Game Design

Clearly game design is not a subject easily covered in one blog post. Whilst on the surface it may seem feasible to provide a simple explanation of the term, it is in fact more complicated.

Gameplay in its broadest sense refers to the design of a game and the process by which you partake in it. The different dynamics by which you can participate in a game thereby rendering it fun to the player.

Let's take the simplest of games. Tic-tac-toe. The only real variable here which the player has control over is the placement of their assigned symbol for that turn. For whatever the player puts in, they have to get something out. In simple games such as this example, they win or lose. Fast forward to the present day and the number of inputs is ten-fold. Although generally you still win or lose by means of progress or whether you can or cannot 'beat' a game, individual inputs don't necessarily carry this outcome.

Gameplay needs to be somewhat rewarding and there needs to be a careful balance between what the player puts in and what the player gets out. This could relate to things such as difficulty setting, how well the controls relate to intended actions and the overall flow of the game. Each is a subject for analysis in their own right, but for now they bring us to the question? Can you just throw these elements together and get it right?

Well no.

You need a game designer/s to produce a coherent whole. To take the concept of the game and the limitation imposed by technology and adjust and tweak the mechanics accordingly. A lot of games have a beta stage where they are play tested, and in this stage designers will often go back in and change aspects of the game. With the Halo 3 beta, designers gathered data, and based upon it were able to tone done some particular guns in the game which were too overpowered. By doing this, they balance out the flow of the game. Meaning someone with said gun will not monopolise the scoreboard due to its overpowered nature rather than raw skill.

In a developer making games, game design should be a considered throughout. Not just at the beginning. Everything that goes into the game contributes to how it plays. For instance level design, until you actually get into the level you might not realise certain doors are too narrow, or gaps are too wide etc.

Game design should outline gameplay roughly at the start, and then concepts can be produced with this in mind. But then once built, it has to be play tested to loop back and starts again to refine the playing experience. It's all about balance.

In simply card games such as trumps, you could have tons more rules and combinations, but would it make the game more fun, or would it just serve to confuse and alienate players?

Balance is the key.

No single person should be responsible for this simply because it is not going to be played by just one person. Everyone working on the game and outside testers should contribute to provide the best possible representation of the populous.

Thankfully today's genres provide a basic starting point for games.

When outlining a game project, if you know what type of genre you are marketing it as, then by looking at peer games and by drawing on the history of games you can incorporate a few basic principles relating to that genre.

Personally I don't particularly analyse the game play when playing a game, but having said that I can quickly feel if a game has good or bad game play or not. I imagine this is pretty easy for most people that play games commonly. It's one of those innate human abilities to tell if something works or not. If you've played enough games, and know what genre you're playing etc then due to your preconceptions you are pretty well versed to assess if the gameplay works or not.

With this in mind though, it is incredibly hard to be original seeing as we have no ground upon which to judge originality. This is true in life generally though.

A gaming example would be SKATE.

When first announced I was intrigued as a fan of skateboarding games (namely Tony Hawks series) but wasn't sure about the control scheme. When I first had a go at flicking the analogue sticks around, my first thoughts primarily were that it was very different from Tony Hawks. And more importantly it didn't feel right. Having said that, fortunately for EA the controls had good design behind them, and those open minded enough soon adapted. Personally now I could never go back to Tony Hawks seeing as SKATE just makes more sense.

Crazy Huh?