Real Time Item Usage Gameplay Style
Real Time Item Usage Gameplay Style
This page describes a definition of gamplay style and the new RTIU gameplay style
originally presented as an assignment of the Gameplay Design class at the University of Gothenburg.
Designing for a Gameplay style
A gameplay style is sometimes described as a genre classification, which is something
too general to describe a type of game (Mitchell, 2012), however for this paper we have been
told to concentrate on something more specific that defines a style. Nevertheless, one could
get so specific and end describing a gameplay design pattern. Therefore, I decided to
introduce the GNS model (Edwards, n.d.) in a definition of gameplay style, not only to enrich
the complexity of gameplay styles, but also to be specific on individual aspects that players
may focus when playing in a gameplay style.
Gameplay Style
Definition of the gameplay style
In this section a definition for gameplay style is described, and followed by its reasons, since
it is based on the GNS model (Edwards, n.d.), game mechanics (Sicart, 2008) and game
design patterns (Björk, Lundgren, Holopainen, 2003). The concluded definition is the
following:
A gameplay style is the set of gameplay patterns and mechanics that creates a certain
mode in players.
Set of Gameplay Patters.
In order to design a style, I think that a designer should take into consideration
patterns that are needed to produce a certain style. For instance, if one wants to create a
strategy game, then some patterns are key for example tactical planning, teams or tension
between players who would execute the strategy
Set of Mechanics
Mechanics must be the key for a gameplay style, since they can represent the uniqueness of a game. Continuing with the strategy game example, it is not the same to have the trade unicorns mechanic in Unstable Unicorns(Badie, 2018)than the trade resources mechanic in The Settlers of Catan(Teuber, 1995). Unstable Unicorns trade mechanic works by using a special card which can appear randomly during the game, meanwhile The Settlers of Catan trade mechanic can be used in any players turn, and no randomness is created.Therefore, both games have different gameplay styles.
Specific players mode is desired
It is also needed to use modes for gameplaystyle description, since designers should focus on an aesthetic experience when players play the game. When talking about players mode I am referringto the GNS model, which divides three possible approaches of playing: Gamism, Simulationism and Narrativism.The modes are needed to focus the aesthetic intended in the design, for instance a game stylein real time combat games, like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, always transmit a gamism mode no matter the intentions of the player when they are killing or making combos by hitting an enemy, the need of getting more points in that scenario emerge without players intentions, in other words a gamism mode emerge from the mechanics and patterns and it is implicit in thedesign.
Real Time Item Usage Gameplay Style(RTIUGameplay style)
In this subsection the description of a gameplaystyle that I have identifiedis presented, which I gave the name of Real Time item usage.The style to be mentioned contain patterns specific to the character development, mechanics based on roles, and intrinsic gamisn mode. The gameplaystyle that I found,looking at League ofLegends (LOL) and DOTA 2, is that in order to player’s character to get more points, attack or fend,they need to have items to increase their skill points or use special abilities. Therefore a constant character developmentis created and consequentlyracesbetween teamsor opponents, like non playable, characters are created.
However, the style focuses only on the character point of view, for example a player A has a character G as a sorcery role, so in order to develop the character it must get magic items, then its skill points can increase, i.e. attacking faster, or increase resistance to hits.
Othercharacteristicsof the style are its mechanics which are collecting role-baseditems, testing abilitieswhich can lead to attack, and fendwhile testing.The collecting role-baseditems mechanic is the most important, and the one that defines the style, because it helps player’s character to increase its skills by, in some cases, leveling up. Furthermore, when players collect items, they will start testing those new contained abilities, for example: when players collect a new item, in LOL, they will test those abilities by attackingother characters, so they have two options: if they are satisfied with the upgraded skills they would continue playing and collecting similar items or upgrade the existing ones, however if they are not satisfiedthey would drop the collecteditem to another and repeat the testing. In LOL we can see the last example when a player A plays as Ahri(a sorcererscharacter), then A can a Blasting Wand to increase its ability power, as a consequence A could have more damage points when hitting an opponent with Ahris powers, later A will collect similar items until A gets an item similar to Luden’sEcho which can be seen as a natural upgrade from Blasting Wand. In contrast, if a player B as Jax(an assassin character) and collects the Basting Wand, thenit won’thave abilities to be increase since the item is dedicated for sorcerers and not for assassins, so B would discard that item and try to collect items like Trinity Force, which is better for B’s role.
Likewise, when playing in this gameplay style, players are always in a gamismmode because they are focusing on upgrading their characters, neithersimulation nor narrative is sought. As an example, in Star Wars Battlefront II(SWBF)players have the option tokeep on the simulation and actually play with the willing to be a Stormtrooper or a Jedi, however players can use ability cards to upgrade its characterswhich lead to have better weapons or skills, consequentially to get more kills or better shields. Thedifference between the LOL case and the SWBF case is that players do not need to wait for time base currency to collect the desired items, instead they can select from an items collection that players need to populate. However, the gamismmode can be compared between both to be the same,upgrade to obtain more kills or kill enemies easier.
