MC: How does a graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and prehistoric archeology come to be a game designer of space sims?

LH: For a designer, I think a varied background is essential. This was even more important years ago when development teams were tiny by today’s standards and each member had to be a jack-of-all-trades. Today’s approach has larger teams and more specialization, which has lessened the need for varied backgrounds across all team members, though the designer still needs to be the most versatile member of the team. The designer also needs to have a broad knowledge of as well as a love of most other entertainment media. Most importantly, I believe the designer needs to be extremely well read, including all types of fiction and non-fiction. Of course, the genre that a designer is working in greatly dictates what skills and knowledge are going to be the most useful. Obviously someone designing an RPG would gain benefit from reading fantasy fiction and studying world mythology. Archaeology taught me that details are important, which has carried over for making games. It’s the details that will convince people to suspend their disbelief and become totally involved in your world. So I bring the same level of research and study that I did during my archaeology days to designing and building games.

LH: First thing, the new title doesn’t have a title yet so we have to continue to call it the "new title". Secondly, the new title will draw its inspiration from Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (SWOTL), but will not be a sequel of it. That inspiration is being set in a similar universe and time period as SWOTL and focusing the exotic weapons programs that the Germans were developing throughout WWII. Sorry, I cannot say anymore and have to be rather tight-lipped about the details in this early state of development. Keep watch as E3 of 2003 should be its major unveiling.

LH: Yes, the new title tells a compelling story that drives the action from mission to mission. It is also geared for the console gamer but has many features that sim lovers will find very captivating. In terms of research, thankfully, we had an extensive library of books including many aircraft manuals and pilot biographies that are a rich source of information and inspiration. This library becomes the rich ore from which we mine our story. Much of this material had been collected during the development of our previous trilogy of WWII games, but we have significantly augmented it over the past 9 months. With the resurgence of interest in WWII there has been a recent wave of wonderful new published material. One of the primary design goals is to create a plausible, believable plot and set of characters, so research is an essential and welcomed part of the design process. And, of course, many of us love to have a good excuse for buying model kits and painstakingly assembling and painting them.

LH: The current state of storytelling varies greatly, but I will make one observation or personal gripe: too many talking heads that go on and on! Most of us fall in love with whatever the new fangled techniques are, pouring them on instead of using them like rare spices. Reminds me of a kid using ketchup. I know, I have two. Most of my practical advice is about the story creation process. First off, get a skilled writer involved as early as possible; this person is as important for a game as it is for a movie project that requires the services of an expert screenwriter. Use an editor; I repeat, use an editor to separate the wheat from the chaff in your screenplay. Show; don’t tell about the events of the story. In other words use action not talking heads to convey the events. Think carefully about the method of delivering the storytelling and how it will affect the pace of the gameplay. No one likes a long, lumbering cut-scene no matter how much it cost to create. Did I already say to edit, edit, and edit some more until your story is as concise as possible? And lastly, of course, a good story is about an interesting character solving a compelling problem, without that, you’re sunk.

MC: Are there any stories or ideas that you’ve ever contemplated for a game, but decided it just couldn’t work either from a design perspective or a marketing perspective?

LH: A couple of tips: don’t be a perfectionist with the fans. You will absolutely never satisfy everyone all the time. Listen to them and respect them. Even more, respect the material; immerse yourself and the rest of the team in it. Establish for yourself a strong sense of what the license’s quintessential elements are and deliver on them as one of your top priorities. And, finally, have a balanced team working on licensed property. Include some fanatics who know every detail of the property and are your experts, but, just as importantly have a number of seasoned, passionate developers who know a good game when they see it instead of knowing every line, every shot from every scene of the license. As far as feedback, we have generally received tons of comments from fans from the wacky to the sublime. After all, a fan is just a shortened way to say fanatic.

MC: What do you see as the next big development in the games industry? Do you foresee any particular trends?

LH: This will probably come off as highfalutin, but I would like to steer myself more toward games that enrich and improve people’s lives as well as entertaining them. One of the most satisfying moments of my entire career was reading a letter from a particular fan. It was from a son writing about how his father was affected by playing SWOTL. His father had recently been stricken by a stroke and had become partially paralyzed. He was recovering the use of his hands and arms by spending hours upon hours using a joystick while playing SWOTL. This type of impact is the ultimate reward.

MC: Game developers come and go, but you’ve been at it – and successfully so – for almost 20 years. How do you balance your president-of-the-company duties with your creative director/lead designer/project lead/programmer duties? (Talk about multi-tasking!) And if you could narrow your success down to three key elements, what would they be?