A Short Workshop in Game Design

A Short Workshop in Game Design For Better Software 2015

Pietro Polsinelli

@ppolsinelli

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We aim at putting together a basic game design document.

Have writing material ready. Be ready and quick.

Concept

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Some start from

development (“game design is useless”).

Some start from

mechanics.

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I don’t want to influence

you now.

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I would like you to dig from your dreaming capacity.

Because that is a core skill,

there is the value.

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Write down your video game idea. More details, the better.

Total time: 5 min.

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5 minutes

What is a game design document?

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An applied game example.

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There we used mostly pre-defined mechanics.

You can do better.

Two basic blocks

Loops (From Lost Garden)

Arcs (From Lost Garden)

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Concept / Genre

Story Basic loop

Game mechanic

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15 minutes

Game mechanic ideas

See http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TacticalRockPaperScissors

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Piked units defeat cavalry

Cavalry defeats artillery

Artillery defeats piked units

Match 3 (Bust the Dust)

Interactive / generative narrative (Adslife)

Turn based (Flick Kick)

Cards.

Emergent civilizations.

Main character dexterity – and stealth (first person action adventure, Dishonored).

Sport like

Relations and gossip: narrative!

(Kardashian Hollywood)

Geographical exploration – open worlds

(Proteus)

Driving, running, advancing. From horse to tank.

(Goscurry)

Solving puzzles or mysteries.

Point and click. (The Last Express)

Tower defense. (Plants vs. Zombies 1)

War.

Board game like. (The System)

Grids: http://designagame.eu/2014/06/game-development-

unity-2d-part-5-grid-roman-centuriae/

Visual novel role-playing video game.

(Long Live The Queen)

Simulators of any kind. (Goat Simulator)

Cargo Bot http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/

Programming as mechanic.

Is this simple mechanic union relevant only for classical

games?

Union of drawing – racing

Drawing with your finger on the iPad is nice. Racing

with small cars is beautiful.

(Draw Race)

Local multiplayer. (Spaceteam)

Tower defense. Kingdom Rush: applied creatively, effectively.

http://www.slideshare.net/mochimedia/kingdom-rush-behind-the-scenes

Calculords

“Simple” games combining two or more mechanics.

http://www.calculords.com/index.html

Katamari Damaci: simple mechanics + original theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwhFH75OCDs

Game Mechanics Explorer

http://gamemechanicexplorer.com/#fluid-1

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15 minutes

Discuss (one way)

BREAK

Basic refinements

Fund in 3119 of Game Design Prototype

Winning and losing conditions

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Define levels Learn to play

Winning / losing conditions

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15 minutes

Game design pills

How you classify

games?

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Game classification via

Narratology – subject and content

Ludology – game mechanics

From A Taxonomy of Video Games and AI

http://www.aisb.org.uk/convention/aisb09/Proceedings/AIGAMES/FILES/GunnE.pdf 57

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Classify your game

What is Game Feel?

Game feel (Ridicolous Fishing)

Vlambeer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdEqssNZ-U

No, its 240 ms. See this model

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_processor_model as

presented in Game Feel book.

What is AI?

http://bit.ly/agdArtInt

http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/

understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior

Uh we forgot audio …

Sound effects? What are those?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWAaGkZNIBE

The Universe

Is your universe defined by a story, generated when

needed, or … procedural generation http://bit.ly/agdProc

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Scenes & screens

Animations Polish Feel

Audio Universe

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15 minutes

Discuss (one way)

I want more!

Platforms?

The console of the future today

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/21/the-perfect-

gaming-phone/

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Platforms

Distributions Tech requirements

Timing Costs

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15 minutes

Discuss (one way)

How to prototype?

Machinations

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Running game with explanation

http://www.kisslat.com/machinations-lets-get-

started/

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Even if you are not a developer , there is a

lot of work you can do.

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Even if you are not a developer , there is a

lot of work you can do.

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Balancing Excel

as detailed in chapter 11 “Math and Game Balance” of Introduction to Game Design,

Prototyping and development.

HTML5 / JavaScript: example.

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Why Unity? http://bit.ly/agdUnity

Design questions

(optional)

Premise: You are making a game.

- Are there doors in your game?

- Can the player open them?

(MECHANICS)

- Can the player open every door in the

game? (MODEL)

Mechanics example: The Door Problem

- Or are some doors for decoration? (UI)

- How does the player know the difference? Are doors you can open green and ones you

can’t red? (UI)

- Did you just remove the doorknobs and call it a day? (SIMPLIFY)

- Can doors be locked and unlocked? (MODEL)

What tells a player a door is locked and will open, as opposed to a door that they will never open?

(UI)

- Does a player know how to unlock a door? Do they need a key? To hack a console? To solve a puzzle? To wait until a story moment passes? (LEARN TO

PLAY)

Are there doors that can open but the player can never enter them?

Where do enemies come from?

Do they run in from doors?

Do those doors lock afterwards?

How does the player open a door?

Do they just walk up to it and it slides open?

Does it swing open?

Does the player have to press a button to open it?

Do doors lock behind the player? What happens if there are two players?

Does it only lock after both players pass through the door?

What if the level is REALLY BIG and can’t all exist at the same time?

If one player stays behind, the floor might disappear from under them. What do you do?

Do you stop one player from progressing any further until both are together in the same room?

Do you teleport the player that stayed behind? What size is a door?

Does it have to be big enough for a player to get through? What about co-op players?

What if player 1 is standing in the doorway – does that block player 2?

What about allies following you? How many of them need to get through the door without getting stuck?

What about enemies? Do mini-bosses that are larger than a person also need to fit through the door?

And so on... http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-

problem/

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Applied games

definition and

theory

(optional)

An applied game (serious game) is a game designed for

a primary purpose other than

pure entertainment.

Take this as a sort of definition. Hard to say which are not serious. Note

that in effort, style, problematic this changes little.

An applied game is not …

… a game that is just engaging, can’t stop playing it

but has no story, no intended message

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… a game that is just engaging, can’t stop playing it

(for a while, then can’t even

bear seeing it)

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… a collateral game (say part of a viral campaign) that promotes something as it

is sponsored by it

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An applied game (serious game)

is a game that teaches something

complex without declaring its

intentions.

Getting more specific. Teach can be read simply as “experience”.

Transformation process

Friday, February 27, 2015

Category, competition,

avatar, war, reward, levels

Vs.

Inclusive, mentor, path,

story, transformation

A language change. 99

Ian Bogost: gamification is bullshit.

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Parable of the polygons

http://ncase.me/polygons/ 102

Beyond

Become a game designer:

study, prototype, release, loop

Persuasive UIs

Addiction by Design Natascha Schull

http://gelconference.com/videos/2008/natasha_schull

97% is given by the slot machine – study IT

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My twitter stream is mostly dedicated to game design:

http://twitter.com/ppolsinelli

A blog on game design http://designagame.eu

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