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Creative Mobile Games Aleksey Rehlov How to eliminate risks in a game design evaluation?
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Creative Mobile Games
Aleksey Rehlov
How to eliminate risks in
a game design evaluation?
Main game design problems in video games.
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Core game mechanics isn’t played well.
The metagame doesn't create a game loop and doesn’t hook players.
In-game economics isn’t healthy.
Players don’t understand main rules of the game and how to play it.
Players don’t want to make payments or can’t do it in a game.
Players don’t get engaged within the game world.
Why do these problems occur?
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This is the first development experience with such game genre, monetization model or for such platform.
There isn’t enough game design evaluations and knowledge necessary for this project.
There is not any preproduction and all decisions have to be done on the fly.
There is a no-purpose customer or an investor which has his own vision and wants to see his features in the game.
It’s a mix of core game mechanics, metagame mechanics and/or monetization models from different games.
There is no shared vision about the game and each team member is doing his very own game.
Competence Theory
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Conscious
Incompetence
Unconscious
Incompetence
Conscious
Competence
Unconscious
Competence
Competence
Con
scio
usne
ss
In-game Storytelling
Usually a story should make an additional sense in the game but not otherwise.
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Common Mistakes
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A wish to add a strong and deep story into a game where it isn’t necessary.
A misbelief that a game can be narrative only with texts and dialogues.
A decision to write a story, a script and dialogues in-house without specialists.
Separate gameplay development and story writing.
A lack of narration integration with gameplay, level design and etc.
An absence of a separate budget part for storytelling.
A lack of texts integration and localization tools.
A late story integration in a game.
Long dialogues and texts in a fast paced game.
A wish to make a non-linear epic game story with different endings.
Lore, Plot, Story and Narration
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Lore
Plot
StoryScript
Narration
Game Story Development Pipeline
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1. To make a decision about type, scale and purposes of a game story.
2. To create a base game lore if it isn’t already created.
3. To write a plot and a story based on it.
4. To choose what narration devices will be used.
5. To write a script.
6. To make production evaluation and calculate the budget.
7. To create all necessary tools and features.
8. To integrate a script into the game.
9. To play, to test, to fix.
Where to learn?
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ISBN-13: 978-1580650663
ISBN-10: 9781580650663
ISBN-13: 978-0123743282
ISBN-10: 0123743281
Core Game Mechanics
If you hate the core gameplay then it doesn’t matter how it’s covered.
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Common Mistakes
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A decision to create a game in an unfamiliar genre without a prior research and external expertise.
A start of production without a proof of core mechanics conception.
The core mechanics is based on content consumption.
Controls aren’t adapted for target platforms.
Game session length isn’t appropriate for a target audience or platforms.
A base core mechanics is too complex or sophisticated for a target audience.
A core mechanics isn’t affected by a metagame mechanics.
A player doesn’t think that he affects the result or doesn’t know how to do this.
A game designer hasn’t necessary knowledge.
Core Game and Metagame Mechanics
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How to decrease risks?
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To form a team, a part of which has experience with similar projects.
To find a closest successful reference for a core game mechanics.
To receive feedback on the idea and the prototype from your publisher and audience
ASAP.
To make a control and gameplay adaptation for all target platforms.
To reserve R&D special time for all the original features.
To use an external expertise for all the elements which are not in-house experience.
Don’t start a linear production without a proof of core mechanics.
To integrate core game mechanics into a game loop.
Don’t be afraid to drop out any made but inappropriate features.
Where to learn?
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ISBN-13: 978-0123694966
ISBN-10: 0123694965
Metagame Mechanics
A good game is a game where there is nothing to cut out rather than where there is nothing
to add.
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Common Mistakes
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A decision to create a metagame in an unfamiliar model without a successful reference, a prior research and external expertise.
Design development of a metagame is left to the end of the development process.
A metagame doesn’t form a game loop.
There is a lot of different game modes without a strong logical differentiation.
