My Game Design Dream Team

They say if you put 1,000 monkeys in front of a 1,000 typewriters they’ll write the great American novel… or something along those lines; all I ever remember is the monkey part. While getting even one monkey can prove to be difficult, (and believe me, I’ve tried), I doubt the same could be said of game design. But still, a gamer can dream, and lately I’ve been thinking about who I’d want to lock in a room (with all the basic necessities, of course) to design a game.

Designing a game these days takes more than just programmers. It takes artists, musicians, and many others. So to make this seem less like the pining of a fanboy, I tried to delegate certain tasks to certain individuals and, with the exception of one mainstream composer, tried to stay within the current world of video game development. Hey, if people can have fantasy sports teams, why can’t I have a fantasy game design team?

Game Design - Bioware, Peter Molyneux, Platinum Games

Peter Molyneux - Hype Master

Bioware has quickly become the Western equivalent of Square Enix by developing some really great RPGs, and since Square Enix has let me down so much lately, I can’t help but go with the competition.

I know Peter Molyneux is a bit of a hype builder, but he has a knack for creating games where the choices and decisions of players influence various aspects of the game; something I really like and would want in a game. Bioware’s been pretty good at this, too.

Part of my desire to have Platinum Games on the team is from their experience as Clover Studios, and I really loved their games. And with games like Bayonetta, Infinite Space, and MadWorld coming out, I really think Platinum Games will be a force to reckon with. Besides, in MadWorld the guy has a chainsaw on his arm. That’s enough for me. Welcome aboard, Platinum Games.

Art, Character & Creature Design - Akira Toriyama and Yoshitaka Amano

How much hair gel do Toriyama's characters go through in a week?

No, I’m not a DBZ fanboy. Toriyama has designed characters for Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest; two of the most successful and popular RPGs - EVER. Yoshitaka Amano has a long and respected history of doing art for games and other media, including artwork for many Final Fantasy games since the first. I think I would leave creature design solely to him, because as much as I like Toriyama, I don’t really care for his creature designs, and Amano has designed some amazing monsters for us to attack, cast, and summon. Thinking about what these two could create together makes my eyes salivate.

Music - Nobuo Uematsu & John Williams

With one of the most popular composers in the video game industry working together with the composer of some of the most recognizable music from the world of film, you could have a soundtrack and music score that would easily be considered one of the best of all time in any medium.

Others - David Jaffe, Tomonobu Itagaki, Suda 51

Leather jacket $100, black sunglasses $50, sword set $300, looking badass - PRICELESS

David Jaffe may be the most inexperienced of them all, but the games he has developed are not only highly rated but also very brutal. And I like brutal. I don’t really know what the creator of Twisted Metal and God of War would do yet, I just know I want him on my team.

Itagaki has Dead or Alive on his résumé; a game that has one of the biggest followings and some of the most beautiful looking characters in the industry. I like his frankness and whether as a supervisor, artist, designer, developer, or just as a gopher, I want him on the team. As an artist, I would worry about him butting heads with Toriyama and Amano, since they come from very different backgrounds, but Itagaki has a style that I love and respect.

Goichi Suda, aka Suda 51, just seems like an interesting guy; he started out working as an undertaker and later created games like killer7 and No More Heroes. With his lovable and twisted style of using things like assassins and luchadores in his games, I’d just love for him to be involved. Heck, I’d just like to talk to him.

Well that’s my dream team. I’m guessing a lot of you have ideas for your own teams, so share them in the comments below. Who knows, if we wish hard enough, they might actually team up some day.