Game Design

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Genre, Players, Objectives, Rules, Resources, Conflict, Controls, UI

Pxlink: Ludology Game Design Game Mechanics Game Theory Level Design
Obsidian: [[08-01-01-GameDesign]] [[10-01-01-GameTheory]] [[Classic_Mechanics]] [[05-01-01-MechanicsSingle]] [[09-01-01-Ludology]] [[10-01-01-GameTheory]] [[12-01-01-Lore]]

Mechanics vs Design? Story Symbol Idea Slogan Surprise

in games:

mission relation experience

push pull risk reward stress reliefe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYh5SJb5gWk&list=PLgKCjZ2WsVLScUWJZ7ppkHGlCUIXEj5Io&index=2

https://www.psychologyofgames.com/2011/03/the-unit-effect-and-player-perceptions/

https://youtu.be/_Hjm9LLSICg < rational to emotional https://youtu.be/P4Um97AUqp4 - design withou a pitch

Sid Meiers psychology of game design

choices are only meaningful and reinforces players identity

2 SIDES OF DESIGN

  • MECHANICAL
    • scripted vs system
  • FICTIONAL

extraction / waves / roug / resources / gune type - speed reload recoil auto aim
scary place / try and error - souslike telegraphing attacs

/// dont subvert expectations. to not make player desapointed ///

Exploration loop / Combat loop

=== NEW natural patterns lerners

  • whenever we run out of things to lern we get bored match personal interest to easy/dificulty, to fast or slow timing, find way to cheat

paterns: (helpfull in evolution)

  • calculating odds and prediction of events
  • social status pattern < most addictive
  • spatial reasoning < think ahead of time and figure out puzzle
  • memory - counting cards
  • visceral responses
  • teamwork

===

https://pixelprospector.com/#archive The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Design https://www.gamedeveloper.com/blogs/the-cognitive-science-behind-games-user-research https://www.psychologyofgames.com https://www.psychologyofgames.com/2011/03/the-unit-effect-and-player-perceptions/

  • power celling - in progression
  • resource management - how you budget power over time.
  • cost curve

Games putting us in different emotional states and challenge us.

MACRO (proteins fats carbohydrates - energy to function » need more )

  • large scale > maps, camps, objectives

MICRO (vitamines amd minerals - micronutrions » need less )

  • efficiency of everything u do > easier to acomplish macro
  • skillshots, abbilities, position (get less damage)

Patterns across scales m2m like fractals More that feels earn, more satisfyingly - (potential of things going wrong) progress is key. Getting better learning. YT GDC Sid Meier’s Psychology of Game Design

advanced mechanics hidden (those u need skill knowledge timing dexterity )- advanced shooters - strategy + mobility

  1. Selling point - why you should play it
  2. Incentive to play - why u should keep playing
    • chase a number (rank up). Mastery (self actualization) (level up score leader board)
    • story. Novelty (provide experience things that are impossible in normal world)
    • exploration & freedom
    • emotion: fun, no real world risk / save to fail / - easy creativity / relax / escape
    • Competition -
    • social
    • feel measurable progress
    • collecting
  3. Increasing, more difficult challenges - progression system progression

Long/sort term decisions
risk averse reward

reinforce through mechanics, incentivizes through game systems
Center of gravity in game should be settled in one place
feedback is important
Embrace failure as a chance to create stories
Guided by AI - have high saliency !!
Ludology, Game Mechanics

Gameplay Form a desired experience
Qualia - are defined as individual instances of subjective, conscious experience
How to deal with problem: functionally, narratively and thematically (What is a purpose of the design. ) Why system is important and not a secondary value:
Reaction to action (payoff get new gear / get new info )
synergy - every element compliment each other

excuse
momentum
payoff

Players

Avatar vs Character

  • Avatar give mechanical context.
  • Character - Emotional context.

