Game Design

 

 

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 What is a game? That is a very abstract, relative question to be answered

From what I read, and my personal understanding of games this question can be answered in many ways. first and foremost, a game is a creative brainchild that has a "fun" objective, set of rules and outcomes to get through the stages from A to B. 

Games are also subjective to the audience. Some people might not like games as they take away from reality of life, while others use it as a means to escape theirs. It can also be used as an education platform for kids and adults.  games can be used to pass time or as a creative workflow for other individuals.

They are a form of art that govern rules which players need to abide by to progress on to the next tasks. They involve decision making that do not give any material gain (unless you are a YouTuber that generates capitol from his/her live gaming stream.) other than a sense of achievement.

Even though they are a simulation of something real, they are just make-believe. For some people, gaming can be seen as an addiction that needs to be controlled and can take over some lives and those people will lose a sense of reality. 

Similarly to games being different to one another, how they are designed, developed and created are also different, depending on the developer, ideas, and software at hand. The process of designing a game is quite similar to writing a book, painting or any other creative medium. It all comes down to your ideas and your development plans.  In order to start this process, we need to understand what a game is and what are the elements that make it a game. What is a game? What are the goals and outcomes? A game doesn't just start off with an idea and that is it, set in stone. It needs to grow and develop. 

Not all ideas will work, you will have to change a lot of the structure and concepts in order to make a game that has a chance of being enjoyable, especially in this day and age with thousands of games being released a year. It will take much trial and error and changes and tears. There will be much writers block and this is the testing period where you must learn to set it aside and do something else while letting your ideas mature, giving some stimulation to your brain.

If you are interested in designing a game there are a number of things to consider from a developer and player point of view.

Who is your target audience? What kind of players do you want to attract

What kind of game do you want to create? horror, action, side-scroller, platform, shooter, etc.

When is the deadline? When does the story take place? 

Where does it take place?

Why this world,character, story? what got you interested and where do you want to see this progress to. 

Would you want to play this game and why would others enjoy it.

For getting the creative juices flowing in generating some ideas, here are some learning techniques the help get started:

• Seeking inspiration

Ideas don't come from nowhere. Like everything else, they need a starting point, inspiration. To begin with, why not open up a few games and play to see what story arcs drive your mind and heart. Ask yourself, "what could you do better to make this game more interesting. What new characters could you bring in to the equation and why." 

While playing and asking questions like these you will be on your way to generating some seriously good gaming ideas.

• Generating Bad idea

This can be fun little task. Purposely  go out of your way to make some bad ideas for a game. From characters, to plot points, to story. This is your battlefield of ideas that you get to choose and throw out any single thought you have, no matter how silly. this can generated some good ideas that you may use down the road and it can mould into something much greater.

• Brainstorm

After you have your basic form of ideas and character plans, brainstorm some additional story and plot concept ideas with some peers or even online tools just to create a workflow environment. This can be in the form of cue-cards, a vision board, story board, comic strip or just a simple mind-map.

Always keep your first ideas simple, you can polish it off and add more to it later, just start of nice and easy and allow it to grow. 

For me the most important thing in all games is the story. I don't care how good or bad the game is visually, if it has a good story I am already sold. So never worry about appearance, get you story sorted first.

Always test your game for bugs or even plot points that make no sense. It is better to do it as you go because polishing it up later can be very very daunting and time consuming so make sure you clean it as you go.

 

Here are some sources I found interesting they are a good few years old but worth the read and take from it what you will: 

"I Have No Words & I Must Design" by Greg Costikyan Link Source

"Organic Nature of Game Ideation  by Annakaisa Kultima Link Source

"Gamasutra" by Lewis Pulsipher  Link Source