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WARNING: This is a WIP. I'll add to it as I go along. For now, I've done a little bit but it's still a long way to go. I look forward to your comments and hearing anything you want to add. A lot of this will be based on what I learn from my own Game Design lessons, Gamasutra, Extra Credits, the portfolios of highly respected Game Designers and far more places. Game Design is potentially the most important aspect of the entire development process. Hell, it has its own section called "Pre-Development" and then some. Yes, content creation, QA and other sections of the design time are important, but the idea is that, if you want to be successful and make a kick-ass game, you're going to need to plan and plan and plan out everything before hand. Game Design, for me, is the essential knowledge, tools and theories that should define how a professional and non-professional Game Designer works and what they aspire to. Depending on studio and personal interpretation, Game Designers are the multi-tasking grunt force of any development studio, and their tasks can range right from leadership, to story, art, music, level production and far onwards. Basically, Design is so many things, it'd be better to make a list of what's not considered design. When we design games, regardless of what position you hold, there are some fundamental concepts we all must consider, especially in a new age of design where we are further trying to integrate the three waring fronts of story, gameplay and graphics/art style. Having these kinds of things in your head, will always help massively. Concept A - The Core Elements of a Game Day One, Lesson One of Game Design is this. The distinction between a game and simple entertainment is that a game has some very core elements that must always be present for any medium to be considered a game. A game has elements that give the player constant motivation to want to continue. Video games share the same elements that make up board games, card games, sports and any other type of game; the only difference being the use of technology to control, present output and take input from the player. Without these elements, we are no longer making a game and are instead making an experience. While an experience can be life-changing, fun, unique and many other things, it does not share the same level of re-playability, learning and engagement that a game does. Games are all about teaching our players to play, and watching them master the game and become proud of what they have achieved. An experience does not have the same impact. There are two categories of these crucial elements; Objective and Subjective. Objective Elements are those which are crucial to any game being considered a 'game'. Without objective elements, these experiences fail to teach players or give them the space necessary to interact and blend in with the mechanics. Subjective Elements are like spices; we use them to enhance the experience and give even more motivation and fulfillment to the player, but they are not necessary for a game to be considered a game. Objective: 1) Goals and Objectives - The game must present a clear winning condition, and must offer subsequent tasks that must be completed in order to achieve the winning condition. Multiple objectives means there is more gameplay and challenge, and thus increases the play length. Objectives can sometimes be a natural part of the gameplay. 2) Rules - The player of a game must never be allowed to completely break the game by doing whatever they want. There must always be limitations which block the player from just finishing the game instantly. Rules may also add challenge naturally or may allow for clever players to exploit loopholes in the rules, and increase the fun the player has. Some rules may need to have exceptions as dictated by the gameplay scenarios. 3) Obstacles (Including Failure States) - The main means of creating challenge is to introduce certain obstacles which the player has to overcome in order to proceed through the game. There are many forms, and the goal is to ensure there are multiple types of obstacles, so that the gameplay is always refreshing and never becomes boring. Failure Statues are the idea that the player's progress needs to be impeded in some form for failing the game in some way, including losing or dying. Punishment may be in more forms than just a simple game-over, such as implications for the story or removing player rewards. The idea is that player should feel encouraged to learn from their mistake and improve, and with practice from replaying eventually master the game. 4) Boundaries - There needs to be a defined play field for all players. Players must not be allowed to break out and exceed the limits of the game world. One may define that the entire universe is the play field, but this still counts as an acceptable limit. Subjective: 1) Engagement - How the player actually engages with the game, and what kind of experience, feelings, emotions and lessons they take away from it after they finish playing. 2) Visual - How the game looks, or doesn't look. 3) Audio - How the game sounds, or doesn't sound. 4) Player Input - How the player actually interacts with the world. 5) World Output - How the world responds to the player and notifies the player back. The concepts themselves should be simple enough to understand and apply. Remember these, and you will have the power to turn any form of interactive entertainment into an actual game, and a fun one at that. Misc - Some General Wisdom I leave this section for my own thoughts and anything I've heard from other game designers which should help you on your journey. - The game should never feel so hard so to make you frustrated and quit. It should be at level where you feel as though if you had done that one thing slightly better, you would have succeeded, because that creates proper challenge and tension. - Ken Levine has stated (in better words) when asked "When did you become a Creative Director", he said something to the effect of "I just started calling myself a Creative Director and kept on making things."

