Hiya Folks, it's been quite a while. After an almost 2-month hiatus, About Game Design is back! Hopefully, with more frequent updates >_>
In any case, today I want to talk about Dazzle. Yes, dazzle - not the foremost element of development that comes to mind when you're thinking game design, but its significance can't be understated.
A couple weeks ago, I picked up Dead Space 3 from the Origin Humble Bundle (Humble Bundles are great by the way - get cheap games, and almost all of the proceeds go to charities of your choice!). To quickly summarize, the game follows space engineer Isaac Clarke as he travels to an isolated ice planet to save the world from a zombie threat.
The key word in the above description is 'engineer'. Throughout the game, you'll be repairing ships, fixing energy issues onboard, hacking electrical interfaces (via a nifty little circuit minigame), and in general performing a ton of random repair tasks in order to advance the story and reach the end of your quest. After solving problem after problem, the game's formula becomes a little predictable: fix an engineering problem in your current location -> journey to a new location -> combat some zombies -> fix some problems there -> rinse and repeat. You'd think this would be a little boring, no?
Well, yes and no. It's true that the formula gets a tad stale. But there's something which makes each new rotation in this cycle absolutely amazing - Dazzle. The new environments you visit on each leg of your quest are absolutely stunning. Varied, vibrant, and bursting with enough detail to make you think you were in the game yourself, Dead Space 3 really impresses visually. Take a look at this scenic view from the planet's surface:
I quite literally forgot my current objective (and whatever tediousness they entailed) at some points and just took in the environment - truly dazzling detail from the developers of Dead Space 3. I absolutely didn't mind following the frequent repair quests if it led me to environments like the one above.
In summary, dazzling your players is a great idea. Aesthetic appeal isn't by any means the end-all be-all of a game (I can assure you that I've played great looking games that were not fun at all, and low-res games which were so well designed I could play for hours), but it can have a big impact - and maybe shore up some other shortcomings of your game.
Try to make your games/apps/websites visually appealing! You might be surprised at how well your players respond.
Peace,
Kannan
In any case, today I want to talk about Dazzle. Yes, dazzle - not the foremost element of development that comes to mind when you're thinking game design, but its significance can't be understated.
A couple weeks ago, I picked up Dead Space 3 from the Origin Humble Bundle (Humble Bundles are great by the way - get cheap games, and almost all of the proceeds go to charities of your choice!). To quickly summarize, the game follows space engineer Isaac Clarke as he travels to an isolated ice planet to save the world from a zombie threat.
The key word in the above description is 'engineer'. Throughout the game, you'll be repairing ships, fixing energy issues onboard, hacking electrical interfaces (via a nifty little circuit minigame), and in general performing a ton of random repair tasks in order to advance the story and reach the end of your quest. After solving problem after problem, the game's formula becomes a little predictable: fix an engineering problem in your current location -> journey to a new location -> combat some zombies -> fix some problems there -> rinse and repeat. You'd think this would be a little boring, no?
Well, yes and no. It's true that the formula gets a tad stale. But there's something which makes each new rotation in this cycle absolutely amazing - Dazzle. The new environments you visit on each leg of your quest are absolutely stunning. Varied, vibrant, and bursting with enough detail to make you think you were in the game yourself, Dead Space 3 really impresses visually. Take a look at this scenic view from the planet's surface:
 |
| Take a break from fighting zombies, and enjoy the sunset. |
In summary, dazzling your players is a great idea. Aesthetic appeal isn't by any means the end-all be-all of a game (I can assure you that I've played great looking games that were not fun at all, and low-res games which were so well designed I could play for hours), but it can have a big impact - and maybe shore up some other shortcomings of your game.
Try to make your games/apps/websites visually appealing! You might be surprised at how well your players respond.
Peace,
Kannan
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