Aft713 fundamental of game design 1.2

AFT720-LEVEL DESIGN FOR GAME DESIGN
Fundamental of Game Design Element and its
principle

Why do you talk about so many old games ?
They are simpler and illustrate one principle clearly. Ex - Monopoly game ?

“Why do you talk about non video games ?

Reality A GAME IS GAME :
Fundamental are same
1.Either is video game, card game, sports game
2.Its all about entertaining people through PLAY.
3.SO a professional game designer should able to make either
card game or video game ,sports game
4.Today we will concentrate on video game
5.Example Monopoly and chess game are world wide well
known

Why we are not talk about
Character Design
Creative Play
Genre
Emotion
Commercials Issue
Planning and Pre-production
Tools and Testing
Designing for modders (Mod-video gaming)
( Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb "modify". Modding refers to the act
of modifying hardware, software, or virtually anything else, to perform a function not originally
conceived or intended by the designer, or achieve a bespoke specification)
Monetization
Gamification

We will not talk about software, technology ,Engine
We will only talk about only gaming and entertaining part of game

What is game ?
Game have four key elements
PLAY -RULES –GOALS – THE MAGIC CIRCLE
▪ Play, non essential usually recreational activity
▪Competitive play-: overcoming challenge , defeating opponent
(Competitive Play is one of Over watch's game modes that can be accessed from
the Play menu).
▪Creative play-: construction and self –expression Ex –
(Creative play definition is - children's play (as modeling or painting) that tends to
satisfy the need for self-expression as well as to develop manual skills Ex – Mine Craft).
▪Social play-: role playing and interacting with others
All these games are single player means Player verses Machine

What is game ?
Game have four key elements
PLAY -RULES –GOALS – THE MAGIC CIRCLE
▪ RULES- that define how game is played
•In video rules are implicit and enforced by the software.
▪GOALS to be achieved in victory condition
•Not all video games are game in the formal sense
▪THE MAGIC CIRCLE-a social mental space created by pretending
•Pretending creates suspension of disbelief, also called immersion
which is common to all fictional form of entertainment.
•Games are different from other form of entertainment and may have multiple end .
• While Participatory books and movies are presentational and have one end

HOW VIDEO GAME ENTERTAIN ?
▪Game Play- Challenges and achievement
▪Aesthetic – Visual and auditory style
▪Story telling – Character to be care about.
▪Exploration – Moving through unfamiliar space
▪Novelty- New thing to do , see and hear
▪Progression- Growth in many forms
▪Risk and Reward-Fear of Loss and Hope of gain
▪Learning - Understanding and mastering
▪Creativity- Making and sharing things
▪Role Playing- Wearing a mask and acting a part.
▪Socializing- Interacting with other people

FUNDAMENTAL PART OF VIDEO GAME
PLAYERS USER
INTERFACE
CODE
MECHANICS
Input Actions
Output Challenges
( INTRACTION LOOP OF PLAY )
▪PLAYER-Play the game
Senses outputs ,thinks and acts , generate inputs
▪User Interface –Presents the game to the player
Converts challenge into outputs and converts input into actions
▪Core Mechanics –Implement the rules and game AI
Generate the challenges and compute the effects of action

WHAT IS GAME DESIGN ?
▪Imagine the game
Ideas, story ,fun,
▪Defining ,how it works
Core Mechanics(game play , victory condition, internal process
Use Interface(Inputs and Outputs)
▪Describe the Elements that make it up.
Conceptual, functional, visual, auditory etc
▪Transmitting the information to others.
Either is big team or small team
▪Design is craft ,not an pure art or pure science
▪Design has pleasant aesthetic and functional elements

To Full Fill Dream ,Understand the Role
▪Large Video games exists to full fill the dream.
Dream of power ,achievement , creativity , beauty, approval…
▪Ask first ,Does the player dream of doing?
Understand the action at the heart of role
Which are fun (include them), which are not fun(Omit them) ?
Only then think about the character, story ,setting, art style etc
▪Games can offer more then one role, example Sports game
ex Athlete ,coach, general manager, striker, goelie
▪If you cant describe the player role clearly
The Player might not understand
The Marketing department definitely won’t understand.

Content and
pedagogy
Teaching Learning
Character ,Setting
and Narrative
Storytelling Story
Mechanics Dynamics Affect
User Interface Interactivity Engagement
Learning
Storytelling
Gameplay
User Experience
DESIGN PLAY EXPERIENCE
TECHNOLOGY
DESIGNER
PLAYERS
EXPERIENCE

Game play
There have been many effort to define it
My Definition : game play= challenges + actions
Challenges is the goal of the game
This include immediate goals and the overall goal or victory condition
Must have one or more action that overcome them
Actions : the verbs of the game , the player options
(what the player is going to do)
Actions are assigned to input devices and menus
Some action are unrelated to challenges
Creative play action, customization ,chatting ,saving the game etc

Hierarchy of challenges Win The
GAME
Complete
level1
Complete
level2
1.Win Big
Fight Mission
3.Defeat Level
Boss Mission
2.Distroy
Object Mission
Bargain
Successfully
Solve
Puzzle
Defeat
Level
Boss
Solve
Puzzle
Win
Fight
Destroy
object
Win Big
Fight
Find
Item
Win
Fight
1.Win Big
Fight Mission
3.Defeat Level
Boss Mission
2.Distroy
Object Mission
Bargain
Successfully
Solve
Puzzle
Defeat
Level
Boss
Solve
Puzzle
Win
Fight
Destroy
object
Win Big
Fight
Find
Item
Win
Fight
Lowest level of challenges are called ATOMIC CHALLENGES
Cannot break into smaller challenges
Each new have one or more action that overcome it

Game play Modes
Most game offer only subset of their game play at any one time .
Each subset is game play mode
Most video games have 4-5 modes ; some have dozens
A game play mode is characterized by :
A camera model (explained later)
An interaction model (explained later)
Game play that is available in that mode
Whenever any of these changes significantly ,it’s probably a new
mode
But the definition is not rigorous
Does the player sense that something has changed?

