NILES SANKEY AMA [Destiny 2, Nyan Heroes, Halo]

[Niles Sankey]

Hi, I am Niles Sankey! I have over 20 years of game development experience including some of your favorites like Halo and Destiny. I'm currently working on Nyan Heroes, a locomotion hero-shooter where cute cats pilot giant mechs.

I partnered with Exputer to do an AMA with you all. If you have any questions about being a design director in gaming, working on hits like Halo and Destiny, or creating the competitive hero shooter Nyan Heroes, let me know and I'll be answering today, tomorrow, and Friday!

Official Nyan Heroes Page: Nyan Heroes
X: x.com/nyanheroes
Discord: Join the Nyan Heroes Discord Server!



A list of some of my credited work: Niles Sankey - MobyGames

 

[Sphinx]

Hi Niles. First of all huge fan of your work .

My question is how do you feel about the shift in game development from 2000s to 2020s. Things must've been different from when you were working on Halo as compared to Nyan Heroes or Destiny. With the advancement in technology have things gotten easier or harder? or are they still the same.

Also how do you feel about game development overall from when you first started to now

 

[Gwenievre]

With Concord and Marvel Snap on the horizon, how will Nyan Heroes distinguish itself from the competition? These games appear quite similar in nature.

Do you think Nyan Heroes will attract an audience despite this competitive landscape?

 

[Niles Sankey]

Hey Sphinx.. thank you! Good question.

Yea, a lot has changed.

The industry was a lot smaller 25 years ago. As a result, the teams were typically smaller and the companies less corporate. During my time at Bungie, I saw this change happen in slow motion, right in front of my eyes. When I joined Bungie, we were 70 developers. When I left nine years later, the company was over 700. I started to miss the old days.

I missed the smaller teams. The devs knew each other and we bonded through the shared struggle. It's very difficult to have that culture in a studio with hundreds (or thousands) of people. One of the reasons I joined the Nyan Heroes team was to return to this culture. To work closely with a small team. To feel like everyone plays a key role, and we live or die by our earned success.

Technology has certainly improved, and some things are a lot easier than they used to be.. but that's all relative. Success will always be defined by passion, intelligent choices, hard work, and a healthy team culture

Hi Niles. First of all huge fan of your work .

My question is how do you feel about the shift in game development from 2000s to 2020s. Things must've been different from when you were working on Halo as compared to Nyan Heroes or Destiny. With the advancement in technology have things gotten easier or harder? or are they still the same.

Also how do you feel about game development overall from when you first started to now

 

[Niles Sankey]

With Concord and Marvel Snap on the horizon, how will Nyan Heroes distinguish itself from the competition? These games appear quite similar in nature.

Do you think Nyan Heroes will attract an audience despite this competitive landscape?

Hi Gwenievre. Yep good question.

It's definitely a competitive space (pun intended I suppose).

I can give some marketing lines like, "We have an immersive IP and we're super excited to show everyone the yada yada yada" but my honest opinion is that: It's a fun game. We're launching new playtests with new classes and features every few months. The movement sandbox is great, the weapon augments are completely different from anything else I've played. So there ends up being a lot of strategic augment/movement combos to discover.. some playstyles we didn't even fully understand until the player base discovered them. Our Discord server is fun to interact with.. and it really feels like we're building the game with the fans.

Bottom line, it's free and we're honestly most interested in people jumping in and just having fun.

And yes, there's the web3 aspect to try out. but only if you want, and it's certainly not required to play or compete. IMO it's kinda cool to hook up a digital wallet and see how it all works.

 

[Yacht]

Hi Niles,

Seeing your portfolio you seem to have spent a better part of your game dev journey as a designer. Have you ever thought of moving to another role like a director? or being a lead designer remains your cup of tea.


Also, do lead designers oversee combat designers, level designers, and the rest, or do their work remain separate?

 

[Alex Shepherd]

Working on successful GAAS game like Destiny, what do you think is the key to a successful live service game.

 

[Niles Sankey]

Hi Niles,

Seeing your portfolio you seem to have spent a better part of your game dev journey as a designer. Have you ever thought of moving to another role like a director? or being a lead designer remains your cup of tea.


Also, do lead designers oversee combat designers, level designers, and the rest, or do their work remain separate?

Hi Yacht,

I've been a director on smaller indie projects. I built a game series called Asemblance, if you're interested in seeing some of my solo work. But this is quite different to being a director on a larger project.

Currently I'm "Design Director" on Nyan Heroes. I think people might assume this means I make all the design decisions, but not really. My job is more to empower the combat, level, systems, and economy designers. I try to ensure our designers have what they need to succeed, and are working well with other departments (and each other). I also focus a lot on bridging communication gaps, which is quite challenging in a fully remote studio where the team is located around the world. My day begins around 4am and ends in the early afternoon, since most of the team is located in Europe.

 

[RedPhantom70]

In the current situation of the industry do you think its wise to open up an indie studio or should one still stick with a known studio?

 

[StellaK]

To get into the games industry today what would should be the basic qualifications or knowledge one should have?

I know there may be a lot of tips out there but I wanted to get some insight from some who has been in the industry for decades

 

[Herman.GG]

In light of the recent Bungie layoffs in spite of the success of the Final Shape.

