Task 8 Elements of game design, part one: from Pong to next-gen…

I've reached the stage now where I've looked at the fundamentals of game art but now I need to read into the elements of game design and what it takes to design a successful game. First of all, what is game play? we all play these games and kind of over look what were actually doing. Game play is the action the person controlling the character for example is carrying out to achieve something, like advancing to the next level or an objective.

Development of the games we play today are undertaken by a games developer that can range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games like Call of Duty for instance are funded by publishers and can take a considerably longer time to develop.

Games are usually developed in phases, initially with pitches, concepts, prototypes and design documents that convey all main aspects of what a developer wants to make. If the idea is approved and the developer gets funding then development gets under way. Development requires a large quantity of people working on it with different responsibilities. These responsibilities range from designers, artists, programmers and testers. The next stage is the development alpha and beta stages until they are ready to market and showcase to the public.

Like most industries out there, a minority have the final say about whether a game gets the go ahead or not, but I don't think the final say or responsibility is given to a single person with a games company because a lot of other people have influence on the game development. The standard and how well an idea for a game is portrayed is by the development team making it a responsibility as a group.

When it comes to the principles of how games of different genres are made, I no longer think that there is much difference between them. A comparison between Pac man and the fairly modern F.E.A.R 2 was brought to my attention and I saw that something as simple as Pac man is still similar to modern day games. Obviously the visual experience is completely different but they both have a story, designed characters, levels, incentive to progress for example enemies chasing you and aims to succeed within the game. In my opinion it's just the aesthetic exterior of a game that makes it different from others.