Video Game Design

By Alexandre MandrykaDesign and creative consultant

www.gamewhispering.com

Game Maker

What a Game Designer was

Jordan Mechner (80s)

Programming Art Rules Levels

Karateka Prince of Persia

Game Making

Game creation evolved

• Game design is already a huge responsibility• GD and game vision require different skills• They each need full time attentionLet’s discuss Game vision and Game design

Game Maker

Programming Art Rules LevelsGame design Level design

Game vision

ESTABLISH THE PRODUCT VISIONIn response to your business opportunity

Beautiful!Fun!Let’s make a

great game!!!

Ideas must be clearly stated

Ideas must be communicated

Ideas must be understood

Team

Implementation

Creative

Business

Communicate through different layers Adapt rationally to adjustment

A Project Vision is a sentence …

• That describes what the project is about, what it tries to deliver

• It implies strong choices that will make the game stand apart

• That will help make consistent decisions throughout the project

• Similar to EA’s Core X, Ubisoft’s meaning …

Examples:

• Halo 2’s Online: “Recreating the Lan Party Online”

• NFSU creators said “Need for speed, but at night”

• Prince of Persia 4: “How far would you go by love?”

This is a creative statement

The mandate informs the vision

• Xbox was an hybrid between a console and a PC

• Microsoft needed a bridge between the two

Mandate was:Þ Halo 1 had to deliver FPS to consolesÞ Target the American teenagersÞ Create a Hollywood-blockbuster product

Game Vision (my guess)

In response to the mandate:

In the most desperate times, faith is your most valuable ally

Overwhelming oddsBadass & Faceless heroTwisted open-ended plot

PLAYER EXPERIENCEMaking it more concrete

“Players want to feel like Schwarzenegger”

Which Schwarzenegger please?

Dutch in Predator(village scene)

Stealth approach Tense fight Winning the fight

GD LDAI

LD GDSound

Allow intelligent & stealth

approach of all encounters

Assassination move

Health regen

Increasing enemy accuracy

Anim

Encounters designed to

support clear transition to “winning”

“Losing” behavior

“Losing” animations

“Winning” Music

Assess situation Kill sentries Get in/out of cover Move in the open One-liners“Stick around”

“Feel like they’re a ninja”

• Can read enemies’ minds• Can toy with enemiesAIÞ An AI that you can anticipateÞ Search patterns will never include 180 turnsArtÞ Enemy visuals should convey their

behaviors/functionsLD=> Back to the “support intelligent / stealth

approach” item

So …

• As you saw, Project Vision isn’t just an abstract sentence

• It is not also only aimed at game design

• Break it down to more concrete details

• Each discipline must respond to it

From mandate to features

Execs

Discipline team

Discipline team

Discipline team

Vision holder(s)

Vision holder(s) Leads

Feature FeatureFeature

Player Experience

Product Vision

Mandate

LET’S TALK ABOUT DESIGNBlowing your mind now

Game VS Toy

Rules, what you can, or can’t doWinning/Loosing conditions

Nothing is forbiddenEverything is allowed

Designing a game is all about defining rulesthat let winning strategies emerge

Rule

• A principle or condition that customarily governs behavior

• Limits how you can act

• Deal with same constraints as others and still win!

Limit player efficiency to allow different styles to be viable

Offside

What if there’s no offside?What is the effect on the optimal strategy?

Two types of rules

Direct rulesHow you score pointsDirects optimal play

Indirect rulesLimits unwanted strategies

You can’t decide player behaviour directlyRules only prevent unwanted strategies

Talking about “unwanted” strategies ...

Check this video

No rules for you!

In the meantime, in Wimbledon

No use of video for referee?

Depends on your target and intention

Plays with frustrationTeases anger and violenceÞTalks to the needs of the mass

Design is just a means to an end

Sum of 4 runs

Intended experiencePrecisionThe most regular wins

Intended experienceFearlessThe most outrageous wins

Best of 2 runs

Halo’s 30 seconds of fun

accuracyEngagement Enemy killed

Out of ammo

Player ChoiceReload

Grenade

Melee

average

good

WRAPPING IT UPAll good things come to end

Making games is a creative process

Not assembly work

Take reference in other creative industries

Rationale over opinion

Focus on skills, develop specialists

THANK YOU!ANY QUESTIONS?

Alexandre MandrykaDesign and creative consultant

www.gamewhispering.com