Part II: Designing a Game

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In This Part:

Chapter 6: Conceptualization

Chapter 7: Prototyping

Chapter 8: Playtesting

Chapter 9: Functionality, Completeness, and Balance

Chapter 10: Fun and Accessibility

Chapter 11: Controls and Interfaces

Now that we've looked at the basic elements of games, it's time to walk through the process of designing a game of your own. This may seem overwhelming at first, especially if your goal is to create a game like the ones you see on the shelves of your local game store-filled with complex animations and elaborate programming. So before we even think of discussing these aspects, let's back away from the ultimate goal and take the process of design step by step from the beginning.

First, we'll discuss conceptualization-coming up with ideas for your games. This may be easy for you-you may already have an idea of the game you want to make. But what if you can't get support for your one idea? What will you do then? We'll show you how you can train yourself to become an 'idea person,' someone for whom ideas come as easily as breathing. That way, you won't be stuck with just one idea when opportunity knocks.

Once you have your idea, you'll need to formalize it-many designers jump right to writing a design document at this point, but we'll show you how to prototype your idea and get playtesters involved very early in the process. The iterative design process that we outlined in Chapter 1 on page 11 is detailed in Chapters 7 and 8-'Prototyping' and 'Playtesting.' By prototyping and playtesting early, you can grasp which aspects of your system are working and which are not. It's only once you've seen players interact with your idea that you have enough knowledge to even think about drafting a design document.

What will you test for? Chapters 9 and 10 discuss strategies for making sure that your game is complete, that it is fair, that it offers meaningful choices, and that it is fun and accessible for your players. In Chapter 11 we will discuss how to conceptualize your design in terms of controls and interfaces, and how to articulate those aspects of design as a preliminary step to a full design specification.

Our goal here is to give you an accurate picture of the design process, if you follow along with the exercises in this section, you'll have designed at least one full game of your own. Going through this process yourself will teach you important methods for conceptualizing, building, and examining your work. By the time you're done, you will understand how to design a game, playtest it, and use your knowledge of the formal, dramatic, and dynamic aspects of games to perfect its gameplay.

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