How To Play Like a Game Designer

jillduffy writes "The GameCareerGuide site has up an article on playing to learn. Folks who make games play them differently than you or I; they're looking at the mechanics from a first-hand perspective. James Portnow's article attempts to relay some of the essence of that experience, to allow us to play with a more critical eye: 'Playing games in order to study them is not what most people would consider "fun." This doesn't mean it isn't fun at all; it just means you have to think a different way. You have to find joy in discovering mechanics and watching their emergent properties unfold. You have to be willing to endure a certain amount of tedium in order to glean clues about the inner workings of a game. Most of all, you have to be able to enjoy playing bad games as well as good.'"

Comments

Play like a game reverse engineer

[192939495969798999]

That sounds more like reverse engineering to me. I used to write games, but I don't play games in order to go, "hmmm, how can I do this in my game?" Usually I think, "why does this game suck and how can I make games that don't suck in the ways that this game sucks?"

Re:Play like a game reverse engineer

[aadvancedGIR]

Obviously, you are not working for one of the biggest publisher, or for for long enough. As a gamer, I would say most games suck because they all feel the same.

You fail at reading!

[Anonymous Coward]

The submitter is talking about what most other people consider not fun. He's saying it might still be fun for you, but only if you approach it with an open mind. If it's not for you, then that's fine. Not everybody can or should be a game designer. Designing games that are actually fun to play is like directing movies that are actually fun to watch---a lot harder than most armchair directors (or armchair designers) realize.

Re:How about "designing like a player"?

[Anonymous Coward]

The thought isn't about how you should act as a game designer but what you can learn about game design from playing existing games.

Re:How about "designing like a player"?

[Other Than That...]

Ok, I obviously realize that this is a rant, and I agree with parts of it, especially the maze complaint, but this quote:

I'd prefer him to design a game I want to play. Maybe then we won't get the millionth sequel of a game nobody wanted to play in the first place

while heartfelt, unfortunately comes off as elitist and ignorant of many of the realities of game creation.

First, if you want a game created that you want to play, you'll have to try creating it. Emphasis on try. Lots of people, including professional designers, have awesome ideas that have hundreds of tiny - and a few large - "gotchas" inherent in their designs, or due to the limitations of technology/funding. Most of these don't surface until you're already well into making the game. There's a HUGE difference between describing the game you want to play and making the game you want to play.

Second, if there's a millionth sequel, then people (not you of course) did actually want to play it in the first place, because they've bought every iteration up until this point. People whine vocally about original gameplay, but when it comes down to getting paid, highly polished versions of the-same-old-stuff are where the money usually is.

Don't get me wrong, I look for original concepts all the time, and some of them can be highly successful as well, but to say that no-one wants to play COD4, Halo 3, or even the next Pokemon title is essentially trying to assert that you are the only target market game designers should have, instead of one of many.

Open the floodgates

[Avatar8]

As if we don't already have enough people that think they are experts at how a game should be done. Might as well hand everyone with an opinion a certificate of "Game Developer 101" completion.

Just because I've played computer games since they were words on a green CRT doesn't mean any game designer or company wants my opinion of how a game should be designed or executed. I voice my opinion by purchasing and playing what they do well, and beta-testing and ignoring what they do poorly.

Besides I'm not an all-around gamer, so I have a limited scope. I'm sure many fit into this category as well. I only have a limited amount of time for gaming, so I pick and choose carefully how I spend that time playing. No time/money/interest in consoles, no interest in FPS and no desire for any game that involves head-to-head against a person (PvP).

If they want my opinion on the evolution (and saturation) of the fantasy RPG since 1980, I'll gladly share it.

No, that's a different notion

[DingerX]

It's analysis, not exploring. The goal isn't to figure out the entire map, or find every little Easter Egg, or even to do funky things at the edge of the game. Analyzing a game means looking at the final product and trying to reconstruct A. what it is trying to do, B. how effective it is at doing it, and C. how it got to the state it is at. Then you can spin off the little mechanical issues, and art design choices.

As for making a game suck less, well the problem has always been that developers started out because they really like games. Most of them end up doing stuff they may enjoy, but it's not making the games they really wanted to make. And those who end up making the games they really wanted to make, well, they get developer conceit, where their idea is so sacred, and so cool, that they will fight for it, even when evidence mounts to show that it doesn't work.

The most eye-opening experience can be watching how someone else uses your software. 20 years ago, we would send videotapes of testing back to the development house, and they'd be shocked by the kinds of things we did. Now, playtesting is standard practice in most places, and some houses (Valve, for one) have turned it into an art.