In the late 1990s Southpeak Entertainment showed me a licensed game design involving the cartoon The Jetsons .
The Jetsons game was a standard space racing game using the
I suggested a Jetsons space road rally game where each player as either George Jetson, his wife Jane, his
Licenses
Lesson: Use to your advantage your license and its fans.
Books and movies are linear forms of storytelling. They have a straight
There have been
The goal in chess is for one player to force a winning situation by “checkmate” or having the
The goal in many sports games is to outscore the opponent.
The goal in Othello is to occupy the most spaces on the board.
The goal in a game where you oversee a city or a planet may be to restore balance to a
Other noteworthy goals for future games might be based on “losing for a greater good.” Like in the film
Brewster’s Millions
, Richard Pryor must become penniless to inherit the family
Other altruistic goals could be the game’s goal, like “self sacrifice,” “helping the less fortunate,” or “giving up all worldly possessions for a cause.”
Only a fool would agree to play the “Heads I win,
Almost as bad would be a game where you need to roll dice three times and get a twelve (two sixes) each time to win. Winnable? Yes. Worth playing this game? No (winning odds are 1 in 46,656).
Design the game to be winnable or winnable through multiple paths (easy to hard).
In a multiplayer game, give each player equal strengths and weaknesses at the start. A good game lets each player have an equal chance and ability to win. You should
Let random events and the player’s decisions and actions determine the new game situation (player’s current position).
All
In a sports game, it’s the team’s or player’s starting formation or position. In an adventure game, it might be a puzzle to solve or deciding which direction to initially explore. In a puzzle game, it’s the initial setup of the puzzle’s challenge.
Perhaps the game could be designed to have a random start position. Some games can be unbalanced, allowing the more skillful player to have a handicap in the initial position.