10 Rules

Game designers are a frustrating bunch as a collection or archetype. They are fussy. They quibble over minutia. They are annoyingly exacting while also being ridiculously obtuse. They love to qualify every statement with endless outliers.

Ok, maybe that is just the traits of smart people…

Either way, I found myself walking the dog and listening to the latest episode of the Hypothesis1, and grumbling about it.

The Hypothesis: Episode 8

Viktor Kossakovsky is a documentarian. His films include Aquarela and Gunda. Some time ago, Kossakovsky proposed his 10 Rules for Filmmakers.

Ludological Alchemy

This wasn’t too surprising. I grumble a lot when listening to design podcasts of all sorts. I got opinions. The loosely held, strongly defended kind.

That leads to grumbling.

This time, more than once, I had to stop and replay parts of the discussion. A sort of, “Did they actually just say that?” and “Well, I wouldn’t say it that way myself.”

I was annoyed to not be sitting at my desk with pen a paper. Annoyed that I wasn’t on the call to argue with them. Annoyed that it was 24° F out and I had to take off my gloves for the damn dog bags again.

Why do huskies crap so god damn always?

The theme here is that I was annoyed that I couldn’t engage with Luke, Chris and Sam on this topic. A topic, to be super clear, that is deeply ingrained into my being.

Creative rules, creative processes are a thing I actually talk about pretty often with my partner. With my kids. With my friends.

So here is my imperfect contribution to their podcast. Rule by rule. Kossakovsky’s rules to frame it. The Alchemist’s rules and then my rules. All done with love for the podcast and the people who are behind it.

1. Don’t film if you can live without filming

This simple, elegant statement that Kossakovsky modified from Tolstoy is perfection. Of course it is. It is a defining, framing statement that should sit at the top of this list and the guys had to cock it all up.

Don’t design a game if you can live without designing it. Make a game that needs to be made. Only make a game if there’s something about you that needs to make that game. You must be making a game that you must make.

Could there be a paragraph that is more of a camel? I’m not sure there are enough qualifiers here my friends. Maybe a few more are necessary just in case there is an edge case you missed…

This one is easy for me. I think it and say it all the time. I likely read the same Tolstoy quote at some point and internalized it. I kinda feel like Tolstoy is less a person who lived and the physical manifestation of the creative soul…

1. Don’t create if you can live without creating.

Simple. To the point. Universal. Demanding. Everything I like in a good philosophical rule…

2. Don’t film if you want to say something

Just say it or write it. Film only if you want to show something, or you want people to see something. This concerns both the film as a whole and every single shot within the film.

Kossakovsky’s point here is well stated and is all about the medium of delivery. Film is about showing. About the visual nature of the medium and the power of framing a shot to capture a moment.

Let’s see what the Alchemists had to say for this one…

Make a game if you want people to interact with something. Never forget that your game design is creating a game. Games are played. Never forget that you are designing a game to be played. This concerns every rule, choice, interaction as well as the game as a whole.

Again, I think less is more. It is kind of a theme with me. I think with the following rule, again, The Alchemists got a little wordy and could have kept it at something like “Don’t design a game if you want to say something.”

2. Don’t fight against your medium

I’m probably best categorized as a multimedia artist. I don’t play in one medium like oil painting. I write. I use pen and ink. I’m a print maker. A painter. A photographer. A filmmaker. A sculptor. A designer of games, websites, and print magazines.

All of these things I do have strengths and weaknesses. All of them require me to use them for what they do best. That is what I think this rule is about.

3. Don’t film if you already knew your message before filming

Just become a teacher. Don’t try to save the world. Don’t try to change the world. Better if your film will change you. Discover both the world and yourself whilst filming.

I have watched Kossakovsky explain this a few times now. I disagree with him on one point here, which is the idea that fiction driven creativity works differently than this. What I took away from this moment is, don’t force what you are doing into a predetermined box. Let the process show you what it is.

I think the Alchemists just missed hitting this one square…

Playtest early and often. While playtesting, allow the results to delete your intentions and allow the game to be different than what you set out with. The system only sings in play.

Playtesting is absolutely the process with game design. It shows you what the game you are making is really about. I find that true for all creative exercises that don’t let you have absolute control. The human factor. That is why I think digital art is horrible2.

3. Don’t fight against what you are creating

I don’t know how many times I started making one thing and ended up with something entirely different. There is a disputed quote from Michelangelo about the stone telling him what it will be. Even if he didn’t say it, there is something powerful about the randomness of working in a medium that tells you what it is about.

Game design might be the medium most tied to this randomness, not because of dice, but because you are designing conditions that people bring all of their complexity to.3 You don’t know what you will have until, like the Alchemists say, you get it in people’s hands.

