A Conversation with Ian Livingstone
Gordon 'Muun' Calleja, 2006-02-13

I had the honour of interviewing Ian Livingstone at the Australian Games Developers Conference in Melbourne. In 1975 he founded Games Workshop with Steve Jackson, that has today grown into a world leading, multi-national wargaming company. He was also responsible for publishing Dungeons and Dragons in Europe and co-wrote the highly popular Fighting Fantasy series with Steve Jackson that went on to sell over 15 million copies. In 1985 he moved into the computer games industry and formed Domark where he produced their lead title Eureka. In 1995 Domark merged with Eidos to form Eidos Interactive with Ian as Chairman of the newly formed entity. Ian was instrumental in securing and developing leading franchises like Commandos, Hitman and the infamous Tomb Raider series.

MMORPGDot: You moved from pen and paper to computer games. Do you have a similar creative input into the latter as you did in the former?

Ian Livingstone: Yes I do, I'm responsible for all the acquisitions of every game that we publish but I also ensure that I have a creative input into all of those titles. Rather than specialising on one game I put my finger in everybody else's pie really. I try and add a value from my long experience in gaming and try and help with the design of the games that we sign up. It's just really to get a focus on a few things that are important in the game to differentiate it from the competition. I'm always trying to make things clearer, simplifying the message where it's needed and find out why people care about the game. I want players to develop a strong sense of emotional attachment to the game. One thing I learnt from the role-playing games is that emotional attachment to characters is a very compelling feature of the game so I try and add realism and emotional attachment and get people to care about the character they are playing. If I can think of an angle, unique hook or selling point, I try and add that too.

MMORPGDot: For people with experience in designing pen and paper games and scenarios that want to move into the digital game industry, are there any overlaps between pen and paper and computer game design?

Ian Livingstone: Obviously pen and paper games rely entirely on the subjective experience of the player's imagination. All you are doing is stimulating the imagination. There is no technology or graphics to enhance the experience. All there is is gameplay, but that is no bad thing. For me gameplay is also the most important part of a computer game. Everything else supports that. I believe a game with great graphics and poor gameplay is not going to sell as well as a game with great gameplay and poor graphics.

MMORPGDot: Pen and paper games essentially stimulate the imagination through their core systems. These are the nuts and bolts of the game that simulate the particular reality. Does this transfer into computer games from a design perspective?

Ian Livingstone: You've got to let the designer rule the studio not the technology. Yes as long as the developers do not lose sight of what they are selling. They are not selling technology, they are selling entertainment. If you buy a car, you're not worried about what's going on under the hood. You want to see how it drives and what it looks like. What the enjoyable experience is. It's the same too with computer games. We're selling fun not technology. Technology simply supports and enhances the experience.

MMORPGDot: But is that the case in the last 5 or so years of game development? Do you see a satisfactory amount of original gameplay being worked into the games on the market or is technology becoming a more dominant technology than gameplay.

Ian Livingstone: Technology can try and cover up for a lack of gameplay but at the end of the day it's usually gameplay that gets people spreading the excitement of the game via word of mouth and it's word of mouth that is the best PR you can get. Through the web and word of mouth people find out what the best games are and I cannot stress the importance of innovative gameplay to have a game sell well. Look at three of the biggest sellers over the last 5 years - Tomb Raider, The Sims and GTA. All three were original concepts with innovative gameplay. OK, the technology allowed the innovation but it was the designers who used the technology to make original gameplay experiences.

MMORPGDot: What would you really like to see out there? What would be the sort of title that would give you a lot of satisfaction in acquiring?

Ian Livingstone: What is important to me is to be able to understand a game very quickly. To be able to tap into people's known universes. To tap into their life experience, to trigger an emotion, to provide an experience that is familiar to the player through reading, TV or film is far better than having to invent worlds and environments. Being different is obviously good but if it's too hard to sell a new fiction to somebody, why bother? And that becomes a marketing challenge, as well. So the publishing risk is a lot more difficult when you have to invent a whole new fiction to know what the game is all about. For example, a game like Hitman, you know exactly from the title what the game is all about. You're a hired assassin. You know instinctively what to do. And that's half the battle. People have less time to learn rulebooks, to understand new concepts. They need intuitive gameplay.

MMORPGDot: Your pen and paper work was mostly fantasy role-playing. When you moved into computer games, you didn't follow that track. Is there a reason why?

Ian Livingstone: When I entered the computer games industry it was suddenly very obvious that there was a lot more to gaming than fantasy role-playing. Sports and wargames are hugely popular and I became very excited by the possibilities that the diffrenet genres offered. That didn't mean that I got tired of fantasy. Far from it. Technology on next-gen consoles will allow for an amazing-looking fantasy game to be made. And one day, when I have the time, I want to produce the definitive fantasy game. I have been making notes for over ten years!

MMORPGDot: That's very exciting. Do you envisage a solo computer game or a massive multiplayer model for your game?

Ian Livingstone: Multiplayer on console is definitely the way to go.

MMORPGDot: Fans of your previous work such as myself will be looking forward to that project! Thank you very much for your time.