6.1. Getting Started¶

There are many different starting points for a game’s design. Here are some examples, in no particular order:

• Start with the core “aesthetics” — what do you want the player to feel? How do you want them to react? What should the play experience be like? Then work backwards from the player experience to figure out a set of rules that will achieve the desired aesthetic. Think about the best experience you’ve ever had while playing a game; what game rules led to that experience?
• Start with a rule or system that you observe in everyday life, particularly one that requires people to make interesting decisions. Look at the world around you; what systems do you see that would make good games?
• Start with an existing, proven design, then make modifications to improve on it (the “clone-and-tweak” method). This often happens when making sequels and ports of existing games. Think of a game that you thought had potential, but didn’t quite take the experience as far as they could; how would you make it better?
• Start with technology, such as a new kind of controller and find a way to build a game around interesting uses of it.
• Start with materials from other sources, such as existing art or game mechanics that didn’t make it in to other projects. Design a game to make use of them. Do you have an art portfolio, or earlier game designs that you didn’t turn into finished products? What about public domain works, such as Renaissance art? How could you design a game around these?
• Start with a narrative and then design game rules to fit, making a story-driven game.
• Start with market research: perhaps you know that a certain demographic is underserved, and want to design a game specifically for them. Or maybe you just know that a certain genre is “hot” right now, and that there are no major games of that type coming out in a certain range of dates, so there is an opportunity. How do you turn this knowledge into a playable game?
• Combinations of several of these. For example, starting with core aesthetics and narrative at the same time, you can make a game where the story and gameplay are highly integrated.

Note that just because any of these methods can result in a good starting point for a game does not mean that they are all equally good ways to start thinking about your first game. Your first game is going to be limited by your skill in creating code to implement mechanics and the art you can find or create. Starting with a story or technology idea or aesthetic may easily result in more work than you can handle as you try to turn your abstract ideas into practice.

For better or worse, mechanics are going to have to be an early consideration in your first game project. For one, you probably are still developing a feel for how to evoke a certain aesthetic, and even how dynamics will evolve from your mechanics. So trying to work backwards in design is going to be hard. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, your ability to implement mechanics is going to be limited - you need to focus early on what you technically can pull off instead of designing around ideas you end up realizing are too hard to implement.

This Extra Credits video starts with exploring why starting with a story can be a problem - note that it is set to end at the 3:16 mark... we will watch the rest in just a minute: