CSCE 590E Spring 2007

1. CSCE 590E Spring 2007 Understanding Fun By Jijun Tang

2. Announcements • We will meet in 1D11 on Wednesday, 4:00pm (again) • Each group should give me the names after class (paper or email) • Please start thinking games you want to design (do not worry about techniques at first)

3. Homework Results • Some people did not turn in the homework • Almost all turned in are good • The most played games are: • Super Mario Bros, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, Half-Life / Counterstrike, World of Warcraft, SimCity, X-Wing, Age of Empires, Diablo, Metal Gear Solid, Need for Speed, StarCraft, Tetris

4. Volunteers • High school kids visiting • On Thursday morning and afternoon, 90 minutes each • 10:30-12:30 • 1:00-3:00 • We want to teach them flash games • We need experts in flash to help the instruction and supervision

5. What is Fun? • Game is all about fun • Dictionary: Enjoyment, a source of amusement • It is important to consider underlying reasons • Funativity – thinking about fun in terms of measurable cause and effect

6. Why fun? • It’s deep in our evolution root, and we must look to our ancestors (200 yrs of tech advancement haven’t changed our instinct) • Cats, dogs, etc play to learn basic survival skills (physical and social) • Games are organized play • Human entertainment is also at its heart about learning how to survive • Social rules are also critical to us

7. Surviving • Life is all either work, rest, or fun • To survive, we must work • Our ancestors were those who survive • The survive skills are passed down • Who is more likely to survive?

8. People working too hard?

9. People resting too much?

10. We must play to gain skills

11. Learning is fun • Fun is about practicing or learning new survival skills in a relatively safe setting • People who didn’t enjoy that practice were less likely to survive to become our ancestors

12. Hunting and Gathering • Basic skills are hunting and gathering • Current popular games reflect this • It’s a good start point to design games • Shooters, wargames = hunting • Powerups, resources = gathering • Sims, MMO = social, tribal interaction

13. Gathering and hunting

14. Natural Funativity Theory • All funs are derived from practicing survival and social skills • Key skills relate to early human context • Often in modern guise: play chess, football, dance, etc • Three overlapping categories • Physical • Social • Mental

15. Physical Fun • Sports • Enhance our strength, stamina, coordination skills • Winning is also a mental fun • Exploration • Knowledge of surrounding areas • Explore unknown • Hand/eye coordination and tool use are often parts of fun activities – crafts • Physical aspect to gathering “stuff”

16. Social Fun • Storytelling is a social activity • First virtual reality • Learn important lessons from others • Gossip, sharing info • Flirting • Showing off

17. Social funs

18. Mental Fun • Humans have large brains • Abstract reasoning practice • Pattern matching and generation • Music • Art • Puzzles • Gathering also has mental aspect, categorizing and identifying patterns • Gambling

19. Multipurpose Fun • Many fun activities have physical, social and mental aspects in combination • Games that mix these aspects tend to be very popular • Incorporate ways to practice these skills to increase the popularity of games

20. Great Games • A great game is a series of interesting and meaningful choices made by the player in pursuit of a clear and compelling goal • Must have choices, or it is movie • Must be a series of choices or it is too simple to be a game • Must have a goal or it is a software toy (some goals may be implicit, like Sims) • With multiple player games players may bring their own goals

21. Qualities of Choice • Terms in which to discuss choices • Hollow – lacking consequence • Obvious – leaves no choice to be made • Uninformed – arbitrary decision • Dramatic – strongly connects to feelings • Weighted – good and bad in every choice • Immediate – effects are immediate • Long-term – effects over extended period • Orthogonal – choices distinct from each other

22. Interesting and Meaningful Choices • Choices may be dull and uninteresting because it was easy to code that way • Or it may be the reflection of a lazy designer • Meaningful choices are perceived by the player as having significant consequences • May not have actual consequences

23. Clear and Compelling Goal • Clear goals • It is not fun to flounder aimlessly • Compelling goals are goals that follow the concepts in Natural Funativity • Survival is always a compelling goal

24. No choice A Series of Choices

25. A Series of Choices • Meaningless choices • Obviously fold back into same path • Players discover this quickly

26. Infinite choices Quickly become unmanageable A Series of Choices

27. Choose wisely Kill off player with any wrong choice Better but frustrating (Dragon’s Lair) A Series of Choices

28. Classic Game Structure • A convexity • Starts with a single choice, widens to many choices, returns to a single choice

29. Convexity Qualities • Go from one to many to one • Can be a level, an act, an episode • Can be any kind of choice • Geography, weapons, tools, skills, technologies, quests • Examples • Exploring an island • Technology build tree

30. Fractal Structure • Large scale structure repeated on medium, smaller scales, like a coastline • In the case of convexities, each circle is not a single choice, but a convexity • Age of Empires example • Take a defensive stance, create squad to defend left flank, collect resources to build a legionnaire, etc.

