Discussion about how to make better games.

[BlueLight]

So in general i think we should share general information to help eachother to make games better. tricks we've found or general game design practices we should use.

I shall start off with this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=FLJbt ... y0aCDmgnxg

I hope to get a real discussion going.

[TangGulf85]

Love that video and I see where they are going with the juiciness factor and I think some games out there are taking advantage of this principal, but I wonder if there is a line into gimmicky that gets old or tiresome if you don't justify it with some form of story or plot. in terms of porn games it doesn't help if there are crazy effects every time my character touches another but it is nice if effects mark out certain events or scale with excitement.
also since we are mostly doing freeware rpg/adventure type games not demoing and pitching perspective commercial puzzle/time kill games I wonder if our time isn't better spent at the early stages on building the framework of levels and characters before we spend a lot of time on "juiciness."

[IrrelevantComment]

Agreed. While polish is nice for all games, it is essentially the least important aspect of any game. Story, mechanics, engine and graphics are far more important.

[LoneWolf]

Polish/juiciness can improve any game... as long as you already have a game. I consider it a layer on top of the game, not a part of the game itself. It can hugely improve your game if the core gameplay is sound, but no matter how much you polish crap all you'll end with is shiny crap.

As for building a good 'core game', my suggestion is to prototype early and often. As soon as possible, get something working that you can actually play, and play it.

[BlueLight]

Polish/juiciness can improve any game... as long as you already have a game. I consider it a layer on top of the game, not a part of the game itself. It can hugely improve your game if the core gameplay is sound, but no matter how much you polish crap all you'll end with is shiny crap.

As for building a good 'core game', my suggestion is to prototype early and often. As soon as possible, get something working that you can actually play, and play it.

I agree completely.
Anyone have a long paragraph of idea's for us to read, or maybe a video link?