Game Design Lecture for Session 3 of The Los Angeles Film School's Game PreProduction course.

1. Session 3
David Mullich
Concept Workshop - Game PreProduction
The Los Angeles Film School

2. Gameplay
 Game Mechanics
 Resources
 Obstacles
 Goals
 Win/Loss Conditions
 Main Game Loop

3. Rules
 Easily Understood
 Consistent with
Game Theme
 Setup
 Progression
 Resolution
Rule Categories
 Rules
 Mechanics
 Systems
Rule Groupings

4. Game Mechanics
 Avoid unkillable
objects
 Instant death
 Game repeats until
you die
 Remember an
increasing number of
things
 Repeat pattern
 Forced constant
movement
 Block puzzles
 Game keeps getting
harder until you die
 Uncountable number
of possible paths
 Big gains for you can
be big gains for your
enemy
 Block path
 Information Overload
 Disinformation
 Switch modes
 Push mole down, mole
pops up
 Cut off one head, two
grow back
 Bouncing object
 Gravity
 Mouse dexterity
 Spinning plates
 Teleports
 Squad
 Race
 Chase
 Collecting
 Interrupt Action
 Squad
 Scarce Resource
 Jumping
 Hidden image/
Where’s Waldo?
 Timed
 Protect a target
 Undirected
exploration
 Bullet Hell
 Buy Low, Sell High
 Brawling
 Dialog Tree
 Building
 Crafting

5. Resources
 Currency
 Building Materials
 Energy
 Health
 Combat Units
 Inventory Items
 Time
 Turns
 Moves
 Territory
 Power-Ups
 Information
Anything the player must gather or
protect to help in achieving the game’s
goals.

6. Obstacles
Anything that makes achieving the game’s goals
difficult.
 Enemies
 Puzzles
 Traps
 Time Limits
 Hidden Resources
 Resource Management
 Randomness

7. Goals
Achievement milestones that advance
progress in a game.
 Elementary (Minor) Goals
 Intermediate (Level) Goals
 Primary (Win/Loss) Goals

8. Types of Goals
STRATEGIC
(Mental)
REFLEX
(Physical)
CHANCE
(Random)

9. Examples of Goals
 Score
 Capture/Destroy
 Collection
 Solve
 Chase/Race/Esca
pe
 Beat the Clock
 Spatial Alignment
 Build
 Explore
 Advance the Story

10. What Makes Goals Addictive
 Worthy of Obtaining
 Challenging to Reach
 Obtainable
 New Goals Replace
Old Goals

11. Experience Phases
A good game designer will look at one game as 4
different game, which emphasizes on the 4
Experience Phases of a game, as defined by
Professor Kevin Werbach:
 Discovery
 Onboarding
 Scaffolding
 Endgame

12. Game Main Loop
The set of rules that a game follows during
each game turn.
All games have turns, even if they appear to
be continuously be running. This is because
most modern games don’t stop and wait for
player input.

13. Game Main Loop

14. Game Main Loop
while (game is not over)
check for user input
If user input
case (user input)
navigation: move player
construction: build object
fight: attack enemy
determine enemy state changes
case (enemy state)
idle: do nothing
patrol: walk between waypoints
chase: run toward player
flee: run to default waypoint
die: enemy death
end while

15. Create a page in your Concept PowerPoint
that lists the following:
 Game Mechanics
 Resources
 Obstacles
 Intermediate Goals (if any)
 Win Conditions
 Lose Conditions (if any)
PowerPoint

16. Create a Gameplay page in your GDD Wiki that lists the following:
 Game Mechanics: List at least three core game mechanics (don’t
describe movement, unless it is unusual)
 Resources: What you acquire or protect as you progress through
the game (e.g., score, turns, health, energy, territory)
 Obstacles: What makes reaching the game’s goals challenging?
(e.g., fighting enemies, solving puzzles, avoiding hazards, time
limits)
 Progression: What intermediate goals must you reach to advance
(e.g., clear levels, defeat bosses)
 Resolution: What final goal must you reach to win the game? (e.g.,
complete level 5, defeat main boss) Are there ways to lose the
game? (e.g., lose all 3 lives, game timer runs out)
Wiki

17. 2. Create a Main Game Loop page in your
TDD Wiki, specifying the following:
 Player inputs and resulting actions
 Enemy states and resulting actions
 Goals and resulting actions
Wiki