Game Design – Time Inflation

What the talk is about

Oleh Riazanov talks about how a game designer can avoid wasting time. His main points: before building anything, know why and for whom; new features are not always better than deepening what exists, and colleagues' ideas deserve respect rather than defending only your own. Documentation is first of all for the designer: a mistake on paper costs minutes to fix, in production it can cost weeks. A designer should keep the vision, explain to the team why something is being done, not interfere with specialists' work, design mechanics so they can scale, and know when to stop. He also advises playing games beyond your own tastes, trusting numbers over player comments, and learning from colleagues. At the end, attendees shared stories of their own failures. Useful for game designers and producers.