Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
means that the opportunities to create rich stories are few and far between.
However, when opportunities do present themselves, writing well within
aproject's limitation can be a fun challenge for the writer who is able to
meet it.
Educational
Educational games are generally designed to make the learning process fun,
using the principle that if a child is learning how to count in a game that uses
fun cartoon characters from a well-known franchise, say, that child is likely to
learn more quickly.
Potentially, educational games could cover a wide range of subjects, but in
reality will be limited to those subjects which are appropriate to young
children, at whom most of these games are targeted.
Many educational games provide the player with a series of fun activities,
rather than puzzles and other more standard gameplay. So an educational art
game may have crazy sounds associated with each brush action, say, but could
also give the player the opportunity to print out their work.
For a writer who wants to work with educational games, it is important
that an understanding of the educational needs of the age group are under-
stood along with accepted teaching methods. Some research may be needed
to ensure that the games challenge the child in a fun way and allow them to
learn from the experience. Working with developers who specialise in this
type of game is very important, bringing in your skills in the right way to
benefit the players of the games.
Fighting
This genre is probably one of the narrowest, but is a genre in its own right
because no other games are structured in quite this way.Typically pitting two
opponents against one another through on-screen avatars, the object of the
game is to manipulate the controller in a highly-skilful manner and beat your
opposite number. Mastery of the controller by pressing the buttons in specific
sequences is an important skill to learn and the fast reflexes required are not
to everyone's tastes. All of these games give the player the opportunity to
fight against a game-controlled opponent as well as other players.
Because these games are simply about the fighting, the opportunities for
the writer are very limited. Some of them will have background or intro-
ductory text and descriptions of the various combatants, but their very nature
reduces the need for story and character development quite considerably.
