IMGD 2900 Digital Game Design I Class 5 Monday 11.12

Today’s topics Single-player game playtesting Games and meaning Assignment 07

Playtesting!

Ask your testers to think out loud. Shut up and pay attention. If testers get quiet or hesitate, ask what they’re thinking. Watch faces, not the screen. Write down everything, especially questions. Be alert for surprises.

Post-test questions What is the goal of the game? Was anything confusing or difficult? Is there any info that would have been good to know before starting? What did you like? Dislike? How would you describe this game to someone who has never played it? Write down the answers.

Today’s vocabulary Possibility space Meaningful play Discernibility Integration Action-outcome chain Uncertainty

Possibility space All possible actions and meanings that can emerge during the play of a game.

Possibility space All possible actions and meanings that can emerge during the play of a game. Game designers engineer playful possibility spaces.

Example.

A proposition A major goal of successful game design is the creation of meaningful play.

Playing a game means making choices and taking actions. The meaning of an action in a game is in the relationship between action and outcome.

Meaningful play occurs when the relationships between actions and outcomes are both discernible and integrated into the context of the game.

Discernible The result of an action is discernible when it is communicated to the players in a perceivable way. Discernibility lets the players know what happens when they take an action.

Integration Integration lets players know how their action will affect the rest of the game. Counterexample: Decathlon where the outcome of a footrace has no effect on the score.

Action-outcome chain An analytic tool for diagnosing problems with a game design.

Action-outcome chain 1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice?

Action-outcome chain 1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice? 2. How is the possibility of choice conveyed?

Action-outcome chain 1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice? 2. How is the possibility of choice conveyed? 3. How does the player make the choice?

Action-outcome chain 1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice? 2. How is the possibility of choice conveyed? 3. How does the player make the choice? 4. What are the results of the choice? How will it affect future choices?

Action-outcome chain 1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice? 2. How is the possibility of choice conveyed? 3. How does the player make the choice? 4. What are the results of the choice? How will it affect future choices? 5. How are the results of the choice conveyed?

1. What happens before the player is given the possibility of choice? 2. How is the possibility of choice conveyed? 3. How does the player make the choice? 4. What are the results of the choice? How will it affect future choices? 5. How are the results of the choice conveyed?

Common problems Not sure what to do next. Feeling as if choices are arbitrary. Not knowing if an action had any outcome. Losing / winning / failing to progress without knowing why.

If your game is failing to deliver meaningful play, there is probably a breakdown in the action-outcome chain.

Uncertainty A central feature of every good game. Why?

Uncertainty In a game with no uncertainty, all player choices are meaningless, because they have no impact on the way the game plays out. If a player's choices have no meaning, there is no reason to play.

Assignment 07: Polish your 1-player game Refine and polish your game Journal as you design and code Post on Web by noon Thursday Bring to Thursday’s class

Objective 1: Polish your 1-player game Fix the obvious bugs! Comment your code! Put the game title, name of your team and names/logins of all team members at the top of your main file!

Objective 2: Journal as you design/code Document your creative process Ideas, code fragments, sketches Journals will be inspected

Objective 3: Post your game before noon this Thursday Make sure it runs!

Objective 4: Bring game to Thursday’s class Use a flash drive Each team member should have one! Keep a backup

Questions? Next class: Thursday 11.15