Need help understanding..

TylerMoyer · 08-06-2007, 10:03 PM

I need help understanding game mechanics.

I still get a bit confused but I did some googling and found this,

Quote:

The game mechanics describe the game play in detailed terms, starting with the vision of the core game play, followed by the game flow, which traces the player activity in a typical game. The rest is all the infinite details.

Making my design document, but I ahve no idea what to put under game mechanics. Do I need to take all the game features I ahve came up with a descibe how they work in detail or what do I write for game mechanics? Someone please help!

Also some others as well.

Quote:

Core Game Play
In a few paragraphs describe the essence of the game. These few words are the seeds from which the design should grow. Planted in the fertile soil of a known market, they should establish roots that anchor the vision firmly in place and help ensure a successful game. This is similar to the description section in the game concept, except that it’s non-narrative and usually expressed clearest in bullet points, though this could vary depending on the type of game.

Quote:

Game Flow
Trace the typical flow of game play with a detailed description of player activity, paying close attention to the progression of challenge and entertainment. If the core game play is the root of a tree, the game flow is the trunk and the branches. All activity should actualize and extend from the core game play. Be specific about what the player does, though try to use terms like "shoot", "command", "select" and "move" rather than "click", "press" and "drag". This keeps the description distinct from how the actual GUI will work, which is likely to change. Refer readers to specific pages in the User Interface section when you first mention a GUI element such as a screen or window or command bar.

~ Tyler Moyer

**Bubba** · 08-07-2007, 10:07 AM

The key is to have some type of plan. You don't have to get extremely detailed because then that leaves out room for creativity later. But as long as you have some type of idea of what you want and how you want it to play, progress, etc, you should be ok.

Now that says nothing about your game engine design. In my experience you will probably need two design documents. One for the game and one for the actual engine running the game. The game and the engine are not one in the same and designing them requires two fundamentally different approaches.

So I recommend if you are going to roll your own engine to design it first and then design your game to use the engine. Your engine is like a toolbox full of tools and gadgets that you use to present the game data to the player in a fun meaningful way. Actually it has to be fun - meaningful I'm not so sure about, but you get the idea.

Now once you design the game and are set on it, you are passed the design phase and you really need to concentrate on the game instead of constantly adding this or that to it. Otherwise you will be in an endless sea of "...Wow, I'd love to implement this or that...." and you will never get done. Even with a set plan it is going to be hard to get the thing done by yourself. As you can see none of us here have really produced a fully functional 3D game. This does not mean we do not know how to do it, it does mean we lack resources like time, people, and money. Your game data is really only as good as your tools and when you look at the prices of some of the top tools you will soon see this can get expensive.

Last time I checked:

Maya Prof. - $5995
3DS Max - $2500
Adobe Photoshop Max - $799
Sony Sound Forge - $399 (Audio Studio is Sound Forge Lite and is about $100)

Free alternatives:

Gimp 2
Excellent paint program. Just calling it a paint program does no justice to it. It's almost as good as Photoshop.

Blender
Some people hate this program. The GUI does indeed suck but it has some of the most powerful editing tools around and exports to a lot of graphic file formats. You can add your own modules and there are entire sites and manuals devoted to developers.

Ultimate Unwrap 3D
Excellent UV unwrapper. Has better unwraps than Blender and is a bit simpler.

Wings 3D
Very powerful 3D modeller/editor with UV unwrap capabilities. Excellent for those who find Blender a bit too much to handle.

MusiGeneisis
Very simple way to create sound tracks for your games. Still a bit buggy and can crash on you but overall a good program.

For more resources check our sticky at the top of the forum page.

swgh · 08-07-2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

meaningful I'm not so sure about

In the meaning it has to make sense. The output to the player for lives would read 3 not ~#@

but then again thats my view... there are possibly many others

08-07-2007, 10:07 AM	#2
Bubba Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 7,814	The key is to have some type of plan. You don't have to get extremely detailed because then that leaves out room for creativity later. But as long as you have some type of idea of what you want and how you want it to play, progress, etc, you should be ok. Now that says nothing about your game engine design. In my experience you will probably need two design documents. One for the game and one for the actual engine running the game. The game and the engine are not one in the same and designing them requires two fundamentally different approaches. So I recommend if you are going to roll your own engine to design it first and then design your game to use the engine. Your engine is like a toolbox full of tools and gadgets that you use to present the game data to the player in a fun meaningful way. Actually it has to be fun - meaningful I'm not so sure about, but you get the idea. Now once you design the game and are set on it, you are passed the design phase and you really need to concentrate on the game instead of constantly adding this or that to it. Otherwise you will be in an endless sea of "...Wow, I'd love to implement this or that...." and you will never get done. Even with a set plan it is going to be hard to get the thing done by yourself. As you can see none of us here have really produced a fully functional 3D game. This does not mean we do not know how to do it, it does mean we lack resources like time, people, and money. Your game data is really only as good as your tools and when you look at the prices of some of the top tools you will soon see this can get expensive. Last time I checked: Maya Prof. - $5995 3DS Max - $2500 Adobe Photoshop Max - $799 Sony Sound Forge - $399 (Audio Studio is Sound Forge Lite and is about $100) Free alternatives: Gimp 2 Excellent paint program. Just calling it a paint program does no justice to it. It's almost as good as Photoshop. Blender Some people hate this program. The GUI does indeed suck but it has some of the most powerful editing tools around and exports to a lot of graphic file formats. You can add your own modules and there are entire sites and manuals devoted to developers. Ultimate Unwrap 3D Excellent UV unwrapper. Has better unwraps than Blender and is a bit simpler. Wings 3D Very powerful 3D modeller/editor with UV unwrap capabilities. Excellent for those who find Blender a bit too much to handle. MusiGeneisis Very simple way to create sound tracks for your games. Still a bit buggy and can crash on you but overall a good program. For more resources check our sticky at the top of the forum page. Last edited by Bubba; 08-07-2007 at 10:17 AM.
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