We are growing as a game development company which has pool of expert developers and testers. Any game development company requires skilled, proficient and experienced game developers, game designers, testers and many other members to launch a great game in the market. Game designing comes under the wider ambit of video game development that uses the creativity and design to develop a game for entertainment, educational and commercial purpose. Such games targets a wide array of audience. The game designing revolves around many elements such as the characters, rules, stories, goals and many other things.
Game designing requires high level of creativity and craftsmanship on the part of the designers as it needs to cater to the needs of the children, adults and people from almost every age group. It first needs to develop a plot that revolves around a compelling story. Such story should have the strong built animated or real characters to which the gamers can easily relate to and understand. Such game should be highly interactive so that it can drive interactions with other characters, users or objects.
In the following blog, we shall discuss about game designing, game designer work, prerequisites for building a great game and finally a step by step guide to design a great game.
What Is Game Design?
Game designing is a very appealing, exciting, rewarding and multi-faceted field which opens up wide job opportunities or prospects. Becoming a game designer is a very exciting and high paying job as it opens up the scope of creativity in the designers. On the other hand it is a very challenging job which demands persistent hard work, patience, perseverance and passion on the part of designers. Whenever commercial games needs to be built by any game development company it requires a large team of technical experts, game developers, designers, testers, marketers, animators, level designers, modelers and experts of finances and other members to make their game development dream come true.
A game designer is that person who conceptualizes the plots of game and their storylines. They have the work of developing suitable environments, back stories of character (if the game is complex and has different levels or multiple characters), levels of game and environment change accordingly, colors in association with the mood of the gamer, interaction between the characters and other creative aspects. The game designers works in close collaboration with the other game specialists such as the game artist, game developers to communicate and execute their idea. A project manager shall take up those ideas and take it into consideration for the game production.
Such game designers can work solely and independently or work for game development company for the commercial purpose. They can work for themselves by conceiving, creating, programming and publishing their own titles.
What Does A Game Designer Do?
One of the most important aspect for becoming a game designer is the developing of video games that are considered extremely complex by nature. When these video games are created the storyline itself has millions of lines of code that is used for developing every aspect of the game. While initiate of the game it revolves around the maps to characters which has the ability to fulfill the reaction for every possible action that a player chooses.
Any game is initiated with a concept or idea of game. A team of game designers drafts a proposal on the basis of their concept or game idea that covers all the important aspects related to the game. Such a drafted proposal has important details related to the target audience, requirements, budgets and deadlines. The game designers can make the concept of gameplay and layout become a reality with the help of the constant development and improvements on the existing games. They become a part of the experiments that consistently takes place for the game designing and development along with the several themes and genres that are used for games.
These are some of the following important elements that a game design includes and they are :
- Plots and storylines
- Characters
- Methods for winning or losing the game
- Maps, scenarios, and difficulties
- User interface creation
All such elements such as the game plot, storylines, characters, and many more gaming creative aspects are created with the aid of computer software. The designer input the computer scripting which is being processed by the software which further generates commands, objects, events and the characters that the players interact with. A game after being launched into the market goes through numerous changes and also while making it which needs to be constantly kept in check. The game designer needs to be updated with the latest trends, demands in the market and also technologies that are widely used for the game designing purpose addressing the different aspects. It may also require a recoding of thousands of lines of code. Such game designer can be also be asked to focus on the certain aspects of the game such as the technology, art and designing etc.
Games that are designed with sole purpose of being customer driven and for gaining profits they are designed specifically in that manner. While there are some games which are not designed in specific to the gamers needs due to budget constraints. The games that are driven by technology are created in order to highlight a technological achievement or to market the gaming consoles and engines such as the quality graphic displays. While if a game is designed specifically to focus on art it needs to have excellent visual effects with appealing and colorful designed crafted by the game artists.
There are game designers who have their prime focus on specific aspect of the gameplay. Majority of the game designers spends a small part of their time on testing where they experiment with coding and seek out for any defects, flaws or mistakes on the very instance. There are lead designers who are the coordinators of the team have decision making power and authority and are also responsible for any communication taking place within and outside the team. An environmental game designer is responsible for for creating the different scenarios and environments of the game. While the game mechanics designer works on balancing the game and its rule system.
What Makes A Good Game?
- Continuous Challenge
A good game designer should be efficient in game making who continuously poses new challenges in front of the gamers or players. These new challenges posed during the game keeps the players interested for long and hooked on playing a game. It has been seen that when the human mind is exposed to challenges in life it enhances the cognitive ability of the individual. Similarly when the gamer is exposed to the mind game challenges between their actual games like solving some puzzle or any other problem solving games it enhances the thinking and creative ability of the players. The challenges must get difficult as the level of the game rises. Each such challenge must have an learning objective behind it. The challenges posed must be clear and address goals appropriate to the level of player and context within the game. - Interesting Storyline
An interesting or compelling storyline is an integral part of every kind of game. It is very useful in case of the multiple players who are competing against each other. A good storyline highly engages the players that are competing against each other. This also livens up the whole level of competition further. When we look at the different board and video games we see that a good plot or storyline has an overall different effect on the minds of the gamers while they play. Such storyline helps the players to remain much motivated at succeeding in a game as it enhances their imagery power. This helps the students to practically invest their free time after their studies which shall only grow their minds and personality. - Flexibility
An effective game should be very much flexible enough to adapt to changes according to changing trends and demands in the market. The players or the team must work out on their own strategy to the endpoint while also keeping game challenging, interactive and interesting and simultaneously achieving the learning objectives. - Immediate and useful rewards
While the players are enjoying the game and are approaching towards the victory and success they can be rightfully rewarded with points. They can be rewarded immediately for their new capabilities, a new part of the board to explore or even a new task. This shall keep the players motivated while they play which shall keep them hooked to the game for a longer time. - Combining Fun and Realism
A good, interesting and immersive game is a blend of fun and realism. If there is excessive of realism in a game it makes it boring. The games should be a balance between the goals and challenges.
