Oh shit! Iterative Design!

. . .At least, that's the reaction designers seem to get from people with money. While I beleive there is no "right" way to make games, the principles behind iterative design are a step in the right direction. Any designer (or publisher) who thinks that they can write a game on paper, plan it, develop it, and expect it to be awesome without refinement is going to be the one doing the running. Gameplay is a lot more than the rules that define it, no designer can hope to understand what a play experience is going to be like based on the rules they create. Iterative design is a framework that helps create (but does not guarentee) a higher quality game in a realistic, practical setting. You have to be ready to accept that, while your idea may be wicked on paper, without some kind of feedback, your taking a much bigger risk than using a traditional project management method.

As I touched on, iterative design is far from the be all and end all of development systems. A lot people like to throw it around without truly considering the implications. Agile development in itself has this unfortunate history. This article is a good start for understanding some of the common pitfalls of the Scrum methodology (an agile development approach).


This week's three games are: Eschalon: Book I, Kings, and Donkey Kong Country.

Eschalon: Book I is a turn-based, isometric RPG set in a classic fantasy world. The design makes a strong attempt to recrate the traditional computer-style RPGs of the 80s and early 90s. Having played the demo, despite the weak magic system, this game definetly hits the mark, I just today have purchased the full version. Get the demo here, support your independant developers!

Kings is a common drinking game where players draw cards, and act based on the card they drew, usually drink. What's so unique is that the rules manage to be flexible (as dozens of variants exist for each card) and customizable during the game! Failing to remember these rules results in corrective behaviour that ensures the players will remember better next time . . .or pass out. Personally, my favourite game when alcohol is involved.

Donkey Kong Country: A SNES platformer classic, hands down. I recently played it through one rainy day, and was blown away at the quality of the level design, like abstract art, it was as intricate as it appears to be simple. If you are developing any type of platformer, you owe it to your game to pick up on the lessons DK has to offer.