Lego Batman Developer Interview – GamesMaster Magazine Issue 202

We Want Your Job!
Pestering the jammiest jobsmiths in the business!

This month, we talk to Arthur Parsons from Traveller’s Tales, Lead Designer of Lego Batman. Hi Arthur, tell us about your role on Lego Batman. What do you have to do?

On Lego Batman I am the lead designer, altogether there are 6 designers on the project at the moment as we work to get the game finished. Each of us is responsible for a number of the levels of the game and it is our job to make sure that everything for the levels gets done by working with the team, so that the levels are as fun and interesting as possible. Initially we design the levels on paper, then we work with the tech artists, artists, animators and coders to make sure that everything gets done for the level. Obviously along the way we have to make design changes to ensure the levels are perfect. As well as looking after my own levels as lead designer it is my job to work with the other designers to check over the quality of their levels and approve them. Aside from the level work it is my job to work with the team to ensure that all of the mechanics feel right, that we have a plan for the hub, replay sections, presentation aspects, characters etc – in effect a plan for the look and feel of all aspects of the game. Here at TT we have some very talented people in all departments, and leads in each department so the lead designer is the person that liases with these people to make sure we all know what we are making and that it all ties together. I also have to work closely with our producer so that he can schedule all of the work out to make sure that we finish the game on time.

How did you get to the position of lead designer? Good grades? University?

I look now and see that people can go to university to study video games – how good is that! I however was not so fortunate at the time I went to university, and started off in the industry as a game tester after leaving university from an engineering degree. After a couple of years of testing which was truly an educational experience, I joined TT and have never looked back. I’ve been fortunate to work on some very good games and each one teaches you something new about games. I have gotten where I am through a lot of very hard work, but above everything by having a real passion for making games that people want to play. For would be designers now there is a more clearly defined way of getting into design that I have noted below.

How much research goes into the Lego projects? Is it fun handling official licenses?

There is a huge amount of research that goes into making the Lego games. Not only is there the research finding out what the end user wants to play, there is also researching the property (i.e. Star Wars/Batman/Indy), creating concept art with our highly skilled concept artists, working with TT Games and our publishers to see what they want from the games and also a lot of work dealing with Lego to find out what toys they have or are planning so that we can use them and showcase them in the games. Working on Lego is a great deal of fun for everyone, for example we have an artist that has to build the lego vehicles, which is in effect building with Lego (just via a computer) and he loves his job, artists that get to create the lavish environments for the game, artists that put together all of the fun lego puzzles, people that build the lego minifigs for the games. Lego really is a joy to work with in terms of videogames, and I think that is apparent to people that play the games as the results of the fun we have making the games comes across in the really fun and interesting games we put on the shelves.

What’s your typical day like?

In a word Hectic J I’d dearly love to have a typical day, but I can safely say that no two days are the same as a lead designer. Some days are spent scrutinizing the latest additions to the game, some are spent updating documentation, some are spent in meetings discussing the new features or additions we want, and some are spent crafting the ideas for the various levels or mechanics, there are so many pies that we have our fingers dipped in. Needless to say the variety really makes you want to get into work each day. Even with the best laid plans for a day ahead a curveball comes in meaning that you suddenly need to do a stack of work on something that you hadn’t been planning. The role of a designer really is incredibly varied and this means that designers need to be aware of everything that is going on in the games development cycle to ensure the best possible product at the end.

Any tips for young would-be designers out there?

Anyone out there that wants to become a designer really does have a fantastic range of opportunities available to them. For many years my folks thought I just played games all day and that work was not really work, however I think now that the games industry is as huge as it is parents can see that video games really is a viable and rewarding career. That hurdle over there are hundreds of degree courses where prospective designers can go and learn all about making games, the various elements that go into making a game, and learn hands on the best way to do things. That said a designer’s learning process is never over, and there is always something else to learn, which is why it is such a great job. The biggest tip of all though is to believe in what you want to do, and believe in your ideas. A designer needs to be creative, inventive, passionate, charismatic and a great communicator, if anyone out there wants to make games they should follow their dream and work hard to achieve it. It is imperative that you get good grades at school, but also that you play games and look at them and analyse them trying to figure out what makes them good or bad, what makes them tick. Also for anyone wanting to be a designer there is nothing stopping you doing paper designs in your spare time for levels or games, just working through ideas as doing this from an early age will be a great benefit to you in future years. Lastly try and get some work experience at a developer, as this is eye opening, it will allow you to see the variety of careers that exist in the games industry.

Tools of the trade:

1: Starbucks – I need my daily fix

2: Bucket of Lego – helps while away the time when my mind is stuck…

3: Notepad and Penicl – to doodle level designs

4: Headphones – so that every once in a while I can actually concentrate

5: My Laptop which has everything on it – without this I couldn’t function!