Posted by Brice on June 13, 2010
“I hate World of Warcraft.”
“What? Have you ever even played it?”
“Yes.”
“How far did you get?”
“I got to about level 60.”
“And you didn’t like it?”
“No. I hated it.”
I was amazed to find that a friend of mine had put in weeks of time into Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, and yet he felt like he didn’t have any fun. He described the experience as though he was being tricked into playing, that he was “grinding” all the time. He kept on playing, but for some reason, had an internal struggle that pulled him forward without providing excitement or enjoyment. He was miserable.
Most gamers know the term “grinding”. Grinding can and has been called many things, but generally it is defined as when the player needs to do the same thing over and over again in order to progress, seemingly for arbitrary reasons. Dragon Quest was one of the classic RPG’s that seemed to be defined by grinding. Enemies would suddenly appear that required the player be at Level 15 in order to beat, when currently the player was probably around Level 12. The result? In order to go further, the player needed to go back and fight the same old monsters over and over again, until their Level was high enough.
Grind is generally viewed as a bad thing. But rather than just complain about it, how can a grind be understood from a game developer’s perspective? Is there ever a time a grind should be used, and how can it be avoided? WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on May 16, 2010
Great Dungeon in the Sky is a fun little indie game that made its rounds online a while back, “little” describing the size of the character on screen and not the depth of the game. If you haven’t played it, it’s a simple action sidescroller with an expansive world to explore and conquer in rapid fashion. But in addition to being an enjoyable indie title, Great Dungeon in the Sky stands out as a stellar example of one of the most important lessons in game design: how to cheaply extend game length.
By “cheap” we mean some design that doesn’t require a great deal of work on the part of the programmer or developer. And for student developers who are busy with school and other pursuits, cheap development is essential. Sure, you could make your game twice as long by putting twice as many hours into new features and artwork, but if you can get that same amount of length without the effort and without lowering the quality of the experience, that’s a big win. 20% more work for 80% more game? That’s a trade that every developer should be searching for.
Lengthening a game is an art, however. Stretch the features too thin and the game becomes stale and boring. A good developer will be able to pull the game’s design right up to the point of breaking; a fully realized and fully explored system that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Hours of fun for the player and hours of development time saved for the creator.
Great Dungeon could have easily been a game that took only 10 minutes to complete. You jump around attacking enemies and advancing through the levels, and you’re done. But the game doesn’t stop there. Many games have character select screens, but this game’s character select screen has something…unusual going on… WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Brice on December 25, 2009
What makes a person want to continue playing a game? What takes a game from a 30 second experience to a 30 hour experience?
To answer this, we’ll have to start from the beginning: Why did the player begin playing the game in the first place? Fun and enjoyment are the most obvious answers. The thrill of the chase, the challenge, the quest! The opportunity to interact with others, to improve one’s skills, or to go on an adventure. All of these are examples of Core Experiences, which gets people to start playing a game. People want to have interesting experiences, and games are one way to fulfill that.
How about once they start playing, what does the player do then? They got there because they were seeking the Core Experience, and then they begin to enter into the game itself. They jump, they run, the roll dice, they make moves. They begin to interact with the game and perform actions within the game’s construct. Seeking an Experience, they are beginning with the Base Mechanics. They are beginning to become coordinated, so to speak, to learn to move and live in the game’s world.
Once they get going with the Base Mechanics, then they begin to learn the broader gameplay. They learn that they need to look before they jump, that they should treat villagers with respect when discussing delicate matters, and that they need to use the red bullets when fighting the red enemies. They begin to map out the interconnections between the actions they are making and the results the game is serving them. They are making their way through the Punishment and Reward Systems, learning what behaviors are encouraged and which ones aren’t. Building on top of the Base Mechanics, the P&R Systems draw them even deeper into the game and to the Core Experience they were originally seeking.
But then what?
After the player has learned the game, how it works, how it interacts with them, what makes them continue playing? What could cause a player to perform the same actions, the same strategies, the same rituals, over and over, yet enjoying themselves at every step?
Enter the fourth Game Design Canvas component: The Long Term Incentive. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »