On this game development journey I decided that instead of being only a game developer I would become a Game Designer. Games are indeed fun, but not because of the code, but because of what it makes the players feel. And to me, that's the best part of the process.
Don't get me wrong, I love coding and I won't stop coding games for as long as I live. But just coding games is too easy. Honestly, anyone programmer could write a piece of code and call it a game. But coding fun games is something else. Not anyone is capable of making games that truly touches other people. Well, I accept the challenge. Partly because I'm arrogant enough to blindly believe I'm actually one of the people that can make games like that, but mostly because I believe that a truly good game can save a person's life.
So, the first question I want to answer as a Game Designer is: what makes a game fun? This question has been answered before in a lot of discussions across the universe. There's a lot of answers: good mechanics, nice background story and narrative, exploration, the world development, good controls, possibility to play with friends (or strangers), and, most of the time, a combination of all these factors and much more.
It's really a subjective matter, thinking about it, because two people can find the concept of fun being served in two completely different games. I, particularly, love the Kingdom Hearts games (including Chain Of Memories, which people usually think it sucks), but my stepson can't stand the thought of playing it - even though he likes the characters!!!
And there's a few layers when we talk about factors that makes a game fun. We can go even deeper, asking questions like: what is a fun racing game? And a fun fight game? Is an arcade soccer game more fun than an physics-based soccer game? RPGs are fun because of the battle, the narratives or the exploration? We probably won't ever have an answer for that as long as humans keeps evolving as species.
Another thing I like to point out is: how much AI influences the fun factor of a game? Nowadays, with the advances we have, is AI required to make a fun game? I don't think it is, but I honestly feel happier when the game feels responsive to my actions.
There is a lot of stuff that can make a game feels fun or not fun at all, but to you, what makes a game fun? Is there anything that is a must when it comes to a fun game? Or you're the kind that is just happy to make things move on screen?
Top comments (1)
I want to add one thing: As a Game Designer you must enable people to have fun.
Example:
There was a really old Eastern European online game, way before JS became a big thing.
It was an ugly browser game, and you had N clicks each day:
Emergent Gameplay:
People started forming guilds: Guild of Magicians, Guild of Warriors, Guild of Thieves, Guild of Explorers.
As a low-level noob, they didn't even talk to you.
You needed high level and gear to even apply.
To join them you had to fill a complete checklist of wishes and needs.
But there was... another Guild.
No level requirement, no checklist.
Prerequisite:
Be poor as hell.
Challenge:
Get 1 000 000 gold in 1 week.
And that was the Merchant Guild.
They never got up to any of the fancy high score lists.
But when they decided that today noone is going to be able to buy armor on the market,
then nobody was able to buy armor on the market :D