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Patterns in Game Design

Patterns in Game Design. Chapter 9: Game Design Patterns for Narrative Structures, Predictability, and Immersion Patterns CT60A7000 Critical Thinking and Argumentation in Software Engineering Johanna Pääkkönen 28.3.2014. What are game design patterns?.

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Patterns in Game Design

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  1. Patterns in GameDesign Chapter 9: Game Design Patterns for Narrative Structures, Predictability, and Immersion Patterns CT60A7000 Critical Thinking and Argumentation in Software Engineering Johanna Pääkkönen 28.3.2014

  2. What are game design patterns? • A way to describe design choices (or emergent features) that reoccur in many games • Offers possible explanations to why these design choices have been made • Possible common language for game design • Need a vocabulary for talking about games • Describe and compare games while focusing on the interaction provided in games • Tool for • Inspiration • Structured creative design • Problem-solving • Communication and Analysis • Chapter 9: Narrative Structures, Predictability and Immersion Patterns • How the game design can support immersion and commitment to the game by the players

  3. Chapter 9 patterns • Anticipation • Character Development • Characters • Cognitive Immersion (CD) • Creative Control • Cut Scenes • Dedicated Game Facilitators (CD) • Delayed Effects • Easter Eggs • Emotional Immersion (CD) • Freedom of Choice • Game Masters (CD) • Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses • Hovering Closures • Identification (CD) • Illusion of Influence • Immersion • Narrative Structures • Never Ending Stories (CD) • Perceived Chance to Succeed • Planned Character Development • Player Constructed Worlds (CD) • Self-Facilitated Games (CD) • Sensory-Motoric Immersion (CD) • Skills (CD) • Spatial Immersion (CD) • Storytelling • Surprises • Tension • Tiebreakers (CD) • Tied Results (CD)

  4. Patterns: Evaluation ”Thesepatternsdescribesome common cases of evaluationfunctions, from single action to the wholegameinstance. Alsodealhow the playersperceiveorcaninfluence the gamestate.” • DelayedEffects • The effects of actions and events in games do not occur directly after the actions or events have started • Are explicitly dictated by the rules in the game; effects that are the results of combined actions or are unexpected or unplanned do not qualify as DelayedEffects. • Hovering Closures • Events that are about to occur and can clearly be observed by players • These closures may be used by the players to plan their actions: players may intentionally try to increase the chances of Hovering Closures that are perceived as positive or simply allowed to occur, while closures with negative consequences may be acted against.

  5. Patterns: Evaluation • Illusion of Influence • Players believe that they can influence the outcome of the game, regardless of whether this is correct. • Some games allow actions that do not actually make players come closer to achieving goals, or even changing the game state. • Perceived Chance to Succeed • Players believe, whether correctly or not, that they have a chance to succeed with actions in a game • To affect the outcome means that players can also choose what sort of outcome they wish the game to have, and that they have a Perceived Chance to Succeed with their intentions • Players do not actually have to have a chance to succeed for a game to be interesting; the important part is that they believe that they have.

  6. Patterns: Immersion “ The different ways to let players be engaged in the game. “ • Immersion • Immersion in the Game World or immersion in the activity of play • Games require players' attention and as such can make players focus on gameplay to the extent that they feel immersed in the games • Many forms, depending on what type of activity the players are performing in a game and what is required to become an expert player. • Does not mean that players are unaware of their surroundings or that they are playing a game, but rather that they are deeply focused on the interaction they are having within the game. • Anticipation • The feeling of being able to predict future game events in the games to which one has emotional attachments • Players only feel anticipation about these future events if they have some emotional investment, either that the future events are something that they planned and strived for or that the future events concern characters in a narrative structure that the players care for.

  7. Patterns: Creative Control “Voluntary activities where the players have the freedom to play or not to play the game, to perform actions of their own or express themselves. These patterns highlight some of the commons ways to enhance that freedom. “ • Freedom of Choice • Players have the ability to make choices in the game • For a game to be a game at all, the players have to be able to make what they feel are interesting choices. This means that the choices must have seemingly different and meaningful effects

  8. Patterns: Creative Control • Creative Control • Players have the ability to be creative within the Game World • Makes possible for players to define their own goals within the game environment as well as making it possible for them to show their creations to other players. • Storytelling • The act of telling stories within the game • Retelling of actions and events that players have done, the history or part of creating the Game World

  9. Patterns: NarrativeStructures “Games often build unfolding and underlying story. These patterns explain some characteristics of how stories emerge within the game.” • Narrative Structures • The structures of the stories that are unfolded by playing the game • Gives players both motivations for the existence of goals and challenges in the game and rewards. • Does not have to be completely fixed; many games for example allow many different kinds of endings or let players achieve goals in many different ways without affecting the overall structure of the story. • Tension • The feeling of caring about the outcome of actions or events in a game without having full control over them • Occurs in games that have uncertain outcomes, when players have emotional investments in which of these outcomes occurs but cannot fully control them • Several outcomes for players: if they are trying to make one of the outcomes occur; if the outcome has an affect of characters in the game that the players care for; or if the outcome has real-world effects.

  10. Patterns: NarrativeStructures • Characters • Abstract representations of persons in a game • Many games let players control game elements that represent people or creatures that act in the Game World. • Character Development • The improvement of characters' skills or knowledge • Can either be described as improvements in skills or changes in attitude toward other characters and the Game World. • Planned Character Development • When Character Development is under players' control and can be planned • Players can influence how characters develop and set up goals for that development.

  11. Patterns: NarrativeStructures • Identification • The characters or parts of the game with which players identify • Does not have to be a concrete game element but can just as well be a goal or type of action, but these also need some concrete game element through which players can try to achieve the goals or actions. • Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses • Closures that occur progressively become more important as the game is played • A way to ensure that gameplay can vary and continue to be exciting or challenging.

  12. Patterns: NarrativeStructures • Surprises • Events and consequences that are unexpected by players and disturb their attention • Often one of the charms of playing games. • Cut Scenes • Sequences of storytelling where players cannot act within the game • Used when games cannot progress the entire game story through actions and events and need to give longer descriptions and explanations to players. • Easter Eggs • Surprises in the game that are not related to the game • Do not necessarily advance the game story or even fit within the reality of the Game World • The design of Easter Eggs started as programmers' and game designers' ways of protesting against management but soon turned into a gameplay value, encouraging exploration and people to replay the games.

  13. Questions • Whatare the mostimportantpatterns (chapter 9) to make a goodgame? • Cangamebegoodwithoutany of thesepatterns? • Whatmakesa patternimportant? • According to the bookalmostall the patternshavesomepotentiallyconflicting with someotherpattern. How to avoidthisconflictingin game design? • Whatdoyouthinkaboutselectionwhichpatternsappearin the bookor CD? • E.g. only CD: Skills, Tiebreakers, Emotional Immersion • Are the book patterns more important, more common etc?

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