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5 game designer tools to help your game



Video games have been around for over 50 years. During this time, technology jumped from the text The Oregon Trail to the photorealistic Red Dead Redemption 2. Not to mention VR titles like Half-Life: Alyx, which comes out in late March.

And yet, the gaming industry is still very young. New ways and tools are constantly appearing that help to learn and improve game design. About five of these - translated under the cut.

People have been creating art and entertainment for thousands of years - how much painting and music exist. During this time, technology, rules and tools appeared and improved: art has a golden ratio, music has an octave scale. But they do not always need to be used - this is just a lens through which you can look at your work.

And I'm not the first to think so. There are many smart people who work on learning and improving game design. Among them, for example, Chris Crawford , Jesse Schell and Ralph Coster , whose work on creating a theoretical foundation for a better understanding of games as art is priceless.

However, they were hard to use. I have never met a manager who could be persuaded to plan time for designing people , or to analyze how the mental boundaries of players are formed when they reach level 2-2. Honestly, I was upset. There are dozens of materials on narratology versus ludology , but few on practical tips on game design.

Over the years, I became a collector - I am looking for practical tools that can be used in everyday projects. Several different developers faced the same problem and shared their solutions. I used some of their tools in my latest Puppet Master project . Now I will talk about them.


But first, a small disclaimer. By tools, I don't mean engines like Unity. I'm talking about conceptual frameworks that will help you find a solution to the design problems of your game. But remember, there is no tool that is equally suitable for any project.

1. Agile Statement


Let. Often when starting a new project, we still don’t know why people will want to play it. Saying “it will be fun” will not help. There are too many fun games, what is your value?

Creator. Scrum Methodology .



Tool. Agile Statement helps you clearly identify who the game is for, what it is about, and what makes it special. You and the team write down all the key points on the board and fill in the blanks. This is a great way to start a project and make sure everyone is on the same wavelength.

The Agile Statement for Puppet Master looks like this:



Notice, I'm talking not only about the “hooks” of the game, but also about competitors and what our target audience wants.

2. Goal loops


Let. Surely everyone heard about the game loop (core loop). There is one thing that this model does not include - players do not always focus on the main goal. Usually they build on and build on it to find other targets. Game designers must plan and consider them.

Creator. For the first time I heard about this instrument from my mentor Alexander Mandriki .



Tool. The goal cycles are four circles. They describe the tasks of the player depending on the time that he will spend on their implementation.

The exact length of each cycle varies from game to game. It is important to identify them first. The arcade may not have a medium-term goal (setting a record will be a long-term goal), and the 4X strategy will not receive short-term goals, since there are different scales. For example, this is how it will look for Mario Odyssey:



It’s useful to determine in what time frames the game will work and what goals you set for the player at each stage. Of course, they can come up with their own goals, but still it is advisable to foresee them.

There are no instant cycles in Puppet Master, but there are quick minute solutions.



I want to avoid when the players do not know what to do next, or why this should be done.

3. Map mechanic


Let. In complex complex games, it is difficult to get a holistic view of the entire system. You can imagine various game mechanics, but it’s still important to understand how they affect each other.

Creator. I first learned about this from an article by Erin Robinson , where she attributes authorship to Stephen Pig.



Tool. A mechanic card is a graph that depicts each game system and links them together. Build it until all the basic mechanics are connected to each other.



As we plot, we find loops (which is good) and chains / dead ends (which should alert). Cycles support the game, and motivate players to make decisions. At a dead end, the game stops, but this is not always bad. For example, it may be mechanics, which in itself serves as a goal (customization).

Chains do not have this problem, but they may be redundant. You can reduce some mechanics and reduce the scale of the game without affecting the gaming experience.

This is one of the first cards for Puppet Master:



Yes, they can grow to large sizes, so divide them into smaller cards. These will be semi-autonomous systems depending on higher-level cards.

4. Diversity Matrix


Let. Each game designer at least once came across this. When asked to create a lot of different elements, but you don’t have enough time and resources.

Creator. This tool is from Chris McAnthey 's article on Rayman game design. It is part of the philosophy of rational level design from Ubisoft, although I applied it to other elements: weapons, units, etc.



Tool. Using the diversity matrix, you list all the various variables that affect game elements. Then mix and match them to create interesting combinations.

Here is the ability matrix of the unit from Puppet Master:



The idea is that each ability has both positive and negative effects - their balance depends on the player. In the end, the game went beyond this matrix, but its use was useful for organizing my thoughts.

5. Hook and anchor


Let. To truly understand the emotions of the players, we need to know all the differences and similarities of our project with others.

Creator. I heard the term “hook” from the podcast of Ryan Clark , and he, in turn, from the blog of Chris Zukowski .

Tool. A hook is any feature that makes our game special. It can be a famous actor, unique gameplay, unusual mechanics and everything that attracts the attention of players. Anchor is their conceptual opposite, they land users, making them feel in familiar conditions and control what is happening.

Portal is a classic example. Core mechanics with portals and funny dialogs were new and unique at the time, so they became powerful hooks. At the same time, the control scheme came from the traditional FPS - this is an anchor.

This is my list of hooks and anchors:



They cover a wide variety of aspects of the game, from mechanics to art and mood - any game element can be a hook or an anchor.

For example, the Illuminati is both one and the other. A player cannot be part of this sinister organization, but there is no need to explain to him what is at stake. This forces players to use information that they already know.

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