Alina Brazdeikene focused on how you can use narrative and game design to build a world within a game during Casual Connect Eastern Europe 2014. “There’s no point in writing a brilliant story when nobody can read it,” she expressed.
Prior to working at Signus Labs as a game designer and producer, Alina Brazdeikene began her career as a film maker. She held positions as lead writer and editor at Kikoriki, Movie Industry with Rhapsody Games, and at Odessa National Television. Her passion for games led her to change the direction of her career and become a narrative designer. She has now been a narrative game designer and cinematic script writer for more than three years.
Brazdeikene emphasizes the importance of experience, “There is a universal truth: every experience you have and all the knowledge you gain makes you a better designer.”
Play is Work
For her, the fun of being in the games industry comes from the opportunity to play games every day and call it work, feeling the greatest satisfaction was when her first game was released. When she was creating the game, she believed the sky was the limit, and found the real difficulty came in deciding when to stop! “After the game is released, you have to be prepared for anything,” she explains. “The big challenge is seeing what the players’ reactions will be.”
For her own gaming, Brazdeikene prefers to use a PC because it is also the tool she uses for work. Currently, she is trying out The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, enjoying it despite its six-hour length because it is a solid, narrative-driven game. She insists, “I think small games have the same right to be a hit as the big games.”
Fun Over Profit
Brazdeikene strongly believes the vital problem in the games industry today is keeping the focus on making games for players, instead of making them solely to increase profit. She maintains that an enormous number of games released today are made simply to generate revenue and have little to do with the fun players expect. So we see tough monetization, aggressive marketing campaigns, never-ending games, and huge numbers of clones.
At Signus Labs, the primary focus is making games that will be fun for the players. Since every member of the team was first a game player, this is a natural orientation for them. “We should always remember,” Brazdeikene explains, “Games deal not with business only, but also with art.”
She believes the most important trend now developing in the games industry is the story-driven game. “People are tired of just pushing the button,” she says. “They want the story; they want to know what it’s all about.” For the future, Signus will continue focusing on this aspect of game development.
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