Some game design glossary
Glossary
Now that we’ve been introduced, I’d like to start the conversation with something that is very fundamental as well: having some sort of glossary. Even though real professional game designers might disagree on things, I think it is valuable to take the time to define those things in your head. You can only compare and contrast ideas if you can define them and naming and defining things is a great mental exercise. I might come back to this list from time to time and I intend to write about each specific point or points when possible, to deepen the definition.
Player experience — the experience that the player has and feels playing the game, when interacting with the mechanics, systems and world in general. It is good to have it in mind from the beginning of the development, and you can even start defining a game by answering the question “what experience do I want to cause?”
Mechanics — all the actions the player can do in the game, through inputs. Explore, talk, combat, buy, upgrade, are all mechanics, things that allow the player to interact with the world of the game and feel like a part of it.
Systems — a collective of mechanics that work for a purpose. For example, shielding an attack is a mechanic. This mechanic may exist within the combat system, along with dodging, swinging a weapon, using magic potions, anything the game offers in the realm of combat. Systems can be bigger and more complex depending on the size of the game
Very resumed chart showing the interdependence of game mechanics, systems and player experience
Gameplay — The player’s interaction with mechanics and systems to create an experience.
Character/ avatar — in this context, it is the element controlled by the player to translate their inputs in actions within the game.
Camera — the element that allows the player to see the action on the screen, and frames exactly what the game designer wants the player to see at any given moment.
Controls — Inputs the player gives in a controller, keypad or other real world device to have their actions translated into the game.
3Cs — Character, camera and controls. One of the first steps of digital game development should be defining these three aspects, as it defines some fundamental aspects of how the player interacts and plays the game, and essential to the game feel.
High concept — a short sentence that should help anyone understand the game core and proposal quickly. This sentence should present the game’s genre, setting and main mechanics. So for example, a high concept of a game could be “a strategy game set in space where the player has to trade with very different nations”. With this short sentence containing this information, one can have a very good notion of what the game core is, and what else can be present in the game.
Game pillars — Main fundamentals of a specific game, the pillars on top of which other game design decisions should be made, in order to have a cohesive game that creates the intended experience. Elements and emotions can be used as pillars. It is useful to reference back to them when defining game design decisions and when facing design problems, as a guideline to create a cohesion in the game.
Core loop — normally described through a flow chart, it describes what are the main actions of the player in your game and how these actions interact between one another. For example if selling goods makes the player receive money to improve their tools and find or produce better goods to sell, you have a core loop where every action leads the player to keep on playing. The more tight the core loop is, the better. In monetized free to play, it is vital that this core loop describes where the currencies are earned and spent.
Core loop example
Game loop — game loops are similar to the core loop (a cycle of actions), but it can frame different aspects of the game. A game designer might need to describe a level game loop, an economy game loop, etc. It is also beneficial for board games, in a game loop that describes the entire process of turns and rounds and the conditions for victory or loss.
On the other end of the loop, the player is in a constant loop of perceiving the game world, creating a hypothesis, testing it out, evaluating it and replaying the loop. It is important to also have this loop in mind when designing the challenges and obstacles of your game.
Feedback loop — feedbacks are responses the game gives the player to help them understand what is expected from them. The feedback loops however are the feedback output is fed back to the game as an input. So if the player has a success, it can modify the game to benefit the player or challenge them. This means that a player’s success or failure impacts the likelihood of future successes or failures.
Positive feedback loop — the response of the game is given in the same direction of the player’s action. A player’s failure creates more chances to fail (for example when losing all your coins) and a player’s success creates more chances of succeeding (for example when the player gets more XP due to a perfect run).
Negative feedback loop — the system responds in the opposite direction of the player s performance. A player’s failure will increase their chance of success (getting better items if the player is losing constantly) and the player’s success will (try to) increase their chance of failure (the level getting slightly harder when the player hardly loses).
Game genre — genres are pre determined game categories in which every (or most games) fall to, due to consonance between the core and pillars of the game and the pillars of the genre. Adventure, puzzle, point and click are examples of genres. Knowing the intended genre of your game can help make design decisions based on the genre conventions. What other people had to deal with in this genre might help your design. Of course, no game is restricted to the genre or to only one genre.
Flow — the flow zone is a term to describe the feeling of total engagement that a player has in a game when the difficulty is in accordance to their skills in the game, so it is not too hard to cause stress or too easy to cause boredom. Achieving the flow zone is different to every player, as some might need more stress to feel engaged and others don’t mind being challenged that much.
Game design document (GDD) — a document, or many specialized documents that should describe in detail systems and mechanics of the game.
Prototype — an early playable version of the game made so that mechanics, concepts and systems can be tested and validated as fun and engaging or not. This should happen before the process of developing a game so that there is value on the game being made.
Playtest — the action of playing the game in order to test and validate some mechanic, system or other aspects. It can be done by the team/ person developing the game or external people. Both are very valid and should happen frequently.
Game feel — is what emerges from creating a system that makes the player feel like they are within a tangible and “real” world, by maximizing output of the player’s input. Having real time control, spatial simulation and sound, haptic, visual polish, among others are the requirements to achieve more game feel in a game.
Thanks for sticking around, feel free to comment and disagree.
Sources
https://gameanalytics.com/blog/how-to-perfect-your-games-core-loop/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL5YGcAxEI
https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/game-loop/
http://jerrymomoda.com/the-core-loop-key-to-an-engaging-game/
