{ "title": "Game design patterns — 623 cards", "source": "https://fanarlabs.com/projects/patterns.html", "license": "Explanations, link reasons and pictograms: Fanarlabs, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — take them, change them, name the source: fanarlabs.com/projects/patterns.html. Pattern names and the links between patterns come from the Game Design Patterns catalog by Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen (https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/); each card links to its page there. No text from the catalog is copied.", "axes": { "layer": "MDA: mechanics · dynamics · feelings", "part": "Tracy Fullerton's formal elements, drama, and interface" }, "patterns": [ { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of performing your role in the group well; it is frustrating if the group still loses.", "needs_to_really_work": "Roles must be distinct, matter for the group's success, and be performable in ways players can see and recognise. Team results should depend on each role's contribution.", "just_a_label_when": "Roles that exist only as labels, with all players doing the same things and contributing the same way.", "knobs": "how different the roles are; how much the group result depends on each; how visible each player's contribution is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Role_Fulfillment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Roles can require players to stay true to the game world, and that world-faithfulness can in turn shape what a role is, so each feeds the other." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A role may demand behavior that fits the game's theme, and the theme can in turn help define the role, so they reinforce each other." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Role_Fulfillment.svg" }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "The game barely gets in the way of people talking to each other during play.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must demand little attention and have natural pauses, with little bookkeeping and no long waits. Players should be able to stop and resume freely.", "just_a_label_when": "A game described as casual or social that still demands constant attention or long upkeep, so conversation suffers.", "knobs": "how much attention the game demands; how easy it is to interrupt; how much upkeep it needs", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Minimalized_Social_Weight", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "When a game barely intrudes on the social setting around it, it can blend into everyday places and activities instead of standing apart from them." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Because the game doesn't pull attention away from people nearby, it fits easily into many different social situations and groups." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "" }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "Cutscenes are made to draw attention to the story presentation, which runs against keeping social aspects of play small." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "If players can talk and interact while doing chores, the chores feel lighter and less burdensome." }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "These interfaces draw attention to the player because they involve visible physical performance, which works against keeping social pressure low." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Minimalized_Social_Weight.svg" }, { "name": "Guilting", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "The game makes the player act by making them feel pangs of conscience.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need real connections with other players (teams, guilds, reciprocity) and a situation where their action or inaction visibly hurts or helps someone. Social dilemmas or requests for help create it.", "just_a_label_when": "A pop-up message saying 'your friends need you' with no real person affected and no connection, so nobody feels anything.", "knobs": "strength of social bonds; how visible others' needs or losses are; reciprocity rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Guilting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Because guilt can be sent or received, players can take on roles such as the one who pressures others or the one who is pressured." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Players can become adept at making others feel guilty, or at dodging and resisting that feeling, which counts as a social skill." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Feeling guilt is unpleasant, so being pressured, or just seeing that it might happen, makes players feel uneasy and strained." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Guilting splits players into those blamed and those not blamed, which works against everyone feeling united." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Guilting.svg" }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Algorithm-controlled characters appear to pursue goals of their own.", "needs_to_really_work": "Agents need actions towards their own goals, plus visible emotional reactions to progress, success and failure, supported by memory and context-sensitive responses. The impression must survive repeat play without obvious scripted patterns.", "just_a_label_when": "A character with a stated goal who behaves the same whatever happens and never shows any reaction to progress or setbacks.", "knobs": "how many agents have goals; how rich their emotional expression and memory are; how varied their reactions are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Own_Agenda", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "When agents show feelings about their goals, it can look like they are playing a role, though players may struggle to tell character actions from the agent's programmed acting." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Agents who display emotions tied to their goals and actions make the characters feel coherent with the game's world and theme." }, { "name": "AI Players", "why": "To act like a player, the AI needs its own goal, such as winning or playing as well as possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "The pattern changes how these agents play their characters by making them show more clearly that they have and pursue goals." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Players interact with companions more deeply, so it makes sense to prioritize showing their own agenda before that of other characters." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Agents playing non-player characters can be made to express that those characters have goals they are working toward." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "" }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "In games meant for replay, scripted sequences get seen repeatedly and become noticeable patterns, which undermines the impression that agents act from their own goals." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Own_Agenda.svg" }, { "name": "Togetherness", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The feeling that you are playing with others, not alone.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must share a space or a goal over time and have chances for shared experience, such as joint success, shared failure, or moments to socialise. Group symbols and a sense of team identity help.", "just_a_label_when": "A team label or a multiplayer lobby where players act separately and never rely on or notice each other.", "knobs": "team size and stability; how much players depend on each other; room for social downtime", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Togetherness", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Feeling like one group makes outside reasons for splitting up matter less, so players come to treat each other as fellow participants rather than as the people behind the avatars." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "When togetherness makes players interact more, they are likely to settle into different roles within the group." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Feeling part of a group lets players be valued for their involvement, which gives social regard without requiring gameplay success." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "If players' sessions barely overlap, they have little chance to feel they are playing with each other." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Guilting splits players into those blamed and those not blamed, which works against everyone feeling united." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players who are removed have to sit out, so the group does not finish the session together." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Feeling close to other players makes someone hesitate to quit since it hurts them, and an actual rage quit breaks that closeness." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When players start and stop at different times, they are rarely in the game together, which makes feeling united hard." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Togetherness.svg" }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "feelings × outcome", "what_it_is": "The satisfaction of achieving something together with a group.", "needs_to_really_work": "The task must truly need several players' contributions and be hard enough that success feels earned. Credit for the result must feel shared rather than attributed to one star.", "just_a_label_when": "A group completes the goal, but one player could have done it alone, so nobody feels it was joint.", "knobs": "how much each task depends on all members; difficulty; how success is shown to the group", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Accomplishments", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "When a group achieves something together, everyone involved can get recognition and good feelings from each other, so a shared success becomes a social payoff." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Accomplishments.svg" }, { "name": "Actor Detachment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "The player does not attribute other people's in-game behavior to their real personality.", "needs_to_really_work": "Gameplay should depend on in-game skill rather than outside traits, with anonymity or minimal personal information and a welcoming theme and presentation. Players must have little reason or means to judge each other by who they are.", "just_a_label_when": "Usernames are hidden but voice chat or profiles still reveal identity, or the game rewards real-world traits, so people are still judged outside the game.", "knobs": "how much player identity is revealed; whether AI or anonymous play is used; how much outside skill matters", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Actor_Detachment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "When players' outside identities matter less than how they play, more kinds of people can join comfortably, so the game fits a wider range of social situations." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Chatting lets players reveal personal details beyond gameplay, undoing the hiding of identities that mediated play would otherwise give." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "Talking to each other lets players share, on purpose or by accident, more about themselves than the game itself requires." }, { "name": "Friend Lists", "why": "Choosing to play with friends means existing opinions about those people, good or bad, affect how the game is played." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "Needing bodily ability lets who a person physically is decide how they do, so outside traits leak into the game." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "When things done outside the game change its outcome, players' real-life circumstances shape play instead of only in-game actions." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Knowing things from outside the game gives some players an edge, so their background affects results more than their play." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Taking on social roles during play makes interaction between players important, which makes it harder to keep people's identities out of it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Actor_Detachment.svg" }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "Enjoyment from handling chaos and difficult situations together.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs chaotic, overwhelming situations that a group faces jointly, with enough pressure that coordination matters yet manageable enough to leave a sense of getting through. Shared goals or teams help.", "just_a_label_when": "Chaos where each player is overwhelmed alone, or chaos so total that success is impossible and play is just frustrating.", "knobs": "how chaotic and pressured the challenges are; how much players depend on each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mutual_FUBAR_Enjoyment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Guilting", "why": "When a group fails to cope with the chaos, players may blame one another, so shared struggle can turn into feeling guilty or accusing teammates." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "If the group manages to get through the messy, overwhelming situation together, the success feels like something the whole team achieved." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Struggling through chaos side by side makes players feel they are doing something as a group, which builds a sense of being together." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mutual_FUBAR_Enjoyment.svg" }, { "name": "Sense of Self", "layer": "feelings", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "A computer-controlled character reacts fittingly to events and to its own state.", "needs_to_really_work": "The agent must react consistently to threats and to its own state, and remember earlier events. A single obvious failure breaks the impression.", "just_a_label_when": "A character that has health and a name but ignores danger or forgets what just happened to it.", "knobs": "how many situations it reacts to; how long it remembers; how consistent reactions are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sense_of_Self", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "When an agent consistently cares about its own situation, that concern is itself a kind of emotional attachment, one directed at the agent itself." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "Because the agent visibly looks after its own situation, it comes across as pursuing goals of its own rather than just following the game's script." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Agents that react sensibly to their own condition and surroundings behave in ways that fit the game world, which often helps keep the theme coherent." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "You add this pattern into an agent's algorithms, so that its reactions to events and its own state make it seem to care about itself." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sense_of_Self.svg" }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The player has several actions available, and each feels meaningful.", "needs_to_really_work": "Provide options with visibly different and relevant effects, and let players see or believe their choices matter. Avoid a dominant best option.", "just_a_label_when": "Several options exist, but one is clearly best or all give the same result, so choosing changes nothing.", "knobs": "number of meaningful options; how different their outcomes are; how visible the effects are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Freedom_of_Choice", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Goals", "why": "When players in a multiplayer game each pick their own goals, they end up chasing different things, so their objectives differ from one another." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Having many options and seeing how they lead to a goal helps players judge how likely they are to succeed, though unclear options can confuse them." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Offering more choices makes players feel they can shape the outcome more than they really can, even if actual impact is small." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Choice is a prerequisite for this pattern, though it may fail to deliver it when players feel pressured to pick among the options." }, { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "why": "Choosing the order in which to perform actions that depend on chance lets players soften bad luck, as in Bloodbowl." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Being able to choose lets players plan their actions, which often gives them a sense of acting purposefully on the game." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When choices give players differing abilities, each session can play out differently, which gives them reason to play the game again." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When every available choice carries some downside alongside its benefit, players face uncomfortable decisions, including ones involving other players." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Having real options to choose between pushes players to think ahead about which actions to take, both during and around play." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Choice invites players to plan ahead before and after a game, for example by studying replays or full views of a finished session." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "With several actions to pick from, players must weigh them moment to moment during play, which calls for tactical thinking." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When all options come with some negative effect, picking one means giving up something else, so players must trade one thing for another." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Controlling several units lets a player make more decisions than controlling a single avatar, so more units means more choices." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "If the available actions need different skills or allow different strategies, choosing among them makes each play experience differ." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Letting players choose among actions or goals is what creates the dilemma, even if having to choose at all can feel like a downside." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "When players can decide freely how characters are built or grow, those characters become the product of the players' own decisions." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Planning only makes sense if players can pick among options for how things grow, so having real choices makes it possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Choice lets players decide how their abstract construct grows, so development follows their own plans." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars give players choices from a specific point in the world, but if the avatar acts on its own, that freedom shrinks." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Players can pick which skills or powers to develop, so character growth reflects their preferences." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Players can create characters themselves or choose between roles, shaping the character they play." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Having several items to choose between gives players meaningful decisions about what to equip." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Having lots of options is a reason to add lengthy actions, which trim the choices available while an action is underway." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Choices about how to explore a story matter because players don't know what comes, though once explored the choices lose meaning." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Players may choose among several random results or the order of chance-dependent actions, shaping how luck affects them." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Players can choose which skills to develop." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Choosing where to spawn is one of the variations that widen player options." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "" }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Letting players pick which ability they get changes how the ability is gained and lets them plan ahead." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Letting players choose or create their characters lets them pick roles they can fulfill, making success easier and more enjoyable." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "Letting players pick the length themselves before starting gives them a say over the time cap while the session stays bounded." }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "why": "Players are allowed to change the order through their own actions, such as placing tokens, rather than it being decided by a fixed rule." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "Unless the cap is used to grant extra actions, restricting how many things you may do reduces how free your choices are." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "In cutscenes, players or other agents are made to act as scripted, which limits what players can choose to do." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "While waiting, players cannot act, so they lose the ability to choose what they do." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Enforcing actions limits or removes what players can pick, particularly when control is taken away outright." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Weaving choices into chores makes them feel less like pointless work, softening the upkeep." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "If players weren't allowed to pick what they get better at, the reward gives them power without real choice, working against their freedom." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "" }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skilled players find only a few actions interesting, so many options lose their meaning." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Having meaningful choices makes players feel they can influence outcomes, which works against feeling powerless." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "It may reveal that the freedom players assumed they had is not real." }, { "name": "Invisible Walls", "why": "They can expose that players lack the freedom of movement they first assumed." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When combined with turn-taking or fixed story, other players' needs or directions restrict individual choice." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Players set up their characters but then cannot act during play, so no choices exist in the gameplay." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Forced skipping of actions removes options, typically as a penalty." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Making many character choices up front can work against smooth learning." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Once a story branch is explored, the outcome is known, so choices there become meaningless." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Even with options, the same choices recur, so at a larger scale no real choice remains." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "The playable space gets smaller as play proceeds, which limits what players can do." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Waiting for other players' turns in multiplayer removes choice during that time, though it is accepted as fair." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "All choices are made before the game begins and none after, so it conflicts in one sense but not another." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Freedom_of_Choice.svg" }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The ability to perform actions and reach goals in the game with confidence.", "needs_to_really_work": "Skill must matter: outcomes depend on player choices and execution more than luck, with consistent rules, readable feedback and challenge that is reachable but keeps pushing. There must be room to improve over repeated play.", "just_a_label_when": "A game where results are mostly random or one dominant strategy wins, so 'getting better' is not real, or levelling up that does the work for the player.", "knobs": "balance of skill vs luck; difficulty and learning curve; depth and complexity of the rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gameplay_Mastery", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When others can see that you are skilled, that visible competence can help you feel separate from the character you are playing." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Getting good at a game shows players that their own actions and decisions really shape what happens, giving them a sense of control." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When one player has clearly mastered the game, that player will usually beat the others, so the result becomes easy to foresee." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Players keep coming back for more sessions because they want to reach mastery, which takes repeated play." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "In cooperative games with different roles, being skilled lets a player perform their role well and do what the role requires." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Other people can notice and admire your skill, so showing mastery earns you recognition from them." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "In cooperative games with distinct roles, mastery lets players actually fill those roles, which gives the group its social structure." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "As players master their roles in cooperative play, they fulfill social roles, and that is how the team grows together." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When players feel they have mastered something, they see that the time and effort they put into practicing paid off." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Players who know when to shift phases or rush the end change how the middle part of a game plays out." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Skilled players are less likely to fail, so their uncertainty about whether they will succeed is reduced." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When player skill grows large, the character's own abilities matter less, and this has to be considered when designing such games." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Mastering a game means seeing characters as mechanical functions, which makes it hard to feel emotionally drawn to those agents." }, { "name": "Auto-Aim", "why": "When the game handles part of the aiming, players no longer need to develop skill at it, so there is less ability to master." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When the game levels out differences, a skilled player gets less sense of being better than others." }, { "name": "Card Building", "why": "The page lists this as conflicting without giving a reason." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "As players learn to manipulate the game's systems, challenges become easy and may reduce to repetition, so tougher ones are needed." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "When characters grow stronger by themselves, the game helps the player, which reduces how much personal skill matters." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "If players choose easy levels just to finish or dominate, they skip the growth that real mastery needs." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players who fully understand the game and can no longer improve know exactly how much influence they have, so there is nothing left to exaggerate." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Skilled players find only a few actions interesting, so many options lose their meaning." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Luck limits how far skill determines results, so it weakens the effect of mastery." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When players are not evenly matched, strong mastery makes it hard to build mechanics that keep the game balanced." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "The game helping the player makes challenges easier, which lessens the importance of the player's own skill." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Strong mastery can make it hard to create mechanics that keep players on equal footing." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Great player mastery can make the character part unimportant and make it hard to keep the game balanced." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Paying lets one player get the same progress that another earns through skill, which undermines the value of mastery." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance limits what player skill can achieve, so it works against mastery." }, { "name": "Vision Modes", "why": "Game-provided help with seeing makes challenges easier, so players need less of their own skill." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gameplay_Mastery.svg" }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The game is easy to start, pause, and finish without spoiling the experience for oneself or others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Short or pausable sessions, a gentle learning curve, low stress and little punishment or dependence on other players' behaviour.", "just_a_label_when": "The game is marketed as casual, but it demands long sessions, has harsh failure or punishes quitting midway.", "knobs": "session length; ease of pausing; difficulty ramp; amount of penalty and time pressure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Casual_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because players can start or stop whenever they like, they get to decide when and how long to play." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Easy-to-leave sessions plus building or puzzle activities let players treat play as relaxed, aimless tinkering." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Betrayal can make players depend on one another, which suits poorly with relaxed play that doesn't demand worry about others." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Casual play must be easy to take up, and demanding challenge works directly against that." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "Such achievements usually push players into harder play, which clashes with the easygoing nature of casual games." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Casual games avoid situations that pit players against each other, and dilemmas create exactly that kind of social strain." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Casual play should be easy to stop and start without stress, but tension makes players feel unable to walk away." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Casual_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Player Agency", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The player can change the course of the game through their actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Choices must have visible, lasting consequences, and several options must be viable rather than one obvious best. The game must respond clearly to what the player did.", "just_a_label_when": "The game offers many buttons and options, but the result is the same whatever the player picks, or the game plays itself.", "knobs": "number and meaningfulness of choices; how strongly and visibly actions change the state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Agency", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When players use their ability to steer the game on purpose, their effort visibly changes the game state, so that effort feels worthwhile." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Feeling that one's actions matter in the game is closely tied to perceiving influence over what happens." