When you set out to design a game, there are a lot of questions you can ask and answer. Of course, you need to know what genre you want to use. You want to know who your players are and what they like to do in a game. You also need to know what the game experience will be like...but do you?
It always surprises me that someone can work for hours, weeks, and even months on a game concept and not be able to describe the gameplay to me. I ask them, “Can you describe in detail what the player will be doing when playing your game?” They can give me general concepts: They are riding a horse through fields and avoiding arrows. They can fly planes and shoot down dragons. They can make a lot of money in the stock market. But they can’t tell me exactly what the player does.
This chapter is all about what I like to think of as “high-speed game design.” I call it experiential design, and it can function as your own personal proof of concept. Instead of spending hours writing charts of monsters or drawing maps, take some time to describe, in detail, everything the player sees, hears, thinks, and does.
To help you think about your experiential designs, this chapter also offers a number of lists of activities that are common in games. How many of them will you use? Are there some you haven’t thought of that would fit perfectly into your game idea?
We also offer a section on what we’ve found to be fun—and not fun—in playing games. As always, we encourage you to add to or amend the list to reflect your personal experiences in playing games.
In this chapter:
Try the following five activities before reading this chapter, then try again, using the sections of this chapter for reference. See whether you come up with new ideas that you hadn’t considered the first time through.
Sit down and describe in detail everything you experience during the first 10 or 20 minutes of a game you like.
Choose some of your favorite missions or quests from a game you like and describe everything you saw, everything you heard, every challenge you faced, every thought you had while playing, and every action you took. Break it down and understand that it is the sum of these sights, sounds, mental exercises, and actions that creates the fun.
Now do the first two activities with a game you’re designing. You may need to do this in your imagination, so think of it as a game design visualization exercise. If you can’t think of what the player would be seeing, hearing, thinking, and doing while playing your game, then you haven’t fully developed your concept yet. Once you have done these exercises, however, I bet you’ll be much clearer when you return to the drawing board to sketch out your design.
Take one or more games you like and ask yourself the following questions:
What did I do while playing this game? Make a list of every action you took. Notice which ones are repetitive and common and which are uncommon. Which were the most interesting?
What do I remember best?
What did I do too often?
What did I not do often enough?
Was there anything missing? If so, what was it, and how would it have improved your experience?
What made this game fun? List all the things about the game that felt like fun to you.
Do the previous exercise with a game you’re designing. Ask all the same questions and imagine what the answers would be.
When starting this book, I was challenged by Chris Hecker to make a list of all the things you could do in a game. (He laughed as he said it.) Initially, it seems like an impossible task, as there are millions of things you could do in games. That’s true, but if you step back and change your perspective, certain activities tend to be common in many games. The following list mentions the ones that jump to mind.
As a game designer, one of the interesting challenges, however, is to consider how you might be able use some of these actions in games where you might not expect to find them. For instance, what about building or constructing something in a First-Person Shooter? Sound boring? Perhaps you could block off a tunnel entrance to stop an attack. You could construct a barricade (using a pile of physical objects, such as tables, chairs, and so on) with a bomb hidden in it. Then when the enemies are trying to climb over it and are tearing it apart on the other side, you detonate. Or better still, you could make others build it for you at gunpoint. This would be an unusual activity for a First-Person Shooter, but it could probably be made fun. The point is the idea comes from reading the list of game activities and thinking about how to apply them in unusual ways.
So look over this list and consider how you might combine these activities in new and different ways.
Prepare for a battle (such as constructing fortification, putting on armor, casting protective spells, and so on).
Hold or protect a position (perhaps to protect something or someone).
Fight through enemies (who are trying to stop you from getting somewhere).
Fight enemies (who are there to kill or capture you).
Allow capture. (You give in and allow capture or maybe even allow your own death, but why? That’s the challenge.)
Head to a goal (which can be an unconventional path to somewhere).
Offer a sacrifice (where you must deliver or sacrifice someone or something).
Retreat or flee. (You need to get yourself or everyone out safely.)
Remote control something (such as a vehicle or another entity, using radio waves or even your mind).
Ride in or on something (such as a horse, car, airplane, or ship).
Explore (such as searching for something or for a way out).
Find out information (for example, by conversing with other players or other characters).
Expose information (such as finding hidden or encrypted messages).
Collect items (can be currency, weapons, property, and so on).
Equip with items (such as clothing/armor, food, and weapons).
Buy, sell, auction, or trade. (You can sell anything—places, people, objects, and so on.)
Gamble and bet (games of chance, for money, items, or maybe a life).
Race (formal races or just getting to somewhere before something happens).
Form parties and/or alliances (have relationships, get followers, form a gang, form a cult, etc.).
Betray an ally.
Build or construct something (can be a structure, a place, an item, a weapon, soldier, and so on).
Grow or nurture something (such as a plant, an animal, or a desire to be free).
Cook or brew something (such as a magic potion, food, or a poisonous drink).
Eat/drink. (What effect does it have?)
Destroy or heavily damage something (such as throwing a monkey wrench into the works, arson, and so on).
Sabotage something. (Poison horses so troops can’t leave, take clips from guns, and so on.)
Gain levels, skills, and character attributes. (These are ways to show your character is bigger, better, and badder!)
Save or load a game state.
Use/learn/develop magic or technology (can be from magicians, books, scriptures, scientists, by accident, and so on).
Solve puzzles/mysteries. (Experimentation will be required to find the complex solutions.)
Complete specific tasks/quests (very specific tasks, such as “take this object and keep the enemy from obtaining it”).
Kill or terminate someone (such as killing the head of the organization or executing someone in a sequence chain so that the sequence fails—for example, taking out the delivery boy so the package doesn’t arrive on time).
Rescue someone (such as rescuing the princess or someone who is captured, unable to move, or simply trapped).
Escape (get out of the prison, get off the planet, find the exit, etc.).
Escort and protect (for example, make sure the old man, the valuable jewels, or the antidote makes it).
Steal or borrow something. (Be a thief or find a way to take something without being caught.)
Be the villain. (It’s your chance to step into the villain’s shoes.)
Deliver something (such as an important letter or a declaration of war).
Document or photograph something. (Sell the photo, use it for blackmail or to prove a court case, become a famous photographer, and so on.)
Activate or use a specific object (for example, pull the lever, inject the virus, insert the disc, break the glass, trigger the alarm, and so on).
Hunt someone/something/some animal. (It might also be hunting you!)
Repair something (such as taking your sword to the blacksmith, fixing the broken spaceship so you can get home, repairing the life support before you all die, and so on).
Upgrade something (for example, make new bullets for your gun or strap two guns together).
Close a path (for example, build a barricade, cause an accident to block the path, and so on).
Open or clear a path (such as hacking through the jungle with a machete or a flame thrower).
Discover some information (such as being a fly on the wall or a spy).
Be invisible. (Get somewhere without being detected or seen.)
Have a romantic encounter (for example, flirt with the girl, leave a love letter, or be seen with the wrong girl at the wrong time).
Possession. (Take over the bodies of other characters, pretend to be them, or force them to take pain for you, such as beating out the fire or killing themselves, etc.)
Use torture (for example, torture enemies to get them to talk, or put people into their own traps).
Be tortured (undergo torture as part of the game).
Distract. (Create a distraction or cause something interesting to happen to trigger people to go and look.)
Use prediction (cause the player to try to predict the future).
Blend in (such as by pretending to be someone you are not, moving with a crowd, and so on).
Play sports. (Compete in a skilled event.)
Chase (to try to catch something or someone).
Use education (to learn something mental, such as a tactic, method, or even just interesting facts or gossip).
Lie or misrepresent (to cause people to believe something to your advantage, or to fake out the enemy, such as using the Trojan horse).
Rules (follow, bend, or break the rules).
Practice (hone your skills, such as target practice and so on).
Move things (either physically or by telekinesis).
Rest or pause. (Stop to sleep or watch something, such as a vista or a movie on a screen that you pass by, and so on.)
Win a prize or award (for meeting certain goals or conditions).
Use pets and creatures (for training and managing).
Do charity (such as bringing food into a hungry town, taking from the rich for the poor, and so on).
Use hero-worship (helping or saving others, becoming their hero, and then they root for you).
Practice security and safety. (Become the security force that others rely on.)
Politics. (Win the favor of others by policy; engage in a political campaign or try to influence politicians to achieve goals within the game.)
Be a dictator. (Force others to do things under the threat of punishment or death.)
Be a director or a leader.
Use humor. (Entertain others in the world.)
Make music. (Play an instrument.)
