When it comes to game design, there is no such thing as a game bible, a bible, or a standard answer. According to so-and-so, it must be right, this statement must be wrong, but even so, from the more classic, excellent games, maybe there are still some things that can be summarized and integrated for learning, this is simply a record to share, some of the views on "gameplay" summarized in the past, and the application in game design.
In my opinion, gameplay should be a process of "interacting and getting feedback", while good gameplay is "interacting and getting interesting feedback". The simplest interaction (referring to the difficulty of player interaction) may be galgame and text adventure games, where players only need to make choices to get different feedback; The most complex interaction, perhaps the real world, any action will have an impact, of course, in terms of video games, there is more than one kind of interaction that can be regarded as the most complex nowadays, there is Zelda's emergent interaction reaction (world physical feedback), there is Baldur's Gate long-term impact reaction (plot story feedback), etc., there is enough gameplay, it is a fun game.
Stacked Armor: The following is only a summary of personal understanding and learning, and there is no absolute truth in game design.
How to shape the gameplay and make the game fun, in order to make it easier to understand, try to use the analogy of relatively simple and relatively complex game types:
1. Risk of decision-making
2. Tips & Tricks
3. Motivation to play/Reinforcement program
4. Feedback/Feedback
5. Emotional experience communication
Risk design for decision-making
First of all, I threw out a violent theory: a game that doesn't require any thinking is not a good game.
Different feedback is obtained through choices and decisions, and the decisions made are the result of thinking.
Taking it a step further, why is decision-making interesting? I won't talk about the psychology here, but think about the actual game experience - the player wants to be in control of the game world. Why play a game that is completely disorderly, or that develops only according to absolute rules, and where the player can't make any difference even if they participate? In other words, it's just "watching" rather than "playing", and it lacks interactivity. It's no secret that interactivity is the biggest difference between games and other media.
Interaction is to change the game world and make the game world develop in the direction the player wants, that is, "control". What about the risk of decision-making? Let's assume a situation like this:
I have two options in front of me, option one, go straight to a good ending; Option two, go straight to the bad ending. This seems to give you options, but if you want a good ending, you don't need to think, just choose one; If you want a bad ending, just choose two.
This seems to lead to decision-making, but in reality, for an individual player, his goal is relatively clear, for example, the player of the week tends to go to a good ending, where the player does not have a decision: in order to achieve the goal, he must and can only choose option one, which is a meaningless decision. And what does meaningful decision-making look like? That's where the risk element comes in.
The same leads to a result, "World Peace", option 2 is to slaughter all the enemies, and option 0 is to negotiate peace with the enemy.
Option 1 will require you to pay a lot of money in the moment, and even risk failure, but the advantage is that once and for all, you will never have to worry about war again.
Option 2, you don't need to pay the price at this point, you only need to negotiate and sign an agreement to end the war. But the risk is that in the future, the other side may still tear up the agreement and start a new war.
Option 1 is a high-risk, high-reward decision, while option 2 is a low-risk, low-reward decision, even if the player wants world peace, but at this time they have to think: can the cost of slaughter be affordable? What is the probability that the massacre will fail? What is the probability that the other party will tear up the agreement? Even the same player may not be in the same state when they arrive here as they progress through the game: my forces may or may not be enough, the enemy's trust in us may or may not be high, not to mention the different playstyles between different players, which can make the difference between decisions.
As can be seen from the above, in order for the decision to be meaningful, two points need to be ensured: the risk and the reward are equal - the high risk corresponds to the high return, and the outcome must be somewhat different - even if it is world peace, it is divided into permanent peace and temporary peace.
It is true that the player will want permanent peace, but the existence of the risk makes it not go so smoothly, which leads to another layer of risk - obstacles, so that the player cannot reach the place he wants to reach, for this need to do some effort, carry out certain game behaviors, in order to achieve the desired result, in such a process has participated in the game, and the risk is an obstacle that does not completely block the road, he has caused some difficulties, but not completely hopeless, with hope, there is the motivation to continue the game," Play" is a natural occurrence.