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Waiting removes the player's ability to act and influence the game, turning them into onlookers." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "When the improvement is handed out rather than chosen by players, being stronger doesn't give them real control over their development, undermining agency." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Helplessness stops players from affecting how the game turns out, which directly takes away their agency." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Players may feel a result was just luck rather than their own doing, which weakens their sense of control." }, { "name": "Lucky Guess Solutions", "why": "If players feel a guess did not come from their own intent, the success feels hollow and undermines their sense of control." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Without direct input during play, the game always acts to some degree on its own, which reduces players' sense of control." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Making players pass removes their ability to act on the game, so they have less control over what happens." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "If players do not feel the enhanced abilities are under their control, the augmentations fail to give them real influence." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "When there are no real choices to make, or no time to consider them, repeated play leaves players little influence." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "If players are trying to win but can no longer do so, their actions stop mattering to the goal they are pursuing." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "The game runs without players acting at all, so there is nothing for them to influence." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "When one player's time manipulation is applied in a multiplayer game, it typically takes away the other players' ability to make meaningful choices that affect the game." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Agency.svg" }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Stretches of the game when players do not need to rush their actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have stretches with no urgent threats, such as gaps between waves, and not force fast actions. Players need to know it is safe for the break to feel relaxing.", "just_a_label_when": "A break is announced but threats keep coming or timers keep running, so no relaxation occurs.", "knobs": "length of breaks; how often they come; whether threats are fully absent", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Lull_Periods", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Pottering", "why": "With no pressure to react fast, players can wander around and fiddle with things casually, so the calm stretch becomes a time for aimless tinkering." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When nothing urgent demands a response, players have spare time and attention to think ahead and plan their next moves." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Quiet stretches with little gameplay let players chat and socialize without having to act in the game, which builds closeness." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Waves", "why": "Calm gaps placed between successive attack waves give players a break, as seen when intense enemy rushes are separated by quiet moments." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Constant focus is required, so quiet periods where nothing demands attention cannot coexist with this kind of play." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Tension requires players to feel pressured, while calm periods are defined by the absence of stress, so the two work against each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Lull_Periods.svg" }, { "name": "Gamer Mode", "layer": "feelings", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player sees the game as a system of rules and looks for winning tricks in it.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs to make effort feel worthwhile and the player absorbed, with clear goals and feedback so they willingly commit and treat play as serious. The page is a stub, so this is inferred from the patterns it lists.", "just_a_label_when": "Labelling a mode or menu option 'gamer' or 'hardcore' without any change in challenge, stakes or engagement.", "knobs": "how much effort the game demands and how clearly that effort is rewarded", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gamer_Mode", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gamer_Mode.svg" }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "layer": "feelings", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "The game helps estimate how likely a planned action is to succeed or fail.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must have consequences players can predict, and the game must give enough information or experience to let them estimate the odds. The estimate can be a little wrong but must be usable.", "just_a_label_when": "Odds are shown as a number that has no link to what really happens, so players can't judge anything from it.", "knobs": "how much information on odds is shown; how much hidden randomness there is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Determinable_Chance_to_Succeed", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players believe they can read their odds, they may read them too optimistically and feel more in control than they really are." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Feeling that success is possible but not guaranteed makes players invested in each attempt, which builds suspense about how it will turn out." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Knowing the odds of several different actions gives players real options, so the choice between ways of trying and reasons for acting becomes meaningful." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Since the game shifts help and penalties to players, they cannot reliably calculate their own odds of success." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Feeling empowered by knowing your odds is fragile, since challenges can feel so hard that success seems impossible." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies whose abilities or odds are hidden make it hard for players to tell how likely they are to win." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "This pattern makes players overestimate their odds, so what they believe no longer matches their true chance." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Secretly altering outcomes means the odds players think they face are not the real ones." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Sudden overwhelming events can wipe out whatever sense of their odds players had built up." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Determinable_Chance_to_Succeed.svg" }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "layer": "feelings", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Choice feels rich but does not overwhelm with too many options or the need to prioritize.", "needs_to_really_work": "Offer a small, clearly presented set of actions with limited resources, and open goals without forcing or timing them. Players must feel agency, not obligation or overload.", "just_a_label_when": "A menu lists lots of options, but a timer or forced objective pushes one path, so the freedom is only felt on the surface.", "knobs": "number of distinct action types; how strongly goals and time pressure are imposed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Framed_Freedom", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Because the options on offer are kept few and clear, players aren't swamped, yet they still pick among them and see their choices matter." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "With pressure from choices lowered, players can set modest goals and tinker at ease, which makes relaxed, aimless-feeling activity a natural fit." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Framed freedom often works by giving players only limited resources to work with, so deciding how to use and spend them becomes a central activity." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Tension", "why": "Framed freedom is meant to let players set goals without much pressure, so anything that brings tense, high-stakes feelings works against that calm." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Framed_Freedom.svg" }, { "name": "Tension", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Worry about the outcome when you cannot fully control it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must care about the result and not control it fully, with real stakes for losing. Uncertainty has to be real and not too easy to see through.", "just_a_label_when": "Dramatic music and a countdown, but failure costs nothing and the outcome is certain.", "knobs": "size of stakes; amount of randomness or hidden information; closeness of outcomes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tension", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Strong feelings from tense play can carry over from the game into real life, especially when real rewards or statuses are attached to the outcome." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Some players actually enjoy the stress of tense play, so for them the discomfort becomes a pleasure in itself." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Feeling suspense about possible failure, and still feeling it while the failure slowly unfolds, sets up the enjoyment of watching it happen." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Being under stress makes it harder to perform precise actions like aiming." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Feeling tense makes careful planning harder to carry out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Casual play should be easy to stop and start without stress, but tension makes players feel unable to walk away." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Idle players tend to feel less tension, though it can arise if they expect something bad to happen." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Framed freedom is meant to let players set goals without much pressure, so anything that brings tense, high-stakes feelings works against that calm." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Stopping the action lets players disengage, which can dissipate the tension that continuous play builds up." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "When entities cannot be hurt, there is little at stake, so the feeling of danger fades." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A story can lack tension itself, or block players who want to interact with the game system, which reduces tension." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Too many idle moves wear down suspense, even though some forced or voluntary waiting can build it." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Constant tension keeps players stressed about their activities, which works against the relaxed, self-directed nature of pottering." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "A certain winner drains the tension about who will win, though tension might still exist over who comes second." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Without direct interference from others, play feels less pressured, so games with private spaces are less likely to be tense." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Tension depends on not knowing what comes next, and experiencing the same situations again makes it weaker." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Safe places let players relax, which reduces stress, so they can undercut the pressure a game builds." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Once you can undo a dangerous moment by reloading, you experience it without the emotional strain it was meant to cause." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "On your turn you can plan without interruption, which can lower or remove tension." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "Tension requires players to feel pressured, while calm periods are defined by the absence of stress, so the two work against each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tension.svg" }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The player feels the game is testing their skills to the limit.", "needs_to_really_work": "The difficulty must match the player's skill, failure must be possible but recoverable, and success must be seen as the player's own doing.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies simply have inflated numbers, or the game is difficult through opaque rules or luck, so players feel cheated rather than challenged.", "knobs": "enemy strength; margin for error; difficulty levels or adaptive difficulty; pace of the ramp", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Challenging_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "When hard challenges meet real-time pressure, play turns chaotic, and players who keep going through the mess enjoy the mayhem and feel skilled." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Handling tough challenges, whether judged against your own past results or what others find hard, signals that your skills are actually improving." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "To stay challenging over time, tasks must keep getting harder, which naturally produces ever bigger goals and wrap-ups as the game advances." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When tasks are hard, players can't be sure they will pull them off, so the result of their own effort stays in doubt." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Hard challenges make failure likely, and repeated failing, especially when teammates fail to cooperate, can make players angrily quit." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Even when players lose at a hard challenge, the way they fail can be entertaining, so losing isn't always unpleasant." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because difficult tasks carry a real risk of failing, players feel nervous strain while attempting them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "" }, { "name": "Endgame Quests", "why": "Adding difficulty to final quests makes them feel more important within the game." }, { "name": "Finale Levels", "why": "Making last levels especially hard, often with boss fights, raises their significance." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Real-time movement that must account for acceleration, momentum, and turn radius is made harder." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Skill gaps between competitors can make the game too hard for some, while stronger opponents offer rising challenge." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Differences in skill make the game too hard for some and too easy for others, upsetting fairness." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "Speeding up the pace at which actions must be performed makes them harder." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Single-player campaigns can be reused with different challenging goals, such as time limits, to keep them demanding." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Casual play must be easy to take up, and demanding challenge works directly against that." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Feeling empowered by knowing your odds is fragile, since challenges can feel so hard that success seems impossible." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If players feel they have no chance, the hard challenge undermines their sense of being influential." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "As players learn to manipulate the game's systems, challenges become easy and may reduce to repetition, so tougher ones are needed." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Taking away map aids or outlines, as in realism mode, makes finding things harder, so the aids work against challenge." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Repeating easy tasks once mastered counters the idea of challenge, though grinding can also be turned into one." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Stronger characters can make tasks easy, so too much improvement erases the challenge." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Uneven skill among competitors can make the game too hard for some and too easy for others." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Hard challenges make it difficult for varied groups to play together unless challenges are optional or balanced by handicaps." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "When players come and go, the difficulty may no longer fit the remaining group, making it hard to keep the game demanding." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "" }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "In games that never end, players grow more skilled and more powerful, which can make the challenge too easy unless difficulty rises too." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Challenging_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player feels they affect the outcome, whether or not they really do.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give players many visible options and strong-feeling feedback for their actions, such as buffs, tools and abilities, while keeping the real outcome only loosely tied to them. It has to stay hidden: if players figure out the trick, or fully master the game, the feeling collapses.", "just_a_label_when": "A flashy upgrade or button that plainly does nothing, which players spot quickly and then feel cheated rather than powerful.", "knobs": "how strong and how numerous the visible player controls are, compared with their real effect on the outcome", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Exaggerated_Perception_of_Influence", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When players feel their choices matter, they are encouraged to think ahead and plan, though limited foresight and planning ability in the game restrict this." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Feeling that their actions shape the game makes players believe their effort counts, so what they do seems important." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Players feel they affect results, such as by starting a random process, even though they are really only watching the outcome unfold." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Players who overrate or misjudge how much their skill matters become unsure whether their performance will be enough." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Even if players' real impact is small, making their actions feel important gives them the impression that they steer the game." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players feel their choices matter, they keep believing that learning more will help them, so they are willing to replay." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When a game is so complex that beginners do not know the consequences of their actions, the perception of influence lets them feel they can still affect it." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "The perception can make players believe they have more room to improve than they actually do." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "It makes players unsure about their own performance, which can hide a predictable winner and keep play feeling meaningful." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Having more choices makes players feel they shape the outcome more." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "Losing abilities shrinks what players can do, which tends to weaken their feeling that they have great influence over the game." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "When players create agents beforehand and the game then runs without their input, they can't feel more influential than they truly are; shared control with agents also muddles agency." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "If players can see that balancing is what tipped the result, they no longer feel their own actions made the difference." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "If players feel they have no chance, the hard challenge undermines their sense of being influential." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "Cutscenes remove player agency, which makes it hard to also make players feel their influence is larger than it is." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "Weakened abilities tend to be felt as penalties, which makes it hard for players to believe their influence on the game is bigger than it is." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "This pattern makes players overestimate their odds, so what they believe no longer matches their true chance." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Those who just arrived or soon leave cannot have shaped the game much, so feeling very influential is hard." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "If players can spot cases where the system rather than they themselves decided the result, the false sense of control can collapse instead of growing." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Opponents can offset players' gains and, when more difficult than expected, work against the feeling of influence." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Having actions forced, especially during cutscenes, makes it hard for players to feel they have more control than they do." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "A game master who uses powerful events too freely overrides players' actions and works against their sense of influence." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Players who fully understand the game and can no longer improve know exactly how much influence they have, so there is nothing left to exaggerate." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Being unable to act undermines the sense of influence, although dependence in multiplayer games can sometimes still produce it." }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "why": "Actions that can be interrupted add uncertainty that makes any displayed success chance inaccurate, which can lower the perceived influence." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "Social dynamics where players decide who wins can leave a single player with little influence, particularly when in the lead." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Other players can reduce a person's influence through balancing, shared penalties, alliances and voting, which weakens the perception." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Forced moments of doing nothing make it hard to maintain a global sense of influence." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "When separate game instances do not affect the larger story, players' sense of power over the narrative is limited." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "If outsiders easily change the game state, players have a harder time feeling that their own choices were what mattered." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "Aids that perform actions for players can make them lose the sense of their own agency, depending on how they see it." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Players who can be removed by others may lose their sense of influence, even though kicking others feels powerful." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A set story limits possible actions and event order, which restricts how much influence players feel they have." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When the winner is clear, players can see their influence is small, though the exaggerated perception can mask this." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "If players do not feel lucky, chance counters the effect, and players who know the statistics will not hold the perception." }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "If players notice that information follows a script, they realize events are predetermined and feel less influential." }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "Players may suffer penalties they did not cause and could not avoid, which clearly shows how little control they have." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skills often state success likelihood, and deterministic skill tests leave less room for misjudging influence." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Players who know the statistics or hidden systems can see through the hidden help or randomness and lose the perception." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Events that cannot be anticipated cannot be influenced by players, which destroys the perception." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Little time to consider options limits planning, which works against feeling that choices have an effect." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "These events develop beyond players' control, so even if players trigger them they cannot affect how they unfold." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Since players cannot truly win, a global sense of influence is hard to keep, so designers rely on local influence." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Suffering a penalty can shatter players' belief that they have great control over what happens." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players know a game does not promise they will keep playing to the finish, which undermines feeling overly powerful." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "With no choices during play, players have little to feel influential about unless the set-up phase is designed to give that feeling." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Exaggerated_Perception_of_Influence.svg" }, { "name": "Luck", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The feeling that random events are not fully random and tend to work out in the player's favor.", "needs_to_really_work": "Random outcomes with visible uncertainty, plus ways for players to feel they may influence them, such as choosing when to roll or risking something. The outcome reveal needs to be noticeable.", "just_a_label_when": "Random results occur but are hidden or happen without the player's involvement, so they never feel lucky.", "knobs": "how random the outcomes are; how visible the roll is; how much the player can bet or choose", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Luck", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Feeling lucky makes players believe their own actions or wishes steered a random result, so they overrate how much control they had." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Having an unusually large run of good fortune stands out from normal play, so it gets noticed as a remarkable occurrence." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "When players sense luck is on their side, they may feel their choices matter, though they may also dismiss results as just luck." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Hoping for luck while the outcome is still unknown keeps players on edge, especially when results arrive later and they can't be sure." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "When results come from chance, players can feel fortunate or unfortunate without actually steering anything in the game." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "With retries, a good result needs less luck, and others' bad luck is less likely to benefit you." }, { "name": "Fixed Distributions", "why": "When players succeed at using the known mix to predict or soften outcomes, results feel earned rather than lucky, which weakens the feeling of luck." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "When success comes from chance, players have less control, so there is little reason to think getting better would matter." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Luck limits how far skill determines results, so it weakens the effect of mastery." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "If chance can stand in for skill, such as a random enemy attack being hit by accident, the achievement stops proving mastery and drifts toward grinding." }, { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "why": "Opponents' mitigation can counter a player's luck and spoil the feeling of being fortunate." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Players may feel a result was just luck rather than their own doing, which weakens their sense of control." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "If players already know what will happen, there is nothing left to feel lucky about." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing the odds or what will happen reduces the room for outcomes to feel like fortune." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When luck rather than effort decides outcomes, players can't feel that their hard work paid off." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Luck.svg" }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player does not know whether a solution to the task exists, which creates uncertainty.", "needs_to_really_work": "The challenge must be complex or information-poor enough that players cannot tell the answer at once, and the answer must not be easily learned from earlier plays. Players must believe a solution may exist.", "just_a_label_when": "A puzzle with an obvious answer or one that can be brute-forced by trying every option, or a puzzle whose solution is copied from a guide.", "knobs": "amount of hidden information; size of the option space; how much feedback hints at the answer", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Solution_Uncertainty", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "When players must work out what to do and many options exist, they can get stuck thinking too long about which action is right." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because the difficulty lies in working out what to do, players face a mental challenge that takes effort to overcome." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Uncertainty about solutions makes players think about how to manipulate the game state, rather than just directly changing it, which supports this kind of play." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "When the main task is figuring out which actions reach the goal, play naturally becomes solving a puzzle." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Players who cannot work out what is coming or what the solution is cannot foresee an attack, so they become easy targets." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Not knowing the right course of action pushes players to think ahead and plan their moves." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "If players don't know whether or how a goal can be reached, the result of the game stays open." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Since it is hard to know who has found or will find the best solution, the winner can stay unclear until play is over." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Challenges built on finding a solution lose their improvement value once the solution is known, unless something else is added." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "If players bring knowledge from earlier games, the solution may become obvious, which removes the uncertainty the game relies on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Solution_Uncertainty.svg" }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Enjoyment when things are going badly but the player keeps fighting.", "needs_to_really_work": "Real-time pressure, more demands than the player can comfortably handle, and difficulty rising with skill, while keeping success still possible. Failure must seem close but not certain.", "just_a_label_when": "The screen is busy with enemies and effects, but the game is easy or pausable, so there is no pressure to cope.", "knobs": "density and simultaneity of threats; difficulty ramp rate; time pressure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/FUBAR_Enjoyment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Because players must perform at their very best just to stay in the fight, they come away feeling skilled, and the pattern arguably produces that real skill." