Welcome! This course focuses on awesome game design. In this course, we will look at multiple different features and skills that are quite essential for a game designer.
Answer the following questions.
Did you know that an elevator pitch is a presentation that doesn't last longer than an elevator ride to potential investors? Well, now you know!
One of the game designer's main tasks is to maintain the overall design, the vision, throughout the project. To help with that, it's beneficial to create a vision statement. In the Vision and Vision Statement lesson, you'll learn more about creating a solid vision.
For a game designer, sharing those visions is just as important as creating them. Meeting and communicating with other designers and getting their feedback nurtures the visions and makes them grow until they are ready to be turned into games. This is more discussed in the Sharing the Vision lesson.
Prototyping and testing the game repeatedly is one of the most important phases of the game design. Without any testing, we wouldn't know if the idea is actually good and if it actually works.
Whatever the games' themes are, they have one thing in common most of the time. A tutorial. Usually, games start with a tutorial that aims to teach the player about the game mechanics and goals. Learn more in the Guiding and Teaching Players lesson.
Tutorials are one of the most common elements in the games, no matter the game genre. They help the players at the start and during the game. (Image: Fire Emblem: Awakening, Nintendo)
Colors and lights guide the player's route and lure them into exploring new areas and finding new paths. They can also reveal enemies' weaknesses and tip toward treasures. (Image: Halo 3: ODST, Bungie)
Maps and navigators help the player to get the bigger picture of the game environment. Many games include side quests and collectibles in the maps, so the player saves time finding them. (Image: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft)
The biggest challenge in game development is to keep the player in the game for as long as possible and make them return time and time again. During this course, we'll go over different tips and tricks that you can utilize when planning player retention strategies.
Writing a Game Design Document is an essential part of the game designer's task. The GDD compiles the major design decisions under one documentation.
The documentation goes over the overview of the game, the target audience, and other features like the game elements.
As you must have noticed, the game designer's responsibilities are broad. But don't worry, you will learn about them more in the upcoming lessons.
Let's get started with game designing!