Comments on: Tips for game designers

By: ened

ened — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:34:55 +0000

Thanks for your excellent tips.
I’ll translate it into Korean and share it.

By: tobe mayr

tobe mayr — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:19:14 +0000

“17. When you discover what the heart of the game is, protect it to the death”

Considering all other steps before, this is probably the most overlooked truth that should dominate all others. Even if the moment of discovery comes later than planned

By: gameplaywright.net // story, games, together

gameplaywright.net // story, games, together — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:51:48 +0000

[...] Tips for Games Designers (Every GM and DM should pay attention to #9) [...]

By: Tantrix

Tantrix — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:17:57 +0000

1. ”Prototype”

I see what you did there.

But thanks for your tips.

By: Retodon8

Retodon8 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:02:02 +0000

“1. Prototype and test key game elements as early as possible.”

Ooh, a very good one to start off this nice list with. It’s like when you decide to draw a person. You enthusiastically start drawing the head and face, then continue drawing the body, only to find out you misjudged the amount of room you would need for that. Then you learn.

It also reminds me of the many grandiose game mod projects that are started, that progress, slow down, and then just die due to their unrealistic design documents, if those were even ever made.

By: Clean3d

Clean3d — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:57:46 +0000

Tip #2 really hits home, as my grand (naive) idea is definitely not something I wish to tackle all at once. Bookmarked.

Thanks for the tips!

By: Zjéraar

Zjéraar — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:01:19 +0000

I always had much trouble abiding to nr. 19, thinking I had the best ideas. It’ll definitely put off your team members.

By: Kevin Gadd

Kevin Gadd — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:23:07 +0000

Sol_HSA: My guess is that it’s due to the fact that systems must be built before you can use them, which pushes back the beginning of actual development and thus pushes back the ‘first playable moment’ (see 12). Easy mistake to make, if that’s what his point was.

18 is a sacred, painful truth.

By: Bad Sector

Bad Sector — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:22:03 +0000

@Sol_HSA:
I think it means investing in tools which can do a lot but also require a lot of time investment from people (which in turn means that this time is taken from the development). This line brought UnrealEd to my mind which although a very capable tool, it feels like a spaceship cockpit especially when compared to most other game editors (like, say, Hammer which is a very simple – although sometimes cryptic – editor).

Of course it doesn’t say “tools” so it may also mean anything similar, like a platform that needs your blood to run (PS3?) or an engine that while good it is a bit hard to use.

By: Sol_HSA

Sol_HSA — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:37:11 +0000

“Don’t invest in an overly grandiose development system.”

Can you elaborate on that a bit? Generally the better the tools, the more you get out of your content creator people.. on the other hand this could refer to hardware / IT architecture, or the fact that you can over-engineer the tools (and end up not making the game at all in the end)..