I’ve often defended the kind of consensus driven aspect of game development. To me it simply follows that making a game for a large audience is a job best suited for a highly skilled team. A group effort allows for multiple perspectives to be validated within a single work and will generally broaden its appeal and make it a more relevant/significant piece of art. ”But Mike! Assassin’s Creed has broad appeal and its story reads like Dan Brown fan fiction! How is it a significant work in the video game medium?” I’ll tell you how: it reflects the society it was produced in. This isn’t to say that marketing departments have no say in the success of a game, it’s just that in this day and age, there are many more avenues through which an independent studio can disseminate their work. Every once in awhile though, we are treated the unfiltered vision of a single game designer.
So you’ve probably heard of a man by the name of IceFrog. He was the anonymous developer who took control of the original DOTA Allstars after Steve ‘Guinsoo’ Feak left to form Riot Games. For the past seven years, he’s been the sole content developer for DOTA Allstars and its well optimized cousin Dota 2. Any and all decisions regarding balance, new content, and overall design are funneled through him. Now if you’ve never heard of IceFrog or DOTA, this probably sounds like a recipe for disaster. I mean just imagine if someone like Peter Molyneux or Hideo Kojima was never reigned in by a team of developers occasionally. You’d be left with a self-indulgent mess of a game that’s all concept and no execution. A development team along with marketing experts and focus groups can help pull off the blinders and get designers to look at their labors of love a bit more objectively. Yet somehow IceFrog makes it work all by himself.
Let me paint you a picture. These are the heroes that have been implemented or remade under IceFrog (not even counting the brief period where he collaborated with Neichus)
Okay, so IceFrog had one hell of a starter kit. He took the reigns of DOTA Allstars (with a little help from Neichus) after the release of version 6.01 when the game was already well on its way to its current state. IceFrog though, has done far more than simply patch the game. The amount of heroes and items he alone has added to the game dwarfs the rosters of most other MOBA’s. This isn’t even counting the numerous remakes of Guinsoo and Eul’s heroes. The same goes for the items and gameplay systems. On top of that, he’s done a good job of balancing one of the most complicated yet popular games in the history of the medium. This alone was enough to get the attention of Valve (or as one 3D artist at the IGDA described them: game developer Valhalla) and sign him on for an independent DOTA remake titled Dota 2.
I can’t stress the complexity of the game enough either. To get a sense of how daunting the process of balancing DOTA is, you have to understand the basics of game balance. One of the easiest ways to balance multiplayer is creating some form of symmetry. Everyone in Call of Duty starts on the same playing field and most of the balance in the game comes from the twitchy nature of the game. There are different weapons and loadouts but for the most part, any build can be trumped by good reaction times. When any level of asymmetry is introduced, balance becomes a much bigger headache. With Starcraft, you have an entire team devoted to balance and they’re still refining the game. IceFrog has managed to balance DOTA not in spite of having a development team but because he doesn’t have a team. People have invested a great deal of time into DOTA because of the joy of mastering such a complex system. Almost any instance of imbalance can be made up for with player/team skill. While having a team of developers can help make a game more approachable, IceFrog clearly never wanted that for DOTA. The game already had a decent niche at the time he took over and not having someone to answer to in terms of a release schedule or player concerns allowed the game to develop naturally alongside the community’s meta game.
As you can see from this highly scientific chart, IceFrog has taken on the inhuman task of balancing not only Dota’s gameplay, but also its metaphysical significance.
This isn’t to say the man is without his critics. You don’t even have to play DOTA to know that it holds one of the most vitriolic communities on the entire internet and you would be foolish to think that some of that hate didn’t spill on to the game’s creator. With nearly 2 million people playing a game with an extremely steep learning curve, no tutorial, and little in the way of matchmaking, it’s no wonder that people can be a bit on edge. DOTA is a game where a single player can ruin an hour long match if he doesn’t know what he’s doing and the fragility of such a great time investment is one of main reasons DOTA can seem hostile to new players.
For those select players that still find the time to complain about the work that IceFrog has put into DOTA, I wish to remind them of another great solo developer: Tarn Adams, the creator of Dwarf Fortress. Like DOTA, it’s a game of mind-boggling intricacy with an insane skill curve. With every update Adams seems to be further detailing the brilliant corner of gaming he’s carved out. The strength of Dwarf Fortress and DOTA is that while the community has a great deal of input, they are ultimately the products of a single designer’s vision. Like the personal works of great solo musicians, these are games that show that an individual can express himself to society instead of simply holding a mirror to it. Where many game designers and artists seek to embody their medium of choice, these individuals seek to shape them.
Icefrog and Toady. Heh.
Clearly the frog/toad is the totem spirit of game designers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9U3Gffm94A
I myself have a theory about why solo works tend to sprawl into nonsense, but it can be summarized by a lack of self-discipline. The same thing happens when there is a team but they either refuse to or are afraid to question the leader. When the team is not afraid to confront each other, and when they respect each others’ input, then creative discipline is usually maintained well.
Working alone, one only has one’s own input, and no one else to temper your enthusiasm. However, with sufficient self-discipline the creator can appreciate when things are becoming unreasonable to possibly the same degree as when working with a good team.
At least that’s what I tell myself as I draw my plot flowcharts and scribble away at my Mass Effect fan fiction.
On another note, Dr. Adams doesn’t work entirely alone, brother Zach is deeply involved in DF’s creative process as well.
I really think you’re giving Icefrog way too much credit in the wrong areas. IceFrog does a great job because he understands where and how to delegate power. If you look at the beta testing for DotA he has a group of senior beta testers comprised of high tier players that he gets direct input from on each possible change as well as a group of regular beta testers who play a more stable version of the game. 6.75 had over 30 different test builds each with massive amounts of change and then based off the input that we give him he changes the patch notes around and the cycle repeats. I mean, your last paragraph gives a slight nod to all the testers but to claim he doesn’t have a “team” is misleading at best.
So basically, these guys are House and the community is the team? And they throw ideas at the community, much like House would to his team, and they’d send them off to test these ideas, stick with what works etc
The team is an integral part of House’s work as he needs a wall to throw his balls of thought at but ultimately, House is the one that gets that eureka-ish flashes of brilliance (well, most of the time at least).
I wonder if they’re the “loner-do-everything-on-my-own-because-other-people-don’t-see-what-I-see” kind of people in real life.
I wasn’t think of making a parallel like that but sort of. Calling it “the community” is a stretch, the beta/senior beta testers aren’t the majority of the community. You apply for the role or are suggested for the role by other mid-high/high level players who are already involved with the program. The game is balanced for the top percentage of the player base (i.e. competitive) so he (IceFrog) tries to only use that group for his beta testers (obviously he can’t have only pro players, but you have to be at a certain skill threshold to be considered a tester).
I’m confused about your statement about focus groups. You actually such input actually helps game design? I’d argue most games go down the gutter the moment you try to tailor game mechanics to mass appeal. A game is fun when it takes skill to master. Sure, Chess isn’t played by everyone on the planet, or probably the same number of players as League of Legends, but Chess will continue to endure for centuries because it is a fair, well-designed, complex game. League of Legends simply isn’t that. Dota is closer to that ideal.
As someone who has worked on several mod projects of my own, I can agree that it is easy to get carried away with yourself, but with a strong community/beta team behind you, you can make the right decisions without some team scratching their heads with you.
The worst thing you can do is get involved with a company that insists on using a focus group to drive the game’s development. Games are not always sublime art like novels or sculptures, but they are a form of art; focus groups only cause you to add regenerating health, sniper rifles, bells, whistles, and breasts to your games.
The community is the reason why I steer clear from MOBA crap.