Game Elements

Image of a hand of cards.
Source : Unsplash

This weeks reading were based on game design elements, an in depth look. The articles I browsed focused on definitions, explanations and examples of each core game element. Upon reading "What are the qualities of games?" by Ian Schreiber, there are ten formal elements or "atoms" of a game, atoms referring to all the smallest parts of a game that can be dissected individually. Atoms are important factors game designers consider when developing a game. These ten atoms are as follows : 

1. Players 
2. Objectives 
3. Rules 
4. Resources and Resource Management 
5. Game State
6. Information 
7. Sequencing 
8. Player Interaction 
9. Theme (Narrative, Backstory, Setting)
10. Games as Systems 

In terms of critical analysis, it is important for developers to critique their work or the work of others to see what works and what doesn't work as well. Describing the games formal elements, how these elements interact and how the play of the game is with these elements, and understanding why you or the developer chose these elements. Understanding that games are systems that need elements to function, and how to critique these elements to the best of your ability to find the best outcome for the game and its overall core, can help make a great functioning game. 

Reading the academic paper "Game Design Research", I found many game developers have different notions to the concept of game design, some referring to the meaning of game design as "emotion engineering" and "largely communication", whilst others prefer the concept of "everything that goes into a game is more or less game design". Many designers from different fields have their own preferences to what game design is, and many refer to Katie Salen's and Eric Zimmerman's book "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals". 

Finally, watching the short video "Introduction to Game Design: Prototype Your Game", it focused on the idea of prototyping and what it is. Prototyping refers to the creation of a model to represent some aspect of a products design, or in gaming terms it refers to the aspect of the game one wishes to create through prototyping. This involves questioning your aim and objectives for the game, such as; what is the primary action for the player in the game?, what does the play space look like?, how long should the game be and feel like?. This questions can be answered through modelling before coding is involved. Drawing the game can be very helpful to understand what the game might look like, or even physical objects and using your own body to prototype. Once the developer has a sense of how the game will work, digital prototyping gets underway, involving code, starting the processing and finding basic code libraries similar to your game.