Game Design Notes - GDC
Talented designers most often make mistakes when:
-In a process that impedes good decisions
-Influenced by emotional or social motivations
-Accepting unnecessary constraints
Therefore designers must:
-Set up a process or system that facilitates good decisions and highlights bad decisions
-Get more productive behaviours
Issues must be spoken of and addressed.
'Ok' quality work should be hard to accept, if not at all.
It's better to ask for 'crappy first drafts' so that no one gets too attached to their creation and are willing to adapt it for the better.
When a designer's work is seen early, the designer feels it won't be judged fairly or will be misunderstood. The longer they avoid feedback, the more 'control' they feel they have.
If something is 'too good to cut', designers often get heavily invested in the idea emotionally. These ideas must be reviewed by uninterested parties, otherwise the final product won't be enjoyable outside of its own concept.
'Does the thing we have designed line up with the goals we set?'
Creativity & attention whittles down after 15 minutes and dies down almost completely after an hour.
Creative Fatigue most commonly occurs when designers have to accept a lot of constraints about what the idea has to be and what it cannot be.
Designers must not design for themselves. If a designer makes a complex design that they love and people like them will love, most of the time it won't be adored by other designers or players and will have far more priority than it deserves.
What is an Action Game
-A set of actions responding to output
-Passive activity
-Activity based on prior(active) input
-Adventure/Horror games
-What are "action skills"?
-The player's ability to deal with a given situation
3 Gameplay systems
-The selling point of a game (USP)
-The unique elements that define a game
-Expanding features
-Unlockables, different items for situations to allow for more lateral gameplay
-Depth
-Combo systems for example expanding the ways the game can be played and enjoyed
Game Systems
-If a game has selling points A/B/C, expanding features D/E and depth elements F/G:
-Players complete the game having experienced A and B
-They've completed and enjoyed the game
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B and C
-They've completed the game and feel like they got a lot out of it
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C and D
-They've completed the game, and become good at it in a variety of ways
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C, D and E
-"Wow! I didn't know you could do that! This game is awesome!"
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C, D, E and F
-"I am a god amongst mortals."
The selling point of an action game
-Not about functional design (not about what abilities or design should the player experience)
-Its about situational design (what kind of situations do we put the player in and what are we going to make them do?)
-In a process that impedes good decisions
-Influenced by emotional or social motivations
-Accepting unnecessary constraints
Therefore designers must:
-Set up a process or system that facilitates good decisions and highlights bad decisions
-Get more productive behaviours
Issues must be spoken of and addressed.
'Ok' quality work should be hard to accept, if not at all.
It's better to ask for 'crappy first drafts' so that no one gets too attached to their creation and are willing to adapt it for the better.
When a designer's work is seen early, the designer feels it won't be judged fairly or will be misunderstood. The longer they avoid feedback, the more 'control' they feel they have.
If something is 'too good to cut', designers often get heavily invested in the idea emotionally. These ideas must be reviewed by uninterested parties, otherwise the final product won't be enjoyable outside of its own concept.
'Does the thing we have designed line up with the goals we set?'
Creativity & attention whittles down after 15 minutes and dies down almost completely after an hour.
Creative Fatigue most commonly occurs when designers have to accept a lot of constraints about what the idea has to be and what it cannot be.
Designers must not design for themselves. If a designer makes a complex design that they love and people like them will love, most of the time it won't be adored by other designers or players and will have far more priority than it deserves.
What is an Action Game
-A set of actions responding to output
-Passive activity
-Activity based on prior(active) input
-Adventure/Horror games
-What are "action skills"?
-The player's ability to deal with a given situation
3 Gameplay systems
-The selling point of a game (USP)
-The unique elements that define a game
-Expanding features
-Unlockables, different items for situations to allow for more lateral gameplay
-Depth
-Combo systems for example expanding the ways the game can be played and enjoyed
Game Systems
-If a game has selling points A/B/C, expanding features D/E and depth elements F/G:
-Players complete the game having experienced A and B
-They've completed and enjoyed the game
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B and C
-They've completed the game and feel like they got a lot out of it
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C and D
-They've completed the game, and become good at it in a variety of ways
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C, D and E
-"Wow! I didn't know you could do that! This game is awesome!"
-Players complete the game having experienced A, B, C, D, E and F
-"I am a god amongst mortals."
The selling point of an action game
-Not about functional design (not about what abilities or design should the player experience)
-Its about situational design (what kind of situations do we put the player in and what are we going to make them do?)
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