THE CRYPT Week Two – Level Mock-Ups

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Sketching level designs

Having settled on a premise for the project, this week I set about sketching up top-down diagrams of the level’s design and flow. I prefer to do work initially using pencil and paper as it means that I can quickly mock-up level designs, ideating and iterating before beginning any work in-engine. My method for creating these plans has altered slightly, following a GDC talk I watched last week (Burgess, 2014). In it, Joel Burgess stated that Skyrim‘s (2011) level designers use simple top-down maps resembling flowcharts to convey “beats, and pacing, and a general feeling of connectivity” (Burgess, 2014). Taking cues from how the actual development team created levels, I have made a similar diagram to help me organise thoughts and remain consistent through development.

Continuing Creation Kit

I have been continuing my self-directed learning of the Creation Kit. Having followed along with Bethesda’s official tutorials (Bethesda, 2012), I looked for further content to engage with in order to solidify my knowledge and proficiency in the engine. I found an excellent series of tutorials that went even further in-depth with the engine’s tools (BestInSlot, 2012). Through these tutorials I have learnt how to script quest objectives, create unique equipment and weapons, and even make the level accessible through the game’s overworld. The entrance to my level can now be found in-game, just outside the town of Riverwood (fig. 1).

Figure 1: Screenshot. The entrance to my level, made using various environmental pieces.

I also made a very small level space, in order to test out and experiment with some of the modular kit pieces (fig. 2). My level begins in a mine, before leading into a Nordic crypt, so I have begun the level’s design using the ‘Mines’ kit. This design will likely change greatly over development, and next week I look forward to further iteration and development of the blockout.

Figure 2: Screenshot. The initial mines that the player will be met with.

Working on statement

Primarily, work for this module has been spent on my Statement of Intent, as it is due relatively soon. After consolidating my thoughts on the project I have been able to complete the ‘project outline’ section, which I have ensured is clear and readable. I have included bullet-point breakdowns of specific details where I can, to ensure that the document is both readable and concise. Crucially, I have detailed the core gameplay loop that I intend for the project, so that the reader is able to gain a greater understanding of the player experience.

Following on from this, I began work on the ‘rationale’ section of the document which is intended to showcase my thought-process and reasoning behind the project idea. The primary reason for deciding on a level design mod has been my pursuit to become a more T-shaped developer. As my strengths primarily lie in narrative and mechanics design, I want to use this module as an opportunity to widen my skillset and therefore become more employable. I also detailed the ‘key indicators’ for assessment, for which I put a high emphasis on level pacing and structure. Following this I would like to be assessed on my employment of signposting and lighting, and finally the degree to which I am able to alter the game’s systems.

I will continue to work on the Statement of Intent next week, with an aim to finish it by the end of the week.

Research

In an effort to improve the quality of my project, I have spent more time researching theories and techniques behind effective level design. I began by watching a fantastic GDC talk titled “Ten Principles for Good Level Design” (Taylor, 2013), which provided a robust list of criteria that nearly all well-designed levels adhere to. Among others, core concepts such as visual communication, dynamic difficulty and mechanics-driven design were discussed in detail. One principle which I particularly resonated with stated that “good level design is easy, medium, and hard” (Taylor, 2013). The lecturer argued that static difficulty choices are outdated as they often ask the player to make the choice with no knowledge of their skill at the game. Instead, levels should allow the player to choose their difficulty by including elements of risk vs. reward, where the player has the option to follow more challenging routes at the prospect of heightened gameplay benefits. Throughout the development of my level, my goal will be to ensure that all ten of these principles are met.

Another beneficial GDC talk was centred around concepting levels, titled “Overcoming the Digital Blank Page” (Marinello, 2014). The lecturer discussed ways to begin prototyping and ideating levels from pen-and-paper through to ‘blockworlds’ which use primitives to capture the flow and feel of the intended design. In particular, the creation of a top-down map was encouraged as it helps to “capture the flow of the level, condense the scope into an image, [and] help to evaluate the level’s pacing” (Marinello, 2014). For this reason I am glad that I have taken the time to draw up my level’s design before its creation.

References

BestInSlot. 2012. Skyrim Creation Kit Tutorials [YouTube tutorial series]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZxuVY4dQ74 [accessed 25 January 2022].

BETHESDA. 2012. Creation Kit Tutorial Series [YouTube tutorial series]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDKivlGmia4 [accessed 24 January 2022].

BURGESS, Joel. 2014. How We Used Iterative Level Design to Ship Skyrim and Fallout 3 [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhW8CY8XkFg&t=1655s [accessed 25 January].

MARINELLO, Seth. 2014. Level Design in a Day: First Steps – Overcoming the Digital Blank Page [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R75g3elj7y4 [accessed 10 February 2022]. 

TAYLOR, Dan. 2013. Ten Principles for Good Level Design [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEe3KhMvXM [accessed 8 February 2022]. 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks. 

THE CRYPT Week One – Getting to Grips with the Creation Kit

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

The game development journey continues

After a short break over Christmas, I return to game development in full swing. As another study block begins, I am eager to continue to develop my creative and technical skills in new and exciting ways. This module looks to give the most creative free reign of any yet and I am eager to begin development, documenting my progress here on the blog.

Response to the brief

Due to the brief’s open-ended nature, I initially was met with a degree of choice paralysis regarding what I would base my project around. I took some time to understand what area of design I wanted to spend this study block developing.

Narrative design and mechanics design are what I feel most confident in. However, as Terry said, this module is a good excuse to strengthen areas of game design that I may be weaker in. While initially I was tempted to further develop these skills, I eventually decided that I would like to spend this time increasing my proficiency in an area I am much less confident with – level design. A key goal of mine is to have a wide design skillset, so as to be a useful team member in a variety of contexts, and I feel this project will help me take another step in that direction.

Once settling on level design, I quickly decided that  I would like to use the Creation Kit to make a dungeon within the world of Skyrim (2011). I was eager to do this because:

  • I am very familiar with Skyrim. I feel that this knowledge will help me to make a level that is effective, while also subverting particular expectations about the game’s dungeon design.
  • By choosing to mod a game, I can focus purely on level design. If I were to create a level space in an engine like Unity, much of my time would be spent scripting a character controller and mechanics, which would take away from crucial time that could be spent elsewhere.
  • Skyrim’s dungeon’s are modular. Bethesda use “kits” to build their interior level spaces. These are essentially packages of modular assets that fit together to make dungeons. Due to their modularity, levels can be efficiently blocked out, and I can focus on how the level flows and feels, rather than if it is consistent and functional.

Getting familiar with Creation Kit

After spending some time making sure that the Creation Kit was correctly installed and set-up, I was ready to get into the engine and begin learning its intricacies. After following along with a number of tutorials online, I already feel that I am getting to grips with the engine. This is likely due to my experience in Unity, which has a lot of similarities and analogues to what is found here.

Figure 1: Screenshot. The Creation Kit’s workspace.

Interestingly, the Creation Kit works primarily using three windows: the ‘Object Window’, the ‘Cell Window’, and the render window’. The Object Window is where you can find almost any asset, effect, or marker used in Skyrim that can be dragged into your level. The Cell Window features a list of all objects currently in your level. Finally, the Render Window, is unsurprisingly, where you edit and interact with your level. There is also a handy toolbar that is used to handle features such as grid snapping, Navmeshing, physics, and much more.

For an engine that is over ten years old, I am impressed with the Creation Kit’s functionality. However one feature of many engines is sorely missing: the ability to play and test your scene in-engine. The only way to actually test my implementation is to start up the game and load into the dungeon using a console command. While this certainly works, it is far more time-consuming than I am used to, and makes me appreciate how far game engines have come.

Now that I have spent a decent amount of time experimenting with the engine, learning keyboard shortcuts, and familiarising myself with Bethesda’s naming conventions, I feel confident to begin production of my level next week.

