3 Types of Segmentation

Segmentation of gameplay describes how a game is broken down into smaller or shorter units of gameplay.


3 Types of Segmentation:

• Temporal Segmentation

Limiting player action within the game with turns and real time.
Used for temporal co-ordination and as a temporal resource.

• Spacial Segmentation

The virtual space broken down into sub-locations such as: levels, maps, and worlds.

In referencing a strong sense of spatial segmentation, it is important that the player perceives he or she is participating in a virtual space larger than its onscreen representation and that this space is traversed in parts.

Levels are evident the through discontinuity in gameplay, they represent different locations.

Checkpoints break down locations into sub locations which can be used as a progression alternative to levels, without discontinuity.

• Challenge Segmentation

Sub-units of gameplay which contain challenge.

Challenge segmentation comes in forms of boss challenges, puzzles, and waves.

Waves suggest an intended increase in difficulty to the player.

Puzzles add challenge to a game, without making the player encounter enemy characters. Puzzles often must be solved to progress to the next puzzle.

Boss segments spike the challenge in the game as they require more effort and new strategies to overcome.

Bonus stages refers to a phase in the game where the player can't lose.

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I feel there was too much focus on labeling segments of games, as opposed to when how or why to use these segmentation types.

Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design

Casual Games Definition (according to Marcos Venturelli):

Casual games can be played without having to learn how to play them right away and offer gameplay which can be interrupted at any time without consequences. Complexity can still be added later on.

The human brain is goal driven, we automatically try to turn the game into routine as we play, to make the game easy, which in turn can lead to the game becoming boring.

Space of possibility: This refers to the amount of options and choices are allowed within the game's system.

A simple game is easy to get into, but will be solved by our brains quickly and therefor becomes boring quickly.

A game with a larger space of possibility will take long to master, meaning it stays entertaining for longer, however players might be frustrated due to not knowing how to play properly.


There should be minimal use of tutorials in a casual game, this should happen as the game progresses in order to keep the player from investing big amounts of time learning instead of playing.

Ideally the game starts simple with minimal space of possibility, and consistently builds up by adding or replacing mechanics, keeping the player happy because s/he is hardly interrupted from the game, and yet, patterns are always being added while they play, to prevent them from getting bored.

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I think the methods used to hook players at the start, and keep them hooked by adding complexity are very effective for new players, however from my experience, these games tend to have a drawback: Bad replay value.

When replaying a game, after knowing all of the game's complexity, it is very frustrating being limited to basic mechanics at the start. I think the solution to this problem is to create a different type of gameplay such as a skirmish mode, in strategy games, where players can continue playing, using the full knowledge they have gained, in a balanced, repeatable scenario.

Having considered this reading, it seems digital games have an advantage over non digital games.

Since all the learning required must be done before playing a non digital game, these games suffer the inevitability of  being too simple in the long run or too complex at the start.

Chance and Skill

Chance

One of the reasons chance is used in games is to make them playable by a wider audience, only hardcore players would want to play a purely skill based game.

The amount of strategy(skill) and chance used in a game depend on the designer's desired dynamics.

If a player can know all the possibilities in a game, it would make the game solvable. This means the player can know all the steps to take in order to reach a certain victory or tie, thus removing uncertainty from the game.

As discussed last week, a game without uncertainty loses its dramatic tension, which in turn stops compelling players to reach its goal.

The random element can be used to make the game unpredictable in order to retain uncertainty. It can also keep less skilled players interested longer as the game will give them more chance to win against a superior player due to luck.

The random element adds variety to a game because with each play through, players will have to react to a new situation. Randomness increases replay value for this reason.

Randomness on its own can be entertaining, as a key point of a game is about to be resolved by a single random outcome, a lot of dramatic tension is created.

(Unrelated note: Some dice have 100 sides...)

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Random elements can be introduced in games using several different elements, such as: Dice, Cards, Pseudo-Random Numbers and Hidden Information.

Dice
When using dice to get a random number, you get an even chance to get any of the numbers, however when using multiple dice and adding their numbers, it is more likely that the value will be in the middle of the possible range. (Using 2D6, you can only get 1 combination that adds up to 2, but you can get 2 combinations that add up to 3, and 3 combinations for 4, etc...)

Die rolls will not influence future rolls such as drawing cards from a deck would.

Cards
Cards can be drawn from a deck to get a random draw chance, they can be put face down to be used as hidden information, and can be shuffled to randomize their order. Although, for each known card drawn from a deck of cards, the odds for drawing one of the rest of the cards changes. Smart players are able to keep count of the odds to gain an advantage.

Pseudo-Random Numbers
Pretend-Random numbers generated using a computer algorithm, often based on the computer clock. Though the numbers aren't truly random, the players will normally have no idea which number is most likely going to turn up.

Hidden Information
While hidden information doesn't have to be random for all players, it still creates uncertainty as players will not know what they are dealing with until the information is revealed.

In strategy games: One may build some defenses instead of generate more resources in fear that the enemy MAY be building an attack.

In card games: One may not play a certain move in fear that his or her opponent may counter it with one of the cards they are holding.

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Games which are entirely based on luck are often children games or gambling games.

