Showing posts with label game design philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game design philosophy. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Anything You Can Do, I Can Do...uh, the Same.
As I have been researching methods on making a computer game, two websites have caught my eye and have made me exclaim, "THAT'S what I want to do!" As I move forward with my project (which needs a codename, by the way. Any ideas?), one of the most important aspects I am going to have to think about is the design process itself. Take a look at the two sites below and let me know what you think.
1. Games2Gether
Games2Gether is a project created by Amplitude Studios based out of Paris. The goal of the project is to allow players to take part in the game design process. They do all the programming, players do *most* of the design. I imagine that the goal of this is to make people feel invested in the end product and thus be loyal to the game. Perhaps they are even banking on these "player developers" to provide some free advertising as well via social media.
I must say that I am very impressed that someone else out there came up with the same idea as me. Okay, I lied, I am not impressed at all and realized I cannot claim proprietorship over the concept. I will definitely be following how Amplitude handles the whole process.
2. Kick Starter
No, I don't want to create a site like kickstarter.com, but I definitely want to utilize it. It was this site that actually motivated me to up and write a blog to get my computer game idea off the ground. There are several computer game developers on the site already and many of them have received double, and in some cases over triple, the amount needed to fun their project.
Article about KickStarter.com and Computer Games
Thursday, March 15, 2012
If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'P' and 'V' and 'P' together.
(This is the second of a series of posts that will outline my own game design
philosophy. These will be a work in progress and I may go back and edit
them in the future)
Games that facilitate interaction between players always provide the more varied gameplay experience. Take League of Legends, for example. Here we have a game that does not have cutting edge graphics or game mechanics, yet is hugely popular due to the fact is is PvP focused. Imagine playing a single player version of LoL? It is safe to assume it would have not gained the notoriety that it has if you were playing against computer controlled opponents.
EVE Online is another wonderful example how forced player interaction makes for a better game. No matter what you do, you MUST interact with other players at some point (and don't say mission runners never interact with other players, they have to sell that mission loot to someone at some point). Even if you are an industrialist who manufactures ships, you are buying materials from some people and selling your final product to others. If you are a pirate, your time is spent hunting other players down and negotiating ransoms. At one point I lived in a wormhole, by myself, for months. Days would go by with no sign of other players or even the outside world of EVE. I would go about my business fighting Sleepers, mining Arkonor, and harvesting gas. No matter how much fun I was having, no matter how I much I loved having no kids cutting through my lawn, I would be paid a visit from other players. Sometimes it was a lone explorer searching for an empty wormhole to clear. Other times it was an organized fleet looking for some pew pew. Most of the time I would head back to my POS and wait them out. Although there was this one time I got the jump on a gang's Noctis as it was clearing out wrecks by itself and was subsequently bitched out in Swedish in local. The point I am trying to make is that in EVE, player interaction is inevitable and unavoidable, which is the way it should be in a PvP game.
What it all comes down to is unpredictability. When playing with or against another actual human, anything can happen. Case in point: Leroy Jenkins. Would this video be even 1/100th as funny as it is if that event happened every single time you entered that encounter? Actually, my guess that it did happen hundreds of times following the making of that video, much to the chagrin of raid leaders. It is the choices of actual humans that make all the difference in not just their experience, but the experiences of other players as well. It enriches the gameplay for all those involved by generating fresh content and allowing replayability. The magic word here is: choice. This is what makes games so immersive. Why do you think the Mass Effect series is so popular? Sure, it is not a PvP game, but players do have a much greater hand in affecting the outcome of the story.
In any game that I create, you can be certain that all battles, games, and competitions will be decided between players and not one player and a computer.
Games that facilitate interaction between players always provide the more varied gameplay experience. Take League of Legends, for example. Here we have a game that does not have cutting edge graphics or game mechanics, yet is hugely popular due to the fact is is PvP focused. Imagine playing a single player version of LoL? It is safe to assume it would have not gained the notoriety that it has if you were playing against computer controlled opponents.
EVE Online is another wonderful example how forced player interaction makes for a better game. No matter what you do, you MUST interact with other players at some point (and don't say mission runners never interact with other players, they have to sell that mission loot to someone at some point). Even if you are an industrialist who manufactures ships, you are buying materials from some people and selling your final product to others. If you are a pirate, your time is spent hunting other players down and negotiating ransoms. At one point I lived in a wormhole, by myself, for months. Days would go by with no sign of other players or even the outside world of EVE. I would go about my business fighting Sleepers, mining Arkonor, and harvesting gas. No matter how much fun I was having, no matter how I much I loved having no kids cutting through my lawn, I would be paid a visit from other players. Sometimes it was a lone explorer searching for an empty wormhole to clear. Other times it was an organized fleet looking for some pew pew. Most of the time I would head back to my POS and wait them out. Although there was this one time I got the jump on a gang's Noctis as it was clearing out wrecks by itself and was subsequently bitched out in Swedish in local. The point I am trying to make is that in EVE, player interaction is inevitable and unavoidable, which is the way it should be in a PvP game.
