Temple of The Roguelike Forums
Development => Programming => Topic started 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.
-
Good stuff. Thanks!
-
Nothing useful in that list, except surprises, but as roguelike developers we already knew that.
-
More than half are applicable to roguelikes. Just because you don't see any applications doesn't mean they don't exist.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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...
-
I guarantee you that Dwarf Fortress's player base would be much larger if not for that complete disaster of an interface.
-
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.
-
I believe the moment you start to think what players want is when the game is over.
-
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.