USA 2015Video Coverage

Capturing Creativity with Game Designer Rodolfo Magallon | Casual Connect Video

November 2, 2015 — by Steve Kent

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USA 2015Video Coverage

Capturing Creativity with Game Designer Rodolfo Magallon | Casual Connect Video

November 2, 2015 — by Steve Kent

'A game is a collaborative product and the result is the souls of the developers.' - Rodolfo MagallonClick To Tweet

Rodolfo Magallon is a game designer at Kaxan Games. He has worked on many games for mobile and console, including El Chavo for the Nintendo Wii and Taco Master for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Rodolfo is convinced that a good game comes from the feel and innovative gameplay. During his talk at Casual Connect USA, he offered tips on how to make your game engaging. “Building a good character is very important because it gives you transmedia material, it gives you a way for your game to have an identity”, he explained. The importance of the tutorial was shown when they moved from a long one that was very boring to one that was only 30 seconds long. This was much more effective. Rodolfo believes that teaching the player how to play quickly is one of the most important things for mobile developers.


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Creative Process

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Rodolfo Magallon is a game designer at Kaxan Games

Rodolfo Magallon has some unorthodox brainstorming strategies.

“I let my subconscious grab lots of weird things from my surroundings, and then it gives me great dreams with new ideas,” Rodolfo says. “That’s why I like to look everywhere and learn about new things on the internet.”

When he’s working with clients, Rodolfo, who is a game designer at Kaxan Games,  starts off with a bit of a traditional route — he hears the client’s needs, he explores genres and markets, examines scope and budget.

“After that I like to first play a lot, the most I can, of a similar game or games of the genre I want to do, and why not other genres to spice it up? And to fill my brain with ‘ideas food.’ Then I let it rest some time, and after that I start going out for a walk, or going to a quiet place to think of ideas. And like magic they start to pop out… If not, I repeat the process until they do pop!”

Starting Out

Rodolfo was inspired to pursue a career in the games industry by Nintendo classics from his childhood, like Zelda, Mario and Metroid, and later on by platformers like Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong. Rodolfo lists Shigeru Miyamoto as a major source of inspiration.

He didn’t realize he could be a developer himself until he learned about DigiPen in a local magazine called Club Nintendo. From that point on, he put in the work to realize his aspiration: He began researching the game development process and finding tools. He taught himself with Visual Basic and C++, and later on with Flash, which he recalls as a “wonderful tool,” but looking back, he says he wishes he had Unity3D in those days.

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He advises people looking to pursue a similar career that game design isn’t just brainstorming ideas and letting the rest of the dev team make it happen. “That’s not how it works,” he says. “A game is a collaborative product and the final result is the souls of the developers poured on it. Also they should learn a lot about everything — code, art, planning and how software is made.”

Working as a Professional

When Kaxan Games was founded, they put out a call through local media to people interested in development and extensive training, and Rodolfo responded. He was accepted, and the company provided training from industry veterans like Noah Falstein, Lee Sheldon and Manthias Worch.

"We made sure our Taco game looked really delicious, and it got us top App Store positions!" - Rodolfo Magallon
“We made sure our Taco game looked really delicious, and it got us top App Store positions!” - Rodolfo Magallon

Six years later, he’s still with Kaxan. During this time, he has worked on game and level design, localization, prototyping, UI design and more. He worked on hits like Taco Master for mobile (iTunes, Android and Windows Games) and licensed games like El Chavo for Wii. and currently he is researching for unannounced VR projects.

He believes one of the greatest challenges for a game designer is to come up with a design that everyone understands and can engage with. If time and money weren’t limitations, Rodolfo says his dream game would be an action-adventure game with elements from Monster Hunter and Zelda, perhaps for WiiU.

 

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Steve Kent

Steve Kent

Steve Kent is a staff writer for Gamesauce and content manager for Casual Connect. Steve loves superheros and spending time with his kiddo.

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