At 1/27/09 06:49 PM, KaynSlamdyke wrote:
Designer? que?
Designer is for me a more abstract thing than knowing how to draw or how to code. It's how to think in high level and see the big picture. Part of the problem with the stuff I start is that I spend ages working out every minor detail before actually doing any serious art or code... and the project falls as new ones enter the brain.
Part of designing a game is knowing how to go about it. Like, you could spent hours working out details before starting to code, then start and realize that some ideas need to be modified and eventually everything is tweaked to fit the engine.
Or, you could start with a basic idea, code it, and work out new features as you go along.
The first way is the psuedo-professional way, however it really doesn't apply for small teams where you have a lot of flexibility. Working the second way lets the game sorta design itself if you know what you're doing, and you often discover side effects in the engine that become features of the game (it's not a bug, its a feature. Ex: no drop zones in Closure).
The more you practice the better you get though, and it doesn't hurt to write out designs for "the stupidest game ever", cause it helps you practice and can actually be helpful. Trying to turn a stupid idea fun is a lot more difficult and interesting than trying to make a good idea fun. You don't need much design for a good idea, and as a result a lot of people with good ideas never get good at design because they make them, and get some decently average scores on them, but never improve.
So here's a challenge. Pick a stupid idea, post it, and post a design for it that could turn it fun. Hell, you might even decide to turn it into an actual game.
