The Importance of a Good Mid-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 importance of providing a good mid-game to keep players excited over the course of the entire game.

The gameplay of a computer game can be separated into three distinct phases: early-game, mid-game, and late-game. During the early stages of a computer game, a player mostly has to learn the different game mechanics as well as the game controls. Also, players only have access to a few game mechanics, resources as well as technologies or skills. In this way, the early phase of a computer game often is very challenging as players have to find a way to overcome challenges with limited resources only.

When transitioning to the mid-game, players have gained access to most resources and the majority of the available game mechanics as well as technologies or skills. In this phase, players are challenged to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in their gameplay. For instance, when playing Factorio, players are challenged to transition from their first preliminary base to a very efficient base that has a high output of materials needed for the late-game.

Finally, once reaching the late-game, players have access to all game mechanics and technologies or skills. In this stage, players benefit from the work they put into the first two stages of the gameplay as they now can rapidly produce needed elements or tackle the most difficult challenges. In case of Factorio, a player can set up new production lines with ease as they mostly have access to an ever increasing number of produced goods. Thus, the late-game is the phase in which anything is possible and the potentially most epic events will take place.

As a result, players are challenged to find their way into the game during the early-game and to overcome the most difficult challenges during the late-game. During these two phases, players experience the greatest fun when playing a game. However, the mid-game often is connected to less exciting moments as players do not need to carefully think about their next steps anymore but also cannot tackle the highest challenges of the game. Thus, it is critical to provide players with some fun moments or clear tasks during the mid-game to keep the gameplay exciting.

Recently, I experienced a very good mid-game as I played Astroneer. I already researched most of the available technologies and visited all celestial bodies at least once. At this point, I thought that I will have an easier time from now on. However, as I wanted to transition to end-game technologies, I realized that producing them requires a lot of different resources that only can be found on a few planets. Thus, setting up bases on the surface of different celestial bodies suddenly became important.

Astroneer turned the mid-game into a very exciting phase by challenging me with a completely different objective. Until this point, I merely was exploring the solar system and bringing needed resources back to my base on the homeplanet. With the sudden need to set up bases on other celestial bodies, the entire gameplay changed and resulted in a high excitement on my side.

By changing a player’s focus from one aspect of the gameplay to a completely different aspect when transitioning from the early-game to the mid-game, the gameplay can remain exciting despite having gained access to the majority of the game mechanics. This can be achieved by providing a different kind of gameplay for each of the three phases. While this might be a challenging game design task, it is very beneficial for the overall enjoyment of the computer game.

In conclusion, by providing different levels of gameplay for each of the three core phases of a computer game, each individual phase not only feels different, but also increases a player’s overall enjoyment.

The Way is the Goal

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 common approach of using guides and walkthroughs to beat a computer game.

When trying to figure out how one can complete a certain task, using the internet often is a valuable source of information. There are tutorials and video guides for almost every topic which explain the performance of an activity in detail. Reading or watching these information allows for the development of a comprehensive understanding.

In this way, searching the internet when tackling a new activity has become a common approach. Instead of first trying to figure out a solution to a specific problem, one prefers to look up information right away as it is more convenient. This is a good approach for crafting things or cooking meals as it can save materials and result in great outcomes.

However, searching for guides and walkthroughs for activities that are supposed to be challenging seems rather weird. Here, it is not about achieving perfect outcomes, but about the ability to find creative solutions. Strangely, many computer game players quickly refer to guides when they encounter the first difficulties during their gameplay. It seems that beating the game is more important than putting the own skills and creativity to a test.

Naturally, the decision how to tackle a difficult computer game is up to every player. Those who intend to be challenged most likely will avoid to use guides at all costs while other players who just like to experience the story might use walkthroughs. Things only become complicated when the two player types meet each other.

This was a common problem as I played World of Warcraft as my raid group constantly used guides instead of trying to figure out how to defeat a specific boss. Currently, I mostly experience this problem either when uploading gameplay videos to YouTube or by watching Let’s Play videos or streams of other content creators. Here, viewers often provide (unwanted) tipps how to successfully play the game.

As a result, it would be great when players who just like to experience the story accept the fact that others like to be challenged and to come up with own solutions. Also, seen from a game design point of view, it would be interesting when players would try to beat a game on their own, especially when it is designed to be difficult.

In conclusion, while it is a valid approach to use walkthroughs for a computer game, it takes away some aspects of the overall gameplay experience. Certain computer games are designed to be difficult and overcoming the challenges is part of the experience.

In the end, the way is the goal.

Lost to the Sands of Time?

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 problems that occur when trying to play older computer games.

