Balancing: A Crucial Phase

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the requirements for a well balanced computer game. The game has to be adjusted according to the targeted playerbase’s needs, all game elements need to be relevant and a challenge’s difficulty should be aligned with the players training process caused by the gameplay.

The balancing of a computer game is a difficult but also very critical phase as it heavily affects a player’s enjoyment. In addition, achieving a good balancing is crucial to satisfy the needs of the targeted playerbase. Lastly, a good balancing ensures that players experience gaming flow and hence are immersed in the gameplay.

Generally, balancing has to achieve two main goals. On the one hand, balancing adjusts the balance between a game’s game mechanics and elements thus ensuring that no element is overpowered. For instance, the balancing of a strategy game needs to achieve that all units have a certain strength and a certain weakness for the purpose of achieving a ‚rock, paper, scissors‘ principle. At the same time, a unit’s efficiency and effectivity has to be balanced and adjusted so that the performance of a unit matches its price and availability. That way, balancing also has to achieve that all game elements feel relevant. Otherwise, players might realize that a few parts of a game are not that well designed which can lead to a lower enjoyment or even a high degree of frustration.

On the other hand, balancing also is required to adjust the game’s general difficulty. A good game always provides players with challenges they can barely overcome. As a result of this, players can experience gaming flow which is a state of mind during which a player is completely immersed in the gameplay and derives fun from it. However, when a game is too difficult or too easy, players might feel overwhelmed or bored, are not experiencing gaming flow and ultimately start to loose interest in the game.

As a result of this, it is critical to analyze the needs and characteristics of the targeted playerbase for the purpose of adjusting the game’s difficulty according to their needs. For instance, a hardcore playerbase needs tough challenges that require a perfect gameplay. At the same time, a hardcore playerbase is very resistent to failures and enjoys to retry a challenge over and over again until the challenge is exhausted. A casual gamer playerbase, on the other hand, enjoys to play games for a short amount of time only and is very interested in fast and good results. Hence, this playerbase demands a constant stream of new challenges that slowly increase in their difficulty and do not require a high amount of time to be solved.

Lastly, a good balancing ensures that a game and/or a challenge always is beatable. This requirement aligns with the balancing requirements for a flow inducing gameplay. It is crucial that a challenge only demands this amount of knowledge that probably has been trained by the player at the point of the gameplay when the challenge is encountered. Otherwise, a challenge might feel overwhelming, unfair or just based on pure luck which can destroy a player’s enjoyment.

Usability: A Critical Requirement

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the importance of a good usability as it helps to keep players immersed and affects the general entertainment of a computer game.

A good usability is an important goal in software development and game design as it allows users to operate a system with a high efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. Furthermore, the usability of a feature increases in importance the more frequently this feature is used. While a bad usability of a rare used feature can be annoying, a bad usability of a periodically required element can drastically reduce a user’s satisfaction with a product. In addition, it can result in a user’s impression that the development team has not put a lot of effort into the development of their product thus reducing the team’s reputation.

In the case of a computer game, usability also is critical for the purpose of keeping users immersed in the gameplay. When a feature is too difficult and complicated to use, it can break the immersion as it completely distracts players from the actual gameplay. Moreover, a bad system or interface design might cause some playability issues thus resulting in a high degree of frustration of the players.

The tolerance for usability issues, however, depends on the development team and the status of the game. While usability issues of an early access indy game are often accepted as the game is still in development and hence the usability will potentially be improved over time, it can cause a strong hit to a team’s reputation in the case of a professional game studio that released a fullprice title.

As usability is a well known and common concept, it all the time surprises me that many development teams seem to forget to do some playtesting in order to discover and solve those issues. Recently, I discussed the issues of Transport Fever which puts the player into the role of a transport company’s manager. In this management game, the player often can merely guess how the underlying principles work as they are not communicated properly. Recently, I got quite annoyed by the bad structure of DiRT 4’s menus.

During the gameplay of DiRT 4, players not only compete in virtual rally events, but also manage their team and upgrade their cars. Unfortunately, the team management section is not well designed and results in an overcomplicated gameplay. For instance, players can unlock new facilities that provide a particular bonus, such as a larger garage or the ability to improve a car’s performance. Unfortunately, instead of allowing a player to directly install upgrades on a car from the garage menu that displays all purchased cars, players first have to start a new rally event. Once they are in the event’s service area, they can choose an option that allows them to upgrade the car used in this event. As a result of this, players need to start an event for each of their cars when they want to upgrade them simultaneously which causes a high degree of annoyance.