Sing (such as a magical chant or an entertaining song).
Of course, the previous list is not everything you can do in a game, and it’s doubtful that I can come up with all possible options. However, here’s another list, just to get you started. The idea is not to read these lists to learn what you can do, but to challenge yourself to do something in your games that nobody has done. Sure, you can get some inspiration from these lists. “Oh, I forgot that I can do that!” But even more, you can use them as a challenge. In any case, enjoy, and let us know if you can think of something to add.
See also Chapter 15, “Character Abilities.”
Run
Walk
Brisk walk
Jump
Roll
Strafe
Swim
Dive
Float
Flip
Spin
Crouch
Kneel
Go prone
Hang
Crawl
Somersault/flip
Fly
Hover
Glide
Skate
Climb
Teleport
Operate a vehicle
Use a weapon
Guns
Melee weapons
Use magic
Use your body
Punch
Kick
Block
Throw
Hold
Choke
Use your mind
Control someone using your mind
Figure something out (solve a puzzle)
See the future
Use telekinesis
Charge up an attack or defense
Duel or challenge someone
Use the environment
Set something on fire
Make something explode
Drop something
Throw something
Use a random item as a weapon
Turn into a zombie
Return to life
Confused
Asleep, stunned, or unconscious
Afraid
Angry
Live/survive
Dead
Doing nothing
Persuade someone
Seduce
Bribe
Intimidate
Threaten
Argue
Criticize
Chat using voice or text
Teach someone a skill
Compliment
Taunt
Make an expression (point a finger, make a face)
Use body language to convey some meaning
Puff up and act threatening
Show flirtation through body and expression
Cower to show fear
Lower head to show subservience
Engage in activities with people
Go to the bar with a group of people
Go dungeon crawling with a group of people
Plan or strategize with people
Party with people
Collect resources
Spend or utilize resources
Grow and tend to resources (as in farming)
Sell or buy resources
Recombine resources
Store resources
Drop or destroy
Salvage material from resources
Deconstruct
Move an object
Spin an object
Break an object
Place an object
Push or pull an object
Use an object as a stepping stone
Make it disappear
Duplicate an object
Throw an object
Punch or stomp an object
Paint or dye an object
Make an object
Plant an object
Eat an object
Steal an object
Buy or sell an object
Deconstruct an object
Combine objects
Transform objects
Shape objects
Carve objects
Open and close an object
Open a door
Close a door
Lock a door
Unlock a door
Pick a lock
Use a key, pass card, biometric information, etc.
Break it down or break the lock
Destroy a door
Remove a door from its hinges
Knock on a door
Carve your initials (or a magic sign) on the door
Set fire to it
Use acid or a blowtorch or laser on it
Blow it up
Punch or kick it
Buy
Sell
Trade
Steal
Illegally obtain stock information
Find money
Open a shop
Launder money
Create different types of economies (token economy)
Donate
Collect
Haggle or beg
Cheat someone out of money (con artist, scam)
Tip an economic scale
Destroy an economy
Get a job
Hire or fire somebody
Quit or go on strike
Manage a welfare system
Get rich, poor, or somewhere in between
Change game options
Difficulty
Sounds and effects volume and toggles
Brightness
Graphics (details, resolution)
Color
Gore level
Key assignments
Cheat codes
Miscellaneous game-specific options
See also the “Ways to Customize Avatars” section in Chapter 12, “Character Design.”
Race or type
Body type/size
Face and hair
Skin color
Gender
Clothes
Class or job
Starting stats
Starting skills
Starting equipment (sometimes)
Starting location (sometimes)
Manipulate health bar
Manipulate skill or mana bar
Adjust the map or mini-map
Use targeting reticules
Change quick slots for items, weapons, spells
Change chat windows
Move and resize information display elements
Input device
Push a button
Click a mouse
Twist a dial
Move a stick
Press a key
Shout in a microphone
Dance on a dance pad
Use steering wheels
Use foot pedals
Beat on drums
Shake maracas
Touch screen/pad
Use stylus
Quests are one of the common structures used in games to give players activities and short- to medium-range goals. Quests are especially common in RPGs and MMOs. In other games, such as military games and shooters, they are often called missions, but they amount to the same thing.
Quests can come in many shapes and sizes, so to speak. Some are extremely simple, such as, “Go kill that dude.” Others can involve multiple steps and even many sub-quests. At any rate, this book is full of information that could be useful in designing quests and missions for your games. So, let’s pretend we are creating a quest and see how this book could be useful.
Quests and missions are always based on the context of the game and/or story. However, one thing is always true: Quests and missions are obtained somehow during gameplay. They involve actions that the player must take, challenges he or she must meet, and goals that must be accomplished for the quest/mission to be considered successful. In addition, quests and missions generally have some kind of explicit—or at least implicit—reward for success. Sometimes they also have penalties for failure.
So, what does the player do in a quest? Let’s look at each aspect of a quest or mission and see how to use this book to help make them more interesting.
The Source
The source of a quest is the method by which the player gets the task in the first place. Sometimes quests are given by NPCs. Other times, they may be obtained by reading a text or solving puzzles that lead to a quest. Sometimes quests are given as qualification tests, and successful completion of the task or quest is required to prove your fitness, worthiness, integrity, or skills to the quest giver. Other types of quests are integral to the overall game plot, such as a quest to go find proof that a certain minister is corrupt as part of a larger political storyline.
Some are simple: Go kill so-and-so, and I’ll give you 50 bucks. Some are slightly more complex:
Simple Premise: Go find a cure for the disease that’s turning the townspeople into zombies.
But...
You’ll have to first find the stable boy in Amarzuna who knows where the White Witch Dunbar lives.
Then get Dunbar to give you the formula.
But she won’t give it to you unless you do her a favor and bring her five unicorn horns, three giant toad warts, a dozen dragon scales, and a Coke.
To get the Coke, you’ll have to travel to a different dimension where Cokes are sold, earn some money to buy it (or steal one), and then get back to your original dimension with it intact.
Once you have done all this, she’ll tell you that, sadly, the only way to create this formula is to obtain the rare Imperial Magnolia blossom that only blooms once a century on a certain hill near the capital.
And it turns out that the hill in question is being flattened to make new high rises for the corrupt minister’s 100 concubines, so now you have to hightail it over to the capital and prevent the Imperial Magnolia from being cut down.
Harvest the magic blossom.
Return to Dunbar.
Wait for her to create the potion and then take it back to where you started to save the village.
Oh, and didn’t I mention that there are some really bad guys trying to stop you from succeeding?
And along the way, you’ll have to confront the evil minister, who is really an emissary from the underworld intent on enslaving all the good people.
And he’s almost invincible.
And perhaps you’ll have to find some very rare weapon to do away with him, or the whole thing will fail utterly.
Good luck!
Military missions and FPS missions are sometimes given by NPCs, but sometimes they are simply part of the interface—a mission offered by a level structure or some sort of built-in mission dispenser.
A great many quests and missions start with someone giving you the task; however, you can somehow stumble onto the goal by other means. For instance, you figure out a riddle that tells you the most beautiful woman who ever lived, or the most precious jewel, or the secret to eternal life—whatever—can be obtained if you can reach the Holy Crag of Bemonstous—or something like that—but a) you don’t know where the Holy Crag is; b) once you ultimately do find out how to get there, you have to get there; c) getting to the top is pretty damn dangerous; and d) once you get there, you have no idea how to obtain the thingy that you were after, or if you do get it, you don’t know how to use it. There’s probably someone, somewhere, who can tell you what you need to know, but their advice will come at a price. And so on... Anyway, although many quests and missions are obtained from NPCs of one kind or another, some can be found in the environment. A great source of inspiration for such environmental options might be found in Chapter 30, “Ways to Communicate with the Player.” Ideas for NPC quest givers might be found in Chapter 12, “Character Design.”
The Goals
All quests and missions inherently have goals that the player must accomplish. These can be simple, single goals, or an ultimate goal that entails many steps (as in the aforementioned example).
At any rate, goals come in many shapes and sizes, and I’ve done some work to describe them in Chapter 23, “Goals.” However, both Chapter 27, “Puzzles,” and Chapter 11, “Scenarios,” have useful information for creating more interesting goals for your quests and missions. Still, good tried-and-true ideas, such as “kill everyone in the enemy base” or “get Shorty” are always valid.
The Challenges
Mission and quest challenges appear in all kinds of ways:
Some challenges are physical, such as crossing a great chasm, fighting your way into the enemy’s stronghold, or defeating a very powerful boss enemy in single combat.
