NCsoft’s Richard Garriott details how to design compelling intellectual design property during the Austin Game Conference

By Michael Lafferty

“Most designers are underskilled for the job”

When the topic of intellectual property is broached, and how it pertains to the market of massively multiplayer online games, who better to lead the conversation than Richard Garriott, the man responsible for putting the MMO industry on the map with Ultima Online.

Garriott was center stage on the topic at the Austin Game Conference in Austin, Texas, Thursday. Using the Ultima Online model, and the newest title he is working on, Tabula Rasa (for NCsoft), Garriott outlined some of his perspective on how to build intellectual property that lasts.

One element kept popping up during his conversation, which lasted a little longer than the 60 minutes allotted – research. It is apparent that to begin a game design a vast amount of research must go into the title.

Using a projector and charts, Garriott started out by stating that great games require one or more of:

• addictive game mechanics (he used Tetris and C&C as good examples)

• cutting-edge visual technology (Doom and Unreal both had this element)

• strong intellectual property (Ultima and Myst were examples)

(“Myst is one of the few non-Ultima games I’ve played to completion,” he conceded.)

Developing intellectual property is important on several fronts. For one, it is protectable, and if a person owns the intellectual property rights, then it can be licensed out to other areas, like films or books.

While there is the opportunity to buy IP, Garriott stated that would-be designers should create while they are able to. Why? ‘Early entries in new market segments don’t need to be established IPs to be unique,’ ‘early new IPs become viable established IPs,’ and companies can be sold for the IP rights.

So what aspects are at the heart of intellectual property that will distinguish itself?

Garriott pointed to three areas: Compelling characters (“unique characters are uncommon,” Garriott stated); compelling settings – this is another rarity with most games opting for traditional settings; and compelling situations.

As a case study, Garriott pulled out the Ultima series. Though the game had some unique characters, like The Avatar and Lord British, Garriott felt this was the weakest aspect of the game. The settings were also fundamentally traditional although with Ultima 4 and the introduction of the science and culture elements, the game did become more unique. But the game did have compelling situations.

“The Ultima series represents a stable design vision,” Garriott stated.

With the introduction of the reagents for spell casting, and The Virtues (developed for Ultima IV), Garriott had created a highly expandable foundation and “from that foundation it was easy to extrapolate content,” he said.

Lessons have been learned along the way, but Garriott stated there are ways to avoid common errors in the development of an intellectual property. First, ‘reserve “Klingon” for the hardcore,’ Garriott stated. In devising language for a game, avoid complex words that have no meaning. He said that designers should consider Latin root words for the basis of an in-game language. He also suggested employing simple recognizable shapes to create powerful and memorable images.

“My interests have been much broader than medieval fantasy,” Garriott stated when turning the discussion to creating intellectual property from scratch. “We wanted to invent a lot in both gameplay and in intellectual property.”

The current project on Garriott’s plate is Tabula Rasa (Latin for Blank Slate). “The goal was to innovate on many fronts,” he stated.

With Tabula Rasa, Garriott “wanted to create the ability for players and friends to go on a great story arc and still feel they were accomplishing something.”

With a new game system also came a non-genre new-world reality that involved new characters, new environments (which does incorporate his pseudo science, a visual icon-based language, philosophy – Garriott has long dealt with relevant social issues in games and Tabula Rasa will be no different – and new situations.

A lot of research went into creating a symbolic communications system that was not based in runic characters but took advantage of universal ideas. Working through character costume designs finally yielded costumes that were “aspirational,” and compelling to the story being told. The initial vision for the game was changed and simplified to some extent.

When summarizing the aspect of developing and designing intellectual game property, Garriott broke it down to seven areas though the first on the list comprises 70 percent of the effort: Research (“most designers are underskilled for the job,” Garriott stated. “Those that research have hope to overcome their ignorance.”). Numerology, Virtues, Principles, Reagents create a pseudo science and creates a consistency that runs through the game; the use of symbology is important; use of relevant philosophy; linguistics (craft words that sound like what they mean); compelling fictional characters; and create unique and interesting settings.

Those who believe that game design is easily detailed on a sheet of paper had best think again. Spend some time listening to those who have done it and done it well, and one quickly realizes that game design is time consuming and sports in-depth research.

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