PLAYERS
INTRACTION
MODEL CODE
MECHANICS
Input
Actions
Output Challenges
CAMERA
MODEL
GAME PLAYUSER INTERFACE

INTRACTION MODEL
▪How the player interacts with game world.
▪Two traditional model are
Avatar based
▪A character or object that represent the player
▪Player affects the game world through Avatar
▪Shooter platform and driving games
Omnipresent
▪Player can act many places in the world

CAMERA MODEL (Perspective)
▪Most all game stimulate in physical space
▪Virtual camera looks at that space
oFirst person used with avatar based interaction model
✓First person shooters e.g. Half life
oThird person –i.e. over the shoulder , avatar based
✓Tom Raider ,modern era Mario
oSide scrolling ,top scrolling , fixed –varies
✓Super Nintendo Mario ,Pac-Man
oAerial (isometric , top down etc)-omnipresent
✓Sim City , Starcraft , FIFA- Soccer
oContext Sensitive –varies
✓Resider, Silent Hill

Perspective
Isometric
Interaction
Model:
Omnipresent
Game Play
Strategic

Perspective
First person
Interaction
Model:
Avatar based
Game Play
Tactical

Game Structure
▪ The Relationship among game play mode
▪ Some mode are entered by player action
E.g. Going to strategy menu in sports game
▪ Some mode are entered automatically
E.g. Going into penalty kick mode in soccer game
▪Create a flow board to design the structure.

Core Mechanics
▪The Core mechanics are rules of algorithm form
▪They implement internal economy of the game
Internal economy govern the behavior of numeric quantities( money
,points , health etc.)
▪Most game have internal economy
Exception : adventure game ,puzzle game
•They don’t use number much
▪Economy of first person shooter
✓Resource :ammunition , hit points ,Enemies
✓Source: found clips, medical kits , spawn points
✓Drains: firing weapon , being hit by enemy ,death
▪You have the game adjusting them .

The Settlers III : 26 different Resources

BALANCE
▪Different meaning in different types of game
▪FAIR –In a player v/s player (multiplayer game) All player must have equal
chance of winning at the start
▪Appropriately challenging – a player v/s environment (single player ) game
must neither too hard or too easy
▪It is good design practice to offer multiple difficulty level
▪It is hard to create multiple levels of symbolic relationship and so on..
▪Puzzle based and adventure game are difficult to balance
▪Winnable : the game must end some time.
▪Symmetry : everyone start the same, plays the same
▪Simplest way to balance PvP game
▪Chess , monopoly , draughts
▪Asymmetry :Player starts and play by different rule
▪Hard to balance , more interesting to play
▪Most of game are asymmetric.

Positive Feedback
▪Positive feedback occurs when a resources add the same process that
produce the resources
▪In games it occurs if an achievement make the next achievement
easier.
▪MONOPOLY is classical
example
▪Positive feedback prevent
stalemate
▪It must not give too much
advantage to the player in
lead
EARNS
REWARDSACHEVEMENTS
POWERS

LEVEL DESIGN PRINCIPLE
• level design as the process of constructing the experience that will be offered directly to the player, using
components provided by the game designer.
• Note that the terms game designer and level designer are not interchangeable but refer to separate roles
that, on larger development teams, are almost always played by different members of the team.
• Level designers create the following essential parts of the player’s experience:
• The space in which the game takes place
• The initial conditions of the level
• The set of challenges the player will face within the level.
• The termination conditions of the level
• The interplay between the gameplay and the game’s story,
• The aesthetics and mood of the level

KEY DESIGN PRINCIPLES
(TWO TYPES OF DESIGN PRINCIPLES)
1. Universal level design principles –applies to any kind of game
2. Genre-specific level design principles-applies to focus on design issue
• Barbarossa: The [Pirate’s] Code is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules.

1. UNIVERSAL LEVEL DESIGN PRINCIPLES –APPLIES TO ANY
KIND OF GAME
• Make the early levels of a game tutorial levels
• Vary the pacing of the level
• When the player surmounts a challenge that consumes his resources, provide more resources.
• Avoid conceptual non sequiturs
• Clearly inform the player of his short-term goals
• Be clear about risks, rewards, and the consequences of decisions.
(When facing a challenge, the player should always have some idea of the benefits of success and the price of failure or,
if the player has to make a decision, the likely consequences associated with his options)
• Reward the player for skill, imagination, intelligence, and dedication.
• Reward in a large way, punish in a small way, or to use an old adage, you catch more flies with honey than
vinegar.
• The foreground takes precedence over the background.
• The purpose of an artificial opponent is to put up a good fight and then lose.
• Implement multiple difficulty settings if possible.

