The Design Process
by Masaki Oyata · 01/27/2012 (1:06 pm) · 6 comments
One of the thing a lot of designers forget is that not everyone will like the same type of game you do. I usually start with a concept that I see or remember from my childhood. It is a great place to find inspiration. Once I get that spark I run with it and try to picture in my head what it should look like and how the game plays.
Once I got that in mind I bounce the ideas off of someone. They usually can help with sparking more ideas and streamlining the gameplay to incorporate fun into it. My idea could be great, but doing this helps me craft it into something more. Using this process has worked well.
I am always worried about how the person will interact with the game via controls. My education in usability for websites and overall experience playing games helps to craft that.
Balancing depends on how "evil" I want to be with the difficulty. I was a kid in the height of the NES era. I played Contra, and could beat it without dying. I like to make things challenging, you get a sense of accomplishment when you beat a difficult game.
This is just a few of the things I do when I am thinking of designing a game. I also think about a lot of possibilities in my head. All of the feelings I had when I played certain games I have kept for research.
I don't always use a notebook, so I have to be good at cataloging them in my mind. Feelings are much more easier to remember experiences with.
I would like to know some of your process when you start designing game.
Once I got that in mind I bounce the ideas off of someone. They usually can help with sparking more ideas and streamlining the gameplay to incorporate fun into it. My idea could be great, but doing this helps me craft it into something more. Using this process has worked well.
I am always worried about how the person will interact with the game via controls. My education in usability for websites and overall experience playing games helps to craft that.
Balancing depends on how "evil" I want to be with the difficulty. I was a kid in the height of the NES era. I played Contra, and could beat it without dying. I like to make things challenging, you get a sense of accomplishment when you beat a difficult game.
This is just a few of the things I do when I am thinking of designing a game. I also think about a lot of possibilities in my head. All of the feelings I had when I played certain games I have kept for research.
I don't always use a notebook, so I have to be good at cataloging them in my mind. Feelings are much more easier to remember experiences with.
I would like to know some of your process when you start designing game.
About the author
I graduated college with two degrees. One in Interactive Digital Media and the other is in Game Development. I have been involved in making two games both which I am proud of. I am working on a game for the iOS platform.
#2
01/29/2012 (11:08 am)
I do a bunch of research on what type of game I want to make, I get as creative as possible jotting down every idea regardless of how impossible or unrealistic it can be to push my creativity to the limits. Then I think of all the different game dynamics I can throw into this type of game, then I work out the game mechanics. From this I come up with a feature list and then I start subtracting from that feature list or in some cases adding to if my creative process wasn't that large. Once I have my genre, concept, and feature list down pact I make a rough prototype, and I do mean rough. Stick figures and geometric shapes type rough. From there I get a feel for the game, get the code working and decide if it's something I can artistically do or should I call a few friends up. If I can sell them on it we go into production if not it goes in the dungeon of things I'll get to later. Pretty much what I was taught in college besides a few things I learned in books. Oh one more thing I have a book that I treat as my game design bible and I have game designers that I read on to keep me thinking towards the future of games and game design. 
#3
Here are some games that I think add value:
1. Games that tend to include the people in the same location as you. Family type games that are most fun with a bunch of people. From what I can tell Nintendo is making games like that for the Wii.
2. Exercise games like DDR or Wii games. This gets people off their butt and gets them to stay healthier. It also teaches a valuable skill to some degree.
3. Guitar hero is similar to DDR. They have the potential to teach a skill and get someone to love playing an instrument. Even if the instrument is not 100% accurate it can lead to someone pursuing a passion like music. I have a version that has a drum set. The drum set even has a midi output. That is pretty impressive for a $200 game set.
4. I don't know what it was called, but someone wrote a game for cancer patients. The patient kills cancer cells in the game. When a user played this game their likelihood of recovery was very high. Someday, I want to be in a financial position to create games like this for free. The impact would be awesome!
5. Learning games that teach skills. My kids have some games to learn electronics, physics, and other cool things.
I guess I have switched from the "how" to the "why" of making games.
01/29/2012 (1:45 pm)
I don't think about the design as much as I think about how the game will affect the game user. What does my game offer the user? Will it cause the user to play for too long and let other parts of their life suffer (is the game enabling an addiction)? I want my games to add to someone's life, not take away from their life. Obviously you have to look at the game mechanics, is it fun (20 seconds of fun repeated over and over), but my primary goal is to add value. As a gamer myself I have played a lot of games that did not add any value to my life. The games were fun and exciting and had great graphics, but ultimately it was a time waster. Here are some games that I think add value:
1. Games that tend to include the people in the same location as you. Family type games that are most fun with a bunch of people. From what I can tell Nintendo is making games like that for the Wii.
