Best Designed Game

We all have our favorite games and favorite genres, but as game developers we are also able to appreciate the craft of a game even if the game itself isn't to our taste.

In your opinion, what is the best designed game you've ever seen?

 

Mass Effect 3 (I haven't played any other Mass Effects so some other ones might be better).

Overall the gameplay is smooth, the story is amazing, the galaxy is gigantic and the player gets to make very important decisions.

 

Ico and Dwarf Fortress... and now that I've gone to polar extremes of game design, you mind narrowing down exactly what you mean, instead of asking for the equivalent of what the best story is in literature?

 

Its a game design forum. Rather than ask what someones favourite game is, i'm interested on what they consider the best designed game. The game that has the best design and execution (why would be good to get a discussion going).

So back to you. Why is ICO or Dwarf Fortress the best designed games? What about their design is superior to other games? Designing good games comes from understanding what design elements made other games good. Sometimes a game that wasn't popular can still be a very well designed game. Likewise a popular and "fun" game, might not be a great design in of itself.

 

The Long Dark. They capture what it would feel like to be alone in a freezing and vast wilderness. The sound and environment make you feel cold during a blizzard and warm when you finally get a fire going. When you leave shelter first thing in the morning you have that silent feeling that only exists in the early morning hours in the dead of winter. I've never played another game that provides such deep immersion with the environment.

 

Ico is a minimalist design that will pull on your heartstrings and make you fall in love with a mute ghost (not literally a ghost). Dwarf Fortress is a maximalist design with thousands of systems that are all interlocking to the point of emergence. These two are the pinnacles of diametrically opposed schools of design, and thinking one of them is the best means having values that defines the other as S***.

It's all about context. Design is a tool, so it doesn't matter what the best is without context. You could have the best hammer in the world, but if all you have are screws, that hammer is just hot garbage. You can't isolate design and judge it on it's own accord, because the whole point of design is to do something. Then trying to take the isolated design and compare it to other isolated designs is stupid.

Were they going for immersion or engagement? Is there mechanical elegance, with no unneeded elements, or is it mechanically expansive, with an ocean of depth? Is there a theme, and how does it show through? How does the learning curve progress? If you can't narrow down a few of these, then there is no point in asking for the best because there is no criteria to define the best.

 

I think the question is intended to be open ended enough to allow us to specify our own criteria for why we think it was good design. Seems like a good way to generate some discussion to me.

 

Design has to suit the need. Asking what the best designed game is will be entirely personal based on what genre you like, what you look for in a game, & even your ability to interact (e.g. Good sound design can help immensely in convincing players tha the total design is immaculate but it is totally wasted on deaf gamers). Good technical design may not help the game be good, but technically it could be a masterpiece of design where he technical team provided an amazing design solution for the piece of rubbish they were asked to make.

So, are you asking for our opinions on the best technical design, immersive design, story design....?

 

AI wars was a great example of game design in the RTS space. They managed to overcome many of the classic tropes in the RTS genre.

Specifically:

They fixed game progression. End games are kind of a running joke on RTS games. The games peak in difficulty near the middle of a scenario. But once you start to win the game gets really easy quickly. The game ties the AIs resources to how many of their planets you have attacked. Meaning the AI is most challanging in the end game.

They threw out the notion that the AI must play by the same rules as the human. The things the AI doesn't do well at are simply removed from the AIs options. Same for the human player.

They automated a ton of stuff that was traditionally microed in RTS games.

That enough to start with?

 

Where are pixel invaders and tetris!?!?

 

Ultima 7!

I liked the mouse based control system, paper doll and item management ( although sometimes backpack was big mess of lotsa objects ) , rpg experience with survival elements, npc's having day schedules. vast gameworld with lot of side quests etc.

performance wise it was silliest game ever - I don't remember any other game needing optimized mouse drivers etc since U7 couldnt use EMS memory etc. you had to have +600k of conventional memory to get it running

 

INSIDE

Released this year by Playdead. Holy crap I was impressed. I'm not a fan of side scrolling platformers, but the aesthetic and story of this game had me hooked.

They never repeat a puzzle, ever. They keep expanding and reiterating on mechanics that you've already learned but in a simple way and nothing overstays its welcome. They managed to have a full game of simple yet challenging puzzles while only having a jump and a grab button. Even though it took them six years to make a game that takes 4 hours to play first time through, the whole project screams polish and you can tell they've gone through every area and animation of the game with finest tooth comb they could find.

 

Ultima Online It has everything, literally. You can customize the game, you can have thousands of players at the same time, you can be whatever you want, from a fisherman to a magician. I haven't found any other game that gives player such a high degree of freedom in a controlled environment.

