Introduction to Game Design

1. Introduction to Game Design Joshua Wong NUS Games Development Group

2. Topics Covered • What is a game? • Mechanics & Metaphor • Conceptualization exercise • What is game design? • Case study: Rollo • Design Exercise #2 • What is fun? • Two approaches • MDA framework • Other game design principles • Paper prototyping

3. What is a game? • Are these games? Chess Soccer

4. What is a game? • What about these? Solitaire Roulette

5. What is a game? • Many things we call games: • Board & card games (eg. Chess, Blackjack) • Party games (eg. Bingo, Charades) • Sports (eg. Football, Basketball) • Gambling (eg. Poker, Roulette) • Video games (eg. MapleStory, DoTA, Sims)

6. What is a game? • But some things are not so clear… • Are these games? Playing house 100m at the Olympic Games

7. What is a game? • What about these? Playing the stock market Gameshows

8. What is a game? • Common elements of all games: • Players • Rules • Actions & Consequences (Interaction) • Obstacles / Conflict • Outcome (Win/Lose/Score) • “not real”

9. What is a game? No complete definition. Here’s one: “A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.” (Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, MIT Press: 2004)

10. Mechanic & Metaphor • Games can be thought of as comprising two layers: • Mechanics: How the game works/functions • Metaphor: How the game is represented Burnout Paradise Mario Kart Same mechanic, different metaphor Same metaphor, different mechanic Super Mario Bros

11. Mechanic & Metaphor • Core mechanic: • The action / set of actions that the player will do over and over in the game. E.g. • Aim-and-shoot (FPS) • Run and jump (Platformer) • Line up 3 items of the same colour (Match-3 games) • Metaphor • How the game world / system is represented • Gives meaning to player’s actions in game • Should try to match the mechanics closely

12. Mechanic & Metaphor • When first brainstorming / conceptualizing games, you can approach from 2 directions: • Think of a fun mechanic and then envision the experiences / player role which would allow the player to use that mechanic in various ways. • Think of a fun experience / player role (metaphor), and come up with the various mechanics that will support the player’s experience.

13. Exercise: Conceptualizing a Game • Exercise 1: Mechanic -> Metaphor • Choose one of the action verbs below and create a game around it. Explain the player’s role and world: Spin Float Connect • Exercise 2: Metaphor -> Mechanic • Choose one of the following experiences and create a game around it. Explain the core mechanics. Parenthood Scuba-diving Cheerleading

14. What is game design? “The focus of a game designer is designing game play, conceiving and designing rules and structures that result in an experience for players.” (Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, MIT Press: 2004)

15. What is game design? • What are the different tasks a game designer does? • World design • Level design • Content design • Systems design • User Interface design

16. What is game design? • World design:Lays out game’s background, setting, overarching plot, major characters, primary gameplay • Usually done by Lead Designers with lots of experience High-level game concept: The Lost World http://www.daniellecheah.com/2008/02/imagine-cup-france-2008.html Complete world prototype for Shadow Complex: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/10/13/exclusive-shadow-complex-prototype-map-revealed/

17. What is game design? • Level design: Maps out levels, places enemies, resources, obstacles, player spawn points, triggers, puzzles. Level design from Duke Nukem Forever - Incubator Ship Invasion level (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/features/46978/Duke-Nukem-Forever-Development-Documents)

18. What is game design? • Content design: Plans and fleshes out game environment with detailed gameplay content. (e.g. quests, equipment, items, characters, events, dialogue) (Top image: WoW quest screenshot taken from: http://www.squarefree.com/categories/games/) (Left image: ProgressQuest character sheet taken from: http://hexdsl.wordpress.com/)

19. What is game design? • Systems design: Figures out how a particular game system will work. (eg. combat – controls, triggers, damage, statistics, turns, speed, charged powers…) Wargame combat table: http://victorypointgames.com/articleDetail.php?article_ID=96&page=1 http://codehelper.org/game-design/video-game-design-video-game-mechanics-part-iii/

20. What is game design? • User Interface / Usability design: Figures out how to make the game easier or more friendly for users to interact with. (eg. control buttons, icons, screen layout, menus…) http://taehok.com/night/?page_id=64 http://dragonica.thqice.com/control_interface.html

21. What is game design? • Summary of design jobs: World Design Level Design Content Design Systems Design User Interface Design • Game design for small projects (like yours): All of the above!

22. Case Study: Rollo http://nusgdg.org/?page_id=12

23. Design Exercises #2 • Based on your game concept: • Design a system • Design some content • Design the user interface • Design a level

24. What is fun? “Game designers have a weird job. At root, it is their responsibility to ensure that a game is fun to play. The problem with being a game designer is "fun" is an extremely relative term.” (Ken Levine – “So You Wanna Be a Game Designer”) http://www.gamespot.com/features/6129276/p-2.html

25. What is fun? • Two main schools of thought: • A game’s fun comes from the enjoyment of problem-solving. • Flow theory • Choices & consequences • Risk vs. reward • A game’s fun comes from a combination of different types of fun, in different proportions. • Callois’ categories of games • MDA Framework • 4 Fun Keys (XEO design)

26. What is fun? • The MDA framework: • Mechanics: The rules and concepts that formally specify the game-as-system. • Dynamics: The run-time behavior of the game-as-system. • Aesthetics: The desirable emotional responses evoked by the game dynamics. Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics Slide presentation ideas borrowed from: http://algorithmancy.8kindsoffun.com/GDC2007/index.html

27. What is fun? What the player sees: How the designer works: Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics Player Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics Designer Slide presentation ideas borrowed from: http://algorithmancy.8kindsoffun.com/GDC2007/index.html

28. What is fun? • Eight kinds of fun: • Sensation Game as art object • Fantasy Game as make-believe • Narrative Game as unfolding story • Challenge Game as obstacle course • Fellowship Game as social framework • Discovery Game as uncharted territory • Expression Game as soapbox • Submission Game as mindless pasttime Hunicke, Leblanc& Zubek (2004) http://www.8kindsoffun.com/

29. What is fun? • Examples of games: • The Sims is “fun”: • Fantasy, Expression, Narrative • DotA is “fun”: • Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Fantasy • Roulette is “fun”: • Submission, Sensation • H.A.L.O. is “fun”: • Challenge, Sensation, Fellowship, Discovery, Fantasy, Narrative.

30. Other Game Design Principles • Flow theory • When player’s skill level = challenge difficulty level, players can enter into the ‘flow’ state. • If challenge is much higher than player’s skill, player will feelanxiety. • If challenge is muchlower than player’sskill, player will feel boredom/relaxation.

31. Other Game Design Principles • Choice & Consequence: “According to Sid Meier, a [good] game is a series of interesting choices. In an interesting choice, no single option is clearly better than the other options, the options are not equally attractive, and the player must be able to make an informed choice.” (Rollings, Andrew and Dave Morris. Game Architecture and Design. 2000) • Consequences of choices should be clear • Consequences of choices should be different • Consequences of choices should be balanced

32. Other Game Design Principles • Risk versus Reward: • Risk should be matched against reward. • High risk action = high reward • Low risk action = low reward This also works the other way around: • High reward for player = high risk • Low reward for player = low risk

33. Break • Any questions?

34. Game Development Process Iterative Design Process: The Game Design Cycle

35. Paper Prototyping • Build a prototype of your gameplay on paper, before you touch any code. • The point is to find the fun as quickly and cheaply as possible (or to discover it is not as fun as you thought it would be). • Fail Early. Fail Often. • Fail Faster. Fail Sooner.