Others are situational, such as realizing that the only way you can complete the quest is to stop the hill that has the magical Imperial Magnolia tree from being razed.
Still others are mental, such as figuring out what the riddle the old man told you really means or finding a way to get the pharaoh’s tomb to open and how to avoid the many deadly traps it contains.
Sentient obstacles can also be quite challenging. Often this involves NPC characters who you can’t fight, but who hold the key to your success and won’t easily be convinced to assist you or who actively oppose you. Sentient obstacles can be human, humanoid, robotic or computer, or any kind of sentient creature. These kinds of challenges can have elements of a situational challenge and something of a mental challenge, and could turn into a physical challenge as well. But the agency of the challenge in this case is a sentient being who impedes your progress and threatens your ultimate success.
Clearly, you must offer the player some obstacles to overcome, whether they are physical, situational, mental, or sentient. Especially helpful for reference would be Chapter 27, “Puzzles,” Chapter 11, “Scenarios,” Chapter 25, “Barriers, Obstacles, and Detectors,” Chapter 26, “Traps and Counter Traps” Chapter 32, “Ways to Die,” and Chapter 14, “Enemies,” though many other chapters also contain useful resources. (See the list at the end of the next section.)
The Rewards and Penalties
Most quests and missions offer some sort of reward. Some offer quite substantial rewards, while others are content to present the successful player with something dinky and virtually useless. But the ultimate reward is a job well done, right? Anyway, rewards do vary, but there is almost always some positive gain on the part of the successful player—if nothing else, the opportunity to keep playing forward in the game.
Of course, Chapter 24, “Rewards and Penalties,” is the ideal resource for both rewards and penalties as they relate to games, missions, quests, and all that.
And speaking of penalties, not all quests and missions offer specific penalties, though often there is the real possibility that your player will die, with any unfortunate effects that accompany player death. However, some quests and missions also reward failure with some kind of penalty, and for some ideas about that, see Chapter 24, “Rewards, Bonuses, and Penalties.”
In all, creating quests, missions, and tasks is a common activity in game design, and this book is full of resources that can offer inspiration and help you create interesting and well thought-out elements for your games. So, to find ideas and inspiration, look at the following chapters in addition to this one:
Chapter 11, “Scenarios”
Chapter 22, “Game Conventions and Clichés”
Chapter 23, “Goals”
Chapter 24, “Rewards, Bonuses, and Penalties”
Chapter 25, “Barriers, Obstacles, and Detectors”
Chapter 26, “Traps and Counter Traps”
Chapter 27, “Puzzles”
Chapter 28, “Controlling Pacing”
Chapter 29, “Time Limits and Time Manipulation”
Chapter 30, “Ways to Communicate with the Player”
Chapter 31, “Common Game Design Problems”
Chapter 32, “Ways to Die”
These chapters contain many of the basic elements you will want to consider when creating quests. Sure, it’s a lot, but to make interesting quests you want to consider all the possibilities, such as how to trap someone, what kinds of puzzles might work, what kinds of scenarios might be appropriate, interesting ways to kill the player, and so on.
Other chapters also contain useful information, such as:
Chapter 17, “Game Worlds,” for some ideas on the settings you might use, and specifically the “Ways to Make a World Feel Alive and Real” section in that chapter for ways to make even more interesting quests and missions.
Chapter 9, “Storytelling Techniques,” for some more ideas on story options.
Chapter 12, “Character Design,” if you want to have more characters appear within the quest/mission, and specifically the “Creating Comedy” section in Chapter 9 to put your characters into some humorous situations or the “Making Things Scary” section (also in Chapter 9) to, well, make things scary.
Chapter 15, “Character Abilities,” if you want to think about special abilities for your characters or to look at some general options for what characters can do.
Chapter 14, “Enemies,” if you want to include some different enemy types and different battles in your quests/missions.
Chapter 19, “Objects and Locations,” to consider what kinds of objects to use for different locations you are considering.
Chapter 33, “Historical and Cultural Weapons,” and Chapter 34, “Standard Modern Weaponry and Armor,” if you want to consider some interesting weapons and/or armor as part of the quest/mission.
Chapter 18, “Travel,” if traveling is part of the quest/mission.
Chapter 16, “Speech,” particularly if conversation is part of your quest/mission.
Chapter 20, “Music and Sound,” for some ideas on how to use music and sound effectively within a quest/mission.
Interesting...that’s most of the book! Perhaps that’s because quests are microcosms of the game—little sequences of goals, challenges, and rewards. In essence, any of the material in the chapters listed above can be useful when you are designing a game or a quest/mission within a game. Of course, it all depends on the nature of the quest or mission you want to design. Some may not have other characters in them, or enemies, or weapons. Others might not require any special abilities for the characters, or traps, or even the possibility of the player’s death. But in constructing a good quest, any of these chapters can come in handy for inspiration and direction.
Among the most common types of games where you’ll encounter quests are RPGs and MMOs. These quests are actually useful in other types of games as well, but they happen to be more commonly used in RPGs and MMOs. In the next section, “Things to Do in Games,” see the NPC quest examples.
Design Challenge
Imagine you are on a team, making a First-Person Shooter. (Heck, there are tons of designers doing this, and it’s not easy to be original with so much competition!) Your job is to come up with something fresh. So you sit down to a blank piece of paper. Time to come up with the key goals of the level you are about to make. Most First-Person Shooters leave you with the goal of getting to the exit, killing everyone on the way! That’s cool, but you want to add some extra spice to your level. There are many lists in this book to help, but let’s start with the lists in this chapter, and for extra inspiration, you can also refer to Chapter 11, “Scenarios.” Let your mind wander. What could you add to your level (from the ideas in this chapter and elsewhere) that you haven’t seen before?
Say you came back with “steal something” and “activate an object” and “hold or protect a position.” How could you make that fun? Well, suppose you steal an amazing new bomb from the enemy research labs. Actually, it’s the one they have been threatening you with! You take it back to their headquarters (with your scientist following you), then you place it and he starts arming it. You need to protect him and the bomb while he completes his sequence, then you need to get at least 700 meters from the blast. There are changing paths and surprise attacks as you try to get the range meter onscreen to 700m before the clock hits zero. Suddenly, you are doing three things at once. Then BOOM—you made it.
So it’s your turn now.
Once you’ve done that, then what about trying it for another genre—for example, try to design an arcade game concept from the list.
The list is only supplied to help you brainstorm. So don’t hold back—mix it up, shake it up, flip them to the opposite meanings.... You should find some nice combos. For more on brainstorming, see Chapter 2, “Brainstorming and Research.”
This section contains ideas about different types of games. It is not by any means everything you could possibly do in these types of games, but it gives you a good start at some of the options and possibilities at your disposal when you create games. The real reason for this section is to look at different genres and hopefully inspire you to:
Find new and different things to do in each of these types of games.
Go beyond these lists.
Find ways to combine elements of various genres in order to create original and creative game ideas and implementations.
First-Person Shooters are characterized by the point of view of the player and the kinds of activities that they typically include. The earliest FPS games were essentially mob hunts and very simple death matches. But FPS games have become more and more sophisticated, and many—at least in their single-player modes—have complex stories and options. In the multiplayer world, the stories are mostly individual experiences generated within the action.
Things you can do in either single player or multiplayer FPS games include the items in the following lists.
Ambush someone
Attack/kill/shoot another character
Attack/kill/shoot something
Be stealthy
Call for support (airstrike/backup)
Carry out missions
Carry someone
Carry things
Change clothing
Change form
Check stats
Climb up buildings and other places
Complete an objective
Protect the base/hold the fort
Capture the enemy base/capture the flag
Control an area of the map
Kill everyone
Destroy some specific thing or person
Control NPC allies
Craft/build an item
Demolish objects
Destroy part of the level
Die
Drag or push things
Drive vehicles
Duel wield (guns or close-combat weapons)
Enchant objects/weapons
Escort someone
Fail objective
Find secret areas and routes
Find something that has been lost
Find weapons/ammo/armor caches
Find/buy new items
Fly
Get night-sight equipment to see in the dark
Get the power-ups first
Give orders
Grab someone
Hack a computer
Have allies
Heal
Hide and pick people off (sniper)
Hover
Infect someone
Inject someone with something
Interact with environment (objects)
Interact with NPCs
Jump
Kamikaze (or just take a suicide pill)
Light a match/fire for vision at night
Load the game
Look around
Look at a map
Make a force field
Move/hide bodies
Open chests, safes, and other containers
Operate high-tech devices
Operate machinery
Order NPCs (friendlies)
Parachute
Pause game
Perform acrobatics
Pick a lock
Pick up or drop an item
Plant bugs or traps
Play dead
Read signs and messages
Receive promotions
Reload
Repair objects
Rescue people
Restart the game
Ride vehicle (animal) as driver/gunner/passenger
Run/jump/crouch/lie prone/roll, etc.
