Important Video Game Features to Include in your Game Development
Whether it’s a console, PC or a mobile game, developing a game, in general, is a daunting task for game developers. It takes months or years to create a well-made game with high graphics and other intricate elements. With the endless supply of games being released and updated, competition for your niche is fierce.
Every detail and process in the game development stage is essential. Missing features in your game can cost success and profitability suffer, which is why game developers invest a lot of time and money to be able to develop games that would be successful enough to compete in this fierce market. Here are some of the most effective video game features to incorporate into your game development:
Immersion
One of the things that leaves a lasting impression is how immersed players are in the world your game provides. There are some games with such a good game design and storyline that it makes you feel like you’re living and breathing in that world as you play.
Most AAA games with a first person POV are a good example of this. When the player controls the game's protagonist, they enter the fictional world with the ability to be able to control their character as they wish (some games even offer the players to decide their characters fate based on how they play the game) which gives the player the impression of being the actual character. A POV game with a well-made storyline and visual presentation makes a great game combination to increase the entertainment and enticement for your players.
Story and Character Development
Just like movies and books, video games have become another means of storytelling that game developers take advantage of this because of how well these types of games sell. Very emotional stories are quite familiar in video games. I’m confident at some point you have come across a story that has affected you emotionally in some way. Games with character and story progress seem to catch more attention compared to a game with no development.
Red Dead Redemption, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and The Last of Us (my personal favorite) have shown how characters and the story have evolved over the timespan of the game, revealing a deeper story and making the player feel the deep emotion carried by the game. Some of the recent games as well have given NPC’s different character developments as well which makes it more interesting to interact with them regardless of their set dialogue.
Besides having a progressing storyline, the visual appeal also plays a relevant part in your game’s success. This can also be a defining factor on whether people will buy the game or not. No one wants to play a game full of graphic-glitches and art unappealing to the eyes. Through the years, game designs have evolved, but there are some games that have outdone themselves; some games are very well detailed and that it could be mistaken for being real rather than a game.
Bioshock Infinite, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Fallout: New Vegas and Dishonored are some of the games where graphics have blown the mind of their players from the most intricate details from the background design to the game’s NPCs. Super Smash Bros. also has a set of intricate graphics referring to some of their famous games in their background which not everyone will notice at first glance. It is also common for games now to have near to a realistic feel to their visuals that it could be mistaken as something shot in real life.
Socially Competitive Features
Most games today offer you the ability to play with and against your friends and other players around the world. Being able to play with friends in real-time increases engagement depth and prolongs the time you play the game and increases player immersion. You can add additional multiplayer game modes to your game to play with different strategies with or against your teammates.
League of Legends, Dota2, and CS:GO are some of the known games designed where online multiplayer is an essential part of being able to succeed in the game.
What makes a good game even better? It's soundtrack of course. Soundtracks help set the pace and mood of the game and put the player in the right emotion and setting. Without it, the game will almost feel naked or incomplete.
Super Mario is one of the most popular tunes that even non-gamers are familiar with it. Every stage they enter the game, the music changes with the theme and the pacing speeds up when they're almost out of time. The Super Mario tune has become one of the most iconic tunes known by most and is still used to this day.
Frequent Updates
Avoid getting your players bored. Frequent updates to new video game features, additional levels, side quests, characters, and items will give your players more excitement when playing the game. This comes quite relevant to mobile games. Game updates give your players a reason to play your game more as well as, this also gives the game developers a chance to fix and address bug fixes and other issues within the game.
Though be cautious not add too many features in a single update. This is to avoid overwhelming your users which could lead them to become uninterested and bored with your game. Update game elements on a regular basis with a moderate amount of updated features to keep your users interested
Final Say
It is evident that creating a game is hard, but developing a well-made game is even more challenging. Features play a relevant role in any game; also an easter egg hunt in your game design like what we find in Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros, or League of Legends add up to increase the level of interest for users to play. Every vital feature plays a vital role in making a game successful. All video game features play a part in increasing player immersion and engagement and should not be overlooked.
