To me, the word gameplay means several things. First of all, the game has to be interesting with lots of things to do with your character, this then leads onto the second topic: length, its no good having a game that is brilliant to play for 10 minutes but is repetitive after that (assassins creed anyone?) other aspects might include story line but i wount go into that just yet. Then there is the third topic, Visuals; This aspect has become increasingly more important over the past few years especially with the development of new technology. The best example I can think of is the Wii (Wii sports in particular). I think its odd how a game can be both visually simple and short in length yet is surprisingly addictive. most of the people on my course will kill me if they read this but I actually like the idea of the Wii. My girlfriend's dad got a Wii and every time I went round, I would always check my fitness level to see if I got any better (until she got a bit annoyed). yet to more hardcore gamers, the idea is almost completely against what they stand for.

I would have to say that Game design takes place at the very beginning of the development stages all the way back with initial ideas, concepts and planning. designing a game is like creating a piece of art. without composition, the whole piece will be less successful then it potentially can be. I would definitely say that the design style and principles of the game strongly depend on the genre. put it this way; would the resident evil series have been nearly as successful if it was...say...Santa's elves trying to eat your brains? or a slightly less extreme example:- would it have been nearly as scary if it took place on a warm summers day rather than a foggy night?