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CS 2501
Defining Formal Elements
CS 2501 – Computer Game Design
CS 2501
Ludic Structure of Games• Players – voluntary participation• Objectives -‐ goals• Procedures – actions of play, limited by rules• Rules – define game parameters• Resources – valuable objects defined by rules• Conflict – hindrances to objective• Boundaries – setting apart the game world• Outcome – uncertainty toward ultimate goal
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Narrative/Engagement in Games• Challenge – tension to resolve a problem• Play – “free movement within a structure”• Premise – context• Character – vessel for participation and interest
• Story – narrative within a context• Dramatic Elements – climax of game element
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A New Challenger Arrives!• Goals – Objectives, Resources, Outcome• Rules – Procedures, Rules, Conflict, Boundaries• Feedback – Communicating items above• Players – Player Modes and Interactions
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Players• Determine what is your player interaction pattern (1 vs. game, pvp, team competition…)
• Determine what are your player modes– A player mode is a way in which the player interacts with the game
– Example: Final Fantasy• Overworld, Battle, Status/Inventory• Each behaves differently and has a different purpose
– Some simpler games might only have 1 mode
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Objectives• Anything the player is striving for• Could be:
– Primary: main objective of game, “dream”– Secondary: achievements, high score, etc.– Player-‐driven: your own self-‐created goal
• Name some objectives in games
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Objective Categories• Capture: take or destroy something• Race: well… race against something• Alignment: perfect positioning• Rescue/Escape: get out of dungeon• Forbidden Act: get someone else to break rules• Construction: build something• Exploration: uncover all hidden things• And so many more!
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Procedures and Rules• Procedures are the actions that players can take to achieve their objectives
• Rules define the game objects and set limits on the player procedures
• A lot more to discuss here – we’ll come back to it
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Resources• Resources are the elements of the game that hold some value and also by definition have some notion of scarcity
• Resources can be just about anything:– Lives / Health– Time– Currency– Ammo
• Resources define the “interesting bits”
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Conflict• Conflict is not only defined as PvP• It can also be player vs. game and obstacles put up to keep player from the goal
• The role of the difficulty in the notion of conflict is a tough balancing act
• Hard enough to promote player interest and play, but easy enough that the goal is eventually reachable (usually)
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Boundaries• Boundaries can be defined by rules, but also by the nature in which the game is being played
• Consider Johann Sebastian Joust• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxy26nzhbK0
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Outcome• There must be a “finish” of some kind
– (Yes, some games don’t finish, but consider player-‐created outcomes)
• Some games are zero-‐sum, some are not• We will discuss this a lot more later on
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Formal Elements Framework• These elements provide a framework in which you can begin to formalize your game
• They are not an end-‐all, be-‐all list, but certainly should make you consider things that are important to the game
• We would expect to be able to pull these out of your design documents in some fashion
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So… how do we put these together?• Players is somewhat straightforward• So should (theoretically) your primary objectives– Secondary objectives can be added later (such as achievements or side quests)
• Outcomes are mostly easy to see early on• For the most part, so are boundaries
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CS 2501
Procedures, Rules, and Resources• Here’s where the meat of your design comes in• What actions are allowed in your world?• How with the game world respond to those actions?
• How will you limit/enhance/modify player actions in the game?
• What will your player interact with?• What “things” in the world are important?• Note that not all of these are avatar based!
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Procedures• At their most basic, procedures map to the input device you are using
• You will fall into one of a few categories– Gamepad: a controller input device with a specified set of directional and interactive command buttons
– Mouse: a pointer interface that can interact with click, hover, drag, and drop
– Keyboard: like a gamepad, but with far more discrete command button options
– Combination: such as Mouse/Keyboard
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Input Devices• There are, of course, many others!
– Kinect– Touch screen– Accelerometer/Gyroscope– Head tracking– Foot pad / pedals– Many, many failed 3rd party accessories, like the U-‐Force
• We will (most likely) be in the other categories
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Procedures, Rules, and Resources• For your game in this class:
– Try to limit the procedure, rules, and resources at first
– Once you get the feel for how your basic procedures, rules, and resources interact, adjust one of these in a later level (“riff on a mechanic”)
– Introduce the player to the world; draw them into the “magic circle,” don’t overwhelm them
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Is this real?
