Learning Game Design: Part 2

What's good (from a mass-market point of view) and bad (often the same

features) from a hobby game point of view, about Stratego? You'll make
your own list and then devise an improved Stratego (which could be an
entirely separate game).

Games are for the players, not the designer. And games are active, not
passive. So one of the most important questions you can ask is, "what
is the player going to do?"

To understand where we are, you need to know where we've been. So here's a brief summary of the evolution of non-sports games, part 1.

To understand where we are, you need to know where we've been. So here's a brief summary of the evolution of non-sports games, part 2.

You must know who your target audience is. If you don't have a target
audience, how can you have any idea what kind of game you're making?

Many people have tried to define or list kinds of "fun". I don't even

like to use the word fun about a game, as I think fun comes from who you
play with and the circumstances of the game session, not from the game.
"Enjoyable" or "interesting" is better. But here are some lists of
kinds of fun.

The objective of game design isn't "fun", because people define fun in

so many different ways. And sometimes games are "serious". Here's a
description of some of the many ways that designers strive for to make
games enjoyable/useful.

Many novice game designers get hung up on story. Stories help sell
games, but people continue to play them because of the activity. Big
studios hire writers when they want a big story, they hire game
designers to design games. The bigger the game, the more likely that
someone will be hired specifically for story- and dialog-writing. See
the "lecture" "Are you a Game Designer or a Fiction Writer", below.

Theme makes a difference in how a game is designed and played.

Atmosphere is something tacked onto what is essentially an abstract
game.

Pacing refers to the combination of intense and more relaxed sections within a dramatic work, or a game. If everything is tense (or relaxed) it becomes less interesting. The contrast between tense and relaxed, fast and slow, is what you want.

Most of this is a discussion of "suspension of disbelief, realism, and
the like. But the most important thing is, don't get so tied up in world-building that you don't design a game!

For a look at an invented world geography that is quite interesting and explained in great detail, see

http://www.worlddreambank.org/P/PEGCON1.HTM

The link is to a description of one continent, with maps. There are at least 8 continents.

Here's a method for quickly "deconstructing" games, to evaluate what they're about.

Symmetric games - everyone starts with identical situations - are less
interesting than asymmetric, where they're not identical, but much
easier to balance.

Tastes in games change. In this long video I discuss current tastes and
preferences, which are often different from those of the 60s and 70s.

Video games owe a great deal to Dungeons & Dragons. And RPGs have been a large segment of tabletop gaming.

Video games owe a great deal to Dungeons & Dragons. And RPGs have been a large segment of tabletop gaming.

Games need to feel whole, complete, without extraneous aspects.
Everything in the game should contribute to the whole impressions and
feeling. This is called harmony in games, something you can learn to
recognize just as you can recognize harmony in music, or lack of
harmony. The opposite of harmony is the kludge, something that doesn't
fit the rest of the game.

This is part 1 of the discussion.

Games need to feel whole, complete, without extraneous aspects.
Everything in the game should contribute to the whole impressions and
feeling. This is called harmony in games, something you can learn to
recognize just as you can recognize harmony in music, or lack of
harmony. The opposite of harmony is the kludge, something that doesn't
fit the rest of the game.

This is part 2 of the discussion.

A game designer cannot control certain parts of the player experience,
such as who you play with, where you play, attitudes of players. Nor is
the game designer responsible for such players as the "Bored Loser".
Players need to bring an active attitude and take responsibility for
their entertainment (unlike with movies or novels). Part 1

A game designer cannot control certain parts of the player experience,
such as who you play with, where you play, attitudes of players. Nor is
the game designer responsible for such players as the "Bored Loser".
Players need to bring an active attitude and take responsibility for
their entertainment (unlike with movies or novels). Part 2

Just as the title says. I don't KNOW, of course (and I'm sure it varies greatly from person to person), these are my observations/hypotheses.

 A seldom-discussed aspect of games - especially tabletop games - is their flexibility. Can the game be played to varying lengths, by varying numbers of players? Can players join in after the game has begun?

This assignment is from the early part of the first course in this pair.

Some tips about making paper prototypes. Some examples are provided in next video.

