By Nathan J. Hill
Designing games can be fun.
Of course, it can also be a convoluted process that saps all the creativity from your dry dusty bones for eternity. Hah. Or, you may somehow survive the process and actually come away with something. I am going to assume no. 2 happens.
If you like designing games, I hope what follows could be of interest to you. I will talk in very general terms about the process I go through while designing games. You may get something out of it, or you may get absolutely nothing. This article is free. Go figure.
Step One: The Lurking Idea
All good projects begin with an idea, a hunch, a feeling, or a nagging friend. This mysterious idea can come from any number of sources, but the most important thing about it is that it does indeed arrive. You cannot write a game unless you first have an idea.For example, let's take a look at Eldritch Ass Kicking, Mystic Ages Online's first roleplaying game. The end product is derived from several ideas. First, I remember watching the Dungeons & Dragons movie and found myself giggling about Profion, the evil wizard in the movie. Jeremy Irons did an exceptional job chewing scenery as the vile villain, and I found myself wondering what it would be like if everyone could play such a foul character. (As a side note, the movie did suck.)
Another source of inspiration was the band Tenacious D. If you have not heard their first and hilarious audio release, you have missed out. They are both funny and musically gifted, making it an exceptionally rare bit of recording goodness. In many of their songs, they talk with great flare about "kicking ass", and that tongue-in-cheek fun slowly sifted its way into Eldritch Ass Kicking (as if that wasn't obvious).
Other ideas filtered in throughout the process. Art from Stephen Fabian continued to help me refine my idea. Input and feedback helped me cut away some of the fat and focus on the most necessary components of my idea. It is very easy for an idea to get bogged down.
So, the first phase is quite simple. Come up with your killer idea. Think about it. See where it takes you.
Step Two: Write, Write, Write
You have your idea; what next?Your next step is also fairly simple. You must simply write. Your idea needs to mature. If you can't write, then your idea is either worth nothing or not very good yet.
If you want to be any sort of good writer, you need to have the gumption to write regularly. There are thousands of "wanna-bes" out there who think they have the ideas that will wake the world from entertainment boredom. Unfortunately, they don't have the guts to actually sit down and write. At first, don't even worry about writing things for your game – try writing a concise letter to a friend or a loved one. Write a short story about a man and his favorite highway. Write something.
Eventually, you will decide to tackle the task of putting your idea into form on paper. If you have practiced writing, this part could be easy. If you can't seem to get it down, you may have a problem.
There are roughly two options for you if you can't seem to put pen to paper. First, you may throw the idea out. I hate to break it to you, but most of the time, we can get some pretty crappy ideas for games, settings, and plots. Do not be afraid to chunk an idea if it goes absolutely nowhere. Trust me – if you can't get excited about it, how do you expect anyone else to?
Your second option is to let the idea incubate some more. Go back to the first step and better define what your idea is all about in the beginning. Make sure you have the exact core that you want. Trim the fat, look for more inspiration, or do research. Sadly, I don't think this is an exact science. You simply have to work at it until you are flowing with ideas and hitting the jackpot.
If something is coming out of your morbid imagination, you should pat yourself on the back and write like crazy. Write the way the juices tell you to. If you want to write your game's story in a first person narrative, go for it. If you just want to jot down every note and smidgeon of an idea, go for it. If you want to build your own encyclopedia of source material, may the force be with you.
As a writer, you will discover that some projects work best with certain styles and methods. Find the ones that will let your creativity reign. You are the king of pen and paper.
For Eldritch Ass Kicking, I discovered that some first person narrative was great. I also took time to write down interesting spell effects, strange magical items, and bits and pieces of rules I liked. It ended up being a hodge podge of notes, but before I knew it, I was ready for the first full write of Eldritch Ass Kicking.
Step Three: The Details
You will find that step three is easier depending on the amount of material you managed to put together during step two. Since my thought process is not a science, I have no idea exactly when you will reach step three. I figure if you are ready to write a mostly playable version of your game or setting, you have arrived.Your next job is to focus on the details. You should have the broad strokes in place. Figure out the important things that connect the elements of the setting or game.
I find it easiest at this stage to actually write out a mostly playable version of the game or setting. It may not include complete character stats, rules, or even flavor information, but at the very least, I have something that I can start marking with red ink. I find that this stage gives me the first opportunity to actually begin editing and making sure I am aiming for what I wanted.
With Eldritch Ass Kicking, I whipped up a mostly playable version by the end of the week. I was excited about it, and since the game isn't the largest concept in the world, it came together fairly easily. Remember, that first version will probably be completely warped and slapped around before it actually ends up looking like it should. Still, I had something I could hold in my hands and show to my friends.
If you have trouble with details, you might write what you can and ask a friend or someone to look over it. Ask them if anything seems to be missing or if something comes off as strange or confusing. Post it to a discussion forums and see if anyone bites. Sometimes, another person's opinion on an idea will help it grow or let you overcome the savage world of writer's block.
Step Four: Playtest!
Finally, you may have reached the golden rainbow of glorious victory. For me, when I finally got to playtest Eldritch Ass Kicking, my success was short lived. Fifteen minutes into the game – whoops, I left out some important rules, wrote some bad rules, or made something tragically unclear. Playtesting is a great way for you to get knocked off your pedestal.In this process, you will actually use your design in play. I cannot stress how important this is. If you do not play your design, it may suck (unless you are Jonathan Tweet's game design essence incarnated). Play it again and again. Take criticism, write notes, and see what happens in action. Your idea may still suck, and you may toss it out. Your idea may grow some more, and you may find yourself returning to steps two or three.
I cannot stress how important playtesting is. If you are too chicken to playtest it, then you are not going to be a good game designer. You would probably not make it is a bad game designer (like me) either. You have to be prepared to put your ego on the line and face individuals saying, "Hey, this sucks."
Of course, if you are a good game designer, you will go back and fix things. You will pour over your notes and find the bits and pieces of your game that were bad and fix them. Hopefully, everyone will be happy and find that your game has blossomed into a very fun way to spend an evening.
Eldritch Ass Kicking was a lot of fun to playtest, and in a sense, I am not done with the playtesting. Since it is a PDF game, I hope that I can continue to update it with quicker, stream-lined rules and fan-submitted updates. Hey, I'm just a gamer. I love this stuff.
Conclusion
If my article helps you in your own design, drop me a note. If you find it utter trash, I'll give you your money back ($0.00). Of course, I'd love to see how your game design projects are going.As a final disclaimer, please note that I am no professional game designer. I merely do this for fun, so if some "big name" designer walks in, I shall bow with you all and say, "Teach us Oh Great One!" If you think my words represent those of an experienced well known game gadgeteer, you probably need to get out a bit more often.
Game on!