Looking For A Casual Game Design Article

[Davaris]

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for a game design article that explains games in terms of their basic elements. Like what the player's goals are, what actions the player performs to reach those goals, what the computer does to make it hard for the player to reach those goals and the rewards that motivate the player to keep playing. I've found lots of articles, but they all cover AAA games like Strategies, RPGs or Shooters. I'm not interested in these, as I want to make a casual game. Has anyone seen an article that has what I'm looking for?

[Bmc]

you're best bet would be to read the production and design section of Casual Game Whitepaper located here http://igda.org/casual/

it has what you are looking for.

[Christian]

I really recommend this page, it has many pdfs, try the dinner dash one,, the others will be usefull too.

http://www.xeodesign.com/gamedesignprinciples.html

[cheese_phantom]

I am not sure if others agree, but I think that basic design principles wouldn't change drastically between casual games or AAA titles. Some basics are valid for all sort of games. Of course certain genres or platforms or target audiences require other things to take in account, but if you look for basics, any article on "basics" would be of use. Even if they are written in regard to AAA titles, someone who aims at casual games can learn from them.

I am not sure if you checked out gamasutra and gamedev, but there are a few articles that make sense in the context of casual games. I remember they had titles like "games for the wage slave", "games for novice gamers", "downsizing games" etc. (I'll see if I can find the links and post them here). Even if they were not written to specifically serve the casual games designer, some advices were quite good and explained you how to keep games short and simple (yet cool), so that those with less time to play them have their fun.

The IGDA Whitepaper on casual games is a good source since it also gets into the business aspect and that is helpful if you look for an overall product development strategy that your designs will "function" within.

[Christian]

I agree.

Design principles dont change but, if you need guidance in making games for a specific target, then i think that you need to know that target, so, recomendations in what kind of design is appropiate for the target is good, xeo design has the answer you are looking for.