Psychochild--Weekend Design Challenge

Brian Green is a game designer that runs a blog under the title of Psychochild. Green helped develop the MMO Merdian 59 back in the day, and currently maintains the game at Near Death Studios. His blog focuses on game design and development. One of his reccuring posts is the Weekend Design Child, that asks readers to tackle a hypothetical game design issue. This weekend, Psychochild poses a very interesting challenge called Feedback Loop.

We'll go practical this week. Let's say you're working on a typical combat-focused online RPG. One feature requested on the forums is that players that take wounds should perform worse than a fully healed character. Your job is to design this system to work within a game. Don't assume anything special about the game. Assume it's a typical sword-and-sorcery type game. Use WoW as an example if absolutely necessary.
Think about these issues:
What are the potential problems with this design?
How do you work around these problems?
Bonus: What is the motivation for players for asking for this change?

Good question, Brian. Lets think about this.
There are plenty of ways you could handicap a player based on how much damage they've taken, or other factors, like being poisoned and such. Lets just talk about damage taken exclusively. Damage taken could mirror damage dealt. If you've lost 50% of your health, you could deal 50% of regular damage. Another factor could be movement, the more damage you take, the slower your character move. Eventually perhaps the character could stumble every few steps. Another effect could be limitations of ability. For example, a Warrior couldn't use bash past a certain health point. The advantages to this system are several. One, its more realistic. Two, it promotes a careful play style with effective tactics?Cons. As Stephen from the official post points out, a big disadvantge to implementing a damage system is that it possibly handicaps the losing player to the point where its impossible for them to win. Another flaw is (assuming we are working off a basic MMO design) that high-damage, faster characters will have an intrisinc advantage over other characters. Rogues would automatically be better characters.

Feedback
How would a damage afflictions work in your MMO?
What are the pitfalls and oundits to such a system under the basic MMO design (like WOW)?
What things would you change about the basic MMO to compliment a damage system?

The City of Metronome

Sound effects are present in every game. They are critical to impact, to cueing the player, and for atmosphere. But rare is it that an entire game is designed around their use.

The game in question is The City of Metronome, the first title from developer Team Tarsier of Sweden. Metronome is being developed for the PC, 360, and PS3, but currently lacks a publisher. But thats besides the point. What matters is that the game is built around a creative and possibly highly-effective game mechanic: sound.

Metronome is the story of a young train conductor's adventures in Metronome, a city run by a single bureaucratic entity known as The Corporation. The Corporation owns all, but like Big Brother before it, all is not well. Player musts explore Metronome City to root out and expose The Corporation's darkest secrets, and save the city from a bleak, oppressed future. Fortunately, the train conductor has a fantastic little tool at his disposal to aid him in his mission: a recording device. In The City of Metronome, players can record any sound they come across, and then play it back. A brick through a window, a conversation between two Metronome residents, a villain's footsteps--record it all. Metronome is a series of puzzles, each one waiting to be solved with the correct sound. Is there an enemy that fears a certain something? Record its fear then scare it away by playing back the sound. Players can also create their own sounds, in game, assuming just the right one is nowhere to be found. Tarsier's site mentions throwing a book down a stairwell as an example.This game is the next best thing to being a sound programmer. More importantly, its features some (hypothetically) very awesome gameplay. Using sound as a weapon and tool is really quite ingenious. The City of Metronome's unique concept is complemented by a fairly unique art style as well. The style is reminiscent to CCC city, or as Kotaku points out, American McGee's Alice. The whole game just resonates a stylistic aura. Learn from it.

Record/Playback
The City of Metronome uses sound in an innovative way. Why will this gameplay mechanic be effective, or maybe not so effective?

Sources
Team Tarsier
-more cool screenshots
The City of Metronome

this public service announcment brought to with the copperation of pandora

Cooperative Gameplay, The Return Of

Cooperative gameplay has been around for a long time. From Ikari Warriors to Sonic and Tails to Resident Evil: Outbreak-- feature, not to mention central element. It is exciting, ergo, that coop is finally coming into full bloom. Lately, coop is garnering a healthy dose of attention from the entire gaming industry: the media, developers, and even publishers. The reasons? There are several, but a huge beneficiary, I'd argue, is the advent of fully-functional online gameplay offered (originally by the PC, PS2 and Xbox) by the 360 and soon to be from the PS3. Online cannot take credit for the entire meal though, for it is by and large a gateway. Xbox Live, along with its recent crop of supporting games, has shown the industry that cooperative gameplay offers the best of bothcoop has certainly proven its rightful place in games. However, up until now, cooperative gameplay has mostly been more of a cursory option then a full-fledged single and multi-player: the potential for a fun interactive story now experienced and shared with a friend.

Two of the most lauded holiday titles are testament to coop's newfound appreciation, Gears of War and Crackdown. Both games offer a two-player coop campaign over Xbox Live. Both games also feature a “hop-in/hop-out” play structure. Players can jump in and out of a game at any time in any place. In Crackdown the visiting player takes control if his or her superagent; in Gears of War the visitor takes control of Dom. This free-form coop creates a welcoming environment for players with few frightening restrictions or commitments. Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski once said, “For me theres a huge delta between casual and hardcore gamers, and coop is one of the ways we can bridge that gap.” Essentially, Xbox Live has created a fantastic opportunity for cooperative play-and the other systems are sure to follow suit soon enough. Online functionality bypasses the limitations of split-screen and ad-hoc cooperative gameplay; and in the end creates a more welcoming environment, allowing developers more freedom to explore its design.

This is how we work together

Lets talk about coop game design. Specifically, coop is a duo or small group of people that must work as a team to achieve a goal. This often comes in a campaign setting, where two people will play through a story together. The exact definition is blurry, though. What about Counter-Strike? What about Spies vs. Mercs of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Double Agent? I'd certainly classify these as cooperative. This cooperative model, which we'll call “team-based,” is relatively new territory for developers, and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic's Arkane Studios is venturing further than any developer yet. A new mechanism they're calling “CrossPlay” is set to redefine the team-based model and will be the primary feature of their newest PC game, The Crossing. You can read all about The Crossing in 1up's lengthy interview, but I will summarize it here. CrossPlay fuses single and multiplayer; it allows players to take the place of AI NPCs inside of a story campaign. The Crossing does have normal skirmish servers for all players, but it also has a story that is played out with other players. Those playing the story-arc are the Elites, they will have to cooperatively achieve certain goals within each level. At the same time, the Elite's enemies will be controlled by human opponents, who must play their best to prevent the Elites from completing their objectives. The story is interwoven throughout and in-between levels. Arkane's goal is to combine a rich story, normally played in single-player, with the competition of multiplayer (Recognize that?). Every player will have a unique gameplay experience while also witnessing the same supposedly great story. However, we have to remember that games are interactive. Story is not just what comes out of a cut-scene; it is the personal experience afforded through gameplay. And in this, CrossPlay will have all else beat.

CrossPlay at work

More traditional definitions of coop are from games like Contra, Doom, and Golden Axe. These games allow two or more players to fight together, and, pound each other on the way. It is rare, though, that games require TRULY cooperative gameplay to finish; that is, where players are reliant on one-another. We shall call this model “player-reliant.” I want to discuss two games pushing the boundaries of the player-reliant model: Schizoid and Army of Two. Army of Two is being developed by EA Montreal for the 360 and PS3, and is designed to be played with a friend. Players are not just coaxed into working as a team, they need to. Going solo is not an option. Army of Two offers plenty of ways for allies to interact. Players can share ammo, boost each other over ledges, and use the other as a shield or for cover-fire, among other interactions. Player-reliant is the best coop has to offer. It allows two people to share an experience whole-heartedly. Furthermore, when implemented correctly, players will have a more emotional investment in the game and characters. Sharing is unique--players have to learn how to work together to win; and in the end will be closer to their partner through cooperation and the memory of an awesome experience.

"Its a camera! Pose quick, shoot stuff!"

The final game today is Schizoid. Developed by Torpex for Xbox Live, Schizoid has been described by Torpex president Bill Dugan as “the most co-op game ever.” Schizoid is a two-player cooperative shooter in the vein of Geometry Wars. But like another shooter, Ikaruga, Schizoid has two enemy types to complement two fire types—represented by opposite colors. Each player controls a ship, one is blue the other red. Every enemy in the game is also either blue or red, but unlike the players, the enemies can hurt both ships. The players meanwhile can only shoot down enemies matching their ship color. Already we can see a very basic but solid gameplay design. Red must protect blue from red enemies, blue must protect red from blue enemies. If one player fails to protect the other, eventually both players will die. This is the purest form of coop I can think of, and the very definition of the player-reliant model.

Schizoid-Coop at its most surreal

A slew of online articles discuss various cooperative games:
Gamespot-Top Ten Coop Games
Gamespot-The Crossing Trailer
1up-The Crossing Preview
IGN-Army of Two
1up-Schizoid
IGN-The Death of Split-Screen
-A fantastic article on online's prominence over split-screen, and the pitfalls arising from this.

Lets Cooperate!
Why is cooperative gameplay cool? Why is it fun?
What advantages does coop have over single-player, and visa/versa?
Something I didn't mention: LittleBigPlanet.
How does this coop game differs from others?
What does LittleBigPlanet do successfully as a coop game?
In cooperative game design, what are the most important properties or elements to consider?

GDC 2007: Independent Games Festival Awards

The 2007 Independent Games Festival awards were announced last week. A list of the nomimations for the awards can be found at the IGF nomination page. The finalist announcment can be found at the IGF main site. The grand prize winner was Bit-Blot's Aquaria, which we featured recently. Other categories include Best Web Game, which went to Flash game Samarost 2; and best mod, which was taken by CCCP's Hal-Life 2 based Weekday Warrior. For the full list check the IGF website. In the interest of all things game design, and particularly Independent, I will likely be featuring some these games this coming week, so come on back to see what it is that makes them special.

GDC 2007: The Evolution of the RPG

What is a Role-Playing-Game? This question was asked to three highly prolific designers in the genre at a conference entitled: The Evolution of the RPG. The three said designers were Peter Molyneaux- creator of Fable, Hironobu Sakaguchi-creator of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and Ray Muzyka-CEO of BioWare and contributor to Mass Effect.

So, what makes an RPG what it is? Well, Muzyka named four aspects that he believes are essential to an RPG: excellent stories and characters, the experience of exploration, characterprogression that is motivational and addictive, and emotionally charged combat.

Molyneaux agreed and also added that role-playing games are just that, players in roles. He said it is necessitous for the player to feel like a hero. RPGs should be an emotionally defining journey, to as he put it, “start off as nothing and end up being a hero?”

Finally, Sanguichi stressed these points in addition to the need for the player to feel accomplishment to be felt by the player.

Blue Dragon-Designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mystwalker

The next question asked about turned-based combat, and whether it was good or bad. Molyneaux answered first, stating that real-time combat was the best choice for Fable because they felt it was more of an “immersive” gameplay experience. Muzyka however said that Mass Effect offers both real-time and turn-based, players can choose for themselves. Apparently, they don't want one gameplay type to be a barrier to the enjoyment.

Mass Effect-Designed by CEO Ray Muzyka's BioWare

Following this came character customization. Sakaguchi said it can be good but ultimately liked the RPG experience to a movie. The reasons movies can be so engrossing is because the story and characters are already defined. This moved into branching storylines and their use. Molyneaux started with a very provocative response, the problem with branching storylines is that when players choose, there is always a good possibility that they will regret their decisions and want to turn back or even lose interest.

Muzyka was more optimistic, saying that players new that their choices had consequences both good and bad, and that this would eventually lend itself to the game being more repayable.

Fable 2-Designed by Peter Molyneaux of Lionhead

The session ended with the subject of the MMORPG. Muzyka summarized all three of the panelists thoughts with this: “the story that develops between players--the social interaction--is a different kind of story, something you can't achieve in a single-player game.” He also hinted that BioWare is currently working on a game that blends the story of a single player RPG with the benefits of the multiplayer.

And that ends the roundtable.
The RPG is sometimes difficult to define, its not like the first-person-shooter, which we can easily label. But, the RPG does have a common set of characteristics that allow us to form associations. And, really, these three designers pinned it down. I'm sure everyone would agree that a true RPG features an interesting plot and good storytelling. Dynamic characters are crucial as well. As Ray Muzyka pointed out, emotional attachment is the hallmark of a successful RPG. Just look at any "Top 10 RPGs" list you can find, all will feature characters that players eventually come to appreciate, if not love.

