Game design is the process of determining what a game is – its rules, how it plays, and its content. Before even getting to the point of designing a game in earnest, designers and the wider development team need to understand the game idea’s core and definitively answer some fundamental questions about what the game will be and who it will be for.
‘What is it about?’ and ‘Who is this game for?’ are two of the most important questions in the game design creative process that help us establish a game’s main idea and target audience before it formally enters production.
What is the Game About?
Determining what a game is all about is one of the foundational pieces of information in game design that should be decided on before it enters production. By answering what the game is about, we determine the main ideas that the game will be built around. The answer to this question is multifold and should address the game’s broad aspects.
In answering this question, we need to decide the game’s main theme including its backstory and setting, its genre, which is more focused on its gameplay and mechanics, and overall feel. It’s imperative to write a couple of lines of text elaborating on these major aspects but not to elaborate extensively, which can lead to ideas becoming overwrought or designers getting lost in their specifics.
An example of this kind of high-level description is as follows:
An old-school real-time strategy game inspired by genre classics but with persistent server matches. The game is set in a far-flung sci-fi setting on a distant planet where its society has regressed to using medieval-period technology.
With a precise yet concise description like this, the game design process tends to go more smoothly as opposed to the chaos that follows getting lost in piles of ideas, which can undermine the creative process and make for an unfocused design and development period. This kind of description can be viewed as a game design filter and source of truth where other ideas are dragged through to see if they fit, don’t fit or could work with some adjustments.
Determining the Audience Through Game Design
By choosing what the game will be from a high level, the audience is also being determined at the same time. By deciding the game’s look, feel, and setting, that’s narrowing the audience down to people who enjoy particular things. In our sci-fi RTS example above, this narrows the field down to people who enjoy those settings and games of that genre. Combined with the feel we want to achieve – if it’s casual, intensely competitive, a horror atmosphere, or anything else – we gain a deep understanding of the kind of player who is more likely to play the game.
Furthermore, we can determine our audience even further through our game design depending on how we expect players to engage with it, whether they will play it casually for an hour, spend a few hours at it, or play it for extremely long sessions. Using our RTS example above, with all these factors in mind, we can anticipate that players could likely wind up playing it for hours due to the RTS genre and its competitive element.
Game Design Risks and Pitfalls
One of the main objectives in gaining a clear picture of your game’s core pillars is to prevent issues later on in the pipeline. Even though it’s best to determine what the game is about and who it’s for at an early stage, there is always scope later to make changes as they’re needed. Making significant changes later on in the game development process can create a shockwave, affecting other parts of the project. A lengthy pre-production period can help mitigate any impact later changes could have by affording the game design and development teams more time to reassess decisions and make changes without causing sweeping effects.
Magic Media is an A-Z services provider for gaming, entertainment, and tech projects. We deliver a wide range of expert services including but not limited to full-cycle game development, game design, game VFX, and much more. Contact us today, and let’s create magic!
