game design 101 - · pdf filegame design 101 i manage the design ... •solo - target...

David J GagnonUniversity of Wisconsin - Madison

ENGAGE Program & Games, Learning and Society Research Community

GAME DESIGN 101

I manage the design and production of: Presentation card games, ARIS, Bacteria, Cryo, Music

I got here because of the intersection between learning and play:Mediated consequences, Magnified Feedback, Systems thinking, Identity

My background is in programming, rave promotion, electronic-music and video production

SISSYFIGHT 3000

A playground fight between a group of school girls

Designed by Eric Zimmermann of Game Lab

SETUP

• Divide into groups of 5

• Take 1 sheet and 10 paperclips

• Label the Cards

• Choose a color

Green Blue

Red Black

White No Target

Tease Scratch

Cower

OVERVIEW

• Each girl begins with 10 self-esteem points

• Reduce the other girls self-esteem to ZERO

• When there are only one or two girls left, they WIN

• All communication must be public

TO PLAY

• Choose an ACTION and TARGET in secret. Defend is played with No Target

• Reveal cards simultaneously

• Score the result

• Solo - Target discards one paperclip

• Team - If anyone else teams against the same target, she discards two paperclips per attacking player

• Defend - If no one attacks you, loose a paper clip, otherwise loose half chips required (round down)

WAS IT ‘FUN?’


WAS IT A ‘GAME?’


WHAT IS A GAME?

WHAT IS A GAME?

LIKE

Games are like a number of other things

Sometimes designers will start with one of these, then build up to a whole game

TOY - SIM - PUZZLE - STORY

Toys are played WITH

The music game I’m working on starts as a toy. (Click the photo) We could whip this up quick and find out if it was fun, then bother to make a game.

All games have some sort of toy at their core.

But toys are not games. They don’t answer the question: How should we play?


Simulations model something and let a user interact with that model

The bacteria game I’m working on starts with a system of baceria agents and the resources they consume. Many educational games start with a simulation.

At the heart of every game is a simulation.

But simulators are not games. They do not answer the question:Why interact?


Puzzles are work, but many people take pleasure in solving them.

The cryogenics game I’m working on starts with a puzzle.

Many games have a puzzle at their core.

But puzzles are not games. They are not fun once you have a solution and getting stuck sucks.


Stories are experienced by the audience and are fantastic at producing an emotional response.

The mobile games we are working on start with a story.

Games have at least two stories, the designed narrative (designer’s story) and the emergent narrative (player’s story). What stories do you have to tell from sissyfight?

But stories are not games. The audience has no agency

WHAT IS A GAME?

Made of

So many frameworks!

Dan Norton - Roles vs GoalsSchell - Story, Mechanics, Aesthetics, TechnologySquire - Designed ExperiencesNarritology and Ludology

Can any help us design better games?

MDAMechanicsDynamicsAesthetics

Mechanics - Rules and concepts that formally specify the game as a system

Dynamics - The run-time behavior of the game.

Aesthetics -The desirable emotional responses (aka fun) by the games dynamics

AESTHETICSSensationFantasy

NarrativeChallengeFellowshipDiscoveryExpressionSubmission

Game as Art ObjectGame as make-believeGame as unfolding storyGame as obstacle courseGame as social frameworkGame as uncharted territoryGame as soap box

MDA APPLIEDMechanicsDynamicsAesthetics

MDA applied to SissyFight

Mechanics:Turn-BasedHit PointsPublic CommunicationSimultaneous Action

Dynamics:Cooperation and Team AttacksCompetition and Random Attacks

Aesthetics:Fellowship: Negotiation, Cooperation, Betrayal, ManipulationNarrative: Drama and lots of emergence

WORK BACKWARD FROM EXPERIENCE TO DESIGN

When I talk with Artists they often hate this. It’s not about the designer pushing themselves out, making their feelings known. No one cares about the designer. Players want to experience something themselves.

Our job as designers is to give them something they will feel.

Aesthetics: What do I want them to feel?Dynamics: What kinds of emergent behaviors get us there?Mechanics: What systems will give rise to those behaviors?

7 TIPS FROM KYLE GABLER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW6vgW8wc6c

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 1: Fairness

An unfair game is no fun to play

SYMMETRICALLens 1: Fairness

• Equal resources and power to all players

• Good when players have similar skill levels

• Perfect Symmetry is hard – Who goes first?

ASYMMETRICALLens 1: Fairness

• Different resources and abilities

• Harder to balance

• Reasons

o Simulate real life – WW2, a chemistry problem

o Additional ways to explore the game space – Different views

o Personalization

o Level playing filed - One ghost in pacman? No fun

o Interesting Strategies

ASYMMETRICAL BALANCINGLens 1: Fairness

Character Speed Maneuverability Firepower Value

Soldier 2 2 4 8

Scout 3 3 2 8

Heavy 1 1 6 8

• Example using TF2

o Balance is really only a theory once things get complicated, playtesting is the real key

o Balancing and modeling go hand in hand

o Balancing can really only start once the game is playable

• Simple Example: Rock, Paper, Scissors

o No element is supreme

o Each element has a strength and weakness

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 2: Challenge vs. Success

We need to feel challenged, but not defeated

CREATING FLOWLens 2: Challenge vs. Success

Just like a story, the excitement needs pacing

CHALLENGE / RELEASE CYCLELens 2: Challenge vs. Success

time

chal

leng

e

Just like a story, the excitement needs pacing

CHALLENGE / RELEASE CYCLELens 2: Challenge vs. Success

time

chal

leng

e

The cycle can be repeated

ALLOW FAST-TRACKINGLens 2: Challenge vs. Success

time

Level 1 Level 2

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

novice

novice

expert

Keep experts from being bored by warping them or giving additional content

LAYERS OF CHALLENGELens 2: Challenge vs. Success

novice

Notice the stars, points, 99% and 828 note streak.

