Game Design!

Game Design!

I never really understood how Games were made or how much work goes into

Progress of Game Design

making them, since I don’t really play games but after reading the articles I was assigned to read, I realised there was so much more to Game Design than what I thought there was. I gained an appreciation for it like I do for Art History, since the making of a game is an art in a way.

Our Professor, Shaun,  provided us with many articles regarding Games/ Game Design.

The first of them being What is a game? (by Ian Schreiber)

 

As I started to read and analyse the article, I quickly understood that it wasn’t as easy as just googling the definition of a ‘game’, which according to Google the definition of a game is ‘an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun’, which made me laugh because I spent so long reading different articles on the definition of a game to read what Google’s literal definition was. 

Although there is a definition for a game given by Ian, there are many other conflicting definitions that are proposed by people with a lot more experience in game design.

After reading the many definitions proposed by different game designers. I

Behind The Scenes

had to agree with the definition proposed by David Parlett, “ A game has “ends and means”: an objective, an outcome, and a set of rules to get there”. This definition makes the most logical sense to me whilst not going too deep into the game industry. I believe a definition should not involve examples to accompany its argument as this can be quite confusing to new game designers. I saw that many definitions required an example of a game to make sense.

As I read the articles provided I noticed that many games have a pattern that they all follow:

• Games have specific rules and or instructions 

• Games have activity 

• Games have a goal (that are to be accomplished)

• Games involve decision making

• Games are a means of escapism.

These are just some of the common ones that stood out for me, they are very straightforward and which I believe every game should have.

As I read “So you’re going to make a game For the very first time?” By Lewis Pulsipher Pulisher. 

The article assured me some of what I was already expecting when making my first game. One of them being that “well-developed programming skills” are crucial in making a game, and without it can be detrimental in making a relevant game.

Another being that your first game should likely be an inspiration from an already existing game, as I researched

Gaming

many different articles, many developers recommended it for beginners as it is a stepping stone in developing your skills and confidence in the gaming industry. I realised that making a game similar to one that already exists will help me learn new design and technical skills, that will most definitely come to use in creating games in the future.

Upon reading Pulisher’s article, I learned that I should  “Focus on the gameplay not on the appearance (or the story) of the game”. As I am developing a “Prototype”. This way I am developing my programming skills rather than side tracking on design and other aspects of the game. The main goal of the game is to make it work before anything else!

Thats it for today! Thank you for reading my blog post!😆