These games are all about creating dramatic tension and resolving it with a random element. While gamblers have money in play, it is easy to maintain dramatic tension, as for children games, they are quite easily amused by seeing the random elements play out.

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Skill

This term refers to player actions and decisions which will affect the game state and eventually its outcome.

Skill is what brings us back to a game because we want to master its patterns and become better at it. Replaying a skill based game will keep increasing your odds due to the knowledge you build.

Designers want players to be constantly making decisions in order to get them into a state called "flow". At this point players are emotionally invested in the game.

Sometimes games have obvious choices, which make the choices pointless to begin with. However these obvious choices can make sense if a time constraint or some other sort of pressure is added. (Such as left clicking your opponent's character's head to get a head shot in an fps)

This converts the skill required from the game from strategic to twitch skill.

Meaningless decisions are generally pointless, but sometimes they can trick the players into thinking they chose something meaningful, at least for the first play-through.

Blind decisions can be meaningful but aren't interesting because there is no reasoning behind them.

Trade Offs
This is when a player must make a choice to gain something and lose another, none of the choices are entirely right or wrong, but it is up to the player to decide which one to make. A problem to trade offs would be if one of the choices is obviously better, however, a well balanced game will keep these decisions interesting.

Dilemmas are similar to trade offs but offer more drama as both decisions have a negative effect for the player. (Ex: give all your hard earned gold and equipment to kidnappers, or lose the chance to save a party member that was kidnapped by them.)

Risk vs reward trade offs are a means of giving all players meaningful choices, the bigger the risk, the greater the reward, but when should one choose the big risk or the smaller one?

When players are ahead in a game they should maintain their strong position by going for safe decisions, whereas the players who are behind must take bigger risks in order to have a chance to catch up to the leading players. This way both players are making balanced meaningful choices.

Personal Note: I find this would be a very interesting feature in player vs player MMORPGs enviroments. Low level players should be given more motive to fight against high level players. I have yet to see an MMORPG where the skilled player is motivated to seek out stronger opponents... aside from bragging rights that is.

Auctioning is a mechanic that allows players to bid an amount of currency in order to gain something valuable to them. This can be done in several different mechanics such as:

Secret bids where the players aren't aware of each other's bids and the highest bid wins.
Instant buyouts where the players have to ability to get the item for a set price.
Permanent bids (made this up myself) where any bid made is paid and cannot be taken back, regardless of who actually wins.

Purchases and Auctions are important mechanics that give players choices, thus making the game feel more personal. Naturally this will only apply if the purchases I make will have an actual effect on the game.

Limited Actions are similar to how purchases work. Instead of spending your currency, you are spending your actions (such as special abilities or movement points).

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Summary

From my experience, both chance and skill are important to make good games, as a designer you get to choose how much of each to add to the game in order to achieve the dynamics you are aiming for.

When reflecting upon this reading, I can understand how true this is by using myself as an example.
- I can't stand games highly based on chance, because I don't feel involved.
- I can't stand games which only highly skill based, because they nearly always play out the same way, and the victor never changes.

When you put both elements together to the right degree however, a game is formed which much wider audiences can enjoy.

Until recently, I was under the impression that chance should be avoided when possible, and that it is a lazy designer's mechanic.

In our first week, when we were to design a game, I tried to come up with a simple game idea that was purely skill based, and I found out it takes a lot of effort to create one with unpredictable game play, and it required that I'd go into a lot of detail and create several mechanics.

My solution to this back then was to ditch my original idea and go for a much simpler twitch skill based game (Alpha Pigeon). Had I known better I could have just simplified the original game by using a random chance mechanic, thus solving the predictability of the game.

Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics

Drama is one type of fun which can be found in games.

If we cannot cannot create drama, as it is created in movies and books, we create circumstances from which drama will emerge.

The central conflict of a narrative builds up dramatic tension until the story reaches its climax, where tension dissipates as the conflict is resolved.

Dramatic tension is the player's emotional investment in the story's conflict.

Uncertainty and Inevitability are the 2 important factors of dramatic tension.

- Uncertainty is created by making the game feel "close". (A close game is a good game)
- Inevitability is created through a metaphorical ticking clock.

In trading card games such as magic the gathering, dramatic tension is built with every passing turn as resources get added to play. The number of resources determines how effective a player's turn can be. The longer the game drags out, the more likely it is for one player to finish off the other.

Negative feedback - Game mechanics try to keep the game close, by giving boosts to the losing players in order to keep the pressure on the winning player and keep uncertainty in the game.

Positive feedback - Enlarging the advantage of the winning player, in order to push the game towards the end.

Hidden energy can be described as a trump card. As players do not fully know the state in which their opponents are in, the feeling of uncertainty persists through the entire game, keeping the leading player under pressure.

Fog of war is used in strategy games to create uncertainty (although skilled players will often remove this uncertainty by scouting their opponents)

Resetting the score during a game also creates uncertainty. An example of this is when a game is played in a series of matches or duels, where each match has no effect on the following matches, but the number of matches won decide who the victor is.

