game mechanics-puzzles (nielsquinten)

Game Mechanics, Balance & Puzzles

Waarom?• To improve our games!

Game Mechanics• “Game mechanics are methods invoked by agents, designed

for interaction with the game state.” (sicart)

• http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart

Game Mechanics• Methods => werkwoorden• E.g. Schieten, springen, draaien, etc.

• Agents => spelers en Non-player characters (NPC’s)• Interaction with the game state => Agents veranderen iets

aan de game state.

Game Mechanics• Zoek de game mechanics..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziT7FDL4tXo

• Is dit een game mechanic?http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PvewR66iCUE#t=164s

Game mechanics & regels• “Game mechanics are concerned with the actual interaction

with the game state, while rules provide the possibility space where that interaction is possible […]” Sicart

• Spelregels vertellen hoe game mechanics gebruikt kunnen worden. E.g. een schaker kan een schaakstuk verplaatsen (mechanic), maar mag geen twee schaakstukken in hetzelfde vak plaatsen (regel).

Wat komt er kijken bij game mechanics?• Space• Objects, attributes, and states• Skill• Chance

Space• In welke ruimte kunnen de game mechanics gebruikt worden?

• Discrete vs. continuous space• OXO vs. Pooltafel

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FoCKsP2wVvg#t=255s

• Nested space (een ruimte in een ruimte)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=74eL

OYIXshs#t=122s

• Zero-space

Objects, attributes, and states• Objecten => Characters, props, tokens, scoreboards, anything

that can be seen or manipulated in your game falls into this category. E.g. Een auto

• Elk object heeft attributen of categorieën van waarde (gelijkaardig aan variablen in OOP) E.g. Het attribuut ‘snelheid’ of ‘kleur’ van een auto

• Tijdens het spelen heeft elk object een staat afhankelijk van de attributen. E.g. de snelheid is 150km/h

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN8AJ8Plgvw

Skill• Fysieke skills => skills involving strength, dexterity,

coordination, and physical endurance.• E.g. Dance, dance revolution

• Mentale skills => skills of memory, observation, and puzzle solving.• E.g. Sudoku

• Sociale skills => reading an opponent (guessing what he is thinking), fooling an opponent, and coordinating with teammates.• E.g. Poker

Chance• Chance is an essential part of a fun game because chance

means uncertainty, and uncertainty means surprises.• Chance kun je bv. genereren met dobbelstenen of een

random() functie.

• Voor de geïnteresseerden: Ten Rules of Probability Every Game Designer Should Know, p155, Book of Lenses

Chance• Chance moet je balanceren:

Chance• Mensen doen vaak geen koelbloedige kansberekeningen• -> Risk aversion, loss aversion, ..

• E.g. Risk aversion: A person is given the choice between two scenarios, one with a guaranteed payoff and one without. In the guaranteed scenario, the person receives $50. In the uncertain scenario, a coin is flipped to decide whether the person receives $100 or nothing. (Wikipedia)

Balance• Think of it like creating a new recipe — it is one thing to

determine the ingredient you need, but another to decide how much of each to use, and how they should be combined.

1. Fairness• Symmetrical Games• to give equal resources and powers to all players.

• Asymmetrical Games• To simulate a real-world situation (war)• To give players another way to explore the gamespace. (mortal

combat)• Personalization (world of warcraft)• To level the playing field

2. Challenge vs. Success• Flow => If play is too challenging, the player becomes

frustrated. But if the player succeeds too easily, they can become bored.

2. Challenge vs. Success• Heeft Kabul Kaboom een goede challenge vs. Success balans?

http://ludology.typepad.com/games/kabulkaboom.html

2. Challenge vs. Success• Increase difficulty with each success.• Let players get through easy parts fast.• Create “layers of challenge. ” (de speler punten geven, en

onder een bepaald percentage moeten ze het level opnieuw doen)

• Let players choose the difficulty level. (easy, medium, hard)• Playtest with a variety of players.

• As a designer, it makes sense to ask yourself “What percentage of players do I want to be able to complete this game? ” and then design for that.

3. Meaningful Choices• Not just any choices, but choices that will have a real impact

on what happens next, and how the game turns out.

• Keuzes die meteen effect hebben, maar ook in het verder verloop van de game effect hebben. E.g. Tetris, een blokje verkeerd zetten geeft meteen weer dat die rij(en) een opening hebben, en daar moet je verder in het spel rekening mee gaan houden.

• Once a dominant strategy is discovered, the game is no longer fun => e.g. een aangepast versie van rock, paper, siccor

3. Meaningful choice

4. Skill vs. Chance• Een goed game heeft een goede balans tussen skill & chance

(afhankelijk van het type spel). • Veel skill zonder chance kan voorspelbaar worden• Veel chance zonder skill kan de speler een gevoel geven dat

zijn inbreng er niet toe doet => saai

• E.g. poker => delen van handen is chance, hoe je ze speelt skill

5. Head vs. Hands• How much of the game should involve doing a challenging

physical activity (be it steering, throwing, or pushing buttons dexterously) and how much of it should involve thinking?

