Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
able to design games for other kinds of players. In the player-centric approach, this
means learning to think like your intended players, whoever they may be: little
girls, old men, busy mothers, and so on. You cannot assume that players like what
you like. Rather, you must learn to design for what they like. (You may also find that
you grow to like a game that you didn't think you would as you work to design it!)
One of the most common mistakes that male designers make is to assume that
male and female players are alike, when in fact they often have different priorities
and preferences. For an excellent discussion of how to reach female players without
alienating male ones, read Gender Inclusive Game Design, by Sheri Graner Ray (Ray,
2003). With every design decision, ask yourself, “What if the player is female?”
Does your decision apply equally to her?
A few game developers argue that they don't want to work on any game that they
personally wouldn't want to play—that if a game doesn't appeal to them, they
won't have any “passion” for it and won't do a good job. Taken to its logical conclu-
sion, that means we would never have games for young children, because young
children can't build games for themselves. Insisting that you must have passion for
your game or you can't do a good job on it is a very self-centered approach—the
opposite of player-centric design. Professionalism is just as important as passion.
Professionalism is the willingness to work hard to do a good job because that's what
you're paid for, regardless of whether you would choose to play your game for
entertainment. If you are a true professional, you can create a brilliant game for an
audience other than yourself. Kaye Elling, the former art manager at Blitz Games,
revealed in a lecture to the Animex International Festival of Animation and
Computer Games that the design team on the game Bratz: Rock Angelz —a game
intended for 10-year-old girls—consisted entirely of adult men. The game was a
big success in spite of this, because the designers learned how to think like their
intended players. They talked to girls and women, studied other products that girls
like, and took seriously their duty to empathize (Elling, 2006).
DESIGN RULE You Are Not Your Player
Do not assume that you epitomize your typical player. Player-centric game design requires
you to imagine what it is like to be your player, even if that person is someone very differ-
ent from you.
MISCONCEPTION 2: THE PLAYER IS MY OPPONENT.
Because arcade (coin-op) games have been around a long time, some of the techniques
of arcade game design have crept into other genres where they are not appropriate.
Arcade games make money by getting the player to put in more coins. Consequently,
they are designed to be hard to play for more than a few minutes and to continu-
ally threaten the player with losing the game. This places considerable constraints
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