Computer Games: Digital Games Design F1R2 11 Research for Outcome 2 Computer Games: Digital Games Design F1R2 11 © 2012 West Lothian College August 2012/Review date August 2015 Platforms & hardware

Outcome 2 Demonstrate an ability to identify planning and design elements within the production of a digital game. You are required to produce a portfolio of written and/or oral recorded reports demonstrating your familiarity with the various planning and design elements to be taken into consideration in the production of a digital game.

audio and narration target audiences visual style gameplay concept art The portfolio should be produced over an extended period and must cover at least eight of the following areas: audio and narration visual style concept art storyboarding scripting target audiences gameplay genre environments characters the choice of themes

Target Audience What is the purpose of a target audience? Who are the users of the game? What kind of systems are in place to control age restrictions on playing the game? What groups are used to define the target audience?

Useful Links http://www.iadt.edu/student-life/iadt-buzz/may-2013/tips-for-designing-games-audience http://liviu.cc/define-target-audience-indie-game/ http://www.pegi.info/en/index/

What is Gameplay? overall experience of playing a video game excluding factors like graphics and sound” Game mechanics, on the other hand, is the sets of rules in a game that are intended to produce an enjoyable gaming experience. Academic discussions tend to favor terms like game mechanics specifically to avoid gameplay since the latter term is Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay

Components of Gameplay There are three components to gameplay: Manipulation rules, defining what the player can do in the game Goal Rules, defining the goal of the game, and Metarules, defining how a game can be tuned or modified.

Types of Gameplay In video games gameplay can be divided into several types. For example, cooperative gameplay involves two or more players playing on a team. Another example is "twitch" gameplay which is based around testing a player's reaction times and precision, maybe in rhythm games or first-person shooters. Various gameplay types are listed below. Asymmetric video game Cooperative gameplay Emergent gameplay Nonlinear gameplay Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay

Characters Have a look at the following links: https://www.slideshare.net/KshirajTelang/character-development-for-video-games https://creative.pluralsight.com/learningpath/45-How-to-Get-Started-with-Character-Design https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/717/methods-for-character-design http://www.whatgamesare.com/character-development.html Give some examples of characters in games that you are familiar with.

Types of Characters Types of characters can be defined by the genre of game Game characters are main players and non-playing characters The protagonist is usually the main character Role Playing games give a class to characters Characters can have a backstory to give them depth https://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel/GAME/Characters%20in%20Games.pdf https://www.coursera.org/learn/game-design/lecture/69D2q/types-of-characters

Themes in Games Design Look at the following link to understand about theme design: https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/stuck-for-your-next-games-theme-try-these-6-ideas--cms-24882 What type of theme do you like and how does this influence how you design?

Audio and Narration How sound is used in your game can really add to the experience. Think about the various areas when designing a game: Sound Effects – on movement and objects, rewards and tasks Narration – giving instructions or adding to gameplay Background music – to create atmosphere and emotion

Visual Style in Games Design https://jahmelcoleman.wordpress.com/games-development/200-2/ http://www.contentedwriter.com/principles-of-game-design-visual-style-and-gameplay/