Intro
When I was driving to Oregon with my father we began talking about some rapid prototyping game design classes I was struggling with at DigiPen. Through our discussion (and his confusion, since he doesn’t even play video games) he asked me to break down “Game Design” into 5 parts. Well I couldn't do it on the spot, but lucky we were going on a family backpacking trip. During some time spent resting in seclusion at the top of a waterfall I came to my answer (apparently, that kung-fu movie stuff really works). So to explain game design (even to your parents or people who just don't understand), I broke it down into the following 5 parts.
1. Theme
Having a theme, central message, or motto to your game will help you make decisions during development. All the work in a game, the art, the music, the mechanics, the level content, will contribute to a theme. If you never set one, the work in your game may speak quietly to different themes and in the end it may appear as if the game has no theme at all. At worst you may have a confusing theme or two or three competing themes that confuse the player.
2. Style
Games need to have a style or a type of consistency in how they deliver and create and experience for players. This means that the art, music and narrative presentation are done in a way that serves the game and is consistent. If a game doesn’t have a style it often means that the assets will clash with others and confuse players.
3. Usability
A major portion of Game Design is usability and accessibility of a game. This means having good controls for the game and feedback regarding actions (both successful and unsuccessful). In addition to feedback and controls the player must also be given training and explanation regarding the actions they are required to take (ie there needs to be some sort of tutorial).
4. Flow
The Player of a game improves over time. The game designer is responsible for crafting an experience that facilitates or helps a player reach a flow state (see Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). Essentially this means a game designer is responsible for making sure a game isn't too hard or isn't boring (as dictated by their Theme and Style).
5. Mechanics
It is the responsibility of the game designer to determine the rules and goals by which a games takes place. Basically they have to develop the game mechanics. These mechanics and rules (even the game genre) are determined by the Theme and Style of the game and further adjusted for purposes of Usability and Flow.
Epilogue
With this foundational understanding of game design, I hope people better have a better understanding of what game design is (Oddly, still a problem in the industry). I also hope that this helps prospective and current game designers become more aware of the problems they will face when they create a game.