GDC Character creation

Motivation, Characters, Personality

Type of players:

  • Rusher
  • Sniper
  • Ninja
  • Opportunist

Players ‘senses’:

  • See
  • Move
  • Shoot/Attack
  • Take cover
  • Hear
  • Get Hurt

Player Character

Bridging player and character more emergent if character can surprise you ? .> characterization - understanding character, to resonate. how much u know about character. what convince us to invest time in them. personality convey thou dialog. what would they really say.

Non Player Character NPC’s

  • bring satisfaction, don’t stole moments from player or be burden u must carry on.

OUD - Orthoigonal unit differentiation to make dynamic play space
villains - what mean to be offended by villain force

Enemies

queue of killing. Archer healer, normals dela with me first deal wieh me last high hp low famage

Attribute differentiation timing. of damage. sometimes take close/ long range attack movement

immune to some actions local vulnerability

AI

good AI let u know what is intended to do p- predictable > player can plan
predictable actions / unpredictable consequences. (someone run but u never know where)

personal AI’s that have RNG stats (na stałe wylosowane) - & remembering interactions with player ecosystems for ai

Rafał Tyl - Uncommon sense: a systemic approach to beliefs of AI agents

AI cheating AI lack of situational awareness

perception > belief building (reasoning about inf from past) its hard cause data is heterogenious > decision makeing > action

barbara dunin-kęplicz Andrzej Szałas MIMUW

  • epistemic profiles = rule-based resoning with belied structure
  • 4QL language

  • Group beliefs

  • lack of data (hidden)
  • wrong answer
    https://youtu.be/hoHE2QhMMuk?list=PLqUbLv3b1v3cDIo9LCgcsZ3A0whWixGe6 differences (,1. false, 2. unknown (false or true), 3. inconsistent (false and true), 4. true)

dynamic organization building and repairing
villains with procedural goals

Space

Level Design Architecture

Objectives

to get meta paterns.

side quests vs main plot

Interactions

Aim, Arcade skills,
Chase, Run, Race, Hide,
Align, Forbiden Act , Construct, Explore, Solve,
Resources to escape,

…

Restriction

   
turn based  
real time  
time limits  
keys and barriers > progress  
rpg - freedom > expand network / models for ai behavior’s and diplomacy,  
strategy - field (resource allocation > use ) - are mapping puzzles  
match 4 dynamics in strategy games.  
strategies - Managing points to use to win  

Strategies

  • Skill
  • action
  • Smart
  • diplomacy
  • stealth

Rules

  • defining objects and concepts
  • restricting actions
  • determining effects

Conflict

enemies dont need to kill
War , sport - a lot of similar drama structure

Motivation

  • care about story: imply meaning, to enable discover meaning
  • Give 2+2 (simple deduction)(connect the dots) - Invite Questions!!! motivation for character
  • inretnal change sth inside person. Overcoming grive / block

  • external: change sth in world outside / travel / fulfill emotions

  • obstacle, desire
Tension

crisis and climax dyolemat niejednoznaczne rozwiazanie balance between: anxiet and boredom

  • overpowered to much , no tention

Obstacles, Opponents, Dilemmas

Relationships

all vs player all for all

Boundaries

Outcome

Victory condition:

  • 1 winner - else looses

  • no explicit win conditions - sandboxes

  • Traither mechanics.
  • working toghether towards one goal and smiultaniously win (not enough hairs when music stops) Semicoop
  • highest scores after time

win loose state is important or just engagement is ok too ..

Video Games Don’t Need to Be Fun - GameSpot

Controls

  • where is locus of controll… play character directly or just give direction or control one character at a time in team Cognition (choices)

    Movement

Mirrors Edge, Spiderman, Tony Hawk, Mario

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAE2H5qJ8A8

movement: feadback to inputs

  1. acceleration , max, deceleration
    • short acc,decc - character stiff
    • long line supre meat boy or uncontrolable or hard to stop , runing on ice 6 frames to full speed - start - 3 frames stop 6x 4 - meat boy have longet stop 3 frames is x9 times faster than mario.
    • jump jump height to body size mario - x4 meatboy 6x

climb hang, fall

  1. air friction. if you stop stic it will fall

  2. dash -
    • can controll in air or static
    • dash canceling CELESTE
    • dash cancel in last sek turned to massive jump with momentum of dash
    • do with crouch
    • separate dash and jump to modify
    • second dash
  3. climb

