Game Design Theory

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Game Design Theory

• What Is Good Gameplay?

Greg Costikyan www.ungames.comwww.costik.comcost
ik_at_costik.com
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The Game is Plastic

• Paintball

• Console

• Computer

• Sports

• Online

• Casino games

• Arcade

• The horses..

• Folk Card Boardgames

• Kriegspieler

• ...and, of course, wireless.

• Miniatures

• Mass Market Boardgames

• Board wargames

• Roleplaying Games

• Collectible Card Games

• Play-by-mail and play-by-email games

• LARPs

• LBEs

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THEYRE ALL GAMES

• But what makes them interesting?
• What makes one better than another?

--We need a critical language.
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Interactive?

• Crawfords Distinction Games vs. Puzzles

• Are non-digital games interactive?

• If it isnt interactive, its a puzzle, not a
  game.

• Interactive Game is Redundant

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Goals

• Interaction must have a purpose

• Decision-making is the essence of gameplay

• ...or at least purposeful interaction.

• Goals, objectives, are what make interaction
  purposeful

• Goals dont have to be explicit
• SimCity
• RPGs MUDs MMGs

• But you still have to point players toward goals

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Games are Goal-Direction Interaction

• But goals arent enough....

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Struggle

• Plucky Little England
• Surrender
• Spit in Hitlers Eye! Rule Britannia! Britons
  Never, Ever, Ever Shall Be Slaves!

• Competion is one way of creating struggle

• Other obstacles can do the same
• The environment, NPCs (RPGs)
• Puzzles (graphic adventures)

• Tuning struggle Too hard is frustrating, too
  easy is dull

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Struggle (cont)

• You have to make the players work

• A game without struggle is a game thats dead

• In life, strugglepain in games,
  strugglepleasure

• There can be no pate without cornichons.

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A game requires players to struggle interactively
toward a goal.
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Structure

• Zimmermans Structures of Desire

• Lets Pretend Unstructured play

• Zones of Control
• small changes in structure can breed big changes
  in play

• Algorithms (rules mechanics) are the building
  blocks of game structure

• Digital game structures affect player behavior in
  the same way

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Structure (cont)

• Structure shapes (but does not determine) player
  behavior

• You must define structure intentionally to
  achieve the effect you desire

• Game structure is analogous to economics

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A game is an interactive structure that requires
players to struggle toward goals.
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Endogenous Meaning

• Endogenous Caused by factors inside the
  system.

• Games create their own meanings
• Monopoly money
• The Bloodforge Hammer

• Is the Stock Market a Game?

• Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

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A game is an interactive structure of endogenous
meaning that requires players to struggle toward
goals.
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Interactive Entertainment

• Can it be anything other than a game?

• It could be unstructured

• It could have no recontextualized meaning

• It could lack struggle

• It could be pointless

• Interactive Entertainment means games

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LeBlanc 1 Sensation

• Visuals, sound, tactile, muscle pleasure

• Example Axis Allies

• Sensation increases our pleasure... but its not
  the core of gameplay

• Wireless games suffer on this score

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LeBlanc 2 Fantasy

• Analogous to suspension of disbelief

• Abstract games (Chess) have little of this

• Fantasy helps create endogenous meanings

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LeBlanc 3 Narrative

• Doesnt literally mean story

• Games as drama

• Easier to accomplish in pre-scripted games

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LeBlanc 4 Challenge

• Equivalent to our concept of Struggle

• At the heart of any game

• Tuning Neither too easy nor too hard

• One area where networked games have an advantage

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LeBlanc 5 Fellowship

• Equivalent to Community

• Shared, Intense Experiences breed Fellowship

• Online games excel

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LeBlanc 6 Discovery

• Exploring the world

• Hidden information

• Sheer variety of encounter

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LeBlanc 7 Expression

• Central to RPGs, MMORPGs

• Vital to social games

• Important in some soloplay games

• Little tricks go a long way

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LeBlanc 8 Masochism

• Submission to structure the basic transaction we
  make with games

• Frustrating to play with those who dont buy in

• Damn frustrating to play with cheaters

• Gaining goals within the structure is what gaming
  is all about.

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Artists....

• Begin with imitation...

• Move on to mastery of technique...

• Ultimately work with intentionality

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What makes it a game?

• What types of interaction? (Are they fun?)

• What goals does it support?

• Does the structure support my objective?

• What makes it an entertaining struggle?

• What meanings does it create?

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What pleasures does it provide?

• Sensation

• Fantasy

• Narrative (Drama)

• Challenge

• Fellowship

• Discovery

• Expression

• Masochism

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One of the most difficult tasks people can
perform, however much others may despise it, is
the invention of good games. --C.G. Jung
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Suggested Readings

• Crawfords Computer Game Design
  www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Cover
  page.html).

• Various rants www.costik.com/articles.html

• Marc LeBlancs rants world.std.com/mahk/gamedesi
  gn.html

• Game Design, Eric Zimmerman Katie Salen, MIT
  Univ. Press (in press)