Example Game Genres and Sub Genres

What you'll learn

Introduction to Game Design Challenges

Exploring Main Game Genres

Understanding Game Subgenres

The Importance of Genre Selection

One of the your first challenges in designing your game is determining what type of game you will be creating.  Novel concept right?

Game Genres

The game genre is the general category of the game that you will be creating.  These categories identify the type of game play that can be expected within your game.  Let’s look at a few brief examples:

Casino

Casino games are ones that replicate the game play found within live casinos.  Think of games such as blackjack, poker, roulette or slots.  A game in this genre has a concept of currency, betting and most importantly, the possibility of winning big.

Puzzle

Puzzle games are ones that are designed to get the user to work out logic problems.  Match 3 is a very common game type in this genre.  Puzzle games often have pre-defined levels that the user has to progress through with each level getting more and more difficult. 

First Person Shooter

First Person Shooters are games that change the users perspective.  Instead of watching their character move around a level or world, the gaming viewport is changed so that the user is actually seeing what their character would see.  The user interacts with the 3D world as if they were really inside it.

Sub Genres

Our intent for right now is not to cover an exhaustive list of gaming genres.  Instead we wanted to just illustrate a few examples.  Once you have identified the principle gaming genre you will use, you will then want to identify your sub genre that makes your game play more specific.

Let’s look at the casino gaming genre.  Within that genre there are several sub genres.  For example:

Casino - Card Games

Casino based cards games are ones like poker or blackjack.  These games are often played against an opponent and have a turn based gaming loop.  In addition these games have an element of strategy and skill.  Your odds of winning are increased as you acquire more skill.

Casino - Slots Games

Casino based slots games are different from card game relatives in their strategy element.  Typically slot based games are considered chance based games and have little to no strategy involved (many may argue this).  The enjoyment of the game is derived from the entertainment value of the reels and the prospect of winning it big.

Casino - Community Games

Casino based community games are ones where multiple people are all betting into the same pool.  Think of games like Roulette where a large number of individuals can place wagers, and only a small few will win.  By comparison the amount of their win can be much greater when compared to card games like poker or blackjack.

Which to Pick

The above examples are just a few examples of sub genres.  It is important to have a good understanding of what type of market you want to tackle before you start designing your game.  Without a proper direction, your game will loose focus and won’t be able retain users.