Game Development

Part 2. Game Desain

Bambang Robi’in, S.T., M.T.
The main component of the game
The basic elements of the game according to Teresa Dillon

THEME

ANIMATION RULE

TEXT PLOT

GAME

SOUND OBJECT

GRAPHIC INTERFACE
1. Theme
an overview of the topics and environment in the
game. contains moral messages that the main
character or other players who have certain
characteristics want to convey.

2. Rule
Game rule is the command rule, how to run, object
function, and character in a game.
3. Plot
The plot contains things players will do in a game.
The plot is also instructions regarding what to
accomplish in a game.

4. Object
Object is an object or important things used by
players to solve problems such as skills and
knowledge to be able to play it.
5. Text, Graphic, and Sound
Text, graphics, and sound are elements used to
populate the game to create an attractive and
interactive interface.
6. Animation
animation is attached to the game to move
characters and other objects.
7. User Interface
a feature that serves to communicate between the
user and the game application.
Main Komponents of Game
FEATURES

GAMEPLAY INTERFACE
GAME

RULES LEVEL
1. Features
Features are what make your game different from
any other game, and this is one reason why
features are a good place to start. Another is that a
feature-based description of the game will endure
throughout the development process, whereas it is
very likely that most of the rules you write in an
attempt to create those features will have to
change further down the line.
2. Gameplay
Your treatment described the game features. Your aim in writing
the spec is to describe how those features will create gameplay.
Your description of anticipated gameplay in the game spec serves
three purposes:
1. It explains to the developers how the game is supposed to
work.
2. It provides a vision statement that can be referred to
throughout development.
3. It helps you focus on which features are integral and which are
chrome.
3. Interface
Always remember what the interface is for. It isn’t just there to look pretty;
its primary function is to help the player play the game.
"I find the interface is one of the hardest aspects of game design. It should
be intuitive and icons should be kept to a minimum. I have never got an
interface right (the) first time. It’s one of those things that should be tested
and tested until everyone is happy with it.“ (—Peter Molyneux, quoted in Develop magazine,
May 1998 )
Good interface design involves answering the question, “How do I make sure
the player isn’t having to work against the system?” And really good
interface design is both an art and a craft, for it tries to address the question,
“How do I make the player forget there are any restrictions on his control of
the game?”
4. Rules
The feature-based description allows everyone to share a vision
of the game that you are aiming for. At this stage, though, you can
only make a guess at the rules that will actually create that game
for you. This is why we stress time and again throughout this book
that game development must be iterative. You will be continually
adding or amending rules, very often only to find that the rule
that you’ve added interacts in some unexpected way with those
already in place. So a little qualitative reasoning at this stage will
pay off later.
5. Level
Level design affects the core gameplay; it is not just tagged on afterwards.
Level design contributes greatly to the style, background, and story line of
the game. Still more importantly, the way the levels are constructed can
either enhance the inherent gameplay or detract from it. Although the lead
designer is rarely the person who oversees the day-today design of the
levels, he needs to address level-design issues in the game spec itself.
What level design should not be used for is to cover deficiencies in the
gameplay. As we’ll see in the next chapter, good gameplay consists of choices
that are non-trivial. Choices should never just be a question of recognizing
that X is always better than Y, and so therefore you should always do X. A
level that says, “You can’t build bridges; find another way,” begs the
question, “Why are bridges in the game at all, then?”
 Example Game Specification
Overview: Warrior Kings is a realtime strategy game set in the Middle Ages. It is not overly historical: this is “fun
medieval” not “real medieval.” Players build cities and must manage an agricultural and geographically widespread
economy while waging war on each other. Games are expected to take longer than Age of Empires, say, because of
the need to build up an army of multiple troop types and keep it supplied in the field in order to win total victory

Players The game will support both solo and multiplay. Up to six players can compete in freeform games as well as
in scenarios with specific objectives, such as maximizing piety (religious merit), being first to build a Star Chamber,
and so on. Any player may be human or computer.

If time allows, there may be other races with different mixes of units. But such differences will be quite minimal,
with only one or two units being unique to each race, like Warcraft 2 rather than Starcraft.

The first WK release will definitely feature a European medieval race. Other possible races are Saracens, Byzantines,
and Mongols.
 Example Game Specification
Look and Feel The main screen will be a full 3D view of a medieval landscape dotted with trees, river, farm, etc.
Levels will be much larger than the view on the main screen. The camera can be tilted and rotated without restriction,
as well as scrolled anywhere on the landscape. Some kind of “fog of war” effect will prevent a player seeing what’s
gong on in any place where he doesn’t have characters.

Art style is based principally on late-medieval sources such as Brueghel. Characters will be polygon-based, not
sprites: tiny industrious figures tilling the soil, hacking back forests, erecting great cathedrals. Buildings will be based
on those of the 14 and 15th centuries.
th

Films to look at are The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, and The Seventh Seal.

Musical sources: Carmina Burana, “Siegfried’s Funeral March,” Gregorian chant,

and Tudor lute music. Books: Strange Landscape, A World Lit Only By Fire, The Paston Letters.
 Example Game Specification
Interface Commands are issued via mouse-selected icons. Selecting a unit and then right-
clicking on something will “intuit” the command. For example, selecting a military unit and
right-clicking an enemy unit is interpreted as Attack. There will also be keyboard shortcuts.