All can be improved by a motivated player, though a novice can continue playing

LAYERS OF CHALLENGELens 2: Challenge vs. Success

novice

Allow the player to select easy, medium, hard or expert

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 3: Meaningful Choices

Good games give meaningful choices.

Example: A driving game with 50 cars that all perform exactly the same.

AVOID DOMINANT STRATEGIES

Lens 3: Meaningful Choices

Once a strategy is found that always works, the game is no longer fun because no meaningful choices exist

The rules can be changed to correct

How does this map to learning games?

HAVE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CHOICESLens 3: Meaningful Choices

desires

choi

ces

frustrated

overwhelmed

BIG RISKS Lens 3: Meaningful Choices

Taking a big risk for a pig payoff can be good fun

BALANCING RISKS Lens 3: Meaningful Choices

Chance Reward Value

12.5% 200 25

50% 50 25

It is very hard to calculate chance

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 8: Rewards

“Why is it that people will spend some much time playing a videogame, just to get a good score?

We have talked earlier about how games are structures of judgment and that people want to be judged.

But people don’t want any judgment – they want to be judged favorably.

Rewards are the way the game tells the player “you have done well.’”

TOP 10 VIDEOLens 8: Rewards

TYPESLens 8: Rewards

Praise Street Cred Points

Content Spectacle Resources

Expression Prolonged Play Powers

• Praise

o The simplest, that game just tells you that you have done good work. This can be a sound (Nintendo) or an explicit message

• Points

o In many games, points serve no purpose other than to measure performance

o In other games, they can be “cached in for something else”

• Prolonged Play

o Pinball allows the player to continue playing until they loose all three balls

o Giving an extra life is a no-brainer reward system

o Silent Scope has a running timer and success gives extra time

• Additional game space

o New Levels (Pac-Man, Mario Brothers, Guitar Hero)

o A key to a locked door (Metal Gear)

o A barrio removed from your path (Zelda)

• Spectacle

o A simple animation in Pac-Man was one of the first

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hFweB2VeCk

o Often paired with other kinds of rewards

• Expression

o Ability to change the player’s avatar

o Not tied to the system at all!

• Powers

o Getting “Kinged” in checkers is a simple example

o Getting a new tool in Zelda

o Getting Big in Super Mario

o Sometimes the game gives an intermediate resource that can be used to “buy” these things in game

• Completion

o Winning a game is fun, too bad it’s over

QUESTIONSLens 8: Rewards

1. What rewards is my game giving? Are there others to add?

2. To players get excited when they are given rewards?

3. Do the players understand the rewards they are being given?

4. Are rewards given out too regularly? Can I mix it up?

5. How are the rewards building? Are they keeping pace with the rest of the game?

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 9: Punishment

Punishment can add to the felling of “Endogenous value,” value that is created for in game and only has value in game.

o The term comes from biology where it means, “caused by factors in the organism or system.”

o For example a slot machine or roulette wheel create little endogenous meaning, they wouldn’t be fun without real money being attached.

On the other hand, resources in WoW become so meaningful they are often bought and sold for real money.

TYPESLens 9: Punishments

Shaming Setback

Take Resources Shortened Play Take Powers

Loss of Points

• Shaming.

o Discouraging sound effects, animations, sounds

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7cLNBunm6Y&feature=related

• Loss of Points. Not used very often

• Shortened Play

• Terminated Play

• Setback. In many games, when the player dies or is unsuccessfull in other ways, they have to return to the beginning of a level or a save point. The need to balance the placement of these points is important

• Removal of Powers.

o Very dangerous territory

o Usally only done for a period of time

• Resource Depletion

• Combos

o In TF2 you are warped back to the start point, loose 2 points and are taunted

QUESTIONSLens 9: Punishments

1. What are the punishments in my game?2. Why am I punishing players? What do I hope to achieve by it?3. Do my punishments seem fair to the players?4. Is there a batter way to turn these punishments into rewards

and get the same value?5. Are strong punishments balanced by strong rewards?

LENSES TO VIEW DESIGNLens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

Punishment can add to the felling of “Endogenous value,” value that is created for in game and only has value in game.

o The term comes from biology where it means, “caused by factors in the organism or system.”

o For example a slot machine or roulette wheel create little endogenous meaning, they wouldn’t be fun without real money being attached.

On the other hand, resources in WoW become so meaningful they are often bought and sold for real money.

ONLY DETAIL WHAT YOU CAN DO WELLLens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

o Players have rich imaginations

o If you can’t create an effect as great as the players imagination will create, skip it

o The author, for example, says skip synthesized voices

o Simlish is an interesting concept

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrfHb7FFuX8

GIVE DETAILS FOR THE IMAGINATION TO USE

Lens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

USE THE BINOCULAR EFFECTLens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

THE FAMILIAR NEEDS LESS DETAIL

Lens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

o Houses, streets, offices do not need as much detail as something the player is familiar with

QUESTIONSLens 12: Detail vs. Imagination

1. What must the player understand to play my game?

2. Can some element of imagination help them understand better?

3. What high-quality details can be provided in this game

by our resources?

4. What details would be low quality if we provided them?

How can we use imagination to fill the gap instead?

5. Can I give details that the imagination can reuse again and again?

6. What details are provided that inspire/stifle imagination?

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