Game Design and Development

What this page covers

The unit is dominated by mind maps. Several look at Defining Games: the characteristics of a game, an objective, a contest between players, rules and equipment, and the idea of the magic circle. Others, such as Game Theory, show how games are made and which roles contribute, including programmers, musicians, artists and hardware designers.

Gamification and design models

A large cluster of maps covers gamification, with several versions of an introduction and of Getting Gamification Right: 22 Best Practices. Points include setting clear goals, tying gamification to business needs, understanding the psychology and keeping the design simple. There is also a map on the MDA formal approach to game design and game research. The Gamification quiz checks how well you can tell different views of work and play apart.

Making your own game

Many resources come from projects. You will find 2D Game Ideas, which compares pixel, hand-drawn, cel-shaded, vector and realistic graphics. There are also clicker game maps such as Cookie Clicker and Existing Clicker Games, plus Designing For Mobile. Flowcharts such as Game flowchart, Character movement and Enemy Base Machine State show how game logic can be planned step by step. Students working towards GCSE Computer Science may find the project-style material a useful model.

A sensible order

1. Start with Defining Games and Game Theory for the basics.
2. Run through the Types of Gaming flashcards to learn the vocabulary.
3. Read the GAM1500_1 map for origins and principles such as flow, goals and rewards.
4. Take the Practice Quiz for Game Development and note what you missed.
5. Open a flowchart or clicker map to see ideas applied.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Web, Mobile, Games and Digital Media strand of Computing and ICT. Read a map first, then use a quiz to see what stuck. When you are ready, open one that interests you and make notes of your own.