Warren Spector Uses Zelda as a Lesson in Classes at Denius-Sams Gaming Academy

In a recent interview with Warren Spector conducted by Nintendo Life, Spector reveals that he discusses Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto in his beta 1.0 class of the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy. Spector shares that the program has a unique focus on leadership and management – not how you make a game. “It’s how you build a great team, how you create and communicate and safeguard a creative vision, and how you lead a team to greatness”.

During the interview, Nintendo Life asks Spector about the role Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto plays for teaching purposes of the unique program.

Nintendo Life – Specifics: Focusing on Nintendo, have you ever used any Nintendo legacy games, let’s say Link to the Past, Super Mario 64, and used them as an example for design to your students today?

Spector – Well remember, it’s not really a design program, I think a lot of the students were really kind of disappointed about that. It’s explicitly leadership and management.

Nintendo Life – Okay, so same concept.

Spector – Well, there are a couple of answers to that. We certainly talk about Mr. Miyamoto, and how even when he is not the director of a game, he still exerts his influence. And we talk about how you can do that, when you’re not the person in the trenches, with the team, guiding the creative vision on a single game, how do you still exert your influence? So we talk about that. We certainly talk about…I’m a Link to the Past guy. It’s maybe my favorite game. And so we talk about, in the Zelda games, how do you get that feeling of exploration in the context of a game that’s really about solving puzzles. Everything is kind of pre-planned. So how do you actually get that feeling of exploration and the magic of feeling like you’re exploring the real world?

Check out the link below to read the full interview, and tell us what you think in the comments!

Source: Nintendo Life