Game Design the Wrong Way

Okay, so you’ve read some of my posts, and for some reason you don’t think all of the ideas are completely due to the influence of crack.  You’re now going to try and apply some of these ideas to a game design.

Good for you!  But how do you do it?

The first thing is to ask yourself what decisions you’re asking the player to make.  Then, for each decision, ask yourself the following questions:

• What does the player have to know in order to make this decision?
• What choices are available?  Why would the player choose any of the choices?  Why wouldn’t he?
• Would his decision change based on what he thinks his opponent will do?  Or, if he knows what his opponent is going to do, does that suggest a single choice for him?
• Is it possible that he won’t be able to execute the mechanics of the choice?
• Will this have any lasting impact on the game besides score?
• Does making this choice have a significant impact on the gameplay?  If so, does it detract from other things that should be more important?  If not, then is it worth having in the game?

If you can answer these questions, I believe you’re on your way to a higher level of game design.