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Tag: howto

Tending your garden

Published by Paolo on 02/04/2024

The secret is not chasing butterflies. It’s tending the garden so that they come to you.

Mário Quintana

I read this quote in a newsletter and it made me think a lot about when I work to improve the sales of virtual goods in games. Marketers know that there are 3 steps behind every buy: trust, value, and pricing. Game design helps with the three when we are allowed to do so.

A game that sells virtual goods is like a garden or amusement park. People arrive, and some of them go away. Someone decides to pose on a flower, someone to someone decides to line up for an attraction. Game design helps serve all those people.

Trust > Value > Pricing

Trust means that Players believe in what your game (and your company) is. If they don’t believe you, they won’t listen to you. You build trust through consistency and honesty. First of all, game design helps identify the segments of Players. Then we help the Players understand the game mechanics, setting clear expectations.

Township was a pioneer in introducing the same minigames that the Players saw in the ads in the game itself. Massive success. Why? Because of trust.

Behind the value, there is time, which is the real currency Players invest in a game. Marketing is in the middle of a radical transformation. Advertising on social media and search engines is costly and ineffective. Game design will show who you are to the Players and what your game represents. The value of a virtual good comes from the reasons and emotions it evokes in Players.

I buy extra movements in a match-3 because I need just another swipe to beat the level (reason). I don’t want to restart, because maybe on the next try, I will perform worse (fear, emotion).

Pricing is something decided by other departments. By using design research we provide an analysis of the pricing of our competitors.

I explain this very briefly:

We start by identifying which elements of the game are related to time (remember? Time is the currency). Then find the resources derived from those. Study the Shop to find and calculate the price of everything. For some elements, you cannot calculate the direct value. Make estimations based on assumptions. Imagine you are a Player who wants to buy everything and calculate the spend depth of your game.

That’s how you care for your garden!

The artistic science of game design

Published by Paolo on 29/03/2024

Yesterday I had an online discussion with a fellow designer that is following a trend. The trend is to think in game design as a mere science. Like you can be able to exactly structure and predict everything by using the right approach right from the start.

I listen to everyone and I respect this colleague, but to me great games are never made like this. Game design is not science, also if it uses a pseudo-scientist approach for some of its activities. Make an hypothesis and run experiments. But then, the theory (of fun) you get is constantly challenged by innovations.

To me, instead of make prediction, the best way to fix retention is to see back. To see what you did. You do this by:

  • Playtesting your game every day on your own, every week with your team, and at least every milestone with common people
  • Measure your results and work to improve them, without worrying too much about estimation
  • Learning from your mistakes, you will make a lot of them

This is how I educated myself as a game designer. Game design has also something in common with art, in the sense that you need to develop your taste, your craft and most importantly, your process.

Happy Easter, everybody!

T34 – The Dark Zone (Good Old FRAG)

Published by Paolo on 07/03/2024

I installed UEFN and tried out some Fortnite maps created by others. I was conflicted regarding how shooters have evolved these days. On one side, there are tons of mechanics and dynamics in Fortnite. On the other, the thing is getting very complicated! Too many things altogether, games back in the day were simpler.

So I decided to start a new project, codename “TH3FR4GGERZ” where for the moment I am rebuilding classic deathmatch maps for the kids to play what I played (ok, boomer).

I started from The Dark Zone from Quake, which I played tons of hours back in the days at LAN parties (ok, boomer x2). Do you remember it?

  • UEFN is an incredible tool, it’s Unreal Engine but it permits you to set up rules playtest, and publish very quickly without having to worry about code and other things.
  • Fortnite is a game where new and old audiences meet together. This is great as a designer because there are many things I have to understand about these new audiences that are not immediate. For instance, unlike games from my time, the Players receive EVERYTHING right from the start in the most successful experiences.
  • I can revisit classics and finally have an excuse to understand all the steps that led us, the FPS players, here today. Nostalgia level: 9.999.999
  • If you are a Fortnite player, please join: 4321-3870-5686
  • FFA
  • No build
  • No stamina, run forever

First Playtest for The Dark Zone

Published by Paolo on 05/03/2024

After a couple of days working on my first map and getting confidence with UEFN, I have a first version of The Dark Zone, a classic Quake deathmatch map to test.

