Framework for designing and evaluating game

achievementsJuho Hamari & Veikko Eranti

Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT

YO DAWG! WE HEARD YOU LIKE ACHIEVEMENTS SO WE PUT AN ACHIEVEMENT IN THIS ACHIEVEMENT PRESENTATION SO YOU CAN GET ACHIEVEMENTS WHILE YOU DESIGN ACHIEVEMENTS

Note

• Most of the slides have further descriptions, please view them by opening the “Speaker notes” -tab below.

What we did

• Analysed achievements from several systems, e.g. Xbox Live, Steam, Kongregate, Habbo, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,World of Warcraft and Foursquare– Focused particularly on achievements from 9 games in Steam

platform – ~1000h played, 475/720 achievements unlocked at the time

• The aim of the presentation is to provide a descriptive model that illustrates the structure of a game achievement – Helps to break down an achievement to analytical components– Helps in systematic design and evaluation of achievements

Achievements

What is a game achievement? Two perspectives

• From perspective of the achievement system:– Achievement is a ‘quest’ in an achievement completion game, – consists of

• a signifying element, • one or more completion logics • and rewards

– and whose fulfilment conditions are defined through events in other systems (such as other games)

• From perspective of a system that its tied to:– Achievement is a metagame pattern – whose

• optional task • possible reward(s)

– are independent of a single game session and are handed down from other system(s)

Achievement

Name Visual

Description

Trigger(action/event)

Conditions

In-game Out-game

Achievement game

Signifier

Completion logic

Reward

Multiplier (1-n)

Level (1-n)

Condition

PrerequirementsPre-requirement

1-n

1-n

0-n

0-n

The model of agame achievement

… in the next slideswe will look atthe components in moredetail

Signifier

1/3 element of an achievement

- Name- Visual- Description

Signifier

The “user interface” to the achievement, i.e. what the user sees

• Name• Visual• Description of the central parts of the

unlocking logic, the consequences and rewards.

Name Visual

Description

Signifier: name

• The name of the achievement

Signifier: visual

• The visual representation most commonly includes the two-state icon (locked/un-locked) related to the name and the description of the achievement. Other common implementations include for example more generalized badges and trophies.

Signifier: description

description of • the central parts of the unlocking logic• consequences and rewards

– The description is often intentionally obscured to make the players figure out what they have to do themselves

– Iron horse –achievement from Alan Wake

SignifierComponent Cooking the books Barista

Name Cooking the Books (Team Fortress 2)

Barista (Foursquare)

Visual

Description “Ignite 5 enemies carrying your team’s intelligence”.

“Congrats - you've checked in at 5 different Starbucks! Be sure to pick up a double tall latte for your friend - I'm sure they'd do the same for you.”

Completion logic(s)

2/3 element of an achievement

- Trigger (Action / event)- Conditions- Pre-requirements- Multiplier

Condition

Pre-requirement

Completion logics

• Trigger, a player or system invoked event• Conditions in which the trigger must go off• Pre-requirements for the game session• Multiplier: how many times the three

previous component have to be fulfilled at the same time

The element that contains the “under the hood” logic and requirements how the achievement can be completed

Trigger(action/event)

Completion logic

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Pre-requirement

1-n

0-n

0-n

Completion logic: trigger

• a player-invoked action or • a system-invoked event

…that is required to happen in order to complete an achievement.

Completion logic: trigger cont.

• Actions?– Actions or

• Run, shoot

– Resultant action – a set of actions that forms a ‘larger’ action

• Go, kill

• Which abstraction level is more reasonable for designing achievements?

Completion logic: conditions

Condition-component includes the

requirements directed to • the gamestate (which the player or other players can

manipulate during the session)• the historical events in the game session that have to

exist when the trigger (action or event) goes off

…to be counted toward completion of the achievement.

