According to Sid Meier, a [good] game is a series of interesting choices. In an interesting choice, no single option is clearly better than the other options, the options are not equally attractive, and the player must be able to make an informed choice.
http://www.half-real.net/dictionary/#interestingchoices
Every superhero movie has a moment like this, in which the hero has to make a choice. Tons on stories, including films, novels or video games use an important choice for the main character as a plot device, especially in climactic moments.
Video games (and other forms of interactive art) can put or player in the position of making a choice.
Games put players in the position of making constant choices. Some choices are significant and change the course of the game. Some are simple, frame-to-frame choices that challenge the player’s decision making or reaction time.
What games have you played that challenge the player to make difficult choices?
The tension created by choices is part of what makes games immersive and fun. Decisions that have consequences can be agonizing, and that build up of tension, and release through gameplay, makes the experience of the game dynamic.
Let’s look at the article Standard Patterns in Choice-Based Games again and think through the consequences of choosing different paths in each pattern. How do they affect the gameplay experience?
As game designers, we spend a lot of time playing through our own games and experiencing the end result of the series of choices we make as we play. Through practice, we discover the patterns that emerge. We can study those patterns to refine the design of the game to match our desired goals for the player’s experience.
As we refine the game play patterns, there are basic elements that will help us decide what to include. We have already discussed some of these elements in the introduction lecture. These are based in part on some of the elements defined in the book Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton.
The Player. We always want to keep the player at the forefront of our choices. Some games have multiple players, but we’ll stick with single player games in this class to simplify this approach. Whenever you add a new scene or interaction, consider how the player is going to approach and interpret it. Will they understand the significance of the choice? Will they have sufficient knowledge to make an informed choice?
Goals. What is the overall goal of the game? Is it clear to the player?
Mechanics. What can the player do? How do they interact with the game world? How are the mechanics communicated to the player?
Mechanics are made of the rules of the game, and how they fit together. Some mechanics are simple, like “press A to jump.” Some are more complex, like an inventory system, or dialog tree.
Obstacles. We can also think of obstacles as conflicts, challenges, or anything that prevents the player from reaching the goal. Obstacles are where the fun of games comes in. By creating meaningful obstacles, we give the player a sense of accomplishment when they achieve the goals of the game. Obstacles encompass everything from running into a wall to making a moral decision.
Outcomes. We can also think of outcomes as fail states or achievements. Fail states need to be positive as we discussed, meaning that they need to teach the player something, they give the player feedback that helps them progress in the next play-through.
As you start to design a game, start with these elements and construct a pattern. Start with the player. What is the players goal? How to they move towards the goal? What choices do they make along the way? What happens when they make the wrong choice?
These patterns can describe simple elements, like the player jumping over a series of walls. They also describe longer arcs in the game, like a series of levels concluding in a boss fight.
A game is a system of rules in which agents compete by making endogenously meaningful decisions.
Keith Burgun, Game Design Theory