31. Many games are chains of convexities Points of limited choice (A) alternate with points of many choices (B) A Series of Convexities

32. A Series of Convexities • Many overlapping convexities in great games • Examples include Halo, Zelda games, Civilization, Diablo II, many others • Player can be starting one task or area, in the middle of another, and at the end of a third, all simultaneously

33. Why Is This Good? • Give the player choice but not an infinitely expanding set of choices • Mix of some “any order” choices (B) and some in fixed order (A), blending freedom with linear storytelling • Can be structured so players see most of the game, minimizing waste • Can have difficulty go up in new levels

34. Psychological Advantages • Alternating intense learning with time to practice is the best way to master new skills • Gradual learning and introduction of new skills at the heart of fun game play • “Easy to learn, difficult to master” • Always let players practice

35. The Concept of Flow • Flow is a state of exhilaration, deep sense of enjoyment • Usually when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile • Avoid frustration or boring

36. The Flow Channel • Start with relatively low level of challenge to match starting skill levels • Gradually increase challenge • Fast enough to prevent boredom • Not so fast as to induce frustration

37. The Flow Channel

38. The Flow Channel • Flow state is common while developing the Physical, Social, and Mental skills noted in Natural Funativity • Best to introduce skills one at a time, let player master them, move on to new • This results in staggered increase in difficulty (wavy difficulty line)

39. Difficulty Increase Varies

40. Typical Game Mechanisms • High difficulty increase: Boss monsters, climactic battles, quest resolutions • Low difficulty increase: Bonus levels, new resource- and treasure-rich areas, series of easy “minion” enemies • Overlap introduction of new skills, areas to explore, tools, enemies

41. Story and Character • Back to “interesting choices” and “compelling goals”– how to achieve? • Story and character can add emotional association, strengthen reaction • Storytelling has long history, but interactive storytelling can differ critically from traditional linear modes

42. Interactive Storytelling • Blend storytelling with design early • Use experienced interactive writers • “Do, don’t show”– let players experience story through interaction • Make it personal by having players make key choices, events affect them

43. It’s All About Interactivity • Don’t make choices for the player • Story should add emotional context to the choices • Keep any cut scenes brutally short • Break up non-interactive sequences by adding interactivity, even if very simple

44. Characters • Characters can make the game world seem more real and exciting • Bold stereotypes may seem crude but are better than colorless characters, and can help avoid boring exposition • Bring out character through action, not description or exposition

45. Gameplay Trumps Story • If you have a conflict between gameplay or story, first look for a compromise that favors both • Failing that, make sure that the gameplay is good at expense of story • Always signal player clearly in narrative to interactive transitions with visuals, audio

46. What is Good Game Ideas • Creative is the key • Start from our survival instincts • Play other games, search Internet • Examine current games and see what you can improve (AI, graphics, strategy, speed, multiple-player) • Mix ideas/plays from several games • Examine books, movies, comics, etc. (pay attention to license)

47. How to Get Good Idea • Brainstorming meetings with everyone attending and actively involved • Ensure free exchange of ideas, no idea is stupid idea now • Make goals clear, ignore technique problems first • Stay focused, list points must be achieved, with possibility of changes • Make sure everyone is heard, and take detailed notes, send notes to everyone after the meeting

48. Brainstorming • You can start with game play • Decide player interactions and style • Determines engines/hardware • Limitations of total resources needed for game • You can start with story • In some genre (RPG) story is central • May determine how players and game play interact • Technology should match story line • Compromise

49. Brainstorming • You can start with technology • Game engine characteristics (rendering, AI, language parsers, etc.) often dictates type of game that can be developed • It also determines user interaction possibilities • It is generally better to find a topic first and then select a genre rather than the reverse