Fundaments of Game Design Ch 5 & 6 Richard Gesick

Ch 5 Chance Most games contain at least some factors that are random or not repeatable. For instance, many card games involve a random shuffle. Combat in most RPGs includes a variable damage range. A game like Rock-Paper-Scissors has dynamics that appear random, even without any random mechanics

Chance in Games Games that include an element of luck are approachable and winnable by a wider audience. A game is “solvable” if the entire possibility space is known ahead of time and can be exploited so that a player, playing correctly can always win/tie Solvable games are not automatically bad. Consider chess, it has a large possibility space Adding the random element keeps the game “fresh”

Make play competitive for all players Random elements that occasionally allow a less experienced player to win With a random element, players must cope with a wider variety of situations Adding random elements in the right ways can increase the variety of a player’s experience, thus increasing the replay value of a game The level of excitement or tension created by chance increases in direct proportion to how much one has riding on the results With random elements in a game, there is no longer a strategy that is always right

Mechanics of chance Roll the dice Cards pseudo-random numbers Hidden information / fog of war Measured randomness: is poker skill or luck

Completely Random Games two general kinds of games that involve pure chance: children’s games, and gambling games In children’s games, the decision making is rather limited. You do what the game tells you to do based on the random outcome The defining mechanic of gambling games is that real money is won and lost in the process. Without money at stake, pure-luck gambling games quickly lose their appeal. Most gambling games, even those that are pure chance, still offer choices

Ch 6 Skill Strategy is a very powerful draw for players A good game is a series of interesting decisions The success of decisions is a measure of player skill Good games cause players to exercise their skills frequently and reward them with immediate and obvious feedback. The player gets into the “flow” of the game

Decisions The extent that the player’s actions affect the outcome of the game is broadly classified as “skill” a game designer focusing on the player experience should give a great deal of thought to what these decisions are, and why making them is fun or interesting or compelling A game is called balanced if the choices are weighted so that there is no single best method that always wins. When games offer several viable paths to victory, and players must choose between them based on their personal styles and environmental factors in the game, the decisions made are quite interesting

Types of decisions Obvious decisions: are not particularly compelling because there is no reason to make any choice other than the optimal one Meaningless decisions: a choice with no right or wrong answers at all. With the exception of some narratives, these should be removed from the game Blind decisions: not interesting because the player has no information to base his/her choice on

Types of decisions tradeoffs happen whenever a player doesn’t have enough resources to accomplish all of his goals (buy a better weapon or some better armor or a new spell) dilemma is similar to a tradeoff, but occurs when all choices will harm the player risk versus reward tradeoff happens when the player finds herself faced with a situation that has multiple outcomes, but whose level of risk is different

Decision Frequency The quality of a game is affected if the player is only making decisions every 20 minutes versus every second, even if those decisions at the 20-minute mark are significant. A designer’s goal, at its lowest level, is to keep the player’s brain busy with possibilities

strategy and tactics A grand strategy is the overarching means to achieving an ultimate, long-term goal. A grand strategy consists of several supporting strategies, intermediate goals that must be performed in order to achieve the grand strategy Tactics are the lowest-level micro-decisions made when carrying out a strategy: infantry maneuvers, whether to order an air strike, and when to start firing are tactical decisions made during a military battle. These are also known as macro- and micro-choices

strategy and tactics players in a game make strategic decisions when they are planning for the long term (where “long” is relative to the length of the game), and tactical decisions when they are achieving short-term goals

Skill Games Most games that are entirely skill are physically based action games. This is probably because it is not about getting the right answer but getting it quickly.

Mechanics of Skill Tradeoff mechanics: a variety of auctions purchases limited use special abilities dynamic limited use special abilities explicit choices limited actions trade and negotiation

Strategic Evaluation How do game designers assess the success of the strategy and tactics? Do players care when other players are taking their turn? Are players making long-term plans? Are there multiple strategies for multiple games?