What do all games have in common? 

After ten lessons on MakeCode Arcade, we hope that no matter how different our three games have been, you can see common elements that each of these games have. In fact, even board games have these elements too. 

Try this at home: At some stage today, play a board game or a card game or a game that you know with pen and paper. While playing and afterwards, think to yourself- (a) what makes this game interesting? and (b) what elements are very important for this game to work?

If you think about all games involve some aspects of the following:

  1. An end goal - you are working towards something, whether it's to reach a high score in an allotted time or get to the end of the level. 
     
  2. Rules - rules help manage the game and ensure fairness but also that the level of the game is pitched correctly- not too easy and not too hard.
     
  3. Strategies - ways for you to work on and develop to be successful
     
  4. Fun - no one will want to play the game unless it is fun
     
  5. Competition - whether that is competing with yourself or others around you. The competition can be a very motivating factor.
     
  6. A theme – it is nice when games contain characters and stories of sorts. This adds to the game and the players’ enjoyment of it. 

Can you think of any more elements that games have?

Let’s watch lesson eleven now and see if we can identify some of these elements in our final game.

So, that's the end of our series. After coming so far and progressing so much, the DreamSpace team don’t want you to stop designing and creating your own Arcade games.

Download and use the "Game Planning booklet" below to help you plan any new game you want to code and don’t forget to think about the common elements that games have during your planning stage. Enjoy!