A metagame is designed in isolation from other in-game systems.
A metagame doesn’t meet the needs of a target audience or platforms.
A metagame is too complex or sophisticated for the target audience.
A metagame can’t be scalable or expandable easily.
A metagame or its main part demands a lot of players online simultaneously.
How to decrease risks?
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To form a team a part of which had an experience with similar metagames.
To find the closest successful reference for a metagame mechanics.
Do not mix parts of metagame from different games without thinking.
To use an external expertise for all the modes which are not an in-house experience.
Do not outsource a metagame design.
To integrate all elements of metagame into a game loop.
Don’t start modes production without a thorough understanding of their purposes.
To reserve R&D special time for all the original features.
To make all modes and systems clear and easily differentiable for players.
To have different hooks for new, regular and high-end players.
Don’t be afraid to drop out any made but inappropriate features.
Where to learn?
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In-game Economics
Only open, flexible and healthy economics can survive.
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Common Mistakes
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A decision to make a challenging economic model without an in-game economist.
Outsourcing of in-game economics development to an external expert.
Creating of in-game economics without regards to a player experience.
Copying of in-game economics from other games without understanding of it.
A presence of inflation, wealth trading and supremacy goods.
New content is better and directly comparable with the old one.
There is an obsoletion of in-game resources.
There is a black market and real money trading in the game.
An absence of flexibility of in-game economics.
A lack of understanding of main resource flows by players.
How to decrease risks?
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To have an expert of in-game economics in the team.
To find a closest successful reference for in-game economics, to conduct reverse
engineering of it and to recreate it.
Do not mix parts of different in-game economics systems without thinking.
To use an external expertise but to design an in-game economics system in-house.
To keep a small amount of main in-game resources.
To recalculate in-game economics as much as necessary and reserve special time for it.
To make all elements of in-game economics clear for players.
To design in-game economics in concert with the monetization system.
To avoid all negative players’ experience, such as inflation, obsoletion, wealth losing etc.
Monetization
Don’t try to sell everything, offer only vital and clear things.
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Common Mistakes
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Copying a monetization system from other games without understanding it.
A wish to sell everything that can be sold.
Selling overpowering things and superior goods.
Selling bonuses and boosters which can be stacked multiple times.
A big variety of different goods.
Any spam in the world channel about someone has bought or won something for the real money.
Large quantity of advertisements and pop-ups with premium offers beyond players control.
Short terms monetization without a long term monetization plan.
A lack of useful goods at any stage of the game.
How to decrease risks?
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To have an expert of monetization in the team or listen to the experts from the publisher.
To use an external expertise on all key milestones.
To keep a small amount of selling goods but clear and useful for a player.
To make your shop menu so simple that every user could understand it as soon as they see it.
To design a monetization system in concert with the other systems.
To have multiple points of selling and to offer to a player that really needs it at the moment.
Don’t sell exclusive powerful items in games with direct players interaction.
Don’t sell premium goods directly, make players earn an opportunity to buy them.
Gamify your monetization.
Where to learn?
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Ramin Shokrizade
Game Economist
Ethan Levy
Monetization Design Consultant
Tutorial
A modular tutorial with context oriented blocks is the best way to learn a game.
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Common Mistakes
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Thinking about the tutorial as the last resort or when the game is almost done.
A replacement of the tutorial by a user manual.
Considering players are too smart or not too smart.
A tutorial doesn’t teach a player the game loop.
A tutorial hasn’t got steps for reinforcement of learning.
A tutorial isn’t integrated with a story if it is presented.
A player can fail the tutorial and start from the beginning.
A player can do something wrong in the tutorial and get stuck in the game.
A tutorial has a lot of texts or is too long and without free gameplay elements.
A wish to teach all things at one time.
Modular tutorial
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Interactive tutorial
Reinforcement of learning
Free gameplay
Aleksey Rehlov
Questions?
Creative Mobile Games, 2015DevGamm 2015, Moscow
