At long last, we're moving back into Unity (exciting)! After having worked on 2D games and 3D modeling, we're finally going to start creating 3D games. It's research time. What should a game NOT be? It shouldn't be confusing, but it also shouldn't handhold the player. It shouldn't be too hard or too easy. It shouldn't be devoid of rewards for the players hard work (i.e., it shouldn't be pointless). It shouldn't make players want to give up. It shouldn't be unfair. It shouldn't be full of glitches and bugs. It's very important to make games understandable. The player needs to know what they're doing, or they won't want to play. Integrating tutorials directly into the gameplay is usually the best method, and pretty much standard by now. People usually don't open games because they want to read a long instruction manual. Besides, handholding can feel restrictive and patronizing. Let the players feel like they've actually accomplished something–by letting them actually accomplish something. Let them figure it out. They're not idiots. It's also important that players are rewarded for doing well. This is especially important if the game gets repetitive (which it generally shouldn't, but it's pretty unavoidable to some extent). Most people won't want to complete tasks in-game if there's not some kind of reward. Then it feels pointless. To make sure the game isn't pointless, plan ahead. Throwing things together will lead to poor design, confusion, and less opportunities for the player to fully use the game environment to their advantage. It needs to make sense and it needs to be conducive to good gameplay. On the topic of repetition again, add variety. Unless you're making an arcade game (and I know I'm not), the player expectation is going to be that not everything is the same. Don't copy-paste your game world into existence; it's going to get very boring very fast. So, to summarize:
Citations:
“Keeping Your Players Engaged - Tips for Great Game Level Design.” Pluralsight, Pluralsight, 6 Feb. 2014, www.pluralsight.com/blog/film-games/keeping-players-engaged-tips-great-game-level-design. Staff, Creative Bloq. “10 Tips for Building a Better Game.” Creative Bloq, Creative Bloq ART AND DESIGN INSPIRATION, 17 May 2012, www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/10-tips-building-better-game-5126304.
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AuthorI'm moving on to my 4th (and final) year as a Game Art & Design student at Durham School of the Arts. I'd like to call myself an artist, but I'm a programmer at heart. Archives
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