Random Terrain's Game Design Guidelines

Below are my personal guidelines for making Atari 2600 games. I've been slowly working on them since 1982. Although this page was made with Atari 2600 games in mind, most of the guidelines can be applied to all games.

End of Game + Fire Button = Reset Switch

Any game released after May of 1982 should start/restart using the fire button. It's more than a courtesy, it's an expected feature that was famously used in Yars' Revenge, but it was also used in games that were released earlier such as Maze Craze and Pac-Man. The joystick is essentially turned into an Atari 2600 remote control and the player can restart a game without getting up a million times. Not everyone sits on the floor, a foot away from the Atari and not everyone plays emulated games with the keyboard (some players use a controller).

You might be tempted to use the fire button to restart a game and ignore the Reset Switch. Not a good idea. It should be the player's choice. When the game ends, the player should be able to play again by pressing the fire button or the Reset Switch. It should never be one or the other. The Reset Switch is also supposed to work if the player presses it while playing a game, so make sure your games always allow the player to do that.

No matter how the player chooses to restart the game, remember to have some type of short game over sequence that makes sure the player can't restart accidentally. The player will still be able to restart using the fire button, but only when he or she wants to.

If you want more than my opinion, the following is from Atari's Game Standards and Procedures:

A GAME OVER message should be displayed at the end of each player's game telling which player is out of the game. When all games in progress are over, the game freezes on the screen and the fire button is disabled for 2 seconds while the GAME OVER message is displayed. After the 2 second freeze, if the player presses the fire button, the game restarts at the same difficulty level and with the same number of players as was previously selected. If this action is not taken, after 20-30 seconds the game automatically goes to the TITLE PAGE and IDLE SEQUENCE.

Randomness and Replayability

Controlled Randomness should be used to place enemies, objects, bonus items, platforms in a platform game (when possible), and so on to keep the game fresh. A game should be about on-the-spot decision making and pure fun, not memorization of patterns, enemy locations, or game event trigger locations that never change when the game is replayed.

Perfect Timing Tribulations

Don't give the player irritating perfect timing chores that are like playing a deadly game of laser jump rope. One tiny mistake and you're dead and usually have to go back and replay that level or a bunch of levels. Don't be like game designers who say "Dance for me monkey boy! Be perfect or die! Now do it all over again! Ha ha ha ha!" Perfect timing is usually an essential part of Die and Remember games. Yes, I know that many of the things I say go against everything you've learned over the years, but we need to stop the same old 'monkey see, monkey do' game design. We don't have to continue to make the same mistakes that other game designers have made. We can try to do better.

No Mindless Enemies

Never have mindless enemies that jump back and forth or move up and down. Enemies should have some type of intelligence. They don't have to be geniuses, but they should at least have a spark of intelligence that makes them seem alive. They should be able to see you or smell you or track you by the sounds you make. And if possible, they should have some kind of emotional reaction (fear, anger, surprise or whatever fits the game). Some enemies might hold a grudge if you make them angry and will come after you long after other enemies have moved on.

Platform Game + Fire Button = Jump

Never make the player jump by pressing up on the joystick. It's unpleasant, uncomfortable, unnatural, and unintuitive. If the character must shoot a weapon or throw things, how about having the player hold down on the joystick to switch between shoot mode and jump mode or maybe the player could press the fire button for a certain amount of time (similar to Mouse Trap)? Or what about a double tap of the fire button to jump and a single tap to shoot (or the other way around)?

Resist Frustration and Competition

Try to eliminate frustration and competition whenever possible. Frustration was a highly successful villainous tactic for getting people hooked on games and squeezing as much money out of them as possible, but a fun game without frustration is healthier for gamers. Try to focus on what is truly fun, not some perverted version of it. Most of us have come to believe that frustration and competition are essential ingredients of fun. We've been bombarded with that idea for so long that it's hard for us to see any other way, but we have to break free from these fallacies. Speaking of competition, it seems like most people are addicted to it and one way to help them move away from competition and focus on play and untainted fun is to rip out the score.