Game Design Music and Art

Creating Game Elements – penny

penny

Member

Posts: 101
From:
Registered: 08-15-2006
Hello all!

I've been doing some research here trying to connect the world of linear fiction to the video games. I decided to do some analysis of video game elements! What I mean by that is key elements that make a video game cool and that make a video game work like a video game.

I have come up with eight key elements: Environmentals, Barriers, Shortcuts, Set-Backs, Power-ups, Injuries, Stats, and Shields.

I have also come up with ten styles for these elements: Static, Plot, Item, Informational, Mental, Dexterity, Skill, Partner/Vehicle, Time, and Damage.

I have arranged these into a matrix and documented them individually. i.e. Item Barrier, Time Injuries, Skill Shortcuts. I have also tried to give and example.

I've saved it out as a pdf for handy reference, and thought it would be great to share it with the group.

http://www.helpfulinventions.com/penny/GameElementsCheatSheet.pdf

I think I have covered everything that my game experience knows about. What do you think of it?

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penny --Is. 64

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Wow! This is really a good study of game elements!

Dexterity/Power-ups: "Performing a particular physical feat, or controller sequence, powers the player up. I have never seen this done in a game."

This one vaguely reminds me of being "on fire" in the old NBA Jam games, but I guess that was more accomplishment-based than dexterity-based. Perhaps it would be closer to alternating the controller buttons rapidly in order to skate faster or jump higher (like in the old Skate or Die game on NES).

Oooh! Here's one. I think it was back on the old Mortal Kombat game that one of the players could turn invisible if you did a special sequence of moves (was it the player Smoke or something?). It was an innate ability of that character, but it required dexterity to acquire the power-up. It was different from special "attacks" in that it didn't really have any immediate effect, but rather just powered up the player.


Dexterity/Set-Backs: "If the player does not have the dexterity to perform a task, they are set back. This is different from a barrier in that there is a set back on failure".

I'm reminded of some extremely annoying jumping puzzles in platformers I know. Commander Keen and Doukutsu are two that come to mind right away, though there certainly are many others. Half-Life would be another -- especially the battle sequence with the boss at the end. If you don't have dexterity to avoid his teleporter-thingy, you'll get teleported to a jumping-puzzle tower that you have to jump up perfectly on or else you'll fall back to the bottom. Then when you reach the top, you get to face him some more, only to get teleported back there again if you can't dodge it again. It's really annoying. Another I just thought of is the rocket-jumping sequence at the end of Super Mario Sunshine for Gamecube. A very tall tower of moving platforms and you have to jump on each one or be sent back to the bottom.


They are very broad categories, and while I'm not sure you could fit every game element into the matrix, it really seems to cover 95% of game elements. Well done, Penny!

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited August 24, 2006).]

manic_gamer

Member

Posts: 30
From: Portland Maine USA
Registered: 09-01-2006
Thats a very good and impressive study.. Im saving that file incase I might need it if I ever do some hobby work
buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
wow thats cool. =D


two thumbs up!!

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#include <spazz.h>
int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']
}
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MMMM... I love pi!!

zookey

Member

Posts: 1902
From: Great Falls, Montana, USA
Registered: 04-28-2002
That is pretty cool that you are tackeling it from an almost scientific point of view--distilling what makes games great so you can make them even better :-) I will read it soon looks like a good doc!

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penny

Member

Posts: 101
From:
Registered: 08-15-2006
Thanks all for the comments! I would appriciate any additions you can think of. Thanks clint for the Smoke example. I've added that. I also just thought of another element: Dialog. As in games where you answer questions differently causes changes. I will be working that in as soon as I have some time. Life has been busy lately.

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penny --Is. 64

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
Hey, if your site goes down... you might want to blame me as I may have caused it if I cause the infamous slashdot effect.

Kudos. I like it!


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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited September 05, 2006).]

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
I was wondering if Randomness should be in there somewhere too. A game can get pretty boring when its too predictable.
penny

Member

Posts: 101
From:
Registered: 08-15-2006
Great idea coolj! I completely overlooked that. Randomness is a key feature of game elements. I'll be adding that to the list.

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penny --Is. 64

steveth45

Member

Posts: 536
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Registered: 08-10-2005
It's been said, but wow!

This is a valuable document.

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