Game Design & Gameplay
Game Design can be easily explained once you understand what "Gameplay" actually is. Gameplay is a component of any game whether it be a computer game or board game that is not found in any other art form: Interactivity. A game's gameplay is the degree and nature of the interactivity that the game includes. For example, how players are able to interact with a game world and how the game world reacts to the choices the players make.
"Gameplay does not include how the in game world is represented graphically or what game engine is used to render that world. Nor does it include the setting or story line of that game-world. These aesthetic considerations are elements from games that may be shared with other media; they are certainly not what differentiates games from those other media. Gameplay, remember, is what makes our art form unique." Richard Rouse III, in his book, Game Design Theory & Practice
So now we know for certain what gameplay is, what is game design? The definition of game design can be easily explained now we have this information. Game design is the thought process that goes into creating video games that determines the form of the gameplay. A game's design determines what choices a player will make in game, and how those choices will affect the in game world and in turn, affect the player. A game's design determines how a player character moves and controls, how difficult the game will be, what challenges, puzzles and obstacles will stand in the players way and how will the player overcome them. What will the win/loss criteria be for the game? What will go through the players head when they arrive at this part of the level? I could be here all day, to put it in short: A game's design determines every single detail of how the gameplay will function.
The term, "good game design" has now been used in such a variety of contexts that the exact meaning can be difficult to pin down. All game designers seem to have their own definition and theories of game design that they like to follow and use when designing their games. Like music, art and food, "good" game design is almost completely subjective. One designer's theories on how a game should be designed could be entirely different to another designer. The same can be said for the players: one person might think a certain game is a masterpiece and the most enjoyable gaming experience they have ever had; whereas another player might think the same game was a boring, repetitive chore and they never want to touch the game again.
What is a Game Designer?
A lot of people nowadays like to refer to game designers as anyone working on a computer game, whether they be an artist, programmer, writer or producer. This is a very vague way to describe the job title. I prefer a more specific definition: A game designer is the person who creates ideas and rules that comprise a game, and establishes the shape and nature of the gameplay. Indeed, many game designers perform a wide variety of tasks on a project, but their central concern should always be the game design and gameplay.
A game designer must love to play games and should be able to tell the difference between a good and bad game, but most importantly they should be able to communicate why. "It's just amazing" or "because it sucks" are never acceptable answers. Another task that a designer is responsible for is making sure a game is "fun" to play. Designers have different ways of figuring out what is fun about a game, and they will all have different opinions on it. Some designers like to gauge fun from what everyone else likes about games, and designing games around what everyone else wants. Whereas other designers prefer to gauge whether a game is fun or not from their own enjoyment of the experience. An example of a famous designer gauging a game's "fun factor" for themselves is Game Freak's Satoshi Tajiri, responsible for the famous Pokémon series. Whilst designing Pokémon he thought of a game that he himself would want to play, and was inspired by his personal hobby of bug collecting. Pokémon then went on to become a worldwide phenomenon, sold millions of copies, and the series still releases brand new games to this day.
To get another description of what a game designer is, Brenda Romero, an award winning games designer gave a great explanation to what she thinks a game designer is;
"A game designer is the architect in a sense of a game, if a character walks up to an NPC and talks to them and they say things, that's because I told them to do it. If you press the A button on a controller and for some reason it brings up the pause menu, that's because I said that was going to happen. So game designers basically are the architects of play. One of the easiest ways in fact to explain this is to open up a board game and take the rules out, that's my job, I make the rules, I determine how much experience you get when you complete a quest, I determine how much damage an enemy does to you if they hit you with their sword"
Summary
To conclude, I've given my own thoughts on what Game Design is to me and what I believe my job role as a game designer should entail. Through looking at the thoughts and words of various notable game designers via interviews or books, I believe the information they have provided has justified my definitions and reasoning as well as providing me with some extra insight into what game design is. I also found some very quick, easy definitions of what a game designer's job is, (Thanks Brenda, I'm stealing that board game rule book quote). Hopefully you have enjoyed this outlook to game design, and maybe your own design theory correlates with it, or maybe not. Either way thank you for taking the time to read this research post.
Next up:
Research & Practice: Player character mobility and how it affects gameplay
References
Game Design Theory & Practice Second Edition, Richard Rouse III, Pg 21
Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, Scott Rogers, Pg 20
Brenda Romero, "What is a Game Designer" https://goo.gl/2ZFXyz
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