Upload
david-mullich
View
350
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Session 2 of the Los Angeles Film School's Game Design 1 class.
Citation preview
THE STRUCTURE OFGAMES
Session 2
David Mullich
Game Design 1
The Los Angeles Film School
Designer Perspective: Peter Molyneux
G4 Icons Episode #43: Peter Molyneux
What Is A Game?
A game is FUN!
Duh!
So what’s fun?
Jesse Schell defines “fun” as “pleasure with surprises”.
The Lens of Surprise
Surprise is so basic that we can easily forget about it. Use this lens to fill your game with interesting surprises.
What will surprise players when they play my game?
Does the story in my game have surprises? Do the game rules? The artwork? The technology?
Jesse Schell, Lens #2
The Lens of Fun
Fun is desirable in nearly every game, although sometimes fun defies analysis.
What parts of my game are fun? Why? What parts need to be more fun?
Jesse Schell, Lens #3
Dramatic Elements
Premise Character Story Challenge Play
Immersion
Immersion creates the illusion that you are another person or in another place.
An immersive experience can be achieved through theme, story, character, graphics, and audio.
The Magic Circle
The Magic Circle - How Games Transport Us to New Worlds - Extra Credits
Discussion
How does the Magic Circle relate to Immersion?
What elements of a game create an immersive experience?
The 16 Human Motivators
Dr. Steven Reiss describes 16 basic human motivators and their object of desire:
Motivator Object of Desire
Power Influence
Curiosity Knowledge
Independence Self-reliance
Acceptance Being part of a group
Order Organization
Saving Collecting things
Honor Loyalty to one’s parents, community
Idealism Social justice
Motivator Object of Desire
Social contact Companionship
Family Raising children
Status Social standing
Vengeance Competition, getting even
Romance Sex and beauty
Eating Food
Physical Activity Exercising the body
Tranquility Emotional calm
Motivators in Games
We see many of these motivators satisfied by the games that we play.
Motivator Game
Power Diplomacy
Curiosity Civilization
Independence Oregon Trail
Acceptance Guild Wars 2
Order Tetris
Saving Farmville
Honor Sports
Idealism Social justice
Motivator Game
Social contact Pictionary
Family The Sims
Status World of Warcraft
Vengeance Angry Birds
Romance Leisure Suit Larry
Eating Pac Man
Physical Activity Tag
Tranquility Candy Crush
The Lens of Curiosity
Think about the player’s true motivations – not just what your game has set forth, but the reason the player wants to achieve the goals.
What questions does my game put into the player’s mind? What am I doing to make them care about these
questions? What can I do to make them invent even more questions?
Jesse Schell, Lens #4
Intertainment Taxonomy
Chris Crawford
Intertainment Taxonomy
"Intertainment" is the class of activities that entertain through their interactive nature
"Interactive stories" are conventional stories with some small interactive element added (Manhole)
"Playthings" are systems that entertain through their response to the player’s actions
"Toys" are playthings without defined goals (SimCity)
Intertainment Taxonomy
"Challenges" are playthings with clearly defined goals
"Puzzles" are challenges with no purposeful opponents (Tetris)
"Conflicts" are challenges with purposeful opponents
"Competitions" are conflicts without impeding action between the competitors
Intertainment Taxonomy
This leaves “games” as interactive entertainment with conflicts in which the players directly interact in such a way as to foil each other’s goals.
What is a Game?
What Is a Game? - How This Question Limits Our Medium - Extra Credits
Discussion
Why does Extra Credits think “What is a game?” a wrong question to ask?
Do you think it is useful to distinguish between a game and “an interactive experience”?
1. Draw three dots randomly on a piece of paper. (Choose a player to go first)
2. The first player draws a line from one dot to another dot.
3. Then that player draws a new dot anywhere on that line.
4. The second player also draws a line and a dot.• The new line must go from one dot to another, but no dot can
have more than three lines coming out of it.• The new line cannot cross any other line.• A line can go from the dot back to the same dot so long as it
doesn’t break the “no more than three lines rule.”
5. The player takes turns until one player cannot make a move. The last player to move is the winner.
1. Players: How many? Any requirements? Special knowledge, roles, etc.?
2. Objective: What is the objective of the game?
3. Procedures: What are the required actions for play?
4. Rules: Are there any limits on player actions? Rules regarding behavior?
5. Conflict: What causes conflict in this game?
6. Boundaries: What are the boundaries of the game? Are they physical? Conceptual?
7. Outcome: What are the potential outcomes of the game?
8. Does the game have any dramatic elements?1. Challenge: What creates challenge in the game?
2. Play: Is there a sense of play within the game?
3. Premise/Character/Story: Are these present in the game?
The Lens of Endogenous Value
Think about your player’s feelings about the items, objectives, and scoring in your game.
What is valuable to the players in my game? How can I make it more valuable to them? What is the relationship between value in the
game and the motivations?
Jesse Schell, Lens #5
PUZZLE GAMES
Puzzles
What are puzzles?
A puzzle is fun.
And it has the right answer.
Unlike a game, a puzzle’s goal is to find a solution, not for one player to win.
Tips For Creating Good Puzzles
You have to design both good levels and good rules (generally, rule design is the harder of the two).
The main challenge is to set the right level of difficulty for your puzzle.
Keep the player in a pleasurably challenging state of flow.
Be creative!
Principles for Making Good Puzzles1. Make the goal easily understood
2. Make it easy to get started
3. Give a sense of progress
4. Give a sense of solvability
5. Increase difficulty gradually
6. Parallelism (multiple challenges) lets the player rest
7. Pyramid structure (small puzzles build to big one)
8. Give hints
9. Give the answer! (Post the solution someplace)
10. Perceptual shifts are a double-edged sword!Jesse Schell
The Lens of Puzzles
Puzzles make the player stop and think.
What are the puzzles in my game? Should I have more puzzles or less? Why? Which of the ten puzzle principles apply to each of
my puzzles? Do I have any incongruous puzzles? How can I
better integrate them into the game?
Jesse Schell, Lens #3
The Lens of Problem Solving
Think about the problems your players must solve to succeed at your game.
What problems does my game ask the player to solve?
Are there hidden problems to solve that arise as part of gameplay?
How can my game generate new problems so that players keep coming back?
Jesse Schell, Lens #6
1. Download GM Tutorial - Maze Games.zip from the LAFS GD1 website Resources page
2. Create a Maze game