Game Design Process: Ideas to Mechanics in EECS 494 - Prof. John E. Laird, Quizzes of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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Game Design Process

EECS 494

9/16/08 by J. Laird and Sugih Jamin

Drawn from a talk by Ernest Adams – 9/16/

Idea for a Game

• Most games begin with a single idea
  • A character [James Bond]
  • Gameplay/genre [A twitch FPS, a RTS game, …]
  • A sport [Football, Baseball, Snowboarding, …]
  • A story/quest/goal [A time-travel adventure]
  • A new technology [3D tracking of a controller]
• Most sequels have some fresh idea:
  • New story
  • New game play
  • New genre
• Mix existing ideas from other games
• Steal ideas (but not characters) from other media: books,

movies, comics, ...

• Market research: surveys, focus groups, …
• Brainstorm, throw out lots of ideas

Ernest Adam‟s View on Game Design

• Computer games exist to fulfill dreams
  • Dream a dream. Then think of what it would be like to live it
• Dream of Being Someone Else
  • President of the United States
  • A Movie Director
  • An Olympic Skater
  • A Rock Climber
  • The World‟s Greatest Programmer
  • A University Professor
• Not all games fit this…

Inside-Out Game Design

• DON‟T begin at the beginning. Begin inside & work out
• Start with the primary gameplay mode
• Ask “What is the player going to do?”
• Define that mode, then move on to others 1. Player’s role 2. Interaction model 3. Perspective 4. Setting 5. Challenges the player confronts 6. Mechanics that create those challenges 7. Actions the player takes to overcome them
• Create supporting material later
  • It is always easier to fix the story, UI, etc. than to fix an uninteresting or unplayable game.

1. The Player‟s Role

• Who is the player trying to be?
  • Critical for representational/realistic games
• In single game may have multiple roles/multiple modes
  • Football – manager, coach, player
• If you can‟t describe it in one or two sentences, it will

be confusing for the player

2. Interaction Model

• How can the player interact with the world?
• As an avatar
  • A single character or object that represents the play
  • Player‟s actions are limited to the avatar‟s location
  • FPS, Adventure, Racing, Sports (?)
• Omnipresence
  • Player can act in many or all places in the world
  • Strategy games
  • Not always omniscience: e.g., fog of war

Example of Multiple Game Modes

• Dungeon Keeper
  • Management – isometric, omnipresent, strategic
  • Map mode – top-down, omnipresent, few actions
  • Possession – first-person, avatar, tactical
• Soccer
  • Management - FIFA
  • Play calling – isometric, omnipresent, strategic
  • Play execution – isometric/first-person, avatar, tactical
• Sid Meier‟s Pirates!
  • Sea/islad map: isometric, omnipresent, strategic
  • City map: top down, omnipresent, stealth
  • Duel/Dance: first person, avatar, tactical

Game Structure

• The relationship between modes (game states)
• Some entered by explicit choice
• Some entered as part of natural progression
• State diagram:

Setting: The Physical Dimension

• Dimensionality
  • 2-D, 3-D, 4-D (multiple 3-D spaces)
  • Don‟t choose 3-D just because it is cool!
• Scale
  • How big is the world?
  • How big are things relative to each other?
• Boundaries
  • What happens at the edge of the world?
  • Does it harm suspension of disbelief?

Setting: The Temporal Dimension

• Is time meaningful?
  • Does the passage of time itself change the game?
  • Can be merely cosmetic
• Real time or turn based?
• Variable time
  • In The Sims, time speeds up while people sleep
• Anomalous time
  • Time goes faster for some things than others
• Can the player adjust time?
  • Often seen in flight simulators and RTS games

Setting: The Emotional Dimension

• Emotions of characters within the game
• Emotions you hope to inspire in the player
• Most games are not emotionally subtle
  • Emotions limited to “Yahoo!” and “Damn!”
• Consider others:
  • Jealousy, grief, anger, greed, disdain
• How will you inspire these emotions?

Setting: The Ethical Dimension

• In passive entertainment, viewer bring their own ethical

system to the work

• In interactive entertainment, we give them one
• The victory condition defines what is “good”
• Players must conform to our morality to win
• Games get into trouble under two conditions:
  • A game is highly representational of the real world AND
  • Its ethics are highly disjoint from the real world
  • It is OK to kill aliens and robots realistically
  • It is OK to kill people unrealistically
  • but …

5. Types of Challenges - 2

• Physical Challenges
  • Speed and reaction time (twitch games)
  • Accuracy and precision (steering and shooting)
  • Timing and rhythm (dance games)
  • Learning special moves (fighting games)
• Races – achieving something first
• Logical challenges (puzzles)
  • Should be based on an underlying principle
  • Trial-and-error solution is a sign of bad design
• Exploration Challenges
  • Locked doors and traps
  • Mazes and illogical spaces
  • Teleporters

5. Types of Challenges - 3

• Conflict
  • Strategy, tactics, and logistics
    • Logistics (food for armies) is rarely used
  • Survival and reduction of enemy forces
  • Defending vulnerable items or units
  • Stealth
• Economic Challenges
  • Accumulating wealth or points
  • Efficient manufacturing
  • Achieving balance or stability in a system
  • Caring for living things within a system
• Conceptual Challenges
  • Understanding something new
  • Deduction, observation, interpretation
  • Detective games offer conceptual challenges