Finding Your Game’s Purpose | Game Design Consulting for “What Is Real?”
- December 22, 2023
- Posted by: MainInstructor
- Category: Game Design Go
![](https://i0.wp.com/allprowebdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1703222943_maxresdefault.jpg?resize=840%2C430&ssl=1)
Video Title: Finding Your Game’s Purpose | Game Design Consulting for “What Is Real?”
When developers make games a lot of times they think of fun as just being the thing that they want to achieve but when we talk about emotional perspectives in games when we talk about storytelling and empathetic mechanics these are things that will still be able to grip your players they just won’t
Have a generic fun time there are different types of fun that people can have with the game hi there welcome to games over coffee Consulting people give me their games I give feedback on their game design my name is Devon and today we’re talking about what is real and I have
Coffee today from my favorite place by the way you have to forgive me if I sound a little weird I’m getting over a cold what is real so what what what is what is real what is real is a very simple game it’s a game made by this
Person’s name I actually typed this name into chat GPT just to see if I could get a pronunciation guide from it and it said junj I don’t know if that’s correct it’s obviously made by more people this is the person who submitted the game this game was originally made for the
Gmtk game Jam for 2020 3 that was the one that had to do with reversing mechanics I talked about this before called scrambled eggs where he play as the cars instead of the chickens and and crossy road but this game this game had to do with reversing the way that you
Reward the player through the Rog likee kind of system through random reward so how they approached this was something that’s kind of like vampire survivors instead of you getting upgrades you’re upgrading the enemies the game has a very specific aesthetic about it it’s what’s called DM core I guess but what’s
Really nice about this what’s really cool about playing this game this idea of having a nightmare you being a kid and then experiencing all these monsters all at once and then also upgrading the monsters it gives you this crazy feeling of disempowerment and this is a really really interesting thing this is
Something that I’ve talked about for a long time on my main Channel about empathetic mechanics so I I reached out to developer to ask them you know what what it is that they wanted for my advice because I pointed out I was like this this game dude your your game here
Has like a really cool metaphorical take on on disempowerment or at least an empathetic take so this person already had some plans for this game going forward they said that they were probably going to include things like powerups boss battles some narrative and when I looked at that I was thinking
That sounds a little limiting and the reason why I was thinking about that is because I was thinking this game has such a good disempowerment kind of feeling I feel like you could build much more on that and it’s funny because I actually put this game’s description
Into chat GPT and asked it what it would do to make the game bigger to expand the game and it gave me powerups boss battles narrative the game feels like I said it has a very strong disempowerment feel and I really like that kind of metaphor in here directly feeling the
Powerlessness that this child has in this nightmare I think that’s a really interesting feeling the types of enemies change also and you have these eyeballs that fly in and they’re they’re a lot faster than a bunch of other enemies and because their animation looks strange and they fly faster than the other ones
And it heightens that anxiety one thing that happened to me specifically was I always stayed by the bed as kind of a center point just to kind of reorient myself and while I’m sitting there by the bed suddenly this freaking creature comes from underneath the bed to try to
Grab me and I was like freaked out like that kind of stuff builds anxiety and gives me that feeling of disempowerment to feel something like that that’s both strong emotionally and plays into the theme of the game of nightmare it makes me feel like there’s something much
Bigger much more cohesive going on here this game is much more than just the sum of its parts it’s not just a reverse Rogue like it’s it’s an actual nightmare that’s happening that you’re and you’re living it so when I felt that feeling in the game to then look at the developer’s
Plans going forward that seemed to be more focused on just kind of generic stuff it made me feel like well you’re going to lose that that potency you’re going to lose that really strong emotion that I got from there so I reached out to the developer and I asked them did
They want me to talk about the expanding of the the game or did they want me to talk about the emotional impact of the game and as he talked to his team they settled on a mixture of both they wanted to see what I had to say about the
Emotion but also how to grow a game from that emotional perspective how can you use that to create a bigger game I want to talk about something really quickly about the effort in a game and why you make a game in the first place one of my
Most popular videos as of now is this one video this tower defense game called gridlock Towers the developer had talked about they wanted to expand their game but the thing that I said in that video had to do with intent and it had to do with what the developer was trying to
Think of when they made the game in the first place and this is something that’s very important when it comes to Creations the them that I want to talk about here is theme when developers make games a lot of times they think of fun as just being the thing that they want
