Why is it so hard to make game design decisions? (Developing 3)

Developing is an on-going YouTube series, where I share the step-by-step process of making my first video game: Mind Over Magnet!

This time I try to turn my prototype into an actual game - but get hung up on indecision. How will I solve this problem?

=== Links ===

How to make Predicted Trajectory path of Projectiles in UNITY - Bow and Arrow 2D | The Game Guy

=== Credits ===

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License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.

YouTube Audio Library

=== Subtitles ===

[GMTK]

Just to clarify for some of the comments - as I state in the video, the game will have both puzzle and platforming aspects, but with puzzles as the dominant genre. The problem came from trying to have both very challenging execution-based platforming, and very challenging logic-based puzzles, and expecting players to bounce back and forth between them. I feel like this is not suitable, so had to make one dominant and the other secondary, and decided to make puzzles be dominant as that is where the game keeps swinging towards. Hope that makes sense! Things should become clearer as development goes on (I hope, for my sake)

[andrewp]

I know this series is specifically about the process of making a game, but each video has hit me in the gut with weirdly relevant lessons about life in general

[nikefootbag]

“Scrap all those old levels, we’re doing this now” - spoken like a true gamedev

[Glenchx]

I'm really impressed by the level of personal sharing and reflection in these videos! These are such common things in the process of creation and they're communicated so well here.

[SirSoliloquy]

There’s something that I’ve come to realize over the years: pretty much *every* game is a puzzle game in some form or another. That high-speed platformer level you made is also a puzzle — you have to figure out the order to use your abilities to get where you want to go.

[Dragonblorg]

The “platforming” level is a puzzle already, you’d have to figure out the solution rather than just playing through it. It just happens that the solution to the puzzle requires fluid, platforming like movement but there was really no need to remove it

[PrimerBlobs]

Could be really incredible to ship a webgl version of the game that viewers can play with.

[MrEnvisioner]

Some feedback/tips as a pro webdev / hobbyist gamedev:

1. 16:00 "I've talked about how I'm being indecisive about the game's genre, but if you watch me making the game in Unity these last few weeks, you'd see me being indecisive about everything. I'm constantly trying and changing and messing around with different elements and ideas as I struggle to understand the identity of this game."

You elaborate how the situation is similar to scope creep, but actually assert it is decision paralysis, illustrating the difference. And I believe your understanding of the problem is accurate; however, I would argue that the decision paralysis itself is a symptom of a deeper problem. You are finding yourself caught between not necessarily two *genres* but two (or more) gameplay experiences. How do you want a player to *feel* when they are playing the game? What emotions or thought processes do you want them to have? Then, how can you use the game's mechanic to artificially ellicit those feelings/emotions/thought processes in the player? This should be the mental workflow you take in designing the mechanics and levels, and then what mechanics you actually approve of and incorporate/finalize is built by using the above as a reference point.

You touch on this when you "converted from a platformer to a puzzler" with the changes to the camera, level design, character movement speed, jump height, and availability of mechanics. You associated gameplay experiences with the genres, effectively mapped design differences between them, and then applied them, but you never actually identified which game experience *you* wanted to deliver and then compared the traditional genres' gameplay experiences to see how well they match up or whether they were a fit for the target experience for which you are aiming.


The advice you received from Oliver about enforcing constraints on devtime is just an artificial means of forcing oneself to make a decision regarding the pillars in order to empower you to breach through the decision paralysis.

So, genres confer expectations of particular emotional experiences which means they have a specific subset of pillars to which they expect a game to conform. That is, the emotional experiences are expressions of the game's pillars. Your process thus far is to start with mechanics and work backward towards genre (all the while not targeting the pillars behind them). This has led to a feeling of directorial confusion. What I would recommend and challenge you to do is come at it from the other direction where you clearly outline *what* it is you want to build, and then let that guide your path for which mechanics will best support creating that experience. Then, whatever "genre" is associated with the game will just naturally fall into place by virtue of how closely the chosen pillars/mechanics align with said genre(s). This is, in fact, how *new* genres are made. Someone invents a game with some combination of pillars for which there is no popular term, and thus, a new genre name is made for it.

2. 19:08 "I'd look at, like, what are the core things you need to make this game you are envisioning...we usually talk about an MVP, minimal viable product."

