6 Game Design Principles That Leave a Lasting Impression
Gaming as an industry is experiencing a renaissance. This is in part due to the improved availability of
● High-speed internet,
● Powerful hardware and server infrastructure,
● Smartphones, and
● Advanced technologies like AI and VR.
As a business, the global gaming industry is experiencing significant growth. It is expected to reach a market size of $272.86 billion in 2024. This is further projected to increase to $426.02 billion by 2029.
Gaming trends also show that the industry recorded 170 million new gamers in 2020 alone. This number is expected to rise from 3.220 billion in 2023 to 3.320 billion by the end of 2024.
To be part of this noteworthy expansion, you must ask yourself: “As developers, what fundamental elements must we adopt to ensure our game is a profitable success?”
We’ve got the answer to that!
There are six principles of game design that make a game worth playing and replaying. These are:
1. Clarity in Goals
2. Gameplay
3. Game Balance
4. Narrative
5. Game Mechanics
6. Feedback
In this piece, we will showcase these tenets and answer the important questions on your mind. Without further ado, let’s jump right into it with clear goals!
1. Clarity in Goals
Players need goals and objectives in the game. This is important for several reasons:
● It gives structure to the game.
● It gives direction and a sense of purpose to the player.
● It enables players to master the game mechanics.
● It gives the players pride and a sense of accomplishment when they reach a goal.
● It motivates players to continue playing toward the next goal.
The game holds its primary goal of finishing it, bolstered by secondary goals that make the journey to the end exciting. Whether it is defeating the final boss in combat, completing missions, or just collecting experience points, clear goals allow players to immerse themselves in the gameplay because they know the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the game.
2. Gameplay
The principles of gameplay design make up the bedrock on which player experience is built. Following are few of the numerous factors that help develop good gameplay and a positive player experience:
● Intuitive UI is a must, including easy to grasp controls, easy to navigate menus, and more. The game must also provide tutorial and adjustable difficulty settings to achieve this.
● Accessible gameplay to ensure inclusivity, thereby expanding the gamer base.
● A delicate balance between reward and challenge to keep the players motivated.
● Good storytelling to develop emotional engagement.
With a cohesive and consistent gameplay, developers can ensure that the players feel satisfied with their efforts and are encouraged to return.
3. Game balance
A balanced gameplay is critical to player engagement. As the developer, you must keep in mind to pay attention to detail and be responsive to player feedback.
You don’t want to make the game so easy that it’s boring, nor too hard that it’s frustrating. Digging deeper, you want to make the game easy enough to learn and start and hard to master.
Increase the level of difficulty on a curve that matches the player’s level and experience. This gives the player a sense of accomplishment when they overcome an obstacle and keeps them driven to continue on to the next challenge.
This is a system of challenges that gradually become more difficult, balanced by a set of rewards like level ups, new weapons and abilities, or twists in the narrative.
4. Narrative
Story-driven games are all the rage right now. As much fun as it is to slash, punch, and shoot, what gamers really want to see is if Kratos can get his vengeance (God of War) or how Ellie breaks through Joel’s hard shell (The Last of Us).
A good story makes the game inherently engaging and immersive. Through storytelling, character development, and world-building, players are encouraged to empathize with the characters and play an active role in their destiny. This also gives players agency and control in the game.
Players become invested, which means they will play more.
The stories are delivered through cutscenes, conversation, or even in-game artifacts that provide context to the character’s background.
5. Game mechanics
Game mechanics: Keep them simple but engaging.
Let us take Tetris as an example. You can rotate and move the tetrominoes. The game clears a line, generates new tetrominoes and gradually increases their falling speed. With just these handful of game mechanics, Tetris is one of the most popular games in history.
Even with a complicated set of game mechanics, the players must be given time to master them. But make it too complicated and the player will stop playing.
6. Iterative Feedback
Feedback is critical to project success.
And players will always have feedback. This is why developers give the games to playtesters who find bugs and other issues in it. These can then be improved by the developers in iterative steps until the game feels ready for the actual launch.
Players also require in-game feedback. They engage the players and keep them motivated by providing them with things like rewards. This can be visual, auditory, or textual. These mini-boosts provide positive feedback that keeps the player engaged with the gameplay.
All these principles are delivered in a nice package called the game design document (GDD).
Conclusion
We have now covered the six most important principles of good game design. From engaging game mechanics to a riveting narrative, developers can leverage these elements to deliver a truly immersive experience that leaves a lasting impression on the player.
Understanding game design principles becomes even easier when you have EDIIIE on your side. We are a game design studio that keeps in touch with the latest in game development and delivers services that will help you execute each principle with ease.
Book a consultation today!
