War never changes: Why innovation in game development is (still) vital

When I was 18 years old, I began making a tabletop RPG called Mechanical Dream.

It was a brand-new universe. It wasn’t set on Earth, nor was it Earth-like. There were no elves or orcs—I wanted to do away with common tropes—nor were there humans. It had new species, new flora, even new physics; the world was a 30,000-mile, disk-shaped ‘planet’ lit by an orb called the Pendulum. Even though it was a fictional universe, it was grounded in coherent science—I must’ve read 300 or 400 books on biology, astrophysics, and god knows what else to make everything consistent. I put everything into Mechanical Dream, and when I was 21, I founded a company to publish it (we released four books, including a bestiary and a novel). Mechanical Dream was my baby. Probably still is.

The whole process taught me a ton that I have been applying to the video-game industry for about 20 years: design, creative direction, how to work with other creatives, how to publish a property. But it also showed me what it takes to make something original—something borne of pure passion—and how rewarding it is when you do.

Flash games to Magic and Monopoly

Games which stand the test of time all start as someone’s idea, and this fact is too easily lost. While my RPG, Mechanical Dream, did not become a multimillion-dollar franchise, it has given me a unique perspective on game development.

In 2006, I took what I had learned and co-founded a dev studio. Some of the first games we made were preinstalled on Nokia phones, and the first iPhone was about to change everything (one game we made around its launch, Chrome Wars, was on Apple’s front page for four straight weeks). After eight years there making mobile and Flash games, I’d moved on to Hibernum, where I had my first pinch-me moment: I became Game Director on Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest. I’d been a Magic fan since I was 14. I was back working on tabletop IP, though this time not my own—and this time it had evolved from tabletop to mobile.

Relatedly, in 2019 I joined Nvizzio, where I was Creative Director for Monopoly Tycoon—another mobile game based on well-known IP. At this point I’d gathered a ton of experience not only in making tabletop RPGs, but also taking beloved IPs and adapting them for modern, digitally inclined audiences.

Image from MONOPOLY Tycoon game. Credit: Nvizzio Créations Inc.

What became clearer and clearer to me is that, while technologically things change a lot, the essence of game-making has stayed the same, because people don’t change. And in the rush of rising costs and the ensuing economic peril, too many publishers have forgotten this.

War never changes

“War never changes.” So said the Fallout narrator. Technologically, everything shifts. But people don’t change much.

I now work for Room 8 Group, an external developer where we bring to life the visions of developers and publishers big and small, from all over the world, which has given me a yet more rounded view of what gamers want. I’ve seen technology evolve and I’ve seen trends come and go; above all else, people want to be inspired. They want to get lost in a game. They want to root for good; to survive; to experience something for the first time. None of this has changed since games have existed, because human beings haven’t changed.

People still want richness—games with emotional, practical, and narrative depth—and often, such games fly in the face of industry norms and expectations.

Baldur’s Gate 3, which won every award in sight and has sold more than 15.5 million copies, is “as deep as it is wide,” to quote PC Gamer—a game which pays painstaking attention to the details many publishers would consider too small, and too costly, to be worth the effort. Disco Elysium is an oddball mish-mash of themes and styles which coalesce to make something truly singular; it won Best RPG at The Game Awards and sold well. With its quirky, fresh approach to multiplayer, Fall Guys, a game we worked on at Room 8 Group, has made hundreds of millions of dollars, and won Online Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards and two more at the Golden Joystick Awards.

Image from Fall Guys. Credit: Epic Games

Indie games are winning huge in 2024 as we see more big-budget flops than ever. And as Naavik points out, hits like Lethal Company, Palworld, and Valheim have achieved extraordinary success because they mix genres and themes to create something brand new.

People still want invention. Innovation is what pushes the industry forward. That’s where the growth lies. It is easy to forget this. If you make every decision by the balance sheet, your game could lose a crucial element: energy. We’ve seen this happen a lot, especially recently. There is an enormous business case for giving creatives the freedom to be uncompromising.

Yet, perhaps understandably given the dire economic situation in gaming, some companies are making games in spreadsheets. They look backwards to see what gamers have liked, instead of looking ahead and taking calculated risks. This is not a wise long-term decision.

Of course, the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 or Disco Elysium doesn’t prove that it’s fruitless to track industry trends; if you can make a great AAA live-service game and earn billions, more power to you. What those success stories do show, though, is that if you persevere and make a game you care deeply about, it can pay dividends, even if it appears to be a risk on the surface, because people still crave originality. As we batten down the hatches to protect the short term, we mustn’t forget what gives our artform life: new, original, innovative experiences.

But it’s also on publishers to give creatives that license. It’s impossible to produce something truly original, and fun, if you focus-group all your creative decisions to the customer.

War never changes. People just want to be excited; they want to experience something they’ve never experienced before; they want something that resonates on an emotional level. Remember that when times are hard.