Lenses for the Game

The Game Consists of Elements §

• Mechanics - the rules of the game that describe the goals, the constraints, and the outcomes.

• Story - the sequence of events that unfolds in the game

• Aesthetics — how the game appeals to the senses.

• Technology - any materials and interactions that make the game possible. It allows the game to do certain things and not do others.

• All of the above are equally important and influence each other. All should work towards the same goal — the player experience.

  • Never forget the player experience. Not knowing the elements makes us ignorant to how we can improve the experience, but not knowing the experience can make the game horrible.

• Deficits in one element of the tetrad can inspire creative designs in another.

• Relevant lenses: Elemental Tetrad, Holographic Design

The Elements Support a Theme §

• The theme is what your game is about. It is the idea that ties your entire game together
• The primary benefit of basing your design around a single theme is that all of the elements of your game will reinforce one another, since they will all be working toward a common goal.
  • The sooner the theme is identified, the better
  • When the theme is identified, reinforce it as much as possible.
• The best theme is a theme that resonates with players. Those that are archetypal and universal and they elevate the game.
• Themes operate on the subconscious level. It is about focusing the experience to something important to the players.
• Relevant lenses: Unification, Resonance.

Some Elements are Game Mechanics §

Space §

• *Every game takes pace inside the magic circle. *
• The space can be discrete or continuous, have any number of dimensions, and be bounded or unbounded or locally connected / unconnected.
• The goal is to decompose the play space into a simpler form amenable for a specific type of analysis.
• Nested Spaces - are more suited for complex game spaces where there are spaces within spaces.
• Relevant Lenses: Functional Space

Time §

• Games exist in a certain time and has rules that govern the flow of time
• Time can be discrete (as in turn based) or continuous (as in real time) or a mix in between (for example, like Chess where there is a turn clock but also a timer)
• Clocks help limit gameplay via an absolute measure of time.
• Races introduce relative measures of time, which encourages players to be faster via time pressure.
• Games can also allow us to control time.
• Relevant lenses: Time

Objects §

• Objects define what nouns are in the game space.
• Objects inside the game space generally have one or more attributes, one being the position in the game space.
• Attributes can be statically fixed or dynamically changing throughout the game.
• Communicate the state of the objects to the player.
• Rule of thumb: If two objects behave the same, they should look the same. If they behave differently they should look different.
• Games that force players to be aware of too many states or pieces to play confuse players.
• States and attributes provide information. However, not all game information has to be public. We can have
  • Information everyone knows
  • Information only some players know
  • Information only one player knows.
  • Information only virtual agents know.
  • Information only the game knows
  • Information that is randomly generated .
• Relevant Lenses: State Machine, Secrets

Actions §

• Actions define what players can do
• Basic Actions - the base actions that a player can take.
• Strategic Action - actions that are only meaningful in the large picture of the game. ¹
• Strategic Actions are usually those that emerge naturally as the game is played, but are otherwise not integrated into the rules themselves.
• Interesting emergent actions are the hallmark of a good game. More strategic actions = more emergence
• We can make more emergent gameplay by doing the following:
  • Add more verbs — more basic actions. Strategic actions appear as the interactions of basic actions with each other, objects, and space. Do keep in mind game bloat.
  • Verbs that can act on many objects.
  • Goals achieved more than one way. Give the player options and let them solve the game their way.
  • Many subjects - have many objects that can take the game actions.
  • Add side effects that change constraints - force multiple aspects of the game to change with every basic action.
• Innovative mechanics are those that give new basic or strategic actions.
• Relevant Lenses: Emergence, Action

Rules §

• Rules make all the mechanics possible, alongside defining the game’s goals.
• Models for Game Rules apply here.
• When your game changes modes in a dramatic way, it is important to let players know which mode they are in.
• Too many modes and the player gets confused.
• Players should never spend so much time in a subgame that they forget what they were doing in the main game.
• Video games have the advantage that the computer can enforce the rules. But, make sure the player has a good model. Knowledge in the Head and In the World applies here.
• If players feel like the game can be cheated, some will cheat while others will not play.
• The Most important rule of the game is its goal. The more easily the players understand the goal of the game, the more likely they are going to want to play.
• Good game goals are:
  • Concrete - players understand and can state clearly what they are supposed to achieve.
  • Achievable - players think they have a chance to achieve the goal.
  • Rewarding - Give the player something valuable upon reaching the goal.
• Relevant Lenses: Goals, Rules

Skill §

• *Every game requires the player to exercise certain skills. *
• Physical Skills - involving strength, dexterity, coordination and endurance.
• Mental Skills - involve memory, observation and puzzle solving.
• Social Skills - reading an opponent, fooling an opponent and coordinating teammates.
• Note that a player’s virtual skills in game may improve while their real skills out of the game do not
  • Virtual skills are a good way to give the player a feeling of power.
  • The key is a mix of virtual and real skills, and to recognize there is a difference between the two.
• Consider listing down the skills the players need to have.
• Relevant Lenses: Skill

Chance §

• Chance means uncertainty which means surprises. This, of course, requires an understanding of probability.
• Expected values are excellent tools for game balancing but be careful and make sure the statistical models are correct and based on the actual values of actions in game.
• Remember that We do not have a good grasp of probability. Perceived probability is just as important as actual probabilities.
• Skill and Chance interact with each other.
  • Estimating chance is a skill.
  • Skills have a probability of success (i.e. a risk).
  • Estimating an opponent’s skill is a skill. This also includes bluffing.
  • Predicting pure chance is an imagined skill.
  • Controlling pure chance is an imagined skill.
• Relevant Lenses: Expected Value, Chance

Game Mechanics Must Be in Balance §

• Balancing a game is nothing more than adjusting the elements of the game until they deliver the experience you want.
• Tips are further elaborated here.

Game Mechanics Support Puzzles §

• More on puzzles here. The principles for making good puzzles also apply.

• Implicit puzzles satisfy the lens of elegance because they stimulate the head and serve additional purposes in game.

• Relevant Lenses: Accessibility, Visible Progress, Parallelism, The Pyramid, The Puzzle.

Players Play games through an interface §

• The interface is anything between the player and the game world.

Physical Interfaces and Virtual Interfaces from Schell.

• The less abstraction to our interface, the more we feel an emotional connection to the content.

• The goal of the interface is for the player to feel in control of the experience.

  • If the interface becomes second nature to the player, the player will project themselves into the game itself while ignoring the interface.
  • Touch controls tend to feel the most intuitive.

• The quality of the feedback provided by the interface determines how much the player understands the game

  • Tenth of a Second Rule If there is no immediate feedback (within a tenth of a second), the player will assume there is something wrong with the interface.

• Favor juicy systems - just a little interaction gives a continuous flow of reward.

• An important goal of the interface is to communicate information. Consider the following in establishing channels of information

  • List and prioritize information
  • List the channels of information (i.e., how they are communicated)
  • Map information to channels
  • Review the dimensions (i.e., attributes) of each channel.
    • Some dimensions can reinforce the information
    • Other dimensions can give additional information. However, you have to tell the player what these extra dimensions mean.

• Consider modes - which are changes in the mapping of controls under certain contexts. Consider the following to make the game less confusing.

  • Use as few modes as possible.
  • Avoid overlapping modes. If modes have to overlap, make sure they use different channels.
  • Make different modes look as different as possible. Consider the feedback and transparency of each mode.
    • Change something large and visible on screen.
    • Change the action the avatar is taking.
    • Change the on-screen data.
    • Change the camera perspective.

• Other tips for interfaces.

  • Top Down Approach Steal from another well known interface.
  • Bottom Up Approach Design the interface from scratch by listing out information, channels, and dimensions.
  • Design around physical interfaces. That is, design with a physical interface (i.e., keyboard, controller) in mind.
  • Theme the interface. Unification applies.
  • Remember that sound maps to touch.
  • Balance options and simplicity with layers of interfaces of increasing detail.
  • Use metaphors - make the interface resemble something the player has seen before.
  • If it looks different, it should act different.
  • Repeatedly Test and refine. The iterative process applies.
  • Break the rules to help the player.

• Relevant lenses: Control, Physical Interface, Virtual Interfaces, Transparency, Feedback, Juiciness, Primality, Channels and Dimensions, Modes, Metaphor.

Some Interfaces Create a Feeling of Presence §

• The magic of VR and AR interfaces comes, not in fooling the mind, but fooling the mind’s sense of the body — fooling proprioception. It is the feeling that you are present within the simulation itself.

