Game Elements
When I think of designing a game I instantly think of the end result and how I want the game to look, it's very easy to overlook the game elements and the birth of the game. I need to take a step back and realise although I've been playing these huge triple A titles for years with countless people and resources there to develop such a game I must first realise that I'm just one person and am extremely new to any game design or development. Reading these articles have enlightened me and showed me the importance of early stage game design.
A couple points I found interesting is finding the reason why a player enjoys a game. As stated in the first text, as a player saying you enjoy a game because it is fun is not very beneficial to a game designer, although it's a nice comment you would be happy to hear it gives the designer no insight into what factors of the game are enjoyable. The same could be said for a game being unenjoyable. In-depth feedback is essential for the development of a game and now I understand why so many big titles release beta's for players to test and give constructive criticism in order to make the game better and more fun for people. This can go either way. I've seen in the past from my experience playing one o fly most beloved titles, casual players feedback was prioritised over competitive and professional players which sent the game into a downward spiral with many people leaving the franchise as a result of it.
I've seen first hand what rushing a game can do and cause so many people to lose hope and lose and enjoyment. In this case the replay value of the game completely deteriorated, even myself sometimes feels I'm forcing myself to play this broken game that once was something great. I feel the majority of people that play games don't push the barrier when playing games, casual players or one time players that don't put much time into games and comment on aspects of the game they don't enjoy maybe because it is new and challenging for them and many people like "easy". I believe it Is extremely important for a game developer to consistently play their game and become very good at it and begin looking for potential problems and how they can exploit them. I've seen developers fall completely out of touch with their game and their community as if they were never apart of it, developing a game in a completely different direction from what it began as and when all interest is lost, finally reverting to what worked in the past but is too late.
Prototyping is important! Stripping back all the fancy graphics and ascetics of a game, having an extremely basic version of your desired game to gain some data and begin brainstorming from there. Making sure the game operated as desired before devoting resources to a half complete game. Finding what works and what does not. Visuals can come later. I now understand the importance of this and will not rush anything to make it look nice as I've seen the impact that can have.
Comments
Post a Comment