Research

A lot of my research this week has been spent familiarising myself with the Creation Kit. Thankfully, Bethesda made a ten-part tutorial series (Bethesda, 2012) that I was able to follow along with. It goes over the basics of navigating the engine, working with kits, setting up Navmeshes, and general behavioural scripting for NPCs and enemies. While it is hard to cover the breadth of the Creation Kit in one tutorial series, I feel that it has sufficiently taught me enough to begin creating levels with the tool.

I wanted to understand the process behind Bethesda’s level creation, so that I could best replicate it myself to make a high quality level. To do this, I started by watching a fascinating GDC talk (Burgess, 2014) by Bethesda’s lead level designer Joel Burgess on the iterative level design process of Skyrim and Fallout 3 (2008). It was a very insightful talk, discussing the importance of iteration, and effectively organising your time as a developer to maximise productivity and minimise setbacks. Bethesda break their level design up into roughly five ‘passes’ (Concept > Layout > Gameplay > Complete > Polish) and never advance onto a new pass until the previous is fully implemented across all levels. I intend to replicate this process: concepting my entire level, blocking out the spaces, making sure the combat and item placement is balanced, finalising pacing/flow, and finally polishing everything to a high standard.

I then watched another GDC talk (Burgess and Purkeypile, 2015) on the modular art of Fallout 4 (2015). The talk covered the benefits and drawbacks of working with modular “kits”, and how they can be best utilised to make for the most efficient workflow. They also discussed how their assets had been improved and expanded on in response to issues and inconsistencies in Skyrim’s modular assets. By learning what had been improved on, I was able to better understand the limitations of Skyrim’s assets and development engine.

Finally, I have started playing through Skyrim again, for the countless time. This time, however, I am paying close attention to the layout of its many dungeons, and making as many notes as possible. In particular, I am intending to analyse how each kit’s pieces are utilised, and how the level designers used elements of clutter and various inserts to hide repetition that can set in with modular art assets.

References

BETHESDA. 2012. Creation Kit Tutorial Series [YouTube tutorial series]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDKivlGmia4 [accessed 24 January 2022].

BURGESS, Joel. 2014. How We Used Iterative Level Design to Ship Skyrim and Fallout 3 [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhW8CY8XkFg&t=1655s [accessed 25 January].

BURGESS, Joel and Nate PURKEYPILE. 2016. Fallout 4’s Modular Level Design [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBAM27YbKZg [accessed 28 January].

Fallout 3. 2008. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

Fallout 4. 2015. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

GAM250 Week Twelve – But Make it Multiplayer and Final Reflection

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

The final lecture for GAM250 focused largely on the developer/publisher relationship, as well as how to best accommodate for trends and a rapidly evolving industry within our design. It also tied everything taught throughout this module together and provided some great points for reflection.

As stated in the lecture, it is highly likely that as designers, we will have to work with publishers throughout our careers. Because of this, it is crucial that we are able to maintain a good relationship with them, so to best serve our team and meet publisher requirements. Nick’s tips on how to best balance publisher relationships with design considerations were invaluable. The emphasis on clarity from the outset seemed to be particularly important, as the effort to minimise miscommunication should be taken through every stage of development. By doing this we can hopefully limit the amount of unrealistic expectations our publisher presses on to us. Understanding the internal politics of a publisher was something I had not considered before. While it is important to stay as neutral as possible, understanding where these politics exist can be useful in ensuring the best for you studio.

As someone looking to enter indie development, the sections on ’boutique publishers’ and how they fit into the publishing landscape a large was beneficial. Similarly to what we have seen in the film industry with distributors such as A24, these publishers each have their own identity and values that are clearly conveyed to players. This can be highly useful to indie studios looking to maximise their audience, as alongside the marketing benefits they offer, their name alone can serve as a stamp of approval and signifier of quality that will likely guarantee an audience.

By the end of the lecture Nick wrapped up the module, tying it all back in to what we have learnt throughout this module. The emphasis on a ‘playcentric approach’ remained true, with the player still being the centre of our crafted experiences. We were encouraged to reflect on what design knowledge we had gained, and how we can use it to be a better designer for our players, our studio, and most importantly, for ourselves.

GDD Work

As this has been the final week before hand-in, my GDD contributions have largely been formatting and grammar checking this week. I also added in my bibliography and full list of figures.

I read through the entirety of the document, ensuring that everything was written as clearly and concisely as possible, converting blocks of text into bullet points where possible. I also added in various links within the document, directing readers to sections that elaborate certain points (i.e. “see chapter 4.1 for further detail”). Lastly, I had friends read over the document, and suggest any areas which they felt were unclear or missing. One area that came up as missing was the lack of detail over the game’s fail states and how they impact the player. I made sure to add these in their own subheading under ‘core gameplay’. Finally, I added a title, contents page, headers and footers. I hope that these additions and refinements have made the document as accessible and digestible as possible. While a design document should be an extensive ‘bible’ that details all design considerations for the team, it should also be easily referred to, with information being presented deliberately.

Individual challenge

As a literal interpretation of this week’s lecture title, the individual challenge tasked us with taking a purely singleplayer game and adding multiplayer elements to it. I chose to turn Hotline Miami (2012) into an intense, fast-paced multiplayer shooter.

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Some amazing singleplayer games have successfully managed to make the transition into multiplayer. Often times they add co-op elements (such as Far Cry 4 (2014), or Unravel Two), and other times they are able to create standalone multiplayer modes that manage to retain the core of the singleplayer experience but move it into a player vs. player context (i.e. The Last of Us (2013)).

My proposed multiplayer game would be a sequel to Hotline Miami. Retaining the design pillars of the original, players would instead fight each other in conflict that moves at breakneck speed.

Some core features:

  • The speed of death still applies. You only need to hit your opponent once to kill them, however you only need to be hit once too.
  • The lock-on mechanic is no longer present, making shots more skill-based.
  • Certain modifiers can be applied to matches such as “melee only”, or “thrown kills only”.
  • Progression is tied to the mask system. Every time you level up, unlock a new mask.
  • Rounds and matches will be very fast. A perfect game for when you only have limited time.

Match types:

  • 1v1. First to score 10 points wins.
  • 8 person free for all. First to score 30 kills wins.
  • Battle royal. 100 players and last one to survive wins.

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I think that Hotline Miami‘s core gameplay loop would lend itself well to a competitive context. Linking back nicely to week five’s topic, this game would be all about testing player’s twitch skills. Much like the original, the faster your reactions are the more likely you are to survive. There is also an added layer of unpredictability that comes from playing against real people, that would keep things feeling fresh.

Iron designer challenge

Unfortunately, this journal is due before the final iron designer challenge is set to take place, so I will not be able to discuss the submission for this week.

Further reading

In response to this week’s focus on developing for publishers, I decided to look further into industry guidance on the matter. Eventually, I found an informative article on Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra) about healthy developer/publisher relationships (Sumo 2019). This article served as a great follow-on from the lecture, featuring real publisher contacts that were available for viewing. The author went on to break down what each element of the contract meant, clarifying from both a developer’s and publisher’s perspective. He ensured to stress the fact that contracts are almost always negotiable, so “if there is anything that really jumps out at you that you feel is unreasonable, ask for it to be explained and if necessary, changed” (Sumo 2019).

Module reflection

As the GAM250 module comes to a close, I would like to take some time to reflect on what I have learnt and how I have developed as a designer over the past twelve weeks.

Firstly, the lectures were all deeply informative, with Nick’s extensive research, alongside his first-hand industry experience making for great points of learning. Every lecture covered an important topic of game design, and the overall structure of the module meant that each lecture topic flowed into one another well. Every week, I was able to get multiple pages of notes to be referred back to later. This knowledge was then further consolidated in the weekly seminars, in which we were able to discuss the subjects with esteemed industry guest lecturers. It was highly beneficial to hear a variety of professional opinions on design and I gained a lot from the dialogue that was engaged with during these sessions.

