1 / 56

Is this thing on?

Is this thing on?. Intuition And Intellect. Deconstructing The Design of Oasis. Marc LeBlanc GDC 2005. Part I: Overview. Or, what this talk is, and what it isn’t. . Outline. Demo Oasis Discuss “Intellectual” and “Intuitive” Design Outline an intellectual framework Deconstruct Oasis

ephraim
Download Presentation

Is this thing on?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Is this thing on?

  2. Intuition And Intellect Deconstructing The Design of Oasis Marc LeBlanc GDC 2005

  3. Part I: Overview Or, what this talk is, and what it isn’t.

  4. Outline • Demo Oasis • Discuss “Intellectual” and “Intuitive” Design • Outline an intellectual framework • Deconstruct Oasis • Bring up some moments of Intellect/Intuition collision

  5. Disclaimers • This talk is not a post-mortem • Not “What went right” • Rather, “What we were thinking” • This is not a “how to win the IGF” talk • Like I would know

  6. Part II: Let’s Play Oasis…

  7. Part III: Intuition and Intellect In which we talk about talking about game design.

  8. Intuition vs. Intellect • Intuition: • Life Experience • Mysterious and Creative • Quick and Dirty • Intellect: • Study, Research, Synthesis • Articulate and Analytical • Slow and Precise

  9. “The intellect is a Bailey bridge built between islands of inspiration.” - Mike Myers

  10. Another Metaphor • Intuition is “high gear” • Intellect is “low gear” • Speed vs. Power tradeoff

  11. You need both gears! • Without Intuition you will get left behind. • Without Intellect you will get stuck. • Intuition AND Intellect, not Intuiton VS. Intellect

  12. However • Intellect is inherently easier to communcate. • Welcome to the GDC

  13. Part IV: An Intellectual Framework Wherein concepts are classified, and terms are defined.

  14. Games asSoftware Code

  15. Games asSoftware Code Process

  16. Games asSoftware Code Process Requirements

  17. Games asSoftware Code Process Requirements Rules

  18. Games asSoftware Code Process Requirements Rules Activity

  19. Games asSoftware Code Process Requirements Rules Activity “Fun”

  20. A Design Vocabulary Code Process Requirements Rules Activity “Fun”

  21. A Design Vocabulary Code Mechanics Process Requirements Rules Activity “Fun”

  22. A Design Vocabulary Mechanics Process Dynamics Requirements Game “Fun”

  23. A Design Vocabulary Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics

  24. The MDA Framework Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics

  25. Part V: Back to Oasis Where we finally get back to that game we looked at.

  26. Aesthetic Objectives of Oasis • Challenge the player • He has interesting problems to solve. • Create a strategic landscape to Discover • The player crafts his own “game science.” • Create an emergent Narrative • Convey a sense of dramatic tension building to a climax. • Fulfill a Fantasy • The player feels like he’s building a tiny empire. • Create a spectacle of Sensation • Sights and sounds for the player to enjoy.

  27. The “Design Thesis” of Oasis Oasis is the “anti-Minesweeper” • Clicking yields information, but • Clicking is good instead of bad. • Many carrots, one big stick. • Some carrots are sucker punches • Use sights & sounds to lure the player

  28. The “No Bad Clicks” Principle • Became an aesthetic yardstick. • We had to refine our notion of “bad.” • “Worth less than nothing” • Killed many, many potential features. • Still, some emergent “bad clicks” remain.

  29. The Strategic Landscape • Player starts out as a tourist. • Eventually, he becomes a native. • Map Generator • Combat System

  30. Dynamics that Challenge Mechanic: Resource Contention • Different moves compete for turns. • Some also compete for followers. Combined with: • Random Maps • Random Players • Limited Information Challenging decisions emerge.

  31. Difficulty “Balance” Q: How do you find the balance point? A: You don’t. Impossible Easy Challenging?

  32. The Oldest Trick in the Book Start here Impossible Easy Challenging?

  33. The Oldest Trick in the Book • The player has to win before it becomes impossible. • You still need to tune, but now it’s possible. • This reflects our whole attitude towards “balance” Impossible Easy Challenging? • March Onward and Upward

  34. The Dramatic Arc Climax Falling Action Rising Action

  35. Dramatic Dynamics • Difficulty: Easy … Hard … Impossible • Choices: Few … Many … Few • Flow: Turn-based … Timed … Real-time • Combat: Losing … Even … Winning • Some arcs are authored, some are emergent.

  36. The Combat Mechanics,The Simple Version • Each round is a coin flip • The winner kills some of the loser’s troops

  37. The Combat Mechanics,The Less Simple Version • Each round is a lottery. • Every soldier has a ticket. • Technology can add or remove tickets. • The winner’s team gets to kill some of the losing team’s troops.3 + <treasure bonus>/2

  38. Some Combat Observations • The better army usually wins. • BUT, losing one round doesn’t cost much. • Ties can take a while to “snowball.” • The weaker army… • Still has a fighting chance • Can last a long time

  39. But There’s More • Each side gets 200 “bonus tickets.” • When a side kills N soldiers, it loses >N bonus tickets. • So: • At the start, the battle is biased towards a coin flip. • There’s some negative feedback. • When the bonus runs out, the fight becomes more skewed

  40. All This Adds Up to Drama • Fights stay close for a while, and then the tide turns. • The player starts out the underdog, and then wins. • Numbers vs. Firepower • Not too bad, for just numbers going down. • Again, the drama is emergent.

  41. Part VI: Intution and Intellect, Revisited In which the previous parts are related to each other.

  42. Creating Oasis • Our day-to-day process was largely intuitive. • Intellectual processes helped us: • Get out of ruts. • Communicate objectives. • Design tricky mechanics

  43. Another Example: The “Smitey Glyph” Feature • Problem: All levels are won or lost, no “region of forgiveness.” • Proposed Solution: The “Smitey Glyph” • Many theoretical problems • Creates a “stalling” opportunity • Diminishes the “sucker punch” • But it Just Made Sense

  44. Example: Pharaoh’s Challenge • Publisher asked us for “campaign mode” to create an increased sense of “content.” • We felt free to experiment, create an “inferior game.” • We could rationalize that freedom intellectually. • We relaxed the “No Bad Clicks” rule.

  45. Example: Level Flow Three Phases: 1. Turn-based explore & build 2. Timed troop deployment 3. Non-interactive battle. • Were we nuts? • Conventional wisdom says yes. • Conventional wisdom is largely intuitive.

  46. It’s All About Drama Battle Deploy Explore,Build

  47. An Important Precedent:Golf Games Ball Flight Swing Meter Aiming, Club Selection

  48. In General Result Execution Planning

  49. Example: Difficulty Coupling • Originally, difficulty only determined starting level number.(Easy = 1, Normal = 11, Hard = 21, Insane = 31) • Empirically, a bad idea. • We changed it so all levels start at 1. • The change bought us tuning freedom.

  50. Questions? • Slides and Stuff: www.8kindsoffun.com • Oasis: www.oasisgame.com • Me: mahk@8kindsoffun.com

More Related