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View Full Version : Quiz: What sort of game designer are you?



Nandrew
09-08-2009, 11:18 PM
I don't usually indulge in online quizzes. Mainly cliche rubbish. But I found this on the TIGSource forums and couldn't resist:

The (video) game designer style test (http://helloquizzy.okcupid.com/tests/the-video-game-designer-style-test/)

As I said, not usually a fan, but aside from pure indulgence the result you get usually offers you a negative trait or two associated with your design perspective that gives you some constructive questions to ask yourself: "Do I agree with this evaluation of my design style? And are the highlighted dangers GENUINELY something I need to work on?"

My result:


The Experience

6 Culture, 9 Feeling, 3 Story, 3 World, 9 Rules and 9 Tutor!

You have a clear vision of what your game should be like, it is made of Marvellous environments and moving characters. you seek to provoke emotions within the player, and seek innovative ways to convey them.

Your idea of the game is hard to put into words, so you probably need to check on your collegue's work regularly : it is posible to work endlessly without ever reaching your expectations. You pay attention to details, how they can affect the player, and seek an intense game Feeling.

This may or may not be an accurate representation of my style: the teamwork crit is a bit abstract for me, as I've on all but one occasion worked on a game by my lonesome. But I *DO* know that to address said weakness, I always try to document the rules and ideas of my game at least a little bit. There's people out there who probably already know that I'm a design doc *****: my game plan falls apart unless I get everything onto paper.

Fengol
10-08-2009, 09:14 AM
The SysAdmin

The SysAdmin is obsessed with rules and their interesting interactions. Mixing a set of intriguing objects and properties, they get inspiration from sciences to build deep challenging Rules in which the player can explore the rules and make the best out of them.

Your gameplays are likely to follow the rules : easy to learn hard to master, and this strategy lets you come up with some of the most original gameplay elements, and some of the hardest to balance. You risk being so busy making a fun design that you forget to make a fun game. Try to keep thing from getting too abstract.

I think my result is fair

Fengol
10-08-2009, 09:15 AM
The SysAdmin

7 Culture, 7 Feeling, 4 Story, 6 World, 9 Rules and 7 Tutor

The SysAdmin is obsessed with rules and their interesting interactions. Mixing a set of intriguing objects and properties, they get inspiration from sciences to build deep challenging Rules in which the player can explore the rules and make the best out of them.

Your gameplays are likely to follow the rules : easy to learn hard to master, and this strategy lets you come up with some of the most original gameplay elements, and some of the hardest to balance. You risk being so busy making a fun design that you forget to make a fun game. Try to keep thing from getting too abstract.

I think my result is fair, and it was based on a boardgame idea.

Sorry for the double post

SkinkLizzard
10-08-2009, 09:35 AM
The Experience

5 Culture, 10 Feeling, 6 Story, 6 World, 6 Rules and 6 Tutor!

You have a clear vision of what your game should be like, it is made of Marvellous environments and moving characters. you seek to provoke emotions within the player, and seek innovative ways to convey them.

Your idea of the game is hard to put into words, so you probably need to check on your collegue's work regularly : it is posible to work endlessly without ever reaching your expectations. You pay attention to details, how they can affect the player, and seek an intense game Feeling.

interesting and most likely true but I was stumped for some of the answers,
with my desired answer floating somewhere between 2 of the available ones.

dislekcia
10-08-2009, 11:32 AM
interesting and most likely true but I was stumped for some of the answers,
with my desired answer floating somewhere between 2 of the available ones.

I kept wanting an "all of the above" option myself ;)

I've done it twice now for two different game concepts and each time it comes out differently. I have no doubt that if I do it again for another concept it'll top out on story instead of feeling or rules.

Karuji
11-08-2009, 09:07 PM
The GameMaster

6 Culture, 6 Feeling, 6 Story, 9 World, 7 Rules and 6 Tutor!

The world builder imagines a whole world in the first, rather than a game. He creates a background in which the events will unfold, organising the content, be it maps, architecture or historical events. The games you create take place in a setting that was created before the player arrived in it, and are high in colours.

Game mechanisms you design may be repetitive, but the ever changing environment gives them various flavours. You don't know when to stop though, and that can prevent you from ever finishing a design that gets more and more complex. Think of filling the existing world a bit more with interesting events and actions to perform, and not just many new empty locations.

Furthermore, you like playing with complex sets of rules. You understood that the player wants a challenge, and in order to provide that, you are able to set up complex systems that will lead the player to elaborate strategies, and bring him beyond his boundaries.

O_O this is rather accurate. I spend more time making myth and lore then I do designing or programming. Though I love making mechanics and rules.

There really needed an all of the above option, but I suppose that would have just broken the quiz.

Bonezmann
12-08-2009, 01:47 PM
The Visionary StoryTeller
6 Culture, 7 Feeling, 12 Story, 4 World, 5 Rules and 5 Tutor!