The regular individual challenges were a great spark for exercising various design muscles, as informed by the key knowledge I had gained from that week’s lectures. It is true that a lack of constraints is the enemy of creativity, and I found that the challenges given at the start of each week gave just enough limitations and constraint to spark new ideas and design solutions. There are multiple submissions that I could easily see myself developing further into personal projects in the future, which is a fantastic result. In particular, my ‘Bomb Defusal: Clean Up Crew’, and ‘Tic Tac Toe: Current Wars’ game concepts are ones that I am particularly proud of, and would love to take further. My character write up for ‘Seamus Kelly’ was also a lot of fun to create.

The same can be said for the weekly iron designer challenges, which also greatly helped me to actively apply what I had learnt in each week. The added benefit of a group setting made for a constant back and forth of creativity, with many of my teammates proposing great design ideas that I had never considered. These challenges felt like a safe space in which we could throw ideas around, no matter how left field they may be.

Overall, I am happy with my portfolio submission of Slam City Skates. I ensured to work on it consistently throughout the study block, regularly updating it as new ideas were sparked. Because of this, I feel that my GDD was given room to breathe, becoming an ever-evolving document that was updated over time, similarly to how many design documents are formed in professional development. At forty-five pages and 7151 words, I feel that my document was an extensive look at the game’s design and I am proud of the amount of detail that was put into it. In particular, the ‘Mechanics Breakdown’ was a chapter that I feel effectively compartmentalised mechanics in an easily readable way.

I feel that I could have improved my submission by having more visualisations of gameplay features and levels. The two level mock-ups included helped to convey level design much better than my writing could, and I feel that this could be applicable to other aspects of the document. For instance, having visualisations of certain mechanics at play, enemy types, or usable items could have helped to make the document more understandable. This is certainly something to consider as I move forward as a designer.

In conclusion, this entire module has been instrumental to my development as a game designer. Many thanks go to Nick for conducting such a consistently engaging module and imparting his wealth of design knowledge. Through regular engagement with lectures, seminars and weekly challenges I feel that I have learnt a great deal about many key aspects of design. Furthermore, regular research and reflection, alongside weekly reflective blog posts have pushed me to critically reflect on my progression, and my role in the industry as a whole. I look forward to the future of my educational career and beyond, as I take this invaluable knowledge and experience forward and further develop myself a designer.

References

Far Cry 5. 2018. Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft.

Hotline Miami. 2012. Dennaton Games, Devolver Digital.

The Last of Us. 2013. Naughty Dog, Sony Computer Entertainment.

SUMO, Ryan. 2019. ‘What Does A Healthy Publisher/Developer Relationship Look Like (With Real Contract Details!)’ Game Developer [online]. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/what-does-a-healthy-publisher-developer-relationship-looks-like-with-real-contract-details- [accessed 8 December 2021].

Unravel Two. 2018. Coldwood Interactive, Electronic Arts.

 

GAM250 Week Eleven – Creating Sequels

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

Considering the role of sequels within the games industry was an interesting topic for this week’s lecture. Perhaps more so than any other industry, sequels play a huge role in the continued success of their creators. With game development being a medium based on incremental innovation, it follows suit that this structure lends itself well to the conception of sequels.

It is important to consider the fact that the experience of sequels can be delivered in multiple ways outside of traditional subsequent entries. If a DLC or expansion expands on a game’s mechanics or systems enough, it is more than likely that it meets the criteria of a sequel (look no further than Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (2013) and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (2010)). Likewise, while rare, mods can be considered sequels – and in some cases are popular enough to warrant the development of a separate, original product themselves. Especially within the realm of games as a service, expansions have the capability to radically change a game’s core experience enough that it is largely indistinguishable from the original title.

The four considerations for sequels as posited by Challenges for Game Designers (Brathwaite and Schreiber 2008) were helpful to examine, and I am sure that I will refer back to them if I am ever in the position to create a sequel. By exploiting, expanding, exploring, and exterminating, designers can make the most informed decisions when innovating through sequels.

In today’s modern context, audience feedback is more easily accessible than ever. By looking at data sources such as Steam Spy and Metacritic, as well as open discussion forums, developers can gain critical insight into what fans love or hate about a title, and what would best serve them in a sequel. Strategic use of these data sources is imperative to making a sequel that caters to as many fans as possible.

GDD work

In response to feedback that I received from Nick, I have made some additions to my GDD this week. The primary element that he felt was lacking from my submission was specific gameplay examples, which I agree with.

I started by mocking up some level designs in Adobe Illustrator (fig. 1 and fig. 2), so as to better visually convey how the player will move through the world. I am happy with how these turned out, and I think that they are relatively clean and readable. Many of the elements have been colour coded, so as to better represent the traversal tools at the player’s disposal. I hope that the inclusion of the illustrations helps readers to better understand the level layout and design of my game.

Figure 1: Screenshot. The level mock-up for a part of the Boom Town district.
Figure 2: Screenshot. The level mock-up for a part of the Waterside district.

I also decided to add another flowchart to the GDD, this time detailing the flow and progression of a main mission within the game. By showing this one example, I hope that readers are able to form an idea of how main missions within the game will generally be structured.

Overall, I am happy with these additions of specific gameplay examples. I feel that they go lengths to visually convey the game’s design and provide examples of systems.

Iron designer challenge

Our iron designer assignment required us to make a pitch presentation for an infamously bad videogame, with my team being assigned Duke Nukem Forever (2011). The pitch was to be a serious proposal, meant to right the wrongs of its predecessor and improve design in multiple aspects.

One key element that we felt could elevate the gameplay of a traditional boomer shooter such as Duke Nukem was the inclusion of dual wielding (or Dual-ke Wielding in our pitch). Taking cues from immersive sim titles, players would be able to hold a weapon in their right hand and a utility (such as a grapple, teleport grenade etc.) in their left hand. Our aim for this was to allow for dynamic gameplay situations and an added layer of player agency which allowed for players to choose their favourite combinations.

The story would follow a retired Duke Nukem being brought back into the fight against aliens. Our spin on the original formula was that this time, rather than Earth being invaded, Duke would invade the aliens home planet, essentially invading their invasion.

Alongside the other additions we made to the formula, we felt it was a relatively effective modernisation of the franchise. Our presentation won, receiving ‘funding’ to enter production, which was a welcome surprise. Nick also let me know that I am currently in the lead for our iron designer challenge rankings, so I will have to work extra hard next week to try to hold onto that title!

Further reading

Following on from the lecture, I went to Metacritic to see how various sequels were reviewed by audiences and critics alike. For instance, while the original Portal (2007) has an impressive score of 90, its sequel Portal 2 (2011) has 95. From my own experience playing both games, I can attest that the sequel is a significant step up from the original, including a longer and more fleshed-out story, the addition of more mechanics and modifiers, and even the inclusion of a wholly separate co-op mode with its own campaign. This shows that Valve had a strong understanding of audience responses to the original title and made important design decisions that further expanded and innovated on that core experience. They were successfully able to exploit, expand explore and exterminate in their transition between game entries.

I also read an interesting article on the practicalities of video game sequels (Bycer 2016). It shared a lot of points with Nick’s lecture, discussing how sequels allow developers to improve on the baseline mechanics and formula of previous entries. A lot of games franchises do not reach their full potential until the third entry or beyond, with that only being assured if the previous games sell enough in the first place. This is due to the iteration and improvements that can be made between sequels, regardless of how substantial they may be.

References

BYCER, Josh. 2016. ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Video Game Sequels’. Game Developer [online]. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-video-game-sequels [accessed 1 December 2021].

Duke Nukem Forever. 2011. 3D Realms, 2K Games.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. 2013. Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft.

