3. Rules
Easily Understood
Consistent with
Game Theme
Setup
Progression
Resolution
Rule Categories
Rules
Mechanics
Systems
Rule Groupings
4. Game Mechanics
Avoid unkillable
objects
Instant death
Game repeats until
you die
Remember an
increasing number of
things
Repeat pattern
Forced constant
movement
Block puzzles
Game keeps getting
harder until you die
Uncountable number
of possible paths
Big gains for you can
be big gains for your
enemy
Block path
Information Overload
Disinformation
Switch modes
Push mole down, mole
pops up
Cut off one head, two
grow back
Bouncing object
Gravity
Mouse dexterity
Spinning plates
Teleports
Squad
Race
Chase
Collecting
Interrupt Action
Squad
Scarce Resource
Jumping
Hidden image/
Where’s Waldo?
Timed
Protect a target
Undirected
exploration
Bullet Hell
Buy Low, Sell High
Brawling
Dialog Tree
Building
Crafting
5. Resources
Currency
Building Materials
Energy
Health
Combat Units
Inventory Items
Time
Turns
Moves
Territory
Power-Ups
Information
Anything the player must gather or
protect to help in achieving the game’s
goals.
6. Obstacles
Anything that makes achieving the game’s goals
difficult.
Enemies
Puzzles
Traps
Time Limits
Hidden Resources
Resource Management
Randomness
7. Goals
Achievement milestones that advance
progress in a game.
Elementary (Minor) Goals
Intermediate (Level) Goals
Primary (Win/Loss) Goals
9. Examples of Goals
Score
Capture/Destroy
Collection
Solve
Chase/Race/Esca
pe
Beat the Clock
Spatial Alignment
Build
Explore
Advance the Story
10. What Makes Goals Addictive
Worthy of Obtaining
Challenging to Reach
Obtainable
New Goals Replace
Old Goals
11. Experience Phases
A good game designer will look at one game as 4
different game, which emphasizes on the 4
Experience Phases of a game, as defined by
Professor Kevin Werbach:
Discovery
Onboarding
Scaffolding
Endgame
12. Game Main Loop
The set of rules that a game follows during
each game turn.
All games have turns, even if they appear to
be continuously be running. This is because
most modern games don’t stop and wait for
player input.
14. Game Main Loop
while (game is not over)
check for user input
If user input
case (user input)
navigation: move player
construction: build object
fight: attack enemy
determine enemy state changes
case (enemy state)
idle: do nothing
patrol: walk between waypoints
chase: run toward player
flee: run to default waypoint
die: enemy death
end while
15. Create a page in your Concept PowerPoint
that lists the following:
Game Mechanics
Resources
Obstacles
Intermediate Goals (if any)
Win Conditions
Lose Conditions (if any)
PowerPoint
16. Create a Gameplay page in your GDD Wiki that lists the following:
Game Mechanics: List at least three core game mechanics (don’t
describe movement, unless it is unusual)
Resources: What you acquire or protect as you progress through
the game (e.g., score, turns, health, energy, territory)
Obstacles: What makes reaching the game’s goals challenging?
(e.g., fighting enemies, solving puzzles, avoiding hazards, time
limits)
Progression: What intermediate goals must you reach to advance
(e.g., clear levels, defeat bosses)
Resolution: What final goal must you reach to win the game? (e.g.,
complete level 5, defeat main boss) Are there ways to lose the
game? (e.g., lose all 3 lives, game timer runs out)
Wiki
17. 2. Create a Main Game Loop page in your
TDD Wiki, specifying the following:
Player inputs and resulting actions
Enemy states and resulting actions
Goals and resulting actions
Wiki
Notes de l'éditeur
There are three categories of rules, all important to a successful play experience:Setup involves things you do once at the beginning of a gameProgression entails what happens during a gameResolution indicates the conditions that cause the game to end and how an outcome is determined based on the game state.Mechanics are a collection of rules that form a discrete chunk of gameplay.Systems are collections of mechanics that make up the biggest chunks of the game.
Resources are all the things directly under a players control that can be used as a game advances.
Strategic (mental) and reflex (physical) gameplay are different expressions of player skill. In both cases, the player has control over the outcome through his decisions and actions.By contrast, chance-based mechanics have a randomized outcome. Chance adds uncertainty to a game, which can create tension and make it more exciting. Too much randomness can be frustrating. Players want to make meaningful decisions, but decisions lose meaning if the outcomes are decided solely by dice rolls or card shuffles.Chance-based mechanics also come in different flavors with different mathematical characteristics. Determining the right type and amount of chance-based mechanics is a big part of being a game designer.
What are the players trying to do? Game objectives determine who won or whether the player has beaten the game or a portion of the game. They can also vary in scale. Complete the level or mission is an objective, but the bigger objective might be complete a series of levels or complete the storyline. Here are some common game objectives.Score: Get more points than your opponent; or, be the first player to reach a certain number of points. There might be one source of points, or different actions might have different point values.Capture/Destroy: Eliminate all of your opponent’s resources from the game. Chess is a well-known example where you must eliminate opposing forces to win.Collection: Many jumping and exploration games like LittleBigPlanet and other platformers require the player to collect a certain number of objects scattered throughout the levels.Solve: The game Clue is an example of a game where the objective is to solve a puzzle.Chase/Race/Escape: Generally anything were you are moving toward or away from something.Beat the Clock: Trying to reach an objective before time runs out.Spatial Alignment: A number of games, like Tetris, involve the positioning of elements as an objective.Build: The opposite of “destroy”, players use resources to build structures or assets. In the game Civilization, players have must build things at many different levels: combat units, structures, technologies, cities. RPGs include the objective of character advancement where the player characters gradually gain power and capability.Avoiding a Loss: Some games end when one player performs an at that is forbidden by the rules, like Simon Says.Advance the Story: Sometimes the objective of a game is just to continue storyline and see what happens next to the characters.Explore: Game worlds like the Legend of Zelda series encourage players to travel around the world and discover new characters and places.