2. Let’s deconstruct a game most of us have played.
Analyze:
Player Experience: Aesthetics
Foundational Elements: Mechanics
Structural Elements: Procedures, Rules,
Objectives, Resources, Conflict, Outcomes
Dramatic Elements: Challenge, Premise,
Character, Story
Dynamic Elements: Objects, Properties,
Behaviors, Relationships
Review of Past Concepts
3.
4. Playcentric Design Process
Involving the player in your design process
from conception to completion.
Setting Player Experience Goals
Prototyping and Playtesting
Iteration
Tracy Fullerton
6. Step 1: Brainstorming
Set player experience goals
Come up with game concepts or
mechanics
Narrow down the list to the top three
Write up short, one page description of
each
Test your written concepts with potential
players
7. Step 2: Physical Prototype
Create a playable prototype using pen and
paper and other craft materials
Playtest the physical prototype
Modify physical prototype until it meets
player experience goals
Write 3-6 page gameplay treatment
8. Step 3: Presentation
Presentation is often made to secure funds
to hire the prototyping team
Your presentation should include demo
artwork and a solid gameplay treatment
If you do not get funding, get feedback
from your funding sources about what to
modify or start over again
9. Step 4: Software Prototypes
Create rough computer models of
gameplay
Playtest the prototype
Modify prototype until it achieves your user
experience goals
10. Step 5: Design Documentation
Use the notes you’ve been taking during
prototyping (you have been taking notes,
haven’t you?!) to create a first draft design
document
Work with team members to make sure the
design is achievable and correctly described in
the design document
Some designers now prefer creating a wiki to
a static design document
11. Step 6: Production
Staff up and create real artwork and
programming
Don’t lose sight of the playcentric process
during production! Continue playtesting!
If the designer waits until production to
really start designing the game, it can lead
to all sorts of problems!
12. Step 7: Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance, or QA, is the testing of
your game by professional testers
Make sure your gameplay is solid before
your game goes into QA!
13. Your Class Project
1. Write A Concept Proposal
2. Prototype The Core Mechanic
3. Add Structural Elements
4. Add Dramatic Elements
5. Balance the Dynamic Elements
14.
15. Ideas
All games start out as ideas.
Some games come from one
powerful idea, but most are
formed by combining many
ideas to create a unique
whole. It’s very possible that
initial ideas will be (or should
be) abandoned, and lots of
new ideas will be considered
during the process.
16. Inspiration
Ideas don’t come out of thin air. Game designers are
influenced by personal interests and hobbies.
Spend a significant part of every day doing something
other than playing games:
Read a book
Go see a play
Listen to music
Exercise, draw or sketch
Study a new language
Volunteer at a neighborhood organization
17. The Lens of Infinite Inspiration
Stop looking at your game idea, and stop looking at
games like it. Instead, look everywhere else.
What is the experience I have had in my life that I
would like to share with others?
In what small way can I capture that experience
and put it in my game?
Jesse Schell, Lens #11
18. Game Designer’s Notebook
Many designers carry a journal for jotting down their
ideas and analyzing games they’ve played.
19. Stages of Creativity
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes
the classic stages of creativity:
Preparation: Becoming interested in a topic
Incubation: Period where ideas “churn around”
in your subconscious
Insight: The “aha!” moment, where an idea
comes together
Evaluation: Deciding whether the insight is
worth pursuing
Elaboration: Fleshing out the idea
20. Elaboration on Elaboration
Having an idea for a game does not simply mean saying,
“I want to make a game about studying Chinese!”
Games are formal systems, and an idea for a game
usually includes some aspect of that system.
As you work through your idea, elaborating on its unique
elements, it might turn out no one would recognize your
language interests in the final experience.
21. Designing For Innovation
Design games with unique play mechanics – think
beyond the existing genres of play
Appeal to new players – people who have different
tastes and skills than hardcore players
Try to solve difficult design problems like:
Integration of story and gameplay
Deeper empathy for characters in games
Creating emotionally rich gameplay
Discovering the relationships between games and learning
Ask difficult questions about what games are, what
they can be, and what their impact is on us individually
and culturally
24. Brainstorming
A group creativity technique
to find a solution to a
specific problem by
gathering a list of ideas
spontaneously contributed
by its members. In games,
brainstorming is used to
generate a large number of
ideas about game's concept,
mechanics, setting,
characters, etc.
