Game Design Basics of Game Game Composition Rules

Game Design Basics of Game

Game Composition: Rules • Rules and Mechanics of a game – are tricky – are subtle – need details – must be tested • using mockups and prototypes • by ‘real’ players and designers and developers – can bind parts of the game together – should create/support player expectations

Categories of Rules • Three Rule Categories – Setup • things done once when the game begins – Progression • what can/does happen during the game – Resolution • what condition(s) cause the game to end • how is the outcome measured/determined based on game state when such conditions occur

Rules of Play example: Tic-Tac-Toe

Rules are Subtle Operational Rules • Consider Tic-Tac-Toe Are these all the rules? – 2 players – Setup • Draw 3 x 3 grid. Choose who goes first and uses X. Opponent then is O – Progression • On your turn mark an empty square with you symbol • Play then moves to your opponent – Resolution • If you get 3 of your symbol in a row (orthogonally or diagonally) then you win • If the board is full and there is no winner then the game is a tie

Types of Rules From Rules of Play • Operational Rules – “Rules of Play” – Written rules in traditional games • Constitutive Rules Additional distinctions • Instantiation Level – Game rules – Gaming rules – Underlying formal structures – Consequences and emergent features • Implicit Rules – Good sportsmanship – Let other player “take back” a move – Explain options and consequences • Explicitly changed rules – House Rules

Rules of Play example: Tic-Tac-Toe • Operational Rules – X starts; alternate placing one symbol on free space; wins if three-in-a-row; draw if no free spaces • Constitutive Rules – Unwinnable if both players play optimally • Implicit Rules – Not tell other player constitutive rules?

Choice (or at least the illusion) • Players want to think that their decisions matter. – If you don't have choice, game is just a complicated slide presentation. • Different choices or actions sequences that results in identical results will frustrate players. – Complaints about "linear" gameplay. • Character customization, alternate endings, good vs. evil dynamics. • "Game is a series of interesting choices" - Meier

A convexity of choices • Starts with a single choice, widens to many choices, returns to a single choice

Rewards and Punishments • Value of an item (to an individual) closely correlates with what it cost to acquire (money, time, effort). • A player who has spent time and effort on completing a task, expects to be rewarded. • Likewise a player who has failed in an objective, expects to be punished. • If actions don't have consequences, then the game -play is meaningless.

Beyond Rewards and Punishments "The Skinner Box" • Modern game design is moving beyond "funativity" and moving towards direct conditioning of players aimed at getting them to play all the time (game addiction). • (15 minute reward loop) • Random rewards • Punishment for not playing. http: //www. gamasutra. com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design. php

• Questions: Narrative (structure/dynamics) – What about the story? – Shouldn't a game have a good story? • The narratological view of game studies says that games should be understood as a form of storytelling. • Treating a game as a narrative (or including narrative as part of a game) can help us make a more compelling game, and may even be thought of as adding a "social" component.

Narrative in Literature • Rules for narrative in literature have been around since the time of the Greeks (Aristotle's Poetics). • Questions to ask: 1. 2. 3. 4. Whose telling the story? What is the conflict? Who is the player meant to identify with? What do you want the player to feel?

Narrative in Games • Ultimate goal (as with literature, and cinema) is to get the player or viewer to "suspend disbelief" and have a "real" emotional response to events that are entirely fictitious. • Including a compelling narrative in a game can "make it incredible" (Chrono. Trigger, Bio. Shock) or simply create a series of annoying cut scenes that a player has to wade through.

Narrative in Film • Modern games have far more in common with film (cinematography) then with regular literature. • Cinema also has a lexicon of well established rules regarding the creation of compelling narrative. 1. 2. 3. 4. Don't break the narrative plane. Don't break the narrative chain. Use the camera to frame action. Use the camera to immerse the viewer.

Narrative in Games (cont) • It’s All About Interactivity! • “Do, don’t show” – let players experience story through interaction • Make it personal by having players make key choices, events affect them • Blend storytelling with design early • Use experienced interactive writers • Keep cut scenes BRUTALLY short. • Break up non-interactive sequences by adding interactivity, even if very simple

Funativity & Humans –People like (or find fun) games that have components that fall into these categories (realms): 1. Spatial Reasoning (Physical) 2. Pattern Recognition (Mental) 3. Social

1. Spatial Reasoning (Physical) • Reasoning about objects in 3 D space and how they might interact (includes your own body, hand-eye coordination). • Note: Preferred by boys.

