End of Week 12 02/08/25

Another week of unity! Not much to say. This week, I started learning about 2D development. Slightly different than 3D. The physics and interface change in unity depending on 2D vs. 3D. Overall, though, it is mostly the same. Well, that about wraps up the week.

Game Design

This week, since I don’t have much to report, I’ll talk about game design. Here is something I think is important.

Simplicity

There must be some level of simplicity. In modern games there is interface and action. The action is what’s happening, who you are controlling, the cutscenes. The interface is the map in the corner of the screen, the money counter, the pause menu. A good rule of thumb is to put as little as possible on the screen without affecting the gameplay.

The above image is from a game called Manhunt. In the bottom left corner you have a “mini-map.” It shows the location of the character relative to the enemies in the scene. It is black and white and slightly transparent, doing just what it needs to do and nothing else. There is also an image of the equipped weapon and how much ammo you have, your health, stamina, and a prompt telling you what action you can perform in the right. These are all things that are immediately important and necessary for the player to know. The majority of the screen is dominated by what matters: the action. The interface is important, but the action should take the front seat. This game is an example of design mastery as it uses visually simplicity to aid nuanced complexity. The music changes when an enemy is nearby. The prompt darkens when James Earl Cash is hidden from sight. The rim of the mini-map flashes when you are being chased. The ammo counter turns red when you run out.

Above is an example of too much interface.

Manhunt’s design features are special because they are relatively rare. A fact that plagues many modern games is that developers think all games must be “realistic.” They want to give you more, more. Part of reaching this perfect level of simplicity is using linearity. You can have realistic games with limits. There must be limits. When I fire up a game and I am prompted to design my character from the ground up (appearance, personality, “type”) I am usually tempted to turn it off immediately. This is a non-committal way for designers to be lazy under the guise of “giving you more options.” Because really, your only option is a mute loser who makes you wonder what you’re missing with the other character “type”s. No, to make a good game you need to take ownership and build a story for one protagonist. You are simplifying, but in reality, your story has potential to be far more complex than otherwise.

So there is game design tip number one. This was fun, there could be more in the future!