In sum, it is not only important to have well thought-out game mechanics, but also to connect them with a good user interface and to communicate all relevant information properly.

Management Computer Games

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about management games that mostly require decision-making and hence, instead of demanding correct sensomotoric inputs, demand and train a player’s cognitive abilities.

Management computer games rarely provide a player with direct control game mechanics that allow for a manipulation of the gameplay in a direct way. Instead, players can only influence the progression of the game with high-level decision making that subsequently alters variables affecting the simulated activity’s outcome.

That way, management games represent the counterpart to direct control computer games that require correct sensomotoric inputs from the players to be played successfully. While players still interact with the game using regular sensomotoric input devices, such as keyboard and mouse, the game’s challenge mainly is created on a cognitive level demanding a player’s problem-solving and decision-making abilities.

Motorsport Manager – Strategy and Setup

For instance, the computer game Motorsport Manager puts players into the role of a racing team’s teamchef who is in charge of hiring drivers as well as staff, developing and improving parts for the team’s race cars, finding sponsors, developing infrastructure and setting up the cars before a race. Furthermore, during a race event, the player can make additional high-level decisions by planning a pitstop and instructing the drivers to push or drive more carefully thus reducing tyre wear and fuel consumption. However, the player can not control the cars in a direct way and achieve great results due to good driving skills as it is possible in racing simulations, such as Assetto Corsa and DiRT 4. Hence, the sum and results of all the decisions made determines the race cars‘ performance during a race and the amount of money the player’s team makes or loses per race.

In the end, despite the differences between the two game type extremes, both genres induce game-flow thus motivating players to continue playing the game and, due to the periodical demand to apply the game’s knowledge, i.e., the sensomotoric driving skills and the cognitive race and technical knowledge, achieve a training effect.

Immersion: Responding to a player’s actions

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about how DiRT 4 achieves a higher immersion by embedding the main part of the gameplay in an engaging context and making the game more responsive to a player’s actions.

DiRT 4, the successor of DiRT Rally, got released about a month ago and successfully increased the immersiveness and believability of the rally simulation by tweaking a few game mechanics and adding new gameplay elements to the game. Achieving a believable world not only requires a realistic simulation and presentation of the gameplay, but also demands a responsiveness to a player’s action. Furthermore, to avoid breaking the immersion, it is also important to implement good transitions between the main gameplay and the screens presenting a player’s results.

The latter requirement still is not completely fullfilled but successfully got improved in DiRT 4. In DiRT Rally, after switching to simulation mode, players get immediately placed behind the rally car’s wheel which already stands ready at the start of a stage. This only is different at the start of a new event which begins with a short scene presenting how the player’s car is brought to the start. From this point on, players get no further information until they start the stage. In addition, as soon as they cross the finish line, the simulation immediately ends and a screen displaying the results is shown. That way, the game completely ignores the phases before and after the race which slightly reduces the overall immersion.

This was changed in DiRT 4 which begins with a quick introduction from the co-driver who informs the players about potential damaged cars on the stage and also tries to motivate them to push hard in order to win the rally event. While this still lacks some interaction with the game, it already provides the players with a better feeling of actually getting ready for a race. Moreover, in DiRT 4, a stage does not immediately end when the player crosses the finish line. Instead, the player is required to continue driving until the marshal who informs the player about the stage time is reached. Ultimately, those two additional gameplay elements frame the actual racing thus providing a more immersive presentation of the simulation.

DiRT 4 – Stopping at the marshal

These two new elements also implement a responsiveness to the player’s action. Before the start of a stage, the co-driver also gives a brief summary of the car’s condition and hence addresses problems that might have occured due to a player’s reckless driving. Similarily, the co-driver also comments on the player’s time at the end of the stage and, depending on the result, is cheering or trying to motivate the player to push harder on the next stage. Lastly, when the player gets closer to the marshal at the end of a stage, the marshal gives a hand signal when the player should come to a stop thus reacting to the player’s actions.