Portal. 2007. Valve Corporation, Valve Corporation.

Portal 2. 2011. Valve Corporation, Valve Corporation.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare. 2010. Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar Games.

BRATHWAITE, Brenda, and Ian SCHREIBER. Challenges for Game Designers. Boston: Course Technology.

GAM250 Week Ten – Adding and Subtracting Mechanics

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

Perhaps without previously realising it, I am a big proponent for design by subtraction. Many of the games that I consider to be especially well designed are minimal and elegant, with a highly refined core player experience. This lecture on the addition and subtraction of mechanics has only strengthened this core opinion of mine.

All too often, subtraction occurs towards the end of development, in response to deadline pressures or negative playtesting feedback. In most contexts, it should be our job as designers to make our designs simple and elegant from the outset, so as to realistically scope our projects and ensure that we make the best quality experience possible. This last-minute reshaping can be largely avoided by employing a ‘playcentric’ (Fullerton 2004) approach to development in which playtesters are involved at every stage of the process. By playtesting any mechanical additions or subtractions, developers can ensure that they are on the right track, and pivot as early as possible if they are not.

Looking at case studies such as Ico was beneficial to the understanding of why the phrase ‘less is more’ is so often true when looking at expertly crafted games. While I have not yet played Ico (2001) (though it is high on my to-play list), Shadow of the Colossus (2005) is one of my favourite game experiences. In my opinion, the team’s mastery of simplicity and elegance can be best observed in the ‘open world’ of the title. Standing in stark contrast to modern open world titles, the land that Wander traverses is barren and desolate, clearly taking cues from the sublime painting movement, in which “the sudden transformative view; a sensation that is beyond expression and which impairs the intellectual faculties” (Riding and Llewellyn, undated). Here, the developers stripped back the space that the player moves through to serve purely as a backdrop for quiet, contemplative reflection, all in service of the core player experience of solitude. Such a wide, open game space could easily be filled with distractions and tangential content, but none of it would serve the narrative, or Wander’s motivations, so it was emitted and the game is all the better for it.

GDD work

As we get closer to submission date, I have been making some important additions to the back-end of my game design document this week.

Firstly, I have added a chapter detailing the camera’s functionality and how it will be controlled by the player. There will be two primary modes that the camera moves between: cruise mode, and skate mode. Cruise mode will work similarly to many third-person games, with the camera being positioned over the character’s shoulder, and being able to be controlled by the player using the right stick. Skate camera is slightly different, being entered whenever the player is skating. As tricks are performed with the right stick, the camera in this mode is automated, facing whichever way the player is. It will also pull out, and have a widened field-of-view in order to give the player a greater understanding of their spatial environment. Cameras are one of the most important aspects of a game’s design to get right, so I am glad that I included this in my GDD.

Next, I detailed the UI of the game, including the HUD and menu systems. The HUD was best described using a mock-up diagram, representing the view to the player while in-game. I made sure to detail which elements were permanent (the compass, the stamina bar, etc.) and which were contextual (the disrupt bar, money, combo meter etc.) for better clarity. I am happy with the general layout, employing theories from the Laws of UX (Yablonski 2021) such as The Law of Proximity and Jakob’s Law. I also went over the different menu systems of the game, using flowcharts to visualise how they would be navigated and what could be accessed on each page.

Finally I made a ‘miscellaneous’ chapter documenting areas that, while important, were not extensive enough to require their own chapters. I went over the vital topic of accessibility, underscoring its importance to inclusivity and listing the ways in which Slam City Skates would strive to achieve this. I then wrote a small list of example trophies/achievements that could be obtained when playing through the game. While not essential to the design of the experience, they were enjoyable to write, and help to flesh out the game and make it feel like more of a real product.

Iron designer challenge

Our weekly group challenge saw us being tasked with adding top-down shooter mechanics to The Sims 4 (2014). This proved a challenge but we gave it a go.

We started by looking at some of the core elements of The Sims and trying to find what could transfer over to the new context. One feature we wanted to retain was the ‘indirect’ guidance of the characters. In the games, you tell the NPC’s where to go and what to do, but the outcome is largely derided from outside variables, such as their mood. We felt that this could make for an interesting spin on a top-down shooter, with the inclusion of unexpected, emergent gameplay scenarios. The player would have to maintain their Sim’s mood and well being if they wanted to ensure their survival.

This mode would be accessible from the main game, with the player’s Sim getting drafted to fight at a certain point in their playthrough. If their Sim survived, they would receive a healthy pay-out upon returning to their home.

While this challenge response was slightly comical and certainly not anything that would get greenlit, I am mostly happy with what we were able to come up with. We translated the core features of The Sims into a wildly different game genre and context.

Further reading

This week, I watched a really interesting GDC talk about making and self-publishing a game in twelve months (Viglione 2015). As someone who is particularly interested in the idea of indie development, this lecture had a lot of beneficial information. In particular, the emphasis on social media as a marketing platform was emphasised, with it helping the game developers to gain a dedicated following before release. Coincidentally in line with this week’s lecture, they also talked about the need to be ruthless with your mechanics and cut features that are going to hinder development and incur further cost.

Bibliography

FULLERTON, Tracy. 2004. Game Design Workshop. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Ico. 2001. Team Ico, Sony Computer Entertainment.

RIDING, Christine and Nigel LLEWELLYN. Undated. ‘British Art and the Sublime’. Tate [online Essay]. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/christine-riding-and-nigel-llewellyn-british-art-and-the-sublime-r1109418 [accessed 25 November 2021].

Shadow of the Colossus. 2005. Team Ico, Sony Computer Entertainment.

The Sims 4. 2014. Maxis, Electronic Arts.

VIGLIONE, Matthew. 2015. How to Make and Self-Publish a Game in 12 Months [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tbPbMRcMFQ [accessed 25 November 2021].

YABLONSKI, Jon. 2021. ‘Laws of UX’. Laws of UX [online]. Available at: lawsofux.com/ [accessed 24 November 2021].

GAM250 Week Nine – Learning an Unfamiliar Genre

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

Particularly within the games industry, I find the classification and emergence of genre fascinating. Unlike other mediums where genres appear to be set in stone, games are constantly evolving and new genres emerge seemingly everyday, as evidenced by hybrids such as Metroidvania, Soulslikes, and roguelikes.

The actual process of game genre emergence was interesting to consider. Regardless of if a game is innovative, fills a market gap and is successful, it alone cannot establish a genre. It is through the subsequent ‘clones’ and iterations on the established formula that a genre arises. It is at this point that the founding game is able to achieve the title of ‘mythic originator’. This can be seen in how Wolfenstein 3D (1992) was the first FPS, while games like Doom (1993) iterated on it and actually established the genre.

I was unaware of how useful the definition of a game’s genre is for marketing and sales forecasting. They help developers and publishers understand their target audiences and create formulas that will innovate while still hopefully ensuring success. They also help audiences to make informed purchases of games, based on play preferences. Because of this, thoughtful use of store tags can be a great asset to developers selling their games on digital storefronts, to ensure that your game gets in front of the right customers.

GDD work

This week I have been focusing on a variety of elements of the GDD, making sure it is fleshed out and well conveyed to readers. In particular, I have added a new chapter which breaks down each mechanic at the players disposal. As the traversal system is intended to be deeply engaging and versatile, I wanted to take some time in the document to detail how it works. I listed each ‘verb’ that the player can enact (cruising, drifting, grinding, etc.) and went on to detail how, and when they would be used, as well as any related mechanics that can be used in conjunction. Initially, I was apprehensive about going in to so much granular detail, but with what we learnt in week two of this module in mind, it is highly beneficial to the whole team if you are as clear and communicative in your design document as possible. In a professional context, this would hopefully prevent any confusion for team members and make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding the game’s design.

