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Team Spotlight: Steve Williams, Sr. Game Designer

Writer's picture: Priscilla FirstenbergPriscilla Firstenberg

As a young kid I got a chance to work with computers and new internet tech really early on by dumb luck, and also designed realworld games that at one point included a couple hundred kids at my high school campus.


The high school game was called "Cup Wars" and two people would draw pieces from a cup and that was your army and then some dice were rolled and there's your game. Kids would schedule a time to meet up at the bike racks (seriously), and I would bring the cup and we'd have a war. After a while we had knockoff pieces being snuck into the game, and I even made a primitive DLC with some special pieces you could buy from me for a dollar.


Somehow it never clicked that this was my destiny and so I put on my serious eyes and decided to study real things. 



As an extremely curious person I got my start in the sciences and was set to become a geologist and walk around and lick rocks and hike all over the West hitting rocks with a hammer. But life decided that it would just be a hobby and I moved to education, working with very little kids to not so little kids all the way up to adults (the biggest kids).




I worked in Montessori education but also ran some weekend and night classes on basic rocketry and "how to think science things" for the local community college. At one point I worked at a science museum blowing up stuff for the masses. Lots of fun science and rad students for a stretch.


At some point I realized I really didn't want to teach anymore (an extremely common occurrence in the field) and went to see if there was a new career for me. To make ends meet I became a customer service rep for an MMORPG, got moved into being a digital actor, and from there game designer and then lead game systems designer in something like 6 months (the game industry was very different back then). Since then I've done a lot of lead design and management in design as well as all the fiddly bits and razzle dazzle that make games go.

Twenty years happened with a bunch of games and now we're back to the start of this blog.


I like to go deep into the wilderness, what with a geology background and all. I used to backpack and camp once a month but now I focus on my garden. There's still a bunch of kayaking, which is just hiking on water. My background also includes the performance arts, and I love all forms of artistic expression on screen or stage, and the more it challenges society –  the better. Life has been an adventure!


Pie Trap is a great fit in this world of remote work during these trying times in the game industry. The vision behind the game is a blend of game genres in a way that is going to be a lot of fun.


Near the beginning of my career, before I'd ever worked on Indiana Jones or Stargate or DC Comics, I was asked a question I think about a lot here.


"Your idea is niche, Steve. Don't you want to make a game that millions will love?"

At the time I replied that I would rather build a niche game with 50 thousand true fans and supporters than a million people checking off a box on their game backlog. And it's still true. There's a few ways you can think about game designers. I like to use the idea of the toymaker versus the clockmaker. Some designers make clocks, intricate and beautiful, but cold and utilitarian. A clock works for everyone, but no child will ever love a clock. Some designers make toys, messy and confusing, but warm and imaginative. A toy finds the right person to love it, and every child loves a toy. Clocks will tell you time, but a toy is a dream made real.


It's time to close this blog post, and I wanted to finish with a bit about my specific role as the game designer here at Pie Trap. There's been guidance from Pri and our narrative team about the shape of the game that they envision and how each of our roles work together. After taking that guidance I went into a cave and after a time emerged, with a longer beard but a good idea of what we want to do and a bit about how to get there. I like to say I'm the "forage" side of Forage Friends, but really this is not how it works behind the scenes.


The primary job of the game designer is to be a good communicator. The irony is the main job of a designer is to go around and try to convince everyone to make the things they are thinking about.

What I'm thinking about is Forage Friends.


You can find me on the Forage Friends Discord server, just ping me and I'm happy to chat (until we get super busy of course).


My website is www.stevewilliamsgames.com, but you've gotten the gist here.


Until next time!


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