Be sure to look at the supplementary materials as well.

When you make a software prototype, think small, something that you
can complete. Half-done (half-baked) games won't impress anyone.
Recognize that what you can complete in a practical amount of time is a
lot less than you think. Think 2D, not 3D; think practical, not pretty.

I’ve been talking in this class about a playable prototype, something
that is an early version of the final game. In video games, studios
sometimes produce a “demo”, which may be called a prototype, to
demonstrate gameplay for a potential funder. It shows gameplay, it
doesn’t let anyone play. That helps a publisher or investor decide
whether to put up the money.

The not-actually-playable “demo” code is discarded when the actual game is made.

Tools (hardware, software, simple things like cars and pieces) for
making prototypes. This is more about tabletop games because video
games are mostly electrons, not so easy to show to other people.

Part 1 (no sound). This turn-based game is vaguely related to Stratego, insofar as
piece identities are initially hidden, and combat is hierarchical,
e.g., a 5 always beats a 4.  It is originally a board game, now being
programmed for PC, with the main goal to be player versus player games.

I skipped the tutorial scenarios. I randomized my setup to make the
game more challenging against a rudimentary computer opponent.  This
exposed my command ship (the "1") far to the left without much cover, so
I tried to bring a 6 across to help defend.

You'll notice that the computer opponent commits suicide at times. A
ship is brighter when the opponent knows what it is. My 5 is revealed
early on, but the computer attacks with a 2, even though this is
suicide.  (If it had a 3 to move as the second fighter, it could match
the 5 and all would die; whether it has the capability or not, it
doesn't use it.)  It gets worse in the second clip, when the same Battle
Cruiser is attacked  by a lone fighter at least twice.

This IS a prototype. Notice how the ships and black holes don't align
correctly with the squares. Consider the computer opponent defects
(though it must be said, the main intention of the game is for a human
to play against a human, online). The computer opponent is also pretty
aimless, that is, lacking strategy, but that's really hard to
incorporate at the best of times.

There are game-stopping bugs as well, though none manifest in these clips.

Part 2 (No sound). This turn-based game is vaguely related to Stratego, insofar as
piece identities are initially hidden, and combat is hierarchical,
e.g., a 5 always beats a 4.  It is originally a board game, now being
programmed for PC, with the main goal to be player versus player games.

I skipped the tutorial scenarios. I randomized my setup to make the
game more challenging against a rudimentary computer opponent.  This
exposed my command ship (the "1") far to the left without much cover, so
I tried to bring a 6 across to help defend.

You'll notice that the computer opponent commits suicide at times. A
ship is brighter when the opponent knows what it is. My 5 is revealed
early on, but the computer attacks with a 2, even though this is
suicide.  (If it had a 3 to move as the second fighter, it could match
the 5 and all would die; whether it has the capability or not, it
doesn't use it.)  It gets worse in the second clip, when the same Battle
Cruiser is attacked  by a lone fighter at least twice.

This IS a prototype. Notice how the ships and black holes don't align
correctly with the squares. Consider the computer opponent defects
(though it must be said, the main intention of the game is for a human
to play against a human, online). The computer opponent is also pretty
aimless, that is, lacking strategy, but that's really hard to
incorporate at the best of times.

There are game-stopping bugs as well, though none manifest in these clips.

Keep in mind, every game, video or otherwise, that depicts maneuver
requires a board, even if only a virtual board. Civilization I-IV use
square grids, V uses a hex grid. In the end, even if every individual
pixel is used as the anchor for a specific location, the pixels are a
grid.

By the way, I may not have said in the video that a brick pattern
(where the bricks are square rather than rectangular) is exactly
equivalent to hexagons.

I have attached a longer discussion of this topic, which will be an article in Against the Odds magazine.

A brief demonstration of a mapping program. (When I point to the

choice of graphics, I notice in the video that the the cursor appears to
be about an inch above where it actually was. Did not happen on the
main map. This is an artefact of my screen capture program, sorry.)

My evaluation of Risk. You're likely to have listed some other problems, as well as some of these. See attached resource file.

