What makes a good game?

[Big Grizzle]

When I look at the AAA games that got me really hooked. Apart from making me want to carry on playing, they all seemed to guide me via use of visual clues(lighting, placement) or sound effects as to what I was supposed to be doing. Or these elements were used to inform the player something has happened or give an idea of how to progress. For example, is there a sweeter sound than the critical hit noise in FF games? (The flatulent sounding Tetris noise on Gameboy comes a close 2nd).

I recently let 3 of my friends have a go on the game I am currently working on. To my joy and amazement they were each addicted instantly. My exaplanations/apologies for things that were not implemented properly yet or things I was going to implement quickly fell on deaf ears, as they each ignored me to control a green oblong intent on destroying all the blue oblongs.

Apart from being pretty pleased with myself as two of these friends are games testers at Sega. I noticed a pattern in the way they were playing. They all kept to the far left of the screen because no ememies spawn there. It made me think that the way in which level is layed out will have a massive effect on how players actually play a game.

I am gonna go out on a limb here and make an assumption. Most of the people who post on this forum make or are interested in making games. So some questions...

What do you value most when coming up with a game idea?
What is the key ingredient(s) that every game should have?
What is the most important thing when designing/making a game?

[thejahooli]

In my opinion a good game should always be addictive. There is no point in a game that doesn't make you want to continue playing. This is why games like Tetris are so succesful.

[hurstshifter]

What do you value most when coming up with a game idea?
- Originality. There is nothing I like more than picking up a game that I have NEVER experienced before.

What is the key ingredient(s) that every game should have?
- This will vary greatly depending on the genre of the game. Replay value, graphic appeal, challenge, etc...
I think all in all though, every game should at least be fun to play. I want to be challenged, but not annoyed.

What is the most important thing when designing/making a game?
- Make sure that you are making a game that you yourself would like to play. If you can't enjoy your own game
then how the hell is anyone else?

[avansc]

What do you value most when coming up with a game idea?
- Originality. There is nothing I like more than picking up a game that I have NEVER experienced before.

What is the key ingredient(s) that every game should have?
- This will vary greatly depending on the genre of the game. Replay value, graphic appeal, challenge, etc...
I think all in all though, every game should at least be fun to play. I want to be challenged, but not annoyed.

What is the most important thing when designing/making a game?
- Make sure that you are making a game that you yourself would like to play. If you can't enjoy your own game
then how the hell is anyone else?

couldn't have said it better.

[MarauderIIC]

I want to be challenged, but not annoyed.

Add my emphasis to this.

Although that's also probably one of the hardest parts. Remember that anyone that has tested your game repeatedly is going to be hugely better at it than anyone you've sold it to. It seems some games forget this and make difficulties like NORMAL horribly frustrating.

Also, your game is not challenging if I can break it. If I can buy a weapon that shoots diagonally , as well as straight ahead, and sit in the corner and kill everything with no danger... that's no fun.

Consider a no-fail mode for those who do not like to be challenged to have fun.

[Milch]

I want to be challenged, but not annoyed.

One way to prevent the "annoying" parts is to give some hints how to beat this/that easier.
Like in Brothers in Arms "Road to Hill 30" - If you've failed several times in a level - you can start off the last checkpoint with full hp/ammo if you want to.

I think thats a good way to prevent it.

[Pickzell]

Since everyone has already talked about game play I'll go into music.

I like games that I don't have to mute. Has to have somewhat decent sound, stuff that is easy to listen to over and over and over and over and over and over again, because if you've ever played Oracle of Seasons, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Also (this is my opinion) the music should NOT get stuck in your head. The last thing you want is to have some urge to sing an 8-bit techno song in math class (although it would make math more fun :p). So the song should be hard to remember(you can never remember how a part of the song goes), but not forgettable(you still know the song exists): that makes you want to listen to the song again. The keyword being want.

[Skaruts]

From all my hardcore gamer carrear experience, I can shorten all my thoughts into this:

What do you value most when coming up with a game idea?

Creative and practical gameplay mechanics
Original in depth storyline, if applyable (some games don't actually need much story (i.e. top down shooters) some do (i.e. RPGs).
Well designed and atractive graphics (I don't mean badass Farcries. Two good examples of what I mean are Dogfight2 and Chasm, google them)

What is the key ingredient(s) that every game should have?

Hot girls!
Just kidding. Some points of practical innovation (wether on graphics, physics or gameplay), some kind of rewards, player orientation clues (like you said), keeping it low requirements so everyone can enjoy the game equally.

What is the most important thing when designing/making a game?

Gameplay mechanics and storyline. If the player struggles too much to control the character he will be disapointed and give up, unless there's something else really interesting to see. And if the story is boring the only thing that can save the game is having a hell of weapon which shots fill up the whole screen and kill the 9634 enemies that are on screen and keep spawing. :D

This is a tuff matter tho. Everything I said can be very subjective. It all depends on the type of game you're making and the type of person that's gonna play it. I found out that for FPS games I like to not being detracted from myself. That happens on Half-life, for example, and I loved it, and it's a matter that is completely spoiled in many other games with cinematics. In RPG games I found out that linearity is sometimes the game's best friend. Oblivion got me pretty much uninterested in it for having too much to choose from and nothing to pull my interest to any of the choices. Everything seemed too superficial to pull my interest. Not mentioning that the storyline was cliché enough to take me away from the main plot. Also, being a thief was so unrewarding and vague (vague like the rest of the game) that I quit playing it for good (after robbing each castle in every city, hopping to find something worthy of the effort... and finding none.)

But one thing I can assure you, looking at, and playing, older games makes up for a good researching effort. They tended to focus more on every important aspect of making it "fun" than the games from today (on the mainstream scene, I mean)