Watching Metal Gears Solid 2 documentary was an eye-opening experience. Things that stood out to me was how they used Lego for initial level design in the early days. It something simple, but effective in creating a visual aid to plan out the scenarios. I never really thought about using Lego, but it seems much more helpful to have actual physical objects to picture how you want things to play out compared to just seeing through a screen.
It was also noteworthy how they made everyone write an idea into a sketchbook every day and utilized it for game development. It didn’t stand out because we learned about the importance of sketchbooks in class. Rather, it stood out since Japanese companies are known to have a more rigid structure where it is difficult to express your ideas to your superiors. Using sketchbook as a bypass seemed to be an interesting solution to such issue. Although in this context, I think there is a difference between us and the Konami employees using sketchbooks. We are freer to do whatever we like, but I think they would have more pressure to push some sort of idea. Further, it may feel like a method of examining performance which can be stressful.
In the second documentary, I felt like there was a stronger emphasis on quality control. If the first documentary showed more of generating ideas, the second documentary was about perfecting it. One part that stood out to me was how the developers have gotten so used to their game that they didn’t consider putting instructions on how to use the new camo. It really highlighted the importance of having an outsider view or criticize your work as you may become so immersed that you fail to see the problems.
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