fundamentals of game design game play
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Presented at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. Just E.T.C for Business, Education, and Technology Solutions. Fundamentals of Game Design Game Play. Sayed Ahmed BSc . Eng. in CSc . & Eng . (BUET) MSc . in CSc . (U of Manitoba) http://sayed.justetc.net http://www.justETC.net. Topics. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGNGAME PLAY
Sayed AhmedBSc. Eng. in CSc. & Eng. (BUET)MSc. in CSc. (U of Manitoba)http://sayed.justetc.nethttp://www.justETC.net
Presented at the University of Winnipeg, Canada
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Just E.T.C for Business, Education, and Technology Solutions
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TOPICS Definition of Gameplay How we make games fun
Some things that you need to be aware of Principles you need to observe
Important ideas related to gameplay Hierarchy of challenges The concepts of skill, stress, and difficulty
Types of challenges that games offer How you might present them Mistakes you should avoid How to adjust their difficulty
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TOPICS Actions
Common types of actions found in games When and how to save a game Summary
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MAKING GAME FUN Through gameplay
Through story Execution matters more than innovation
Avoid things that reduces fun Aspects of game development that
contribute to fun Avoiding elementary errors Tuning & polishing Imaginative variations on the Game’s Premise True design innovation
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ASPECTS CONTRIBUTING TO FUN Avoiding elementary errors
Avoid bad programming, bad music and sound, bad art, bad user interfaces, and bad game design
Tuning & polishing Pay attention to details, get everything perfect
Imaginative variations on the Game’s Premise Take basic elements of the game and construct
enjoyable experience Level designers may help
True design innovation 5% of fun, game’s original idea and subsequent
decisions
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FINDING THE FUN FACTOR Game play comes first Get a feature right or leave it out Design around the player Know your target audience Abstract or automate parts of the simulation
that are not fun Be true to your vision Strive for harmony, elegance, and beauty
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FINDING THE FUN FACTOR Game play comes first
Fun things to do Get a feature right or leave it out
Don’t ship games with broken feature Better leave that feature
Design around the player Examine every decision from the player’s point of
view If you lose sight of the player, you lose fun
Know your target audience Hard to make games that appeal to mass market Find a niche, and know what they want, and what
they think is fun
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FINDING THE FUN FACTOR Abstract or automate parts of the simulation
that are not fun Racing games – casual gamer -Changing a tire is
not fun (provide abstraction) Hardcore racing fan – may be changing tire is
fun Be true to your vision
Be stick to your original idea and goal If you are making sailing simulation – don’t add
power boats Strive for harmony, elegance, and beauty
Absence of Aesthetic qualities diminish the fun to some extent
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ww.JustETC.netHANDLING AND PRESENTING CHALLENGESHierarchy of challenges
How the hierarchy affects the players’ experience
and what that means for game designInforming the player about challengesAtomic, highest level, and the intermediate challenges
Simultaneous atomic challengesSkill, stress, and absolute difficulty
Intrinsic skill, Stress, Absolute Difficulty
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HIERARCHY OF CHALLENGES Atomic challenges Sub missions Missions Ultimate goal Lowest level challenges are called atomic
challenges Atomic challenges make up sub-missions, sub-
missions make up missions and missions make up the ultimate goal
Design your game Create the hierarchy Decide what challenges the player will face
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ww.JustETC.netINFORMING THE PLAYER ABOUT CHALLENGES Explicit challenges Implicit challenges In general, games give explicit instructions
on Topmost level : victory condition, may be for
each level Bottommost level Leave intermediate levels for her discovery
Tutorial levels How to meet those atomic challenges
In story telling games You may want to keep the outcome a surprise Detective stories
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INTERMEDIATE CHALLENGES Keep these to be explored by the player Provide multiple ways of victory
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SIMULTANEOUS ATOMIC CHALLENGES As a designer, you should
Design the hierarchy of challenges Decide how many of them the player will face at once
Vertically up Bottom
More simultaneous atomic challenges with time pressure The more stressful will be the game
The more different levels of challenge, he will have to think at once The game becomes more complex and mentally
challenging Example: Simcity, action games
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SKILL, STRESS, ABSOLUTE DIFFICULTY Intrinsic skills
Unlimited amount of time Stress
When the challenge includes time pressure Quick reflex, quick mind Tetris – stressful Physical stress
Moderate them Time to rest Some player like this
Absolute Difficulty Complex skills required Tremendous time pressure
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COMMONLY USED CHALLENGES Physical coordination challenges Speed and reaction time Accuracy and precision Intuitive understanding of Physics Timing and rhythm Combination moves Logic and Mathematical Challenges
Formal logic puzzles Mathematical Challenges
Races and time pressure Factual knowledge challenges Memory challenges
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COMMONLY USED CHALLENGES Pattern recognition challenges Exploration challenges
Spatial awareness challenges Locked doors Traps Mazes and illogical spaces Teleporters Finding hidden objects
Conflict Strategy
Tactics