4. Film when you hate and love something at the same time

Don’t film something you just hate. Don’t film something you just love. Film when you aren’t sure if you hate it or love it. Doubts are crucial for making art. Film when you hate and love at the same time.

I love this rule so much. It builds upon the previous rule perfectly. There is nothing more terrifying to me than someone who is sure of their work. That is Charge of the Light Brigade shit. I think the Alchemists agree this time too…

Design games when you are knowledgeable and ignorant at the same time. Make a game that you don’t already have a judgement about. Make games about things you feel passionately about but you’re still exploring. You can’t know everything about a thing. Leave space to explore and learn about a thing. Be thou not a fanboi.

They are killing me with these words.

Like, I can feel part of my soul escaping from my body and refusing to come back until after I am done writing this essay. Hate. Love. Doubt. These are simple words that could be applied easily here.

Of course I am about to be a hypocrite and not use those words…

4. Only create something if you aren’t sure if it is a good idea

I am kind of notorious for “one man banding” really big creative exercises. I don’t sketch much. I don’t work on small things. I get a vague, big idea, and go to work. I am never sure if it is a good idea, or I even have the skill to pull it off. I find out in the doing and come to discover if I love it. If I hate it. If I am indifferent to it.

5. Don’t use your brain while filming

You need your brain both before and after filming, but don’t use your brain during filming. Just film using your instinct and intuition.

Kossakovsky is hitting on Flow here. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined this term in the 70s and if you haven’t read up on it, it is worth, at the very least, reading the Wikipedia article. It has certainly helped me come to understand how my brain often works in times of creativity.

I don’t think Kossakovsky is denying that Flow states can occur before and after filming, but that they take on a different character. They are more clearly bracketed by intention rather than intuition. Let’s see what the Alchemists came up with…

Don’t use your brain during game design. Use your brain during planning and reflection. During game design focus on your intuition. Games is about vibes. Allow inspiration to carry you. You must plan and reflect and iterate, but do that before and after the act of creation. What is the heart that I want to put into this design?

I don’t know how something can be wrong and right at the same time, but here we are. Look at that bolded statement. Focus? Focus on your intuition? My friends are a bit academic at times, I got to say. I am just going to crib Kossakovsky here…

5. Don’t use your brain while creating

This is a personal bias coming into play with my rules, but I don’t think you should over analyze while you create. Even when editing, be it film, writing, or anything else that requires some form of post production.

Do it in the raw and let your gut drive your actions. The pursuit of perfection is the dumbest fucking thing we foist upon ourselves as a culture. Stop it.

6. Don’t force people to repeat an action or words

Try to not force people to repeat an action or words. Life is unrepeatable and unpredictable. Wait, look, feel and be ready to film using your own way of filming. Remember that the very best films are unrepeatable. Remember that the very best films were based on unrepeatable shots. Remember that the very best shots capture unrepeatable moments of life with an unrepeatable way of filming.

Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! Embrace the complexity of human interactions. The randomness of what people do. Don’t force things, even with yourself. There is magic in that. Certainly this will lead to a simple rule from our friends the Alchemists?

Right? Guys? Something simple?

Don’t force people to make choices that aren’t meaningful. Game play is unpredictable and unrepeatable. The uncertainty of play is a reflection of the uncertainty of life. Things in a game are unrepeatable because of chance and discovery. Your game design is not complete if it does not provide meaningful choices. Don’t force your players into an interaction. The best game play is made up of unrepeatable moments.

I am pretty sure Luke is doing this on purpose to me at this point. My ego is telling me this is because I call him on the phone as I shake my fist against the sun like Grandpa Simpson.

Ok, probably not. I don’t disagree with the point here even. But… BUT…

How the hell did they get from Kossakovsky’s point about what to embrace in the process to a constructed statement about “providing meaningful choices?” You guys are literally trying to put people into a predictable position as a part of game design? What the what?

For my own part, I am extending the spirit of Rule Six with…

6. Embrace the unpredictability of human interactions with your art

With passive consumption, this is more about processing how people react to the work and not to the work you do4. With active engagement, like in game design, this means expect things to play out differently than you intended. People are always the X factor. No group of people will experience your game or adventure the same way, and this is a good thing!

7. Shots must provide the viewers with new impressions

Shots are the basis of cinema. Remember that cinema was invented as one single shot—without any story. Or story was just inside that shot. Shots must first and foremost provide the viewers with new impressions that they never had before.

This rule is the craftsperson’s rule. It is the rule that governs color theory. Brush strokes. Word choice. It is the call to be intentional at the craft level and not lose sight of that.

What word salad of horrors have the Alchemists provided me this time?

Rules are the basis of games. Interaction is the playing of games. Remember, games can arise from a single rule. Rules must first and foremost must provide the players with new interactions.

