So you’ve decided to plunge yourself into the world of game development, have assembled a team of mighty warriors to tackle all the big issues, and are ready to create the next best game in the industry… trumping WoW, Guild Wars… (you get the point). You’ve chopped up all your brainstorming and assembled some keen concepts for a storyline, and you’re ready to go. Among all the programming, the character concepts, the dungeons, and the quests – what are truly the most important aspects of your game that will determine whether someone enjoys themself? Read on, and allow me to share with you what I think.
When we decide to take that plunge into developing a new game, there are five things you should consider very carefully and pay a great deal of attention to. There are probably more of these that will hinder or help you along your way, and your ordering may be different than mine, but I always hold to be the most important. Over the next week, we will reveal each aspect and culminate with the complete article at the end of the week. For today, we’ll begin at the top, with number 5.
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Number 5: Storyline
When crafting your game, there is no better inspiration for features and activities, quests, and dungeons than your highly developed and custom-tailored storyline. Some may balk at this statement, claiming that the storyline is easily overshadowed and unnecessary when you have intense graphics that make your fingers tingle or combat so low that you’re ducking out of the way from behind your monitor. While these things contribute to an awesome game and can lead to a lot of excitement (in fact, they’re on the list, too!), they cannot make up for the lack of a storyline.
The storyline may be important, but is it more important than a flashy game setting so vibrant that you’re tempted to stay indefinitely? Well, maybe – just as long as your 3d representation isn’t bogged down by hundreds of thousands of nasty polygons or quads. Why in the world is Artwork important, anyway?
Number 4: Artwork
I’ve often heard that the artwork/3d models/characters found in your game won’t make or break things. I agree with this because it won’t make or break the entire game, but the artwork and professional-looking/feeling models help you out along the way. Think of any movie you’ve seen recently where the sets were incredible and stunning – one such example (although not necessarily as “recent”) is the Lord of the Rings movies. Throughout the movie, rich and diverse settings abound and help the immersion factor like you wouldn’t believe.
Would the movie have been “broken” by less awe-inspiring scenes? Probably not, because in the case of The Lord of the Rings, there were a lot of other incredible aspects. Did the awe-inspiring scenes make the movie that much better and give it more *more* to drool over? Yes, Definitely. The same kind of effect can be seen in the game industry. I play games with incredible graphics (EVE Online) and others that don’t (Dark Ages). However, I am addicted to both of these games for different reasons, you can bet that the stunning environment in EVE certainly helps inspire its large player base.
Additionally, your artwork can seriously affect the mechanics of your game. Many developers overlook an essential aspect of their 3d models – the poly count… That’s to say, the number of triangles (or *shiver* quads) your game has. Many of the free 3d models you may find on the internet are gorgeous but are so incredibly detailed that using them in a computer, real-time environment would not be wise because you are typically trying to appeal to as many systems as possible. Console systems have the luxury of (for the most part) assuming that everyone’s running on an even playing field. Those of us developing games strictly for the computer don’t have this luxury. Suffice it to say, it’s important to find quality, low-poly game content, and there’s certainly enough of it out there that there’s no excuse for you to be shoving your game full of characters that are in the 10,000 poly range (many online companies limit their avatars, or characters, to around 2500-5000 polys).
The lower your poly count on your 3d models, the smoother your environment will run on the widest range of computers... usually. Throughout this entire process, one thing to remember is how your engine handles polygons and finds the ideal poly content you want to aim for characters, and scenery. Higher character polys are usually more acceptable, with picture (buildings, trees, etc.) being lower in poly. Another feature to remember is whether or not the engine supports Level of Detail (LOD). LOD, for those who may not know, is a system where the machine will use shallow poly versions of a model if the player is far away, swapping the model in and out for high-quality versions the closer you get to it. As far as I know, almost every engine supports LOD, but some, like Active Worlds, do not.
Down the road, we go with Number 3: Music! Some may say (and argue) that music for an online game should be included in the category of “Artwork.” – while this may be true depending on how you look at it, music in a game is incredibly important *aside* from your 3d models and 3d characters, and so it receives its spot.
Number 3: Music
In many ways, music is the heart and soul of any environment you may create in 3D – it is the sound track to which events occur, players win battles, too, return home, etc. Music is a vital tool used to set the mood in any setting, and without it, your game will feel dead and like something is missing. In many ways, music helps express a specific area; it enhances and emphasizes what you relate to your player. Do you want them to feel sad, anxious, excited, fearful? Because hearing is one of our primary senses (seeing, smelling, etc.), one could argue that it is just as powerful in linking and creating memories. It should be one of your *top goals* to make people remember your game – making your game memorable is one of the tricks in making it enjoyable and something people will tell their friends about. Hearing and the music in your game are some of the more subtle qualities that play a huge part in how an environment *feels*. Think about what your favorite movie would sound like without sound and music.
This highlights another important aspect that is a subcategory of music: sound effects. While music is the key that gives your environment some feeling and life, sound effects make the environment tangible and realistic. When a player can knock over a trashcan, and as a result, they hear the clanging of aluminum and tin rolling down the concrete they’re standing on, the player has an increased feeling of interaction with the environment. Please think of the effect and life the atmosphere takes on when a player goes from walking on stone, where their shoes may be clacking, to walking on dirt or mud, where the sound would naturally change quite dramatically. Making good games is about mastering small (but powerful) details that immerse your player.
GarageGames.com has some great deals on music and sound effects – the sound effects found there are a deal. You can find the page directly by visiting their content packages.
Gamedev.net also has some great resources relating to music in games and provides a nice directory of sites containing stock and royalty-free music. Check it out here.
It would be nice to include a directory of some great music resources at a later time. Look for that later. In the meantime, let us know what you think about Music and Sound Effects inside of games you’ve played, whether you thought they were effective and important to your gaming experience… And if you disagree, you can let us know that, too!
Number 2: Game Flow
When it comes to game design in today’s world, there are three primary types of flow that your game can follow. What exactly is game flow? The game flow, or structure of your game, is how players interact with it and storyline events, quests, missions, etc. It determines whether players can branch out and make the game what they want it to be or if they’re locked onto a track that guides them into their pitfalls and excitement. The three types of flow are as follows: Sandbox, Roller-coaster, and a hybrid mix of the two. In many cases, how your game engages people and forces them to interact with the environment and progress in the game will determine the types of players you attract to your game.
The most “traditional” gameplay style, or rather the most frequently used in the past, has been that of the “Roller-coaster.” This type of gameplay is just as the name implies – users begin the game (get on the ride) and are carefully led through the build-up, the climax of the storyline, pitfalls, exciting twists and turns, and ultimately, the game ends with a rush of excitement. This could also be equated with the experience of reading a book, which gives a definite beginning and a definite ending to things.
Enter the “Sandbox” games. In recent years, there has been a big push to these sandboxes where people can do what they’d like. Like roller-coaster games, the name is synonymous with its real-life counterpart, the sandbox. Upon entering the game, the idea is that if you ignore the overarching and present storyline (remember our pretty girl), you can do just that without any significant consequences. This gameplay is sometimes said to appeal primarily to hardcore-style gamers, although I’m not sure I fully buy into that philosophy. Often, I’ve found many casual players in sandbox-type games who enjoy socializing with one another, mining together, exploring, etc., without all the insane time commitment of pursuing the major storyline events.