I think these are pretty good ideas. That said, my only thoughts on it is that I wouldn't sumbit Game Designs to a GD&MC forum. It would go in Member Projects since that's an actual project I would plan on working on. I think GD&MC is more about theory and discussion (like Gamasutra and their articles). I also assumed Member Share to always be about RRU-related stuff (but not specifically related to classic LEGO Games), and Projects to be just random projects that have no association to anything. Therefore, I think we should maybe organise the entire Off-Topic Forum like this. General Discussion (Random Off Topic Discussion) -> Gaming -> Forum Games Creative Theory Discussion (Game Design, Modeling, Art, Audio etc) Member Projects (All the projects members are working on and want to discuss) Obviously need better titles, but that might be a little clearer and shorten the size of Off Topic on the main page (and hide Forum Games so people are tempted to post more related content).

You know the pillar that shows up when you reinforce a wall? I built it.

Something I made back in 2008 that I thought might be amusing enough to share. The video description has more details. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQIwMy8Uyk&feature=youtu.be

They were moved last night. I'm basically organizing everything that needs organizing. I think before we start adding new forums left and right we need to decide exactly what goes where. We have Game Design & Music Composing, Member Projects, and Member Share: This is getting messy. First, Game Design and Music Composing... Both cool topics, but it seems like a rather oddly specific combo to me. What about other artsy things? 3D modeling, 2D art, animation of all kinds, video editing, pixel art, comics, writing... The list goes on and on, and of course a lot of these things are often intertwined. Member Projects and Member Share... These two are really messy. I was talking to Cy about it last night, and the line that divides them is a bit blurry. In one, you "Post about [a project] here and share updates as you work on it", and in the other you "Display your creations and receive feedback." So what Cy proposed is that we ditch Member Share, and sort its topics into either Member Projects and General Discussion. But then we have the new "Game Design and Music Composing"... Now what would you do if you're working on a game design project, for example? Would it go in Game Design and Music Composing, or Member Projects? It would be the same situation as Member Projects vs Member Share; two forums that somewhat overlap each other. So in summary: I think we currently need a clearer line between "creative artsy stuff" (game design, music, drawing, etc) and "lol random stuff" (cleverbot conversations you had, where your username came from). Member Share is currently a mix of the two, and Member Projects is conflicting with the oddly specific Game Design and Music Composing, and a lot of other art forms aren't covered at all. Thus, I think it might be a good idea to: Ditch "Member Share" completely, Replace "Member Projects" and "Game Design & Music Composing" with a single forum for artsy creative stuff you make and how you make it, perhaps with some sub-forums for specific interests so things don't get too chaotic.

So, Part One for this is a bunch of random things that I'd like to see, but I HIGHLY doubt would or should happen. That said, we're all kind of brain-storming here, so I might as well through in. Next part will be actual fixes and important stuff which can happen (probably). Improbable List of Extreme('s) Stupidity: Stats Page: A while back, when we had Laser Sharks protecting the waters, we had some good stats at the bottom of the page that were pretty interesting. We still have some interesting stuff, like post count etc, but there's nothing really...exciting. What would be awesome to see is a dedicated "Stats" page, where the server updates a whole bunch of statistics as numbers and graphs, such as Spammers Blocked, Post Counts, Members by Region (based on IP) etc. A whole stack of information that would make for a good read. New Backgrounds: On the main-page, you can set a little theme for the forum. That's cool and all, but I think atm the options are a tad bit limited. I get that they are probably a real b**** to make, so I've put this with the unrealistic stuff, but nonetheless, it'd be cool to see some new variety (as that f****ing Inspector in LEGOLAND always says). I'm guessing custom ones are out of the question, especially considering users already have the great ability to change their profile page backgrounds (which I am thankful for). Mod Rating System: I know we have the Like system, but I think it'd be pretty awesome if there could be a separate category for Mods to go to, where they could each get their own download page and a review section, and people could give reviews out of 5 bricks. That way people can determine if the mod is good quality, such as if they want to try some new LegoRR levels. I'm also half-half on the old Tutorial section, because that was kind of cool when we had it, even though the comments were way more suited to the forum style. Old Topics Viewable by Contributors: I know a fair bit of the Orange, Blue and Red users here are old-school members, and I think more than a few of us are nostalgic for some of the classic RRU moments which might have got culled for content and locked off in the deep, dark corners of the Mod forum. I think it'd be swell if somehow those locked topics were viewable (not to post in, just view) from the Contributor Forum in kind of like a "Time Machine" sub-category which is actually just a link to that one Mod Forum. There's probably a lot of boring spammy stuff, but I think a few conversations I'd like to read again (especially for my fan-fic) are locked away in there. More Mod Joke Days: I really loved the Star Wars theme RRU had for a couple days a few years ago (or last year, cannot remember), and I'd like to see the Mods doing a bit more of that kind of stuff regularly. I like that we do things for Christmas, so I'd also like to see April Fool's Day and maybe a few other holidays get some recognition eventually. If there's anything else, I throw it in with the more feasible fixes and improvements.

