Game Design Essentials

Online

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For any questions please contact us at academy@wn.mediaㅤ

Meet the Course Author:

Konstantin Sakhnov

With 15+ years of experience in game design and development, including a decade in higher education, I've had the privilege of working in various roles and positions:

Head of Studio at Datcroft Games, leading a team of over 150 people
Head of the Game Department at Rocket Jump
Mobile Projects Manager at VK
Producer and Senior Game Designer at VK
Game Designer at Panzar Studio

Here are some of the projects I've been involved in:

Shadows of Vengeance (currently under development, set to release in Q4 2024) - a PC 4x strategy game.
Pixel Wars - a mobile MOBA/MMO Action game.
Dakota: Farm Adventures - a Facebook farm simulator.
Under Control - a browser-based tactical strategy game.
Vengeance: Shades of Antara - an American-style board game.
Evolution: Heroes of Utopia - a mobile idle game.
Panzar - an MMO Action game.
Iris Online - a PC MMORPG.
Vengeance - a BB MMORPG.

Currently, I'm the founder and producer at Vengeance Games, an indie studio

About the course

"Game Design Essentials" is a course tailored to meet the specific needs of game designers and is grounded in best practices for PC and mobile game development. This course is suitable for a wide audience, ranging from junior and mid-level game designers to indie developers.

"Game Design Essentials" doesn't delve into basic or abstract discussions about the profession or skills required for game designers. Instead, it focuses on the daily routines and the most popular and valuable tasks in game design. The author presents both theoretical concepts and practical cases that take a unique approach to the work of game design. You can expect materials covering game cycles and mechanics, economy design, battle systems, character progression, player retention, and engagement.

What sets this course apart is its emphasis on the technical tools and mathematics required to tackle complex game design tasks. The author will also introduce the tools and approaches for conducting market and product analyses.

It's not just about knowing how to develop games; understanding the target audience is equally crucial. After all, the ultimate goal is to craft games that fulfill the dreams of the players, not just the dreams of the game designer.

Course Outline

Lesson I. Game mechanics

Basic concepts and structure of gameplay
Game Design toolkit
Examples of game loops
Design techniques for mechanics and loops
Examples of designing cycles and mechanics:

- Premium PC
- F2P Mobile & Browser
- Hyper-casual
- Board games

Patterns of game mechanics
Quality assessment of designed mechanics

Lesson 2. Game economy

Designing the economy of Premium PC / console games
Designing F2P game economy and monetisation
Designing game economy in different genres:

- Mobile survival games
- PC strategies

Analysing the efficiency of game economy

Lesson 3. Combat system design

Principles of combat system design
Mathematical models of combat systems
Standard feature models
Characterisation and Capability Conversion
Combat system as designed for Tower Defence

Lesson 4. Exploring Participants' Experiences using Case Study. Q&A session

Lesson 5.Development and implementation of content

Methodology of technical game design
Content in F2P games (e.g. lootboxes)
Content in Premium PC / console games
Technical tools of content creation in the engine:

- Scripting languages: JSON, XML, etc.
- Visual programming tools: Unity Bolt, Unreal Blueprints

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Lesson 6. Game balance

Types of balancing in games
Content balancing algorithm
Complexity curve
Use of statistics and analytics in game balancing
Situational balancing

Lesson 7. Creating progressions

Purpose and logic of creating progression and development
Algorithm for creating player progression
Progression, as done in F2P Mobile game
Basic principle of progression in F2P games
Progression in Premium games

Lesson 8. Using Case Studies to Investigate Participants' Experiences: Q&A Session
Lesson 9. Analytics for game designers

Basic metrics of Premium PC games
Product metrics for F2P games
Examples of reports and working with analytics
Market and competitor analysis:

- PC and consoles
- Mobile

Application of market analysis results

Lesson 10. Narrative design

Narrative design tools
Algorithm for creating a story
Working with characters
Narrative without a story
Features of narrative design for mobile games

Course Details

Two months of immersive, hands-on learning
Weekly live online webinars
Access to a dedicated course chat room for sharing experiences and networking
Ongoing interaction with the author
Comprehensive supplementary course materials, including texts, templates, spreadsheets, and more

Course Language

Russian