As I mentioned before, there are many things that define what is game design. For example, it is an opportunity to transport players to realities that we can only imagine to be people that we may only dream of. However, just as important as what it is and isn't, is how it is done. Generally speaking there is a systematic approach that game designers follow to create a game. It begins with the "idea"—the concept of what the game will be. This is usually not static and will change over the course of a game's development. From there, and depending on who is on your team, it will go through many design phases before becoming a prototype. Beyond the prototype phase, the actual game will enter the development process where the actual assets (and not placeholders) will be created and implemented. From this point, the game will go through an iterative cycle, where the game will undergo playtesting, changes, more playtesting, more changes, and then eventually it will be refined to the point where it will enter the last stages. Here, we will briefly explore each of these stages.

The workflow process of game design is linear in the sense that there is an order that it takes place: concept development, prototyping, implementation, testing, and hitting release. This concept is illustrated here:

Of course, the diagram only outlines the process in general. As you develop games and work with others, you will find that this process loops in many other parts. Sometimes, through designing and prototyping your concept, you may end up having to change the initial idea. The important thing to remember is that while to some extent game design is a linear process, in terms of developmental stages, these stages do and will often form iterative cycles.

We begin the process of game design by first brainstorming and then designing and prototyping a concept. The ideas at this stage can be adventurous, out there, and completely bizarre, because anything goes. It may be useful to get yourself a small notebook to write down your thoughts because they will come to you at any moment. Another thing to think about is who you are designing this game for. Do you know enough about them or do you need to do a bit more research? Defining your demographics early on can help when it comes to refining your idea. For example, if the people you are designing play role-playing games (RPGs) then they are likely to prefer a detailed narrative and character customizations, as opposed to premade characters and a simple story. Therefore, the kind of environment, what kind of narrative that it can afford, and the characters that you will create (and possible options for them) will need to be thought about while you're brainstorming ideas.

Some useful tips when it comes to concept development are listed here:

• Keep all your ideas in a journal or somewhere safe so that you can refer to them later.
• Challenge yourself if you're stuck with ideas on what kind of game to create. Choose the first thing that comes to your mind, flip a dictionary and choose a word at random; there are many ways to really push your creativity.
• Play games that you wouldn't normally play, and if you don't play, then start!
  By playing more games in different contexts and on different platforms (mobile, PC, PlayStation, and so on), you will begin to learn how experiences change depending on the hardware you're using to interact with. Pay attention to how the player controls differ between a mobile and console game. These little things will help you later when you start to design and prototype your game.
• Deconstruct games, identify the core features, and remake them. At the end of this chapter, there is a nice exercise for doing this but really think outside of the box. The aim is to be inventive, to create something new with the same concept.
• Learn about games! Don't just become the game designer, become a researcher, an explorer of games. Invest a little bit of time to learn what other game designers have done, how they have done it, what worked or didn't. There are many postmortem videos about games that explain the development process. In addition, it also gives you a bit more insight into the overall game design process and the roles and responsibility that each team member has. In this way, if you're thinking about creating a small (or large) team, you can understand what's involved.
• Be critical, be judgmental! If you played a game and didn't like, identify why that was. Was it the controls, perhaps the story was boring? Then take the guise of the designer, and think about how you would fix it: would you change or remove something, how would you make it better?

This is where those crazy ideas become a bit more refined. You begin to weed through all your ideas, deciding which ones are feasible, which ones are not appropriate for your intended audiences, and so on. Start with pen and paper and draw out your game. You don't need to be an artist; prototyping is rough, it's messy, it is completely raw. Don't get caught up in how neat it looks. The point at this stage is to get what's in your head out on paper. Other things that you might find useful during the prototyping stage are post-it notes, colored pens, scissors, dice, counters (for example, beads, buttons, stones, and so on), other game bits and pieces (for example, Monopoly money, figurines, and so on). During the prototyping stage, you will want to also see how the interaction flows through the game. For example, does the interaction feel difficult in the sense you can't do or get something that you want to? Perhaps the game feels a bit too easy or hard? At this stage, these are considerations that you will also need to iron out when it comes to properly playtesting your game, so don't worry too much if they still don't feel completely right.

This is where you will transfer what you've conceptualized, designed, and prototyped into the actual game. Generally, this is where you begin integrating it into the game engine, working on the actual models that will feature in the game. At this point, you're no longer prototyping, but developing the game. From here on out, you should have a clear idea of what your game is and how it will work from beginning to end. Once you have begun implementing your assets into the actual game, you will go through various iterations. These iterations will often occur after playtesting, albeit informal or formally done (for example, open/closed alpha, beta testing). The projects in this book will start at this stage. This is because we already have assets ready for you to use. But it is important to know at what stage of the game development process that implementation is at.

This is probably the most important part. If you haven't already been doing this, then I would suggest that you stop what you're doing and start. Testing is such an important step in the process because it helps to make sure that your game runs smoothly and efficiently. Not only this, it can raise issues relating to player engagement, glitches/bugs/exploits within your game that can give other players an advantage when it comes to game time (especially in multiplayer games). We will cover playtesting in a later chapter, so we won't go into too much detail now.

While you're testing, you will also need to iterate your design. Iterations may be minor, such as the location of objects, others may be large, such as changing the structure of a level or redoing the animation of a character. At this stage, it's about refining what your game is to make it what you want it to become. Each iteration is an improvement that will come with more testing. This is why testing is also very important because, without it, you're not able to refine and improve, or even fix part of your game, so that it gets to the stage that you envisioned it at from the beginning. Of course, you will get to a point where you find a minor change here and another one there, and you may even get caught up in the pursuit of perfection. All game designers have reached that point, so it's a common feeling of wanting "completeness" to the point of perfection, but it rarely comes. So when you get to this stage, you need to let go and move on. Otherwise, you will never complete any game, ever!

This is the polishing stage where you will begin to fine-tune what has already been implemented. This can include a range of different things from tweaking post-processing effects to character speeds. This is the final stage before you release your game on your targeted platform to the public. We will discuss this as we go with each of the three games, and in the final chapter so that your game will be ready to go.

Who you have as part of your team can also impact the overall design and development of your game. Having the right resources, skill set, and even personalities can have a large influence on a game's success. Generally, a game development team consists of many different people: artists, designers, animators, programmers, and sound designers. Each of these roles will be sub-divided, for instance between character artists, texture artists, level designers, AI programmers, gameplay programmers, and so on. However, having a range of different skill sets allows for each part of the game's design to be developed in a concentrated environment by someone who has experience in the relevant field. However, not every game is lucky enough to feature an expansive team; you might even be reading this book without knowing anyone from any of these fields, which is why this book is here to guide you through the process and to support and expand your knowledge.

There are many game developers that post information "behind the scenes" of how their games are developed. These sometimes include commentary and interviews with various members of their team. A lot of these videos touch on the challenges that they face during the development of their game and in some cases the heartache of not being able to complete certain features or the game at all. I encourage you to check them out. There is one about the Making of Assassin's Creed Unity you can watch by visiting this link or scanning the QR code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OjVQBpQSEU: