Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Design Practice EXERCISES
1. Write the rules for a simple, single-player, PC-based puzzle game like Bejeweled
but make up your own mechanics for earning points. Document all the challenges
and actions of the game. You must create at least 10 different kinds of atomic chal-
lenges. Indicate what action the player should use to surmount each challenge and
what reward the player gets for doing so. You must also create and document at
least four actions that are not intended to meet challenges but serve some other
purpose. You do not have to design a user interface in detail but may find it helpful
to make and submit a quick sketch of the screen and the layout of the controls.
2. Choose an action or action-adventure game you are familiar with (or your
instructor will assign one). Document the challenge hierarchy of the first level in
the game that is not a tutorial level, diagramming it as in Figure 9.1. (If the level
includes more than 50 sequential atomic challenges, you may stop after 50, but be
sure to include any level bosses or major challenges that occur at the end of the
level.) If you have the necessary software, play partway through the level, take a
screen shot, and indicate on your diagram what challenges you were facing at that
moment, similar to the gray boxes in Figure 9.1. If you faced simultaneous chal-
lenges, indicate that also. Submit the screen shot along with your diagram.
3. Think of a game you are familiar with that permits the player to achieve victory
by different strategies, similar to Figure 9.2. Write a short essay documenting each
approach and how the hierarchy of challenges (including the intermediate chal-
lenges) differs in each one. If one strategy seems more likely to achieve victory than
another, say so and indicate why. Your instructor will give you the scope of the
assignment.
4. Choose a single or multiplayer role-playing game that you are familiar with (or
your instructor will assign one). Identify all the actions it affords. (You may find
the game's manual helpful.) Divide the actions into those intended to meet chal-
lenges, those that participate in the story, those that facilitate socializing with
other players (if any), housekeeping operations such as inventory management, and
those that control the software itself. If another category suggests itself, document
it. Also note any actions that fall into more than one category and indicate why.
The size of the game that you or your instructor selects will determine the scope of
the assignment.
5. Choose ten different types of challenges from among the ones listed in the sec-
tion “Commonly Used Challenges” in this chapter. For each type, devise one
example challenge and two example actions that overcome it (this may rule out
some types). Describe the challenge and the two actions in a paragraph, ten para-
graphs in all.
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