The "give the player what they want/predict" →the goal is achievable, but there are obstacles→ "the player needs to overcome the obstacles" in order to achieve the goal, → the process of "breaking through the obstacle and getting the desired result", and the gameplay is hidden in the step of "overcoming obstacles in order to achieve the goal". All kinds of risky decisions are obstacles for players, and what needs to be done to overcome them is to use game behaviors to reduce risks, such as hoarding resources during the game and waiting for a last-minute attack, so as to increase the success rate of winning the war.
Take galgame as an example, what I want is: raider character A, or take the branch route of TA.
The obstacle I faced was that the various options in the game would increase the opinion of different characters, and it was even possible to reduce A's opinion and prevent me from entering A's branch.
My way to overcome it is: to understand the characteristics of the character, for this character A, will touching the head increase the favorability, or will drinking tea increase the favorability? Before facing a choice, carefully understanding and tasting the character's lines and acting style is an act to reduce risk before facing a decision, which helps me choose the option with a greater probability of improving A's favorability when I am really faced with a decision-making option, rather than blindly choosing with a full understanding of the meaning of the option.
After overcoming the obstacles, I chose option 1, and based on my previous efforts in the game, I thought that option 1 would have a higher probability of increasing A's favorability, so I got the desired result - A's favorability increased, and I entered A's branching route.
In the case of Zelda, all I wanted: climb that tower
The obstacle I faced was that there was a swamp and monsters under the tower
My way to overcome it is to glide directly from the distant mountain to bypass the monster, but if you don't have enough physical strength or are knocked down by the monster halfway, you risk dying; Or I can take out the monster first and then pass through the mire safely, but it is more difficult to fight the monster in the mire.
Since I thought that my physical strength was enough, and that I had enough means to avoid the monster attacks, I chose to glide around it, and avoided the monster by turning in the air, etc., and successfully climbed the tower.
Summary: The game is fun and needs to get players into thinking and making decisions. Decisions need to be meaningful, and making decisions meaningful requires ensuring that the risks and benefits associated with decisions are equal, and that the outcomes vary. Risk means obstacles, which need to be overcome by the player through game behavior, and once there are decisions with different risks, it will naturally produce different benefits and also cause differences in results.
Tips & Tricks
The player's game level is inherently different, one of the sense of achievement of the game comes from the player's control of the game world, "I" have done what others can't do, which means that I am better than others, and I have a sense of achievement. Even in single-player games, there are such stealth competitions: speedrun, no injury, first-level clearance, forbidden xxx、...... The above content can basically be summarized as follows: these players have stronger "operation" and "skills".
The reason why the game is addictive is that it is easier to get growth feedback than in the real world, everyone wants to become stronger in the real world, but it is difficult to achieve it, and the game is often easy to get stronger, and quickly get positive feedback after becoming stronger - the real difficulty is not to see the completion progress bar or the health bar.
Therefore, in order to make the game fun, we need to add enough growth to the game, so that players have room to grow, and be able to master gradually, as a player, we need to grow and master skills and operations.
These two words seem to be common in action games, but it is clear that any game has its corresponding tricks and actions. Also take the extreme side of the game, galgame, as an example: what tricks don't seem to exist? However, making the right dialogue choices requires you to have a certain understanding of the characters and the plot, and you can't understand the character of the game, you can't understand the development of the plot, and you don't notice the foreshadowing before...... can lead to making the wrong choice, and to understand these is to master the skills of the game.
From the beginning, an option appeared and it was difficult to choose, to the middle of the game, a similar option appeared without hesitation - this is where the growth is manifested, through the progress of the game, I understood the plot, I learned something = I became stronger, stronger than at the beginning of the game.
Depending on the type of game, the skills that need to be mastered are naturally different: hand speed, reactions, intelligence, habits, analysis, 、...... You need to think about how to provide growth for your game type, what kind of growth to provide, and how to make players feel growth after growth.
In many cases, the game world is a refuge from the difficulties of reality - after all, if reality is as easy as a game, how many people would be involved in the game.
As a game producer, we need to provide players with what they want, so that players can achieve the obstacles and difficult goals they encounter in reality, but they can achieve them step by step through their own efforts in the game, find/explore/excavate/practice certain skills, and after making efforts to master them, they can complete the game more smoothly and pleasing than players who have not mastered it, and become stronger than the original.