Ico, greatest game of all time, ever.

What I like most about this roundtable though, is how Dr. Muzyka told us that combat must elicit emotion. This struck a chord with me immediately, the reason being I just finished Fumito Ueda's masterpiece, Ico. If you havent played Ico, do so as soon as humanly possible. Everytime the shadows try to take away Yorda, I found myself shouting at the screen: "Stay away from her, evil!" There is a flip-side to emotionally charged combat as well. You can feel badly about attacking or killing something. The final scene of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (spoiler) is a fantastic example of this. The player is forced to shoot the head terrorist, and it was really effective at making me upset. At the same time, I knew it was what I needed to, both to continue the game and for the fate of the world.

The last thing I want to say is about the MMO. And its just as Muzyka said, its a different type of experience, a social one. I love the concept of fusing this player interaction with the emotional story of a single-player RPG. This is especially true if, somehow, players unanimously want to play their given roles, through use of force, incentive, what have you.

Role-Play
Why is an RPG an RPG?
Think about the RPGs you've played, what elements seemed strogest to you, which do you like best?
Do you think that real-time combat is more immersive than turn-based? Why or why not?

Please post any comments you may have.

Source: Gamespot

GDC 2007 Coverage

Hello everyone,
the 2007Game Developers Conference is currently in session, and the media is feeding us every single morsel of information. Here is a list of some GDC hubs on major gaming sites.

GDC 2007 Coverage:
1up
Gamespy
Gamespot
Gamasutra
IGN
GameIndustry

I will also be covering GDC with some more design-focused posts. Check back soon for more.

Warren Specter: A Gamasutra Interview

Warren Specter was interviewed today by Brandon Sheffield from Gamasutra. Warren Specter is a successful game designer from studios like Ion and Looking Glass, and most popularly the creator of Deus Ex. Specter is currently the lead designer at Junction Point and working on an unannounced game.

Back to the interview, its fascinating. Sheffield poses questions that prompt extrordinary answers (I also like how Sheffield gets involved in his conversation with Specter, its more of a discussion than a Q&A). Specter knows game design like the back of his hand. He has his own opinions and philosophies, as any designer does, and some may disagree with him, but Specter really does know what he's talking about, and most importantly, applies these ideas to his games. Everyone should read this interview, but here are some excerpted Specter Words of Wisdom:

There's a philosophy that I like to apply: as a developer I want to control the overall narrative arc....In that sense, I own all the acts and why you do things. Now, saying that, it's possible to own why you do things and leave how you do them in the players’ hands. The key for me is creating linked sandboxes and letting players explore those little narrative chunks on their own. I'll determine why it's important that you get through a door, but how you get through it, what happens and whether you kill, talk to or ignore everyone on the other side belongs to the player. That concept of sharing authorship is where the sweet spot of game narrative is.

Another point is that if you're going make a game that allows players to make significant choices that puts them in control of a narrative or of a character in a simulated world, you do have an obligation. You have an obligation to show the consequences of choices. One of the biggest problems with games, especially more linear games, is they say “kill everything that moves. Good player!” “Or win this game,” and then they pat you on the back for solving a puzzle, killing virtual things or crashing a car in a fantastic way...Even saving someone, because there might have been someone who wanted that person dead and now they hate you.

Specter says plenty of cool stuff. Check it out at Gamasutra. Oh, and please comment on Specter or narrative or anything else if you find anything particularly meaningful to you. Also, Specter has a GDC presentation this week that I will most definitely be posting about. Check back soon.

On an entirely different note, check out this Heavenly Sword clip. This game will rock.

Source:
Props to 1up for pointing out the interview

Game Developers Conference 2007

Hello everyone,
the 2007 Game Developers Conference takes place this entire upcoming week, monday through friday. According to Next-Gen.biz, there will be over 400 different sessions or presentations over the course of all five days. Fortunately, editor Colin Campbell narrowed the list down for is in a feature up on Next-Gen's site. Everything sounds really interesting, including the presentations on the mobile market and game design; mobile gaming is becoming increasingly important to this industry it seems. However, if you ask me, thursdays where its at, with sessions from Cliff Bleszinski, Miyamoto, Molyneux, and on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I'll be covering as mush as possible about GDC this year, so check back for tons of interesting reports.