Week 6 - Chance and Skill in games and how designers can implement them

Brenda Braithwaite & Ian Schreiber (2008) Challenges For Games Designers


Why is chance an important component in games and what tools does the designer have at their disposal to deploy this element?

Most games involve some kind of chance unless it is purely strategic such as tic-tac-toe or chess. Having a game that includes something to even the chances for the players is more likely to reach a wider audience over a game that is purely based on skill/strategy, but having the right balance of the two is up to the discretion of the designer.

Chance is something that gives the game random-ability that can ultimately match the skills of players as it bases success on the luck of something as simple as dice. A dice roll is purely random and that is what adds to the game, a sense of mystery and not knowing whether your action will help or hinder your progress in the game, and it can be used as an important dynamic in games design.

Designers can use chance in delaying solvability eg. in a game such as chess, there is an resolution to the game that is achieved by calculated moves and strategy by the player. A similar example is tic-tac-toe which is won through pure skill, but this can get tedious and chance enhances games by adding a random event, this is explained in the book as it "prevents the mastering of the game, because making the exact same decisions may lead to different outcomes".

Chance can also be used as making the play competitive for the weaker players, and it is explained in the book to prolong the enjoyment of a game for the weaker player, as it allows them to have a genuine chance of winning as there are random events that will cause a change to the game. For example in tic-tac-toe, an experienced player will know where to put the next symbol, but if an iteration to the game was considered to add chance, eg. dice roll to see who gets to put 2 symbols on the first turn, gives the weaker player a real chance to win which will ultimately keep him/her interested in the game for longer.

There are 4 mechanics that can be used to increase chance in games:

- Dice | Cube of 6 equal sides with 1-6 on the sides, rolled for a random number.

- Cards | Pack of 51, 4 suits (Ace to King 13 cards) shuffled to make random.

- Pseudo-Random number generators | A number that is close enough to be random generated by a computer.

- Hidden information | When a player doesn't know information it is random.

Why is skill an important component in games and what tools does the designer have at their disposal to deploy this element?

It says in the book "The heart of a good game is a series of interesting decisions" which is ultimately the definition of skill in games. A series of tactical/strategic decisions that will hopefully help the progress in the players quest of winning. 

Skill is in my eyes the most important part in any game, and designers base their games around engrossing the player in a game that is full of decisions, as players of games integrate their feelings and experience of the game with the decisions they are making which makes it feel more real. There are many ways in gaming to make a decision that is seen to create an aspect of skill:

- Obvious decision | A decision too easy to make (eg. pick the higher number to win a prize "1" or "2")

- Meaningless decision | When a game makes it seem a decision is important, but it doesn't matter which choice you make, you'll end up in the same place whatever option you choose.

- Blind decisions | A decision where the player has no information to make a calculated choice. (eg. roulette, it still matters what number you choose, you just don't know where it's going to land)

- Trade-off's | Happens when a player doesn't have enough resources to reach his/her goals. A game is 'balanced' where the options given seem very important, but all have equal outcomes and only bases the outcome of the decision on the players environmental and personal styles.

- Dilemma | (example Golden Balls) This gives the player a sense of danger as whatever choice you make, it will have a negative outcome.

Story (Design Methods)

ClickTheBASS

Story

Marco Butsped was a young boy from Rio de Janeiro who loved to compose classical music. He was highly regarded in the world of music as one of the biggest protégés ever. Being 13, he required a lot of support from his parents who would regularly donate their time and effort to make sure he always enjoys his music, but is still dedicated to being a top musician.

One day, Jeremy Sinclair of world renowned Music Inc. saw Marco playing at the Teatro Municipal in Rio. Mr Sinclair’s eyes immediately lit up at the prospect of having another prodigy join the ranks after seeing Marco direct an orchestra of over 60 members. What Marco and the rest of the world didn’t realise is that Mr Sinclair hates all forms of music, the last album he listened to was Chas ‘n’ Dave’s street party, and that was enough to convince him that music in general came straight from the depths of lower-class nobodies with nothing better to do. Mr Sinclair focused on profits rather than passion, business instead of beauty, and that left a distinct mark on his music label.

After talking to Marco’s parents about the exciting prospect of their son joining such a famous organisation to hone his musical abilities, they agreed to send him to the Music Inc. Academy for the talented. Overhearing the conversation, Marco goes giddy with the idea of attending such a prestigious academy under one of the biggest labels in the world. Mr Sinclair approaches Marco and offers him 24/7 access to high quality music labs/instruments, state of the art accommodation and 50 other young musical prodigies in which he can collaborate and learn from. Marco agrees without a second thought and Mr Sinclair smiles wryly as he can already taste the revenue on his lips.

