some gems in terms |
702s | of descriptions okay I appreciate a good |
705s | description sometimes I'll just |
707s | literally use whatever you say and put |
709s | it in my patch notes because I'm a tired |
711s | human being sometimes you guys write |
713s | some funny stuff John Koga you did one |
716s | back in the day for when you're working |
718s | on Venus yep and I won't say the end of |
720s | it cuz it's a spoiler to the movie how |
722s | dare you by the way pretty old so you |
724s | should have watched it doesn't mean that |
726s | everyone has seen it so this is an |
729s | example of a john goal of change |
731s | description he's working on Venus |
733s | assassinating he says in the movie |
734s | Armageddon NASA sent two shuttles to the |
737s | asteroid on a collision course with |
738s | earth in an attempt to save all of |
740s | humanity these shuttles freedom and then |
743s | he puts in brackets something to do with |
745s | warframe function named for one of our |
747s | API calls yes perfect and independence |
750s | and another function call I presume are |
753s | an example of a time-tested strategy |
755s | known as always have a back-up plan try |
757s | very hard to find a good spot on nab to |
758s | spawn the assassinate target and retry |
760s | is necessary so you basically use an |
763s | Armageddon reference oh my god right and |
768s | the I mean the truth the true nature of |
771s | that change is like we're trying to |
773s | trying to raycast down from the scribe |
774s | or from the sky trying to find like a |
776s | good spot in the world to spawn this |
778s | target for an assassinate mission and if |
781s | it ever fails and you don't get a target |
782s | well now you don't have a mission right |
784s | so to try really really hard in some |
786s | situations to find one and what I found |
789s | at least when I was doing it one way was |
792s | well sometimes it fails so just send |
795s | a second shuttle right okay I'm like |
801s | you're gonna nuke it like what because |
802s | they nuke the asteroid like the first |
805s | shuttle doesn't get their spoilers that |
806s | I guess right but so you got a thing |
812s | here so if you didn't watch it on city |
814s | TV a hundred times already probably |
816s | that's your community's reference but I |
819s | mean that is probably one of the most |
821s | Canadian reference you're watching this |
822s | on MTV one for our American friends sure |
826s | American MTV oh yeah I mean that's |
830s | that's just basically I mean that's that |
832s | was the one I probably tried to fix that |
834s | bug five or six times and that was |
837s | probably the sixth six check in the |
838s | finally work that's exactly why that's |
842s | why it makes perfect sense now yeah cuz |
844s | you're like I'm done with this finally |
847s | done with this I sent the second shuttle |
848s | it's okay now guys now it always works I |
853s | think you finish cross yeah 99% of the |
856s | time until it's breaks and we get |
858s | reports back and you're like all right |
860s | third shuttle or shuttles we're just |
862s | Iran it cuz I literally had to fix that |
864s | this morning again because it look the |
866s | clan changed |
867s | oh my god well Sherman's felt that the |
872s | pre process so long because there's all |
874s | the a knows how to go through and I |
875s | didn't wasn't even trying to look for an |
876s | animal so I don't have to approve |
878s | process all of them right I mean you |
881s | know it's a it's a it's a it's a giant |
884s | world I know how it works yeah that's |
888s | fair everybody wants their powers so |
892s | yeah everyone loves those things so that |
894s | is super solid that those exists now I'm |
897s | a wicked design story for you about |
899s | flukes by the way I I don't think I've |
902s | ever told anybody the tea we're spilling |
904s | tea |
905s | so yeah inside inside baseball on how |
908s | flu started okay as we were developing |
911s | conservation is a whole system we kind |
914s | of were nice and we started giving a |
917s | decent amount of syndicate rep for it |
918s | which is great but we kind of realized |
921s | like there is no reward and so we were |
923s | trying to figure like |
924s | okay like what do we give players for |
926s | doing this there's not like a giant kind |
929s | of progression path laid out for |
931s | conservation obviously you spend more |
934s | syndicate points you get more losers you |
936s | hunt bigger animals for more syndicate |
938s | points and that worked out pretty well |
940s | as I was thinking about this for my 30th |
943s | birthday or 31st my girlfriend actually |
947s | sent money for an arctic fox |
950s | conservation mm-hmm and I didn't she |
953s | didn't know I was working on |
954s | conservation like which is really funny |
956s | that this is all serendipitous and it |
958s | happened this way |
959s | well what the conservation did was send |
962s | me a a furry fox like a stuffed animal |
965s | and so as I was trying to figure what we |
968s | should do I was like we should be giving |
971s | stuffed animals like and then at the |
974s | beginning Steve was like no no we can't |
975s | we don't have the resources and sure |
977s | enough the next month I was on Friday |
980s | and then on Monday morning Greg had |
981s | already made like oh he can I may be |
989s | animal man but he's for sure floof god |
993s | that's his rapper name to this that's a |
995s | good rapper yeah so he just started |
1001s | banging them it was one of those things |
1003s | where like and this happens all InDesign |
1004s | I'm sure John seeing this were like you |
1005s | do something and you're like oh without |
1007s | a doubt like this is the thing like we |
1009s | need to do this now it's not even a |
1011s | question anymore sometimes things just |
1012s | appear on this screen and you're like |
1014s | this is a thousand percent happening we |
1016s | can't not do this we actually were this |
1018s | happened a bit in the 10 o clock demo to |
1020s | where we were talking about the real |
1024s | Jack cannon to shoot players out mega |
1027s | seven nightmares now yeah PTSD sure yeah |
1030s | but the funny thing was that like as we |
1032s | were talking about it and slag all of a |
1035s | sudden like I think me and Steve at the |
1037s | same time we were both like you should |
1039s | just run through ships |
1044s | and then we both started laughing really |
1046s | oh my god like of course yeah like |
1048s | everybody thinks about it right so for |
1052s | now for now it will work you guys did do |
1057s | that demo basically every everyday for a |
1060s | month I want to say I think times per |
1063s | day and then I eventually was like twice |
1065s | a day no got to three I've got the three |
1068s | closest something I should like do like |
1072s | a ten okon kind of like recap one day |
1075s | with some of the production people just |
1077s | be like how much work does it take to do |
1078s | this thing let alone like the demo |
1080s | itself is like a big deal and yeah and |
1082s | obviously like the cool thing is that we |
1084s | don't like fake a lot of the stuff all |
1090s | the stuff that we did for this Tenno con |
1093s | was like full real systems that we |
1097s | sucked like we didn't even do I'm trying |
1099s | to think like yeah we didn't really do |
1100s | much to like force it to do the thing we |
1103s | just put the pieces in place and it all |
1105s | just did the thing that we wanted it to |
1107s | do yeah so that was my that was actually |
1109s | like one of the things I was really |
1110s | proud of it was like we did we we didn't |
1113s | do the smoke and mirrors thing we like |
1114s | we did it |
1115s | do you remember when because I do when |
1117s | Steve sent kind of the company like the |
1120s | script like the Tenno con demo script do |
1122s | you remember like your first reactions |
1124s | to it it's insanity |
1125s | I literally messaged him and I was like |
1128s | this is a goddamn insane yeah like I was |
1131s | like there's no way we can do this that |
1132s | was mocking me too I was like that's not |
1133s | happening like we can't pull that off |
1136s | yeah like this is insane and then this |
1138s | is where like the and I'm sure you'd |
1140s | notice this John like there's like a |
1141s | masochistic sense in you where you're |
1143s | like oh this is gonna be like it's gonna |
1145s | be tough to pull off but like I'm |
1146s | excited now I have like a big challenge |
1148s | that we have to try to do to be fair |
1151s | when you when you when you're really |
1152s | trying to put on a show like yet or you |
1154s | gotta reach for the meat man right yeah |
1155s | yeah if you don't hit every every mark |
1157s | that's fine but go for the top end as |
1160s | far as you can right and that's that's |
1162s | why I at least is exciting about it it |
1164s | evolves along the way right so because |
1166s | you you you you want to hit certain |
1168s | beats along the story and you or along |
1170s | the script that you sort of have for a |
1172s | demo like that and you want to end on a |
1174s | high note you want to |
1176s | you know everyone's got that nice little |
1177s | story curb or there's a couple lulls |
1179s | here and there but you always want to |
1180s | kind of you want to end on something |
1183s | that's super super cool right it was a |
1184s | good moment at the end there right so |
1186s | were you nervous as like a tech designer |
1188s | to have to absolutely especially if it's |
1191s | close to the wire it's very difficult |
1193s | because you know you can't you got to |
1195s | take some risks you have to you know |
1197s | work a little faster you have to it's |
1199s | harder to test your stuff especially in |
1200s | this demo situation which is why like we |
