Elements of game design - part 1

So gameplay – what is it? It’s one of the things that every player knows what it is, but is not sure how to explain it. I think that the reason is that every game has its own gameplay and it differs from one to another game’s gameplay. Even games of the same genre have different gameplays.

For example Baldur’s Gate and The Elders Scrolls: Morrowind are both RPG games set in fantasy universes. However if you look at them they look like a complete different games.The first one is isometric view RPG where you command the group of adventurers. In the second one you’ve got only one hero and you see the world through his eyes.

On the other hand… Are they really that different? In both games you’re on a quest, you fight the monsters, collect experience, obtain new weapons, and cast spells… The difference is how you do it – and that’s what the gameplay is. It’s the way in which player interacts with a game.

As you can see, it’s a very important aspect of every game and it has a great influence on a specific game look and playability. So who is responsible for that? Who, during the game production, makes decisions about gameplay, decisions that can drastically change the whole game? Well, it’s part of the lead designer’s job.

Basically, the lead designer of a game is like a director of the movie. It’s a person with overall vision of a game in his mind, who makes large design decisions to make sure that the final product will match this vision. It’s achieved by coordinating work of other designers: game mechanics designers, level designers and the writers. A game mechanics designer’s job is to make sure that the game is well balanced. For example, the person decides how much damage player will deal with a sword in comparison to damage dealt with a bow. Level designer is responsible for creating the game’s environment and levels. Writers create the story line, narrative, dialogs… They are responsible for making other game elements more coherent.

Beside of directing these people, the lead designer’s job is to presents design outside of the team and keep well-presented documentation of the game. One of the most important documents is Game Design Document. Usually it is created in the pre-production stage of a game development; however it’s constantly changing and improving during the production of a game. Basically, it is a written down core idea and vision of the game, which the developer team should refer to and use as a guide.

Obviously all these designers are only a part of the team involved in a process of game creation. Although some people still believe that games are created by 2-3 computer geeks closed in dad’s garage, that of course is not the case. More and more people are involved in creating games and the entire game industry is evolving with a great speed. I’m really excited to be a witness of that and I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look like in the future.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQcANX3NNE
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2675/into_the_transmission_randy_.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2156/game_design_theory__practice_.php