CONTEXT - A Game Design Vocabulary - page 103

Review
■ The appearance of game objects can tell the player about their function, their purpose,
and their relationship to the player. For example, something covered in spikes is dan-
gerous to touch.
■ Recurring visual motifs allow us to develop an ongoing vocabulary of game rules that
the player understands. If the player learns that one spiked thing is dangerous, she'll
expect other spiked things to be dangerous.
■ Character design is useful not just for communicating the rules that govern objects,
but also for making them distinct and recognizable. Giving characters unique silhou-
ettes helps the player distinguish them visually.
■ The way that things move can be used to differentiate the important from the less
important objects in a game. Animation can characterize an object as aggressive,
timid, friendly, or dangerous.
■ The visual composition of a scene can direct the player's attention to what's important
in that scene. Symmetry can suggest importance or artificiality; irregularity can sug-
gest a natural landscape.
■ A scene can be an image as well as space. It can be a pretty view or a foreboding
visage.
■ The way a space is shaped can provide a context for what the player is doing there. For
example, battlements create a castle; a circle of water makes a moat. A castle on the
other side of a moat can give the player an incentive to cross the moat.
■ How the player looks at the game world—the camera—does a lot to characterize the
player's relationship to the world and what's in it. Seen from above, the game may look
like a map on which the player uses strategy. Seen from the side, it might look like a
diorama a character has to navigate.
■ A common mistake is to take control of the camera to force the player to see the things
you've deemed important. Good design leads the player—and the camera—to the
things that are important.
■ Sound can communicate information about the game, such as changes in game state
(perhaps the presence of characters or monsters). It can indicate success or failure or
being on the right track.
■ Sound can be a texture, a layer that can be added or taken away to change the player's
immediate relationship to the world.