Book Image

Practical Game Design

By : Adam Kramarzewski, Ennio De Nucci
Book Image

Practical Game Design

By: Adam Kramarzewski, Ennio De Nucci

Overview of this book

If you are looking for an up-to-date and highly applicable guide to game design, then you have come to the right place! Immerse yourself in the fundamentals of game design with this book, written by two highly experienced industry professionals to share their profound insights as well as give valuable advice on creating games across genres and development platforms. Practical Game Design covers the basics of game design one piece at a time. Starting with learning how to conceptualize a game idea and present it to the development team, you will gradually move on to devising a design plan for the whole project and adapting solutions from other games. You will also discover how to produce original game mechanics without relying on existing reference material, and test and eliminate anticipated design risks. You will then design elements that compose the playtime of a game, followed by making game mechanics, content, and interface accessible to all players. You will also find out how to simultaneously ensure that the gameplay mechanics and content are working as intended. As the book reaches its final chapters, you will learn to wrap up a game ahead of its release date, work through the different challenges of designing free-to-play games, and understand how to significantly improve their quality through iteration, polishing and playtesting.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Approaching mechanic design


Now that we have some grasp of the theory behind game mechanics and dynamics and how they are the building blocks of game features, let's look at how to work on them.

As we discussed in Chapter 4, Design Documentation, every design process should start with the definition of some goals and requirements.

When creating your mechanics, you should always keep in mind the following questions:

  • What is the goal of the mechanic?
  • Is the goal clear to the player?
  • What are the rules that affect the mechanic?
  • What is the feedback to the player?

The kind of game you are developing and its vision should guide you through the answers. Let's say you are working on an action medieval-fantasy game where melee combat is your core feature. The first mechanic you’ll be focusing on is probably going to be the action of attacking an enemy.

What is the purpose of the combat system?

Regardless of the theme of your game and its vision, the fact that we are talking about an action game already provides...