Now we're getting deep...

Today I decided to take into account what one of the comments said on my previous post (Thanks Pete!) and take a look at mechanics before looking more into the levels layout/design.

My first stop was the Psychology behind games design. What i read was actually really interesting to see and has really helped me in thinking of things to add to the levels I’ll be creating.

I found that there are 5 things within the psychology of games design:

Novelty

Challenge

Stimulation

Harmony

Threat

Each obviously corresponds to the player’s reaction to the games levels/mechanics/Narrative.

There are also 6 sub categories within Novelty - World, Predictability, Melodrama, Artistry, Puzzle and message. Looking at these I think there are two main things i wish to focus on and that is the World and Predictability.

My reasoning behind this is that I feel that creating a world that the player can escape into and let their imagination run wild with what might be going on outside where their character is, is just as important as the gameplay. Take the Warcraft franchise for instance (yes I had to get that in there ;P), there is a multitude of lore and extra’s that not only Blizzard have written but also fans. To me fan fiction and fan discussions about what is happening in a fictional world adds to how fun the game can be.

Predictability for example, means that the player could either explore the games mechanics or is given ‘base building’ mechanics for the game straight away. Looking at this I think a great way to design a level would be for the player to discover the mechanics as they go along. Maybe they are only told a few things as the start? But seeing as I would be aiming the game at a more hard-core audience, trial and error is always a nice mechanic to add to the game to make it a bit more difficult. This would also give the player a greater sense of achievement when figuring out a mechanic for the first time themselves, rather than being told about it by the game.

Challenge, includes Difficulty, Achievement, Order, Obligation, Work and cautiousness. The main things i want to focus on out of this category are – Difficulty, this is pretty self-explanatory how hard i want the game to be etc. and again thanks to a previous comment (Thank you Mariana! =P) I think a good way to go about the design, Especially for a more hardcore audience is to actually have difficult areas near the start as well as the easy areas. Mainly because I think holding the players hand and leading them through the areas going from easy to hard, would make the game feel more linear, rather than the free roam I am trying to create.

Achievement, I explained this a bit above with the players being able to discover the mechanics on their own. Of course some of the mechanics would have to be explained to begin with, but if the player is given a slight knowledge of what to do, for example – ‘You can mix spells together’ rather than ‘mix this and this to make that’ – When they mix a spell THEY want to mix, that would give a greater sense of achievement than the game telling them what to mix. Order, this is the offer of set completion mechanics to free play, this is definitely one of the main things I wish to focus on. I possibly want to have the game in no particularly set order, so the player can choose how they complete it; however when on missions within the ‘Domes’ mentioned in the previous post, there will be a sense of order.

Finally Cautiousness, this is how a player would react to certain situations, from running and gunning to tactically thinking of how to progress. Now with this I would like to take both major points and create a game with running and gunning to tactically things, as we all love to just shoot something for the hell of shooting something every now and then…Plus this could help create some pretty cool scenes. However I think to expand on the difficulty factor, a more tactical way to kill an enemy is essential. I’m going to go onto Warcraft again, but to me although the mechanics are simple

some of the bosses in the game are extremely difficult if approached in the wrong way and require 20+ people to take them down. To me that’s brilliant... as all those 20+ people need a leader to keep them all in check to make sure they’re all doing the right thing etc. So adding something similar to that (of course not to as grand a scale as 20 people) within this game is something i would definitely like to do.

 Stimulation, this includes Expression, Crowd, Role, Pace, Thrill and Joy. Pace and Thrill often come under the same meaning to me, because if I’m ramping up the pace of a level I’m also adding to the thrill of the section. These are two things that should always be considered when making a level as if the pace isn’t done correctly, then the player can easily become bored. This is one problem i found i had last year when creating my honours level, as because it took so long to figure out some of the puzzles, people lost interest and instantly went to the PC with the Xbox controller next to mine! Thrill will allow me to add some higher action areas around the map, but this can also come from the difficulty of the game as if it’s, a hardcore gamer would probably get more of a thrill out of it, especially when completing said task. This is where Joy would come into it as this means giving the player positive emotions such as happiness and delight, which they would get from completing a difficult task.

Harmony, this includes Trust, Integrity, Help, Cooperativeness, Glory and Compassion. Trust is one of the main things I’m trying to break. This is where the player will feel whether or not they will be betrayed (not just via storyline, but gameplay wise also.) I want to try and make them question if what they are doing is correct, but at the same time make them feel that it’s their choice to be doing what they’re doing, therefore breaking the rules! I’m such a rebel… Help is another one i wish to add to the game, due to this being about the player interaction as a support role. Mainly because the game will be having 3 characters, how are they going to help each other? Will one be needed for certain tasks? One mechanic that will be added is that they can power each other up, which is definitely adding to the support side.

Threat, this includes Tension, Provocation, Despair, Humiliation, Compulsion and Danger. Humiliation and Compulsion are the main things I want to take from this. Humiliation is about making the player feel self-conscious. Now of course i don’t want to make them self-conscious themselves to an extent that it affects their life. But enough to make them feel like it’s their fault that they’re not being able to complete a certain puzzle. Compulsion would then come into play with these types of tasks, as they would then try and try again and be compelled to complete it.

Of course I’m not going to be able to predict all players’ reactions unless I test what I want to do, but looking at some of the posts by William Davies who is also doing the MA (but is a year ahead of me) players actually react differently to how we think they will react. For example, when given the choice between a rickety old wooden bridge and a sturdy metal bridge with hand rails and supports, players didn’t actually approach them any differently. This is definitely something to take into account when creating my level.

Next time I will be looking into the Narrative!

So far so good! =P

Laters taters!