Salute
Save the game
Set up a trap
Sleep
Sneak past the enemy
Snipe
Solve mysteries
Solve puzzles (all kinds—see also Chapter 27, “Puzzles”)
Steal items from players/NPCs
Summon a demon
Swim
Switch weapons on the fly
Tag (graffiti)
Take damage/wound
Take orders
Take pictures
Teleport
Threaten someone
Throw things
Upgrade weapons and armor/protection
Use a computer terminal
Use a variety of weapons ranging from melee to guns to just about anything you can think of
Use emoticons or other special communication commands
Use grenades (damage, smoke, flash-bang)
Use magical spells/special skills
Use mind control
Use object (flashlight)
Use protection, such as armor or shields, force fields, etc.
Use telekinesis
Watch a cut scene
This list contains things you can do (or in some cases, things that happen to you) in a multiplayer First-Person Shooter.
Attack/kill/shoot another player
Be part of a team with other player characters
Change roles (support/attack/defense)
Change teams
Chat/talk with other players
Check the scoreboard
Humiliate other teams
Set up a strategy
Taunt
Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games are all about high pressure, resource management, and, of course, strategy, and they require the ability to split one’s attention between simultaneous tasks and situations. Of course, there is generally plenty of combat and the ultimate quest to dominate the map.
Create buildings
Upgrade buildings
Destroy buildings
Create or destroy troops
Upgrade troops
Create or destroy workers/peasants
Create or destroy specialists
Create or destroy mobile vehicle units
Find and obtain resources/wealth, including:
Gold
Lumber
Food
Stone
Radioactive fuels
Minerals (other than gold)
Fossil fuels
Animals for breeding/eating/work
Assign tasks to individual NPCs
Create selectable groups
Assign tasks to groups
Explore research paths (technology, magic, and so on)
Explore the map
Travel on land, over water, under water, in the air, in space, in alternate realities
Defend your turf
Set traps and defenses
Create new settlements
Spy on the enemy
Sabotage the enemy
Attack the enemy
Destroy an enemy
Make allies
Help allies
Call for help (from allies)
Break alliances
Destroy enemy buildings and defenses
Destroy an enemy settlement
Gather an army
Complete special quests
Make hero characters
Change allegiance/alignment
Cheat
Purchase/trade for special items
Include weather effects
Include environmental impacts to resource gathering
Include a political model
Include a financial model
Sell items to others
Buy items from NPCs and allies
Build roads/rails, etc.
Carry out tactics
Rush!
Barricade and wait
Ambush
Split and flank enemy
Wedge
Hit and run
Strategize (by yourself or with teammates)
Cancel actions
Build up your resources
Exchange resources
Talk to people (teammates)
Heckle other players
Surrender
Force units to suicide (may be necessary for victory)
Set group/unit stance
Make formations
Set waypoints
Patrol
Pay tribute or demand obedience from your units
Level up your hero
Backstab your teammates
Slaughter critters
Lay a trap
Spy on opponents
Activate unit abilities
Pause the game to build a complex queue of moves or strategies
Equip units; have a single unit type able to equip many different types of weapons
Change your people’s government (for a game that uses a political device)
Build epic-scale buildings and units (or something that would be really cool to have—for example, the Great Wall of China)
Create your own maps/scenarios
Influence your units’ morality (possibility for a supernatural force, devil’s influence, angelic harmony, and so on)
Heal/repair units/buildings
Grow farms to feed your people
Convert the opponent’s units
Capture buildings
Pollute the world (changes the environment of the game)
Play in a nontraditional setting
Terraform (take a lifeless world or region and make it earthlike)
Play multiple scales in the same environment (fight as ants, then dogs, then humans, then gods!)
Attack ground
Play a strategy game first that sets up your RTS game
Use naval bombardment
Use aerial bombardment
Start a pandemic
Buy and sell items/units/resources on a black market
Introduce a new storyline
Retreat
Garrison units (in a building)
Transport (teleport) units
Take control of a unit and go to an FPS
Stealth your units
Sabotage your opponent’s research/buildings
Form alliances
Build an inter-player network of spies
Disable enemy units
Capture enemy units as POWs
Query units and buildings for their status
Sell units to make up resources
Recycle units and buildings (similar to selling units)
Liberate POWs/cities/buildings, etc.
Hunt/fish
Escort units
Breed super soldiers
Use genetic engineering
Control territory—the territory may give a certain benefit to the player
Temporarily enhance your units’ abilities
Queue production
Use psychic powers to possess opponents (control the other player, not just his units)
Fortify buildings
Role-Playing Games (RPGs) probably allow the greatest diversity of possible tasks and activities of any game genre. Think of this list as just a beginning, because you can probably do just about anything you can think up in an RPG.
Walk
Run
Jump
Fight
Heal self and others
Get diseases and curses
Heal diseases and remove curses
Drink and get drunk
Bribe people
Accept bribes
Give orders
Take orders
Own property
Own and run businesses
Control henchmen, slaves, or other characters
Lie or tell the truth
Send and receive messages
Send and receive items
Save and load the game
Die
Die and resurrect yourself or be resurrected
Resurrect others
Use weapons
Wear armor
Wear items (rings, amulets, etc.)
Wear clothing
Pick up items
Drop and/or destroy items
Alter items
Sell items
Buy items
Use magic (usually)
Search and find
Find secret items, places, and characters
Disguise yourself
Converse with NPCs
Improve statistics
Learn new skills/spells
Level up
Create a party
Join/leave a party
Befriend people and creatures
Make enemies
Tame creatures
Hunt for food
Gather resources
Obtain and complete quests (many)
Create a reputation with others in the world
Rescue people
Recover lost or stolen items
Upgrade equipment
Be poisoned or diseased
Be enhanced by magic or by other means (such as potions, enchanted items, and so on)
Physically change (grow bigger/smaller, transform into something else, change appearance, and so on)
Hide
Sneak
Steal
Spy
Cheat
Gamble
Do good deeds
Do bad deeds
Escort people, things, caravans, and so on
Trade items or money
Manage inventory
Set fire to something—torch a house, village, city, wagon, etc.
Set fire to some character or creature
Craft (create or combine) items
Be betrayed
Betray someone
Fall in love
Get married
Have children
Grow old
Grow younger
Go back and forth in time
Ride in vehicles of various kinds
Ride on beasts of various kinds
Farm
Log
Mine
Gather herbs
Practice alchemy and other arcane arts
Look cool
Look scroungy bad
Use banks (to store money and items)
Keep a log
Teleport
Do just about anything you can do in a game
One of the most common things you do in RPG games is to carry out quests generated by NPCs and other sources. (See also “Quests/Missions: Using This Book to Create Content” earlier in this chapter.) Here are some kinds of tasks you can carry out in RPG quests, mostly given by NPCs. Keep in mind that these tasks can often be done serially as part of a single quest, or even simultaneously:
Find certain recipe item(s) and bring them back
Find certain recipe items(s) and combine them to create something else
Just locate the enemy position (don’t engage) and report back
Follow someone—a group or thing
Protect someone—a group or thing
Lead someone—a group or thing
Hide someone—a group or thing
Place a bet/wager
Pay for something
Deliver something (an item, a message, information, a person or creature, and so on)
Steal something from someone (such as a horse)
Threaten someone (just verbally)
Hurt someone physically (don’t kill them)
Terminate someone (who must die)
Terminate someone with no mercy as an example to others (“Bring me the head of...”)
Terminate everyone at a location
Lie to someone
Activate something
Move/relocate something
Go and worship something or deliver a prayer or sacrifice
Break something (to stop it from working)
Witness something or obtain specific information
Distract someone
Catch/capture something
Collect a group of people at these locations, then do something with them or to them, or have them do something
See whether something is true/false and report back
See whether someone is still alive (or find the corpse[s]) and report back
Collect a number of a certain item and deliver them to a place or NPC
Report to a person who is on your side and wants to help you
Infiltrate an enemy base and pretend to be on their side
Disable enemy defenses
Impersonate someone (such as the king or an important scientist)
Get to a location before someone else does or before something happens (race)
Get a message translated (when it’s in some alien or foreign language)
Obtain a special power or an object that activates a special power
Convert an enemy into an ally
Arcade games and games that are primarily about action have their own clichés and common activities. Of course, the challenge is to add new ideas and new opportunities to the genre, so use this list as a starting point and see whether you can map out some uncharted action territory.
