Setting up your design for success is easier than you think. You know, you should take this online setting up your design for success course on Udemy...
To give a slightly different perspective: at the Games Academy (a private game dev school), we were always told, ”what is your unique selling point?!“. And one teacher was like yeah, USPs are one way to do it, but design pillars could be an alternative. And thinking about it, I immediately became a huge fan of it! You obviously have to focus on why you want to make the game, why customers would want to play it. But USPs are, in my opinion, a very marketing-focused metric; just because you have something ”unique“ doesn't mean that it automatically fits in with the rest of the game. But design pillars are broader and they are not simply about features, they are about *priorities*. You can think of them as pillars on which your game stands, but you could also think of them as landmarks that you are orienting yourself to during development. I haven't connected them to game design rules before (in fact, I haven’t consciously used that term at all), but I feel like game design rules are derived from game design pillars. As an example, the last game I worked on at the Games Academy was a tower defense game for mobile, and after having done some research, I wanted it to be really designed from the ground up for the unique characteristics of mobile gaming. So one of the design pillars was ”optimized for playing on the go“, meaning that a player can play a short gaming session on the bus or in a queue at the supermarket. While we didn't use your term, the written explanation for that design pillar was essentially a series of game design rules: gaming sessions (I.e. levels) must have a maximum duration of 3-5 minutes, the display orientation must be vertical, and the controls must be optimized as much as possible for one-handed use. FWIW, the other two design pillars were ”accessibility“ (getting into the game as quickly as possible, easy to understand menus and interfaces, no steep learning curve -basically the Candy Crush of tower defense games), and ”tactics over action“, though we completely botched the latter.
USPs and design pillars are not an either / or thing. As someone who worked as a AAA game designer for 7 years, and has now taught game dev for 7+ years now specifically game design, I am honestly shocked any teacher would say "That's one way to do it" because anyone competent does both! As you say, USP is primarily important for marketing - You NEED to know these and they need to stand out so you can cut through to your target audience, as the market is now so flooded that only products with strong USPs get noticed (unless you have a AAA marketing budget). While the two are independent, you will find that any developer who fails to connect their USP to their design pillars will often wind up having their USP be underdeveloped, as it should be treated as a core priority to make the most of it.
This is really important, I am a UX and Interaction Designer, I am doing my masters in Interaction Design. We have a branch here called Digital Game Design and I can totally see the UX gap in the projects. The biggest thing that game designers miss out is understanding the human emotion. I have played a lot of games, I have experienced a sense of achievement, growth and challenge but I have never experienced emotion like sadness, pain,etc. We experienced it in movies - we are moved by the story telling in movies but not in games.
Sry for bumping after two years. Did you happen to play a game in these two years that changed your mind? I'm playing This war of mine right now and actualy had a guilty dream last night about the building i raided where I robbed three girls blind and killed their guard.
Hi Tim, I can't find the answer, I know your default is "no" but I thought you might have an answer useful to other modeler and animators. I wondered if you could give me some advice on game development. Looking at it from a different POV. I am a 3d modeler/zbrush Artist/Sculptor/Rigger and 3d character animator. I'm creative, I can write a story, storyboard it, design characters, model rig and animate them and assemble everything in Unity 2017 but have no idea about programming. I've tried a few tutorials and its like pulling teeth.. I guess some people are born programmers. I'm definitely not.. I follow the tutorials from unity but it seems to be parrot fashion without a real understanding, I don't know how to pick the valuable lessons from the rubbish.. I want to build games so badly but don't want to waste years learning from the wrong source. Also I don't know whether to choose a visual scripting, I tried play maker but found that just as hard.. hope you can help Lee :)
Lee Murray I’m not even remotely an expert, but have you considered art and animation heavy games like point and click, visual novel, certain types of puzzle games maybe? A game that’s relatively light on programming, but has beautiful art/animations can be just as engaging as the other way around. Also, again, I’m a novice, but it seems like when you’re starting out with anything, and with games in particular, you should focus on what you enjoy the most and are best at. Maybe you could even get a friend or look on a forum for someone to program for you; that way you can still make a game while also learning programming on the side. If you’re very serious about learning programming, I’ve used Udemy and it’s a good resource for learning a new skill; of course there’s the free resource in UA-cam tutorials, but paying ten or so dollars on a Udemy tutorial might be a good way to encourage yourself to stick with it. Whatever you do, the most important thing is to not let yourself get discouraged. Good luck!
Setting up your design for success is easier than you think. You know, you should take this online setting up your design for success course on Udemy...
That ad is just so awkward and patronizing, made me laugh with cringe :)) do they even test their ads?
