Game Design In PracticeGame Design for Indie Games

Let’s Play Chess●Find the one-move solution to this chess problem

Let’s Play Chess●How much time did it take?● How much time it would subsequent attempts take?

Mechanics, Dynamics & Aesthetics

●Gives us basic terminology ●The player perceives the aesthetics built by the

dynamics made out of mechanics●The designer designs mechanics which result in

dynamics with certain aesthetics

Mechanics, Dynamics & AestheticsBy Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek

Mechanics

●Base components of a game

●Rules

●Every basic action the player takes

Dynamics

●The run-time behavior of the mechanics

●New dynamics may emerge from different combinations of mechanics

● Implicitly designed

●Emotional responses evoked in the player

●Hard to design

●The most important part of the player experience

Aesthetics

Emergence in Games

●Not in Chess

Emergence in Games

●Clever design could result in emergent gameplay

●Gives the game high replayability at low cost

Emergence in Games

●Physics

Emergence in Games

●Multiplayer

Emergence in Games

Arcs and Loopsby Daniel Cook

●Loops are a set of actions which the player repeatedly takes and receives feedback from the game

●Arcs are broken loops

Arcs and Loops

●The player starts with a mental model ●The model conditions the player to take an action●The game system returns feedback to the player●The feedback causes an emotional response

Loops

●A broken loop ●One time actions●Links material in complex feedback

Arcs

●Story

Arcs

●Shooting & Running

Loops

●The cornerstone of our game●The thing that defines the player gameplay

Core Loop

Lean Approach

●Scientific tests to prove game hypothesis

●No unverified speculations

●Failing Fast

Lean Approach

●Split testing

Lean Approach

Summary

●Mechanics, Dynamics & Aesthetics

●Arcs and Loops

●Emergent Gameplay

●Lean Approach

Summary

“Our future prosperity depends on the quality of our collective imaginations.”

Eric RiesThe Lean Startup