Okay. I don’t hate this one. I don’t think I would have bolded what is bolded, but I don’t hate it as a statement. It might be the cleanest articulation from the Triple Threat that we have seen thus far.

As a multimedia artist, I need to pull back through to a broader level with my version of this rule.

7. Each action you take in crafting your art should stand on its own

I know I am going to get flack for this one, but hear me out. Rothko broke my heart with a single color. I can look closely at a single brush stroke of a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec and feel the intention of it. A sentence from your favorite book can bring you to tears. The whole of a work of art is made up of a myriad parts and those parts need to have power on their own.

8. Story is important, but perception is even more important

Story is important, but perception is even more important. Think, first, what the viewers will feel while seeing your shots. Then, form a dramatic structure of your film using the changes to their feelings.

I am pretty sure everyone at this point has heard the phrase, “perception is reality.” Try as I might in the past, I have never been able to poke any meaningful holes in that statement. I think this statement doesn’t intend to evoke it, but build on the previous craftsperson rule. First find the emotion, the connection to your audience and build from that.

I like it. Let’s see what the boys had to say…

System is important, but experience is even more important. Think, first, what the players will feel while playing your game. Then, form a systemic structure of your game using the changes to their feelings. The experience of your game only exists in the impressions of your players. You must understand the players’ experiences of your rules before you can structure the systems to present them to the players to be interacted with.

Ok, I like this. Wordy as hell, but I like it. I know everyone hates the word system. I think I would still have kept the word “story” and made the same point. But… But! I am not annoyed with this one and let my eyes glaze over with the explanation that followed.

So what did I come up with?

8. Story is important, but perception is everything

Personally, I think Kossakovsky nailed it. I just decided to be a bit more forceful in my word choice. Art, film, games, music, books… They all rely upon the perception of the audience to be complete.

I have read amazing books whose story was secondary to the experience. I have watched movies where the shots drag me through a terrible narrative and be transformed by it. I have played games… Luke’s games even… Where the story wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny, but my perceptions of the experience made it something more.

9. Try to remain human, especially whilst editing your film

Documentary is the only art where every esthetical element almost always has ethical aspects and every ethical aspect can be used esthetically. Try to remain human, especially whilst editing your films. Maybe, nice people should not make documentaries.

This… Man this is something…

It is a simple statement on its face, but it is loaded like the Tolstoy quote is loaded. Try and remain human…

The act of creation takes a toll. It eats at your soul. In the middle of it you can become a monster. You can break relationships and lose sight of everything.

Fuck.

I am sure the guys said the same thing, but with lots of words… Survey says?

Game making is an aesthetical art-form that has psychological aspects and every psychological aspect can be used aesthetically. Try to remain human while crafting your players’ experiences. Maybe nice people should not make games.

Substack is going to predict this essay takes four hours to read because of these rules. Let me make it real simple…

9. Empathy always

When Luke wrote the foreword for my poem Testament, he called out the wrestling I was doing throughout the work. It is true, there is a lot of me wrestling with myself. Fighting my shadow self as he would put it.

At the same time, there is a stanza in the poem that I try to keep true at all times and this rule reflects it:

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedBeli taught the most important lesson,
Community and empathy always.
Stand in opposition before power.
Stand against cruelty. Stand against wrath.

10. Don’t follow my rules. Find your own rules.

Don’t follow my rules. Find your own rules. There is always something that only you can film and nobody else.

Every creative person I know does this shit with their philosophy. I find it a fascinating attribute. You see it with what the Alchemists wrote…

Don’t follow our rules. Find your own. You have a game in you. Find the game that only you can design. There’s always play that only you can design.

I get it. I get why people do this. There is a decidedly cultural lack of comfort with being demanding. We caveat the hell out of so many things. I am sure it is tied to a fear of being wrong. I think it is a cop out.

10. If you are going to break the rules, be intentional

I stand by my rules. They are the rules. They reflect my creative philosophy. At the same time, I am not a great rule follower. In work. In life. In art, I bend them and break them all the time.

The important thing is that I do it with intent, not on a capricious whim. The rules are the rules…

Until you have a good reason to break them.

In Summary

I got to admit, this was fun to do. Usually when I listen to the Alchemists, I am nodding my head and pondering things with less opposition in my heart. It is nice to have something to wrestle with and debate. It reminds me of the heyday of The Forge when I would argue with Ron about something he wrote the second I walked in the door at his house.

With that in mind, if anything I wrote here or the Alchemists wrote rubs you a certain way, get it out of your head. Put it on paper. Shout it at the camera. Comment on a post. Write your own essay.

The exercise of formulating your thoughts around this list is one of valuable self discovery.

Isn’t that what all this bullshit is about anyway?