This is my written analysis of "The Art of Games Design" novel, I shall be writing about my main thoughts and feeling about some of the pages I have been provided. I have also learnt some important notes and facts from the book too. I specifically specialize in idea creation and development. But from reading these pages I am more aware of the challenges and extended amounts of my work and knowledge needed to publish said game ideas.
This is my short summary of chapter 1 of The Art of Games Design, this book mainly collects most of the main skills needed to be a games designer. Most need to be in the right mindset or right environment to create ideas, some need to research or collate already existing ideas to make their own. Most game designers work off of board games; simple rules, simple characters to choose from and simple environments to play around with.
In this first chapter however it states that a designer needs confidence, a games designer would need to build up their confidence to express their feeling on their projects as well as their own ideas.
Some information from chapter1 that I found interesting includes "Failing", this has been a rough topic for many current companies too, some recent games that have yet to come out have either been pushed back or published too early. Games like cyberpunk which was rushed by the company at Christmas only to receive negative opinions and be cancelled altogether.
I have had many game ideas which had been written, had digital art made and media post made about them. But as time moved on, I had better ideas with projects that actually succeeded further than my past versions.
The book notes and I would agree that "failing" is a good thing, It makes the designer more experienced and more prepared for future mistakes.
This chapter also states what skills a Games Designer needs: Animation (which brings ideas to life and to the public), Architecture (which builds upon the game world created and lets players explore and experience the story being played out), Sound Design (letting the players hear out any music or natural sounds that are heard in real life too). And most importantly Games (the designer would need to have a varied library of games they know about and have played. They would use their sources for ideas and references/knowledge)
My final conclusion for this chapter is that even thought this may be the first chapter of the whole book, it lets the reader oversee their abilities and their skills, prepping themselves to see whether they are up to the job.
I have definitely overlooked several issues and regretted not fixing them for what I would believe to be my future job. But along the way I have learnt several helpful skills to help me bring my ideas to life and create new ones too.
The finally chapter finally states how important it is to listen, listening is to be the second most important skill as a Games Designer. It would let you hear out other peoples opinions and reviews of your ideas. The designer must listen to five most important things through development; their team, the target audience, the game, any client, and their self.