prepared by Batuhan Aydın

Outline

Unique SolutionsNon-LinearityModeling RealityTeaching the PlayerInput/Output

Unique Solutions Anticipatory versus Complex Systems Emergence

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsFor instance, take an RPG that features a puzzle that involves placing weights on a series of pressure plates.

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsSuppose the designer leaves a conspicuous pile of rocks a few rooms over from the pressure plate puzzle.

The obvious solution to the puzzle is to use those rocks on the pressure plates to achieve the desired results.

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsWhat if players

•try dropping their various weapons on the plates instead?•have the Summon Minor Threat spell, which allows them to summon a variety of different small monsters?

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsThe designer can have the programmer add in code where the game reacts correctly if rocks, weapons, or monsters are on the plates.

What if players think of some other weight they can place on the pressure plates?•Berkshire Blizzard spell

Players will have thought of a perfectly reasonable solution and the game will fail to recognize it.

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsWhat if the designer had the programmer come up with a system where every object in the game had a weight associated with it?

This would include rocks, weapons, monsters, weather effects, blood, and any other dynamic objects found in the game-world.

If the programmer then made the pressure plates simply measure the weight of all of the objects on top of them, regardless of their type, then this global solution would work for all objects.

Anticipatory versus Complex SystemsWith these systems in place, the game becomes more a simulation and less of a hard-coded puzzle.

A game need not be a Flight Simulator or a SimCity-style game to include some level of simulation; indeed almost all games include some degree of simulation.

Instead of “the puzzle is solved if players use rocks, weapons, or monsters to offset the plates,” the rule is “the puzzle is solved when the plates are offset by the correct weight being placed on top of them.”

EmergenceIt is the development of numerous robust and logical systems that leads to player-unique solutions to situations in the game.

Many designers fear players discovering emergent strategies they can use as exploits: tactics that will allow players to finish a game too easily, skipping a lot of the fun.

EmergenceIn Civilization, players were able to exploit a rush strategy where they would never build cities of a size larger than two while staying in the most primitive form of government, quickly sweeping over the world and winning the game prematurely.

EmergenceIn Centipede, to use the blob strategy, players would clear all of the mushrooms from the board on the first wave, and then allow mushrooms to survive only on the bottom-right quadrant of the screen. If, through careful destruction of the centipede, the players only allow mushrooms to be created in that section of the screen, the flea will never come out, making the game much simpler indeed.

Non-LinearityIn the game of chess, there are multiple ways to capture the opponent’s king, to move from the game’s predetermined starting state to its conclusion.

Indeed, there are a vast number of different ways to be victorious in chess, and that variety is what keeps the game interesting.

These choices make chess non-linear.

Non-LinearityTypes of Non-LinearityImplementationThe Purpose of Non-Linearity

Types of Non-LinearityStorytelling: Storytelling is perhaps one of the most

neglected parts of games in terms of non-linearity, with many developers allowing for non-linear gameplay while constraining their games to a completely linear story.

Types of Non-LinearityMultiple Solutions: Having multiple solutions to the

individual challenges within a game is a big part of non-linearity; it enables players to have multiple paths to get from point A (being presented with the challenge) and point B (solving the challenge).

Types of Non-LinearityOrder: Giving players choices of different puzzles to

solve allows them to put aside a troubling puzzle and go work on another one for a while. After completing the second puzzle, players may return to the first refreshed and revitalized, and thereby have a better chance of solving it.

Types of Non-LinearitySelection: Say that between point A and point B in a

game there lies a series of three challenges, X, Y, and Z, which are non-order dependent, that is to say, players can do these challenges in any order they wish.

ImplementationOdyssey: The Legend of Nemesis

ImplementationThe Suffering

ImplementationConsider that between point A and B, we have the aforementioned challenges X, Y, and Z, but players only have to overcome one of these challenges in order to progress.

Players can then continue playing through to the end of the game having never interacted with challenge Y or Z.

