Things that you should consider for Gameplay Game Design Vishnu Kotrajaras, Ph.D. Later parts are from Jesse Schell’s slides Non-linearity  Different path from A to B – Mario 3 onwards  Story arc – Phantasy Star 3 – Choices, choose 1 way and you can pass a level – Player may come back to play the unplayed choice later Rockman Super Mario Bros. 3 Non-linearity(2)  Different order of challenges – Rock man – When getting stuck, players can go to other challenges, at least for a whileใ – But it must be designed to encourage players to explore all  Multiple solutions to a problem – A good football game falls into this category because the experience from each game is hardly the same. Non-linearity(3) Multiple endings  Sadly, many games do not have nonlinearity due to budget  Effect of non-linearity Choices in the story affect future missions (ending too) Purpose of non-linearity  Players have authority – If not, player may feel trapped Each player has unique experience  Players want to replay (not as important as the feel of authority)  Thinking that “players won’t finish the game anyway, so why bother do extra stuff” is short-sighted  Game with free order of missions  Completing one should provide some way to make other missions easier – (regardless of the order taken) – This allow better chance of progressing Reality  Don’t make a game too much like real life – Food, sleep in RPG is a bad thing  Reality has its strength – Player is familiar with it: civilization, Sim city  But it also has weakness – Players notice things that don’t work like real life quite easily – Such as you can’t crouch in Doom, can’t peek over corner either Civilization Sim City The Sims Rome: Total War Teaching players how to play First few minutes of the game is very important  Do not force players to read manual  You should know that every player wants to start playing right away  Therefore, use the gameplay  Using the gameplay to teach how to play Very easy at start, just move, then jump, …  Then increasingly harder  While introducing moves, players must be in a safe environment  – Prince of Persia, you don’t die when you first encounter a collapsing floor  Reward the players for learning Prince of Persia Another, teaching method, having tutorial levels  Interactive learning – But the first real level must still be easy, because some players may skip the tutorial  Some game goes a bit too far as to have an NPC tells a character which button to press. – This will remind the player that she is “playing” the game – Some immersion into the game may be lost Input/output  Controls must be easy to pick up. Good examples include: – Allowing a player to control everything with mouse – Use an already well known interface  Playtesting is important – If the playtester does not like the controls, you must believe him  Do not do too much – Do not use many keys on keyboard (X-Wing) – Only expert player will like it X-Wing VS Tie Fighter Input/output(2)  The good way is to design controls based on control pad – This will help refine the control method  It is good to have multiple ways of getting the same effect – 2 ways to click mouse and get the same result – Hot key and normal controls together – 2 buttons doing the same thing • Crash Bandicoot Crash Bandicoot Input/output(3)  Beware – You may test the controls so many times that you think it is easy – Find first-time players to test the controls • Fix the controls if these first-time players have problems • Do not expect them to get used to the controls What’s on screen  Player must see the action, or threat, for example: – Getting a warning that units being attacked off-screen, so the player can zoom to the units – Bad: NPC is dying, but there is no sign until he nearly dies – Players need positive feedback when he shoots at the right location Darius What’s on screen(2)  If you cannot show it obviously to player, show it as part of GUI – Life bar (try using bars instead of numbers) – Where GUI exists, make it as obvious as possible But GUI should be minimized as much as possible to allow players to feel immerse into the game world  Do not forget sound  US patent 5688126, 6062561