Game Design is the practice of creating and balancing systems and the mechanics which the player uses to affect those systems. This is not to be used for programming questions about the "design" of features, engines, etc.
114
votes
31answers
7k views
How to prevent the “Too awesome to use” syndrome
When you give the player a rare but powerful item which can only be used once but is never really required to proceed, most players will not use it at all, because they are waiting for the perfect ...
57
votes
6answers
2k views
How to deal with (bad?) player suggestions
Every game which builds a community while still being in active development will soon be confronted with players who post suggestions for new features on its forum. Most of these suggestions, however:
...
21
votes
3answers
494 views
How to break the feeling of busywork in a game
I don't know if this topic has been explored before but in a handful of games I've played there comes a point where trying to explore everything, doing sidequests, or even trying to get gear starts ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Designing score system: Combos, chains, multipliers and bonuses
I am making a breakout-clone, I not want only want it to feel "arcade" for home users, but it will have a arcade version (although probably noone will buy, and I will only use the machine to amuse ...
6
votes
3answers
105 views
What's a good alternative to colored tiles to account for color blindness?
I have a game with tiles. Each tile is a number, and each number is one of six colors. The color is important to the game play, and I want to make the game available to those who are color blind.
...
-1
votes
1answer
53 views
Get distance between the edge of screen and a moving sprite
How to get the distance between the edge of the screen and a vector moving sprite? I want to get the distance between my moving sprite and the edge of the screen so that when my sprite touches the ...
12
votes
2answers
316 views
Scrambling word into least recognizable form
My goal is to present the player with a scrambled word that should be reordered back into the original form:
OELHL --> HELLO
I want a scrambling algorithm that takes any given word(>3or4 letters, ...
0
votes
1answer
105 views
Specific Position in THREE.js
I want to ask, how to find out the terrain height at specific points in three.js as I searched a lot but nothing find suitable or working according to my situation.
Actually I want to move the car on ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
What is a Game State?
The terminology "game state" is a bit vague to me. Could anybody clarify, what is included in the game state, please?
Is it a state of all the variables and objects within the game at particular ...
29
votes
8answers
2k views
Is it possible to calculate or mathematically prove if a game is balanced / fair?
This question is not focussed on video games but games in general. I went to a boardgame trade fair yesterday and asked myself if there is a way to calculate the fairness of a game. Sure, some of them ...
0
votes
3answers
258 views
How do I approximate the result of battle between two armies with known strengths?
I need a simple algorithm to calculate the outcome of two differently sized armies battling.
Each army has 1-100 troops and every troop is the same value on the battlefield. The troops do not have ...
2
votes
2answers
103 views
Correct utilisation of gameloop (Android)
When using a gameloop like (much simplified)............
updateLogic();
render();
How does one perform 'single' operations? I mean, things like triggering sounds (which will only be played once), ...
0
votes
2answers
187 views
Alternative ways to make a battle system in a mobile indie game more fun and engaging
I'm developing an indie game for mobile platforms, and part of the game involves a PvP battle system (where the target player is passive). My vision is simple: the active player can select a ...
14
votes
5answers
667 views
I have an “amoeba” game mechanic. Any idea on how to implement it?
Outside of a tetris clone, a crappy 2D top-down shooter, and some messing around with stuff like Unity and Flixel, I realize that I have yet to complete a single, polished, bells-and-whistles game. I ...
7
votes
4answers
358 views
How do I inform the end user about cheat codes?
I have added an interface to input cheats, and of course the backend of this.
Current cheats include:
unlimited health
unlimited time
faster movement
no need to use keys (I have a door/key system)
...
1
vote
5answers
636 views
How much is too much?
From a game design perspective, I've got the following idea:
Traditional Tower Defense game. - an open, mazeable field as monsters approach the castle.
"Towers" consist of ground-pounding units like ...
2
votes
2answers
548 views
My game is dull; how would you make it more exciting? [closed]
The game is Darts for the iPhone. It's OK but it's more like a simulation than anything I'd ever claim to be overtly "fun". I am looking for some ideas to spice up the gameplay. What are your ...
17
votes
9answers
893 views
Approaching the Fun Factor in Game Design
As designers there has to be some ways you've approached establishing the 'fun-factor' in your games. You've likely done something in one game that may very well transfer into the future games you've ...
-4
votes
1answer
176 views
What does a typical game designer do every day? [duplicate]
I am doing a project in class and i need to know what a person in the game designing career does every day. I have been looking and i can not find anything. If you answer this that would be greatly ...
1
vote
1answer
61 views
How can I use remote playtesters?
I'm working on a website for asynchronous two-player games (mostly board games); as part of the site's development I'm hoping to use it to playtest new games I design. The good news is that this ...
18
votes
8answers
928 views
Alternates to scratch damage to solve combat deadlocking
Scratch damage is a game mechanic whereby any successful attack always does some minimal amount of damage. This is often used in subtractive combat systems, where the defense is subtracted directly ...
0
votes
5answers
311 views
Does Java support OpenGL by itself?
Note: This is long but I explaining everything that you need to know. Don't read half way through it and say "What's the question?". It's simple but long and I need help as soon as possible.
So I ...
27
votes
3answers
2k views
How to design the attack class in an RPG game?
I am in the planning phase of a small RPG style game.
The character will have have a set of attributes, like strength, agility, etc which are represented as integers. The character also will have a ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
How to handle a player's level and its consequent privileges?
I'm building a game similar to Mafia Wars where a player can do tasks for his gang and gain experience and thus advancing his level.
The game is built using PHP and a Mysql database.
In the game I ...
6
votes
2answers
271 views
How can I handle a bunch of achievements in a game? [duplicate]
Take for example Team Fortress 2. There are a huge load of achievements, and I'm wondering how the manages all of them. And since there's a lot of achievements, I'd also like to know how it "knows" ...