Run
Jump
Climb
Fall
Slide
Go extra fast
Go extra slow
Collect items
Gain temporary powers, abilities, or enhancements
Explore
Take alternate routes
Find secret places
Discover special techniques or strategies
Find Easter eggs
Cheat
Defeat enemies
Be defeated
Gain extra lives
Buy items
Help others
Fight bosses
Get new weapons
Get new abilities
Get new armor or protection
Use magic
Control enemies
Be frozen or petrified
Fly
Glide
Swim
Sail
Skate
Crawl
Crouch
Hop
Perform acrobatic moves
Use combo moves and special moves
Manipulate objects in the environment
Enter doors and other openings
Get trapped
Escape traps
Complete levels
Get scores, including high scores
Fire projectile weapons
Solve puzzles nonviolently
Move items
Destroy or change elements of the environment
Become invulnerable
Change size or shape
Dance
Taunt enemies
Be funny or silly
Thousands of years before there were video games, people played sports of all kinds, ranging from simple feats of athleticism to complex team games, such as the ancient Mayan game similar to today’s basketball, but using the heads of defeated enemies instead of a ball.
Because sports are some of the oldest games around, along with some practically prehistoric board games, I thought it might be good to look at how sports games work and apply their principles to other types of games.
The goal here is simply to take a look at what we are preprogrammed to expect from our various sports-related experiences and use those concepts when brainstorming new ideas, new challenges, or even new sports. (Harry Potter’s Quidditch was a good example. See also the upcoming “Sports Lists” section.)
You would want your idea to require at least some of these.
Quick Reflexes/Reactions/Speed. Used in most sports, but also in many other games, such as FPS, arcade, martial arts, and so on.
Power/Strength/Stamina/Endurance. Like speed and reflexes, power, strength, and endurance are all common to sports and, not coincidentally, are among the primary statistics given to characters in Role-Playing Games. There are exceptions, of course. A few sports are more about finesse and accuracy than power and endurance (darts or fencing with an epée, for instance). But most sports require some combination of power, strength, endurance, finesse, and accuracy.
Aggression/Prowess/Intimidation. Because sports are competitive, a certain level of aggression often figures into the play. Likewise, intimidation can affect the outcomes of many sports encounters. How can you use these elements in non-sports games? Imagine ways in which character aggression or intimidation can play a part in other types of games and help determine an outcome as they might do in a sporting contest.
Timing/Precision (Accuracy). Most sports involve timing or precision, or both. This is obviously true of many sports and non-sports games as well. Using well-timed button presses and accurate cursor positioning is a common element of many games.
Finesse. Games—even power games—often involve a degree of finesse. A Michael Jordan or Julius Irving drive to the hoop involved speed and power, but their ability to finesse—to fake out defenders and do a gentle finger roll into the basket—helped to set them apart from ordinary players. The “touch” of a great quarterback or wide receiver in football is often the extra factor separating the good players from the great ones. Creating finesse in games requires that you create more subtle controls. For instance, in a martial arts battle, using brute force rarely is the best method against a worthy opponent. But using subtle combinations of blocks, feints, side moves, nerve locks, and effective combos could allow even a slightly weaker competitor to defeat his opponent. That’s finesse. As another example, the quarterback has to drop a pass in to a receiver in tight coverage. By slightly adjusting the strength of the throw or the angle, he can place it where the receiver can get it, but not the defenders. In golf, just the right amount of “English” can spell the difference between a great shot and a double bogey. Likewise in pool... finesse.
Aim/Targeting/Allowing for External Forces. Aim is critical to many sports, ranging from hockey to golf, and from football to darts. It is particularly important in basketball and soccer. It is one of the most primal abilities we have and could arguably be the reason why we have sports at all. The thrill we get out of a well-aimed throw or kick is something shared by nearly all people. I don’t think we need to go into examples of aiming, but keep in mind that external factors can add subtle variations to the process of aiming and can add to the challenge and interest in games. (For an example of how to adjust to external forces, see the “The Sniper’s Lexicon” section of Chapter 34, “Standard Modern Weaponry and Armor.”) Think how you might adjust the aiming and targeting aspects of a game to allow for external forces. For instance, imagine trying to aim a bow or gun from the deck of a boat in choppy seas.
Psychological Aspects of Sports. There are psychological aspects to sports that somewhat transcend the sport itself. Among these aspects are the personalities of the players, their reputations, and the dynamics and reputations within and between teams. These elements add to the emotional appeal of games and also to the intensity level of play, both for participants and for spectators.
Personalities. Clearly, personalities can become dominant in various sports, such as professional wrestling. The personality of an athlete can be enhanced by his or her performance (such as Michael Jordan) and/or by his or her non-sports-related actions, such as Joe Namath during his heyday, or Mike Tyson or Kobe Bryant. Strong personalities, either by performance standards or by unusual actions and traits, make for more interesting sports, and the same principles can be (and are) applied to non-sports games.
Reputations. In any game that has a past history, the reputation of the characters can play a role. Consider the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s or someone like Mohammad Ali or Mike Tyson (both of whom also had very striking personalities). Reputation is established by history and functions in other game genres probably even more than in sports, but it is clear that it is one of the psychological aspects of sports.
Inter- and Intra-Team Dynamics. Rivalries and alliances happen all the time in life, and they occur often in sports. Among teams, there are often certain special rivalries—such as the Red Sox and the Yankees or every San Francisco sports team against every Los Angeles sports team. These rivalries add to the intensity of contests and up the stakes. (See the following bullet point.) Within a team, rivalries and alliances can affect how the team plays and can be part of a good team sports game design. For instance, it was well known that Joe Montana had a great affinity with Jerry Rice. They clicked. On the other hand, many stories exist of players who simply didn’t fit in their current team dynamics. Mostly, if they played football, they ended up happy with the Oakland Raiders.
Pressure/Stakes. Anything that increases the importance of winning or losing increases the stakes and the pressure of the situation. This can range from needing the money to pay for your grandmother’s operation to emotional issues, such as hoping the underdog wins (think Seabiscuit). In rivalries, the stakes are always higher. Grudge matches. Good versus evil. In sports, all these pressures exist at one time or another. Making a good game, it’s always important to understand the stakes involved—both for the characters in the game and for the player.
Goals/Meaning. The goals of all sports games are similar. First is winning; second is winning well. The saying “winning is everything” is mostly true in sports, but the idea of sportsmanship also applies. In most sports, there is an underlying meaning to success, and it means superior performance according to the rules of the sport. For some, cheating to win is okay. In fact, it’s sometimes more fun to cheat than to play fair. It’s therefore interesting to notice that, though the primary goal—to win—doesn’t change, the meaning behind the goal may differ from one player to another. There are gentlemanly sports, and there are rough-and-tumble sports. There are even sports—such as professional wrestling—in which cheating and getting away with it again and again heightens the emotional involvement of the spectators (and, presumably, the athletes), thereby raising the intensity and the stakes.
Rapid Analysis of the Current Situation. In many sports, rapid assessment of a situation is a critical factor. These sports, such as boxing, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, tennis, and so on, all involve rapid events. However, some sports are far more leisurely, such as golf, darts, or pool. This is a factor that involves action sports, and, as such, it also involves action games, which cover a wide range, from arcade and platform games to First-Person Shooters and even Real-Time Strategy games.
Judging Progress in Real Time. Any sports contest is a temporal event—meaning that it evolves as the contest continues over time. Athletes, managers, and even spectators are always assessing the current situation. Is the boxer tiring? Is the team losing momentum? Is that basketball player beginning a hot streak? The same is true of many games. For instance, in an RTS game, which has a lot of similarities to sports games, you are constantly assessing your readiness and overall progress against that of your enemies. In a First-Person Shooter, you are assessing the relative strength and health of your player character against the circumstances that lie ahead. You are often determining which weapon or tactics to use for any given situation, just as a basketball player might decide to drive to the basket or pull up and shoot a jump shot, or a baseball hitter might decide whether to swing for the fences, bunt, or play it safe. Even in RPGs you must be aware of your current status within the overall game, often making specific choices about how you develop your character in order to be prepared for what’s coming and adjusting as you encounter new situations.
Control/Focus. The ability to control a situation and focus on a problem is also common to many sports. In boxing, it’s necessary to control the ring, and clearly focus is a big factor. The same is true in other games. In both baseball and football, there are times between the action, but the managers and players are attempting to control the situation by their alignment of players. (See the following Strategies/Tactics/Pre-Planning bullet point.)
