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Renee Gittins
Creative Director at Stumbling Cat | Consultant | IGDA Alumni Board Chair | Forbes 30 Under 30 GamesCreative Director at Stumbling Cat | Consultant | IGDA Alumni Board Chair | Forbes 30 Under 30 Games
One of the most impactful game design tips I have ever received is to design for player emotion. While it sounds obvious, I find it to be the most valuable lens to look through improvements to my own projects and those I've consulted on.
A good game invokes emotion-- whether that's satisfaction, pride, tension, fear, astonishment, or joy. Invoking these emotions in a player helps them feel engaged by your game and tuning your design choices around these emotions can further that experience.
In Potions: A Curious Tale, we have a low level creature called a Mushdoom. It looks like a regular mushroom collectible until you approach it, then it pops out of the ground and chases you. This invokes surprise in players, so the choices we have made around its design are informed by that emotion: It makes a "pop" sound like a cork when it comes out of the ground, as it is a surprising, but not terribly scary sound. It does not immediately attack the player, so they are not overcome with fear, but they are encouraged to run away from it; It's attack animations, vocal sounds, and even movement are springy and light-hearted, which keep it balanced between playful and threatening to keep that feeling of surprise without it turning into fear.
As you can see-- all of these design choices are focused on supporting the intended emotion caused by this monster. A grinding rip spawn sound or lumbering stagger would be too frightening.
Another example would be a headshot in a FPS (first person shooter) game. A headshot should feel satisfying. This satisfaction can be amplified by making the design of the game require skill to land a headshot, by including VFX that signifies a headshot, by adding audio confirmation of this headshot (through the impact SFX and perhaps an announcement as well), and even by celebrating the player's headshot on a scoreboard or in a replay. Each of these design choices add to the feeling of satisfaction that we want the player to experience.
You should carefully observe play testers and the emotions that are invoked during playing your game to determine if you want to emphasize or change the emotion triggered. This emotion-focused lens can allow you as a game designer to tune your gameplay, UI, player interactions, and so much more.
Finally, here is a great emotion word wheel from Geoffrey Roberts that you can use as a base for identifying emotions you wish your player to experience.
I hope this tip helps you design the best games possible and sparks your creativity if you are ever feeling stuck!
#gamedev #gamedesign #design #gameplay
Creative Director at Stumbling Cat | Consultant | IGDA Alumni Board Chair | Forbes 30 Under 30 GamesCreative Director at Stumbling Cat | Consultant | IGDA Alumni Board Chair | Forbes 30 Under 30 Games
One of the most impactful game design tips I have ever received is to design for player emotion. While it sounds obvious, I find it to be the most valuable lens to look through improvements to my own projects and those I've consulted on.
A good game invokes emotion-- whether that's satisfaction, pride, tension, fear, astonishment, or joy. Invoking these emotions in a player helps them feel engaged by your game and tuning your design choices around these emotions can further that experience.
In Potions: A Curious Tale, we have a low level creature called a Mushdoom. It looks like a regular mushroom collectible until you approach it, then it pops out of the ground and chases you. This invokes surprise in players, so the choices we have made around its design are informed by that emotion: It makes a "pop" sound like a cork when it comes out of the ground, as it is a surprising, but not terribly scary sound. It does not immediately attack the player, so they are not overcome with fear, but they are encouraged to run away from it; It's attack animations, vocal sounds, and even movement are springy and light-hearted, which keep it balanced between playful and threatening to keep that feeling of surprise without it turning into fear.
As you can see-- all of these design choices are focused on supporting the intended emotion caused by this monster. A grinding rip spawn sound or lumbering stagger would be too frightening.
Another example would be a headshot in a FPS (first person shooter) game. A headshot should feel satisfying. This satisfaction can be amplified by making the design of the game require skill to land a headshot, by including VFX that signifies a headshot, by adding audio confirmation of this headshot (through the impact SFX and perhaps an announcement as well), and even by celebrating the player's headshot on a scoreboard or in a replay. Each of these design choices add to the feeling of satisfaction that we want the player to experience.
You should carefully observe play testers and the emotions that are invoked during playing your game to determine if you want to emphasize or change the emotion triggered. This emotion-focused lens can allow you as a game designer to tune your gameplay, UI, player interactions, and so much more.
Finally, here is a great emotion word wheel from Geoffrey Roberts that you can use as a base for identifying emotions you wish your player to experience.
I hope this tip helps you design the best games possible and sparks your creativity if you are ever feeling stuck!
#gamedev #gamedesign #design #gameplay
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