-4
votes
1answer
51 views
Game logic questions [closed]
I am writing a platform game in java that is based on minecraft, and i was wondering about what people thought about certain features of the game.
When two enemys collide what should happen
When you ...
-1
votes
1answer
85 views
Specifying 3D objects in a game [closed]
I have hands on experience in OpenGLES 2.0 , OpenGL and wish to apply the same in a 3D game development in Android.
My idea is to develop a Combat game having fighter planes. I am trying to create a ...
-1
votes
1answer
94 views
Game programming books? [closed]
I need a book that's beneficial for me and not something that contains what i have already read.
I have a strong maths,physics background and I have good c++ programming skills
and i want to start ...
6
votes
4answers
448 views
What is realism?
Beyond the obvious something that seams real, realism in games is a hard feature to hit.
In some cases, things that are completely impossible in real life are seen as realistic by gamers. For ...
0
votes
1answer
142 views
Real cash gambling app
I am making a cash game like deal or no deal for use as an android app, using adobe software.
The idea is player wagers 50 pence through Paypal plays the game wins, say, £10 pounds and then cash out.
...
0
votes
2answers
62 views
multi user web game with scheduled processing?
I have an idea for a game which I am in the process of designing, but I am struggling to establish if the way I plan to implement it is possible.
The game is a text based sports management ...
-1
votes
0answers
65 views
Best Gamedev book for jmonkey engine [closed]
I want to start using the Jmonkey Engine to make a game but I want to learn some theory first. I am NOT interested in marketing or creating a story. I basically want to know which book would tell me ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Getting direction of mouse from the middle - slick2d [duplicate]
I need to find the direction of the mouse from the centerpoint, i need it to return a direction e.g. north, south, northwest, southeast and so on
how would one go about doing that in java
ps. to ...
11
votes
3answers
713 views
Can Achievement systems be implemented later in development?
I'm undecided if I want to implement this feature in my game at the time or not. I don't want the project to get to far out of control so I'm focusing on core mechanics first.
Is this a feature that ...
12
votes
6answers
863 views
Are hidden stats a good idea?
I'm thinking of and RPG, FPS or a turn based game (does not really matter), where the player does not know his character(s) exact stats. Of course they exist as random variables of normal distribution ...
4
votes
3answers
389 views
What game mechanic can I use to show that the player character is bored?
I'm designing a part in my game where the player must notice that his character feels bored about a certain mundane task he is doing, without being boring for the player.
By observing the game ...
0
votes
2answers
185 views
What beginner level game should I practice developing that has all the basics of game development? [duplicate]
I am a fresh graduate of Computer Science and am very nervoud for my skills test next week. So I have only about 4 days left till the exam and I really want that job which is game development.
They ...
2
votes
4answers
440 views
What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly smash a button?
What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly and quickly press a button or perform an action? I'm especially interested in examples in retro games ...
4
votes
3answers
235 views
Is it worth having AI opponents step in for disconnected players in an online multiplayer card game
I have an online multiplayer card game resembling spades/bridge and I want to implement a system that autoplays when a client disconnects. Right now, there is a client and server. In the new system, ...
0
votes
2answers
72 views
Sprites: Are there any tools to scale sprites individually without using Photoshop/GIMP? [closed]
I am using TexturePacker as tool to pack my 2D sprites, it is good but it doesn't provide the possibility to scale individual sprites to a specific scale.
I am wondering whether there is any good ...
2
votes
3answers
123 views
Generate slot combinations
How do you generate combinations in slots to achieve a wanted probability of the user winning?
Say, you decide that he should win $200. How do you generate combinations that'll cause winnings ...
4
votes
1answer
181 views
How to develop multi-player game without involving server side code?
There have been lot of cloud based frameworks released in past few years. They provide real-time communication among users but does not allow developers to write server side code.
So, how can we use ...
4
votes
4answers
204 views
Storing data for a pokemon like game
The game I'm developing is close to Pokemon. How should I store the data? I am currently thinking of text files where I save the map and have a corresponding textfile for the trainers and their teams ...
5
votes
2answers
318 views
Java 2D game programming: Different approaches to make a game loop
I am new to Java game programming, but the more I read the more I'm confused, because I've seen several different approaches to make a game loop:
1. The standard approach, that uses the Timer class ...
7
votes
4answers
476 views
Simultaneous game states
I think I understand the basic idea behind a Finite State Machine-based game loop. But I'm trying to write a little game in which the same object can simultaneously be in multiple, independent states. ...
3
votes
2answers
249 views
How to write a good functional spec for a game?
I am basically (shamelessly) copying a question that has appeared on SO few years ago. The answers are good, but I would like to get more on this topic, so I'm trying a more specialized subreddit ...
6
votes
2answers
158 views
What to do with old data?
I have a game - virtual soccer manager. It is browser based game. It is split into 'seasons' each of them takes around a half of a real year. The central game element is a soccer match, each team ...
4
votes
1answer
122 views
Where can I find the full game list of Game Design Challenge on GDC? [closed]
The GDC Game Design Challenge is very interesting, the event gives designers the opportunity to display their amazing creativity.
When I searched for the old events I could only find articles which ...
4
votes
2answers
376 views
What knowledge would I need to make a good simulation game
I have an idea for a game like theme park but don't know how simulation games are made.
I am not on my first game so I would appreciate constructive answers instead of "its hard, don't do it".
What ...
-4
votes
2answers
565 views
Side scrolling: how to do?
This question is simple, but for me is hard to do!
How to implement side (horizontal and vertical) scrolling for (i.e.) a 2d car game ?
Both car and background must move.
How to ?
Thank you!
