Today I'd like to share my
theory that to be a game designer is something completely different than
being a programmer. Many kids make the mistake of assuming that in
order to make games, they have to learn computer languages. I know that
because I was one of them. Almost 30 years later, I can tell you that
most of the computer code I have written in my life was a waste of time
and I regret that I didn't use more of that time to research and learn
how to design games rather trying to code them. I thought that if I
learned how to write programs, I would most certainly be able to create
games. Well, I was completely wrong! Let's face it, even if you become
the best programmer in the world, you will most certainly not succeed in
developing the next Doom, Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic or World of
Warcraft all by yourself. If you don't believe me, just read the
credits of each one of those games! Sure, there are a few programmers
listed there, but there are many more people involved in the process,
who never wrote a single line of sourcecode: graphic designers, special
effects, music composers and so on. The bottom line is that to produce a
game of such great scale, you need a big team of people where each one
of them is a specialist in a different area.
Now, I am
not trying to tell you that you can't create good games all by yourself,
nor I am telling you that learning some programming would be a complete
waste of time. I am just pointing out that if you want to make a good
game, you should first and foremost focus on how to write a compelling
storyline and learn the principles and mechanics that make it
interesting for the players. As a matter of fact, to create a game, you
don't need to have any computer programming skills at all. If that is
your case, the game mechanics of the gamebook adventures genre come to
the rescue.
Many of you will argue that gamebook
mechanics are very limited, if existing at all. Actually, gamebook
mechanics do exist and in some ways, they could be better than video
game mechanics. I wrote a whole article on the subject and I will
re-post it here on lloydofgamebooks.com in the near future. I would go
even further and I will add that, even though the advanced visual and
sound stimulation of the brain makes for a more enjoyable experience,
they are not game mechanics at all. As a matter of fact, I believe that a
lot of modern video games implement pretty 3d graphics to make up for
the lack of quality gameplay most of them suffer from.
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| Diablo2: a gamebook adventure with graphics and sound |
Let's take a look at one of my all-time favorite
games: Diablo. If we dissect the engine this game runs on, we will find
some gorgeous graphics combined with good sound effects and not much of
game mechanics. If you really think about your input as a gamer, it is
pretty much limited to clicking the mouse button over endless hordes of
enemies, keeping your fingers over the potion keys to make sure you stay
alive and absolutely no test of performance (it doesn't matter where or
when you hit the enemy). The damage dealt is based entirely on a
formula similar or exactly the same as the calculations in the Dungeons
and Dragons tabletop RPG (using random dice rolls). Therefore, if we
removed the graphics and the sound effects, the gameplay of the Diablo
franchise is the exact same as the gameplay in any gamebook adventure.
Why do we enjoy playing that game so much? Well, because it implements
other very appealing game mechanics: Exploring a Map, Treasure Hunt and
Economics (collecting coins and buying stuff). The best thing about
those three is that they are forming the very core of any good gamebook
adventure. Actually, think how much better Diablo would have been if it
implemented more of the gamebook approach and the player was required to
solve some logic puzzles or to make some meaningful choices (I'll talk
more about those gamebook mechanics in a later post). What I am trying
to say is that Diablo is a poorly designed gamebook adventure with some
pretty graphics and pleasant sound effects garnished with horrible
narrative.
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| NSS mobile: the simplest and most successful |
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My point here is that anybody, who can write on a
piece of paper can create a game similar to, if not better (at least
from a gameplay and storyline perspective) than most games available on
the market today. Sure, the lack of graphics and sound are going to
seriously affect the enjoyment of your players, but gamebook adventures
are a great place to start for anybody who wants to become a game
designer. Once you learn how to write a compelling story and how to
correctly implement test of performance that is based on the gamer input
rather than random dice rolls, you can take a look at some programing
languages. Even then, don't make the mistake to start learning C++ just
because it is one of the most powerful computer languages out there.
Start simple! A good example that the complexity of the source code is
not relevant to the quality of the game is the New Star Soccer series
developed by one of my idols: Simon Reed. All of his games were almost
exclusively developed in Blitz Basic (a very simple to learn computer
language) starting from 2d and moving to much more advanced 3d game
engines. After 5 relatively successful versions of New Star Soccer for
PC (he admits that he had a very hard time supporting his family with
the profits from the series), Simon decided to go mobile and
experimented for the fun of it. Due to the lack of computing power of
the phone processors, he developed a game that had the simplest engine
of them all (there are no 3d graphics and the sound effects are very
limited). Surprisingly, New Star Soccer mobile is the game that made him
a millionaire. I was not at all surprised when he later released New
Star Soccer Story, a game that is ultimately a gamebook adventure. In
his own words, during all those years of developing new versions of his
game, he perfected not the code for the engine, but the principles that
made the game addictive for millions of fans worldwide.
To
summarize this post, I'd like to say to you: Stop wasting time on
learning programming languages, start writing gamebook adventures and
read about gamebook mechanics! You can find a lot of useful information
on Gamebook Theory here at
LloydOfGamebooks.com,
AshtonSaylor.com and my own blog at
Visual Gamebook Adventures.
In
my next post, I am going to talk about Augmented Reality and how you
can make a game like that for your friends or kids by using just your
imagination and no computer at all. Actually, augmented reality didn't
start with Pokemon. It has been around for more years than most of you
can even guess, but more on that subject in my next article here on
lloydofgamebooks.com
Peter Agapov
Game Designer at
AugmentedRealityAdventure.com
President and Chief Executive Officer of
American Limo Naperville
Former Road Captain of
Marine One at
Operation "Welcome You Home"
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