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Who knew feedback could be food for thought? Okay, now I'm hungry.
Recently, I released the first fully playable version of a game that I have been working on. I sent copies out to my friends to get their opinion, and I was shocked to find that many of them felt lost while playing my game. Several had a lot of trouble clearing the first few levels. I came to realize that my game has an accessibility problem.
In video games, there are subtle rules and conventions that govern the design of most games. For example, in most 2D platformers, the player must head to the right to reach the goal. I think we, as game developers and avid gamers, often take these conventions for granted. Many of us have been playing games our whole lives, so we learned these rules and conventions years ago.
Of course, we are familiar with the conventions of our own games because we were the ones that created them. But, to someone who is new to gaming entirely, there are certain things about your game (or games in general) that might not be so obvious.
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Accessibility is key. It needs to be obvious how to play your game. But how do we accomplish this? Tutorials and on-screen prompts can be an effective, if somewhat invasive, way to teach people the rules of your game. It is also possible to teach your audience how to play, solely through your own game design. Nintendo, in particular, is great at this.
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It is also important to introduce the player to your game’s mechanics gradually. Don’t overwhelm your audience with everything your game has to offer on the first screen. Give the player some time to familiarize themselves with a concept before you introduce them to something new.
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Another issue I noticed with my game, is there were some pretty severe difficulty spikes. If there is a difficult level in your game, start with simpler levels that operate around the same concept. This will help arm the player with the skills to tackle that really hard level, whilst also priming the player mentally for the challenge ahead.
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While we are hoping to make our games accessible to everybody, it is also important to consider your intended audience. Who is likely to play your game, and what is unique about their experiences? Certain people will be able to understand your game quickly. Why is that? Are they more familiar with the genre? Keep these questions in mind as you design your game.
At the end of the day, everyone is going to react to your game differently, and that is the beautiful (and sometimes frightening) thing about doing something creative! I really thought my game would be easy to pick up, until my friends told me otherwise.
Our perspective as developers is skewed by the fact that we have spent so much time with our games. We knew how to play our games before we had even made them. Playtesting is key. There is a lot you can do on your own to make your game more accessible, but at the end of the day, the best thing you can do is show your game to others and get their opinions. Good luck!
Game on,
PBJ, Jox Digital Educator
info@jox.digital
A Jox Thought: Mobile gaming is trending upwards, with the latest games being Among Us and Genshin Impact. What mobile games have you been playing lately?
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