Game Design Document

Game Design Document

For this week's project assignment, we had to create a Game Design Document for our proposed game idea using the site Dundoc.com. 

At first I found it very confusing on how to get started, and I kept filling out the wrong things in my GDD (I kept on making new elements instead of adding to existing ones.. whoops!) but after a few minutes I figured out my error and was able to fill out my GDD.

I found that the templates provided on the site were very helpful and kept me on track when discussing the design of my game. Though a lot of it I couldn't fill in, because I did not understand it or it was way too advanced for my current stage of development.

Doing my Game Vision Statement last week actually helped me out a ton while doing this! I felt that I went into a lot of detail last week, but it ended up being very beneficial as I was able to use a lot of my vision statement in my GDD.

I'm looking forward to developing my GDD more as I develop my project in the coming weeks!

You can read my Game Design Document here!

Image of game design development

Source: Flickr

Unity Tutorial 05

Unity Tutorial 05

This week’s Unity tutorials focused on creating a cursor, objects that are able to be picked up with sound effects, more environment building and also adding an animated weapon for the player.

The first tutorial focused on creating a more dynamic and interesting cursor and creating an object that’s able to be picked up (the gem in this case). I enjoyed following the cursor tutorial since it was relatively simple but taught me new things. When we moved on to create the gem that was able to be picked up, I had a bit of difficulty as per usual with the C# tutorials but managed to get it working. This tutorial was really helpful for me since my game idea focuses on gathering resources so learning how to make objects the player can pick up was extremely useful.

We then moved onto the second tutorial, which focused on more environment building and also creating an animated weapon that follows the player camera. Learning to implement box colliders on the fence will help me in the future with my game development since I aim to have a diverse terrain- I dont want players clipping through objects so this was a good tutorial to do. Weaponry of course is a very important element in my game idea, so this tutorial was perfect. However, I found the scripting complicated to do, in fact I didnt quite get to the supposed end result. In all honesty I’ve been struggling with my C# since I’ve never done it before this module and quite frankly I have no clue what I’m doing sometimes- so I’ll definitely need to brush up on my coding in the near future. Besides the coding I felt that I understood most things in tutorial and they will come in handy when I start developing my game!

I forgot to take a screenshot of my work while I was in Unity, so have a picture of an axe instead.

Graphic of an axe

Source: Pixabay

Games GDD

Games GDD

Physical presentation is a factor many people enjoy about games. Extra expense in executing this is a concern- for example using hand carved wood chess pieces, while making the game more appealing and looks good visually, would add a lot of extra expense.

There are good considerations to make in the design of game components, and these can enhance the player experience to an extent.

Using shape and colour to help distinguish pieces in a board game (eg chess) is a good design consideration as some people may suffer from colour blindness or be visually impaired so having contrasting colours and shapes can assist people with potential problems.

Image of chess pieces on a board

Source: pxhere

Using different components for different elements of a game helps to add variety and distinguish game components- for example in Monopoly she money is made of paper and the chance cards are made of a thicker, smaller paper. This also helps the players to know instinctively that the components are different and helps them become familiarized.

Using distinct and unique icons for different elements is also important.

Using a font that’s legible, easy to read and distinguish. Choosing simple, large and readable fonts help avoid confusion when playing the game.

The box of the game is very important ad generally first impressions of the game come from the way the box is designed. There are some important design components to consider when designing a box for a game.

It’s important that the title of the game is on the side of the box and is distinct and readable. Making the title on the side of the box big helps it be more readable from a distance.

The back of the box is important as players tend to refer to the back of the box to determine the way they should play. Having photos of the game being played correctly at the back of the box is helpful.

Writing the rules of a game clearly, to the point and including examples of the rules in play is extremely helpful to the player and helps avoid confusion and conflict between players.

In the case of a board game, it’s also wise for the game to include or make replacement parts for the game, such as chess pieces, available for players in case one goes missing or gets damaged.

In summary, taking into consideration design components to make the game easier to understand across several ways is an example of good design and should be considered when designing games.

Physical presentation is a factor many people enjoy about games. Extra expense in executing this is a concern- for example using hand carved wood chess pieces, while making the game more appealing and looks good visually, would add a lot of extra expense.

There are good considerations to make in the design of game components, and these can enhance the player experience to an extent.

Using shape and colour to help distinguish pieces in a board game (eg chess) is a good design consideration as some people may suffer from colour blindness or be visually impaired so having contrasting colours and shapes can assist people with potential problems.

Using different components for different elements of a game helps to add variety and distinguish game components- for example in Monopoly she money is made of paper and the chance cards are made of a thicker, smaller paper. This also helps the players to know instinctively that the components are different and helps them become familiarized.

Using distinct and unique icons for different elements is also important.

Using a font that’s legible, easy to read and distinguish. Choosing simple, large and readable fonts help avoid confusion when playing the game.

The box of the game is very important ad generally first impressions of the game come from the way the box is designed. There are some important design components to consider when designing a box for a game.

It’s important that the title of the game is on the side of the box and is distinct and readable. Making the title on the side of the box big helps it be more readable from a distance.

The back of the box is important as players tend to refer to the back of the box to determine the way they should play. Having photos of the game being played correctly at the back of the box is helpful.

Writing the rules of a game clearly, to the point and including examples of the rules in play is extremely helpful to the player and helps avoid confusion and conflict between players.

In the case of a board game, it’s also wise for the game to include or make replacement parts for the game, such as chess pieces, available for players in case one goes missing or gets damaged.

In summary, taking into consideration design components to make the game easier to understand across several ways is an example of good design and should be considered when designing games. 

You can find the article I read here!