2. GENRE-SPECIFIC LEVEL DESIGN PRINCIPLES-APPLIES TO
FOCUS ON DESIGN ISSUE
• ACTION GAMES- Vary the pace
• STRATEGY GAMES-Reward planning.
• ROLE-PLAYING GAMES-Offer opportunities for character growth and player self-expression
• SPORTS GAMES-
• Sports games, while not ordinarily broken into levels in the usual sense, consist of individual matches played in
different stadiums or courses with different teams or athletes, so you can think of each match played as a level.
Level designers design the stadiums and sometimes the teams and athletes.
• The simulation of match play must be completely convincing; try to model each team and each stadium as
closely as possible to the real thing—which includes not only appearances but the performance characteristics
of the athletes and the coaching strategies of the teams

• VEHICLE SIMULATIONS - All vehicle simulations offer steering a vehicle as the primary player activity
and steering well, often in adverse circumstances, as the primary challenge. Construct levels that test
the player’s skill at maneuvering his vehicle and reward him for his prowess. Other challenges, such as
shooting or exploring, should be secondary.
• CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT SIMULATIONS-
• Offer an interesting variety of initial conditions and goals.
• Most Construction and Management Simulations (CMS) start the player with an empty space and let her build
whatever she likes within the constraints of the game’s internal economy.
• In such games, you won’t need to do much level design.
• CMS can also offer the player an existing or partial construction and let her continue working from there, often
with a goal to achieve within a certain time limit. These are normally called scenarios rather than levels

• ADVENTURE GAMES-
• construct challenges that harmonize with their locations and the story
• adventure games offer much of their entertainment through exploration and puzzle-solving.
• ARTIFICIAL LIFE GAMES-
• Create many interaction opportunities for the creatures in their environment.
• Much of the enjoyment in playing an artificial life (A-life) game comes from watching the simulated creatures in the game
and giving them things to do within their environment.
• The game should also offer many opportunities for the player to interact with the creatures as well, but generally the
game designer, not the level designer, specifies these.
• PUZZLE GAMES
• Give the player time to think. Puzzle-solving is problem-solving, and it knows no timetable. Few players enjoy being forced
to solve puzzles under time pressure.

• Open Layouts-
• In an open layout, the player benefits from almost entirely unconstrained movement.
• An open layout corresponds to the outdoors, with an avatar in principle free to wander in any
direction at any time
• War games make extensive use of open layouts, Battlefield 1942 being a particularly successful example.
• Linear Layouts:-
• A linear layout requires the player to experience the game’s spaces in a fixed sequence with no side
corridors or branches. It does not mean that the spaces are actually arranged in a line.
Layouts- layout of the space significantly affects the
player’s perception of the experience.

• Linear layouts naturally work well with linear stories; if your game features such a story, you might
consider such a layout.
Traditional for side-scrolling action games and rail-shooters, the linear layout is otherwise uncommon nowadays.
Today’s designers tend to favor the parallel layout.

• Parallel Layouts
• A parallel layout—a modern variant of the linear layout—resembles a railroad switchyard with lots of
parallel tracks and the means for the player to switch from one track to another at intervals.
• The player passes through the level from one end to another but may take a variety of paths to get
there

RING LAYOUTS
Designers mainly use ring layouts for racing games, in which
players pass through the same space a number of times,
facing challenges from the environment and each other along
the way.
Network Layout
This arrangement poses little exploration challenge to the player but
makes an ideal fighting ground for deathmatch contests in games
such as Quake because there are no choke points. Enemies may enter
and exit in several directions, which prevents a player from guarding
one particular location indefinitely.

Hub-and-Spoke Layouts
In the hub-and-spoke layout, the player begins in a central hub that
ordinarily doesn’t present significant challenges or dangers. As such, it
serves as a place of comfort or safety, a base to which to return.
Combinations Layouts
corresponds to the story structure of many large RPGs, which tend to
offer one major story arc and a large number of subplots or quests.
Adventure games quite often use a combination structure too, letting
players do considerable exploration in one area before moving on to
another.

EXPANDING ON THE PRINCIPLES OF LEVEL DESIGN
• Atmosphere
• The art director and lead game designer decide on the overall look of a game; the artists build the models;
and the audio engineers create the sound effects. But it’s up to the level designer to assemble all this
material into a specific level in such a way that it’s aesthetically coherent and creates the appropriate mood.
• A level designer does what in movies would be four or five jobs—
• set designer,
• lighting designer,
• special effects designer,
• Foley editor,
• and even cinematographer
• because a level designer must look at the game world the way the player sees it, through the lens of the
game’s virtual camera.

Following tools are used to create atmosphere of game :
1.Lighting Ex; sunny day, a moonlit night, or a dark alley Ex :Trine game
2.Color palette (mood of the game) Ex: Combination of the original colors of the objects
you place in it (created by the artists under neutral lighting conditions)
3.Weather and atmospheric condition Ex: Fog, rainbow , snow etc
4. Special visual effect :Ex: blood splashes across a wall
5. Music Ex :The rhythm of the music helps to set the pace, and its timbre and key help
to set the mood. Generally, but not always, music remains consistent throughout the
level, part of its overall tone.
6.Ambient audio: feeling of power and danger; owls hooting and foxes crying tell us it’s
night time
7.Special Audio effect: Danger sound effect,

PROGRESSION AND PACING
The pacing of a level refers to the frequency at which the player encounters individual
challenges.
A fast pace creates stress, offering challenges at a rapid rate while giving the
player no opportunity to relax.
A slow pace offers challenges at a slow rate and permits the player to take his
time about addressing them.
DESIGNING THE PROGRESSION
DESIGNING THE PACING
OVERALL PACING

DESIGNING THE PROGRESSION
• Designer Mike Lopez has written a useful article on the subject in his “Gameplay Design Fundamentals” column for the
Gamasutra webzine (Lopez, 2006).
• He identifies five game features that should exhibit progression throughout the game; these serve us as a starting
point:
• Mechanics. Generally speaking, the core mechanics should become richer as the game goes along. In the early levels,
especially the tutorial levels, the internal economy of the game should be easy for the player to learn. Later, the
mechanics can become more intricate, as in games like the Civilization series.
• Experience duration
• Ancillary rewards and environmental progression
• Practical gameplay rewards
• Difficulty
• Actions available to the player
• Story progression.
• Character growth.

