Game Design GLOSSARY

What is a game? “A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool.” - Wikipedia Maybe it’s the wrong question! Perhaps better to think of an “interactive experience”?

What are the elements of a game? Key components Goals Rules Challenge Other components… Fun? Structured play? Social interaction? Learning? Choice? Uncertainty?

What is a game genre? A category of games with common components “Video game genres are used to categorize video games based on their gameplay interaction rather than visual or narrative differences” - Wikipedia

Genre map From “Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games” For example…

Example game genres Platform game Maze game Ball and paddle (e.g. Breakout, Pong) Pinball game Top-down shooter (e.g. Space Invaders, Asteroids) Top-down race game Side-scrolling shooter Adventure game Role-playing game Tower defence game Sports game Music game (e.g. Rock Band, Guitar Hero) Puzzle game Trivia game Idle game (e.g. Cookie Clicker) Board game Dungeon crawl Side-scrolling platformer Open world

What is a game mechanic? An action that a player (or the game itself) can take to change the state of the game

Example game mechanics Walking Walking - acceleration Walking - drag Jumping Double jump Variable jump height Bullets - single shot Bullets - rapid fire Bullets - targeting Cannon fire (bullets with gravity) Spaceship motion (e.g. Asteroids) Spaceship motion with gravity (e.g. “Lunar lander“) Follower Fixed path NPC movement Random NPC movement Character swapping Gravity flipping Weapon swapping Lava raft See

What are the characteristics of a well-designed game? Challenge What kinds of challenges are there? Level of challenge depends on the player Meaningful choices What kinds of choices does the player have? For some games, working out what choices are available can be part of the game. Different choices might be better or worse at different times in the game Testing Test small parts of the game Need other people to play the game How do other people react to the game?