I found myself in a lot of situations where I didn’t have access to Unity, Ps, or Cubase, but I was busy. I always wanted to learn something, but I didn’t have the environment to do it, so I decided to start learning game design early and put the time to good use.
Well, the first book to blaze this trail was the Art of Game Design, which is so famous.
In addition to sorting out the contents of the book, I will have my own thoughts on each paragraph and write them in the article. What you don’t want to see can be ignored.
0. Lens
This book introduces something called a lens, which is basically a point of view. There is no right answer to making games, so this book will offer multiple perspectives on how to design games in order to find better designs.
1. Skills needed for game design
Name the dish first (after the colon is the content of the book, in parentheses is your own understanding) :
- The animation. (An important part of the game)
- Anthropology.
- Architecture: Architecture is the relationship between people and space, and you need to understand architecture when designing your game. (Thus the place where the character lives will appear real, which will increase the character’s vitality)
- Brainstorm. (Feels like a random fit)
- Business: Video games are mostly about making money, and knowing how the game market works makes you more likely to make the game you want. (Only if you know enough about making money can you make a good choice and make a game that doesn’t deviate from your original goal, but still makes some money.)
- How to make a movie: The game is also a virtual shot (learn how a movie shot works to improve performance, as hideo Kojima has proved)
- Communication. (For indie game makers, not so much.)
- Creative writing. (Unless it’s a game without any written story, writing skills are required.)
- Economics. (Don’t do strategy games with complex economic systems, not so much.)
- Engineering. (Not if you’re not making a big game)
- Play a game. (This city)
- History. (For example, some games set in ancient times need to know this, including fantasy, strategy also need this)
- Management. (Not for independent producers)
- Mathematics. (This is not a special to learn, to use the time will naturally to contact)
- Music. (Of course, very important)
- Psychology.
- Public speaking. (Follow Jonathan Blow.)
- Sound design. (Very important)
- Technical writing. (Documentation is important, game development doesn’t happen overnight)
- Visual art: Games have a lot of graphics.
In summary, while it may seem like a lot at first glance, it’s possible to cut some of it out for independent producers. Some are the meet-and-solve type. The rest of it is not something you need to know too much about.
Experience 2.
One of the difficulties for game designers is that games are interactive and players play at their own pace. The result is an experience designed by the designer that the player probably won’t be able to experience. Sometimes they even design random events, which are more indirect.
2.1 Lens no.1: Emotion
While the experience is hard to manipulate, it is relatively clear that emotion is an important part of the experience — that the game experience creates emotion. You can create an experience from an emotional point of view. To make sure you’re creating the right emotion for your players, ask yourself these questions:
- What emotions do I want the player to experience? Why is that?
- What emotions do people (myself included) feel when they play games? Why is that?
- How can I bridge the gap between what I actually experience and what I imagine?
2.2 Heisenberg Principle
There’s a huge problem with analytic experience, called The Heisenberg principle, which comes from quantum mechanics, which is that you can’t observe a particle without interfering with it. When it comes to games, when you play games, if you analyze while playing, you will lose the real experience. Although there are a lot of analysis, it is not the experience that a person actually plays.
2.2.1 Analyzing Memory
So the key is recall analysis after playing the game. Here two methods branch out:
- Don’t do anything at all, only analyze a game after you’ve played it because the experience is too big to forget. This approach tends to only analyze games that are really good or really bad.
- Through deliberate mental training, I try to remember as many details as possible while playing the game without losing the experience.
2.2.2 Two experiences
One way to analyze memory is to play it a second time. The first time you play with no ideas, the second time you analyze. Especially if something is new the first time and is not new the second time, think about why it is new.
2.2.3 A sneak peek
There is a skill called sneak peek, which is to quickly think about the current experience while playing the game, and then immediately return to the game without affecting the experience, which also needs training. (I just can’t do it)
2.2.4 Observe silently
Of course, when you want to observe, a glance is not enough, so the author proposes a method similar to meditation. Split into two brains, one focused on experience and the other on observation. (I don’t know.)
2.3 Important Experience
Analyzing memories alone, of course, does not fully recapitulate the real experience. So grab the important parts of the experience. For example, if you want to make a snowball fight, by recalling the memories of the snowball fight, you should remove the unimportant things, such as “a stranger was looking at me”, “I was wearing a sweater and pants”, and replace them with the more important things, such as “the snow was cold” and “the snow was better for snowballing”. (Of course, what is said here is that the former is not necessary to be concerned about in the definition of basic elements, not to say that the former is meaningless. Personally, in order to increase the sense of substitution, such as wearing wool pants, surrounded by strangers watching these details can also be added)
As a game designer, when designing an experience, you need to first find the basic elements that define that experience, and then figure out how to make them part of the game design.
Much of this book is about teaching the reader a way to make games that allow the player to have these experiences. The point is that this basic element can be delivered in a way that a real experience rich in detail can’t.
