COIT23003 Games Development

1. Overview of Game Design

References

• Adams, E. and Rollings, A., 2007. Fundamentals of Game Design. Prentice Hall.

• Bateman, C. and Boon, R., 2006. 21st Century Game Design. Charles River Media.

• O’Luanaigh, P., 2006. Game Design Complete, Paraglyph Press.

What is a game?

“A game is a type of play activity conducted in the context of a pretended reality in which the participant(s) try to achieve at least one arbitrary, non-trivial goal by acting in accordance with rules”

(Adams and Rollings, 2007)

What is a game?

Key elements are:• Play (participatory entertainment)• Pretended reality• Goal• Rules

Exercise

How do the following match our definition?• Cricket …• Big Brother• Monopoly• Grand Theft Auto …

What makes an interesting game?

“Gameplay consists of:– The challenges that a player must face to arrive at

the object of the game and– The actions that the player is permitted to take to

address those challenges”

(Adams and Rollings, 2007)

Video games

“A video game is a game mediated by a computer” (Adams and Rollings, 2007)

• Rules: written rules generally not required• Reality: Normally virtual, can be augmented/

mixed• Gameplay: Needs to planned (level design,

entity behaviour, …). Critical to entertainment value

Video Game Modes

User Interface

Game play

Game world(Core Mechanics)Commands Actions

Perceptions

Responses

Situations

Commands

Game Admin

Situations

Save/Restore

Game Design

“Game design is the process of:– Imagining a game– Defining the way it works– Describing the elements that make up the game

(conceptual, functional, artistic, and others)– Transmitting that information to the team that

will build the game”

(Adams and Rollings, 2007)

Characteristics of Game Design– Is a craft, requiring both aesthetic (art) and functional

(engineering ) elements– Is a complex activity, often involving teams of up to 20

people– requires multiple roles:

• Lead designer• Game designer• Level designer• UI designer• Writer• Art director• Audio director

Approaches to Game Design

Zen game design (Bateman and Boon, 2006):1. There is no single method to design

“the more methods you explore, the more options you have”

2. Game design reflects needs“Game design must be egoless, balancing the desires and

needs of all participants”

Player-Centric Design

“ … is a philosophy of design in which the designer envisions a representative player of a game the designer wants to create, then accepts two key obligations to that player:– The duty to entertain– The duty to empathize”

(Adams and Rollings, 2007)

Player-Centric Design

• In order to entertain, you must empathize, ie imagine how a representative player will respond to all aspects of the unfolding game.

• Avoid– Making yourself the representative player (I am

male, I like xxxx games, ….) – Making the player my opponent (insert example

here)

Phases of the Design Process

0. The ideation phase1. The concept phase

Output: a concept document “a description of game detailed enough to begin discussing it as a potential commercial product” (Adams and Rollings, 2007)

2. The elaboration phaseOutput: a prototype

3. The tuning phaseOutput: a refined prototype

Exercise

Go through the game design template in (O’Luanaigh, 2006)

Game Design vs. Software Design

Same general principles apply, but game design– Is a superset of software design– Requires a greater diversity of roles– Has a greater creative component– Is well suited to an evolutionary/prototyping

approach– Has greater time pressures