Quick Guide To Design A Great Game
In this particular section we shall discuss that how games are made meaningful and how the games can help to grow your business. There are usually these following ten steps to design a good game for any individual or business for achieving a short term or long term goal.
A quick step-by-step guide to design a great game are :-
- Identifying key issues
While we are designing a game the first step that needs to be taken into consideration is listing out the top most issues that needs to be addressed in your business. These key issues can be related to the services provided or financial status of the organization. It can be related to the sales, product quality, health and safety, hygiene and accuracy etc. Any of the issues related to the business can be the subject of the game. - Pick an issue to work
There might be a number of issues in a business but you got to decide which one you want to take up or address with a game. A game can be a very simple yet useful tool which can help and gets it hands on the needs that is required for the business to survive. Games are definitely but they serve also some additional purpose and can help your business survive. For a new venture or business if running games seems tricky and not easy then you can pick something very simple that helps you to win. - Set the target number
Setting up the target is a very important task which must be reasonable and realistic to meet the immediate goals of the business. Each business has their own set of objectives, goals and challenges which can not be compared with the other competitors in the market. The only thing that should be your focus is to beat the benchmark that was set by your business the previous year. - Develop measurement system
There must be a track of the progress or success in terms of any particular parameter that has been already set by your organization. The games can not work efficiently if the players have a conflicting understanding regarding the how the score needs to be calculated. Whatever is the desired result for the business it must be properly communicated and known by everyone in the same language. - Determining number of players
During this step the people who are part of the team for any given game is determined properly. Usually everyone is included on the team that is beyond orientation which encourages new staff members to complete their initial orientation training requirements. While some of the games includes every individual regardless of when they have been hired. While for some of them they are included only when they actively sign up to play. - Estimation of benefit of winning to organization
If you hit the target then you may fairly contribute to the business of the company. If you plan to reduce the the number of mistakes per week then it shall greatly contribute to the organization. This is very beneficial for the organization and it’s success. - Develop reward pool for team members
On the basis of the calculation done by you it determines the amount of pool to share. The aim is to share giving the entire savings to the staff and not leaving anything for the organization is also not a good idea. When the staff is involved in planning the game they at the same time they immediately tell what is or is not inspiring for them. - Determine game duration
The games can be for the short or long term duration of time. If you are new into this field then you must start with games that are for short term and can be tracked very easily. This shall benefit for a shorter period of time while the long term games can enable to earn a profitability for an year. The best is mixing or blending of both short and long term games at the same time. This shall help in balancing out the profit of the business. - Recheck many times before starting
Once the game is on it’s way and rules are publicized it needs to be checked on multiple occasions. It means you must check things in proximity before the game can be started. After the game is checked multiple times and rather rechecked it needs to be reviewed for the problems or flaws or defects. - Rollout and play the game
After all the processes are finally completed then you can proceed with playing the game. If you have successfully completed all the required steps mentioned above then the game playing must go very smooth. The below mentioned things can turn your earlier work into an effective action.
a) Pick a good name for the game
Names makes all the difference as they add on immense value to the games and their demand in the market. The better the name of the game the better the game is going to stick around with people and in their minds. An attractive name of the game leaves a lasting impression on the minds of the users.
b) Write it up
The games becomes much clearer, effective and engaging if the rules are written up and is addressed to or communicated with everyone in the organization. The rules must be self explanatory, simple in language, easy to comprehend by the users. After the write up is done in an organized manner one can fit the whole thing on a single sheet. The writing may include the game, rules, and winnings.
c) Put it across the scoreboard
The games shall only have a demand or remain successful if there is a scoreboard. A scoreboard must be easily understandable, interactive and written in big and bold letters. The board must have such detailed and colorful characters or fonts that can easily grab the attention of the players. This shall highly engage the players and keeps them hooked to the game for long. The scoreboard must have easy to read language and brief in size which does not require the people to spend too much time on studying it.
d) Share the success
One of the most satisfying aspect of designing a great and interesting game is being able to share the success with the whole team. The success achieved at gaming can be shared with the employees in the form of bonuses. When the efforts and contribution of the staff is recognized they feel highly motivated and valued. Sharing the success with everyone is a great way to celebrate that makes the customers and staff both feel valued and important and take themselves as the part of the company.