Level up the guide to great video game design Level 1 NOOBS What is game? Activity in a game Requires, rules, victory condition Video game Playing on a video screen The game ’ s objective A great rule[.]
Level up: the guide to great video game design Level 1: NOOBS What is game? - Activity in a game: Requires, rules, victory condition - Video game: Playing on a video screen The game ’ s objective A great rule of the thumb about a game’s object: able to sum a game ’ s objectives up quickly and clearly Exp boxes: Battleship: sink all of your opponent ’ s ships Operation: successful operations earn “ Money ” Failures set off alarms Mouse Trap: Intricate, Challenge, elaborate -> level up to hard but not clear History’s game: Arcade games were rendered in: - Vector graphics: imgs constructed form lines - Raster graphics: imgs constructed form a grid of dots (pixels) styles of game machines dominated arcades: - Uprights: Cabinets - Coktail Tables: sit down - Arcade cockpit: sit down to further enhance the gaming experience These elaborate arcade games required lots of floor space and were very expensive to maintain LAN- gaming centers combine retail and social space to allow players to play computer and console games on a per- hour basis: Atari 2600, NES, PSX Console game: Nintendo game boy, Sega Nomand, Playstaytion portable Handheld games have a visual display, a processor, and controller, but are small enough to fit in the hands of the player Game genres: - Action: action adventure, action arcade, platformer, stealth, fighting, Beat’emup - Shooter: First person shooter, shoot ‘em up, third person shooter (TPS) - Adventure: Graphical adventure, Role playing game (RPG), Massively multiplayer online role - playing game (MMORPG), Survival/horror - Construction/management: build and expand a location with limited resources - Life simulation: revolving around building and nurturing relationships with artificial life forms - Music/rhythm - Party: Puzzle, sports - Strategy: Real time strategy (RTS), Turn – based, Tower defense - Vehicle simulation: Driving, Flying Makes this stuff Video game teams that produce games are known as developers or development teams - Programmer: Exclusively on tools to help team members build the game more e fficiently, Regardless of the position, a programmer needs to have an excellent understanding of mathematics, - D and - D graphics, physics, particle systems, user interface, artificial intelligence, input devices, and computer networking Make a good living as contractors, moving from project to project as “ hired guns ” , writing code and providing temporary solutions to beleaguered teams - Artist: concept artist: uses both traditional medium and computers to draw game characters, worlds, and enemies Storyboard artists: illustrate the game ’ s cinematics and sometimes elements of gameplay design to be passed along to other artists and animators - D Modelers and environmental artists: build characters and environments using programs such as Maya and 3D Studio Max Texture artists: s literally paint surfaces onto - D models and locations Visual effects artists: create spectacular visual effects using a combination of - D and - D art Art director supervises the work of all the artists while maintaining the artistic vision for the entire project - Designer: System designers, Scripters, Combat designers, creative director - Producer: designers who also managed the work of their team members, all - Tester: Bug & QA - Composer: Writing music for games is somewhat different than writing music for movies Most game themes are either very short or have to repeat over and over again - Sound designer: creates the music for a game, understand the game he is working on and how to create sounds that help the player with the game, positive - Writer: rewrite the design, write dialogue for the game characters and cutscenes, write the games manual and any fictional support material, add some “ star power ” to the back of the box Level 2: Ideas - Where to Get Them and Where to Stick Them 1.Read something you normally wouldn ’ t read: One of the reasons why video games sometimes feel the same is that many game developers love the same stuff There ’ s nothing wrong with liking video games, comics, and movies; however when developers all get their inspiration from the same things, games start to feel the same Take a walk, drive or shower: connections often lead to great ideas, jot down your thoughts Attend a lecture: End up with a notebook full of ideas 4 Play a game, preferably a bad one: Look at the things in the game that were done poorly, several iterations on an idea before it works successfully Regardless of the above, follow your passion Love in the game design What Gamers Want? wish fulfillment, Games should make players feel something that they aren ’ t in the real world: powerful, smart, sneaky, successful, rich, bad, or heroic What is the age of my audience? Why I Hate “ Fun ” Designer Marc LeBlanc breaks down fun into eight categories: Sensation, Fellowship, Fantasy, Discovery, Narrative, Expression, Challenge, and Submission8 Theory of Un - Fun.: too hard, too easy stop what you are doing and take a look at the game Brainstorming: A working brain Something to write with Something to write on A place to work Collaborators, preferably ones who also have working brains Take note, plan, brainstorming Breaking Writer ’ s Block Narrow your focus Time line Take a walk or exercise Deal with something else that may be distracting