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Game Design
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Game design

Games

  • "Voluntary engagement with unnecessary obstacles"

    • Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken

  • Types of games

    • Sports
    • Yard Games
    • Card games
    • Board Games
    • Pinball tables
    • Video Games

  • Verbs -> Game Mechanics -> Player experience

Verbs

  • Verbs are the primary player actions
    • "Jump"
    • "Attack"
    • "Build"
  • What verbs do these games have?
    • Laivan upotus
    • Kirkonrotta
    • Super Mario Bros.

Game mechanics

Playcentric Design Process

  • As we remember from Playtesting, it helps to put player experience first
  • Set goals for player experience:
    • "How should the player feel during this sequence?"
    • Note: For player exp goals, we don't specify how features are implemented
    • Player exp goal example: "Freedom to pursue goals of the game in any order"
  • Try to see your game from the lens of player experience
    • What is the player thinking?
    • What choices are offered? What choices are actually made?
  • Prototype fast & playtest very early
    • Either by creating a playable demo or, if possible, with pen and paper
    • Iterate based on player response

Design for the players

Design for the players, not you

  • In the development process, designers becomes blind to their own games
  • Due to familiarity...
    • designers can make the game frustratingly hard
    • designers can forget to explain things that are obvious to them
  • The only truth about your game is inside the mind of the player
  • If player feedback contradicts with your preconception, it's on you
  • Extra: Create interesting outcomes for player mistakes

Design to guide players

Design for different kinds of players

There are other categorizations as well

  • Honers vs Innovators (see this video):
    • Honers: people who like to perfect a skill
    • Innovators: people who like to learn a broad range of skills

Reasons for players to engage with games

  • Mastery: grown skills in doing/accomplishing a task
  • Autonomy: Ability and freedom to make meaningful choices
  • Sensation: Physical sensations or the new
  • Connection: Feeling connected to others/community

Choices

  • Choices create a possibility space

  • More choices $\Rightarrow$ More assets to create

  • Illusory choices / meaningful choices

    • Sometimes the illusion of choice is all you need
      • Telltale's Walking Dead is often used as an example
    • ...but the illusion breaks when choosing the other option and ending up with the same result

Design to make the game its best possible version

Follow the fun

  • The initial idea for your game might turn out to be boring to play
  • Usually, there is something good, though
  • Follow the fun
    • If some random interaction happens to create interesting situations, build upon it
      • "Players tend to optimize the fun out of game"
      • -> Nudge players towards fun interactions
  • Fun isn't the be-all-end-all of game design, however

Elements that create themselves

Level design

Kishōtenketsu

Intensity graph

Puzzle design

Story design

World design

Character design

  • Recognisable silhouettes!

Visual design

Game design: Some basic principles

Game feel

Good design?

  • What design is good and what is not is usually subjective
  • Some subjective rules of thumb:
    • Good design solves many problems at once
      • (and doesn't introduce new ones)
    • Good design explains itself
      • use real-world analogues: "water puts out fire"
    • Good design fuels creativity
      • complex outcomes out of simple rules
    • Good design creates more good design

Game Design Document (GDD)

Reading

  • Jesse Schell: Art of Game Design
  • Tracy Fullerton: Game Design Workshop
  • Richard Lemarchand: A Playful Production Process
  • Jaakko Kemppainen: Pelisuunnittelijan peruskirja