Post #1
On this Blog, I am going to sit down and write Game Design thoughts that invade my mind every day, I will be talking about my own games and of course several other games.
Some posts will also be about the gaming industry, and on rare occasions, I might post relevant stuff about any subject, if it comes to that...
My writing skills are not THE BEST but some believe that "practice makes the master" (or at least improve a bit... XD )
I am currently the Game Designer at Hypnic
We are about to release our first game called 4 The King, #4TK
I am covering:
On this Blog, I am going to sit down and write Game Design thoughts that invade my mind every day, I will be talking about my own games and of course several other games.
Some posts will also be about the gaming industry, and on rare occasions, I might post relevant stuff about any subject, if it comes to that...
My writing skills are not THE BEST but some believe that "practice makes the master" (or at least improve a bit... XD )
Lets get started!
I am currently the Game Designer at Hypnic
We are about to release our first game called 4 The King, #4TK
I am covering:
- 4TK Core mechanics
- Designing an experience for touch devices
4TK Core Mechanics
The main objective of the game is to defend the castle from incoming Monsters.
They can spawn from any direction, from north to south: N,NE,NW,E,W,SE,SW,S a total of 8 directions which everybody already knows about.
The player has attack orbs as main line of defense, these weapons are targeted to one of those directions and they auto attack as soon as an enemy comes to their range.
These include but are not limited to:
-Arrow Orb= Bowmen shooting arrows
-Mage Orb= Mage casting a charged magic missile
-Spear Orb= Close ranged spear men throwing spears
-????
-????
-????....
Defense Units and Elemental Powers are at disposal as well, but these are Secondary defenses.
-Defense Units are placed on the map at the cost of some gold (earned by killing monsters).
-Elemental Powers are activated on attack orbs to grant them bonuses such as increased damage, crowd control effects such as slow and stun, attack speed and other secret bonuses.
My 1rst Mission in this game as a game designer, was to reach the FUN factor, just by using the attack orbs alone.
Keeping things simple early on, while developing and getting the core mechanics right, is like an insurance you get as a designer, to feel confident about your game and have a foundation, so you can move forward without fear.
Designing an experience for touch devices
These are my thoughts, who knows if I'm wrong or right. I believe everyday we get better as we get more experience and support, by opening up at feedback.
- Touch screens feel so natural and let the user get right into business.
- They are immediate, direct and simple.
- The only inputs are finger gestures.
- No buttons or joysticks between the game and the player (or at least there are not supposed to be)
Getting through that I believe the first 5 minutes of the game are the hardest for any game designer of any game as they have to teach the player so many things: rules, interactions, values... games can get as big as an entire universe, so full of complexity.
So design has to provide a clear pathway so the player can instinctively navigate and become part of your game, clearing up distractions, debris, and also learning by watching or leading by example.
When a player starts playing a game he/she has so many questions and the designer has to have the game, answer the most questions as possible by itself. Without having someone answering them instead, as that would be such a design failure.
With touch devices game design just got easier, as the player´s actual controller is his/her hand.
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