Strategies/Tactics/Pre-Planning. Almost all sports involve some aspect of strategy, tactics, and/or pre-planning. Even a platform diver carefully plans the order of his or her dives. Teams prepare for their opponents before meeting them on the field and then continually adjust their approaches to the game to respond to the situation. In a long-distance race, runners often use the tactic of “drafting” on other runners, who eventually tire out faster, at which point the good runners take the lead and finish the race. There are endless examples. What can you learn from this? One interesting way to look at this subject is in reference to how a sports event unfolds and what the participants do. Imagine that the sport was actually a story or other type of event. How could the strategies, tactics, and even the pre-planning be applied to a different type of story or event? Imagine an adventure game or a team shooter game paralleling a really competitive game of football or hockey. How might that affect your design?
Offense versus Defense. This is a version of the situational awareness and strategic/tactical elements of games—the role and timing of offensive versus defensive approaches. Sometimes the roles of offense and defense are predetermined, such as in games like football and baseball. The change from one to the other can be precisely governed, or it can be quite sudden, such as in games of hockey, basketball, and soccer. In martial arts, both offense and defense are practically simultaneous, with very quick switches from one “posture” to another—and sometimes your offense is your defense and vice versa (a particular tenet of Wing Chun, for instance). There are some obvious ways in which offense and defense come into play in other games, too. However, it might be possible to consider such factors in less obvious games, such as simulations or Role-Playing Games. Consider offense and defense as elements of other types of games.
Managing Risk/Danger/Resources. Many games are physically risky. Others lack physical risk, but all games involve some risk—if only the risk of losing and suffering disappointment. At different times within a sports contest, the athlete must determine how far to go, how hard to try, how fast to run or drive—in essence, how much to risk at any given time. Do you try for a haymaker knockout punch, risking a counterattack by your opponent? Do you put the pedal to the metal to go just a little faster than is safe in order to gain an advantage in a road race? If you’re a diver, a gymnast, or a figure skater, do you try for the hardest (and riskiest) tricks you have, hoping to blow away the competition if you “hit” them, or do you go for a steady routine that you likely won’t screw up? The element of risk versus reward is inherent in many sports challenges and can be equally important in the context of other games. Clearly, an all-out assault on your enemy encampment in a war game or a Real-Time Strategy game is a risky, all-or-nothing tactic. Sometimes that’s the one you’ll choose. Other times, you will be more methodical and patient. How else can the sports metaphor of risk versus reward be applied to non-sports games?
Survival (Last Man Standing/Surviving Rounds). Survival is part of winning, and in a survival setting the stakes are obviously quite high. For instance, it really doesn’t matter that much if you fall behind in a game like football or baseball. The chance to come back always exists. But if you’re in the seventh game of a seven-game playoff series or the semifinals leading to the Super Bowl, failure means the end of the season and the loss of the opportunity to gain the ultimate prize. Or in boxing, for instance, which is scored round by round, you can fall too far behind to have any chance of winning other than by knockout. And, of course, the risk in boxing is of a sudden ending of the game when one boxer or the other gets knocked senseless. In a sport where it’s the “last man standing” who wins—which could refer not only to extreme martial arts contests, but also to long marathon-like races, such as the Tour de France or any endurance contest—the stakes are very high because any falter or mistake can cost the whole enchilada. In non-sports games, creating the same sort of stakes can be very powerful. Look at Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. In some ways, the efforts of all the others were unimportant if he failed. He truly had to be the last hobbit standing, at least figuratively.
Collecting. Although not a direct aspect of sports, there is a phenomenon of fandom that revels in collecting autographs, player cards, and other paraphernalia associated with sports. Obviously, collecting is big in games as well, such as Pokemon.
Scoring. Scoring affects us emotionally and gives us a situational reality against which to check our progress in a game. Keeping score can also be seen as a part of many types of games, even if the score is not always used in the same way as it is in sports. Sometimes the final score is all that counts—the high score. But in many games, a comparison of numeric data gives you situational awareness—an idea of where you stand. How much ammunition do you have? How many troops? How many guns? How much health does your character still have, or how many healing or med kits? Where does your group compare to other groups within a competitive game world? There are many games that use scores directly, but other games, which don’t ostensibly use scores, also use numeric or other data to help you measure your progress. Games in which characters achieve levels are another example of this. How else is scoring or something like it used in games? Can you think of untried ways to use the scoring idea in games?
External Influences. In sports, there are people who can affect the outcome who are not athletes or direct participants in the sport’s action—for example, a coach calling the shots. These people may range from on-field coaches to recruitment people, accountants, and team owners. Trainers, wives, cutmen, and various other support people can affect outcomes. The news media can affect players’ performances. Police can bust players for various reasons. Managers can leave or die—same with family members. Viruses can make an athlete sick and degrade his or her performance. In looking at how external influences can affect the outcome of sports events, it’s clear that the same (or similar) effects can affect games from the story/character level to the plot and even the design level. How can you create games in which outside influences affect the action? The characters? The player? What kinds of outside influences and effects work in different types of games?
What kinds of sports are there? Here are some lists to jog your memory.
Baseball (softball, etc.)
Basketball
Soccer
Rugby (Australian rules)
Ice hockey
Field hockey
Street hockey
Unicycle hockey
Tennis (doubles)
Badminton (doubles)
Juggling (passing)
Roller derby
Cricket
Rowing (sculling)
Dodgeball
Tug of war
Relay racing (running/swimming, etc.)
Synchronized swimming
Paintball (war games)
Sailing
Wrestling (tag team)
Bobsled racing
Volleyball
Netball
Handball
Curling
Rounders
Figure skating (pairs)
These lists are also useful if you are making a “sporty” character. It’s cool to see the character doing something a bit different (such as depth record breath-hold diving).
These sports rely most heavily on one person or on one-on-one competition.
One-on-one versions of any team sport (tug of war/basketball, etc.)
Acrobatics (flying)
Archery (bow/crossbow, etc.)
Track and field (sprinting/hurdles/javelin/discus/pole vaulting/shotput/long jump/high jump, etc.)
BMX (racing/tricks/stunts, etc.)
Boat racing (sailing/powerboats, etc.)
Bodybuilding
Bowling
Boxing
Bullfighting
Canoeing/kayaking
Climbing
Diving (board/depth record, etc.)
Dog racing
Figure skating (individual)
Fencing (Bushido, etc.)
Fishing
Gymnastics (beam/vault/uneven bars/floor/trampoline/horizontal bar/parallel bars/rings/pommel horse, etc.)
Highland games (caber tossing, etc.)
Hunting (fox/drag/game, etc.)
Jetskiing
Kite surfing
Martial arts (karate/judo/jujitsu/taekwondo, etc.)
Mountain biking
Parachuting (sky-surfing/paragliding)
Rodeo (horse/bull riding, etc.)
Roller-skating
Shooting (pistols/rifles/target/skeet, etc.)
Skateboarding
Skiing (downhill, slalom, stunts, etc.)
Snowboarding (half pipe, downhill, slalom, stunts, etc.)
Surfing/boogie boarding/body boarding, etc.
Swimming (various strokes/ocean/pool, etc.)
Waterskiing/wakeboarding/bare-footing/jumping, etc.
Weightlifting
Windsurfing
Wrestling
It’s not always easy to break into the sports-game arena. The big licenses are tied up in deals and are very expensive. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use sports in games. There are a few ways to do so:
Invent a new sport or modify one in intriguing ways. (Speedball comes to mind, as well as Harry Potter’s Quidditch.)
Use principles of sports in your story or character development.
Create a game in which you include sports-based mini-games.
Have a game in which the world of sports is the backdrop.
Create a game based on some real or fictitious sports personality.
Use a sports-like action in your character, such as an arcade character who can swing a big bat to launch enemies or a shooter game where the hero can catch incoming grenades like fastballs and throw them back accurately at the enemy.
Design Challenge
Perhaps the most useful aspect of this chapter is to look at the main activities you might include in specific types of games—not so much to see every activity possible, but more to lay out the types of activities you could choose from when you design a game of any genre. For instance, suppose you were designing a Real-Time Strategy game. You might find some interesting ideas in the sections on FPSs, action games, or RPGs. Use these lists as opportunities for brainstorming, not as fixed and set concepts.
Examine games you have played and compare them to these lists. How many of the possible activities did they include? Did they include activities not present on these lists?
For your own designs, compare the list of possible activities with the activities you have included.
