It is apparent that many games that are popular within today's interest have the players tackle on the game with a narrative dictating their path. Through a narrative oriented game, players are able to follow along the story and the obstacles it brings. I believe that having a story behind a game can make the game much more intriguing and can somewhat pull the player into the game itself. With this being said, it is not only a story behind a game that has been popularized as there are many different types of ways to approach it. A game can be based solely on a book or movie. And this brings the designer of the game to question if bringing the director or author of the book or movie is a good idea. This may prove to be more efficient in making the game's goal to be oriented around the actual story. This is not the only way to address this. Game designers can also have leniency for the players. For instance, a player can come across another character in the game whom gives the player two options: to either move forward into the next level or continue attempting to accomplish the goal of that level. I believe this approach gives the gamer some type of control in their path and may be more liked than other game designs. Along with this, the game designer must be be aware of the importance of spatial dimensions. Surrounding the design around a particular story can be a great way in creating the game world and its characteristics. Having detailed game worlds makes the experience of the game way more realistic and pulls the mind of the player right into it. Let's say a game was being made for a story of a princess being rescued... The game designer can make a forest type of world with creatures who help the player along the way. Also, creating descriptive depictions of trees and flowers will make the game experience really touch into the player's desire to follow along with the story. When a player is familiar with the story already it can either challenge or aid in the player's performance. This is why I believe it is very important for game designers to stick with a story plot if they are set on making the game around it. If the story is manipulated in some way that tracks off the story plot, it will nevertheless not make sense to the player and make them play poorly. Sculpting the space of the game with detailed depictions of the game environment is a must in successfully creating a well-made game. Moreover, a game designer can create a game that has absolutely no story behind it; many games have this type of design such as the popularized game of Tetris. Most games with no story have a puzzle design to them in that there is no story behind it but the goal is the game is deliberately expressed. I believe most of these game become popular because it is not directed to a certain audience but instead can be played by any one no matter what age. This is where the importance of making higher levels harder comes into play. To consistently entertain the player if the game has a story, each world or level should be different in some ways. For example going back to the game with trying to rescue a princess, one world could be in a forest while the next world would be situated inside the castle the princess is stuck in. If a designer is planning on making a game without a story, it is important for them to do the same tactic but in a different way. Because there is no story to change the levels, the levels within this type of game would be harder and harder as the player rises in completing levels. In my opinion, I believe games that have well-made spatial dimensions and traits within it are the most entertaining and visually stimulating. Along with this, giving players options within the game to choose their own path is a good way to make the player feel like they have some control over what happens in the future of the game. Having players interact with each other in a world is also another way to really have the player feel like they are in the game. With this, players in the same world can speak with one another and also feel free to team up together to help each other in the game. As technological communication skyrockets, gaming can actually be proven to be very sociable in these type of game designs where people can actually make friends. Gaming critics must be people with a lot of gaming experience in their hands but I believe what they are mainly looking for is if the designer can express the aim to win the game clearly as well as making a visually stimulating game world with variations of the environment for different levels. If you are interested in making game designs but do not know where to start.. consider looking into individualized game websites that allow anyone and everyone to post their created game such as Addicting Games, Miniclip, etc.
Just for a little fun, I am going to post one of my favorite online game I used to play as a kid. Feel free to take a wing at it :)
http://www.miniclip.com/games/snow-drift/en/
No comments:
Post a Comment