Abstract
Problem: What can game designers learn from hobbies and disciplines outside of video games?
Approach: Tim Cain reflects on his experiences with reading, tabletop RPGs, writing, cooking, baking, and programming, drawing parallels between each discipline and game design practice.
Findings: Every discipline teaches transferable lessons. Reading and tabletop games are rich sources of settings and mechanics. Writing reveals personal limitations. Cooking and baking illustrate two fundamentally different creative modes — improvisation vs. precision — both of which appear in game development. Programming helps designers think about implementation, not just ideation.
Key insight: Three universal lessons emerge from cross-disciplinary practice: plan early and have everything ready before you start, pay attention to the right things at the right times, and accept that mastering any skill takes time and comes with discovering your own limitations.
Reading and Tabletop Games as Idea Engines
Books can "go anywhere, describe anything" — beyond what movies or TV can do. Tim finds himself constantly asking "how would I make a game out of this?" when encountering interesting settings or mechanics in fiction. He references his video on Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light as an example of mentally converting a novel into a CRPG.
Tabletop RPGs, which Tim has played since age 14, are "brimming with novel system mechanics and unusual settings that still have not been done in video games." They also teach an important constraint lesson: because a human GM and human players must manipulate the rules, tabletop mechanics can't be overly complex. This proves you can achieve a lot without complicated systems.
Card and dice games add another layer of constraint — everything must work within the limitation of cards or dice. Paradoxically, this limitation "results in a lot more fruitful ideas."
Writing and Knowing Your Limits
Tim has tried his hand at writing and discovered a clear boundary in his abilities. Short-form writing — item lore, creature names, narration (he wrote the iconic Fallout opening narration) — he can do well. But that early success was misleading.
When he moved to long-form writing for Temple of Elemental Evil and attempted books, he found he wasn't good at it. Character dialogue in particular has "eluded" him. The lesson: "You will not always be successful, and additional learning sometimes won't make you better at the thing you're trying to do." Knowing your limitations is itself a valuable skill.
Cooking vs. Baking: Two Modes of Creation
Tim draws a sharp distinction between cooking and baking as metaphors for different creative approaches.
Cooking: Improvisation and Constant Attention
Cooking is hands-on, sensory, and improvisational. You learn your tools (stainless steel vs. cast iron vs. non-stick), rely on sight, sound, smell, and taste rather than precise measurement, and vary your approach each time. Tim describes "honing in on a result by observing it really carefully and kind of manipulating it while I'm doing it." You never walk away from something on the stovetop.
Baking: Precision and Patience
Baking demands exact measurement — "if something says use a teaspoon of something, you don't just throw stuff in." You put it in the oven and leave it alone; most of the interesting action happens at the end, when you check doneness by looking, touching, smelling, and testing with a toothpick. Tim considers himself a better baker than cook.
The Instant Pot Hybrid
Crockpots and instant pots represent a fascinating middle ground: like cooking in that measurement isn't critical (toss things in), but like baking in that you can't monitor progress — you wait until the end to see what happened.
Programming as a Design Skill
Though not on the original question's list, Tim highlights coding as valuable for designers. Programmers "organize their game designs better," and programming-literate designers think about how mechanics should be implemented, not just what they want. They can suggest implementation approaches that allow systems to be reused (e.g., one mechanic handling poison, radiation, and consumables). Tim says he enjoys working with designers who know some code, calling it "a plus."
The Three Big Takeaways
Tim distills everything into three universal lessons that apply across all disciplines:
Plan early. Have all your ingredients ready before you start. Discovering you're missing something mid-process — whether it's butter for a half-mixed bowl or a key system for a half-built game — forces bad compromises.
Pay attention at the right times. Cooking demands constant vigilance; baking demands patience followed by intense focus at the end. Game development has both modes. Sometimes you watch closely, sometimes you listen to feedback, sometimes you go by gut feel — "this mechanic is in as described, but it's not feeling right."
Accept that mastery takes time. "You don't become a good baker overnight. You don't watch people bake on TV and then become a good baker." You will mess up, and you will discover limitations. That's part of the process.
References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM3tSFuB4eM