To give a slightly different perspective: at the Games Academy (a private game dev school), we were always told, ”what is your unique selling point?!“. And one teacher was like yeah, USPs are one way to do it, but design pillars could be an alternative. And thinking about it, I immediately became a huge fan of it! You obviously have to focus on why you want to make the game, why customers would want to play it. But USPs are, in my opinion, a very marketing-focused metric; just because you have something ”unique“ doesn't mean that it automatically fits in with the rest of the game. But design pillars are broader and they are not simply about features, they are about *priorities*. You can think of them as pillars on which your game stands, but you could also think of them as landmarks that you are orienting yourself to during development.
I haven't connected them to game design rules before (in fact, I haven’t consciously used that term at all), but I feel like game design rules are derived from game design pillars. As an example, the last game I worked on at the Games Academy was a tower defense game for mobile, and after having done some research, I wanted it to be really designed from the ground up for the unique characteristics of mobile gaming. So one of the design pillars was ”optimized for playing on the go“, meaning that a player can play a short gaming session on the bus or in a queue at the supermarket. While we didn't use your term, the written explanation for that design pillar was essentially a series of game design rules: gaming sessions (I.e. levels) must have a maximum duration of 3-5 minutes, the display orientation must be vertical, and the controls must be optimized as much as possible for one-handed use. FWIW, the other two design pillars were ”accessibility“ (getting into the game as quickly as possible, easy to understand menus and interfaces, no steep learning curve -basically the Candy Crush of tower defense games), and ”tactics over action“, though we completely botched the latter.
USPs and design pillars are not an either / or thing. As someone who worked as a AAA game designer for 7 years, and has now taught game dev for 7+ years now specifically game design, I am honestly shocked any teacher would say "That's one way to do it" because anyone competent does both!
As you say, USP is primarily important for marketing - You NEED to know these and they need to stand out so you can cut through to your target audience, as the market is now so flooded that only products with strong USPs get noticed (unless you have a AAA marketing budget).
While the two are independent, you will find that any developer who fails to connect their USP to their design pillars will often wind up having their USP be underdeveloped, as it should be treated as a core priority to make the most of it.
This is really important, I am a UX and Interaction Designer, I am doing my masters in Interaction Design. We have a branch here called Digital Game Design and I can totally see the UX gap in the projects. The biggest thing that game designers miss out is understanding the human emotion. I have played a lot of games, I have experienced a sense of achievement, growth and challenge but I have never experienced emotion like sadness, pain,etc. We experienced it in movies - we are moved by the story telling in movies but not in games.
Sry for bumping after two years. Did you happen to play a game in these two years that changed your mind?
I'm playing This war of mine right now and actualy had a guilty dream last night about the building i raided where I robbed three girls blind and killed their guard.
You are so consistently informative it honestly amazes me.
I already know this video is gonna be just as good.
Thank you
Interesting topic, I'd consider Design pillars in my games more. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Tim, I can't find the answer, I know your default is "no" but I thought you might have an answer useful to other modeler and animators.
I wondered if you could give me some advice on game development. Looking at it from a different POV. I am a 3d modeler/zbrush Artist/Sculptor/Rigger and 3d character animator.
I'm creative, I can write a story, storyboard it, design characters, model rig and animate them and assemble everything in Unity 2017 but have no idea about programming. I've tried a few tutorials and its like pulling teeth.. I guess some people are born programmers. I'm definitely not.. I follow the tutorials from unity but it seems to be parrot fashion without a real understanding, I don't know how to pick the valuable lessons from the rubbish.. I want to build games so badly but don't want to waste years learning from the wrong source. Also I don't know whether to choose a visual scripting, I tried play maker but found that just as hard.. hope you can help Lee :)
Lee Murray
I’m not even remotely an expert, but have you considered art and animation heavy games like point and click, visual novel, certain types of puzzle games maybe? A game that’s relatively light on programming, but has beautiful art/animations can be just as engaging as the other way around. Also, again, I’m a novice, but it seems like when you’re starting out with anything, and with games in particular, you should focus on what you enjoy the most and are best at. Maybe you could even get a friend or look on a forum for someone to program for you; that way you can still make a game while also learning programming on the side. If you’re very serious about learning programming, I’ve used Udemy and it’s a good resource for learning a new skill; of course there’s the free resource in UA-cam tutorials, but paying ten or so dollars on a Udemy tutorial might be a good way to encourage yourself to stick with it. Whatever you do, the most important thing is to not let yourself get discouraged. Good luck!
what genre of games are you wanting to make? ever think of selling your stuff on asset stores? for game guru, unity, leadwerks?
More UX stuff please.
Nice
Anyone who says first here is not first BECAUSE I AM SO EEEEEVIL >:D MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!!