Game Design Process: Designing Your Video Game

Ask Gamedev

23 May 201809:12

Summary

TLDRThis video offers a comprehensive guide for aspiring game designers, detailing how to conceptualize and communicate a game's design effectively. It emphasizes defining design pillars, crafting a core game loop, identifying 'magic moments,' and outlining a feature set with priorities. The video also advises on creating an elevator pitch and a razor-sharp X statement to convey the game's vision succinctly. Practical examples from popular games like Fortnite, Clash of Clans, and FIFA are provided to illustrate these concepts.

Takeaways

🎮 **Design Pillars**: Define the core elements that make your game stand out and are essential to the player's experience.
🔄 **Core Game Loop**: Establish the fundamental process that players will repeat, ensuring it's engaging and rewarding.
💫 **Magic Moments**: Identify specific gameplay instances that create memorable experiences for players.
📊 **Feature Set**: List all major elements of your game, including those not directly visible to the player, and define their key goals.
📈 **Development Roadmap**: Plan the order of development for your game's features, starting with the most important.
📝 **Elevator Pitch**: Craft a concise pitch that sells your game's vision in just a few sentences.
🎯 **X Statement**: Create a single sentence that encapsulates your game's essence, serving as a branding tool.
🗣️ **Communication**: Communicate your vision effectively to get others excited and on board with your game.
🔍 **Research**: Use research to confirm the merit of your design ideas and to define design elements.
👥 **Team Collaboration**: Adjust the level of documentation based on team size and project complexity for efficient collaboration.

Q & A

What is the main focus of this video series?
-The main focus of this video series is to guide viewers on how to properly design a video game, including conceptualizing the vision, defining design priorities, and communicating the vision to gain support.
What is the importance of defining design pillars in a game?
-Design pillars are crucial as they represent the must-have elements of a game and define what makes the game great. They help focus on what really matters and are typically limited to three to five to maintain focus.
Can you provide an example of design pillars for a popular game?
-Yes, for Fortnite, the design pillars could be hyper-competitive multiplayer battles, limitless building capabilities, deeply strategic battle tactics, accessible and fun visuals, and a light-hearted and humorous tone.
What is a core game loop and why is it important?
-A core game loop is the basic process that the user will repeat throughout the game, often referred to as the crux of the user experience. It's important because it helps ensure high user retention by having the right incentives and rewards.
How does the core game loop in Clash of Clans work?
-In Clash of Clans, the core game loop consists of three major parts: Collecting Resources, Building & Training, and Battling. Players progress through these stages with incentives to keep them engaged.
What are 'magic moments' in a game and why are they significant?
-Magic moments are specific points in gameplay that delight or leave a lasting impact on the player. They are significant because they create memorable experiences that players share, enhancing the game's appeal.
How should one approach defining the feature set of a game?
-One should define the feature set by listing all major elements of the game, regardless of their importance to the end user. It's also important to define what matters most for each feature to guide decision-making and scope management.
What is an elevator pitch in the context of game design?
-An elevator pitch in game design is a short, concise description of what makes the game great, used to sell the game vision in a brief interaction, like a short elevator ride.
Why is it important to communicate the game design vision effectively?
-Effective communication of the game design vision is crucial because it helps get others excited about the project and onboard with the plan, which is essential for collaboration and development.
What is the recommended approach for detailing the specifics of a game design when working with a team?
-The recommended approach is to err on the side of brevity, avoiding lengthy documents that can become outdated quickly. Instead, use tools like whiteboard sessions or sticky notes for smaller teams, or more documentation for larger teams and complex designs.
How should the development order of a game's feature set be determined?
-The development order should start with a prototype of the most important feature pillars and something central to the game loop. Then, create a complete feature roadmap, ordering the remaining elements by expected delivery.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 Designing a Video Game: Foundations and Pillars

This paragraph introduces the second part of a two-part series on video game design. It emphasizes the importance of conceptualizing and differentiating a game's vision, defining design priorities, and communicating effectively to gain support. The video promises to share a methodology used in major gaming studios to build momentum for game ideas. The paragraph also invites viewers to subscribe for more game development content and references part 1 of the series, which focused on researching a design idea. The main points include defining design pillars, which are essential elements that make the game stand out, and should be limited to three to five. Examples are given using the game Fortnite to illustrate what design pillars might look like.

