[MUD-Dev] [GameDesign] "How to tell if a game design is good or bad" (fwd)

[J C Lawrence]

------- Forwarded Message
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 13:40:04 -0600
From: "Mark Terrano" <markte at xbox.com>
To: <GameDesign at MidnightRyder.Com>
Subject: [GameDesign] "How to tell if a game design is good or bad"

Here are a few concepts to open up your starter topic:

David Perry gave a talk one time which I think summarized what I
look for - he starts with a 'Hook' or key concept that will be a
central idea that is different, cool, or visually stunning.  For MDK
he described the Hook as "Being able to zoom into someone's eyeball
from a mile away".  Before talking to David I had always expressed
the hook in terms of a vision for the game, but afterward I changed
my proposals to actually have 'hook' in there and tried to pare that
down separately from the vision.

It doesn't always have to be a completely new approach to be a hook
- sometimes melding two great things - Age of Empires we wanted some
of the strategic depth of Civilization and the speed of Warcraft,
that was our hook which permeated every aspect of the design.  The
marketing reflection of the hook came out as "Multiple Paths to
Victory".

When they 'pitch' ideas in Hollywood, they often (always?) describe
a film in terms of two other films "The Matrix meets Die Hard" or
"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets The Three Musketeers" - this is
a very shorthand way to talk about setting, story, pace, art
direction - a lot of things - through the common language of shared
experience.  When I hear about a new design, I think of this 'pitch'
in my head - does it fit in like this, or are there new elements
that have not been done before - or are those new elements from
another media (Max Payne = Half Life meets The Matrix movie)

Bruce Shelley was describing a game one time that had a really
tedious aspect, and he said "Where's the fun in that?" - which is a
perfect way to say - when you are reading about the game features,
does the core element sound fun? Think about what the payoff is, and
how frequently it comes.

MMP Games would seemingly defy most of the other concepts above -
because the Gameplay itself isn't the entire draw.  Some of the
Gameplay comes from your opponents and companions, and the social
context where you 'play'.  Many people play Everquest (or my
favorite Asheron's Call) long after they've explored every avenue of
Gameplay - because they have a band of friends and shared experience
and language (and possibly even a responsibility to the group). =20

To boil those concepts down into my 'good or bad' snap judgment:

1. Can I immediately visualize the game from the description?
2. Does the Gameplay have a unique hook, twist, or combination?
3. Does it sound like something I would want to play?
4. Can I tell where the fun is?
5. Are there other artistic or social aspects that are fun?

<...deletia...>
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--
J C Lawrence                
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. 
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?		  
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.
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