Well everyone it is
time for my next post my first Design
Monday! In these posts I will be discussing things about game design, making
games, rules structure, and so on. These are the posts for those of you with
great ideas for games but our unsure how to get started or where to go with it.
Before anyone starts going up in arms about what or what not I know about this
I reassure you. I have been in game industry for four years, two of those being
design and play testing.
So let’s start at the beginning. You have an idea for a
game and want to know the next step? I suppose I would ask you to ask yourself
a very important question. What is your game about? This question I first heard
from a man named John Wick who is behind such games like Houses of the
Blooded, and Legend of the Five Rings. He has been my go to for
design help and tips. If you are not already subscribed you need to check out
his YouTube channel which I will link at the end.
Back to the question what is your game about? Most people
will answer with something along the lines of “It is a post-apocalyptic tactics
game with aliens.” No that is not what your game is about that’s where your
game happens and what is in it. So I ask again, what is your game about? To
which the answer once again would be “It’s about how the humans and mutants
team up to fight…” No that is once again something that happens in the game.
One last time what is your game about? “It’s about survival.” There you go! The
game is about survival! Now the surprise part two of this question. Do you have
a mechanic to reflect that? How can you make game about X if you don’t have a
mechanic in the game to simulate X?
This is a really common
step missed by a lot of amateur game makers. If you skip this step then you end
up with a game that doesn't really hold up. It is almost like the game lacks
soul or feeling. The game will end up bland and boring and not really very
exciting. So, before you begin to write out stats or rules or settings. Figure
out what your game is going to be about. On the other side of things though if
you focus too much on your one thing in the game it may lack the variety a game
needs to be interesting. If your game is about survival make sure that while it
remains the heart of the game to throw in some fun things you think are cool
and fun.
In a nutshell I will
say it one more time. You got your cool post-apocalyptic game idea where
mutants and humans fight aliens. You got a cool idea for setting and some rules
for guns and powers. But what is going to make your game stand out? Right now it’s
just another tactics game right? Don’t forget your game is about survival. So
maybe throw in a roll, or a stat, or even a big rule about making sure the big
theme of the game stays apparent.
Like I said earlier I will link John Wicks YouTube channel here. (http://www.youtube.com/user/LordStrange?feature=watch)
I hope I helped a lot of you take your next step toward your design goals. Now
go out there and get your games going!
Good Gaming Everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment