When it comes to refining concepts for mobile games, however, his influence and impact is unambiguous. That limits their outcomes and you end up like Apple, stuck in the bigger – littler – faster, better mindset that is the track to the banal.“Įvidently, Bushnell’s playful demeanour has a sincere role to play far beyond the walls of a games design meeting. “Big companies reject silly because they think they are way too cool. “Over the years, I have found common threads that separate creative companies from those that are simply evolutionary, or stuck in their past. “It is both a continuation of the Atari process, and a refinement,” he says. Yet, he does predominantly play the conductor role, seemingly guiding other’s ideas more frequently than he tosses his own into the ring.
As the idea of what Bloxx can be develops, he absolutely provides inputs at a meticulous level and thrives getting into the finer details of how the game will work mechanically. While he may be confident in his role as a maestro of daftness, Bushnell will actually tell you he is not a game designer, at least by any strict definition. I try to always create the atmosphere of mutual respect. If everyone feels respected and part of a group, they are more likely to voice an opinion. Yes, I try to inject humour as often as possible.” Silly is often the path to extreme creativity, since it probably breaks more rules than the serious idea. “Humour is a way to add silly to the dialogue. “By its nature the creative process is a bit anarchist, and humour and fun are part of that,” Bushnell insists. Silliness is a serious business for this veteran of play. It turns out, though, that the songs and jokes aren’t a trivial part of this process. That grin is back, and he’s ready to go again. Delivering a few lines, however, isn’t enough, as he belts out the song in its entirety, before finishing with a satisfied sigh. Seuss song by a colleague’s suggestion for the game. But, equally, there is a sense that at any moment proceedings could tumble into the absurd.Īt one point, Bushnell is reminded of a Dr. There is work being done, and ideas for theme and mechanics come at a striking rate. SERIOUSLY SILLYĪ tone of mischief is also near tangible, buoyed up by digressions into silliness and a consistent spirit of playfulness. Creativity is something he seems keen to squeeze from all around him. Respect certainly abounds in the room, and Bushnell is careful to give everyone a voice – including those there purely to observe. I try to always create the atmosphere of mutual respect and to value all opinions, to glean a best approach to any problem.” “If everyone feels respected and part of a group, they are more likely to voice an opinion. “Hierarchy kills creativity,” Bushnell later confirms. Structure and hierarchy, it would seem, are not prime concerns. The tone is calm, but talking through the design of what Bloxx might become is a conversation prone to wild changes in direction, and Bushnell appears to be keen to see that happen. “What have we got?” Bushnell asks Spil Games’ junior product manager Nicola Mizon, junior game designer Kayleigh Mizon and VP of content Franz Stradal.
There are no agendas to pass around or schedules to follow. He is certainly in charge here, conducting conversation by waving three marker pens clutched in a single fist, but the creative hierarchy is clearly very flat, and the organisational framework is apparently bare bones to the extreme. Sat in the meeting, it’s immediately obvious how laid-back things are with Bushnell at the helm.
The game that has prompted the design meeting is Bloxx, a puzzler that – for the day’s opening few hours, at least – is described by a grid of hastily sketched lines and various scribbles. He has partnered with Spil Games to turn his hand to making mobile games, which brings him to the dev’s breezy converted factory building in the town of Hilversum, not far from Amsterdam. Bushnell is clearly looking forward to what is coming next: a game design meeting, where a basic concept he conceived in the early 1990s is to be fleshed out a as starting point for a new Spil mobile title.īushnell, famously, is the co-founder of Atari, the man who commissioned Pong and one of the games industry’s earliest entrepreneurs.
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