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Formal Design Tools
Feedback Systems
and the Dramatic Structure of Competition
A rant by MAHK
GDC 1999
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Game Design Fortune Cookies
• “Aimless wandering is the enemy of fun.”
• “Hardship is not the same as gameplay.”
• “Create compelling illusions, not realistic simulations.”
• “Know your roots.”
• “50,000,000 Elvis fans can’t be wrong.”
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The Alternative: Formal Design Tools
• Rules, Models, Techniques
• Well-defined
• Abstract (i.e. cross-genre)
• Day-to-day utility
• Well-understood application context
• Lenses, not value statements
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Lecture Overview
• Context: Competitions
• Feedback Systems– Definition– Positive & Negative Feedback– Application to Games
• Dramatic Structure – Definition– Application to Games– Drama-Creation Techniques
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Obligatory Disclaimers
• This is really pointy-headed.
• There will be math.
• No LaPlace transforms; No game theory.
• This may be review.
• Leave now.
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Part 1: Feedback SystemsA feedback system monitors and regulates its own output.
Room
Too Cold
Too Hot
Example: An Ideal Thermostat
Thermometer
Controller
Cooler
Heater
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The Thermostat System is Negative Feedback
• Reduces the difference between the actual temperature and the target temperature.
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Negative Feedback Systems:
• Drive their output towards a target value.
• Keep their output within an acceptable range.
• Are stable.
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Positive Feedback
Room
Too Cold
Too Hot
Thermometer
Controller
Cooler
Heater
Example: The Evil Anti-Thermostat
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Positive Feedback Systems:
• Drive their output away from the “target” value.
• Left to their own devices, will drive their output to infinity.
• Are unstable.
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Troom = + F(Troom – Tthermostat)
In Other Words:
Troom = – F(Troom – Tthermostat)
Or…
F(x) is any increasing function.
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Feedback Systems in Games
Game State “Scoring Function”
ControllerGame MechanicalBias
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Example: Negative Feedback Basketball
For every N points of difference in the two teams’ scores, the losing team may have an extra player in play.
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Laptop Motivation Slide
This is the point in my talk where my laptop crashed at the GDC in march.
A round of encouraging applause, please, to my laptop, for making it this far.
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Positive Feedback Basketball
For every N points of difference in the two teams’ scores, the winning team may have an extra player in play.
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In Other Words:
Sme = – F(Sme – Syou)
F(x) is any increasing function Sme and Syou are the two teams’ scores.
Or…
Sme = + F(Sme – Syou)
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Feedback Rule #1
• Negative feedback stabilizes the game.
• Positive feedback destabilizes the game.
• Stability is game balance.
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Feedback Rule #2
• Negative feedback forgives the loser.
• Positive feedback rewards the winner.
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Feedback Rule #3
• Negative feedback can prolong the game.
• Positive feedback can end it.
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Feedback Rule #4
• Positive feedback magnifies early successes.
• Negative feedback magnifies late ones.
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The Most Common Example: The Intrinsic Negative Feedback
in Many-Player Games
“Everybody gang up on the scourge!”
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Other Feedback Examples
• Battle Arena Toshinden: desperation moves (negative)
• Civilization: exponential growth (positive)
• Wing Commander: system damage (positive)
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One More Example: An Auto Racing Game with Guns
• Front-mounted guns: negative feedback
• Rear-mounted guns: positive feedback
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Feedback Rule #5
Feedback systems can emerge from your game systems “by accident.”
Be sure to identify them.
• Many-player games• Simulations
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Feedback Rule #6
When two different feedback systems are in conflict, one will overwhelm the other.
• There’s no equilibrium
• Small biases matter
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Feedback Rule #7
Players are stabilizing influences.
The player who is ahead:
• Sandbags
• Gets lazy
• Has too many options
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Feedback Rule #8
Feedback systems can take control away from the players.
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Feedback Summary
• Feedback systems exist in games– Negative feedback stabilizes the game.
– Positive feedback destabilizes the game.
– Some feedback systems are emergent.
– Both positive and negative feedback are useful to game designers.
On to Part 2...
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Part 2: Dramatic StructureD
ram
atic
Ten
sion
Narrative Time
Conflict Resolution
Climax
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Dramatic Structure
• “Formal tool for narrative design.”
• Competition can have dramatic structure.
• Some games have both competition & narrative.
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Dramatic Structure In Games
• Creates a sense of “wholeness.”
• Provides a larger context for small decisions.
• Creates games that make good stories.
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What Creates Dramatic Tension?
• Competition is Conflict.
• Uncertainty: The winner is unknown.
• Inevitability: – Resolution is imminent.– The game is moving forward.
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Dramatic tension does not guarantee dramatic structure.
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Dramatic Structure Examples
• Basketball (organized vs. pick-up)– Clock creates inevitability
• Magic: The Gathering– Deck, Mana create inevitability.
• Deathmatch– Small-scale drama in each confrontation– No overall structure
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Creating Inevitability
• Approach the end of the game through:– A non-reversible process.– A non-renewable resource.
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Creating Uncertainty
• We want the game to feel close.
• Thus, negative feedback systems can induce uncertainty.
• Other stabilizing forces also work.
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Timing the Climax
• Too Early: – Too much time spent knowing who will win.– Players become spectators.
• Too Late:– End of game takes the players by surprise.– A moment of realization is necessary.
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Timing the Climax
In games, the climax comes relatively late, because:
• Again, competition is conflict.
• It does in narrative.
• Some resolution occurs after the game ends.
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Resolving Dramatic Tension
• Maintain the same sense of inevitability (i.e. the same non-reversible process.)
• Replace uncertainty with certainty, through de-stabilizing forces (e.g. positive feedback).
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Example: Basketball
• Negative feedback moves climax later.
• Positive feedback moves it earlier.
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Example: StarCraft
• Uncertainty– Fog of War
• Inevitability – Finite raw materials– Time is a resource
• Uncertainty erodes over time.
• Exponential growth eventually destabilizes.
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Example: Titan
Details:– “Build & Conquer” game– Fighting costs units (attrition).– Winning fights earns units & power– Attrition remains constant, but rewards
increase.
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Example: Titan• Early game:
– Costs outweigh rewards– Stable & uncertain
• Late game:– Rewards outweigh costs– Unstable & certain
• Weak sense of inevitability.
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Example: FireTeam Deathmatch
Details:– Deathmatch with teams.– Phase 1: Infinite resurrection, earn lives.– Phase 2: Finite resurrection, spend lives.
(Phase 2 has positive feedback)
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Example: FireTeam Deathmatch
• Inevitability– Time limit
• Uncertainty– Phase 1 is stable & uncertain– Phase 2 is unstable & certain
• Phase 1 is longer than Phase 2; late climax
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Example: You Don’t Know Jack
• Uncertainty– Questions increase in value over time.– High-Scoring bonus rounds late in the game.
• Inevitability – Fixed game length
• Can easily climax too early
• Random feedback elements
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A Newtonian Metaphor
• Dramatic Tension = Potential Energy
• Stabilizing/Destabilizing Forces = Force
• Forward Progress = Distance
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Dramatic Structure Summary
Games can benefit from dramatic structure.– Non-reversible processes create inevitability.– Stabilizing forces create uncertainty.– Resolve the tension you create.
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Questions?
www2.lglass.com/~mahk
Shameless Plug: GDC 2000Formal Design Tools:
Emergent Complexity, Emergent Narrative