Game Design A

Game Design Document (GDD)

-a living document, changing over time, which describes every aspect of what defines your game -an outline of the elements in the game that guide the development team through the design process

market analysis

-an assessment of competitors and potential customers in order to identify the market segment that is likely to download your game -documentation that shows how your game will compete with the other ones that are already on the market in the same genre

class

a category that has a similar procedure

Hero's Journey / monomyth

a common underlying plot structure, identified by Joseph Campbell, featuring a character who goes on an important adventure, wins important victories, and returns home a different person

boss

a computer-controlled enemy, usually a key character

pitch

a description of an idea in a compelling, concise way that makes the listener want to buy in

character sketch

a document capturing the design elements of a game's characters

binary

a first-generation programming language that had only 0s and 1s in its vocabulary

game proposal

a formal document proposal used to secure funding for a project, either from venture capitalists, a publisher, or through internal teams within the company

programming language

a formal system of coded commands that provide instructions for a computer

method

a function, or a logical sequence of statements, which acts on the attribute of a class

Easter eggs

a hidden element, such as a valuable collectible item, to be found through exploration

call to adventure

a key event which casts the hero out of normal life and into the unknown

iterative process

a loop process consisting of designing, developing, and testing

design trope

a pattern seen over and over

archetype

a pattern, usually in the form of a character type, which appears over and over in storytelling

demographic

a sector of the population

prototype

a simple model or design of a future product or game

event scripting system

a simplified programming system or interface for creating interactions, scenarios, and encounters

cut scene

a small bite-sized chunk of traditional storytelling where the player has no movement or very limited control and simply watches or reads a chapter of your game story

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

a system to prevent the user from making copies of a game, or from playing the game on another computer, to keep illegal duplication and sharing under control

difficulty ramping

a technique often used to give players a range of increasingly difficult challenges

cel shading

a technique where objects are rendered in cartoon style by using less shading color

hyperspace arsenal

a theoretical space for inventory management

patent

a type of 'industry property' for a physical invention

material

a type of texture that is mapped to the surfaces of polygons

cathode ray tube

a vacuum tube that uses heat to generate a focused electron light beam, creating a bright, colorful image on a screen

Pong

a very rudimentary simulation of a game of tennis, created by Nolan Bushnell at Atari

avatar

a virtual character which represents the player in the game world

CamelCase

a way of writing names in code with no spaces or punctuation between words, while capitalizing each word, which makes your run-together text look a lot like the humps of a camel

behavior

actions an object can do

distributors

agents who take physical copies of video games to each store that will sell them

lean methodology

an approach that uses small iterations of building and testing frequently to ensure what is being created is meeting a market demand

player-centric game design

an approach to game design with the market in mind

discipline

an area of knowledge or specialization

bitmap

an image or display created from small units known as pixels

object

an item that has states and behaviors

builds

another way of saying versions

conflict

any element in a story which works against the player's intentions, causes resistance, or hinders progress

AI

any element within a computer program, such as a computer game, which simulates decision-making based on algorithms defined by game designers and programmers

asset

any item that can be used in a game project, including 3D models, audio files, animations, programming files

data modeling

building programs out of objects that interact according to set parameters

cultural references

certain objects, patterns, or behaviors that are related to a specific group of people or time and place

non-player characters (NPCs)

characters that interact with the players but are not controlled by a human player

game engines

collaboratively-built platforms that provide game developers with sophisticated design tools

iteration

continually revising and refining an idea until the desired result is achieved

collider

data related to the object's outline that is used to detect if the object has collided with something else

data type

defines the attributes of the inputs which are built into a language, such as alphanumeric characters, integers, or some other type

checkpoints

designated milestones to be reached within a level, which act as respawn and save points in some games

Algorithm

detailed, step-by-step instructions that tell the computer how to perform a task

crowdfunding

developers receiving funds from a supportive community by promoting the project on websites such as Kickstarter and receiving contributions

game consoles

devices that hook up to a TV or other display, which are designed to play video games

plain text

files that use character encoding and are used for markup languages such as HTML (hypertext markup language) used in web development.

Atari 2600

first ever cartridge-based video game console; introduced the concept of housing game software separate to the game console, making the release of new games cheaper

game world

game setting, made up of the physical setting (where the story takes place) and the chronological setting (when the story takes place)

action games

games featuring intense, simulated physical challenges that require a lot of fine motor-skills and hand-eye coordination to overcome

adventure games

games featuring problem- or puzzle-solving, environmental interaction, and dialogue with characters

freemium

games that are free to play

e-learning games

games used to develop a skill or knowledge-base in a fun way

Bartle's Taxonomy of Player Types

identifies four different types of players and their different motivations

concept art

illustrations that convey the look and feel of your game

argument

information passed to a method

gameplay

knowing how a game is played and coming up with strategies to influence the outcome

aesthetics

look and feel of game

intellectual property

ownership of a non-tangible property, such as a song, story, or character

debugger

part of an integrated development environment that troubleshoots errors in your code

Let's Players

people who regularly play and review games within the online community

localization

performing all the conversions, changes, and alterations necessary to prepare a title for another market

mapped to

placed on

killers

players who are interested in competition and defeating others

achievers

players who like a challenge and want to achieve the goals of the game

explorers

players who want to discover new things

control structures

sets of instructions that could easily be referenced with a single word and reused again and again without rewriting all the instructions

level editor

software used to create game levels, maps, campaigns, or scenarios

NES

the Nintendo Entertainment System was an 8-bit console, whose commercial success aided the recovery of the games industry from the North American video game crash of 1983-1985

cloning

the act of copying the gameplay and game mechanics of another game almost completely

playfield

the area in which the game action occurs

pixels

the basic units of programmable color in an image or a display

codebase

the collection of computer instructions and other files that constitute a piece of software

Computer Space

the first coin-operated computer game; failed commercially due to poor design

Magnavox Odyssey

the first commercial home video game console; launched the Golden Age of Arcade Games

directives

the first few lines of the script template that tell the computer what other classes you want to reference

game progression

the flow of progress through the game for a player

Heads Up Display (HUD)

the graphical overlay on a game that displays feedback for the player

game mechanics

the information governing the rules, instructions, and goals of the game

milestones

the major, measurable stages in the game design process

plot

the order in which events occur in the storyline—the "what happens" part of the story

copyright

the ownership of an intellectual property such as a piece of artwork or a song which is deemed by common law to belong to the creator, unless such property has been sold to someone else

hardware

the physical components of computers

fluid dynamics

the simulation of fluid systems such as water, smoke, or lava

processing power

the speed at which a computer can carry out the operations of a program

pre-production

the stage in development when producers, designers, programmers, artists, and writers create the design documents needed to make the game

post-production

the stage when a product is polished and perfected for launch

mastery

the state of complete skill, knowledge, and accomplishment of something

player immersion

the technical term for the state of engagement a player has with a game

microprocessor

the tiny, integrated circuits that contain the CPU's functions

mission structure

the underlying structure of a game level or mission in terms of layout, presentation of obstacles, and options for movement

genres

types of games characterized by their style, form, or content

analytics

using tools to capture data describing players' behavior

conditional logic

when a certain condition is met or an action, or reaction, occurs