 

Warcraft 3:TFT
Diablo 2:LoD
WoW vanilla
Starcraft 1
Doom 1/2
System Shock 1/2
Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Very few games are well designed. Most are total mess.

 

I'm having a hard time making sense of this prompt. It sounds good, but it just isn't specific enough, unless it refers to the particular efforts of game designers, who are basically spec writers. Whether they do their job well or not, the player will never know about it, because it doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the game.

You probably don't mean "most fun", otherwise you would have just said that. Besides, I can think of a few titles that are more than fun enough but leave some lingering sense of bewilderment at a few decisions that made it to the final product (Paper Mario Color Splash is the most recent for me).

What about level design? That topic is itself general, but maybe it's closer to what you want to hear about? I tend not to think about this when playing a game unless there's an obvious problem with it. If it's done well, I don't notice.

I do tend to think of specific little pieces of games that seem more carefully crafted or had artistic elements that consummately fit into the mood or mingled with psychology in clever ways. For some reason, the first one that comes to mind is Confusion Gate from La Mulana (PC). Everything from the name of the area to the color scheme, visual themes, music and area mechanics all work together to pull a sense of dread and hopelessness from the player.

I will, though, qualify the above with the fact that the later parts of the level kind of mess it up when a big, brutish middle-boss and a creepy maiden sacrificing plant kind of make the theme feel more mashed-up. Also, just thinking about the game's horrible puzzle design makes me a bit nauseous.

 

Mine favorite is Concrete Jungle
Mobile Game Developer

 

Portal 2, just due to the way the lore is given to the player.

 

My absolute favorite is real life, truly amazing design, good graphics too.

Jokes aside, Path of Exile is my favorite for game design.

 

I find real life tends not to be engaging enough. For a game that's been millions of years in the making, you would think the core loop wouldn't be so repetitive.

The graphics are good, up to a point. But I do question the overall art direction, I really would prefer more explosions. And perhaps little sparkles every time I achieve something.

 

First of all you have to solve respawns, then we can go nuts ...

 

Permadeath is the game's best* feature! Next you'll want to be able to respec your character!

 

The Zelda games have always been a favorite for me, story and gameplay which changes with the story just always gets to me.

Valve games in general are also a favorite of mine: Started with HL1, then HL2 , L4D, TF2 and Portal1 / 2.
I played a lot of CS:Source back in the day, haven't really played much CS:GO.
With Valve games, everything is usually so well thought out and well presented to the player.
Control customization, general feel of gameplay, cameras and overall gameplay mechanics are just perfect in most cases.

Otherwise, I've recently been spending a lot less time as a gamer and more time now as a game developer, so when I do play games, I mostly appreciate games I can pick up, play and come back to later on.
The Binding of Isaac is my favorite for just being able to have a quick meaningful burst of gameplay.

 

Infamous Second Son was very well crafted. on point sound and lighting, great animations that amplified the mechanics, smooth intuitive controls... just love that game.

 

Most people haven't even heard of it, but there was an RTS game called Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns. It handled resource and city management so gracefully that I couldn't believe my eyes. On top of that, it introduced such a beautiful unit composition mechanic that was... new and delightfull. Finally, all of these mechanics were tied to the terrain type on the map. The unit movement options where they could trade attack power for speed, or how they trenched themselves to get defense bonuses when they waited immobile... Please check it. It's so awesome... And a dark story to boot!

 

The Mata Nui Online Game. From the intuitive controls to the fantastic soundtrack, from the simple yet evocative graphics to the world building and story. Found out about it in 2010, ten years after it came out: still play it today.

 

I think the question is planned to be open sufficiently finished to enable us to indicate our own particular criteria for why we think it was great game app. Appears like a decent approach to produce some dialog to me.

 

So a well designed game isn't the most fun game you have played?

In my opinion, if I have fun in a game, if I feel immersed, if I am rarely bored, and if it is complex enough to be interesting but not so hard that I have to check walk-throughs all the time, it is a well designed game....for me!

Running around with a gun trying to kill zombies that are trying to kill me? No fun, not immersive, scary, and not well designed...for me!

A puzzle game where I can't figure out the puzzle unless I get help from my son? Not fun, so not well designed for me.

A story game that makes me feel like I am living in the game? Well designed for me.

An MMO where the grind makes sense, lots of cool players, immersive environment, encourages role play, fun, fun! Well designed for me. I don't care about the combat, or the factions, or the destruction of stuff...I enjoy the design that makes the game a great place to be for me.

I imagine if I told you my favorite games you would all scoff at me and tell me that I have no idea what a well designed game is. lol So I am too afraid to tell you because scoffing is not fun.

