Game design: on the other side of the game
What is the work of one of the most significant game development specialists - game designer? The answer to this question is in the lectures of the “ Game Design: Beyond the Game ” course from Wargaming, the creator of the legendary military MMO-action game World of Tanks.
Course instructor, Wargaming executive producer Alexey Kalinin says that there are three types of game designers, without which it is impossible to create quality games: a mathematician, a mechanic and a screenwriter.
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Let's start in order. Why do you need math when creating games and who are they? Roughly speaking, a mathematician is one who can calculate everything as precisely as possible: from the value of an idea to the result of introducing each character into the game. Alexey tells a curious story: “Once I worked in the GD-Team. We all came to the office in the morning at the usual time. But a certain Vasily worked with us, who appeared by an hour or two. When we left at 8 or 10 in the evening, he was still in the workplace. Vasya looked monstrous and talked like an alien. Once I asked a project manager: “You love order and accuracy. Why do you allow him all this? ”-“ Everything is very simple, ”he answered. “This guy is a mathematician from God.” He is the only one who can calculate any new skill and say what effect any innovation will have in the game. He perfectly knows the game and its mathematical basis. Dismiss his death like! Without it, we will not be able to introduce either new types of battles, or new heroes, or weapons — nothing. ”
Do not like math? Perhaps your forte is imagination? When creating games, one cannot do without a mechanic - a person who is developing ways to implement the conceived scenario. Now that games have been around for decades, it is extremely difficult to invent a new mechanic, which makes game designers of this type more and more in demand. An outstanding example here is Sid Meier. Back in the 90s, he worked on several brilliant projects, strikingly different from each other - such as "Corsairs", "Civilization" and "Getsberg", widely known among wargamers.
All this is a different game. They differ in both the setting and the genre, but they are united by one thing - elegant, interesting gaming solutions, subsequently cloned by hundreds of game designers for many other games.
Do you think you are capable of more? Then try yourself as a screenwriter. Agree, no game can do without an exciting script. And if now it is not so easy to invent a new mechanic, then you can imagine what torments of creativity await the one who took up the creation of a whole new world! To be honest, the screenwriter is no longer a game designer. Increasingly, professional writers are invited to major projects who are responsible for plots and dialogues. Why is this so important? Let's remember the latest series of BioWar games - Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Players pass them more than once. They return to the game world again and again, trying out different ways of living history: playing for other characters, making new key decisions in plot forks - they are interested in all possible consequences of various actions. And each of these truly living worlds, in which you want to find yourself and find out: “what would have happened if ...?”, Was created by one person. It is possible that, quantitatively, the participation of the scriptwriter in the project is incomparable with the work performed by 50 programmers or 30 art artists who are painting the world invented by him. But the success of the game largely depends on the plot and the dialogues that this person thinks about.
So who are you: a mechanic, screenwriter or mathematician? Whatever you answer, our new course “ Game Design: Beyond the Game ” will help you decide where to start working on your own game and how to make it a successful project. The course is already underway!
Course instructor, Wargaming executive producer Alexey Kalinin says that there are three types of game designers, without which it is impossible to create quality games: a mathematician, a mechanic and a screenwriter.
')
Let's start in order. Why do you need math when creating games and who are they? Roughly speaking, a mathematician is one who can calculate everything as precisely as possible: from the value of an idea to the result of introducing each character into the game. Alexey tells a curious story: “Once I worked in the GD-Team. We all came to the office in the morning at the usual time. But a certain Vasily worked with us, who appeared by an hour or two. When we left at 8 or 10 in the evening, he was still in the workplace. Vasya looked monstrous and talked like an alien. Once I asked a project manager: “You love order and accuracy. Why do you allow him all this? ”-“ Everything is very simple, ”he answered. “This guy is a mathematician from God.” He is the only one who can calculate any new skill and say what effect any innovation will have in the game. He perfectly knows the game and its mathematical basis. Dismiss his death like! Without it, we will not be able to introduce either new types of battles, or new heroes, or weapons — nothing. ”
Do not like math? Perhaps your forte is imagination? When creating games, one cannot do without a mechanic - a person who is developing ways to implement the conceived scenario. Now that games have been around for decades, it is extremely difficult to invent a new mechanic, which makes game designers of this type more and more in demand. An outstanding example here is Sid Meier. Back in the 90s, he worked on several brilliant projects, strikingly different from each other - such as "Corsairs", "Civilization" and "Getsberg", widely known among wargamers.
All this is a different game. They differ in both the setting and the genre, but they are united by one thing - elegant, interesting gaming solutions, subsequently cloned by hundreds of game designers for many other games.
Do you think you are capable of more? Then try yourself as a screenwriter. Agree, no game can do without an exciting script. And if now it is not so easy to invent a new mechanic, then you can imagine what torments of creativity await the one who took up the creation of a whole new world! To be honest, the screenwriter is no longer a game designer. Increasingly, professional writers are invited to major projects who are responsible for plots and dialogues. Why is this so important? Let's remember the latest series of BioWar games - Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Players pass them more than once. They return to the game world again and again, trying out different ways of living history: playing for other characters, making new key decisions in plot forks - they are interested in all possible consequences of various actions. And each of these truly living worlds, in which you want to find yourself and find out: “what would have happened if ...?”, Was created by one person. It is possible that, quantitatively, the participation of the scriptwriter in the project is incomparable with the work performed by 50 programmers or 30 art artists who are painting the world invented by him. But the success of the game largely depends on the plot and the dialogues that this person thinks about.
So who are you: a mechanic, screenwriter or mathematician? Whatever you answer, our new course “ Game Design: Beyond the Game ” will help you decide where to start working on your own game and how to make it a successful project. The course is already underway!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/276097/
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