Individual challenge

Appropriate to the theme of unfamiliar genres, our individual challenge this week tasked us with writing about one of our least favourite genres. We were to describe what we did not like about the genre, and suggest any improvements to the formula that might cater more to our preferences.

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Hunting games are a difficult genre for me. As an animal lover, I feel morally objected to the realistic simulation of shooting them as a primary gameplay mechanic. However, I do enjoy the feeling that they aim to give – being out in the wilderness on your own using nothing but the equipment you brought and environmental clues to guide you.

For me, the prefect ‘hunting’ game would retain the core pillars and experiences of traditional style titles, but in a different context. Perhaps on an alien planet, having to track and capture hostile aliens. Or maybe being in a distant future wasteland, tracking and shutting down rogue AI through precarious environments. 

However it is not just aesthetic qualities that I would change to better tune these games to my taste; I would also look to adding more chances for emergent gameplay and stories. Some ideas I have for this include:

  • You are predator and prey. While you are out hunting your target, there is something also tracking you. This would add an element of survival horror and alleviate potential boredom from long tracking sessions. Be careful to cover your tracks and fight back if the need emerges.
  • Environmental hazards. Rockfalls, unstable ground, lighting storms etc. These would add a layer of unpredictability to the game space with it being shaped by random events.
  • Looting and foraging. Use objects picked up and foraged in the environment to craft new tools and lures. This would add some nice micro-goals as well as risk vs. reward – do you enter a dangerous area to forage for powerful bait at the risk of being attacked by a predator?
  • Story elements. A campaign mode in which each hunting space and target fits into an overarching storyline.

There are lots of ways that I would personally tweak and improve hunting games to match my preferences. However, I am aware that many of my additions stray away from the simulator aspects that make the game genre so appealing to audiences in the first place. Perhaps these additions could help to fill a gap in the market for people who like the gameplay structure of a hunting game, without the simulated moral implications.

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This task helped me to consider what it is about particular genres that I dislike. It made me spend time asking which mechanics were inherent to a genre and which weren’t. Which mechanics could be removed or altered and still retain the genre’s identity and which would completely change the genre in their absence?

Iron designer challenge

Our weekly team challenge tasked us with making a popular game with no card elements into a collectable card game. Our team got assigned the seemingly insurmountable task of doing so with Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (2017). Ironically this process seemed more difficult than the game itself, but we gave it a good attempt.

We started by outlining what the core pillars of the game are, so that we could best distill it into a card game, while still retaining its core essence. We unanimously decided that frustration was the core tenet that we had to retain. This meant that statistically, dice rolls would never be skewed in your favour, and getting over the proverbial mountain would be an unlikely outcome.

Each time that a player attempts progress, they roll a die to determine their success. Focus points can be spent to play action cards, which attempt to level the odds more in your favour, for instance adding to your roll.

The mountain itself is where we incorporated the collectable elements of the game. Players would be building the mountain as they go, placing cards to form its structure. These would have different themes to encourage collection as players may be driven to collect a whole set. Themes ranged from medieval to space.

What started as a big headache eventually became a fun exercise in distillation and translation. Our whole team got involved with the process, coming up with inventive ways to break the game down into its core systems and apply that to a card game context. I think that the finished concept – while not perfect – is a solid attempt at this.

Further reading

As he was once again referenced in this week’s lecture, I decided to watch GMTK’s video on genre emergence and classification (2017). It was very insightful and I found much overlap with the ideas found in Nick’s lecture. I particularly resonated with the posited question of whether genre helps or hinders game innovation. It is plausible that the existence of genre conventions limits games from truly innovating and breaking new ground as often as they could. Because of this, I think it is crucial to see genre features as starting points to ideating, rather than rigid absolutes.

Following on from the iron designer challenge, I was still thinking about the process of translating games into different genres. I did some research on industry examples of this and came across a fascinating GDC talk about from Antoine Routon (2016). In it, he described their design process behind Lara Croft GO (2015), detailing how they retained the core feeling of the Tomb Raider franchise in a mobile strategy game. Similarly to our group task, their team started with distillation, eventually landing on what they called “the essence of adventure” (Routon 2016), which then went on to inform every design decision throughout development.

References

Doom. 1993. id Software.

Game Makers Toolkit. 2017. Do We Need a Soulslike Genre? [YouTube essay]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7BWayWu08 [accessed 18 November 2021].

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. 2017. Bennett Foddy.

Lara Croft GO. 2015. Square Enix Montreal, Square Enix.

ROUTON, Antoine. 2016. Distilling A Franchise: The Lara Croft GO Postmortem [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4MzuvliDs [accessed 19 November 2021].

Wolfenstein 3D. 1992. id Software, Apogee Software.

 

GAM250 Week Eight – Targeting a Market

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

Targeting demographics is a key aspect of designing games, and as such I am glad to have a weekly lecture dedicated solely to that field of development. As always, I wrote lots of notes to refer back to in the future.

It was sobering to see how every stage of game development, from designers, through to publishers and audiences, is impacted by the targeting of particular audiences. For us designers in particular, we must use what we know about our target audience to make our games from an informed perspective that will satisfy them with a quality product, and therefore achieve sales targets. For these reasons, it is vital that we learn as much as we can about our audiences.

GDD work

While the knowledge gained from this week’s topic was still fresh in my mind, I decided to expand on the ‘market viability’ chapter of my design document. Now that I know how crucial the understanding of a target market is to success, I felt that it needed more discussion.

I started by fleshing out my key selling points as these are elements that can make or break a game concept for publishers. By clearly outlining these unique aspects of the game, I was also able to better understand the niche that my game will be creating in the market. It has been a long time since the era of open world extreme sports titles such as the Skate 3 (2010), and Tony Hawk’s Underground (2003) series and demand in online communities is ever increasing. Slam City Skates aims to recapture that magic, being appealing to old fans while modernising the formula enough to appeal to newer generations. The focus on roller skating rather than skateboarding adds a further unique spin on the idea.

Next, I broke my demographic down to be far more specific. Starting by stating their typical age and platform of choice, I went on to define their player types in reference to Bartle’s taxonomy. Following that, in an attempt to be even more specific, I wrote up some player personas. When used correctly, tools such as this help developers to better understand who exactly it is that they are developing their product for. It is recommended to frequently evaluate your player experience against these personas so that projects are kept on track.

Individual challenge

This week’s individual challenge was deceptively difficult, requiring us to apply the DDR (1998) mat to five new contexts unrelated to dancing. Initially this seemed like an easy task, but once considering the awkward arrangement of the pads and the limit of only four inputs, I quickly got stumped. It wasn’t until I considered gamification of non-gaming tasks that I was able to come up with my ideas.

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1. Fitness Tetris

A regular game of Tetris where the pieces are moved side-to-side with the left and right arrows. They can be rotated with the up and down arrows. This would be great for gamers who are wanting to improve their fitness.

2. Accessibility controller for platformers

A controller which gives players with limited or no movement in their hands and arms the ability to interact with platformers. The left and right buttons would move the character in their corresponding direction, while the up button would make them jump, and the down button would make them attack.

3. Immersive hiking

With an accompanying VR headset, users would be able to go on immersive walks through tranquil, awe-inspiring scenery, using the directional buttons to move. This would be particularly appealing to people in built-up areas or busy workers who don’t have much time to explore nature. It could also be a tool fitted in offices to combat the stress workers may be experiencing.

4. Dance-Dance Recall!

Similar to the Brain Academy games and Bop-It, this would be used to improve memory and concentration skills. A speaker will sound out a sequence of inputs, for instance “Left, left, up, right, down, up”, and the player would then have to recall the inputs and carry them out. Each turn the sequence get more complex and difficult to remember. A high-score system could also be implemented. This could be useful for older people in their 60s/70s who are looking to keep their brain sharp.