The Storyteller has a tale to tell, usually linear and complex. You pay attention to the pacing and symbolic aspects of your game concepts, but may miss some gameplay aspects, by limiting it too much to minigames. A strong reaction to the story by the player will however keep him playing, even if the actual interactive elements may not be the most interesting.



Pretty accurate :)

dislekcia
12-08-2009, 02:19 PM
Whoa, had no idea you could go above 10 in a category... Yeesh. You must really enjoy storytelling!

But what does the rest of the blurb say? The whole point of this thread isn't to confirm what you suspect, but rather to see if there are any weaknesses in particular styles of design that we can all learn from.

Ruandre
12-08-2009, 03:14 PM
Good stuff:


8 Culture, 12 Feeling, 5 Story, 6 World, 2 Rules and 7 Tutor!

You have a clear vision of what your game should be like; it is made of marvellous environments and moving characters. You seek to provoke emotions within the player, and seek innovative ways to convey them.

Your idea of the game is hard to put into words, so you probably need to check on your colleague’s work regularly: it is possible to work endlessly without ever reaching your expectations. You pay attention to details, how they can affect the player, and seek an intense game Feeling. You may have great ideas that are badly put into practice. Try to come back from your illusion and think a bit more of the gameplay elements.

You also understand that it is important to learn from past errors. You probably have a good gaming culture, and can put it to use when designing. You figure out this way what concepts work best, and in what way they could be improved.

The different main categories in which you could fall are:

The CopyCat, The Experience, The StoryTeller, The WorldBuilder, The SysAdmin, The Skill Builder.

Also:


You scored 12 on Feeling, higher than 90% of your peers.

:P

Bonezmann
12-08-2009, 05:33 PM
Whoa, had no idea you could go above 10 in a category... Yeesh. You must really enjoy storytelling!

But what does the rest of the blurb say? The whole point of this thread isn't to confirm what you suspect, but rather to see if there are any weaknesses in particular styles of design that we can all learn from.

That's why I'm more into making videos/movies/stories than games. I thought it would be too much to quote everything, and the window is unfortunately closed, sorry... :(

Gazza_N
12-08-2009, 06:01 PM
The Copycat!

9 Culture, 8 Feeling, 8 Story, 4 World, 4 Rules and 7 Tutor!

A CopyCat takes the best from the games out there, and makes even better games out of them! Certainly, your games may not be the most original out there, but they are probably of quality. You prefer making small but certain improvements, than trying something completely new and risky.

Being a Copycat requires a lot of culture. You need to know what has been done before, and whether it was good, or how it could be improved; To be good at this designing style requires being a games encyclopaedia (or have a good one at hand any time). Most designers have a CopyCat tendency, and are also sought for low risk jobs, such as game sequels. Your designs can lack a little refreshing touch; try taking a little more risks sometimes.

Eh, I'm not too happy with the questions in that quiz - not enough shades of grey for my liking. Nonetheless, this is accurate. I do have a habit of scavenging existing mechanics and squishing them together into odd new mixtures.

Chippit
13-08-2009, 01:05 AM
The Skill Trainer

8 Culture, 5 Feeling, 6 Story, 3 World, 8 Rules and 10 Tutor!

The skill trainer mostly focuses on the player. From a basic set of actions, he will make an interesting gameplay, by testing all possibilities that those three abilities, combined in different ways, simply by testing it in an enclosed space.

You can discover an interesting gameplay at a rather low cost, however, it is harder to include those mechanics in a nice context, and you can end up creating rather surreal game designs in the end. Be careful though, a set of nice ideas could easily develop into a group of disconnected minigames, try to keep things connected in a way that makes more sense than typical video game tricks, such as ammo crates.

Eh, questions were missing the right answer a few times, but I guess it's semi-okay, I'd say.

dislekcia
13-08-2009, 02:46 AM
Actually, I really identify with what you got there Chippit. I keep wanting to make these really surreal games ;)

Necrolis
13-08-2009, 08:50 AM
The World Builder!

3 Culture, 8 Feeling, 6 Story, 9 World, 8 Rules and 5 Tutor!

The world builder imagines a whole world in the first, rather than a game. He creates a background in which the events will unfold, organising the content, be it maps, architecture or historical events.

The games you create take place in a setting that was created before the player arrived in it, and are high in colours. Game mechanisms you design may be repetitive, but the ever changing environment gives them various flavours. You don't know when to stop though, and that can prevent you from ever finishing a design that gets more and more complex. Think of filling the existing world a bit more with interesting events and actions to perform, and not just many new empty locations.
The different main categories in which you could fall are : The CopyCat The Experience The StoryTeller The WorldBuilder The SysAdmin The Skill Builderthe don't where to stop part is perticularly true :O though I wouldn't agree with the repetitive mechanics part :P