Game Design

by Jason Booth

What is a game?

• What is a game?– The dictionary says “An activity providing

entertainment or amusement; a past time”.• I think that’s a pretty bad definition of a game

– Kevin Maroney says “A form of play with goals and structure”

• I like this one a lot better

Well, then what is play?

• The dictionary defines play as “To occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreation”.– Again, I really don’t like the dictionary’s

definition, because it trivializes play’s function in our lives.

– Play is important!

So what then is the function of play?

• Play is a learning function– Even animals play

• It helps them practice valuable root level brain functions

• In their case, usually hunting skills

– Don’t you love google image search?

How does it affect us?• Play is an emotional

function– Our brain provides us with

endorphins when we learn; thus play, which facilitates learning, provides us with endorphins which make us feel good.

• We get similar highs from other activities, such as exercise, or winning.

Why does play matter?

• Play is a social function– Social bonds are built through shared experiences which involve

overcoming challenges• We create imaginary challenges for ourselves constantly to help with

social bonding

– Games provide a formal structure of challenge for participants– Best of all, no one really has to die in the games we hope to make

Play offers us a way to learn how to predict beyond our total understanding

Even if we know the math, we often need to operate at a more functional level

This isn’t going to help you catch the Frisbee

Which begs the questions…

• Why isn’t play a greater part of our official learning system?

• Why do we trivialize play as something for kids?– Is our ability to suffer

through boring presentations really what makes us adult?

After all…

We learn best through experience

Perhaps it’s because we have so few goals in our video game vocabulary…

Collide! Don’t Collide!

We might change the metaphor..

Collide! Don’t Collide!

Or the means..

Collide! Don’t Collide!

But the goals often remain the same..

• Collide

• Don’t Collide

• Sort

• Combine

• Balance

Chris Crawford is fond of using verbs to describe game play, and says we need more if we are to make

better games

Asteroids– Turn

– Thrust

– Shoot

But that doesn’t paint a very descriptive picture from a design perspective

Wipeout– Turn

– Thrust

– Shoot

Instead, I tend to focus on other factors:

• Metaphor– The difference between Asteroids and Wipeout is the metaphor for

the actions• Constraint

– The user’s constraints are radically different in both games• Wipeout is a race, focusing on time• Asteroids is almost entirely focused on collision

• Behavior– The details of each verb’s behavior is radically different between

the games• What’s the rate of fire, the consequence of being hit, etc?

• User Perception– How does the brain manage all this information?

Unfortunately for Chris Crawford..

• I don’t see the verb count of games radically expanding any time soon.– Instead, I see more descriptive and refined versions of

each verb being created.• Mario Platforming -> Prince of Persia Platforming• Doom weapons -> Far Cry weapons

– I also see the intersection of multiple behavioral dynamics being more important than the individual verbs.

• Avoid Collision, while moving fast, while knocking other cars off the track, while managing your own health, etc.

Some people think we need new controllers!

• Because the joypad is too crude

But then how come every time we build an alternate controller..

• We make it work just like a joypad

Or just like a mouse

Or use it for the same net result?

Alternate controllers have not provided us with new game play options

• Instead they have just made the options we have feel significantly different

Don’t underestimate the power of feel!

I believe that game design is about balancing many things..

• If the user cannot perceive it, it did not happen.

It’s about managing the users perception of information

In a system without chance..

• The skill of the competitors becomes the primary factor.– But we like to say they

just got lucky anyway

In a system which is completely random..

• Users will impose a sense of order– Lady luck

– Rituals (blow on the dice)

• We want to believe that the world is not random; that there is a reason behind things.

• A system which is too complex appears chaotic and random

• A system which is too simple appears predictable

It’s about managing the users perception of complexity.

Is random ordered?

• Sometimes seeing the pattern is just a matter of perspective– But it’s amazing

what we can decipher even from inside the pattern

The brain is a pattern recognition machine!

• It loves to find patterns in things!– And classify them into

groups and categories• So it can find them

faster the next time

– It even makes up patterns where they don’t exist, or finds them in places where they are not!

Recognition

• We use our pattern library to fill in missing information

• We find the closest match, even when it’s not perfect or correct

• This allows us to respond to new patterns without understanding the entire pattern!

When we learn new patterns..

• Those patterns form physical pathways in our brain!

• We can easily add new information to this network

• But it’s much harder to fundamentally change the network– This is why it’s hard for us

to break habits

Sequel-itis

• We want something new and different– Because the brain is hungry for new patterns

• But we don’t want to re-learn fundamentals– so we often reject new and different

Accessibility Wall

• So we add to existing concepts– And add, and add, and add

• Until the design is so complex if forces out new users!

The Design Paradox

• Our design must provide– New patterns for the user to learn

• Which are similar enough to what they already understand

– Patterns which are simple enough to be deciphered• Yet complex enough to be unpredictable

• It must– Introduce new patterns or constraints over time

• Otherwise the brain will become bored

Managing the difficulty curve

“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”

• However, even if you give them other tools, they might not use them if the hammer still works!– Ever hammer in a screw

because you were too lazy to find the screw driver?

• Sometimes you need to force them to try other techniques

• Why stealth if I can fight through?