27. Brainstorming Best Practices
State a Challenge
No Criticism
Vary The Method
Playful Environment
Put It On The Wall
Go For Lots of Ideas
Don’t Take Too Long
28. Six Creative Ways To Brainstorm
Six Creative Ways To Brainstorm Ideas
29. Idea Methods
Create Numbered Lists
Index Cards
Mind Map
Stream of Consciousness
Change Your Perspective
Change Your Environment
Mix and Match Categories
Research
Surrealist Games
30. Exquisite Corpse
Write an article and an adjective on a piece of
paper
Fold the paper to conceal it and pass it to their
neighbor
Write a noun on the the paper you were
handed, fold it, and pass it to your neighbor
Repeat with a verb; article and adjective;
finally repeat with a noun
Everyone unfolds their paper and reads the
poems they are holding
31. Now brainstorm your own idea!
Break into two groups of 3-6 and brainstorm
some game ideas.
The challenge is to come up with ideas for
games you can make with GameMaker and can
be done by the end of the term.
Try to generate 100 ideas in 60 minutes.
32.
33. Reasons To Reject A Game Idea
Technical Feasibility
Market Opportunity
Artistic Considerations
Design Experience
Innovation Needs
Marketing Goals
Business and Cost Restrictions
34. Editing Session
Hold an Editing Session on a different day than
your Brainstorming Session.
Edit your list down to the top 5 to 10 ideas and
discuss each thoroughly. Be positive and
discuss the strengths of each idea.
Narrow your list down to 3 ideas and schedule
brainstorming sessions to focus on features and
define the creative center of your game.
35. Take your list of 100 game ideas you came
up with earlier today and narrow it down to
your group’s 10 favorites.
36.
37. Game-Defining Concepts
A “game-defining” concept is as a component,
mechanic, or other design element that is so
closely connected to the identity of the game that
it is inevitably talked about when the game is
brought up.
“King” mechanic in Checkers
Letter-tile combinations in Scrabble
Polyhedral dice in Dungeons & Dragons
Running and gunning in Doom
38. Game-Defining Concepts
What makes a concept “game defining”?
Presenting clever, elegant, or unusual
resolutions to in-game issues.
Showing information in a concise, centralized,
or attractive manner.
Creating tension, or acting as a game’s
primary demand for strategy.
Taking common elements and implementing
them in an original manner.
39. Creative Center
Your game’s creative center consists of two
elements:
The Razor: Determines which features
belong and don’t belong
The Slogan: A catchy phrase that gets
potential players (and the marketing
department) interested in your game
40. Come up with a Razor and Slogan for:
Grand Theft Auto
Call of Duty
World of Warcraft
Candy Crush
41. Take your list of 10 game ideas you came up with earlier
today and narrow it down to your 3-6 favorites (one for
each member of your group).
For each one, come up with:
Game Title
Core mechanic (action/purpose)
Razor (statement defining appropriate game features)
Slogan (statement describing the game’s play value)
Present your ideas to class, and the class will choose their
favorite from each group.
42.
43. Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is a short summary used
to quickly and simply define a product and
its value. The name "elevator pitch"
reflects the idea that it should be possible
to deliver the summary in the time span of
an elevator ride, or approximately thirty
seconds to two minutes.
The term itself comes from the scenario of
accidentally meeting someone important in
an elevator. If the conversation inside the
elevator in those few seconds is
interesting and value adding, then the
conversation will continue after the
elevator ride or end in the exchange of
business cards or a scheduled meeting.
44. Elevator Pitch Structure for Games
Game Title is a game genre
set in premise for target
player. It features core
game mechanics that bring
play value. Unlike
competition, this game
unique differentiation.
45. Example Pitch
Somehow it always falls to
Mustachio to rally his friends for
their many adventures. Run and
jump through a side-
scrolling world made of and
inhabited by blocks. With
mustaches. A world full of action,
puzzles and arbitrary danger that
Mustachio faces boldly with his
mustache-fueled power to
make block duplicates of himself.
What? Cloning AND mustaches?!
You betcha!
46. Tips For A Successful Pitch
Get In The Door
Show You Are Serious
Be Organized
Be Passionate!!!
Assume Their Point Of View
Design The Pitch
Know All The Details
Exude Confidence
Be Flexible
Rehearse
Get Them To Own It
Follow Up
Jesse Schell
Influenced by cars, games, theme parks.
First game, programmer of Girl's Garden for SG1000.
Sonic came about in reaction to Mario, and competition between Sega and Nintendo. Worked with character designer Oshima. Wanted it to be playful, and built characters to match this. Also wanted a smooth surface that the character can run fast on -- in contrast to Mario and jumping.
Character that conveys sense of speed and has attitude. Mari was just an old man.
Big success- and a good mascot for Sega.
Consciously decided to go for the teenage market.
Nights became a critical hit but commercial disappointment. Art as well as entertainment.
Burning Rescue - because a lot of kids want to be firefighter.
ChuChu Rocket - Morocca shaking character
Phantasy Star Online - First MMORPG for consoles. Lowered bar for broader audience.
Although hardware sales stopped, continues making software.