“A well-designed game is always easy to get into and harder to master.”

When designing a game, it’s important to keep things simple.

• • User Accessibility: Simple designs are more accessible to a broader audience, including casual gamers who may not have the patience for complex mechanics.
  • Learning Curve: A simpler game has a gentler learning curve, allowing players to understand and enjoy the game more quickly.
  • Focus on Core Mechanics: Simplification helps designers focus on perfecting the core mechanics, ensuring a polished and enjoyable experience.

Strategies for Simplifying Game Design

• Streamlined Interfaces: Avoid cluttered interfaces. Use intuitive controls and clear visual cues.
• Minimal Instructions: Design the game in such a way that the goals and mechanics are self-explanatory.
• Core Mechanics Focus: Identify the core mechanic that makes the game fun and build around it, avoiding unnecessary features.

The game should have a clear goal without the need to reach a lot of instructions.

• Player Motivation: Clear goals provide a sense of direction and purpose, motivating players to continue playing.
• Guided Progression: Well-defined goals help guide players through the game, reducing confusion and frustration.

Designing Clear Goals

• Initial Objectives: Start with simple, easily achievable objectives to hook players early.
• Progressive Complexity: Gradually introduce more complex goals as players become more familiar with the game mechanics.
• Visual and Audio Cues: Use visual indicators and audio feedback to highlight goals and progress.

Example: In a platformer game, the initial goal could be simply to reach the end of a level. As the game progresses, goals could include collecting specific items or defeating particular enemies.

We should also have increasing levels of difficulty to keep the players interested in the game.

Balancing Difficulty

• Engagement vs. Frustration: Proper difficulty progression keeps players engaged without causing frustration. The game should be challenging enough to be interesting but not so hard that players give up.
• Pacing: Gradually increase the difficulty to match the player’s growing skill level. Introduce new challenges and mechanics incrementally.

Techniques for Increasing Difficulty

• Level Design: Design levels that progressively require more skill and strategy.
• Enemy AI: Start with simple enemies and gradually introduce more complex behaviors.
• Resource Management: Increase the complexity of managing resources, such as health, ammunition, or currency, as the game progresses.

Example: In a puzzle game, early levels might have straightforward puzzles with obvious solutions. Later levels could introduce more elements, requiring players to think several steps ahead.

Understanding Games of Chance vs. Games of Skill

• Games of Chance: Success is primarily determined by luck. Examples include roulette or lottery games, where practice doesn’t help the odds of winning.
• Games of Skill: Success is determined by the player’s choices and strategies. Examples include chess or checkers, where the outcome is based on the player’s decisions and expertise.

Mix of Chance and Skill

• Examples: Many games combine elements of both chance and skill. Card games often rely on both the luck of the draw and the player’s strategy. Tetris involves both the random sequence of pieces and the player’s ability to place them efficiently.

Designing a Balanced Game

• Skill-Based Mechanics: Ensure that player skill can significantly influence the outcome. For instance, in a card game, strategies for managing hands can enhance winning chances.
• Chance Elements: Introduce elements of chance to add excitement and unpredictability. This can keep the game fresh and engaging.
• Fairness: Balance the game to ensure that neither chance nor skill overwhelmingly dominates. Players should feel that they have control over their success through their decisions and strategies.

Example: In a card game like Poker, the cards dealt are random (chance), but players must use their skills in bluffing and strategy to win.