{"id":1126,"date":"2021-04-27T07:19:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T07:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/artofmakai\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2021-04-30T19:30:26","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T19:30:26","slug":"deep-graves-the-challenges-of-good-game-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/artofmakai\/2021\/04\/27\/deep-graves-the-challenges-of-good-game-design\/","title":{"rendered":"DEEP GRAVES; The Challenges of Good Game Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If my interpretation of the class schedule is correct, this will be my penultimate post.
Since I don’t have time to draw out any doodles for an art related post, I figured I’d end on a game development post.
I’ve also been spending more time thinking about my game than I have my art as of late, so this is the topic I’m more prepared to talk about at length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Game design is extremely difficult.
There’s a lot of moving parts, and developing a game by yourself requires a great deal of discipline, careful planning, and LOTS<\/em><\/strong> of time and patience.
I’ve encountered my fair share of challenges while working on Deep Graves<\/em>, and I wanted to elaborate on a few of them in this post.

This is gonna be a long post, so buckle up.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game Design and Development Challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Managing Scope<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is related more so to game development<\/em><\/strong> than game design<\/em>.
‘Scope’ refers to the general expectation for a game’s size<\/em>. As stated by this excellent article from 2008<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The scope of a project is its breadth and depth. What are you making, and how complex does it have to be to achieve what you want?” (Portnow<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failing to plan and subsequently manage<\/em> the scope of my game has been one of the biggest factors in terms of exhausting my game development energy.
I didn’t know what scope was<\/em> until after<\/strong> I was knee-deep in the development of Deep Graves<\/em>. Although, to be fair, I’m not sure prior knowledge would have changed much about the current scope of the game – I’m really stubborn.

Still, if there’s one piece of advice I can offer to those of you who may be interested in developing a game of their own, it’s this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLAN <\/strong>AND MANAGE <\/strong>YOUR SCOPE <\/em><\/strong>VERY CAREFULLY.
Develop several small projects<\/em> before developing a bigger one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you’re like me – that is, too stubborn to manage or limit your scope, my second piece of advice is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DO NOT<\/strong> WORK ALONE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To clarify, I wouldn’t change anything about my situation.
I’m glad that I’m working on Deep Graves<\/em>, I’m glad I’m making it a moderate-to-full-size JRPG, and I’m glad to be working on it alone.
Still, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to follow in my footsteps. Be smarter than me.

With the boring game development<\/em> stuff out of the way, we can start talking about the fun stuff – game design!
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Gameplay<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I’m a believer that gameplay should always be the top priority when it comes to designing a game.
That may seem fairly obvious – like telling someone they should focus on the type of paint they’re using while painting – but gameplay is often overlooked and underutilized in modern AAA video games<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

many games employ the frequent use of cutscenes, which strip control away from the player.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Games are an interactive medium, so I think if you’re neglecting to focus on interactivity, you’re missing the point. I’m kind of a purist in this respect.
This means that the lore, plot, character development, and gameplay mechanics, should all be communicated through visuals or interactive elements, whenever it is possible to do so.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As you might expect, this isn’t very easy to do. Delivering all of these concepts through gameplay requires a great deal of planning and creative problem solving.
It can be tempting to just explain everything in plain English (or whichever language you may speak), but that can break immersion and lead to players feeling frustrated and bored.
Nobody enjoys being treated like an idiot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You could argue that this Assassin’s Creed text box originates from the Animus – the virtual reality that Desmond, the main character is experiencing – but that would also require players to believe that Desmond doesn’t know how to push<\/strong> people<\/em>.

In any case, explaining gameplay concepts via dialogue or immersion breaking tutorial-related text boxes is much less exciting than experiencing and learning mechanics in real-time.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intuitive Game Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I try to respect player intelligence, and trust that, as long as I design the game carefully and intuitively<\/em>, players will be able to figure out what to do, and\/or how to do it.
But that statement brings up an important question.. How do I<\/strong>, as the developer, go about introducing players to gameplay concepts?
How do I go about designing the game “carefully and intuitively”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Invisible Hand of the Developer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There’s a quote from a video by Nerrel<\/a> (whose channel I seriously cannot recommend enough) that I think deftly illustrates the role of game designers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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