Create games

So you've chose to plunge yourself into the entire world of game development, have assembled a team of mighty warriors to tackle most of the big issues and are ready to produce the next best game in the industry... trumping WoW, Guild Wars... (you have the point). Create games you've chopped up all your brainstorming and assembled some really keen concepts for a storyline and you're willing to go. But amongst most of the programming, the type concepts, the dungeons, and the quests - what are truly the most important aspects of your game which will determine whether someone enjoys themself? Read on, and allow me to share with you what I think.

Whenever we do decide to take that plunge into the development of a new game, you can find five things you should look at cautiously, and pay a lot of attention to. You will find probably more of those which will hinder or allow you to along your path, and your ordering may differ than mine, but they are what I always hold to be probably the most important. Within the in a few days we will reveal each aspects, and at the end of the week culminate with the whole article. For today we'll begin towards the top, with number 5.

When crafting your game, there is no better inspiration for features and activities, quests and dungeons, than your own highly developed and custom tailored storyline. Some may balk as of this statement, claiming that storyline is easily overshadowed and un-necessary when you yourself have intense graphics that produce your fingers tingle, or when you yourself have combat so intense that you're literally ducking from the way from behind your monitor. While these things definitely subscribe to an awesome game, and can result in a lot of excitement (in fact, they're on the list too!), they can not make up for a lack of storyline.

One thing many players crave whether consciously or not, is really a strong storyline that leads them into caring about the overall game - it entices you - and makes you're feeling as though your wildest dreams may in fact be possible in this environment. Storyline may be simple and to the point while being so flawlessly done so it serves because the crux of the whole game (EVE Online: We're flying through space, blowing people from the sky...) and at once being so rich and deep with lore (the complexities in lore and story surrounding EVE is really great so it entangles even probably the most basic ships and inventory items) so it compels players to publish their own histories.

Not merely does storyline help players become engaged with all that you've slaved over and worked for, nonetheless it helps you the developer along the way. If you've been smart, and from the beginning dreamed up an intoxicatingly deep history of one's game setting, it'll constantly last throughout development. It will give you clues into what features want to be a the main game, what doesn't must be included, and what does or doesn't fit. An architecture professor of mine once said, when talking about the website analysis portion of architecture that individuals may find out a great deal in what we must be building on the building site by visiting the place, and "envisioning the invisible building that really wants to be built" ;.That is true in architecture, and it is particularly true in game development and dreaming up your storyline/game setting.

Storyline may be important, but is it more important than the usual snazzy game setting so rich and vibrant that the tempted to remain indefinitely? Well, maybe - just provided that your 3d representation isn't bogged down by hundreds of thousands of nasty polygons or quads. Why on the planet is Artwork important, anyway?

I've heard many, often that the artwork/3d models/characters present in your game won't make or break things. I agree with this in so it won't make or break the whole game, but artwork and professional looking/feeling models definitely allow you to out along the way. Consider any movie you've seen recently where in fact the sets were absolutely incredible and stunning - one such example (although not necessarily as "recent") would be the Lord of the Rings movies. Throughout the entire set of movies, rich and diverse settings are abound and help the immersion factor as you wouldn't believe.

Would the movie have now been "broken" by less awe-inspiring scenes? Not likely, because in case of The Lord of the Rings, there have been a lot of other incredible aspects. Did the awe-inspiring scenes make the movie just very much better, and give it just very much *more* to drool over? Yes, Definitely. The same kind of effect can be seen in the overall game industry. I play games which have incredible graphics (EVE Online) and other that don't (Dark Ages). I'm however, dependent on both of these games for different reasons, but you can bet that the stunning environment in EVE certainly helps to inspire its large player base.

Additionally, your artwork can seriously effect the mechanics of one's game. Many developers over look a remarkably important aspect of these 3d models - poly count... That's to state, the number of triangles (or *shiver* quads) your game has. Most of the free 3d models you may find on the web are gorgeous, but are so incredibly detailed that with them in a computer, real time environment wouldn't be wise because you're typically wanting to attract as numerous systems as possible. Console systems have the luxury of (for probably the most part) assuming that everyone's running on a straight playing field. Those people developing games strictly for the computer don't have this luxury. Suffice it to state, it's important to get quality, low poly game content, and there's certainly enough of it available that there's no excuse for you yourself to be shoving your game full of characters which can be in the 10,000 poly range (many online companies limit their avatars, or characters, to around 2500-5000 polys).

The decrease your poly count on your own 3d models, the smoother your environment will probably run using the widest selection of computers... usually. One thing to bear in mind throughout this entire process is how your engine handles polygons, and to discover what the best poly range is that you want to strive for characters and scenery. Generally, higher character polys tend to be more acceptable, with scenery (buildings, trees, etc) being lower in poly. Another engine specific feature to bear in mind is whether the engine supports Amount of Detail (LOD). LOD for people who may not know is really a system where in fact the engine uses suprisingly low poly versions of a product if the ball player is far away, swapping the model in and out for high quality versions the closer you get to it. So far as I know, virtually every engine available supports LOD, but some like Active Worlds do not.

Some may say (and argue) that music for an online game must certainly be contained in the category of "Create games artwork" - while this might be true depending on what you consider it, music in a game title is incredibly important *aside* from your 3d models and 3d characters and therefore it receives its own spot.