Game Design Tips #1

ID:121166
 
Nov 19 2011, 8:00 pm (Edited by moderator on Nov 19 2011, 8:02 pm)
Keywords: design, game

Designing games usually requires you to work with a software, not all the time though, you don't have to use one if you don't want to. These software programs(ex: BYOND) guides you towards building games, and they give you the tools to do so. Now it's up to you, the developer, to utilize these tools. Don't let the limitations of the software hold you back; keep creative control in your hands.

Let's use BYOND as an example here - BYOND makes it very easy to create games in ways that it was designed to make them. This guides you in present directions which are inevitably away from the creative ideas you had in your head. But, is it easy to just design the game in the present way? No. It takes effort to overcome this. Below are some tips you can use to keep control of your game and expand its creativity.

Atmosphere and Mood:: Games don't only consist of magical creatures, fighting enemies, and discovering treasures - one of the most important part of a game is the atmosphere. You should consider what you want the mood of the game to be, will music be an inspiration? Sound effects? That's up to you.

Objectives/Goals: Don't burden the game on just one single objective, goal, or reward. Multiple objectives are better than just one single one.(side quests, activities, e.t.c) For example, earlier today I was playing Saints Row The Third for 4 hours straight, from morning to noon. The game didn't get boring at all because of all of the side quests and activities they had to offer, and you know what was really interesting also? I got rewarded for doing them. Don't let boring game-play mechanics overwhelm the player. The constant seeking of the next objective keeps the player interested and moving forward, and he/she knows that they have an achievable goal coming their way.

Don't design your game for your purposes only: Most of today's games are designed with the individual player(which of course is the developer) in mind. I'm pretty sure everybody like to follow different methods or routines in a game. I prefer going off on a wild goose chase and just slaughter everything in sight, some like to follow quests, others prefer interactions with NPCs(non-playable-characters)... the possibilities are endless! Add all of these elements in your game to give players a box full of options.

"The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.": - quote by Dale Carnegie. Mistakes sometimes pay off in big ways. Use this to your advantage and think outside of the box. If you're afraid of making mistakes you will not experiment to expand your abilities. Get honest feedback from your friends who are playing your game, that's always the key. In class, when I'm writing a program I know when I'm not doing something right and when I am, I get honest feedback from my friends and from my professors so that I know when to optimize my code and what I've been doing wrong - that is what feedback is for! Takes note. You're the only one who can see it. You know everything that happens and you know where everything is; you understand innately how to play. The player doesn't know what's coming up next, and remember, you have to design for that.

Analyzing: Use everything to your advantage. Keep a notebook, loose-leaf, sketchbook, or what ever you want to draw and write your ideas. A blank piece of paper will not limit your imagination. When you make the code2programmer(as I would call it), you will be forced to learn new skills and utilize them. Also, you should keep a notebook with you when you play other people's games, it's not something you should necessarily do, just a suggestion. No, you won't be copying the ideas from that game. But instead you analyze what happens and to write down your own original ideas that come from playing.

IT'S OVER 9,000!: Just kidding, the description for this isn't related to that at all. But really what I mean by this is that you can use tons of stuff to expand your horizons. Confused? Don't be. Let's see... real time world transitions(lolwut?).. every time I play a game, I look at its mechanics. Real-time-world-transitions can vary from anything to static shadows, dynamic shadows, real time lighting(dynamic lighting), static lighting, anything! Then, I think about how I can transition that or code2programmer(see above) it into one of my projects, or how it can be helpful to pretty up my game.

Writing Pseudocode: I do this all the time. This is basically displaying your code so that you can understand it(human language?) before you write it in the technical way.

Example
    Walk four steps south.
    Then walk east three steps and stop.

That's it for today. Stay tuned next time for Game Design Tips #2.

Nov 19 2011, 8:01 pm
I have been doing work for my own School Newspaper, along with some other activities that have taken more time than I anticipated. Content will now start to roll out from us once more.
Nov 20 2011, 12:52 am
dat vagueness.

You need more concrete examples and ideas or the average developer of BYOND will misinterpret what you are preaching.
Nov 20 2011, 1:24 am
In response to D4RK3: So your saying it wasn't about the Lord?
Nov 20 2011, 7:21 am
D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
dat vagueness.