ImplementationIf Y and Z are not strictly necessary, why bother having them at all?

Why spend a lot of money on the programming, art, and design necessary to get Y and Z working when there’s a chance players will never see them?

Unfortunately, accountants are often not in touch with the finer points of game design, and when you say, “But non-linearity is what makes this game great!” they are likely to dismiss you as “unreasonable” or “difficult.”

ImplementationIn the X, Y, and Z challenges example, if Z is significantly easier than X or Y, it is quite likely no one will ever bother with X or Y.

In a way, a game with poorly designed choices for players is nearly as linear as a game without any choices at all.

The non-linearity your game provides must be meaningful and useful to players or it is a waste.

ImplementationSome designers say that “Why spend a lot of time on portions of the game that not everyone will see?”

If enough people play your game, some people will surely see what you have created, and each one of the players will have a somewhat different experience because of it.

The Purpose of Non-LinearityIf players are forced to stay on a specific line to get from the beginning of the game to the end, the game will feel constrained.

The challenges along that line may be brilliantly conceived, but if players have no choice but to take them on in order, one by one, the fun they provide will be greatly diminished.

The Purpose of Non-LinearityNon-linearity is great for providing players with a reason to replay the game.

Replaying a game where players have already overcome all of the challenges is not that much fun.

Replayability is not the main motivation for including non-linearity in your game designs.

The Purpose of Non-LinearityPlayers may become stuck at a boss-monster that is too difficult, a puzzle that is too confounding, or merely failing to find the exit from a given area.

If the game were more non-linear, players would have much less chance of getting stuck at any point in the game.

The Purpose of Non-LinearityNon-linearity is not about having players wander around the game-world aimlessly.

If the game is non-linear to the point where players have no idea what they are supposed to try to accomplish or how they might go about it, the non-linearity may have gone too far.

Modeling RealityWhat would a greater degree of reality add to a game like Tetris or Centipede?

Surely they could not be much more immersive than they already are.

Consider a game such as Age of Empires, which is already modeled on reality.

Would adding more reality to it make it any more fun?

Modeling RealityIf the designer, in an attempt to achieve a greater degree of reality, decides to include too many unnecessary and dull details, the game will likely become tedious to play.

•The use of food in RPGs

One way designers attempted to do this was to add a basic hunger simulation, and to require players to remember to feed their party members periodically, lest they starve to death.

Modeling RealityCivilization, SimCity, Deadline, or Grand Theft Auto, a properly executed realistic setting gives players an instant “in” to your game-world.

Players can start playing the game and instantly have some idea of what they are supposed to accomplish.

Modeling RealityThe Sims has well-balanced gameplay and simulation, but also because of its real-world setting that allows players to feel that their actions have real meaning to the simulated people they are guiding.

Modeling RealityFor example, many of the early first-person shooters, such as Doom and Marathon, did not allow the player character to jump.

The next generation of FPS titles added the ability to jump, then to crouch, then look up and down… etc.

Players ask “Why can’t I lie flat on the ground? I can do that in real life; why not in the game?”

FPS games have grown too complex as a result of their attempt to model reality.

Teaching the PlayerPlayers will need time to learn how to play your game, and this learning experience is often a crucial time in a player’s overall experience.

The first few minutes players spend with your game will often make the difference between whether they want to continue playing it or not.

Teaching the PlayerWhenever players tell friends about your game, they will often remember those first few minutes and say,

“Well, it was a little weird to get used to” or, preferably,

“It was great. I jumped right into the game and found all this interesting stuff.”

Teaching the PlayerIn the past, many computer games relied on manuals to teach players how to play them.

Players definitely have a strong desire to just pick up the controller and start playing the game.

Now that so many games allow players to do just that, the importance of allowing players to “jump right in” has increased.

Teaching the PlayerSay you are creating a third-person over-the-shoulder action/adventure game akin to Tomb Raider.

1.Teach players how to move

2.Teach players how to jump to cross a canyon or climb up a cliff

3.Teach players how to use weapons.