Examples of Games that use the gameplay style
Games that use this gameplay style are various, even the ones that are not consider as rolegames. The games to be presented are the following: League of Legends(RIOT games, 2009), God Of War(SCE Santa Monica Studio, 2018)and Final Fantasy XIII(Square Enix, 2009). League of legends has the RTIU gameplay style because it is a game based on strategy with teams and items collection, these itemshelp the character to level up or upgrade its skills based on a role defined by the player. Also, the game has the mechanics likeattack or fend which helps players to test the items. Likewise, God of War (GOW)has a character development based on the items that the player may found or create during the main campaign. Although GOW is not a role based game, the player assumes the role of Kratos and its abilitiescan be developed depending which kind of skills the player may choose, for example: a player can decide to balance all its abilities by equallyupgrading the shields, clothing , axe and sword, yet another player would upgradejust the offensive objects. It is worth mentioning that the game has a complex skill evolution system, consequently, by experience playing the game, one willend with a Kratos different from other players.
Anotherexample is Final Fantasy XIII, because a player can control characters in any role and upgrade their abilities by upgrading items , however the difference with LOL is that items must be found by the player, and the difference with GOW is that a player hasmore roles that can be manipulated. In this casethe strategy with teams is required for game progression, even so players are free to upgrade and have a different character developmentand role fulfillmentdepending on a strategic knowledge. For example, a player can concentrate on a brute force strategy with a character Snow, which is a character with physical strength, by upgrading this character for a top attack power, however this strategy would only work for enemies with weakness to direct physical hits.Of course, the only way that the game let character development is by items and experience points, of course items play an important role since they upgrade weapons and skills. Furthermore, as the previous paragraph, different players can finish the game with different teams with different items, swords and levels.
Guides for design development
This section talks about the design guidelines on how to create a RTIU gameplay style in a game, based on the iterative designspecificallyBrainstorming, DigitalPrototype, Presentation, and Quality Assurance(Fullerton, 2019), because they are critical forrepresentingthe starting and end of the project, so the idea of the style should be clear for the last development phases. On the Brainstorming phase, designers must have the mechanics and patterns mentioned on 1 to obtain a body that follows the style lines. To accomplish the desired gameplay, the mechanics presented can be based on a game that already has the mechanics from the gameplay style like the ones in section 2. Nevertheless, in order for a game to differentiate itself, designers should find originality in mechanics, based on the previous mentioned games but not engage in them, rather find the right mechanic for the theme of the game.In the case of a prototype,I based this on requirements engineeringconcepts,designerswould have two challenges which are inspections and tests(Lauesen, 2017).
Inspections are meant to reduce errors in the final product by using checklist or other inspection processes. Moreover, tests can be considered validations of the concepts presented in the design likeplacing the game in an specific scenario, however in orderto test this specific gameplaystyle I suggest to usea technique called usability test& heuristic(Lauesen, 2017)evaluation, so that the inspections can be competedwith the testand get feedback from the players so observers could identify possible flaws. For the Presentation phase, the idea must be clear and familiar terminology should accompany the presentation. For familiar terminology I am referring to terms that the gaming industry uses,instead of using RTIU to describe the game, for instance terms like hack and slash,combos, leveling up and strategy are often more usedfor journalists to describe a game. Of course,those words won’tdescribe perfectly the style,but the team, developers,will be more familiarized with it.
Finally, for the quality assurance phase testers must ensure that the gamism mode is part of the aesthetic of the game, otherwise changes should be made. The gamism mode is the main feeling and way that a player must find while playing the game.
Key points whendesigninga game
Although thegameplay style has concepts that can be understood by designers there may be some challenges that mayarise when trying to materialize a game.Those challenges could bespecification for items and abilities,verification andvalidationof thecomponents, focus on personal experiencewhile seeking a gamism modeand development pipelining.
those main ideas inmechanic-item-abilitysets(MIAs), then identify each in subsets of functional requirements and specific quality requirements(Lauesen, 2017). In this designcase, functional requirementsubsetwould represent MIAs that are not important to the gamemode. As an example,the design/development of a menuto select specific itemsor the design of the buttonlayout. While the specific quality requirements subset represents MIAs that are directlyrelated to the game mode. For instance, when a player character with a magic roleshould have magic items with magic like attacks so the gamismmode could emerge while playing.
Verification and Validation
A video game can be dividedin components(Gregory, 2015) which need to be created for the prototype, however in order to satisfy functional requirements and quality requirements an inspection process is required, as described in section 5. Nevertheless, inspectionsshould be checked by resulting prototyping tests, so if MIAs are notsatisfied on individual tests and mayrequire further changeto accomplishthe gameplay style , then developers could iterate over the components.
Focus on personal experience
Since the gameplay style is based on reaching gamism mode, designers should take into consideration the interpretation that the user would have for a certain MIA, in specific the ones related to quality functionalities. Therefore, context diagrams(Lauesen, 2017)with a previous interview with playersshould confirm the interpretation that the designer wants to transmit in the gamewith the RTIU.
Development Pipeline
As it can be noted, many of the suggestions for the RTIU require constant track and iteration, so the development process could be delayed ifthe wrong process technique is appliedin the development. Therefore, I suggest the usageof Kanban framework(Atlassian,n.d.)for working between members of the development team, because it allows people to understand what is being tested and what is being developed andensures communicationwith players and possible contractors. In this way people working in the programming development can check if a component requires immediateattention dueto a failure in the prototyping test or if it is ready fordeployment in the main game.
Prototyping a game
As the previously exposed on section 3, the prototypingshould be done by the usability test& heuristicevaluationtechnique. Usability tests are used in requirement engineering to find usability problems in tests, which can be used in gameplay testing since the usability isthe experience that the players would have with a game. In specific, the usability test shouldfocus on the gamism mode.Also, this technique requires a facilitator, a log keeperand an observer.During the gameplaytesting someone of the teamneedsto observe the problems that a player may encounter,and the facilitator should note down how the player encountersthe problem. However, in this caseproblems are basedonthe feeling and sense of goals related to the gamismmode, which means that the observer should take special consideration in the way that the player is behaving while playing. As an example, if a player is evoking pure simulationism(Edwards, n.d.) while attacking, then the aim of the gameplay style is lost.Nevertheless, before testing the prototype a heuristic is needed. The heuristic(Lauesen, 2017)is the hypothesisthat designers have about an expected problem that players may encounter. Therefore, once the test is completed the designers can compare the heuristic with the actual resultobtained by the observer and the facilitator.
Things to avoid
In order to have a success game based on the RTIU gameplay style, I noted some keyelements that need to be avoided by designers: do not test the game with a member of the team, do not focus on individual mechanics anddo not stay too much time brainstorming.
First, The RTIU is meant to Evoquea mode while in a role play game,so users must feel it, however developers could have a bias conception about what they want to reach.Second, individual mechanics can be deceiving since some games share those mechanics as discussedin section 2, and it could make a game harder to differentiatewith their competitors.Therefore designers should focus on MIAs(mechanic-item-ability)so they can get requirements in a game context.
Third, brainstorming and agree with team mates is a difficult task, however things that can not be completely finished in the first phase of development can be thoughtagainby using the Kanban method, described in section 3.
Concepts that should be modified
The concepts presented by Fullerton are a good tool for designing games, howeverthere are some points, that I think need to be improved so that thepresentedgameplay style(1)could embrace designers in an easy way, whichare: digital prototyping, andthe inclusion of academic frameworks or models.The concepts of digital prototyping in the book(Fullerton, 2019)are presented for UI focused rather than in an aesthetic(Hunicke, LeBlanc, Zubek, 2004)view. I consider that the overall experienceon gameplay should be prime sogameplay styles could be identified easier in the prototype. The book show aesthetics as part of the visual design rather than the feeling that a player can feel when playing. Therefore, the concept of modes (GNS) is non existing for readers.
On the other hand, the book follows a pragmaticapproach with many comments from industry experts who have different opinionsand follow different approaches, which may lead to ambiguous conclusions, so I think that concepts like MDA framework and GNS model could create a consensus of concepts for designers.For example, in page 383 the author introducesthe perspective of Robin Hunicle who introduces the concept of MDA and the word Aesthetics, however when the author talks about Prototyping Aesthetic,he is referringto the visual design.
As a result, many concepts presented overlap others. However, the specific concept that is needed to understand the style,presented in 1, is the GNS model, because it is easier to describe what a player would feeland what the designer is actually pursuing in the game design and overall it is easier to find player’s ways to play a gamewith the GNS model.
References
Atlassian. (n.d.). Kanban. Retrieved from Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanbanBadie, R. (2018). Unstable Unicorns .Björk, Lundgren, Holopainen. (2003).
Game Design Patterns. Proceedings of the 2003 DiGRA International Conference: Level Up, 2.Retrieved from DiGRA: http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/game-design-patterns/Edwards. (n.d.).
GNS and Other Matters of Role-Playing Theory. Retrieved from The Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/1/Fullerton, T. (2019).
Game Design Workshop.CRC Press.Gregory, J. (2015).
Game Engine Architecture.CRC Press.Hunicke, LeBlanc, Zubek. (2004). MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. Retrieved from CiteSeerX: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.79.4561Lauesen. (2017).
Guide to Requirements SL-07: Problem Oriented requirements .Mitchell, B. L. (2012).
Game Design Essentials.John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
RIOT games. (2009). LeagueOf Legends.SCE Santa Monica Studio. (2018). God Of War.Sicart. (2008, December).
Defining Game Mechanics. Retrieved from Game Studies: http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicartSivert, A. (2019). Playtesting.Gothenburg.
Square Enix. (2009). Final Fantasy XIII.
Teuber, K. (1995). Settlers of Catan.
Comments
Post a Comment