Design Blog

I’ve seen some comments on some websites wondering why we are making TE: CotRB into a casual game, as opposed to a hardcore one. So, this is a shout out to our hardcore gaming sisters.

What it boils down to is that hardcore gamers already have options. Bioware always has some kind of romantic aspect to their games, as do games that happen to have titles with the words Final, Fantasy and some kind of roman numeral in them.

Where we saw a need was in the casual gaming space. There just isn’t a huge selection of casual games with a strong romantic element in them. And we wanted to make games that everyone (from our grandmothers to our sisters) could enjoy, just like romance novels. It’s a natural fit. Casual games are there when you want a fun interactive experience, but aren’t in the mood to tackle a 100+ hour rpg.

So, hardcore gamer girls, please don’t feel like we’ve forsaken you! The way we see it, this game might be just the thing to scratch your romance itch while you wait for the latest Dragon Age downloadable content, and right after you’ve finished the latest Final Fantasy to be released in the US. Tiger Eye is only $9.99 after all! (Besides, we’re award-winning casual game developers – stick with what you know, right?)

This kicks off a series of blog posts by our senior designer, Mari, that will be about the guiding design principles that she uses as she’s creating our game.

Design Principle #1 – Fun

Games are supposed to be fun, right? So, one of the most important things is making sure that the player is having FUN. To make sure that there is more “fun” than “not-fun” in the game (I haven’t used fun enough in the last few sentences – fun fun fun), these are a few of the tools that I use:

• Researching the demographic – what does the target audience look for in the type of entertainment that they choose and enjoy?  How can I apply this knowledge to the types of activities that go into the game?
• Past experience – there are some things that have a kind of universal appeal as far as gameplay goes and these are things I can most certainly lean on.  In general, most people seem to enjoy word puzzles, for example, while things like slider puzzles can be very divisive.
• Instinct – this is an instance when I think something is fun or I have a feeling it will be fun and I just go for it.
• Testing – this is the MOST important tool that I use to ensure the fun ratio in the game is high.  I rely very heavily on making paper prototypes and having everyone in the office test puzzles and activities before any art or programming is done (this also helps catch any instances in which my instincts are very wrong, see above bullet point)

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. These are just some of the things that help me tip the scales of fun in our favor.