4. These are the wise people I learned from
Some I interviewed, some I read their books, some I watched their videos, some reviewed this
talk…
5. 7 Lessons from game design
1.Find your North Star
2.Design for Emotion(s)
3.Use Player Types
4.Know Your Mechanics
5.Consider the Elder Game
6.Learn to Teach
7.Always be Testing
6. Find your North Star
Every project needs a goal that everyone agrees is worth doing.
8. The Player
Should Have The
Fun, Not The
Designer Or The
Computer
The algorithms were, of course, very
fun to construct and interesting to
discuss outside of the game. The
players, however, felt left behind --
the computer was having all the fun
-- so we cut the feature.
From a Gamasutra Article “Analysis: Sid Meier's Key
Design Lessons”
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
11. Design for An Emotion
Conversion is a crap north star
12. Are all the
emotions
Uxr’s have
to design
for
Frustration
Satisfaction
Delight?
We design
in Black
and White
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke is a world of amazing emotions in technicolor just waiting
We have been designing in Black and White. There
13. A better list of words to design for
Needs
CONNECTION CONNECTION continued HONESTY MEANING
acceptance safety authenticity awareness
affection security integrity celebration of
appreciation stability presence life
belonging support PLAY challenge
cooperation to know and be known joy clarity
communication to see and be seen humor competence
closeness to understand and PEACE consciousness
community be understood beauty contribution
companionship trust communion creativity
compassion warmth ease discovery
consideration PHYSICAL WELL-BEING equality efficacy
consistency air harmony effectiveness
empathy food inspiration growth
inclusion movement/exercise order hope
intimacy rest/sleep AUTONOMY learning
love sexual expression choice mourning
mutuality safety freedom participation
nurturing shelter independence purpose
respect/self-respect touch space self-expression
water spontaneity stimulation
to matter
(c) 2005 by Center for Nonviolent Communication Website: www.cnvc.org
understanding
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
14. PEACE
beauty communion ease equality harmony inspiration order
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
15. Boys like peace and
harmony and order too
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
16. There is no
shortage of
“organization
porn” on the web.
We have a deep
seated dream of a
place of tidy
harmony.
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
17. Life with
Alacrity on his
itunes rating
practice
http://www.life
withalacrity.co
m/2006/08/usi
ng_5star_rat.h
tml
What if
software
holding large
collections
made it even
easier to
create order?
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
18. AFFECTIONATE CONFIDENT GRATEFUL PEACEFUL
compassionate empowered appreciative calm
friendly open moved clear headed
loving proud thankful comfortable
open hearted safe touched centered
sympathetic secure content
tender INSPIRED equanimous
warm EXCITED amazed fulfilled
amazed awed mellow
ENGAGED animated wonder quiet
absorbed ardent relaxed
alert aroused JOYFUL relieved
curious astonished amused satisfied
engrossed dazzled delighted serene
enchanted eager glad still
entranced energetic happy tranquil
fascinated enthusiastic jubilant trusting
interested giddy pleased
intrigued invigorated tickled REFRESHED
involved lively enlivened
spellbound passionate EXHILARATED rejuvenated
stimulated surprised blissful renewed
vibrant ecstatic rested
HOPEFUL elated restored
expectant enthralled revived
encouraged exuberant
optimistic radiant
(c) 2005 by Center for Nonviolent Communication Website: www.cnvc.org
rapturous
thrilled
Photos fill us with positive emotions
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
19. Facebook
ignores that
we love to
fiddle with
our beloved
objects.
How could this be
redesigned?
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
20. AFRAID lost DISQUIET PAIN TENSE AVERSION
apprehensive mystified agitated agony anxious animosity
dread
foreboding
perplexed
puzzled
alarmed
discombobulated As well, Game
anguished
bereaved
cranky
distressed
appalled
contempt
frightened
mistrustful
torn disconcerted
disturbed
designers are
devastated
grief
distraught
edgy
disgusted
dislike
panicked
petrified
DISCONNECTED perturbed
alienated rattled hurt
much more
heartbroken fidgety
frazzled
hate
horrified
scared
suspicious
aloof
apathetic
restless
shocked
comfortable with
lonely
miserable
irritable
jittery
hostile
repulsed
terrified
wary
bored
cold
startled
surprised
creating negativeFATIGUE
regretful
remorseful
nervous
overwhelmed
worried detached
distant
troubled
turbulent
SAD emotions than beat out
depressed burnt
restless
stressed out
ANNOYED
aggravated
distracted
indifferent
turmoil
uncomfortable
web designers, depleted
dejected
despair VULNERABLE exhausted
dismayed
disgruntled
numb
removed
uneasy
unnerved
who
despondent
disappointed
fragile
guarded
lethargic
listless
displeased uninterested unsettled Mostly aim for tired
discouraged helpless
exasperated withdrawn upset disheartened insecure weary
frustrated “happy.” But as worn out
forlorn leery
impatient EMBARRASSED YEARNING gloomy reserved
irritated ashamed envious part of a
heavy heartedsensitive ANGRY
irked chagrined jealous hopeless shaky enraged
CONFUSED flustered longing sequence, a
melancholy furious
ambivalent guilty nostalgic unhappy incensed
baffled mortified pining slight negative indignant
wretched
bewildered self-conscious wistful irate
dazed can increase a livid
(c) 2005 by Center for Nonviolent Communication Website: www.cnvc.org
hesitant outraged
positive. resentful
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
22. Actually, this
is rather
pleasurable.
