Game Design

Commandments

  • Always Show the Goal
  • Problems not Puzzles
  • No Forced Failure
  • It’s About Varied Character Interaction
  • Players Do; NPC’s Watch
  • Reward Players Regularly
  • Players Get Smarter and the Game Will Get More Challenging
  • Think 3D - Geometry will contribute to gameplay
  • Routes Will Be Interconnected - Locations will be reachable in several ways
  • Problems Will Have Multiple Solutions
  • Players Will Surprise Themselves AND Us

IMMERSE PLAYERS IN THE GAME WORLD

This one’s simple – don’t throw too much game-iness at players... Build UI and metagame elements into the gameworld itself. Don’t insert a bunch of cutscenes.

Never remind players they’re just playing a game. You want them thinking it’s THEM in the world you’ve created, responding to things – causing things – that make sense to them in the context of your world.

There’s a reason I work in a genre called IMMERSIVE simulation.

and yet...

  • D&D is immersive theater of the mind. Everything sensory is game-y.
  • wandering around Odyssey is fun, at least for me

Resources

References


Backlinks