CSC Interview: NCAA Football 12 Designer Jordan Peterson
Canal Street Chronicles - part of the SB Nation network - has posted an interview with NCAA Football 12 Designer Jordan Peterson. In the interview, Peterson talks about NCAA Football 12, his responsibilities as a Designer, the game design process, the role community feedback plays in game development, and more.
Continue on to see some of the interview highlights and click here to view the entire Q&A.
Dave Cariello: How did you land a job with EA Sports?
Jordan Peterson: I was working in another industry back in NY that I really didn't care for, nor could I see myself working in it for the rest of my life. I knew I needed a change and since I had always wanted to get into the video game industry as a Designer, I thought I would give it a shot. I was fortunate enough to have some friends working at Blizzard that had just made the transition from QA to design and they encouraged me to take a job in QA to get to know the industry and then work my way up to design.
I had always been a huge fan of the NHL, Madden and NCAA series as a kid, so naturally my first choice was EA Sports. So I moved to Florida with the intent of getting a job at Tiburon. Sure enough, a few months after I moved, EA was hiring QA positions.
Dave: What is your job title and what are your responsibilities?
Jordan: I am a designer for NCAA Football. I am responsible for coming up with new features for the game and then ensuring they are implemented accurately by the engineers. I'm also responsible for tuning one of the, if not the, deepest game modes in sports gaming, Dynasty. In addition, there is some, what I would consider significant, community interaction to ensure we are making our fans as happy as possible with the end product.
Dave: How do you come up with the new concepts/features for the game each year?
Jordan: Since we're an iterative title, there is always something we would have liked to have implemented the previous year. We're constantly looking to improve the game, so when it comes down to features we would like to add, the list is extensive. This creates an excellent base for what we would like to implement the following year.
Then, as a design team, we're always brainstorming and discussing new features that we would like to see added. Inspiration can come from our own experiences playing our game, to playing other sports games, or even playing other genres.
So we have our internal list of what we would like to add to the game, and then there are always the fan requests. A few websites always have a poll going as to what features they would like to see implemented and whether they believe it or not, we do actually pay attention to the results.
The difficult part is cutting the list down to a manageable size, that can be accomplished with our engineering/art resources in a single year. As a fan of the game, trust me, I wish we had the time and resources to implement every feature exactly the way we wanted.
Dave: Have there been any features that you've come up with that never made the game?
Jordan: Yes! There have been quite a few features that have not made it into the game...yet. Just because they did not make it into the game one year, does not necessarily mean we will not consider them for next year. Then, of course there are others that will not make it into the game at all for one reason or another.
Dave: What's the best part about your job?
Jordan: It's difficult to identify one single part of my job, as there are many aspects that I love. It's probably a close tie between coming up with and writing new designs/features and tuning Dynasty.
While I love the design process, Dynasty is probably one of the most in depth game modes across most gaming genres. I don't know of any other game where you can look at all of the stats of so many players/teams over 60 years. Attempting to tune Dynasty so it is balanced to represent real world results, while ensuring it is still fun for the user has been an extremely fun challenge.
Dave: What's the worst part?
Jordan: The worst part, by far, is when a feature has to be cut. Especially if you know it is going to improve the game significantly, or address a concern from the community. Anytime the decision is made to cut anything that will improve the game is very difficult. But sometimes, due to various reasons, we have to cut them. It's just an unfortunate part of the development cycle.
Dave: Do you get so sick of designing the game that you never actually play for enjoyment?
Jordan: Not really. Actually, as crazy as this may sound, I even bring my console home over the weekends to play the game during Alpha, which is the busiest time of the year for us.
Unfortunately, there are times when I don't get to play the game as much as I would like because I'm working on various tasks. At the end of the day, above all else, we want the game to be fun. Aside from bringing in play testers and getting feedback from the community, there is really no other way to test that out aside from sitting down and playing the game yourself.
I'm always playing other games as well, just to see what else is going on in the industry, so maybe that helps.
Dave: Any secret tips or tricks you can share with NCAA players?
Jordan: Given the sheer scope of the game it's difficult to provide a single tip/trick that all players will find useful. Having said that, I've mentioned it before, but this year when creating a coach in Dynasty mode, setting the Alma Mater will help you out in the Carousel when you're trying to land your dream job. So, if you want to end up as the head coach of Tulane, your best bet is to set your Alma Mater to Tulane.
For the full interview, visit Canal Street Chronicles.
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You can view the page at http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...ordan-Peterson
