Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Art, Engineering, or Craft?
Some people like to think of game design as an art, a process of imagination that
draws on a mysterious wellspring of creativity. They think of game designers as art-
ists, and they suppose that game designers spend their time indulging in flights of
imagination. Other people, often more mathematically or technologically oriented,
see game design as a type of engineering. They concentrate on the methodology for
determining and balancing the rules of play. Game design to these people is a set of
techniques. Aesthetics are a minor consideration.
Each of these views is incomplete. Game design is not purely an art because it is not
primarily a means of aesthetic expression. Nor is game design an act of pure engi-
neering. It's not bound by rigorous standards or formal methods. The goal of a
game is to entertain through play, and designing a game requires both creativity
and careful planning.
NOTE
Game design
is a craft, combining
both aesthetic and
functional elements.
Craftsmanship of a
high quality produces
elegance.
Interactive entertainment is an art form, but like film and television, it is a collab-
orative art form. In fact, it is far more collaborative than either of those media, and
development companies seldom grant the game designer the level of creative con-
trol that a film director enjoys. Consequently, no single person on a design team is
entitled to call himself the artist. Designing games is a
craft
, like cinematography or
costume design. A game includes both artistic and functional elements: It must be
aesthetically pleasing, but it also must work well and be enjoyable to play. The
greatest games—the ones whose reputations spread like wildfire and that continue
to be played and discussed long after their contemporaries are forgotten—combine
their artistic and functional elements brilliantly, achieving a quality for which the
best word is
elegance
. Elegance is the sign of craftsmanship of the highest order.
The Player-Centric Approach
This topic teaches you an approach called
player-centric game design
. This approach
helps you produce an enjoyable game, which, in turn, helps it be a commercially
successful one. Many other factors affect the commercial success of a game as well:
marketing, distribution, and the experience of the development team. These are
beyond the control of the game designer, so no design or development methodol-
ogy can guarantee a hit. However, a well-designed game undoubtedly has a better
chance of being a hit than a poorly designed one.
P L A Y E R - C E N T R I C G A M E D E S I G N
is a philosophy of design in which the designer envisions
a representative player of a game the designer wants to create. The designer then
undertakes two key obligations to that player:
■
The duty to entertain: A game's primary function is to entertain the player, and it is
the designer's obligation to create a game that does so. Other motivations are secondary.
■
The duty to empathize: To design a game that entertains the player, the designer
must imagine that he is the player and must build the game to meet the player's desires
and preferences for entertainment.