 

I have no idea if this would fall under game design, but the first 15 minutes of Bioshock Infinite are an incredible experience to me.

I'm not even talking about travelling around the city, just the part up to and including the baptism. The boat ride, "bring us the girl and wipe away the debt," "he doesn't row," the short poem type thing in the tower, "10, 9, 8...3, 2, 1...hallelujah," and of course Will The Circle Be Unbroken and the grand murals in that place.

I mean sure, it all comes to an end when you take a rapidly spinning blade and shove it into a guy's face, but those first few minutes are some of the best moments in all of gaming to me. Sometimes I boot up the game just to play through up to the baptism.

I just pointed to Bioshock Infinite, which is an incredibly hated game. Another I think is brilliant is Final Fantasy 13, by far the most hated of the series (including the recent and moderately divisive XV).

Don't be afraid of the scorn.

 

No, not really. Design and enjoyment are two separate things. Its actually surprising to me that so many people in the thread have trouble with splitting the two.

A well designed game is one where everything fits together well. Where all of the systems are well thought out, and they all complement one another. Its a game with a perfectly balanced difficulty curve throughout. Its one with no rough edges. No awkward moments where something doesn't quite work properly.

Good design can be appreciated, discussed and analysed regardless of if you enjoy the game or not.

 

I understand. However, I think it depends on how you play games. I haven't really played any games for a while but maybe now I would play with a more critical eye. In the past, enjoying the game was the primary goal and as one who enjoys being immersed in a game, I had no interest in analyzing as I played.

Now it might be different. But then again, it might be why I really have little interest in playing games anymore. My team plays them and reports back to me, but the time it involves and lack of games that really interest me does not motivate me to play.

So yeah, if you play and analyze and pay attention to the balance and systems, etc., then that works for you. But that sounds like work to me. If the game is good and it immerses me, then to me, the design is doing what I expected it to do.

You may disagree, but I do think design is subjective. We could play the same game and I doubt we would both have the same opinions on the design or systems or mechanics, or anything. If that were not true, then there would be no need for reviews, no different opinions. Everyone would choose the same game because everyone would see the great polish, systems, balance, etc. It would fit together well for everyone in the same exact way.

 

I feel like I do disagree. (But not super strongly).

I think different people play games for different reasons. Sometimes we play games to look at the beautiful scenery. Sometimes we play games to watch things blow up. Sometimes we play to feel superior. Sometimes we play to take on a role. Sometimes we play as a form of social interaction. And occasionally we play because the game design is good.

I've certainly played plenty of sub optimally designed games, just because the story engaged me. Or the game was pretty. Or everyone else was playing it. Or I really wanted to build a space ship.

 

Absolutely. But the way you play games is different than the way I play them. What I look for in design is different than what you look for in a game.

Therefore, it is subjective.

 

Sorry didn't get in on this thread when it first came up but ya'll have kept it going so -

I'm partial to the original Legend of Zelda because it is still great to play today, and the difficulty progression is just perfect. I really liked Castlevania Symphony of the Night for it's twist and attention to be able to do that throughout the second half of the game - which had to be designed from the start. The original God of War to me was totally unexpectedly great, and after watching the making of - I really couldn't believe they pulled off the design. It was essentially created like the original Resident Evil game but with a moving camera to fake the 3D scene depths. Also - animation was top shelf at that time, while coming out less than a year before end of PS1 cycle. Diablo - yes it kept me playing much longer every night than I can admit. Playing til 3am when you have to get up at 5 isn't healthy, and I'm not even talking about the multiplayer aspect.
But maybe A Link to the Past - was just beautifully crafted, completely. I can't decide.
One of those.

Not to mention the pay gating sucks! LOL

I don't even know how to scoff - is that with one eye brow raised or both? Which game is it?

 

Shenmue on the Sega Dreamcast. That was a good one.

And how can I forget, Mount and Blade. What a fantastic game that was. Very excited to discover Warband on PSN just now. The horse archery just never gets old.

 

Game design... so many area's to filter through...

Both Sunless Sea and Darkest Dungeon, absolutely nails the setting and mood they try to aim for. An extra kudos to Sunless sea for the writing. Neither of the games place the bar very high, but yet they sport excellent craftmanship, in my opinion.

One of the most interesting "game" designs I've seen, has to be Dungeon of the Endless, from Amplitude Studios (whom probably have a few dudes reading this forum as well). Which I thought was a very smart way of combining different features from multiple genres.

Horizon Zero Dawn also deserves a mention, albeit it does nothing new, it does everything right. And there is definitely something to take home from that.

 

it's actually not designed so well (not AAA quality)
but it's my fav game though,
-Mount & Blade Warband Viking Conquest Reforged Edition

 

made me think about this review