101 Game Design Principles for Social Media Game design principles are often incorporated into social media (gamification). The reason is that games are downright addictive. Game-like features can increase user engagement — encouraging desired behaviour from customers, partners and employees. Game design is a well developed field. After all, games have been around for thousands of years. The following 101 game design elements are commonly incorporated into social media and software (usually in small amounts). Game Mechanics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Motivations 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. Social Dynamics 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. Character Development 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. Narrative 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. Technology 82. 83. 84. Economics 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. Visuals 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101.
SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck Some companies keep a playbook of product tips, tricks and trade secrets. Zynga has an internal playbook, for instance, that is a collection of “concepts, techniques, know-how and best practices for developing successful and distinctive social games”. Zynga’s playbook has entered the realm of legend and was even the subject of a lawsuit. SCVNGR, which makes a mobile game with real-world challenges, has a playdeck. Rght now, that should be a lot of people. SCVNGR’s playdeck tries to break down the game mechanics into their constituent parts. SCVNGR Game Dynamics Playdeck Guide To This Document: This list is a collection of game dynamics terms, game dynamics theories that are interesting, useful and potentially applicable to your work here at SCVNGR. 1. Definition: A virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. Example: a badge, a level, a reward, points, really anything defined as a reward can be a reward. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Everything I Learned About Game Design I Learned From Disneyland As promised, here are the slides from my GDC talk. We had a "sold out" crowd and I got to meet lots of nice people after the talk. Please share these with your friends and co-workers. According to show officials, video and audio will be available after the show. Game Design : The Addiction Element What makes a game addictive? In order for a game to become addictive there must be a driving force to keep playing the game. Some reasons behind this are: to finish the game, to compete against others, to master the game's control and interface, to explore the game and getting a high score or equivalent. Addiction of Finishing the Game An addiction to finish the game is often based on either wanting to see the end result or just to complete it. In the case where a player finishes a game to see how it ends, there is a story motivation. Addiction of Competition The addiction of competing against others is a powerful one and can keep a game alive and thriving for incredibly long periods of times. Addiction of Mastery The addiction of mastery of a game or its control is also extremely powerful. Addiction of Exploration The addiction of exploration has been in computer games since the beginning. Addiction of the High Score Another type of high score addiction is over winning a game.
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Fail-safes in Competitive Game Design: A Detailed Example I'd like to take an in-depth look at an example of designing balance into a game through the use of fail-safes. Although I'm choosing a fighting game, the lessons should apply to many types of games. I'll go into some excruciating, genre-heavy details, but I think that's necessary to give the full force of what's really going on here. Welcome to MvC2, don't even ask.Some games end up balanced through sheer coincidence, such as the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which is "accidentally a very good game." Somewhere in Japan, there is a very lucky stable of monkeys who managed to type up Hamlet, or perhaps a screenplay to The Seven Samurai. The hero of our story, the oddly named Guilty Gear XX (ggxx), had quite a different genesis. Each character in Guilty Gear XX plays very differently. Basically, there is a "design skeleton" shared by all the characters, with each character having his own unique "meat on the bones." Let's look at the "skeleton" of features common to all characters.