Can you add any or subtract any without adverse effect?
Could you include activities from other genres to make the game more interesting or original?
Create design concepts that use elements of:
FPS and RPG
FPS and RTS
RTS and RPG
RTS and action
RPG and action
It’s often called the fun factor, and there’s nothing more fundamental to games. A game can have cool graphics, the most kick-ass engine to drive it, and a marketing budget in the umpteen figures, but all that means nothing if it isn’t fun.
So that brings up the question, “What is fun?”
Many researchers, game designers, and other curious people have written articles and books on the subject of fun. In the introduction to this book, we explored some of the reasons why we play games, and these reasons tie more or less directly to the theory of what makes something fun. But this chapter is devoted less to the theory of fun than to the things we know are fun from our direct experiences in games.
Certainly fun is something developers generally just hope their games will somehow end up being. Sometimes they strike gold and actually create a new way to have fun. If you do that, email me so we can add it to future editions of this book! For now, here’s our desk reference of the fun things we have been able to do in the games of the past. (They make excellent brainstorming tools when trying to introduce fun new gameplay.)
We’ve divided this section into two parts:
What is fun
What is not fun
Obviously, it’s good to know what works, but equally important, you need to know what to avoid.
Before we explore what we think is fun or not fun in games, let’s look at how people play. Not everyone approaches their games in the same way or expects to get the same experience. Have you ever considered how different people play? Here are some of the styles your players might adopt in your games. How do you provide fun, entertainment, challenge, and reward for people who approach the game differently?
Violent
Nonviolent
Calm
Powerful
Meek
Domineering
Feeble
Aware
Blind
Risk-taking
Safe
Stealthy
Showoff/flamboyant
Fast
Slow
Patient
Restless/always moving
Thrifty
Spendthrift
Funny
Creepy
Ingenious
Dumb
Respectful
By the book
Sneaky
Trustworthy
Honorable
Unpredictable/chaotic
Focused/methodical/orderly
Multitasking
Action-oriented
Counter/reaction-oriented
Tactics-oriented
Strategy-oriented
Reflex-oriented
Preparation-oriented
Misinformed/tricked
Builder
Destroyer
Protector
Hunter
Healer
Diplomat
Mentor
Co-op/collaborative
Competitive/antagonistic
Now for the fun. What do you think is fun? Did I include it in this list?
Shooting Something. Anything. As long as there’s some effect or response, shooting things is fun. This is a broad category, and it includes a wide variety of situations and game genres. The simple fact is that shooting something that reacts is generally fun. How it reacts can boost the level of fun. (For example, shooting a guy in the butt with rock salt versus just shooting a guy.) So consider the response of the person shot or the response of others seeing the shot happen to inject more fun. And don’t forget the environment. If you shoot a wall, it’s a lot more fun if you leave bullet holes—and even more fun if you break off chunks of concrete that go flying. Vases or windows—in fact, anything that shatters—are fun to shoot, too.
Destroying or Breaking Something. You can do this with a bomb, bullet, hammer, bazooka, large rock, airplane, car, big stick, sticky goo, C4 explosive, or anything that does the job. Commonly, the more overdone it is, the more fun it becomes. So instead of using a crowbar to open the door, you tear off the entire roof. Incorporating surprise by not using the obvious route generally boosts the fun factor.
Playing with a Pet. This is fun when the animal plays back with you. This includes teaching a pet and watching it learn.
Winning a Battle. This can be one on one, a huge war, or even prevailing in a multiplayer team battle. Having others witness and respond to the events of the battle generally can improve the fun factor.
Hunting and Gathering. This is a fundamental part of gameplay, and it takes many forms. In many games you spend a lot of time doing essentially two things: seeking out and fighting enemies and seeking out and gathering resources. Resources can be power-up items, items you can sell, items you can use directly, mysterious items, and even situational locations, such as a fountain that heals all your wounds or makes you permanently or temporarily stronger or faster, and so on.
Learning Something New. Games generally involve some learning, and the mastery of new skills is challenging and fun. In particular, gaining new abilities and then being able to use them and finding out that they are really effective—that’s fun. You learn a new sword combo or a new magic spell or you obtain a new weapon, and you can’t wait to go out and test it. The fun comes when you see that it is more effective than what you had before. The fun also comes with the satisfaction of having earned these new skills or increases in power based on your own efforts. (Raph Koster, in his book A Theory of Fun for Game Design, states it simply: “Learning is a drug.”)
Defeating Real People. Beating a real-life player in a contest is somehow much more satisfying than simply defeating NPCs.
Problem Solving. Having to think your way out of a situation and then actually overcoming the challenge is fun.
Escape to Freedom. Freeing yourself from a trap is also fun.
Challenging Others. Choosing to enter a competition against another, such as a fight, is fun.
Gambling. Taking a risk that worked out and improved your position is naturally fun.
Joining Forces. For example, teaming up with others, or being teamed up, and questing together. The added strength of the group can greatly increase the speed of your progress. As long as you get to feel relative weakness alone and strength when your team is going all-out, then as the team forms and as it grows, the feeling of fun will be enhanced by the contrast.
Making Friends. This can be online or in person, but finding another person you really enjoy being with, hanging out with, or who entertains you can be very rewarding. Giving friends the chance to hang out, communicate easily, or do some things together can help grow the friendship and actually improve the perceived memory of having fun. To a lesser degree, even making friends with an artificial personality in a game (a humanoid, an animal, or even an alien NPC, for instance) can provide some social reward, though less satisfying than friendship with a real-live person.
Meeting Someone Interesting. This is either a live gamer or an NPC who you meet. However, they tend to be a bit outrageous. They do crazy, funny, risky, or surprising stuff. They are generally not clichéd, but they are also not just weird. You know they are fun when you want to stick around to see what they do next or how they will respond to a situation that you know is soon to occur.
Bragging Rights. Even in intra-office games, having the chance to gloat when you beat someone adds to the fun. Of course, you have to bear the humiliation if you lose—but there’s always next time!
Playing with Friends. Playing with real people, either competitively or cooperatively, is fun.
Competition Ranking. Realizing you are rated high when compared to competitors, like knowing you are in the lead, is fun.
Looks Stunning. Seeing something that is absolutely breathtaking.
Totally Captivated. Being completely immersed and captivated in an interesting new world and realizing you don’t want to leave.
Complete Surprise. Experiencing the unexpected and being caught off guard.
The Winner. Winning the competition and being the best.
Comedy. Finding yourself laughing.
Thrill. Pushing you to your limit, being tested to the max and surviving—or better still, thriving.
You Sexy Thing. Being seen as a sex object. Getting attention from the opposite sex.
The Finishing Line. Overcoming exhaustion and making it to your goal.
Predictability. Making predictions, and slightly to your own surprise, you are actually correct.
Love. Realizing you truly care about someone or something.
Collector. Building a collection of rare or valuable things, then finding a missing part of the collection.
Power. Feeling safe/strong/unbeatable.
Discovery. Finding something really cool, totally by surprise.
Found It. Finding something that you have been searching for.
Lost and Found. You had it, then you lost it, then you find it again.
Completion. Knowing you have overcome a major challenge and can now get on with your life.
Skill. Being able to tell that you have clearly improved at something.
A Surprise Glimpse. Seeing something you were not supposed to have seen, such as seeing what the butler was putting in the pudding or getting a glimpse of the mysterious masked femme fatal without her mask.
Getting Away With It. You did something that you know you shouldn’t have gotten away with, but you did.
It’s Magic. Seeing something absolutely impossible.
Backing a Winner. Seeing someone or a team you care about conquering or winning a challenge.
A Clumsy Accident. Seeing someone look like they just did something painful (but not serious) by accident, such as banging their head.
Imitation. When something or someone tries to imitate you or someone you know.
Nostalgia. Finding, seeing, or experiencing something that is a warm memory from the past.
Child’s Eyes. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes, seeing how they overreact to things, such as a gift.
Yummy Food. Finding your favorite food or experiencing a new food that you love.
Music to my Ears. Hearing music you really like and get into.
Scary Moment. Being scared and then realizing that you are okay.
Absent Friend. Finally seeing someone you’ve not seen for a long time and who you missed.
Award Winning. Winning an award or being celebrated for some reason.
Customizing Your Character. It’s more fun when, instead of playing a preset character, you can inject your own personality into the choice. Better still, gamers don’t sit down with the same mood every time they play, so allow them to change up how they look; they will have more fun if they are able to experiment and see the responses each persona gets from others. (For more on character customization, see “Ways to Customize Avatars” in Chapter 12, “Character Design.”)
