Notes from research/ things I read
(* ---) = Asterisk in brackets indicates my notes/thoughts.
Mackenzie, D. (1999) 'Addicted to logic', American Scientist, 87(3), 217+
This book explores connections between the game Minesweeper and logic.
- Explains how the game Minesweeper can be used to learn about "logical reasoning" and gives the example of it being used in a maths classroom.
- "Little island of safe calls surrounded by a sea of unknown hazards" I thought this quote was quite a poetic way to describe the start of a Minesweeper game.
- Many times while playing Minesweeper you will have to make choices, you have to compare "plausible evidence" and "proof".
- The author quotes mathematical professor P.F.Lock who states that both mathematicians and players of games like Minesweeper "use one result to prove a later result". When you identify a mined square, you can use that to uncover safe squares.
- "Robert Donnor" (*Presumably the creator of Minesweeper?) created a similar game before where you have to find a safe path across a 'minefield', but his friends assumed that the objective was to find all the mines, which led to the creation of Minesweeper. Which was "on every new operating system sold" according to the author (*around 1999 I assume this was correct, since I had to download the Microsoft Minesweeper app on my computer).
Golan, S. (2014) 'Minesweeper strategy for one mine'
This was overall a bit too complex for me, I believe it was sharing some sort of script or calculation for solving something in Minesweeper, but I did get some notes that might be useful.
- It shared that (For a test they did I believe) Beginner minesweeper is 8x8 with 10 mines, Intermediate is 15x13 with 40 mines and Expert is 30x16 with 99 mines. (*This could be used to work out how many mines to use depending on the size of the game board)
- "Mines distributed between all cells" "Uniformly at random" except the cell the player starts with (* I believe this was the beginning state used for one of the statistics?)
- "Covered > total number of mines" "if label (v) = * print lost" These were part of what looked like a script, however I don't know what language it was in and in the latter part of the book it seemed more like probability calculations rather than script. However these two parts I understood as
1- calculating if the covered squares were greater than the number of mines, which checks if the game is completed (since in a win state the only covered squares would be the mines)
2- if the square the player clicks on is labelled as a mine (mined squares are labelled with an asterisk [*]) then the game ends.
Maithili Dhule 2022, Exploring Game Mechanics, Apress.
This book contains lots of useful information about different game mechanics and things to think about when making a game.
- Gaming = "Billion-Dollar Industry"
- "Basic need of any gamer - to successfully complete a task that's clear and easy to understand"
- "Novelty, Creativity, Achievement & Social interaction" The key things a player needs in a game.
- Novelty: Escaping reality, "unpredictable", things to discover, storytelling, "mechanisms that often depend on narrative", "live the life of make-believe characters", the impossible, "chance-based elements" like dice, what happens next?
- Creativity: "character customisation", player choice (good - bad), freedom, imagination, build things, unique experience.
- Achievement: challenges, rewards, "Progressively more difficult", levelling up, trying again until you succeed, mistakes > start-over, saving progress.
- Social interaction: meet, play, chat with other players/NPCs, trading, help/helping, PVP.
(* For my idea I want to include storytelling and maybe a chance-based element (for novelty), maybe a choice of character at the start of the game and maybe different dialogues for the NPC? (for creativity), I definitely want some sort of quests and levels as well as being able to start the stage again if you fail (Achievement) and I was thinking about making the game multiplayer but I think that might be a bit too complex? so I will have NPCs that you can talk to who could also sell things or give hints, I would also like to include pets that help the player (social interaction). )
- Rules and objectives make up the game.
- Genres appeal to different people.
- Casual-Puzzle games are easy to pick up/put down. Usually free to play, with paid special items. Colourful and nice to look at with points, levels and boosts (which you can sometimes watch ads to get). Rewards for playing daily.
- Simulation games emulate real life. In strategy games, your actions can lead to victory or defeat.
- Different types of choices can impact the gameplay of some games.
- "What emotions would the player feel in a particular situation?, What is the thought process like for different kinds of players?, Are the decisions going to impact a major part of the game?, How many possible endings?, Is the game replayable?"
- Game balancing. Some games start easy but then get harder and the player gets stuck.
- "Objectives and mechanics should be clearly understood"
- You need to balance the game to make it fair and fun.
- "Ensure player knows the rules of the game"
- Risk v Reward. Small rewards for small tasks, big rewards for bigger ones. The more challenging the better the rewards.
- "Intersperse extremely challenging levels with relatively simple ones" (* Could also add alternate quests or routes for really hard levels/quests)
- Chance vs. skill. Lootboxes (*Although I believe in some cases this can be gambling which is not allowed in games in certain countries like the Netherlands.- An article that talks about this). These need to be fair and the rewards often include cosmetics and in-game items. Skill: Speed, fast-thinking, problem-solving.
- Game balancing can be fixed through tweaks, patches etc.
- Tutorials: Controls, characters, basic game mechanics. Includes visual cues indicating where the player should go (For example in Mario the character starts off the left with empty space to the right), and visual cues for good/bad characters. Games often use a "tutorial island" or "integrate or blend the tutorial into the game". The author suggests letting the player "learn through doing" and to "stagger introduction of game mechanics". The flow of the game is important. Another feature of tutorials is using arrows or audio as cues.
- Linear and non-linear narratives, side quests, unique experiences, secret paths. The author gives an example of a faction-based game where you gain favour/enemies or power.
- Character motivation: External is things like wanting to explore. Internal is wanting to change something within eg. "Emotional issues, learning to love oneself".
- Characters being quiet or having a voiceover and cut scenes can help the player understand the character.
- Player progression: levelling up, level complete, XP/exp, skills, perks, ability to assign skill points, new content, better equipment(visual changes), skill trees, unlocking new things.
- Quests give rewards like XP, gold, abilities and new gear. They also allow you to meet new characters or explore new areas.
- Gather quests, kill quests, delivery quests, escort quests, interaction quests.
- Resources available should correspond with the quest, the quest needs to be do-able. The variety and length of the quest should also be taken into account.
- Balance, linking side quests to the main storyline.
- Think about how the player will interact with the game. Buttons, swipes & taps. Will the player move tile by tile or will they be able to jump, dash, dodge etc..
- Action points, stamina. Different ways to travel (vehicles) to help speed up travel, so the player doesn't get bored walking everywhere. Fast travel (teleporting).
- Collecting: item collection. rewards, power-ups, multipliers, extra life, collectables (rare items), passive boosts, collected items having weight or requiring a certain level of equipment to harvest.
- Obstacles, monsters, environmental objects to use as shields, dodging, variety in enemies.
- Aggro, detecting motion.
- Player hints, give the player time to prepare and acknowledge the enemy. Different level enemies.
- Economy, selling/trading/buying resources. Timed generation of materials, (un)limited amount. Value, consumption, buying upgrades, inventory, stackables.
- "Game mechanics are a set of tools that form the foundation of engaging exciting gameplay"
- Random loot for unexpectablitly. Rare loot is less common but more useful.
- Luck mechanic, Streaks/check-ins, daily rewards.
- Everyone likes different types of games.
- "Bartle's taxonomy of player types" "the achiever, the explorer, the killer & the socializer".
- The achiever: Levels, progress, boss fights, leaderboard.
- The explorer: Freedom, locations, puzzles, easter eggs, NPCs.
- The killer: Fast-paced, chaos, horror, destruction, pvp.
- The socializer: Chatting, learning from others, trading, gifting, minigames.
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| Also included this image, which I thought the style of was very cute. |
Juho Hamari & Vili Lehdonvirta 2010, Game design as marketing: How game mechanics create demand for virtual goods, vol. 5, International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, pp. 14–29.
This article shares different ways games can market and sell virtual goods. I think these sorts of things are useful to think about when making a game since in the majority of cases the game needs to be profitable.
- The concept began in 1999 with people selling game possessions on eBay.
- This has progressed to having games which are free to play but with the "expectation" users will spend money on microtransactions (to fund the game, instead of charging people to play)
- Although free-to-play games might earn less per player, since it's free to join more players are willing to try the game and therefore potentially spend money on it.
- In-game purchases can correlate with the immersion of the game.
- "Customisation and self-expression"
- Offering items to buy based on the players' level.
- Comparing different products. Talks about vertical and horizontal differentiation.
- Higher level items used to speed up beginning levels. (* This can give a headstart if there is a leader board system)
- Avatar type restrictions (* for example in a game I have played called Mabinogi there are restrictions for character type (Elf, human or giant and gender) as well the age of the character)
- "Different types of avatar clothing"
- Item degradation pushes users to buy new goods when the items expire/are no longer useful.
- Limited/ old items become more valuable.
- Locked content/ upgrades, limited storage, offline abilities.
- "Operators can sell currency in amounts that are not quite divisible by item prices" leaving players with leftover currency which might influence them to buy more.
- Exchanging old items for new (recycling).
- Special events occasions and "gift giving".
- Artificial scarcity. Hard to obtain limited items.
Sources:
Mackenzie, D. (1999). 'Addicted to logic', American Scientist, 87(3), 217+
Golan, S. (2014). 'Minesweeper strategy for one mine'
Hamari, J. and Lehdonvirta, V. (2010). Game design as marketing: How game mechanics create demand for virtual goods, vol. 5, International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, pp. 14–29.Dhule, M. (2023). Exploring Game Mechanics, Apress.
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