Would you encourage aspiring devs to enter the the industry as it seems no matter where you land there is always a chance of getting laid off, including studios that are successful in such competition

 

[Killjack]

As a full-time dev how much time do you have to game weekly? Also what is your favourite of 2023 and 2024 so far

 

[Kathreyn]

If it's fine can you name some of the major inspirations behind Nyan Heroes?

[Hard mode: You can't reply with cats]

 

[Noryan]

As an aspiring dev myself what are the qualifications to become a designer for a video game?

Is it like you get in through junior programmer and rise up the ranks or do studios look for specific qualities or qualifications when selecting someone for the role of lead designer/level designer/ mission designer?

My second question is how did you come to be in a designer role and what were some of the games that inspired you to get into it

 

[Niles Sankey]

To get into the games industry today what would should be the basic qualifications or knowledge one should have?

I know there may be a lot of tips out there but I wanted to get some insight from some who has been in the industry for decades

Hi StellaK,

My advice on getting into the games industry:

1. Choose an area of expertise.. and do it well. That could be art, programming, or design. Each of those has its own suite of tools and knowledge base. Then choose a game engine (Unity or Unreal.. probably the latter) and start learning that. Apply your craft in engine and build a portfolio. Share your work and improve based on feedback.

2. Learn how to effectively communicate. This is a skill that works for almost any job (not just game dev).. and yet so few people seem to good communication skills. Learn how to better format email and written communications (bullet point lists are always a good method to parse complex text discussion). Learn when to talk and when to listen.

3. Be persistent in your pursuits. And be patient. So many opportunities are a matter of skill, but also timing and luck. Be willing to accept lesser jobs in the pursuit of learning. My first job was at a small farm town in the middle of rural America (I had sent out 50+ job applications and received 1 reply , so I took that job). The game was terrible (it never shipped) and the project was doomed to fail. But I met a handful of talented people there, we worked together and helped each other, and years later, we all ended up at Bungie working on Halo. In retrospect however, those years in the small farm town were some of my favorite.. so be open to opportunities that might seem "un-ideal"

 

[Niles Sankey]

As an aspiring dev myself what are the qualifications to become a designer for a video game?

Is it like you get in through junior programmer and rise up the ranks or do studios look for specific qualities or qualifications when selecting someone for the role of lead designer/level designer/ mission designer?

My second question is how did you come to be in a designer role and what were some of the games that inspired you to get into it

Hey Noryan,

I answered a question from StellaK that covers some of these.

There's typically two routes for senior developers. There are "Principals" which are more like the Navy Seals of developer; the 'best of the best' that continue to build content. Then there are "Leads", which are more like Generals. They do less content work and more coordination of teams, organizational/strategic planning, and management. In both case, you want people in these roles with years of experience. (Note: some companies define Leads/Principals differently, but the above is how I've typically operated)

To answer your last question: Back in the late 90s I purchased a copy of Unreal, specifically because I was interested in the editor. I spent a year learning and then joined a mod team that was building an Unreal version of Team Fortress Classic, a game I LOVED playing. Nyan Heroes is a descendent of Team Fortress Classic. I haven't really thought about it until now, but I guess my career has come full circle.

 

[Niles Sankey]

If it's fine can you name some of the major inspirations behind Nyan Heroes?

[Hard mode: You can't reply with cats]

Hey Kathreyn,

The answer is.. "Cats"!

j/k

Nyan Heroes' biggest inspirations are probably Overwatch and Titanfall. But we also often look to Apex, sometimes consider The Finals, and more recently, Warframe.

We try to find inspiration from our favorite aspects of our favorite games.. and then decide how that can help inform our design (and art direction). We also have our unique features (e.g. Weapon Augments) that are completely original. We also have some brand new completely unique features coming in the next playtest, so we're looking forward to that reveal!

But actually, the real answer is "Cats"

 

[LIONT4MER]

Hey Niles!
I'm a huge Destiny player ever since D1 back in 2014 and seeing as how you worked on it for a long time even into D2.

I noticed you were a design lead on D2 and Witch Queen, one of my favorite expansions!

I wanted to ask you, with the Witch Queen campaign, what was the design philosophy behind the missions in the campaign because they were arguably a step up from shadow queen, was there a different thought process behind designing Witch Queen's campaign to make it stand out to players? If so let me know!

Thank you for your work and contributions btw!

 

[Niles Sankey]

In light of the recent Bungie layoffs in spite of the success of the Final Shape.

Would you encourage aspiring devs to enter the the industry as it seems no matter where you land there is always a chance of getting laid off, including studios that are successful in such competition

Hey Herman,

I don't have any specific insight into the situation at Bungie. Most of the people I worked with had left the company years ago. So I can't really speak on this from an informed perspective.

Beyond that, it's difficult to give you an answer. The game industry has always been a mixture of good and bad companies. Even if we were to assume that all companies act in good faith, games are incredibly expensive to build and the risk of failure is very high. This has always been the case, unfortunately.

My advice: Whichever path you choose in life, always plan for the worst case scenario. Always have a backup plan. Work hard, learn, preserve your integrity, and keep fighting the good fight.

 

[obaid]

Nice to meet you Niles!
I ve been playing Halo since my highschool days on the 360 and even now replayed it with the MCC Collection

My question may be technical but would love your insight!

Halo has always had a mix of relatively open-ended levels mixed with linear, close quarter encounters. Do you consider the open world nature of the recent Halo Infinite from 343 to be a natural evolution of the formula?