Game Concepts - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 71

time to time—especially involuntarily—the player must know why it changed and
how to adapt to the new circumstances.

If you explain the player's role clearly, it helps him understand what he's trying to
achieve and what rules govern the game. In America's Army , for instance, the player
takes on the role of a real-world soldier. Real soldiers can't just shoot anything that
moves; they have to obey rules of engagement. By telling the player that the role is
based on reality rather than fantasy, the game designer ensures that the player
knows his actions will have to be more cautious than in the usual frenetic shooter.

TIP The easier it is
to explain the player's
role, the easier it is
for the publisher, the
retailer, and the cus-
tomer to understand
it… and to decide to
spend money on it.

In defining the player's role, you face the question of how realistic you want your
game to be. At the concept stage, you need not—and should not—start defining
the details of the core mechanics and the presentation layer, but you should have
a general idea of whether you want your game to be abstract or representational.
Other considerations, such as the target audience (discussed in the section
“Defining Your Target Audience,” later in this chapter) may influence that decision.

Choosing a Genre
In describing movies or topics, the term genre refers to the content of the work.
Historical fiction, romance fiction, spy fiction, and so on are genres of popular fic-
tion. With video games, however, genre refers to the types of challenges that a game
offers. In games, the genres are independent of the content. Action games are one
genre; they are set in the Old West, in a fantasy world, or in outer space, and they
are still all action games. In his lecture “Imagining New Game Styles” at the 2005
Futureplay conference, the designer and commentator Greg Costikyan wrote that
he prefers the term game style rather than game genre to avoid this difference in
meaning among the different media (Costikyan, 2005), but this topic will continue
to use genre because it is more widely recognized.

GENRE A genre is a category of games characterized by a particular set of challenges,
regardless of setting or game-world content.

The Classic Game Genres
As you flesh out your concept, consider whether or not it falls into one of the classic
video game genre descriptions that follow. Later chapters look at these genres in
detail, examining each to see how it differs from the others and what special
design considerations apply to it. For now, here's a brief introduction to the genres.

■ Action games include physical challenges. They may also incorporate puzzles,
races, and a variety of conflict challenges, typically among a small number of char-
acters. Action games often contain simple economic challenges as well, usually
involving collecting objects. They seldom include strategic or conceptual chal-
lenges. Action games may be further subdivided into a variety of sub-genres. Two
of the best known are shooter games and fighting games .