How the designers of GoldenEye 007 made use of “Anti-Game Design” – Ars Technica (2022)

TITLE
How the designers of GoldenEye 007 made use of “Anti-Game Design”

AUTHOR
Alyse Knorr

PUBLICATION
Ars Technica

YEAR
2022

ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt

FROM THE ARTICLE
When [game designer David] Doak first joined the team at the end of 1995, GoldenEye’s levels were just barebones architecture—no objectives, enemies, or plot. After designing the watch menu, he and [game designer Duncan] Botwood started creating a single-player campaign that followed and expanded upon GoldenEye the movie’s narrative—a difficult task, considering the fact that the film’s dialogue about Lienz Cossack traitors and Kyrgyz missile tests went over the heads of quite a few 12-year-olds. Doak and Botwood’s job was to tell this complicated story using rudimentary pre- and post-mission cutscenes, pre-mission briefing paperwork, in-game conversations with NPCs, and mission objectives, which proved the most powerful way to allow players to experience the story themselves.

COMPANIES MENTIONED
Rare

GAMES MENTIONED
GoldenEye 007

EXCERPTED FROM
Boss Fight Books – GoldenEye 007