Design Questions from Chapter 9

Design Practice QUESTIONS

HOMEWORK THIS WEEK:

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FOR YOUR GAME DESIGN (ITEM 2) AND POST
THESE ON YOUR CLASS BLOG BY 4/22/11

1. What types of challenges do you want to include in your game? Do you want to 
challenge the player’s physical abilities, his mental abilities, or both?

2. Game genres are defi ned in part by the nature of the challenges they offer. What 
does your choice of genre imply for the gameplay? Do you intend to include any 
cross-genre elements, challenges that are not normally found in your chosen genre?
 
3. What is your game’s hierarchy of challenges? How many levels do you expect it 
to have? What challenges are typical of each level?
 
4. What are your game’s atomic challenges? Do you plan to make the player face 
more than one atomic challenge at a time? Are they all independent, like battling 
enemies one at a time, or are they interrelated, like balancing an economy? If they 
are interrelated, how?
 
5. Does the player have a choice of approaches to victory? Can he decide on one 
strategy over another? Can he ignore some challenges, face others, and still achieve 
a higher-level goal? Or must he simply face all the game’s challenges in sequence?
 
6. Does the game include implicit challenges (those that emerge from the design), 
as well as explicit challenges (those that you specify)?
 
7. Do you intend to offer settable diffi culty levels for your game? What levels of 
intrinsic skill and stress will each challenge require?
 
8. What actions will you implement to meet your challenges? Can the player surmount a large number of challenges with a small number of actions? What is the 
mapping of actions to challenges?
 
9. What other actions will you implement for other purposes? What are those purposes—unstructured play, creativity and self-expression, socialization, story 
participation, or controlling the game software?
 
10. What save mechanism do you plan to implement? 

Choose one from the following exercises - use a console game from the locker or an online java/web based game for Questions 2-5

Design Practice EXERCISES

POST YOUR RESPONSES (drawn, written or both) to your individual class blog

1. Write the rules for a simple, single-player, PC-based puzzle game like Bejeweled
but make up your own mechanics for earning points. Document all the challenges
and actions of the game. You must create at least 10 different kinds of atomic challenges. Indicate what action the player should use to surmount each challenge and
what reward the player gets for doing so. You must also create and document at
least four actions that are not intended to meet challenges but serve some other
purpose. You do not have to design a user interface in detail but may find it helpful
to make and submit a quick sketch of the screen and the layout of the controls.

2. Choose an action or action-adventure game you are familiar with (or your
instructor will assign one). Document the challenge hierarchy of the fi rst level in
the game that is not a tutorial level, diagramming it as in Figure 9.1. (If the level
includes more than 50 sequential atomic challenges, you may stop after 50, but be
sure to include any level bosses or major challenges that occur at the end of the
level.) If you have the necessary software, play partway through the level, take a
screen shot, and indicate on your diagram what challenges you were facing at that
moment, similar to the gray boxes in Figure 9.1. If you faced simultaneous challenges, indicate that also. Submit the screen shot along with your diagram.

3. Think of a game you are familiar with that permits the player to achieve victory
by different strategies, similar to Figure 9.2. Write a short essay documenting each
approach and how the hierarchy of challenges (including the intermediate challenges) differs in each one. If one strategy seems more likely to achieve victory than
another, say so and indicate why. Your instructor will give you the scope of the
assignment.

4. Choose a single or multiplayer role-playing game that you are familiar with (or
your instructor will assign one). Identify all the actions it affords. (You may find
the game’s manual helpful.) Divide the actions into those intended to meet challenges, those that participate in the story, those that facilitate socializing with
other players (if any), housekeeping operations such as inventory management, and
those that control the software itself. If another category suggests itself, document
it. Also note any actions that fall into more than one category and indicate why.
The size of the game that you or your instructor selects will determine the scope of
the assignment.

5. Choose ten different types of challenges from among the ones listed in the section “Commonly Used Challenges” in this chapter. For each type, devise one example challenge and two example actions that overcome it (this may rule out  some types). Describe the challenge and the two actions in a paragraph, ten paragraphs in all.

In-class pinball excersise

1) What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball game design?

