The Insider

We game developers live in a world of trickery. Illusions. Shams. Fooling the player, that��s what we do! Not in a bad way though; there��s no ��Ha-HA! We got your 50 bucks, you losers!�� or anything like that. No, instead we try to trick you in good ways, ways that make your gaming experience that much better.

So what does this mean? Why do game designers resort to such drastic measures as fooling our customers? The reason is simple: If we want our games to be competitive, we have to trick you.

Think of the coolest game you saw on the PS2 in the last year. It was beautiful and fun to play, right? Full of trickery, I guarantee it. It��s impossible to make a PS2 game look as good as something a more powerful machine could potentially produce. As in, physically impossible��less RAM and all that. The PS2 isn��t the biggest kid on the block, but that doesn��t mean it can��t tumble with the larger boys. I��d be damned if I haven��t played PS2 games that kick the pants off other systems�� offerings. And you know how that��s done? Trickery.

For example: A certain snowboarding game came out in 2000. It looked great back then, and it still looks remarkably good now. But last year a sequel was released that puts the original to shame, and it does things the developers didn��t even think were possible when creating the initial release. This new game makes all of these advances using the exact same hardware.

As we developers make sequels or just get more familiar with the hardware, we optimize. We cut back on expensive things and replace them with lower cost��but still damn nifty��visual flairs. We use fewer polygons but better textures, hide lower geometry backgrounds with dazzling effects, swap in different quality models depending on the view distance��there are dozens of trade-offs we can use to make things look and play better. But like all trade-offs, there��s a downside. So, part of our job is to hide these possibly negative aspects.

Constantly we��re cutting back in places but snapping our fingers up high, distracting you from where we��ve sliced. Sure, the ground textures look like ass, but we��re hiding that with pretty fog that swirls around your feet.

Which brings us back to the main point: You��re constantly getting fooled when you play newer games. Don��t let this get you down��cutting back to make the game run faster, giving us ��room�� to put in visually pleasing effects, and adding animations for a more fulfilling gameplay experience is good for everybody. Even people who normally don��t like the wool being pulled over their eyes.

Ryan Lockhart rlockhart@sevenstudios.com wanted to be a magician when he was a kid, but he sucked with cards. Now he��s a game designer, the next best thing.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.