5. Dance-Dance Reaction!

Similar to the above, but testing reaction times rather than memory and concentration. Players will wait for a randomised amount of time for the speaker to sound out a single input, after which they have to press the button as quickly as possible. This is repeated a number of times until you are given your average reaction speed. This could be a fun way for people who’s jobs are centered around quick responses (such as driving or the military) to improve their reaction times.

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Hard to be original and identify any niches

Looking through the lens of gamified fitness – fitness tetris.

Iron designer challenge

The group challenge required us to conceptualise an educational MMO aimed at children with no violence.

We started by looking at examples of other social games aimed at children, namely Club Penguin (2005), and Moshi Monsters (2008). It was evident that both titles utilised a cartoon styling with colourful visuals. They were also centred largely around minigames and home decorating. Finally, and most importantly, we noted that they employ a limited form of communication between players, so as to safeguard children. These were all elements we ended up incorporating into our final design.

Our game concept, titled ‘Science Odyssey’, was to be a science-focused educational MMO. Players make expeditions to various habitats in order to retrieve samples and photographs to be taken back to their home base – the lab. This lab can be customised in a large variety of ways, with players being able to choose theming, decorations, and pets.

Quests would be given by a variety of famous scientists from throughout history, each teaching children something about influential players in scientific fields. These quests would see taking part in mini-games that teach players fundamentals of science, e.g. circuit puzzles, test tube combinations, focusing microscopes, etc.

Players can choose to go on expeditions with others and help fellow scientists further their scientific studies. Communication will be made through emotes, with many of these being references to famous scientists (Edison’s lightbulb idea, Newton’s falling apple, etc.)

As children have typically short attention spans, we made effort to make sure that our core loop was very brief. We wanted something new and exciting to happen at least every thirty seconds. This could be a new emote, a puzzle, a social interaction, or obtaining new decorations for your lab.

Further reading

I read through the recommended article on GameIndustry.biz about how to market games (Staff 2020). I found the recommendation of choosing your marketing methods in alignment with your game useful. If the game looks great as a GIF then sharing it to Twitter would be a great idea as it will catch people’s attention and hopefully be shared around quickly. On the other hand, if you are making a niche simulation game, it might be more wise to take the marketing to specialist forums such as a Subreddit, in which you can get much needed exposure to people who are enthusiastic about what you are making. The article also emphasised the importance of targeting to a specific audience and not deviating or spreading your marketing efforts too thinly.

References

Club Penguin. 2005. Rocketsnail Games, Disney Canada Inc.

Dance Dance Revolution. 1998. Konami, Konami.

GamesIndustry Staff. 2020. ‘How to market your video game and find your target audience’. Gamesindustry.biz [online]. Available at: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-01-how-to-market-your-game [accessed 13 November 2021].

Moshi Monsters. 2008. Mind Candy, Activision.

Skate 3. 2010. EA Black Box, Electronic Arts.

Tony Hawk’s Underground. 2003. Neversoft, Activision.

GAM250 Week Seven – Worldbuilding and Storytelling

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

As I am someone with a heavy interest in story-focused games, and dream to work in the field of narrative design, this week’s lecture covered everything I love about games.

It was helpful to revisit Huizinga’s Magic Circle (Huizinga 1938), a theory we had touched on briefly in our GAM120 theory module last year. That perfect sweet spot where our players enter the hermetic seal of a game and fully suspend their disbelief is what we should always strive for when designing game worlds and stories. Personally, I can think of a number of games – BioShock (2006) comes to mind – where I have become so absorbed in my actions that I stop questioning the legitimacy of the experience. I think that much of this verisimilitude comes from the presence of consistency. In BioShock every gameplay mechanic is contextualised within the world of the game. Nothing stands out as contradictory from the world or Rapture at large; even respawning is explained through the use of ‘Vita-Chambers’ – machines that hold your genetic blueprint and recreate your corporeal form at a cost.

The points covering worldbuilding built nicely on top of what we learnt during GAM140 last year. It was helpful to break down the core components of what makes a well-crafted fictional world, including: immersion, simplicity, identity, idealism, research, passion, scale and connectivity. I can imagine the framework  working in tandem with Mark J. P. Wolf’s idea of world superstructures and infrastructures (Wolf 2012).

GDD work

In line with this week’s topic, I have been focusing on developing the narrative elements surrounding my game concept for the GDD.

I detailed the world of ‘Slam City’ – an oppressed city, sapped of its former glory. Aesthetically, the city will primarily take cues from both New York and Tokyo. I also broke the city up into distinct districts, so as to keep the map fresh and memorable to players.

I have also spent some time considering how the story will be delivered to the player. Similar to other open-world games, I want the main narrative to be conveyed through ‘main missions’, with side content and ‘errands’ being used to flesh out ancillary characters and the city at large. I feel that it is unavoidable that my game will need to rely on some cutscenes to tell its story. However, as the experience is heavily focused on gameplay and flow, I have decided to include a mobile phone for characters to contact the player through. Through this the player will be delivered story beats and exposition while traversing the overworld without having the game wrestle control away from them.

Individual challenge

This week’s individual challenge was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the broad prompt of creating a fleshed out fictional character. While I really wanted to go into fantastical places with my character design and backstory, I decided to keep the premise grounded in reality for an extra challenge. I wanted to see how I could use what we had learnt in this week’s lecture make a ‘regular guy’ compelling to audiences. Below is my attempt at doing such.

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Overview:

Today is the first day of the rest of Seamus Kelly’s life. 

Set up and left to rot in prison by those he used to call family, Seamus spent 15 years in federal prison serving time for a laundry list of crimes committed by his gang, The McCarthy’s. Now his time has come, and finally he is able to re-enter society. Fifteen years is enough time to give anyone pause for reflection, and Seamus has done plenty of that. He’s ready to make something of his life, settle down and maybe even find a wife. But before he gets to that, there’s some unfinished business Seamus has to attend to…

Physical appearance:

Seamus is a 6ft 2″ hulk of a man. Daily courtyard exercises mean that his stature and strength is significantly larger than when he entered prison.

Close cropped red hair and green eyes belie his Irish lineage.

Strengths:

Seamus is physically very strong, able to hold his own well in fist and knife fights.

On the inside, he devoured any book he could get his hands on, even trading his own belongings for more. Due to this, he is deceptively intelligent, with a wealth of knowledge and introspection.

His time running with the McCarthy’s taught him vital street skills such as bribery, intimidation, lockpicking, and hand-to-hand combat.

Weaknesses:

Having been in prison for so long, Seamus is a fish out of water. The world has advanced a lot since he was part of it, and it will take a while for him to adjust again.

The death of his parents took a great mental toll on him, and every day he battles with the trauma inflicted from the event.

His guilt over his former days as a gang member weigh heavily on his conscience. 

Desires:

Seamus wishes for a normal life away from the mafia. He wants what is common to all humans: love, peace, and a family of his own,

Directly conflicting with the above, Seamus is also overcome with an intense desire for revenge against those who wronged him.

Ultimately, it will be up to Seamus to choose what is more important to him: vengeance or peace.

Personal history:

Born in Dublin, 1891 to Irish parents. Fleeing the country due to being out of wedlock and severe lack of work, they emigrated to New York, the land of opportunity. 

When he was nine years old, Seamus’ parents were killed in the cross fire of a hit-and-run by the Italian mafia. Alone and orphaned, Seamus wondered the streets of New York, begging for money and food. This went on until he encountered Finn McCarthy, the leader of a large Irish crime family. Noticing Seamus’ distinct Irish accent and impressed with his clear initiative, Finn adopted Seamus into the McCarthy’s as one of his own.

From then Seamus grew up within the McCarthy’s, and his loyalty never waivered. No job was too far, no hit was too dangerous.