Build tools not features

systemic stories - can be wider (as biproduct of system) or just complicated narratives (cannot return to town after robbing bank) risk of crappy uunsatisfaing story - foreshadow , justification , character ark, redemption, pase -

mastery -

retreat to safty - shift tempo between atack and deense -

Movement

controlls ? // move to mechancs ???

mario, movements, and combos other approach, use enviro - repeal yourself from projectiles or enemiies timeing - bust speed by shooting - rythmic action whtn delease - (pathless) keep momentu by chaining - / hook, slide hop, (titabfall) / quake - bunny hopping / mirrots efge

horizontal gameplay vs vertical

Camera (Gamatography)

(user think in euler look up down or on sides)

  • Yaw, Pitch and roll
  • distance from pivor
  • laterral and vertical offset for framing
  • fov
FOV
  • FOV values can be different. 60 vertical FOV equaled 75 HOR+ FOV which is based in 4:3 aspect ratio, equals to 90 HOR- FOV which is based 16:9 aspect ratio or higher.
  • 85 HOR+ FOV and not 90 is the maximum FOV that gives you peripheral vision without making a fisheye effect on 16:9 aspect ratio which is the standard now.
  • competitive gamers that need the most FOV so they can see everything
  • For simracers, 1:1 world accurate FOV is vitally important, and what a 1:1 FOV with no distortion is is completely dependent on how big your monitor is and how far away it is from your eyes. Think of your monitor like
  • https://dinex86.github.io/FOV-Calculator/

https://www.theastronauts.com/2019/04/the-secrets-of-fov/

FPS

simple

TPS fixed:

2d scroller
camera locked (rails)
top wiev: rts-top
slajdy

TPS dynamic:

thgird person - hardest to design (fixed angels are easier to make)

  • automatic gudience to not controll cam and character by player
    • cam and level work toghether
    • line of sight must be small enough to fit throuhgh level
    • swing away from obstacles (detected earlier)
    • camera must satisfy lot of constraints
    • you can change distance to player depend on angle
    • see player and enviroment
    • depth perception and distance judgeing is preaty week
Accessibility , easy of use

Degree of representation vs abstracion

  • fixed angle thrid person
  • dynamic angle - colision on distance problems / many design constraints at a time. need to organize
    • never pivot in space (orbit around avatar)
    • level design and camera must cooperate
    • global coords or quaternions to persist state (players think in eulers)
    • yaw, pitch, (optionally roll) distance, latteral and vertical offset for framing, fov
    • prevent break line of site (all cam cuts should be more than 30 angle )
      • can swing (rotate, detect by raycast)
      • pushing away from an obstacle while player is trying to swing toward it. (then must push cam toward)
    • organize constrain in way of degree of freeedom u need. and prioretixe
      • -
  • fps https://youtu.be/C7307qRmlMI ——————–

UI

Diedests - in world non Diagetic - not in the fiction

Use existing mental models and make to be more intuitive

Design

Perception information is 3 lvl processes

  • sensations
  • preception
  • cognition
    but sometimes if u have signs (icons) it can influate how u see (gestalt) perception is subjective
    input is processed by brain (not raw)
    Memory
  • sences - sensory (part of perception)
  • attention »> then it go to short time memory
  • then go to long term mem forgeting curve - after 20 min 60% lost Attention

Inputs

Mouse, suit, brain sensors

UI: https://www.gameuidatabase.com/index.php?scrn=160

.

Onboarding

  • tutorials

“PICK UP THAT CAN.” If you do, he lets you go. If you don’t, he beats you. This accomplishes two things at once. It establishes story: you’re living in an oppressive society and must do what this cop says for fear of death. Second, on a more basic level it teaches you the basic mechanics of picking objects up and throwing them in the game.. .#gamasutra.

