On great games
Games are all about choices and giving the players a variety of options that are meaningful for them. Often new game designers would make game mechanics that feel boring or pointless. This is because the choice isn't impactful or meaningful. Picking the color of your shield is a choice, but if that doesn't impact the gameplay, then it doesn't make much difference to the player. You can spot these kind of mistakes in many commercial games - such as the ending to Mass Effect 3, where (without spoiling anything) the only substantial difference your choice makes is the color of the lazer. There are many ways to make choices meaningful. One method is to make sure there isn't a universally right choice: make the player pick between a shield that provides more defense but makes you move slower, or a shield that doesn't impede your movement, but will fail to block strong attacks. Which one is better? That depends on the player's playstyle, and by choosing one according to their style, this choice gives the player a sense of agency. Another important technique is to present enough information to the player to make the choice. Continuing with the shield example, if the player hasn't battled with any monsters, then they wouldn't know which playstyle fits them better, thus rendering the choice of the shield meaningless - not because they won't affect the gameplay differently later, but because it doesn't make a difference to the player at the time of choosing.
One of the most important aspects of choice is consequence. For a game to engage a player's mind, each choice must alter the course of the game. This means the decision has to have both an upside and a downside; the upside being that it advances the player one step closer to victory; and the downside being that it hurts the player's chances of winning. This concept seems simple, but you'd be surprised at how many games force the players to make choices that have no impact upon whether they win or lose.
Types of decisions
It's easy to say that games should have interesting choices, but why is one choice more interesting than another? The answer lies in the type of decision you ask to the player to make. If the player has to choose between two weapons, and one weapon is only slightly superior to the other, even though the player may be faced with a life and death encounter, the decision itself does not reflect this. To make this decision interesting, each weapon must have a dramatically different impact on the player's chance of winning.
But if the decision itself is too easy, then it's not a decision at all. If it's obvious that the player should use the golden arrow to slay the dragon, there's no real choice. Why would the player risk using anything else? This decision, although it appears to be life and death, is meaningless. The player will invariably choose the golden arrow, unless he doesn't know about its powers, and in that case, it's an arbitrary choice, not a decision.
The key to making this decision interesting is for the player to know that the golden arrow is the right choice, but also to know that if he uses the golden arrow now, he won't be able to use it later when he has to fight the evil mage. To make this decision truly dramatic, the player must be put in a position where both paths have consequences. If the player doesn't use the arrow now, his faithful companion, who is not immune to dragon fire, may die during the battle. However, if the player uses the arrow, it will be much harder to destroy the evil mage later on. Suddenly the decision has become more complex, with consequences on both sides of the equation.
Decision types
Hollow decision: no real consequences
Obvious decision: no real decision
Uninformed decision: an arbitrary choice
Informed decision: where the player has ample information
Dramatic decision: taps into a player's emotional state
Weighted decision: a balanced decision with consequences on both sides
Immediate decision: has an immediate impact
Long-term decision: whose impact will be felt down the road
In the example of the golden arrow, the decision is a combination of the previous decision types. It's an informed decision because the player knows a lot about situation he is in, it's a dramatic decision because the player has an emotional attachment to his faithful companion, it's a weighted decision because there are consequences balanced on both sides, it's an immediate decision because it impacts the battle which is taking place with the Dragon, and it's a long-term decision because it impacts the future battle with the evil mage. All these combine to make the decision of whether or not to use the golden arrow a critical choice in the game, and this makes the game interesting.
GameDeveloper's Improving Player Choices
There are many angles to consider when choosing game mechanics.
Ultimately, it's about what the player perceives when playing your game: What kind of emotions will they be going through? What kind of fun are they having? What reason do they have for playing your game?
From there, we can think about what type of actions would lead to these sensations, these emotions. From there, we can think about what game mechanics - what rules the game should have, in order for the player to naturally take these actions.
This is called the MDA framework.
MDA Framework
- Mechanics - The rule of a game, and the players' direct actions as a consequence of these rules. E.g. Only being able to revive at your corpse in World of Warcraft; The way each chess pieces move; the balance between rock, paper, and scissors.
- Dynamics - The emerging behaviors of players. E.g. corpse camping, complex strategies in chess, using rock-paper-scissors to decide who the last piece of chocolate belongs to.
- Aesthetics - The mindset and emotions that players fall into during the game.
Aesthetics - 8 Kinds of Fun
Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure.
Fantasy
Game as make-believe.
Narrative
Game as unfolding story.
Challenge
Game as obstacle course. Satisfy player's power fantasy.
Fellowship
Game as social framework. Satisfy player's need for social interaction and bonding.
Discovery
Game as uncharted territory. Satisfy player's desire to explore.
Expression
Game as soap box, a place where players can express their creativity.
Submission
Game as mindless pastime.
These are just examples of what kind of fun gaming can provide us. It's not limited to these. If you find a new one, mark it down!
Extra Credits - Aesthetics of Play
Other angles to consider from
Audience: What kind of players will be playing the game, and for what goal? Are they parents looking for quality family time? Or tired workers trying to turn off their brain while riding the subway?
Platform: What devices will the players be playing this game on? What does that mean for the control scheme? What about the environment they could be playing in? On a comfy couch, or a bumpy bus?
Skill set: What do you, or your team, excel at? What kind of mechanics or games does that allow you to make quickly?
Overall, just keep in mind that there are always limitations to your project. A completely free space for expression is extremely rare. But if you can decide which angles to approach from by taking inspiration from these limitations, then they are no longer a prison.
Game Design Grammar
Another interesting approach to try.
Simply put, you can design a form of play by looking at the nouns: entities in the game, verbs: what the entities do, and adjective/adverb: additional attributes to the entities and verbs. From then on you can form sentences that describe the gameplay.
From Mechanics to Levels
Levels are the stages where your player can explore the mechanics. They also help padding out the game, keeping it interesting and letting players enjoy it for a long time. Levels come in many forms, sometimes discrete environments, stages; other times a smooth increase in difficulty.
Playtesting
It is extremely rare to get a design - any design - right on the first try. This is especially true for game design, since you are designing the experience of other people.
We need to keep playtesting at every stage of the development, and understand what the players' experiences are like by observation and communication. Always give them opportunity to provide feedback; it could be as simple as an online survey with 3 questions, "What did you like?" "What did you dislike?" "What other thoughts do you have?". Or a notebook and a pen next to the controller.
Who should I choose to playtest my game?
Everyone! But you can start with friends and family. Look for people who can give you honest feedbacks without sugar-coating. If needed, you can pretend the game was made by a friend.
Try to get some kids to play the game too. They are fantastic playtesters because they have no filter, and would say whatever is on their mind the moment they think of it.
What would a playtest reveal to me?
- Issues with the control scheme
- Ergonomic issues: awkward key placement, unresponsive inputs...
- Explaining how to play to a player itself would reveal how intuitive the rules are. If your players are confused, then maybe what the player can do should be simplified?
- Logic contradictions in the game's rule
- Players would find new strategies to play the game, strategies you did not expect
- Note: When the strategy takes ingenuity and skill to pull off, this is often a good thing, as it is fun to discover creative solutions and be rewarded by it.
- But when these strategies take very little skill to pull off, yet still beats the game, then it breaks the challenging experience you intend the players to have.
