Game Design
in 75 minutes
A Laneway Learning class by Matthew Gatland / @mgatland …
about me…
about me…
about me…
Game Design?
visual art, music, voice acting, script writing, programming…
Game designers design rules
Rules
- Rock Paper Scissors
- Crossy Road
- Monopoly…
MDA framework
Playtesting matters.
- Rules only work when combined with players
- Players are complicated!
- You need to playtest a rule to know what events and feelings it creates
SiSSYFiGHT
This game simulates a schoolyard fight between little girls. Each player begins with 10 self-esteem points. Your goal is to be one of the last two players with any self-esteem left.
Game Setup
Each player gets:
- 3 Action cards (Solo, Team, Defend)
- 10 Self-esteem tokens
- A set of coloured target cards
Each player should choose a different color and put that target card face up as their name badge.
Rules
Each round
- Secretly choose one target and one action
- Everyone reveals their cards at the same time, and resolves what happens
- You may only communicate in public
- If you run out of self-esteem, you are out
- When only 2 players are left, they win
Actions
Solo: Your target loses 1 self-esteem
Team: If someone else also used team against the same target, they lose 2 self-esteem (per team card), otherwise nothing happens.
Defend: The target card doesn't matter. If you were going to lose self-esteem, you only lose half as much (round down.) But if no-one targeted you, you lose one self-esteem.
Mechanics (rules)
Any you recognise from other games?
Aesthetics (feelings)
What was\wasn't fun?
Dynamics (what happened)
How did the rules create the fun?
Variations
Could we change the setting?
Could we change the genre?
What makes a bad party game?
1. Player Elimination
Maybe better
2. Positive Feedback
3. Negative Feedback
Good party game?
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Activity 2
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Games send messages
"People who have a good command of the English language are better than other people."
"Where are the natives?"
"What is a good life?"
Positive themes
- You need to be aware of the needs of everyone in your family
- Trades work when both parties get something they need
- Your vocabulary has improved since last week!
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Summary
Fun (and other feelings) come from events caused by rules.
Playtesting is important to know the effect of a new rule.
Different rules lead to different experiences – i.e. positive feedback more clearly separates winners from losers.
Games can send messages and promote certain points of view.
That's the end!
Parts of this workshop are based on Marc LeBlanc's 2-day game design workshop.