Ingredients For A Great Game
|
There are millions of computer games out there on the market, how do you make your game best selling? What features have to be included? I have taken a look on previously best sellers trying to determine what makes a great game.
Set the player in focus
The player wants to be in focus in the game, he or she wants to feel that he can control the outcome of the game. It doesn't have to be easy, or it shouldn't. The harder the game is the better the player will feel when he has completed the game and won.
For example in Sid Meiers Civilization the player is set in focus and can affect the outcome of the game. She knows that it's up to her if she wins or loose. This concept is seen in virtually all best sellers, Doom, Civilization, The Sims, Sim City, Warcraft, Command&Conquer to name a few.
This can also be done in games that are heavily built on a story. For example in several adventure games by Lucas Arts the concept of that the player can control his or her destiny is used frequently. Developers should look out for basing the game too much on what the computer does or other factors.
Simplicity
Never underestimate simplicity; a gamer does not generally like to read hundreds of pages to be able to play a game. Sure advanced features could be included, but still the player should within ten minutes be able to understand what the game is about and how it is played. If the gamer doesn't the game will probably be turned into a dust collector in the basement.
Here the design of the menus and the interface comes in. Avoid having strange controls, like the firing button on F for example. If you were making a 3rd person shooter you would want to use the same set of controls as other games in the sector do.
The menus should be easy to understand, I have reviewed a lot of games were the menus are made out of symbols without any text. This is not recommended since the interpretation of a symbol is highly subjective; try to mix symbols with text.
Action
With action I don't necessarily mean violence. There should however be something happening in the game, and when it happens the player should really notice it. For example killing an enemy in a 3rd person shooter should generate blood, building a police station in Sim City should reduce crime, killing the last enemy in Warcraft should generate victory, ok I guess you got the picture. Perhaps this seems quite basic, and it is, but still some developers don't think in these terms.
Story
Never ever underestimate a game story. If you read any gaming magazine today you notice that there is an awful lot of focus on the graphics. The graphics are important but they mean nothing if the background story sucks. Of course this isn't true if a game is ground breaking. Doom didn't have a very well developed story but still it was ground breaking because people had never seen nothing like it before.
But generally the story is important, sometimes a player wants to feel part of something bigger.
To name a few examples we could start with virtually all role playing games. However don't do the mistake of writing the story too complicated. A simple story or shorter story should work fine as long as the story is good.
Graphics
Yes well I have to mention it. Graphics serve one purpose as I see it; they enhance the game play and all the other factors I have mentioned. They are important in the sense that they communicate the game to the player. They don't have to be stunning but they should serve a purpose.
A recent example of this is Command&Conquer Generals, the graphics are good, they serve a purpose and they enhance the gaming experience. However the game in question was not that long-lived for various other reasons.
There are several games with bad graphics that are still fun to play for example Warcraft 2 or Sid Meiers old classic, Pirates.
Things that people can relate to
A bestseller game has to include something that the player can relate to in some way. The Sims that is the world's best selling game right now have several factors that people can relate to in real life. However remember that different people relate to different things.
Say that a person just saw a science fiction movie and thinks "I really want to fly a space ship like in that movie", so the person in question starts a search for such a game. This is also one of the reasons the Warcraft series become very popular, the Orcs and other characters in the game people remember from reading Tolkien's book.
Developing a game about solving equations will probably not be a hit since far too few people relate to it. These are the main factors that create a good game, if these factors are followed you will probably have a pretty good game. There are of course other elements that make a difference; marketing is one of them that will be more important as the gaming scene grows.
Daniel Westerstal is the editor of:http://www.uziana.com/which features many reviews and other PC gaming related content.
|
|
|
The Game Tester
It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard. Wouldn't it be easier if you had a job in the videogames business? Th...(related: Games)
Sms Gaming - Text Paging Games That Can Be Played By Anyone
Using the Physical World as a Game Board: This is not a Kinky game! SMS stands for Short Message Service.Just like our last article, this can be fun for teens and adults. You just have to do it on a different scale.Pick a l...(related: Games)
The Future Of Submarine Games
In the last six months, the demise of sims has been pronounced in abundance. Print mags and sim webzines have been telling you sims are being cancelled left and right Jane's A-10: Cancelled. Wolfpack II: Cancelled. Silent Steel II: MIA. M1Tank Platoon 3: Cancelled. Fighting Steel Deluxe: Cancelled. Jane's Attack Squadron: MIA. Thunder Over Europe: MIA. The list goes on.We all know that this is a down cycle for sims and we believe there is hope that in a couple of years, things will turn around and sims will be hot stuff again. Hey, I remember in 1973 when the EPA and OPEC throttled the life out of the muscle ca...(related: Games)
A Parents Guide To Online Gaming, Part 2
In part 1 we talked about online gaming and your children, including FPS games and exposure to violent content. We wrap up this week by talking about RTS games, MMORPGs and the additional threats of addiction and social predators.RTS stands for Real Time Strategy. Strategy because these games generally take a much larger perspective, casting the player as a general or commander of an army or even the leader of a civilization rather than as a single person. Real Time because the action moves forward whether the player acts or not. The alternative to Real Time is turn-based strategy, where each player moves in turn, taking what...(related: Games)
Xbox 360 Vs. Ps3: An In Depth Look
All gamers are awaiting the release of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. This article takes an in depth look at how the two systems compare.Graphics:Everyone has seen an Xbox and a PS2 in action and we are all waiting to see which of the two next generation consoles for the two systems will hav...(related: Games)
Directional Afterburners For Tighter Turns, Vertical Flight And Agility
Directional Thrusters can increase the maneuverability of just about any modern j...(related: Games)
Playing Games Like Its 80s
Do you miss the good old 80's Amiga and Commodore games? You are not the only one. In fact, creating remakes for popular eighties games is all...(related: Games)
Malicious Advertising
Advertising is a necessary irritant in the world today. You can't...(related: Games)
The Story Behind Opensimcity
I've always liked to play SimCity since I was little. I used to play the version for Super Nintendo for hours then and then. That version was really cool. It had 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn) and many landscapes, scenarios to choose between. That was a really big hit at the time. It was clearly the most popular videogame.Then SimCity 2000 came out on the market. It was almost like a revolution. Many new things to use, better graphics, more innovative and the game engine was more advanced. So it was very good news (except from the fact that the seasons were gone).But the follower that came after SC2000, SimCity3000 was real...(related: Games)
Uav Swarm Reconfiguration For Computer War Games
The modern battlespace is changing in the real world and in the v...(related: Games)
Uav Swarm Reconfiguration For Computer War Games
The modern battlespace is changing in the real world and in the v...(related: Games)
Cloud Laser Art
A new art form in the future will be CLA. Cloud Laser Art. People can go to a place where there are laser units, sit out side in a small shielded area and draw on the clouds. It would be fu...(related: Games)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved.
| Games