GAME DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

Spring 2017

Dr. Vasile Alaiba

Faculty of Computer Science

“Al. I. Cuza” University Iași, România

GENRES OF GAMEPLAYCategorizing Games

by Gameplay Experience

Common Genres

■ Action

■ Strategy

■ Role-Playing

■ Sports

■ Racing/Driving

■ Adventure

■ Simulation/Building

■ Flight and Other Simulations

■ Educational

■ Children

■ Casual

■ Experimental

Other genres, sub-genres or super-genres exist, of course. For example Shooter, Puzzle, Family,

Fighting, etc.

There is no clear standard around how games are actually categorised in genres.

For more read Chapter 15: Understanding the New Game Industry from [1]. I used it as a basis

for the genres presented in this lecture.

Genres – are they useful?

■ Genres give designers and publishers a common language for describing styles of play.

■ They form a shorthand for understanding what market a game is intended for.

■ Genres tend to restrict the creative process and lead designers toward tried and true gameplay solutions.

■ Usually games overlap genres, e.g. Final Fantasy XII is a role-playing action game.

Action Games

■ Main features:

– emphasize reaction time and hand–eye coordination

– are real-time experiences, with an emphasis on time constraints for performing physical tasks

■ Examples:

– Battlefield 2

– Grand Theft Auto V (also a racing/driving game)

– Tetris (also a puzzle game)

Strategy Games

■ Main features:– focus on tactics and planning as well as the

management of units and resources– themes revolve around conquest, exploration, and trade

■ Examples:– Civilization IV, StarCraft II, Kingdoms of Camelot

■ Sub-genres:– real-time strategy– turn-based strategy

Role-Playing Games

■ Main features:– revolve around creating and growing characters– include rich story lines that are tied into quests– players develop their characters while managing

inventory, exploring worlds, and accumulating wealth, status, and experience

■ Examples:– Baldur’s Gate, Dungeon Siege, World of Warcraft,

NetHack

Sports Games

■ Main features:

– simulations of sports like tennis, football, baseball, soccer, etc.

– involve team play, season play, tournament modes

■ Examples:

– Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, NBA Jam, Sega Bass Fishing and Tony Hawk Pro Skater

Racing/Driving Games

■ Main features:

– you are racing and you are in control

– arcade style: ■ Mario Kart

■ Burnout

– racing simulators: ■ NASCAR 07

■ F1 Career Challenge

■ Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation

Simulation/Building Games

■ Main features:– focus on resource management combined with building

something– mimic real-world systems and give the player the

chance to manage her own virtual business, country, or city

– focus on economy and systems of trade and commerce

■ Examples:– Farmville 2, The Sims 2, SimCity, RollerCoaster Tycoon,

Gazillionaire, Lemonade Tycoon, Big Pharma

Flight and Other Simulations

■ Main features:

– action games that tend to be based on real-life activities, like flying an airplane or driving a tank, train, etc.

– complex simulators that try to approximate the real-life experience

– they require the player to master realistic and often complex controls and instrumentation

■ Examples:

– Microsoft Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, Agricultural Simulator, Car Mechanic Simulator 2015, Euro Truck Simulator 2

Adventure Games

■ Main features:

– emphasize exploration, collection, and puzzle solving

– the player leads a character on a quest or mission of some kind

– most rely on physical or mental puzzle solving, not improvement and accumulation, for their central gameplay (as opposed to RPG)

■ Examples:

– Adventure and Zork (textdriven)

– Myst, Jak and Daxter, Zelda series, Ratchet & Clank

Educational Games

■ Main features:

– combine learning with fun, the goal is to entertain while educating the user

– most edutainment titles are targeted at kids, but there are some that focus on adults

– an emerging genre with lots of potential!

■ Examples of kids’ educational games:

– Motion Math, DragonBox, and Gamestar Mechanic

■ Examples for adults:

– Brain Age and Foldit

Children’s Games

■ Main features:

– are designed specifically for kids between the ages of 2 and 12

– the primary focus is on entertaining (even if they are sometimes educational)

■ Examples:

– Mario, Donkey Kong (also loved by adults!)

– ClubPenguin.com, Freddi Fish series

Casual Games

■ Main features:

– are meant to be enjoyed by everyone

– often incorporate puzzle elements into their play mechanics

– most are simple games like those hosted on MSN Games or Yahoo! Games

■ Examples:

– Angry Birds, Robot Unicorn Attack

– Tetris is a famous casual game (also an action puzzle game)

– Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords (emphasizes story)

– Scrabble or Solitaire (strategy)

– The Incredible Machine series (construction)

Experimental Games

■ Main features:

– stand outside either the traditional publishing model or the traditional conception of games

– are often independently financed and explore new territory creatively

■ Examples:

– Braid, Journey, Dear Esther

– Super Meat Boy, Everyday Shooter

DOCUMENTATIONThe Science and Art

of Communicating Game Design

Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.”

Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools

you may have at your command, and better tools will be

found as you go along.

—GEORGE HERBERT

Why Written Documentation?

■ The number of communication channels between:

– 2 persons: 1 channel

– 3 persons: 3 channels

– 4 persons: 6 channels

– …

– n persons: (n(n-1))/2 channels = the number of edges in a complete graph with n nodes

So?

■ Any team with more than 2-3 persons NEEDS written documentation due to the communication overhead.

■ You need written documentation to communicate your design outside of your team!

– e.g. for me to grade you

– Seriously, you need to communicate your design to investors, publishers or new team members!

What documentation do I need to do?

The generic term is Game Design Document – The (in)famous GDD.

“A GDD is any method of documentation that gives sufficient specifications for building

a game or feature.” [2]

Common Misconceptions

1. The GDD Is a repository of all information about a game or feature

2. The word in the GDD is law

3. There is a template to how all studios create design documentation

The GDD Is a Repository of All Information About a Game or Feature

■ Game design documents are there to serve a primary purpose—to inform team members about what they are to build.

■ For example, a programmer does not need to know while developing a feature what the back story of the character is.

■ This kind of information is stored in other places like Appendices and/or Design Overview

The Word in the GDD Is Law

■ Game design is an iterative process.

■ The GDD should always reflect the latest decisions!

■ Remember the purpose of the GDD: Unless you personally want to communicate a change in design to every member of the team, you must keep the GDD aligned to the most current design.

There Is a Template to How All Studios Create Design Documentation

■ Every studio has its own documentation processes.

■ You are writing your documentation for a particular audience: your team.

■ The GDD does not need to be a single document, or a document at all (it can be a Wiki, for example).

What next?

■ Read more from [2]:

– The beginning of Part 7 Game Design Tools (p. 324 –330)

– Chapter 32 Presenting Ideas (p. 405 – 423)

ALEX BÎRZANU

Game Designer at Mobility Games

References

■ [1] Fullerton, T., Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, CRC Press, 2014

■ [2] Hiwiller, Z., Players Making Decisions: Game Design Essentials and the Art of Understanding Your Players, New Riders, 2016