	Here	There
Real World	Reality	Telepresence
Simulation	AR	VR

• Game designers create new realities.

  • Logical Reality - the rules of cause and effect.
  • Spatial Reality - how I move through space.
  • Proprioceptive Reality - where it feels like my body is
  • Social Reality - how I interact with others.

• The heart of AR and VR is presence. Here are six ways to break presence.

  • Motion sickness. Some tips to prevent this are as follows:
    • Keep the framerate up. 60 fps at minimum.
    • Avoid virtual camera movement. Spatial motion risks creating motion sickness.
    • If the camera must move, don’t accelerate it.
    • Hide the edges of the visual field (i.e., the vignette). The brain uses peripheral vision to determine motion.
    • Teleport sparingly. The mind creates a 3D model but only when it has looked at the space.
    • Keep the horizon level. Avoid any form of virtual rotation (i.e., having the game rotate). Let the players do the rotation.
  • Counterintuitive interactions. Interactions must match with what the players expect as reality.
  • Intensity overload. This is when the experience becomes “too real” that the players want to stop. The player’s mind is fighting against the presence.
  • Unrealistic audio. Hearing is believing. You use your sound to decide where your body is.
  • Proprioceptive Disconnect. When the virtual avatar has a disconnect with the physical avatar. When the player can see their virtual avatar, it feels uncanny.
  • Lack of identity. If the NPCs do not address your presence in the world, the player will realize they aren’t really there.

• Here are six presence builders

  • Hand presence. Something about seeing your hand convinces you the world is solid and real. When using tools in the virtual environment, most players can’t remember.
  • Social presence. Being able to speak and gesture with VR and AR creates a special experience. You feel that you are part of a social space.
  • Familiarity. Have set pieces that the player can recognize.
  • Realistic Audio. This includes spatialized sound and proper acoustics.
  • Proprioceptive alignment. The real life body and the virtual body are strongly aligned.
  • Comedy. It is easier to build a presence in a comedic world than in a serious world. Discovering the crazy rules of the world is the delight.

• Encourage Looking around. Give the player reasons to look around by making some items invisible to the player’s immediate FOV.

• Consider brownboxing. Build an experience in reality to simulate a VR scene in the real world. This is the VR counter part to testing on pen and paper.

• Inputs are important in VR / AR. Design your game around these input mechanisms.

• Relevant Lenses: Presence.

The Team Builds a Game with Technology §

• Technology, among the other elements of the tetrad, is the most dynamic, volatile and unpredictable. The technology of the game pertains to its medium.

  • Foundational Technology - the ones that make a new kind of experience possible.
  • Decorational Technology - makes an existing experience better.

• Because of the pressure for novelty, it can be easy to get swept away in the possibilities of what technology can do and forget that our purpose is to create a great game.

• When encountering a new technology, ask your self how you can make it foundational to your game.

• It is best to understand the Hype Cycle because:

  • Immunity - you can avoid risking your career on a technology you haven’t seen work.
  • Inoculation - if you can make others understand the Hype Cycle, you may be able to save your team from making a dangerous decision
  • Fund raising - get the money before the trough of disillusionment then make something great despite the technology.

• Be aware of the Innovator’s Dilemma - Technology companies fail because they make the mistake of listening to their customers.

  • This situation is when new technology has appeared that is different and not yet good enough to replace the old one.
  • The oversight comes from sticking to the old technology because the new technology is not good enough. But, this doesn’t take into account innovations in the new technology.

• The Law of Divergence - as more technology emerges, we expect them to diverge, manifesting in different devices that let you mix and match.

  • Exception: Pocket-held technologies that are convergent for convenience.

• Don’t just understand what is new, understand what is coming next. The predictions aren’t important, rather they let you develop instincts for how technology fits with the human experience.

• According to Schell, there are five types of technology that will lead to a better world.

  • Magical Interface - players want interfaces that feel magical.
  • Fair Payment - payment systems that players find fair while sustaining the ability to create great games.
  • Less A more I - improvements to Artificial Intelligence technology to make them more natural.
  • Family and Friends - games that are meant to be played with the family.
  • Transformation - games that help people change into people they truly want to be.

• Relevant lenses: Technology, The Crystal Ball, Utopia

Footnotes §

1. The distinction between Strategy and Tactics applies here. ↩