Change of plans

Recap

The last months I have been working on the prototyping environment. Sadly I found that the environment wasn't gonna work out the way I wanted to in Unity3d. I also found that I was spending the majority of the time developing a tool with flexible tools. I'm to much of a beginner programmer to really get that to work the way in a way that it would really be usefull. After 2 months I found I had mostlty build the basis for a generic platformer. About 80 % of the essential elements that I had found for any kind of game were there but they weren't flexible and easy enough to use yet.  It's the way these were going to be combined that was going to result in interesting gameplay. I was going to have to change the elements quite a bit for them to work the way I wanted to. And to get it to work the way I was had to go against the framework of Unity it self.

So I've decided to move away from the prototyping environment. I want to graduate as a gamedesigner so the best thing for me is to design  a game not a tool.

After my mock exam presentation(a presentation about the progress that we have to do about halfway into the project) I was given the advice to remove the technical focus from my game and focus on the design of game rules.

I did some thinking about that and I looking back I think it's all falling in to place now. I come from a competitive gaming background and primarily focus on forming the core rules of a game. So it only makes sense if my project reflects that.

But what game?

I have 2 primary interests as a gamedesigner right now. One part of me likes designing games with a limited set of rules that have a lot of depth in them. These are the type of games I really like myself and have the most experience with.
The other part likes to come up with experimental interactive concepts. These are concepts that touch the borders of what we consider games. They focus on evoking emotions unusual to games (for example a game that plays like a walse for 2). To avoid going into to much detail I have a link to a description that I think kinda describes what I'm looking for. Again they are experimental so they tend to be hard to define.

I gave both of these types of games a shot during brainstorming but I found that the limited ruleset game concepts are more clear and more feasable. So I decided to focus on those for the rest of the period.

New direction

So my new project goal is now:

"Design a game with a couple of simple gamerules that form a engaging competitive game that's easy to learn but hard to master."

The game experience is to be be engaging to play due to the gamesystem not the art or sound. The rest supports this experience in a as minimal way as possible. So no fancy artwork, soundtracks or complex technology as the selling point.

Form?

Since the focus is now primarily on finding, tweaking and refining the game rules the form is left to be decided. It can be any form really (that includes cards, boards, roleplay etc). What remains the same is that form is not the focus point but merely a means to an end.

Impact on thesis

This change in direction impacts the research I was doing for my project. The focus is not on prototyping methods any more but on finding and enhancing a type of play.

Since the gamerules are the focus now I need to research gamerule types and the effect they have on gameplay. I need to define for myself what is required for competitive gameplay and what enhances it.
And I need to do a lot of prototyping in the following weeks with the concepts I have designed. The majority of the time will be spend adjusting the gamerules.
In the end I want visitors of the graduation expo to join in on the game and walk away convinced that this has competitive depth (even though they only played it for a fraction of the time). I'll know that the game is a succes when players find it hard to quit.

The research will still be primarily practical and not so much academic in nature though and mainly serves as a point of reference for my design decisions. I don't really intend to make a statement (although I will share my view on what makes a good competitive game and what doesn't).

So next up I'll start by sharing the games that form my current main inspiration.