Design Goals & Design Methods

1. Design Goals & Design Methods staffan.bjork@chalmers.se

2. Global Game Jam last weekend • Look at the local game jam site for the nice games done by people at our course • Look at the global game jam site for a lot of other interesting game ideas • Course Evaluators: we need to sync during the break

3. Today’s Lecture • Evolved & Designed Goals • Design Goals • Design Methods • Will mention methods from book but no give detail from (chapters 6-11,14) • Expect that you read this • Needed for assignment 3 • Assignment 3 • Consists of several parts • The low-fidelity play test is part of assignment 3 • Supervision 13.00-15.00

4. Evolved & Designed Games

5. Evolved & Designed Games • Evolved Games • Games that have no documented original design • Many anonymous designers • Variant rule sets • Rule sets maintained through organizations or manufacturers • Designed Games • Identified designer • Often commercial intent • Original rule set

6. Example evolved games - Bowling • Egyptian Tombs • 5200 BC or 500 BC • Monasteries • Metaphorical teaching tools in monasteries and church where the pins represented heathens • Medieval Europe • Use in English courts gave rise to the concept of king-pin • United States • Banned in the 19th century due to betting • Nine-Pin Bowling changed into today’s Tin-Pin Bowling [another example Chess] Sources: Brasch, R., How Did Sports Begin?, Tynron Press, 1986 Levison, D. & Christensen, K. (eds.), Encyclopedia of World Sports – From Ancient Times to the Present, Oxford University Press, 1999.

7. Example designed Games - Basketball • James A. Naismith, 1891 • Design criteria • enjoyable by average people • skill rather than strength or weight • ball easy to handle, difficult to conceal • no tackling [another example Landlord]

8. Differences and Similarities between Evolved and Designed Games • Differences • Serendipitous Design – Planned Design • Gradual improvement - Original idea • Improvised Gameplay - Intended Gameplay • Similarities • Same general structures • The games in both categories are all games… • Can be analyzed same way to look at gameplay • Claims to be in one category can be wrong

9. Sequels? Games developed in groups?

10. Design & Craft?

11. Differences between design and craftwork • Knowledge transferal • Crafts are primarily learned by imitation • Practitioners can not motivate why one does things one way • Unintentional trial-and-error experiments develop methods over periods spanning centuries • Information about designs are only recorded in the produced artifact • Fragmented information about details and patterns are used to recreate the design

12. Differences between design and craftwork, cont. • Crafts do not work with sketches • Experiments are done on the product itself • Full-scale experiments • Craft typically making variants of previous work • Design goalsmore static • Design goals can be implicit

13. What areas of responsibilities do designers have?

14. Areas of responsibilities for designers • Identify and explore critical choices • Relate costs for research and cost for erroneous decisions • Plan activities in the work process in relation to the competences in the work group • Identify information sources and their reliability • Explore connections between the “product” and the environment in which it should be used • Explore and satisfy the “needs” of the users

15. Design Goals

16. Types of design goals • Goals related to pre-planned gameplay experiences • Stressing, competing, group effort, etc. • Types of fun according Marc LeBlanc • Goals related to the Game system • Be something for players to explore and master • Be a vehicle used to provide engrossment in gameplay or narrative • Be a tool for gamers to create or choose their own gameplay experience • Be a tool for gamers to make their own games • Goal related to Diegetic Presentation or Narratives • Tell a story of character development • Tell a story of player progress • Create a believable/compelling/interesting fictional world • External Goal • Serious Games, persuasive games, training games, advergames, etc.

17. Design goals can be seen as answers to questions • Questions that need to be answered to be able to start design work • Help structure one’s work • What should be changed? • Why should it be changed? • When should the change be completed? • Who are the stakeholders? • (How should it be changed?)

18. Questions that need to be answered during the design process • Why is it hard to answer these questions? (why cannot we answer the before the design starts?) • One must use available information to predict a future that will not occur unless the predictions are correct • The effect must be determined before the possibilities to reach them are – the designer must work backwards from an assumed effect to the causes that can “cause the effects” • Sequences of cause and effect make it highly likely that new problems or better goals appear • Shifting or changing the design goal(s) • Possibly forcing the design process to be restarted

19. Stakeholders • Distributors • Products – boxed packages • Services – mediums • IP holders • Companies • Actors, authors, artists • Producers • Project managers • Programmers, artists, level designers, animators, sound artists, … • Subcontractors • Players • Expert players • Novice players • Fan communities • Relatives • Interest organizations • Legaslators • The designers

20. The Design Space of Games • All possible game designs can be said to describe a design space • Defining design goals can be seen as defining a subspaces where the actual game design should be located • Previous design goals can be seen as external design goals – not based on what is interesting in the space • Design goals regarding gameplay can be seen as defining a subspace on areas that are interesting in relation to other areas

21. Ways of Creating Subspaces of the Design Space • Specifying required characteristics • Specifying forbidden characteristics • Note that this does not have to be seen as a negative way of design • Creativity requires limitations

22. Ways of Creating Subspaces of the Design Space, cont. • Gameplay • Game Design Patterns, Game Mechanics • Theme • Humor, horror, political • Style • Realistic, Sequential Art • Narrative • Linear, hypertext, player-created, etc.