Again, the experience of snowball fights, such as “the snow is cold”, does not need to be based on the actual situation of the day when expressed in the game. For example, you can use art effects to create a scene where snow is falling, even if it isn’t. You can use sound effects to express the wind chill, even if it’s not that windy that day. Even, if cold is decided to be an important part of the game experience, it can be added to the rules of the game, such as a snowball fight with gloves off, but only for a limited time.
The point of this approach is that when you know what experience you want to give the player, it’s much easier to tweak that experience. At least you know how to make your game that experience. So here we have lens number two.
2.3.1 Lens 2: Critical experience
Essential experience, but I think the word essence is not a good use of the word, there is no essence, then all replaced by critical experience.
This lens makes you think about the player’s experience:
- What kind of experience do I want the player to have?
- What is the key to this experience?
- How does my game capture this key?
2.3.2 Examples of critical experiences
The book offers two examples: a baseball game for Wii Sport and James Bond. The latter, I think, adds to the understanding of what a critical experience is.
By the time Designer Craig created 007, there had been many spy games in the past, and none of them had failed. Cragg felt that in these games, the intense and exciting experience of the movies was no longer there, so he decided to focus on that experience (i.e., using critical lenses and answering questions one and two). To answer the third question, he created something called a “hero point,” an action that in traditional RPGS required a roll of the die to determine the success rate. The role of the “hero point” is to act as a certain successful action, and when the hero point is used, the action scene will be more spectacular, and the “hero point” can be used for a limited number of times.
The introduction of “hero points” makes the behavior more strategic, players will think carefully about where to use them, and when successful, the hero points will be successful, and the spectacular scene will reward the player. (If you play a lot of RPGS, you always think of resource rewards. But there are times when emotional rewards are more compelling. In fact, in the Last of Us G1, ali’s angry whipping corpse in a cutscene is actually a bonus when you defeat a story pariah).
Instead of using a critical lens, many designers design by chance, follow their instincts, and occasionally happen to make a structure that makes the player feel the experience. The critical Experience lens separates the experience from the game, allowing you to see the relationship between the design and the game experience more visually, making tweaking the design less of a black box. In particular, it is safer to remove and add elements.
3.
There is nothing special about the meaning of the setting, just the place where the game is played. This chapter discusses a variety of different scenarios and explores different game types (RPGS, FPS, etc.), different game platforms (PC, console, etc.), and even different ways of playing (board games, video games, playground games). These types can be divided into three categories according to privacy: private scene, public scene, semi-private and semi-open scene.
3.1 Private Scenario
3.1.1 fireplace
Fireside is an ancient way of playing. Of course, the fireplace does not only refer to the fireplace, including the television as a modern fireplace, indicating the place among a group of people.
In the first part, the author gives an ambiguous evolutionary example, but at least the nintendo example is illustrative. The fireplace is suitable for many people to play together, but not for one person to enjoy. The Wii U, as a fireside console, was too focused on the single-player experience of a separate handheld screen, which was one of the reasons it failed.
3.1.2 the workbench
A workbench, similar to a desk, is a place used to solve problems. This kind of place is quiet and won’t be disturbed by guests, suitable for the kind of place to concentrate on the enjoyment of one’s own. A good example of this is Valve’s Steam platform.
3.1.3 nook
A reading corner is a comfortable place to lie in your home. The king of the pack is the iPad. While the iPad didn’t catch the gaming world’s attention at first, it has since proved to be a perfect fit for the reading corner scene and a force to be reckoned with today.
3.2 Common Scenario
3.2.1 theatre
As before, the theater doesn’t just point to the theater. It’s a group of people witnessing the same event. The theater didn’t work as a game setting because interacting with a group of people was too difficult. Most relevant to gaming at the moment is the creation of virtual theatre: live games. A group of people watching each other play a game is also a kind of theater.
3.2.2 arena
A term that includes horse racing, sports ground, etc. Something like an FPS is a virtual arena. The arena and the theatre are quite compatible. Just as there are always theatres around stadiums, competitive games have the largest live audiences.
3.2.3 museum
Museums cover many things. Things like aquariums, supermarkets (exhibitions of goods) and arcades (exhibitions of games) are museums.
3.3 Semi-private and semi-open scenes
Some scene boundaries are less obvious.
3.3.1 game table
The world of board games. This can be done in the privacy of your home or in a communal board room. For now, few video games have made it big. (A card game like Hearthstone doesn’t count because it’s mostly played online with other players, more like a virtual arena.)
3.3.2 rainfall distribution on 10-12 playground
That is playground, why suddenly English, because it is not only that kind of running place, any place of play, such as open space, playground, can be called playground. A place for children. Current technology is not sufficient to develop playground games for adult units.
3.3.3 Anytime, anywhere
Of course, it’s mobile games.
3.4 Actual Scenario
Most of the time the scene is not one, similar to the casino (arena + game table), most of the time it is a mix and match product.
3.5 Lens 3: Scene
It’s important to have your game’s setting in mind:
- Which scenario is best suited to the game I want to make?
- Are there any specific attributes in my scene that affect my game?
- What elements of my game work well with the scene, and what don’t?
Games that connect with reality are always more touching, and this is the foundation of art.