Game Design

Design

Petri Lankoski

aalto.fi

Schedule

• Lecture 1:Design (Petri Lankoski)

• Lecture 2: Narrative Design (MikkoRautalahti, Remedy)

• Lecture 3: Narrative Design (MikkoRautalahti, Remedy)

• Lecture 4: Level Design for Casual Games (Petri Ikonen,

Digital Chocolate)

• Lecture 5: Game Design and Design Patterns

(JussiHolopainen, Nokia Research Center)

• Lecture 6:Level Design (JarkkoKainulainen, Bugbear

Entertainment)

Takeaway from Workshop

• You can generate ideas and design games based on

your ideas

– Sometimes this requires a lot of work and can be painful

“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at

nine o’clock sharp.” (Somerset Maugham)

Game Design?

• Is about understanding restrictions

– Financial

– Resources

– Skills

– Technology

• Is about creating more restrictions

– 1st/3rd person game / management game / war game …

• Is about creating engaging gameplay within those

restrictions

Development Process

Process with

(Console) Publisher

Proposal Approval

Preproduction•Macro Design

• Prototype

• Vertical Slice

Production•Design

• Implementation

• Localization

• Testing

Approval Publish

Development Process

Proposal

Design

Prototype

Testing

Design

Development

Testing

Design & Development

• Different Types of Design

– Gameplay Design

– Level Design

– Narrative Design

– Software Design

• Development

– Assets

• Models, animation, sounds, music

– Voice acting, motion cap

– Programming

Starting Point

• Starting with Gameplay

– The game is, e.g., racing game, 1st person shooter, sneak, or

shoot-em-up

• Starting with Technology

– E.g., you have the Engine X: it cannot handle bone-animations,

but have great physic modeling

• Starting with Story

– E.g., you have James Bond license

Focus

• What feature make this game compelling?

• What the player does?

• What kind of experience the player will have?

• How the game differs from other games

Lies and Seductions is a nonviolent adventure and dating sim hybrid.

The playing focuses on having conversations with non-player

characters and trying to figure out how to manipulate and seduce

those character with limited amount of time to reach the main goal.

The player should be making mean choices and feeling remorse

about those choices.

Focus

• Focus should guide the design

– Does this design choice reflect the focus?

• Focus can be changed

– But should be changed accidentally

Documenting Design

• Macro Design

– A short document describing the main features of the game

• Design Document

– Describes the game in detail

• Art Bible

– Concept art of the game (characters, items, places, etc.)

– Color palette(s) of the game

• Story Bible

– Story in detail

– Dialogue Script

• Assets List

Other Ways to Communicate Design

• Prototypes

– Physical, digital

– Good to communicate gameplay

– In gameplay-driven titles defining by prototype might be enough

• Scenarios & Storyboards

Design Document

1. Overview

– Focus

2. Game Mechanics

– What the player(s) do

– Interface (controls, etc)

– the Player’s view to game (1st / 3rd person camera)

3. Game Elements

– Components

4. AI / Procedures

– The important system features

Design Document

5. Story Overview

– Story bible describes story and dialogue in detail if necessary

6. Game Progression

– Levels, progression from a level to a level, maps

7. System Menus

– E.g., start menu, options menu

• Structure can vary based on the game

– Not every game has a story

• Fossilized document

– Keep it up to date

Asset List

• List all the assets

– Models & animations

– Textures

– Sounds

• Assets limits design

– If you do not have animation for an action, you can’t use that

action (or the action might look stupid when model does not

react)

– If you do not have model (or something) for a component it

cannot be displayed or manipulated

L

Art Bible

The Function of Documents

• The documents are for describing the game to the development

team

• To ensure that all are developing the same game

• Examples:

– Art bible & Asset list

• Animators & modelers

• Technical people (selecting/writing shades, mo)

– Design document

• Game Designers

• Level designers

• Narrative designers

• Programmers

Further Reading

• Richard Rouse: Game Design: Theory &

Practice, Wordware Publishing.

• Mark Davies: Designing Character-Based

Console Games, Charles River Media.

Chapter 1: "The Console Design Process",

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/

375/book_excerpt_designing_.php