This allegiance persisted for years until the time that Seamus was twenty-four, when, for reasons unknown, the McCarthy’s set him up. Planting all their evidence on him and letting him do the time they were collectively due…

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I am very pleased with how this challenge submission went. Taking into account what we had been taught, I endeavored to make Seamus as flawed and tragic (in the the literary sense) as possible. I also choose to give him desires that audiences would hopefully be able to relate to strongly – revenge and peace. This stemmed from my observation of game narratives tackling either redemption (Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)), or revenge (The Last of Us: Part Two (2020)), but very rarely weighing up both and asking what the player would rather themselves.

Iron Designer Challenge

Similarly, the Iron Designer Challenge tasked us with creating an original game narrative in teams. This was an exciting task for me, and I felt relatively well prepared, having had some experience working on a story-focused game for my team project last year.

After tossing around some ideas, we eventually landed on an idea I had been formulating over summer for a personal project. It centres around the decidedly dark events of a deadly car crash, with the player character in a coma and reliving the events leading up to it, only to piece together the fact that they were responsible.

This worked out rather well as many of my teammates were interested in designing mechanics that fit with a narrative rather than vice versa, so having this framework to work with helped them do what they felt best equipped to do. Everyone came up with fantastic ideas for the gameplay, including Steven who designed some perspective-based puzzles that subtly messed with the player’s head and contributed to the overall feeling of confusion and rising dread given by the narrative. When I think of my favourite games, the narrative always supports the gameplay and the gameplay always supports the narrative. Both key components uphold one another and this is what I believe makes The Magic Circle accessible to the player.

Further reading

I spent some time this week looking into various theories of narrative. While these were originally created to relate to traditional literary texts, there is much that we can extract and apply to game narratives in terms of structure and pacing.

Freytag’s Pyramid (Freytag c.a. 19th century) features a five-point graph that can be used to visualize dramatic structure within stories. These five points are: Exposition (ending with an inciting incident), Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution/Denouement. Within the context of a game, the Exposition could be seen as the opening moments of gameplay, when players create their characters, run through tutorials, and learn about the game’s world and their place within it. The majority of gameplay for most games could be seen as falling under Rising Action, as the player are working towards their goal, becoming more powerful, and (following the inciting incident) pursuing an adversary of some sort. Any climactic fight or boss battle would reside within the space of Climax, a point at which the conflict hits its peak and is irreversibly addressed by the player. Falling Action and Resolution are two stages where game narratives tend to rush through, often being delegated to a post-fight cutscene (even the aforementioned BioShock is guilty of this). I imagine that by nature it is hard to make these final two stages of the pyramid compelling to players as the are typically devoid of conflict and purely used to resolve narrative threads and reflect on the change characters have undergone. Still, I would be intrigued to see a game attempt to give each stage a proportionate allocation of time.

I also delved back into Mark J.P. Wolf’s fantastic book, Building Imaginary Worlds (2012), to refamiliarise myself with the theories of worldbuilding in light of this week’s lecture. As stated previously, I particularly resonate with his taxonomy of superstructures and infrastructures, as I feel it gives a concrete and accessible method of crafting worlds.

I watched an interesting GDC talk by Kaitlin Tremblay on the marriage between game narrative and mechanics (Tremblay 2020). She brings light to the fact that the ‘verbs’ of a game (what a player is doing through gameplay) inherently inform the narrative and characterisation of a game, regardless of a developer’s intention. By making sure that a game’s verbs fit with a story, designers have a greater chance at avoiding the dreaded ludonarrative dissonance.

References

BioShock. 2006. Irrational Games, 2K Games.

FREYTAG, Gustav. c.a. 19th century. Freytag’s Pyramid [dramatic structure].

HUIZINGA, Johan. 1938. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Netherlands: Random House.

Red Dead Redemption 2. 2018. Rockstar Studios, Rockstar Games.

The Last of Us: Part Two. 2020. Naughty Dog, Sony Computer Entertainment.

TREMBLAY, Kaitlin. 2020. Storytelling with Verbs: Integrating Gameplay with Narrative [GDC talk]. Available at: Storytelling withttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ontNUxSLhb8h [accessed 29 October 2021].

WOLF, Mark J.P. 2012. Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation. Oxford: Routledge.

GAM250 Week Six – Finding the Balance

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

Balance is one of the most elusive qualities of a game. Often times, it is something that you are only aware of while playing the game and experiencing the overall ‘game-feel’. An aspect might feel balanced in theory, but in practice feels the opposite. Because of this, I feel that playtesting and the iterative process is hugely key to the successful balancing of a game. By having a playcentric approach to development and playtesting changes in a cyclical manner, balancing can be achieved.

Of particular note in this week’s lecture were the different methodologies for balancing a game. It is clear that documentation is key in the process. This allows for a frame of reference from which to make your changes later down the line. For this reason, game design documents are essential, and to this end I am endeavouring to make a clear, coherent GDD for my team’s game for GAM220. When encountering problems it is also key to fully understand them before attempting to solve them. By gaining this critical understanding, we can identify a solution that best fits the problem, without breaking the rest of the game.

GDD work

I have spent some time this week looking at my game concept through the lens of balance. By employing some of the knowledge and techniques learnt this week, I hope to create a well balanced game design that does not contain any ‘dominant strategies’. Elements of my game that I have identified as at risk of being out of balance are: equipment, game economy and levels design. While I won’t be actually producing this game, it important that I make sure these aspects are well thought through and considered so as not to render the game unbalanced.

The statistical boosts that each piece of equipment gives the player will need to be considered holistically, so that each piece is viable for the player. For instance, do I choose a 10% speed boost or 10% faster stamina regeneration? These small dilemmas build up to make a game more engaging and dynamic.

Game economy similarly requires careful balancing as players should neither have more money than they know what to do with or too little money to purchase anything they want. I will need to iterate in order to reward player investment accordingly. Errands that are completed by the player should provide money that is equivalent to their time investment. Otherwise the player would only do the quickest errands for maximum profit.

Level design will likely be the aspect that needs the most iteration and playtesting to perfect. I do not want certain routes or traversal objects to be significantly more effective than others (influence of character upgrades notwithstanding.) Using a bouncepad to launch yourself into grinding on a telephone wire should be just as viable as darting in-between traffic, catching the slipstreams of passing cars.

Individual challenge

This week’s individual challenge tasked us with identifying and discussing a game which features an example of poor balancing. I choose to discuss Skyrim (2011).

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Despite being nearly ten years old, Skyrim is a fantastic game and still stands head and shoulders above most other open-world titles that have come out since. It is one of my favourite games for good reason, but I will be the first to admit that it is not without its flaws. Especially when it comes to balancing.

Balance issues:

One of the primary issues with balance comes from the use of bow and arrow within the game. Once the player has used and upgraded the bow enough, it becomes immensely more powerful than the other weapons in the game. The player will soon find that they can use stealth for 3x damage and silently pick off enemies without having to engage in combat and it very quickly becomes the dominant strategy. This, coupled with the fact that melee combat is one of the weaker aspects of the game, will mean that many players will be quickly pushed into the class of ‘stealth archer’, without necessarily having enough time to experiment with different builds.

Another aspect that is unbalanced is the potion crafting system. There is a wealth of potions and poisons that the player is able to craft, providing that they have the right ingredients. However, aside from basic health and stamina potions, it is very rare that the player will feel incentivised to engage with this system. This is primarily due to the fact that the time investment to gather the ingredients required are not equal to the gameplay benefits received from these potions. The rewards are not equal to the effort. The same can be said for the cooking system.

Proposed solutions:

Their are a number of ways to combat the issue of dominant strategies emerging in the early game. An obvious one would be to nerf the bow’s power across the entirety of the game. Another could be to slow the levelling of the ‘archery’ skill, so as to slow the increasing damage as the player progresses. Alternatively, more work could be done into the other weapons in the game to make them feel more powerful and retract from the bow’s dominance.