Completion logic: conditions

• “The Harder They Fall” -achievement in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with conditions of killing enemies while they are still mid-air, not conducting other kills in between (and with a pre-requirement of a game mode)

Conditions:• How• When• Where• In what timeframe• With whom• … etc

Completion logic: pre-requirements

Pre-requirements are requirements for the game session where the achievement is possible to be completed in either due to …

• availability of a certain gamestate or • simply because the achievement requires it

Completion logic: pre-requirementsexamples

• Difficulty setting• Map• Game mode• Character class• Season• … even the requirements of a correct game

• Settings that have to exists before the game session begins

Pre-requirement examples

• 6 different game modes

• Halloween season

• The ”first blood” buff only in arena mode

• Insane difficulty

Completion logic: multiplier

• The amount of times the trigger has to go off in the pre-required game setting while required conditions are satisfied to unlock a given achievement.

• Simply: How many times…

Completion logic(s)

• There can be multiple completion logics in one achievement– Can have different trigger, pre-requirements or

conditions

• For example, different pre-requirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Trigger(action/event)

Multiplier (1-n)

Condition

Prerequirement

Summary: Completion logicComponent Cooking the books Barista (Foursquare)

Pre-requirements

Player has to play as a Pyro (only they can ignite), playmode has to be Capture the Flag (intelligence is available only in CTF).

None

Trigger (action/event)

Doing fire damage to another player

Checking into a Starbuck.

ConditionsThe player ignited was carrying the intelligence.

Starbucks cafe is in the range from the GPS coordinates of the player. The user hasn’t checked-in in the same Starbucks location before.

Multiplier 5 5

Reward(s)

3/3 element of an achievement

- Achievement game- In-game- Out-game

Rewards

Element that defines the different rewards (if any) of the achievement

Rewards can have value in/for• In-game• Outside game• Achievement game

In-game Out-game

Achievement game

Reward 1-n

Reward: achievement game

• Points towards the scoring system of the achievement meta-game or other benefits in the meta-game

Reward: in-game

• Rewards, such as new abilities, into the game where the completion of the achievement was carried out

Ambassador(Team Fortress 2 – Spy milestone 1)

Base: 34Max Ramp Up: 150% (51 damage)Max Fall Off: 52% (18 damage)Point-Blank: 46-56Medium Range: 31-37Long Range: 15-19Mini-Crit: 46Critical hit (headshot only): 102

Reward: out-game

• Rewards that are external to the achievement meta-game and the game itself.

Alien Swarm Parasite - hat(Unlocked in Alien Swarm, rewarded in Team Fortress 2)

Double Tall Latte (Foursquare)

RewardComponent Cooking the books Barista

In-game (One point towards the achievement milestones which award in-game weapons)

One point in the Foursquare. Helps towards a mayorship of given café etc.

Achievement game

1 point in the Steam achievement system

(1 point in the Foursquare achievement system)

Out-game A second double latte.

Achievement

Name

VisualDescription

Trigger(action/event)

In-game Out-gameAchievement game

Signifier

Completion logic

Reward

Multiplier (1-n)

Level (1-n)

Condition

Pre-requirements

1-n

Achievement

Name Visual

Description

Trigger(action/event)

Conditions

In-game Out-game

Achievement game

Signifier

Completion logic

Reward

Multiplier (1-n)

Level (1-n)

Condition

PrerequirementsPre-requirement

1-n

1-n

0-n

0-n

It is also important to think about these:

• Category (to what category does the achievement belong to)

• Type (for example: guidance, realization, social)

• Goal (to what activity does the achievement attempt to entice users to)

• User segment: (to which segment of users is the achievement mainly targeted to)

• Difficulty (to unlock)

References• Björk, S., & Holopainen, J. (2005). Patterns in Game Design. Boston,

Massachusetts: Charles River Media.• Järvinen, A. (2008). Games Without Frontiers: Theories and

Methods for Game Studies and Design. Doctoral Dissertation. Tampere: University of Tampere. Retrieved August 29, 2010 from http://acta.uta.fi/english/teos.php?id=11046

• Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004.) Rules of Play. Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press.

• Schell, J. (2008). The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. Morgan Kaufmann.

• Sicart, M. (2008). Defining Game Mechanics. Game Studies: The international Journal of Computer Game Research, 8(2). Retrieved 31 August, 2010 from http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart

Links:

• Achievement generator: http://teamfortress2.fr/achievements.php?eng

Achievement unlocked

Thank you• Email: juho.hamari@hiit.fi• web: virtual-economy.org • tweet: @VirtualEconomy

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