To achieve but when we talk about emotional perspectives in games when we talk about storytelling and empathetic mechanics these are things that will still be able to grip your players they just won’t have a generic fun time there are different types of fun that people can have with the game people have fun
With iron lung right iron lung is not a fun game iron lung is not joyful it’s not a positive feedback loop a whole lot but there it is very engaging it has to do with a game Loop that you get into and you are provided with feedback based
On your work forward same with uh depression Quest is another one that’s also not very fun but very engaging um papers please is one of my favorites like I wouldn’t call these things fun experiences but you can have fun with them the idea here I think is more
Centered on engagement has to do with engagement and less on fun so when I played this game when I played what is real I was not having fun the game is very difficult I don’t like the idea of upgrading my enemies but I was engaged I
Was very engaged and I played the game several times to try to get to the end of it because I really wanted to get to the end in order to create that engaging type of feeling in your game really you have to look at your game game as an art
You can’t just look at your game as a collection of pieces that are meant to be together to create a generic Fun Time games have moved past that right games are a lot more mature now you can have games for audiences that are not strictly fun so the person who made Iron
Long the one of the games that they had made previously was called finger bones and that game is a psychological horror and it’s a terrible terrible game the game is actually really well done it’s not it’s not a terrible game to play but it’s a terrible type of story that
They’re telling when you get into the game and you finish the game at least I I felt like gross I felt really gross playing that game but it was great right it was a really good experience to have because it was such an interesting thing
To happen and I’m glad that I played it but to create something like that the developer wasn’t saying okay what will the player find more fun right what how can I not lose players in certain situations he’s not thinking that right when he’s making a horror game about
About this uh I can’t even say what it’s about it’s really gross I I highly recommend the game if it if you’re into like Twisted psychological horror it’s really twisted it’s a fantastic way of Storytelling but of course when people are making games like that they’re not
Thinking how can I make sure that the player you know is having a good time over and over they’re not thinking that they’re thinking how can I present the experience that I want to present how can I tell the story that I want to tell and of course this all depends on the
Type of experience that you want for the player if all you want is to give the player a very generic sense of fun that’s fine you can do that look at just any Nintendo game basically right they deliver really really generic very fun games Mario Kart for example is a game
That’s not really about anything and it has to do with uh sing together really good really engaging moments same with Mario Party same with Super Mario Bros just about any type of Mario games that way but if you want to go more on this metaphor and more into the idea of
Empathetic mechanics then what you want to do is you want to have a theme in your game you want to have some sort of idea of the type of experience that you want to deliver have a theme and then be able to put that theme into just every
Facet of the game so my advice for you developer of what is real um I would say go ahead and think about expanding the game in the ways that you thought but hold on to a theme right hold on to what you want to say to the player hold on to
The idea of disempowerment perhaps take the idea of what you want to say about disempowerment hold that in your mind while you’re making other experiences so for example um if you’re making a boss battle think of how you would make the player feel really disempowered in a
Boss battle try to think about what you want to say about disempowerment a really good idea for this is to create a story stories are set around themes themes are what the author says about the subject so if you think about a subject like disempowerment what is it
That you want to say about it and then incorporate that into your story and if you don’t want a story then just incorporate that into your mechanics if you have powerups think about how powerups would specifically do something with disempowerment again each facet of the game that you keep plugging in think
About how that connects back to the theme so think about what you want to say about a subject think about that theme hold it in your mind and create the rest of the game with that theme in your mind with that you’ll create some sort of unique experience that will feel
Interesting to play it might not feel fun but you’ll feel a uniqueness there so this being a game Design Channel and this being Consulting of all things I do want to talk about some specific uh communication things that I felt in this game the first thing I want to talk
About is shooting first of all the gun has this uh very very small sound to it it feels like just a pop sound in one way it kind of played into that idea of disempowerment because it didn’t really make me feel powerful but at the same
Time it didn’t really feel like I was shooting anything it just kind of felt like a pop gun maybe that works in the dream core world I’m I’m not sure but I just wanted to bring that up it didn’t ever feel like I was shooting a gun hey
Devon from the future here I uh I just now realized that I lost quite a lot of footage on this camera but I I still have the audio so you’re not going to see me but you’re going to hear me sorry but one of the things I wanted to talk
About with that gun you can’t Auto shoot in this game you can’t hold down the button and have it continuously shoot you have to click each and every time it gets very tiring over time uh especially if you’re doing it very very fast the only way that I completed the game was
