Section 1: The Narrative

There has always been the argument within game design about the balance between gameplay and story. Some games have little or neither of both. A game could be engaging with awesome gameplay but little story, or a game could have more of a focus on story and little gameplay. The art to game design is having a good balance of both.

There are some games that have a story without even really noticing it. Super Mario Bros (1980) showed no story in the game except for the usual: “The princess is in another castle!”. But the game came with an extensive manual in the box which provided the backstory as well as the instructions for the game. Pac-Man is another example of where a game can be successful but has no story, but a narrative is still being created. We may imagine that Pac-Man is running from death which is why he is being chased by ghosts (that is not true but is my theory!). We as a player are creating an infinite number of narratives for something that has not been provided. While a game may not need a story, it always seems to have one.

This could lead to a sequel, but that is something for another day!

No matter the story you are trying to tell, there must always be a beginning, middle, and end. How you fill the in-between is up to you. Hollywood has been following this method for years, so there is nothing stopping you from following this method too. Be sure to go out and get some inspiration for this too. Read stories that you may not have read before, watch tutorials or talks online about how games have been written, view methods that others have used, and follow tutorials. There are lots of ways to learn how to write for games and places you can look to help you. How is a story told in a song? TV show? News report? Poem?

Games are interactive and require balance. As previously mentioned, a game needs to have a good amount of all aspects to make it work; have too much of one thing, then your game may not turn out as well as you hoped. When designing a game, you need to be able to know the narrative that the player will experience. Never mistake a story for gameplay and vice versa.

Simple? You have been able to add gameplay to a famous story. While it may be a short game, you can see how to turn a simple story into something that could be playable.

While you may come across many limitations within the design of your game (but these will vary based on scenarios), the biggest limitation you will face is your imagination. No idea is too big or too small.

While producing your story may be fun and engaging for you, writing the end of a story can be a challenge. With more games becoming immersive and expansive, producing an ending not only satisfies the player, but it also brings their goals and what they set off to achieve to a close. Previously, older games used to have an end screen as the story was limited. But how long should a story/game be? Most games will average 8–15 hours of playtime, but this will vary depending on the size of the game. In games such as Skyrim or Breath of the Wild, you can complete the main story of the game within that time, but you can still leave room for the player to explore the world while also completing any side missions or quests. This also allows the player to replay the game again or aim to achieve 100%. But remember, make the player feel satisfied, and make them feel that they have got enough from their money and the time they have invested to play your game.

Some games might offer alternative endings or experiences for the player, such as minigames, unlockable content after the story, downloadable content, etc. This is another way to keep the player engaged despite completing the game. If you create a world that your player wants to be in, they will come back to it again.

Section 2: Who Are You Playing As?

Considered one of the most creative parts of video game design is the creation of the main character. I have spent many hours listening to talks from my students about their flashy protagonist and their backstory and what brought them into the world that they wish to make. Credit to some where they were able to create a simpler version of their intended character, but in most cases, they did not come to life, and this was partly due to time management. While we have spoken about the designing of your story earlier in this chapter, this section now focuses on the designing of the gameplay and how they are presented to the player.

Nathan Drake: Cocky, brutal, and intelligent

Spider-Man: Acrobatic, young, heroic

Ratchet: Whitty, lost, protective

These are just a few familiar characters within the gaming world, but these are three words that best describe their personality. Try it, think about some of your favorite characters, and try to best describe their personality in three words; it is not as easy as you think! But these traits need to be considered through the story and through the gameplay too. Also consider the appearance of your character; you can try to produce some mock designs of what your character could look like while considering your mentioned personality traits.

While thinking about your character, why not try to think about what sort of hero they might be? Would they fit into one of the following categories?

Gameplay

You have now designed your characters; you have thought about what they are going to look like and considered their story and what has brought them to the world that you are creating. But now you need to consider the character will be impacted by gameplay . All gameplay flows from the main character, and now you need to think about their relationship with the world around them. How tall will they be? Will the enemies be taller than the character? What will be their reach if they are using a melee weapon? As you create the character, these things need to be considered. The last thing you want is to make your character too small for them to jump onto a ledge or they cannot reach an item.

Let us imagine that the player needs to climb or jump over a wall; we need to think about how the player will collide with the solid object. When programming a game, you need to think about something called collision checking. This is the method of colliding precisely with another object to avoid “clipping.” Ever played a game and found yourself or an enemy moving or getting stuck in a wall? This can be down to the collision of the player and the object not checking for its point of origin.

The best place to put a point of origin would be in the center of an object . This gives enough distance between both halves of the body and creates a more realistic collision between the player and another object. You can have more than one point of origin, but this will ultimately make your code run slower. Having a collision check at the head might be useful for any hats or costume items, but you might find that your player will fall through the map and leave only their head showing through the ground. It might look funny but will ultimately leave the game unplayable. Having the point at the feet would fix the collisions with the ground, but it would mean that if the player were to jump and hit their head on something, then they would jump through the ceiling.

Moving in the Right Direction

While we are on the subject of movement and colliding with objects , being able to walk from one area to another is not gameplay. I have seen many students get confused with this meaning and use the word incorrectly when it comes to describing their games. This starts to delve into level design which is something that will be covered in a future chapter. You need to think about how the player is going to creatively move from one place to another. You could create a beautiful environment with some stunning visuals, but if the gameplay does not engage the player, then they will become bored very easily. Therefore, you need to keep gameplay interesting and more than walking!

Rather than getting your player to walk to an objective, why not get them to run, climb, and jump to it? This allows the player to practice the skills and abilities they have already learned. Lots of student games I have tested immediately have me walking through the map and make me find my way to the objective they have made. While this may seem basic and straightforward for a student game, this does not always display the “fun” and interactive element of the game. I spend more time trying to find it than experiencing it. Rather than having the play to walk to the fun, why not let them have fun all the time? The problem I find with open-world games is that there is a lot of walking to missions if there is no other means of travelling. While this might be an effective method for me to explore the map, craft, and collect items, this can quickly get tedious and sometimes boring. If you are going to make your player walk, make it quick but fill it with obstacles that can make their journey feel quicker and engaging, then they never really notice how much walking they are really doing.

If your player will be travelling via a land, sea, or air vehicle, or sometimes an animal, then you need to consider a variety of ways this will give the player an advantage over walking. If you are in a land vehicle, then you will need to apply some weight to make it feel more realistic. If a car or van is turning a corner , then weight will make it feel like you are swinging this heavy object around a tight turning. This also needs to be considered when designing a character to make them feel connected to the world. If the player jumps, how quickly will they come back down? Gravity will always play a part in your game, regardless of the world you are making. Will the player float back down if they jump on a foreign planet? Will they be wearing heavy armor that will stunt their jump height? As you can probably guess, movement, speed, and gravity are crucial items to designing a character!

Much like a box of chocolates, having a mixture of gameplay will make the game all the sweeter. Rather than keeping the speed and gameplay the same, mix it up! Keep the player engaged and provide them with a variety of gameplay elements to keep them on their toes. The world you make will impact the speed your player will move at. If your world is covered in snow, will the player be trudging through it? Will they slide on any of the ice? Much like other players , I like to sprint to my next location/level. But the sprint does not last forever. All players are given a stamina limit, but they do not always see it on the screen. This will regenerate over time or can be restored using items found in a game. Some games might have a crafting function for the player to make food or items that can restore health or stamina.

As well as stamina, some games allow the player to “dash.” This is the use of giving the player a short burst of movement in a certain direction. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 uses this with the mech suits the player wears, allowing them to move higher into the air and carry out wall running. This also has a limit but will regenerate quicker than stamina. Dash can be useful for gameplay but is also fun when it comes to designing a level with it. You could have somewhere to wall run, but if the player runs out of dash, they could fall off. When thinking like this, you are starting to get into the mindset of a true designer! Crouching or rolling is another excellent way to help the player move quickly but evasively around the map. Rolling is typically found in open-world or third-person games where the player might be trying to dodge an enemy or an incoming object. Pokémon Legends: Arceus uses this mechanic to dodge incoming attacks from Pokémon in the wild and crouches when sneaking up on unsuspecting Pokémon, while games such as the recent Tomb Raider trilogy use crouching to move through small caves and rolling to dodge and move faster.

