Fun Times and game decisions oh my

The fun times of Game Decisions 

Well Hello again to all you lovely Lads, Ladies, Chaps and all in between to a return to myself and my (hopefully) fun and fancy free little blogs from me. So I am back from a little break from some writing and I hope you didn’t miss me that much. So where were we on our journey to the world of game development and how it is done. Well we have learned what a game is, we have learned of the elaborate game design, Game Design Documents (GDD) Mechanic, Dynamic Aesthetics (MDA), you may have followed my, I would call my, Disasterful attempt at trying to get the hang of working out the ways that Unity works to make anything in the engine (well I have made some efforts here and there on the engine and I have tried to take some notes to help with it along the way and have tried and failed countless times to download The Unity Engine at home on my computer to no success yet.) and you have learned of my journey at making a game of my own (with more coming soon (in the next few days and over the next few weeks as well (hopefully with my clear path of my game will also make its way to helping me with my Unity Engine making) but now it’s time that we talk about more emphasis when it comes to the interactivity that players may have with a particular style of any game. So join me today as we discuss the importance that goes into the decisions of games themselves.

(making a decision in a game is like building a city, it can be done by Rock and roll, friendship, teamwork, collective social groups and many more ways that it can be done)

Making a decision in life is of course very important. It can be the likes of examples of what college you want to attend, what you want for dinner, or even the decision of telling someone how you really feel about them as it may be something that you holding back on for a while (that last one, I know of it as well as the other two). It can the same when it comes to the likes of Game Design and the decisions that one makes when it comes to decisions in their concept of an idea. Your game a dating sim where your ultimate goal is to be in a relationship is the mascot of a fast food restaurant, then why not. A weird concept where you play as a goose and go around causing hijinks in a small peaceful village, I'd be interested to play it. A story of a small child that goes on a journey to find out the reason for the stars in the sky to be suddenly falling or disappearing and their wishing star being taken from them by an unknown force (presumably a creature that works in contrast in nightmares) and they help others on their journey to save the stars and to find their dream in life with the possible help of a group of intergalactic protectors, well that's what I came up with and is still developing as we speak (which you read all about here and more context Here). It is through these strange ideas that Lad, Ladies, Chaps, Ol' Sports and all in between cam up with that were filled with decisions and choices that sprout from that simple concept and that and will build itself into a final idea and working game itself.

(illustration of how game decision can be given to designers)

So, how does a game designer come up with a way of making decisions that could make or break their game concept that could make this work. Well I came across a very interesting article by a chap known as Dan Cook (who I feel that I have read an article from him before in the past) which he calls apparently a Princess Saving App (isn't that just the game about that ol' Italian Chap, who mainly speaks English and was created by Japanese People?) (which you can read about here) which see's him and a group of Game Designers coming together to discuss the concepts that come to emphasise the importance when it comes to making decisions in a game. Essentially it can be an attributed to mainly a type of feedback from others. It also can be attributed to the likes of Friends and Social groups that can help you shape a concept into a finish piece ( A lot of times with Social Groups it would mainly be more of a focus to use them for the likes of an MMO (or Massively Multiplayer Online Game) of the likes of Elder Scrolls Online, Minecraft, World of Warcraft and (even if it has been discontinued, it will never be forgotten) Club Penguin but it can also attribute to the game decision of other styles of games itself). Sometimes, a designer may have too many great decisions that it is impossible for them to discard any of them. This could then be a contributing factor to one of two ways, either use some of them in one game and then use more and expand on previous concepts i  a sequel, or in a more interesting method, you can change the concept into the likes of a choose your own adventure style game of the likes of Until Dawn, Infamous Second Son, Man of Medan, Life is Strange or even old classic games like classic adventure games like Kings Quest or elaborate Indie games like the Stanley Parable. It is then that the likes of a game decision can be fleshed out more and can help in more ways then one.

It is also important to note that making a decision can be a very difficult task to do as well as you will not please everyone with your decision but you want to make enough of them to please a wide audience that will make them invested in your product in the long one. But when you feel that you have that perfect amount of decisions that doesn't stray too far off of the set path that you have created in concept and you know of ways that you can implement them into the final product then you would have a clear understanding of how you game will hopefully turn out and a lot of times that concept can actually turn into something amazing in the end.

(another way to explain the decision of a pacifist or Genocide path in a game)

(some game decisions can be similar to decisions we make in life)

(this is a perfect illustration of me going through a level of feedback by other bloggers that I know when I am creating my game concept and of a personal decision that I am trying to decide on for the equivalent of maybe the last possible 6 months that I will try to decide on in the next few days in my free time)

All in all, I hope this is a bit of an interesting perspective on how someone can make a decision when they are designing a game of their own accord and I hope that it will least make sense to some of you who stumble upon this blog and read it (because if it doesn't then I wasted a Hour of just Chin Waggling about complete nonsense). Well that is all I have to say on the topic at hand, now if you'll excuse me I have a nice hot cup of tea with my name on it that's calling me from afar. So, until next time.

Cheerio!!!

-Sam