By getting the macro to actually shoot uh to click my mouse five times a second so um so I would take that into consideration the way that you get hurt in this game is not very obvious to me in fact I didn’t understand until just
The other day that I think you have four hit points like I’m still not even really sure I understand that every time you get hurt your icon in the top left shows your face getting darker and darker while that’s interesting aesthetically it doesn’t show me how
Much uh health I have left now I wouldn’t get rid of that I think it’s fine the way it is but I would definitely make it more obvious when the player gets hurt because I never knew when I actually got hurt in here there were times that I thought that I was
Totally fine the entire game and actually got hurt several times I would communicate that a little clearer you can add more juice into the interactions here so with the both with the gun shooting and with the getting hurt just add more juice add more feedback whether that’s a screen Shake whether that’s a
Color change or a size change or some sort of visual indication just something something like that to communicate to the player what is happening around them one graphic design thing I wanted to point out was that the legendary cards in here I couldn’t really tell were legendary and I’m not even sure what
Legendary meant I imagine they it means that they were more rare than other cards I can never really tell from the outset that they were supposed to look any different I’m I’m not sure anything that has to be very different I would increase that contrast quite a lot you
Know make them look way different than the other cards they could even just be a different shape entirely so I asked developers about what they’re proud of and what they’re least proud of and one of the things that this person said was the situation is fun right I am proud of
It and it’s also my least proud thing in the game I just don’t know if I apply it correctly and if it’s a good idea for a game like Rog likes like vampire survivors work because the player is curious about all the different ways they can get empowered by the different
Combinations but can I make the player feel that way with a system that empowers enemies like you want to see how the enemies destroy you in different ways they’ll get stronger in different ways or will the player find an optimal strategy and always go for it even if the strategy doesn’t bring new
Experiences this is a really really good question so the the problem with having something like a reverse Rogue like where you keep empowering the enemies over and over is the idea that the enemies are going to get more powerful and thus it’s going to get harder to
Play the game and if the player isn’t already amazing at the game then they’re going to go for the weaker cards all the time but the only reason why the player goes for the weaker cards is because the goal of the game is to survive everything if the goal of the game was
Not to survive then it would be different think of a game like Pokemon Snap for example if you make Pokémon more Aro or if you anger a Pokemon that’s kind of a good thing because you can get a better picture of them it just really depends on what you’re trying to
Do with the player’s experience now obviously in Vampire survivors it has to do with the the game Loop you’re upgrading yourself more and more so that you can take out more and more enemies so then ask yourself what kind of game Loop plays into the idea of empowering
The enemies over and over if you want to have that same type of game Loop that vampire survivors had then what you’re looking for is some sort of goal that the player needs to get to and the steps to get to that goal mean making the enemies much stronger and just off the
Top of my head I could see something like get the eyes to 500% size right or one of the goals is to get all the enemies to deal 500% damage and the idea is to survive until you get to that goal that’s just the first thing that comes
To my mind so this is a really interesting game because it has such a cool uh disempowerment type of feeling and I really like that idea of the metaphor playing into this kind of nightmare at the same same time you have this um you have both Aesthetics just
Really fit in really well together and I hope that what I’ve said here will be able to help you on your journey forward with this game and if you are not this developer and you have a game that you want me to look over please submit it
There’s a a link in the description or you can go to games over. Cofe and submit the game there I also have another Channel I have a Discord I have a patreon I have all kinds of things check out stuff if you want to check
Them out and I will see you guys later oh that is uh very [Laughter] Cold
Video Keywords: Game Design
-
Sale!
Wireless WIFI Repeater Extender Amplifier Booster 300Mbps
$29.99$14.99 Add to cartWireless WIFI Repeater Extender Amplifier Booster 300Mbps
Categories: Electronics, Wi-Fi Router, Wireless Wi-Fi Extender Tags: 300Mbps, 802.11N, Amplifier, Booster, Extender, mobile wi-fi booster, Remote, WIFI, Wireless, Wireless WIFI, Wireless WIFI Repeater, Wireless WIFI Repeater Extender, Wireless WIFI Repeater Extender Amplifier, Wireless WIFI Repeater Extender Amplifier Booster, Wireless WIFI Repeater Extender Amplifier Booster 300Mbps$29.99$14.99 -
Sale!
Full RGB Light Design Gaming Headset Headphones with Mic
$24.99$14.99 Add to cartFull RGB Light Design Gaming Headset Headphones with Mic
Categories: Electronics, Gaming, Gaming Headsets Tags: Design, Full, Full RGB Light Design Gaming Headset, Full RGB Light Design Gaming Headset Headphones, Full RGB Light Design Gaming Headset Headphones with Mic, Gamer, Gaming, Gaming Headset Headphones, gaming headset wireless, Headphone, Headphones, Headset, Light, Mic, Package, RGB$24.99$14.99 -
Sale!