2. Exercise games like DDR or Wii games. This gets people off their butt and gets them to stay healthier. It also teaches a valuable skill to some degree.
3. Guitar hero is similar to DDR. They have the potential to teach a skill and get someone to love playing an instrument. Even if the instrument is not 100% accurate it can lead to someone pursuing a passion like music. I have a version that has a drum set. The drum set even has a midi output. That is pretty impressive for a $200 game set.
4. I don't know what it was called, but someone wrote a game for cancer patients. The patient kills cancer cells in the game. When a user played this game their likelihood of recovery was very high. Someday, I want to be in a financial position to create games like this for free. The impact would be awesome!
5. Learning games that teach skills. My kids have some games to learn electronics, physics, and other cool things.
I guess I have switched from the "how" to the "why" of making games.
#4
1. How established/competitive is the category?
2. Is this an innovative idea or a better mousetrap idea?
3. What is the competitive advantage?
4. What technology advantage is there?
5. How big is the opportunity?
6. For this opportunity, what are the resources that are needed?
7. What is reasonable to try to make money?
Then, I think about designing the game.
A RPG is much different than a tablet shooter and that will determine what method of design I will use. In broad terms, harder games to design take more preproduction and docs (e.g. RPG) and some games can be made as a prototype and iterated on with little documentation (e.g. side scrolling shooter). And there are many processes in between.
02/03/2012 (2:43 pm)
There are a few things I look at really early in the process:1. How established/competitive is the category?
2. Is this an innovative idea or a better mousetrap idea?
3. What is the competitive advantage?
4. What technology advantage is there?
5. How big is the opportunity?
6. For this opportunity, what are the resources that are needed?
7. What is reasonable to try to make money?
Then, I think about designing the game.
A RPG is much different than a tablet shooter and that will determine what method of design I will use. In broad terms, harder games to design take more preproduction and docs (e.g. RPG) and some games can be made as a prototype and iterated on with little documentation (e.g. side scrolling shooter). And there are many processes in between.
#5
As I said I like to learn, so gathering as much info as I can helps, and I like to share so to throw some helpful info out I joined this web site
www.worldofleveldesign.com Click Here and he has a lot of information on level design and more that I think is helpful.
Thanks!
Mike
02/04/2012 (2:01 pm)
I'v been studying Torque for years now, I love to see all the ideas people come up with and the solutions they give to problems. I agree with Masaki, too many games play "Fair" to let you win, I always wanted a game that cheated or learned how you play or fight and adjusts to your game play so it can kick your butt! OF course a game you can't win gets thrown on the shelf by the players if they get frustrated and can't beat it.. Thus the creation of "Cheat Codes" and stuff.As I said I like to learn, so gathering as much info as I can helps, and I like to share so to throw some helpful info out I joined this web site
www.worldofleveldesign.com Click Here and he has a lot of information on level design and more that I think is helpful.
Thanks!
Mike
#6
On fairness,
Anybody who has worked on a real-time strategy game will know that balance and fairness are a big challenge in development. Surprisingly, the biggest challenge is making the AI act smart but be dumb...what I mean is the computer doesn't worry about interface and has perfect knowledge of the board. It is up to the game designer and programmer to make the computer dumb without doing dumb things. For example, it would be pretty easy for developers to develop the hated "Zerg" rush for Starcraft and run that 100% of the time...rarely would this strategy lose, because it is optimal from a resource and damage point of views. Losing all the time is no fun and arguably bad design.
So, what interests me are the unique features of different genres on game design and RTS games have been the biggest challenge for me.
02/17/2012 (12:07 pm)
On fairness,
Anybody who has worked on a real-time strategy game will know that balance and fairness are a big challenge in development. Surprisingly, the biggest challenge is making the AI act smart but be dumb...what I mean is the computer doesn't worry about interface and has perfect knowledge of the board. It is up to the game designer and programmer to make the computer dumb without doing dumb things. For example, it would be pretty easy for developers to develop the hated "Zerg" rush for Starcraft and run that 100% of the time...rarely would this strategy lose, because it is optimal from a resource and damage point of views. Losing all the time is no fun and arguably bad design.
So, what interests me are the unique features of different genres on game design and RTS games have been the biggest challenge for me.
Torque 3D Owner Tuomas Kaukoranta
Sometimes I want to create games that have never been created before, but those ideas are rarely working so well, and harder to use.