you Jump ahead to the good stuff LeveL 3: Writing the Story Story engage the player When developing a game story, you will find there are three different types of people in your audience Players that are into your story as it happens 2 Players that want to get into your story in depth Players who don ’ t care what the story is at all There are several ways to approach naming your game They include: • The literal title • The action/cool title • The punny title • The “ purple cow ” title A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages, A Few Pointers on Writing for Kids of All Ages, Writing for Licenses LeveI You Can Design a Game, But Can You Do the Paperwork? Crunch time reminds me of boiling: a frantic burst of energy and effort to get everything in and running Game polishing and bug squashing reminds me of chili simmering Chili isn ’ t ready the moment you finish assembling it Bugs, code, art and design problems with the game, need to be found and fixed There are actually four documents that will guide you through preproduction: The one - sheet The ten – pager The beat chart The game design document Writing the GDD , Step 1: The One -Sheet Game title • Intended game systems • Target age of players • Intended Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating • A summary of the game ’ s story, focusing on gameplay • Distinct modes of gameplay • Unique selling points • Competitive products ESRB Ratings eC (Early Childhood): contains no material parents would find inappropriate E (Everyone): may contain fantasy, cartoon or mild violence, and infrequent use of mild language E10 (Everyone 10+): may contain more fantasy, cartoon or mild violence, and mild language and suggestive themes T (Teen): may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, and infrequent use of strong language M (Mature 17+): may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and strong language AO (Adults Only 18+): not suitable for people under 18 — may contain prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content, and nudity Competitive products (or “ comps ” ) are games that are similar to your game design idea that have already been released Unique selling points (or USPs) are the “ bullet points ” found on the back of the box Writing the GDD , Step 2: the Ten – Pager ten - pager is a “ broad stroke ” design document that lays out the spine of your game The Rule of Threes History has observed that all good things come in threes Don ’ t believe me? Observe! • The Holy Trinity of Christianity • The Star Wars trilogy (the original good ones) • Goldilocks and the Three Bears • Three ’ s a crowd • Asimov ’ s three rules of robotics • Three Men and a Baby • Getting to third base The logic behind the rule of threes is this: • The first example gives the reader an idea of what you are talking about, but can still mislead them • The second example gives the reader something to compare or contrast the first example with • The third example gives another example that can complement or contrast the other two, keeping your examples from feeling binary or contrived • Anything past three just gets too long and boring: never be too long or boring Ten - Pager Outline PAGE 1: TITLE PAGE • Game title • Intended game systems • Target age of players • Intended ESRB rating • Projected ship date LeveI The Three Cs, Part — Character e “Three Cs” : Character Camera Control Give the player options for personalization Allow the player to customize any of the following: • Name: not just of character, but of weapons, vehicles • Appearance: hair/skin/eye color, ethnicity, height, weight • Clothing, armor and gear: style, color, texture • Vehicles: paint job, weapon and tech load outs, decals, hubcaps, even the thing that hangs from the rear view mirror • Home base: furnishing, lighting, decorations Use metrics to determine: • Height: the height of the player character • Width of passage: usually wider than the player character • Walking speed: how far the player travels per second or unit of time • Running speed: same as above, but faster • Jump distance: usually farther than a walk, but not as far as a run; can also be based on the player ’ s width (such as player units across) • Jump height: based on the player ’ s height — a jump is half the player ’ s height, while a double jump can be twice as tall as the player • Melee attack distance: usually not much farther than the length of the player ’ s arm and weapon • Projectile distance: this can be as short as the player’s reach or width to as far as the player can see • Weapons: appearance, decoration, ammo loads, special effects there are five major ways to jump: • Single jump: The player jumps once — either vertically or horizontally • Double jump: a second vertical or horizontal jump that is chained after the initial jump • Triple jump: a third jump that can be done after the second jump, usually requiring something for the player to bounce off of and most often horizontal • Contextual jump: an “ automatic ” jump that happens when the player approaches a pre - tagged area such as a ledge • Wall jump: a special case jump that is performed after the player jumps “ into ” or towards a wall Hoists and Teeters Hoists and teeters are two very useful tools for players to help them get around and avoid dying What Goes Up, Must Fall Down Be Kind to Our Four - Legged Friends Using All of the Parts Movement, Appearance, Inventory, Weapons We Are Not Alone: the character is playable or a companion