- The Standup
- Posts
- Vision & Conviction
Vision & Conviction
Create, cultivate, and communicate a clear vision
Vision & Conviction
Create, cultivate, and communicate a clear vision
Hello and good morning!
This week we explore what it means to cultivate a clear vision for a game and see it through to development. Join us for a look behind-the-scenes at our journey to The Game Awards. And we’re getting ready to relive this terrifying deep space rescue mission in the Dead Space remake.
How creating, cultivating, and communicating a clear vision can positively impact your studio’s culture
Creating a clear and compelling vision for your game is challenging. Do you follow your passions, or do you chase trends? Where do you even begin? At Ascendant, it’s been our experience that a clear and compelling vision isn’t just important for creating a good game; it’s also critical for creating a healthy company culture. When we polled our 100+ person team about what they would change about their previous employers, “Better project vision” ranked #4 out of 15. Understandably, the lack of a clear vision for a game can be one of the most frustrating things to endure at a studio. Having experienced this frustration first-hand throughout their careers, our studio’s leadership felt building a studio around a clear game vision, frequent and honest communication, and creative freedom was paramount to a healthy and positive studio culture. But how exactly do you and your team align on a vision that will resonate with both players and yourselves?
After 26 years making AAA games, our CEO and Game Director, Bret Robbins says that creating and communicating a clear vision for your game is one of the greatest challenges any studio faces. It’s also essential to your success.
“Collaborating with a large team is the hardest thing to do because you need to communicate that vision constantly out to everyone, but you don't necessarily have it all figured out either. You want the one or two things that you feel are so important to get right, and you stick to that. That's the most important thing. On the original Dead Space, we had a few things that we absolutely wanted to do above anything else. I mean, obviously we wanted to make a horror game and make it really scary, but we wanted to also make it as immersive as possible. And that drive towards immersion led to a bunch of interesting design decisions.”
When we reflect on the process of creating our game, Immortals of Aveum™️, it started with Bret knowing that he wanted to create a first-person shooter with magic elements. His vision was born out of a daydream, and he spent many months before forming Ascendant Studios journaling and establishing the fictional universe. As the studio opened and its first employees were hired, Bret’s new team contributed their own ideas, refining the fiction, imagining what this fantastical new universe would look like, and establishing the gameplay mechanics that would bring the game to life.
Our Art Director, Dave Bogan (Grim Fandango, Sam and Max, Tales of Monkey Island) describes his approach to shaping the vision at the start of a new project:
“In the beginning, you want the world. You have so many ideas, features, and directions you could go. It is important at some point along the way to identify the few things that you like best and have the most potential to make an entertaining experience for the player. Those choices should generally align with the features that get the most people excited on the team. I would rather do fewer things really well than a ton of things half hearted or half finished.”
The process was fluid and collaborative, and it worked for our team because Bret spent the time beforehand developing a clear initial vision. After creating 10 AAA games in his career, Bret recommends establishing one or two strong pillars as part of your game’s vision – often the combination of two things that have either been done well before, or that you’re passionate about, to create something novel and fantastic. For example, at Ascendant, we’re combining richly detailed fantasy storytelling, with fast-paced and immersive FPS combat. The result is an original magic shooter experience.
Ascendant’s Associate Art Director, Julia Lichtblau (The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Tales from the Borderlands) talks about how establishing a few pillars early can positively impact the team’s ability to more easily collaborate as they begin to build the game:
“Narrative and worldbuilding are two core concepts that I've found to galvanize a team's vision early on. What is unique about your world and universe, and how do your characters build their lives and stories within it? How does the ecology, the geology, the politics have an effect on an average inhabitant and the dramas in their life? Establishing those big pillars early on forms a framework that all team members can add to, which gives the world that much more depth and environmental storytelling, and the team that much more passion for the vision.”
Establishing your pillars and creating your vision is just the beginning of your journey. In the face of feature creep, changing team members, and new, catchy trends, it can be tough to keep your conviction. Constant, repeated communication of your vision within your team is critical. As you discuss new ideas along the way, ask yourselves if they help support your game’s pillars, further fulfilling the vision. By getting a few things incredibly right, you can create an experience that players will never forget.
Reply to the newsletter with a few “pillars” that you would love to see combined in a game!
Go behind-the-scenes with us at The Game Awards!
On December 8th, 2022 - we officially announced our brand new magic shooter, Immortals of Aveum™️ at The Game Awards! We knew this wasn’t just going to be your typical award show and our time at The Game Awards couldn’t have gone any better.
Take a sneak peek into the excitement and nerves that were brewing as we awaited the world premier of our game. From the announcement of our upcoming video game and the debut of its first teaser trailer, this vlog takes you on a journey through the moments leading up to the big reveal. We are elated to have announced our game to the world and are looking forward to showing more in the coming months.
In the Press
Poll - Calling all Dead Space fans…
Will you be playing the new Dead Space Remake? |
Congrats to our friends at Motive and EA on the launch of the Dead Space Remake!