In this chapter, you'll ask yourself questions about not just your games but all games. When you're designing computer games, you need to think about the fundamental reasons people play games in the first place. The reasons people play strategy games aren't the same reasons they play horror games. Both kinds of games are fun, but for very different reasons. The goal of this chapter is to help you understand what those reasons are so that the games you design deliver what your players are looking for.
Understanding how game mechanics and themes work together to create a gaming experience will help you better visualize and create your own game. If the mechanics aren't fun or don't fit, it doesn't matter how cool the theme is - the game won't be fun. If the theme doesn't match the mechanics, the game might be fun but it won't be memorable. If you aim to create great games, you need to understand both mechanics and themes before you even open the software you'll use to build your games.
THINKING ABOUT WHAT MAKES FUN GAMES FUN
Have you ever played a game that you couldn't put down? One that gave you the ability to shut off your mind without a care in the world because you were just hooked on it? A game that was just a lot of fun? I'm sure you have! Otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this book.
But why were you sucked into the games you love? Why are they so addicting? What makes them fun?
Fun is where games live and die. If a game isn't fun, nobody plays it. The first thing you have to understand, though, is that there are different types of fun, and different kinds of games:
- Fighting games reward quick thinking and reading your opponent's moves and figuring out the proper combo to counter it with.
- Strategy games (like XCOM 2, shown in Figure 1-1) challenge you to think and plan for a variety of situations, sometimes in an instant.
- Adventure games push you to explore and discover more about the world around you.
- Horror games (like Slender: The Arrival, shown in Figure 1-2) get your adrenaline pumping and push your natural curiosity to its limits.
- Puzzle games reward you for solving different complex puzzles and for problem solving.
- Platformers (like Super Meat Boy, shown in Figure 1-3) work off of reward and punishment and challenge you to master the controls and the timing to perfectly execute a level.
FIGURE 1-1: XCOM 2.
FIGURE 1-2: Slender: The Arrival.
FIGURE 1-3: Super Meat Boy.
And these are just a fraction of the types of games that are available to play. Like films, there are many different genres, some broad (like action games) or specific (like puzzle-based fighting games - look up Super Puzzle Fighter).
Whether it's to feel accomplished after beating a challenging level, or to feel powerless as you wander through the woods while an unknown monster hunts you, you want a game to provoke some sort of emotion in you. Fun comes from a game provoking the right emotion at the right time.
If you think about it, this is the same reason you watch a movie or read a book. When you want to laugh, you watch a comedy. When you want to cry, you read a tragedy. Understanding that fun comes in many different forms and goes beyond a single emotion can open up a variety of game design that you may not have thought about before.
When you're designing your game, ask yourself what type of emotion your game is trying to provoke - and capitalize on it! Sometimes that feeling is the excitement you feel in the heat of a battle. Other times, it's the sadness you feel after a game forces you to question your own mortality and life choices, like in one of my favorite games, To the Moon (see Figure 1-4).
FIGURE 1-4: To the Moon.
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Think of game design like making something good to eat. You wouldn't just throw any ingredient into a pan and hope for the best. To make it taste great, you need to start by asking yourself what kind of food you want to make. Are you making a salad? An appetizer? A soup or dessert? Once you know what the purpose of the food is - to be a satisfying entrée or a sweet treat at the end of a meal, for example - you can choose a recipe that will get you to your goal. And after you take it out of the oven or finish combining the ingredients, you might decorate it or add a garnish to make it look good.
Similarly, before you design a game, you need to ask yourself what type of game you want to make and who will be playing the game. In this section, I've listed some of the questions you should ask yourself.
You don't have to answer these questions in this order. Often in game design, you start by answering any one of these questions and build out from there. There is no right or wrong order to answer these questions, but you should answer all of them before you start designing your game.
WHAT IS YOUR GAME ABOUT?
Do you want to make a war game that puts players in the middle of World War II or a game about a haunted children's restaurant where animatronic machines are trying to kill you? What your game is about can help you think about the story and help contextualize some of the decisions you'll make as you're designing your game.
WHAT TYPE OF GAME ARE YOU MAKING?
Is your game a choice based role-playing game (RPG) or a more linear platformer? There are many different types of games that you can make. The type you choose can drastically change how people see your game.
Imagine if Skyrim were a 2D platformer, or if Five Nights at Freddy's (shown in Figure 1-5) gave you the ability to move around. Imagine how different those games would be.
FIGURE 1-5: Five Nights at Freddy's.
Mechanics complement story. Whatever type of game you aim to make, keep in mind how different mechanics can change the audience for the game.
WHAT TYPE OF FEELING ARE YOU AIMING TO PROVOKE WITH YOUR GAME?
Do I want my player to feel powerful or powerless? A game that encourages exploration in a vast wasteland, like Fallout 4 (shown in Figure 1-6), provokes different feelings than a game that puts players in a cramped hallway. You want to go into your game knowing what type of feelings you want the player to feel. Knowing this can influence mechanic and story decisions.
No matter what, the player will feel something when she plays your game. And one way to ensure that she isn't bored when she's supposed to be excited is to make the game with the type of feeling in mind you aim to provoke.
FIGURE 1-6: Fallout 4.
WHO IS YOUR PLAYER PLAYING AS?
Is he a soldier in the war fighting for his country, or is he the civilian just trying to survive as the war happens around him? When you make your game, think of how you want to frame your story or your characters. The story of a brave knight trying to vanquish her nemesis, the evil warlock, is far different than a story of an evil knight bent on defeating the good wizard.
WHAT IS THE PLAYER'S OBJECTIVE?
Games have goals. Sometimes the goal is to defeat the villain. Other times, it's to survive until morning. Think of your game as a story. Characters need a purpose. Mario isn't just running around the mushroom kingdom for fun. He's going to rescue the princess. Setting a clear objective for your player will give her direction in your game. Even games that focus on exploration set objectives that the player can strive for. Even if the objective isn't the most important part of your game, it's important to have one.
WHAT OBSTACLES WILL YOUR PLAYER FACE?
What is stopping your player from reaching his goal? Games aren't fun without any challenge. You never want your player to be bored in your game. The easiest way to prevent boredom is to understand what types of obstacles the player needs to overcome. This can take the shape of enemy characters trying to kill your player or just puzzles that the player has to solve.
WHO IS YOUR PLAYER?
The most important question of all is who you're designing your game for. The type of person who plays a peaceful game like Minecraft (shown in Figure 1-7) may not be the same type of person who plays a fast-paced fighting game like Street Fighter. Knowing the type of person you want to play your game can help determine the type of game you create.
FIGURE 1-7: Minecraft.
If you're ever in doubt about who your player base is, ask yourself if you would want to play the game you're making. Don't design the game you think people want to play. Design the game you want to play.
CREATING YOUR GAME ON PAPER
A good exercise is to create a game on paper before you go into...
