Fellow enterprise developer turned manager here. Me and my cohort are about to release our first title. It was developed using .NET/C#.
AMA. :)
I'll start with the questions you have above.
Assuming you already have a solid foundation in OOP, Design Patterns, some basic RDBMS, etc, you actually already have 60% of what you need. Code is code.
The other 40% depends on the type of game you are making. 2D? Basic algebra. 3D? Now it gets tougher on the math (though thankfully today's engines do most of the heavy lifting for you, but you still need to understand what is used for what).
Doing multi-player? Now networking is the tricky part because you are likely to use some sort of UDP communication layer and all the REST/SOAP you learned at work, while still useful for managing latency-agnostic stuff like player lists, matchmaking requests and such, won't cut it for real-time multi-player games. Writing solid "netcode" that delivers a great experience at 60+ FPS requires some creativity in managing perception (extrapolation and interpolation when latency is present) and fault-tolerant algorithms. It is no fun when you get a headshot in an FPS, see it happen, but your opponent runs away, apparently unscathed.
As far as graphics, I solved that one easily... I had a friend join my project who was the graphics guy. I provided the framework for doing the graphics and turned that area over to him. He went above and beyond though and learned shaders and added all sorts of special effects.
Meanwhile, I focused my energy on the game engine, networking layers, AWS cloud stuff, matchmaking and lots of behind the scenes stuff.
The other thing I did was read as much as possible about Game Design. I ordered a dozen books from Amazon, including my absolute favorite Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester, the developer of RimWorld (link: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937).
Hope that helps!
On the first part (Synergy), and in general, I do recommend Tynan Sylvester (Rimworld) book on game design. From Chapter 2:
> In a way, every game exists already. They’re out there, hidden in the logic of the universe. We don’t create them. We find them like a sculptor finds the statue in a block of marble—not by adding anything, but by taking away the excess material that obscures the form within.
>
> (...)
> Elegance from Emergence
> EMERGENCE is when simple mechanics interact to create complex situations.
> Leveraging emergence means crafting mechanics that don’t just add together, but multiply into a rich universe of possibility.
> Elegance happens when mechanics interact in complex, nonobvious ways. But this same complexity and nonobviousness makes elegant design very difficult to achieve.
> Mechanics that interact with many other mechanics smell like elegance.
> ...
The XCOM2 comparison part reminds me of Avengers/superhero movie suit-up scene, btw.
I'd suggest Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences. It is as good as Art of Game Design, if not better tbh and I learned many things especially about design thinking and process from this book.
I'd recommend "Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences" by Tynan Sylvester. Very practical and you can get through it in a week on first read. "The Art of Game Design" is comparatively very textbook-y and more useful as reference material (although it's a fantastic book, don't get me wrong).
Yes, I still recommended something full length book-y, but it's concise. Gives a really strong primer in game design in about 200 pages (the rest of the book being more about the dev process vs. core design principles).
Per come la vedo io, i corsi di game design rilasciano solo "inutili pezzi di carta".
Nessuno studio di sviluppo dara' importanza ai corsi che hai fatto, tutti ti chiederanno un portfolio di progetti che hai ideato o lavori che hai eseguito. Giochi da tavolo, mod, card-games, fatti esperienza creando cose come queste e avranno molto piu' effetto quando cercherai lavoro di qualunque corso tu possa fare.
Se posso darti un consiglio, se ancora non lo parli impara bene l'Inglese. In questo modo ti si aprono mille opportunita' di apprendimento e a quel punto hai solo l'imbarazzo della scelta. Dai libri (questo te lo consiglio) ai corsi Udemy e Skillshare, trovi di tutto a seconda dell'ambito che piu' ti interessa (psicologia del GM, narativa, meccaniche, etc.).
E soprattutto crea, prova, inventa, sporcati le mani :)
I am not saying that people who are not professionals don't get to ask questions or have an option. If I somehow implied or stated that, I can definitely agree that it sounds like a false dichotomy argument.
I am saying that people tend to place a higher weight on their opinion for gaming and entertainment, based on their mistaken assumption that just because they consume the content they are somehow an expert at it and understand all of the angles (and not just what appeals to them). That's all that Ben was saying: as a game designer, be careful listening to people who tell you how to do your job. Instead listen and try to understand what's actually bothering them and come up with a solution (or in certain cases understand that changing what's bothering them will cause a larger problem for another group of players, so a change may not be optimal).
He's not the only one in the industry of game design that suggests that. Sylvester for example talks about it in his book as well: http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937/ (around page 160, I think)
You may want to look into this book. It's all about designing great gameplay and joyful experiences. And it's from the guy who is making Rimworld, so he knows what he's talking about.
