Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Designer at work
Game design starts with a good idea. It can be a nice game mechanic, the idea of a
cool character or a piece of a story: anything can provide the inspiration for a good
game. A popular indie game called
Braid
finds its premises in the consequences of
a bad love delusion.
The next step is to convey this idea to the rest of the team in a way that ensures
everyone understands what the idea is. This sounds simple, but is far from it. A game
designer needs a wide variety of skills as well as good ideas. Good ideas are plenti-
ful, everyone has a few. The trick is getting something built that somewhat resembles
that good idea. The main tool the designer uses to convey his/her idea to the other
members of the team is, as we have already said, the design document.
The designer should have a working knowledge of the team's skills, such as art,
sound, programming as well as a background in playing games. A designer needs
the ability to analyze game play and to articulate what works and what doesn't work
in a game.
Since mobile game development is involved here, the designer should also have a
thorough knowledge, from both commercial and technical perspectives, of the mobile
platform: trends, technical advancements and solutions, successful genre and con-
trol schemes, profitable business models, strengths, and weaknesses. We expect to
provide you with such fundamentals within this topic!
Designer tools
There are several tools the designer is expected to be able to use to accomplish his/
her tasks.
•
Pencils and paper
: Any game mechanic description should begin with a
sketch of some sort to explain how it works. If you can't sketch the idea for a
game mechanic, it probably isn't a good mechanic.
•
Text editors and software
: To create mind maps and schemes, text editors
and software are a strongly recommended requirement, as they are neces-
sary to create documents and presentations that can be shown and shared
with the other team members to better communicate the ideas behind a
game and throughout all its development process. Spreadsheets with data
and formulas are included.