A side-of-screen interface layout is used as in Command & Conquer. This shows statistics
for the selected unit(s), available command icons, and a circular minimap of the entire level.

The area in view on the main screen is highlighted on the mini-map as a trapezoidal
window. Rotating the main view causes this window to rotate, but does not rotate the mini-
map itself. (This is to avoid disorientating the player.)
 Example Game Specification
Start Up Most levels begin with several manor houses scattered across the landscape, each with one or more
farms. Each player controls several manors. At the start of the game, peasants are already working the farms; they
can be reassigned or left at those tasks.

Each player also has at least one palace where his resources are located. Resources must be brought to a palace
before they get added to a player’s stocks.

The first game choices involve spawning more peasants or townsmen, assigning them to different tasks, collecting
resources, building new structures, and exploring the landscape.

Objectives The object of the game varies according to the scenario. It will be some combination of the following:
➤ Destroy all enemy characters
➤ Destroy or capture enemy buildings
➤ Maximize your own resources
➤ Steal or damage enemy resources
➤ Achieve a custom objective (in special scenarios)
 Example Game Specification
Entities Entities
in the game are structures, characters, world objects, and other units.
Characters are civilian or military.
Military units are pikeman, archer, knight, and so on.

Features Features are resources, supply lines, battalions, acts of God, and so on.
Many (not all) key military units can be grouped into battalions. Battalions can be placed in formation, which
defines behavior protocols and gives some formationspecific combat advantages, usually at a cost in speed or
maneuverability, and so on.

Rules The five formation types are column, orb, line, scattered, and wedge. Units that can be grouped into
formation are pikemen, archers, knights, lancers, mercenaries, and sergeants.

Allowed formations for pikemen are column, orb, line, and scattered. Allowed formations for archers are…and so
on.
Units in scattered formation retreat if taking proportionately more damage than they are inflicting on their target.
(This is intended to lead to skirmishing, so the calculation must be done a little ahead of time, to give the unit
time to turn and move away. This will require tweaking.)
 Example Game Specification
Gameplay Placing units in formation assigns them a standard “behavior protocol,” which the formation layout allows
the player to see at a glance when viewing his army. Units in scattered formation will retreat if seriously threatened
(although missile troops will occasionally stop, turn, and loose a volley at their pursuers).

Units in wedge will always attack with persistence if an enemy comes within charge range, and so on. (See “Features”
and “Rules.”) It’s anticipated that the use of formations will allow players to set up reasonably
reliable battle plans, preventing the usual problem in realtime wargames where your mix of units arrive at the wrong
time because you didn’t click the mouse button fast enough. Warrior Kings is designed to appeal to the adult market
(15 years up), and hand-eye coordination should not be too decisive a factor. Strategic thinking is what counts.

Military units in the field cannot recover hit points unless supplied with food. (See “Features.”) This encourages
players to consolidate to protect their lines of supply before expanding. Conversely, the player who succeeds with a
daring raid on enemy supply lines may be able to win in spite of poor odds. The terrain on any given level will
determine how easy this may be, with mountain passes being of key strategic
importance.
 Example Game Specification
Gameplay Placing units in formation assigns them a standard “behavior protocol,” which the formation layout allows
the player to see at a glance when viewing his army. Units in scattered formation will retreat if seriously threatened
(although missile troops will occasionally stop, turn, and loose a volley at their pursuers).

Units in wedge will always attack with persistence if an enemy comes within charge range, and so on. (See “Features”
and “Rules.”) It’s anticipated that the use of formations will allow players to set up reasonably
reliable battle plans, preventing the usual problem in realtime wargames where your mix of units arrive at the wrong
time because you didn’t click the mouse button fast enough. Warrior Kings is designed to appeal to the adult market
(15 years up), and hand-eye coordination should not be too decisive a factor. Strategic thinking is what counts.

Military units in the field cannot recover hit points unless supplied with food. (See “Features.”) This encourages
players to consolidate to protect their lines of supply before expanding. Conversely, the player who succeeds with a
daring raid on enemy supply lines may be able to win in spite of poor odds. The terrain on any given level will
determine how easy this may be, with mountain passes being of key strategic
importance.
 Example Game Specification
Level Design Levels with plenty of level, open ground will favor the use of units in formation. Levels where the terrain
contains many hills, chasm, and stretches of difficult ground will militate against massed formations, instead
encouraging the use of more mobile and/or versatile units in small groups.

Most levels will not be exclusively one type of terrain. However, levels must be predominantly level or gently rolling
terrain with infrequent cliffs if the feature of troop formations is to be worthwhile. (In the extremely bumpy terrain of
Populous 3, formations would not be worth including because they would never be used.) Cavalry tend to be faster
than infantry but are more seriously affected by difficult terrain such as marshes, heavy snow, broken heathland, and
so on. A level with swathes of such terrain will force the player to think about how to use his cavalry.

Technical Requirements Only a PC Version is planned. Minimum spec will be Pentium 200 with a graphics card…
and so on.

Marketing The client’s Marketing department has sales figures and projections for this genre. It’s expected that the
appeal of Warrior Kings will be akin to the thoughtful strategic gameplay of Alpha Centauri or Settlers rather than the
furiously fast action of StarCraft. The game’s unique selling points (USPs) are…and so on.

This summary of the game spec for Warrior Kings should give you a template to
follow as you design your latest blockbuster.