Game Design: Runner

Ok, here is the deal! We want to make a game, right? But there is a big possibility that this wish will vanish before we manage to do something! So what do we do to prevent that? We feed ourselves with something that motivates us! We read books, watch other people's success, imagine the bright future and simply try to stay on a good mood!

But I tell you, there is no better motivation then having your own finished product! I was lucky to play big part in some pretty serious (on my country's scale) projects that got finished. One of them was the first feature 3D animated movie in my country.

It's been 6 moths already since I decided to mess with games for iPhone, but so far I got stuck in the study routine. Study is good but, knowing myself, I can say this won't last long if I don't get some results. Financial results are desirable :)

So let's start talking about our first game! (for the second time) Let it's code name be simply TheFirst!

It's crystal clear that the first game should be fairly simple so we don't really get stuck! But it also has to be fun to work at and should have a chance to succeed! Why fight if you don't plan to win?

Few ideas about the Game Design of TheFirst!

• I see TheFirst as a running game! Like the one where you have to get as far as possible. There are lots of games like that on AppStore!
• It's not that hard to implement! It's simply movement and touch triggers! It's even possible to do it with Kismet only! But I'll use UnrealScript for the most part anyway.
• Enemy AI doesn't have to be complex at all.
• The fact that there are many games of the kind is not bad at all!
• People know how to play a game of the genre.
• There is already some number of fans of the genre who will be happy to see yet another running game in our implementation.

• The game should be all about the character's charisma! He should be well motivated to run wherever he is running!
• Game happens inside your mind and not in a CPU or on Display. If you're told that a red dot is Mars, you won't think of it as a collection of pixels of #FF0000... You will think of it as of a whole planet, maybe populated by aliens! Like in "I must run", a game with a fairly simple gameplay, I enjoyed the non stop running process, because I knew I need to come to the place in time, otherwise they'll kill my wife! I wouldn't spend a single minute playing the game if there was no story. By the way, last time I checked the game was free. Get it and see what I mean.
• Just pay attention to it. Most of the popular apps have a face on an icon. The more popular the character gets the more popular will be the app.

• I definitely want to implement the experience points, power ups and special powers into the game. Like super powers, because I'm a geek and I need epicness to enjoy a game/movie/book! What's the sense of enemies if you can't every once in a while kill a thousand of them with one press of a button?
• GameCenter implementation will be just awesome here!
• It also gives a big potential for future updates! New powers, new enemies, new maps.
• Some kick ass powers will be good for PR. You show 2-3 of your best ones in the trailer, mention that you have like 25 of them there and everyone thinks that all of the 25 powers are just as awesome.

• The game should be side-scroll runner, so it should have 2D logic. But it will have 3D graphics, that will give it a very beautiful look.
• 3D get's better when you know beforehand from which angle will a viewer see it. Now when the character and background will be locked in 2D logic, but will have the freedom of 3D, the visual part should be very joyful.
• Neither FPS, nor third person camera games don't work so well on a touch device, IMO. I mean ofcourse there are developers who manage to bring the comfortable FPS experience to touch, but... First - I'm not that good yet. Second - in my opinion non FPS games will still be more popular among different classes of users. It's just nicer.

• The controls and interface should be very simplistic! iPhone's design proved it's better like that :P
• I imagine 4 buttons, each in a corner of the screen looking like they are little holes in the game's image. 

• Question #1: Who is the main character?
• Is he a stereotype of a fighter or of a victim?
• What exactly made him run?
• Should the main character run from something or should it better run to something?!
• FROM: In that case we can explain the "don't slow down" factor! That can also give the game endless number of tours!
• TO: There is an end to the game. There is a destination point that can make the game more serious. When we think of running to something I imagine Nemo's father looking for him (from "Finding Nemo"), Neo flying to catch Trinity and so on. I just see more drama here.