Testing, Attention Please

Solo Testing is something I've done almost exclusively, seeing as its only been me designing and playing this game so far. I've also been bug testing by myself. By which I mean accidentally being launched off screen in game and trying to prevent that from happening again by trying to recreate it.

Balance testing is something I don't really think I need to do because my game is that advanced as to have a bypass. Apparently I am my own most valuable Playtester. I could probably get some complete strangers to play my game by putting an ad on craigslist.

I would just like to say that I would be absolutely overjoyed if my game started 'making itself' because that would be a lot of stress off my back.

"Your game is not perfect." Yeah I'm well aware of that trust me.

Games Stories

Not going to lie, when I saw the word 'stories' my eyes lit up.

I am very fond of Wikipedia's definition of art being 'the process of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to senses or emotions' because it means that whenever I write a story it becomes art.

Purpose, form, idiom,structure, craft, surface. All these are things I have to take into consideration while writing, as they all have a part to play in the creation of a story.

The small bit about 'What was your first great game idea' and the response being 'It'll be just like Pacman meets Space Invaders. Only better!' is quite literally the driving idea behind what most people like to call 'Fanfiction'.

Which is a perfectly acceptable form of art and if you disagree I shall gladly argue my point.

Tragedy meaning a serious and lifelike story hits a bit too close, as nowadays people try to make the worst things possible happen to characters who don't deserve it simply for 'wangst'. And I agree that there is still a lot of bad writing out there, but there is a greater amount of good writing!

Plot: An important thing that we figure out later.

Theme: Something we don't think about or realise until after the story is complete.

Character: One of the two things that probably created the story, thinking of a character, or of powers and wanting a character to use them.

Diction: Ary The other thing that might create a story, simply thinking of a line of dialogue that sounds amazing and you are so amazed you thought of it you need to make an entire world just so you can say that one line of dialogue and then after you've finished writing it you realise you forgot to say it.

Rhythm: Ha. What rhythm?

Spectacle: The 'eye candy' of the story. What makes your story unique. What makes it different to every other story about magic or about a dystopia. What makes your story?

All stories include crossing gaps of some kind? All stories are about change? Ok yeah that I can accept. Change can come in many different forms, and usually that change is a victory. Changing a goverment, changing the world, changing your clothes. Hey, not all victories are about the big things.

Ah, found something I disagree with.

"Having the player make moral choices for the main character is hard, because the choices often don’t involve real consequences."

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It has consequences for the player character, and for the person playing it. Plus, consequences on the players emotional state. 

A scene from TellTales 'The Walking Dead'

Frankly, if you don't have a heavy moral decision without consequences in your story-driven game, you haven't written a good story.

Game Fun

Ah, so we're back to the 8 different types of fun. The thing I do not agree with whatsoever. Although reading through this it labels Monopoly as a Social game. Monopoly is not a social game, if anything it will ruin your social life because of the arguments it causes.

It does make a good point however about why making a game with all eight of these kinds of fun, would not be as fun as one thinks. Not everyone likes the same type of fun, some people prefer one kind over the other.

I didn't think reading the words 'sans Pokemon' would make me as upset as it did but here we are. If a Caveman found it useful you'll find it fun? I feel like there are somethings a caveman did that we would not find fun and instead find deeply disturbing.

Griefing as a form of fun is something I disagree with intensely. You should not feel better because you destroyed someones mansion they spent more than five hours building in Minecraft.

Planet Minecraft
Explaining why people Grief

 

Game Decisions

Cozy. Coziness is considered a factor in games, where there is an absence of risk, of danger. Where there is an abundance of shelter and food, where nothing is pressing or immediate and there are a lot of comforting aesthetic signals where players have a low sense of arousa- I'm sorry did I read that right?

Ok yeah apparently a low state of arousal is part of having a cozy game. Go figure.

One game that in my opinion meets all these needs is Stardew Valley. A game where you inherit a plot of land to build a farm that you can grow and change at your own pace.