2. Pattern Recognition (Mental) • Recognizing patterns in organized sets of data, remembering chains of linked events that are significant. • Note: Preferred by girls.

3. Social • Practicing interpersonal communication skills, competing/cooperating with others or modeling dynamics of social situations.

Genres MDA also gives us a way to classify (and group) games into Genres: • Adventure – Sub-genres include text-based adventure and graphical adventure – Zork by Infocom – King’s Quest by Sierra • Action – Superset of all other action-oriented genres – Typified by fast-paced combat and movement – Spacewar, Pong, and Space Invaders helped define the genre 21

Genres • Action-Adventure – Adventure games with action elements – The Legend of Zelda was first break-out hit – Jak 3, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, and Resident Evil 4 are modern examples of the genre • Platformer – Typified by a character running and jumping in a sidescrolling playing field – Modern definition has expanded to include 3 D – Super Mario Bros. , Sonic the Hedgehog, Pitfall! and Super Mario 64 are examples 22

Action Adventure (3 P Removed)

Genres • Fighting – Players typically fight other players or the computer using swordplay or martial arts – Double Dragon is an example of a side-scrolling fighter – Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter. • First-Person Shooter – Action game where player is “behind the eyes” of the game character in a first-person perspective – id Software’s Wolfenstein 3 D and DOOM are the earliest popular examples 24

First Person Shooters

Genres • Real-Time Strategy (RTS) – Typically, a game in which the goal is to collect resources, build army, and fight other player/AI. – Popularized by Westwood’s Dune 2 and Command Conquer and Blizzard’s Warcraft • Turn-Based Strategy – Like real-time strategy games, but turn-based – Civilization, X-COM, Master of Orion, and Jagged Alliance are standouts of the genre 26

Real Time Strategy

Genres • Role-Playing Game (RPG) – The video game counterpart to pen and pencil games like Dungeons and Dragons – Final Fantasy, Baldur’s Gate and Wasteland are some popular examples of the genre • Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) – An RPG set in a persistent virtual world populated by thousands of other players – Ultima Online in 1997 was the first popular one – World of Warcraft is currently the most popular one 28

Genres • Stealth – Characterized by a focus on subterfuge and plannedout, deliberate play – Metal Gear in 1987 was one the first – Popular modern series include Metal Gear, Splinter Cell, and Thief • Survival Horror – An action-adventure or first-person shooter where survival elements and fighting undead are stressed – Resident Evil is easily the most popular series in this genre 29

Genres • Simulation – Based on the simulation of a system – Sim. City and The Sims are example of “God” simulations where you control the lives many. – Wing Commander and X-Wing are popular space combat simulation games • Racing – Games that involve competing in a race in a vehicle – Typically try to re-create a real-world activity – Pole Position was first popular racing game 30

Genres • Sports – Games that simulate the sporting experience – Breakouts include John Madden Football and Tiger Woods’ Golf • Rhythm – Gauge player’s success based on the ability to trigger the controls in time to the beat of music – Sometimes require specialized controllers such as dance pads or bongo drums – Rock Band, Guitar Hero 31

Genres • Puzzle – Games that combine pattern matching, logic, strategy and luck with a timed element – Tetris is the breakout hit of this genre • Mini-Games – Short, simple games that exist within the context of a larger game – Mario Party and Wario Ware popular examples of this genre – FABLE II, Pub games 32

Puzzle Games

Genres • Traditional – Computerized versions of board, word, and card games – Battle Chess and Hoyle series are standouts • Educational – Games designed to teach grade-school concepts to children and young adults – Oregon Trail was the first popular game in this genre – The Carmen Sandiego series and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing are modern popular examples 34

Genres • Serious – A game designed to teach real-world events or processes to adults – Most are privately funded – Popular with the US Government and the medical field • "Sapphire" simulation trainer 35

God Games

Types of Games 37

Brain Train (Nintendo DS)

Librarians congregate in OPAL and in SL to listen to Michael Stephen's presentation on blogging for the Alliance Library System, thursday June 15 2006.

