A day in the life of a Game Designer
BUILDING THE GAME
You'll now have the chance to adjust your settings and improve your version of Total Swipeout. As we go, let's dig a little deeper into some of the elements that make a great game.
APPEARANCE (GAME AESTHETICS)
The appearance of your game needs to match audience needs and expectations. Expectations change as technology develops: for some types of games it is critically important how they look.
Action & Adventure Games
Game players expect outstanding appearance from adventure games. A modern example is the action shooter Star Wars Battlefront. Comparing this with an action adventure game from the past, Tomb Raider (1996), you can see how expectations have changed.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) on the Atari 2600 is an example of an adventure game that never met audience expectations, and many think had a negative effect on gaming generally. This shows just how important expectations can be.
Physics Puzzle Games
For physics puzzle games, such as Angry Birds, the appearance isn't as important. Making the gameplay objects interesting, challenging and fun is far more important. Audience expectations don't change as quickly, as you can see by looking at Worms (1995).
Matching Puzzle Games
For matching puzzle games, appearance is even less important, but gameplay and challenge are key. In games like Tetris or Candy Crush, objects need to be nice, but gameplay makes them interesting.
Our swipe game is like this. Looks are not that important, but the appearance should still be attractive to the audience and not get in the way of gameplay.
Think about how the test version of your game worked, are there any changes you would like to make to the game appearance?