/see the first comment to a revised view of the game genres for TTGOT/

Here is another Game Design Breakdown, where I talk about my process of how I design, playtest or even write To the Gates of Truth.

The game is still being in development and actually, more than ever! I've been running playtests again (https://discord.gg/ZwrYUqrUaY) and we also have a first card design layout thanks to @ShirojikiM and @ExpelliMARius !

But today, I'll talk about game genres.

GD Breakdown #4: Game Genres: expectations vs reality

TLDR: game genres are either descriptive or prescriptive, and this can be felt by the Game Designer or the Players. However, game genre is not necessarily intrinsic to the game itself, and I believe we can distinguish the Macro and Micro Game Designers.

1/ Games Genres as descriptive

/this part is outdated, see the first comment/

I like to think of game genres as descriptive keywords that qualify a game. They are great tools to communicate quickly of what to expect from the game. That could be on steam, Itchio or any form of art/game/litteracture etc., we tend to categorize into genres to quickly have in mind some characteristics about the medium. 

When I think of To the Gates of Truth, I have these keywords that comes to mind, acting as "game genres":

• Card game, of course, because the game revolves around those
• Rogue-lite, because the game has this particular structure where "loosing" is not the end. It makes your team begin a new game with new elements, and the rites being different at each new game
  
• Tactical, or puzzle-like, because rites are played turn-based, on tile-based maps with specific victory conditions that needs to be solved
  
• TTRPG (tabletop role-playing games), because I'm creating a narrative structure for the game, narrative prompts that can be used, a Lore, universe, characters, etc. All of those that players will use and create stories with.

I'm not the only one who believes that categories and genres are indeed important, but let's focus on TTRPG for a minute. Some people might think of TTRPG as a very rigid structure, that needs to have a Game Master, some sort of dungeon crawling experience with stats, figurines, dice, 3-5 players, etc. 

But you've guessed it, TTRPG is so much more than that. That could be solo TTRPG, no prep games, no GM games, no dice, short sessions, no fight... What I'm trying to say is that TTRPG being a very broad descriptive genre, people may infer certain characteristics to any game that describe themselves as "TTRPG". 

That leads me to my second point!

2/ Prescription and disapointment

Another way to think of game genres is in a prescriptive way. Because people tend to infer certain characterics for a game genre, they will expect the game to have certain things.

But the other way around, as a personal note, also feels true: when you say you're game designing a TTRPG, you tend to narrow your thinking by trying to comply with what you think is a TTRPG (again, I've chosen the example of TTRPG but I could have used something else). 

So this kind of prescription feels on both sides: Game designers and Players. However, the first one is trying to create a playful experience for the latter, and in a way game genres could be double edged. If both of them agree on what a game should be depending on its attributed game genre, then it's fine.

But there's also room for disapointment. Not an intrinsic disapointment, for the player doesn't necessarily think the game as intrinsically bad or dispointing. There's just a difference, a gap or miscomprehension, between what someone has expected and what they got. 

For more about this question, I'd recommand the short article "confusion of terms" in the ChoiceBeat magazine https://willyelektrix.itch.io/choicebeat-issue-2

3/ How categories are created

I used to think as game genres as being categories made beforehand. Like games were created by following a certain recipe and by checking boxes. Well, of course some games follow this design process, and of course it can lead to great and awesome games!

But I now understand that game genres are created afterwards, because people get inspired by other design and when a certain amount of games seem to follow a core design philosophy, we observe a pattern. And this pattern serves as descriptive once it's completely established within a community, until it even becomes prescriptive. 

This is neither good nor bad. It's just the way something and its core get received by a community (think of D&D for TTRPG, souls-like for video games or even 2D platform after Mario, the medieval fantasy setting for litterature, etc.).

4/ What about originality?

Yeah, what about it? Well... it doesn't change anything. There's still plenty of original things out there, some that do are commercial sucesses, some that stays itchio prototypes or even get abandonned. Some get to create their community (and a community that is not necessarily huge), some can't find a way (or the time) tto propose their vision of creation. 

Then it all comes down to the goal of creation, and what the designer thinks as "success". I'm currently not financially dependant on To the Gates of Truth, so I'm currently thinking of success as being able to play, enjoy my game and make other have a playful experience! So far, playtests seems very promising, and lot of playtesters seems to think of the game as having "potential". 

But I also did have feedback saying there was a gap between what people were expecting and what they actually played. My little victory was that this gap did not made the entire playtest disapointing, but that led me to this question: if I do want to explore Game Design, blend some mechanics from different genres and everything... how do I promote and present this game?

5/ So, this is not a TTRPG...

... well, not in the way you're probably thinking. Or maybe you are, maybe you're on the same page as me!

The current version (0.41) have very little information about how storytelling is used in To the Gates of Truth, but as I've said I do am writing storytelling mechanics to have a more narrative experience. 

So... is To the Gates of Truth a tabletop cardgame, with narrative aspects? Or just a puzzle game with deckbuilding elements?

6/ A game genre is not (necessarily) intrinsinc

And as the game being tabletop, players have a lattitude to decide which experience they want to have. 

When I think of the role of a Game designer, I now tend to believe there are two types: the Macro and Micro Game Designer. 

The first one is the one creating the game, the macro experience that is being written by the rules, the mechanics, etc. 

But as tabletop games just pass on the rules and let players play by themselves, I guess we could think of the Game Master as a micro-Game designer, that will also get to shape what will be the core emphasis of the experience. I'm saying Game Master, but that could be the player that read the manual or all players collectively that get to choose how the game is being played (think of the Uno game, where almost every players "knew" what the real rule was...). I guess for video games, as algorithms are much more "rigid", we could think there's less room for this but I don't think so! Think of "emergent gameplay", for games that are not even sandbox games!

My final point being this: as a macro-designer, I want to create this whole, coherent experience that will suggest different mechanics, blended from multiple game genres. And it's finally up to the players to decide which aspect of "To the Gates of Truth" they want to experience: strategy, an introspective experience with an original setting, or both. 

Thanks for taking the time to read! What about you? Have you already felt like game genres (or genres in other media) as being prescriptive? Do you think originality has other ways of emerging?