In the end, by embedding the simulation in an engaging context and increasing the game’s responsiveness to a player’s actions, DiRT 4 achieves an immersive effect that goes beyond the immersion due to game-flow caused by the challenge of driving the virtual race cars as fast as possible.

Computer Games Can Rise Awareness For Climate Change

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about how computer games, movies and other forms of mass media could change the world by discussing and presenting the effects of the climate change.

Although this year’s summer has just begun, it already resulted in several temperature records and heat waves all across the globe. In addition, not only the local temperatures often reached a level which is normal for July and August, but also many regions experienced an unusual lack of rain and hence the risk of a drought. Furthermore, due to the high temperatures, many regions are also threatened by a high chance of strong storms. In the end, all of those unusual weather phenomena are a strong indication for the ongoing climate change.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning as the average global temperature continues to rise and, as a result of this, even stronger and more devastating effects can be expected in the near future. For the purpose of limiting the effects of the climate change, the Paris Agreement was ratified all around the world and entered into force last year. However, the agreement is just an early incentive to pave the way for even more effective methods to reduce man-made emissions and to limit the average global temperature rise.

Now, policy-makers are challenged to create an environment that supports those who want to provide and implement innovative technologies that reduce the emissions and hence limit the climate change. However, it is also important to rise the general awareness about the climate change to achieve a rethinking and a potential higher demand for ecofriendly technologies and solutions.

A probably very effective solution would be to discuss the climate change and to present innovative technologies in movies, computer games and other forms of media that easily reach a wide audience. Especially computer games have a great potential to rise the general awareness as they can easily demonstrate the effects as well as underlying principles and allow players to experience innovative technologies. Also, computer games can provide immediate feedback which allows players to develop an understanding of the resulting effects of certain measurements or pure ignorance and business as usual.

I strongly believe that game designers and movie makers could change the world and even make a good profit when they would collaborate with the industry that focusses on ecofriendly products. Hopefully, this potential is discovered soon as we are running out of time …

Requirement: Communicating Information Properly

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the necessity of a good User Interface to achieve a good usability.

Like any other system, computer games need a good usability and user interface to ensure a good playability and to provide players with relevant information they need in order to make correct decisions. This especially is critical when the game is a complex strategy game that challenges players to develop a good long-term strategy and make important decisions that can have a significant impact on the progress of their game. If, in the case of such a complex game, important rules and information that are encoded in the game mechanics are hidden or not shown at all, players are having a hard time to develop an understanding for the game’s gameplay and can even experience a high degree of frustration as they do not receive enough feedback to analyze their mistakes.

Transport Fever

The transport simulation game Transport Fever (TF) puts players into the role of a manager of a transport agency. During the gameplay, a player can set up transport lines by building railroad tracks, roads, harbors as well as airports and subsequently buying transport vehicles that operate on those lines. However, TF does not communicate all of the underlying principles to the player and, as a result of this, the player often can merely guess what steps are needed to establish a successful transport business.

For instance, some of the products, such as tools and machines, that can be transported to the virtual cities in TF are the end products of complex supply chains. Hence, in order to produce these advanced goods, a player has to fulfill the requirements of all the factories that are involved in this process. In addition, each factory changes the production rate based on the demands for the produced goods. As a result of this, players are challenged to ship the end product to several cities to increase the demand for the required materials in order to increase the production of a facility in the middle of a supply chain. Subsequently, this intermediate factory will increase its demand for materials produced in a different factory. Unfortunately, this dependence is never communicated in the game thus causing a high degree of confusion as a natural approach might be to start at the start of the supply chain and not at the end of it.

In the end, designing a complex game that challenges a player’s decision-making and strategy-planning abilities not only requires good and well designed game mechanics, but also a good usability and, more importantly, user interface that communicates all relevant variables and information to the players for the purpose of allowing them to make the right decisions by analyzing all potential consequences. Generally, computer games need to inform players about the underlying rules directly inside of the game to avoid any confusion, facilitate the gameplay and achieve a great entertainment value.

Critical design challenge: an immersive start of a new game

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the critical phase at the start of a game when players need to get immersed in the gameplay and being taught how to successfully play the game.

The start of a game is a very critical phase as players need to get immersed in the gameplay while simultaneously learning the general game controls. Hence, game developers are challenged to design a game’s beginning in such a way that it informs players about the underlying game mechanics while already providing them with clear goals and a constant feedback thus creating the potential for game flow.

