Game Elements

After reading Formal Abstract Design Tools by Doug Church, I learned that if you want to be a game designers we should try and understand why a game is fun and why other game isn't as fun to play with but is really annoying. If we understand why, we can learn and use that knowledge to avoid that mistake when we are creating our own game.

Doug talks about the game "Mario 64" and the intentions to why the game works for everyone. He also talks about the different goals and controls in the game and how we should think about intentions when making our own game.

A game should have limited controls making it easier for the player to decided on what should their plan be and then act on it. The player should be invested and involved with the game, even if they failed the first time playing they will understand where and what they done wrong and if they are trying to defeat that level they know what and what not to do.

I also read about the Atomic Elements of Games, they explains the different game elements that games have in commons helping us identify or begin to identify individual game elements.

• Players -  How many players does the game need? Can the player enter or leave during the game and if so, does it affect the game? Are there teams? What are the teams like, even or odd number? Friends or random players?

• Objectives (Goals) - What are the goals? What are the players trying to do? Is it capture and destroy? Destroying the opponent but controlling their area?  Are you running away or chasing someone? Do you have to act on a forbidden rules and lose?

• Rules - Setup the game before beginning the game. Know the progression of the game, what will happens during the game. Also know the resolution, what can cause the game to end and how is the outcome determined based on the game state.

• Resources and Resource Management -  What kinds of resources do the players control? How can they manipulated during the game?

• Game State - Everything about the game and what makes up a snapshot of the game at a single point in time.

• Information -  How much information does the player needs to know? 

• Sequencing - In what order do players take their actions? How does the game work from one action to another? 

• Player interaction - Does players interaction with others? If so, how do they interaction with one another? Can they influence one another? Interactions examples, Direct conflicts, Negotiation, Trading and Information sharing.

• Theme - What is the Narrative, Backstory and Setting like? What is the purposes of the game? 

• Games as Systems - A combination of things or parts that form a complex whole. It is hard to fully understand or predict them just by defining them, a far deeper understanding by seeing the system in action.

Another article I read was How To Analyse A Video Game. It was similar to what I have read so far but just short, really short but still understand the information they game. They gave example of action, adventure and simulation games and talking how these genres games are popular today. Media and game has involved and their audiences based on characteristics like age, gender and interest. When getting a gamers attention, the target is the game genre, the platform and the characteristics of how the game functions. 

To understand a game and making it better, getting more audiences and how it works  you need to consider:

• Game mechanics
• Audio
• Visuals
• Programming
• Game activities
• Story

Inside the Game Design Campus;
Source: Flickr