The methodology Oliver is advocating for is something that has a proper term in software engineering which is "Agile" (with which you are also likely familiar). You put an emphasis on developing iterative deliverables that are fully playable/usable and which provide concrete value to the end-product. Then, at the end of the "sprint", you reflect on how things are going, get feedback from your audience, outline a list of things that need doing (changes to the design, tasks to complete, etc.), assign priorities to each of those tasks, and then pick the next subset of tasks which you think you can accomplish in the next "sprint". The most popular manifestation of the agile mindset is the "Scrum" methodology.

Hope this info helps! Loving the videos so far, and I really appreciate your ability to communicate the gamedev experience to a broader audience like this. :-D

[SuperNintomdo]

lol Ah yes the inevitable "I changed something and now it's just a puzzle game" trap that every new developer falls into.

[RealGeorgiPopov]

If I can share one bit of wisdom that helps me in such situations:

"Compromise on Details, but never on Vision" - or said differently: Pick a vision, when a decision needs to be made, make the one that supports the vision and throw away the one that doesn't - no matter which one is cooler. It's a sort of constraint outside of the domain of time.

[embergamedev]

The only times I have ever finished a game has been in game jams.

Constraints fuel creativity. The problem most everyone has even in game jams isn't that they don't have any ideas. Instead it's usually paralysis because they have the world of possibilities that need to be narrowed down to one idea.

Also, ideas are never as important as implementation.

[Quintuplin]

The irony is, I think, that the very skillset that makes you so effective as a critic and in-depth analyzer of games; is the same skillset that makes it hard for you to create something. Because you're used to deconstructing, your instincts will actually drag you away from completion rather than towards it.

[thunderbird]

I’m sure he’s already got so much of this done in advance, but I could see these concepts becoming a really cool puzzle/Metroidvaina, which is a spin on both genres that hasn’t really been seen before. You solve different puzzles in areas to progress, finding new abilities as you go along which help you solve more puzzles, and maybe even get those BoTW flashes of agency where you use your nonlinear assortment of power ups to complete a puzzle in your own uniquely clever way. Unraveling ZDR or Hallownest is already a bit of a puzzle in and of itself, so making the navigation focus on puzzles instead of combat could be really cool.

[matyasrudolf]

As a games design student, I can already see the value of my course here. They've already talked to us about this and I've had the chance to explore most of these problems and issues on my own (AND I'VE BEEN ON THE COURSE FOR 3 MONTHS), making game prototypes. There is a huge amount of projects due, but these videos really helped me see the value behind my course and why it is SO important to stick to it. So thank you!

[JudinA]

"It turns out that game development is just full of these tiny unforseen microdecisions to make" resonated with me hard because that's what writing fiction is like too. You think you've got it sorted if you know the basic plot points but you keep being ambushed by things like "Wait, how much firewood can a single person carry and how many logs of firewood does one night require?"

[PhenonIV]

Im a Dutch student enrolling in game design technology study and a course for production management. The university literally sourced you as a good starting point for the portfolio assignment for people who don't have a lot of experience. Im seriously impressed by how interesting each new video is. You never repeat yourself and each topic is unique but equally interesting. Im glad I found this channel

[youtubeuniversity]

"Puzzle Platformer" is a thing, could try and find a medium...

And, heck, a lotta speedrunning is akin to puzzle solving for faster solutions next run.

Puzzles AS fast, essentially. Rather than as opposite ends of a spectrum.

[tonybarnes]

I just want to say I'm SO GLAD you're making a game! No offense and I love your content; it's very insightful, especially for someone who hasn't made a game, but it's important to have gone through the process (and over and over, actually), to REALLY understand game design. It's one of the reasons I get so touchy when people call developers "lazy" or say "it's easy" or even ignore me, when I try to tell them about how each decisions affects 10k other elements in the game. I really think EVERYONE should have to make a game in school. It should be compulsory, so that everyone can understand and have a bit more respect for their favorite hobby. Keep going, it's all about learning!

[sventancredi]

Can we just take a second to appreciate Olivers willingness to openly share his knowledge on game design. He could perfectly be adversarial and secretive about his work, yet he is so forthcoming and helpful towards his peers. He seems like a great guy!

[h]

just a thought - the nice feeling platforming level could be classified as a timing puzzle level in my opinion. Same old portal had a couple of levels that were different in dynamics and revolving more around getting the right timing. I found them really nice.