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Showing posts from September, 2007

Game Design Questions

Some questions every game designer should ask during the game development process: Are the game's interfaces and user controls consistent throughout the game? If they're not, is there a good reason why they shouldn't be consistent? Do the inconsistencies make logical sense? Do the controls adhere to known conventions for the game's genre? If not, in what ways is the game's control scheme superior to that of its predecessors? Are there objects in the game that behave contrary to reasonable player expectations? Are there objects that look like they should do something they don't do? Are there objects that do things that are not suggested by their form? Does the player feel lost ("where am I" / "what am I supposed to do next") when I don't intend him to feel that way? If I do intend it, do I have a very good reason for it? Does my approach convey the desired emotions, or is it merely frustrating? Does the game provide sufficient cues for t

Design Flaw: In Your Face

The Game : In Your Face The background: In Your Face is a street basketball game for the original Nintendo Game Boy . At the beginning of every game, a coin-flip animation is shown to represent the practice of flipping a coin to determine which side gets control of the ball. The problem: The coin-flip animation is purely cosmetic, for the human player always gets initial control of the ball. The virtual coin's behavior does not agree with the player's expectation that a coin flip should produce random outcomes, thus the game's implicit promise to the player is broken. The solution: Allow the coin flip to determine who gets control of the ball, or else get rid of the coin flip animation.