Cool and unexpected game design tricks

Use camera effects
Adding effects such as raindrops, dust, superimposed blood, and glitter can make your game more realistic. In addition, post-processing effects (angle of view, color correction, chromatic abberation, and blur) can greatly improve the quality of your project.

Note that the last two items - chromatic abberation and blur - are not always appropriate. At least not in contest projects. They can still be used, but you have to do it unobtrusively.

By the way, you can also shake the player's camera from time to time! It's great for immersion.

Make your character tiny (no, seriously)

Once you've created a character, you'll want him or her to be easily recognizable in the game.

And you know, a non-obvious but very cool way to do that is to make the character smaller. This is most relevant to platformers, but you can think of something similar in other genres as well.

It helps to define the character on the screen, and the fact that if he is small, then the camera will move noticeably slower. You just won't have to worry about subtle and precise miscalculations of his speed.

Play your game from beginning to end (more than once!)

Don't be lazy and go through your game multiple times, even if you know how a lot of the mechanics in it work. If you've made a lot of changes and watched them work one at a time, play the game from the beginning and watch it all again.

It's a myth that only testers should test. Developers should do it too.

Sometimes it makes sense to make enemies overly survivable.

This is going to sound strange, because hardly anyone is a fan of bullet sponges. But sometimes it can be justified.

Bosses that are too survivable, that take a long and painful time to kill... They somehow appeal to the excitement of the player. The thrill of victory is sweeter when it's harder to get.

Victories that are too easy are devalued and fade.

Think about it!

By the way, you can find a lot of 3D models on our site that you can use to create your own game. We certainly have a couple or three assets (for Unity - link and Unreal Engine - link) that are quite suitable as a boss - episodic or even final.

You can download them for free and without registration.

Lie about the real amount of health a player has left

Let's continue with the topic of HP and health bars.

In dynamic games (let's take some crazy FPS like DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal as an example) you can deliberately show almost empty health bar of the player for quite a long time, although in reality the situation will not be so critical.

The player will have more HP, but it will be displayed periodically on the edge or even on the value of one unit. This can greatly increase the drama of battles in the game and provide the player with a lot of emotion.

Stay viral

You have to understand what works and what doesn't in the gaming industry if you want to make successful titles.

You need to consider the game's appeal to the masses. Incorporating viral themes and aspects into the game mechanics, characters, and levels is the best way to increase your player base.

Let's give you a few ideas of what can go viral.

Trending topics, memes, awards and achievements, and respect for other popular media are all very, very cool.

Good luck with your game development!