Games design

What is Games Design?

For this week’s blog I have been asked to look into Games design. Here is a definition of Games Design.

Game design is the process of designing the content, background and rules of a game. A document which describes a game's design used during development may also be called a design document. Professional game designers specialize in certain types of games, such as board games, card games or video games.’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_design

Often when referring to Games Design the term ‘Gameplay’ is used. This is a term used to describe what the game is like or another definition would be to say

Gameplay is a term most commonly used to rate, or score the quality of the experience had by the gamer while playing a particular game. The term gameplay is often found in game reviews where a score is given based on player experiences during the interaction with game.

http://isp.webopedia.com/TERM/G/gameplay.html

Other elements of Gameplay include

Boss
A boss is the enemy at the end of a level that a player must defeat to continue to the next stage. Typically, bosses are more graphically elaborate and difficult to defeat than other intralevel enemies.

Bot
A bot is a computer-controlled player that is designed to behave like a human player. They are implemented by gamers through multiplayer selection screens when it's inconvenient, or not possible to play against an actual human opponent. Bots use AI routines to simulate human actions, but they generally lack in the strategy department.

Combo
A combo is a combination of moves, usually in a fighting game, which can be chained together into an unblockable sequence. Skilled players will have a multitude of combos at their command.

Cut Scene

Cut scenes are periods of dramatic development that intersect the action sequences in a game. They are rendered in still pictures or video and are usually accompanied by some type of dialogue. In most action games, cut scenes serve as the only form of plot progression.

Deathmatch
The multiplayer mode in the original Doom for the PC was called "deathmatch" by the game's creators, and the term has since become the gaming industry's label for the multiplayer game in all first-person shooters.

Frag
A kill in a deathmatch game. Like the term deathmatch, the term frag originated in the PC game Doom but has since become a slang term that can apply to a kill in any multiplayer first-person shooter.

Latency or Lag

In online multiplayer games, latency describes the amount of time it takes data to be sent from the player's machine to the server and back again. Measured in milliseconds, latency is typically the amount of delay the player will encounter between the press of a button and the resulting action onscreen. For instance, if a player's latency is 100 milliseconds, and the player fires a weapon, the weapon won't register as having been fired in the game world until one tenth of a second after the button has been pressed. Latency has traditionally been an issue for only PC players to deal with, but as consoles move into the age of the Internet, it will become an increasing problem on that side as well.

Level
Also known as "stage" or less commonly "board," a level is one self-contained, consistently themed area of a game. It can contain various enemies, power-ups, missions, challenges, and/or a boss.

Miniboss
Also known as a midboss, a miniboss is a minor boss character situated somewhere in the middle of an action game level. A miniboss isn't quite as powerful as the boss of a level, but it packs a bigger punch than regular enemies.

Multiplayer
A mode of gameplay involving two or more players. Multiplayer can be carried out with multiple people playing on the same system or over the Internet. Almost all competitive games include a multiplayer option.

Perspective
The position of the camera relative to the player's character. First-person perspective denotes a view from the character's own eyes, while third-person perspective refers to a camera position somewhere outside the character, usually floating behind the character.

Ping
The amount of time it takes a packet of data to be sent from a gamers’ machine, to an online server he or she is playing on, and back. This time contributes to the player's lag. With console systems heading into the online realm, this will soon be an issue for video gamers as well as PC gamers.

Physics
In a gaming context, physics represent the rules implemented in a game world that govern how objects behave. For instance, if a character jumps, the arbitrary amount of gravity in the game will determine how high he can jump and how fast he will fall back down. Some recent games have provided very realistic physics modelling in their game worlds; a character might throw a stone to knock a tin can off a table, and both objects will fall the same way they would in the real world. Sony is seeking to make this type of realism standard in PlayStation2 games, as both the system and software Sony is providing to developers make realistic physics easier for game creators to use.

Plot
An element all too often missing from video games, the plot ties events together into a coherent story. Games that manage to convey a well-designed plot approach movie like status, such as Final Fantasy VIII, Metal Gear Solid, or "Resident Evil 2".

