lecture 3 - cornell university · lecture 3: game design initiative ... today paper prototyping...

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Paper Prototyping

Lecture 3:

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Updates

Assignment 2 is due TONIGHT at 11:59pm

Project pitches on Thursday

Described as “Assignment 3”

Paper Prototyping2

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Today

Paper prototyping

Will do this in class next Tuesday

Group meeting time

Paper Prototyping3

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Game Design is Hard

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thegamedesigninitiative

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So we need to test

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Full game requires a lot of effort

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thegamedesigninitiative

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STILL requires a lot of effort

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper prototype!

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Purpose of Paper Prototyping

Evaluate some part of the design

Not necessarily the whole design

Investigate central design questions

Simulate enough of the game to decide if it will work

Identify key problems quickly

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Paper prototyping is sometimes easy

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Less clear in other cases…

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What about…

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Paper Prototyping14

What about…

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thegamedesigninitiative

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games are a series of

interesting decisions

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Sid Meier

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Should be able to simulate decisions

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What are the decisions?

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What are the decisions?

Paper Prototyping18

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What are the decisions?

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Avoid Overly Aggressive Gandhi

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Modeling Gameplay

Key is discretization

Identify game variables and break them into decision-

significant pieces

Space

Time

Money

Health

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Turns!

Represent a unit of action

When done, game “at rest”

Turns can be multistep

Multiple actions in a turn

Environmental interactions

Turns can alternate

between other players

with a gamemaster

not at all (one player?)

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Discretizing Time

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Turns are the difference

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But you could introduce turns

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1. Fire Planning Phase

Choose units to attack

2. Firing Phase

Units fire one-by-one

Subtract hitpoints

3. Move Phase

Units move

4. Upkeep Phase

Units recharge / heal

5. Build Phase

Units build, finish, etc.

6. Mining Phase

We need more minerals

Gameplay Modeling29

Possible Starcraft Turn

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Allow opponent to interrupt

Action that reacts to yours

Played after you act, but

before action takes an effect

Core mechanic in Magic:TG

Make play asynchronous

Players still have turns

But take turns as fast as can

Conflicts resolved via speed

Often need a referee for aid

Gameplay Modeling30

Simulating Reaction Time

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Discretizing Resources

Gameplay Modeling31

Jetpack expends

oxygen (=health)

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Discretizing Resources

Gameplay Modeling32

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Questions to explore

Does the game “work”?

Is it fun?

Can someone learn how to play?

Is the interface usable?

Can the design scale to include multiple levels?

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Flow

Skill

Chal

lenge Anxiety

Boredom

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Easy

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Medium

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Hard

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Show difficulty curve

Easy Medium Hard

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Details are on the website

Listed as “Assignment 4”

Bring prototype to class next Tuesday

Paper Prototyping39

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Rest of class: structured group time

Come up with your designs!

Put your ideas into a Google doc that’s on the website

Paper Prototyping40

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Things to discuss

What type of game?

What is the “hook” – why will anyone play it?

What does the player do?

How will the player interact with the game?

How will the game get more difficult?

What are the key issues that need to be explored?

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