Wireless BlueTooth Multi-Device Keyboard Mouse Combo
$39.99$19.99 Add to cartWireless BlueTooth Multi-Device Keyboard Mouse Combo
Categories: Electronics, Gaming, Gaming Keyboards, Keyboard Mouse Combos Tags: Combo, Keyboard, keyboard mouse combos, Mouse, MultiDevice, Set, WireKeyboard Mouse Combo, Wireless, Wireless BlueTooth Keyboard Mouse Combo, Wireless BlueTooth Keyboard Mouse Combos, Wireless BlueTooth Multi-Device Keyboard Mouse Combo, Wireless BlueTooth Multi-Device Keyboard Mouse Combos$39.99$19.99 -
Sale!
High Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chair with Headrest and Lumbar
$199.99$139.99 Add to cartHigh Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chair with Headrest and Lumbar
Categories: Gaming, Gaming Chairs Tags: Adjustable, Chair, computer chairs, Desk, Executive, Gaming, Girl, Headrest, High, High Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chair, High Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chair with Headrest, High Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chair with Headrest and Lumbar, High Back Leather Executive Adjustable Swivel Gaming Chairs, Leather, Lumbar, Office, Racing, Swivel$199.99$139.99 -
Sale!
Professional LED Light Wired Gaming Headphones with Noise Cancelling Microphone
$29.99$19.99 Select optionsProfessional LED Light Wired Gaming Headphones with Noise Cancelling Microphone
SKU: N/A Categories: Electronics, Gaming, Gaming Headsets Tags: Cancelling, Gaming, Gaming Headphones with Noise Cancelling Microphone, gaming headset, Headphones, Headset, LED, Light, Mic, Microphone, Noise, Professional, Professional LED Light Wired Gaming Headphones, Professional LED Light Wired Gaming Headphones with Noise Cancelling Microphone, Wired, Wired Gaming Headphones, Wired Gaming Headphones with Noise Cancelling Microphone$29.99$19.99 -
Sale!
Gaming Desk with LED Lights USB Power Outlets and Charging Ports
$349.99$249.99 Select optionsGaming Desk with LED Lights USB Power Outlets and Charging Ports
SKU: N/A Categories: Computer Desk, Gaming, Gaming Desk Tags: and Charging Ports, Charging, Desk, Desks, Gaming, gaming desk with led lights, Gaming Desks with LED Lights, Home, LED, Lights, Monitor, Office, Outlets, Port, Power, Room, Stand, USB, USB Power Outlets, White, Workstation$349.99$249.99 -
Sale!
Wired Mixed Backlit Anti-Ghosting Gaming Keyboard
$99.99$79.99 Add to cartWired Mixed Backlit Anti-Ghosting Gaming Keyboard
Categories: Electronics, Gaming, Gaming Keyboards Tags: Antighosting, Backlit, Blue, brown, Gaming, Gaming Keyboard, gaming keyboards, gaming keyboards and mouse, Keyboard, Laptop, Switch, Wired, Wired Mixed Backlit Anti-Ghosting Gaming Keyboard, Wired Mixed Backlit Anti-Ghosting Gaming Keyboards, Wired Mixed Backlit Gaming Keyboard$99.99$79.99 -
Sale!
Wireless Bluetooth 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headset
$119.99$59.99 Add to cartWireless Bluetooth 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headset
Categories: Electronics, Gaming, Gaming Headsets Tags: 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headset, ANC, Audio, Bluetooth, Cancellation, Ear, Earphone, gaming headset, Headphones, Headset, Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headset, HiRes, Noise, Wireless, Wireless Bluetooth 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Headphones, Wireless Bluetooth 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headset, Wireless Bluetooth 5.3 ANC Noise Cancellation Hi-Res Over the Ear Headphones Headsets$119.99$59.99 -
Sale!
Wired Sports Gaming Headset Earbuds with Microphone
$19.99$9.99 Select optionsWired Sports Gaming Headset Earbuds with Microphone
SKU: N/A Categories: Gaming, Gaming Headsets Tags: Accessories, Earbud, Earphone, Earphones, Gaming, gaming headset with microphone, Headphones, Headset, IOS, Microphone, Sports, Wired, Wired Sports Gaming Headset Earbuds, Wired Sports Gaming Headset Earbuds with Microphone, Wired Sports Headset Earbuds$19.99$9.99 -
Sale!
