Design Components and Processes - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 64

Design Practice EXERCISES
In these exercises, you document existing games for practice. Your instructor may
require that you do so with certain particular games that he is familiar with, and
he sets the expected scope of the work—the amount of material he wants to see.
Use a document template from the companion website or one supplied by your
instructor.
1. Document the primary gameplay mode of a reasonably simple game that you
like. Be sure to include a sketch of the screen, including the camera model and user
interface; a list of all the buttons and menu items available in that mode; and a list
of the other modes that this mode can switch to. Describe the challenges and
actions that make up the mode.
2. Take a classic, well-known arcade game with a small number of gameplay modes
and shell menus, and create a flowboard for it. (As you cannot hand in an entire
wall of pages, create a miniature version with two or three gameplay modes per
sheet.)
3. Document the level progression of a well-known game that you have played all
the way through, such as StarCraft or Fallout 3. (If the game does not have explicit
levels, as in Half-Life, document major areas or sections of the game.) Describe the
game world in each level and the types of challenges that it presents. If the levels
are integrated into a story, explain how each level supports or relates to the story.
4. Research one of the following art or design styles from history and write a short
paper to explain how it might help to establish an emotional tone in a video game:
Impressionism, Constructivism, Symbolism, Pop Art, Art Deco, Art Nouveau. Back
up your argument with examples from famous paintings or other works in that style.
Design Practice QUESTIONS
1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of player-centric game design? In what
ways might it conflict with other requirements imposed on the game or with the
desires of the game designer?
2. Do you feel that the list of qualities in an ideal game designer is complete? What
other qualities might you add? Are there any that you would remove?
3. The list of members of a design team does not include a lead programmer.
Should it? Suggest some arguments for and against.