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
23. If I don’t log
in every Obviously
day, I am Mr. Right
tortured with
men I
missed
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
24. “People find role playing
cheesy, makes them self
conscious.
The game forces you into
uncomfortable situations.
You take a situation and a
pattern and match them
up.. It might be a pattern
you avoid because you
aren’t good at it. And it
creates much more
teachable scenarios.”
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
26. Grace (62/ female/ widowed/ Little Rock, AR.)
“I like playing my favorite games online, but if I can play with
friends, well that’s even better!”
Personal Background: Her husband has passed on. She
has two grown kids, both of whom live far away. She misses
the kids, but has a fairly large circle of friends that she spends
time with.
Technical Proficiency : Limited. Can use her browser and
her email. MS Word confuses her, and she doesn’t like using it.
Doesn’t know what an OS is. Tends to click yes if the browser
prompts her to do anything, and will click wildly until things
work.
History with games: Plays crossword puzzles daily and saves
them. Plays card games, PhotoJam, but is offended by South
Park cartoons
Game’s opportunity: If Grace can be convinced to
2001 participate in community activities, she will become a loyal user
of the site. She needs to be sheltered from the sick and twisted
content, however.
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
27. Richard Bartle http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm Drawing: Frank Caron http://frankcaron.com
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke and what features support the behavior desired is also useful.
Understanding behavioral patterns in player types,
Maybe more useful.
28. 4 Key Engagement Styles in Social Gaming
Express Compete
Explore Collaborate
Copyright Amy Jo Kim
29. Satisficers Socializers
Optimizers Self-discovery
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
31. This is a core loop for a very simple game. I’m actually shocked we don’t map this on other projects. Amazon’s is
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
Seek, evaluate, buy.
32. Will Wright on Game Design:
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke http://youtu.be/CdgQyq3hEPo Watch 30:27-33:27
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1003252
41. Pinch
The pinch is the place where you run out of something. I.e. You run out of lives in the arcade,
and you reach in your pocked for a quarter. Or twelve.
42. When you run
out of energy,
you have to
A)Spend
money for
more energy
B)Ask friends
for help (virals)
C)Go away
and come
back later
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
43. Cityville has a
natural pinch;
as your city
grows you
need more
land
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
44. Castleville has
a pinch for
explorers and
decorators;
unclaimed
land is full of
mysterious
clues
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
46. 6 key principles of
persuasion by Robert
Cialdini
Reciprocity
Social Proof
Commitment and Consistency
Authority
Liking
Scarcity
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
47. We’ve got scarcity here, plus a sense of what you have
missed, and away to keep you coming back
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
49. Celebrate microwins!
Actions taken
successfully create
mini-rewards in the
form of doobers
(stars and slot-
machine sounds).
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
50. Leaderboards
There is a certain satisfaction in
kicking a friend’s rear. However, if
you have a place where not much social
is happening, be sure to motivate me
by making me beat my own high score.
Don’t make me feel lonely.
51. Mastery
Crafting in Castleville, and many other games
is all about repetition. No real skill is gotten by
the player. Is the user really feeling mastery
here?
In Bubblewitch saga, like many match-
three games, it’s all about beating your
own score as well as others. You can
see and feel your improvement.
58. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.comFTUE (first time user experience) and elder game at a minimum. Almost
All game designers I’ve met talk about @cwodtke
no web/app developer I speak with discusses these much if at all. Is a tutorial enough?