Phases of Play Patterns

• Learning– We often strive to shorten this step as much as possible

• But long learning phases allow for increased depth• At the cost of excluding others

– Which in turn creates the ‘in crowd’ effect

• Exploration– This is the main section of many content driven games

• When the exploration ends, so does the game

• Optimization– This is the main section of many system driven games

• Often goals can be used to encourage this process

• This process exists at both the micro and macro level

Auto Pilot• As the brain learns, it filters out tasks it

knows how to perform, grouping them and running on auto pilot– Making you think less about small

decisions, more about large goals• Where am I going instead of how do I drive

• We see this everywhere– Beats, Measures, and Phrases– Letters, Words, Sentences– Items, Groups, Categories

• This optimization must be accounted for in every aspect of our design

• Nature uses the combination of many simple elements to create complex results– While each ant in an ant

colony is relatively simple, the colony produces complex structures and societies.

• Nature is incredibly complex, but deceivingly simple– This is often referred to as

emergent behavior

Nature may hold a clue..

This has many advantages

• Each element can be simple– Easier to create and debug!

• Combinations of elements produce new “Possibility Space”– The addition of a single element is not a linear addition of content,

but closer to n^2• Difficulty curve can be managed

– Add or subtract elements to adjust– A higher element count system has a smoother balance curve!

• The brain feels a sense of pattern learning completion– I know what that element does

• Yet the brain keeps finding new patterns– I haven’t seen this combination yet

Sim City is built almost entirely this way

As are many of the Sim games, Will Wright is the man!

The goal of game A.I. is not to simulate intelligence, but rather produce an interesting challenge for the users.

• I’ve never heard anyone complain about the A.I. in Mario Brothers!

• It’s just a bunch of simple, predictable patterns, but you still die.

In fact, you don’t even need AI for that..

• God, the AI in Tetris was so unrealistic! Those blocks just move in a straight line!

Don’t get lost in the hype

– It’s not about the latest tech

– It’s not about features

– It’s not about the graphics, sound, or engineering

– It’s not about story

– It’s not about immersion

• It’s about how all the elements interact to tickle your brains learning functions!– And how long they manage to tickle it for

When a gamer asks for realism…

• They are really asking for consistency within your world..

• “It’s not realistic to have guns in a fantasy setting!”

When a gamer asks for believable AI…

• They are really asking for consistency with how they would behave..

• “It doesn’t make sense that the enemies run right for you”– Unless you use the lore

to justify it

Design within your bounds

• A good designer works with the tech– It takes time to solve hard problems

• You have extremely limited time

• A good designer knows technology– Because the tech is your tool box

Most great designers understand code

• Because code is the language of design– But it is likely that as

you focus more on design, you will focus less on code

There are some amazing exceptions

• Was Myomoto’s contribution design, or in presentation?– Is there a difference?

Some game dynamics explored

About to Loose or About to Win?

Give meaning to old fun..

Feel like you just made it..

Rewind Time? Fix for difficulty curve..

Choose a strong theme

• Guitar Hero Rocks!– Seriously, that’s the

whole point

– Everyone instantly understands the vibe your creating!

• Solid vision reduces production time waste

Reduced to the core

Combine known elements into a new forms

“10 pounds of monkey crap in a five pound bucket” – Cardel Curr

• Combining elements often requires reducing complexity of base elements– Often the elements themselves want to conflict

• D&D + real-time combat

• Chess + real-time combat

• Don’t be afraid to throw things out, let the depth come from the combinations

Design Roles

Video Game Design is the synergy of art, behavior, and technology

But most people understand one aspect better than another

But I just want to focus on the ideas!

• Wrong; you need a secondary skill to keep you grounded– Implementation is where iteration happens

• Iteration is where you learn what works and what doesn’t work

• If you don’t do the iteration, you don’t learn the lessons

– Ideas are easy; making them work is hard!• Without iteration based learning, your ideas will never get

better

– He who implements controls the details• And it’s all in the details

But I just want to focus on the story!

• Great, go write a book then.– Games are not about written stories, they are about

experiencing!• You can experience the story

– Half Life

• You can create your own story through experience– Battlefield 1942

• You can show the story– Dragon Lair, Final Fantasy, and other ‘Low Interactivity’

experience

– Most players just skip the text as fast as possible

But I have this great story to tell..

• Story often limits game play– Because telling a story is inherently a linear experience

in the creators mind• Most story driven games just create choke points which you

must go through to make the story move forward

• The player experience is the most interesting story to be told– “One time, at band camp, …”

• Player imposed details are also very interesting– The Sims characters

But I’m busy managing the team..

• That’s great, being a good manager is a useful skill, and a worthy roll to take– But management is about delegating

responsibility and driving, not dictating, decisions

– Do you want to design, or manage? Make a choice; you do not have the time for both

• Perhaps you should consider the cult of personality instead!?

But I don’t know how to ….

• Then learn it..– Often a good designer is not the best at any

particular implementation skill• But by learning how each skill is done, you can

become the glue to pull everything together

• Integration is often more important than individual elements

A good designer is hungry for knowledge

• Some book suggestions to get you started– Emergence

• Steven Johnson– Understanding Comics

• Scott McCloud– If you give a mouse a cookie

• Laura Numeroff• Some actual ‘gaming’ related books

– A theory of Fun• Raph Koster

– Chris Crawford on Game Design• Chris Crawford

– Game Over• David Sheff