Game design 101 GMU Latest Questions With Passed Solutions!!

What is a game? - Answer-An activity with rules Core Dynamic - Answer-The single thing the gameplay is about. Single experience the designer is trying to convey. (Challenges, 2008) Explicit Challenge - Answer-Explicit Gamification are strategies that utilize applications that are obviously game-like. Users acknowledge they are playing a game, and oftentimes need to opt into playing. Implicit Challenges - Answer-implicit gamification are design techniques that do not show signs of a game, but it heavily ties the 8 Core Drives of Octalysis into the user experience. Many Gamification Professionals out there like Jane Mcgonigal and Sebastian Deterding prefer the term "gameful design" over the word gamification, and sometimes regard it as the ascended form of the same concept (as they start to regard many implementations of gamification as uninspiring and manipulative). Emergent Gameplay - Answer-Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics. Affordances - Answer-The quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses (it makes it clear how it can/should be used). "Teach without words" Ex: Push pull doors Digital Affordance/ Skeuomorphism - Answer-Making a digital element seem familiar. (Allows consumers to intuitively know what it is.) Mechanic - Answer-Game Mechanics are the basic actions, processes, visuals, and control mechanisms that are used to "gamify" and activity. Game mechanics, which are the building blocks of gamification, are the rules and rewards that make up game play and create an engaging experience.Dynamic - Answer-Game Dynamics define the patterns of how both the game and the players will evolve over time and that will make the gamified activity enjoyable and keep the user engaged for as long as possible. Game Dynamics tailor the Game Mechanics to address the desired outcomes and motivations of the participants. Player Motivations - Answer-What motivates the player to play the game. Ex: Mastery, Social Interaction, Education, Intellectual Rigor, Seclusion Slow Boil (Game development approach) - Answer-Assumes a design will "boil" out of a theme. Blue-sky (Game development approach) - Answer-Game development approach that assumes no constraints as the designer. Mechanic Driven (Game development approach) - Answer-Assumes design will come from mechanics. Story (Game development approach) - Answer-Assumes design will come from a story. Research (Game development approach) - Answer-Assumes design will arise from research questions. Intellectual Property (IP) (Game development approach) - Answer-Assumes design based on licensed intellectual property. Mechanic-Dynamic-Aesthetics (MDA) (Game development approach) - Answer-A model in itself. Its own take on a game The MDA framework formalizes the consumption of games by breaking them into their distinct components Rules -> System -> "Fun"and establishing their design counterparts: Mechanics -> Dynamics -> Aesthetics Aesthetic Aesthetic cont. - Answer-What makes a game "fun"? How do we know a specific type of fun when we see it? Discovery: Game as uncharted territory Expression: Game as self discovery Sensation: Game sense as pleasure Fantasy: Game as make believe Narrative: Game as drama Fellowship: Game as social framework Submission: Game as pastime Challenge: Game as obstacle course Iterative Design - Answer-Prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining a product (Wikipedia). Rapid Prototype - Answer-Group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design data (Wikipedia). Intrinsic Knowledge - Answer-Knowledge about the gameplay that must be learned or taught within the game or ruleset. Ex: tubes in super mario, checkers (how to turn piece into a king) Extrinsic Knowledge - Answer-Extrinsic Knowledge Knowledge that the player brings with them to the gameplay from external sources.Strategic Evaluation - Answer-Strategy evaluation means collecting information about how well the strategic plan is progressing. Strategic Evaluation is defined as the process of determining the effectiveness of a given strategy in achieving the organizational objectives and taking corrective action wherever required White Box vs Black Box - Answer-White Box: Players can see how randomness is generated. Black Box: Players can't see how randomness is generated. Gambler's Fallacy - Answer-Always remember when designing games of the gambler's fallacy when it comes to dice rolls. There is no such dice becoming "hot" or "cold" - and rolling a dice is not a skill. The gambler's fallacy, also known as the Monte Carlo fallacy or the fallacy of the maturity of chances, is the erroneous belief that if a particular event occurs more frequently than normal during the past it is less likely to happen in the future (or vice versa) (Wikipedia). "Complex" Game - Answer-A complex game is generally regarded as one which has not been solved, or that cannot be solved by the player as they play the game. A few debates that rage about chance - Answer-It is subjective as to whether or not games implement chance in the form of player unpredictability Yhphrums's Law ( or reverse - murphy's law) -> if it can work, it will work given on infinite number of attempts Chance Chance - Answer-Chance should make it so that play does not end in the draw and it should hide the victor. Too much chance = Trivial game, Too little chance = Complex Randomness vs Luck: Luck may frustrate skilled players The abstraction of skill in video game - Answer-100%: Shooter games where if the cursor is over the player they're hit. 75%: RPG where players control movements but all hits and misses are random 50%: Shooter games where accuracy of weapon has a spread. 25%: Shooter game where level, abilities, and item affects accuracy. Go back to connectConfirmation Bias - Answer-Whether fair to the game designer or not, one problem when designing a game with change-based elements is players believing illogically that certain game systems never work in their favor. Hidden Information /Imperfect Information - Answer-Imperfect information appears when decisions have to be made simultaneously, and players need to balance all possible outcomes. when making a decision. A good example of imperfect information games is a card game where each player's card are hidden from the rest of the players. Perfect Information - Answer-Perfect information refers to the fact that each player has the same information that would be available at the end of the game. This is, each player knows or can see other player's moves. A good example would be chess, where ech player sees the other player's pieces on the board. Measured Randomness - Answer-The randomness is a known quantity and can be planned for by players. Ex) I know there is still a fireball in the deck somewhere. Randomness overload - Answer-So much randomness occurs that it becomes statistically insignificant. Ex) Roll a dice 2000 times in Risk, divide by 1000 and round - the answer is most of the time 7.) Handicaps - Answer-Artificially altering the probability of something occurring. Ex) Level 1 players are hit when a 2-6 Negative Feedback Loop - Answer-When a player is ahead, they recieve worse rewards to allow players to catch up to them. Players who are behind, receive better rewards. Positive Feedback Loop - Answer-When a player is ahead, they are rewarded to continue pushing their lead. DecisionsFrequency and Quality of decisions. - Answer-Frequency: The frequency with which the players make decisions is paramount. The quality of a game is affected if the player is only making decisions every 20 minutes versus every second, even if those decisions at the 20 minute mark are significant. Quality: Bad Decisions Types: Obvious decisions: (Ex: always take a short-cut if possible) Meaningless decisions: (Ex: fireball and arrows deal the same damage) Blind decisions: (Ex: take a safe path, or a more risky unknown short path) Good: Skill-based Elements - Answer-Skill-based Elements Limited time use abilities: (Ex: Ultimate abilities) Dynamic Specials: (Ex: Power charges up over time when not being used) Explicit Choices: Picking between X and Y Limited Actions: Placing resource caps and making actions use those resources Trading and Negotiation: (Be Careful with this) Purchases - Answer-Instead of auctions, players can purchase items at a fixed price from a store.