There are lots of books about game development that doesn't bother to define what a game is because they all assume everyone already knows. If you stop to think about it, there is a great chance that you know what a game is but you can't really define it. The boundaries between activity, play and game are very fuzzy.
Lets think of an activity first. Lots of things are activities. Your job is an activity. Eating and breathing are activities. Some activities are more fun than others. Some people enjoy fishing but is fishing a play? is it a game?
What differentiates a playful activity from a game? Some people say that World of Warcraft is not a game but a full time job, others are having terrible fun playing it. Defining what is a game is tricky.
Lets pick an activity first, something simple such as throwing rocks into the sea. For it to go from activity to playful activity means I need to be enjoying it. I like skipping stones, I think of it as a playful activity. Now what I would need to do to convert my playful activity of skipping stones into a game?
Games usually have rules. Rules are what make possible to go from a playful activity towards something that you can win or lose. Usually all games have rules and some way to win and or lose. If you think in these terms lots of things become games. If you enjoy your job and it has rules and goals then it can be approached as a game and the gamification of common activities are making a lot of people rich.
Why are we doing this exercise anyway? Because if we can make the definition of "what is a game?" something less fuzzy then we can understand better our projects. Lots of games these days focus on trivia such as having better and better graphics but very few are exploring new mechanics and new ways to approach gaming.
There are lots of trusted formulas when it comes to game design and you can follow them and make something exceptional such as Angry Birds did. You can also travel thru paths that are not usually visited and create something original and wonderful. No matter what you do, your ability to deliver a good game can be broken if you begin by ignoring the game design process.
Thomas Was Alone has simple graphics and simple mechanics but its story and method of delivery are so original and the theme reinforcement so well crafted that you can't help but be enthralled by the atmosphere of the game. While at a first impression you may think of it as just a blocky puzzle/platformer it is actually a wonderful story about friendship.
I can't give you a formula for a good game. Not only because I don't have it but because what is a good game for one person may be a bad game for another. There are games and niches for all types of players and what works in with some crowds may not work with others. For example permadeath1 works pretty well for fans of rogue-like2 games but not for casual players just looking for a past time on their commute.
Some marvelous games are really hard to define as games. Minecraft is such example, think of it for a bit and question yourself: "What are the rules? How can I win? How can I lose? What is my objective?", answers will vary between players but they will all agree that Minecraft is mankind greatest invention since toilet paper and mountain dew.
One thing appears to be characteristic of great games which is that they provide players with meaningful experiences and memories. Some games are played and forgotten while others linger in your mind. A meaningful experience doesn't need to be something that make you question mankind position in the whole cosmos, it just need to mean something to someone. Bomberman is a great game in my opinion, specially when going multiplayer. I have very fond memories of trapping my friends between bombs while we were all eating pizzas and drinking sodas.
You can create good experiences thru many means. You can make a game with art so beautiful that will make unicorns cry. You can create game mechanics so cruel that will make players keep playing just to prove you wrong. Your story can transport people to other realms. Find your passion and use it.
You will make lots of crap games though... I bet you that the first notebooks Picasso had had terrible stuff in them (or maybe they were all masterpieces and just I suck at drawing). You learn from experience, to learn you must experiment. To learn game design, you must design games!
Not everyone can be Golan Trevise and be always right. You will make mistakes but thru them you will grow. T-Rex volleyball was a bad design but T-Rex hot dog eating contest will be awesome.
I can't but I know some people that can help you make better questions and come to better conclusions. I have a firm belief that the most important part of a game is its game design. I believe a game live and die by its mechanics and project. I don't really care about shiny graphics or new fads, all I care is about the experience. Some other developers have different opinions, you may have a different opinion but I believe you will agree that having a great design will always make a game better.
If you want to dive deeper in the wonderful and addictive world of game design (not only video games but also tabletop, card, people running) check out these books:
- The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses: In my personal opinion this is the best book about game design ever created and I don't mean this lightly. This book provides you with mental tools and workflows useful in any game related creative process. It teaches you how to organize yourself and think about your game from the perspective of many lenses. It is a wonderful experience. This is really recommended.
- Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design: A great book focused on video games design. Very easy to understand and appreciate. Clear explanations and ideas.
Disclaimer: The links above are affiliated links. I get some bucks if you by the book thru these links and then I can use these bucks to create more open source stuff.
First you should not worry. There will be enough time to create your masterpiece later. We're going to create a simple game with a proven mechanic along this book. The game will be instantly recognizable by most readers and easy to grasp for those that are new to it. We'll dive deeper into the game design of our game in the next chapter but for now lets agree to do one thing which I call the Game Design Journal.
As we stated before: you must practice and by practice I don't mean to do as I do when I say that am a practicing athlete when I run just twice every six months (and usually from something or someone). The root of practice is doing something regularly, every six month is not regular enough for this type of activity.
Begin by selecting a paper notebook that is easy to carry. Paper trumps digital here because I allows you to go free form and unplugged. Paper notebooks don't run out of batteries, don't interrupt you with notifications and don't go crazy when they lose network connection and power during an update. Some people favor Moleskines but I am partial of Field Notes. My tools of choice are the Field Notes Colors: "EXPEDITION" Edition and the Field Notes Space Pens.
The idea is to carry your notebook with you and write down all your game design ideas. You may write a game story, some interesting mechanic, a summary of a game you want to make. Keeping it free-form will allow your more flexibility in your activity. As you make this a regular activity ideas will come more often and most important you will not forget them.
A>Cool Tech: The Field Notes Expedition Edition is waterproof as shown in TEST 1: WATERPROOF. Now you can take it to the shower and never ever lose a good idea again. How many genius ideas were lost after shower because you could not write them down... never again!
I tend to write down the main game idea and then do some really bad sketches. I often write down interesting mechanics. Whenever I see something cool that might be useful later I also write it down.
If you keep this going, you will see that your mind is an endless fountain of ideas. Separating the good ideas from the bad ones is beyond the scope of this book and left as an exercise to the reader (I hated when my math books said something similar...). Anyway, that was just a joke, you should pick some of ideas regardless if they appear to be good or bad and try to implement some proof-of-concept toys just to test them out with friends and random strangers (excuse me, do you have a minute to talk about game design principles?).
Like musicians go from making dogs cry in terror to making that single tear drop from your chin in that perfect concert so will you go from terrible designs to really good stuff. It will just take some time.
Since this is a small book and we don't have much time lets cheat and use a proven design instead of inventing things.
The most important part of this chapter are the book references and the game design journal exercise. Forget all the jokes and do yourself a favor by maintaing that journal and investing some good money on those books above. This book you are reading now is free (and open source) so use the money you saved to invest in the good education provided by them.
In the next chapter we'll begin the design and implementation of our game.
Footnotes
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a feature of some games where when the player dies they are really dead. Like its over. Done. Your fault! Losing is fun. #YOLO ↩
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From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike: is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by procedural level generation, tile-based graphics and permanent death, and typically based on a high fantasy narrative setting. ↩