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Game Design

Game Design. EST310/ISE340 Fall 2011 Tony Scarlatos. What makes a good game?. “Games should be easy to learn and hard to master.” - Nolan Bushnell, Atari. Computer Space. Pong. What makes a good game?. People want to play right away.

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Game Design

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  1. Game Design EST310/ISE340 Fall 2011 Tony Scarlatos

  2. What makes a good game? “Games should be easy to learn and hard to master.” - Nolan Bushnell, Atari Computer Space Pong

  3. What makes a good game? • People want to play right away. • Games should be easy to learn. Start playing in a few minutes! People hate to wait. • Keep all players involved, even when it is not their turn. • People love a challenge. • Games should have variety – should be different every time you play. • People want to win. Combine luck and skill so every player has a chance to win. • People learn from playing games - so make learning fun. • Aesthetics - eye catching design. • Interesting content - story, dialog.

  4. Player-centric design methodology • Your player is not you • Beyond mere demographics – age, sex, race, education, income level, etc. • Players have different likes and dislikes even within their demographic (ex. Core vs. Casual gamers) • Various research methods (such as focus groups) can be employed to get data about your target audience • Play testing is an important part of the game development process • “What does the player want to do?”

  5. Bartle’s 4 Player Types

  6. 4 Engagement Styles

  7. Classic Game Genres • Action • shooter and fighting games, such as Doom (often a First Person Shooter - FPS) • Strategy • Risk, Warhammer (known as Real Time Strategy or Turn Based Strategy) • Role-Playing Games • known as RPG’s, can be single player like Final Fantasy, or multiplayer like World of Warcraft • Sims • simulations, typically sports games like Madden NFL, or racing games, like Midnight Club: Street Racing • Construction • building games like Sim City • Adventure • similar to action games except the gameplay focuses on puzzle solving and not combat, Myst is the common example • Puzzle • Tetris is the most commonly cited example

  8. Anatomy of a game • User interface • Core mechanics • Precise rules of the game as symbolic & mathematical model • Interaction model (what the UI is showing) • Camera model (view of the gameworld) • Shell menus and screens • Load/Save, A/V settings • Title screens, credits, cut scenes

  9. Anatomy of a game GAMEPLAY MODE Interaction Model(Controls, Feedback) INPUT ACTION Player Core Mechanics Camera Model(World View) OUTPUT CHALLENGE USER INTERFACE GAMEPLAY

  10. Design process • Concept • Define audience • Determine player’s role(s) • Elaboration • Primary gameplay mode • Design protagonist • Define gameworld • Design core mechanics and additional modes • Design levels • Write story and dialog • Build (UI, game assets, and programming) • Tuning • Test

  11. Game Design Process

  12. Game Design Process

  13. Game Design Process

  14. Platform Considerations • Console • Playstation, Wii, Xbox • Computer • OS X, Windows • Networked or Stand-Alone • Browser-based • Handheld Game Systems • DS, PSP • Smartphone • Android or iOS • Cost of porting the game to a different platform • Royalty collected by the manufacturer (between $3 to $10 per unit for consoles) • Apple collects 30% of the price of an app sold on the App Store • Peripherals? • Joystick, dancepad, Kinect, microphone, custom controller (guitar in RockBand)

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