Game Design

Game design is a mutlifaceted discipline that involves writing, art, and programming in the production of an interactive experience. Typically a team that specialize in specific areas within the industry are employed. A team of writers and designers work on the narrative, structure, and gameplay mechanics of the game. A large group of artists are required to create the various graphics of the game such as sprites (2D art), models (3D art), animation, and technical aspects (rigging, particles, audio, etc.). Programmers will produce the code necessary for the game to function.

Video Game Design as an Industry

Highlights

• Market Growth: The video game industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors, with predictions of steady growth over the next five years.
• Consumer Spending: In the US, consumer spending on gaming content, hardware, and accessories has seen significant year-over-year increases.
• Global Gamer Population: There are approximately 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, representing 26% of the global population.
• Platform Popularity: Mobile gaming leads in revenue generation, followed by console and PC gaming. Smartphones are the most used devices for gaming.
• Top Gaming Countries: China and the US are the largest markets for gaming revenue.
• Impact of COVID-19: The pandemic has increased gaming time and spending, with significant growth in digital downloads and game-related purchases.
• Digital Distribution: Digital platforms like Steam and Epic Games dominate game distribution, with substantial user growth and high revenue generation.
• PC Gaming: PC gaming remains strong, with significant growth in hardware sales and high engagement across various age groups.
• Console Gaming: PlayStation leads the console market, with Nintendo Switch showing substantial growth in unit sales.
• Mobile Gaming: Mobile games account for the largest share of industry revenue, with high user engagement and spending.
• XR Gaming: VR and AR gaming are growing rapidly, with significant increases in revenue and user adoption.
• Video Game Streaming: Platforms like Twitch and YouTube have seen explosive growth in viewership and streaming hours.
• eSports: The eSports industry continues to grow, with increasing revenues, audience size, and significant prize money for competitions.

Video Game Design as an Occupation

Highlights

• The median annual wage for special effects artists and animators was $99,060 in May 2023.
• Employment of special effects artists and animators is projected to grow 4 percent from 2023 to 2033, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

Game Creation

We are going to produce a basic platformer game. It will not be complete by the end of this session but hopefully it give you an idea of what is possible.

Defining Games:

No one can agree. It is similar to defining art. What we can do is suggest some common game elements. So what are the universal game elements?

Common Game Elements:

• Player:
  • Agrees to follow the mechanics of the game and follow the “rules.”
  • Games are player-centric. If the player is not engaged then the game must be adjusted.
• Rules/Mechanic:
  • Dictate what is, and is not valid play.
  • A game must be challenging in some way to be entertaining. Player pleasure comes from mastery of the game challenges. Therefore, the difficulty must escalate and provide variety to maintain player stimulation.
• Victory Condition:
  • The successful completion of the game’s given tasks.
  • This is the ultimate carrot to lead the player through the level.

Fun:

Fun games involve learning and mastery (are you having fun now?). When you watch animals (particularly young) you see their play organized around skills necessary to hunt or evade.

Our minds crave input and information. It has developed a reward system. When you acquire new skills your brain releases endorphins.

It is important to create variety in your game and to constantly challenge your player, usually scaling difficulty.

Godot

Godot Engine is a feature-packed, cross-platform game engine to create 2D and 3D games from a unified interface. It provides a comprehensive set of common tools, so that users can focus on making games without having to reinvent the wheel. Games can be exported with one click to a number of platforms, including the major desktop platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows), mobile platforms (Android, iOS), as well as Web-based platforms and consoles. -Godot

Piskel

Piskel is a free online editor for animated sprites & pixel art. -Piskel

Instructions

Click on the link to the right for the Godot Platformer Game Tutorial

Next Steps

I hope you enjoyed the presentation. If you did you may want some advice on what to do next. If you didn’t like creating the game, that is fine as well. Now you know it’s something you don’t want to pursue.

You should

• Finish this game!
  • Finish more games. Follow tutorials and make more and more complex games. If you’re making games, you’re a game developer!
• Make a plan.
  • If you are a driven person, you can absolutely succeed in becoming an independent developer, but this is very difficult without a plan.
• Pursue a degree (or certificate)
  • Honestly, the paper doesn’t matter as much as your portfolio but you need something to push your forward. This is a great way to achieve this.