Game Trivia

b. Gameplay: everything the player (or cat) does & how the game makes it happen. 56

What the heck is going on? 1. A 2 D or 3 D visual representation of the game environment, buildings, your avatar, the other players' avatars, items such as weapons and computer-controlled characters. 2. A text-based or other chat system through which you can communicate with players whose avatars are near yours. 3. An inventory of items you are carrying. 4. A map showing key geographic features, other avatars and other characters near your own. 5. Avatar/character status information, such as strengths, injuries, spells and weapons. Much of this is changing in real-time. Need to constantly monitor it all while figuring out the game and while playing the game.

Chat / communication systems • • Language issue e. g. English, Dutch, French. Txt spk, other shortened forms. Symbols (proprietary versions of emoticons) often used. People entering, leaving a conversation (“raids” of up to 40 people). • Player monitors dialogue area while: – monitoring other players – entering own chat – moving around the area – manipulating other objects

Games, on the Contrary The designer doesn’t know: • When will the player play? • How often? For how long? • Where? With Whom? And most importantly. . . • What will happen during the game?

Is 3 D always better than 2 D? • NO!

Is 2 D always better than 3 D? • NO!

Preliminary conclusion • 2 D & 3 D play their roles better in their own fields • 2 D better in information visualization and mining – Deal with categorical, discrete variables, sparse sampling of real world – Focused on discovery of patterns, trends, clusters, outliers, gaps, etc • 3 D better in scientific visualization – Deal with continuous variables, dense sampling of real world – Focused on vision impression • 3 D better in first-person experience – Focused on simulation of real world

What is for others? • Is it better to build an online library with 2 D or 3 D? – Illustrate books with 2 D thumbnails? – Simulate books with 3 D objects? • Which one do you prefer when you play FIFA soccer game? Or seeing replays? – 2 D? – 2. 5 D? – 3 D? • It seems the answer is diverse and depending on different people

2. 5 D 2 D 3 D

3 D’s merit • Faithful to reality – Naturalistic looking – Ecologically plausible – Familiar to user – Easy feeling • Integrate all the information • Hope it optimizes the understanding subsystem

3 D’s drawback • Hard to understand – Semantic ambiguity from 3 D vision • Occlusion • Projection – Sometimes user must explore different perspectives to grasp the information

Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous • Homogeneous: Many similar elements (Life) • Heterogeneous: Many distinct elements (Magic: The Gathering) • A Spectrum, not a Dichotomy • Most modern games are heterogeneous.

Resource Exchange: Competition Two systems consume the same resource. Magic: Spells & Creatures compete for mana.

Resource Exchange: Transmission One system produces a resources that another consumes. Civilization: Cities produce units; Combat consumes them.

Resource Exchange: Transformation A system converts one resource into another Starcraft: Repairs turn raw materials into hit points.

Challenges • Victory conditions and atomic challenges are usually explicit. • Intermediate challenges are usually implicit. – Players get tired of just following instructions. • "The most interesting games offer multiple ways to win" -- Adams & Rollings, p. 284 – More than one way to accomplish intermediate challenges – Capture the flag (p. 284): defensive approach, aggressive approach, stealth approach

Myths About Computer Game Design Myth # 1: Computers have to play as good as possible Myth # 2: Only programmers can design computer games Myth # 3: Succesful games need deep storylines Myth # 4: Computer graphics “make” a game

Myth # 1: Computers have to play as good as possible You know what is an attack “Kung Fu” style? http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=-a. Tbfxwd. YQo • Only 2 enemies are attacking at any point of time • The other “appear” busy • Same idea is implemented in many games

Myth # 2: Only programmers can design computer games • In the “old times” it was like that • Modern tools allow the design of “AI” behavior without need of a computer programmer Attack ~E E D E S Wander E ~E D Spawn ~S Chase D S

Myth # 3: Successful games need deep Storylines (II) Storyline: "Murderous aliens have landed in futuristic Los Angeles, and humans suddenly find themselves atop the endangered species list. The odds are a million-to-one, just the way Duke likes it!" Duke Nukem 3 d • Released in 1996 • Crude humor Ø “That's gotta hurt” • Simplistic and predictable storyline http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= H 6 Jc. Zv 3 w. Pu. U

Myth # 4: Computer graphics “make” a game • Tale of two games: Game # 1: Game # 2: • Top-notch (for its time) 3 D Graphics • Real-time • Dinosaurs! • “beautiful” people • “Realistic” physics encoded in game • 2 D graphics • Turn-based • Graphics highlight: Lead designer appears in the game • Roles a dice to decide who wins combat