The Mechanics of Magic
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This document discusses 7 lessons from game design that can be applied more broadly. The lessons are: 1) Find your North Star goal, 2) Design for emotions, 3) Understand player types, 4) Know your core mechanics, 5) Consider the long-term "elder game", 6) Learn how to teach users effectively, and 7) Always test your designs. The document provides examples and explanations for each lesson. It emphasizes designing around emotions rather than just functionality, understanding different player motivations, and the importance of testing designs through playtesting.
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The Mechanics of Magic
- 1. The Mechanic s of Magic 7 Lessons from game design We don’t need no stinkin’ badges See notes: http://www.eleganthack.com/?p=3233
- 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.
- 7. FUN Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 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
- 9. Emotion Your northstar is for the heart, not the head
- 10. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 11. Design for An Emotion Conversion is a crap north star
- 12. Frustration Satisfaction Delight 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. 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. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 16. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 17. Life with Alacrity on his itunes rating practice 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 Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 19. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 20. AFRAID lost DISQUIET PAIN TENSE AVERSION apprehensive mystified agitated agony anxious animosity dread perplexed alarmed anguished cranky appalled foreboding puzzled discombobulated bereaved distressed contempt frightened torn disconcerted devastated distraught disgusted mistrustful disturbed grief edgy dislike panicked DISCONNECTED perturbed heartbroken fidgety hate petrified alienated rattled hurt frazzled horrified scared aloof restless lonely irritable hostile suspicious apathetic shocked miserable jittery repulsed terrified bored startled regretful nervous wary cold surprised remorseful overwhelmed FATIGUE worried detached troubled SAD restless beat distant turbulent depressed stressed out burnt out ANNOYED distracted turmoil dejected depleted aggravated indifferent uncomfortable despair VULNERABLE exhausted dismayed numb uneasy despondent fragile lethargic disgruntled removed unnerved disappointed guarded listless displeased uninterested unsettled discouraged helpless tired exasperated withdrawn upset disheartened insecure weary frustrated forlorn leery worn out impatient EMBARRASSED YEARNING gloomy reserved irritated ashamed envious heavy hearted sensitive ANGRY irked chagrined jealous hopeless shaky enraged CONFUSED flustered longing melancholy furious ambivalent guilty nostalgic unhappy incensed baffled mortified pining wretched indignant bewildered self-conscious wistful irate dazed livid (c) 2005 by Center for Nonviolent Communication Website: www.cnvc.org hesitant outraged resentful Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 21. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 22. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 23. “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
- 25. 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
- 26. 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.
- 27. 4 Key Engagement Styles in Social Gaming Express Compete Explore Collaborate Copyright Amy Jo Kim
- 28. Satisficers Socializers Optimizers Self-discovery Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 29. The Core Loop And the Mechanics
- 30. 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.
- 31. 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
- 32. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 33. SHOP REVIEW BUY Loop for amazon, but also tripadvisor and Yelp Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 34. SHARE REACTION CONSUME Loop for most social sites, from facebook to instagram to flick Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 35. Mechanics Some of the more sleezy gamification gurus use this term as mind-control tricks. But really they are just what makes games tick.
- 36. Sometimes they are rules
- 37. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 38. Just in case you need it http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/generic/b597/ Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 39. Sometimes they are constraints
- 40. Pinch
- 41. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 42. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 43. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 44. Sometimes they are manipulations But it’s ok because I feel something?
- 45. 6 key principles of persuasion by Robert Cialdini Reciprocity Social Proof Commitment and Consistency Authority Liking Scarcity Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 46. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 47. Acheivements Reward me
- 48. Short term: Actions taken successfully create mini- rewards in the form of doobers. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 49. Leaderboards
- 50. Mastery Crafting in Castleville, and many other games is all about repetition. Is the user really feeling mastery here? In Bubblewich 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.
- 54. The Elder Game
- 55. 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?
- 56. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 57. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 58. Process
- 59. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 60. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 61. Aesthetics Beginning Middle and End
- 62. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 63. Grace and Glory enemy concept designs by Yusuke Hashimoto. From the upcoming video game Bayonetta. Concept design by Min Zhou http://minzhouportfolio.blogspot.com/ Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 64. Measure Pretend you have OCD.
- 65. Playtest like you mean it
- 66. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 67. Sid Meir, Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong. Watch 18:40-23:53 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7aRJE- Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke oOY&feature=BFa&list=PL8E8E672C0031DC3A
- 68. Learn how to teach
- 69. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 70. Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 71. WHAT IF SXSW WAS A GAME?
- 72. Networkers Partyers Learners Fame Hos Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 73. Nap in Panel Party Check twitter Christina Wodtke www.eleganthack.com @cwodtke
- 74. A good mechanic might be collecting.
- 75. A good pinch, private parties.
- 76. Now Playtest!
- 77. @cwodtke The game: www.tumblr.com/blog/sxswinning #sxswinning Me: www.eleganthack.com Thank You! sxsw.tv cq1
Editor's Notes
- 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 wed 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.