This often is achieved with action-packed tutorial missions that put players into a precarious situation and subsequently guide them through the mission by explaining important game mechanics and requiring their execution. Thus, players already get introduced to the game’s story while simulatenous being taught how to successfully play the game. In order to increase the immersive effectivity of these tutorial missions, some computer games already start with a tutorial before even showing the game’s main menu. As a result of this, players are immersed in the gameplay right from the moment they have loaded the game for the first time.

While this approach works for most games that implement traditional game controls, e.g., using the mouse to look around and pressing the W, A, S, D keys to initiate a movement, it is more complex for games–in particular simulation games–that can be played with additional configurable hardware, such as steering wheels, joysticks and other controllers. Those games often require a customization of the controls for the purpose of matching a player’s personal preferences of using the input devices. This can especially be problematic when specific functions are not mapped to the buttons a player is used to. In such a scenario, an immediate tutorial mission often leads to a high degree of confusion as players are not satisfied with the inputs and their general performance.

DiRT 4 – Initial Tutorial

Unfortunately, this exactly happened in DiRT4 (it got released yesterday), a game I was really looking forward to as I thoroughly enjoyed its predecessor DiRT Rally. After having played DiRT Rally a lot, I have developed an advanced mental model for the virtual rally racing and I hoped to use this mental model to transfer my knowledge to DiRT4. Hence, I was really surprised as I found myself suddenly at the start of a stage without even being given the chance to adjust the game’s settings and controls. As a result of this, I was not very happy with my first minutes of playing the game as this sudden start just resulted in a high degree of confusion. It would have been much more interesting, if the developers would have experimented with an immersive form of configuring the game than forcing players to race with an unknown setup.

In the end, the way how players are informed about a game’s game mechanics and controls should not always follow the goal of achieving a very immersive and action-packed start, but be aligned with the game’s general gameplay and challenges instead. In the case of simulation games, players are challenged to operate the simulated vehicles in a very realistic way and hence they need to be aware of the controls before even given the chance to control one of the vehicles.

Random Events: High Replay Value

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about RimWorld’s random event system and general complexity that result in a high replay value of the game.

RimWorld, a colony simulation game, puts the players into control of a small group of colonists who survived a spaceship crash and stranded on the surface of a randomly generated planet. During the gameplay, a player is challenged to build a colony, produce food, research technologies and overcome a variety of random events, such as strong weather phenomena, pirate raids and solar flares that deactivate every electronical device. That way, every time the game is played, a user experiences a unique story and different challenges which results in a high replay value.

A RimWorld colony.

RimWorld is played from a bird’s perpective which provides players with a good overview and allows them to make strategic decisions. Normally, a player only gives meta-orders, such as placing markers where a new wall should be built, which are subsequently carried out by the colonists. However, in order to priotize certain activities, colonists can also be given individual tasks they complete before they resume with their regular activities.

Furthermore, RimWorld implements a high amount of variables, such as many character traits, a detailed health system and vast amount of clothes as well as other equipment, thus ultimately providing a very authentic gameplay experience [1]. For instance, colonists can suffer from various illnesses and wear a unique outfit depending on the season.

In sum, RimWorld achieves a very immersive gameplay as players can easily get attached to particular colonists and subsequently start to feel with them when they are in a dangerous situation or suffering from a severe illness. Also, due to the random event system, players often experience very dramatic moments like a short circuit that discharges every battery during an ongoing eclipse in the middle of the winter.

Personally, I am often wary when it comes to a high replay value as most games, despite being complex, rarely surprise me when I play them for a second time. RimWorld, however, has found the sweet spot between allowing me to develop a meta-strategy and surprising me with harsh events that lead to a high degree of drama and anxiety.

Recently, after having stopped playing the game for half-a-year, I began a new playthrough and I am once again as amazed and immersed as I was the first time I played the game. The reason for this comes mainly from the fact that RimWorld’s event system frequently sabotages my strategy and challenges me to adapt to a completely new situation. Moreover, as I have recreated the colonists that escaped the planet at the end of my first playthrough, I was already emotionally attached to them and skipped the phase of establishing a bonding.

As a conclusion, RimWorld’s random event generator, simulation of a large variety of different variables and general emotional aspects lead to a very immersive gameplay with a high replay value.