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Scoring Mechanism First is OK?

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Mon, 10/27/2008 - 13:23
Aquinas
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I was just doing some thinking about brainstorming, and I thought that perhaps starting with an original scoring mechanism is a good way to go. Here are some of the pluses and minuses:

+ It kicks the design process off to a good start.
+ It prevents your game from being too "samey".
- It may be very non-thematic, unless the scoring fits exactly into the perfect theme.
- It may feels rather cold and mechanical, though this for me may not be a problem, if the game is designed with taste.

There are more, I believe, but I would like to here your thoughts on this way of designing, and most especially your experiences.

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Mon, 10/27/2008 - 14:08
#1
Dralius
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Why not?

You certainly can keep a unique scoring scheme in mind for the next game you design. Many designers will create around a intriguing mechanic they have thought up so a scoring scheme should be no different if it works for the game. What you don’t want to do is get married to it. If the game might be better with a first person to build X or get to Y sort of win condition then save that clever scoring for another game.

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Mon, 10/27/2008 - 14:28
#2
clearclaw
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Joined: 07/21/2008
The scoring method is the game

I consider the scoring method to be the definition of the game. Sure, the game has other parts, but the scoring method is the only really important thing. Everything else is just supporting cruft to enable scoring.

My design pattern is a little different however. I start with an abstract logical problem, figure out a scoring method to represent progress toward solving that problem, mechanisms to solve that problem in interesting ways, and somewhere along the line maybe a theme or three to provide convenient nouns and verbs for those mechanisms.

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