MULTI-PLAYER Barkan TOPRAK

OVERVIEW  Difference between single player games and other pursuits  Single player games: Illusion of another player or designer  Reality concept in a multiplayer game  Battling, cooperating or simply socializing  It has a much greater importance than any single-player game can ever manage  Examples from well-known games  Single-player: Solitaire has extreme minority of available choices  Multi-player: Chess, Monopoly 2

MOTIVATIONS  Multi-player games satisfies “What Players Want”  Replacing AI opponents provides much deeper and more unpredictable behavior  Opponents will learn as they play: as players improve, so too do their opponents  Desire to be challenged is met!  Many people play multi-player games just to socialize 3

STARCRAFT 2 TOURNEMENT 4

MOTIVATIONS  Multi-player feature of a game can change player’s perceived importance of playing the game  Brag and shame feelings  Alternate realities 5

MOTIVATIONS  Much more dynamic experience than interacting with a computer alone  All “wants” that multi-player games satisfy: challenge, social experience, potential for bragging rights, emotional payoff, deeply interactive experience  It is important for designers to keep this list in mind 6

MOTIVATIONS  Allowing the use of mechanics may not work in single- player games  Some titles are ideally suited to being single player, others are can only work on multi-player experiences 7

THE FORMS  Single System Multi-Player  Pong, Mario Bros., sport games, fighting games  Same portion of the game world, both visible  Can be problematic  Split-screen  New technology: same screen but different displays  Advantages: much fun from interaction 8

THE FORMS  Online Multi-Player  Players invisible to each other  Quake, Counter-Strike, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Ultima Online, WoW  Extremely social experience  Provides chat and voip 9

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS  Significantly different challenges in their design  “Pause moments”  Let players know how much time they will play  “Hope” is important: Mario Kart example  Customization  Multi-player game designers have much less dictatorial control over players’ experiences 10

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS  Changing AI to real players may not be enough  Take cue from multi-player non-computer games  Cooperating creates a unique experience that cannot be replicated in a single-player game  Protect newbies, they are vulnerable & valuable for long- term success  Single player training  Level limitation 11

CALL OF DUTY END-GAME SCOREBOARD 12

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS  People play to socialize  Some games allow players to chat or talk with each other but some don’t  Communication types  Playing games with people that we already know VS people that we just met  Every feature or mechanic you add to our multi-player game should be examined to determine how it impacts the players’ social experience  Though not every feature needs to be a social one. 13

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES  Development teams must decide: multi-player, single-player or both  Play-testing and user feedback  You never can anticipate what players will attempt to do  Closed & open beta: sometimes not enough  Patches  Listening to community  Monitor behaviors: Used most and used least 14

CONCLUSION  The future of multi-player gaming looks bright  Single-player games will probably continue to be more popular because the players can start and stop whenever they want  Multi-player games provide unique experiences 15

THANKS  Thank you for listening, any questions? 16