Head Count: Brad Fawaz

Brad Fawaz is a Game Designer with a knack for tinkering. As a teenager, he modded games like Diablo and the classic X-COM games, learning what he could about game design from the tools available. After high school, he graduated from Purdue University with degrees in writing and biotechnology. He started tinkering with games again and eventually broke into the video game industry as a community manager for Zynga before quickly diving into design. When given the opportunity, Brad couldn’t pass up the chance to work on the spiritual successor to another old favorite, Rune. As Senior Game Designer for Rune: Ragnarok, Brad has been designing systems, levels, quests, and more. He loves Human Head’s work environment and the underlying passions we share. Outside of work, Brad enjoys racquet sports, writing, and searching for the best Chinese food Madison has to offer.

Advice for Aspiring Game Designers:

“Start with game editors, try tinkering with maps and other in-game content, and then try tweaking and see if there are other ways to improve the game. Your first design goal should be creating a level, then filling in all the details sprouting from it.”

Three Games that Everyone Should Play:

1. X-COM: UFO Defense / Enemy Unknown - “It has a lot of great points but a lot of great flaws. The UI is challenging for new players - you don’t know what half of the icons mean half of the time - but experimenting with those, seeing the dynamics, and feeling the dread that you don’t have all of the information you need is a very good platform for learning. It’s also a great resource to show that a highly detailed game can actually be very simple in terms of gameplay, combat, etc.”

2. Super Metroid - “There’s an invisible hand that guides players through the upgrade system. Super Metroid is a very well designed game that teaches players they’re not always supposed to know everything right away.”

3. Chrono Trigger - “A very engaging game that breaks standard JRPG convention and weaves in narrative tightly and succinctly. It’s a great experience that shows the depth of what a video game can accomplish.”