CHALLENGES FOR GAME DESIGNERS BRENDA BRATHWAITE AND IAN SCHREIBER Charles River Media A part of Course Technology, Cengage Learning Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States Challenges for Game Designers © 2009 Course Technology, a part of Cengage Learning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, Publisher and General Manager, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except Course Technology PTR: as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Stacy L. Hiquet Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 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One of Brenda’s MFA candidates at the Savannah College of Art and Design, game de- signer David McDonough, was offered the opportunity to assist in the development of the non-digital shorts that complete each chapter, and he jumped at the chance. Another of Brenda’s MFA candidates, artist Blair Cooper, was asked to design the book’s cover. Like- wise, he was pleased to assist. For both their contributions, we are grateful. Thanks are due also to members of the Design Army, and in particular SCAD gradu- ates Michelle Menard (MFA, 2008) and Chris Schmidt (BFA, 2008), who read drafts of this book and made games from its challenges, a number of which are pictured within. Professional game designers Jeb Havens, Ian Bogost, and Clint Hocking were kind enough to contribute material, and countless other designers, including Greg Costikyan, Sheri Graner Ray, Sam Lewis, Chris Crowell, and Linda Currie, listened to us talk about games obscure and new and added to the proverbial conversation. Lastly, but most importantly, our spouses deserve much praise. Sharon Schreiber and Ian Brathwaite listened to keyboards click away for many a good evening while their game designer spouses got all excited about things that the average person would probably dis- miss (or at the very least not find nearly as exciting). Fortunately, they also got to play a lot of good games. About the Authors As a 26-year veteran of the video games industry, Brenda Brathwaite is a game designer and Chair of the Interactive Design and Game Development department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She has worked on 22 internationally known titles, including the award-winning Wizardry series of role-playing games and the award-winning Jagged Alliance series of strategy role-playing games. Brenda serves on the board of the Interna- tional Game Developers Association and is a passionate anti-censorship advocate. She is a regular speaker at universities and conferences, and according to a 2007 article in Next Generation magazine written by Ernest Adams, Brathwaite is the longest, continuously serving woman in video game development today. She is the author of Sex in Video Games. Ian Schreiber has been in the industry for eight years, first as a programmer and then as a game designer. He has worked on five published game titles, including Playboy: the Mansion and the Nintendo DS version of Marvel Trading Card Game. He has also developed training/simulation games for two Fortune 500 companies. Ian has taught game design and development courses at Ohio University, Columbus State Community College, and Savan- nah College of Art and Design, and has mentored college students at those and several other universities. Contents Introduction and Welcome xxi Part I Building Blocks 1 1 The Basics 1 What Is Game Design? 2 It’s Also All About the Player 2 Meaningful Decisions 2 What Game Design Is Not 4 Types of Design 5 What Is a Game? 5 The Core of a Game 6 Where Do Ideas Come From? 9 Learning Game Design 10 Common Terms in Game Design 11 Approaches to Game Design 16 Iterative Design 19 Constraints on Game Design 20 Video-Game Constraints 20 Non-Digital Constraints 21 v vi Contents Overcoming Designer’s Block 22 Make a Resource Limited (or Unlimited) 22 Interacting with Your Friends 23 Mess with the Play Order 23 Kill a Rule 23 Use the “Rule of Two” 24 Resources 24 2 Game Design Atoms 25 The Game State and Game Views 25 Players, Avatars, and Game Bits 26 Mechanics 28 Dynamics 30 Goals 31 Theme 32 What Comes First? 33 Putting It All Together 33 Challenges 35 Challenge 1—The Path 35 Challenge 2—It’s Mine! 36 Challenge 3—When I Find You… 37 Challenge 4—Pick It Up 38 Iron Designer Challenge 5—War Without Frontiers 39 Resources 40 3 Puzzle Design 41 Basic Puzzle Characteristics 42 What Makes Puzzles Fun? 43 Puzzle Types 43 Riddles 43 Lateral Thinking 44 Contents vii Spatial Reasoning 45 Pattern Recognition 46 Logic 46 Exploration 47 Item Use 47 Level Design and Puzzle Design 48 All for One and One for All 48 Challenges 51 Challenge 1—It’s Da Bomb! 51 Challenge 2—More Than a Maze 52 Challenge 3—What’s the Password? 53 Challenge 4—A Shocking Puzzle 54 Iron Designer Challenge 5—Play New Eleusis (Live) 55 Non-Digital Shorts 56 Resources 57 4 Converting Digital to Physical 59 Practical Application 59 How to Start 59 Challenges 60 Challenge 1—Pick a Game, Any Game 60 Challenge 2—Massively Two-Player Offline Card Game 62 Challenge 3—WWII: The Tabletop RPG 63 Challenge 4—Twitch Board Gaming? 65 Iron Designer Challenge 5—Would You Like Games With That? (Live) 66 Non-Digital Shorts 68 viii Contents Part II Chance and Skill 69 5 Elements of Chance 69 The Role (Roll?) of Chance in Games 69 Delaying or Preventing Solvability 70 Making Play “Competitive” for All Players 70 Increasing Variety 70 Creating Dramatic Moments 71 Enhancing Decision Making 71 Mechanics of Chance 71 Dice 71 Cards 72 Pseudo-Random Number Generators 72 Hidden Information 73 Other Game Bits 73 All Randomness Is Not Created Equal 74 Completely Random Games 74 Children’s Games 74 Gambling Games 75 Challenges 75 Challenge 1—Luck Tac Toe 75 Challenge 2—The GDC CCG 76 Challenge 3—The Fourth Wheel 78 Challenge 4—The Alien in the Desert 79 Iron Designer Challenge 5—Open-Ended Randomness 80 Non-Digital Shorts 81 Resources 81 Contents ix 6 Elements of “Strategic” Skill 83 The Role of Skill in Games 83 Types of Decisions 84 Obvious Decisions 84 Meaningless Decisions 85 Blind Decisions 85 Tradeoffs 85 Dilemmas 86 Risk Versus Reward Tradeoffs 86 Frequency or Anticipation of Decisions 87 Strategy and Tactics 87 Completely Skill-Based Games 88 Mechanics of Skill 88 Tradeoff Mechanics 89 Strategic Evaluation 91 Challenges 91 Challenge 1—Skill from Nowhere 91 Challenge 2—Game Systems 93 Challenge 3—Strategy on the Run 95 Challenge 4—A Whole New Dimension 96 Iron Designer Challenge 5—Black Friday: The Board Game 97 Non-Digital Shorts 98 Resources 98 7 Elements of “Twitch” Skill 99 Challenge 99 Tuning 99 Difficulty Levels 100 Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment 100 Difficulty Curves 100 Playtesting 100 x Contents Twitch Decision Making 100 Twitch Mechanics 101 Pure Speed 101 Timing 101 Precision 101 Avoidance 102 Time Pressure 102 Challenges 102 Challenge 1—Adding Twitch to Strategy 102 Challenge 2—Multi-Ball 103 Challenge 3—Twitch Dice 104 Challenge 4—Avoidance Under Pressure 105 Iron Designer Challenge 5—That’s Hard! 106 Non-Digital Shorts 107 References 108 8 Chance and Skill: Finding the Balance 109 Consider the Target Audience 109 Children 110 Competitive Gamers 110 Social Gamers 111 Professional Players 111 Families 111 Playtesting for Luck/Skill Balance 112 Exchanging Luck and Skill 112 Combining Luck and Skill 113 Games of Chance 113 Games of Twitch Skill 113 Games of Strategic Skill 114 Contents xi Challenges 114 Challenge 1—Risk for Kids 114 Challenge 2—Adult Children’s Games 115 Challenge 3—Fog of Strategy 116 Challenge 4—Casual Quake® 117 Iron Designer Challenge 5—Hardcore/Casual 118 Non-Digital Shorts 119 Part III Writing Game Concepts 121 9 What Is Intellectual Property? 121 Types of IP 122 Why IP? 122 Working with an IP 123 Research 123 Know Your Constraints 124 Honor the Player