Most Important Aspects Of Game Design

[Rodak]

This is a poll that will influence how I go about polishing off my game, and may be helpful to others of us as well in making our games more appealing to others.

While I have always believed art should be created without concern for a target audience, in a situation like this (where I am going to do the same finished product no matter what) I think the info will help with deciding which aspects to polish first and post as a demo.

The question is: When playing other peoples games, what is the most important aspect to you?
The choices are:

1). Story
2). Battle System
3). Environments
4). Abilities/Items
5). Visual Effects
6). Mini Games

The winning aspect will be what I do the most work on next week to get a demo ready.

This weekend is devoted to playing other people's games as I finally got a MAX Drive!

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EDIT::
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If the topic you deem most important is not present feel free to post what you would have voted for and I'll add it to the list!

[NASH7777]

Without a good battle system, I get sick of the game and won't even play it. A good combination of all these things are good but a good battle system will keep me in the game.

[WarDragon]

It has to be the story. That's the true key to a game even if the battle system is good i will not play the game without a good story.

[Deleted]

I say 'functionality'. What I mean by that is that everything works as it should.

After that, there must be a driving force to the game, something that makes them want to continue advancing forward, which is really only found in a story.

[Dungeon Warden]

For the demo I like to get a feel for what the final game will be like. If you play my game demo (and I hope you will ), you will see what I mean. I have a working battle system (which has changed), a mini game, day/night cycle, the starting town, into move, sample dungeon, the works. Anyone what plays my demo will get a sample of many different things and I hope that other demos will do the same.

I chose Environment, since this seems to cover the look and feel of the game which is most important in a demo. Story and a good battle system are more important in the final game, but for the demo I think the feel of the game is more important.

I look forward to playing your game.

[doyleman]

It may seem stupid on why I put in Mini Games, but I have my reasons.
I overall enjoy good stories, good environments, battle system, etc, but what is going to help the player after he has conquered everything? I mean, people side track all the time, and if they dont, well, then they aren't human, j/k. an example is taking a break from homework or something. A mini game is very similar in that the player temporary leaves the current game to try something new, though it helps if the mini game is somewhat related to the current time of the game *meaning a submarine game in a midevil game would be kinda awkward*

Another reason is, *studies have shown* that people enjoy seeing numbers BIG, meaning if there are points involved that surpass 100, then people will think "look how good I am" and also "I know I can do better".

Sure, mini games have little or no relation to the actual game, but after I beat it, I would like something that wants the me to play it more after everything has been done else wise.

that's my two cents on the idea.

[Rodak]

williamkirk said:

I say 'functionality'. What I mean by that is that everything works as it should.

William, by that do you mean that you would like to see the topic (functionality) added to the list? I only ask because I saw 5 votes and 5 responses. I do not know if you "settled for something else" or held off voting until the ballot was modified (it is possible there was a vote with no posted response).

And thanks to everyone else for your input. I shall take all of your suggestions into consideration for my demo. Look for it next Sunday.

Meanwhile it is time to go see what some of you people have done with your own demos. I'll post feedback as I play them.

Peace.

Oh yeah, I did not vote myself in this poll, but will enter my vote after I post a demo so anyone else using this post for guidelines will have more information.

Thanks for participating!

[BloodKnight]

I thnk the battle system and all related elements are the most important aspects. Because usually, the game requires you to fight monsters as much as you would progress through the game. If a game puts that much emphasis on it, it should at least be fun. It doesn't matter to me if a game has the most interesting story with the most interesting characters, if the battle system sucks, I won't play it.

[Deleted]

I didn't vote yet, but I don't care if it's added or not since I posted it.

[DarkHorizons]

I'd have to agree with those who think that "Story" is the most important aspect..When I think back at all the RPG's I'bve played, the ones with the most memorable stories kept me wanting more..
Not taking anything away from gameply and graphics, but I love to immerse myself in the game, and a good story allows me to do that.

[Rodak]

Well with my teeny-weeny demo finally uploaded to the pavilion and Doan notified, it should be available soon.

So... it's time for me to reveal my vote on this matter.

I vote story because I am only in it for amusement, and while VFX and even some battle scenes make me laugh, this mostly happens during storytelling and cut scenes.

I am pleased that the consensus seems to be in favor of story because my battle system is mostly default and needs much work to be interesting or original.