Teaching the Player It is important that during the introduction of these controls players are in a safe environment that engenders learning.

Half-Life did this particularly well, with an introduction to the game that provided a safe yet interesting environment and allowed players to become accustomed to the controls without immediately threatening them.

Another example, Prince of Persia.

Teaching the PlayerDuring this learning period in the game, it is important to reward players for even the simplest of accomplishments.

This makes players feel that, indeed, they are on the right track with the game and encourages them to keep playing.

Teaching the PlayerTutorials

TutorialsTutorials levels are generally a good idea and are certainly an improvement over teaching players about the game in the manual.

TutorialsThe one problem with tutorial levels is that they are seldom much fun to play, and as a result many players will skip them and head straight for the actual game.

There is a feeling among players that the tutorial level is not part of the “real” game, and many players want to start playing this “real” game as soon as possible.

TutorialsHalf-Life provided a tutorial level that taught players about the game-world, but the tutorial worked in conjunction with the beginning of the actual game itself, which was quite easy to play and had a friendly learning curve.

Halo took this same concept and executed it particularly elegantly without making the level feel like a tutorial level at all.

TutorialsOften on-screen text appears, sometimes accompanied by voice-overs that tell players to

“Press the Spacebar to fire your primary weapon” or

“Press and hold down the blue X for a super jump.”

In Spyro the Dragon, the friendly elder dragon says, “Spyro, press and hold the blue button in order to glide.”

Input/OutputUsing the input/output systems you design, players must be able to control and understand the game effortlessly.

Designing these systems is one of the hardest aspects of game design, since, if they are designed well, players will not even know they are there.

Input/OutputControls and InputOutput and Game-World Feedback

Controls and InputNothing is more frustrating to players than knowing exactly what they want their game-world character to do but being unable to actually get her to do that because the controls will not let them.

Controls and InputA lot of the success of games like Diablo, Command & Conquer, and The Sims can be attributed to the fact that players can play these games one-handed, controlling everything with only the mouse.

Its great strength is that it is a control device with which most non-gamer computer users are already familiar.

This makes mouse-only games very easy to jump into, since they minimize the time the user must spend learning controls.

Controls and InputFor example, a button on interface, everyone knows what a “fast forward” symbol on an audio device looks like, and using this appropriately in your game will mean that players instantly know what a given button does.

Every time you add a new button or key to your game, you must ask yourself if the complexity you have just added to the game’s controls is worth the functionality it enables.

Controls and InputControl pads (gamepad) force the designer to refine her controls, to cut away all that is extraneous, and to combine all of the game-world actions players can perform into just a few, focused controls.

This leads directly to games that are easier to learn how to play.

Indeed, many of the most accessible console games do not even use all of the controller’s buttons.

Controls and InputRT3D games, by trying to include the ability for the player’s game-world surrogate to •move forward and backward, •up and down, •sideways left and right, •turn left and right, and •pitch up and down,

have already used a massive number of controls while only allowing players to move in the game-world and do nothing else.

Controls and InputIf one looks at the interface used by the RTS game StarCraft, players are able to control their units by left-clicking to select the unit, then clicking on the button of the action they want the unit to perform, and then left-clicking on a location in the world where they want the unit to perform that action.

Controls and InputPlayers can also left-click on the unit to select it and then immediately right-click in the game-world, causing the unit to do the most logical action for the location the players clicked, whether it means moving to that point or attacking the unit there.

Furthermore, StarCraft also allows players to access a unit’s different actions through a hot key instead of clicking on the button.

Controls and InputSid Meier’s fine RTS game Gettysburg! included as its default method for ordering troops around a “click-and-drag” system instead of the established “click-and-click” system found in other games. His system was quite creative and actually may have been a better way of controlling the game than the established paradigms.

Controls and InputWhile designing controls, do not think,

“Oh, she’ll get used to it,” or

“What an idiot! These controls are obvious; why can’t she see that!” or

“Well, I like them the way they are.”

