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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