The game interface (video or tabletop) lets a player know what's
happening, and lets the player manipulate the game. If it's bad, the
entire game will probably be thought bad.

When a player does something, the game must provide feedback, show cause

and effect, especially video games, which don't need the intervention
of the players to provide the feedback.

This is an illustrated example of interface improvement in a non-electronic game.

Because illustrations are involved, it is attached as a resource.

My "solutions" to Risk's problems. Yours will be different, of course.

I hope that by now you're ready to make your prototype so that you can test it. The next section is about playtesting and modification as a result of playtesting, which is the heart of game design.

Playtesting is not focus groups, or bug testing, or validation testing.

It's testing how the game plays to make sure it's entertaining (or
otherwise effective, if it's a "serious" game).

The playtesting process is similar to the way project management is
conducted. It's an iterative and incremental process that seeks to
compare the desired result with reality, detect discrepancies, change
the game to fix the problems, adjust the overall plan, and continue the
cycle until done.

An articulate and fascinating look into the head of a budding game designer (who took my "Learning Game Design" course . . .):

http://jeffro.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/how-game-designers-actually-think/

What are alpha, beta, and gamma (post-release) playtesting?

Don't forget to play your Main Assignment game solo - even if it's a
game for two or more players, you can do it - a few times to work out
the worst bugs before you inflict it on someone else. People don't want
to play a game that's obviously broken, you need to fix the obvious
stuff before they play.

Playtesting is the heart of game design, and there are a lot of things to look for during a playtesting session (or from reports from blind testers). Which results in a two-part discussion.

Playtesting is the heart of game design, and there are a lot of things to look for during a playtesting session (or from reports from blind testers). Which results in a two-part discussion.

Categories of playtesters and how they differ, and where to find playtesters.

Playtesting a game is an invitation to say it sucks. But that's not to
say YOU suck. You have to keep playtest feedback at arms' length and
use it judiciously.

Emergent behavior - player and game behavior not intended or anticipated

by the designer - is what you're looking for in playtesting. Depending
on whether you're a game designer, puzzle designer, or story writer,
governs how you deal with emergent behavior.

Westerners (as opposed to East Asians) expect games to be fair. Video
gamers generally want rewards to be commensurate with effort and risk,
"balanced". Challenge-based games need to be neither too hard nor too
easy. But many players are now not interested in being challenged, they
want to be rewarded for playing.

This is a way of looking at playtest stages through the eyes of the designer, what the designer is trying to achieve, rather than focusing on the testers.

A discussion of the business of game design, which is NOT actual game
design, but necessary to deal with if you want to be a commercial
designer.

I will likely do a separate class about this at some point, as well as writing a book.

Your published games speak for themselves up to a point. But YOU are a
brand, and if your brand is well-known, people are more likely to try
your game, or at least look into it. Marketing yourself to help sales
of your games is a long-term task that you need to start NOW if you're
intending to be professionally published.

No one knows why items on the Internet "go viral", so we certainly
can't plan to do so. BIG games can be bought, by companies with enough
money - though failure still happens - bit hits, games that make a lot
more money than they cost, are uncommon, and ordinary game developers
cannot plan to make them. Just make the best game you can and hope you
get lucky.

URLs mentioned

www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-03-20-adam-orth-internet-toxicity-has-been-chilling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w

Free-to-play video games have become very common, but raise ethical
issues because of methods used to persuade players to spend money
in-game.

I describe six different, often contradictory, goals for commercial
games. Marketing has displaced game quality as the most important
aspect of a game, unfortunately. The next lecture describes the major
problem, Discoverability.

There are some habits that "obviously" don't work well in game design.

When there is player behavior you do not like, try to rearrange the
gameplay so that it no longer makes sense for the player, rather than
try to legislate against it ("you can't do that"!) It's a complicated
question.

I've just (14 Apr14) run across a blog post that approaches the same idea ("Ban the Ban"):

http://nickbentleygames.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/game-design-tip-prohibit-bans/

The most important thing about most games (perhaps excepting
educational games) is the game, not the information. Researching
information for a game should not get in the way of designing a good
game (even an educational game). And it should never be an excuse not to
work on the design.