What kind of player are you? Go in guns blazing and hope to kill everything that sees you as an enemy? Or are you someone that likes to sneak around and take out your enemies quietly and discreetly? Whatever you are, you will find games that have stealth levels that require you to use patience and cunning to complete your mission. This is not something that is exclusive to certain game styles, such as first person or third person. Call of Duty has had a range of stealth-style levels, while earlier entries to the Assassin’s Creed series began with more stealth-style levels. The purpose of stealth is for the player to move quietly and slowly. Some games may have a Detection Bar that appears above an enemy’s head to indicate whether the player has been noticed. This will normally determine if your stealth efforts have been dashed or if you have been successful in not being noticed. Again, speed is something to consider when thinking about playstyle and how you want your player to move through the world.

How to Go Higher

What is a game if you do not have one of the most common gameplay elements ? Jumping! Nearly all games have some form of jumping. During all my programming lessons where my students are introduced to a game engine, something that immediately follows the programming of movement is jumping. It is so basic but can be one of the most creative elements to design. How high will you have to jump to reach a ledge? Will there be jump pads you can jump on? Will your player jump/slide over the front of cars? Whenever you start to think about the player moving off the ground, you need to think about physics. Do you intend to use physics based on the real world or game physics? This is the idea of programmers tweaking the values of the real world to meet the games’ needs. They need to consider the walking and running speed, jumping heights, distances, and collisions. Although these may never be exactly like the real world, having your own spin on them can make the designing of your game just a little bit more enjoyable. Now you need your physics to reflect the world you are making. If you are in space, how long will it take for your player to come back to the ground? Will you be creating a fast-paced shooter like Doom? Will there be a low or high level of gravity? It is the little things that need to be considered when designing your game, but they will always make the difference.

What about ledges ? What would a player do if they made it to the edge of a cliff? Would they hang? Would they try to jump off? Would they try to climb a wall? Now you need to start to think about how to climb something that might be in their path. Sometimes, jumping is not enough to get the player over an obstacle; they might need to jump and then climb. Games like Uncharted 4 or more recent entries to the Far Cry series use grapples when trying to reach higher places. These ledges you try to grapple to will tend to be double if not triple the player's height, giving the sense that you are really climbing high. These ledges tend to be slightly higher than the player’s jump, which will result in the player hoisting themselves over the edge. You may also want to add a “peak” mechanic to let the player peak over the edge for added stealth. Not all games need climbing to be able to hoist the player over something, but if you do decide to add them, consider the height of the player and how high you have allowed them to jump . Some games within the action/adventure genre are now seeing the inclusion of the player being able to traverse everything. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla now let the player climb most buildings and cliffs which avoid the need for jumping from different ledges. This opens the door to more stealth-like missions and the option to include stamina for the player and how long they can climb for. Have you thought about what your player will do if they stand at the edge of a cliff or ledge? This is a chance for you to add some character to the player with the animation or their reaction to standing at the edge. They might flail around humorously, or they might say something to remind the player that they are close to an edge.

What happens when you fall off a ledge ? Or when you jump, and you want to come back down? The next thing to think about is falling. How quickly will this happen? Thinking about the player standing on the edge of something, will they jump straightaway, or will you give enough space for the player to get a run-and-jump? Some games might give the player a chance to sprint and jump. A good example would be the introductory levels to Super Meat Boy. They give the player a chance to learn the controls without realizing they are in a tutorial, such as sprinting and running over a large gap. Try to get the player to practice the skills and controls they have learned; the last thing you want is for the player to forget an ability that you have worked hard to design, and they never use again beyond the tutorial. As your player jumps, what will happen next? Do you want them to slide off the edge of the ledge and slide down the wall? Will they be able to jump onto another platform? What do you want to happen when they do reach the ground? Will the player lose health, or will they roll to recovery? For something so simple, there is a lot surrounding the design of it!

Just Keep Swimming!

The last movement we will cover will be swimming. Not all games have this ability, but this is always a useful method of travel or exploration technique if you ever want to implement it. Open-world games tend to use this method to allow players to either find crafting materials, travel, or explore. Some games will incorporate water into the world, but will kill the player if they try to go swimming. Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories is an example of this where the player might walk into a body of water, and then the player will stop moving and ultimately drown. Later games in the Grand Theft Auto series implemented swimming and vehicles that could travel on or underwater (more about that later!).

