What is your goal as a game designer?

[adaen]

When I saw the subject header, I guessed that it would be about one's goals for a specific game or games (i.e., what the game is supposed to do well, etc.). That being said, I feel that the subject might better have been "Game Design Motivations". I think both are worthwhile questions so I'll try to answer both, starting with the actual question:

1) My game design motivation could be stated "to build my very own fantasy heart-breaker", but I don't feel that would be completely accurate.  When using Forge terms, by calling a game a heartbreaker is saying that the designer is recreating a game (usually D&D) in a manner that they feel is superior to the original, but which unintentionally is full of "been there, done that" material or outright crippling flaws (with possibly just a hint of brilliance in the rough). I'm creating my own flavor of Fantasy Roleplaying so that *it will work the way I want it to* while acknowleging that my ideas are not entirely original. Admitedly, that's a rather subtle shade of meaning. I suppose what I'm looking for here is an asterix by my game's classification  "Fantasy Heartbreaker"* that adds the qualifier "Acknowledged".  Does this really matter? Probably not to most people, but to me it makes just enough difference so as to dull any feeling of futility that may surface.

Essentially, my motivations are "hobby-ist", I'm writing my game for me and my friends. I may share it online in some fashion or other, but it is unlikely that it will be sitting in you FLGS next to the d20 supplements.

2) The Goals of my game design for Aega Mythea (the "Acknowledged Fantasy Heartbreaker" mentioned above) include:

a) Scalable levels of mechanics-generated detail - Though I usually prefer a high-level of detail available to me from the dice, there are times when a lot of detail can bog down pacing forcing much of the game to take a back-seat to combat round-by-round activities.

b) a unified mechanic - admittedly, this is nothing new, but since we are talking about heartbreakers, I felt it worth mentioning. The mechanic I'm using is a mid20 (i.e., roll 3d20 and take the middle result and use the high and low results as flavor text, qualifiers). I like the way it rarifies the extremes without making all results too predictable (i.e., the steepness of the distribution is intermediate between a straight d20 and a 3d6 mechanic). Lots of my detail scalability (see a above) depends on how much  the other two dice are relied on for qualification/flavoring of results (Combat Examples: hit location, amount of damage, initiative determination, critical sucesses.....there are lots of other ways this can be used, combat is just the easiest to explain).

c) a pleasant mix of random/point-buy character generation - My use of the subjective word "pleasant" is there to admit that this is being done the way I *prefer* it to work. Nothing new here either. I do understand that others have different preferences and intend to cater to them as (alternative character generation methods) once things are a bit more locked down in the core system (as we all know, assigning appropriate point costs for things can be a bitch).

d) Niche-protection for character archetypes: Though I favor flexible character development, I concede that it is important to protect the uniqueness of the character types to ensure fun for all players (i.e., no one wants to play a "warrior-type" if the "wizard-type" can fight just as well). From my experience, this is difficult to do w/o classes. I'm experimenting with several ways right now, but may end up using some "class-like" structures anyway (depending on how playtests go). I like having a lot of character attributes. Doing this makes it more difficult to min-max, but also complicates closing residual loop holes.

e) deadly combat that's tempered with heroism - the best way for this to be explained is I like to have gritty, detailed combat, but I really like it better when a "satisfying result" is obtained. Anticlimactic combat results are the bane of those who enjoy detailed combat systems but also like to see a good heroic story unfold. For years, we've used different forms of "fate points". Since reading TRoS, I've been monkeying with this concept and expanding it with the idea of "slated fate points" that support the characters passions, fate, etc.

There are other goals, but I think that these will suffice for now. I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts in them. There's bound to be some insight on this forum that I've missed.

-Adaen

[sacrosanct]

As a game designer hobbyist, I've been tweaking existing systems for over 20 years.  My first 'game design', i.e., creating a gaming system and enviornment from scratch happened about 15 years ago.  Admittedly it was a raw system, but it set the foundation of a trial and error process that has brought me to where I am now.

As said prior, I'm not really into it for the money, although being able to fund my work with money outside of my day job would be nice.  My goal is to create a fluid game system that offers flexibility, speed of gameplay, and is easy to learn.  My ultimate goal is not to have 5000+ copies of a book sold if the opinion is mediocre, but to have even just a few new people enjoy the work I've created if they are thrilled.  And then of course name recognition would be nice as well, but that's only for the ego boost.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Matthijs, I'm afraid I'm going to be a party pooper. Tempting as it is to whip out a personal philosophy-statement, and to share it with the hordes of people who (I'm sure) are fascinated to read it ...