I now turn this survey over to others who may benefit from it's wisdom.

Peace.

[The Smurf]

i voted for story, cause even if the battle system is the greatest thing ever, if the story sucks i'm not going to play it. environments would be my second vote, but story is by far the most important aspect.


-the smurf

[NASH7777]

smurf90 said:

i voted for story, cause even if the battle system is the greatest thing ever, if the story sucks i'm not going to play it. environments would be my second vote, but story is by far the most important aspect.

I have to differ with this. Personally if I don't like the battle system I wont play the game almost regardless of story or it would have to be an ungodly enveloping storyline. If it has a great battle system and not a good story I'ld still play though. I may just skip cutscens or story info then, but the battle system if good enough will keep me in the game. I mean the battle system is the main thing you do throughout the game if you don't like that it's almost game over already.

[Rodak]

neonash7777 said:

I mean the battle system is the main thing you do throughout the game if you don't like that it's almost game over already.

Well, battling is the main thing you do in some games.

In others it is talking to folks, while others still seem to be little more than giant collections of mini-games. I have a whole "dungeon" type thing in my game with no battles whatsoever, it's just hunting around looking for clues to solve a mystery (see the "Pantyland" section of my game description... if you can bear to read it... it's The Clean Underwear Quest, so I'll understand if it does not appeal to anybody at all!).

If battling is "the main thing you do" either you are playing a limited number (or type) of games or you just focus on that the most. It is obviously important, and often the main attraction of a game, but I am glad that the majority went "story" on this one.

I promise a better battle system next time around!

Peace.

[BloodKnight]

Most RPGs revolve around the battle system. You find a villain, talk and fight. You find your lost love, your friend betrays you, you fight. You dress up as a member of the opposite sex, people find out you tried to deceive them, and you fight. Some RPGs also require you to be pretty strong to finish the game, and that requires a lot of battles.

It's a pretty important aspect to rate in a game, because you know you're going to go through at least 60 of them(that's being generous), so you might as well make sure you like them.

[The Final Rune]

I've always found that while story drives a game forward its the method in which a story is told that keeps you playing. What I'm talking about here is GAMEPLAY.

If the way you play a game is not fluid and easy to get into you'll have a hard time reaching out to gamers. Also, the way a story is told is vital. Xenogears (not Xenosaga, because those games suck) had one of the best stories I've ever played, but the often overdrawn, too long, and derivative way some of the story elements played out made me want to scream in frustration.

So the key to a good game for me is divided. A game should be easy to get into (but not necessarily easy to beat), and have a decent story that's told well and at a good pace. A good example would be the Prince of Persia games (the new generation, not the old ones). While they can be exceedingly difficult, the control methods are solid, and the story is intriguing without being pretentious in its presentation.

Final Fantasy 7 is considered by many to be a pinnacle in RPG gaming, but several times during the game the story became way to slow moving for my taste. But, the stellar gameplay made people ignore or forgive/forget these long talk-a-thons. Another of my personal favorites is the game Vagrant Story (I used to be a huge Squaresoft nut). The story elements were delivered quickly and with a interesting style, but the long dungeon crawling style gameplay threw a lot potential players a spin they didn't like.

It is balance between gameplay, which applies to all aspects of a game, and the delivery of a "pass-able" story that decides whether a game is hit or a flop. Graphics, battle features, mini games, and the contents of a game are just its selling points, not its substance.

[Deleted]

After having made most of my intro cutscenes and played some RPGM2 games with rather plain intros, I wanna change what I said (story) to what FTR said. You are very correct there, FTR.

[Rodak]

I find myself so much in complete agreement with Mr. Rune that I suspect I must have thought it was so obvious as to not rate being on the list I created!

Game play is what sets all games apart and makes them unique. I guess I must have been thinking about the things on which I was working when I created the poll.

But I have put up with terrible game play if the story kept me amused. The Starship Titanic PC Game comes to mind. I listed it as one of my favorite RPG's of all time in a poll on another site (second only to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy PC Text Game). After being berated for listing non-RPG's someone pointed out that these two were adventure games, and Titanic was notorious as one of the worst of them all! But I laughed so much while playing them (both were written by Douglas Adams!) that it took that to make me realize that the game play really did suck. I was so amused I never noticed.

And it is still a favorite.

So maybe I'll stick with story afterall...

I am decisively indecisive!

Peace.