23. Design Methods

24. Jones’ model of the design process

25. Jones’ model of the design process • Divergence • Find alternatives • Transformation • Refine and understand alternatives • Convergence • choose alternative through selection or synthesis • Exact method depends on field, context, available resources and input Not methods – Ideas and concepts

26. Divergence • Properties • Unclear goals • Problem area vaguely defined • Evaluation not relevant • Starts from a assignment or requirement specification • Conscious goal to broaden design group’s sphere of ideas • Identify important stakeholders

27. Transformation • Properties • Find pattern from a number of alternatives • Choosing goals • Defining outer boundaries of problem and design space • Identify critical variables • Identify subproblems

28. Convergence • Properties • Focus on reach a goal • Endurance and methodic work • Evaluate alternatives to choose which alternative to realize • Two categories • Top-down • Bottom-up • Both can be used simultaneously

29. Methods for Game Design

30. Game Design Workshop & Jones’ model • Jones’ model can be applied to explain overall design process • Divergence • Conceptualization - Chapter 6 • Transformation • Prototyping - Chapter 7 • Digital Prototyping - Chapter 8 • Playtesting - Chapter 9 • Convergence • Functionality, Completeness, and Balance - Chapter 10 • Fun and Accessibility – Chapter 11 • But can also be described as narrowing the design space

31. Jones’ model applied to Conceptualization • Divergence • Brainstorming • List creation, Idea cards, Shout it out, Stream of consciousness, Randomize it, Research, Extreme measures • Teamstorming • Interaction relabelling, cultural probes • Transformation • Editing & refining • Convergence • Focus on formal elements

32. Conceptualization - Divergence • Functional roles • observational, basic, dedicated, unique, supporting, meta • Social roles • banned, outcast, recluse, motivator, negotiator, mediator, helper, violator, dominator, exhibitionist • Atomic gameplay actions • Take OBJECT from POSITION, Place OBJECTS on POSITION, Give OBJECT to PLAYER/NON-PLAYER, Find OBJECT, Perform SKILL BASED ACTION, Randomize, Compute EVALUATION FUNCTION, Select OPTION from SET OF OPTIONS, Order PLAYER to perform TASK

33. Conceptualization - Transformation • Guidelines • support interruptability • allow multiple communication channels • consider ambiguity • design for external events • allow modes of play based on social roles • minimize social weight • analyze intended player groups from several perspectives • Design experiments

34. Conceptualization - Convergence

35. a b c d e t f s g r h q i p j o n m l k Conceptualization - Convergence

36. Jones’ model applied to Prototyping • Physical & software prototypes • Divergence • Consider mediums to use • Paper, software, moddable engine • Consider components to use • Transformation • Test mediums • Test components • Convergence • Integrate components into system

37. Prototyping – Divergence • Identify technologies • Identify information structures • Identify interaction structures

38. Prototyping - Transformation

39. Prototyping – Convergence

40. Jones’ model applied to Playtesting • Self-testing, playtesting with confidants, playtesting with target audience • Divergence • Find gameplay problems, emergent features • Freeform, specific tasks, secondary tasks • Transformation • Analyze problems and emergent features • Convergence • Decide to try and keep or remove identified features

41. Playtesting

42. Jones’ model applied to Functionality, Completeness, and Balance • Divergence • Find issues of functionality, internal completeness, balance, fun, and accessibility • Transformation • Explore issues and compare against each other • Convergence • Select issues & solutions to address

43. Functionality, Completeness, and Balance

44. Assignment 3 Now with no less than 4 parts...

45. Assignment 3a – Game Idea • Task • Create brief of game idea • Groups of 3-4 • Deadline 20100212 • 2 pages (preferably with some image) • Report • Brief • Theme and/or setting • Core gameplay mechanics / gameplay design patterns • what one does 90%+ of the time while playing • Unique Selling Points (what makes this game different from other games) • Competitors (i.e. similar game that the game is likely to be compared to) • Process Description • What methods do you plan to use? Why? • Define and describe plan before starting! • Conceptualization - Chapter 6 (you may have done this before reporting) • Prototyping - Chapter 7 (and possibly Digital Prototyping – Chapter 8) • Play testing - Chapter 9 • Functionality, Completeness, and Balance – Chapter 10

46. Assignment 3b – Lo-Fi Play test • Task • Develop and play test a Low-Fidelity a prototype based upon the brief in assignment 3A • Same group as in 3A • Takes place 20100219 between 10.00 and 15.00 • Conduct play test • Construct playable Lo-Fi prototype • Not in the same medium / on the same platform as final intended one • Highlighting core gameplay • Plan on what to test before testing starts • A facilitator running the tests • A note-taker making observations

47. Assignment 3c – oral presentation • Task • Present your game concept • Same group as in 3A • Takes place 20100223 10.00-12.00 • 10 minutes per group • Should contain • Game concept description • Theme and/or Setting • Core gameplay • Competitors • Unique Selling points • Target Audience • Process Description • Methods used • Thoughts behind the Lo-Fi prototype • Changes done since brief • Especially due to the play test session • Next steps

48. Assignment 3d – written report • Task • Describe your developed game concept • Same group as in 3A • 20100226 • Minimum 16 pages • Report (but create your own structure) • Design document • Use component framework (lecture 3) • Not mechanically; critically and only relevant parts • Note how the game concept differs from existing games • Include target audience, theme, setting, and narrative elements • Thoughts about Interface Design and how players should learn the game • Process description • Clearly state your design goals • What methods did you plan to use? Why? • What methods were used and how did they work? • Relate to chapters 6-10 in the book • Describe the Lo-Fi prototype and how the play test changed the game concept

49. Thank you!