Slides for a short interactive workshop in game design. Exercises start from the game concept getting progressively more in detail.

1. A Short Workshop in Game Design
For Better Software 2015
Pietro Polsinelli
@ppolsinelli
1

2. We aim at putting together a
basic game design document.

3. Have writing material ready.
Be ready and quick.

4. Concept

5. 5
Some start from
development (“game
design is useless”).
Some start from
mechanics.

6. 6
I don’t want to influence
you now.

7. 7
I would like you to dig from
your dreaming capacity.
Because that is a core skill,
there is the value.

8. 8
Write down your video game idea.
More details, the better.
Total time: 5 min.

9. 9
5 minutes

10. What is a game
design document?
10

11. An applied game example.

12. 12
There we used mostly pre-defined mechanics.
You can do better.

13. Two basic blocks

14. Loops (From Lost Garden)

15. Arcs (From Lost Garden)

16. 16
Concept / Genre
Story
Basic loop
Game mechanic

17. 17
15 minutes

18. Game mechanic ideas

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

20. 20
Piked units defeat cavalry
Cavalry defeats artillery
Artillery defeats piked units

21. Match 3 (Bust the Dust)

22. Interactive / generative narrative (Adslife)

23. Turn based (Flick Kick)

24. Cards.

25. Emergent civilizations.

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

27. Sport like

28. Relations and gossip: narrative!
(Kardashian Hollywood)

29. Geographical exploration – open worlds
(Proteus)

30. Driving, running, advancing. From horse to tank.
(Goscurry)

31. Solving puzzles or mysteries.
Point and click. (The Last Express)

32. Tower defense.
(Plants vs. Zombies 1)

33. War.

34. Board game like.
(The System)

35. Grids: http://designagame.eu/2014/06/game-development-
unity-2d-part-5-grid-roman-centuriae/

36. Visual novel role-playing video game.
(Long Live The Queen)

37. Simulators of any kind.
(Goat Simulator)

38. Cargo Bot
http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/
Programming as mechanic.

39. Is this simple mechanic union relevant only for classical
games?
Union of drawing – racing

40. Drawing with your finger on the iPad is nice. Racing
with small cars is beautiful.
(Draw Race)

41. Local multiplayer.
(Spaceteam)

42. Tower defense.
Kingdom Rush: applied creatively, effectively.
http://www.slideshare.net/mochimedia/kingdom-rush-behind-the-scenes

43. Calculords
“Simple” games combining two or more mechanics.
http://www.calculords.com/index.html

44. Katamari Damaci: simple mechanics + original theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwhFH75OCDs

45. Game Mechanics Explorer
http://gamemechanicexplorer.com/#fluid-1

46. 46
15 minutes

47. Discuss(one way)

48. BREAK

49. Basic refinements

50. Fund in 3119 of Game Design Prototype

51. Winning and losing conditions

52. 52
Define levels
Learn to play
Winning / losing conditions

53. 53
15 minutes

54. Game design pills

55. How you classify
games?

56. 56
Game classification via
Narratology – subject and content
Ludology – game mechanics

57. From A Taxonomy of Video Games and AI
http://www.aisb.org.uk/convention/aisb09/Proceedings/AIGAMES/FILES/GunnE.pdf 57

58. 58
Classify your game

59. What is Game Feel?

60. Game feel
(Ridicolous Fishing)
Vlambeer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdEqssNZ-U

61. No, its 240 ms. See this model
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_processor_model as
presented in Game Feel book.

62. What is AI?

63. http://bit.ly/agdArtInt
http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/
understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior

64. Uh we forgot audio …

65. Sound effects? What are those?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWAaGkZNIBE

66. The Universe

67. Is your universe defined by a story, generated when
needed, or … procedural generation
http://bit.ly/agdProc

68. 68
Scenes & screens
Animations
Polish
Feel
Audio
Universe

69. 69
15 minutes

70. Discuss(one way)

71. I want more!

72. Platforms?

73. The console of the future today
http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/21/the-perfect-
gaming-phone/

74. 74
Platforms
Distributions
Tech requirements
Timing
Costs

75. 75
15 minutes

76. Discuss(one way)

77. How to prototype?

78. Machinations

79. 79

80. Running game with explanation
http://www.kisslat.com/machinations-lets-get-
started/

81. 81
Even if you are not a developer , there is a
lot of work you can do.

82. 82
Even if you are not a developer , there is a
lot of work you can do.

83. 83
Balancing Excel
as detailed in chapter 11 “Math and Game
Balance” of Introduction to Game Design,
Prototyping and development.

84. HTML5 / JavaScript: example.
84

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

86. Design questions
(optional)

87. 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

88. - 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)

89. - 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)

90. 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/ 90

91. Applied games
definition and
theory
(optional)

92. 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.

93. An applied game is not …

94. … a game that is just engaging,
can’t stop playing it
but has no story,
no intended message
94

95. … a game that is just engaging,
can’t stop playing it
(for a while, then can’t even
bear seeing it)
95

96. … a collateral game
(say part of a viral campaign)
that promotes something as it
is sponsored by it
96

97. 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”.

98. Transformation process

99. Friday, February 27, 2015
Category, competition,
avatar, war, reward, levels
Vs.
Inclusive, mentor, path,
story, transformation
A language change.
99

100. Ian Bogost: gamification is
bullshit.
100

102. Parable of the polygons
http://ncase.me/polygons/ 102

103. Beyond

104. Become a game designer:
study, prototype, release, loop

107. Persuasive UIs

108. Addiction by Design Natascha Schull
http://gelconference.com/videos/2008/natasha_schull
97% is given by the slot machine – study IT

109. 109

110. My twitter stream is mostly
dedicated to game design:
http://twitter.com/ppolsinelli
A blog on game design
http://designagame.eu
110