Meet the Team #9- Tom Kewell (Designer)
Welcome to the ninth ‘Meet the Team’ interview. Our interview with sound designer Jose is delayed, so instead we will be bringing you the next team member that we had scheduled to talk to! Tom Kewell is a designer on Elite: Dangerous and will be well known to those of you that are either involved in the Design Decision Forum or have read the Design Decision Archive. We begin in typical fashion, by asking Tom to introduce himself:
Pretty much everyone that I have talked to so far that is working on Elite: Dangerous is a fan of science fiction. Is it safe to assume that you are too?
When designing a game from scratch what are the first major challenges that need to be tackled?
Ashley
Welcome to the ninth ‘Meet the Team’ interview. Our interview with sound designer Jose is delayed, so instead we will be bringing you the next team member that we had scheduled to talk to! Tom Kewell is a designer on Elite: Dangerous and will be well known to those of you that are either involved in the Design Decision Forum or have read the Design Decision Archive. We begin in typical fashion, by asking Tom to introduce himself:
Hi, I’m Tom, I’m a Games Designer at Frontier and I’ve been here for two and a half years. I joined the company to work on Kinect Disneyland Adventures, and have worked on a number of other projects before coming onto Elite, after the Kickstarter was successfully funded (Thanks!)
How did you get into game design and what advice would you have to anyone else planning to get into it as well?
I studied Games Design at university and applied to studios for design positions. University was really good fun, and a lot of studios want you to have a degree, but if you work hard and have a good portfolio of work you don’t have to go that route if you don’t want to. My best advice would be to find out which of the games you like have editors, and have a go at making some levels for them, or creating a special game mode or scenario. You can also have a go at modding or changing a game to get great stuff you can show off to studios. Making design and pitch documents that can clearly and concisely demonstrate a game idea you’ve had are a great way to show a studio your creative side.
Describe a normal day at Frontier for you.
I get up early, grab a shower and feed the cat. Normally I have a bit of time before I need to set off, so I play whatever game I’m playing at the time for a little while (just finished and can highly recommend The Last of Us!), before jumping on my bike to cycle through the villages and get to work. I grab the latest version of the game, check my emails and start working on my tasks for the day. Most mornings the whole design team will go and grab a cup of tea together, and have a chat about the game or what we’ve been up to. It’s always good to be able to go through what you’ve been working on with other people, and make sure you’re all aware and agreed on the direction you’re taking things.
What specific element of Elite: Dangerous are you working on right now and what are the biggest challenges that the design team are currently working through?
At the moment I’m keeping track of all the systems and equipment the player can have in their ship, creating balanced stats and numbers for what those systems do and how much weight/power they take up. I’m working with art to make sure ships are properly dimensioned for their capabilities and that the NPC ships that will roam the galaxy are appropriately equipped for their roles, and have what they need to behave in a believable fashion.
In regards to the design team’s biggest challenges. We want to make a really complete, authentic experience for everyone. Part of what makes elite the game it is, is the player’s choice to do what they want to do in the galaxy; be it trading, bounty hunting, or whatever your perfect space adventure is. Each aspect of the experience is an important part of the final game, and making sure we’re making progress in every aspect, in a way that links all the different parts of the game together, is a real challenge. I think we’ve got a great game so far, and I’m looking forward to getting the rest of the ingredients in there so we can get the whole experience polished.
Is there an element of Elite: Dangerous that you’re most excited about, and what role will you be playing most in the final game?
I’m really looking forward to exploring the galaxy we create with other people. We’ve got such a vast amount of space for players to have adventures in, I’m really excited to see what people uncover and do in the far corners of space.
I’ve also been toying with the idea of raking in cash by selling fuel to other players on the frontier at a high mark-up, then investing that money into a really rugged long-range explorer; see if I can get my name on the galaxy map somewhere for discovering something cool!
What is your favourite ship from the Elite series? I’ve also been toying with the idea of raking in cash by selling fuel to other players on the frontier at a high mark-up, then investing that money into a really rugged long-range explorer; see if I can get my name on the galaxy map somewhere for discovering something cool!
Tough question! I think for me it’s a tossup between the Viper and the Fer-De-Lance. The hard work from our art department has really paid off, I really love how both of those ships look in E: D! I can’t wait to zoom through the middle of a dogfight in my high speed viper, looking for soft targets I can sting before flashing out of the range of any return fire.
Pretty much everyone that I have talked to so far that is working on Elite: Dangerous is a fan of science fiction. Is it safe to assume that you are too?
I’m a huge fan of science fiction as a genre. I really enjoyed the old X-Wing novels as a kid, especially the Aaron Allston ones. I think it’s a setting that has endured because of its near unlimited potential for adventure. I really enjoyed playing through the Mass Effect series in recent years. They really took the time to establish their universe and all the different races and themes that made up the galaxy, and gave you characters that really made you care about each planet and species.
How confident are you that Elite: Dangerous will be the game that our fans have been waiting so long for?
