Getting To Know You
I have a confession to make that I'm just a little afraid of posting publicly. I've never really gotten along that well with Omar, the senior designer of the game that I'm an intern on (UFC 2009 Undisputed). It's not that I don't like or respect the guy. On the contrary, I admire his knowledge and experience. It's just that we rarely seem to understand each other. Which is actually quite surprising, considering we both have the same personality type (INTJ, if you're wondering), we both come from an academic liberal arts background, and we're both really into fighting games (him more so than I).
If I had to guess, I would say that the problem lies in the creative differences between the ways we each envision the game. I believe it should be realistic and deep enough to satisfy its core audience of mixed martial arts fans. Omar believes it needs to be accessible enough to attract a broader audience in order for it to be successful. I'll admit, it's not easy for me to work within someone else's design. Since we're both pretty opinionated, I try to avoid butting heads as much as possible. Unfortunately, in doing so, I feel like I'm preventing myself from having much useful input on the game. I guess I've just learned to accept the fact that we're never going to see things the same way.
Then one day not too long ago, I happened to google Omar's name and I stumbled across his blog. What I read caused me to reevaluate my opinion of him. It turns out we're not all that different in the way we think about games and game design. In fact, I would go as far as to say that a lot of the stuff Omar writes sounds eerily similar to something I can imagine I would write (albeit much more eloquent). In light of this, I've decided to make an effort to improve communication with him, to try to understand his opinion and to express my own more clearly but less stubbornly. At the end of the day, this is really his game and it's my job to help him make it better. I'm sure I can learn a lot from him in the process. Omar, here comes a new helper!