Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Predictions
We can make better things if we focus on fundamentals. Th is
goes not just for games, of course. I hope that people can i nd
inspiration in this topic not only for the i eld of game design,
but in other creative fi elds, too.
In most other artistic fi elds the fundamentals are already established,
so if you're a visual artist, musician, or screenwriter you probably already
understand a thing or two about the nature of your medium and what
makes it tick. Even if you don't, there are tons of topics on these media
that can help fl esh things out for you. You can study your fi eld in school
and come out with a deep, working understanding of your medium. For
game designers, however, it's not like this.
I wanted to write this topic because we are at a prime point in history
for this situation to change. And it's not that it
may
change; it defi nitely
will
change. In the next two decades, we will fi nally begin to develop some
solid guidelines about the nature of games and game design. Many have
already begun to call the 21st century the Ludic Age, implying that games
will be the defi ning cultural (and perhaps economic) driving force of the
century. Games—or at least interactive entertainment of some kind—are
achieving saturation levels never seen before. And yet it has been less than
100 years since
anyone
has been paid to design games full time.
