Practical Game Design

Deconstructing your references

Once we have found our perfect references it, is time to deconstruct them into smaller experiences. We need to analyze these mechanics and understand why they have been developed the way they have. Then we need to understand what we need to do in order to implement them in our game and make them work according to our vision.

Let’s go back to our previous platform game example.

We want to analyze the Jumping mechanic of 2D platform games. We will pick one of the classics: Super Mario Bros.

Jumping is, of course, a core mechanic. But can we say something else about it?

• How high can Mario jump?
• How much distance can he cover while jumping?
• Can you control the character once he's up in the air?
• Is there any rule ...