Games Design &

Analytics
IS74022A
 An introduction to games Design and Techniques
which use player behaviour to improve
retention/monetisation

Lots of practical content

Design is collaborative, you will be expected to
present
You will be expected to play games
This module 2 pieces of design focused coursework
1. Twitch play focused
2. Long term retention/monetisation focused

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 2

What makes
a good  https://www.wooclap.com/ZUAYYD
reward

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 3

 Design Diary
What you
need • Doodles & notes
• Photograph key pages & add typed text if
needed
• Keep as Word Doc or PDF

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 4

  https://youtu.be/QKRlaI1SZ2o

 Could there be an animal urge to play?

 Hunting
 Chasing
 Finding
What does  Matching

this tell us?  Which games do you know which animals may
enjoy?
 What would the barriers be?
 Controls
 Rules
 Screen, realising its not a real world

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 5

 Achievement
 Solving
 Puzzle,
Riddle
 Winning
 Known Status
 /Unknown  High score
Joy of play  /Self
 Reputation
 Discovering
 Spectacle,
story, items
 Destroying
 Creating
 Improving
 Collecting
IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 6
 Player acts

Player evaluates Game pushes

situation back/rewards

Play cycle  Dynamic, usually changes

1. Short term
Second to second gameplay

2. Medium term
Level to level

3. Long term
Play session to play session

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Types of
game

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 8

 Recall (Memory)
Primary Manual dexterity
Gameplay Problem solving

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 9

Types of
game activity

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 10

  Player is not in freefall
 The ground stops the player falling
 Player can jump 2x own height

 Player can only have 5 cards

 To pick up a new card player has to discard one
 There are 13x4 unique cards in the deck

Rules  Enforcement
 Traditional game
 Other players
 Umpire/Referee
 Video game
 Game code running on computer
 Moderator

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 11

Meaningful
Rewards

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 12

 Cash
Real World
Rewards /
AWARDS
Medal
Certificate

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 13

Rewards

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 14

Deconstructing
rewards

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 15

 Spot the rewards https://tinyurl.com/y3caacd8

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 16

Video game
rewards

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 17

 Intrinsic - Inside the experience
 For the joy of playing
 Controls, movement, sounds, visual effects

Extrinsic – Outside the

experience
 Trophies, Score, Progression
Types of indicators
reward  Reminders of what you did, and indications
of what's to come

 Hybrid
 Extrinsic-Intrinsic: i.e. Bonus item for
coming back to play
 Intrinsic-Extrinsic: i.e. Kill cam shot
“trophy”

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  Poorly designed intrinsic rewards
 Bad controls, poor GFX, annoying sound,
 “Not fun”
 The effort to play > the enjoyment gained from
playing
Why people
 Poor retention due to bad extrinsic
stop playing rewards
 Game was fun, however;
 I think I have seen it all
 I don’t really remember much of it
 It feels like I am standing still
 No-one else seems to be playing it

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  Extrinsic rewards support, but should not replace,
intrinsic ones
 Its almost impossible to use extrinsic rewards to cover
for poor intrinsic ones
 Intrinsic rewards are much harder to design well;
 They need to be delivered in game, using controls,
effects, sound
Which is  It may need to work repetitively, without becoming
more boring
 They may be part of a game economy and could cause
important? unbalanced gameplay

 Net effect of poor intrinsic rewards is that people don’t

care about the extrinsic ones, so stop playing
 Exception: Games for real world rewards like cash,
where the extrinsic reward has real world value

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 20

  Intrinsic
 Anticipation
 Difficulty in obtaining
 Possibility of failure
What makes  Spectacle of achieving
 Joy of exploring the reward, new powers, unlock
a reward etc.
meaningful?  Utility of the reward, what it does to make the
game more fun

 Extrinsic
 A trophy to act as a reminder
 Scarcity, perhaps linked to difficulty

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 21

 http://tinyurl.com/
Reward ideas 1opw3tq1
 Not sure this will work

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 22

  Spideysense bell for the designer
 When a game has few/poor intrinsic rewards, i.e.
does not play well, there can be temptation to
Adding compensate with “cheap” extrinsic rewards
 STOP: Players won’t care much about extrinsic
Trophies, rewards if the intrinsic ones are poor
High Scores  Extrinsic rewards supplement intrinsic ones
& badges  So whilst they are cheap to create they will also be
irrelevant to the player unless they reflect real
achievement in something they care about

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 23

  I managed to kill the big guy and got this cool gun
 Good luck having a meaningful conversation about
this or searching for it online

 When I killed Sabboth, a massive Cyborg, he

dropped the BFG9000
 BFG9000
 Quad Damage, does what it says on the tin
Vocabulary  Paleto Bay-Stunt Jump, location and action

 Humans like labels

 Shared vocabulary is very powerful

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  Reward should seem obtainable
 Perhaps just out of reach, the method to get it
should be clear

 Luck vs Skill
 The longer players play the more luck they feel they
deserve, even if skill suggests otherwise
 Good luck is highly valued
 An irrational sense that we have control over luck
http://tinyurl.com/jv2vrfu
Anticipation  The designer can use this (carefully)
& Luck  Example: When the player defeats an opponent,
there is a 20% chance they will drop a low value
random item, after 5-10 drops, just as the player
gets bored with the grind, the game offers up 2
enemies in a row which both have a 80% chance of
dropping a high value item.

 How does the player feel?

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 Player failed (perhaps died)
 Heroic, Spectacular, Funny, Pathetic
 Ideally non judgemental, unless
multiplayer
Why replay?
Disappointments  Each time they get closer to winning
compensation (progress)
 Next time they know more so will
succeed, by skill or game design
 “Lucky” reward when you spawn,
more health etc.

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  What does the reward offer?
 BFG9000, awesome gun, but no use without ammo
 Game has now added “find BGF ammo” to list on
implied sub quests

 If you have all the toys, you need to “feed them” to

keep them fun
 Utility rewards, need counterbalance or you get a
Reward positive feedback loop
 Restrictions on “fuel/ammo” allows for negative
utility feedback loop, keeping economy stable
 Game needs to be near zero sum, i.e. no real
superpowers, for too long
 Search “Why being superman sucks”

 Designers need to ensure balance

 Maximum perceived value (Bling), minimal averaged
utility

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 27

Workshop
Reward design

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 Design a game mechanic
&
Decide the rules & Rewards
20 then back here to discuss

https://tinyurl.com/
y3caacd8

IS74022A © Richard Leinfellner 29