Vision vs. Passion

Vision: A detailed view of the what the game can be

Passion: A deep emotional connection to games and the work

Vision requires imagination and a thoroughness of detail that may not be present in the passion of a gamer.  Vision paints a complete picture, while passion has momentary often fleeting incites to what could be.

Passion is the drive that gets the work done and pushes through the mundane aspects of the game design.  Passion inspires others to work just as hard to achieve results.  Passion informs the designer with a deep understanding of competitive games and the knowlege of practical solutions to common problems.

Lead designers with passion but without vision will create derivative games that suffered from frequent iteration as they explored the fleeting incites of the designer.

Lead designers with vision but without passion will create games that fall far short of their vision and will struggle with mundane aspects of the game design.

Lead designers with both passion and vision create the hits we love.

 Just a thought.

 - Tim Ryan