Aartform Games Blog » Design Gameplay http://www.aartformgames.com/blog Indie games studio dev log. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:35:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Managing Complexity in Design and Gameplay http://www.aartformgames.com/blog/2009/10/managing-complexity-in-design-and-gameplay/ http://www.aartformgames.com/blog/2009/10/managing-complexity-in-design-and-gameplay/#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:31:04 +0000 admin http://www.aartformgames.com/blog/?p=4 I’ve been spreading out my designs for a new game the last two weeks – while individual bits of the design are quite straight forward keeping the whole plan in mind is rather tricky. It would be so much easier if I was just cloning a RTS or FPS – but forging new gameplay styles out of 100 different gameplay details is really hard. If you multiply that by factions/tech levels/variety it is easy to end up juggling 10,000 gameplay items! Keeping all this in order is a massive (but enjoyable) task.

Pondering the best methods for game design.

Pondering the best methods for game design.

I manage all this with a pile of A3 Notebooks full of calculations and ideas, and piles of A4 with Lists (lots), Mindmaps (Rarely) and Flow diagrams. Then I scrunch all of this into a big bunch of Spreadsheets. If there is a better way I would love to know!

Complexity effects the player too: once a feature has been detailed – I have to decide if it will be fun or a chore when the player does it the 100th time.

I think the two tier approach of micro-management and auto-management is useful here. Let the player learn the basics of micro management, but then give them a choice of using auto when their power base expands and the micro would be overwhelming. Similarly micro-fighting and auto-resolution of battles lets a lot of the complexity buildup relax, leaving more time for having fun with the more interesting bits. Happily some chore-like activities are actually crazy addictive, and will stay in the final mix as a pleasurable time sink.

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