I want to test specifically three things:

  • The dimensions: I had to scale the map up because of many reasons. Usually, in Fortnite, there are more players. Also, I want to express a sense of reverence towards the classics of the genre. Plus, the metrics of Fortnite permit the Players to move more agile across a map. Players can slide, run, crouch, and many things more.
  • The lights: the standard lighting system for Fortnite is very plain, but also better in terms of contrast. Still, I want to represent the darkness of these classics but at the same time make the visuals always readable.
  • Weapons: Fortnite has too many mechanics and weapons, and I have to convert somehow the weapons from Quake to a Fortnite counterpart. That can lead to a lot of balancing issues. I need to test it.

How to define USP?

Published by Paolo on 27/02/2024

I have watched today probably the best video on game design I have ever seen in the last few months. The speaker makes a definition for USP, unique selling points:

USP = (appeal + fantasy) * readability

  • The appeal is the level of beauty, polish, etcetera your game can have. It is what makes the game appealing from looking at screenshots/videos
  • The fantasy is the opportunity the Players will seek inside of the game. It can be something very real, but also something they couldn’t do in real life.
  • Everything is multiplied for the readability of the gameplay. Which is the capacity of your game to be understood from a simple quick view.

I love this definition and this formula, also if I am aware that creativity doesn’t work with formulas. But it’s a way of starting from a base. Test the art side (appeal x readability) separately from the gameplay (fantasy x readability).

What I want to say is that according to the properties of multiplication, we can say that the readability is a responsibility shared among art and design. Art takes care more about the appeal, while design more about the fantasy. These are my 2 cents on the general reasoning of the video. Watch it here:

A simple technique for clarification

Published by Paolo on 20/02/2024

I have this client now who has simple but very effective techniques to clarify things and express his concerns. He opens a Microsoft Paint instance and starts drawing.

He shares the screen with me and, with simple shapes, describes what I presented him, asking questions. Then he passes to express his concerns and makes his change requests.

And then I have another iteration to work on. No need for complex software or subscriptions. MS Paint and simple shapes are more than enough to discuss anything. God bless this simple but effective techniques.

Mobile f2p 4x starter

Published by Paolo on 16/02/2024

One of the most beloved genres of mobile games is 4X. In case you don’t know, the genre was born on PC. 4X means eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. 

I watched this beautiful deconstruction of a popular title these days. Deconstructor of Fun is deconstructing the fun again, I have to say!

It is an expensive genre to develop especially if you are giving it for free, for example using the free-to-play business model, it is better to think well in designing each part scalable and monetizable.

The game loop

In the following diagram, I resume the typical game loop for mobile f2p 4X games and detail the three typical metagame loops associated with:

The economy of these games is generally based on:

  • Resources: usually represented with raw materials such as wood, iron, and so on. The basic building block for everything.
  • Buildings: you need to build to grow your empire, useful to eXploit the land
  • Crafts: the technology you can use to craft
    • Craft rate: the speed of crafting using buildings
    • Craft options: the kind of things you can craft
  • Troops: a consumable used to eXplore and eXpand
  • Heroes: characters that lead the troops, useful to eXplore and eXterminate
    • Hero XP: often represented with shards, useful to level up the heroes
    • Hero gear: useful to power up the heroes
    • Hero Level: the level of the hero

Monetization

“Monetize or die”, says someone. And I cannot agree more with that statement. Remember you are giving a sophisticated piece of software for free. You need to think that a very small part of the audience will pay for that. To do that, you should have a very deep spend depth in your game. Here are some classic methods:

  • Build: the build loop uses resources to build new structures after waiting time
    • Resources can be monetized
    • Time (speed up) can be monetized
    • Builders (building slots) can be monetized. They are often part of the starter pack, the succulent first euro you are supposed to spend into the game. Very valuable.
  • Upgrade: to upgrade your building you use the same things as for building.
    • You can add a layer of ADs for freemium players to watch and speed things up, especially when they have little time remaining.
  • Train: you need troops to attack others, and those are created using time and slots
    • You can monetize the time to speed up
    • You can make the players purchase extra slots. This can be also part of some high-conversion item
  • Level-up Heroes: heroes are key for certain missions and special features, like social features or battle modes
    • You can monetize heroes directly (not recommended), but you can offer them in loot boxes/gachas
    • You can add them in a season pass, some subscription service that unlocks heroes with progress
    • You can sell special gear from them
    • You can have specific shards for hero level-up or get special shards
  • 4X: this is the real goal of the game and permits to have more opportunities to monetize all the rest
    • How many buildings do you have?
      • How many levels can you upgrade them?
    • How many heroes do you have?
      • What are the chances to get those heroes?
    • How many troops do you need to attack?
      • What is the cost in time to get them?
    • And so on…

