Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Flat terrain is likely to be traversed quickly. If the designer wants to slow the
player so they can earn more experience and extend gameplay a bit, obstacles
can be added, such as a ravine that needs to be crossed, quicksand, thorny trees,
or creatures that must be avoided or killed. This is also a good time to keep in
mind the physics of the world.
For example, if you add water, and the character needs to swim, then their
movements should be slower (unless they have some special ability to run over
or swim rapidly through it). Using physics to add to the gameplay is part of the
level designer's job. If high winds can occur in the world, then the designer plans
where the winds will begin to affect the player or redirect them. Again, there is a
delicate balance between adding so many obstacles that the gameplay becomes
frustrating and the player quits, and making it so easy that the player gets bored
and quits.
As games are roughed out in the initial design phase, the designer can deter-
mine approximately how much time it should take the average player to com-
plete the game. Knowing about how long it should take (AAA games usually
take 10-20 hours to play) is important because gamers have grown accustomed
to the average length of time they expect their money to buy.
The amount of time a game is expected to be playable is established during
the planning phase (concept), when the game's goals and level parameters are
decided upon (in other words, the game's scale).
Start to write down your ideas. Let them gush, and record all the possibilities
that you can use as fodder to begin designing levels for the worlds in your game.
Add everything that comes to mind; then, as you start to rough out the levels,
keep and develop what seems to not only work for the look and feel of the game
but also contribute to the gameplay.
Research!
Research and development (R&D) is crucial to the concepting phase. Making
games is big business and very expensive. Spend time in research before you begin
sketching out the game or characters. Double-check your rough plans before you
flesh them out. Even then, many other bits can go wrong and balloon the devel-
opment cycle.
R&D is all about the possibilities. Dreaming up cool stuff is arguably one of
the most fun parts of development. Then you need to implement your ideas. Not
everything can be done. What can be done depends largely on budget, time, and
expertise, but you can achieve many goals by doing things cleverly. If the title
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