As game research most often involves historical data (as in wargames) I do focus on that.

Beginning with Magic: the Gathering, these games have become very
popular with their two-player, tactical gameplay and metagame add-ons.

The most important thing: if you like the gameplay style, DON'T
design a CCG, design an LCG. CCGs are a marketing scheme, and beyond
Magic: the Gathering and video games such as Hearthstone, no one wants
any part of it any more.You can't successfully sell a CCG. Period.

Part 1

Part 2 

Beginning with Magic: the Gathering, these games have become very
popular with their two-player, tactical gameplay and metagame add-ons.

The most important thing: if you like the gameplay style, DON'T
design a CCG, design an LCG. CCGs are a marketing scheme, and beyond
Magic: the Gathering and video games such as Hearthstone, no one wants
any part of it any more.You can't successfully sell a CCG. Period.

Co-operative games have become popular in the past ten years, beginning with Pandemic on the tabletop and Left 4 Dead in video. I discuss the forms and elements of these games.

Where wargame were once the major choice for people who wanted to play games that required thinking for success, now wargames are a small niche.  What happened? It's a litany of how game preferences have changed.

No sooner did I complete the Six Reasons Why Wargame Popularity Has
Plummeted that I thought of a clear seventh. Most wargames are
historical, though there are many fantasy and science fiction games as
well, some based on books, comics, or films, some invented whole cloth.
As we move further and further from World War II people seem to be less
and less interested in history. Add to that the tendency nowadays to
avoid anything that’s uncomfortable (it’s the Age of Comfort), and
people turn away from historical games because it reminded of nasty
people, nasty nations, nasty institutions such as slavery, and so forth.
So it’s not surprising that there’s less interest in wargames.

By formats I mean primarily, tabletop or computer/video. Some games will
work better as one, some as the other, and some have elements favorable
to both. Example provided.

A game designer cannot get mixed up in the notion that some people are

bad (or good) dice rollers.  There's no such thing, no one can twist the
Laws of Probability. Consider how people can think that, though.

The ultimate answer is "it depends" - on your target market, and on the Harmony of your game

Some designers think they can rely on players to be honest. But research shows there are many people who will cheat if they are given the opportunity. Designers need to find ways to avoid such opportunities.

Here is what I've derived from Stratego, which is likely much more
extensive than your effort - but I've been working on it for many, many
years.

Yours will be entirely different, which is of course to be expected. The question is, how well does it playtest?

In achieving the objective of making complete games, the aspiring
designer may do fine on his own, but some may want more organized forms
of practice. There are "game jams" and game design contests to enter.

If you want to be a commercial full-time game designer, you'll need an

online game portfolio to show potential employers what you've done.

Unfortunately, successful people are magnets for destructive criticism.

Especially in the video game industry, where a great deal of nastiness
resides. So you may have to learn to cope with such criticism.

Sometimes it's useful to try to summarize "everything" in one page. Here's my attempt for game design.

Maxims are pithy phrases that can illuminate an idea. Game design

maxims have been collected in one project, and I provide some of my own.

The last check on the game you're making.

Robert Heinlein once said about jokes, "Good once, good twice, or always
good." We can apply the same to games, especially nowadays when the
standard has fallen - because most people don't care about playing a
particular game more than a few times. I want to make games that can be
played over and over with interest: how about you?

This podcast (MP3) attached is an effort by the designer (me) to help

people who might be interested in playing Britannia (2nd Edition). I
posted it on my website.

A brief conclusion to a long course. Make complete games!

Why write a book in the 21st century, an era when people rarely read non-fiction books? And why a game design book? Here's why…

http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6952-9

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Design-Create-Tabletop-Finish/dp/0786469528/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?

I talk about game design each year at the grandiosely-titled World

Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster PA. This year I talked about the
business of game design quite a bit, a topic covered in only one
non-bonus lecture, really, in this course.

Attached audio file.

Origins Game Fair 2008 talk about breaking into the game industry.

Attached audio.

"Bonus" Lecture about my other courses, published games, RPG column. PDF format, not a screencast.