05:02

🚀 From Pillars to Play: Crafting the Game Experience

Paragraph 2 continues the discussion on game design by detailing the steps to create a compelling user experience. It starts with defining the core game loop, which is the repetitive process that forms the heart of the game. The paragraph uses Clash of Clans as an example to explain how collecting resources, building & training, and battling form the core loop. It then moves on to discussing 'magic moments,' which are key gameplay instances that leave a lasting impact on players. Mario Kart is used to provide examples of such moments. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the need to define a full feature set, differentiating it from design pillars, and determining the key goals for each feature. It also stresses the importance of clear communication of the game's vision through an elevator pitch and a concise x-statement, and suggests getting feedback to refine these. Lastly, it touches on development planning, suggesting starting with a prototype based on the most important feature pillars and creating a feature roadmap for the rest of the development process.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Design Pillars

Design pillars are the fundamental elements that make a game stand out and are crucial for defining what the game aims to achieve. These are more than just features; they reflect the core qualities that players will associate with the game. For example, in the video, 'hyper-competitive multiplayer battles' and 'accessible and fun visuals' are suggested as potential design pillars for Fortnite. Limiting design pillars to three to five ensures focus on what truly matters.

💡Core Game Loop

A core game loop refers to the repetitive actions a player will continuously engage in throughout the game. It forms the central experience that keeps players engaged, often involving actions, rewards, and progression. For example, in Clash of Clans, the core game loop includes 'Collecting Resources,' 'Building & Training,' and 'Battling.' This concept is critical for ensuring user retention and creating an addictive gameplay experience.

💡Magic Moments

Magic moments are key, emotionally impactful experiences during gameplay that captivate players and make the game memorable. These moments trigger strong reactions, like joy or excitement, and are often shared with friends. Examples from the video include moments in Mario Kart, such as 'knocking an opponent in the air with a red shell' or 'perfectly timing a drift.' These moments help build player loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion.

💡Feature Set

The feature set is a comprehensive list of all major game elements, including both visible features (e.g., gameplay mechanics) and non-visible features (e.g., content tools). The feature set is distinct from design pillars as it covers every element necessary to ship the game. In the video, the map in Grand Theft Auto is an example of a feature, where 'intuitive and simple location information' is what matters most.

💡Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a concise description of the game's concept, designed to explain its core appeal in just a few sentences. It is essential for communicating the vision to others quickly and clearly. For example, in the video, the elevator pitch for FIFA could be 'Authentic football action using the stars and teams from around the world that you know and love.' This helps developers gain support for their project from stakeholders.

💡X Statement

An X statement is a one-sentence distillation of a game's vision. It encapsulates the essence of the game in the most succinct way possible, often used for branding and marketing purposes. In the video, a potential X statement for FIFA is 'Authentic football that makes the user the star.' This helps developers stay focused on the game's primary goal and communicates its identity clearly to audiences.

💡Prototype

A prototype is an early, working model of the game focused on testing its core mechanics or design pillars. It allows developers to evaluate how the game will function before full-scale development. The video stresses starting with the most important feature and then expanding from there, ensuring that the core mechanics are solid before moving forward with development.

💡User Retention

User retention refers to the ability of a game to keep players engaged over time. A well-designed core game loop and a rewarding experience are essential to maintain user retention. The video highlights how mobile games like Clash of Clans use core loops and incentives to minimize the desire for players to stop playing, thus ensuring high retention rates.

💡Development Roadmap

A development roadmap is a detailed plan that outlines the order and timeline for creating the various features of a game. It helps organize the development process and ensures that the most critical features are built first. The video emphasizes the importance of developing a prototype based on a design pillar and using the roadmap to plan the delivery of other features.

💡User Experience (UX)

User Experience (UX) refers to how players interact with and perceive the game. It's shaped by game mechanics, design, and overall enjoyment. In the video, designing a core game loop and defining magic moments are parts of creating a good UX. The video emphasizes aligning the game's core mechanics and rewards with the user's expectations to ensure a satisfying and engaging experience.

Highlights

The video teaches how to properly design a video game, focusing on conceptualizing and communicating your vision effectively.

This is the same design process used by big gaming studios, aiming to build momentum and support for game ideas.

Design pillars are key to success, defined as the essential elements that make a game great, not just features.

Examples of design pillars for Fortnite: hyper-competitive multiplayer battles, limitless building capabilities, and a light-hearted tone.

The core game loop is the basic process players repeat throughout the game, critical for user retention and engagement.

The core game loop of Clash of Clans includes three stages: Collecting Resources, Building & Training, and Battling.

Magic moments are specific gameplay experiences that wow the player, such as knocking an opponent with a red shell in Mario Kart.

The feature set is different from design pillars and includes all major game elements, visible or not, like content tools or mechanics.

A 'what matters most' guide helps developers focus on critical aspects of features, ensuring that the most important goals aren’t compromised.

Feature sets can be illustrated using Grand Theft Auto, where the map feature prioritizes intuitive location information.

Communicating your game vision efficiently is critical; use an elevator pitch and X statement to excite others about your idea.

An example elevator pitch for Fifa might be 'Authentic football action with strategic realism and visual accuracy.'

The X statement condenses the vision into one phrase, such as 'authentic football that makes the user the star' for Fifa.

Plan your game development by prototyping core features early, focusing on essential elements that align with your game loop.

Large teams may require more documentation, but brevity is key when designing for smaller teams or simple gameplay.