Topic: Maslow's hierarchy of needs.......when applied to video games

[Belmont Stakes]

How would one organize the priorities of game design? Graphics and storyline seem to be the primary selling points of games now but sound game play should be the focal point. However, does a designer prioritize game story or premise over play? After all that is how the experience will unfold.

Using the standard Maslow model, how would you prioritize your game design hierarchy structure?

[X]

I would do the concept story first. After all that's been laid down, I'd have the team do the engine (IGA was know for doing this in reverse and it has not turned out well). I would make sure team took their time with the engine itself, getting it right the first time and working out as many bugs as humanly possible (unlike a lot of other companies nowadays). The graphics, sounds and music would be the last parts of the game. First the graphics. Then the musical score would follow as it is dependent on the look,feel and story of the game itself. The sound effects would follow afterwards.

[Inccubus]

Unless it's a horror game. Then the sound design should be higher up on the hierarchy than graphics.

[Ratty]

If the gameplay isn't satisfying on some level a game can never be great. The benefit of games over other media is that they can make you feel immersed in a world/like you have an effect on that world and the story, like you're accomplishing something. So while you can have a story or graphics good enough to make mediocre gameplay forgiveable, it still holds the game back considerably.

So for me it should be -
Gameplay
Story/World
Graphics
Music/Sound Design

Just look at the great games that have really stood the test of time- Castlevania 3, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Chrono Trigger. They may or may not have had fantastic worlds and stories you wanted to immerse yourself in, but they all had rewarding and engaging gameplay first and foremost.

[darkmanx_429]

Just look at the great games that have really stood the test of time- Castlevania 3, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Chrono Trigger. They may or may not have had fantastic worlds and stories you wanted to immerse yourself in, but they all had rewarding and engaging gameplay first and foremost.

Ummm...with the exception of pacman, all these games had exactly that!

[Ratty]

Ummm...with the exception of pacman, all these games had exactly that!

Castlevania 3 and Chrono Trigger sure. But Super Mario Bros, like Pac-Man, hardly had a story to speak of. Though I know a lot of people have been sucked into the world by later games (with more expansive stories) or were immediately fascinated by it.