Designing Gamesfor

Game Designers

Stone LibrandeCreative Director, EA/Maxis

Lead Designer, SimCity

Please turn on “Notes View” for the speaking points about each slide.A video of this talk is available at: http://gdcvault.com.

• Class Background and Philosophy

• Fundamentals of Game Design

• Workshop Games

• Final Thoughts

Overview

• Cogswell Polytechnical College (Sunnyvale, CA.)

• Game Design Workshop (GDC)

• Game Connection (Paris)

• EA Intern Mentoring (Maxis Studio)

Workshop Locations

• Paper, cards, dice (no computers)

• 2 to 3 hour workshops

• Focus on one specific topic

• No grades, but there are “winners”

Workshop Structure

Exercise Goals:

• A chance for the class to get acquainted

• Focus on physical rather than cerebral

• Set the tone for the semester

First Day Game

What is a Game?• Lost in the Shuffle (The Duelist

magazine)Richard Garfield (1994-99)

• The Art of Computer Game DesignChris Crawford (1984)

• I Have No Words & I Must DesignGreg Costikyan (1994)

Fundamentals of Game Design

Fundamentals of Game Design

Fundamentals of Game Design

Fundamentals of Game Design

Fundamentals of Game Design

• Player’s relationship to the goal is clear

• Drama increases as the goal nears

Goals

Exercise Goals:• Experiment with different types of goals

• Only the goal can change, not the rules

• How does changing the goal change the game?

Goal Cards

Public points vs. secret

points Timed goals

Negative goal

Multiple Goals:• Simultaneous

• Randomly ChangingSecret Goals

Custom Goals

Win a chip

Win a Goal Card

Get the mostGoal Cards

Get your card

promoted

Opposition

• Flow

• Sense of

accomplishment

Exercise Goals:• Incremental difficulty tuning

• Hard and Soft obstacles

• Giving the player an edge

• Opposition and Opponents

Obstacle Pong

Obstacle Pong

Obstacle Pong

Obstacle Pong

Obstacle Pong

Exercise Goals:• Asymmetric game

balance

• Tuning for drama

Each tank gets 3 actions per turn:

A) ShootB) MoveC) Rotate

Decisions

• Interesting decisions

• Creativity and

discovery

• Balancing decisions

• Encouraging expression and role-playing

• Combining characters to create new stories

Exercise Goals:

•Kneel

•Pray

•Smite

•Bless

•Step

•Wobble

•Belch

•Throw

Bottle

•Hide in

Trash

•Stagger

Rules

• Easy to learn • A lifetime to master

Exercise Goals:• Rule structure and organization

• Precision

• Simplification

Add a Rule

Exercise Goals:

• Creating modular rules

• Balancing rule effects

• Discussing and clarifying

• Using flavor to help immersion and

memory

Flavor: Swords, Military, Weapons Effect: Attack power

Arrow’s Flight

If your spade loses then

immediately drop it on the floor

from at least 1 meter. If it lands face

up then it wins!

Buried Treasure

Flavor: Wealth, Riches Effect: Points

Cut your deck.

If you reveal a diamond put it on top

of your deck and gain 1 point.

Card Garden

Flavor: Staff, Nature Effect: Cards

Take the top card of your deck and

put it in your hand. If you wish you

may play cards from your hand

instead of from the top of your deck.

Consolation Present

If you lost this battle you may

place your card on top of your

opponent’s deck.

Flavor: Love, Emotion, Healing Effect: Giving

Interaction

• Ease of input

• Rewards

• Immersive

atmosphere

Exercise Goals:• Show the students the power of

rewards

• Roll as fast as possible

• Do this for over 30 minutes!

Roll Dice Fast!

Roll Dice Fast!

Exercise Goals:• Explore how atmosphere affects a game

• Using colors, fonts, and images to set a mood

• Combine two games together to make a new game

v

Mash Up

Exercise Goals:• Learn how to calculate odds (with no math!)

• Start simple and slowly progress in difficulty

• Simulate thousands of play sessions

Putting it Together

Interaction

• Obvious goal, interesting decisions, simple rules

• Use reward and atmosphere to “entice” players

• Make a profit

Casino

Exercise Goals: Interaction

• Listening to me talk about games is not a substitute for playing them

• Iterate them, change them, make them suit your needs

• Designers, become teachers

Final Thoughts

Thank you!

Detailed rules and materials for many of these games can be found at:

www.stonetronix.com