  • rewards
  • accessibility
  • gamification

Accessibility

  • Ability to remap controls
  • Subtitles - Large and contrast
  • UI visuals should be clear

##Loading bar https://www.psychologyofgames.com/2019/10/loading-when-were-willing-to-wait/

Overview

a-b mission Endgame

Cycles (gameplay loop )

Second to second - micronarrative (momentary) core mechanics
Minute to minute - events, tactics and problem-solving puzzles
Hour to Hour - (structural) game premise goal. why where

  • Compulsion loops.
  • Story Shape Ups and downs tension !!!!
  • Therefor instead of: Then (a means to an end) (Causality)
  • Try and fail. Fail and find new: clue, inspiration, information plot expansion: instead of twist /u get more than promised not unexpected change
    change

.

  • life cycle of agents in simulation . Dynamically changing agents

Endgame

fast pase slow pase - time to think

Game Design

Balancing

BUFF vs NERF

Genre taxonomy

Is flexible. zbieraj i buduj, wskakuj na platformy,

Casual
  • Puzzle
    • Action, Match3, Trivia, Word Games, Coloring, Hidden Object, Solitude
  • Simulation
    • Adventure
    • Tycoon/Crafting
    • Sandbox
    • Time management
  • Arcade
    • Platformer, Idler, Shoot / Beat’em Up, Tower defense, Board Games,
    • Roguelike (permadeath, no save of progress) YT
    • Hack’n’slash ??
  • Haptic - Tap, Steer, Swipe/Drag, AR
  • Location Based / AR -
    Twin Stick
Midore

- Shooters strzelaj i nie daj się trafić,

  • Battle Royale
  • FPS/TPS
  • tactical
  • PvP
  • PvE

  • Imersive sims - give stroy and personal solutions to quests . (deusex) systemic anfd rulle based.

  • RPG
    • Action
    • Turn-Based
    • Fighting
    • MMORPG
    • Puzzle
    • Idle
    • Survival
  • Strategies
    • 4x
    • Build&Battle
    • MOBA
    • Tactical
  • Traversal
  • Story driven
    • Horror (easly do away with character and plot. tension, shock, monsters)
  • Card

Casino

  • Bingo, Poker, Slots

Sports

  • Sport - Arcade/realistic
  • Driving, Flying.

================================

Psychology

morality systems

  • choices like kotor path of doing good/bad things lead to perska

  • how decisions are attached to main conflict
  • binary system > if u r not polite we will lock dialogs - is no go
[YT How Game Designers Create Systemic Games Emergence, Dynamic Narrative and Systems in Game Design](https://youtu.be/OrmyLaLCaIo)

Psychology in games:
Sid Meier’s Psychology of Game Design
Mike Ambinder - Principal Experimental Psychologist
game mechanics advanced game design BOOK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ernest adams joris dormans :
a systemic approach advanced game design BOOK:L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! michael selers
persuasive games ian bogost book

Mental models https://quanticfoundry.com/gamer-motivation-model/ https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025742/A-Deep-Dive-into-the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJUPfKtg_Q https://quanticfoundry.com/2019/04/11/gdc2019/


---

player-facing:
- exposition
- investigation
- action
- reaction / reprisal

---------------

strategic
systematic
narrative
emergent

environmental reconciliation
design by theming.

casual games, requiring players to make time to play, rather than playing opportunistically or sporadically.

Q

What make game meaningful. is it progress save and win screen or experience itself? What game can teach us. What kind of narration. What we are doing why it maters and what are the consequences

how to:

  • by connecting main ideas

https://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/

How Game Designers Create Systemic Games | Emergence, Dynamic Narrative and Systems in Game Design https://youtu.be/OrmyLaLCaIo

The Freedom Fallacy: Understanding “Player Autonomy” in Game Design https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vct13OhIio&ab_channel=GDC

Rules of the Game: Five Further Techniques from Rather Clever Designers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh5oqH1Dv8g&ab_channel=GDC

Rules of the Game: Another Five Techniques from Particularly Crafty Designers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVq1-y7ailE&ab_channel=GDC

https://youtu.be/3YXGcw1tvtc

https://www.youtube.com/@PeopleMakeGames