This is a forum, not facebook. Let's just keep the thanks/likes in topics shan't we?

I think this would work as well. As you said, I too have seen Member Share to be semi-RRU and Projects to be unrelated. Lumping Projects into a Game Design/Music would leave others such as >LEGO Island: The Model and >LUCA out. Keeping Member Projects but moving it to a subsection as McJobless said works well, IMO.

The new structure is done aside from Member Share which will be sorted then removed.

I like that better. So a place for posting your cool stuff, and another place for talking about what makes stuff cool. Then the random stuff can be dumped in General Discussion. Now what about subforums? Any needed? If so, what?

I think these are pretty good ideas. That said, my only thoughts on it is that I wouldn't sumbit Game Designs to a GD&MC forum. It would go in Member Projects since that's an actual project I would plan on working on. I think GD&MC is more about theory and discussion (like Gamasutra and their articles). I also assumed Member Share to always be about RRU-related stuff (but not specifically related to classic LEGO Games), and Projects to be just random projects that have no association to anything. Therefore, I think we should maybe organise the entire Off-Topic Forum like this. General Discussion (Random Off Topic Discussion) -> Gaming -> Forum Games Creative Theory Discussion (Game Design, Modeling, Art, Audio etc) Member Projects (All the projects members are working on and want to discuss) Obviously need better titles, but that might be a little clearer and shorten the size of Off Topic on the main page (and hide Forum Games so people are tempted to post more related content). Done deal & James agrees.

Holy hell yes. What he said. ^

Holy hell yes.

Calm those sweet, juicy buttocks of yours, buddy. I'm doing stuff behind the scenes on Radio and News, and possibly a few RRU related content things (mods, LPs, fanfics etc). I just need to clear up the last bit of annoyances first. I think I've got a few ideas so I'll be suggesting those ASAP.

[10:05:50 AM] origamiguy: I give you a hamburger. [10:06:28 AM] Philip: NO [10:09:49 AM] McJobless: Bro, do you even praise the Sun? [10:10:53 AM] origamiguy: you smile as all 26 dimensions of space become visible to you. [10:10:58 AM] origamiguy: I give you a hamburger. [10:11:53 AM] McJobless: I burn the hamburger, shoot you, and then use my Geass powers to rewrite the human subconcious so that you never existed. [10:12:19 AM] McJobless: (Even though thr writers of Code Geass clearly have no understanding of what the sunconcious is or how it works) [10:13:14 AM] origamiguy: You travel through all the planes of existence simultaneously, quietly weeping as all of past and future are exposed [10:13:28 AM] origamiguy: I give you a hamburger. [10:13:43 AM] McJobless: I stab the author so that this story stops and never continues. [10:14:23 AM] origamiguy: As he lays on the floor, blood pooling around his body, the author finds the strength to deliver one last sentence [10:14:33 AM] McJobless: NOOOOOOOOOO [10:14:34 AM] origamiguy: "I give you a hamburger." [10:14:47 AM] origamiguy: AND THEN HE WOKE UP AND IT WAS ALL A DREAM [10:14:50 AM] origamiguy: Fin.

Rokreder, you don't have to apologize; Extreme is the last person you could possibly offend Your concern was commendable and your intentions in the right place. Whether due to culture or simply personality you misunderstood. It's OK. Everyone does that from time to time. Just learn from it and continue contributing to this fantastic community.

'?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> This Issue gives names for all the six Insectoids characters, but for some reason, they're entirely messed up. As mentioned in the Timecruisers comic, the female 'Queen' is called 'Navigator Sharp', but this page calls her figure 'Techno Leon', whilst the name Sharp goes to the minifig from the Arachnoid Star Base... The correct names (according to the catalogue) are: Techno Leon: Planetary Prowler/Gryllo Hopper (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp020) Lt. Maverick: Beta Buzzer/Mosquito Scout (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp021) Corp. Steel: Cosmic Creeper/Formicola Collector (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp027) Navigator Sharp: Sonic Stinger/Vespular Stinger (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp026) Captain Wizer: Celestial Stinger/Hornet Protector (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp029) Prof. Webb: Arachnoid Star Base/Arachno Base (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp028) The Gigabots: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp032 The UK names are slightly different, making these names sort of similarly confusing as the Adventurers ones, though much less known

In Capitalist America, bank robs YOU!

Even the archives inside the archives? Sorry, off-topic, but I thought it was funny :af:

You can do all that... OR 1. Open preferences.ini 2. Add the line: DeveloperMode=1 But I see you tried hard, props for that. BTW: It's been on this wiki since 2005: http://www.brickwiki..._developer_mode , so it should work for all versions.