What makes a great game?

What makes a great game?

• Social
  • High scores with possible sharing
  • Competitive against others scores/profess/achievements
  • Easily shared
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • URL
• Casual
  • Quick and easy to play levels
  • Gameplay is intuitive and easily picked up by the player
  • Can be picked up and left easily
  • Playable by a wide range of ages
  • Appeals to a broad range of people
• Great looking
  • Very polished
  • Attention to detail
  • High quality graphics
  • Strong and consistent theme
  • Unique, fresh
• Feedback
  • Players need to be able to give feedback or praise
    • Comments
    • Rating systems
  • Players need to feel their voice is being heard
  • Bug reports
  • Website stating bug fixes, update changes
• Story
  • Needs to be suitable for game type
  • Interesting, not overly complex
  • Can be skipped or ignored
  • Compelling for those that want involvement
  • Can be summarized in one line
  • Immersive
    • Player loses track of time while playing
• Audio
  • Accessible settings for volume/mute
  • Large variety of sound effects (helps with repetition)
  • Music that compliments the atmosphere
• Demo version
  • Allows easy upgrading to full version
  • Extensive enough to enjoy
  • Gives a good taste of what gameplay and levels are like
• Gameplay
  • Upgrades
    • ONLY if they add to the gameplay, not just foe their own sake
  • Multiple ‘paths’ and endings
    • Must be good enough to justify the effort of the player
  • Quick restart of levels
• Statistics
  • how far players get
    • Is the game too easy or too hard?
  • What are players seeing and not seeing?
    • Are there ui stumbling blocks?
  • Are players replying?
  • Are the range of scores what was expected?
    • Is there hacking of scores? Obviously out of the average?
  • Where is the game proving most popular? Why?
• Player Rewards
  • Achievement badges
    • Tie in with recognized systems
      • Game center
      • Mochi
      • Xbox
      • Raptr
  • Downloads that are rewarded for achieving game goals
  • Unlock extra gameplay modes
  • Unlock extra levels
  • Unlock difficulty settings
• Platform
  • Choose the right platforms for the game type and target market
  • Must be able to easily update with bug fixes, updates etc
• Interface/Experience
  • Pausing and resuming handled intelligently
  • Auto saving
  • Persistant
    • Scores, progress and medals are all stored
    • Players feel sure their hard work will be safely saved
  • Uses easy to recognize symbols
  • Possible multiple saves (if gameplay justifies it)
  • Easy login methods (if required)
    • Facebook
    • twitter
    • Gmail etc
    • mochi
• Updates
  • More levels
  • Bug fixes
    • Good to introduce features when bugs are fixed, helps distract from the negative
  • Extra features
    • Rewarding for the price
• Marketing
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Blog posts
    • Sharing behind the scenes development
    • Secrets and tips of the game
  • Building hype
  • Promotional images
  • Gameplay video
    • Available on YouTube for sharing
    • Well edited & compelling
    • High resolution available
    • Easily embedded on blogs
    • Several versions
      • Promotional
      • Gameplay examples
  • Website support
  • Free to play demo that upsells
  • Contacts within the industry
    • Can feature your game
    • Know someone who knows insiders
• Fun
  • Repeat gameplay
    • Game changes slightly with each game
    • Levels have enough interest to warrant further play
  • Player feels they have achieved something
  • Rewarding gameplay
    • Player feels their efforts meant something
    • Achievements to mark players successes
    • Needs to be fair
    • Player needs to feel they have a chance
    • Your character, skills etc grow the longer you play
    • A way to win the game – become the champion
    • Surprises, avoid repetition
  • Quick results
    • Short levels?
    • Short bursts of gameplay are fun
    • Can be picked up/put down very quickly
  • Controls & skills to master
• Intuiative
  • Clear easy to use UI
  • Customizable controls
  • Simple controls