Game Design

• The focus of a game designer is creating play experiences, rules and structures that result in a meaningful experience for players. Every design decision and technological feature should improve the experience of play.

• Making a game is also a nice opportunity to learn different creative things since many disciplines come together for the making of a game.

• Games are fundamentally inefficient ways to do things (via the lusory attitude) but they imbue an experience with meaning as the players suspend their disbelief.

• Video games and other media make use of Archetypes too. The best example is found in the use of element-based systems. in this context, archetypes serve as paradigmatic models for contextualizing the world in a way that minimizes cognitive load. Still, it should be noted that archetypes can make games feel the same. The key around this is to reframe these into new contexts. ¹

• There are two camps when it comes to games. In some sense both are right because at the end of the day, a game is about creating an experience.

  • Narratologists - story precedes gameplay
  • Ludologists - gameplay precedes story.

• There are also differing perspectives about whether or not games are objects or processes.

  • Games are objects because they have constituent parts.
  • Games are processes because they can only happen with a player.

• For interactive games, design the player characters not based on what they can do, but how they will be used

• Design for player experience not realism.

• Games in Powerpoint are a thing

• Sid Meier’s Covert Action Rule - advises that games should not simply be a package of minigames. Otherwise, each minigame will compete with each other for becoming “the most enjoyable part”. Focus on what the game is.

• Novelty equates to seeing existing rules in a new light. Content does not equal novelty. Games can introduce novelty through meaningfully distinct experiences. Aim to give players new options rather than mere statistical upgrades. Novelty is heavily tied to emergence that arises by the elaboration of existing mechanics and their interactions with other mechanics

• A key element in playtesting that’s worth trying out for the purposes of balancing — accelerate the feedback gathering loop and encourage playtesters to break the game (and acquire player data to make informed adjustments)

Topics §

• The Fundamentals of Game Design
• Players and Why We Play Games
• Lenses for Game Design - Notes
• Game Mechanics Design
• Level Design Principles
• Puzzle
• Combat Systems
• UX Design Principles
• Algorithms in Games

Genre Specific §

• Strategy Games
• Game Study Index

Links §

• Rules of Play — Game Design Fundamentals by Salen and Zimmerman

• Fundamentals of __ Game Design Series by Ernest Adams - Covers game design in the context of various genres.

• Creativity

• Design - more on design. In particular, focus on Iterative Design, wherein games are made as they are being playtested

• Unity - a game engine.

• Godot - another game engine

• Blender - for creating 3D models

• Three Hundred Mechanics by Squidi

• The game of Set for game design inspiration.

Footnotes §

1. Similar to conceptual models, Archetypes. Category Theory also applies because the identities of archetypes depend on their relations with others. ↩