Download CSE1GDT - Lecture 4b - From Ideas to Designs_Sp..

CSE1GDT from Ideas to Designs
Paul Taylor 2010
April 14, 2000....
http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.p
hp?file=daikatana_bitch_214145160.jpg
Expectations...
• 40 Million Dollars later it sold...
• 200,000 Copies
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:G4Zr60TjkWgdM:http://www.deafgamers.com/daikatana1.jpg&t=1
Daikatana
• On the Nintendo 64 one could NOT use the
Daikatana!!!
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/2q00/daikatan
a/daik5.jpg
The Adventures of Toastie
(Toastie is the cat from last week)
Art style
• Perhaps modelling clay....
http://groupssjp.wikispaces.com/file/view/w%26g.jpg/137
706741/w%26g.jpg
Girls vs Boys
• What do you know about the differences in
play?
• What games do kids play at school?
Girls vs Boys
• Competition vs Cooperation
• Social Interaction?
Rare use 90% Graduates
• As of 2008
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/352
9/academic_expansion__how_rare_.php
Designing Difficulty
Part 1 - Challenges
Challenge Hierarchies
Atomic Challenges
http://www.planetization.org/atomicbomb.jpg
Overall Challenges
• Typically just one!
http://blog.iqmatrix.co
m/wpcontent/uploads/2008/
11/goal-setting.jpg
Intermediate Challenges
• These ones are the ‘meat’ of your game
http://www.djibnet.com/photo/95137658stuck-in-the-middle-with-you.jpg
Applied to Toastie’s Adventure...
http://www.designersnotebook.
com/Lectures/Rethinking/rethin
king.htm
Stress and Absolute Difficulty
• When players must perform multiple Atomic
Challenges at once stress is introduced into
the gameplay
– It is up to you to decide whether you want stress,
and how much!
• The number of types of challenge a player
must address will also affect game complexity
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR_ZK7nzV56HDA3o2tQwuSag7cuq0FPGYIq18g3Vcn8NIfils&t=1&usg=__KhduWkcfEUdJ9hRieaYRJzZ-V6g=
Designing Difficulty
Part 2 – Three Curves of Doom
#1 - Absolute Difficulty
• Intrinsic Skill required and Stressfulness of the
challenge put together.
– Difficulty levels can be used to give players a
choice of stress and the skill they possess
• Stress is also related to the players skill
– Lower skill will provide a higher stress on the player
• Skill vs Difficulty
#2 - Relative Difficulty
• Difficulty is relative to Power
• How does the player’s power affect the
difficulty of the game?
• Cheats?
#3 - Perceived Difficulty
• What does the player’s skill do to difficulty?
• How can you be sure the players’ skills are
increasing?
– We want to avoid rage-quits!
Impaired Players
• For some target groups the perceived
difficulty should remain fairly constant
• Such as......?
Now for some challenges
This is NOT the definitive challenge list
It will get you started thinking (I hope)
Common Challenge Types
• Physical Coordination
– Time Pressure
– Speed and Reaction
– Intuitive Physics
– Timing and Rhythm
– Combination Moves
• Logic and Mathematical Challenges
– Formal Logic Puzzles
– Mathematical Challenges
•
•
•
•
Races and Time-Pressure
Factual Knowledge
Memory Challenges
Pattern Recognition Challenges
• Exploration Challenges
– Spatial Awareness Challenges
– Locked Doors
– Traps
– Mazes and Illogical Spaces
– Teleporters
• Conflict
– Strategy
– Logistics
– Survival and Reduction of Enemy Forces
– Defending Vulnerable Items or Units
– Stealth
• Economic Challenges
– Accumulating Resources
– Achieving Balance
– Caring for Living Things
• Conceptual Reasoning and Lateral Thinking
Puzzles
– Conceptual Reasoning
– Lateral Thinking
Inadvertent Challenges
• We want to avoid these.....
• What are they?
• Now we need a context for the most common
type.....
Context: Player Actions
• The combination of the player (user) interface
and the players actions
– Actions should only be able to do atomic
challenges
– The Defeat Boss button is not a terribly exciting
idea
– Now for one of the most common types of
inadvertent challenge....
The dangers of poor interfaces
What happens when the player can not perform
the atomic challenges properly?
GTA IV
Halo 3
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halo_
3_control_scheme.jpg
Which is better? Duh!
Defining and Grouping Actions
– Actions for Gameplay
– Actions for Fun (Unstructured Play)
– Actions for Customisation
– Actions for Socialisation (Multiplayer games)
– Story Participation Actions
– Interface customisation Actions (Game Settings)
Disclaimer
• That was not a complete list of Actions, but
gives you an idea of what to consider
• You don’t always have to have the action
players want. Sometimes they want
something that doesn’t support the
experience you are trying to create
– Ghost Recon FPS mode / Fallout 3
– Resident Evil 5 Run & Gun / Machete
The End
References
• Adams and Rollings on Game Design