Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
At this point, you should know when and where your game takes place. You will
have answered a huge number of questions about what your world looks like, what
it sounds like, who lives there, and how they behave. If you've done it thoroughly,
your game world will be one in which a player can immerse himself, a consistent
fantasy that he can believe in and enjoy being part of. The next step is to figure out
what's going to happen there.
Design Practice
EXERCISES
1.
Imagine that you could use any content you liked in a game without regard for
copyright. Choose one of the following game genres and then select a famous
painter, photographer, or filmmaker, and a famous composer or musician, whose
work you would like to use to create the appropriate emotional tone for your game.
Create a short presentation (PowerPoint or similar) that shows how the images and
music work together for your purpose. The genres are action (survival horror sub-
genre), real-time strategy (modern warfare), or children's nonviolent adventure game.
2.
Write an essay discussing two contrasting systems of morality in games you have
played or in two games assigned by your instructor. What actions does each game
reward, and what actions does it punish? Address the relationship between right
behavior in the two game worlds and right behavior in the real world.
Design Practice
QUESTIONS
Ask yourself the questions about each of the following game world dimensions.
PHYSICAL DIMENSION
1.
Does my game require a physical dimension? What is it used for? Is it an essen-
tial part of gameplay or merely cosmetic?
2.
Leaving aside issues of implementation or display, how many imaginary spatial
dimensions does my game require? If there are three or more, can objects move
continuously through the third and higher dimensions, or are these dimensions
partitioned into discrete “layers” or zones?
3.
How big is my game world, in light-years or inches? Is accuracy of scale critical,
as in a football game, or not, as in a cartoon-like action game?
4.
Will my game need more than one scale, for indoor versus outdoor areas, for
example? How many will it actually require?