6. Competition vs. Cooperation• Determining who is most skilled at something is a basic human

urge. Games of competition can satisfy that urge.

• Cooperation/Collaborating and succeeding as a team is a special pleasure that can create lasting social bonds

• Wat is het verschil tussen cooperation en collaboration?

• Geen reden om ze beide niet samen te zetten. E.g. FPS multiplayers, samenwerken in één team tegen een ander team

7. Short vs. Long• If the game is too short, players may not get a chance to

develop and execute meaningful strategies. But if the game goes on too long, players may grow bored, or they may avoid the game because playing it requires too much of a time commitment. E.g. Minotaur -> als het spel te lang duurt, Armageddon!

8. Rewards• Praise. Points. Prolonged Play. A Gateway (new parts to play).

Spectacle. Expression Powers. Resources. • Gradually increase the value of the rewards as the player

progresses in the game. • A good way to keep people from getting acclimated to rewards

is to make them variable instead of fixed. • E.g. geef niet altijd 15 punten bij het verslaan van een vijand,

maar 1/3de kans voor 20 punten en 2/3de kans op 10 punten

9. Punishment• Punishment creates endogenous (deeper) value. (Resources in

a game are worth more if there is a chance they can be taken away.)

• Taking risks is exciting.• Possible punishment increases challenge.

9. Punishment• Many of them are simply rewards in reverse.

• Shaming• Loss of points.• Shortened Play• Terminated Play • Setback• Removal of Powers• Resource Depletion

• Praise• Points• Prolonged Play• A Gateway (new parts to play)• Spectacle• Expression Powers• Resources

9. Punishment• One thing that psychological study has shown is that reward is

always a better tool for reinforcement than punishment.

10 .Freedom vs. Control• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MloaJR2YkGA

• Vs.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nxaSt0aOxj0#t=176s

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnck2oXdxMo

11. Simple vs. Complex• Innate complexity => When the very rules of the game get

very complex, I call this innate complexity. This is the kind of complexity that often gets a bad name.

• Emergent complexity => This is the kind of complexity that everyone praises. Games like Go that have a very simple rule set that gives rise to very complex situations are said to have emergent complexity.

11. Simple vs. Complex• Elegance => Elegance is one of the most desirable qualities in

any game, because it means you have a game that is simple to learn and understand, but is full of interesting emergent complexity.

Puzzles• The thing we really care about is how to create good puzzles

that will improve our games. Here are ten principles of puzzle design that can be useful in any game genre.

1. Make the Goal Easily understood

• If players aren’t sure what they are supposed to do, they will quickly lose interest, unless figuring out what to do is actually fun.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jmORLxAgip8#t=156s

2. Make It Easy to Get Started• When you present a puzzle to players (or a game of any kind),

they should be able to clearly visualize what their first few steps would be.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QxXkcg-stLE#t=135s

3. Give a Sense of Progress• Players need to see that they are making progress when

solving a difficult problem.

• Dit is de 35ste slide, nog 8 slides te gaan!

4. Give a Sense of Solvability• If players begin to suspect that your puzzle is not solvable,

they will become afraid that they are hopelessly wasting their time and give up in disgust. You need to convince them that it is solvable.

5. Increase Difficulty Gradually• Most puzzles are solved by taking a series of actions that are

often small steps toward a chain of goals that leads to solving the puzzle. It is these actions that should gradually increase in difficulty.

• Braid (http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/04/10/download-braid-demo/)

6. Parallelism Lets the Player Rest

• Give them several different related puzzles at once. This way, if they get tired of banging their head on one of them, they can go off and try another for a while.

7. Pyramid Structure Extends Interest

• This means a series of small puzzles that each give some kind of clue to a larger puzzle.

8. Hints Extend Interest• Sometimes when a player is about to give up on your puzzle in

frustration and disgust, a well-timed hint can renew their hope and their curiosity.

9. Give the Answer!• Sure, it’s a little sweeter if you solved it yourself, but if you

have given serious consideration to a problem, your problem-solving brain is primed for a rush of pleasure at merely seeing or hearing the answer.

10. Perceptual Shifts are a Double-Edged Sword• When a player is able to make the perceptual shift, they

receive a great deal of pleasure and solve the puzzle. But if they are not able to make the perceptual shift, they get nothing.

• 6 lucifers => probeer vier gelijkvormige driehoeken te maken => je mag enkel de uiteindes van de lucifers met elkaar verbinden..

10. Perceptual Shifts are a Double-Edged Sword• http://www.metacafe.com/watch/621789/how_do_you_mak

e_4_triangles_with_6_matches/