59. Yahoo
rewards
group
managers
with
customization
tools
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
60. Okcupid
invites
you to be
a
moderato
r once
you’ve
been an
active
member
for awhile
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
63. From Art of Game
Design, by Jesse
Schell. This his
process diagram,
and looks accurate
to me. Game
people
often talk about
“wandering in the
wilderness”: the
time while you are
trying to achieve
fun.
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
65. How
most web
site
makers
view
design
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
66. Grace and Glory enemy concept
designs by Yusuke Hashimoto. From
the upcoming video game Bayonetta.
Graphic design in games is
Concept design by Min Zhou
http://minzhouportfolio.blogspot.com/ begun day one, and informs
and inspires all product
choices
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
70. Sid Meir, Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong. Watch 18:40-23:53
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7aRJE-oOY&feature=BFa&list=PL8E8E672C0031DC3A
72. To play Dance Central,
you have to learn the
moves
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
73. They make the learning into a game too– if you can decode
the picture, you can get a diamond and skip the practice
Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
What is a north star? It is the goal, the thing you are aiming for, and when you arrive, you can launch. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/building_a_vision_of_design_success,
Game designers have an inherent North Star because they are building a game. It’s FUN. Game designers constantly ask “Is it fun yet” and if the answer is no, they don’t launch. And their team doesn’t launch. Even when it’s late late late. Because there is no point in launching an un-fun game.
Game designers are very user centered. They have to be.
So when you are working on your project, your northstar should be a strong emotion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Z-3mz3j6U&feature=BFa&list=PL8E8E672C0031DC3A Warning: this video will make you cry. It’s awesome. Watch 4:28-7:20
We are often facile when discussing needs in web design. If we tap deeper into basic needs, we can get more satisfying products.
We are limited in how we talk about emotion in Wed Design. We talk about delight, and frustration. But there are many more words we could be designing for…
As well, Game designers are much more comfortable with creating negative emotions than wed designers, who Mostly aim for “happy.” But as part of a sequence, a slight negative can increase a positive.
Dan Brown’s Communicating Design Game. Sometimes stress can teach.
This is a classic persona my old company CarbonIQ made for a casual gaming site. It was useful. But….
Amy Jo Kim has developed different player types that you find in Social Games. Each one has his or her own play style. Knowing these needs shapes the feature set and core loop.
Backyard Monsters takes the classic tower defense loop (build defense, get attacked, redo) and adds complexity by letting you also attack and build offensive as well as defensive tools.
Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper. The game of rock paper scissors lizard spock adds In two more elements for added complexity. And nerdity.
A constraint is usually about resource management. How much energy/money/stuff you need.
The pinch is the place where you run out of something. I.e. You run out of lives in the arcade, and you reach in your pocked for a quarter. Or twelve.
Energy is a typical social game pinch. You can solve with money or with being “social” i.e. begging from friends.
In cityville, real estate is an excellent pinch. You could just buy more land, but you could also upgrade to better buildings, rearrange your items, or store something. More options + more fun play.
In Castleville the pinch is also part of the play. New land is shrouded in shadow, so you may discover new mysteries as you look to expand.
Manipulation is tough. We go to the theater to be manipulated. We like a certain amount of orchestration of our feelings. But we sure don’t like being taken advantage of.
Name the persuasion techniques being used by these social games. Trust me, a little time on Facebook and you can collect all six. And find a few new ones.
Zynga invented the “doobers” which is when something good happens you see an outflowing of stars or coins. It’s the equivalent of the slot machine flowing out, and very satisfying.
There is a certain satisfaction in kicking a friends bum. However, if you have a place where not much social is happening, be sure to motivate me by making me beat my own high score. Not feel lonely.
Moving from a novice to a master is why we play tennis, chess or even do things like knitting or woodworking. We humans love to know we are getting better at something.
Classic waterfall. Even web people don’t like this anymore.
From Art of Game Design, by Jesse Schell. This his process diagram, and looks accurate to me. Game people often talk about “wandering in the wilderness”: the time while you are trying to achieve fun.
Make it pretty, make a profit. Often web and app design just slaps some pretty on it at the end.
Again, game designers seem way more user centered than most others. They don’t say “we’ll do two rounds of testing.” They’ll test over and over until fun arrives.
Sid Meir, Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong. Watch 18:40-23:53 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7aRJE-oOY&feature=BFa&list=PL8E8E672C0031DC3A
Most web app designers through learning into a quickie tutorial in the beginning. But game designers, focused on mastery and that satisfaction weave it through the game.
Dance Central: you have to do the moves along with the dancer to earn points
Dance Central made learning the moves a key part of the game, not just a simple add on. You feel like you are really learning to dance.