Dealing with a teen on the road to graduation whose greatest passion is playing video games? Wondering if your kid already has what it takes to design games for a living?
Well, if the youngster enjoys storytelling, creating characters, or dealing with art or audio, developing games could be the key to making money off of a passion.
What Does It Take to Design a Video Game?
According to some industry experts, there are four key components of any great game:
- Challenges
- Choices
- Changes
- Chances
Let’s discuss all four elements:
1. Challenges
What’s the objective of any and every game? To get people to not only play it, but to actually enjoy it.
If the game doesn’t challenge its players to get from one level to the next, they’ll quickly become bored or disinterested. Good challenges gradually build up to the final destination – winning the game. This gives the player the chance to get used to the game’s controls and functions while learning its overall strategy.
2. Choices
In almost every game genre, having choices is a major component. A player wants the power to make personal choices that affect their experiences while playing the game. Every choice made should reflect a specific outcome that directly impacts the next decision.
3. Changes
For a game to bring entertainment value to the lives of its players, it must allow changes within the game itself. These changes could include anything from background choices to audio options. Giving the player a little bit of control in how the game is presented can increase its replay value.
4. Chances
Most game genres use chance to keep players on their toes with unpredictable and unexpected elements. Random enemy attacks and timed challenges help increase the amount of time a player spends engaging with a game.
Even in multiplayer games, chance plays a major factor. These players may take sudden risks, make mistakes, even misjudge their opponents’ moves, all of which increase the ‘game of chance’ and unpredictability.
So, What Skills Does This Kid Need to Get Into the Game Development Business?
For each component of game development, a different skill set is required. While a single developer can successfully create a game on their own, your high school graduate or young adult can also join a team of people to get the job done.
There are various areas that make up a good game where your child can make a meaningful contribution:
1. Storyline
Every outstanding game must have a storyline that fits the genre and the target audience. For easy games, the story can be simple and to the point. But for more complex games, you need a story with multiple plot changes that pique your players’ interests and hooks them right from the beginning.
If your child has storytelling skills, this is a great start!
2. Characters
No story is complete without interesting characters. They are a fundamental part of the storyline behind the video game, as well as the game itself:
- What do the characters look like?
- How do they act?
- Do they move fast or slow?
- What are their characteristics?
A computer programmer may have the perfect idea for a game. But without a great storyline with awesome characters, the game will inevitably fail. That’s why they team up with creative people like your child to collaborate together to create amazing games.
3. Audio
Ever seen a gamer play a game on mute? Probably not. Why? Because the sound is the backbone of the game!
It sets the tone and mood of the game, from the background music or soundtrack to the player and gameplay sounds and clips. Together, the audio features help make the game more believable and lifelike.
4. Art
Also known as responsive art, the game’s visuals create the content’s look and feel. Graphic designers are extremely important to the game development process. They are responsible for various types of visuals, including, but not limited to:
- Particles
- Objects
- Characters
- Textures
5. Lighting
Whether presented as natural or artificial, a video game’s lighting plays an important role in setting the mood. For instance, fun and adventurous games are best with ample lighting, while thriller and horror games typically require less lighting to create a darker atmosphere. Lighting greatly influences how the game is perceived by its audience.
6. Levels
What’s a game without various levels to conquer? Each game level should progressively increase in difficulty as the game advances. Some common types of levels include:
- Different locations
- Different buildings
- Multiple floors
- Multiple pathways
Each one (challenge) can offer many different potential routes (choices) to get players to the next level. The more path combinations and level challenges, the more complex the game.
Game Development with a new perspective
We all know how important representation is and the power of stereotypes can have on our community. Give your child not only a way to develop universal critical thinking skills but also an opportunity to make an impact in shaping tomorrow’s perceptions today.
Polycaik is game development software specifically designed to help people, traditionally ignored by the game industry, create their own video games.
The platform focuses on providing features that help address many of the challenges people in our community face, whether it be a lack of knowledge, support, or funding. We are dedicated to launching quality games for, by and about us.
Enroll in our course offering to learn everything there is to know about how to use the Polycaik platform. Also, receive updates on product launches, features, and game industry information, as well as opportunities for your youngster to take some of the financial burden off of you.
Get exclusive access to the Polycaik community, a network of developers, creatives, and gamers looking to build and promote digital games rich in Black content.
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