Roads and Video Games

Roads and video games are two very different things with very different purposes. Video games let us play in a different world and roads get us from one place to another in the real one. However in this essay I will look at one aspect in which I believe they are very similar, design.

Both roads and video games need a thoroughly planned out blueprint for how they will be made. Dealing with roads these are quite literal blueprints, in video games these come in the form of design documents. During the building process these blueprints need to be split up and distributed to the team. If a plan cannot be met, due to regulations, guidelines or just harsh reality, the design must change, whether you are dealing with cement and metal or code ad pixels.

The type and purpose of roads and video games play an important role in their design. Is it a street? Highway? Freeway? Is it a platformer? Shooter? RPG? What is the goal? Should the player/driver have a lot of choices? Are there a lot of traffic lights? Are left turns or u-turns allowed?  Can the player jump? Is it as simple as a straight racetrack with one purpose and no speed limit or as complex as streets in a big city? The streets in GTA4 are unique because they use actual street designs from New York to create the free roaming feel of the game and relate the player/driver to the map.

There are other factors that should be considered in design. For roads the sizes of the vehicles that will be driving on it are important, height/weight limitations, size of lanes, bridges and tunnels with games the size of the characters and other objects relate greatly with the overall goal and efficiently. Thinking of the paths and destinations of the player/driver is crucial, how will they get there? How long will it take them (average playtime)? How far do they travel? Is there parking (save points)? How many?

The results of the design decisions made will relate directly to the efficiency and popularity of the roads/games. If the roads are hard to navigate the driver cannot make it to their destinations, they will become frustrated, similar to having bad camera controls in a game, and have to take out their anger by playing a game like Road Rash or Burnout. However if the choices were thought out and implemented successfully then when the driver is cruising down the street they do not realize that they are driving, similar to how a great game submerges the player into the game.