What Is Game Design?
Game design is the process of making a game. It involves thinking about the game’s rules and how players will interact. The goal is to make the game fun and interesting. Game design includes the game’s story, how it works, and the controls. It also covers the look, sound, and feel of the game. Testing and improving the game are important steps. A good game has the right balance of challenge and reward. It keeps players interested and wanting to play more. Good game design is simple to understand and fun to play again.
- Player Experience and Emotion
Game design should evoke emotions like excitement, joy, fear, and sadness. The MDA(Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics) emphasizes creating an emotional player experience.
2. Player Agency and Choices
Engaging games offer meaningful choices that impact the outcome. Sid Meier’s principle, “A game is a series of interesting choices,” highlights the importance of impactful decisions.
3. Iterative Development and Player Feedback
Continuous playtesting and player feedback are important. Repeated testing helps improve the game, fix problems, and make it better.
4. Balance and Fairness
Ensure the game is fair and challenging. Balanced game rules keep players interested, making the game harder as their skills get better.
What Is Game Balance?
Game balance is a crucial aspect of game design. It ensures fairness, challenge, and engagement for all players. Balance is achieved by adjusting various game elements. This prevents any single strategy, character, or option from being too dominant. The goal is to create a level playing field. Players should feel their success depends on skill, strategy, and effort. Luck or inherent imbalances should not determine outcomes.
Challenge Balance: The game should be neither too easy nor too hard.
Economic Balance: In-game resources should be managed to avoid excess or shortage.
Strategic Balance: Multiple ways to win should be possible in a game.
Psychological Aspects of Balance
Jesse Schell, in The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses(Medium article where I found the book: The Art of Game Design), emphasizes the importance of players feeling that their victories and defeats are due to their own actions. This means that game designers should create scenarios where the outcomes are clearly linked to the decisions players make.
When players feel that their choices directly impact the game’s result, it increases their sense of fairness and satisfaction. This approach helps ensure that the game is rewarding and that players remain engaged and motivated to improve their skills.
Example with games
Alchemy
Alchemy is a simple puzzle merge game. In the game, you start with a few items. These items are in the form of small photographs. For example, water, fire, soil, air, tree, etc.
The aim of the game is to combine certain items to create new items. For this, you need to put these small items in the empty boxes at the bottom of the screen.
Game Design Of Alchemy
Some combinations are hard to predict, adding an element of surprise. There is a hint system to help you figure out combinations. You get a limited number of hints, making the game challenging and engaging.
Game Balance Of Alchemy
You have three ways to get more hints:
- Time-based Rewards: You receive 2 hints every 7 minutes. This keeps players engaged and rewards them for their patience.
- Ad-based Rewards: You get 2 hints by watching a video. This offers a way to earn hints while generating revenue for the game.
- In-game Purchases: You can buy hints. This option balances the game by offering hints to those willing to pay, ensuring that the game remains free-to-play while monetizing effectively.
This balance ensures that players can progress without feeling stuck while maintaining the game’s challenge. It also provides multiple ways to earn hints, catering to different player preferences and promoting long-term engagement.
Farm Land
Farm Land is a simple idle game where you play as a farmer from an isometric perspective.
At the start, you receive a basic piece of land and some starting resources like corn and tomatoes. To earn money, you engage in agriculture and animal husbandry.
There is a marketer in the game where you sell your harvest.
You plant seeds, water them, and harvest crops.
For animal husbandry, you collect products like milk from cows and eggs from chickens.
As you progress, activities like fishing unlock.
You can hire coworkers to help, expand your land, and customize your coworkers with in-game currency.
You can increase the speed of your coworkers with in-game money. You can change your coworkers’ clothing styles with diamonds.
You can expand your land in the game. The prices of the lands vary depending on what will happen in that area. For example, while an empty land is cheap, a land with a barn can be expensive.
You can speed up the harvest in the game by watching videos.
Matches the ad video warning with rain in the game. When it starts to rain in the game, you cannot play the game. You have to watch a video to stop the rain.
Game Design Of Farm Land
You start with basic land and crops, planting and harvesting to earn money. You also collect milk and eggs from animals. As you progress, you unlock new activities and can hire coworkers, expand your land, and customize your farm. The game emphasizes strategic resource management and engaging tasks.
Game Balance Of Farm Land
Game balance in Farm Land is maintained through various mechanisms:
- Resource Management: You start with basic resources and earn money by farming and animal husbandry. The prices of land vary, adding strategic depth to expansion decisions.
- Worker Efficiency: You can hire coworkers and increase their speed with in-game money, balancing the progression and efficiency.
- Customization and Upgrades: Changing coworkers’ clothing with diamonds adds a cosmetic layer without affecting gameplay balance.
- Ads for Rewards: Watching ads can speed up the harvest, provide money from passing animals, or stop rain that halts gameplay. This balances the need for progression with monetization.
- In-Game Purchases: Players can buy diamonds with real money, which can be used for speed boosts, and customizations, offering convenience without disrupting overall game balance.
This balance ensures that players can progress steadily, make strategic decisions, and engage with the game’s economy without feeling overwhelmed or stuck.
Race Master
Race master is a 3D racing game.
To drive in the game, all you must do is press the screen and keep it that way. To move left and right, you must slide your finger left and right while holding it pressed.
The other thing you can interact with during the race is Nitro. With Nitro, it allows the car to go higher than its current speed for a certain period of time.
There are 4 tabs you can open in the game menu: Store, Garage, Missions, Quests.
You can buy Game Money, Nitro and Shields with in-game purchases from the Store. Shield, ensure that if there are obstacles that may be encountered during the race, the car will break and pass the obstacle without crashing or stopping with Shield.
You can modify the car in the Garage section.
You can improve your car’s Handling, Top Speed, and ACC features by using money in the Garage.
Quests is a section where you complete certain tasks and receive rewards in return.
Missions, offer different opportunities played on different themes than normal race but similar to normal race.
Game Design of Race Master
Race Master is a racing game. Control the car by touching and holding the screen. Slide your finger to steer. Activate Nitro for a speed boost. The game menu has four tabs: Store, Garage, Missions, and Quests. In the Store, buy Game Money, Nitro, and Shields. Upgrade your car in the Garage. Quests offer tasks for rewards. Missions provide themed races with unique challenges
Game Balance of Race Master
Game balance in Race Master is maintained through several mechanisms:
- Resource Management: Players earn money from races and quests, which they can use to upgrade their cars. This ensures a steady progression.
- Upgrades: Players can improve their car’s handling, top speed, and acceleration in the Garage using earned money. This balances the challenge as players advance.
- In-Game Purchases: Players can buy Game Money, Nitro, and Shields. This offers convenience without giving an unfair advantage, as these can also be earned in-game.
- Power-ups: Nitro and Shields add strategic depth. Nitro provides a temporary speed boost, while Shields protect against obstacles, balancing the gameplay with risk and reward.
- Quests and Missions: These provide additional ways to earn rewards and keep gameplay varied and engaging.
These elements ensure that players progress steadily, make strategic decisions, and stay engaged without feeling overwhelmed or stuck.
Summary
Game design creates engaging gameplay with balanced rules and controls. Game balance ensures fairness and challenge. This keeps the game fun and fair for all players.
Thanks for reading :)