150W Universal Multi USB Fast Charger 16 Port MAX Charging Station
$49.99$29.99 Add to cart150W Universal Multi USB Fast Charger 16 Port MAX Charging Station
Categories: Charging Stations, Electronics Tags: 150W, 150W Charging Station, 150W Universal Multi USB Charging Station, 150W Universal Multi USB Fast Charger 16 Port MAX Charging Station, 150W Universal Multi USB Fast Charger 16 Port MAX Charging Stations, 150W Universal Multi USB MAX Charging Station, 16 Port MAX Charging Station, 3.5A, Charger, Charging, Fast, laptop charging stations, Max, Multi, Port, Stand, Station, Universal, USB$49.99$29.99
Developer Junj here, and wow, that consulting told a lot to me, and sure i'll be way more carefull in changing the game, for it not to loss the empathetic feeling of being disempowered in a nightmare.
Watching the video and reading some comments, made me realize that i need to focus developing what is better in the game, not commom and generic things.
I remember the awesome experience that was adding the art into the game and feeling "wow thats creepy", but, as a developer that plays times and times and times the game again, i think i lost that feeling along the way.
But i have a lot of ideas of ways to keep developing, and atune that experience, hehe, i miss working in this game a lot.
Some extra things and answers:
The eyes on the screen pop out after some time, you dont need to shoot them, i have to think in a way to make it more clear, but even with that, i think i have to be more carefull about being tired of clicking a lot.
(The sound effect of shooting was homemade of an item dropping in my house 😂)
And the health is a slider from 100 to 0, you get hurt on every contact with enemies, if you reach 75% "sanity", your face changes, 50% and 25% too. Maybe we could make it an animation instead of fixed points.
About the other ideas that fits the theme, i liked they a lot, specifically when you told about the pokemon game, what if the cards buffed specific enemies that you need to catalogue? And the art changed after those buffs? So you need to buff the enemies in order to progress.
(I dont think this would fit in this game, but another one in the same universe maybe)
Thanks fot the consulting! It was awesome ❤❤❤☕️☕️☕️
This has really helped me, I've been trying to plan out a game but I couldn't figure out what I wanted it to be. There are other forms of engagement, I don't know why I didn't realise it sooner, I play so many games all for different reasons. Games that make me feel smart, games that make me feel pride, games that touch my heart and games that give me thrills. Why did I think my games NEEDED to be "fun"… This has opened my eyes. I focus so much on mechanical and emotional game design but not nearly enough on how these smaller branches of game design clash together. I wanted my game to be everything when it only needs to serve it's main purpose. I got into game development to express myself, I think I need to focus less on the small individual stimulating gameplay and mechanics, and instead more on the overall experience and emotions of my creation that I'm trying to convey.
Your videos and insight are very interesting and helpful, highly under-rated channel. These videos are like mini podcasts, I love them.
Really enjoyed this video but I feel like you use "generic" as a crutch word when you really mean "mass market." Would you call Super Mario Wonder generic? No. I get the point you're trying to make. Games like Call of Duty are popular because they're "easy"–a player can feel like they won even if they barely contributed to the team–whereas a game like Street Fighter 6 will be more niche because it has a high skill ceiling and very rigid rules about how to play the game. Again, really enjoyed the topic of this video, but using "generic" as a blanket term for popular AAA games isn't quite getting across the point you're trying to make.
chatGPT is by design very conservative. don't expect anything new from it.
your idea for having goals other than "survive" reminds me a little of "disc room". in that game, you unlock certain rooms by fulfilling a goal in an adjacent room. most of the goals are to survive for a certain amount of time, but others can involve dying to a certain number of unique enemies, utilizing abilities in interesting ways, or even surviving under a certain amount of time. the goals won't line up 1-to-1 since it's a different genre, but it might be worth a look for the dev team 🙂
i love the concept of this game! having the deck stacked against you makes for an interesting gameplay loop, and makes it so much more satisfying when you pull off a victory. i'll have to give this one a look once i find my mouse
Just played the game before watching the video and here are my thoughts: Creepy, oppressive, artistic. On the scale between art and game, I'd say it leans harder into being a vision of art. I appreciate that. Sometimes making your game more game-like will detract from the message or feeling that you're trying to convey. Games as a form of art are valuable, even if they don't usually sell well.