Games were the main reason I started my journey in programming. Though, it’s only until recently that I actually got into it. One of the books that got me started was ‘Game Design Theory: How to design an impressive game’
First, let’s understand the definition of a game. Generally, game is an interactive learning entertainment with goals and active obstacles which can make the player loses. Usually we would want players to play our games. So, lots of thoughts should be put into the design decisions to keep your game playable yet challenging (unless you’re going for a game like Muck).
You should also make a Game Design Document to make sure that your game doesn’t pry away from the main concept. Though, before we actually start writing up some documents, we can start with getting our initial ideas out and deciding which should actually go into our game. These are the 7 steps you can use to come up with the first draft of your game.
Step 1: Decide what ‘experience’ you want the players to have when playing your game
A game is made for players to play, so deciding on players’ experience is a good start to creating your game. However, don’t just settle with ‘fun’. Use more specific words to describe it, such as relaxing, engaged, frustrated — This can help you visualize what kind of game it will be
Step 2: Choosing the genre of the game
The genre of the game aligns with what challenges the player expects to get. Some general genres are
- Action
- Shooter
- Adventure
- RPG (Role-Playing Game: Adventure + Action)
- Strategy
- Sport
- Simulation
- Puzzle
Step 3: Writing out some basic mechanics for the game
Mechanics are basically how players interact with the game i.e. What does pressing a button do? This should cover all basic mechanics, how player moves, how player fights, some boss and enemies mechanics, etc. This should give a general idea of how the player can actually play your game.
Step 4: Setting the goals of your game
For starters, we can categorize the goal of the game into the following
- Destroy
- Acquire
- Collect
- Problem-solve
- Run away / Go after
- Build
This can be the main goal for now until we go into details later on.
Step 5: What is your ‘Gameplay Pillars’
Following what you have so far, what must your game have in order to be the game you want it to be. List 1-3 things that your game cannot do without, and those are your gameplay pillars.
ex. Kirby must have ‘eating’ mechanic, mario must go through levels and rescue the princess.
Step 6: Prototyping
Now it’s time to see your game in action. You can choose any tools you want; drawing, coding, Scratch — anything to see your ideas up and running. It can be only a slice, one scene, or just an interaction. Enough for you to feel how your game would be like and make any modifications accordingly
Step 7: Details
With the foundations that we laid, we are ready to dive into the details without going all over the places.
- Details about challenges: What are the active obstacles that players have to deal with in order to win? It can be resource control, time, agility, endurance, knowledge, memory, logic, or anything you want.
- Details about the goals: From the main goal earlier, we can define goals by the length of time it takes for players to complete, and don’t forget the rewards! It is what keeps the players going
- Short-term Goal: This is something the players can complete in a short time with small rewards to motivate them towards the long-term goal. This can be daily quests, completing a level, or just passing the day.
- Mid-term Goal: Different from the short-term goals which exist to motivate the players, mid-term goals are used to slow the players down. It wouldn’t be good if the player starts off with all available upgrades — they need to slowly work their way up to get that rewarding feelings when they finally accomplish the long-term goal. This can be upgrading skills, buying new armors, or leveling up for example.
- Long-term Goal: This is the final, highest goal of the game. The player started the game for this, and the reward should be worthwhile as well. For example, the final boss can be the player’s long-term goal, and when they beats it, the final cutscene should be fullfilling.
- Details about Game Progression: There are different theories you can use for game progression; Three act structures, Kishotenketsu, and more (will cover in future blogs!). However, whichever theories you use, you have to consider 3 main parts which can help reduce repetitiveness of the game:
- Story Progression: How the story progress from start to finish, including the climax of the game.
- Gameplay Progression: Unlocking new game mechanics. However, you should keep in mind that if you use new mechanics, you would have to ease the players into it with a well-design tutorial. (See https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/game-design-deep-dive-how-i-rogue-legacy-i-handles-tutorials-without-being-boring#close-modal for a good tutorial reference)
- Character Progression: How the players level up their characters and abilities. This should happen gradually thoughout the game
Other than this, feel free to brainstorm other ideas out as much as possible. After you got plenty of ideas, you can consider depth and complexity to decide what you actually want to add to the game.
- Depth: How much the player’s choices actually affect the game
! Be careful about the illusion of choices, meaning loads of choices but there is almost no affect on the game - Complexity: Quite straightforward, the complexity of the game. How hard it is to understand how the game works.
Focusing one would undoubtedly affect the other. Adding deep choices come with game complexity, making it too simple would also lessen the depth of the game. It is important to weight each idea on how much depth and complexity it adds. Ideally, we want more depth, less complex.
And that’s it! You got a draft of your game! Now, you’re ready to document these details into your Game Design Document, and you’re on your way to creating your first game. Happy Gaming!
PS. Next part is published! Check out ‘Writing a great game design document’ here!
