2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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
10. Vertical SliceProposal Approval Approval Publish Development Process Design Design Proposal Prototype Development Testing Testing
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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.
14. Focus Focus should guide the design Does this design choice reflect the focus? Focus can be changed But should be changed accidentally
15. 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
16. Other Ways to Communicate Design Prototypes Physical, digital Good to communicate gameplay In gameplay-driven titles defining by prototype might be enough Scenarios & Storyboards
17. Design Document Overview Focus Game Mechanics What the player(s) do Interface (controls, etc) the Player’s view to game (1st / 3rd person camera) Game Elements Components AI / Procedures The important system features
18. Design Document Story Overview Story bible describes story and dialogue in detail if necessary Game Progression Levels, progression from a level to a level, maps 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
19. 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
22. 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
23. 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
Editor's Notes
The Songs of North example; no push/need to poll, latency 1s+, data transfer was expensive, positioning was incredible expensive,