You need more concrete examples and ideas or the average developer of BYOND will misinterpret what you are preaching.

Can you please point out the vagueness? I will admit, one part that was lacking information was Writing Pseudocode, besides that, everything else was well explained.
Nov 20 2011, 9:51 am
Magnum2k wrote:
Can you please point out the vagueness? I will admit, one part that was lacking information was Writing Pseudocode, besides that, everything else was well explained.

Example of good atmosphere vs bad atmosphere. How can sounds and music kill atmosphere? How can graphics make or break atmosphere?

When you say analysis, you don't mention anything like number crunching for balance. You don't give any example of what analysis is. How would a designer analyze a game concept or a set of combat data?

All you say is "analysis is more or less writing down ideas on a notepad," which it definitely isn't.
Nov 20 2011, 10:00 am
D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
Example of good atmosphere vs bad atmosphere. How can sounds and music kill atmosphere? How can graphics make or break atmosphere?

That's why I said that's the designer's choice. I can't possibly list everything that's relevant to game atmosphere and expect them to follow it.

When you say analysis, you don't mention anything like number crunching for balance. You don't give any example of what analysis is. How would a designer analyze a game concept or a set of combat data?

If I recall correctly, I did give an example, how game analysis can be used, and how can it be beneficial to a designer.

All you say is "analysis is more or less writing down ideas on a notepad," which it definitely isn't.

You're right. I should have covered more ways of analysis.


Nov 20 2011, 10:47 am (Edited on Nov 20 2011, 10:55 am)
Magnum2k wrote:
That's why I said that's the designer's choice. I can't possibly list everything that's relevant to game atmosphere and expect them to follow it.

I never said to give a list of everything. I said that you need examples of good atmosphere vs bad atmosphere. I realize this sounds like common sense, but look at the typical BYOND game and what they have to offer in terms of atmosphere. It is an area where nearly all BYOND games are lacking.

There will be some who will argue that 3D graphics are needed to convey atmosphere, but that's just incorrect. Forum_Account's A Miner Adventure is a fantastic example of good atmosphere in a 2d game.

If I recall correctly, I did give an example, how game analysis can be used, and how can it be beneficial to a designer.

You didn't provide any examples of how analysis of anything can yield conclusions to help you with designing/developing/balancing a game. You just said write down ideas, which is not analysis in the least.

You do say to "analyze" at the end of your bit on analysis, but saying "analyze" isn't going to convey anything at all. You need to break down the analysis process.

For Example:
1. Combat isn't being played quite the way I intended it to be played. I think it has to do with how the hit/dodge formula works with various characters.
2. I record relevant data and store it in an easy-to-read format
3. I look through the data, possibly with a graph, to look for correlations with my hypothesis, or perhaps look for other trends that I have not considered
4. With these trends I have found in the data, I realize that it was the ineffectiveness of parry/block that was breaking my combat system rather than hit/dodge.
5. I buff parry/block to encourage the type of combat play I had in mind and to make parry/block oriented characters feasible in combat.


I'm not saying that all analysis is like that and I'm not saying that you need to give every example, but at least from the example I've given you can see the line of thought and can take away from this an actual process that you can use to help maintain your game.

This is not "writing down ideas".

The whole point of analysis is to break down a complex system, in my case the combat system, into something that is easy to digest (graphs and charts of data) and evaluate to yield a conclusion (block/parry is underpowered).
Nov 20 2011, 1:12 pm
You should turn each of those paragraphs into an article. Include detailed examples of good and bad things for each topic.

For example, earlier today I was playing Saints Row The Third for 4 hours straight, from morning to noon. The game didn't get boring at all because of all of the side quests and activities they had to offer, and you know what was really interesting also? I got rewarded for doing them.

I'm not familiar with that game, so that paragraph doesn't mean much to me. How were you rewarded and why did that make it not boring? Grinding is boring even though the player is often rewarded (ex: with money and experience), so it's not just the fact that a reward exists that will stop a game from becoming boring.

Also, I have no idea what this means:

When you make the code2programmer(as I would call it), you will be forced to learn new skills and utilize them.
Nov 21 2011, 4:26 pm
Forum_account wrote:
Also, I have no idea what this means:

When you make the code2programmer(as I would call it), you will be forced to learn new skills and utilize them.