If you want water to be a key element of your game and that your player needs to use, then why not consider making a level around it so they understand what they need to do if they encounter it? I find that open-world games will have levels surrounding new abilities that help you learn the mechanics that are being introduced to the game. If a player can explore water, are you going to have things in there to harm you? Or will it be deep enough to explore? Grand Theft Auto 5 is an excellent example of being able to explore the depths of the sea and what will happen to you if you venture too far. If you use a submarine, you can gauge the pressure the deeper you go, but your vehicle will get crumpled by the pressure which can result in death. But the use of this vehicle will encourage players to view drowned planes, easter eggs, and treasures and avoid anything that could harm the player. But this will depend on the world you want to make. Will it be safe and calm, or will you go deadly and deep?

Bringing It All Together

Now bringing all that we have learned about designing a character, we can now summarize what we have covered and what you can do to begin the making of your own.

Section 3: How to See the World

Now you have your character and controls, how do you see the world? This is where you now need to consider the perspective of the game and how you want your player to view the game. Choosing the right camera for your game is crucial as it does not only impact the controls for the game, but you will also need to determine how to program it to work with the ideas and world you are creating. Camera types or perspectives appear in four typical forms based on your chosen dimension.

Bonus Stage: Easter Eggs

One of the most popular things that my students love to implement is easter eggs. For those that are not familiar with this term, they are defined as references to famous pop culture icons. These can range from referencing previous games that a company has made or bizarre references from TV shows, games, or real-world events. The list is endless of the easter eggs that have appeared in games and what they have referenced to, but we will discuss a few in this bonus stage.

The Grand Theft Auto series is a perfect example of different games or pop culture references being made through their main story or in the world. There are numerous references to Back to the Future, previous game projects from Rockstar, Apple, Hollywood, Thelma and Louise, Bigfoot, ghosts, Playboy Mansion, Halloween, Aliens, and so many more. The TARDIS and other Doctor Who references have been made in numerous games through the years. The TARDIS has been found in various games through time, such as Assassin’s Creed: Origins if the player dives deep enough in certain body of water, the original Fallout game, and Lego Dimensions. The last notable series of games that is famous for its easter eggs is the Batman: Arkham series and their references to famous Batman comics and lore. There was one example where the developers had left an easter egg for the player to find that was a reference to the next Batman project in the series, which was never found. The developers had to reveal the location of a hidden room which featured their hidden easter egg. You will also find references to other characters from the DC Universe through the form of audio files, conversations you can overhear with enemies, or collectibles. You can be clever when it comes to putting them in your game, but try to make some a challenge for the player to find and encourage them to explore.

But the typical thing I have seen through hundreds of game design lessons is that students will get so excited about making a game that they start to design their game around an easter egg that they have always wanted to make. I rarely turn down ideas in my lessons to allow students to explore their creativity, but easter eggs are something that I always encourage to be done at the end of production. I love finding references in games as much as the next player, but unless they are important for the development of the story or the game, these should be at the very end of your design stages. Easter eggs should be a fun time-filler for players that want to explore the world and experience the joy and fulfillment in finding them.

I believe that easter eggs can always be appreciated if implemented correctly and the player has time to find them. But they should always be easy to understand. One group I was working with was pitching a game idea to me, and they mentioned that they wanted to reference a famous YouTuber that they love to watch. While this may be satisfying for them to see the reference, the chance of other people understanding the reference is very unlikely.

If you ever want to make an easter egg, do not be deterred from making one, but just be sure that you are clever in the way you make them and give the player time to explore and stumble across them. It can be a satisfying and enjoyable experience to find them. Some players would rather watch videos or read about easter eggs in video games rather than finding them for themselves. While I tend to read about them, there is nothing more satisfying than to know that I have been able to beat a certain level that shows me an exclusive cutscene or unlock an item that I have worked hard for. It's never quite the same watching an easter egg being found in a video compared to finding it myself!

Conclusion

With Chapter 3 now completed, we will now follow a tutorial on how to create a first-person camera in Unity and how this can be used as the basis for a future project. You will have the chance to develop new skills or develop upon previous experience within the software.