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 Features
Game
Design: Theory & Practice, Chapter Seven
The Elements of Gameplay
Emergence
It is the
development of numerous robust and logical systems that leads to player-unique
solutions to situations in the game. One could describe these solutions
as "emergent" from the systems design of the game, a popular
buzzword in game design circles. Establishing a game universe that functions
in accordance with logical rules the player can easily understand and
use to his advantage allows players to come up with their own solutions
to the problems the game presents. Nothing can be more rewarding for the
player than when he tries some obtuse, unobvious method for solving a
puzzle or a combat situation and it actually works. The more complex systems
that work correctly and concurrently with each other, the more interesting
and varied the solutions to situations become. Consider the game Civilization,
with its numerous systems running in parallel. These systems work together
to create some of the most compelling gameplay ever pressed to disk.
Another example of this sort of emergent strategy can be found in the
original Centipede. Anyone who has ever played the game knows that
the piling up of mushrooms is one of the greatest impediments to a long
game, and many players understand the importance of keeping the play-field
as clear as possible. As the devotees of the game pumped quarter after
quarter into the game, they began to notice some patterns. First, they
recognized that the flea is responsible for dropping most of the problematic
mushrooms, though destroyed centipede segments also drop them. Second,
they saw that the flea does not come out on the game's first wave. Third,
it was observed that the flea is triggered by the absence of mushrooms
in the bottom half of the screen. Thus the famous blob strategy was developed,
one that the game's designer, Ed Logg, never anticipated. To use the blob
strategy, the player would clear all of the mushrooms from the board on
the first wave, and then allow mushrooms to survive only on the bottom-right
quadrant of the screen. If, through careful destruction of the centipede,
the player only allows mushrooms to be created in that section of the
screen, the flea will never come out, making the game much simpler indeed.
This is an emergent solution to racking up a high score at Centipede,
one which players no doubt felt quite proud of when it was discovered.
Furthermore, it was a discovery that Logg, as the game's creator, did
not even know was there to be found. That is good game design.
Non-Linearity
Non-linearity
is another buzzword in the game industry, and well it should be. Non-linearity
is what interesting gameplay is all about, and many designers forget this
in their work. Non-linearity gives interactivity meaning, and without
non-linearity, game developers might as well be working on movies instead.
The more parts of your game that you can make non-linear, the better your
game will be.
In general, when someone says something is linear they mean that it follows
a line. A line is a series of points connected in either two- or three-dimensional
space, where one can find any point on that line using a specific equation,
such as, in a 2D case, y = mx + b. In layman's terms, this means that
a line must be straight. If one considers any two points on that line,
say A and B, there is only one way to navigate that line from A to B.
There are no choices to be made; one simply must navigate all of the points
between A and B. Outside the world of mathematics, we can consider reading
a book to be a linear experience. If one is reading a 323-page book and
if one does not skip pages or chapters, there is only one way to read
the book: by starting on page 1 and reading all of the pages leading up
to page 323.
Games, however, are non-linear works. In playing chess, there are multiple
ways to capture the opponent's king, to move from the game's predetermined
starting state to its conclusion. Indeed, there are a vast number of different
ways to be victorious in chess, and that variety is what keeps the game
interesting. These choices make chess non-linear. Suppose the chessboard
were one-dimensional instead of two, each player's pieces could only move
in one direction, and each player had only one piece. This version of
chess is a linear one, since there are no meaningful choices for the player
to make and the outcome of every game is completely predetermined. And,
of course, it is not a whole lot of fun either.
Types
of Non-Linearity
So
when we say we want our games to be non-linear, we mean we want them to
provide choices for the player to make, different paths they can take
to get from point A to point B, from the games beginning to its end. We
can mean this in a number of ways: in terms of the game's story, in terms
of how the player solves the game's challenges, in terms of the order
in which the player tackles the challenges, and in which challenges the
player chooses to engage. All of these components can contribute to making
a game non-linear, and the more non-linearity the developer creates, the
more unique each player's experience can be. Furthermore, the different
non-linear components can interact with each other to make the whole far
greater than the sum of its parts.
- Storytelling:
I discuss non-linear storytelling in more detail in Chapter 11, "Storytelling."
Of course, a non-linear story line is necessarily tied to non-linear
gameplay, and no one would bother to try to make a story non-linear
if the game itself offered the player very little in the way of meaningful
decisions. Storytelling is perhaps one of the most neglected parts of
games in terms of non-linearity, with many developers allowing for non-linear
gameplay while constraining their games to a completely linear story.
- Multiple
Solutions: I discussed above how a well-designed game will enable the
player to come up with his own solutions to the challenges the game
presents. Not every player will think of the same way to go about solving
a situation, and, given that these alternate solutions are reasonable,
any challenge must have multiple ways for the player to overcome it.
Having multiple solutions to the individual challenges within a game
is a big part of non-linearity; it enables the player to have multiple
paths to get from point A (being presented with the challenge) and point
B (solving the challenge).
- Order:
Beyond being able to figure out the solutions to challenges in unique
ways, players will enjoy the ability to pick the order in which they
perform challenges. Many adventure games have made the mistake of being
overly linear by allowing the player access to only one puzzle at a
given time. In order to even attempt a second puzzle, players must complete
the first one. That is a linear way of thinking, which proves especially
frustrating when a player gets stuck on a particular puzzle and, due
to the game's linear nature, can do nothing else until that puzzle is
solved. Giving the player choices of different puzzles to solve allows
them to put aside a troubling puzzle and go work on another one for
a while. After completing the second puzzle, the player may return to
the first, refreshed and revitalized, and thereby have a better chance
of solving it.
- Selection:
Another way of making a game non-linear is to allow the player to pick
and choose which challenges they want to overcome. Say that between
point A and point B in a game there lies a series of three challenges,
X, Y, and Z, which are non-order dependent, that is, the player can
do these challenges in any order he wishes. What if, once the player
surmounts challenge X, he does not have to go back and solve challenge
Y or Z, he can simply move on to point B in the game, perhaps never
returning to Y or Z? The same is true if the player initially chooses
to tackle Y or Z instead of X. Any one of the choices will allow the
player to proceed. The advantage is that if the player finds challenge
X to be insurmountable, he can try challenge Y or Z. This greatly decreases
the chance of the player becoming permanently stuck. It need not be
the case that Y is easier than X; the mere fact that it is different
may allow the player a better chance of getting through it, depending
on his strengths as a player. Other players may find X to be easier
than Y or Z, but giving the player a choice of which challenges he takes
on allows the player to exploit his own personal skills to get through
the game. Of course, after completing challenge X, the player may still
have the option of going back and completing the Y and Z challenges,
perhaps just for the fun of it or because overcoming those challenges
somehow improves his chances down the line. Perhaps completing Y and
Z gives his player character greater overall experience or riches. This
type of non-linearity can also be used to add totally optional side-quests
to the game. These challenges are not strictly required for the player
to get to the end of the game, though they may make it somewhat easier
or merely provide an interesting diversion along the way. Whatever the
case, these optional challenges provide an extra degree of non-linearity,
further customizing the player's experience.
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