[Editor's note: we here at kagf are extremely proud to have stumbled upon a leaked early version of Zac Hill's What Developers Do. Views expressed are those solely of Mr. Hill, and not of kagf or its subsidiaries.]
Today I want to talk to the audience that probably clicked
here because it’s Sunday night and this is where Making Magic should be. Well,
first of all, I’m sure you can wait a few minutes before you get told to read a
book about creativity (with the same wording as the last twenty times you were
told that). Second, I make Magic.
No, seriously. Those Magic cards you play with. I design
them. Technically, we’re the second step in the process. What happens is that
“Design” makes some cards, then “Development” makes Magic cards that won’t make
you shoot yourself in the head. Let’s walk through the process.
Activity Number One:
Playing Magic
I’d say the biggest difference between Design and
Development is that Development plays Magic.
WHAT?! But doesn’t
design have to play Magic in order to make cards?!?!?!
You would think! You know how when you do something every
day for a decade, with thousands of hours of practice, you get really good at
it? And the designers’ full-time job is to work on Magic?
Have you ever played against a Design guy at an event? Yeah.
They’re quite bad at Magic.
Hey, why aren’t they
good at Magic if they play Magic all the t- ohhhh.
Exactly. So the next time you hear something about how a
designer did something crazy outlandish like make a mechanic where you jumped
on the table and did an ancient tribal dance, or designed a preexisting card without
knowing it, or said “hey what if we just print Necropotence but make the card
draw immediate and cost it at six,” you’ll know why. Designers don’t play
Magic.
Activity Number Two:
Staying Away from Ken Nagle
Have you seen this guy? Have you interacted with him? Here,
I’ll give you some background information in case you haven’t. You know that
guy at your card shop that comes up to you and shows you his casual deck and
details the combos in it and makes little explosions with his hands then laughs
in a really creepy way despite the fact that no one other than him has said
anything? Great, you’ve met Ken Nagle.
Ken Nagle once made a mechanic that put your cards in the
opponent’s deck. Not in an Un-set. No joke. He called it “pwnage.” He thought
it would be perfect for the Phyrexians, because it wasn’t fun. Still not
joking. This is an actual employee that we pay actual money.
Activity Number
Three: Making Magic
So here’s the basic process for how sets are designed.
Step one: Design meets with Creative. Creative guys say
“imagine, if you will” and “in a world” unironically. Design guys say
“resonance” and “Roseanne.” They come up with some idea about like a dragon I
think? I don’t really know. There’s probably a demon woman (with a chest like
opening the bag of dodgeballs for gym class) already drawn for the booster box.
Argyle works fast.
Step two: Design makes the “set.” Their creative process
involves a bunch of running around making bird noises, if there are birds in
the set. Lots of pizza. Someone makes a card top-designed to be a lolcat. Then
they delete the MTGSalvation thread where people came up with the set.
Step three: Development looks at the printed file over
lunch. It’s fun, we don’t need extra napkins for once.
Step four: Development makes a Magic set. Some ideas are
kept from the file, of course, because we can seriously polish anything into a
playable set at this point. Think about Rick Moody writing a story based on
the suggestions of a second-grade classroom. Eventually, someone will say “…and
they’re in space with a dinosaur and…” and he’ll make that into something
readable. Same basic idea with developing a handoff from Design.
We hope you understand what we have to go through on a daily
basis now.
-Fake Zac Hill
