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This is a series on how to make a game. At the end of this series, you will have a working, playable game. This has been play tested with the PsyX Games team, family, and friends. We look forward to sharing this work and hope you enjoy it. When we are children we play games. Those games can be anything, from stuffed animals that we imagine talk to each other, to innumerable others. They supply a platform for social interaction and teach us how to deal with emotions. Depending on each person, they will enjoy certain types of games. There are many, from simple to complex, from luck to strategy and everything in between. As children we tend to enjoy pure luck games, they even the field between players and enable children to have an equal chance at victory against each other and their parents. As game players mature they begin to lean toward games that offer choices that influence the outcome of the game in victory or defeat. There are plenty of great games to choose from. Trivia, luck, action, strategy and games that mix some or all or those are already on the shelves of stores, even coffee shops. Yet people invent new games while others wonder how the inventor came up with the idea for the basis of that new game? The following will be a set of articles, a sort of walk through in the creation of a game. The goal is to inspire those who have thought about creating a game, to take action and do it. And for those who are not so inclined, some interesting reading with a rewarding end. I’ve loved games all my life, I am a gamer, like many a child at heart. My first experiences marbles, Ker-Plunk, Sorry, Aggravation, Headache, Checkers and Monopoly. Then I moved on to Cards, Stock Market, Stratego, Risk and Chess. As a teen and young single adult I discovered role playing games (RPG’s) and Diplomacy. Then I grew up, got married and had a family, time became limited and eight hours gaming sessions became an extreme rarity and I turned back to Chess and board games that lasted hours instead of days. When I was a kid, with motivation from creative parents, we made some of our own games and we had great times playing what we created and showing friends. Making games entertains my children and teaches them that they can act on their creativity. As well it gives me an outlet to satisfy my creative thoughts. There are many great reasons to make your own game, to many to list. So let's get on with the actual design. What ideas do you have for a game? Once you have chosen to make a game, you will have to decide on what type of game you want to make and how much time you want to put into it? Keeping in mind, the more you put into it the better the result. If you need to make something and play it all at once you’ll likely be limited to a pure luck game. It could be something simple like auto racing. Draw a course on paper with spaces. Draw and cut out cars. Make a spinner or use a die for movement. This type of game, a luck based space movement race to the end game can be simple and fun. You can add spaces with positive or negative results if a player lands on them, like; lose a turn, go again or draw a card (if you have time to make cards.) More complex games will require more thought and more time, days, weeks or even months to design, test and modify and add to. Something to remember is that complexity doesn’t always make a better game. In my experience complexity slows game play down, which is often a drawback, as players who have to wait for their turn may not be engaged in the game and become bored. Keeping players interested in the game is very important. A good goal is to keep players interested in the game even when it is not their turn. Will your game require players to race to a conclusion, contest against the other player’s resources, collect items or game wealth or place themselves in a winning position? When you decide to make a game you need to come up with a theme or story that the players can understand and a goal to win. What will you use to create your game? A lot will depend on your resources and skills. Games can very simply be made with cardboard, paper and crayons, pens or color pencils. There are also many programs on computers that can be used. Pieces can be made of paper, carved and painted wood or whatever elements you find appropriate. Games for yourself, friend and family can be assembled with basic parts using glue, tape and store bought items, like dice. If you want luck, add dice or you can make a spinner with a paper clip and cardboard arrow on a paper pie chart with numbers or actions. Making cards is also very simple. The more time you put into the pieces of the game, the better it will be to play. When I think about a game I toss ideas around in my head and then start writing down a description of the game on my computer. As I get more ideas I add them to this description. These ideas change over time and become the rules for the game. I also use Photoshop and Paint to create tokens for game pieces along with other parts, like cards, depending on the game. Al Wenzl PsyX Games
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