THE LEVEL DESIGN PROCESS
• Planning Phase:
• Armed with the list and sketch created in the first stage, start to plan the level in detail.
• Use pencil and paper to work out the sequence of events: both what you expect the player(s) to do
and how the game will respond.
• Begin to document your decisions in the following key areas:
• gameplay, art, performance, and code requirements

• Layout
• Areas devoted to major challenges
• Pacing
• Termination conditions
• Resource placements
• Player start and end points
• NPC positions and spawn points
• Elevations
• Secret areas.
• Special event issues.
• Landmarks.
• Destruction.
• Storytelling.
• Save points and checkpoints
• GAMEPLAY: As you plan the gameplay for your level, you will need to
consider all the following issues:

THE BEAT CHART
• The beat chart is a handy- dandy tool that can not only help you develop the content of your GDD, but also
provides a “ map ” of the structure of your game; this is extremely important when examining the gameplay
progression. Every beat chart requires the following elements:
• Level/environment name
• File name (level/environment designation)
• Time of day (in context of the game)
• Story elements for level
• Progression: gameplay focus of the level
• Estimated play time of level
• Color scheme of level/environment
• Enemies/bosses introduced and used
• Mechanics introduced and used
• Hazards introduced and used
• Power- ups found in level/environment
• New abilities, weapons, or gear
introduced/unlocked
• Treasure amount and type the player can
find
• Bonus material found in
level/environment
• Music track(s) to be used in this
level/environment.

Level: World 1 - 1 Level: World 1 - 2
Name: Grave Danger (Boneyard)
TOD: Night
Story: Maximo enters the graveyard, fighting
his way through undead creatures that bar his
way
Progression: Player taught basic movement,
combat and defensive
moves. Player learns how to collect
and map abilities
Est. play time: 15 min
Color map: Green (trees), brown
(trees/rock), purples (tombstones)
Enemies: Skeleton (basic), sword, skeleton
(red), skeleton (axe), ghost, zombie (basic),
wooden, coffin, chest mimic
Mechanics: Holy ground, breakable
tombstone, breakable, torch, breakable crypt
lid, breakable, rocks, Achille key statue, key
lock, opening gate (door), opening gate,
(cave), prize wheel, treasure chest, locked
chest, hidden chest, end plinth
Hazards: Unholy ground, Achille
statue, fall - away ground, skull
tower, breakaway bridge, deep
water, lava pit
Name: Dead Heat (Boneyard)
TOD: Night
Story: Achille ’ s drill has cracked open the
earth, causing lava pits to open up
throughout the graveyard
Progression: Player masters hazardous jumps
and more intense combat
Est. play time: 15 min
Color map: Green (trees), brown
(trees/rock), purples (tombstones)
Enemies: Skeleton (basic), sword, skeleton
(red), skeleton (blue), skeleton (guardian),
skeleton (axe), ghost, zombie (basic), raven,
ghost
Mechanics: Holy ground, breakable
tombstone, breakable, torch, breakable crypt
lid, breakable, rocks, Achille key statue, key
lock, opening gate (door), opening gate,
(cave), prize wheel, treasure chest, locked
chest, hidden chest, end plinth
Hazards: Unholy ground, swinging gate, skull
tower, flamejet, lava pit

Level: World 1 - 1 Level: World 1 - 2
Hazards: Unholy ground, Achille
statue, fall - away ground, skull
tower, breakaway bridge, deep
water, lava pit
Power- ups: coin, koin bag,
diamond, death coin, spirit, life up,
Flame tongue, shield recharge,
sword recharge, half health, full
health, iron key, gold key, armor up
Abilities: Second strike, mighty, blow,
magic bolt, doom strike, foot, cheese
Economy: 200 coins, 2 death coins
Bonus materials: N/A
Music track: Graveyard 1
Hazards: Unholy ground,swinging gate,
skull tower, flamejet, lava pit
Power- ups: coin, coin bag, diamond,
death coin, spirit, life up, flame tongue,
shield recharge, sword recharge, half
health, full armor up health, gold key,
armor up
Abilities: Second strike, mighty, blow,
magic bolt, doom strike, throw shield
Economy: 200 coins, 1 death coin
Bonus materials: N/A
Music track: Graveyard 2

CHECK LIST OF LEVEL DESIGN OR LEVEL REVIEW
• Scale. Is the level the right size? Will it take too much or too little time to play through?
• Pacing. Does the flow of events feel right?
• Placement of objects and triggers. Are things where they need to be to make the level play smoothly and
produce the experience you want?
• Performance issues. Is the level too complicated for the machine’s processor to handle? The programmers
should be able to flag any potential problems.
• Other code issues. Does the level call for software that represents a problem for the programmers? For
example, a unique NPC that appears only in this level still needs its own AI; will this be an issue?
• Aesthetics. Is the level attractive and enjoyable to inhabit? Because the prototype uses temporary geometry and
textures, a certain amount of imagination will be called for here.

