This is normally done for marketing purposes, but if game designers are involved it can also help to make the game more enjoyable for that particular demographic. In a usability test, players are given specific tasks to accomplish in an attempt to see whether they understand how to control the game. This is done frequently in the greater software industry to make sure that a piece of software is easy to learn and easy to use.
Video games can take advantage of this as well, and results from a usability test can be used to either change the controls or modify the early levels to teach those controls more effectively. In board games, usability is doubly important, because there is no computer to respond to player input for you. If you misunderstand how houses work in Monopoly and place them on Community Chest spaces, the game will not stop you.
By observing players who are trying to play your game, you can learn a lot about how to design the various game bits so that they are easy and intuitive to use. A fun game can quickly become boring if some kind of play exploit exists that lets a player bypass most of the interesting choices in the game. If only one strategy can win and it is just a matter of which player follows that strategy the best, it is not as interesting as if there are multiple paths to victory.
Likewise, if one player has a clear advantage over the others, it is important to identify that so that players do not feel the game is being unfair. The purpose of this kind of test is to identify imbalances in the game so that the designer can fix them.
A game can be usable, balanced and functional and still be uninteresting. Certain aspects of the game may be more fun than others, so it is also important to figure out what parts of the game need to stay the same… not just what to change. All of these forms of testing have some elements in common. Best practices are similar if not identical. All are important to the success of a project. So why make a distinction? The reason is that each is appropriate at different stages of completion in a project.
Pre-production is the planning phase. You may have an amazing idea for a game, but to successfully turn it into a reality you need a detailed plan of action.
The first step is to create a game design document GDD. It will serve as a blueprint from which your game is to be built. Here's an example of a game design document created in Nuclino , a unified workspace where teams can bring all their knowledge, docs, and projects together. Nuclino can serve as a lightweight game documentation tool , a game development planner , an internal wiki , and more. You can create real-time collaborative docs, allowing you to document, share, and collaborate on anything, from game proposals and storyboards to character profiles and concept art.
Game design document example Artwork credit: Stephane Wootha Richard. Pre-production is the stage when the writers, artists, designers, and developers collaborate to determine the scope of the game. That includes coming up with ideas for how the game will function, its characters, its look, and its story.
The most basic questions that need to be answered are:. The answers to these questions become the backbone of your game design document. Some details are likely to change over the course of the game development process — keep your GDD as a living document and let it evolve together with your project. Game storyboard example Credit: Ubisoft Entertainment.
A lot of effort is invested into worldbuilding. Ideas are fleshed out in the form of storyboards, concept art, interface mockups, and so on, to see how they look, feel, and interact with one another. The production stage of game development is when your studio takes the concepts created during pre-production and turns them into source code and various assets.
It's where the bulk of your time, effort, and resources go. The design team continues their work from the pre-production stage. Brandon: Board Game Geek alone lists 51 distinct mechanics.
Not even an exhaustive list! Brandon: As you put it, mechanics can not only be purposefully created, but that they can also organically arise out of repeated plays. Jesse: Exactly! So what do you think incorporates mechanics? To me, mechanics are the underlying structure that helps games express the core engine. Brandon: In the same breath, I believe rules are what we use to regulate that which mechanics alone cannot.
For example, moving from point to connected point on a board is a mechanic. Getting to move up to six spaces is a rule. Brandon: Structure can be both intended and unintended. An office is not merely scaffolding and drywall — intended by architects and construction workers. It is also a place of social interaction, hierarchies, and people influenced by the physical space who in turn influence the physical space itself. Smash Bros.
Melee — a unique fighting game that got a new lease on life as people exploited glitches and created a new form of completion. Brandon: This brings me to my next question: how do you personally come up with ideas for mechanics and implement them?
Jesse: I approach design in a couple of different ways. Sometimes I get inspired to design a game around a theme that was significant in my life at the time. Using this top-down approach, I work to find the best mechanics that will fit the theme. This bottom-up design approach also works and keeps the game able to be themed into anything that would work for the overall design.
Jesse: How about you? Do you approach design from a top down or bottom up approach? One came from abstract mechanics and the other came from travel brochures and the other from half-remembered coffee-soaked cross-country trips. The discovery stage usually lasts for a month or two, depending on the project scope, resources needed, and available budget.
At this point, the team consists of a few members — the Core Team. The discovery stage is a vital starting point of the game creation and usually implies a wide range of activities displayed in detail below:. Game Design Document Creation. Designers create a single document that has all the rules and descriptions of the game, namely:.
Art-Style Definition. In collaboration with Game Designers and Stakeholders, Art Director, and the teamwork on the visual style for the product, developing the aesthetics, look, and feel. Technology Stack Definition. At this point, Solution Architect or Tech Lead identifies the technologies needed for the development process.
When the team is ready with the procedures mentioned above, we provide the information on:. This is when the actual development begins. Team members polish the story, define game mechanics, its balance, pacing, and gameplay. Plus, they create all assets characters, creatures, props, and environments , set the rules of play, build levels and scenes, and write the code.
Each component of the game has to be designed thoughtfully, the fun and gameplay, and then characters, environment, objects, the level of difficulty, scenes, and more.
In contrast, a larger studio with more team players who specialize in a particular aspect of production. Prototype: A video game prototype is a raw test that examines functionality, user experience, gameplay, mechanics, and art style. Prototyping happens as the first phase of production to test whether the game idea will work and is worth pursuing. Many ideas fail at this stage.
While it is still far from the final version, placeholders are starting to be replaced with higher quality elements, and art is added. Pre-alpha: Most of the content is designed in the pre-alpha stage. At this point in the game development process, some critical decisions take place. The content may get cut, or new assets are incorporated to improve gameplay. Vertical slice optional : A vertical slice is a fully playable version that can be used to manifest your game to clients, studios, or investors.
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