... it's not discourse.

Can you provide a more specific inquiry or point of discussion that can raise this thread above the level of "personal survey"?

Best,
Ron

[Daniel Solis]

Perhaps something related to the field of game design. Maybe, "What are universal goals of game design, if any?" or "What are common reasons a designer falls short of their goals?" and "How can a designer reach their goals more effectively?"

For something related to publishing, "Is there a conflict between the goals of publication and the goals of game design?" "Are the two mutually exclusive?" "Does compromise help or hinder either?"

I'll let Matthijs decide since he started the thread. :)

[adaen]

Perhaps: Thoughts for setting, documenting, and achieving goals (as a process). All too often someone goes and designs what could have been a really good game, but falls short due to vague, inconsistent, or nonexistent goals.

[matthijs]

Can you provide a more specific inquiry or point of discussion that can raise this thread above the level of "personal survey"?

I wasn't aware that there had to be discussion per se for a thread to be valid. I don't think there has to be. I find it interesting to read what others are posting about their goals; it helps me think about my own goals, and understand why I'm designing. Being clear about your goals helps you to reach those goals.

Gobi's questions are interesting, however; so I'm quite happy to go with:

Is there a conflict between the goals of publication and the goals of game design?

[Edit: Added second sentence to clarify].

[ADGBoss]

I hope to answer the questions put out and maybe even offer some food for thought (discourse) along the way because this churns up ideas the question always on my mind for both Play and Design:
"Why we Fight" or in this case why we design?

To begin with I think that primarily the act of designing, especially in this Industry, business, Hobby, is a huge act of Ego.  I do not mean that in a bad way but I think RPGs have a way of triggering our Egos.  Any creative endevor does this I suppose and RPGs are no different.  I can do it better! I can go where someone else has not gone! I can go further then they have!  This applies both to the design (art) phase and the publishing (business) phase.  Ego fuels the creative process to one extent or the another and I do not think can be ignored.  Please do not read this as my labeling of this community as Megla or Ego maniacs.  

Success.  I hope to be create a succesful game.  How do you measure success? Thats a tough question.  A very tough question. Is D&D succesful? Well TSR was (for a while) and Wizards IS succesful with D&D. Financially it has been a success.  Many people play it so from a volume of players standpoint it is a succes.  However, was D&D a succesful game design? Is it a good piece of art?  I know many people would say no.  It was hardly ever one person's vision and over the years the vision has changed.  I might say 1st Ed was a better piece of design / art because I think it has been disparaged less then 3 or 3.5 ED.  However, it could just be age since I was 8 when I started playing it.  RPGs were new and wow for me then so I am not sure my opinion is unbiased enough to say.

Sorcerer has not sold millions of copies and I have no idea if it has reached whatever publishing Goals Ron set for it but as a Design, as a work of Art, is it a success? Well again being a "Forger" or "Forgite" or Fan Boy :) might make me biased but hey, I think it has been as are many of the game designs here.  

So what do I expect out of My Game Design?

Success in Art that will provide some Ego satisfaction and hopefully some financial success.  Ego satisfaction will come through many people playing the game, good feedback from players, Feedback from Peers and or Awards.  

As for the game itself, I want to explore elements of Drama and human thought, I want to get inside of people's minds and make them think outside of the box.  Hell just makek them think!  I have no idea how succesful I will be although some of my fits and starts seem promising.  So I think for myself, Ego plays a big part.  I want to be able sit down at a convention or on a net game and say:
"Open your books to Chapeter 7, Verse 9. Bobbi read line 1 and roll a d20 please."  

About Game Publisher vs Game Designer, I think the two have different goals (as has been mentioned by others.)  I read a very good book on Napolean's Russian Campaign of 1812, and near the beginning the author asserted that Napolean the Statesman/Emperor let down Napolean the GEneral (based on several ideas that I will not enumerate here) and I often dwell on that.  I want to be a designer / publisher.  Some people want to be pure Artists ie Designers.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone here who is ONLY interested in the Publishing side.  I am not aware of anyone here fitting that bill (someone who strictly wants to publish Indie Games of others, not make one themself) but I could be wrong.

So, is their conflict between publsiher and designer? At face value I would say yes, the dynamic of financial success vs artistic merit.  However, does anyone here make a serious game that think wouldn't be succesful? Even if we did not care that people would buy, we still think the game could and would sell, if we chose to market it.  I think I lack enough personal imperical evidence to say yea or nea.


Sean