Gamasutra: Josh Bycer's Blog - The Impact of Videogame Criticism. The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Over the last 8 years with Game-Wisdom, I’ve been trying to raise the discourse on what it means to study game design beyond just reviews. That means looking deeper at whether a game’s design works, which is still considered by some to be impossible. Just because a game did good or bad, doesn’t automatically render judgment on design. For today, I want to delve deeper into what it means to study and critique game design, and why developers should welcome this level of analysis.
Mcvuk. Josh Bycer's Blog - A Study Into Puzzle Design. The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Puzzle design is a topic that hits a lot of aspects of game design. From the days of Zork to modern adventure games, there is a lot to this discussion. Trying to drill down what makes a puzzle work vs. those that are just frustrating can be difficult. For this post, we’re going to look at three essential questions that should be the basis for any puzzles. Internal Logic vs. The first great part of our discussion is the difference between having an internal logic or a designer logic for your puzzles.
Designer logic means that the puzzles themselves don’t rely on a set of ground rules based on the universe, and are simply placed within the world with whatever solution the developer came up with. Typically, these puzzles can also feel arbitrary and just there to pad out the game. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Ingenious World Design Owes Itself To… Triangles « GamingBolt.com: Video Game News, Reviews, Previews and Blog. Inspiration to Publication. Freedom through constraints: The design of Michael Brough's Imbroglio. Developers often tend toward 'bigger' as they create new games.
Sequels must be larger than the last. The next game must have more stages. More expansive maps. The play space is always growing. But cult-fave indie developer Michael Brough's games have grown smaller and more contained over time. From the 7X7 grid of Corrypt and the 6X6 grid of 868-HACK, his play spaces have continually shrunk. Contained within that tiny grid is the essence of an epic RPG, with artwork and gameplay carefully distilled to maximize the minimalist playfield. Brough cuts away unnecessary elements to get to the essential bits where the player's actions matter. For Brough, the constraints of the small grid were liberating.
" Brough has been gratified to see the reviews of Imbroglio, and not because they're gushing. He takes his best crack at summarizing the game for us. "If you fight while standing on a tile, you use its weapon, so positioning matters a lot. How to turn your child into a video games designer. "I want to make games when I grow up.
" It's an ambition voiced by many children. That is not surprising given that pretty much every one of them plays games on tablets, phones, consoles and PCs when they have a spare moment. It is certainly my son's goal. And like any dutiful parent, I'm keen to help him realise his ambition - or at least help him find out early on if it's not for him.
I am also conscious that my lack of a formal technical background means that, at home, he'll struggle to get to grips with the core technical skill game making seems to demand - coding. This is a problem. An experiment in game design and teaching. The Big List Of Game Design. Book Recommendations: Game Design Books: Articles about Gameplay Mechanics Discussions Rules For Games: Do & Don’t.
Video: Loom creator Brian Moriarty seeks out the essence of good game design. [Note: To access chapter selection, click the fullscreen button or check out the video on the GDC Vault website] Brian Moriarty, the renowned Infocom and LucasArts veteran behind adventure games like Beyond Zork and Loom, believes that coding lies at the very core of good game design.
Sure, understanding theory helps, but if you really want to make good games, he argues that you might want to learn a programming language or two. At the GDC Education Summit during this year's Game Developers Conference, Moriarty -- now a professor at Worchester Polytechnic Institute -- outlined how his course teaches students about game design, and it all begins with understanding how games work. Moriarty began his career in the industry as a programmer, and to him, that's what game design is. If you're going to design new gameplay mechanics, for example, you need to know how to put them together, and Moriarty decided that idea would become the basis for his own game design curriculum.
Game Design Theory: Game Anatomy. Game Design Theory: The Game Designer. Game Theory: Game Design Processes. Game Design Tools. Game Design Theory: Game Mechanics. Game Design Theory: Play Mechanics.