Game Design - Identifying a Phenomenon or Who is a Game Designer - Scientific Anatomy of a Profession

Many novice developers believe that they understand how to make games, having behind them a lot of games passed or tested by them, or samples of mapping, modding on different game engines and in game editors. Even some programmers, more or less professional, believe that they can cope with the task of compiling games. I do not want to upset anyone, but I think that this is not the right position on the part of beginners or programmers.

On the other hand, we must keep in mind that if someone learned to work perfectly with different game engines, with some game editor, learned to program or model assets, this does not mean that he is a game designer! In this case, such a person, being from a number of developers, can be called a game developer ( game developer), but with a more specific feature of the work, be it programming, level design, modeling, and more. That is, it is rather a game "technical worker", who is well versed in technical aspects, more or less artistic from the developed game. –It is also approximately as if some cameraman was well versed in working with a movie camera, but who has little idea of ​​working with actors or the directorial embodiment of the film. And here on the site appears ... who do you think? Yes - the director! And as for the games - this is a game designer. Of course, he is also included in the category of game developers, but with a special work specificity.

Unfortunately, a significant part of specialists in the field of game development have a very vague idea of ​​such a phenomenon as "game design". The profession of a game designer remains even more obscure. Let us clarify these phenomena, if you will, in a more scientific aspect.

Note : By the way, the unofficial day of the game designer is celebrated on August 6th.


In more general terms, it is known that "game design" ( in a sense, development, compilation of games ) is the creative process of developing a specific game. And the one that in one way or another makes up the concept and gameplay, the style and structure of the game, in general terms, is called the "game designer" (from English “game designer”, is translated as “game designer”, and the word “designer” itself should be understood more correctly as “art designer” ).

Let's move on to the analogies of some professions, from the known types of arts, so that it is more clear what is the role of a game designer in creating a game and what should be the baggage of his professional knowledge. This refers to the profession of "theater director" ( metteur en scène, stage director, theater director ), of course - from theatrical art. And the profession of “film director” (film director) from cinematography. Each of these professions has some similarities in these types of arts. - Do not be particularly surprised! The profession of a game designer ( which can even be called a "game director" !!!) is very similar to the profession of directing a theater or cinema. But it has its own specifics, its individual features.



–Let's see what are the features, similarities and differences of these three professions:

Theater director

( theatrical art ): analyzes the selected play ( created by the playwright or by the director himself, usually inspired by a literary work or having an original plot ), works with actors to analyze roles and set-ups ( production scenes placed compositionally on the theater stage ), also on whole scenes from the play; works with a set designer ( aka decorator, stage interior designer ) on scenery; with a illuminator (designer of light, lighting effects), plus work with a dresser ( designer of clothes ), and, if necessary, with a composer; makes directorial notes for the play ( where he can describe stage scenes, sets, or changes the play according to his creative interests); then presents the final version of the performance on the stage of a theater ( inside or outside the theater, sometimes located on the street on the stage ); the same actors usually play in the performance over one or several theatrical seasons (a time period with regular performances and work on new performances ).

Filmmaker

( cinematography ): analyzes the script ( written by the scriptwriter or the director himself, usually inspired by literary work or having an original plot ), works with actors, with lighting and cameramen, with costume designers and composers, with special effects specialists, with a sound editor (also called a sound engineer ) , and with other professionals who have a direct or indirect connection with the cinema. Of course, the most important is the development of a director’s script based on the literary version, in which the director divides ( divides ) each scene into smaller cinematic shots, describes each shot individually, according to the movie language (pabout plans; for example, the Russian version is a close-up, the first middle, the second middle, the general “growth” plan, the long-range plan, detail, and others ). The director’s script looks more like a very large and long dozens of pages with several sections with entries in them, where there are passages from the literary script, as well as descriptions of the movie language, less literary ones made by the director.
In rare cases, a cameraman can take the place of a director, in this case called a cameraman, who must also be able to understand the artistic and technical aspects of the film. A theater director or a more experienced actor will be able to work with the actors.
Final versions of films are usually presented ( projected) on the screens of movie theaters, inside the building or outside. Another option is the publication of films on various physical media ( discs, cassettes, etc. ) for home viewing in a narrow circle of viewers. With the advent of the Internet, specialized websites for watching films on-line also come out, for a fee or for free ( but with intrusive advertising ), or buying a movie by the piece and then downloading it.

