1. CSE1GDT from Ideas to Designs Paul Taylor 2010

2. April 14, 2000.... http://www.mygaming.co.za/news/files.p hp?file=daikatana_bitch_214145160.jpg

3. Expectations... 40 Million Dollars later it sold... 200,000 Copies http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:G4- Zr60TjkWgdM:http://www.deafgamers.com/daikatana1.jpg&t=1

4. Daikatana On the Nintendo 64 one could NOT use the Daikatana!!! http://arstechnica.com/reviews/2q00/daikatan a/daik5.jpg

5. The Adventures of Toastie (Toastie is the cat from last week) Art style Perhaps modelling clay.... http://group- ssjp.wikispaces.com/file/view/w%26g.jpg/137 706741/w%26g.jpg

6. Girls vs Boys What do you know about the differences in play? What games do kids play at school?

7. Girls vs Boys Competition vs Cooperation Social Interaction?

8. As of 2008 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/352 9/academic_expansion__how_rare_.php Rare use 90% Graduates

9. Designing Difficulty Part 1 - Challenges

10. Challenge Hierarchies

11. Atomic Challenges http://www.planetization.org/atomic- bomb.jpg

12. Overall Challenges Typically just one! http://blog.iqmatrix.co m/wp- content/uploads/2008/ 11/goal-setting.jpg

13. Intermediate Challenges These ones are the ‘meat’ of your game http://www.djibnet.com/photo/95137658- stuck-in-the-middle-with-you.jpg

14. Applied to Toastie’s Adventure... http://www.designersnotebook. com/Lectures/Rethinking/rethin king.htm

15. Stress and Absolute Difficulty When players must perform multiple Atomic Challenges at once stress is introduced into the gameplay – It is up to you to decide whether you want stress, and how much! The number of types of challenge a player must address will also affect game complexity

16. Designing Difficulty Part 2 – Three Curves of Doom http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR_ZK7nzV- 56HDA3o2tQwuSag7cuq0FPGYIq18g3Vcn8NIfils&t=1&usg=__KhduWkcfEUdJ9hRieaYRJzZ-V6g=

17. #1 - Absolute Difficulty Intrinsic Skill required and Stressfulness of the challenge put together. – Difficulty levels can be used to give players a choice of stress and the skill they possess Stress is also related to the players skill – Lower skill will provide a higher stress on the player Skill vs Difficulty

18. #2 - Relative Difficulty Difficulty is relative to Power How does the player’s power affect the difficulty of the game? Cheats?

19. #3 - Perceived Difficulty What does the player’s skill do to difficulty? How can you be sure the players’ skills are increasing? – We want to avoid rage-quits!

20. Impaired Players For some target groups the perceived difficulty should remain fairly constant Such as......?

22. Now for some challenges This is NOT the definitive challenge list It will get you started thinking (I hope)

23. Common Challenge Types Physical Coordination – Time Pressure – Speed and Reaction – Intuitive Physics – Timing and Rhythm – Combination Moves

24. Logic and Mathematical Challenges – Formal Logic Puzzles – Mathematical Challenges Races and Time-Pressure Factual Knowledge Memory Challenges Pattern Recognition Challenges

25. Exploration Challenges – Spatial Awareness Challenges – Locked Doors – Traps – Mazes and Illogical Spaces – Teleporters

26. Conflict – Strategy – Logistics – Survival and Reduction of Enemy Forces – Defending Vulnerable Items or Units – Stealth

27. Economic Challenges – Accumulating Resources – Achieving Balance – Caring for Living Things Conceptual Reasoning and Lateral Thinking Puzzles – Conceptual Reasoning – Lateral Thinking

28. Inadvertent Challenges We want to avoid these..... What are they? Now we need a context for the most common type.....

29. Context: Player Actions The combination of the player (user) interface and the players actions – Actions should only be able to do atomic challenges – The Defeat Boss button is not a terribly exciting idea – Now for one of the most common types of inadvertent challenge....

30. The dangers of poor interfaces What happens when the player can not perform the atomic challenges properly?

31. GTA IV

32. Halo 3 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halo_ 3_control_scheme.jpg

33. Which is better? Duh!

34. Defining and Grouping Actions – Actions for Gameplay – Actions for Fun (Unstructured Play) – Actions for Customisation – Actions for Socialisation (Multiplayer games) – Story Participation Actions – Interface customisation Actions (Game Settings)

35. Disclaimer That was not a complete list of Actions, but gives you an idea of what to consider You don’t always have to have the action players want. Sometimes they want something that doesn’t support the experience you are trying to create – Ghost Recon FPS mode / Fallout 3 – Resident Evil 5 Run & Gun / Machete

36. The End References Adams and Rollings on Game Design