7.5 Tips to Great Game Design

Hey game devs, this one is for you!  

Read on for 7.5 tips on how to make your video games better, and a ton more fun!

1. Game titles/genres and user expectations:

This may seem like a very odd thing to be on this list, but hear me out.  Your game's title and intended genre are extremely important, as they are literally the first things people will see about your game.  A title or genre can completely change someone's expectations of a game.  Thus, changing the name or genre in many cases can change the rules you have to follow when designing said game.

Super Platforming Bros. AKA Super Mario Bros.

For example, consider I have created a game called "Super Platforming Bros." or the like.  Your expectation will be that there is platforming involved in this game.  So you buy my game and start playing it, but then it turns out the game is just really unfair and punishing, and throws all kinds of un-dodgeable obstacles at you.  You get really upset and think the game is too hard and never play the game again.

Consider now if I have renamed the same game as "Memory Platforming Bros.."  Your expectations for the game are that it involves memorizing and it involves platforming.  You buy the game and you don't get frustrated at it because you entered with the proper expectations, and you realize that all it takes is some memorization, and you can ace the game.

Be careful with what labels you put on your game and make sure it is honest to the user.

2.  Respect human reaction times:

If an obstacle gives you literally one frame to react before hitting you, it is unfair and poor game design.  This is a popular way of making games seem difficult, without actually putting effort into designing something with an actual challenge.  (Sonic games, I'm looking at you!)  To offset this unfair difficulty, games will often give you large amounts of HP to make incessantly getting hit seem fair.  There is nothing fair about getting hit by something you couldn't see or react to.

Give the player some time to react to obstacles, and you will make the game a million times more enjoyable, and a true challenge.

Give your players a fighting chance!

3.  Too many enemies:

This kind of comes under my previous point, but I believe it deserves a section of its own.

One of the most frustrating things in a game is when it throws more enemies at you than a normal person could hope to avoid.  In these cases, avoiding enemies no longer becomes skill based, but a game of luck.  What can make this even worse in some cases is when the enemies shoot projectiles, making it literally impossible to dodge their attacks.

Instead, try crafting enemies which require skill and thought to defeat, instead of artificially increasing your game's difficulty by throwing too many enemies at them.

Certain genres are completely based on this concept of overwhelming the player though, so if you plan on doing this for a game, make sure it is an integral part of the game genre, such as zombie games or certain survival games.

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4.  Be clear about game objectives:

This one should be obvious, but a lot of games will throw all sorts of stuff at you, and you have no clue what it wants you to do.

Also, give your users a clear and informative way to check their objectives.

5.  Make it clear when your game does or doesn't auto-save:

Ah, this game will save my progress when I quit.  All good modern games do that!  Right?

Think again!  A lot of games these days don't auto save, and very often you will find yourself losing progress because of it.  Make sure you give your user a prompt telling them that the game will or will not save progress when they quit.

Make sure your user understands how your save system works to save them trouble in the long run.

6.  Enemy attack patterns:

I'm sure you are all familiar with generic boss fights in which they shoot a ton of projectiles in a spiral or circular pattern around themselves.  Some games pull this off nicely, but most just fail miserably.  Usually they have far too many projectiles to dodge, and it just seems really generic and cheap.

Instead, make your enemies have an obvious (Or not so obvious, depending on what kind of game it is) weakness that is possible to exploit without taking damage.  I'm not saying make the enemies easy, but rather, make them predictable yet difficult to dodge and exploit their weakness.

Never throw damage at the player that they can't avoid.  Make them feel like they deserve every hit they take.

7.  Paths and travelling:

A lot of games will make paths unclear and difficult to find.  While in certain games this is acceptable, such as exploration games, in others, this is a big no-no.

Let's say I am playing some fast paced first person shooter or the like.  My expectation isn't to be exploring and looking for the next path, I want to shoot crap!  But if I am playing Metroid Prime, I will expect to be searching for secrets and finding hidden pathways.

7.5  There will be exceptions:

As I have said throughout this entire article, the genre and title of a game will entirely change the rule-sets you need to follow for creating a good game, but in general I would say these are good points to think about when designing your game.

Conclusion:

And there you have it!  A list of things I find to be extremely important for proper game design.

I hope this is helpful to you in your endeavors!  If you have any comments you would like to make, just let me know in the comments section below!

Thanks a bunch for reading,

Game on!