Designing Power-Ups for Action Games

1. Designing Power-Upsfor Action Games Randy Smith rsmith@ionstorm.com Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

2. Takeaways • A structured design process which can help: • Tailor your power-ups to your game and development environment • Improve communication and documentation • Design analysis that you can apply to improve your power-up designs Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

3. Scope of this Presentation • We are going to talk about: • Generating ideas • Refining • Documenting • We are not going to talk about: • Implementing • Tuning Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

4. Action Games Only • Action games, such as: • First Person Shooters • Platform • Fighting • Racing • Etc. • But not: • RPGs • Adventure games • Etc. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

5. What do I mean by “Designer”? • Not (necessarily) a: • Manager • Producer • Project Director • Level Builder • A game systems designer. • Or a group of game systems designers. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

6. Collaboration • Other disciplines: • Programmer • Artist • Producer • Audio • Director Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

7. Outline of this Presentation • Deconstructing Power-ups • Brainstorming • Culling and Refining • Goals and Constraints • Documenting Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

8. DeconstructingPower-Ups Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

9. Questions About Power-Ups • What are the components of a power-up? • What categories of power-ups are there? • Why are power-ups in games? • What’s the definition? • …lets look at some examples to think about these questions. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

10. Armor Ammo Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

11. Cross Holy Water Stop Watch Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

12. Energy Tank Morph Ball Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

13. Vision Enhancement Run Silent Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

14. Mushroom Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

15. Hammer Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

16. Components of Power-Ups • Acquisition Method • Storage • Activation Method • Delivery method • Payload / Utility • Deactivation method • Resource Cost Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

17. Doom Armor • Acquisition: Collide with it • Storage: N/A • Activation: Upon pick-up • Delivery: N/A • Payload: Sets Armor=100 • Deactivation: N/A • Resource cost: N/A Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

18. Castlevania Holy Water • Acquisition: Collide with it • Storage: Special Item Slot • Activation: Up and Attack • Delivery: Short range arc • Payload: Holy water puddle • Deactivation: Time out • Resource cost: Hearts, Slot Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

19. Deus Ex Vision Enhancement • Acquisition: Augmentation Installment Process • Storage: Eye Aug Slot • (De-)Activation: F5 or Inventory Screen • Payload: Vision mode • Resource cost: Aug Power Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

20. Categories of Power-Ups • By Payload • Unlock Player Powers • Resource Change • Environment Manipulation • AI Manipulation • Character Manipulation • By Storage • Inventory • Hands • Special Item Slot Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

21. Why are Power-Ups in Games? • Player Agency • Player Reward • Player Motivation • Manage Challenge Level / Character Power Curve • Player Learning Curve • Unlock New Content • Reinvent Gameplay Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

22. Why are Power-Ups in Games? • Maintain Player Interest • Player Agency • Player Reward • Player Motivation • Manage Challenge Level / Character Power Curve • Player Learning Curve • Unlock New Content • Reinvent Gameplay Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

23. Definition of a Power-Up • A Power-Up = An Acquired Character Benefit • Acquired – Don’t have it at the beginning of the game • Character – The player character • Benefit – Resource, Power, etc.. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

24. The development process2) Brainstorming Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

25. Goal of Brainstorming • Generate a big document full of ideas. • Collect lots of creative energy, don’t let it get away. • Sometimes it’s OK to smoke crack. • Get early feedback and info from other disciplines. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

26. Documenting Brainstorms Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

27. Generating Ideas • Ideas can come from • Core Fantasy • Fiction • Other Games • Understanding of Goals and Constraints • Design Philosophy Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

28. The development process3) Culling and Refining Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

29. Goal of Culling and Refining • Eliminate ideas from the brainstorm list. • In the process, refine your sense of your: • Design Goals • Development Constraints. • Grow your ability to make informed, deliberate design decisions Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

30. Cull an Idea from the Brainstorm List • Someone pick an idea they don’t like • Someone else flesh it out, explain it • Cull the idea for any reason Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

31. Culling Deconstruction • Ok, now why did you cull that idea? • Categorize your reason: • Development Constraints • Design Goals • Ratio of the two • Keep track of this data Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

32. Goals and Constraints • Development Constraints • Schedule / Budget • Technology • Controller Hardware • Target Player • Etc. • Design Goals • What gameplay are you trying to create? Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

33. Refining • Use what you’ve learned to improve the idea. • How can this idea better meet the Design Goals? • How can this idea fit within the Development Constraints? • If improved, send the idea back to the brainstorm list. • If not, just throw it out. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

34. A Feedback-Intensive Process Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

35. When do you stop? • When you’ve considered every idea in the brainstorm list? • When enough of the ideas make the cut. • What’s the right number of power-ups for your game? • Answer: Constraints and goals. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

36. The development process4) Goals and Constraintsexamples from Thief 3 Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

37. Ideas from Thief & Thief 2 Fire Arrow • Not stealthy enough • Something more utilitarian? Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

38. Mine • Also not stealthy, but… • It’s a trap for enemies Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

39. Flashbomb • Too useful for attack • Should be an escape tool – blinding and stunning Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

40. New Ideas Lead Arrow, Laughing Gas • Too redundant with existing tools Dog Whistle • Not broadly applicable enough Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

41. Climbing Gloves • Expensive but worth it • There are vertical stone walls everywhere Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

42. Cloak of Flattening • Expensive and not worth it • Not enough systemic applicability Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

43. Thief 3 Power-Up Design Goals • Reinforce core stealth gameplay • Empower interesting ways for player to thwart enemies • Make getting caught more fun • Empower player expression via systemic interactions Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

44. Thief 3 Power-Up Constraints • Budget and Schedule • Reuse UI Infrastructure for Activation and Delivery – Arrows and Bombs • Avoid implementation work with little reuse (new player movement modes) • Work with existing systems instead of inventing new ones Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

45. Thief 3 Power-Up Constraints • Simple Interface • Reuse UI Infrastructure for Activation and Delivery – Arrows and Bombs • Keep overall number of power-ups small • Keep Payloads/Utilities orthogonal Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

46. Noise Suppressor • Interesting and cheap • Makes simple, systemic use of existing tech Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

47. The development process5) Documentation Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

48. Goals of Documentation • Formalize ideas, Write a spec • Think it through • Communicate with the other disciplines: • What the plan is • What they need to do to implement your power-up ideas • How they’ll know when the work is finished Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

49. Principles for good design documentation • Overall: • Clarity • Efficiency • Use fewer words • Use more visuals • Target your audience(s) – hint: it isn’t you. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com

50. Don’ts • Defend your ideas. • Emphasize fiction or design philosophy unnecessarily. Don’t ramble. • Feel the need to have excruciating level of detail. • Leave stuff up to the other disciplines. • They’re in the same building as you, right? They can come talk to you. Designing Power-Ups for Action Games rsmith@ionstorm.com