It is Eastern and hence a very good opportunity to take a few days off and visit my parents. Staying in my old room, I can see my collection of computer games I bought and played as a teenager. Looking through the titles brings back some great memories and the desire to play some of them again: Commandos, Unreal Tournament, Command and Conquer Red Alert, Tomb Raider, The Settlers 2, Half-Life, etc.

Playing the games of the Commandos series was a fantastic time. The strategy games challenged a player with the goal to complete difficult missions with only a handful soldiers of which each had unique abilities. In this way, players had to combine those abilities to silently move through the maps and complete the objectives, e.g., destroying a dam or taking out a dangerous sniper. Thus far, the tactical real-time strategy gameplay of Commandos is unmatched.

However, since these good old days, new technologies were developed, computers became more powerful and new operating systems got released. As a result, it is not easy or sometimes even impossible to get older games running, again. When aborting to try to get such an old game running again, I often feel sad as it seems that I will never ever play it again despite still having access to the software itself.

Similar to books and movies, computer games have become an integral part of our culture. Some of these games, especially those that represent an important milestone in the history of gaming, need to be preserved and made available to future generations. This, however, also comes with the requirement to either preserve the technology on which the games are running or to develop a framework that can emulate specific systems on modern computers.

In conclusion, computer games are a part of our culture. Older games need to be kept running to preserve important milestones for future generations. Otherwise, they might be never experienced again and thus be lost to the sands of time.

The Value of Everything

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 could initiate a rethinking process that ultimately makes the world to a better place.

Recently, as I was evaluating my lunch options, I saw the following offer at a small bistro: „Chicken wings and fries – €2.50“. Although this might sound like a great lunch opportunity, it seemed not very appealing to me. How can food be this cheap and still be healthy? The poor chickens must have lived under terrible conditions to be finally sold for such a low price.

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our culture enjoys a lot of meat-based meals which currently are offered at a very low price. This generates a huge demand for meat. To fulfill this demand and to keep the price low, meat has to be mass-produced. As a result of this, the way to handle the animals needs to be as efficient as possible. Their food needs to be cheap and their living space needs to be as small as possible to fit the highest number of animals into a particular area.

Fulfilling these conditions comes at the price of the animals‘ quality of life. They need to be vaccinated to reduce the chances of deseases and be kept under control so that they do not attack each other. Overall, this results in the animals living under terrible conditions to fulfill the high demand for cheap and meat-based food.

These problems, however, are often overlooked by the consumers. The only important thing is the price when it comes to selecting a product. Therefore, to start initiating a change of this process, it is important to raise the general awareness for these problems. Computer games could be one approach to achieve this goal.

Computer games could demonstrate the conditions under which the animals live by putting the player into the role of such an animal. This, however, would not really help to initiate a rethinking, as it provides not enough information about the decisions involved in the food production process. A potentially more effective way would be to involve the player in the complexity of the food industry by designing a tycoon-like computer game.

This game needs to evolve around the goal to effectively and efficiently lead a food company. While the player’s main goal should still be to achieve commercial success, other factors such as the happiness of the animals as well as the quality of the produced products have to play an important role. If designed well, this kind of computer game can inform players about the complexity of the food production as well as the side effects of mostly aiming for cheap products.

In conclusion, while computer games might not address the majority of the consumers, they still can start to initiate a rethinking. Players of these computer games might get convinced that they can put pressure on the food industry by selecting different products. Also, they can discuss the lessons learned with others and convince them as well.

Between Entertainment and Long Lasting Impact

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 computer games I will remember for a very long time and those I will not.

When I think back to my computer game playing experience, then a few titles always will pop up in my mind first. For instance, I will always remember having played the Mass Effect series, Kerbal Space Program, and Assetto Corsa. But why are more memorable than games like Company of Heroes or Transport Fever which also kept me entertained while playing them?

The reason for their memorability lies in their game design that either resulted in a highly emotional gameplay or in a gameplay that allowed for a fair competition between players. Emotions are always real to us no matter if they are evoked by a real or by a virtual event. Emotions are also very deep experiences that are easily memorized and triggered when thinking back to a particular event.

The Mass Effect series puts the player into the role of a spaceship’s commander. During the gameplay, the game’s narrative challenges the player with the task to protect an entire galaxy from an enemy that intends to wipe out all living species. The player, however, is not alone but has virtual companions. Each of these crew member has an own personality and, depending on the players decisions during the gameplay, has a different fate. For instance, the player can have a love affair with members of the crew and sometimes even is responsible for deciding which of the crew members has to sacrifice its own life to protect the rest of the crew. In this way, the player creates strong emotional bonds to the virtual agents that start to feel real as the gameplay progresses. These emotions are what make Mass Effect to a very memorable computer game.

