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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper Prototyping

Lecture 3:

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Updates

Assignment 2 is due TONIGHT at 11:59pm

Project pitches on Thursday

Described as “Assignment 3”

Paper Prototyping2

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Today

Paper prototyping

Will do this in class next Tuesday

Group meeting time

Paper Prototyping3

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Game Design is Hard

Paper Prototyping5

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thegamedesigninitiative

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So we need to test

Paper Prototyping6

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Full game requires a lot of effort

Paper Prototyping7

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thegamedesigninitiative

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STILL requires a lot of effort

Paper Prototyping8

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper prototype!

Paper Prototyping9

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Purpose of Paper Prototyping

Evaluate some part of the design

Not necessarily the whole design

Investigate central design questions

Simulate enough of the game to decide if it will work

Identify key problems quickly

Paper Prototyping10

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper prototyping is sometimes easy

Paper Prototyping11

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Less clear in other cases…

Paper Prototyping12

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What about…

Paper Prototyping13

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper Prototyping14

What about…

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thegamedesigninitiative

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games are a series of

interesting decisions

Paper Prototyping15

Sid Meier

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Should be able to simulate decisions

Paper Prototyping16

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What are the decisions?

Paper Prototyping17

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thegamedesigninitiative

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What are the decisions?

Paper Prototyping18

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Paper Prototyping19

What are the decisions?

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Avoid Overly Aggressive Gandhi

Paper Prototyping20

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Modeling Gameplay

Key is discretization

Identify game variables and break them into decision-

significant pieces

Space

Time

Money

Health

Paper Prototyping21

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Space

Prototyping

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Turns!

Represent a unit of action

When done, game “at rest”

Turns can be multistep

Multiple actions in a turn

Environmental interactions

Turns can alternate

between other players

with a gamemaster

not at all (one player?)

Paper Prototyping26

Discretizing Time

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Paper Prototyping27

Turns are the difference

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thegamedesigninitiative

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But you could introduce turns

Paper Prototyping28

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1. Fire Planning Phase

Choose units to attack

2. Firing Phase

Units fire one-by-one

Subtract hitpoints

3. Move Phase

Units move

4. Upkeep Phase

Units recharge / heal

5. Build Phase

Units build, finish, etc.

6. Mining Phase

We need more minerals

Gameplay Modeling29

Possible Starcraft Turn

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Allow opponent to interrupt

Action that reacts to yours

Played after you act, but

before action takes an effect

Core mechanic in Magic:TG

Make play asynchronous

Players still have turns

But take turns as fast as can

Conflicts resolved via speed

Often need a referee for aid

Gameplay Modeling30

Simulating Reaction Time

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Resources

Gameplay Modeling31

Jetpack expends

oxygen (=health)

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Discretizing Resources

Gameplay Modeling32

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Questions to explore

Does the game “work”?

Is it fun?

Can someone learn how to play?

Is the interface usable?

Can the design scale to include multiple levels?

Paper Prototyping33

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Flow

Skill

Chal

lenge Anxiety

Boredom

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Easy

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Medium

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Hard

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Paper Prototyping38

Show difficulty curve

Easy Medium Hard

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Details are on the website

Listed as “Assignment 4”

Bring prototype to class next Tuesday

Paper Prototyping39

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thegamedesigninitiative

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Rest of class: structured group time

Come up with your designs!

Put your ideas into a Google doc that’s on the website

Paper Prototyping40

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Things to discuss

What type of game?

What is the “hook” – why will anyone play it?

What does the player do?

How will the player interact with the game?

How will the game get more difficult?

What are the key issues that need to be explored?

Paper Prototyping41