Designing Game Elements

Game Elements to Consider

Having chosen the theme and the mechanics that I want to build upon, I must now consider and decide on the different game elements to use in the game.

In the website Game Design Concepts, Sebastian Sohn, mentions what kind of things need to  be created in order to make a game. The following is a list of game-parts that I will be considering.

Players, Objectives, Rules, Resources & Management, Game State, Information, Sequencing, Player Interaction and Theme.

Players

Summary: This game element refers to the minimum and maximum player limits as well as the teams they will be in.

Objectives

Summary: What is the objective of the game? What are the players trying to do?

Rules

Summary:  The rules of play refers to three things: 
setup (things you do once at the beginning of the game).
progression of play (what happens during the game).
resolution (what conditions cause the game to end, and how is an outcome determined based on the game state).

Resources & Management

Summary:  This refers to everything that is under control of a single player. What kinds of resources do the players control? How are these resources manipulated during play?

Game State

Summary: Everything in the game together, including the current player resources and everything else that makes up a snapshot of the game at a single point in time. 

Information

Summary: How much of the game state is visible to each player?

Sequencing

Summary: In what order do players take their actions? How does play flow from one action to another? Is there any time limit?

Player Interaction

Summary: How do players interact with one another? How can they influence one another?

Theme

Summary: The parts of the game that do not directly affect game play at all but are intended to get players emotionally invested and help them make sense of the rules.

The Next Step

In the following posts I will tackle the design of each element in order to finally have a complete game to test, learn and improve.

References / Bibliography

Sebastian Sohn. (2009). Atomic Elements of Games. Available: https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-3-dot-1-atomic-elements-of-games?module_item_id=44529. Last accessed 18th Jan 2015.