Introduction To Game Design

This is the talk I did for the NY Game Maker's beginner's workshop.

Transcript

3. TWITTER HASHTAG
4. does not refer to the visual style of the game but the actual game play mechanics themselves.
5. is key to capturing your idea down before actually coding.
6. is a multi-page document that contains the general concept of a game, its core mechanics. At the very least it should give the reader a clear idea of how the game will look, work and feel.
8. a term borrowed from the film industry and represents a “what if” scenario. When drafting a GDD I use a high concept to outline what the game is, its scenario and list any games that may already exist to draw inspiration from.
9. games are very visual by nature; most people get bored out of their minds reading a 15-page or more design document with no indication of the artistic style you are envisioning for the game.
10. Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
11. Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
12. cover how things work and how they will interact with each other. Go into as much detail as possible around actions such as how combat works, leveling up, stats, rewards, etc.
13. include things like what properties a game actor may have such as life, weapon values and more. This will be incredibly helpful when you go into development as a point of reference.
14. Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
15. Art by Iñaki Diaz @designatius
16. its always better to start big and scale down as needed. The last thing you want to do is limit your imagination or creativity.
17. MOST IMPORTANT THING
18. HTTP://BIT.LY/11MVGWR SAMLE GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
20. some game devs create elaborate sketches to work out their ideas while others simply use sticky notes. There is no right or wrong way to go about this as long as you find a good system for jotting down your ideas.
25. look back through the history of video games, you will see a natural evolution of one game picking up or modifying another game’s mechanics.
28. doing a small code example or trying to solve a development problem can really get your brain going and help you be way more creative when you sit down to finally code your own game.
29. this goes hand in hand with the daily code warm up. I like to pick game systems or interesting mechanics then try to reproduce them or make them better.
31. by Raph Koster. This is a great book that attempts to answer the question of “What is fun?” and more importantly “What is a game?” It’s an easy read with absolutely no code and all theory.
32. by Scott Rogers. If you are interested in understanding the technical side of game design as in how to build a game design document, pitching games and more practice than theory then this is the book to read.
33. by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. The book is very high level and tries to approach the questions of game design from a very academic point of view.
34. LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR GAME IDEAS