I was looking for some cool games in the Lego webpage and I must say they have the best advergames that you can find around the internet.
Lego has a politic of allowing credits in the games, this means that the developers can put their names in the game to show their families and friends and say “look!, that’s me!”.
I’m sure that this impacts directly to the quality of the game. How?. Simple:
Videogames industry is about people in a very complete way, that means that you need to keep in mind not only the people that will play the game, also the people who actually make the game. That’s because all the people working in the industry are trying to create something that makes them feel proud.
Professionally speaking, what’s the point of making something cool if nobody will ever realize you did it?
I’m sure that allowing credits in the game is one of the best ways to get commitment from the development team.
There is a common mistake think that games for little children are cheaper than games that are targeted for other audiences because the game mechanics are simpler.
Children under five years old don’t know how to read, so the information that usually is on text must be voice acted. That means that you have to pay an actor in order to get those assets and that is a big part of the budget that can easily overpass the development cost.
The “bunny town” games from the Disney page is a good example of this: LINK
The above link can’t be accessed from all places due to geotargetting. If that is your case, try the following link, in Spanish: LINK
Keep that in mind when designing a game targeted for children under 5 years old.
I remember a chat with an old friend that tells me something about the game Portal, from Valve. He says that during the play testing sessions, the players get bored after 15 or 30 minutes of playing. The game was very flat.
The game designers solve the problem adding a story to the game. That keep hooked the players to the game. They solve the puzzles only to see “what happens”.
One of the most powerful tool to add narrative to the game are the scripted events. That is pieces of code embedded into the levels that triggers events when something happens. Like the player crossing a door or destroying something by shooting.
You can make, for example, that a door shut just behind after crossing it, or a building goes down by shooting a gunpowder barrel.
A good example of this is the Half Life series, they are full of scripted events. That makes the game full of memorable events.
Bottom line: Add memorable moments to your game by scripting events. Don’t let it flat.
Nope, this is not a post about violence in videogames, sorry. I’m going to tell you a very short story that happens today in the gym.
I was doing some chest work, and a machine used to do some kind of exercise was very close to the bank where I was, and that make me a little uncomfortable so I ask to the guy in the machine to move a little so both can work better. The guy, who was resting between series, stands and moves the machine and sits again without say a word.
He moves the machine as I say, but was very distant. So, what’s wrong with the way this guy proceeded? I tell you:
He give me NO FEEDBACK at all!.
And that’s rude!
It was inevitable for me to relate this with videogames. Imagine Mario Bros without emitting a single sound when he get’s a coin or jumping or not duplicate it’s size when he eats a magic mushroom. That’s not very polite, isn’t it?
So, my advise is: When you design your videogame, don’t forget to put tons of feedback to any action of the user. Feedback is very very important because make people feel confortable.
