CO1301: Games Concepts Dr Nick Mitchell (Room CM 226) Material originally prepared by Gareth Bellaby Lecture 9 Gameplay

References  Rollings and Morris, Game Design and Architecture.  Chapter 3  Rollings & Adams, Rollings & Adams on Game Design.  Chapter 7.  Rabin, Introduction to Game Development:  2.2: "Game Design"

Topics  Importance of Gameplay  Two definitions of Gameplay  Implementing Gameplay  Interesting Choices  Dominant Strategy Problem

Importance  Gameplay is connected to subjects such as:  game theory  game balance  game design  strategy  tactics

Importance  Gameplay is independent of:  Story (story may conflict with gameplay!)  Audio  Graphics  Interface  Gameplay is separate from other elements of the game but may interact with them, e.g. it's reasonable to say that the clarity of the graphics support the gameplay, or that the interface is so poor that it gets in the way of the gameplay.

First Definition  Sid Maier - "gameplay is a series of interesting choices".  Used by Rollings and Adams in particular, but also cited by Rollings and Morris.

Secondly Definition  Gameplay is:  The core mechanics of a game.  How the game plays.  A discussion of mechanics will probably be of most use to yourselves.

Implementing Gameplay  Gameplay is something intrinsic to the game. There are lots of different chess sets, pieces in the shape of characters from Alice in Wonderland, stylised pieces, etc. The shapes are interesting and have value in their own right but they have nothing to do with the gameplay of chess.  Intrinsic: "belonging to a thing by its very nature..."  Extrinsic: "not forming an essential part of a thing or arising or originating from the outside...” (Both definitions are from WordNet).

Implementing Gameplay  Not all computer games may contain gameplay, e.g. Sim City, the demon mission in Kohan II.  Gameplay may be secondary to some other purpose, e.g. the social aspect of MMOs.  Since gameplay is about game mechanics, the different families of games have their own techniques and issues.

Exercise  Some types of games have identical gameplay.  Is there any difference in the gameplay of most FPS's?  Identify the core mechanics of a FPS.  What distinguishes FPS's if they do have identical gameplay?  Identify two FPS's with different gameplay.

Interesting Choices  Choice should be:  Non-trivial  Have good consequences  Have bad consequences  Be informed (nothing irritates so much as an important game choice with no support).  Feedback to the player is useful...

A choice  Does my sorcerer:  throw a fireball which damages all of the enemies but won't kill anyone outright.  or use his turn to stone spell which only affects one enemy but is guaranteed to knock him or her out.

Build, Infiltrate or Fight?  In Dawn of War units cost requisition points (which is in limited supply) and count towards a squad limit. requisitionsquad size Marines: Servitors: 75 1 Scouts: 90 1  Marines are stronger than Scouts. Servitors have no combat capability but are needed to build structures.

Dimensions  Choices get more interesting if they operate in several dimensions at once.  The fireball has a backwash which affects members of my own team...  The units in Dawn of War cost requisition points and count towards the squad limit...

Dominant Strategy Problem  No commonly agreed language to talk about the topics in game design and development.  The dominant strategy problem is a gameplay problem: one particular strategy is so strong that it becomes the obvious choice.  The DSP breaks gameplay because it undermines choice.

Transitive Relationship  a > b and b > c => a > c  A transitive relationship in a game gives rise to a dominant strategy.  Why build unit of types 'b' or 'c' if a unit of type 'a' is obviously better.  Why adopt strategy 'b' or 'c' if strategy 'a' is obviously better.

Transitive Relationship Giant Human Pixie bigger and stronger than

Non-Transitive Relationship  a > b, b > c, c > a  A non-transitive relationship makes for a far more interesting series of choices and hence for better gameplay.

Non-Transitive Relationship Cavalry Bowmen Spearman beat