Temple of The Roguelike Forums

Development => Programming => Topic started by: Darren Grey on May 22, 2013, 02:47:37 PM

Title: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Darren Grey on May 22, 2013, 02:47:37 PM
Just read this great article on 10 things you should know as a game designer:

http://nothingsacredgames.com/?p=930

It's aimed primarily at board game design, but almost all of it is extremely relevant to roguelike design.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: malignatius on May 22, 2013, 06:07:45 PM
Good stuff. Thanks!
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Krice on May 25, 2013, 12:10:35 PM
Nothing useful in that list, except surprises, but as roguelike developers we already knew that.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Vanguard on May 25, 2013, 01:13:57 PM
More than half are applicable to roguelikes.  Just because you don't see any applications doesn't mean they don't exist.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Krice on May 25, 2013, 05:00:49 PM
Just because you don't see any applications doesn't mean they don't exist.

Often tips like that are pretty obvious. As if now after reading that great wisdom we can finally finish all our unfinished projects just like that.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Vanguard on May 25, 2013, 06:23:09 PM
Well yeah, they aren't amazing revelations that will change gaming forever.  But some of them are good things to keep in mind.

Like, if you make a game that can't be understood on at least a fundamental level within 10 minutes, you'll probably lose a lot of players.  It's a good idea to pace your game so that the player encounters something interesting (maybe a powerful enemy or a unique item or a story event) at frequent enough intervals that they stay engaged.

Those sorts of things.  They aren't hard to understand, but developers, even professional ones, screw it up all the time.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Krice on May 25, 2013, 09:43:57 PM
Like, if you make a game that can't be understood on at least a fundamental level within 10 minutes, you'll probably lose a lot of players.

Three words: Dwarf Fortress.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: requerent on May 25, 2013, 11:02:12 PM
Like, if you make a game that can't be understood on at least a fundamental level within 10 minutes, you'll probably lose a lot of players.

Three words: Dwarf Fortress.

In all fairness, I was going to mention DF also...
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Vanguard on May 26, 2013, 03:51:10 AM
I guarantee you that Dwarf Fortress's player base would be much larger if not for that complete disaster of an interface.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: guest509 on May 26, 2013, 04:06:58 AM
Obvious outliers make bad examples. Best not to formulate general principals on them.

In law it happens sometimes and we end up with terrible laws, mostly from the legislature but occasionally from a short sighted judiciary.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Krice on May 26, 2013, 06:05:03 AM
I believe the moment you start to think what players want is when the game is over.
Title: Re: Top 10 tips in Game Design
Post by: Vanguard on May 26, 2013, 05:13:23 PM
Being aware of what players want is useful.  Manipulating what they want is even better.

It's only a problem when you become subservient to what they want.