sticky from the start stieg hedlund, turpitude llc austin game developers’ conference, 2008
TRANSCRIPT
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Sticky from the Start
Stieg Hedlund, Turpitude LLC
Austin Game Developers’ Conference,
2008
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5 Keys to Stickiness:
Set Ups and Pay Offs
Consistency and Dependability
Feedback and Rewards
Reasons to Stay/ Return
Personal Stakes
Building a Sticky Game Mechanic
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Sticky from the Player Perspective
• A challenge to be conquered can be fun, but not
necessarily sticky
• Stickiness focuses on the journey, not the
destination
Sticky systems keep players engaged.
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Diablo II – What Made it Sticky?
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A Short History of RPGs
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
1974: D&D – 1st commercial tabletop RPG
1975: Dungeon – 1st Computer RPG
1980: Akalabeth – 1st successful CRPG
1991: Neverwinter Nights, 1st Graphical MUD
1996: Diablo released
Tabletops Early Electronics
Middle Electronics
From 1991 to 1996…
Is the RPG dead?
1985-1990: Bard’s Tale, D&D 2nd edition, Dungeon Master the First Action RPG, Might & Magic, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, and others
RPGs stagnate
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• Stripped down CRPG residue:– No die rolling for character creation– No upfront character customization– No EDO storyline (elves/dwarves/orcs!)– No dialogue trees or moral choices
Diablo
Real-Time Combat +Deep, Rich Gameplay= The New Action RPG
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Diablo’s Shortcomings
• Separate single- and multiplayer
• Peer-to-peer
• Classes didn’t differ enough and lacked clear
progression paths
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A Quick Aside on Vision vs. Feedback….
• A loud minority wanted the cruft back!
• Diablo II explored new ground instead of
regressing
REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE IN THE TIMELINE:
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
RPGs stagnate
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Differentiating Diablo II
Game “ X ”
Loot based
Character Evolution
Game “ Y ”
Game “ Z ”
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Set Ups and Pay Offs
• Sticky games need aspirational hooks
for players
• Foreshadowing in gameplay—
What am I playing for?
Back to Stickiness Key #1
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The Importance of Class Progression
• RPGs are about character progression– This concern trumps all others
• Classes need specific and differentiated
gameplay– also customization, deepening the differentiations
A new game mechanic was needed!
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Inspiration Strikes
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Diablo II's Big Innovation
• Introducing the Skill Tree
• Skill Trees are sticky:– Predictable yet
personalized advancement– Tangible improvements at
every level– Scarcity of points gives
consequences to choices
No mysteries here: The entire skill tree is visible from the start
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What About the Other Stickiness Keys?
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Stickiness Key #2
Consistency and Dependability
• Let players play on their own terms
• Predictability and anticipation of rewards
keeps players playing
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Power to the Player!
• A single “Skill Point” is given at each level up
• Skill points and Trees allow players to customize
builds
• Reaching advanced skills requires planning
and commitment, but also has significant
payoffs along the way
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Stickiness Key #3
Feedback and Rewards
• Digital rewards with tangible effects– Analog boosts can supplement
• Overlapping reward systems
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The Ding! Factor
• Diablo II features digital rewards for leveling up:– You can use equipment you couldn’t before– Your avatar’s health and mana increase– You receive new attribute points– You receive new skill points
• Allocating those skill points gives a tangible increase
in power
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Digital vs. Analog Rewards
Time
Reward
Analog Reward SystemDigital Reward System
Hybrid Reward System
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The Ding! Factor
• You immediately receive health and mana
increases, and go to full:– You are likely to be in combat, so you get a mid-battle
bonus– You don’t stop and walk back to town to train skills
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Stickiness Key #4
Reasons to Stay/ Return
• Next level
• Better equipment
• “Just one more turn!”, etc., etc.
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Leveling
• Leveling gives players predictable and
meaningful rewards—keeps them playing
• Beginning players quickly gain new skills, getting
them invested
• Long term goals make even grinding a
meaningful experience
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“Bad dream, honey?”
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Stickiness Key #5
Personal Stakes
• Your avatar
• Your skills
• Your points/ money/ items
• Your ability to share with others….
