Players Making Decisions · Game Design Essentials and the Art of Unde= rstanding Your Players (Michael Lombardi's Library) by Hiwiller, Zack -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author Contents Preface Who Is This Book For? How Is This Book Organized? Part 1: Getting Started

1. What Is a Game Designer?

Responsibilities of a Game Designer Attributes of a Game Designer

Varied Interests Persistence Mindset and Purpose

Make Things Cultivate Your Gardens On Ontology and Dogma Formalism Summary

2. Problem Statements

Defining the Problem Low-Hanging Fruit Functional Fixedness Brainstorming Summary

3. Development Structures

Production Methodologies

Waterfall Iterative Processes Climbing the Pyramid

Scope Summary

4. Starting Practices

Analog Games Theme and Mechanics Next Steps Designing for Others Opening Questions Summary

Part 2: Prototypes and Playtesting

5. Paper Prototyping Development Techniques

Software and Materials Art Cards InDesign Data Merge Summary

6. Playtesting

Playtesting Goals Playtesting Benefits Listening to Feedback

Fear of Critique Confirmation Bias

Finding Playtesters Iterating Summary

7. Playtesting Methods

The Testing Environment Keep Playtesters Talking A/B Testing Self-Playtesting Summary

8. Prototypes and Intellectual Property

Do I Need an NDA? Ideas and Value Summary

Part 3: Meaningful Decisions

9. Flow and the Fundamental Game Design Directive

Game Flow Interest Curves Learning Curves Individual Differences Summary

10. Decision-Making

Player Agency Anatomy of a Choice Less-Interesting Decision-Making

Blind Decisions Obvious Decisions Meaningless/Misleading Decisions Handcuffing Decisions

More-Interesting Decision-Making

Trade-offs Risk/Reward Expected Value

Summary

11. Randomness

Completely Random Games Completely Skill-Based Games Fairness and Mitigating Randomness Summary

12. Goals

How Players Determine Game Goals

Example: SimCity Example: Minesweeper

Criteria for Goals Solving Goal Problems Summary

Part 4: Describing Game Elements

13. Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA)

What Are Games About? MDA

Example: Realm of the Mad God Example: Monopoly Example: Habitat

More Dynamics

Turtling Kingmaking Button Mashing Grinding Press-Your-Luck

Summary

14. Milieu

What Is Milieu? Polish Player Types Motivation Milieu as Design Focus Summary

15. Rules and Verbs

Rules Qualities of Rules Types of Rules Verbs Summary

16. Balance

Symmetry Self-Balancing Mechanisms Progression and Numeric Relationships

A Triangular Relationship Example

Balance Heuristics Summary

17. Feedback Loops

Positive Feedback Loops Negative Feedback Loops Feedback Loops in Action

Positive Feedback Loop Methods Negative Feedback Loop Methods Mixing Feedback Methods

Fixing Problems Summary

18. Puzzle Design

What Is a Puzzle? Possibility Space Breadcrumbs

Extrinsic Breadcrumbs Intrinsic Breadcrumbs No Breadcrumbs at All

Features of Ineffective Puzzles

Incomplete Critical Information/Missed Assumptions Lack of Ability to Experiment Brute Force Triviality Surrounded by Complexity Lack of Possibility Space Arbitrariness

Types of Puzzles

Deduction Puzzles Truth Puzzles Deception Puzzles Paradoxes

Other Puzzle Types

Critical Path Puzzles Strategy Puzzles Algebraic Puzzles Physical Manipulation Puzzles

Summary

Part 5: Game Theory and Rational Decision-Making

19. Equilibria in Normal Form Games

The Prisoner’s Dilemma Solving Games Using Strict Dominance Using (and Abusing) Dominance Zero-Sum Games Stag Hunt and Coordination Determining Nash Equilibria in a Larger Matrix Mixed Strategies Stag Hunt Redux Summary

20. Sequential and Iterated Games

Game Trees Promises and Commitment Problems Iterated Games Experimenting with Strategies Successful Strategies Summary

21. Problems with Game Theory

Rational Actors The Dollar Auction The “Guess Two-Thirds” Game Second-Price Auctions Summary

22. Marginal Decision Analysis

Marginal Nuggets Balance on Margins Summary

Part 6: Human Behavior in Games

23. Behaviorism and Schedules of Reinforcement

Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement Anticipation and Uncertainty

In Games: Coin Pusher In Games: Destiny Drops

Ethical and Practical Concerns Summary

24. Learning and Constructivism

Historic Approaches Novices and Experts Cognitive Load Expertise Reversal Effect Split-Attention Effect Tutorials and Learning Design Summary

25. Motivation

Two Types of Motivation What’s the Problem with Rewards? Self-Determination Theory and Challenges Competition and Motivation Personality Other Motivation Effects Summary

26. Human Decision-Making

Mental Shortcuts Attribution Errors Misunderstanding Randomness Anchoring and Adjustment Understanding Value in Uncertain Situations Loss Framing Decisions Summary

27. Attention and Memory

Attention

Attention Misdirection Attention Direction

Memory Helping with Memory Limitations Perception

Colorblindness Text Might as Well Be Invisible Gestalt Grouping First Impressions

Summary

Part 7: Game Design Tools

28. Documentation and Written Communication

The Game Design Document

Common Misconceptions

The GDD Creation Process

Step One: Determine Purpose/Desired Scope/Connected Systems Step Two: Research Step Three: Idea Generation Step Four: Murder Your Darlings Step Five: Fully Detail the Best Answer Step Six: Edit and Find Edge Cases

References

Appendices

Documentation for Tabletop Games States and Flowcharts Summary

29. Probability

Probability Is Fancy Counting

Joint Probability Conditional Probability

Adding Die Rolls Example: The H/T Game Being Careful

Problem #1: The Boy-Girl Problem Problem #2: The Weirder Boy-Girl Problem Problem #3: Isner-Mahut at Wimbledon

Summary

30. Spreadsheets for Simulation

Why Use Spreadsheets? Basics Formulas

Formula Operator Basic Math SUM, PRODUCT MAX, MIN AVERAGE, MEDIAN, MODE RANK, PERCENTRANK, PERCENTILE ROUND, TRUNC RAND, RANDBETWEEN CONCATENATE VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP IF COUNTIF, SUMIF OR, AND Common Formula Errors Anchors

Goal Seek and Solver in Excel

Goal Seek Solver

One-Way Data Tables Summary

31. Monte Carlo Simulation

Answering Design Questions Hot Hand Monty Hall

Example: Dungeons & Dragons Advantage/Disadvantage

Once Around the Board Martingale Betting Summary

32. Presenting Ideas

The Thesis Text on Slides Data-Ink Do Not Waste Time Documentation Acquiring Images Example: State of Mobile Games 2014 Risk Risk Analysis Pitch Questions Summary

Part 8: The Game Design Business

33. Profit, Loss, and Metrics

Profit and Loss Metrics

Free-to-Play Metrics

Virality

Retention Other Metrics

Cash Flow Summary

34. Sustainable Lifestyles

Life in AAA Digital Game Development Life as an Independent Developer of Digital Games Life in Tabletop Game Development Market Luck Summary

Conclusion Appendix A. Ludography

Digital Games Board, Card, Tabletop, and Physical Games

Index Code Snippets

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