Summary: The game is fun, and there need to be certain skills and operations that can be explored/excavated/practiced, so that players can really feel "stronger" through the game content.
Motivation to play
The motivation to play, or the enhancement program, is to put it bluntly, what the player wants to gain by playing the game, and using this as a bait to keep the player playing. Players play the game with some kind of desire, and the game provides a desire that does not belong to them - do not buy; Playing the game and finding that you don't provide for your desires, or that you don't fully satisfy them – refunds; Not only did the game fail to fulfill its desires, but it also went against the grain - refunded and cursed.
The game needs to clarify what kind of desires and expectations it can meet players, and strengthen it for a core, and after personal summary, players' game desires are roughly divided into these categories:
- I want to win - competitive, such as various online battle games; I won you through the game, proving that I am better than you, and there are not a few people who have a strong competitive spirit.
- I want to know - Exploration type, such as travel simulators, open world games; Curiosity about the unknown, maybe it's a worldview, maybe it's a character, maybe it's a plot.
- I want to complete - achievement-based, hard-digging "masochistic" games, as well as all kinds of players who are looking for full achievements and platinum trophies; I did what no one else could do.
- I want to be - role-playing, such as various RPGs, simulation games; I want to experience a piece of medieval life - Salvation in Heaven, I want to be a mysterious thief - P5, I want to be a tavern owner - management simulation game
Of course, a game can satisfy more than one of them, but players often buy and play a game for one of them. In terms of publicity, atmosphere, and game content, it can be designed around an experience to meet the demands of the core player group.
But the game doesn't just have to be an experience to be fun, of course, the game can have a large and elaborate setting with a lot of interesting scenery for the player to explore completely freely, but the result can be - after a few minutes, you get bored, because of the lack of constant motivation to play. There's only one core experience that can attract the right group of players to play, but you can't keep them playing.
Also take a large scene as an example, if you add 100 meters away from the beginning of the game, you will place an interesting thing, put another one at 0 meters, and put another one at 0 meters, will the player be continuously attracted and go down step by step?
This leads to the next topic: continuous play motivation, how to let players go backwards step by step, until the game is finished, making games is not only to make money, let players buy it, let players finish the game, experience this designed process, it is equally important, this is a great topic that runs through the whole retention, and can only be talked about here.
Why the player wants to continue to play, of course, is to satisfy one of his desires, and when this desire is far away and uncertain, it is difficult to achieve, the enthusiasm and motivation are easy to be consumed, so we need to send the bait to the player from time to time to shake it, in human terms: a combination of short-term, medium-term and long-term goals.
Take, for example, the desire to explore the world:
Putting the player in a scene where there is a goal in front of him, Zelda, as a leader in open world games, has played an important role in setting goals, allowing players to unknowingly, one after another, through many points of interest. Of course, the way the goals are set is also very particular, and it needs to be orderly and enough to arouse the player's interest, otherwise it will become like a canned open world like Ubisoft - of course there are goals in the map with question marks, but you have to ask me if I will go, as an exploratory player rather than an achievement player, the answer is naturally no.
In fact, at the level of short-term goals, there is a more detailed design, that is, a variety of goals at the same level to form a circular combination. If there is always only one goal, and one is completed before moving on to the next, then there will be a situation like this:
For every 9 monsters killed, you get diamonds. When the 0th monster is killed, the progress is reset to 0, and the desire to play at this time will be at its lowest, because it means that even if the 0 monsters are killed, they will not receive this reward.
At this point, you can achieve the cycle by multi-goal to make up for the gap at the lowest point of this goal:
You get 1 gold for every 0 chests opened, 0 diamonds for every 0 rocks mined, and 0 arrows for every 0 goblins killed.
When the player opens chest 7, they have already mined 0 rocks, so they want to mine 0 more rocks to get diamonds. By the time he got the diamonds, he had killed exactly 0 goblins. By the time the player kills the 0th goblin and gets 0 arrows, he has opened 0 chests, and so on.
Whenever the motivation for one goal drops to its lowest point, there will always be other goals that are just about to be completed and almost completed, so the player's attention switches back and forth between several activities, creating a constant motivation.