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Choices with Consequences
• The scarcity of skill points results in choices with
consequences:– Scarce points force the player to choose a focus– Subclasses and Sub-Subclasses and Hybrids are
emergent:• Players were exploring and inventing
– Proving them out– Fine-tuning and– Sharing with the community
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Other Consequences
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Sub-Subclasses
• The skill tree system was surprisingly successful especially in the number of viable builds:– The Amazon Class* for example provides (at least):
Bowazons: Mageazon Vamp Dexazon Speedazon Sniper Mutli-Strafer Multizon Burizon Rebel
Javazons: Lightning Fury Staticzon Poison Viper
Spearazons: Spearazon Jabazon Impalazon Fendazon Tankazon
Hybrids: Lightning Fury Mother of
Elements Elemental
Maiden Themes:
Demon Hunter Undead Hunter Goldfinder Angelzon Stormcaster
* diabloii.net Diablo II Strategy Compendium, Amazon Subclasses, author: “Kristy”
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Building Skill Trees
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Skill Tree Checklist
• Create and Subclasses (and Sub-Subclasses)
– Distinct builds: Do skills warrant their own branch?
– Expectation: Do skills make sense to the class?
– Viable builds: Will the skills be useful to players?
– Aspirational: Could I see myself looking forward to this skill?
– Non-Redundant: Will this skill become obsolete later?
– Synergistic: Will this branch work with other branches in interesting ways?
– Orthogonal skill factors
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Skill Tree Pitfalls
• Cookie-cutter builds
• Emergence leads to unforeseen imbalances
• Generally uniformity of character identities
cross games
• Elder game systems like Raiding dictate specific
builds
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Avoiding the Pitfalls
• Play the hell out of your game– Hire designers/ exploiters– Scaling problems
• Simulations allow quick deployment of character builds and testing outside of the game
• Look beyond games for inspiration– Games become self referential
• Use the keys, throw away unnecessary forms
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Skill Trees in Other Games
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World of Warcraft
• Separation of skills/ talents that define the class
from specializations
• Web-based avatar build minigame
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Hellgate: London
• All on a single screen is difficult for a player to
understand
• The classes are understood
more by analogy to
other games;
Blademaster = Paladin?
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The Stickiness Keys Again
Set Ups and Pay Offs
Consistency and
Dependability
Feedback and Rewards
Reasons to Stay/ Return
Personal Stakes
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Key 1: Positive Application
• World of Warcraft’s Draenei starting
experience gives players a taste of mounts
and powerful enchantments within the first
10 levels
– Expectations quickly setfor high level play
– Appetites whetted for progression to higher levels
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Key 1: Negative Application
• Star Wars Galaxies made becoming a Jedi so
difficult that many players lost interest
before getting a taste of what brought them
to the game to begin with
– The game went against player expectations onbecoming “Jedi”
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Key 2: Positive Application
• In Grand Theft Auto IV, players can drop any
objectives and go on a criminal joyride at
will, knowing that they can always come
back to the mission later.
– The GTA series quickly establishe that players are free to pretty much do whatever
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Key 2: Negative Application
• In Final Fantasy XI, abruptly becomes
group-mandatory, alienating players who
might have enjoyed early levels solo.
– The formula changes suddenly, which can drive players away
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Key 3: Positive Application
• Super Smash Brothers Brawl has numerous
systems of rewards and collectables. Great
for the audience.
– Don’t like stickers? How about trophies.
– Don’t like trophies? How about music.
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Key 3: Negative Application
• Achievements on the new Mega Man 9
are…
HARDCOREZ! Great for hardcore audience,
but if they wanted to appeal to a more
mainstream group…
– Beat the game in less than 60 minutes
– Clear the gamewithout dying
– Clear the game 5 timesin one day
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Key 4: Positive Application
• Rare Pokémon that only come out during
certain conditions, such as specific days or
hours.
– Players on the quest to “catch ‘em all” will continually look forthe rare must haves
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Key 4: Negative Application
• Total destruction of your village and loss of
all your resources in Travian which forces
the player to start over.
– A simple design flaw, plus the chance that you start near an advanced player = the potential for maximum frustration
– Why return after that?
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Key 5: Positive Application
• Wii Fit Charts your actual weight gain/ loss
—you can’t get much more "personally
invested”
– Tracking your actual performanceties you to the game very well, aslong as you don’t get frustrated
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Key 5: Negative Application
• You begin playing MGS2: Sons of Liberty as
Snake but play the majority of the game as
a new character that didn’t have any
player investment.
– Players were committed to Snake after MGS1
– The change-up was not what players expected or wanted
!
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