What Is Casual Gaming?

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What Is Casual Gaming? CHAPTER ONE What Is Casual Gaming? Over the past several years, the term “ casual game ” has been bandied about quite a bit. It gets used to describe so many different types of games that the definition has become rather blurred. But if we look at all of the ways that “ casual ” gets used, we can begin to tease out common elements that inform the design of these games: ● Rules and goals must be clear. ● Players need to be able to quickly reach proficiency. ● Casual game play adapts to a player’s life and schedule. ● Game concepts borrow familiar content and themes from life. While all game design should take these issues into account, these elements are of particular importance if you want to reach a broad audience beyond traditional gamers. This book will look at elements that a wide array of casual games share and draw out common lessons for approaching game design. Hopefully it will be of use not just to casual game designers, but to all game designers and even general experience designers as well. Everywhere you look these days, you see impact of casual games. More than 200 million people play casual games on the Internet, according to the Casual Games Association. This audience generated revenues in excess of $2.25 billion in 2007. 1 This may seem meager compared to the $41 billion posted by the entire game indus- try worldwide,2 but casual games currently rank as one of the fastest growing sec- tors of the game industry. As growth in the rest of the industry stagnated, the casual downloadable market barreled ahead. Web games are turning from mild diversions into serious revenue earners (and major time suckers). Even the game console industry has been invaded by the ethos of casual gameplay. Nintendo, considered by many to be headed for irrelevance several years ago, has ridden the success of its Wii 1 http://www.casualgamesassociation.org/faq.php#casualgames 2 http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/06/gaming-expected-to-be-a-68-billion-business-by-2012.ars 1 08_P374953_Ch01.indd 1 12/31/2009 10:13:43 AM CHAPTER ONE ● WHAT IS CASUAL GAMING? console back to the top of the game industry. They staked their future on capturing a broad audience with a brand of casual gameplay accessible to anyone. And it turned out to be a good bet. Other popular console titles with casual gameplay mechanics, like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have captured the public imagination. So , what could a downloadable PC game like Diner Dash , a viral web game like Desktop Tower Defense, and a console title like Rock Band possibly have in com- mon? More than you might first think. While they have many differences, from audience to scope to platform, they share some key fundamental elements within their game design. Each has accessible content that helps players understand the gameplay. Each of these games can be picked up and enjoyed by novices within minutes. Each focuses on one clear game mechanic and polishes it to a shine. But perhaps to better understand what we mean by “ casual game,” we need to take a short walk through history. It Started in Solitude You could say casual gaming began in 1990 when Microsoft started bundling Windows Solitaire with Windows. The mouse had only been introduced in 1981 and didn’t really start achieving widespread use until the late ’ 80s. Many people were still getting used to the idea of pointing and clicking to navigate their way through a graphical user interface. As Microsoft prepared Windows 3.0, executives were look- ing for an application that would help train people to use the mouse and literally “ to soothe people intimidated by the operating system. ”3 They found it in Windows Solitaire ( Figure 1.1 ), which can now legitimately claim to be the most played video game in the world. In terms of number of plays, hours consumed and numbers of players, Windows Solitaire dwarfs every other game, from Doom to Grand Theft Auto . According to the engineer responsible for building a new version of the game for Windows Vista, Windows Solitaire is the most-used Windows application. Of course, video games existed long before Microsoft unleashed Windows Solitaire on the world, but they never reached such a wide audience, an audience that didn’t even know it was looking for something to play. The version you find on your com- puter is a stripped down game, copying the rules of card-based Klondike Solitaire , but with the several added benefits that have defined casual games ever since. First, it’s dead-simple to use. You don’t have to install anything. It’s already on your computer and when you call it up from the Windows menu, it starts nearly instantaneously. Ease of use is an essential ingredient in casual games. The audience for cas- ual games is a broad and general audience. They typically have no patience for juggling their way through eight different CDs to install a game only to confront confusing menus and options screens. They want to play, but they want to do it when the mood strikes them. So from the very get go, the game must be easy to get into, and this includes the installation. With Windows Solitaire , the deck is 3 http://www.slate.com/id/2191295/pagenum/all 2 08_P374953_Ch01.indd 2 12/31/2009 10:13:43 AM IT STARTED IN SOLITUDE FIGURE 1.1 The simple interface of Windows Solitaire is now a video game classic. (Microsoft product screen shots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation) already shuffled and the cards laid out for you. Your first interaction in the appli- cation is actually playing the game. Secondly , since you most likely already know the rules to Klondike Solitaire , the game has about a 10-second learning curve to reach proficient play. Even users unfamiliar with how to use a mouse in 1990 could understand the basic interac- tion scheme in a matter of seconds. So before you know it, you’re cruising your way through your first game. This short time to proficient play is a crucial aspect of casual games. Players are not necessarily looking for a long, deep play experi- ence. More likely, they simply want something to divert their attention or offer a few moments of relaxation. So games with familiar mechanics and rules often win out over deeper more complex games, as they are the easiest to learn. Games with new interaction schemes and mechanics can succeed, but they still need to offer some element of familiarity to the player, be it in content or theme. A game of Windows Solitaire may take you anywhere between three to five min- utes. You can start a new game at any time if you’re frustrated or stuck. In fact, Windows Solitaire removes entirely the most frustrating part of card-based Klondike Solitaire : the shuffling. In the card-based version, you might take 10 minutes just to shuffle and lay out the cards, only to find you’re entirely screwed within five moves. The computer obliterates that problem. What was before a ritualistic game — as much 3 08_P374953_Ch01.indd 3 12/31/2009 10:13:43 AM CHAPTER ONE ● WHAT IS CASUAL GAMING? about shuffling and set-up as it was about play — becomes a fast-paced game of sort- ing on the computer. You can play over and over and over, all while eating your lunch with your free hand. This bite-sized chunk of play allows you to fit in a game between meetings or as a quick palette cleansing between filing TPS reports. The low require- ments on your concentration enable you to play the game on a boring conference call or while listening with one ear to your friend drone on about his day. (Granted, your replies will no doubt take on that cold, glassy sound of divided attention.) Windows Solitaire fits into your life when you want to play. You don’t have to dedicate an entire weekend and go without showering to finish a game. You simply pick it up and play when you are bored. Since Windows Solitaire , casual games have served as salves against boredom. Initially, the game isn’t really a focus. Only the most elegant and addictive casual games worm their way into players’ brains and become obsessions. Most players don’t follow release schedules, eagerly antici- pating new casual games. Rather, they stumble upon them and become addicted. Casual games start out as curiosities and wind up habits. Where Windows Solitaire for Windows differed from the original card game, it did so brilliantly. Anyone who has suffered through hand after hand to finally catch a win- ning spread knows what I’m talking about: the incredibly cathartic cascade of bounc- ing and shattering cards unleashed by the placement of the final king ( Figure 1.2 ). This is the money shot after the power-moment of realizing you will win the game. The game is austere and almost entirely devoid of life other than this final anima- tion. So when it happens, you feel that you’ve earned it. To this day, I still watch the entire animation play out, never clicking through it. Casual games are often spare, small games, but they know how to deploy the bling. Just look at PopCap’s brilliant Peggle , a game that comprised almost entirely of sparkles. Each game ends with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, rainbows and fireworks making you feel like the great- est player on Earth. So in many ways, casual game developers all live in the long shadow cast by a simple port of a card game programmed by Microsoft intern Wes Cherry in 1989.
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