What it all comes down to is unpredictability. When playing with or against another actual human, anything can happen. Case in point: Leroy Jenkins. Would this video be even 1/100th as funny as it is if that event happened every single time you entered that encounter? Actually, my guess that it did happen hundreds of times following the making of that video, much to the chagrin of raid leaders. It is the choices of actual humans that make all the difference in not just their experience, but the experiences of other players as well. It enriches the gameplay for all those involved by generating fresh content and allowing replayability. The magic word here is: choice. This is what makes games so immersive. Why do you think the Mass Effect series is so popular? Sure, it is not a PvP game, but players do have a much greater hand in affecting the outcome of the story.
In any game that I create, you can be certain that all battles, games, and competitions will be decided between players and not one player and a computer.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Persistance
(This is the first of a series of posts that will outline my own game design
philosophy. These will be a work in progress and I may go back and edit
them in the future)
How does that quote from that guy from that movie go? "If you let them build it, they will come...and then stay." Yes, I know I am slightly misquoting, but the quote I quoted fits better than the quote I didn't quote. Got that?
Gamers should feel connected to the content. At the end of the day, there has to some sort of tangible gain. MMOs and RPGs use many forms of this to keep players coming back. There are levels to gain, currency to acquire, and gear to obtain. After a long session of gaming, most players can see how their character has changed, whether it be visibly with a new piece of armor, or intrinsically by learning new, more powerful abilities. There is a sense of accomplishment, a sense of gain. More importantly, those gains are there to stay.
EVE Online, one of the greatest sandbox MMOs ever created, is by definition a persistent world. What you do on in game one day could not only effect you, but the hundreds of other players across the server. Systems are conquered and reconquered, reputations are built and destroyed, and billions of ISK are earned or lost every single day in EVE. There are no server transfers, no rollbacks, no respawning with all of your gear in a friendly station after having been ganked while mining. Your actions, your triumphs, your failures are all permanent fixtures in the game. As a result, you write your own history as you progress through the game. There is no NPC telling you have earned the rank of Supreme Galactic Overlord, it is the playerbase itself that bestows (or strips away) the titles to other players.
The game I am looking to design will most certainly include an experience that persists for the gamer from the time they create their character to infinity and beyond. A sense of growth is what will keep players playing. I feel it is important that players feel as though they are invested in the content they are creating. The player should be able to connect to the units that they create and the battles that they fight. Every time they log in, their deeds and actions should be accessible to them, whether it be their winning percentage, that new unit they had just unlocked due to a victory the day before, or simply a skill that has finished that took a week to train. This will be their army, and although there may be many like it, this one will be theirs.
How does that quote from that guy from that movie go? "If you let them build it, they will come...and then stay." Yes, I know I am slightly misquoting, but the quote I quoted fits better than the quote I didn't quote. Got that?
Gamers should feel connected to the content. At the end of the day, there has to some sort of tangible gain. MMOs and RPGs use many forms of this to keep players coming back. There are levels to gain, currency to acquire, and gear to obtain. After a long session of gaming, most players can see how their character has changed, whether it be visibly with a new piece of armor, or intrinsically by learning new, more powerful abilities. There is a sense of accomplishment, a sense of gain. More importantly, those gains are there to stay.
EVE Online, one of the greatest sandbox MMOs ever created, is by definition a persistent world. What you do on in game one day could not only effect you, but the hundreds of other players across the server. Systems are conquered and reconquered, reputations are built and destroyed, and billions of ISK are earned or lost every single day in EVE. There are no server transfers, no rollbacks, no respawning with all of your gear in a friendly station after having been ganked while mining. Your actions, your triumphs, your failures are all permanent fixtures in the game. As a result, you write your own history as you progress through the game. There is no NPC telling you have earned the rank of Supreme Galactic Overlord, it is the playerbase itself that bestows (or strips away) the titles to other players.
The game I am looking to design will most certainly include an experience that persists for the gamer from the time they create their character to infinity and beyond. A sense of growth is what will keep players playing. I feel it is important that players feel as though they are invested in the content they are creating. The player should be able to connect to the units that they create and the battles that they fight. Every time they log in, their deeds and actions should be accessible to them, whether it be their winning percentage, that new unit they had just unlocked due to a victory the day before, or simply a skill that has finished that took a week to train. This will be their army, and although there may be many like it, this one will be theirs.
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