Swapping Race or Gender. This is a variation of customizing your character. It’s possible in games to appear to be a different race or gender. The fun is seeing how people react to you; you can also make fun of their stereotyping of you.
Looking Cool. This does not mean customizing your character (I already covered that); it’s when your character handles a situation well. For example, when a character causes a massive explosion or scores a touchdown, the way the character acts reflects the feeling we know the gamer is experiencing right then. If you can get the synergy between the character onscreen reflecting the gamer’s real-time feelings, then you will be creating more fun for the gamer.
Fantastic Moves and Combos. This is when your character (under your control) performs better, cooler, more impressive moves than you even knew you could do. Meaning that (for a moment) you feel smarter and cooler than you really are. The game makes you believe you have skills you don’t really have. Better still, the reaction of the game to those mad skills you appear to have enhances the effect. The result is that the gamer feels he is having fun then, and he’ll be addicted to trying to get that feeling again. (It’s up to the designer to make sure it’s not too long before the gamer will be getting that feeling again.)
Customizing the Game. The concept here is that you get to adjust the rules. Very commonly people do this by cheating in games. Meaning you just got the bag of endless grenades. The result is a short period of fun when they realize they’ve been able to invoke a desired change and maybe improve their situation, even if only temporarily. Sometimes the controls are simple modifications of the rules that are in play right then. So for example, if the battle is to capture three buildings, you could “easily” adjust that to five if you’re feeling like the battles are too short. Allowing the tweaks often quells discontent and keeps the fun alive. The best example of this is the common game option that lets you flip the Y axis when controlling a flying vehicle (because some people feel up should be up, and some feel that up should be down).
Creating Your Own Levels/Missions. This is commonly too technically challenging to attract most gamers. There are some games that let you lay out simple rooms; some offer development tools to make your own levels, but it’s clear that if that feature is enabled, it can become addictive (or add to the replay value) when a gamer is motivated to modify the game levels. The challenge for the designer is to give that ability in an uncomplicated way. Remember that “the level” does not just have to be the physical level—it can also be the rules of the level. So for example, perhaps the player can adjust gravity. The ability to fling bodies 100 feet instead of 10 feet is the kind of thing players will find fun, and they will be driven to experiment more.
Creating (Generally). Making or building something that you or others care about.
Entertaining Yourself. When you have enough tools or a playground to entertain yourself, it’s fun.
Having powerful weapons/abilities.
Explosions (especially when you cause them).
Amassing a fortune in gold (or whatever passes for money in the game) or in goods.
Stealing a fortune in gold or goods.
Having the best of everything.
Obtaining a cool object (weapon, power-up, armor, widget, etc.).
Finding the last item on a list of items you needed.
Building something useful or cool.
Discovering a secret.
Discovering Easter eggs.
Winning in games of chance or skill.
Winning a prize.
Unlocking a secret area or character.
Escaping the police or any enemy.
Successfully sneaking through or past a dangerous situation (being stealthy).
Spotting a trap before you walk into it—avoiding it or disarming it.
Making an enemy fight for you by using guile, magic, possession, or some other control method.
Looking forward to an interesting outcome to an ongoing situation (anticipation).
Exploration.
Jumping and climbing—also swinging, dropping, gliding, flying, spinning.
Successfully completing a really hard jump or sequence.
Getting to the top of something.
Getting to the bottom of something.
Seeing a spectacular view or a dramatic event—especially something blowing up!
Sex is fun, but not very acceptable in games. Still, it appears in places. Look at Lara Croft, for one—or, more recently, God of War. In the case of the old Leisure Suit Larry games, it was the flirtation and seduction that was fun, although treated in a humorous way. Flirtation in The Sims and The Sims Online was also an integral part of those games, although not done with such a slapstick or mocking approach.
Finding more than one way to do something.
Finding/earning/making money (or the game equivalent).
Having lots of money and buying the coolest stuff.
Clearing an area.
Completing a quest.
Completing a level.
Completing a level/round perfectly.
Getting increased stats or abilities.
Being invincible (or nearly so).
Defeating a boss.
Watching a really cool cut-scene movie, especially if it is a reward for having completed a task or level.
Solving a puzzle or mystery.
Getting the high score.
Beating your previous high score.
Just about anything you do well in a sports game, such as:
Getting a hit
Hitting a homerun
Getting a double play
Getting the third out
Getting a first down
Intercepting a pass for a touchdown
Getting a touchdown
Making the extra point
Getting a goal
Getting a hole in one, birdie, eagle, double eagle...
Taking the lead in a race
Winning a game, match, or race
And so on...
Successfully pulling off your most special moves/spells/abilities/combos.
Mastering a challenging sequence or area.
Flying a plane.
Driving a car.
Operating a boat.
Performing stunts.
Moving really fast.
Riding a horse (camel, elephant, dragon, ornery mule, etc.).
Dying spectacularly.
Balanced responsibilities.
Personalizing something in the game—making it your own.
Being challenged.
Being antisocial.
Being social.
Saving the princess (the world, the day).
Developing a plan that works!
Solving a puzzle.
Getting a joke (for example, if you remember the culture reference the joke is about).
Coming up with a clever/obscure scheme to solve a problem and finding the game lets you do it.
After years of playing games, we all know what we don’t like. Here are a few ideas of what we like to avoid in our games.
Walking/running endlessly and repeatedly to accomplish some unimportant task(s)—“no sore feet in cyberspace.” If you have to travel by foot or other slow means across endless tracts, it had better be worth it!
Repeating the same action or task too many times, especially without any significant reward.
Doing a lot of work without any reward.
Unbalanced responsibilities.
Games where money is really hard to get at first, then becomes meaningless later on.
Getting stuck because of a bug.
Getting stuck because the game is too obscure.
Finding out that some item you once had was critical to completing some aspect of the game—but you threw it away or sold it, and there is no alternative but to go back to a saved game you made 20 hours ago.
Stupid, unimaginative NPC dialog that’s always the same. For instance, having NPCs give you the same clue after you already accomplished the task.
Solving a puzzle under fire.
(Bad) cut scenes that can’t be skipped.
Having to read the manual to get into the game.
Playing a buggy game.
Not being able to save the game when you really want to.
Having to sit through the same cut scenes you’ve already seen, especially because you died and have to repeat a sequence.
Having to sit through any lengthy scene without the ability to skip it.
Having to sit through the credits and intro screens every time you boot up a game.
Having to constantly feed or water your character. In most games, this is more trouble than it’s worth, although it is integral to some games.
Playing a game that’s always predictable.
Having your path randomly blocked by wandering NPCs or other characters.
Trying to read dialog or player communications in over-the-head bubbles that block each other out.
Having a game be too hard to complete.
Losing.
Having really cool moves or combos, but never being able to get them to work.
Joining a multiplayer game where everyone else is super advanced, and getting murdered over and over again without much hope of catching up.
Discovering that a game that seemed really cool is really a one-trick pony and doesn’t keep delivering fresh experiences after the beginning.
Games with horrible dialog delivered by even more horrible actors.
Games that are bad imitations of good games.
Games where the controls don’t make sense and/or are not customizable.
Games that rely almost entirely on flashy graphics and technology but have no content or gameplay value.
Random deaths, as I call them, make the gamer feel like a loser. They should be blaming themselves for their gameplay mistakes, not the designer for illogical situations that lead to the character’s death.
Blind jumps suck. Often found in platform action-style games... One of the most common kinds of bad level design is when the player is left jumping into open space, hoping there is a floor down there somewhere to catch him. It also happens in third-person games when the camera can’t properly capture you and the enemies who are about to shoot your head off at the same time. On occasion this can be cool, but it should be done consciously and made a part of the gameplay, such as at the end of the original Prince of Persia, where it was a one-time event.
Seeing evidence that the game is cheating. Designers often cheat to tune the player’s experience, but such little tweaks should never be apparent to the player. Any time the player can tell that the designers are cheating, it’s like revealing the man behind the curtain. Not good.
Design Challenge
Look at the games you have played and enjoyed. How many of the “fun” examples from this chapter do you find in those games? How many of the “not fun” examples do they have?
Now look at one or more games you didn’t like so much. How many of the “fun” and “not fun” elements did they contain?
What’s the difference between the games in the first step and the games in the second step? Is it possible to have “fun” elements and still not be fun overall? Is it possible to have “not fun” elements and still be fun overall?
Look at your own game designs and compare them to the “fun” and “not fun” lists. Could they be improved by adding fun elements and eliminating or changing those that are not fun?