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Miyamoto Gives Advice to Game Design Hopefuls

Posted by Zonk on from the learning-from-the-zen-master dept.

grenada writes "As reported by Ars Techncia, Shigeru Miyamoto has some good advice for aspiring game developers. Instead of telling kids to focus on video games, he actually says that it's beneficial to diversify your education and personal interests. He says that meeting people and familiarizing yourself to different fields will give you the best perspective of the world in the long run, which will help in your game-developing career. 'While young people are still students, I think it is important for them to not just focus on something like programming or just focus on video games. Instead they should do things that you can only do while you are in college. Get out, meet people, and talk to people.'" As a follow-up, N'Gai Croal at Newsweek has up an interview he did with Miyamoto-san entitled the Artist's Way.

12 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. More likely... by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here's what actually happened:

    Miyamoto: What the heck is wrong with you people? Get a life! I mean, I love success as much as anyone else, but I can't stand by and watch this any longer. Video games are supposed to be a side hobby, not something you build your life around. I almost fainted when I heard we'd be licensing Mario bedsheets. I mean, get out there. Get a date. Take down the Kirby poster...

    *fat guy in suit waddles up*
    *pulls Miyamoto aside*
    *starts scolding in Japanese*
    *makes huge gestures with his hands*
    *makes gesture for "small child"*
    *makes gesture for "big house"*
    *makes gesture for "money"*
    *makes "cutting neck" gesture*
    *Miyamoto bows to him*
    *returns to stage*

    Miyamoto: What I mean is, if you're going to design a game, you should have separate interests...

    crowd: *Hm, what sage advice*

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
    1. Re:More likely... by Applekid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's the trouble with putting value judgements on people's motivations. Whether or not YOU believe the best things in life are free is quite different from suggesting that people that do believe it do so because of sour grapes.

      Money is big but certainly not everything. There's lots of value in bettering oneself. It's too bad a prevailing consumerist culture has convinced so many that being wealthy is the only way to live.

      Or have I just been watching too much Star Trek lately? :)

      --
      More Twoson than Cupertino
    2. Re:More likely... by MeanderingMind · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Firstly, I have plenty of money. I don't think money is everything.

      Secondly, Miyamoto's greatest games have all been inspired by things he did that weren't video games. If he had been focused on video games his whole life and nothing else, we wouldn't have many key Nintendo franchises we have today.

      Lastly, people are not static. We change, we grow and we diminish. Our desires and needs do likewise. While some people are as you say, not everyone is. Change, like anything else, is best in moderation. Not too much, not too little.

      --
      Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
  2. Wait, what? by Applekid · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Get out, meet people, and talk to people."

    What are these "people" he speaks of? Is that some kind of new interactive game demo that's outdoors?

    --
    More Twoson than Cupertino
  3. College by Alzheimers · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Instead they should do things that you can only do while you are in college."

    Translation: Take lots of acid. Then you too can create the next Mushroom Kingdom.

    1. Re:College by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
      > "Instead they should do things that you can only do while you are in college."
      >
      > Translation: Take lots of acid. Then you too can create the next Mushroom Kingdom.

      "Thank you, Mario! But your princess is in another guy's dorm room!"

  4. Just what I think by Esc7 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is good advice for everyone not just hopeful game designers. Seriously everyone, life is too vast to focus on one small thing.

    1. Re:Just what I think by flyingsquid · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Charles Darwin is a good example of why you need a broad education. He didn't come up with the idea of natural selection by reading a lot of biology papers, he came up with the idea by reading Malthus' book on human population growth.

      If you focus exclusively on your field, then the best you can do is learn everything that is already known in that field. That may be fine if you just want to be a craftsman, using time-honored techniques. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but if you want to really push boundaries, you need to go outside your field and bring in pieces of knowledge which are foreign, even revolutionary.

  5. Re:okay kids... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's called experience.

    Exactly, and in this case the experience we're talking about is life experience, which I believe is a fundamental prerequisite for the type of creativity that makes a good game designer. This has nothing to do with programming.

  6. An Ironic experience for me . . . by Badgerman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I was a computer and game enthusiast for over two decades. I wrote business software, websites, databases, and soforth. Nothing exciting like gaming supposedly is, and my skillset wouldn't have worked in the gaming world except, perhaps, as a webmaster.

    When I became a Project Manager? THEN I got interviews at game companies.

    You never know.

    --
    "The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
  7. miyamoto-san? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > As a follow-up, N'Gai Croal at Newsweek has up an interview he did with Miyamoto-san

    Look, you're writing in English, the name is Miyamoto. This just makes you look like some goofy otaku fanboy.

  8. Article Link Points to a Game Review by TexVex · · Score: 3, Informative

    The link in the article points to a review of "Cooking Mama". What's up?

    --
    Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.