Instead think, “Why are my controls bad and what can I do to fix them?”

Controls and InputWhen the FPS genre was first establishing itself, it was hard to determine what the “standard” controls for an FPS should be since the last three successful FPS games had all employed unique control schemes.

Over time, the controls became standardized, and now fans of shooting mayhem are easily able to jump into almost any FPS they come across.

Controls and InputAlmost every PC action game released in the last decade allows players to configure the controls.

Many players will be left playing with whatever the default keys are, and this is why it is the designer’s job to make sure these default settings are as playable as possible.

Controls and InputThe controls must be completely invisible to players.

Why work so hard on something that, if implemented perfectly, will be completely invisible?

The designer must realize that it is the transparency of controls that allows players to enjoy the rest of what the game has to offer.

Output and Game-World FeedbackConsider a strategy game in which players have a number of units scattered all over a large map.

The map is so large that only a small portion of it can fit on the screen at once.

If a group of the players’ units happen to be off-screen and are attacked but players are not made aware of it by the game, players will become irritated.

Output and Game-World FeedbackConsider an RPG where each member of the players’ party needs to be fed regularly, but the game does not provide any clear way of easily communicating how hungry their characters are.

Then, if one of the party members suddenly keels over from starvation, the players will become frustrated, and rightly so.

Why should players have to guess at or go digging for such game-critical information?

Output and Game-World FeedbackIn an action game, if players have to kill an enemy by shooting it in a particular location of its body, say its eye, they need to receive positive feedback when they successfully land a blow.

Perhaps the enemy reels back in pain or screams in agony once an attack damages him.

If players do not receive such feedback, how are they supposed to know they are on the right track?

Output and Game-World FeedbackYour game should try to communicate as much information through this view as possible. Consider a third-person 3D action game.

Perhaps as its health goes down, the character’s animations change to a limp or hobble instead of moving normally.

Similarly, the strength of the current armor can be represented by texture changes on that character, with the armor appearing more and more deteriorated as it takes damage and nears destruction.

Output and Game-World FeedbackThe designer may also want to include this data in a heads up display (HUD) of some sort, communicating it through the game’s primary game-world view makes it that much more transparent and easy for players to understand.

Output and Game-World FeedbackGUI may be simple, such as the high-score and lives remaining display on Centipede, the small potion-health display at the bottom of the screen in the original Prince of Persia.

For more complicated games, the GUI is also more complex, such as the button bars used in The Sims.

Output and Game-World FeedbackMany GUIs in older games were created in order to block off a large portion of the screen. This was not because of any sort of design decision, but instead because the game’s engine was not fast enough to handle rendering the game-world full screen.

Output and Game-World FeedbackA few games try to work without any GUI whatsoever. Crash Bandicoot, for instance, only displays the lives remaining GUI if players press a button to bring it on the screen; otherwise a completely unobstructed view of the world is displayed.

Output and Game-World FeedbackThe most important part of designing a GUI is to try to keep it as visual as possible.

In fast-paced action games in particular, the GUI is designed to communicate information to the players very quickly, whether this is the players’ current health, ammo available, or nearby monsters.

Output and Game-World FeedbackA well-designed graphical HUD in your game will be easier for players to glance at and understand than one that contains a lot of numbers or words.

Output and Game-World FeedbackIn Warcraft, the buttons for the different actions that a unit can perform are all represented by icons. However, some of the buttons can be a little difficult to figure out at first. Fortunately, the game also displays text at the bottom of the screen when the players’ mouse cursor hovers over a particular button, communicating what that button will do if clicked.

Output and Game-World FeedbackAudio cues can provide an excellent supplement to on-screen information, or can work quite effectively as the sole way of communicating critical information.

In Command & Conquer, players know that a unit has received a particular order by an audio cue provided by that unit: “I’ll get right on it!” Similarly, when units off-screen are being attacked, the game communicates this to players by saying “Unit attacked” or “Unit lost.”

Any Questions?