In contrast, Kerbal Space Program features no emotional narrative. However, the game’s difficulty is relatively high. The game mechanics encode knowledge about orbital mechanics that has to be understood by the players to successfully play the game. This not only results in a very steep learning curve, but also in very exciting moments when the player achieves a personal goal, e.g., landing on the Mun, and realizes that they have acquired new knowledge in this process. This challenge-based rewarding moment also evokes strong emotions in the player which subsequently result in the game being memorized as a very positive experience. Thinking back to playing Kerbal Space Program then triggers these emotions again, thus making this game to a very special game in a player’s history.

Allowing for a fair competition ultimately results in a very emotional gameplay as well. Assetto Corsa is a highly realistic racing game that provides players with the opportunity to perform virtual car races that put their own driving skills to a test. For instance, players can race against each other driving the same type of car which then results in no driver having an advantage due to balancing issues. This kind of gameplay induces a (friendly) competition among the players, especially when they participate in championships and compete over a longer period of time against each other. This competition, the challenge to practice and to train the own skills, and to ultimately celebrate small victories evokes positive (and sometimes also negative) emotions in the players. Thinking back to playing Assetto Corsa triggers these emotions again which also make this type of game to a very special memory.

In contrast to these games, other games merely provide some entertainment during their actual gameplay. They might even motivate a player to continue playing the game to collect all possible achievements, but at the end of the day, only light emotions were triggered during the gameplay. As a result, no or only weak emotional bonds are created to these games which make them seem less memorable when thinking about great games that truly influenced us.

In conclusion, while almost all computer games entertain a player, only those are truly perceived as great computer games that evoke strong emotions in the player during the gameplay. This also is an important insight for game designers who like to create serious games or to increase the motivation using a gamification approach. Creating a gameplay that evokes strong emotions potentially achieves the best results.

Three Types of Exploration

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 different types of an exploration-based gameplay: travel-based, challenge-based, and resource-based

Personally, I am a huge fan of computer games that put a strong focus on the exploration of the virtual environments. The exploration aspect can be categorized in three main types: 1) a travel-based exploration, 2) a challenge-based exploration or a 3) resource-based exploration. Depending on the type, the exploration has a different role in the overall gameplay.

A travel-based exploration requires a fully explorable vast virtual environment that consists of several special features, such as waterfalls, spectacular vantage points, or hidden ruins inside of deep forests. These special features can be discovered by traveling through the environment. Here, the exploration either is the core element of the gameplay, e.g., when playing a walking simulator, or an optional aspect of the overall gameplay, e.g., when playing an open world role-playing game.

A challenge-based exploration lays a higher focus on the exploration of the virtual environment during the gameplay. In contrast to a mere travel-based exploration, this type requires the player to find a way to overcome obstacles. For instance, when playing Kerbal Space Program, a player has to design spacecraft that have the correct performance when aiming at the exploration of specific celestial bodies. The spacecraft not only has to reach the celestial body, but also to be powerful enough to deal with the environment, e.g., a strong gravity. In this way, a challenge-based exploration provides players with concrete goals for exploration that determine the overall gameplay.

Finally, a resource-based exploration allows a player to refine resources during the gameplay to craft more powerful items. This requires a player to find these resources first. In this way, the gameplay challenges a player to explore the virtual environment to find and to obtain all the basic resources. This often bases on the requirement to explore all regions and zones of the virtual environment. For instance, when playing Minecraft, a player needs to dig down to the so-called bedrock layer to find diamonds which are one of the most valuable resources in the game.

The three types can also be combined to provide different forms of exploration at the same time. Once having landed on the surface of a celestial body in Kerbal Space Program, a player can travel on the surface with the astronauts either on foot or using vehicles that have to be landed there first.

For instance, as I was searching for a specific resource on the home planet in the full release version of Astroneer, I felt stuck because I was not able to find it. Also, the game did not provide me with information that the resource could not be found on the home planet. In this way, I spend a long time digging deeper and deeper into the planet until I finally decided to abort this approach to try out to fly to a different planet in the virtual environment of Astroneer. As soon as I launched into space, the game provided me with a map of all the existing planets and informed me about the resources that can be found on them. Thus, to avoid this kind of frustration, it is important to provide players with hints or game mechanics to find out where specific resources can be found when implementing the resource-based exploration.

In conclusion, a computer game can provide three main types of exploration. Depending on the type, some additional information are required to avoid evoking a frustration in the player. The exploration types may be combined in the same computer game.

Following the Rules

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 ideas of being used to read instructions more closely when being a vested computer game player.

Most computer games provide players with specific goals and challenges. The goals are communicated in a clear and precise way. Hence, players exactly know what they have to do to overcome a challenge or to solve a quest. While working on the solution of the game goals, computer games provide immediate feedback to inform players that they are performing the correct actions.