Good gameplay involved having games with a challenging course that was not to difficult at the same time. It allowed the player to enjoy the game while still feeling challenged.

2) How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?

Designers of pinball playfields add various loops, holes and bouncers to keep the game unique and create their own design. This allows for alot of individuality on a game with a fixed course. Since there is no telling how the ball will react or hit a part of the course, one never knows just what will happen next.

User Interface Assignment 4/8/11

Design Practice Exercise - USER INTERFACE

1. Design and draw one icon for each of the following functions in a game:
■ Build (makes a unit build a certain structure)
■ Repair (makes a unit repair a certain structure)
■ Attack (makes a unit attack a certain enemy unit)
■ Move (moves a unit to a certain position)
■ Hide (makes a unit hide to be less visible to enemy units)
Briefl y explain the design choices you made for each icon. All icons should be for the same game, so make them consistent to a game genre of your choice.

2. In this exercise, you will practice designing user interfaces for two different
gameplay modes, each of which has different indicators. Using the following
descriptions of the modes, decide how best to display the functions to the player
and sketch a small screen mock-up showing how these indicators can be positioned
on the screen. Briefl y explain your design decisions.

In the primary gameplay mode, the avatar can move around in the game world and
do different things such as attacking, talking to NPCs, and so on. The mode is avatar-based in the third-person perspective.
Functions/indicators:
■ Character’s health
■ Character’s position in the game world
■ Currently chosen weapon
■ Waypoint to the next mission
■ Character visibility to enemies (indicate that, if the character stands in shadows
or in darkness, he is less visible to enemies)
In the secondary gameplay mode, the player enters vehicle races that include shooting at other vehicles driven by non-player characters. The perspective is fi rst person.

Functions/indicators:
■ Vehicle health
■ Vehicle speed
■ Primary weapon ammo left
■ Type of secondary weapon mounted, if present (if not present, so indicate)
■ Position in race
■ Laps remaining in race

3. In this exercise, you design the same UI, once for breadth and once for depth.
Make the broad UI no more than two levels deep at any point. Make the deep UI at
least three levels deep at one point, offering no more than three options at the top
level. Present the UIs by making flowcharts showing the different levels of interaction or how you group different functions. Include all the following functions.
Briefl y explain your design decisions.

Attack Defend Guard Patrol Move
Set waypoint Choose weapon Research Build barracks Build headquarters
Build hospital Destroy Repair Harvest Save current game
Load game Quit game Change video Change sound Change control
settings settings settings

4. A game intended for a console needs to have its functions mapped to a game pad with a limited number of buttons. Make a button layout that supports all the
actions in the primary gameplay mode (described in the following list). Discuss the pros and cons of your button layout.
The game pad has the following button layout:
■ A D-pad
■ One analog joystick
■ Four face buttons
■ Two shoulder buttons
The main gameplay mode has the following actions:
N ORMAL HARD ATTACK HIGH ATTACK (attack upward) LOW ATTACK
Normal Hard Attack High Attack Low Attack Block Attack
(attack upward) (attack downward)
Jump Crouch Move forward Move backward Strafe left
Strafe right Rotate left Rotate right Choose weapon Use health pack

Design Practice QUESTIONS
1. Does the gameplay require a pointing or steering device? Should these be analog, or will a D-pad suffi ce? What do they actually do in the context of the game?

Our game does require a steering device but as it is a side scroller, the D-pad will suffice. We will allow the player to change between the analog or D-pad depending on their preference. They will steer the character through the level avoiding enemies, traps, etc.

2. Does the function of one or more buttons on the controller change within a single gameplay mode? If so, what visual cues let the player know this is taking place?

There will be a button that allows players to play in 1st person to allow for better aim of enemies. The player will be able to do so at any point in time.

3. If the player has an avatar (whether a person, creature, or vehicle), how do the
movements and other behaviors of the avatar map to the machine’s input devices?
Defi ne the steering mechanism.



4. How will the major elements of your screen be laid out? Will the game use a windowed view, opaque overlays, semitransparent overlays, or a combination?

5. What camera model will the main view use? What interaction model does the
gameplay mode use? Is it one of the common ones or something new? How does
the camera model support the interaction model?
6. Does the game’s genre, if it has one, help to determine the user interface? What
standards already exist that the player may be expecting the game to follow? Do
you intend to break these expectations, and if so, how will you inform the player of
that?
7. Does the game include menus? What is the menu structure? Is it broad and shallow (quick to use, but hard to learn) or narrow and deep (easy to learn, but slow to
use)?
8. Does the game include text on the screen? If so, does it need provisions for
localization?
9. What icons does the game use? Are they visually distinct from one another and
quickly identifiable? Are they culturally universal?
10. Does the player need to know numeric values (score, speed, health)? Can these
be presented through nonnumeric means (power bars, needle gauges, small multiples), or should they be shown as digits? If shown as digits, how can they be
presented in such a way that they don’t harm suspension of disbelief? Will you
label the value and if so, how?
11. What symbolic values does the player need to know (safe/danger, locked/
unlocked/open)? By what means will you convey both the value and its label?
12. Will it be possible for the player to control the game’s camera? Will it be necessary for the player to do so in order to play the game? What camera controls will be
available? Will they be available at all times or from a separate menu or other
mechanism?
13. What is the aesthetic style of the game? How do the interface elements blend in
and support that style?
14. How will audio be used to support the player’s interaction with the game? What
audio cues will accompany player actions? Will the game include audio advice or
dialog?
15. How does music support the user interface and the game generally? Does it create an emotional tone or set a pace? Can it adapt to changing circumstances?

Excercise 1 3/18/2011

Game writers often find themselves asked to write content with very limited
information, and they have to make it up as best they can. This is an exercise about
writing dialog in such a situation. Assume the following scenario: An adventurer
arrives at an old ruin. The main entry gate is guarded by a huge stone golem that
has to be convinced to let the adventurer pass through. The player might take three
different approaches to the conversation at hand: intimidation, admiration, or subterfuge.

TASK

Write a scripted conversation for this situation in which, at each menu, the
player has a choice of three options corresponding to each of the three approaches.
Your conversation must include no fewer than four exchanges, counting introducing and parting dialog lines. If the player chooses a consistent approach
throughout the conversation, the golem opens the gate; if the player does not, the
golem refuses and the conversation ends.

Post your completed set of menus plus the conversations that stem from each as separate branches as a diagram to your blog. You may use freemind (on the applications folder of the macs in room 474) or some other tool such as google draw or photoshop or illustrator - any tool that lets you create a diagram of possible branching path options - a flowchart, basically.

Today's in class exercises - based on Chapter 5 of Ernest Adams

In class exercise number 1 - create three different kinds of hero for an imaginary videogame - e.g. RPG, MMORPG, FPS, etc. Consider scale, gender, body type for each of the three and try to vary them as much as possible.

As you build your three characters with hero builder, clearly identify and document those functional and cosmetic attributes of the avatar that the player may modify. In the case of the functional attributes, indicate how they affect the gameplay.

As you build your three games characters with hero builder, clearly identify and document those functional and cosmetic attributes of the avatar that the player may modify. In the case of the functional attributes, indicate how they affect the gameplay.

Post the pictures to your blog with a brief written description of each character and those attributes the player can modify. Explain very clearly how these modifications assist in the gameplay.

RPG

Claudio:

Abilities: As a skilled archer, Claudio

Part 2 

Think of an idea for a game that permits the player to construct something you 
have not seen in commercial games (no cities, buildings, or vehicles). Assume that 
you will constrain the player’s abilities via an economy but allow him to earn new 
tools and features for his construction over time. Design a set of elementary parts 
from which the item may be constructed, and specify a price for each part. Include 
a number of upgrades—more expensive parts that replace cheaper versions. Write a short blog entry explaining the domain in which the player will be creating, and supply your list of parts, giving them in the order in which the player will earn the ability to buy them (cheapest to most expensive). Also indicate in a general way how the player can use the item s/he constructs to earn money. 

The scope of the exercise - limit yourself to the iPhone/iPad online 'app store' type casual game for this job.

In-Class Exercise Friday March 4th 2011