Conclusion

I hope you liked this brief introduction, my intention is to communicate that you should stay aware of these concepts:

  • The Game Loop: the sequence of features that the Players should engage with over and over in order to progress through the game
  • The Meta Loops: the things that make your players think about your game where they are not playing.
  • The spend depth: every member of the game loop has to be monetized! 

Monetization is not a bad thing, it is what keeps your Players engaged!

New project: UEFN Good Ol’ FRAG

Published by Paolo on 15/02/2024

Starting today I want to explore more the world of UEFN. I played a little with the experiences you have available on Fortnite right now and… oh my goodness, they are complete disasters from a level design perspective. What are we feeding our kids??? what?? *dramatic*

So I had this idea: recreate the most beloved maps from classic FRAG multiplayers within Fortnite. I need of course to tweak for 3rd person these maps, but my vision is pretty much this: to recreate classics in Fortnite. Because I want the kids to grow with serious stuff! (and if I can generate some income meanwhile, better)

I started by going on Copilot to look for data:

You are the lead game designer of a new project that involves Fortnite. Using UEFN, the project is to recreate the best maps that belong to classics of frag games (quake, unreal, and so on) in Fortnite. Converting them into modern versions. Make a table with the most enjoyed maps. On one column put the map name, on the second one a map image, third one the game, fourth column put the year and last column put notes on how to give them a modern touch

Prompt for Copilot

And I got a whole spreadsheet with a couple of tweaks:

I added some metadata and screenshots for the maps. So I am ready to start exploring classics!

How to evolve chores

Published by Paolo on 14/02/2024

Any video game sets up routines for the Players. Certain genres, like RPG and survival, are based on the concept of grinding. Grinding is making certain things over and over to achieve certain results. Often related to power-progression.

The art of game design in this case is being able to anticipate when certain tasks become a chore and make them evolve into something else. Usually, there are two steps:

  1. First, you make them automate something
  2. Then you give them the possibility to evolve the system so that the player becomes something new.

An interesting example of that is the game V-Rising. You are a vampire building an empire. And you have chores to do, collect things, craft other things, and so on.

The game lets you build special floors that boost that part, so that the game becomes a matter of designing your castle, more than building the next thing to improve your crafts.

Designing Journeys

Published by Paolo on 07/02/2024

I am designing the journey of a game for a client these days. It is a fun activity, also when you don’t have all the information you need to complete it. Anyway, it can be struggling, because it is very critical for the entire project.

A journey is the prediction of how the Players should behave in the game. At the same time, a journey imagines what the game offers to the Players, according to each stage they are in. When the journey is extremely detailed, usually you have a game with less freedom. The possibility space leaves fewer choices for the Players. When the journey is just sketched, you may oversee things too much.

General rules for journeys

  • Draft your journeys on a spreadsheet
  • The first column (or one of the first columns) should always be regarding the time
  • There should be some feature to represent the stage of the Players inside of the game. In many games it is level
  • You can briefly describe what the Players should do and the narrative around it given by the game
  • Each step should have its goals
  • Each goal should be reached using at least a single mechanic, or a combination of mechanics (skill atom). The key here is to always teach something. Remember: to have fun is to learn
  • You can define the challenges that the players will find over the journeys
  • Reaching each goal (every line/step of the journey) should unlock something meaningful for the next steps of the journey

It is hard to imagine exactly how the whole game should go. Especially with big games. Journeys are usually iterative, at the project start you have less definition and more questions. You can add those questions in a separate column. It is not necessary to balance at this stage, keep it clean and balance later. The last thing, journeys are very much needed also for simple puzzle games. In that case, we talk of the beat chart more than the journey.