Non-Renewable resources are a method of creating inevitability (such as limited gold in warcraft, and drawing cards from a deck)

The inevitability must be seen by the player, as its purpose is to cause pressure. (A hidden timer fails to add dramatic inevitability to a game)

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The part I like most from this reading was the reference to magic the gathering. Initially I was in the mindset that dramatic tension had to revolve around a story, but with the example of this card game, I could understand dynamics I had never fully grasped while actually playing the game.

As a game drags on, turns becomes more and more dramatic due to the increase in resources players gain each turn, thus adding the chance for a table-turning strategy to take place.

As a player I have noticed the game starts on a relaxed note, simply shifting the advantage towards either side, but as the game progresses, decisions start to have a major impact on whether the player would win or lose the duel.

What I am curious about, though it is rather irrelevant is; did the creators of the game actually plan for this dramatic tension to build up in such a way or way they lucky and instinctively created it this way?

Notes on: Mechanics Dynamics and Aesthetics

Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDAs) are used to "bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research."


"Mechanics describes the particular components of the
game, at the level of data representation and algorithms.

Dynamics describes the run-time behavior of the
mechanics acting on player inputs and each other's
outputs over time.

Aesthetics describes the desirable emotional responses
evoked in the player, when she interacts with the game
system. "

"From the designer's perspective, the mechanics give rise to
dynamic system behavior, which in turn leads to particular
aesthetic experiences. From the player's perspective,
aesthetics set the tone, which is born out in observable
dynamics and eventually, operable mechanics.  "


Taxonomy: using vocabulary to describe in detail.

The following is an example of taxonomy for aesthetics:


Sensation -  sense-pleasure
Fantasy -  make-believe
Narrative - drama
Challenge - obstacle course
Fellowship - social framework
Discovery - uncharted territory
Expression - self-discovery (leaving a mark on the game)
Submission - pastime
Competition - comparing skill

A designer must use specific dynamics to achieve the intended aesthetics;

- pressure and opponent play are examples of dynamics that can be used to create a challenging aesthetic.

Dynamic models: models which show the flow of game play, leading to how the game is won.

Mechanics are the rules, which allow certain player dynamics using those rules, to create the intended aesthetic feel for players.

A good example to explain mechanics and dynamics is a game of poker, where the mechanic of having cards which your opponent cannot see, allows the dynamics of bluffing about your hand (since knowing the cards you hold gives you a guess on your odds of win). If there was no mechanic to have cards hidden from your opponent, then bluffing wouldn't be a possible dynamic.


Conclusion

Basically, what I understand after reading this article is that, the game is created by building the mechanics, and is enjoyed by appreciating the aesthetics. To know how and which mechanics to build, we must first know the aesthetics we want to achieve, which in turn suggests the dynamics required and then mechanics are built with those dynamics in mind.

(Though the article starts a bit too complicated) I found it interesting as it explains how a game can be seen from both the player's and the creator's point of view. It is nice to have a solid "system" that shows a flow from how the game is built, towards to what it is intended to achieve.

I am starting to believe that when designing a game, the first thing a designer needs to consider is the aesthetics he or she wants to achieve, as that is what the players experience from their game.

Design Tools... A designer's own language?

"most important tools are the ones that empower players to make their own decisions"

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Pretty much all game creating teams have evolved through the experience of past games and technologies.

Game designer's role is to put together all the required skills to make a game, such as programming, music, art etc... to turn the data into a game.

Doug church argues we, game designers need our own set of technical words, just like other professions.

What he seems to mean, is that we need to be more constructive rather than just saying a game is fun or not fun, and a special vocabulary would help us do this.

Using every tool available (ie: every mechanic) in a single game would cause conflicts to the game, the right tools need to be chosen for each job.

Giving players simple controls is great because players will feel like they understand what they are controlling. And then complexity is added to the things that can be achieved by using the simple controls.

It is important that the player understands what is going on the the game. If the player fails he/she should figure out what went wrong due intuition. 

FADT definition: Formal Abstract Design Tools

A couple of FADTs:
- Intention, motivating and allowing players to build their own plans in order to achieve things in the game.
- Perceivable Consequence, the game reacts to the players' actions to show the result of their attempts.
- Story, can be predefined narrative by the designer or created while the game is played by the player. The point is to motivate the player forward towards the game's completion.

A consequence to a player's action isn't appreciated by the player if they didn't really decide to take that action.

An extreme example would be, picking one of 2 paths, one results in defeat, and the other one, victory. But the player didn't really get to choose where to go beyond a random guess.

While removing control from how the player can affect the game and the story takes some fun away from the game, it can be very helpful to allow the designer to created a much richer story for the game.

A personal view I have on where a clear contrast is seen regarding this is in the generic Japanese RPG, and the generic Western RPG.

J-RPGs tend to cut down on choices and decisions which have perceivable consequences, in order to build a very linear but very rich narrative.

on the other hand, W-RPGs, often lack that level of storytelling, but give the players satisfaction by letting them make their own decisions and experience the consequences for what the players themselves chose.

"SquareSoft games are, essentially, storybooks. But to turn the page, you have to win in combat. "As a fan I really liked this quote, as it is a perfect way to define the game.