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?