THE MAJOR GENRE

YANTING ZHANG

WHAT IS A GENRE? Genres are categories of game characterized by

particular kinds of challenge, regardless of setting or game-world content.

GAMES Asteroids(action games) Deus Ex(RPG/shooter) Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space

WORLD OF GOO Construction Puzzle solving Unusual physical mechanics.

CLASSIC GAME GENRES Shooter Games Action and Arcade Games Strategy Games Role-Playing Games Sports Games Vehicle Simulations Construction and Simulation Games Adventure Games Puzzle Games

SHOOTER GAMES Takes action at a distance Using ranged weapon. Aiming is a key skill Limited ammunition.

2D SHOOTERS

Awesomenauts, a multiplayer 2D shooter

Viewed from top-down or side-viewfixed first-person

Rare to keep track of ammunition(except for particularly powerful weapons)

3D SHOOTERS

Crysis 3, a 3D shooter with a particularly rich environment

First –person perspective (FPS)Third-person perspective

Gravity sound shadows collisions

ACTION AND ARCADE GAMES Action games

Physical challenges Incorporate puzzle, racesVariety of conflict challengesSimple economic challengesSeldom strategic or conceptual challengesSubdivided into variety of subgenresArcade games

business model of earning money Unwinnable

PLATFORM GAMES

Spelunky, 2D platform game

Supernatural jumping abilityUnrealistic physics

FIGHTING GAME

Skullgirls, a cartoonish fighting game

Reaction timeTiming

Hand-to-hand combat

STRATEGY GAMES Strategic, tactical and logistical

challenges. Economic and exploration challenges Fall into two main subgenres:

Classical turn-based gamesReal-time strategy games.

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES (RPGS) Allow player to interact with a game

world Growing from person into superhero Computer role-playing game (CRPG)

Quest or story of the game and character growth

Quest requires some combatRules define character growth occurs

SPORTS GAMES

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011

VEHICLE SIMULATIONS

Cockpit view of Forza Motorsport 4

Verisimilitude – an apparently close relationship to realityFeeling of movement

Vehicle simulations

Flight simulators Driving simulatorsBoats/

trains,etc.

Civilian MilitaryOrganized

racingImaginary

racing

CONSTRUCTION AND SIMULATION GAMES

Also called construction and management simulations (CMSs)

Farm Ville, a hugely successful browser-based CMS

ADVENTURE GAMES

Heavy Rain

PUZZLE GAMES

A series of related challenges

Recognizing patterns

Logical deductions

SUMMARY Genres are not meant to constrain your

imagination, but they provide a framework for design, a sort of scaffold upon which to build your game without inventing everything from scratch—which lowers some of the risk in designing a new game.