ArenaNet have posted a huge blog exploring the game design of their upcoming MMO, which they call the golden rules of Guild Wars 2. The game is set for release on Tuesday 28th August.
Among the six golden rules, is an interesting piece about taking risks in game design which Train2Game students may find particularly fascinating.
“Let’s try it.” You hope to hear that phrase at the end of a meeting, especially if that meeting was contentious, or if the idea discussed is new and radical.” writes Guild Wars 2 game designer Ben Miller.
“Imagine a playground full of kids playing. At its best, playing is making mistakes in a safe environment and learning from those mistakes in a way that encourages growth. Trying out new ideas or making drastic changes is the way we as designers get to play with the game.”
Miller says it’s a collective experience that tells them which risks work and which don’t
“It’s where we slip and fall, scrape our knees, and otherwise monkey around on the jungle gym. While we don’t try out every idea, we use our collective experience to get a sense for what has promise—what we should follow down the rabbit hole.” he continues, adding that Guild Wars 2 changed through development as a result.
“We look at where our ideas break, how they break, and why they break. You can see this in how we redesigned the sylvari, or in how we have developed the professions. They’ve all undergone quite a bit of transformation over the last few years as we have tried out different approaches and learned from those very playful experiences.” said the Guild Wars 2 designer.
The full post is available to see over on the ArenaNet blog, and is great reading for Train2Game game designers. They recently posted a similar blog on the importance of making Guild Wars 2 fun.
There’s more on Guild Wars 2 here on The Train2Game Blog.
What are your thoughts on the golden rules set out by ArenaNet?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
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