To balance the potion crafting system, ingredients could be made slightly more plentiful, so that the player does not have to go to such lengths to make their desired potions. However, I think that the best way to balance this would be to make it so that you could make ‘batches’ of potions. This could be done in a way that if you add a particular ‘booster ingredient’ to any recipe (such as an alchemical powder), it doubles the production, making two rather than one. This would mean that players can create more potions, without breaking the game, as the booster ingredient would be rare. It would also add a level of meaningful choice (Do I make double ‘fortify armour’ or double ‘fortify stamina’?)

Conclusion

This has only touched on a select few of the balancing issues found in Bethesda Softwork’s magnum opus, and there are many more that could be discussed. Regardless, in spite of its flaws Skyrim is still a certified classic and will continue to live on in gaming infamy.

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Due to the fact that balance is such an intangible quality, I found this challenge quite hard. It is hard to know whether a proposed solution will improve balance as so much of a game’s balance comes from the ‘feeling’ you get when playing. While I do think that these elements are quite unbalanced when considered in the context of the wider game, I am not fully confident that my proposed solutions would fix them.

Nick had an interesting response to my submission:

Figure1: Nick’s response to my challenge submission.

While I do agree that eventually any weapon in Skyrim becomes overpowered if levelled enough, I still think that the bow is significantly powerful, especially in the early game. Aside from a few specific circumstances, it is the only weapon which can dispatch enemies without the player needing to enter combat. Because of this it becomes easy for the player to end up specialising in archery, without sufficiently testing the other weapon classes.

I definitely agree that much of the appeal of RPGs comes from the gradual tilting of balance in the player’s favour, until the player is powerful enough to best previously intimidating opponents with great ease. I think that if an opponent levelling system were included in the game, the player experience would be significantly devoid of that satisfying progression.

Iron designer challenge

For this week’s iron designer challenge, we had to rebalance a casual game in order for it to be targeted at a more hardcore audience. Our team chose Club Penguin (2005).

The main element of the game that we focused on were the minigames, as we felt that they were the most demanding of the player. We decided that we could turn the game into a competitive party game that cycles through modified versions of the original minigames, with players being positioned on a leaderboard, and the player who has got the most points from each game winning.

For example, we turned a minigame centered around level-based jetpack flying into a frantic race between players trying to reach the end. Players are able to get pickups that give benefits such as speed boosts or projectiles to throw at other players.

It was a difficult challenge to convert the game into a more demanding and competitive experience, however I think that the concept we landed on has potential to work. It is interesting to see how simple gameplay modifiers can tilt a game’s balance to become more ‘hardcore’, at least in theory.

Further reading

I have been largely continuing my ongoing engagement with the Talis resource list this week.

Following the lecture, I read an insightful article about the importance and difficulties of balancing on Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra). I especially agree with the statement that “a game being ‘in balance “is like a person being ‘in shape’; there’s no strict, defined line at which a game goes from being in balance to out of balance, it’s a gradual continuum,” (Burgun, 2011). Balance is not a one-size-fits-all issue, and approaches should be tailored to each problem.

References

BURGUN, Keith. 2011. ‘Understanding Balance in Video Games’. Game Developer [online]. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/understanding-balance-in-video-games [accessed 27 November 2021].

Club Penguin. 2005. Rocketsnail Games, Disney Canada Inc.

Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

GAM250 Week Five – Twitch and Strategic Skills

Posted on by SAMSON CROUCHER

Lecture

The lecture for this week was about the two main types of skill that games require: twitch and strategic.

As a game is commonly referred to as a series of interesting or meaningful decisions, it was beneficial to go over the types of decision in games, and how they are impacted by skill. The most compelling decisions are never easy – whether they incorporate elements of risk vs. reward, trade offs or dilemmas in which the seemingly lesser of evils must be picked. Blind decisions can also be a powerful tool, as players are unaware of their impact on the game until after their decision has been made.

It seems that the core difference between strategic and skill-based games comes from the speed at which they require you to make these decisions. In stark opposition to strategic games, twitch games rely on rapid, reactionary decision making from the player. These games are constantly throwing problems at the player for them to respond to as quickly as possible. In games like this challenge comes from the speed and accuracy of executing these decisions.

GDD work

When considering my game Slam City Skates, it seems that the primary skill required of the players is twitch skill. Due to the fast movement speed, and implementation of trick combos, the player will need to be making decisions on the fly. They must have quick reactions and make responsive inputs to maintain their combos and flow state for as long as possible.

Being an action-sport game, strategic skill does not fit very well into my concept. If I were to add more strategic decision-making in, I would likely implement it into the game’s story. There would be key moments in the story where the player must make decisions that alter the game state. These could be dilemmas or trade-offs, in which the player has to carefully consider their decisions and how that might impact upon the game. While these narrative-based decisions work well for a lot of titles, I do not feel that it would add anything substantial to my game’s core design, rather having the possibility to detract from the experience.

Individual Challenge

Following on from the topic of this week’s lecture, we were met with the challenge of combining twitch and strategic skills into one game. We had to add twitch skills into a game that is purely strategic. I choose to add twitch mechanics to the classic board game checkers:

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A game of checkers that takes place on a standard board, with standard movement rules.

With one twist.

You only get five seconds to complete each turn.
Within that turn you can move as many of your pieces as you want/can.
Each piece can only move once per turn.

Getting a piece to the other side of the board makes it become a ‘king’.
Every king you have on your team adds an extra second to your playtime each turn.
If you have three kings and the enemy has none, you get eight seconds per turn over their five.

No slow-paced strategies here, pure chaos and reaction times only. Quick analysis of the board and speedy visual processing is key to success.
Thanks to the time-pressure, an opponent may instantly take the opportunity to eliminate your piece, without seeing that doing so will open them up for attack.

Difficulty options:
Easy – 8 seconds per turn
Normal – 5 seconds per turn
Hard – 3 seconds per turn

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In truth, I struggled a lot with this week’s task and I am not overly pleased with the finished concept. I think that there is an inherent awkwardness to adding one gameplay-type to a game that is purely designed around being the polar opposite. In this case, coming up with creative ways to add twitch mechanics to checkers was a big challenge and I feel that simply adding a timer was rather unoriginal. However, I am happy with the modifier of each king adding a second onto your turn time, as it gives another reward for travelling all the way across the board.

Iron designer challenge

This week’s team challenge required us to make either a strategic or twitch base game design based upon a number of options. My team chose to make a strategy game set around the premise of a school reunion.

The player would move around a grid-based board, trying to avoid various people from their high-school days. At the start of each turn they would be signposted as to where each ‘enemy’ is about to move, giving them a chance to reposition and avoid. If the enemy’s turn ends with them occupying any adjacent tiles to the player, then the player’s ‘social battery’ will be drained. If the entire bar gets drained then it’s game over.

We also came up with varying classes for enemy types, based around archetypal school personalities. An enemy’s class effects how it moves, attacks, and how much damage is dealt to the player. This inclusion helped to keep the game concept varied and hopefully add some dynamic gameplay moments.

Further reading

This week’s further research has been largely taken up by my essay module, GAM210. My essay is tackling pedagogy within level design, so I have begun looking into articles related to this field. I have begun reading An Architectural Approach to Level Design by Chris Totten (Totten 2014), which has so far proved to be a very interesting read. In particular, Chapter 4: Teaching Levels Through Communication has been formative in my understanding of the topic, as it discusses various methods of behavioural teaching and how they can influence our understanding of how to design better levels. I agree with Chris’ statement that “learning from other fields is an important part of the ongoing development of game design” (Totten 2014: p. 162). Often, to become a more considerate game designer, it is important to look outside of our industry sphere and into other, more traditional areas, especially when in consideration of player psychology.

References

TOTTEN, Christopher W. 2014. An Architectural Approach to Level Design. Boca Raton: CRC Press.