1202s | would always come to come to your guys |
1204s | demo sessions right it's like oh there's |
1205s | four people playing here like I don't |
1206s | have to load up four instances on my |
1208s | machine to see how it's gonna work so |
1210s | it's super useful for us as well and |
1212s | like hey I could sit there and talk to |
1213s | Sherman or some other designers as you |
1215s | guys are playing it's like oh yeah why |
1217s | is the Simon we did that a lot actually |
1218s | this is you know a broken corner it's |
1220s | like it's a it really helps the the |
1222s | process there and I think that's part of |
1224s | you know what made us what made it |
1226s | successful at least at 10'o calm because |
1228s | we had those people in the room and we |
1230s | had you guys doing the demo basically in |
1232s | front of us every day right there was a |
1234s | bunch of times I remember during those |
1236s | practice demos were John and I I |
1237s | remember specifically John and I would |
1239s | sit there and we were trying to |
1240s | understand why something wasn't working |
1241s | yeah I know it was as you guys were |
1244s | playing it we were like reverse |
1245s | engineering the decisions you made and I |
1247s | was like okay this is they did this than |
1250s | this and we this should have happened |
1251s | but this didn't and that's why you're |
1253s | seeing this now for the demo I was |
1256s | sitting with another D employee and when |
1259s | she minimized or like it looked like one |
1261s | of the screens wise I thought it crashed |
1265s | on a cross I literally fell to a knee I |
1267s | was like I had to be like a Tim Tebow |
1269s | football thing where I was like I can't |
1270s | look at this like like it's oh my god |
1273s | and literally it was like I can't |
1275s | believe it crash and then he went back |
1277s | up and I was like thank you so much |
1282s | that's when like Danielle and I came up |
1285s | on stage and Rebecca had to like move |
1287s | out of the way to I think she's just |
1289s | like smash that what happened I think so |
1292s | like control or something and like hit |
1294s | the keyboard and just minimize press |
1296s | Start and I just remember cuz I'm like |
1300s | I'm in my zone at that point right I'm |
1301s | thinking about nothing else but this |
1303s | demo being a success sure and I just |
1305s | hear Rebecca audibly gasped I mean look |
1307s | at her |
1307s | Green is just white and I was like oh my |
1309s | god but then I see the little stupid |
1313s | Internet Explorer logo and like I said |
1315s | oh I didn't even see because the I was |
1317s | watching it from the big screen so I |
1318s | didn't see that and so I'm like oh it's |
1320s | gone |
1321s | oh wait like yeah I've never even like |
1323s | what is happening right now and then it |
1324s | came back up and I was like she |
1326s | minimized it like yeah all right do you |
1334s | guys have like social media I'm on |
1337s | Twitter like oh you can you can just |
1340s | send me MIT like I'm in the the warframe |
1343s | disk or you can just send me message |
1344s | there if you really want to ask any |
1345s | questions or whatever but I don't really |
1347s | have any true social media I guess at |
1350s | the end of the day what's you username |
1352s | John Jay global it's pretty pretty low |
1356s | key how do you spell that with it with a |
1358s | J yeah nice I'm you can usually find me |
1364s | on its gassy gah |
1366s | Zed I but if you want to talk about |
1368s | conservation hit me up I'm your man I |
1374s | mean King of Commerce conservation zinc |
1376s | and converse it yeah maybe that's what |
1377s | we'll do okay I'm ko see you call me |
1384s | what sorry Bruce well you gotta go Ben |
1387s | Affleck he's like Bruce Willis dies oh |
1394s | you spoiled you spoiled the movie |
1397s | earlier on you did when he said the |
1399s | asteroid blew up I didn't say that |
1401s | actually I didn't know I actually |
1403s | pointing at each other right I actually |
1406s | didn't say that I'm not gonna say what I |
1408s | said cuz they nuke the asteroid no I |
1421s | I might have alluded to how how they |
1425s | were trying to other trying to slide in |
1427s | I didn't say they blew it up |
1429s | [Music] |
1433s | there's only one way to find out |
1435s | go Oh drama get in that's my plug I |
1438s | guess alright thank you for listening to |
1441s | episode 5 of the deconstructing podcast |
1443s | and thank you to John and Shervin for |
1445s | joining me today hopefully we didn't |
1448s | cause too much stress in your friendship |
1453s | yeah all right this has been the fifth |
1456s | episode of deconstructing we'd like to |
1458s | give a big THANK YOU to John it and |
1460s | Shervin for being on the show this month |
1461s | and we'd like to thank you for listening |
1463s | tune in next month for another episode |
1465s | of deconstructing |