I think science fiction is always a bit of a knife edge when it comes to space exploration. As you would imagine, plenty of Frontier’s staff are very into astronomy in the real world, and know far more about the science of the subject than I’ve learned with my amateur interest. I think it’s always worth bearing in mind that we never make a decision without a very good reason behind it. I get to work with incredibly talented people every day, whose sole focus is creating a game that is really good fun to play, and captures the spirit of what it is to be an Elite game. I really want to help build a game that gives the player a believable experience, but I’m willing to sacrifice hard science to ensure that it’s a fun experience.
You mentioned modding earlier, as a good way to get into game design. Have you ever been a Modder yourself, and if so what games have you modded?
I’ve played around with a number of games, it’s a great way for a prospective designer to create portfolio material, and you’d be surprised how many games have really good editors. A friend and I once made a bunch of custom units for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2. My crowning achievements were my radioactive nuclear cows.
Unfortunately my usual mistake would be to not spread them out enough. As my first cow would reach the enemy base, it would be killed and detonate. The radiation would kill the next cow, and that then next, until the chain reaction of nuclear explosions lead all the way back to my base. Not my finest hour to say the least...
What’s your favourite game genre personally?
That’s another tough question. As a designer I try to play and appreciate a number of different genres. For example, at the moment I’ve just finished The Last of Us (a character action game), am playing XCOM enemy unknown (Strategy), have just finished Spa Francorchamps in F1 2012 (Racing), and am quite a way into Rayman Origins on the Vita (Platforming). I really enjoy playing board games, especially when they’re trying to present a setting you wouldn’t normally see in games. I’d really recommend Ticket to Ride, where you create a Victorian-era train network across Europe. Or Agricola, where you are 16th century farmers, trying to scrape together enough food from the land you have to survive and expand your family.
A lot of people at Frontier enjoy playing games on their lunch break (I personally divide my time between Magic: The Gathering and Civilization V!). Is there anything you’re playing on your break currently?
We usually get the time to play the odd thing in our lunch breaks! Recently we’ve been playing multiplayer Spelunky. It’s a great example of what you can do with procedurally generated levels and a rigid rule set. Sadly I’m not allowed to use the shotguns in that game anymore, or throw stones...
What is it like working with the DDF (Design Decision Forum), do you find it a help or hindrance?
The DDF is a great deal for us. Ok, we have to put some of our time aside from design work to keep up to date with it, but in exchange for that we have a community of people willing to tell us their opinions and give us ideas and inspiration for important aspects of the game.
We’re always interested in what’s happening on the Forums. I think we have one of the best communities around, and some really loyal fans! Hopefully the game will draw loads of new people to our forums, so it’s up to you guys to welcome them into the fold and get them up to speed on Elite!
What games stand out to you as perfect examples of good & bad design, respectively?
Not to go too detailed on this, but anyone who’s fired an arrow in the newest Tomb Raider has experienced one of my favourite bits of design. Looking down the sights, you hold down your trigger to draw and hold an arrow, and hope to line up your shot. Hold the arrow too long and your strength fails and your arrow will be loosed wildly and could alert your target. Fire too soon and your shot will be less powerful, might miss, might hit your target but alert a guard, or cause some other consequence. It’s a really nicely balanced example of risk vs. reward tension. It was almost a shame that you could upgrade it later on to give you more time!
My pet peeve in design is when games break their own language. For example if you’ve taught the player that ‘B’ is the block button, and later you put the player in a quick-time event that requires them to block enemy blows, it has to be the B button. Games that use different inputs just to trip a player up frustrate me.
When designing a game from scratch what are the first major challenges that need to be tackled?
Often choosing what the core pillars of your game are going to be is the first real challenge. You should always have a strong idea of what your game is about and what you’re trying to create for players. Every system you design should then support and feed into those pillars, and you’re on your way to designing a consistent game. As long as your pillars are fun and suit the experience you’re trying to create you’ll be off to a good start!
Where do you stand on fun vs. Realism when designing a game like Elite?
A lot of science fiction falls well short of the standards of realism, and a lot of it benefits from not constraining itself. That said, I think creating a game that puts you in a believable situation, with opportunities for fun, are really important. I hope with Elite we can make a game that gives you a really believable galaxy to explore, in a ship that’s fun to pilot.
What is your view on the open PvP (player vs. player) debate that we regularly see discussed on the forum? Do you think players should always be vulnerable to attacks from other players, or is there an argument to be made for the inclusion of safe-zones?
The Elite universe is not a safe place! Besides the obvious threat of Pirates and Thargoids, there’s going to be plenty of traders who would rather cut your throat than pay you, or corrupt officials who will threaten and attack you to get what they want. Other players are always going to be different, and are always going to be hard to predict. We can’t control other players, but we can control the rules of the systems they are in. If you’re in a system that is considered ordered and secure, any other player, like NPCs will be held to the laws of that system. If the player is in a dangerous system they should expect trouble from NPCs as well as players
Okay, to finish off this interview. What place in the ‘real’ galaxy would you want to visit most, and why? And what commander name would you use?
I’d visit whatever planet Giraffes originally come from, and I’d be Commander Talisker. It’s just better!
A big thank you to Tom for taking the time to do this interview, and another thank you to you all for reading this and following development so far! The next ‘Meet the Team’ interview will hopefully be with sound designer Jose Castro, but we have already received tonnes of questions for him so there is no need to submit any more. So until next time, thank you once more for reading!
Ashley
