Warning Signs

1
Warning Signs

• Indicators of Poor Game Design

2
Warning Signs

• During early play testing, there are several
  possible indicators of faulty game design.
  
• Both internal and external testing can uncover
  these warning signs.
  
• If caught early, they can be properly dealt with
  before release and disaster can be averted.
  
• If they are missed or ignored, the game can be in
  serious trouble.

3
New Players Cannot Play Without Assistance

• If the development team must constantly provide
  help to an outside party to play the game, there
  is a problem.
  
• They need help on controls, the user interface,
  the roles of in-game objects, or game goals.
  
• Needing some game information is natural since it
  may not be complete or well documented yet.
  
• Excessive difficulties, however, are indicative
  of deeper problems that need to be addressed.
  
• For example, a specific part of the game
  requiring frequent guidance should be eliminated
  or made easier to understand.

4
New Players Cannot Play Without Assistance
Screen shot of Star Wars Rebellion. Initial
tactical design made the game incredibly difficul
t for new players to play without assistance.
Several simplifications improved gameplay signifi
cantly.
5
New Players Cannot Have Fun Without Assistance

• If players are unable to enjoy a game without
  being guided by the development team to do the
  right things or go to the right locations, there
  is also a problem.
• The game should be self-contained and provide
  this direction itself.
  
• Players should also be able to eventually find
  fun on their own, once they become familiar with
  the game.
  
• The solution is to build this guidance into the
  game, and potentially eliminate the non-fun
  activities or areas of the game the players find
  themselves dealing with constantly.

6
Excessive Loading and Saving

• Excessive loading and saving during certain
  sections of a game indicates that the game might
  be too difficult.
  
• It might also be the play style of the player.
• If all players do this, however, it is a bad
  sign.
  
• To resolve the situation, determine the locations
  of excessive loading and saving.
  
• The frustrations in gameplay that result in this
  situation will not be far away.
  
• These frustrations should either be removed or
  somehow lessened in an appropriate way.

7
Excessive Loading and Saving
Screen shot from Quake II. A common strategy in
the FPS among some players is to save after every
kill and restore after every time damage
is taken. If everyone did this, it could be a
bad sign.
8
Popularity and Unpopularity

• If players choose the same characters, weapons,
  units, and strategies again and again, it is a
  sign of game imbalance.
  
• Likewise, if something is consistently not chosen
  by players, it is another sign of game
  imbalance.
  
• Such imbalance can be detected by tracking player
  preferences and compiling statistics for later
  analyses.
  
• Do not overreact early on, as players tend to
  cluster around certain approaches to the game as
  they are learning and gaining experience. Be
  patient.

9
Popularity and Unpopularity
Screen shot from Street Fighter 2. The Dhalsim
character was introduced to balance the Ken and R
yu characters who proved too popular (and
powerful) among testers of the game.
10
The Best Offense is a Good Defense

• If characters use only offensive tactics in
  conflict situations, this could be an indication
  of problems in the game.
  
• There are too many health, weapon, and shielding
  power-ups so that the player need not worry about
  taking damage in combat games.
  
• Defensive moves are too slow, too difficult, or
  too ineffective to use in the game.
  
• The players are not given the time to react to
  employ defensive measures.
  
• Appropriate gameplay tuning to overcome these
  situations is required.

11
The Best Offense is a Good Defense
Screen shot from NBA ShootOut 2003. Like many
sports games, defense is quite ineffective, so ma
ny people just ignore it. (Do a web search
on video game no defense, and the results are
almost all sports titles!)
12
Players Frequently Reconfigure Controls

• Many games wisely offer the ability to
  reconfigure controls.
  
• If most players reconfigure the default controls,
  it is a sign they need changing.
  
• If players spend a great deal of time beyond this
  tuning controls, it could be a sign of a poor
  control scheme in general.
  
• Remember to work with and follow genre
  conventions in control schemes. For example
  
• The Quake II style for the first person shooter.
• The Warcraft style for real-time strategies.

13
Players Frequently Reconfigure Controls
Screen shot from Unreal Championship. It is
interesting that this Xbox title
has been criticized for a poor control scheme
requiring many reconfigurations,
while its PC cousin, Unreal Tournament 2003, has
been hailed for its controls and gameplay at the
same time.
14
Players Frequently Reconfigure Viewpoint

• If players are spending as much time adjusting
  the view of the game as they do playing the game,
  this is a bad sign.
  
• The players viewpoint should be adjusted
  automatically to keep up with unfolding action.
  
• Manual tuning should be allowed, but should not
  become a requirement to playing the game.
  
• Automatic viewpoint adjustments must be done
  carefully, however.
  
• Too often makes gameplay difficult.
• Not often enough, and you lose track of the
  action.

15
Players Frequently Reconfigure Viewpoint
Screen shot from Splinter Cell. A very
impressive game, but some people
find they spend as much time moving the viewpoint
as moving their character.
16
The Vulnerability-Invincibility Cycle

• Many games cycle between periods where the player
  is weak and then nearly invulnerable.
  
• The player acquires weapons and power-ups that
  make them almost invincible.
  
• When the effects wear off or the player dies,
  they are totally vulnerable.
  
• The most interesting gameplay occurs when the
  player teeters on the brink of victory and
  destruction.
  
• Players in the vulnerability-invincibility cycle
  move from one extreme to the other and never
  experience this kind of gameplay.

17
The Vulnerability-Invincibility Cycle
Screen shot from Unreal Tournament 2003. Even
though it has lots of power-ups, it never falls
into the vulnerability-invincibility cycle. No
one is ever helpless or unstoppable, as this shot
shows.
18
Becoming aTechnology Demo

• If public testers show off the technology in your
  game to others, but put it away when it is time
  to actually play and have some fun, your game is
  in serious trouble.
• You have essentially made a very expensive
  technology demo.
  
• This is an indication that your game is not fun
  to play, despite its great visuals, sounds,
  artificial intelligence, new features, and so
  on.
• This needs to be fixed as soon as possible before
  the game is released.

19
Becoming a Technology Demo
Screen shot from TrickStyle. One of the earlier
Sega Dreamcast titles. It was cool to watch and s
how off to your friends, but its gameplay was
fairly boring, repetitive, and not much fun. A
nice technology demo though.
20
Becoming a Technology Demo
Screen shot from Kakuto Chojin. This fighting
game supposedly began lifeas a technology demo
for the Xbox, and it shows. Reviews give credit
to thegood graphics but claim it otherwise has
no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
21
Take Your Time

• If warning signs indicate enough problems in game
  design, do not rush the game through anyways.
  
• To quote a Nintendo executive
• A late game is only late until it's released. A
  bad game will be bad forever. How many people
  remember when Super Mario 64 was supposed to be
  released versus when it actually shipped?
• It is better to be late than bad!

22
Take Your Time
Screen shots from Super Mario 64, left, and
Ataris E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,
Right. Super Mario 64 delayed shipping for
months, but came out with a smash hit. E.T. was
rushed out the door to meet a Christmasdeadline.
Rumour has it that there are copies of it still
buried somewhere in the New Mexico desert it wa
s really that awful.
23
The Bottom Line

• Give your testers the freedom they need to
  accurately assess your game.
  
• When they are done, make sure you listen very
  carefully to their feedback.
  
• If early testing indicates potential game design
  issues, address them.
  
• The earlier game design issues are fixed, the
  easier it will be and the better the game will
  be.
  
• If design issues are left unresolved, you will
  have a flawed implementation, and that is more
  difficult and more costly to fix in the long run.