Of course, it can be quite difficult to achieve this level of detail and make each objective interesting to the player, but at least there needs to be a sense of doing so that the player's interest is always in the game.
The summary of the circular goal, basically from a GDC lecture, sorry I forgot where it came from, if you have a friend who knows, you can add.
Summary: The game is fun, and it needs to be clear what the players who come to play the game want and how to satisfy the players' desires. At the same time, it ensures that the player's attention is always focused on the game, and through loops, continuous goals, and clear short-, medium- and long-term goals (provided that people are interested), the player will continue to play, and finally meet their expectations step by step.
Feedback & Returns
Feedback actually contains a reward, which is when a player makes a certain move in the game world, and the game provides a different outcome based on the action. In my concept, game feedback includes the following:
The importance of feedback is self-evident, it can be said that players play games for feedback, and the satisfaction of desire mentioned in the previous section is naturally a kind of feedback. The feedback of some details is also very important, some details may not be discovered by the players themselves for various reasons, such as some details in the battle, the player's attention is focused on the battle, enemies, and skill CDs, but as an audience, it can be discovered, especially conducive to dissemination and discussion.
There is not much to say about this, the most important thing is: to meet the player's expectations, or exceed the player's expectations (positive); I thought it was a happy ending, but it suddenly ushered in the annihilation, which was beyond expectations but not what the player wanted.
Even if it's full of masochistic experience, there are no save points throughout the whole process, almost all of them are negative feedback, and the leaderboard is posted at the end of the game, and the experience after reaching the top is relatively easy, and the floating experience of the starry sky universe is beyond expectations, and it is compared with the previous difficult upward movement, which is a kind of "reward level", which is impressive.
Summary: The game is fun, and it needs to ensure that the feedback is sufficient and can meet the expectations of the players, so that the players can play the game in order to achieve their expectations.
Emotional experience communication
It is said that games are the "ninth art", and where does the sense of art come from, it does not refer to the adrenaline rush of excitement through reaction and operation, but more based on the emotional experience brought by the game content experience.
In some games, in some games, it mainly refers to the sense of substitution, some emotion brought by the story or functional system. For example, P5's total attack, he can be just a pure high-damage skill, but he also made a special performance to show the teamwork of the Monster Thieves and the cooooooool perception of the game itself.
Even in some games that are completely based on gameplay and have no sense of substitution, there are still some root emotions, such as Tetris, there is also a most basic emotional communication: the pursuit of neat rules, people always like rules, not chaotic and disorderly - for example, compared to the chaotic placement of blocks, the regular placement is more comfortable, so players usually do this.
It's not just about the goal of the game (score), it's also about the emotional experience that players want in this game. Even if it has nothing to do with the goals and benefits of the game, such as farming, people tend to place crops according to a specific rule, and the same 20 crops, compared to randomly placing them, in a square, round, heart, or any regular shape, there is no difference in returns, but it is more pleasant, even if it is more troublesome. It is also more satisfying to plant only one flower to form a field of flowers than to plant 0 kinds of flowers at random.
In terms of my own preferences, games that can bring me more sense of substitution, immersion, and a variety of rich emotional experiences can win my favor, or a group of partners, or an adventure, or an epic, or an experience, what we are pursuing in virtual works is not exactly what we can't ask for in the real world
Summary: The game is fun, you need to make it clear what kind of emotional experience you want to convey to the player, and what kind of excitement does it feel like for the game? Relaxing and decompressing in casual games? The sense of game in a strategy game? Adventure games curious about the unknown? RPG games have a sense of growth for their own characters? The thriller/happiness/youth/comedy of the story game?
epilogue
The writing is limited.,Although there are some ideas to summarize.,But it's actually going to be written out of an article.,There's still a lot of intermittent Kavin in the middle.,I wanted to find some pictures.,But because I'm a lazy dog, forget it.。 The above summary and ideas are just a word, as a person who has not yet finished the game, there must be many mistakes and immature ideas, incomplete, but as a study notebook record, there may be some deeper insights in the future. In addition, this article is only a collation of some ideas, and does not involve the detailed design methods, and when facing the actual problem, there is still a need for specific and feasible solutions.