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Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to , , , , role-playing games, , war games, or simulation games.'s 1935 patent for Monopoly includes specific design elements developed during the prototype phase. Prototypes are common in the later stages of board game design, and "prototype circles" provide an opportunity for designers to play and critique each other's games.]]In Elements of Game Design, game designer Robert Zubek defines game design by breaking it down into three elements:
In Academy, game design falls within the field of game studies (not to be confused with game theory, which studies strategic decision making, primarily in non-game situations).
Often game designers also do development work on the same project. However, some publishers commission extensive development of games to suit their target audience after licensing a game from a designer. For larger games, such as collectible card games, designers and developers work in teams with separate roles.
Many graphic elements of games are created by the designer when producing a prototype of the game, revised by the developer based on testing, and then further refined by the artist and combined with artwork as a game is prepared for publication or release.
A game concept may be pitched to a game publisher in a similar manner as film ideas are pitched to potential film producers. Alternatively, game publishers holding a game license to intellectual property in other media may solicit game concepts from several designers before picking one to design a game.
Play testing is a major part of game development. During testing, players play the prototype and provide feedback on its gameplay, the usability of its components, the clarity of its goals and rules, ease of learning, and entertainment value. During testing, various balance issues may be identified, requiring changes to the game's design. The developer then revises the design, components, presentation, and rules before testing it again. Later testing may take place with focus groups to test consumer reactions before publication.
After the rise of commercial game publishing in the late 19th century, many games that had formerly evolved via folk processes became commercial properties, often with custom scoring pads or preprepared material. For example, the similar public domain games Generala, Yacht, and Yatzy led to the commercial game Yahtzee in the mid-1950s.Wood, Clement and Goddard, Gloria, The Complete Book of Games, Halcyon House, NY, 1938
Today, many commercial games, such as Taboo, Balderdash, Pictionary, or Time's Up!, are descended from traditional parlour games. Adapting traditional games to become commercial properties is an example of game design. Similarly, many sports, such as soccer and baseball, are the result of folk processes, while others were designed, such as basketball, invented in 1891 by James Naismith.
Technological advances have provided new media for games throughout history. For example, accurate topographic maps produced as lithographs and provided free to Prussian officers helped popularize wargaming. Cheap bookbinding (printed labels wrapped around cardboard) led to mass-produced board games with custom boards. Inexpensive (hollow) lead figurine casting contributed to the development of miniature wargaming. Cheap custom dice led to poker dice. led to Ultimate frisbee.Victor A. Malafronte (1998). 9780966385526, American Trends Publishing Company. . ISBN 9780966385526
Play develops children's content knowledge and provides children the opportunity to develop social skills, competencies, and disposition to learn.Wood, E. and J. Attfield. (2005). Play, learning, and the early childhood curriculum. 2nd ed. London: Paul Chapman Play-based learning is based on a Vygotskian model of scaffolding where the teacher pays attention to specific elements of the play activity and provides encouragement and feedback on children's learning.Martlew, J., Stephen, C. & Ellis, J. (2011). Play in the primary school classroom? The experience of teachers supporting children's learning through a new pedagogy. Early Years, 31(1), 71–83. When children engage in real-life and imaginary activities, play can be challenging in children's thinking.Whitebread, D., Coltman, P., Jameson, H. & Lander, R. (2009). Play, cognition, and self-regulation: What exactly are children learning when they learn through play? Educational & Child Psychology, 26(2), 40–52. To extend the learning process, sensitive intervention can be provided with adult support when necessary during play-based learning.
The most ancient board games known today are over 5000 years old. They are frequently abstract in character and their design is primarily focused on a core set of simple rules. Of those that are still played today, games like go (), mancala (), and chess () have gone through many presentational and/or rule variations. In the case of chess, for example, chess variants are developed constantly, to focus on certain aspects of the game, or just for variation's sake.
Traditional board games date from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Whereas ancient board game design was primarily focused on rules alone, traditional board games were often influenced by Victorian era mores. Academic (e.g. history and geography) and moral didacticism were important design features for traditional games, and Puritan associations between dice and the Devil meant that early American game designers eschewed their use in board games entirely.Johnson, Bruce E. "Board games: affordable and abundant, boxed amusements from the 1930s and '40s recall the cultural climate of an era." Country Living. 1 December 1997. Even traditional games that did use dice, like Monopoly (based on the 1906 The Landlord's Game), were rooted in educational efforts to explain political concepts to the masses. By the 1930s and 1940s, board game design began to emphasize amusement over education, and characters from comic strips, radio programmes, and (in the 1950s) television shows began to be featured in board game adaptations.
