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On Music Theory and Game Design

On Music Theory and Game Design

Maybe you don’t know it, but in the olden days, I was a professional musician. Furthermore, I was specifically a…

(Game) Design Is Not Art, But It Can Be

(Game) Design Is Not Art, But It Can Be

Where does this comes from? Eames interview A few days ago, I was reading ‘What Is Your Definition Of Design,…

Disco Elysium RPG System Analysis

Disco Elysium RPG System Analysis

Introduction This blog post was inspired by the research and analysis that I did of Disco Elysium for my latest video for Game…

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Many of you have DM me to know which tools can you

Many of you have DM me to know which tools can you use for creating GDDs for your projects. Here, I list 5 of the most common ways to create a GDD as well as some software associated with them.

Have you used any of them? What’s your experience using them?

Featured games: Carto, Sunhead Games (2020)

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A common mistake is to look for GDD templates to c

A common mistake is to look for GDD templates to create one. It’s very likely that the template you are using is not suitable for your game and too basic, so in a real development environment, that GDD will prove rather useless.

Instead, distill the information you need into an outline and then check that you have all the information on your document. This will not only be more productive, because you are creating a GDD that is created with YOUR game in mind, but also it will open the possibility to use other tools and techniques, like one-page documents, game flows, and more.

Featured games: Papers, Please (2013)

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How do you engage your players? To really engage a

How do you engage your players? To really engage and understand your players, first you have to understand their expectations, and what they think will happen in the game. Playing with players expectations can be a powerful tool for engagement, when put to good use.

To engage your players you have to understand their present (research current games, current generation), their past (similar games, OS standards), and their future (what are their expectations based on present and past?).

This War of Mine challenged players and journalists expectations by showing war from the civilians’ perspective. Fortnite challenged players expectations that shooter games are only about shooting. Minecraft challenged players expectations that it was a “simple” game due to its graphics.

How are you going to challenge your players?

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Do you ever wander how do you come up with new gam

Do you ever wander how do you come up with new game ideas? It well may be a natural process, something can come up as part of yourself. That was the case for me. After some introspection, I discovered that I use mainly two methods which I called Top-down and Bottom-up ideation (if you have seen it in another place, please let me know!).

Do you use these or similar methods? Do you have a completely different process? Please share it in the comment section below so other designers can use your knowledge to grow!

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Kishotenketsu is a narrative structure, but it has

Kishotenketsu is a narrative structure, but it has been widely used in videogames to explain and cement the knowledge of the game’s mechanics.

A classic example is Super Mario Bros., but what about a classic RTS like Warcraft III?

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Maybe you don’t know it, but in the olden days,

Maybe you don’t know it, but in the olden days, I was a professional musician.

I’ve found myself mentoring young people lately, about the age I was when I started thinking about going full-time into game design. I’ve found that some of them have the same theoretical problems that my music students faced

Want to know more about it? Head to our blog to read our latest article on how to avoid the most common pitfalls when learning game design!

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What’s the opposite of constraints? That’s rig

What’s the opposite of constraints? That’s right. Scope/Feature Creep! That is when you start adding more and more things to your game, and in the end you end up so burnt that the game never get released.

Use this 5 design constraints or create your own to be more creative, reduce feature creep and more importantly, releasing your game!

Icons by Flaticon

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How are you approaching your tutorials? Tutorials

How are you approaching your tutorials? Tutorials are oftentimes the biggest gate of your game. A bad tutorial can break or make a game. Are you giving your players enough guidance? More importantly, are you making them actually DO something? Even with “different learning styles” (which is a doubtful and mostly refuted theory), the deeper the engagement with the knowledge, the better the understanding and performance.

Even board games can benefit from this. Board games like “Root” by @ledergames includes a tutorial that teach the mechanics by “playing” them, not just reading them.

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Do you wonder how some games can keep you playing

Do you wonder how some games can keep you playing for hours that seem like minutes? Having a good time (in almost any situation) depends on pacing. If you are too much time on a slow situation you’ll become bored, and a situation requiring constant quick reactions will make you tired very fast. That’s why changes in pace are the best way to keep your players enjoying your game for a long time, not just one session. As an important extra, a game with changes of pace will allow you to deliver your message clearly to your players. Give your players a chance to think and they’ll love your game.

Brain icons created by Freepik for Flaticon

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A few posts back I talked about giving affordances

A few posts back I talked about giving affordances to your players, but what if you create affordances for yourself, as a game designer?

Take common objects and mechanics and put them on their feet, giving them new life and new uses. That’s the gist of creativity!

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What if… Thanks for your words of wisdom, Miyamo

What if… Thanks for your words of wisdom, Miyamoto-san.

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Level Design is an interesting part of the design

Level Design is an interesting part of the design of the game. While thoroughly applied on action, RPG and platform games, knowing level design can give you a different perspective on game design, it doesn’t matter if you are a systems designer, an environment artist or a game designer.

Level Design is what results when the concepts of game design are applied to the game, so it’s critical to get it right. A great level design will make the game design shine, while a bad level design will obscure the design of the game, and therefore, most of its fun.

Don’t lose your time and check these 3 books. While different on their premise, all 3 take the highly practical work of the level design and translate it to applicable principles and how-tos.

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