Game designer

( game director, interactive art, it is also interactive art ): comes up with the concept of the game, in-game mechanics, collaborates with programmers, with an artist and composer, with modelers, mappers ( they are level designers ), creates a design document ( something like a game manuals, instructions with detailed descriptions, handbook ) which developers are guided by during the creation of the game; compiles gameplay by levels, according to the literary script ( which is written by the scriptwriter or by the game designer himself; and “compilation of the gameplay” means a detailed description of the action in the game at each level - something like a directorial version of the script of the game ); can also do a filmmaking description of cut scenes (if there are similar movie scenes in the game - cut-scenes, cinematic sequences ).

Note : Some experts proposed to exclude the term “gameplay”, replacing it with other terms, in my opinion, less logical from the point of view of the analyzed area. However, we have been using this term for a long time. More generally, gameplay denotes a fundamental narrative, the foundation of any game. The gameplay can be most correctly described precisely as the direction of the game and more correctly so that these two terms enter together in specialized literature. That is, inscribed simultaneously or, if you want, inscribed sequentially as in this example - the gameplay ( directing the game ), as well as the script of the gameplay (the director's script of the game ).

Accordingly, we conclude that the main difference between the game designer and the director of theater and cinema is as follows:

1. Compilation of the so-called “design document”, which includes such parts ( chapters ) as the concept of gameplay, in-game mechanics, a description of the characters, the plot of the game ( only the plot, not the entire script! ), A description of the levels and design of the virtual environment, a description of the menu , graphical interface, balance of active objects, bonuses, pumping system and more. If desired, level schemes, artistic concepts of characters and functional objects, screenshots from the game, drawings of menus and more can be introduced.

2. Creating a gameplay script ( directorial script of the game, created according to the literary script ) with a detailed description of the action at the levels.

Note : By the way, the literary script of the game and the script of the gameplay (directing ) to keep separate from the design document, in order to avoid an increase in the volume of the latter too large.

The final versions of games are published on certain physical media ( disks, flash drives, and earlier on cartridges, also on floppy disks or cassettes with magnetic tape; by the way, some modern portable consoles still use cartridges ). With the advent of the Internet, specialized websites for online sale also come out, by the piece or by subscription, with subsequent download, or shareware ( shareware - testing a product with a time limit or with truncated content, especially for subsequent purchase ). There are sites for games of the flash format or with special players for the presentation of the demo version or even full versions of some games, for a fee or for free, but with imposed advertising. There are also online versions of “Free-to-play”( such as free games - you download and play for free, but only online, plus the purchase of virtual functional elements and objects for use in the game ); “Cloud” paid services ( that is, you play on almost any electronic-digital device, but with direct and permanent communication via cable or waves with those services where the games are physically recorded and the game process itself is processed on equipment that is actually present there ); type of service “Early Acces Game” ( games with early access - the purchase of games that are under development, which allows players to try games early, but developers also get access to early funding for their project ).

On a note: there are services such as crowdfunding — self-financing, collecting money from player users through specialized sites (usually only studios and developers that are very famous and popular are usually very successful); this type of service extends to other forms of art; read more in detail separately.


I hope now it becomes more clear what the profession of game designer is, what are the differences, as well as what are the similarities between the game designer and the director of a theater or cinema. Simply put, a game designer is something like a game director, that is, an artist, an artist.
Accordingly, game design is an artistic directorial process of creating a game.
So do not confuse the profession, employment, or at least someone else's aspirations for creating games.
Of course, to become a game designer it is worth exploring the field of games, various forms of art, aesthetics and philosophy, the history of art, mainly theater, cinematography, as well as the history of interactive art, plus the study of computer graphics, etc. etc. Do not be alarmed, as it happens that in some universities they teach a lot more subjects. I named those items that may be needed for general development. In general, such knowledge can be obtained in courses in specialized institutions or for many years by participating in the creation of a number of games, gaining experience regarding various aspects of development. But the most important thing is the artistic experience! -Do not forget about it.

And now for the finale remind you that the game designer, on the other hand, is also the developer of the game ( game developer ), he is also engaged in the development of games, but with extreme specificity of the work, which was discussed earlier. We can say that it has a special status, marked by the most important occupation - the art of the game, from concept to release.


Author : Dmitry Gervas