Recent developments in modern board game design can be traced to the 1980s in Germany, and have led to the increased popularity of "German-style board games" (also known as "Eurogames" or "designer games"). The design emphasis of these board games is to give players meaningful choices. This is manifested by eliminating elements like randomness and luck to be replaced by skill, strategy, and resource competition, by removing the potential for players to fall irreversibly behind in the early stages of a game, and by reducing the number of rules and possible player options to produce what Alan R. Moon has described as "elegant game design". The concept of elegant game design has been identified by The Boston Globe's Leon Neyfakh as related to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's the concept of "flow" from his 1990 book, "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience".
Modern technological advances have had a democratizing effect on board game production, with services like Kickstarter providing designers with essential startup capital and tools like 3D printers facilitating the production of game pieces and board game prototypes.Whigfield, Nick. "Video Hasn't Killed Interest in Board Games; New Technologies Have Contributed to Revival of Tabletop Entertainment". The Irish Times. 12 May 2014.Hesse, Monica. "Rolling the dice on a jolly good pastime". The Washington Post. 29 August 2011. A modern adaptation of figure games are miniature wargames like Warhammer 40,000.
How players play their cards, revealing information and interacting with previous plays as they do so, is central to card game design. In partnership card games, such as Contract Bridge, rules limiting communication between players on the same team become an important part of the game design. This idea of limited communication has been extended to cooperative card games, such as Hanabi.
Casino game mathematician, Michael Shackleford has noted that it is much more common for casino game designers today to make successful variations than entirely new casino games.Shackleford, Michael. " Ten Commandments for Game Inventors". Wizardofodds.com. Retrieved 13 December 2014. Gambling columnist John Grochowski points to the emergence of community-style in the mid-1990s, for example, as a successful variation on an existing casino game type.John Grochowski. "Gaming Guru: Tracing Back the Roots of Some Popular Gaming Machines at Casinos". The Press of Atlantic City. 28 August 2013.
Unlike the majority of other games which are designed primarily in the interest of the player, one of the central aims of casino game design is to optimize the house advantage and maximize revenue from . Successful casino game design works to provide entertainment for the player and revenue for the gambling house.
To maximise player entertainment, casino games are designed with simple easy-to-learn rules that emphasize winning (i.e. whose rules enumerate many victory conditions and few loss conditions), and that provide players with a variety of different gameplay postures (e.g. card hands). Player entertainment value is also enhanced by providing gamblers with familiar gaming elements (e.g. dice and cards) in new casino games.
To maximise success for the gambling house, casino games are designed to be easy for to operate and for to oversee.
The two most fundamental rules of casino game design are that the games must be non-fraudable (including being as nearly as possible immune from advantage gambling) and that they must mathematically favor the house winning. Shackleford suggests that the optimum casino game design should give the house an edge of smaller than 5%.
Early role-playing game theories developed on indie role-playing game design forums in the early 2000s. The Threefold Theory FAQ by John Kim Everything You Need to Know about GEN Theory by Scarlet Jester The Forge's article page, with the key articles to GNS Theory/Forge Theory Color Theory by Fabien Ninoles Channel Theory , by Larry Hols
Social scientific approaches have concerned themselves with the question of, "What do games do to people?" Using tools and methods such as surveys, controlled laboratory experiments, and ethnography, researchers have investigated the impacts that playing games have on people and the role of games in everyday life.
Humanities approaches have concerned themselves with the question of, "What meanings are made through games?" Using tools and methods such as interviews, ethnographies, and participant observation, researchers have investigated the various roles that games play in people's lives and the meanings players assign to their experiences.Consalvo, 2007
From within the game industry, central questions include, "How can we create better games?" and, "What makes a game good?" "Good" can be taken to mean different things, including providing an entertaining experience, being easy to learn and play, being innovative, educating the players, and/or generating novel experiences.Rollings and Morris, 2000; Rouse III, 2001Fabricatore et al., 2002; Falstein, 2004
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