I read "Designing Games" by Tynan Sylvester and enjoyed it, though it's the only book I've read on the topic so I can't comment on it's status in relationship to others. He's working on the game "RimWorld" which I quite like, so I figured I'd enjoy reading about his process.
I recommend Tynan Sylvester's book "Designing Games" (you can get a 7-day free trial of the e-book on Amazon). A lot of people will recommend A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell but I personally felt it lacked substance. For the more philosophical aspects of the craft, here are some talks that I think are valuable 1 2 3 4 5 (hopefully ordered in a somewhat logical progression).
Another thing -- find out what kind of games you want to make, find out who makes that kind of game (a few examples: Jonathan Blow for puzzle games, Raph Koster and Project Horseshoe for MMOs, Tom Francis for whatever the fuck he makes, etc. -- and "kind" does not necessarily mean genres), and study what those people have to say, figuring out what you agree with and disagree with. Standing on others' shoulders is the easiest way to get good and the best path toward making games of true quality.
I've recommended Tynan Sylvester's book "Designing Games" quite a few times on this forum and I'll do it again. He's the creator of Rimworld so he knows a thing or two about delivering a game.
The situation you find yourself in comes from lack of a formalized process. You're kind of just doing what you feel is right at the moment, with no structure at all, and that's kind of what you're asking for here, I gather.
I'll address your post in two parts.
Depending on the type of game you are working on, certain things are polish, and certain things are core to the game.
For example, in a game like Journey, there are very few game mechanics, it's a very experience-focused game, and the developer clearly spent a lot of time on animation, environment art, and sound, because without these things the game itself is very basic.
On the other hand, in a game like Braid, the time travel mechanics are critical to the game. I'd argue that you could still play Braid perfectly fine if the entire game was just a red square on a black and white rectangle world. The character sprites are simply icons, there to communicate game state (which is you, which is enemy, are they being hurt, etc). The polish came much much later, after the core mechanics are completed.
So you have to ask yourself. Is the 3D modeling or texturing part of your core experience? Or is this something you can shortcut, and provide simply a placeholder for the player / playtester? Can the player still have fun without any sound, polished art, finished UI? What part of the polish is quality of life, and to what extent is your QoL affecting the core experience of your game?
Chapter 13 of "Designing Games" describes an excellent pattern you can follow, which I've been using quite successfully so far. He calls it the dependency stack. It looks like this.
The stack is a connected unidirectional list of features in your game. The connections are dependencies. In the example given, Fortifications depend on Goblin Raids, because without Goblin Raids there is little point to making fortifications. The reason why this forms a dependency is because if Goblin Raids are significantly altered as a feature, for example if instead of marching up to your fort they fly into your fort, then the feature of Fortifications needs to be altered as well. Furthermore, if you design additional features (for example turrets, moats, etc) on top of the fortifications feature, and later you decide Goblin Raids change again, every feature after that must also be changed. He calls this an uncertainty cascade, and you want be developing your project by avoiding this as much as possible.
One strategy to tackle this is by planning out your dependency stack. Figure out what features you have already implemented, figure out what features you have planned in your head, and fit them into a coherent dependency stack such that it forms a clearer road map of your project. You may have to do this several times, I know I've had to do this a few times to get practiced.
Then, as you develop each feature, you can understand better what needs your attention. Start with the most fundamental features first, and get them as solid as you can before you move on to features above that. If you move too quickly up your stack, and realize the foundations are insecure, then you know you've underplanned or developed too quickly and need to take a step back. It's a bit like fighting a war, you need secure footing before you can venture into unknown territory and claim more.
As another example, here's my dependency stack for our game as of a few months ago. The grayed-out portions have been implemented, and white parts are awaiting implementation.
As you can see we're making an XCOM-like game. There's the overworld portion, and the tactical battle portion. We've implemented most of the basic combat portions of the game.
Here's a more recent update of our stack after figuring out where we want to go after completing the above features. We decided we want a stealth / breach type gameplay, and we have the foundations to pull it off. However you can see from the stack we have a few things left to do before we can implement the "base stealth game" because we need Chain of Command (enemy units which have a commanding officer) and AI Orders (enemies can call for backup) without which there is no base, and there is no stealth. On the other side of that is AI Perception (enemies individually see allies and enemies) and Combat Intel (AI's squad knows about your presence). All of these features combine into the gameplay we want, however each feature must be carefully and completely done before we can move up the stack, as they have a ripple effect upwards.
I also found this book very good - by the guy that made Rimworld
https://www.amazon.com.au/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937
Try Craig Perko's Concrete Play series for an intro to game design.
Also in my totally objective opinion, <em>Designing Games</em> by Tynan Sylvester is a way better book than all the others mentioned here combined. The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell is too vague and esoteric to be useful in practice, and Game Design Workshop is too industry-focused.