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Slippery Slope and Perpetual Comeback If a game has slippery slope, it means that falling behind causes you to fall even further behind. For example, imagine that every time your team scored in basketball that the opponent’s team lost a player. In that game, falling behind is doubly bad because each basket counts for score AND it makes the opposing team less able to score points of its own. The actual game of basketball does not have this screwy feature though, so real basketball does not have slippery slope. Scoring in real basketball puts you closer to winning but does not at all hamper your opponents’ ability to score. Slippery slope is another name for positive feedback, a loop that amplifies itself as in a nuclear reaction. Slippery slope is usually a bad property in a game. StarCraft and Chess do have slippery slope. This is why there are a lot of forfeits in Chess. This guy just lost a Chess piece. StarCraft also has slippery slope. In basketball, the score is completely separate from the gameplay. Fighting Games
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Yomi Layer 3: Knowing the Mind of the Opponent This is not really how Yomi works.Yomi is the Japanese word reading, as in reading the mind of the opponent. If you can condition your enemy to act in a certain way, you can then use his own instincts against him (a concept from the martial art of Judo). Paramount in the design of competitive games is the guarantee to the player that if he knows what his enemy will do, there is some way to counter it. What happens, though, when your enemy knows that you know what he will do? Sound like a joke that could never happen in real gameplay of an actual game? Before we get into how ordinary human minds can become entangled in complicated guessing games, let's look at what needs to be there to create these guessing games at all. Let's say I have a move (we'll call it "m") that's really, really good. Now you don't know what to expect from me anymore. You don't have adequate choices yet. Me: m, c2You: c1, c3. Now I need a counter to c3. Example of Yomi Layer 3 from Virtua Fighter 3 In summary,
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Rock, Paper, Scissors in Strategy Games A simple rock, paper, scissors (RPS) system of direct counters is a perfectly solid and legitimate basis for a strategy game provided that the rock, paper, and scissors offer unequal risk/rewards. Better still is if those rewards are unclear, meaning that players cannot easily determine the exact values of the rewards. The following video is not an example of that, but it's pretty exciting looking. An Example of $10/$3/$1 Consider a strictly equal game of RPS with clear payoffs. Now consider the same game of RPS with unequal (but clearly defined) payoffs. That may have all sounded like double-talk, but it's Yomi Layer 3 in action. Math Says There is a Solution I'd like to meet Ms. You might say that even with unequal payoffs, there's still an optimal way to play. You should play rock 10/14ths of the time, scissors 3/14ths, and paper 1/14th. While that is the math answer, three related factors creep into the real-world application of that strategy: Fighting Games Unclear Payoffs RPS in RTS
Balance, Part 2: Asymmetry and Art « Tish Tosh Tesh Continued from Part 1, of course… The left and right sides of this diagram are balanced. The left and right sides of this diagram are also balanced. These, too. …but what of these? Or these? So, that in mind, how about I change a couple of labels up there? A is T. B is Zangief C is Ryu D is Dhalsim I know I grossly oversimplify here, but there’s minor method to the madness. Every single one of those diagrams uses the exact same base, the same “piece of the pie”, I just sliced them up differently and pushed pieces around a bit. …but then, that’s the key. Y’see, if we want to get picky, the letters also contain black. While we’re talking Street Fighter, though, look at the following comparisons between Ryu and Zangief: The ground game: The throw game: The air game: If you isolate the part of the game you’re seeing to a particular slice of the overall design, it’s easily argued that these two characters are imbalanced. Speaking of slicing up perceptions, though, there’s another way to do it. Oi.
Balance, Part 3: Systems, Defaults and Munchkins « Tish Tosh Tesh Balance Part 1: Tao of Picasso Balance Part 2: Asymmetry and Art …and now for something a little more concrete. At its heart, my game is a hearty blend of Final Fantasy Tactics and Battletech mechanically (tactics on a hex grid), with a slight zombie flavor and a wacky premise with room for such weirdness as this hippopossum I sketched (yay for sketching in ballpoint pen!). There’s even a bit of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in the mix, so that’s where we’ll start. My game uses something I’m calling the DNA Codex, a riff on those systems with some flavor for spice. DNA Codex, empty, level 20 In a nutshell, it’s a customizable grid (3 rows of 5 hexes at level cap, 2 rows of 3 at level 1) that allows a bit of “skills-based” wiggle room within a sort of “class-based” shorthand. It might be noted also that there’s a third rail here that gets used in some games, but that I’m undecided on here. On the other hand, some games totally ignore this, say, something like a Fire Emblem. Like this:
Balance, Part 4: Triangles, Trinity and Triage « Tish Tosh Tesh Balance, Part 1: Tao of Picasso Balance, Part 2: Asymmetry and Art Balance, Part 3: Systems, Defaults and Munchkins Last time, I wrote about what I’m calling the DNA Grid, my tactical RPG’s character advancement system. It’s at least partially built on the old gaming triangle of Paper-Rock-Scissors. DNA Codex Full My design uses Strength, Agility and Focus. Key to this balance is how the metric for “over time” is chosen, or more accurately, how the DPM is split up into discrete attacks when it comes to balancing numbers. These are rough ballpark guesstimates, by the way. Anyway, back to the DNA Grid, each type of unit, Strength, Agility and Focus, has a separate third of this overall grid (they won’t have access to the whole tripartite grid, just their section). This, for example, is a Strength unit using a 5-wide Strength RNA Sequence, a 4-wide Strength RNA Sequence and all three units using the same 3-wide Strength RNA Sequence. Strength RNA Sequences See you next time! Like this: