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Expertise
It's good to understand how players become experts at things
so that you can make the game's tutorials, training,
development, and ramping better. The more experts you have
playing your game, the better. An expert player isn't
necessarily a hard-core player. Experts are made, not born.
Making every player an expert at playing your game should be
a primary goal of your design because it will lead to a more
satisfying play experience for the player.
Skill learning occurs in three stages:
1. In the cognitive stage, a description of the
procedure is learned.
2. In the associative stage, a method for performing
the skill is worked out.
3. In the autonomous stage, the skill becomes more
rapid and automatic.
The first step in learning a new skill is the cognitive
stage. This stage relies on the player committing to memory
a set of facts relevant to the skill. Skills performed by
players in this first stage can be considered as done in an
inadequate or unskilled manner. Initially, players rehearse
or visualize the new skill before they do it, until they can
become familiar enough to move the skill into the
associative stage. Think about how you learned to drive.
Most likely, you took a driver's education class, in which
you first were taught the rules of the road and how to
operate a car intellectually rather than experientially.
Perhaps you then practiced on a simulator. You understood
what you needed to do conceptually to drive, but you had no
experience in actually doing so.
Think about the first time you played a racing game. Things
that you were trying to learn included using the controller,
locating the brake, locating the throttle, and changing your
views. The first time you drove on a track, you were mainly
worried about learning where the turns were, among other
things. Experts have all those details learned already and
can focus on higher-level issues such as how to decrease the
amount of skid and how to optimize their turns. Another good
example is that of RTS players. Have you ever watched an
expert play Age of Empires? The player's hands and eyes seem
to move a million miles an hour because he is focusing on
higher-level tasks, such as managing resources. A novice
playing Age is just trying to learn what key or icon to use
to create a villager.
Tactical Learning
As players practice skills and problems in a game, they come
to learn the sequence of moves required to solve the problem
or portions of the problem. Tactical learning refers to the
improvement that comes about because people learn familiar
subsequences of problem-solving steps that appear in
multiple problems. Players can solve problems more easily
the more often they encounter them, until eventually they
are able to overcome them with little effort. Many RTS games
take this approach. In these games, the player (unless very
skilled) must play through the level a few times to
understand the problem, and then must play the level a few
more times to figure out how to solve the level. Although
this approach isn't ideal, it takes into account the
tactical learning that must go on during a game and
understands that the average player must go through the
process.
Strategic Learning
Strategic learning refers to the improvement that comes
about when people learn the optimal way to organize their
problem solving for a particular problem. Whereas tactical
learning represents more of a linear path to problem
solving, strategic learning involves the players learning
the correct approach to solving the problem. Strategic
learning requires players to organize themselves in a
different manner and is more likely to take a nonlinear or
less straightforward approach.
Another problem you need to watch out for is the casual
player. If your game is too complex, then you can also cause
them problems. Casual players are those who pick it up, play
it for a little while, and then maybe don’t play it again
for a week or two. In that time period, if you taught the
player a whole bunch of things, they’ve probably now
forgotten them, and then might have to go back and play the
tutorials again. This can become very frustrating.
Therefore, try and make the game as intuitive as possible,
so that people who only play occasionally won’t get
frustrated by it.
Also, These casual players can also cause you problems if
your game is heavily story driven, and the player must
remember all the events in order to accomplish tasks. Make
sure you include text or some form of autoremember feature
in story or RPG games so that if players don’t play the game
for some time, and didn’t take notes, they’re not completely
out of luck and have to start over.
Analogy Learning
Analogy learning takes advantage of things we already know.
It uses analogies, symbols and other things that are common
knowledge to people to help them learn things faster. This
can be used in a variety of different ways to help the
player. Below are some ways you can do that.
Generating Specific Rules
Importing Standard game knowledge
Importing computer (nongame) knowledge
Importing real world knowledge
An example of analogy learning is through the use of colors.
You can color stuff which is dangerous red, stuff which is
poisonous green, things which are mysterious and bad guys
are often black, good guys usually wear white, etc. There is
a lot of different colors which people will immediately
associate with things if they’re used in a certain manner.
Another example is when you create a game targeted towards
experienced users, and you create a sequel or a game similar
to another popular game which has an initially similar
camera and interface. People will transfer their knowledge
of how to play the last game, and make certain assumptions
about your game right from the start. So your game may be
easier for them to play. Don’t rely on analogy learning
however, since many people have learned different things,
and many people also ake slightly different analogies to
some things.
Feedback
Incorporate some type of user feedback into the game.
Players need to know if they are doing good, doing bad,
going the right direction or the wrong, or are winning or
loosing. Many games tend to abstract out the concept of
winning and loosing, so that the player is just playing the
game. The problem is that players never know how good
they’re doing, and inevitably when they think they’re doing
really good, the computer will show up and crush them.
Arcade games and some RPG’s are notorious for blocking your
progress with a boss. This tough character must be defeated
before the player can move on. If the player is unable to
defeat the boss, they are either not skilled enough or not
strong enough to move on. This mechanism can work for some
types of games, but is problematic. Most people won’t
realize that they shouldn’t be fighting this battle yet, and
will continue to try and defeat the boss, until they get
frustrated and quit playing. If a player reaches a boss, and
they are too weak to even have a chance of defeating the
boss and must go through the level some more to build up
their character, then point this out to the player before
they continually get crushed.
Think about providing some level of periodic or constant
feedback in the game. An RTS could have a scout which
automatically reports to the player and tells them how well
they are doing. Allow the players to turn this feature on
and off, in case advanced players don’t want the help. You
could even consider making the information something the
player has to spend money on to buy a report or help, so
that it’s not just freely given.
Strategy games are notorious for having tough AI which can
crush you quickly. Players can
Consistency
Every part of the game needs consistency. This also relates
to the rules of the game. You want to avoid special modes
for the game where the interface keeps changing, the
controls change or new things cause the player to change
their habits or patterns all the time. For instance, you
wouldn’t want to make a jet fighter game where one aircraft
flies forward by pushing forward on the stick, and another
flies forward by pulling back on the stick, even if it is
realistic – unless you’re making a sim.
This is another reason why it is good to follow certain
conventions which are standard amongst other games which are
similar to yours. It’s good to be original in what you do,
but don’t be original just to be different. Change things if
they need fixing. The more consistent your game can be with
other similar games, the more you can lower the learning
curve.
Also, think about things like artwork and make sure they
follow some consistency. Make sure that similar icons are
not only laid out logically and grouped together, but that
their icons are similar looking and easily discernable from
others. Make sure that people can tell the difference, or
begin to recognize the difference, between enemy and
friendly units. You also want to think about things like
color, and make sure that common color themes, palettes and
use are observed. Try and abide by international and well
known color and symbol use for things like danger,
directions and all that.
Rewards
Players need to feel good about what they are doing. If the
player is constantly taking risks, solving puzzles and
completing tasks, but gets no rewards for their actions,
they begin to feel disappointed. Players need constant
rewards. The rewards must also match the risk or the player
feels cheated. Rewards can come in a lot of different ways.
In a game like Diablo, almost every time you kill something,
it drops some gold, a weapon or some item which you can
pickup. Tougher or more advanced creatures drop more money
or better items. Some creatures also drop more appropriate
rewards, like a creature who might poison you while
attacking you, might also occasional drop a potion cure or
something similar which cures you. This form of reward are
the short term rewards for doing the constant tasks
throughout the game.
There needs to be bigger rewards for the player
accomplishing bigger goals, like finishing a level. This is
the reason why so many games use cutscenes. A cutscene is a
reward for the player finishing part of the game. This
reward may seem small and trivial, but most players have
come to expect it. Whether the cutscene is prerendered and
just a movie which plays back, or in the game engine, either
way it accomplishes two tasks. Cutscenes reward the player,
but they also advance the story, which is necessary in most
games as well.
Other forms of rewards come from the player increasing his
stats. In role playing games, the players character goes up
levels as he gains experience. Experience is gained by
killing enemies, using skills, accomplishing tasks and a
variety of other possibilities. Going up levels not only
makes the character stronger, but often gives him new
skills. Also, as you get stronger, you typically get
stronger and can use new weapons and skills, or gain
additional abilities like new magic skills. Going up levels
is a game play mechanic which advances the game and is
central to the gameplay, yet it is also a form of a reward.
Going up levels rewards the player by giving him something
good, as well as it advancing the gameplay.
There are many types of rewards, but the most Important
thing to remember is that rewarding the player throughout
the game for doing a good job is a good thing.
One of the most classic approaches to the problem of making
a game more difficult is to make the enemies in the game
tougher. While this can work, it can also be perceived as a
cheat, especially for players who have played the game other
difficulties of the game.