Stardew Valley
Chucklefish LTD

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a big factor as part of the Coziness of a game. Which suprised me that something to do with basic human living would play such a roll within developing video games. The hierarchy of needs tends to revolve around the rewards you gain from playing.

Much like real life, you should not make meaningless decisions. They are the worst kind and have no affect on gameplay.

I respectfully disagree. A meaningless decision could be something like changing what hat your character is wearing. It might not change the game, but it'll make you feel better. And on the other hand, there really is no such thing as a meaningless decision.

Games GDD

I'm not going to lie simply seeing the Doc layout, even the non-advanced one, filled me with a sense of dread like no other. And also using a site called Dundoc is making me wonder if Dundalk hasn't filed a copyright claim at some point.

https://www.dundoc.com/project/4782

This took a while to do, and I'm glad I wrote something down about it earlier before starting this because I lost all knowledge of my own game the moment I opened the document.

Luckily I gained it back after downing four cups of coffee in order to do both this blog and the document.

Games GDD

"Here are a bunch of elements, just throw them together and call it a game."

Sounds like my kinda game.

The 'core aesthetics' of a game can vary wildly. Each player can experience something completely different depending on their playthrough of a game. An example of this is Undertale. Working backwards is something I'm used to, having created characters in my head and then figuring out why they exist. It is something I do a lot with my stories.

Creating rules is a very difficult thing for me, as I have more fun breaking them. And working with a proven system isn't something I would like to do, I would prefer to create my own system. Though technically speaking everything has been done before. But not my way.

Frank Sinatra
Singer of 'My Way'

Creating ideas for games was a lot harder than I originally thought it would be, I figured that out during my game brainstorm. But I still managed to come up with four. Having games being played online is a big thing so I might just try and find out how to get that to work with my game.

Prototypes, no not the games, are important because if you don't make one you won't be able to test out how the mechanics work or how players will react to that style of game.

Games MDA

Mechanics are rules. Mechanics rule... We should treat our engineers better.

Rules -> System Behaviour -> Fun

An excellent flowchart we should see more of.

The other one I made a rather unfortunate acronym of. I'm not sure following the MDA flowchart is a good idea.

Wow this video is just full of bad acronyms.

I disagree with the idea of getting past words like 'fun'. Fun is what games are all about. Just look at Nintendo. Their games are fun and they're the biggest game company there is. Fun isn't something you can define easily or into eight simple catagories. But that won't stop people from trying.

Digital Versions:

I found this interesting because, well it's true. The amount of people I've seen playing Uno or Monopoly on a console or computer has only increased in time. And sometimes the games are upgraded versions of the board games themselves.

For example, take Sid Meier's Civilisation. A game I personally love to play, and I would personally describe as 'Risk but a hundred and six times better'. In my opinion the reason that Digital Versions of Board games are becoming more popular is because of accessibility but also because of friendships.

With games like Uno and Monopoly being able to be played online, you can play with people around the world, or with friends in different parts of the country. Similar to how arcade games such as Street Fighter can now be played in your home and against different people all over the world.

Sid Meier's Civilisation 6 Box Art 

Game Periodic Table

The idea of using a scientific word like 'atoms' when it comes to something like gaming is something that I find terribly strange. Unless there is a game to do with science, which to be fair there are a lot of them, I think a separate word should be used, such as 'building blocks' or something similar.

I think a game wearing a suit and tie would be a very interesting concept. Maybe it is a dating simulator where you have to pick the correct suit to win a date. Wow this got off topic fast.

A game where you wear a suit and tie.
Hitman Absolution: 2014

The idea of how many different possibilities there are for players alone is something I think is interesting. And also I read the words 'College Assassination Game' and now intend to try and make that a thing on campus. Or at the very least a game of 'Humans Vs Zombies'. 

Resource management is always something I like to do in games, mostly organising my containers so that they contain only one specific kind of resource or it is at least in order.

Theme is probably the thing I am best at, and as a writer I think it's the most important part of a game. Take God Of War 2018 for example. The narrative within that game is absolutely essential. Without the background, without the growth of the characters, there's nothing.