For instance, a computer game can provide a quest that requires the player to collect 10 red apples: „Collect 10 red apples in Mrs Smith’s garden.“ In this way, players exactly know how they can complete this quest. A player still has to read the quest information carefully as the apples not only have to be red, but also found on Mrs Smith’s garden.

Thus, by providing players with these clear rules, they practice to read instructions carefully. Also, they learn how to quickly understand an assignment’s goals. The gameplay can include some time constraints that put the player under pressure to make decisions quickly. This constraint makes it important to analyze a task as quickly as possible.

Carefully reading instructions also is a common requirement in our daily life. For instance, it can be an assignment from an educational course or a request sent by someone’s supervisor. Only when the instructions are understood properly, the task can successfully be solved. Just skimming through the information might result in a task not completely solved. This can result in bad consequences like getting a bad grade in an exam.

Based on this theoretical analysis, it might be possible that computer game players can analyze and understand tasks better than non-players. Their gameplay experience might lead to a training of their analytical abilities to quickly and correctly understand a given task. In this way, computer game players might be able to work more efficiently.

In conclusion, playing computer games might also result in an improved ability to analyze any given situation as well as to successfully identify and to carry out the correct next steps.

Returning after two years of development

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 enjoyment of playing early access games.

More than two years ago, I played Astroneer just after its release as an early access game. Astroneer puts the player into the role of a little astronaut who lands on the surface of a planet. There, the player is challenged to set up a base, perform research and finally construct spacecraft to visit other planets in the solar system. The game is an open world game and allows players to discover the virtual environment at their own pace. Although not being polished, the game already was a lot of fun to play.

One of the most fun elements of playing early access games is to discover small bugs and glitches that break some parts of the game. Experiencing some visual glitches often results in some hilarious moments that cause an additional level of joy during the gameplay. For instance, I remember that the planets one could see in the sky were falling apart at some point. Suddenly, the planets were split into smaller pieces that started to drift apart, thus revealing a planet’s inner structure.

After having explored every planet in Astroneer’s solar system, I had the option to either continue playing the game to experience freshly added features or to stop playing it for a while to not get bored of it. I decided to stop playing the game and to wait for the release of its final version. In this way, I kept the game in good memory and avoided to go through the usual repetitive gameplay of early access games.

Typically, after the implementation of some major gameplay changes, a player often has to restart an ongoing game, thus going through the early stages of a game over and over again. While this can be fun when the changes affect the early game, it mostly becomes repetitive and annoying. As a result, players tend to „burn out“ on these games.

Now, two years later, Astroneer finally is released and so I returned to it. After this long break, the game feels almost like a new game as some game mechanics, e.g., researching new technologies, were changed completely and the graphics look way more polished and colorful. In this way, I can now enjoy Astroneer for a second time and basically play a different game.

In conclusion, playing early access games can be a lot of fun especially when glitches are accepted and more importantly enjoyed. However, due to the ongoing development process, players might burn out on the game when they have to start a new game for too many times. Thus, by only revisiting the game from time to time, the enjoyment can be preserved and the changes can be more appreciated.

Energetic Physical Activities

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 problems of simulating physically energetic moments in computer games.

Recently, as I was exercising on a running machine, I experienced an interesting phenomenon of actually feeling my own performance. Normally, one can experience a feeling of satisfaction when a new level of performance is reached, e.g., achieving a new record time. This time, however, I was not only experiencing a new level of performance, but also noticing how I was affecting the environment. In particular, I noticed how the running machine was slightly shaking as I was running on it at a fast pace. It was like a super energetic moment to me.

This reminded me of a visualization style for delivering particularly strong blows during the gameplay of action games. Here, game designers let the view of the player shake for a short amount of time. This suggests that the player’s attack affected the entire virtual environment. When this frequently occurs during the gameplay, players might perceive the game as highly energetic.

However, in contrast to my running experience, the gameplay only provides visual feedback and lacks a directly physical involvement of the player in the actions. Naturally, due to the game immersion, players perceive it as a real event, but the actions remain artificial. In this way, the gameplay lacks a whole-body involvement which might result in an overall improved experience.

This would be different when targeting immersive Virtual Reality. By using tracked game controllers and a tracked Head-Mounted Display, a player’s physical action can easier be used to trigger actions inside of the virtual environments. Unfortunately, fitting haptic feedback is not yet possible. As a result, game designers would need to stick to visual cues. These cues need to be carefully implemented to avoid evoking cybersickness in the player.

In conclusion, although computer games might be capable of generating visually appealing simulations of physical activities, the lack of true physical involvement and haptic feedback potentially reduces the overall satisfaction in comparison to the real world activity. True virtual sport unfortunately needs some more time …