Power slide

A technique in racing games that lets the player swing the rear end of his car outward in a turn to diminish the loss of speed. A power slide is accomplished by skilfully manipulating the gas and brake simultaneously.

Power-up
An item in a game that grants the player temporary powers. Power-ups can enhance a character's weaponry, strength, speed, life, or a variety of other attributes but is usually removed either after a set amount of time or when the character dies.

Single Player

The mode in a game meant to be played alone by one player.

Split screen

Split screen refers to a mode exclusive to multiplayer games wherein all players play on the same screen. It splits the screen evenly among the number of players currently playing the game. Split-screen mode is notorious for making a game more difficult, as it reduces the visible area of the game and sometimes warps the players' surroundings. You can usually split the screen horizontally or vertically, depending on your preference.

http://uk.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/defining_games/p4_01.html

Some of the top game designers in the world are people like Zachary Clarke who designed GTA, Jade Raymond who designed Assassins creed, Amano Yoshitaka the character artist for the Final Fantasy series, Kojima Hideo the games designer for Metal gear solid and Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura and Yoshikazu Yamashita the developers for Wii sports.

Development of games is undertaken by a developer, which may be a single person or a large business. Typically, large-scale commercial games are created by development teams within a company specializing in computer or console games. A typical modern video game can cost from USD$1,000,000 to over $20,000,000 to develop. Development is normally funded by a publisher. A contemporary game can take from one to three years to develop, though there are exceptions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_development

The way in which Commercial games are usually made is shown below.

1. Core Team

A group of people whom come up with the general concept of the game. Numerous meetings will occur in which the group brainstorms about the game; figuring out not only how it will look, but also how it will work. The core team is in charge of the production schedule as well, which describes the tasks each person is assigned and when they most do them.

2. Game Breakdown

Every detail, task, job, and deadline about the video game is broken down into components and then added to a bulletin board. This board acts as the nerve centre throughout the games production.

3. Artistic Concept

Artist’s sketch out the games characters & backgrounds with a very basic level of detail. These sketches are what the graphics artists use to create the characters and backgrounds in 3D on the computer.

4. Development Team

This team uses the latest in computer animation technology to bring life to all of the game's elements; adding colours, textures, shading, and even movement. This team uses the 3d characters and backgrounds created by the graphics team.

5. Programming & Engineering

This is the bread & butter of the game development stage; because without this part, there would be no game. Suffice it to say, the programmers & engineers make the game work. Their coding is what holds the game together and allows the player to actually play the game.

6. Testing

This is the final and most crucial part of the development process. This phase is to see if everything is working properly and as it should be. Testers will check for bugs and glitches and try to find potential problems.

The game testers won't merely be playing the game and seeing if problems will find them -- it's the other way around, as THEY will be the ones searching for the problems. The testers will do everything and anything possible in the game to ensure there is no abnormal situations or circumstances; walking through walls, disappearing, enemy AI problems, cinematic errors, you name it. If the testers miss ANYTHING, it could mean disastrous consequences -- in the form of profit loss -- for the company releasing the game.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Are-Video-Games-Made---The-Process-From-Start-to-Finish&id=1490898

I feel that when designing games the fundamentals of the design to the specific genre stay the same, however, when looking across genres the design changes accordingly. For instance when designing a survival horror game, the game will need to be considerably different to that of, let’s say a sports game. However the design of games can cross over genres at times for instance you could design a basic platform adventure game in the same way as a survival horror platform game. The difference starts with things like the sound, style, lighting, art and so on. For me the way that a game looks is very important as it creates the world in which, you as the gamer, are immersed in. I particularly like games that look and feel real especially in certain genres of games such as survival horrors, as this adds to the experience. The look of a game can be the deciding factor as to the target audience which it is intended to be relevant to, sub genres such as comedy will be clearly shown with correct artwork and style. This will be done at the designer’s discretion and if researched correctly, can make the difference between a top selling game and a brain fart!