Common Game Making Flaws

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Written for Game Maker games, applies to all to an extent.

Within the Game Maker Community we have at least 10 new creations posted nearly every month. How to make sure people notice your creation? To find out about this I am going to discuss various things seen at the GMC which you should not do. Because knowing what other people do wrong will make sure that you don't make the same mistake.

Contents 1 Diversity 2 Music 3 Expectability 4 Lack Of Game Play 5 Bug Free 6 View Sizes 7 Controls 8 Conclusion

[edit] Diversity

When making a game try to make it varied. Nobody likes to see the same thing over and over again. When I am walking through a 3D level, I don't want to see the same texture over and over again throughout the entire game. When I'm playing a maze game I do not want to play the same maze over and over again. People want variation. Each level should be different. Give the level a different look by using a different texture, a different level design, some changing background music and perhaps some different enemy sprites. With such a few small changes you can already make a great variation within a game. And if the game keeps looking varied then people keep playing it.

[edit] Music

Many games these days add a piece of music because it is the only music part they can find. If the music doesn’t fit with the game then do not add it. Bad music will make people stop playing your game instantly. If I dislike the music in a certain game I usually quit. Music should enhance the feeling of the level, not completely ruin it. Music should stay in the background and never take up my attention. Bad music will distract me from the game and only keep me distracted and annoyed with the music. This makes me keep pressing all buttons at the keyboard to stop that music rather then enjoy playing this game. A game is better without music than with music that doesn’t fit the game.

[edit] Expectability

When I play Breakout I want my balls to bounce at a logical angle. If my ball bounces at a completely wrong and unexpected angle, and I miss the ball because of that then I am annoyed and quit. Same goes for a platform game, if I see a set of spikes I can tell by the shape I should avoid them. If I first have to hit a spike to notice that these are deadly and I have to start the game over again then I’m gone.

Alternatively if I see a triangle pointing upwards within a platform game my experience tells me that these things usually are spikes and I'll avoid them, if this happens to be the secret bonus element needed to actually complete the game and I die because I avoid it then that is bad game design. As a player I should see directly what I can expect from a situation. If I see a big pit with red smoking lava I know I should avoid it. If a player dies because of lack of understanding of what an element does then he will very likely quit the game

[edit] Lack Of Game Play

Too many games these days focus purely on the graphics. A game should be varied and interesting. It would of course be nice if it has some fancy graphics but it isn't the graphics that make the game, it’s the gameplay. You can have beautiful graphics but if your game is boring people won’t play it. Good graphics can enhance a game a lot. However without the game play there is little that graphics can do. If you have a game where the only goal is to press a key at a certain moment then the game will have a very limited playability span. People want variation within their game.

A game revolves around taking decisions. In Pacman you decide whether you go left, right, up or down. That keeps the game exciting, as you know what you must do. If your only decision is to stop a timer then the game will get incredibility dull. A player should always get new decisions, which he must choose. A player should not be walking for 5 minutes to the left without doing any thinking. A player's mind should be kept busy throughout the game.

[edit] Bug Free

This sounds so obvious but hardly anyone thoroughly tests their game for bugs. I've seen games that don't even start! When making a game, test it, then test it again and again and again. If a game has bugs you will get everyone upset. If a game is unplayable then do not release it. When you make a game test it and make sure to simulate every possible situation. What would happen if you hit the spikes? and what if you hit the evil clown? Test everything. If I play a game, which gives me an error without me doing something stupid, then the maker of the game obviously didn’t test the game itself enough.

Most errors can be very easily found. For instance an error moving to the next room after the last tells me that the author of this game has never even completed his own game or else he would have found this out himself. Keep testing your games. When you think they are finally done ask some other people to test the game. Also do not go and sit behind them and tell them that they should walk left and they are acting stupid in the game now. Let them figure everything out themselves. If they can’t figure it out then any other player can’t figure it out either.

[edit] View Sizes

When I have a view, which does not allow me to see what is ahead of me, then I quit. If I need to jump blind in the hope there is going to be a platform and die because there isn’t then I get frustrated and quit. And almost all platform games these days have this problem. When making a blind jump and landing in the middle of some spikes or something similar or even notice that there is no platform there and fall down is very frustrating. Keep the view borders as large as possible to make sure people can see as much as possible. Perhaps even have a system to make sure that the view always stays ahead of you so you will keep everything within sight.

[edit] Controls

When I play a new game these day the first thing I am doing is pressing every possible key in the keyboard to see what will give a response of the game. Just about any game has a different control system and hardly any game tells you what the controls are. Should I use the arrow keys or WSAD or the numerical keys? No, they decided to go with something else for a change. So I can keep hitting all keys on my keyboard noticing I have disabled and enabled just about any effect in the game and that hardly anything works any more as it should.

When making a game there are currently a few default key blocks. Either use mouse with WSAD, use arrows with Z, X and C for action keys. Do not use shift as that can cause an unexpected compatibility screen at certain PC’s. Also make sure that the left and right hand are a comfortable distance away from each other. Also make sure that the keys are easy to figure out. If you have a race game that uses the arrow keys you require no documentation but if your game has a special key to activate a special feature then make this clear to the user. A good example of this is Seiklus that actually showed an image of all keys you can use within the game and if you get additional controls it will show a new window.

[edit] Conclusion

This, of course, does not mention all bugs within games and there are many more things that can go wrong. For some useful info I would recommend you to read the game annoyance list at the GMC. Also now you know about these bugs you will surely make sure that these won’t happen in your game? Good luck making your games and make sure to study some unsuccessful games for things you should not do.

Please note that the games I have mentioned in this list are purely as example. The fact that these games are in this list does not mean they are bad but merely that they miss one important key factor of a game. This list is not intended in any way as an insult to any game designer but merely as a list of suggestions. My apologies in advance for all those that feel insulted by this list.