Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design

Understanding Your Audience

In the previous section, we defined the elements of a game. But games don't exist in a vacuum; they're intended to be played by people. A common misconception among game designers is that all players enjoy the same things that the designer enjoys, so the designer only has to examine his own experience to know how to make a game entertaining. This is dangerous hubris. The reason for making a computer game is to entertain an audience. You have to think about who those people are and what they like.

Generalities are always risky, and misguided assumptions about players can result in games that no one will buy. Still, unless the game you're designing has been commissioned by a single individual, you are making it for a ...