Hello again, good readers.
As promised, I have read parts of the chapter of Ernest Adams' book, Fundamentals of Game Design, Game Concepts. This should be particularly useful, as I will have to create and realize my own version of several games in the coming weeks, creating concepts based on and using existing mechanics.
Jumping straight into it, we are first adviced by Adams that finding an idea for a game is surprisingly easy; inspiration can be found in almost any source, just by looking at the world around you and thinking about how certain elements or processes could be used. Common sources of inspiration include the dreams and fantasies of the designer, other forms of entertainment media (such as films, books, or television), and even other games.
In these cases, however, the designer should take care not to steal the intellectual property of other people (creating a game directly based upon a movie without the consent of the owners of the rights to that movie, for example), and it should be remembered that good games are rarely formed around a single idea. Multiple ideas or inspirations should be used to flesh out a game concept.
When creating a game inspired by another game, Adams also warns that failing to add enough of your own creativity to the idea can (and in the past often has) leave a game which is unoriginal, or outright copies its source. Find a balance between innovation and the comfortably familiar.
This idea is not enough to be called a concept on its own, however. To advance to having a usable game concept, the designer must make many decisions about the game. Adams lists a number of elements important to creating a fully realized game concept, though in the unofficial and non-competitive context of my dissertation, as well as the limited time I will have with each project, developing the items he lists for each project would be not only unnecessary, but largely unrealistic.
I will use some of the methods he suggests to help flesh my game idea out for each final project (such as the high-concept statement, platforms, and primary gameplay mode), but will otherwise ignore this particular stage of game development, as it appears to be primarily intended for explaining the concept to others, such as when trying to pitch the game.
To help explain what Adams expects from a game concept, I'll go more in-depth with one of the points he says should be included in a game concept: a general summaryof how the game will progress. For this section, I will use my first final project idea (a simple top-down shooter) as an example.
When creating a lengthy game, the player should feel some sense of progress as they advance. This can be achieved by breaking the game into stages or levels, or by applying a narrative to the game, or both. Many games, for example, use a world map with a set number of levels shown on it to let the player view their progression through the game directly, counting how many levels they've already completed and how many they have left before finishing.
With the short amount of time available to me, I doubt I would be able to create a storyline for my game to offer the player, nor would it particularly emphasise coding aptitude beyond the presentation of the narrative. A level system, on the other hand, is probably very much accomplishable in the time I have, and would be effectively applicable in many future projects. These levels could take the form of a linear track, or could branch outwards into multiple paths the player can take, if I dedicate enough time to it.
Adams next asks what conditions should be met to complete a level. In a top-down shooter, there are a number of possibilities, the most obvious of which being shooting down a certain number of opponents. Other possibilities, however, include clearing and/or defending a particular area of the game world, reaching a location elsewhere in the world, or even completing small puzzles using the game's environment.
While Adams also goes into detail discussing storylines and whether they're necessary to a game, what they can offer, and how well the designer needs to understand the narrative at the game's conceptual stage, it doesn't offer us much help for this dissertation project series.
And that should about cover it for the Game Concepts chapter. I may refer back to this post later on in my dissertation, once I focus on the conceptualisation of my final projects, and may create posts going into more depth with this chapter if it becomes necessary.
For now, however, that should be all. The submission deadline for proposals is today, so please do wish me luck.
Until next time, good readers.
Adams, Ernest. Fundamentals of Game Design, Second Edition. New Riders, Berkeley, CA, 2010.
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