Peak Gamedev

Question 1

Where are pillars needed in game design?

Answer 1

Pillars are heurestic rules to follow during design, based on what goals/subgoals your team has. As in stuff thats really relevant.

Theyre needed because goals/subgoals can lead to too many avenues, so they exist to narrow down options for focus, and be something intuitive to follow.

For example goal -> all team members enjoy game, pillar -> game subject is alchemy (since all team members enjoy that)

Pillars exist also for a second reason, to find and cut everything else out thats not in scope.

PS. In your notes, you havent polished pillar notes correctly yet. In Game design fundamentals. Go do it please

Question 2

Why is Studio Ghiblis magic so special?

Answer 2

Its very soft magic, unpredictable. But still familiar, so its not scary. Good balance. Creates sense of “anything is possible”

Question 3

What media do you love and want to pay homage to?

Answer 3

Key uniting factor, all these Heavily changed my perspective on life. They arent “just good media” theyre all masterpieces

List
- ghibli films
- zelda
- mario galaxy
- mageseeker/sylas
- steven universe
- spiderverse
- solo leveling
- frieren
- arcane
- dr. stone
- genshin (early good regions)
- wuthering waves

Question 4

What are some of the most important things to remember for game success?

Answer 4

• target audiences matter
• USPs are key
• marketing = 80% of success
• your effort doesnt matter, only the result does
• fast development is crucial, automate and fork everything etc.
• avoid scope creep

Is this missing anything? Help me out 😄

Question 5

In short, what are the key specific factors to to nail, to make a game really good. Some matter more than others (and outside stuff like marketing doesnt count)

I recommend thinking of all the game design subcategories that exist, and finding key ones

Answer 5

This order is just what ive analyzed makes great games, might not be 100% right order

1. Unique selling points (USPs)
2. Core loop
3. Progression
4. Agency
5. Difficulty
6. Novelty (combats boredom)
7. Visuals

This aims at making a unique fun-to-play game, that delivers on a player fantasy

More?