Balance Graph : Sprint Foot race
A
B
NO POSITIVE FEEDBACK

Unfair ie. Unbalanced Game
A
B
If A and B have equal skill ,B has unfair advantage
(CHANCE PLAYS TOO LARGE A ROLE)

Stalemate
A
B
If A and B have equal skill ,Then Too little Positive Feedback

Game is Balanced but too short
A
B
If A and B have equal skill ,Then Too much Positive Feedback

Wild Swing in the Lead
A
B
If A and B have equal skill ,Then effect of powerful negative Feedback

Ideal Game Progression
A
B
If A and B have equal skill ,Then lead changes hand but better player wins in end

CHALLENGES
▪Physical Coordination challenges
▪Speed and reaction time(Twitch games)
▪Accuracy and precision (Steering and shooting)
▪Timing and Rhythm (dance game)
▪Learning Special move (fighting game)
▪Logical Challenges (Puzzle game)
▪Should be based on underlying principle
▪Trial and error solution is a sign of bad design
▪Pattern recognition
▪Relationship among thing or pattern or behavior
▪Races and Time Pressure
▪Doing something before someone else does
▪Beating the clock

CHALLENGES
▪Factual Knowledge challenges
▪Found in trivia games
▪In all other game types, all factual knowledge should be available
inside the game
▪Memory challenges
▪Testing the player’s ability to remember something
▪Player can cheat by taking notes
▪List of time table for them to see the information.
▪Exploration Challenges
▪Locked doors and traps
▪Mazes and illogical or complicated, spaces
▪Teleporters

CHALLENGES
▪Conflict Challenges
▪Strategy ,tactic and logistic ( food, ammo)
▪In war games we usually abstract out logistics to reduce the burden
on the player
▪Survival and reduction of enemy forces
▪Defending vulnerable items or units
▪Stealth (can beat directly or indirectly)
▪Economic Challenges
▪Accumulating wealth and points
▪Efficient manufacturing
▪Achieving balance or stability in a system
▪Caring of living thing within a system

CHALLENGES
▪Lateral Thinking and Conceptual Reasoning
▪Understanding something new
▪Observation , interpretation , deduction
▪Match the related words : detecting games
▪Requires common senses or familiarity with subject

Things the Player Need to know
▪Where am I ?
▪What am I doing ?
▪What challenge am I facing ?
▪Did my choice of action succeed or fail ?
▪This is called feedback and is critically important
▪Not the same as positive feedback in mechanics
▪Do I have what I need to play successfully ?
▪Am in danger of losing the game ?
▪Am I making progress toward victory ?
▪User interface also provide emotional rewards

Indicators
▪Show the internal value the player need to know.
▪Graphics : display data on beside the main view
▪Audio : Pitch, volume, beat frequency
▪Indicator Type :
▪Binary : on /off , Present/ Absent , grayed out
▪Multi state
▪Traffic light shows 1 or 3 possibilities at a time
▪Numeric
▪Don’t display raw digits unless you have to.
▪Multi dimensional value
▪X, Y Position on map, color +Position ; color + size
▪Don’t display the data the player can already see by looking at
the game

HOW UI ELEMENT PROVIDE INFORMATION ?
Where am I ?
Main view if
game world
Maps or mini-
map or radar
screens
Environment
sound
What am I doing ?
View of avatar ,
Units or other
interaction
mechanism
Audio feed back
as buttons are
pressed
What challenges am I
facing ?
View of enemies ,
puzzles or other
obstacles.
Audible sound of
threats (if any )
Did my choice of
action succeed or fail
?
Animation or
indicators showing
the result of my
actions
Audio feedback
indication indicate
what happened
?(explosion)

How UI Element provide information ?
▪Do I have what I need to play successfully ?
▪Inventory
▪Indicators for :
▪Ammo, money, power-ups , spells, other resources, etc.
▪Am I in danger of losing the game ?
▪Indicators for life ,health , power , time left
▪Audio feedback : heartbeat ,warning signals
▪Am I making progress toward victory ?
▪Indicators for score, completion percentage ,Check points
▪Emotional rewards
▪Congratulation ,special animation ,special sound

UX MAPPING METHOD
• Designing and developing a product often involves a large team of people with different backgrounds
and experiences who must be on the same page about the project goals, the user needs and behaviors,
and even the component processes involved. This common understanding is often built with
visualizations (commonly referred to as mappings).
• Mappings make sense of and describe various aspects and processes associated with a product.

JAKOB NIELSEN’S
10 USABILITY
HEURISTICS
APPLIED TO VIDEO
GAMES
• 1.Visibility of system status
• 2.Match between system and the real world
• 3.User control and freedom
• 4.Consistency and standards
• 5.Error prevention
• 6.Recognition rather than recall
• 7.Flexibility and efficiency of use
• 8.Aesthetic and minimalist design
• 9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
• 10.Help and documentation

FOUR TYPES OF MAPPING
• Empathy mapping
• Customer journey
mapping
• Experience mapping
• Service blueprinting

EMPATHY MAPPING
Definition: An empathy map is a tool used to articulate
what we know about a particular type of user. It
externalizes user knowledge in order to
1) create a shared understanding, and
2) aid in decision making.
Characteristics:
The map is split into 4 quadrants:
Says, Thinks, Feels, Does.
It shows user’s perspective regarding the tasks related to
the product.
It is not chronological or sequential.
There is one empathy map for each persona or user type
(1:1 mapping).

