Game mechanics are the rules and systems that define how players interact with a game and how the game responds to their actions. They are the core of any game design and can make or break the player experience. But how do you decide which game mechanics to add or remove from your game project? Here are some tips and principles to help you make better decisions.
Before you start adding or removing game mechanics, you need to have a clear vision of what you want your game to achieve. What is the genre, theme, and mood of your game? What is the main challenge or problem that players have to overcome? What is the core loop or the main activity that players will repeat throughout the game? These questions will help you define your design goals and guide your choices of game mechanics.
Understand whether the goals you have with those mechanics add or detract from the game experience, regardless of the theme or mood of the game. Ask yourself: "Is your core game loop fun? Does the new mechanic add value time and time again, or is it just a specific mission / time you need to use the mechanic, and then never again?" If the mechanic is only something you will have players use sporadically, then that might be the first thing to think about culling and focusing on enhancing the core game experience more at this stage.
To revamp this based on timeless classics like Rainbow Riches, the approach to game mechanics design should focus on elevating player involvement and amplifying the enjoyment aspect of the game. These mechanics ought to seamlessly integrate with the current systems, steering clear of adding undue intricacy. It's vital for designers to meticulously evaluate how these new mechanics might affect the game's equilibrium, rhythm, and advancement trajectory. The goal is to infuse the gameplay with richness and diversity, ensuring these elements do not overburden the players or hinder the game's inherent rhythm.
Start of simple. Create the bare bones of the feature. After it is a stable prototype, try adding small things onto it, and make sure it is always stable and adds something to the feature. If you aren't sure if it adds something, ask yourself the following. "Does this newly added aspect feel complete?" If your answer is yes, you should probably remove it. If your answer is no, you should try figuring out what it is missing.
We can start thinking about the vision of the game, is the experience we are providing is it fun for players to keep playing it? Is it worth keeping these mechanics? Does such a mechanic make sense with the game loop, theme, or story? So, having such practices can help to iterate over the game to add new features and mechanics as well may remove something that is not insightful enough to keep it. We want to provide an engaging gaming experience to our players.
Understanding your goals is indeed extremely important when deciding what game mechanics to add or remove. Every game should have a definite goal and direction. Knowing the genre, theme, and mood helps match the mechanics to the overall feel of the game. For example, if the goal is to create an intense survival experience, mechanics such as resource management and environmental hazards may be prioritized. Conversely, in a random puzzle, mechanics focused on problem solving and strategy may take precedence. By setting clear design goals, developers can ensure that each mechanic serves its purpose of improving the player's experience.
The best way to know if your game mechanics work or not is to test them with real players. Testing will help you gather feedback, identify problems, and measure the impact of your game mechanics on the player experience. You can use different methods and tools to test your game mechanics, such as prototypes, playtests, surveys, analytics, or user research. Based on the results, you can iterate on your game mechanics, adding, removing, or tweaking them until you achieve your desired outcome.
Align with Your Vision: Mechanics must support your game's genre, theme, and core challenges. Consider your target audience as well. Test and Iterate: Playtest often! Observe player behavior for insights, and don't be afraid to remove mechanics that aren't working. Balance is key. Evaluate Carefully: Consider these factors: Relevance: Does it fit the game's purpose? Simplicity: Is it easy to learn? Fun: Is it enjoyable to use? Depth: Does it offer strategic choices? Innovate: Study successful games for inspiration but aim to make your mechanics unique and memorable.
Firstly, just play it yourself. Get a hang of what you created and try to exploit it in every way possible. You know the limits of your game the best, and there are probably more limits than you realize. Secondly, give it to people around you. People with zero experience with your game can actually exploit mechanics the best. Try to let them break it
Prototyping allows for early experimentation, while playtesting provides direct feedback from players. Surveys, analytics and user research provide quantitative and qualitative data for a holistic understanding. This iterative approach allows developers to improve mechanics based on real-world feedback and ensure the final product meets the players' intended experience.
Play it yourself! Test by yourself! Do a a test with players that sign-up for this. Do not force everyone to have a feature that might not work.
Lo primero probarlo uno mismo como jugador así descartar as fallos antes que tus tester y podrás céntrarte en otros más complejos que encontrarán los que lo prueben
Adding or removing game mechanics is not enough to create a great game. You also need to balance and polish them to ensure they are consistent, coherent, and satisfying. Balancing means adjusting the difficulty, rewards, and consequences of your game mechanics to create a fair and engaging challenge for players. Polishing means refining the details, feedback, and aesthetics of your game mechanics to create a smooth and immersive experience. Both processes require a lot of testing and iteration as well.
Make sure that everything flows together. If it doesn't fit the pace of your game, change it. Aim for it to be on par with the rest, not overwhelm.
Does it work flawlessly with your game? Do you have a good feedback? If yes, keep it. If not, do not keep it. Don't over complicate things.
One of the best ways to improve your game mechanics design skills is to learn from other games. You can analyze how other games use game mechanics to create different effects, emotions, and outcomes for players. You can also try to replicate, remix, or modify game mechanics from other games to see how they fit your own game project. You can also get inspiration from other media, such as books, movies, or art, to create new and original game mechanics.
Look at the changes into the gaming community. Enroll yourself in the official subreddits of your favorite games. Or listen to content creators from said video game. Learn what the community likes and dislikes about said game, and adept it into your own.
Learning from the successes and failures of other games is invaluable in improving game mechanics design skills. Analyzing how different games use mechanics to evoke certain emotions or achieve certain outcomes provides valuable information. Developers can dissect the mechanics of different genres and styles and understand their impact on player engagement and immersion. Experimenting with adapting, combining or revamping existing game mechanics encourages creativity and expands the design toolbox. Additionally, drawing inspiration from various sources such as literature, film, and visual art encourages the creation of unique and compelling mechanics that resonate with players on a deeper level.
Go to your competition and see how they are doing their games. Check their strategies, their player base, and everything that can be checked. If you are the first one in your segment, well, congratz! Learn how to market your product so that it makes money.
Ver también las mecánicas que no funcionan en los demás ayuda para descartar ideas o ver como mejorarlas. También sirve para usarlas si ese "fallo" es lo que quieres
Finally, you need to be flexible and creative when deciding which game mechanics to add or remove from your game. You need to be open to change your game mechanics if they don't work as intended or if they don't match your goals. You also need to be willing to experiment with new and different game mechanics that might surprise or delight your players. Remember that game mechanics are not set in stone, but rather tools to express your vision and create fun and meaningful experiences.
Different game mechanics are like tools in a toolbox; each serves its own specific purpose. While you can mix and match to achieve the desired outcome, some may not blend well with each other. Therefore, it's important to iterate and innovate on the mechanics so they support the main game loop. You never know if a specific mechanic ends up being the saving grace for your whole project. It all comes down to experimenting with the tools at hand and coming up with creative solutions to problems.
Nothing is too crazy. Craziness is needed in the game dev industry. Stand out and be bold. Being modest only brings you so far in the darkness.
Yep, sometimes add a bit of personal touch to the game. Do not forget that everything has an expiration date these days, and your game / game mechanics is / are no exception.
Hay que ser flexible pero no hasta el punto en que esa flexibilidad lleve al juego a ser otro juego distinto. Para eso cógelo para un segundo juego
Some mechanics on their own may be fantastic but are undermined when paired with other mechanics in the game. Knowing which mechanics pair well together and which ones will need to be left behind is a challenging, but vital step.
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Mechanics should enhance player engagement, contribute to the game's overall fun factor, and complement existing systems without introducing unnecessary complexity. Additionally, designers should assess the potential impact of new mechanics on game balance, pacing, and progression. Mechanics should add depth and variety to gameplay while avoiding overwhelming players or disrupting the overall flow of the experience.