Tynan Sylvester (creator of RimWorld) wrote a book about game design which a lot of people seem to like. I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937
I second at of game design by Schell and this one from the creator of RimWorld.
Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449337937/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_PJPF376W7P95BBA8MPC2
Thanks for clarifying. I did some research on Keith Burgen, and his ideas are similar to another general game design book by Tynan Sylvester that I think you might like: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937
I recommend reading Tynan Sylvester's book as his ideas are similar, but they focus a lot on the psychology and emotional aspect of games. His book is very general and can be applied to making board and card games too.
He also emphasizes decision making and replayability as what makes a game good and two examples he provides are : Counter Strike and Starcraft 2. I am not sure if Keith Burgen provides video game examples, but I would be interested in hearing about what video games he thinks are good or without major flaws.
Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester
The Aesthetic of Play and Situational Game Design by Brian Upton
Since you mentioned Rimworld: Tynan, the creator of Rimworld has a gamasutra post and a book about how he designs games. (Spoiler: It's all about the story experienced by the player).
I can tell you about the thought process for my colony simulator:
Therefore I only have a couple (~10) resources that are not even items on the map, but are simply counted in the UI, like in a strategy game. If you're looking for inspiration you can download it for free on the website.
For your game, I think you could first think about what the focus is in your game. Do you want the player to spend more time managing resources, handling colonists, building stuff, or defending the colony? Then plan around your focus. Hope this helps you :)
I had a thread about this not too long ago
From there, I suggest Tynan Sylvester's Engineering Experiences
And I still think Ian Schrieber's Game Design Concepts series is a masterclass
There is a lot of great information out there, and there is also so much chaff to sift through. Of course, Richard Garfield would remind us that we also need to play every game.
>"Game designers should train themselves to think out of the mold, but it's naive to think that you profit by not even knowing what the mold is." -- Richard Garfield
This is THE book for general game design written by the developer of RimWorld.
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937
You can get it used for just about $20.
Yes, plenty others are charging for DLC's and upgrades (erjemHOI4jrem). Here it's not exactly the same but.. more or less (read down).
Still, something doesn't quite fit. Bear with me.
Back in 2013 they raised <strong>200k$</strong> on Kickstarter with something that worked already: > The game already exists, and the testers are already having good experiences with it. We've got a small crew of testers on the Ludeon forums sharing their experiences with the game. Take it from them, not from me.
Indeed, the game was already looking solid.. Even if graphically speaking we're looking at a Prison Architect copy&paste, which I don't think anyone mind, not even the guys from Prison Architect which is pretty cool, but still worth mentioning that no much innovation went there. What I mean by that is that most of the hard work (genre, game mechanics, plot and so on) was long done.
So that cash, an already big and thriving community, a kickstarter success and Steam Greenlit... All of that before ending 2013. So in that situation you already know what you are facing, what you'll need to change and so on. And since then, it's been selling at 30$.
According to steamdb.info (I don't know the reliability but doesn't seem crazy numbers) they have <strong>sold about 700k copies</strong>.
They do have developed 3 DLC's. For 170$, 15$ and 370$ aprox. The most expensive one says:
> This DLC gives you the right to enter a name and character backstory into the game, with skills, appearance, and special work requirements. In addition, your character will appear as the leader of another faction! > > Write yourself as an interplanetary detective, an entrepreneur, an ex-artist, or anything else you can think of. Players will recruit, command, and fight you for all time! > > [...]
The actual game dev has been very scarce in these years, for everything that I mentioned this game has going for it.
Anyhow, I do like this game. I like it a lot. I'm making it clear because after giving facts some people may get the wrong idea. It's not about thrashing it, quite the contrary.
I think the guy nailed it in terms of the game itself (BTW he actually has a pretty good book on game design) but with all that money and all that time, maybe (and of course here I can only talk out of my ass because can't know) he hasn't managed the growth well and/or he hasn't allied with someone to do it.
So now, instead of medium to big upgrades every month or two (Prison Architect style, another game from kickstar success; or even Minecraft) we have medium to big upgrades twice a year.
I hope this can be seen as the constructive criticism from someone that wants this game to crush it big time. And sooner rather than later.
Read Designing Games by the creator of RimWorld. If you can't afford to buy it, check your library; mine has the eBook.
You mean like this one? ;)
Agreed!
I would also recommend a book called Designing Games, A guide to engineering experiences by Tynan Sylvester:
http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Games-Guide-Engineering-Experiences/dp/1449337937
Title: RimWorld Alpha 10 - Joy System
Submitted by: Tynan Sylvester
Description:
Game site: ludeon.com Book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449337937 Twitter: https://twitter.com/tynansylvester
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I'd just grab it through steam. It's easier that way. If you really like the devs (and I do), then buy a copy for a friend, too. Or, you can buy a copy of Tynan's Book about designing video games