A Breakdown of Game Design

Image Source: Incgamers.com

Great games, some do it with great soundtracks that capture the moment of the game, others prefer visually stunning graphics,while others may use a very deep and wonderful story that takes you to a new world. But there are a very few that use all three of these elements to make a video game masterpiece.

Soundtrack/Scores

Anyone can slap on a loop of Journey’s, Don’t Stop Believing to a never ending sidescroller, but that doesn't mean that it goes well. Music in a video game is used to set the mood that the game is about like Left 4 Dead for example. If you were as bored as I was you probably checked out the commentary bits that Valve put into the game. When walking through a mission you can click on little speech bubbles that  play an audio track talking about specific elements used in development. One that stood out to me was both the music and the visual aspect, which I will get more into later. The sound of zombies around a corner has never been so vivid and crisp, and dare I say, realistic. For instance the moment you get grabbed by a Smoker, and you’re being hoisted up for your friends to scream and shoot at, a loud and alarming noise greets your ears. It really wakes you up, and gives you some shock and fear, and at the same time can really get you stressed. Whether that stress is good or bad  is  up to you.

Image Source: Compactiongames

Graphics/Visuals

While we’re on the topic of Left 4 Dead Valve, as I mentioned earlier, used some visual techniques that are rarely, if ever, implemented in games. In the popular mission “No Mercy” the four survivors have to fight their way from an abandoned building to the rooftop of a hospital in an urban environment while, of course, the creeps come out at night. While you’re running and gunning it through brain-feeders, you’re enclosed in a variety of rooms, corridors, streets, and alleyways. In my personal opinion this is one of the greatest missions I've ever endured. What the developers did,  instead of just making everything darker and  more difficult to see, they made a map that was already dark, and filled it with light at certain points (E.G. Bonfires, Cars, Street Lights, etc.) which really gave the game a “you’re in a zombie apocalypse and you might die” kind of vibe.

Gameplay/Overall feeling

Gameplay is a main component to a video game, considering that if the game feels broken, it’s most likely going to be looked down upon and obviously considered broken. A popular example would be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). If you don’t know exactly what to do, and the majority of people didn't/don’t, the game gives you the worst feeling possible, sometimes you die at random, different characters will hurt you for no reason, and it’s just a big mess. Although we don’t have that problem as much nowadays, which is great, there’s always room for improvement. 

Remember folks, keep calm and play video games!