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Wireless Game Design

Wireless Game Design Games Anywhere, Anytime Greg Costikyan www.ungames.com www.costik.com costik@costik.com Who Am I? 30 Commercially Published Games Online Games Since 1989 First online game with 1m+ users Journalist, Analyst & Consultant Founder & Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games

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Wireless Game Design

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  1. Wireless Game Design Games Anywhere, Anytime Greg Costikyan www.ungames.comwww.costik.comcostik@costik.com

  2. Who Am I? • 30 Commercially Published Games • Online Games Since 1989 First online game with 1m+ users Journalist, Analyst & Consultant Founder & Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games Consultant & Advisory Board Member, The Themis Group SF Writer

  3. What We’re Going to Do Today • 10-11: Wireless Game Design 11:15-12:30: Game Design Theory 2-3: SMS & MMS Game Design 3-4: WAP Game Design 4:15-6: J2ME & BREW Game Design

  4. Other Stuff • Mainly Phones, Will Touch on PDAs Should Have Time for Discussion Presentations at www.costik.com/presentations/ I talk too fast, and too softly Stop me before I sin again.

  5. What is a Mobile Phone? • Device for Sending & Receiving Data Primarily Geared for Voice Can Send & Receive Other Data Types A Small Computersome processing power local RAM typically 128-500k Limited Mediasmall form factor screen, often b&w input geared to voice calls with some additions sound handling limited

  6. A Different Game Platform • Like Developing for 8-bit consoles or early micros ...with tiny screens Networked from the start! It’s a Social Device A New Style of Game: Media Poor, Communication Rich

  7. Design to the Medium’s Strengths • ...instead of struggling with its limits Network Access the Primary Strength Gameplay is not a function of whizz-bang graphics It’s a function of quality of interaction. Nothing is as satisfying as interaction with other people

  8. Other Strengths • Portability why was a primitive platform like Gameboy so successful? Ubiquity you take your cellphone everywhere It’s Always There play anytime you have a moment free

  9. Aphorisms to Design By • “Nobody on their deathbed ever said I wish I had spent more time alone with my computer.” --Dani Bunten Berry “It’s not the motion, it’s the meat.” --Greg Costikyan “It’s the people, stupid.” --Dani Bunten Berry “It’s a service, not a product.” --Gordon Walton

  10. What do the Strengths Imply? • Short Play Times it’s a “spare moment” platform persistent, short session games as well as short complete games. Play on Their Schedule, Not Yours Majestic is an example of what not to do Persistence: a Key Component for Networked Play Use the Network ...even for soloplay games

  11. Community is Vital for Networked Play • True Online Since the Earliest Games MUD in 1979 the COLS in the mid-80s both light & hard-core games today Current Technology Makes it Hard: no simultaneous voice-and-data neither WAP nor J2ME provides intrinsic messaging latency makes multiplayer beyond head-to-head a problem

  12. How You CAN Support Community • Challenges Leaderboards In-Game Messaging Diplomacy/Trading Web Site Buddy Lists/Presence Clan Messaging (UPOC)

  13. Design for the Hard Core • On the wired Internet, two successful styles: • Hardcore games • Free “light” games When people paid by the hour, hardcore ruled (and even today, bring in more money) This is an early-adopter market Fighting, combat, sf/fantasy—and sports Stay away from “gameshows” and classic games

  14. The Metagame • “The Things Around a Game that Affect it” Community part of that... Deck building & card trading in CCGs The baseball season Metagames lead to obsessive, repeat play ...and your income derives from continued play, not a one-time sale Leaderboards are a start...

  15. Ways to Create a Metagame • Persistence Tournaments Trading Ways for Players to Reward Each Other Offline Activities (deck construction) Stable Strategies (Chess, Diplomacy)

  16. Obvious Weaknesses • Graphics & sound will always lag other platforms Small (and variable) form factor • Many manufacturers & carriers ...and inconsistent implementation of standards Inputs designed for non-game use ...of course, that’s true of PCs, too...

  17. Less Obvious Weaknesses • Latency is High (1 sec+) ...and likely to remain so Games were a second thought when standards were established ...but no longer are ...but they still don’t understand networked games • No support for simultaneous voice-and-data ...but has to happen ultimately

  18. Avoid Games that Depend on Low Latency • Soloplay games (never hit the air network) • Turn-based games. • Round-robin • Simultaneous movement • “Act whenever” games. • Limited by real time “Slow update” games. “Giants maneuvering in the mist.”

  19. Dealing with the Form Factor • One, small window on world • No StarCrafts or Civilizations • Small board layouts fine (e.g, Chess, card games) • One “actor” works (e.g., RPGs, side-scrollers) • Games that don’t require a layout at all • Mainly text, graphics “dress up” rather than are core to gameplay Zoom levels

  20. Coping with UI Avoid Text Entry when feasible Use Menus Arrows plus “select” Nethack/Ultima III keypresses

  21. Design to the Business Model Is it a service or a product? What drives your revenue? How can you maximize player satisfaction and minimize support cost? Does play style dovetail with business demands?

  22. Design to the Technology Exploit its strengths Design around its weaknesses Demonstrate what’s compelling Don’t get stuck with the preconceived

  23. What Makes this Fun? Nobody Knows what Works—You’re free to innovate! Dev cycle (and costs) are low—You’ll see your work live within months Someday, soon, a wireless game will blow us away... Show us something we’ve never seen before Demonstrate how this medium enables game styles we haven’t seen on consoles, PCs, or in the arcade

  24. Innovate or Die • 99% of wireless games aren’t “designed” in any meaningful sense load of imitative crap rock-paper-scissors, text adventures, fucking HUNT THE WUMPUS, for god’s sake. Innovation is what blows markets open

  25. Don’t be a Vidiot Don’t Be Constrained by video and PC games of the last 5 years “The game” is an amazingly plastic medium; software is infinitely plastic

  26. Look to... • Non-digital games wargames, RPGs, CCGs, party games, trivia, German boardgames, LARPs, miniatures, PBM, improvisational drama • The history of videogames puzzle games, sidescrollers, “maze” games, Robotron • The history of computer games academic games, Balance of Power, M.U.L.E. • The history of online MUD, multiplayer air sims, “game shows”, Bingo • Wonky little areas of innnovation today RealArcade, the indy game movement, Sissyfight, Cheapass

  27. “I’m interested in all sorts of games.” --Richard Garfield designer of Magic: The Gathering

  28. Innovation Doesn’t Mean Originality ab initio • “If I see farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants who have come before me.” --Robert Burton Steal a la carte, not whole cloth If you can’t make yourself a Parker, Roberts, Gygax & Arneson, Garfield, Baer, Bartle, Miyamoto, Yeo, or Wright --at least innovate at the margins

  29. You Have the Opportunity to Reinvent “The Game” for this new medium. Don’t blow it. Beer or die.

  30. URLS • Me: www.costik.com www.ungames.com www.themis-group.com Wireless Gaming Review: www.wirelessgamingreview.com

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