Contenu connexe Plus de KreativeAsia (10) 2. My Background
n Began as a game programmer, 1980
n 16 years in companies – LArts, 3DO, DWI
n 15 years freelance design worldwide in console, PC,
serious games, social, mobile
n Now Suddenly Social with creators of Habitat, about
1/4 of Lucasfilm Games in 1985
© Copyright 2012 Suddenly Social
3. Evolving Stories…
n Stories and games seem to go together
n And of course in many ways they do
n But in others, they are 180 degrees
apart, and can fight each other
n Understanding evolution, game design,
and psychology can help us align them
n Let me demonstrate…
© 2012 Noah Falstein
4. House on Fire
n Let me tell you a story…
n Is this MY story – or YOURS?
n What’s going on here?
© 2012 Noah Falstein
8. Evolutionary Roots
n Question of human nature, behavior
n Many designers turn to psychology and
evolutionary biology
n Need a theory for the hunter-gatherer society
where our ancestors lived for millennia
n But it should also help explain modern
entertainment in all its variety
n And of course, video games!
n Maybe help point the way forward as well
© 2012 Noah Falstein
9. The Core Assumptions of
Natural Funativity
n Why would early humans take play so far?
n Play as kids to learn survival, then Work/Rest as adults
n But evolution favors fittest, and neotenous genes present
n How to be more fit – use energy, must have payoff, must
not be too dangerous
n Like many evo things, have multiple uses, like language
n People who didn’t experience fun were less
likely to survive to become our ancestors
n Only the context has changed a bit:
© 2012 Noah Falstein
14. Evolution Premise
n Entertainment is all about gaining
survival (and reproduction) advantages
n Stories are the first Virtual Reality
n We learn from others’ experiences
n Games are about choice and actions
n We learn by getting better at skills
n Games are Doing, Stories are Telling
n For more info google “Natural
Funativity”
15. Gameplay trumps Story
n So “Show, don’t tell” becomes “Do, don’t
show”
n Many great games with lots of
interactivity, no story – Tetris, Bejewelled
n No great games with lots of story, no
interactivity. Count ‘em. None!
n But there are fabulously successful things
with no interactivity and great stories
n We call them Movies
18. So is it hopeless?
n We can mix stories in games
n Stories can make games more fun
n They can intensify emotional response
or enable new feelings
n They can add a new dimension to an
already good game
n It’s just hard – so you should have a
good reason – and a good writer!
19. Story and Gameplay
n Let’s look at good gameplay and game
design and see how it can blend with
good storytelling
© 2012 Noah Falstein
20. Definition of a Great Game
n A great game is a series of interesting
and meaningful choices made by the
player in pursuit of a clear and
compelling goal
n Dissecting this helped with a lot of early
ideas about Natural Funativity
© 2012 Noah Falstein
21. A series of … choices in
pursuit of a … goal
n Must have choice, or it is not interactive
n Chris Crawford says “Verbs, not Nouns”
n I prefer “Do, don’t show”
n Must be a series of choices or it is too
simple to be a game
n Must have a goal or it is a software toy
n With Sim City, The Sims or Facebook
players may bring their own goals
n Storytelling supplies goals
© 2012 Noah Falstein
22. Interesting and Meaningful
choices
n Choices may be dull and uninteresting
because it was easy to code that way
n Or it may be the reflection of a lazy
designer
n Meaningful choices are perceived by the
player as having significant
consequences – illusion is enough
n May not have actual consequences…
© 2012 Noah Falstein
23. Clear and Compelling goal
n Clear goals, because it is not fun to
flounder aimlessly
n Avoid the “protagonist with amnesia”
and other clichés in your story
n Compelling goals are goals that follow
the concepts in Natural Funativity
n Survival is always a compelling goal
n So is romance – finding a mate
© 2012 Noah Falstein
24. Structure: A series of choices
n No choice – simplest, but least
interesting possible structure – this
is a linear sequence or narrative
© 2012 Noah Falstein
25. Evolution of gameplay
n So let’s look at how video game
structure has evolved over the years,
and what has been proven to work
© 2012 Noah Falstein
26. A series of choices
n Meaningless choices
n Obviously fold back into same path
n Players discover this quickly
n But good for simple action game
© 2012 Noah Falstein
27. A series of choices
n Infinite choices
n Quickly become unmanageable
© 2012 Noah Falstein
28. A series of choices
n Choose wisely
n Kill off player with any wrong choice
n Better but frustrating
© 2012 Noah Falstein
31. Classic game structure
n A convexity
n Starts with a single choice, widens to
many choices, returns to a single choice
© 2012 Noah Falstein
32. Convexity qualities
n Go from one to many to one
n Can be a level, an act, an episode
n Can be any kind of choice – geography,
weapons, tools, skills, technologies,
quests – or story dialog choices
n One example – exploring an island
n Another – technology build tree
© 2012 Noah Falstein
33. Fractal structure
n Large scale structure repeated on
medium, smaller scales, like a coastline
n In the case of convexities, each circle is
not a single choice, but a convexity
n Frontierville example – To gain
experience, build cabin, need tools, visit
friends, tend their crops, request gift
© 2012 Noah Falstein
34. A series of convexities
n Many games are chains of convexities
B B B
B A A A A
A
n Points of limited choice (A) alternate
with points of many choices (B)
© 2012 Noah Falstein
36. A series of convexities
n Many overlapping convexities in great
games
n Examples include Halo, Zelda games,
Civilization, Diablo II, Starcraft,
Bioshock, Frontierville, many others
n Player can be starting one task or area,
in the middle of another, and at the end
of a third, all simultaneously
© 2012 Noah Falstein
37. Why is this structure so good?
n Give the player choice but not an
infinitely expanding set of choices
n Mix of some “any order” choices (B)
and some in fixed order (A), blending
freedom with linear storytelling
n Can be structured so players see most
of the game, minimizing waste
n Can have difficulty go up in new levels
© 2012 Noah Falstein
38. Psychological advantages of
classic structure
n Alternating intense learning (A) with
time to practice (B) is the best way to
master new skills
n Gradual learning and introduction of
new skills at the heart of fun game play
n “Easy to learn, difficult to master”
n Stories – series of acts, building to crisis
© 2012 Noah Falstein
39. The concept of Flow
n U of C professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
n One of his books is “Flow: The
Psychology of Optimal Experience”
n Flow is a state of exhilaration, deep
sense of enjoyment
n Usually when a person’s body or mind
is stretched to its limits to accomplish
something difficult and worthwhile
© 2012 Noah Falstein
40. The Flow Channel
n Start with relatively low level of
challenge to match starting skill levels
n Gradually increase challenge
n Fast enough to prevent boredom
n Not so fast as to induce frustration
© 2012 Noah Falstein
41. The Flow Channel
Too Hard (Frustrating)
Increasing Difficulty
si on
y Pr ogres
lt
eD ifficu
G am
Ideal
Too Easy (Boring)
Increasing Time (and Player Skill)
© 2012 Noah Falstein
42. The Flow Channel
n Flow state is common while developing
same skills noted in Natural Funativity
n Best to introduce skills one at a time, let
player master them, move on to new
n This results in staggered increase in
difficulty (wavy difficulty line)
© 2012 Noah Falstein
44. Typical game mechanisms
n High difficulty increase: Boss monsters,
climactic battles, quest resolutions
n Low difficulty increase: Bonus levels,
new resource- and treasure-rich areas,
series of easy “minion” enemies
n Overlap introduction of new skills, areas
to explore, tools, enemies
© 2012 Noah Falstein
46. Conclusions
n Games, stories about evolutionary
advantages
n They blend on some levels, conflict on
others
n Use them in harmony and you will
succeed, use them in conflict and player
will feel frustrated
© 2012 Noah Falstein
47. Thank You!
n Noah Falstein
n Send me a Linked In request, mention
this presentation or conversation
n nfalstein on twitter, skype
n noah@suddenlysocial.net (note .NET)
© Copyright 2012 Suddenly Social