• Why use it:
• To build empathy for your users
• To force alignment and understanding about a user type
• When to use it:
• Beginning of any design process
• When categorizing research notes from a user interview
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey maps focus on a specific customer’s
interaction with a product or service.
A customer journey map is a visualization of the process
that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal
tied to a specific business or product. It’s used for
understanding and addressing customer needs and pain
points
In its most basic form, journey mapping starts by compiling
a series of user goals and actions into a timeline skeleton.
Next, the skeleton is fleshed out with user thoughts and
emotions in order to create a narrative. Finally, that
narrative is condensed into a visualization used to
communicate insights that will inform design processes.
Characteristics:
• The map is tied to a specific product or service.
• It is split into 4 swim lanes: phases, actions, thoughts,
mindsets/emotions.
• It reflects the user’s perspective:
• Including her mindset, thoughts, and emotions
• Leaving out most process details
• It is chronological.
• There is one map per persona/user type (1:1 mapping).
• Why use it:
• To pinpoint specific customer journey touchpoints that
cause pain or delight
• To break down silos to create one shared, organization-
wide understanding of the customer journey
• To assign ownership of key touchpoints in the journey to
internal departments

When to use it:
At any point in the design process, as a
reference point amongst a team throughout
a product design cycle

EXPERIENCE MAPPING
• Experience maps generalize the concept of
customer-journey maps across user types and
products.
• Definition: An experience map is a visualization of
an entire end-to-end experience that a “generic”
person goes through in order to accomplish a goal.
This experience is agnostic of a specific business or
product.
• It’s used for understanding a general human
behavior (as opposed to a customer journey map,
which is more specific and focused on related to a
specific business).

• Characteristics:
• It is not tied to a specific product or service.
• It is split into 4 swim lanes: phases, actions,
thoughts, mindsets/emotions.
• It offers a general human perspective; it is
not a specific to a particular user type or
product/service.
• It depicts events in chronological order.
Why use it:
To understand a general human behavior
To create a baseline understanding of an experience that is
product/service agnostic
When to use it:
Before a customer journey map in order to gain understanding
for a general human behavior
When converging multiple experiences (tool and specific user
agnostic) into one visualization

SERVICE
BLUEPRINTING
• Service blueprints are counterparts to
customer journey maps, focused on
the employees
• Definition: A service
blueprint visualizes the relationships
between different service components
— people, props (physical or digital
evidence), and processes — that are
directly tied to touchpoints in a
specific customer journey.
• Blueprinting is an ideal approach to
experiences that are omnichannel,
involve multiple touchpoints, or
require a cross functional effort (that
is, coordination of multiple
departments).
Customer
ActionEvidenceFrontstageBackstage
Support
Process

• Why use it:
• To discover weaknesses in the
organization
• To identify opportunities for
optimization
• To bridge cross department efforts
• To break down silos and create one
shared, organization-wide understanding
of how the service is provided
When to use it:
• After customer journey mapping
• Before making organizational or
process changes
• When pinpointing a funnel or
breakpoint internally

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on,
through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
1.VISIBILITY OF SYSTEM STATUS:

2.MATCH BETWEEN SYSTEM AND THE REAL WORLD:
The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-
oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
Player Unknown’s Battleground (PUBG) is a battle-royale
game, or, in laymen’s terms, a large-scale player–versus–
player shooter game that ends when one winner (team or
individual) is the last one left “alive.” PUBG contains
dozens of weapons that players can pick up and use
throughout the game. These weapons, ranging in type
from pistols and melee weapons to submachine guns and
sniper rifles, align with real-world counterparts. For
instance, the Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon in PUBG mimics a
real-life weapon by the same name, frequently used for
clay-pigeon shooting. For users with prior experience with
similar games or knowledge of real-life weapons, this use
of real-world names helps them select weapons fast
because they don’t need to spend time familiarizing
themselves with unique weapon terminology.

Minimize Cognitive Load to Maximize Usability
(The total cognitive load, or amount of mental processing power needed to use your site,
affects how easily users find content and complete tasks.)
In the field of user experience, we use the following definition: the cognitive load imposed by a user interface is the
amount of mental resources that is required to operate the system. Informally, you can think of mental resources as "brain
power" — more formally, we're talking about slots in working memory.
Most computer users have learned that running too many programs at the same time can slow down or even crash the
machine. We work around these limitations by closing programs when we aren't using them.
Just like computers, human brains have a limited amount of processing power .
When the amount of information coming in exceeds our ability to handle it, our performance suffers. We may take longer
to understand information, miss important details, or even get overwhelmed and abandon the task.
Intrinsic Cognitive Load Extraneous Cognitive Load
It is the effort of absorbing that new information and
of keeping track of their own goals.
It is processing that takes up mental resources, but
doesn't actually help users understand the content
(for example, different font styles that don’t convey
any unique meaning).

Comparatively, Apex Legends, another battle-royale game, uses unique weapon terminology. For instance, a semi-
automatic sniper rifle was given the name “G7 Scout,” which does not exist in the real world (though the appearance
may bare a slight resemblance to an actual physical weapon)

3.USER CONTROL AND FREEDOM
• Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency
exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue.
Support undo and redo.
• Preventing User Errors: Avoiding Unconscious Slips
• One of the 10 Usability Heuristics advises that it’s important to communicate errors to
users gracefully, actionably, and clearly. However, it’s even better to prevent users from
making errors in the first place
• Two Types of User Errors
• Slips : Slips occur when users intend to perform one action, but end up doing another
(often similar) action. For example, typing an “i” instead of an “o” counts as a slip.
• Mistakes :are made when users have goals that are inappropriate for the current problem
or task; even if they take the right steps to complete their goals, the steps will result in an
error. For example, if I misunderstood the meaning of the oil-pressure warning light in my
car, and thought it was the tire-pressure monitor, no matter how carefully I added air to my
tires, it would not fix the issue with my oil pressure.