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COMMONLY USED CHALLENGES Logistics Survival and reduction of enemy forces Defending vulnerable items or units Stealth Economic challenges
Accumulating resources Achieving Balance Caring for living things
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COMMONLY USED CHALLENGES Conceptual Reasoning and Lateral Thinking
Puzzles Conceptual reasoning Lateral thinking
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ACTIONS Actions for Gameplay
Give Limited number of actions To reduce UI To reduce large number of animations
Defining your actions Actions that Serve other functions
Unstructured play Actions for creation & self expression Actions for socialization Actions to participate in the story Actions to control the game software
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DEFINING YOUR ACTIONS Define the actions that you will implement Think about what the player will do in the game
Drive a car Finer details: press accelerator, shift gears
The challenges he will face Start with atomic challenges Allowed actions to overcome those challenges for
each atomic challenge Think about intermediate and higher level
challenges Can those be over comed with the challenges that
you have defined Consider actions unrelated to games
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Include some fun to perform actions that don’t address any challenges
Move around, horn beep for car racing Actions for creation and self-expression
Customizing the avatar Construction games – creative play than game play
Actions for socialization Players of the multiplayer games need to chat
Actions to participate in the story Interactive dialogs – take part in the story May not address any challenge
Actions to control the game software Adjust the virtual camera Pause and save the game
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SAVING THE GAME Save the Game
Snapshot of the game world and all the particulars Even customizations made by the player
Reasons for Saving a Game Allowing the player to leave the game and return to it
later Most important reason
Letting the player recover from disastrous mistakes For example, death of the avatar Arcade games – multiple life (sometimes console action
games) Role playing and adventure – just reload the game (one life)
Encourage the player to explore alternate strategies Strategic games, save, try a different strategy, come back if
the strategy does not work
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IMMERSION AND STORYTELLING Consequences for Immersion & storytelling
Saving games is not always beneficial to the player’s experience
The saving act takes him out of the game world Harms the player’s immersion Harms the illusion that the player inhabits a fantasy
world When you allow the player to repeat the past
You acknowledge the unreality of the game world
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WAYS OF SAVING A GAME Passwords Save to a file or Save slot Quick-Save Automatic Save & checkpoints
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WAYS OF SAVING A GAME Passwords
At the end of a level, give the user a password to start next level
He can decide to play the next level at a later time No saving in the middle
Save to a file or Save slot Allow saving using the file system Prevents immersion Salvage the immersion by referring the file system as journals
and provide appropriate UI – kept in a book Quick-Save
Fast games offer quick save Press a button and save – does not harm immersion a lot Single button press to reload as well Disadvantages
One slot, can be overcomed by numbered slots
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WAYS OF SAVING A GAME Automatic Save & checkpoints
Automatically save the player when the player exits Does not harm the immersion
But no way to recover from a recent or past disaster Games save when the player passed a
checkpoint May or may not be visible to the player Less disruptive than quick-saving The player may be able to recover a disaster provide
that the disaster happened after the most recent checkpoint
Worse than quick save: considering player centric [though provides better immersion]
You may offer optional checkpoints Saving at will is preferable
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TO SAVE OR NOT TO SAVE Some designers don’t allow to save the game
At certain region/point Or don’t allow saving a lot The logic behind this is:
The player is winning the game not because of his/her skills but with trial and error
It allows the user to avoid undesirable random events It prevents the immersion of the game
Other designers argue that Preventing to save adds difficulty not fun To make games harder, you can make the challenges harder The player should not be forced to play the entire game just
because he has made a mistake near the end Wastes players’ time and [not good for fun] Causes frustration and boredom Not a player centric game design
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TO SAVE OR NOT TO SAVE You may not like the saving and reloading But the player does not play (or buy) to make
you feel good He may have legitimate reasons to save the
game The notion that allowing saving the game
makes the game easy – make the player your opponent Not a player centric design If the players’ want, you should allow saving Most players want this Most games now recognize that
Players want and sometimes need To cheat by offering cheat codes anyway
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TO SAVE OR NOT TO SAVE You should not penalize the player just
because he has to go the washroom You may think about advantages and
disadvantages and decide But do let the player save the game, and
preferably whenever and wherever he want Now to save or not to save – leave it to the
player But the player has the fundamental right to
stop playing without losing whatever he has accomplished
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SUMMARY Gameplay is the heart of the game’s
entertainment With the information that we discussed
You will be able to analyze the gameplay of most of the games in the market
You will also be able to design games offering similar kinds of challenges and actions