I think this video game article might be missing the point...

[CM30]

http://alistapart.com/blog/post/content-first-design

Okay, it's technically a website design article which talks about video game design, but... I think they still missed the point with this choice quote:

Game designers start with the story. What they add to the experience complements and builds on the core story;

Err what?

Maybe a few indie developers start with the story. But Nintendo sure doesn't. This didn't start with a story in mind:



From Nintendo:

Oh... That's putting function first! Right, I'd forgotten. You're that kind of team. The outward form of a cat came later, after the function had been set.

And that holds for a lot of games. Look at Zelda for example. Ocarina of Time was at least part defined by how many ideas Nintendo could pull off on the Nintendo 64's hardware, and the game changed every time they worked out new mechanics and concepts. There's a huge article about all the changes here:

http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/16/zelda64-project-development/


But hey, you couldn't design a website or app like a game. Imagine creating a site based on some tech idea and then trying to figure out what exactly it's supposed to be used for...

[Pause]

Then again, isn't that like, 90% of startups?

 

[Glowsquid]

Mario Galaxy is another great example of Nintendo's design principles. In the Iwata Asks, they explain didn't come about because the dev team wanted to make "Mario IN SPACE", but rather than they wanted to make a platformer where you walk around spherical shapes and the outer space theme was chosen because it was the best way to frame that concept. See also this Miyamoto quote:

a story is not a game
At Nintendo we get many letters with stories and designs from kids asking us to make such and such a game. However, most of them are just imitating Mario or Dragon Quest, and only the stories are different.

But thinking up a story and setting is not the main part of game design. If you only change the surface appearance, you really haven’t changed anything.

Its often said that the heart of a game is its story, but that’s not the case. The story comes only after the core of the game system is completed. Then the characters come into focus and the world starts to manifest.

“Two siblings separated at birth are reunited…” I can’t call that a game design. (laughs) There is no backstory to Mario, after all.

On the other hand, if someone came to me with a proposal for a new system like that of the game Sim City, that would probably catch my attention. Without that, “game design” is just a game of make-believe. I don’t mean to speak negatively about using your imagination like that, of course, but there’s no need for young aspiring designers to do that. What’s important is starting from the fundamentals.