Название: Game Design Deep Dive: Cozy Games
Автор: Joshua Bycer
Издательство: CRC Press
Год: 2027
Страниц: 122
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 132.2 MB

Game Design Critic Josh Bycer continues the Deep Dive series with an examination of cozy games. The market for coziness has grown dramatically, thanks to showcases like Wholesome Direct and consumers wanting something to help them relax in a stressful world.

Key Features:

Discusses the success of Stardew Valley and how it became the poster child for cozy games, and offers a brief history of the genre.
Examines UI/UX design and how to have effective playtesting done for your game, both required lessons for developers today.
Looks at what it means to build a low-stakes game while still offering progression and rewards to keep people invested.

The UI represents how someone physically interacts with your game and is often paired with the graphical user interface (GUI), which is the on-screen elements that someone will use to play the game. The UX is the feel or aesthetic of your game you are trying to convey. Both are essential to building any video game, not just cozy ones, and the best designers will learn this as early into their career as possible. When you are thinking about the UI, this is about figuring out the control scheme for your game. Since cozy/casual is not an action-heavy genre, I can’t tell you how to perfectly design one, as you must look at the respective genre you are building your game on, and I’ll be talking more about the UX in the next section.

The UX represents the “tone” or “mood” of your game. While you may not be thinking about it from the moment you start designing your game, your decisions and gameplay will determine your experience. Sometimes, you can have aesthetics that match, even if they might clash a bit, such as people pairing Isabelle with the Doom Slayer.

Growing as a designer is being able to think about your UX and how your mechanics and systems can facilitate that experience for the consumer. This will aid you in all parts of design, as knowing who your market is will allow you to focus better on gameplay that appeals to them. Your goal when it comes to the UX is making a game that is enjoyable for your core market but still provides a means for other people to be able to experience it.