Another approach is to add more enemies to a level, and make
it tougher for the player to fight his battles. This
approach can make it tougher for some players, but can also
be tough to balance.
Some games make ammo more common for beginners, or may give
the player more health bonuses or powerups. There is many
different approaches here, but making resources more
plentiful for beginners can give them a big edge over the
opponent.
It is also possible that the games attitude towards the
player change. The enemy AI can go from semi neutral to
fiercely aggressive towards the player. How enemies attack
can be a big change for players. In an RTS, having an enemy
who plays defensively, versus one who plays aggressively can
really change the game a lot.
Another approach that some people use is called Dynamic
Difficulty Adjustment. This is a technique which measures
the players progress and subtly makes the game easier or
harder for the player. How the game does this can vary.
Crash Bandicoot is probably the most famous game which uses
Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment. In Crash, they track how many
times you have died trying to get through a level. If the
player dies more than 7 times in a certain section, the game
automatically places a new checkpoint half way in between
the current two checkpoints you are having a hard time
getting to. This makes it easier for you to get to the next
checkpoint, and not have to play through tough parts of the
level repeatedly. Crash also detects how many lives you
have, and if you’re doing badly, and makes it easier for you
to get extra lives if you’re close to dying. There are many
ways to dynamically adjust the difficulty of a game. Racing
games also call this rubber banding. It has been found that
races where the player is too far ahead or too far behind
aren’t fun, so they speed up or slow down the computer
racers if the race gets too far out of whack. There is a lot
of different possibilities to dynamically adjust the
difficulty of the game.
Giving the computer the upper hand in information or giving
the beginner more information is another way to give it an
edge over an opponent. In an RTS, a beginner might start
with no fog of war and know where the enemy is and what he
is doing at all times, while the computer may still have to
abide by the fog of war. On normal or medium difficulty the
game might have both the computer and the player abide by
the same rules and information. On difficult, the computer
may not have to abide by the fog of war, while the player
does. There are many types of information in a game, and
sometimes having it can make all the difference in the
world.
New approaches to the problem of difficulty levels should be
sought out for the next generation of games. With a little
planning, other solutions can be found. Breaking down and
analyzing what makes a beginning player and what makes an
advanced player can be an insightful task. What you will
find in most cases is that advanced players have the ability
to do more tasks simultaneously than beginners. In other
parts of this book I talk about people solving puzzles
through pattern recognition. Beginning players especially
rely on this ability. A beginning player may have trouble
keeping track of a single enemy attacking them constantly
from a single direction and in a similar manner, whereas an
advanced player might be able to handle multiple enemies of
different types simultaneously attacking from multiple
different and random directions using varied techniques. So
this approach requires changing the AI to fight more
intelligently for more advanced players, which can be
difficult to do, but overall could be far more satisfying
for an advanced player, and may add additional replay value
to the game as well, since the game would seem different at
each difficulty level.
The problem with some of these approaches, and with having
difficulty levels in the first place is with the testing.
You need to make sure your test department can handle all
the various permutations to the game that could occur with
different difficulty levels. Make sure that you think
through every possible solution before you implement it,
since it can have far reaching implications.
You need to make sure that the manual has all relevant
information for the player and that quick reference sheets
and other printed material are done well. However, many
games these days are rentals, which may not have a manual,
or the player looses the manual or is unable to access it.
It is handy to have a part of the front end interface also
have access to any relevant commands, or use an in game
screen which can be quickly accessed by a key (often F1 on
computers) which will pull up a list of commands.
Besides just making key commands easily accessible, you need
to make sure that the player is given help when they need
it. This can also be done through the interface, where you
need to make sure that any information which is given to the
player can easily be reaccessed. Don’t give the player help
through an audio file and then not allow them to gain access
to the information again. Either let the player replay the
file, or give them an accessible text equivalent they can
read. Some people may be playing with the audio off, no
audio, not understand or get distracted and not hear the cue
and then be at a loss if they can’t replay it.
Help can also come in the form of an Avatar or sidekick of
some type which aids the player. In Zelda – The Ocarna of
time – the players character Link has a fairy helper named
“Navi“ who appears and helps you by telling you key
information at critical times. This system isn’t very
intrusive to the player, since the helper can be ignored.
Any important information throughout the game is always
relayed to the player. Other games may have another AI
driven character who tells you things, which help you out.