It's hard to be a game designer.

This article is likely to be critical, but I will try to touch on the good. I will use examples of famous startups. I am writing not to criticize someone, but to improve the quality of games and raise the fan for beginners.

It seems to me that lately it is very difficult to find a good game, including for smartphones. This, in principle, is due to two things.

The first trouble - monetization

I will share my impression after “Cut the rope 2”. I liked the first part very much. I played for a long time and waited for updates. But the second part I was very disappointed: you can pass only a certain number of levels in a certain time; earning points (stars) was divided into three stages in each of the rooms; fees of some berries that cannot always be collected in the right quantity without additional purchases; Yes, and a bunch of all sorts of items in the store make it easier for him to pass on so much that it is not necessary to think.
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Of course, you can understand Zeptolab, they must feed the employees, but do not forget about the users of the product. Here, as with sausage: if you don’t like it, they won’t take it. Using the example of a triangle, I tried to express my idea of ​​the good ingredients of gamedev:



The basis in the first place should be the gameplay. It is from his starting work on art (the transfer of the atmosphere, the mechanics and character of any characters) and the script. Scenario and monetization gave less space. Now I will explain why, using the example of Angry Birds. The plot in this game is secondary, since we do not pay special attention to it and the only thing we remember is that pigs stole eggs from birds. It makes no sense to buy additional things in the store, since, in principle, if we did not complete the level, we enjoyed having destroyed a large number of objects in the location and next time we will try even more.

Another good example is Fruit Ninja. New mechanics at the time and good art. Monetization, in principle, is not needed, and the plot is simple.

There is a tendency to squeeze out as much money as possible from the user. And that's what happens in principle:



Modern approach: “We need money. Let's make a game. What do we have? The engine from the last farm, the artists will redraw the art, and let it all be in Africa. For sure! Samalian farm. What is the most offensive is that it is difficult for a young game designer to find a job right now. The employer wants the new employee to have a huge baggage of released projects and, as I see it, they don’t really care that these are solid clones.

As a result, we get it is not clear that, and for this we are asked for more money. In large companies there are departments that are engaged in testing, conduct surveys and statistics among users and find the best option for the balance of the game. Small developers, in turn, want to cut the ball, while putting as little effort as possible. As a result, we have small financial fees, a large user leakage (because I don’t want to play for such a long time, so to download, to see it is suddenly good) and the user’s impression of the company as a whole is not very good.

The second trouble - the so-called vinaigrette

To shove everything that was seen and not seen in one bottle and how to shake. In this case, all the attention goes to some trifles: realistic fire, toolbar, pebbles, like in my yard, etc. But everyone forgets about the picture as a whole.

I met this disaster personally. It was possible to communicate with the person who wrote the script for his next game. I thought about working on a voluntary basis as a modeler with these people, to get a hand in hand and in the event of any success continue cooperation. Having talked with the leader of their team (he is a game designer, screenwriter and someone else in combination), he became interested and asked for at least some kind of script. I was sent a Vord document with six chapters. Text somewhere pages 15-17.

Reading it, I immediately plunged into hectic brain activity. The script turned out to be pretty good, although it needed some changes and improvements. In just 15 minutes, I squeezed out of it for about an hour and a half saturated gameplay. He immediately called back in skype, began to give tons of ideas and how I see it. In response, I heard that this is absolutely not what he wants, not the way he sees it. As a result, it turned out that these six chapters will be just a background, a five-minute slideshow at the beginning of the game. In the meantime, they came up with the first level, on which there will be a forest, a lake, on this lake there is a house on the island and all that needs to be done there is to find a boat. It seems to pour gasoline and sail to the island for something. “Well, in general, we want monsters there when you shoot at them - they tear off their hands realistically, heads there, there will be a lot of cut scenes, complete trash, etc.” - that’s what this person wanted, and I suggest that he do it's not the way he sees it.



Naturally, in the future we no longer communicated with him.

Conclusion

If you make games for yourself - you can not particularly bother. Well, otherwise you have to please the picky gamer. Hold him, talk about your product and come back to him again and again. Let your creations become a cult, a fetish, so that the hands of gamers stretch lustfully and feel " your product ."