How You Can Improve Your Game Design Skills

Behind every game, although they are made for fun, stands serious work. Designing a game is a complex process that requires game designers to have many varied skills. These skills consider mathematics, engineering, and creativity. As there isn`t one concrete formula for every game and the gaming industry is continuously developing, designers have to constantly improve their capabilities. To help you refine your game design mastery, Alpha Efficiency has provided you with ways to bring your design skills to the next level.

The Most important Game Parts, and the ones Every DesignerHave to Expertise Are

• Game Mechanics

Game mechanics is a priority when it comes to designing a game. This game component considers the way game controls sense, the way the game feels and looks, and how it interacts with players. Those aspects are crucial in providing a good player experience. 

These features are diverse in every game which makes every game unique. For example, the way gravity works in one game vary for another, and the way player controls game features differ in each game. 

• Level Design

This aspect considers creating layouts in-game levels. Level layouts include positioning enemies, and obstacles, and creating the environment and path the player will proceed. The pathway and barriers are the elements that make a game fun and challenging. Creating a good level design ensures coherence between levels. This aspect greatly contributes to captivating players to continue to play the game.

• Design of game characters

Game characters are persons or other entities in games that the player controls. Developing an interesting character leaves an immersive and engaging effect on players while telling the game story and attaching players to care about their character and what will happen to it. 

• Storytelling

Storytelling establishes the link between the game and the player, revealing to the player what is game all about and what are the player’s tasks.

• Building the world

World building considers creating the universe in which the game occurs, this includes world inhabitants, history, settings, and other aspects of the game world. This task requires a good and unique idea and a lot of research referring to possible world culture, plot, characters, and other characteristics.

• Game Balance

Game balancing is a very complex process that requires numerous playtesting and players’ feedback. Game balance considers difficulty adjusting and the diversity of available actions and resources. 

• User Experience

UX provides the enjoying aspect of a game making it easy to use and adequate for players’ expectations. While some game designers focus on visual design, others center their focus on game interaction.

• Design of the interface

This refers to the way players interact with the game. Design interface refers to making game rules comprehensive, easy to track the players` progress, and providing making good interaction with the game world. 

• Art Direction

Art directing makes the game idea and vision alive. Art directors create the visual style of the game, making it unique and different from others. 

• Audio Design

Audio design refers to creating audio effects and soundtrack in a game. The audio aspect donates to realism in a game, adding tension, creating mood, and conveying the game’s atmosphere. Additionally, the audio element provides clues to players about the situation, where the payer currently is, and what needs to do. 

The ways to Improve Your Game Design Skills

• Join the game developers’ community

There are many online communities that gather numerous developers. In those forums and platforms people shares their experience, innovative approaches, and ideas regarding game development. The community is a great place to learn about new techniques, and a good source for getting feedback, asking questions, and getting answers about game development issues.

• Game development events

Game development events usually consider the conference of game industry experts, thus these events provide the opportunity to make contacts with other game designers and hands-on learning practice.

• Read game design blogs and books

There are many blogs and books where game design experts have written about their working experiences, ways they find the solution to certain design and development issues, and the ways they find the inspiration for the most successful games in the market. These resources are a great way to get an insight into the gaming industry, and how the most successful game designers have become what they are today.

• Play games

There is no better way to understand what one game makes better than the other than to play the games. Playing games provide you with a practical insight into what a good game requires to be considered a good one. Playing games will give you a feel about what works and what doesn`t, what is a good user experience and what is not, and other important aspects of the game that you should impart into your design or avoid. Analyzing games and paying the attention to details will help you understand what makes a game enjoyable and engaging.

• Practice

Making your own game will bring you closer to the designing process, introducing with creating details, getting you to implement current knowledge and think out of the box to find solutions, and receive feedback about your work.

• Finding the colleague

Collaborating with another designer is a great way to exchange knowledge and detect issues that you might oversee. Having another opinion, help, and perspective can help you develop your skills and different approaches.

Also Read:- Top 5 Technology Trends for 2023

Final Thoughts

The persistent evolution of technology and market demands constantly pushes the boundaries and requires never-ending improvement and learning for game designers. This is why it`s important to take the advantage of every way and resource to upgrade your game-designing skills to create a successful game that will stand out in the mass of games.