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Is this real?
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Is this real?
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Actions vs. Interactions• In a game context, an action is a procedure that is mapped to a control input.– Examples: Jump, Move, Run, Shoot, Slide, etc.
• An interaction is an outcome of the game state and may not be the result of any direct action from the player and can happen without any input.– Examples: Collisions, Line-‐of-‐sight, Resource change
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Game Mechanic• A game mechanic is the relationship and combination of any number of actions and interactions.
• Each relationship/combination could be considered a separate rule in the game world.
• Example: Super Mario Bros.– Actions: Run left and right; jump– Interaction: Collision with opponent– Rule: If collision is on top of enemy, enemy changes state according to its rule set; otherwise take damage according to rule set
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Let’s Create Some Actions!• Verbs that describe what the player can do• Does not have to be attached to an avatar!• Let’s play!
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Designing Actions• Start by brainstorming verbs that make sense in the world you are building– Define the types of verbs– Define the scope of the verbs
• Do the verbs directly help the player achieve the goal?
• How many verbs do I need?– Well, enough to avoid being too simple– And…
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OMG So Many VERBS!
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Primary vs. Secondary Verbs• Imagine you had no obstacles or challenges in a game… what verbs would you actually need?
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Primary vs. Secondary Actions• Imagine you had no obstacles or challenges in a game… what verbs would you actually need?
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Platformers:-‐ Goal: Reach exit-‐ Movement is only need
verbs!-‐ Killing enemies is
secondaryConcentrate on primary verbs; too many secondary leads to bloat!
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Verb Analysis• Pick a game; find the verbs
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Finding Good Verbs• Keep number of verbs to minimum; utilize interesting interactions
• Avoid verb proxies– “use an item” -‐> What is the item doing?– “shoot” -‐> What does the weapon do?
• Outcome oriented verbs• Ask if the goal helps the player reach the goal?• Does it overcome a challenge or obstacle?
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Combining Actions• Verbs can combine in interesting ways
– What verbs can you combine in Super Mario Bros?– How can a verb change based on the environment (interactions)?
• This is called emergent behavior• NOTE: Not all combos are emergent – not all have to do with interactions with environement
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Interactions• Specifically NOT the direct action of a player
– Outcome of the game state– Can happen without player input
• Example: Collisions– Can happen by player movement OR can happen by game state changing
• What are some other interactions?
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Interaction Example• Beat Sneak Bandit
– Verb: Move– Rhythm game where youmove to the beat
– All movement is on rails– Turns at obstacles
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Procedures vs. Rules• Rules are formal schemas• In general, we have three types of rules
– Operational -‐ the “English” rules of a game as the player understands them
– Constitutive -‐ the underlying math and logic behind the operational rules
– Implicit -‐ extra rules understood by the players to make the game move forward
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Operational Rules• The rules of the game as if you were explaining them to a friend
• “In Mario, you can run and jump and land on top of goombas and they die!”
• Consider this the instruction book approach to rules – highest level of abstraction
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Constitutive Rules• The operational rules as understood by the game system itself
• A goomba dies iff the bottom of Mario’s sprite collides with the top of the goomba’s sprite
• This is how the game is actually programmed
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Implicit Rules• Agreed upon rules of a game that are not part of the formal rule set, but are important to make the game work
• For instance, a time limit on a move on a board game – not an actual time limit, but you know when someone is taking too long
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Designing Good Rules• Should lead players to interesting choices
– Player MUST be able to make some decisions!– System MUST respond and give feedback!
• Bad rules– Pure luck based– Lack of interaction– Doesn’t relate to goal
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Mechanics vs. Rules• Mechanics are created by game designers in the framework of rules
• Dynamics are created by players as interpretations of mechanics within the rules
• Rules are the formal implementation of the game world
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Formalizing Everything• The game state is the current positioning/value of all entities in the game world
• Actions a player takes is input into the current game state
• An interaction is a function between game states as determined by the actions (of both player and world) in generating a new game state
• The Game Loop
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