Megatrends of Game Design
Written by experienced game designer Pascal Luban, there’s a very interesting article over at Gamasutra called “The Megatrends of Game Design”. The purpose of this series of articles isn’t speculation or hypothesis, but rather a look at some of the strongest trends in game design that are currently manifest in the industry. P art I has been published, and details three Megatrends, their driving forces, and their effect on the market. I highly recommend that you read the full article, which is insightful, interesting and very clearly written. But, for a quick snapshot:
- Megatrend I – The necessity of increasing the commerial life span of games. Why? Devs need to recoup escalating development costs. How? Multiplayer gaming, downloadable content, merchandising, and online distribution are all methods used by companies to stretch the buzz of a game’s release and do better than break even.
- Megatrend II – The emergence of fast gaming, and games relying on micropayments. What? Casual games, mobile games, games for instant gratification and not much investment on the part of the gamer.
- Megatrend III – Increasingly believable universes. A direct cause of the “why” in megatrend 1, in my opinion. Luban outlines the development of outdoor environments, real-time impact of atmospheric effects, automatic integration of character animation with the environment and completely interactive environments as as components of this overall trend.
Via | Gamasutra