4.CONSISTENCY AND STANDARDS
• Users should not have to wonder
whether different words, situations,
or actions mean the same thing.
Follow platform conventions.
• No matter the console, users
typically have expectations of what
buttons do based on their prior
experience playing other games.
Years and years of game design have
resulted in design standards, just like
we see on websites and in apps.
• Xbox gamers commonly assume that
clicking the “A” button causes your
player to jump because a myriad of
games like Apex
Legends, PlayerUnknown’s
Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite, Star
Wars Battlefront, and Lego Jurassic
World follow this standard

5.ERROR PREVENTION
• Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first
place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option
before they commit to the action.

6.RECOGNITION RATHER THAN RECALL
• Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not
have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the
system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
Contextual game controls are displayed
directly on the screen in Red Dead
Redemption 2 so that users don’t have to
recall controls from memory.

7.FLEXIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF USE
• Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that
the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
• The power law of learning says that the time it takes to perform a task decreases with the number of
repetitions of that task.

8.AESTHETIC AND MINIMALIST DESIGN
• Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of
information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their
relative visibility.
• Video games, like interfaces, can house many different activities and presenting information about
all of them can easily become overwhelming.

9. HELP USERS RECOGNIZE, DIAGNOSE, AND RECOVER FROM
ERRORS
• Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and
constructively suggest a solution.
Subway Surfers, an endless-runner mobile game, does a nice
job crafting error messages. After users lose mid-game, they’re
prompted with a dialog that reads, Save me! (Which would not
be a good dialog prompt in a productivity app, but is
acceptable in the playful context of a game.) To continue the
game from the point at which they lost, users can either watch
an advertisement or use game Keys (a type of game currency)

10.HELP AND DOCUMENTATION
• Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide
help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list
concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
In games with complex interactions or with
a high volume of interactions, it’s not rare
for a user to forget how to do something.
Cases such as these require accessible
documentation, so that players can figure
out what they’re trying to do and get back
to playing the game

C O N S T R U C T I N G T H E FA N TA S Y WO R L D S

Game Setting
▪The setting is fictional component of magic circle,
pretended world
▪It contribute the immersion and fantasy.
▪If the game play is absorbing enough , a setting is not needed
▪Chess and deal match FPS player ignore it
▪Video game setting have many dimension like physical,
temporal, environmental , esthetical , realism ,abstract v/s
representational game

THE PHYSICAL DIMENTION
TEMPORAL DIMENTION
ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENTION
EMOTIONAL DIMENTION
ETHICAL DIMENTION
REALISM
ABSTRACT GAME
REPRESENTATIONAL GAME

PHYSICAL DIMENTION
▪Dimensionality
▪2D, 2.5 D (layer 2D) ,3 D
▪Scale
▪How big is the world ?
▪How big are the things relative to each other ?
▪Boundaries
▪What happened at the edge of the world ?
▪Law of Physics
▪Literal, adjusted for game play or totally Bogus ?
▪Literal seldom works except in vehicle Sims because in other
games the controller mechanism are poor analogies for real
world

TEMPORAL DIMENTION
▪Is the time meaningful to the game ?
▪What happens if the player put down the controller ?
▪Time can merely cosmetics
▪Sun goes up and down , but the play does not change
▪Variable time
▪In the Sims , time speed up while people sleep
▪Analogous Time
▪Time goes faster for something than others.
▪Player adjustable time
▪Speed up and slow down : often seen in fight simulators
▪Reverse time : prince of Persia :sans of time

ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENTION
▪Natural surrounding
▪Landscape , flora , fauna ,weather
▪Man made surrounding
▪Building , vehicles ,clothing ,weapons ,furniture ,art etc
▪These are influenced by the culture of the world
▪Beliefs ,values ,social ,governmental and economic system , family
structure ,key ceremonies and rituals ,history
▪Level of Details
▪What the player can see and interact with ?
▪Visual and Auditory Style ( Music , Sound )
▪These attribute strongly maintain to tone and mood

Underlying Style v/s Style of Depiction
▪Depiction is stylistic filter through which view underlying style.
Clip art depiction of classical Taj MahaUnderlying style – Taj Mahal

EMOTIONAL DIMENTION
▪What is emotional tone of the world ?
▪What do you want to make player feel ?
▪Most game are not emotional subtle.
▪Emotion related “yahoo” or “damn”
▪Consider other also:
▪Jealousy ,grief ,anger ,greed ,ambition
▪MMORPGs are good at this because they are social.
▪How will you inspire these emotions ?
▪These questions skill test you as dramatist.

ETHICAL DIMENTION
▪With passive entertainment (books , film, TV )
▪Viewers can use their own moral judgment.
▪With interactive entertainment (games)
▪We give the player a moral compass.
▪Action that lead to victory are defined as good
▪Player must conform their morality to win
▪They can’t win at Call of Duty by being a pacifist.
▪You must make the game’s ethical system clear.
▪A game gets into political trouble when:
▪It looks like a real world but its ethics do not.
▪Its OK to kill aliens and robot realistically.
▪Its also OK to kill people unrealistic.

Abstract v/s Representational
▪Realism is the misnomer
▪No game is truly realistic
▪All have compromise and simplification.
▪Abstract Game (e.g. Packman)
▪Take place in unfamiliar world.
▪ Can have a arbitrary rule
▪Representational game (e.g. flight Sims )
▪Present the world the player is familiar with.
▪Except player to use some common senses
▪Must avoid conceptual non-sequiturs
▪No of medical kits hidden in oil tank.

102
PIPELINE (CARNY METHOD)
MACRO DESIGN
MICRO DESIGN
NO
YES
NO
YES
Idea-Pitching
It
works
?? Vertical Slice
Idea cancel
Appro
ved
Pre-Production
Production-Alpha
Stage
Production-Beta
Stage
Production-
Gamma Stage

103
VERTICAL SLICE OF GAME
• Vertical Slice of Game – is that where we know
actual product how it look, game play working or not
?,it is sellable in market or not? By this product we
can publish in demo form in local market or or some
small regional area.