Marco arrives at the Academy, keen to start composing and excited to meet all of the other young musical geniuses. As soon as Marco steps through the door after waving off his parents, he realises that every promise Mr Sinclair made was empty. He sees the worlds most gifted musicians confined to prison-esque bedrooms, one music room that has 2 piano’s, a couple of old guitars and an ancient soundbooth. Marco suddenly realises that Music Inc. are battery making artists to maximise profits. He frantically searches for a phone or any sort of communication to the outside world, he pleads to Mr Sinclair to let him go home, but the boss tells him that he is ‘here for the long run.'

Marco then bets Mr Sinclair that he could beat his 3 best artists (“Think Floyd” “Wu-Yang Clan” and “DJ Biesto”) in an epic battle of musical genius.

A series of musical battles reveal Marco's true powers as he out guitar's, out raps and out DJ's the three artists! Mr Sinclair pleads with Marco to stay but with the young prodigy pushing back the man's pointless talk, Mr Sinclair had no choice but to attack Marco with a barriage of bass that deafens the world but Marco beats him too, after a long fight of course. He claims his freedom and his trophy was to be the new manager of Music Inc.!  

Week 7 - Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design: A PopCap Case Study

What are the design components that Ventrulli believes are important for the creation of casual games and how they can work together to provide a space for great user experiences?

Pacing:

Ventrulli explains pacing in games desing to be indirectly influencing/crafting the players experience by using MDA to create "Relaxation, tension and repetition.", the designer 'paces' the game.

Tension:

Tension is explained as the fear that the player feels when he/she thinks they are going to become the weaker side of the conflict. Aesthetics like sound effects and good graphics can be used to increase the tension, but not the threat.

Movement Impotus:

This is how much time and effort the player is willing to put in to moving forward throughout the level. This is also how willing the player is to make enhancing decisions in the game.

eg. An example is Plants vs. Zombies, the impotus for the player to keep on planting plants to defend the base against zombies is the fact that there is only two outcomes, you either survive the attack or get destroyed, and the player feels there is no point quitting half way through out of frustration/boredom as there is something always going on.

Tempo:

Tempo in any game is how high the 'intensity' of the play is. It is how much time has passed between each big decision made/conflict seen by the player. He explains that the faster the tempo, it minimises how many different possibilities the player could have, where if the tempo is slow, there will be more possibilities as there is more time to do it.

Finally, in the article, Ventrulli believes that once a game is completed/finished by the player it becomes instantly boring. The novelty of not knowing what is going to happen has worn off and the player doesn't play it as that would be repetitive. He explains "re-play" value which is the extra time after the game is completed that the player feels it is still fun to play on.

Week 5 - Tools for creating dramatic game dynamics

What are the mechanics we can use to cause dramatic tension in games? - Marc LeBlanc

Marc LeBlanc's reading links in with the reading of week 4, as it goes into detail about MDA.

Mechanics
Dynamics
Aesthetics

"When we talk about mechanics, we are referring to all the neccessary pieces that we need to play the game."

Mechanics aren't limited to the rules of the game, there are outside influences that govern how the game pans out. eg. Baseball has it's normal rules, other rules include gravity, energy, the limits of the human mind and body.

"Dynamics refer to what might be called the 'behaviour' of the game, the actual events and phenomena that occur as the game is being played."

LeBlanc explains dynamics simply to be how the player wants to play the game, which tactics/strategies will the player use to maximise his/her chance of success? eg. in unreal tournament, a player might decide to use the sniper rifle as the enemy is far away. This increases the overall chance of success/kill for the player and is a dynamic for the game.

"A game's aesthetics is it's emotional content, the desirable emotional responses we when we play."

The aesthetics of a game can be easily exampled by it's graphics. Games are usually more aesthetically pleasing when they have top level graphics as the player enjoys the look and it allows the user to immerse themselves in the game more-so.

This is a graph showing the usual plot/storyline in most games. At the start there is a conflict, or a problem that you as the player have to solve. Then comes the climax of the conflict, usually personified by a boss fight or a final battle. After that is the resolution to the climax/story, has the player lost or won, and how does the story end?






Uncertainty + Inevitability

- Those are the two factors in a game that cause dramatic tension.
- We as game designers have less control than the player.
- control creates drama.

Dramatic Tension:

- Which way to go?
- The outcome is unknown


- Force: The designer's dynamics that affect the game state directly.
- Illusion: Is manipulating the players perception of the game state without actually changing the game state.
- Escalation: Increasing the amount of tasks/objectives asked to be done in the game, making it seem more exciting.