104
DEVELOPMENT STAGES
• Develop original concept
• Shop to publishers
• Create schedule (12-24 months)
• Deliver work as milestones (work products or completed
activity)
• React to customer evaluation

105
GAME DEVELOPMENT IS UNIQUE
• Must be willing to rip out features that don’t work
• Designers may create things customer never heard of
before
• May require more research and experimentation than
other software development
• Often more ideas than time to implement

106
DEVELOPMENT TEAM SIZE
• In the 1980’s might be single developer
• Most teams today have 10-60 people
• Programming in now a smaller part of the complete
project than before (need good software engineering
and media design work)

107
EXAMPLE 1988
• 3 programmers
• 1 part-time artist
• 1 tester

108
EXAMPLE 1995
• 6 programmers
• 1 artist
• 2 level designers
• 1 sound designer
• Contract musicians

109
EXAMPLE 2002
• 2 producers
• 4 programmers
• 2 game designers
• 1 2D and texture artist
• 3 level designers
• 1 audio designer
• 4 animators
• QA lead and testers

110
DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES: DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
• Here are some example development periods for
different platforms:
• 4-6 months for a high-end mobile game
• 18-24 months for an original console game
• 10-14 months for a license / port
• 16-36 months for an original PC Game

111
CONCEPT PHASE
• Where concepts come from
• Sequels
• Film licenses
• Technology re-use
• Occasionally, original concepts get greenlit
• Producing the conceptual design
• Green light

112
CHECK LIST VERTICAL SLICE OF GAME
➢What is the game we are making and who is it for? Describe all major
features.
➢What is the budget and deadline?
➢What art style and technology will we use?
➢How much art do we need? Do we make it in house, buy it or do we need
to hire a artist/art team?
➢Who are the leads for Design, Programming, Production and Art?
➢What tech will drive this game? Do we have an engine already?
➢Can we use third party modules or server, etc, or do we have to make our
own?

113
PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE
• GDD
• Team selection
• Internal staffing plan
• Existing employees (same roles)
• Promotions, transfers (new roles)
• Hire new employees

114
EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT
• Selecting an external developer
• Previously used developers
• Referrals (producers, developers)
• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• Bid package
• Treatment or GDD to date
• Publisher’s expectations for product
• Bid format and due date

115
THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT
• Developer’s obligations
• Publisher’s obligations
• IP ownership
• Warranties
• Termination
• Milestones

116
MILESTONES
• Highly detailed, specific
• Quantifiable, measurable
• Due dates
• Payment amounts (upon acceptance)
• Can use terms like “alpha” , “beta” and “gamma”
unless clearly defined
• Milestone approval cycles

117
THE TECHNICAL DESIGN DOCUMENT
• Game Design Document is a statement of the problem
• Technical Design Document is a statement of the solution
• Foundation for the programming work
• Identify technical challenges
• Plan for technical solutions
• Set forth asset format guidelines

118
SCHEDULING
• Generate task lists from GDD & TDD
• Plan everything
• Programming
• Assets
• Demos
• Approvals
• Green lights
• Vacations, holidays
• QA
• Work backwards from completion

119
ADJUSTING THE SCHEDULE
• Add people to reduce development time?
• Deliver assets on time
• Don’t make programmers wait for assets
• Prioritize feature set
• Lower priority features to be done later if possible
• Look for bottlenecks
• (feature-technology interdependencies)

120
BUDGETING
• Personnel costs
• Salary X time X involvement %
• Developer/Contractor payments
• Equipment & software
• Supplies
• Travel & meals
• Shipments

121
PROFIT & LOSS ANALYSIS (P&L)
• Costs
• Production budget
• Cost of goods (COGs)
• Marketing
• Licensor royalties
• Developer royalties
• Revenues
• Projected Sales
• Wholesale price
• Ancillary sales (OEM, strategy guides)

122
KICKOFF GREEN LIGHT
• Producer’s plan for the project
• GDD
• TDD
• Schedule
• Budget
• Green light
• Executives
• IP owner (licensor)
• Platform holder

123
PRODUCTION PHASE
• Programming now underway
• Kicking off tasks – art creation
• Art lists
• Art asset file naming conventions
• Art asset tracking
• Art asset approval cycles
• Art asset delivery formats

124
RED FLAG SPOTTING
• The usual causes of red flags:
• Team conflicts
• Personnel issues
• Design problems
• Money troubles
• Technical glitches
• Change requests
• Schedule delays
• Take immediate action

125
KICKING OFF TASKS - AUDIO
• Sound list
• Music specification
• Story text
• Voice-over script
• Creation of sounds
• Creation or licensing of music
• Recording of voice-overs

126
FIRST PLAYABLE – PROOF OF CONCEPT
• Keeping everyone on board
• Licensor(s)
• Platform holder(s)
• Executives
• The Team
• The Cerny method
• Keeping the momentum going

127
WORKING WITH MARKETING TEAM
• Working title → final title
• Screen shots
• E3 demo
• Magazine demo
• Platform holder promo

128
POST-PRODUCTION
• Personnel transfers
• Localizations
• ESRB rating
• Box & docs
• Strategy guide

129
QUALITY ASSURANCE
• Test plan
• The QA database
• QA – the view from inside
• The QA-producer relationship
• Post mortem

P O RT FO L I O
• http://www.dankennygamedesign.com/legends-of-
dorin.html
• http://www.designersnotebook.com/

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