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "The enjoyment is the pleasant side of an outcome that stays undecided, since players are constantly on the edge of failing yet still fighting." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "The fun comes from handling hard challenges in chaotic, stressful conditions, so how well players cope is inherently in question." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "When players do finally fail, the situation was already chaotic or extremely hard, so the collapse itself becomes entertaining." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment is the same enjoyment of chaotic, hard situations, just made to happen for a group rather than one person." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/FUBAR_Enjoyment.svg" }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "layer": "feelings", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "The game creates a feeling that you must act and reach goals quickly.", "needs_to_really_work": "A real deadline or a race against others, committed goals, and a time budget that is tight for the players' skill level. Players must be able to sense the clock through indicators or alarms.", "just_a_label_when": "A visible timer that is so loose, or so lightly penalised, that nobody feels hurried or changes how they act.", "knobs": "time budget relative to task difficulty; severity of failure; how visible the clock is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Time_Pressure", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Having little time to plan means players may freeze up while trying to decide, so the hurry itself can cause the very stalling it seems to prevent." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Worrying about finishing before time runs out makes players nervous about possibly failing, and that worry is felt as tension." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "How much time is allowed has to suit how complex the game is, since a limit that rushes a beginner may not trouble an expert." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Limited time to plan usually stops players from overthinking, yet it can also push them into freezing, so the effect goes both ways." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Having to act quickly causes stress and removes the freedom to take one's time, which pottering depends on." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Little time to consider options limits planning, which works against feeling that choices have an effect." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Time_Pressure.svg" }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "layer": "feelings", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "You can play almost any time and in most places with little preparation.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must need little setup or equipment, work without a fixed place or simultaneous players (for example asynchronous play), and allow short interruptible sessions.", "just_a_label_when": "A mobile app that needs a constant connection, a long session or a quiet setting, so it still can't be played at most times and places.", "knobs": "required equipment and connection; whether play is asynchronous; session length", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ubiquitous_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Because a game can be played almost anywhere and anytime, it is easier to start, which lowers the barrier needed for casual play." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Playing in many everyday contexts makes it hard to prevent the game from having effects on things outside the game itself." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "Since play happens in varied surroundings, outside things unavoidably feed into the game, so such input tends to appear even if unplanned." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "When play can happen anywhere, it can blend into other everyday activities, which is what makes gameplay pervasive." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "A game that can be played in most places and times can be fitted to whatever social situation players are in." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Playing in public places makes it likely that bystanders watch, even if they do not realize a game is happening." }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "If only some of a game's interactions can be done anywhere, players taking part that way end up at a different level of involvement." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Since play needs the facilitator to be present, the game cannot be played anywhere and anytime." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A physical board forces players to be near it to play, which works against gameplay that can happen anywhere." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Making trading central requires either players everywhere or electronic exchange of elements, which is hard to combine with play available anywhere." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "Players need less than a whole game to play, but they must still have their own pieces, or carry spare ones for others to borrow." }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "why": "Physical keepsakes must be handed to players, so needing them in hand works against letting people play anywhere and anytime." }, { "name": "Seamful Gameplay", "why": "The pattern relies on dead spots, so a game designed to work everywhere has no gaps to exploit, making the two hard to combine." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Agents are usually run by computer code, so needing a computer limits play to places and settings where computers are available." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ubiquitous_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "layer": "feelings", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × interface", "what_it_is": "The boundary is blurred, so it is unclear whether events belong to the game or to real life.", "needs_to_really_work": "Game information must be hidden within ordinary media and activities, with several channels and imperfect information, plus puppetmasters who react to players. Players need to be able to mistake it for non-game content.", "just_a_label_when": "A game is marketed as 'alternate reality' but is clearly labeled and runs in one app, so nobody is ever unsure.", "knobs": "how well game content is disguised; number of media used; how much staff react live", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Alternate_Reality_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Because performers and ordinary people are mixed into the game and rules on player actions are loose, outsiders may end up assisting players without meaning to." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "Game events can be tied to particular physical locations, so many such games end up played partly in actual places rather than only on screens." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Games use public media and everyday settings, so bystanders can watch what happens, even without realizing they are watching a game." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When players can't tell whether something belongs to the game, that doubt adds an extra layer of unease on top of the normal challenge." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Alternate_Reality_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Replayability", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "How many new challenges, lessons, and experiences the game offers when played again.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each playthrough needs different challenges or room to improve, through randomness, many routes, or goals that differ. Outcomes must stay uncertain and mastery must not run out quickly.", "just_a_label_when": "Randomness that changes only surface details, so every run plays out as the same solved sequence.", "knobs": "amount of variation between plays (randomness, content size); depth of mastery available", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Replayability", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When players can imagine several different ways to approach the game next time, they start thinking ahead about how they might play differently." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Replaying invites players to consider alternative ways of playing, which leads them to plan their approach deliberately before and during later sessions." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Replayable games tend to give different experiences from one session to the next, so play does not feel identical each time." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "In games meant to be replayed, an agent's apparent agenda is strengthened in later plays by variation such as differing fates for the agents." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "If players fully understand computer opponents that never vary in their destiny, there is nothing new left to discover on replay." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "If remembered information can directly solve a puzzle, later playthroughs become trivial because the answers are already known." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "" }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "When a game is replayed and the story reused, players can predict it and lose surprises." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "If the same puzzles appear every session, players already know the answers, so there is little reason to play again." }, { "name": "Quizzes", "why": "Once a player has learned a question's correct answer, there is nothing left to figure out about it, so playing the same quiz again is less interesting." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "If players come to know everything about how to play well, replaying has no purpose because nothing remains to learn." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Tension depends on not knowing what comes next, and experiencing the same situations again makes it weaker." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Once players have played, the goals they didn't know about become known, so the mystery is absent in later sessions." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "" }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "Seeing the same sequence repeat across playthroughs reveals its artificial nature, weakening the illusion that characters act independently." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Replayability.svg" }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The feeling that the effort put into the game is worth something.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need real agency, visible feedback that links their actions to outcomes, and some permanence of results, such as persistent worlds, self-set goals or measurable improvement. Effort that gets overwritten or ignored kills it.", "just_a_label_when": "Reward screens and numbers pop up regardless of what the player did, so effort and outcome are unrelated.", "knobs": "how permanent results are; clarity of feedback on actions; proportion of outcome that depends on player choices", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Value_of_Effort", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gamer Mode", "why": "If effort feels too valuable in a game meant for another purpose, such as teaching, players may fixate on playing well and ignore that purpose." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When effort matters, each action counts for more, so players feel pressure to succeed with it." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Backtracking Levels", "why": "Without an extra reward at the far point, walking all the way back feels like effort that earns nothing, weakening the sense that effort pays off." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "If leaders are penalized and trailing players helped, hard work counts for less in the final standing." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Help given to newcomers can make the hard work of those already playing seem to count for less." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "Adapting the challenge to the player can cast doubt on whether effort led to success, though skillful use may avoid it." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "If results can often be overridden, players' skill and effort matter less, so fudges must be rare or limited." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "If players realize their repeated actions barely affect progress, the sense that effort is worthwhile is undercut." }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "why": "If an action can be interrupted and fail, the effort already put into it may be wasted, undermining the sense that work pays off." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "If players get something from their play even when they can't win, they have less reason to quit or unbalance the game by kingmaking." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Newcomers can get benefits that others worked for, such as rewards, or lack them, which makes earlier effort feel less valuable." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When luck rather than effort decides outcomes, players can't feel that their hard work paid off." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Late joiners, undone effects or less effective story influence can make some players' work count for less." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "When outsiders do things easily for players, the players feel their own work counts for less." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "Because help reduces how much player skill and work determine results, their effort seems to matter less." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players lose all value of what they invested when forced out before finishing, which damages their feeling that effort pays off." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "If player mastery outweighs character growth, the effort spent on building the character feels less valuable, and vice versa." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When the winner is obvious, trailing players feel their effort no longer matters." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "When others can simply buy what you worked for, your achievements feel less worthwhile." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "When chance heavily affects outcomes or can flip success into failure, players feel their effort matters less." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Repetition can leave players feeling their work achieves little, though it can also make them feel proud of having endured it." }, { "name": "Setback Penalties", "why": "Losing progress already earned can make players feel their earlier work was wasted, which undermines the sense that effort pays off." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "If winning is impossible, nothing a player does can pay off toward victory, so their effort feels wasted." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Value_of_Effort.svg" }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "As the game goes on, the stages that get completed become more and more significant.", "needs_to_really_work": "Later achievements must be bigger in stakes, rarity, and effect than earlier ones, supported by gating, rising difficulty, or goal hierarchies, and checked in playtests. Late moments need to feel meaningfully more important, not just harder.", "just_a_label_when": "Later goals are just the same task with bigger numbers, so finishing them feels no more significant than the first one.", "knobs": "how much importance or reward grows per stage; spacing and gating of milestones", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Higher-Level_Closures_as_Gameplay_Progresses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tension", "why": "The page only lists this relation in its consequences, saying closures that grow in importance typically bring tension, without explaining what in play causes it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Closures that grow stronger with play time reinforce the other tricks used to bring players back." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Gameplay closures can be lined up with story closures, letting this pattern shape how the narrative is structured." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Boss monsters and finale levels show how rising closures can alter goals of beating obstacles by making the later ones bigger payoffs." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Gameplay closures can be matched to planned story beats, so the pattern can shape how those fixed stories unfold." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Because the game never ends, it is hard to keep making closures steadily more intense, so the two rarely combine." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "With no way to win, there is no building toward ever-larger closures, so the two generally can't be combined." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Higher-Level_Closures_as_Gameplay_Progresses.svg" }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "An upcoming event that the player can clearly see in advance.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to see a specific upcoming outcome and have reason to care, and it needs time to loom (a timer, a delay, a visible progress). The outcome must remain uncertain or influenceable.", "just_a_label_when": "An outcome shown in the interface that is unavoidable, trivial, or too hidden to notice, so nobody feels any suspense.", "knobs": "how visible the pending outcome is; how long the delay is; how much stands to be gained or lost", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Hovering_Closures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tension", "why": "When players can clearly see an outcome approaching, good or bad, they feel anticipation and strain while waiting for it to resolve." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Too many requirements, or ones shown unclearly, keep players from feeling any goal is nearly reached." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Hovering_Closures.svg" }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "Enjoyment from losing or making a mistake in a loud and dramatic way.", "needs_to_really_work": "Failure must be dramatic, visible and slow enough to watch, and the game must be hard enough for mistakes to snowball. Players must be willing to take the stakes lightly.", "just_a_label_when": "A plain game over screen or quiet elimination, or failure that is punishing and silent so nobody laughs or retells it.", "knobs": "difficulty level; how much mistakes cascade; how visible failures are; how fast failure unfolds", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Spectacular_Failure_Enjoyment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "A spectacular failure is comical or remarkable, so it turns into an unusual moment that stands out from ordinary play." }, { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Because these failures are unusual and memorable, players want to retell them to others, making them good material for stories about a particular play session." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Going through misfortune together and enjoying it creates a bond among players who shared the mishap." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "A player who enjoys failing in dramatic ways is not frustrated by it, and rage quitting needs that frustration, so the two experiences can't coexist." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Spectacular_Failure_Enjoyment.svg" }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "layer": "feelings", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "A player abandons the session out of anger, without thinking how it affects others.", "needs_to_really_work": "It emerges when frustration rises beyond tolerance, often from repeated failure, unfair treatment or betrayal. Designers mainly limit it through fairness, mitigation of its effects and easy exits.", "just_a_label_when": "A quit penalty exists, but players leave calmly and not out of anger, so it is plain quitting.", "knobs": "frustration level and difficulty; quit penalties; how well the game absorbs a departure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ragequitting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Designers can attach an award to staying through a whole session, so a stretch where people often walk out gets an incentive to remain." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "When a rage-quitter leaves because of anger over what happened in play, the practical result is that they give up on that game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Teams", "why": "A player who storms out leaves their team short-handed, and the team may also be where the player aims their frustration, such as through own goals." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "In sports-style games, an NPC that gives up when its mood sours shows its state in a believable way." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Achievements may be tied to a game ending early or to staying through, so a player leaving a match can clash with earning one." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "The sense of togetherness that talking creates can work against players angrily leaving, so the two pull in opposite directions." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Easy joining and leaving softens the damage of a quitter but clashes with designs wanting everyone to commit to finishing the whole session together." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "A player who enjoys failing in dramatic ways is not frustrated by it, and rage quitting needs that frustration, so the two experiences can't coexist." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Feeling close to other players makes someone hesitate to quit since it hurts them, and an actual rage quit breaks that closeness." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ragequitting.svg" }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Characters, items, and their behavior fit together with the theme of the world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters, objects, rules and behavior must all follow the same set of expectations, and features that break the theme must be avoided or explained. Rules should plausibly follow from the fiction.", "just_a_label_when": "The art matches a theme, but rules and behavior contradict it, so the setting is only decoration.", "knobs": "how strictly rules follow the fiction; level of detail in setting; how many off-theme features are allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Thematic_Consistency", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When a game follows a theme players already know, they can guess what actions, events and especially penalties will do, so outcomes feel foreseeable." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "A theme can suggest roles as goals, and players who follow the theme by playing their role in character keep the game consistent, so each supports the other." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Items in a set nearly always share a theme with each other, and that shared theme is part of what defines them as a set." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "If a game fits a theme the player already knows, they arrive with expectations about how it works and what to do, giving them a head start." }, { "name": "Feelies", "why": "A player aid becomes a feelie when its design matches the game's theme, so thematic fit is part of what makes it count." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A story prepared in advance has to fit the game's theme, so keeping the theme consistent is what lets the story elements feel like they belong." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "When players are encouraged to stay true to the game's theme while roleplaying, they more readily adopt roles for their characters." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Theme affects how agents should look and act, requiring believable behavior while they remain interactive." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "The theme can require alarms and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Computer-run agents can easily be forced to behave as the theme requires, though capturing human nuance takes extra effort." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "The theme can require avatars and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "The theme can require boss monsters and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues that fit the theme let players draw on their knowledge of the genre, but clues made as non-diegetic features do not fit." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "The theme can require companions and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Clues that fit the theme let players use their knowledge of the genre, which shapes how the detective structure works." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "The theme can require enemies and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "The theme can require environmental effects and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "The theme can require items and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Many themes imply large game worlds with believable density and contents, which shapes how worlds are built." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "The theme can require landmarks and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Theme shapes how players perceive each level, along with what has previously happened in it and how it will develop." }, { "name": "Loot", "why": "What can be found as loot must comply with the theme to keep consistency." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Thematic consistency is seen as a basic requirement for quality narration, so it affects how narration is designed in general." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "The theme can require traces and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "The theme can require units and limits how they are realized." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "To stay believable in the setting, a character's growth should show up in the game world, such as in how its avatar looks." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "The fiction can explain and restrict who may get or use tools." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Alien Space Bats", "why": "If the effects of the fantastical element aren't carried through to the story, world, and gameplay, the setting stops feeling coherent and the theme breaks." }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Players control what they write, so they can say things that clash with the game's theme and designers cannot guarantee a fitting tone." }, { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "Hidden surprises often carry out-of-world, humorous material that doesn't fit the game's setting, so players who find them see the theme broken." }, { "name": "Emotes", "why": "Since players can write anything into a freeform emote, they may add content that clashes with the game's intended theme." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "In a game set in an invented world, bringing in real-world holidays can feel out of place, such as fantasy citizens celebrating Valentine's Day." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Consequences outside the game are not part of the game's theme, so informing players of them clashes with the setting." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Widgets are non-diegetic additions in the world, so the game's theme can't be fully kept intact." }, { "name": "Ghosts", "why": "Few game themes include immaterial agents whose actions cannot be influenced, so adding ghosts can clash with the setting a game is built around." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Achievements built on collecting spawned items are problematic when the items appear from nowhere." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "If players discover the illusion, such as hitting a barrier, the theme's promise of open space is broken, even though the in-world fiction may hold up." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "If the reason an area can't be entered doesn't fit the game's setting, such as an invisible wall, the theme feels broken." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "When an instance is recreated many times, players notice its enemies and rewards are just game mechanics, which breaks the fiction." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Inventories can show items differently from the game world or allow unrealistically large loads, and pausing screens make this worse." }, { "name": "Invisible Walls", "why": "Hitting a barrier that cannot be seen or explained breaks the believability of the world, unless it is given an in-world reason." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Immunity that the game's fictional world doesn't explain, such as protecting story characters, feels out of place in that world." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "New avatars, characters or units appearing mid-game can break the setting unless the fiction explains their arrival." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Real characters don't have several lives, and returning after death through spawning also feels unrealistic, which can clash with the theme." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Splitting players into instances and the difficulty of continually producing enough story for a huge lasting world make it hard to keep the theme coherent." }, { "name": "Minigames", "why": "If they do not share the main game's theme, as with easter eggs, they break consistency." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "A Mule must cover tasks like dialogue, which is hard to automate convincingly, and player-made Mules leave consistency up to the players." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Players joining and leaving, or speaking out of character, can break the game's setting." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "Repeating story content makes characters act as if earlier events never occurred, which clashes with the theme the world is supposed to hold." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "When out-of-world talk happens inside the game world, it breaks the theme by introducing elements that don't fit it." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "Out-of-world elements don't match the game's theme or setting, which challenges how well everything fits together thematically." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "A penalty that ignores the game's story or world, like killing a character yet restarting them earlier, breaks the sense of fit." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Without a never-ending story, a world that goes on forever struggles to keep its theme consistent, especially when it has small scripted pieces." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Private spaces can clash with the story, since rivals leaving each other's holdings untouched can seem illogical in the setting." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "When a prop looks the same as or very similar to other game items, it blurs what is functional and breaks the theme." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quests openly spell out mechanical rewards and requirements, which can expose awkward spots where the game's theme doesn't hold together." }, { "name": "Regenerating Resources", "why": "Some resources refilling by themselves may not fit the game's story or setting, which can make the world feel less believable." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "A reward design may not fit the game's fiction, so it can break the theme when theme matters." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Too much player freedom, or stepping out of character, can break the setting's theme." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A safe zone may seem unexplained in the setting, so it needs an in-world reason to fit the theme." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Points are difficult to justify within a game's theme, so they easily clash with it." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players improvise descriptions and story, and the rules can't dictate how, so fit with the theme can't be guaranteed." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "Real life has no place where things simply appear, so spawn points need an explanation like magic or teleportation to fit the setting." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Few game settings have a believable reason for things to simply appear, so spawning is hard to fit into the story." }, { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "Blocking actions can keep a story consistent, but for roleplayers it breaks the sense of the world by stopping things they would expect to do." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues containing information from outside the game, like how controls work, break the consistency of the game world's theme." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Outsiders and their actions have no natural place in the game world, so unexplained appearances can break the setting's believability." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Since players control how their characters behave, they may act in ways that don't fit the game's theme unless someone supervises or their actions are limited." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Their immaterial, vanish-on-touch nature feels out of place next to ordinary items and landmarks, which can clash with the game's theme." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Storytellers with creative control may add unfitting objects or events, or make characters act out of character, spoiling the fiction's coherence." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "Warp zones can break the theme by pointing to unreachable areas, or by skipping the time that such travel should take." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Thematic_Consistency.svg" }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Nothing appears on screen that doesn't exist in the game world itself.", "needs_to_really_work": "Everything shown must belong to the game world, so interface elements, scores and hints must be kept out or disguised as part of it. Repeated actions such as retries must also make sense in the world.", "just_a_label_when": "A world that looks real but shows floating score counters and tooltips all over the screen.", "knobs": "how much non-world interface is shown; how it is styled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Diegetic_Consistency", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "If the game world never shows anything outside its fiction, players don't get a signal that it's a game, and that is nearly required for games blending into real life." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "A consistent fiction gives players a reason not to break it, and playing the part well in turn keeps that consistency going, so each feeds the other." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Anything outside the fiction, like interface overlays, also breaks the theme, so a purely in-world presentation must exist before the theme can hold throughout." }, { "name": "Feelies", "why": "A player aid is only a feelie when it is made to fit the game world in its own medium, such as a map styled like part of the world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Whether the world is shown only through its own elements changes how players perceive it, as everything present in it seems part of the fiction." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Whether a level shows only fiction-appropriate elements changes how players perceive it." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "These games try to build complete, plausible physical settings, so staying in the fiction is usually more important to them than to other games." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemy appearances and behaviors, such as fleeing when hurt, can be explained by the game world's logic." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Cameras", "why": "A camera is an incorporeal thing that gives views no character in the game world has or could have, which clashes with in-world consistency." }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Text boxes or overlays sit outside the game world, and mixing player and character channels can also break the fiction." }, { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Check points are typically geospatial widgets, objects that exist for game purposes rather than belonging naturally to the game world, so they clash with a consistent fiction." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "Players can use the open channel to speak out of character, which breaks the believability of the game's fiction." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Elements that stand out strongly may be perceived as not belonging to the world, even if they technically do." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Players joining and leaving at will require the fiction to explain why controlled figures suddenly vanish or reappear." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "When someone quits mid-game, the fiction must explain the sudden disappearance of what they controlled, which is hard." }, { "name": "Emotes", "why": "Truly freeform emotes let players put anything they like into the game world, which can break what fits inside the game's fiction." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "If everyone is expected to act in-world but not all do, the fiction breaks, and players' free choices may bring in non-diegetic elements." }, { "name": "Entitled Players", "why": "Such players may use their abilities in ways that disrupt the fiction for the rest." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Telling players about consequences outside the game brings in things that don't belong to the game's own world, which breaks its internal consistency." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "Dropping outside input straight into the game as content can clash with the game's story world unless that world resembles where the input came from." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Pausing often sends players to interface screens outside the fiction, which reminds them they are operating a game." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Showing numbers like lives or scores in any form can push players to see other elements as game systems instead of in-world things." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Summaries of the game's state encourage players to view elements through the lens of the system rather than the setting." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Widgets are not actually part of the game world yet appear in it, so the world can't stay fully consistent." }, { "name": "Ghosts", "why": "Few game settings include see-through beings that nobody can touch or affect, so a ghost often does not fit what the story world allows." }, { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "A free, world-external pointer to manipulate things isn't part of the fiction, unlike a figure the player controls inside it." }, { "name": "HUD Interfaces", "why": "Information overlaid on the display isn't part of the world, and may clash with some themes." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "If play can be interrupted, the fiction must account for characters suddenly stopping or disappearing." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "A counter of lives is a system element shown to players, which shifts how they perceive other game elements." }, { "name": "Meta-Postures", "why": "Gestures used to signal out-of-game messages are not part of the fiction, though they are less noticeable than speech." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "With several people involved, someone is more likely to quit or introduce non-diegetic elements, which threatens the fiction." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Talk about the game itself, outside the fiction, interrupts the shared sense of being in the world." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "Having elements that aren't part of the world directly contradicts a world made only of its own elements." }, { "name": "Phasing", "why": "Players see different versions of the world, so those comparing their experiences find the world doesn't add up." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "Keeping player knowledge in line with the character's is often easiest with elements from outside the fiction." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "They clearly affect gameplay, which makes them look like game-system devices instead of things belonging to the world." }, { "name": "Reflective Communication", "why": "It is a form of out-of-fiction talk, so wanting both it and a fully consistent world makes design harder." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "These widgets float in the game world yet are not truly part of it, so they break the sense that everything shown belongs to the game world." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Because players are free to choose, they might add non-diegetic elements, which undermines the shared fiction." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Showing scores makes players see the game as a system, which can change how they perceive everything else." }, { "name": "Seamful Gameplay", "why": "Visible seams in the game's presentation can force explanations for characters or units appearing and vanishing." }, { "name": "Secondary Interface Screens", "why": "These screens often hold non-diegetic features and take players away from the world itself." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "No dedicated person is handling the presentation, so keeping to the fiction can't be guaranteed." }, { "name": "Setback Penalties", "why": "Having to redo sequences of actions repeatedly often makes no sense within the fiction." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Players' freedom to tell their own story can introduce non-diegetic elements that break the fiction." }, { "name": "Tooltips", "why": "Pop-up text is not part of the game world, so showing it can break the feeling that everything seen belongs inside that world." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "If a zone itself, or the areas it leads to, aren't part of the world, using it reveals the fiction as constructed." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Letting only special avatars or units raise alarms keeps the story on track but may make no sense within the game world." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Explaining why enemies can't be met early or why they appear can strain the game world's logic." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Invisible walls used to bound an open world are not part of the fiction, so they can break the world's believability." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "A prop that looks like a usable object but does nothing, or draws interest and then can't be used, exposes an inconsistency in the world." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "Changing the world during play without a sensible in-story reason can make the world feel illogical and break its internal consistency." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Showing ownership usually means drawing a colored overlay on the world, which is not something that exists inside the game world's fiction." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Diegetic_Consistency.svg" }, { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "dynamics × drama", "what_it_is": "Stories based on the events of one particular game that was played.", "needs_to_really_work": "Games need chances for remarkable, varied events, and ways to record or share them, such as replays. Exceptional or failure moments help.", "just_a_label_when": "A replay or save feature exists, but games unfold the same each time, so nothing worth telling comes out.", "knobs": "variance of events; ability to record and share; frequency of dramatic moments", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Instance_Stories", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "A story about a particular play session lives on after the session ends and affects things outside the game, so telling it counts as such a consequence." }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "why": "A retold story keeps a memory of what happened in a session, working as a keepsake made of narrative instead of a physical object." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Players who build a story together through play share an experience that binds them as a group." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "When session stories circulate among players, listeners can pick up strategy from what happened, so the stories change what players know about playing well." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Instance_Stories.svg" }, { "name": "Easter Eggs", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Hidden surprises unrelated to the game's story and world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The secret must be hidden well enough to feel like a discovery but findable through exploration or hints, and it must be fun or funny when found. Players also need a reason to suspect secrets exist.", "just_a_label_when": "A hidden thing that is trivially visible, or so obscure and dull that nobody finds it or cares when they do.", "knobs": "how many there are; how hidden they are; how strongly clues point to them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Easter_Eggs", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Players who know hidden surprises exist have a reason to poke around every corner of the world, so looking for them becomes a motivation to explore." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Players race to find the hidden items before others do, which creates a side contest about discovery that sits outside the main game." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Finding a hidden surprise isn't required to progress, so once players know one exists, tracking it down becomes a goal they can choose to chase." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Since hidden surprises may be missed on one playthrough, players have a reason to start again and search more thoroughly." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because the surprises sit in places harder to find than other hidden spots, searching for them demands more effort and so adds difficulty to the optional hunt." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Hiding surprises in the world gives its places and objects extra secrets, changing what the world holds beyond its ordinary content." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Hidden surprises often carry out-of-world, humorous material that doesn't fit the game's setting, so players who find them see the theme broken." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Easter_Eggs.svg" }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "The story is revealed as the player walks around and explores a place.", "needs_to_really_work": "The world must hold readable traces of past events in props, items and layout, placed where players pass, and players need freedom and a reason to look and interpret.", "just_a_label_when": "Decor that is only decor, or story info tucked in a place nobody sees and tells them nothing about what happened.", "knobs": "density and placement of story clues; how obvious they are; how much is optional", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Environmental_Storytelling", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Objects and effects left in the world can hint at what happened, so players can use them to piece together events or find resources." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "The story sits in the world rather than a forced cutscene, so players decide whether to notice or engage with it." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Players may skip the environmental story, so working out what happened becomes something they choose to pursue, not a requirement." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers fix the story ahead of time and embed it in the level, so the planned narrative is told through the surroundings." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Players often see only fragments of what happened, so they must reason or guess to reconstruct the events." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "The narrative is delivered as players move through and explore the world, so the environment itself becomes the storyteller." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Marks and remnants of earlier events in the surroundings show that something happened there before the player arrived." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The same elements that make up the world also carry the story, so storytelling shapes how the whole world is experienced." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Story elements are built from the same design pieces as levels, so they affect how each level looks and what it conveys." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Story elements can be placed at resource spots to give players a reason to look at them, and can hint where resources are." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Routes between places can be dull, but players focus on them while traveling, so putting story elements there makes them more interesting." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Environmental_Storytelling.svg" }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Game characters show noticeable feelings toward phenomena and creatures of the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters need reactions that fit events and relationships and visible consequences of what happens to them, so players believe they care.", "just_a_label_when": "A character who says it is sad or fond in a line of text but acts exactly the same afterwards.", "knobs": "how many events characters react to; strength and visibility of reactions; how long memory of events lasts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Emotional_Attachment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When agents show feelings about things tied to their goals, players can see that those agents are pursuing aims of their own." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Agents whose emotions fit the game world's events keep the setting believable, so the story and world feel coherent rather than broken." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "When agents show emotional attachment to things, that display becomes part of the story being told." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "Computer-controlled players are one kind of algorithmic agent whose design changes depending on whether they are given ways to show they care about events." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Giving agents emotional reactions changes how they appear, letting them show they care about what happens in the game world." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Agents' fitting emotional reactions help stories stay consistent with their theme instead of breaking it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Emotional_Attachment.svg" }, { "name": "Big Dumb Objects", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Huge man-made objects hinting at powerful creators.", "needs_to_really_work": "The object must be seen from far away and feel vastly larger than the player, with hints about its makers. It should be a notable landmark players move toward or can't reach.", "just_a_label_when": "A big model is in the background but is not noticeable, has no hints of origin, and is just scenery.", "knobs": "size and visibility; place in the world; how much is hinted about its makers; reachable or not", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Big_Dumb_Objects", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alien Space Bats", "why": "When a huge unexplained structure is placed in a world otherwise modeled on reality, it becomes an out-of-place element that doesn't fit the setting." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Because the objects are so huge and mysterious, characters inside the game world would notice them, so they stand out as notable features." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Such an obvious object can't just appear unexplained, so it should carry story hints through the surroundings, or it clashes with the world's logic." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "If players can see the giant object from afar but can't get to it, it becomes a visible place they know they can't enter." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Since the objects are visible from far away and easy to recognize, players can use them as reference points to orient themselves." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Their enormous size lets players see them from long distances, giving a clear view of a recognizable target." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because they're so noticeable, they have to fit into the designed story ahead of time rather than being added as unexplained scenery." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Designers often include them because they reinforce the game's chosen theme and atmosphere, such as wonder or otherworldliness." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Large mysterious objects tempt players to travel to them just to look into them, creating a destination goal." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Designers must decide where on the game board the object sits, so it shapes how that board looks and is laid out." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Being visible from far away and easy to recognize, the objects give players something to steer by when finding their way." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The object can be placed in the world as a feature, or be so large that the entire world is the object itself." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Designers choose where within a level such an object goes, and its scale affects how that level looks and feels." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Placing the object so it can be seen while travelling makes otherwise dull movement between places more interesting to look at." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Big_Dumb_Objects.svg" }, { "name": "Memory of Important Events", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Game characters remember important past events and show that they do.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design needs a way to detect and record significant events, and then characters must refer to them later in speech or behavior at fitting moments. The recall has to be specific to what the player did.", "just_a_label_when": "Characters say a generic scripted line that sounds like remembering but is identical whatever the player did.", "knobs": "how many event types are tracked; how long they are kept; how visibly characters react", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Memory_of_Important_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When characters recall past events and respond to them, they seem to pursue goals shaped by their own history rather than just reacting to the moment." }, { "name": "Sense of Self", "why": "A character that recalls what happened to it during play seems to have a continuous personal identity, as if it were a someone with a past." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Giving agents recollection of past events makes them seem more socially believable, as they can show they recall and react emotionally to what happened." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Algorithmic agents are changed by this pattern because they need extra event-tracking and recall logic, which in turn is also how the pattern gets implemented." }, { "name": "Awareness of Surroundings", "why": "Agents that remember events can show they know what has happened in their environment, which widens how aware of their world they appear." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "The pattern is applied to non-player characters acting as agents, so those characters seem to recall and respond to earlier play events." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Memory_of_Important_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × interface", "what_it_is": "After playing, a person understands real-life phenomena differently.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game system must model the real phenomenon faithfully, or tie game state to the real world (location, real activity), and players must be willing to draw the connection.", "just_a_label_when": "The game has a real-world theme painted on top, but the rules don't model it, so players learn nothing new about it.", "knobs": "how closely the model matches reality; how strongly game state is tied to real-life data or places", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Changes_in_Perception_of_Real_World_Phenomena_due_to_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Changing how players see real-world things is the very effect the designer is after, and that shift carries beyond the game into players' lives." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Linking game state to real-world phenomena binds play to each player's own surroundings and social setting, making it harder to adapt the game to different social situations." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Changes_in_Perception_of_Real_World_Phenomena_due_to_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Gameplay Design", "layer": "feelings", "part": "drama", "second_place": "dynamics × drama", "what_it_is": "Game rules are built to make the player think and doubt something.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game's own rules and dynamics must model something in the real world so that players feel its structure and see it differently. The critique must come from play, not from text or the story.", "just_a_label_when": "The theme or story talks about a real issue, but the rules play like an ordinary game and the issue is not felt.", "knobs": "how closely the rules mirror the real phenomenon; how strong the feedback loops and social dilemmas are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Gameplay_Design", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "The pattern aims to get players to think critically about real-world phenomena, so when it works, players end up seeing those phenomena differently." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Gameplay_Design.svg" }, { "name": "Clickability", "layer": "feelings", "part": "interface", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "A responsive reaction to clicking that is pleasing in itself.", "needs_to_really_work": "Instant, noticeable audio-visual feedback for every click, and a chance to repeat actions in a rhythm.", "just_a_label_when": "Things are clickable, but the response is delayed or flat, so clicking feels like filling in a form.", "knobs": "feedback speed and strength; how often one can repeat; effects on combos and timing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Clickability", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "Repeated clicking with quick, noticeable responses lets players fall into a steady beat of actions, which they then try to keep going." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "When clicking is the fun part, the player's pointer or focus point must do the clicking, which changes how players relate to that focus point." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Items that react noticeably when clicked, like switches, pick-ups, and reward widgets, become more appealing to interact with once players notice them." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When important parts of the environment are easy to click, exploring them is trivial, so players need to learn less before they can master the game." }, { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "A pointer that can click anywhere in the world or interface is the best tool for delivering clickable fun across everything on screen." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Enjoyable clicking helps casual aimless play feel less like a chore, though it is not enough alone to sustain that kind of play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Clicking that is fun in itself makes repetitive actions feel enjoyable, which works against the feeling of grinding through tedious tasks." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Clickability.svg" }, { "name": "Cooperation", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Players act together, sharing information and resources toward a common goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need shared goals or rewards, and tasks that really are easier or only possible together. They also need to be able to communicate and swap information or resources.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are put on a team and share a score, but each can win alone without caring what the others do.", "knobs": "how shared the goals and rewards are; how often joint actions are required; communication limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cooperation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When players are busy working together on shared tasks, they pay less attention to who the others are in real life and more to their in-game roles." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Having to coordinate with others adds more things to track and decide, and this grows even more when players also compete." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Players may help someone who gets little back right now, trusting that the favor will be returned to them later." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "If teamwork breaks down and joint efforts fail, frustrated players may storm out of the game." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "When players need to work together, they tend to settle into different parts or jobs within the group." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Working jointly with others rewards players who communicate, negotiate and read others well, so they show these abilities to do better." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Coordinating with partners, or even just deciding whether to team up at all, pushes players to think ahead." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "why": "When players must work toward shared benefit and do so at different times, the result is collaboration without simultaneous or observed action." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "Since no single entity can do everything, participants must work together, which makes each of them rely on others' specialized roles." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Relying on other players' actions leaves your result partly in their hands, which makes it tense." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When players work together, specialties can turn into more formal roles, and cooperating becomes more efficient when players specialize." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Cooperation is the most natural fit for games with several players, shaping how they relate, though it can also be used outside them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Betrayal undermines the reliance players place on each other and lessens how much cooperation is felt, even while it adds tension." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Strong disagreements within the group can be so disruptive that working together becomes impossible." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Aims that stop others from achieving things clash with joint effort at a basic level, though teams can oppose each other." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Players fighting each other are at odds with working together, though both can coexist when teams compete." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Cooperation is easier to get with all players working together, but friendly fire, mistrust and sabotage can limit it in teams." }, { "name": "Save Points", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cooperation.svg" }, { "name": "Agents", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Game creatures and objects that seem to have goals of their own.", "needs_to_really_work": "Elements need visible abilities and actions that look purposeful and respond to circumstances, not fixed predictable motions. Players need to see them change the world in ways that suggest an aim.", "just_a_label_when": "A game element wears a creature's face but moves on a fixed track, and players quickly see it as an obstacle, not an agent.", "knobs": "how adaptive and varied their actions are; how visible their goals are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Agents", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Agents that oppose or help the player through conflict or cooperation create the difficulty the player must deal with, so they generate challenge." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Agents can be companions or teammates who work alongside the player, giving players partners to coordinate with." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Because agents are seen as having intentions about the future, they can take part in favor-trading where repayment comes later." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Human players act through agents such as avatars and characters, so having agents with human controllers produces games with several players." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Agents are the story's anchors and conflict sources, so a game's story structure has to be designed together with them." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Agents can be authored as fixed parts of a pre-written story, so designers shape the agents themselves to fit that plot." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Players often simplify agents into mental models of things that move and act in reliable ways, so their effects become foreseeable." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players must keep guessing what agents will do next, which pushes them to think ahead and plan." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Agents give players characters to care about and are usually where conflict comes from, which stories need." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When agents are used as opponents, players feel forces working against them, which creates tension." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Game elements that act on their own become enemies when they try to hinder the player or when players have goals regarding them." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Killing only registers when players can tie the removal to some actor who caused it, so an identifiable agent is central." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "" }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Roleplaying means taking on the goals and behavior of agents, so having agents in the game is what gives players something to roleplay." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A team can be formed simply by having several agents who all pursue the same mutual goal." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "By using agents for conflict or cooperation, designers can raise or shape the challenge players face." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Agents among those being herded move on their own, which makes herding goals harder." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Giving NPCs the ability to act on their own in the world changes them from passive figures into participants." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Spectators who see game elements that look capable of thought and self-directed action tend to treat them as having intentions." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "" }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Inhabitants such as enemies and non-player characters populate a world and make it feel occupied and active." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Moveable Tiles", "why": "Tiles are elements that don't move by their own will, while agents act on goals, so the two fit poorly together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Agents.svg" }, { "name": "Social Roles", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Roles that people receive or take toward one another because of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be several players with different abilities or tasks, a way to communicate, and enough gameplay differences that people fall into distinct positions. Anonymity and cut communication weaken it.", "just_a_label_when": "Named roles listed in the game that players never actually take on, because everyone does the same things and has the same standing.", "knobs": "how different player abilities are; how strong group structures are; how much players can communicate", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Social_Roles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Some roles give their holders little to do in play, so those players sit idle unless the role's importance is deliberately kept frequent." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players want to talk about the roles and related topics outside the game fiction, which raises how much out-of-game chatter happens." }, { "name": "Role Selection", "why": "When players are free to choose which social role they take, that choice is itself a form of picking a role." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Many roles demand social ability to play well, and negotiating who gets which role also takes those skills." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Roles give players a structure and encouragement to interact, and that shared interaction builds a feeling of being together." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Freedom to pick different roles lets players experience the game in different ways, which makes play more varied." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Social roles can be applied on top of cooperation that already exists in a game, altering how it plays out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Taking on social roles during play makes interaction between players important, which makes it harder to keep people's identities out of it." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "With players judged only on their play and not on who they are, it becomes hard for lasting social roles to form." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "Social roles are harder to establish when players don't know who others are, since roles depend on recognized identities; gameplay-based roles can work around this." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Even the option to stay anonymous works against social roles, making them less present or harder to adopt." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Social_Roles.svg" }, { "name": "Betrayal", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A character breaks an explicit or unspoken agreement with another.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must depend on each other through promises or alliances, with imperfect information and a real gain from betraying. Anonymous actions or traitor roles intensify it.", "just_a_label_when": "The game has a 'traitor' label or alliance rules, but betraying brings no benefit or is impossible, so everyone just cooperates.", "knobs": "gain from betraying versus cooperating; how hidden actions are; use of traitor roles", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Betrayal", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Adding a traitor, like the bio-terrorist in Pandemic's expansion, forces players to work against a hidden threat as well as the game, making success harder." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "A broken promise is an unusual, standout moment in a game, so betrayal naturally produces events that break the normal flow of play." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Without hidden actions, a betrayal is exposed once and cannot be repeated or undone, so it happens only one time." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Because a player might secretly plan to break an agreement, others cannot be sure how that player will act." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can deliberately write betrayal into a game's planned storyline as a theme, building it into the story's built-in turning points." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Even when players mostly cooperate, they must consider that others might turn on them, which adds a player-against-player element." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Being betrayed stirs strong negative emotion, and a player who feels wronged enough may simply storm out of the game." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Betrayal can require taking on a particular role, such as traitor, so pulling it off successfully feels like playing that part well." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Setting up a betrayal often takes time, as with traitors, so players must act in character and keep up a pretense." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Planning to betray means hiding your real intention from the others, which makes that plan a private goal." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Where betrayal isn't already based on a conflict between group and personal gain, it tends to create that tension itself." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Unless every player must do it, choosing to betray means stepping into a distinct position among the group, such as the traitor." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing betrayal is possible makes players anxious and anticipating, as they try to work out what others truly intend." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "" }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When someone may secretly work against the group, players must handle both cooperating and hindering, which complicates decisions." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Even in joint actions, such as attacks in Illuminati, a partner might betray the others, though in a milder form." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Betrayal feels stronger when it concerns a goal the player was bound to, rather than one they could freely skip." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Possible betrayal makes cooperative play more challenging and complex, but also weakens how much players can truly rely on each other." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Placing players in factions and then having traitors within them heightens how betrayed others feel." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Shared goals make betrayal sting more when a player secretly works against them, as traitors do." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Betrayal is a classic theme that produces twists like role reversals and surprises within a game's story." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Computer or facilitator-run characters can be the ones who betray players or the ones betrayed by them." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Having betrayal possible in a party makes tension and anticipation greater, while lessening how much the party feels like a united group." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Possible betrayal within teams adds tension and anticipation but reduces how united and trusting the team can be." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Betrayal can make players depend on one another, which suits poorly with relaxed play that doesn't demand worry about others." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Betrayal undermines the reliance players place on each other and lessens how much cooperation is felt, even while it adds tension." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "The possibility of betrayal reduces how much a party feels like a trusting group, even if it adds anticipation." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Betrayal threatens the trust teammates need, lessening the sense of a team even while it increases tension." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Betrayal.svg" }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "While it is unknown how others will act, the game's course cannot be foreseen exactly.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be several real opponents with meaningful choices, and information that is hidden or imperfect so their moves cannot be easily deduced. No single dominant strategy should exist.", "just_a_label_when": "Opponents are present but all follow the same obvious best line, so their moves are easy to predict.", "knobs": "number of opponents; how much information is hidden; how many viable strategies exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Unpredictability", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Being hard for opponents to read is itself worth practicing, so in games with deception or secret aims, getting good at hiding your intentions is a path to mastery." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When you can't tell what others will do, you have to weigh the risks and rewards of the options you can see, which pushes you to plan." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "Because you can't know what others will choose, you can't see far ahead or plan perfectly, so how the game ends stays open." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "If a player's moves can't be easily predicted, others can't tell when they are faking, so bluffing becomes possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Trying to plan around opponents whose moves are hard to guess can be so difficult that players get stuck deliberating." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When you can't assume what teammates will do, working together becomes harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Final phases often settle into locked positions, often from depleted resources, so players become easier to predict." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When it's clear who is ahead, what that player will do next becomes obvious, removing the uncertainty." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "A player who understands the game's strategies can more easily guess what others will do, making them less unpredictable." }, { "name": "Trial and Error Solutions", "why": "If solutions can simply be tested one after another, outcomes become foreseeable, which works against unpredictability." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Unpredictability.svg" }, { "name": "Social Skills", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Success in the game depends on the players' ability to communicate and persuade.", "needs_to_really_work": "Outcomes must depend on how players deal with each other, through bluffing, trading, negotiation or alliances, and the interaction must not be fully mediated away by rules.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with a negotiation phase where the best move is always the same calculated trade, so charm or bluffing never changes anything.", "knobs": "how many social actions affect outcomes; how open communication is; how much information is hidden", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Social_Skills", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Since success depends on how you come across to others, being persuasive and socially savvy becomes a skill you can get truly good at and show off." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Players can enjoy being seen as socially adept for its own sake, so showing these skills earns appreciation apart from any in-game effect." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When your results depend on how others react to you, players feel pressure about whether they will be believed, trusted or accepted." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Social_Skills.svg" }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "You help others now, expecting the favor to be returned later.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to help one another at a cost to themselves, without a guaranteed immediate payback, and meet again later so that returning is possible. Trust and the chance of betrayal must be real.", "just_a_label_when": "A gift button that gives help to anyone for free, so there is no cost, no trust and nothing to repay.", "knobs": "cost of helping; how likely and how soon players meet again; whether repayment is enforced", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Delayed_Reciprocity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Since the game doesn't guarantee a favor will be returned, the helped player can simply never pay back, which makes breaking trust possible." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Because helping creates a sense of owing, the helper can pressure the receiver into repaying, turning the bond into a social dilemma of guilt." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Players who gave help wait for a payoff that hasn't arrived yet, leaving the exchange open and unresolved until the favor comes back." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Helping now with nothing immediate in return works like putting resources in, hoping for a later payoff, especially when players commit to shared goals." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "The waiting player expects a later benefit from the one they helped, so the eventual returned favor acts as a delayed reward." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Helping costs the giver something while repaying costs the receiver, so players must choose between self-interest and honoring the exchange, as when guilt is used." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Between giving help and getting something back there is a time gap and a chance of betrayal, so the players involved feel uneasy." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Players must trust that a partner will return a favor later, adding risk to cooperative choices." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "You return to find out whether others repaid your help, or because you feel you now owe them help in turn." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "In multiplayer games, depending clearly on other players can paradoxically give players a sense that their own actions matter." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "If the reward is already split among everyone by design, individual helpful acts need no repayment, so situations of owing a favor happen less often." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "When team success rests on common goals, members help each other as a matter of course, which makes room for favors owed later smaller." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Delayed_Reciprocity.svg" }, { "name": "Beat the Leader", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Several players team up against whoever is leading the session.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to see who is ahead and must have ways to hurt or hinder that player together. Hidden scores kill the effect; open scores and interference actions support it.", "just_a_label_when": "The leader is shown on a scoreboard, but players have no way to affect each other, so nobody can target them.", "knobs": "visibility of scores; how much players can interfere with each other; hidden or open goals", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Beat_the_Leader", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When players gang up on whoever seems ahead, they pull the leader back toward the others, which evens out how well everyone is doing." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Because the pacts against a leader are temporary and a leader can shift, a player may drop an ally and break the agreement." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Players may act weaker than they are to avoid being targeted, or falsely label someone else as the leader to redirect the group." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Everyone who is not ahead shares the same aim of bringing down the perceived leader, so their interests briefly line up." }, { "name": "Negative Feedback Loops", "why": "Being ahead draws the others' joint resistance, and that resistance is controlled by players, so leading makes further success harder." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players pushing down the apparent front-runner tend to keep everyone's standing close, if the leader was identified correctly." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Each player must choose between spending effort against the leader for everyone's benefit or pursuing their own gain and hoping others do the work." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "PvP", "why": "In games where individual players compete, the leader is a single player and the others can join forces against them." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Collective action against the leader tends to bring scores closer together, making a tie between players more likely." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team competitions the leader can be a whole team, so the other teams can unite against it." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "End State Scoring", "why": "If points are only counted at the end, players cannot tell who is ahead during play, so they have no clear target." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Hidden objectives keep players from knowing how close others are to winning, which makes naming a leader hard or impossible." }, { "name": "Secret Scoring Mechanisms", "why": "When scoring is hidden, players cannot judge who is in front, so they lack the basis for ganging up on anyone." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Beat_the_Leader.svg" }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Different kinds of actions are assigned to different participants.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give entities different abilities and make tasks too many for one to cover, so cooperation and division of labor is necessary. Limited gear slots or exclusive abilities force specialization.", "just_a_label_when": "Class names exist, but everyone can do everything equally well, so the roles are just labels.", "knobs": "how different abilities are between roles; how much one entity can cover alone; number of slots", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Functional_Roles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When roles demand different skill levels, beginners can pick an easier role and take part without carrying the hardest responsibilities, such as playing a medic or engineer." }, { "name": "Role Selection", "why": "Once actions are split among roles, players naturally have to choose which role to take, so choosing becomes a normal part of play." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Besides the gameplay duties they carry, functional roles also hint at how players behave toward one another within the group." }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "When some roles ask for far more involvement in play than others, players end up engaged at different levels depending on their role." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "In multiplayer games, differing roles and role changes can set group members against each other and create rivalry." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "In multiplayer play, players can take on different sub-challenges, so swapping roles between games gives a new experience." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When players in a multiplayer game each take a different functional role, they end up doing different things and interacting differently, which adds variety, though only modestly." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Dividing responsibilities among players lets each try different roles for varied experiences, though limited role slots can cause rivalry between them." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Because roles are usually divided among players, they give a reason for a group to exist so every needed function is covered." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teams can enforce cooperation among role holders, and varying expertise needs within a team let novices ease in through simpler roles." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Functional_Roles.svg" }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player can still improve their own skills in this game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Outcomes must depend on skill with room above average play, plus feedback that shows how well players did. Changing rules or rising challenge keeps the headroom open.", "just_a_label_when": "The game claims depth, but outcomes are mostly luck or skill caps quickly, so practice yields nothing.", "knobs": "skill ceiling; amount of performance feedback; how outcome depends on skill versus luck", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Further_Player_Improvement_Potential", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When a game leaves room to get better, it shows players they can reach a higher level of skill than they currently have." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players can improve between sessions, by sharpening their actions or learning strategy, they have a reason to play again." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "In team games, room for improvement shows that the team can grow and perform better together over time." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "" }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Seeing that better play is possible tells players that their effort to improve can actually pay off." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Puzzles that stay the same between sessions leave little room for players to get better, so this potential suffers." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "" }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When success comes from chance, players have less control, so there is little reason to think getting better would matter." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "If players cannot meaningfully affect the game at all, there is no skill to develop and nothing to improve." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Once a puzzle's answer is found, nothing more remains to learn from it, so no further improvement is possible." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Heavy randomness weakens player control, so players doubt that improving their play is possible or worthwhile." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "Challenges built on finding a solution lose their improvement value once the solution is known, unless something else is added." }, { "name": "Trial and Error Solutions", "why": "Luck or simply trying every option can reveal the answer, so skill is not needed and there is nothing to improve." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Further_Player_Improvement_Potential.svg" }, { "name": "Symbiotic Player Relations", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "One player's success or failure affects the other player in the same way.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players' outcomes must be genuinely linked (shared goals, shared enemies, or helpful actions that benefit others), so helping is in their own interest. Helping must also be possible through actual actions.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are put on a 'team' by name, but their results are independent and nothing one does changes another's outcome.", "knobs": "how much one player's results spread to others; shared versus individual rewards; availability of helping actions", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Symbiotic_Player_Relations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "When players aren't sure why they act, they may help others without any reward for themselves, and shared fortunes make such helping fit naturally." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When staying in the partnership is optional rather than required, a player can drop or exploit partners, and well-timed defections can be powerful." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Because one player's gains or losses carry over to others, players have reason to work together toward outcomes that help everyone involved." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Benefits needn't reach everyone immediately, since players can expect that help they give now will be returned to them later." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Players who expect a favor to be repaid, or who coordinate with each other, can pressure partners who haven't contributed." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "When the shared fate is expressed in terms of the game's fiction, sticking by one's partners feels like faithfulness to them." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Symbiotic_Player_Relations.svg" }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The starts and ends of different players' game sessions do not line up in time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must let people join, leave, quit or be eliminated at different moments, and the server or facilitator must keep play going for those who remain. Without free entry and exit, everyone ends up starting and finishing together.", "just_a_label_when": "A lobby with a join button that in practice always waits for a full group and ends for everyone at once, so sessions stay aligned.", "knobs": "how freely players may join or leave mid-game; how elimination and surrender are handled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unsynchronized_Game_Sessions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Players may need to wait for others to finish their sessions before their own can start." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "When players start and stop at different times, they are rarely in the game together, which makes feeling united hard." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unsynchronized_Game_Sessions.svg" }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players abandon the session before the end, though the game didn't force them to.", "needs_to_really_work": "Leaving becomes likely when games run long, feel lost or depend heavily on others; the design must decide how the game copes when someone departs.", "just_a_label_when": "A rule saying what happens when someone leaves, in a game short or engaging enough that nobody ever does.", "knobs": "game length; how hopeless a losing position feels; what the game does with a departed player's position", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Early_Leaving_Players", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "When a player quits, they effectively vanish from the match just as an eliminated player would, so the same problems and fixes apply." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "A departing player may use their final moves to decide who wins, handing victory to someone of their choosing." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When some players drop out partway, participants no longer share the same progress or timing through the game, so sessions drift apart." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "For people to drop out, the game must cope with someone quitting before the session finishes." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Players often know who is ahead in the final phase, so quitting there matters more and the endgame must handle it more often." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Players who see the game as unwinnable tend to quit, a problem designers should plan for." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teammates depend on one another, so one person leaving hurts the others more than in games where everyone plays alone." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team-versus-team play, losing a member weakens their side and the reliance on each other makes departures more damaging." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "When someone quits mid-game, the fiction must explain the sudden disappearance of what they controlled, which is hard." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Games that can be paused or interrupted give people fewer reasons to quit for good, so they work against players leaving early." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Letting players adjust how long a game runs fits their available time, reducing the need to leave early." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Letting players tailor sessions to their schedule removes a common reason for quitting partway." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Letting players adapt play sessions to the time they have lessens the motivation to leave before the end." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "When someone leaves, the remaining players' standing can become uneven, disrupting the fairness the game was built around." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A planned story can break when a participant disappears, since the facilitator or system counted on that player's role." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Losing a member leaves one team weaker than another, upsetting the even match the game aimed for." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Early_Leaving_Players.svg" }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The benefit of taking actions before everyone else.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs turn-based play where moving first matters and starting positions are equal. The size of the edge depends on how much a single move can change the game, and balancing needs its own fix such as rotating order.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are labelled first, but moving first changes nothing, so no advantage exists.", "knobs": "how much one early move is worth; whether compensation (turn rotation, bonuses for later players) is added", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/First_Player_Advantages", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Because someone has to move first, players begin in unequal positions, so the opening advantage itself becomes a built-in difference between players' starting situations." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Startgame", "why": "The advantage of moving first shows up mostly in the opening phase of play, so it shapes how the early game unfolds." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Back-to-Back Game Sessions", "why": "Moving first gives an edge that makes a single session lopsided, and repeating with swapped roles is meant to cancel it out, so the pattern works against that advantage." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "An edge for whoever starts first makes players unequal in their chances, which undermines the goal of fair, balanced competition." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/First_Player_Advantages.svg" }, { "name": "Team Balance", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Competing teams have about equal chances of success and victory.", "needs_to_really_work": "Team makeup and rules must offset advantages, with some correction for teams that fall behind. Features that snowball or cause lopsided numbers must be controlled.", "just_a_label_when": "Teams have equal member counts, but skill spread, roles, or snowballing make one side win most of the time.", "knobs": "team composition rules; handicap strength; strength of catch-up effects", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Balance", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "When teams are evenly matched, each player can estimate their odds of winning from how many teams are competing, since no side holds a hidden edge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Teams", "why": "Balance changes how teams are built and adjusted so that no team starts with a clearly better chance of succeeding." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Team-versus-team play becomes more interesting for everyone when the competing sides have roughly equal chances." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "Swapping AI in and out during play can leave teams uneven, unless the game is purely cooperative." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "How dead avatars return to play can favor one team over another, upsetting fairness between teams." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Gaining or losing members can leave one team stronger than another, which is hard to correct." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Losing a member leaves one team weaker than another, upsetting the even match the game aimed for." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "If one side keeps immunity for long, it dominates and the teams stop being evenly matched." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "A newcomer can make one team stronger or weaker than the other, because they differ from existing members." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "As different teams develop abilities at different rates, one side can end up stronger than another." }, { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "Teams with entities that have unique abilities are hard to make even, though giving every team the same differentiated set resolves the problem." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "When teams exist, losing members unevenly can leave one team much weaker than another." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Penalties for being killed fall on individual players but still shift the strength of their teams, which can tilt a team-versus-team match." }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "Snowballing lets one side pull far ahead of the other, which undermines keeping teams evenly matched." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Special abilities held by players on one team can make teams unequal, unless the other teams have matching abilities." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Growing teams can be designed toward balance, but even small differences in how they grow can widen the gap instead." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Giving certain members special powers in a team-versus-team game can make the sides unequal, causing problems with fairness." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Balance.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players talk to each other as real people, not as characters of the world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need channels and reasons to talk outside the fiction, such as shared information, social settings or non-diegetic UI. Designers who want less of it must give diegetic substitutes or remove the triggers.", "just_a_label_when": "Chat that exists but nobody uses to talk about anything outside the story, or a chat that is framed as in-world speech while players still use it for out-of-game coordination.", "knobs": "how much out-of-fiction communication is allowed or provided with channels; how much non-diegetic information the game exposes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Diegetic_Communication", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "When out-of-world talk happens inside the game world itself, it brings in elements that don't belong to that world, creating non-diegetic features." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Talking outside the fiction gives players a way to negotiate and keep up their roles more easily." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "By definition, in-world talk refers to nothing outside the game world, so speaking about outside matters directly breaks it; designers mostly separate or minimize one." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Talk about the game itself, outside the fiction, interrupts the shared sense of being in the world." }, { "name": "Meta-Postures", "why": "Having gestures available can lead players to exchange more out-of-game information overall, which undermines the aim of keeping that communication low." }, { "name": "Prompting Techniques", "why": "Prompting gives players other ways to pass information, so they have less need to step outside the fiction to speak." }, { "name": "Substitute Actions", "why": "Players can express information through stand-in actions instead of speaking as themselves, so out-of-world talk is avoided." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When out-of-world talk happens inside the game world, it breaks the theme by introducing elements that don't fit it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Diegetic_Communication.svg" }, { "name": "Asymmetric Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Players' game experiences are built differently, or do not repeat earlier sessions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must have really different actions or goals, and those differences must matter to how they decide and play. The differences need enough balance that no side is plainly better, and variety should not run out in one session.", "just_a_label_when": "Players get different names, pictures or flavour text, but the same actions and goals, so everyone plays the same game.", "knobs": "how many aspects differ (abilities, goals, information, roles, start); how far apart they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asymmetric_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because different games or players offer different kinds of play, one session won't use up every type of gameplay, so people have reasons to play again." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When players get different actions and goals, or those change between sessions, what people actually do in the game differs, producing variety." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asymmetric_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Backseat Gamers", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Non-playing people influence the session with advice and opinions that players hear.", "needs_to_really_work": "Spectators must be able to see the game and talk to players, and players must care about their input. Drop-in play lets people move between watching and playing.", "just_a_label_when": "There is a spectator mode, but spectators cannot communicate or players ignore them, so no one is influenced.", "knobs": "spectator visibility; communication allowed; drop-in/drop-out possibility", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Backseat_Gamers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "Onlookers who don't hold the controls still shape the game through advice, so people take part at different levels of involvement." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Non-players who weigh in on the action feel part of the shared experience instead of being left out, which bonds them with those playing." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "PvP", "why": "Outside help can feel like cheating and break the players' shared agreement, which matters most when opponents face each other directly." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Backseat_Gamers.svg" }, { "name": "Reflective Communication", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players discuss their actions with each other and think about the game together.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must depend on each other and have reasons to share knowledge, take each other's view and agree on methods. The game should give space and time for discussion and reward working it out together.", "just_a_label_when": "A chat channel or team mode exists, but no one has to talk to succeed, so nobody discusses or reflects.", "knobs": "how much team success depends on shared understanding; time and channels available for discussion", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Reflective_Communication", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "In games with negotiation, players may share only part of what they think, hiding some of it to mislead others, which turns open reflection into bluffing." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "When players step out to talk openly about their situation, the story being told stops matching itself, so narration becomes inconsistent." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "In roleplaying games, reflecting between the real people rather than between their characters means they are talking outside the game world." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Recognizing and managing the need for other players leads people to take on the group roles a game offers." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Any game with several players can see this kind of talk, though it may hurt a player's interests unless cooperation is needed or wanted." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Players who roleplay can reflect as their characters would, so the reflecting happens in-world, with others answering in character too." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players mixing in-world talk with reflective talk must keep switching between the two, and slips in that switching can break the world's consistency." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "It is a form of out-of-fiction talk, so wanting both it and a fully consistent world makes design harder." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Reflective_Communication.svg" }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "A player cannot win themselves but decides which of the others wins.", "needs_to_really_work": "It arises when positions are clear and a hopeless player still has influence over others, as with early elimination or a predictable winner. A designer avoids it by keeping outcomes uncertain, hiding information, or giving losing players reasons to keep playing.", "just_a_label_when": "A player is called a kingmaker but their choice has no real effect on who wins, so nothing happens.", "knobs": "how early outcomes become clear; how much hidden information there is; how much a trailing player can still affect others", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Kingmaker", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When players are nearly settled in the endgame, few can still win, so a kingmaker's choice narrows the field and makes the likely winner easy to spot." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "A player who can't win themselves may still decide who does, and their choices can leave another player with no way to win." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Kingmaking mostly shows up late in a game, when standings are mostly fixed, so it shapes how the final stretch of play unfolds." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "By keeping the outcome open, balancing avoids situations where a losing player decides who wins." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Social dynamics where players decide who wins can leave a single player with little influence, particularly when in the lead." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "A kingmaker can decide the outcome for others arbitrarily, so players no longer have equal standing in determining the result." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance makes it harder to know in advance who is ahead, so it is less clear that anyone is stuck as a kingmaker." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Hidden information can keep players from realizing a kingmaking situation exists, so they don't act on it." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "When the result stays open, it is less likely that one player is clearly out of the running yet able to pick the winner." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If players get something from their play even when they can't win, they have less reason to quit or unbalance the game by kingmaking." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Kingmaker.svg" }, { "name": "Perspective Taking", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "players", "second_place": "feelings × players", "what_it_is": "The player tries to see events through another player's or fictional character's eyes.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs roles or characters that players must understand to act well, such as role-playing or a game master voicing characters. Rewarding choices that fit another's view makes it more likely.", "just_a_label_when": "A role-play label or character sheet that players never need to consider when deciding, so everyone just acts as themselves.", "knobs": "how much the game rewards acting from another's view; how detailed the characters or roles are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Perspective_Taking", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Showing the individuals affected as characters lets players imagine their view and feel more involved in the dilemma." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Perspective_Taking.svg" }, { "name": "Races", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Goal of finishing under pressure, often ahead of others or before a deadline.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need a shared target with limited time or competitors, and progress should be visible. Excluding goals and a clear end condition create the pressure.", "just_a_label_when": "A finish line or score target exists, but with no rival or time pressure players just proceed at leisure.", "knobs": "time limit; number of rivals; target distance; visibility of others' progress", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Races", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "When a time limit or running out of resources ends the race, play becomes about lasting and constantly handling the present moment rather than reaching a final state." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Only one competitor can be first, so winning the race means the others cannot also win it." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Your standing in a race depends on how far along other agents are, so their progress directly changes your position." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because players are hurrying toward a goal, certain places in the world, like pick-ups or shortcuts, become especially valuable to reach." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Races can be attached to a game's other aims, so that many games use them as a smaller pressure-adding goal." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Working toward a goal while others or the clock threaten to beat you puts players under pressure to succeed." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "In turn-based games, several players can finish on the same turn, which gives them an equal result." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Even without a clock, a race forces players to finish before an opponent does, which acts as an implicit deadline." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Racing games commonly slow the leader or boost those behind, such as with a speed cap, to keep competitors close." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Racers can be handicapped by head starts or movement limits, so a race is a setting where the handicap can be applied." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "" }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Everyone taking part tries to reach the end or finish before the others, so each participant has the same objective." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Being first to reach a finish ends the game and names the winner, so a race is one way to build this pattern." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "The hurry to finish first can change how players find their way, since they must pick routes that are fastest." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A literal race can lead designers to shape the layout of the world around a course." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When several players share the same goal, a race turns their play into a competition." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Races.svg" }, { "name": "Meta Games", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Games built on the results and consequences of other games.", "needs_to_really_work": "Results must carry over and be comparable between games, through scores, rankings or tournament structure. Players need a reason to care about this layer.", "just_a_label_when": "A leaderboard or achievement list that is displayed but changes no decisions and which nobody pursues or compares.", "knobs": "what carries between games; how results are compared or rewarded", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Meta_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Players can do things like buying and trading cards that never happen inside the underlying game yet still belong to the game built on top of it." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because a meta game is built on other games' results, what happens in a single game carries over and affects the game layered above it." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Any meta game that needs several rounds of the underlying game gives players a reason to come back and play it again." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a game links separate play sessions, a player may need to wait for others' sessions to finish first." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "A larger overarching game made of short rounds gives players repeated points where they can step in or out." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "A self-run layer of games built from timed instances lets players choose how many or which timed games to play, setting the total length." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Player involvement is moved to creating agents, setting up the starting state, or choosing when to play, rather than acting during play." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Optional goals can sit in a meta game layer, and players can also create their own meta game by adding such goals to a game." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "The wider game of being a good player in Go or Golf has its own numbers, such as handicaps, acting as scores." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Meta games make differences in skill visible, so it's easier to see who the experts are." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "People watching one game can take part in another game that uses what they saw, giving watching a purpose." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Layering a game on top of one that can't be won gives players goals and a reason to push further than they otherwise would." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Organizing play around the game, such as in tournaments, adds structure on top of it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Meta_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: learn how the game world is laid out or find a needed place or item in it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must not see the whole world at once, and they must have real choices about where to go. Something worth finding, such as secrets, resources or shortcuts, must be spread across the unknown areas.", "just_a_label_when": "A big map where everything is already shown or marked, or where the path is a single corridor, so 'exploring' is just walking.", "knobs": "how much of the world is hidden; how much is hidden and where rewards are placed; how much help (maps, clues) is given", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_World_Exploration", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "Hidden extras exist regardless of exploration goals, but sending players to search the world makes them far more likely to actually stumble onto them." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Finding or charting places means players must plan routes and find their way around the world to get there." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Unless an overview shows explored areas, players have to remember the layout of places they have already seen." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Some quests send players out to search unknown parts of the world, so exploring can bring about quest-based play." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "Exploration usually dominates the opening of a game, so it often ends up defining what that early phase feels like." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Worlds players can't see all at once invite them to go looking around, especially when they know hidden items exist but not where, so exploring shapes how the world is experienced." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Mini-maps", "why": "If a mini-map shows places the player hasn't been to, it hands over what they were supposed to discover." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quests that give known locations to visit remove the need to look around, so players may skip exploring." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_World_Exploration.svg" }, { "name": "Stealth", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "A goal to move and act so that you are not detected.", "needs_to_really_work": "Enemies or opponents must detect and punish being seen, and the player must have cover, routes and the time to move carefully. Waiting or slow movement must be a real option.", "just_a_label_when": "A stealth label on a game where enemies barely notice you or where running through everything works just as well, so hiding is pointless.", "knobs": "enemy sight range and awareness; penalty for detection; amount of cover; noise from movement", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Stealth", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Staying hidden while moving is not a one-off task but an ongoing aim that players must keep up the whole time they travel." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Some sneaking actions would damage a player's standing or reputation if seen, so players try to avoid being observed doing them." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Sneaking past watchful opponents, or sneaking up on them, gives designers a ready basis for missions that players are sent on." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Slow pace and pauses let players think ahead, and how perception works, especially sight lines, gives them things to plan around." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Because sneaking moves slowly with pauses, players can use what they know of the area, like alarm positions, to map out a route." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Players may want to stay unseen so they can strike opponents who aren't expecting it." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Plans made in advance often break down when something unexpected appears, such as a guard, so players must adjust their approach on the spot." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Being spotted brings clear penalties, so players feel pressure the whole time they try to stay unnoticed." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Sneaking goals can become more demanding when combined with herding goals." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Sneaking past threats without being noticed requires careful, well-timed movement, which makes success depend on the player's motor control." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Stealth pitted against Guard or Reconnaissance creates goals where one side succeeding means the other fails." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Players can reach the captive by sneaking past guards instead of fighting them, avoiding confrontation altogether." }, { "name": "Scouting", "why": "Scouting happens when a player's goal of staying unnoticed is combined with a goal of gathering information about threats." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Movement", "why": "Stealth makes moving risky, so players must slow down or be careful, since fast or large movements may give them away." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Stealth.svg" }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal of going around areas of the world and noticing what has changed in them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must not know where things are and must be able to find out by spending time or effort. The information must change, so old knowledge goes stale and checking again is worth it.", "just_a_label_when": "A scouting action exists, but everything is already visible or never changes, so nobody bothers to use it.", "knobs": "how much of the world is hidden; how fast information goes stale; cost and range of observing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Reconnaissance", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Watching and gathering information must go on over a period of time, so the goal is sustained rather than instant." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Scouting is a narrower kind of information-gathering, aimed at learning where enemies are or whether they exist when that is uncertain." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Since the places are already known, players must remember how things looked before so they can notice what has changed." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Scouting tasks can be placed in scripted scenes or levels to introduce players to threats, though the enemies met don't move the story forward." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "When hidden agents are trying to avoid being spotted, scouting works to stop them from staying undetected." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Players must plan patrols without knowing the situation, and must plan how to avoid being spotted by others' scouting." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Information gained by scouting forces players to rethink what to do next in response to what they found." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Pairing Reconnaissance with Stealth creates goals where being detected or avoiding detection by one side prevents the other side's goal from succeeding." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Scouting", "why": "Scouting happens when a player's goal of gathering information is combined with a goal of staying unnoticed while doing it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Scouting goals shape stealth goals because anyone trying to avoid detection is being searched for, which makes scouting a counter to their hiding." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Overviews can reveal too much information, making scouting for it less necessary." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "With an unrestricted view, scouting becomes trivial because players can simply look wherever they like, unless information is hidden from them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Reconnaissance.svg" }, { "name": "Pottering", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "feelings × procedures", "what_it_is": "Fiddling with game resources for the sake of the activity, not for a goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need open-ended activities with no pressure, such as safe spaces, no hard deadlines, sorting or building tools, and freedom to set their own goals. Anything that threatens or interferes with their work must be limited.", "just_a_label_when": "A sandbox or farm exists, but constant threats, timers or mandatory objectives push players along, so nobody tinkers aimlessly.", "knobs": "amount of pressure and threat; how many self-directed activities are offered; how safe the space is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Pottering", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since nothing forces what to do or when, players decide for themselves which activities to carry out, so pottering naturally hands them choices." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Because players freely do lots of whatever small actions they enjoy, they end up repeating the same kinds of actions over and over." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players slowly shape the game toward goals they set or half-notice themselves, so the work they put in quietly becomes meaningful to them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Since pottering phases aren't very time-critical, they suit the growth phase where players slowly extend what they have." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Exploiting what one has built is typically not urgent, so players can approach it in a leisurely, self-directed way." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Pottering usually means players tinkering with game elements or small parts of the world itself, changing it bit by bit." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Whatever players do while pottering affects how resources get used and handled in the game, even when the world doesn't change." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Pottering relies on handling resources without pressure from rewards or penalties, while committed goals depend on exactly that kind of pressure." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Idle tinkering by design produces nothing noteworthy, so it gives the story no events to build on." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Constant tension keeps players stressed about their activities, which works against the relaxed, self-directed nature of pottering." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Deadlines force players to hurry or follow the game's schedule, undermining the freedom to act whenever they wish." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Having to act quickly causes stress and removes the freedom to take one's time, which pottering depends on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Pottering.svg" }, { "name": "Speedruns", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "A goal to finish the game or part of it as fast as possible.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a real-time structure, a trustworthy time measure and a way to compare or share results, ideally with replays. Routes should be learnable and improvable so there is room to get faster.", "just_a_label_when": "A built-in timer shown on screen that nobody tracks or compares, with no record, so there is no reason to try again faster.", "knobs": "time limit or par times; whether records are stored and shared; how many shortcuts exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Speedruns", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Players run speedruns mostly to show off their skill, so a notable run becomes something they can retell afterward as a story of that play session." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Beating a faster time requires getting better at the game, and runs are usually done to display that skill, so the player's mastery grows and shows." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "When a speedrun is measured against earlier player times, those stored performances serve as recorded data about how players have done." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A time target can be added on top of an existing objective, as in Cogs, where finishing fast earns extra stars beyond simply completing the puzzle." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "Designers can attach an explicit time requirement to an achievement, so finishing within that limit becomes a harder rewarded challenge, as with the Left 4 Dead 2 example." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Speedruns sit on top of the normal game, giving players a competition about time, either against their own records or others' times." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Fast or interesting runs are the sort of thing players want to tell others about afterward, so they produce material for stories." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "When a speedrun covers a whole game, its time sets a minimum length, helping establish how short a session can be." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Since a speedrun means doing something better than before, it is a challenge players choose to take on after completing the main goal." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Players race against a clock, either competing with their own or others' times or trying to finish a section within a set duration." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because players want to better their own results, they go back and replay the same game or section several times." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Trying to meet a time limit puts the player under pressure to perform, which very likely makes play feel tense." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "When a speedrun covers a whole game, that play session has a time boundary tied to finishing within the target duration." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "A speedrun needs a time boundary attached to some other goal, whether the designer sets it or it comes from earlier performances." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Because the player is trying to beat a time limit, they must hurry and feel the clock pushing on their choices." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Recorded fast runs let other players see and compare against someone else's performance within their own game, so one session informs another." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Fast completions gain worth when shown to others, since viewers can see the skill and work behind them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Levels", "why": "Players can try to clear a level as fast as possible, so a time goal changes how an existing level is played, as in Portal." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Speedruns need a real-time game, because counting turns or moves in other games turns the challenge into puzzle solving rather than racing the clock." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "These ask players to ignore everything except the most efficient play, so the story is disregarded." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Speedruns.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal where players themselves create or customize goals and subgoals in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs open systems, readable information such as scores and state, and room for varied approaches. Players must feel free to set aims beyond the official ones.", "just_a_label_when": "The game has a 'custom goal' menu that nobody uses, because the game offers no way to track or measure progress toward it.", "knobs": "how open the sandbox is; how visible scores and progress are; whether goals can be formally set up", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Defined_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "Since players invent their own goals, they can revise them mid-game, unless the game uses a rule system that forces goals to be tied to the game state." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Goals players make up for themselves tend to be short-lived, since they are dropped or replaced once the player loses interest or achieves them." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Players can attach their own prizes or punishments outside the game's rules to goals they set, so what happens reaches beyond the game itself." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because players can pick or invent goals, they get to decide which aims to pursue instead of being limited to a fixed set." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "A goal players come up with themselves is not demanded by the game, so pursuing it is a matter of personal choice." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "When a player sets a goal in reaction to what other players are trying to achieve, that goal can become about stopping them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Several players can agree to share a goal they defined themselves, though when game rules force such goals into being, the players must negotiate." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "If the game helps detect a player's own goals, it can automatically apply penalties on failure; players can also invent penalties outside the rules." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "If the game helps detect a player's own goals, it can automatically give rewards on success; players can also invent rewards outside the rules." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Players can set their own winning conditions in a game that has none, giving closure and structure to what would otherwise feel like one endless experience." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "Showing designer-made goals pulls players' attention toward them, which competes with players inventing and following objectives of their own." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Defined_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Goal-Driven Personal Development", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: after finishing earlier goals, the character sets new ones for themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goals must be measurable from game state and link into chains, so finishing one opens the next, with a way for the agent to pick from them. For computer agents this needs detailed encoded conditions and benefits.", "just_a_label_when": "A character whose 'new goals' are scripted text or a changed title, while behaviour and choices stay the same.", "knobs": "how many chained goals; how much choice among next goals; how closely goals depend on past outcomes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Goal-Driven_Personal_Development", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "Because an agent picks fresh goals after finishing old ones, it ends up pursuing its own changing purposes over time rather than only what the game hands it." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Agents that choose new goals based on how earlier ones turned out act like believable characters, which helps the game world feel coherent." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Computer-controlled characters that pursue their own goals can end up in different places, giving them destinies that vary between playthroughs." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Computer characters pursuing their own growth can end up in different places, which varies the story across playthroughs." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Giving agents goals that build on one another, with new ones picked once old ones close, makes their behavior and growth change over the course of play." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Computer-controlled agents can use finer-grained quests with explicit benefits and requirements, so they too choose follow-up goals and develop differently each game." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Goal-Driven_Personal_Development.svg" }, { "name": "Construction/Scoring Phase Shift", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players stop growing stronger and begin collecting victory points.", "needs_to_really_work": "Building up an engine must pay off, but score-taking must eventually be worth more than more building. Players need to be able to judge when to switch, and the game must end in a way that makes the switch matter.", "just_a_label_when": "There are build actions and scoring actions, but scoring is best from the start or building is always best, so no switch is ever needed.", "knobs": "how quickly building pays back; scoring value; game length or end trigger", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Construction/Scoring_Phase_Shift", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Players who spot when the switch from building up to collecting points happens, or trigger it when it helps them, show skill at playing the game well." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Because play splits into a building stage and a point-gathering stage, the game always has at least two phases with different player goals." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "The shift to point-gathering works as a kind of endgame, so it influences when that final stage of play is considered to begin." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "The building phase corresponds to expansion, so when players shift to scoring, their expansion activity is changed or stopped." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "The scoring phase corresponds to exploitation, so the timing of the shift decides when players start cashing in on what they built." }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "The shift marks the point where building engines stops being worthwhile and maximizing points becomes more important." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Since the shift acts as a kind of endgame start, it determines where the middlegame stops and the endgame takes over." }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "The shift sets the moment when growing your strengths for compounding gains stops paying off and points matter more." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Scoring_Phase_Shift.svg" }, { "name": "Playing to Lose", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "feelings × objectives", "what_it_is": "The player deliberately loses with their character because it is more interesting.", "needs_to_really_work": "Failure must be allowed to be interesting, and players need room to roleplay and to shape their characters' fate. Rules should not wipe out a character too early, and the group should value dramatic loss.", "just_a_label_when": "Players say they will lose on purpose, but they still try to win, or losing simply ends the game with no story value.", "knobs": "how harsh the penalty for losing is; how much roleplay freedom players have; protection against early removal", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Playing_to_Lose", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Players give up comfort, their character's fortunes, and some of their own play so that others get better drama, which makes losing a shared effort." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Others notice and value a player's skillful losing, and the player is seen as serving everyone's fun rather than only their own position." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Players usually steer their characters toward ruin on purpose, because watching a dramatic, memorable downfall is the fun they are after." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Losing on purpose lets players choose a negative arc for their character, so how the character fails becomes the way it changes." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "The focus shifts to how characters lose rather than whether they win, so they act sensibly from their own view yet head toward bad outcomes." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "It doesn't oppose roleplaying: players have characters choose reasonably given what they know, even though the player knows the choice will likely go badly." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Players use deliberate failure to shape a particular kind of story, putting drama and narrative ahead of improving their own standing in the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Early elimination makes it hard for players to want to deliberately lose, since being out is already a drawback." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Playing_to_Lose.svg" }, { "name": "Extermination", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A stage of play where the main task is to destroy, most often other players.", "needs_to_really_work": "Elimination goals and combat must be available, with the strongest combat units or tools held back until late. Games must be long enough to contain distinct phases, and elimination must really be possible.", "just_a_label_when": "Attacking is allowed from turn one and nobody can be eliminated, so no distinct late stage of destruction ever forms.", "knobs": "when strong combat units unlock; whether and how players can be eliminated", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extermination", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Because the push to eliminate rivals makes a good final stretch of a game, designers often place an Extermination phase at the end." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "When players can actually be knocked out, a phase focused on elimination creates bigger, more final wrap-ups of parts of the game as play moves forward." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Focusing everyone on wiping out opponents makes it more likely that someone actually gets removed from the game, provided the rules allow removal at all." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "When the main aim is eliminating other players, those players end up fighting each other directly, so player-versus-player play grows stronger." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Ending the game with an extermination phase pushes knockouts toward the end of the game instance, so players are not removed early." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extermination.svg" }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game's design pushes players to think through their actions ahead of time.", "needs_to_really_work": "Results of actions must be predictable enough for plans to be trusted, and there must be goals that need several steps. The option space should be large enough to need planning but not so large that it is hopeless.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that lets you plan but where randomness or a single obvious move makes any plan pointless.", "knobs": "predictability of outcomes; number of steps to goals; number of options per turn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Stimulated_Planning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Planning takes thinking time, and in multiplayer turn-based games one player's long planning leaves the others waiting with nothing to do." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "When players lack enough information to plan well, they can try things out to learn what actions do." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Planning can happen between play sessions, such as thinking about character development or building decks, outside the game itself." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When players can't see enough to plan, they set themselves goals of finding out what they need to know." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Being able to plan efficiently shows how well a player understands and handles the game." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "To reach a big end state, players break it into smaller goals that together lead there." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "" }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "In real-time games, feeling the need to plan quickly can be enough to create tension." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Other encouragement to plan makes players more or less likely to actually use the strategic knowledge they have." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies disturb what players are doing, making careful planning harder or impossible." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Constant time pressure limits how much players can plan ahead, which undermines designs that encourage careful planning." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Stimulated_Planning.svg" }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Gameplay changes within one game or from game to game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Choices have to lead to meaningfully different situations, supported by changing rules, random elements or generated worlds, and by feedback that discourages repeating one approach. Differences must affect how play develops, not just surface details.", "just_a_label_when": "Many options or levels that all play the same, so players settle into one routine within minutes.", "knobs": "amount of randomness; number of distinct viable goals or strategies; how often rules or content change", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Varied_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When play keeps shifting, players must keep adapting to new situations, so the game becomes harder on top of how hard each individual activity is." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Because players keep facing shifting contexts, mastering such a game is affected, usually becoming harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Since waiting in one spot can be a winning tactic, players have less reason to try different things." }, { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "why": "When the game state can change less and less, players are unlikely to gain new kinds of actions, so variety in play tends to shrink." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Doing nothing too often becomes repetitive like any overused activity, leaving play less varied." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Playing another role with the same goal as before feels much the same, so replays offer less variety than with differing goals." }, { "name": "Symmetric Resource Distribution", "why": "Symmetry removes variety, so when everyone has the same resources there is less difference between players and sessions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Varied_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Planning based on what is known about the current state of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need several meaningful options whose value depends on the current situation, plus enough time and information to weigh them. Costs or trade-offs must make the choice matter.", "just_a_label_when": "One option is always clearly best, or there is too little time or information to compare, so choosing is just habit.", "knobs": "number of options; how much outcomes depend on local state; time to decide; amount of hidden information", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tactical_Planning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because planning to improve your odds feels effective, players may come to believe their own choices shape outcomes more than they truly do." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Planning only makes sense when players have several possible actions to pick between, so offering tactical planning implies those options exist." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When results depend on how well players plan, getting better at planning gives them a route to mastering the game." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Since planning is meant to raise your chances of succeeding, players cannot be sure their plan will work out as hoped." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "If players in a multiplayer game can plan their moves, others cannot know in advance what they will choose." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When success hinges on how well players use their available choices, their own planning skill becomes part of the overall skill needed." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "The chance to plan in order to improve your odds of success encourages players to think ahead and actually do so." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players who see their planning bring good results can feel that the thought they invested in the game was worthwhile." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When players must plan tactics without seeing everything, they need to find out missing facts, which creates information goals." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Having to plan within a time limit or in real time pushes players to decide faster, while tension can also make planning harder." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Adding tactical planning to a real-time game makes the overall gameplay harder, since players must plan within a limited amount of time." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tactical_Planning.svg" }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Success depends on hand and eye skill rather than calculation.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must run in real time with quick, low-lag feedback, and outcomes must depend on how precisely the player acts. The challenge should fit what players can learn to do.", "just_a_label_when": "Actions that look like they need aiming or timing, but an assist makes them succeed whatever the player does.", "knobs": "required speed and precision; size of the target or timing window; lag", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dexterity-Based_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because players use their bodies with fine control over results, they may feel their own skill shaped the outcome more than it really did, as with dice throwing." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Dexterous actions usually take place over a stretch of time rather than in an instant, since the player has to keep performing them." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Getting good at physically performing the actions is often the central thing players improve at, making dexterity the core of mastery." }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "Actions judged by how the player physically performs them often use controls that imitate the real movement, so the two commonly appear together." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Since success depends on the player's actual bodily performance, the player is physically acting out the task, and the two often go together." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "When results depend on motor ability in real-time play, being physically skilled becomes what separates stronger players from weaker ones." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Players' own motor skill gives an easy way to blend their abilities with the character's, so outcomes depend on both." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Being real time alone is not enough; the pattern adds actions that must be done while the game keeps changing, shaping how these games play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dexterity-Based_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Planning based only on knowing the rules and what other players can do.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs learnable general structures and real strategic choices, plus replays so players can try and refine strategies. Outcomes should be predictable enough to reward a plan.", "just_a_label_when": "Several listed strategies that all lead to the same result, so choosing a plan changes nothing.", "knobs": "number of viable strategies; predictability of results; how much replay is encouraged", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Strategic_Planning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Because players can plan ahead using general knowledge of the game, they end up doing that planning outside actual moves, such as thinking or discussing between turns." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When a game lets players prepare using general structures and rules, it gives them reason and room to make plans, so planning becomes a prompted activity." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players notice how their strategies work or can be adjusted, so the thinking they put into planning feels like it paid off." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "Where planning is the only activity, players set up the system beforehand, often by building agents, and then the game runs itself according to that plan." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with replayability, games that encourage planning make it more certain that varied play is present." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Players can think about how to improve their play and try different strategies, which gives them reasons to play again." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Since future events cannot be calculated, long-term planning gets harder, though known odds still allow planning at a higher level." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Strategic_Planning.svg" }, { "name": "Downtime", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Time when a player has to wait during a game session.", "needs_to_really_work": "It comes from rules that block actions, such as turn order, penalties or slow players. It stays bearable when there is something to watch or plan.", "just_a_label_when": "A pause screen of a second or two that nobody notices as waiting.", "knobs": "length of enforced waits; how often they occur; what players can do during them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Downtime", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Damage", "why": "Being forced to wait can itself be dealt to a player as harm, a cost they suffer apart from any health loss." }, { "name": "Individual Penalties", "why": "Waiting can be imposed on one particular player as a punishment, such as after that player's avatar dies." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "Since a player cannot act at all while waiting, it is an extreme version of a quiet stretch in play." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Making players sit idle works as a cost for failure, for example as part of what happens when a character dies." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Unable to act, the waiting player loses their agency and can only watch the game continue, becoming a temporary onlooker." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "While idle, players often use the time to think ahead and plan their next moves, even when others' planning caused the wait." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Waiting players can watch play unfold and expect something bad to happen, which builds tension, though idleness otherwise tends to weaken it." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A critical hit can leave the target unable to act for a while, adding a delay on top of losing health." }, { "name": "Gossip", "why": "In roleplaying games, giving characters idle time alongside uncertain knowledge leaves room for them to chat and swap rumors." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Reloading downtime leaves players exposed for a while, so they must plan when it is safe to fire." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Having to reload when ammo runs out brings idle moments, so players must pick a good time to reload." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Idle time lets players just take in the result of what they did rather than starting new actions, making endings clearer." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Waiting can be part of what a character's death costs the player, such as sitting out until a new round." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "By watching the game while idle, players can better anticipate what will happen next." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Waiting happens when players are eliminated or when late arrivals must be brought up to date." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "The facilitator may deliberately force waiting, such as after dying, yet computer facilitators can also be used to avoid such waits." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "While waiting, players cannot act, so they lose the ability to choose what they do." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Letting players join late spares others from waiting for everyone to be present before play begins." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Waiting removes the player's ability to act and influence the game, turning them into onlookers." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Because play continues continuously, players must act or at least pay attention, leaving less room for idleness." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Idle players tend to feel less tension, though it can arise if they expect something bad to happen." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "A deadline pushes players to plan and act instead of idling, since once time is up they can no longer act." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Downtime.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The player can plan in advance how the game's stats and objects will develop.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be several development paths with different long-term payoffs, and enough time and information for players to plan. The consequences have to carry forward.", "just_a_label_when": "A skill tree where every path ends up with the same power, so planning changes nothing.", "knobs": "number of branches; how different their payoffs are; how costly it is to change plans", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Planned_Development", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Because players choose how their elements grow, they can steer growth toward particular skill specialties and focus on being good at specific things." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Working toward a planned development gives players an ongoing target that they keep pursuing over a long stretch of play instead of finishing quickly." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "To reach the development they planned, players may have their controlled elements act in required ways, whether or not those actions are otherwise desirable." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Making plans for growth can lead players to believe they steer outcomes more than they really do." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Planning ahead can happen entirely outside actual play, such as thinking through or discussing a development path away from the game itself." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Different parts of a plan can compete with each other, or clash with what is best right now or for winning, so players must trade off." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Being able to plan how their elements grow supports the feeling that the future of those elements is not fixed and can go many ways." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Since players decide how their elements should develop, they end up setting their own objectives rather than only following ones given by the game." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When growth can be mapped out in advance, players are encouraged to think ahead and lay out steps toward it." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Listed as combining with Persistent Game Worlds to create Investments, but the page gives no explanation." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players choose how their character grows, so the progress reflects their own plans and effort." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Letting players plan development lets them alter how the story structure unfolds, rather than just following it." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Planned development is typically given so players can control how their own characters grow." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Planned development is typically introduced so players can control how things they created in the game grow." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Special abilities can become targets players aim for, and they can also steer which direction the planned growth takes." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Players may adjust how they act in character so it makes sense in the story with the development they planned." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "When planned growth applies to members of a team, it changes how the team as a whole grows." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Forced behavior can override players' own plans for their characters, unless the constraint comes from those plans." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A story fixed before play works against letting players plan how things develop." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Planned_Development.svg" }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Game design that makes players want to come back to the same places and activities.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must be persistent and able to be left and re-entered, with timers, regenerating resources or growing rewards that make coming back worthwhile.", "just_a_label_when": "A daily login prompt or reminder with a trivial reward that players claim and ignore.", "knobs": "length of timers; regeneration rate; size and growth of rewards for repeated visits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Encouraged_Return_Visits", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Many of the same reasons that pull players back to a game also push them to repeat similar activities over and over, which is what grinding is." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Pushing players to come back at certain times, together with ongoing goals, makes scheduling your play part of the challenge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "When actions can be interrupted, return visits make never-ending goals more challenging, since leaving the game carries risk." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "The pattern assumes you can join and leave often, and it gives you reasons to rejoin the game repeatedly." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "These games want a certain number of players present at all times, so they commonly use ways to bring players back." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "These games want enough players around at all times, so they commonly use features that make players return." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Such worlds continue between sessions, so return incentives like regenerating resources and delayed effects naturally build on them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Encouraged_Return_Visits.svg" }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Finding a way from one place in the game world to another when the route is not obvious.", "needs_to_really_work": "Need a world with several possible routes and no obvious best one, so wrong turns are possible, and a destination worth reaching. Navigation aids must not give the answer away.", "just_a_label_when": "A level with a single path, or a minimap and waypoint line that always shows where to go, so there is nothing to work out.", "knobs": "how many routes and branches; how strong the navigation aids are (map, markers, landmarks)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_World_Navigation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "When aids make finding the way easy, moving around becomes a relaxed activity that asks little of the player." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When aids are scarce or misleading, working out where to go becomes a real test of the player's ability." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Navigating only makes sense when players can pick among several routes; with one forced path there would be nothing to figure out." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "While finding their way, players can stumble upon places they haven't seen, so navigating can lead to exploring." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "In text games where going one way and back doesn't return you to the start, working out the routes becomes a puzzle." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Navigation is the act of working out how to reach a destination, which is how players accomplish goals of getting somewhere." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Physical navigation is what you get when ordinary game-world wayfinding is carried out in real physical space rather than a fictional one." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Overviews can reveal too much, lessening the challenge of finding your own way." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A view that lets players look around the world freely, ignoring in-game objects, makes finding the way trivial." }, { "name": "Mini-maps", "why": "Showing position and direction on a small map takes away the uncertainty that navigation depends on, so the challenge can vanish." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Abilities like flight can reveal the surroundings and open up movement, which can undercut the difficulty of finding the way." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_World_Navigation.svg" }, { "name": "Grinding", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "feelings × procedures", "what_it_is": "Repeating simple actions many times to get resources or complete a goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a need for resources or progress that can only be met by repeating a simple, low-challenge action many times, with rewards that don't advance the player too much. Players must choose or feel pushed to repeat it.", "just_a_label_when": "A repeating task that is quick and varied enough that players don't feel repetition, or one the player never needs to do.", "knobs": "amount needed; drop rates; how repetitive and easy the action is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Grinding", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Because grinding is made of trivial, repeated actions, players can do it with little attention or skill, which suits relaxed, low-demand play." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players don't notice their repeated actions barely move their progress, they keep believing the effort matters more than it does." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Players usually experience grinding as labor, so the repeated chores become tedious extra work added to the game." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Grinding offers harmless small things to do without pushing progress, which is welcome for players who just like puttering around." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Doing the same simple action over and over is exactly what makes the play feel repetitive." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Grinding needs something given back for the repeated effort, though these rewards are kept from advancing players' overall position." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "In games that can never be won, grinding supplies activities for players to keep doing without ever reaching an end." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Repetitive play can challenge players to find ways to put in as much time as possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In worlds meant not to change over time, grinding gives players things to do that don't alter the world's state." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Repeating easy tasks once mastered counters the idea of challenge, though grinding can also be turned into one." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Clicking that is fun in itself makes repetitive actions feel enjoyable, which works against the feeling of grinding through tedious tasks." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Constantly changing goals keep play from settling into repetitive routines, so they can help avoid grinding." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Mules are AI players built to perform grinding in place of people, so players no longer have to do it." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Others who carry out game-influencing actions on players' behalf lessen how much grinding players must do." }, { "name": "Testing Achievements", "why": "Encouraging players to try other parts of the game gives them a break from grinding." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Limits such as automatic collection before a deadline make the repeated tasks optional rather than required." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If players realize their repeated actions barely affect progress, the sense that effort is worthwhile is undercut." }, { "name": "Quick Returns", "why": "Repeated trips over known ground feel like grinding, and a fast way back removes that repetition, so the two pull in opposite directions." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Skipping repeated trips through already known areas removes a repetitive chore, so jumping counters the grind of long, linear travel." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Grinding.svg" }, { "name": "Player Killing", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Players are removed from active play by the deliberate actions of others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to harm each other, and the harm must be traceable to a real agent. Penalties for dying and rewards for killing have to make it a real choice.", "just_a_label_when": "Players can technically shoot each other, but death costs nothing and the victim returns at once, so it is just noise.", "knobs": "cost of dying; reward for killing; who can attack whom and where", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Killing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because players know others can remove them from play, they feel uneasy; the unease grows or shrinks with how harsh the death costs and kill payoffs are." }, { "name": "Friendly Fire", "why": "Friendly Fire needs players able to kill other players; combined with shared teams, those kills can land on teammates." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When other human players are able to carry out lethal actions, players clearly see the source as an agent, so killing fits naturally." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Whether players may kill members of their own party is an open design question, and loot disputes could push players toward it." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Team members may be able to kill one another through friendly fire, and the penalties for being killed also shift the balance between teams." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Immune players cannot be killed by others, so attacking them becomes difficult or impossible." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Killing can eliminate players or bring death consequences, which are misfortunes that disturb equal chances." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Penalties for being killed fall on individual players but still shift the strength of their teams, which can tilt a team-versus-team match." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team-versus-team play, kills and their penalties can tilt the contest toward one side and upset fairness between teams." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Killing.svg" }, { "name": "Memorizing", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "It benefits the player to remember facts about the game or its state.", "needs_to_really_work": "Information must be shown briefly or only once, and later decisions must depend on recalling it. It must not be easy to look up again, and there must be enough variation that memory beyond one session helps.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with facts to remember, but the interface always shows them again or they never affect any decision.", "knobs": "how long information stays visible; how much has to be remembered; whether it can be looked up again", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Memorizing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When some of what must be remembered isn't known yet, players set out to find it first, so seeking information becomes a goal supporting memorization." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Remembering rules and facts well is a skill that separates players who have mastered the game from those who haven't." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Because memory is a skill that can fail, players can't be sure they will recall things correctly, which makes outcomes uncertain." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When remembering boosts something also driven by a character's powers or abilities, players use it anyway, blending their own skill with the character's." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Removing tokens in a game with open information forces players to hold the game state in their heads, as in blindfold chess, making it harder." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Remembering what has already been drawn or used lets players figure out plausible future plans." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Making players hold a planned action sequence and its effects on the game state in mind while planning makes programming harder." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players must remember the rules so the game runs smoothly, or else play stops while someone checks them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "If the game displays the details, players needn't remember them, which reduces or removes the memory challenge." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "When the state is shown to players, there is less need to remember it themselves." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "" }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "" }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If remembered information can directly solve a puzzle, later playthroughs become trivial because the answers are already known." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Memorizing.svg" }, { "name": "Experimenting", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Trial actions to learn the rules and game state or to practice skills.", "needs_to_really_work": "Failure must be cheap and actions reversible, and the game must have something worth finding out (hidden information, complex systems, enemy weaknesses) with predictable cause and effect. Heavy penalties or too much randomness make players stop trying things.", "just_a_label_when": "A sandbox with lots of options, but one mistake is punished harshly or results are so random that nothing can be learned.", "knobs": "cost of failure and reversibility of actions; how much randomness hides cause and effect", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Experimenting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Trying things out reveals strategic knowledge that isn't obvious, and as players keep learning from their trials they gradually get better at the game." }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "Test actions usually don't advance any actual goal, so the player feels they are accomplishing something without it counting toward winning." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Some games hide how their world behaves, so players must experiment to work out what unknown items or effects do." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When a trial can have heavy or costly outcomes, the player feels pressure about whether it's worth risking." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Using non-renewable resources while experimenting makes players commit more to careful planning." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "How expensive it is to try things affects how relaxed play feels; cheap experiments keep play casual." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Costly experiments make the game harder, while cheap ones ease it, so the cost of trying shapes difficulty." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Trying actions out lets players uncover the strategic knowledge that is available to be learned in the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "" }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Widgets that highlight important objects take away the need for players to explore and look around on their own." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "If actions can't be undone, trying things out becomes risky, so players avoid it." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "Pointing out important entities for the player removes the need to search and explore for them." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Experimenting needs consistent outcomes to learn from, and chance results make it harder to draw conclusions from trials." }, { "name": "Vision Modes", "why": "Modes that reveal important objects spare players from exploring to find them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Experimenting.svg" }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The player saves and loads again and again until the game reaches the state they want.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs easy, fast saving and loading and challenges where a bad result can be undone by reloading. Restricting save timing or slots reduces how often it happens.", "just_a_label_when": "A save system that is so slow or restricted that players never use it to retry, so no cycles of save, try, and reload actually occur.", "knobs": "how fast and how often saving is allowed; how many slots; ironman-style limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Save-Load_Cycles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Saving and loading are things you do outside the game's actual challenges, so each one makes the player wait a little." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "If something goes wrong, you can load an earlier state and try again, so a failure doesn't have to stand." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because you can stop and resume from stored states, you decide when you play and when you stop." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Reloading after a bad outcome and replaying with what you learned lets you shape the outcome to look better than it really was." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Saving lets you stop a real-time game and come back later, giving it pauses it wouldn't otherwise have." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "Loading rewinds the game to an earlier moment, and you do it through menu actions rather than through anything done in play." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Since you can store the state and quit, you can break off play whenever life interrupts and pick it up again." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Players can decide for themselves where one session ends and the next begins, because saving lets them split play at will." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Loading lets you replay the same stretch of a game instance more than once, even without starting the whole game over." }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "If you lean heavily on saving and reloading to get exactly the result you want, it turns into a habit of constant retrying." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "The breaks between sessions give you time to think ahead about what you will do next." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Single-player games let players undo harmful outcomes by reloading, which removes the fear of trying things." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Saving lets you pause a game that keeps running continuously, so it gains stopping points that turn-based games already have between turns." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Players can reload a saved game after dying, undoing the cost and making the consequences hard to enforce." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Repeatedly saving and reloading lets players dodge consequences, which undermines the difficulty the level was meant to enforce." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "If players can save and reload, they can return to an earlier state, so events cannot be totally permanent." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Players must agree on when to reload an earlier state, which makes loading awkward." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "In single-player games, players can reload an earlier save to undo a penalty, making it avoidable." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "Saving and reloading at will lets players reverse deaths, so the character's loss is never truly permanent." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "A score no longer shows how well you played in one continuous run if you can rewind and retry parts of it." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "What you do in play no longer matches the order of events in the story world, because reloading jumps you backward." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Once you can undo a dangerous moment by reloading, you experience it without the emotional strain it was meant to cause." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "With saves, a time limit loses its point from a planning view, since you can restore the state and try again." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Save-Load_Cycles.svg" }, { "name": "Bluffing", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player gives false information to influence others' decisions in their own favor.", "needs_to_really_work": "Hidden information and unpredictable players are needed, plus ways to send misleading signals and a payoff for being believed. Face-to-face play adds skill, but any communication channel works.", "just_a_label_when": "All information is public or actions reveal intentions, so a bluff cannot work, or a bluff costs and gains nothing.", "knobs": "how much is hidden; signals available; payoff and cost of being caught", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bluffing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Some players are better at deceiving than others, so being skilled at bluffing becomes a way to show mastery and gain an edge." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Skill at bluffing influences which roles players take in the group, for example whether someone manages to dominate the others." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Players differ in how convincingly they bluff, so social ability directly shapes how the game turns out." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Bluffs make results uncertain, so players feel on edge, most of all the one who is bluffing." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Hiding planned betrayals and negotiating convincingly requires bluffing, so deceiving others lets the betrayal be set up and enjoyed." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Succeeding at deceiving others relies on how convincingly the player carries out the social act, so the result is uncertain." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Deceiving or misleading others about your intentions makes it hard for them to deduce what you will do next." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "When players bluff while communicating, others can't tell whether what they hear is true, so their information becomes doubtful." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Players can set off false alarms, which makes warnings something that might be a trick rather than reliable information." }, { "name": "Bidding", "why": "Players can pretend to bid on something they don't actually want, so a bid doesn't reliably show real interest." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "A player who bluffs skillfully makes opponents more likely to give up, since they believe the bluffer's position is stronger." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bluffing.svg" }, { "name": "Collecting", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player gathers items or elements, aiming to complete a needed set.", "needs_to_really_work": "Collectable items must be spread out so that gathering them takes effort, and the gathering must serve some goal or reward.", "just_a_label_when": "Items lie everywhere and are picked up automatically, with no choice or effort and no use.", "knobs": "item scarcity and spread; effort per item; what collections give", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Collecting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "" }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Gathering items is a common bottom-level goal that feeds into a higher goal in the hierarchy." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Requiring players to gather resources that are easy to find but needed in large amounts creates repeated, trivial work." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Gathering game elements in different amounts invites players to decide on their own targets, such as how many or which ones to get." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Collectable resources are not always available and show up at spawn points or generators, so you must come back to find new ones." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Growth is often driven by collecting things like experience points, which are gathered up until a progress goal is reached." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Players collect items to take ownership of them and to complete collection goals." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Players may have to gather resources from locations or generators in the game world." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Collecting.svg" }, { "name": "Flip-Flop Events", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The last turn of one round and the first of the next go to the same player.", "needs_to_really_work": "The turn order must change between rounds, and players need actions (like claiming first-player spot) that let them end one round and start the next. Without such player-driven control it happens only by accident.", "just_a_label_when": "Turn order shifts on paper, but nobody can steer it, so the back-to-back turn is a random side effect nobody plans for.", "knobs": "how turn order is reassigned; how much players can influence who goes first next round", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Flip-Flop_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "Moving two turns back to back lets a player chain actions together with no opponent interrupting, which is a special kind of combo that is hard to arrange." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Because lining up back-to-back turns takes careful planning, a player who manages it repeatedly shows they understand the game well." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "The pattern bends the normal alternation of turns, since a player can act twice consecutively when the order is reshuffled between rounds." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "If double turns happen by chance or luck rather than by player choice, some players gain a strong advantage unfairly, upsetting the fairness between them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Flip-Flop_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game stalls while someone takes too long weighing the consequences of possible moves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Appears when many options have predictable consequences and a player's turn blocks others, especially with high stakes in the middle or end of a game. It arises from player behavior rather than a direct rule, so designers can only make it likelier or rarer.", "just_a_label_when": "A game has many options on paper but one is clearly best, so nobody deliberates and no stalls occur.", "knobs": "number of options per turn; predictability of results; turn time limit", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Analysis_Paralysis", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a player in a turn-based game thinks too long over a move, everyone else has to wait for them." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "In turn-based play, players waiting on someone who cannot decide may push that person to hurry, making them feel bad for holding things up." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "Caps push players to plan carefully, which can cause overthinking in multiplayer turn-based games, though a small enough cap keeps the choices few." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "" }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "" }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "With fewer causal links between players, competition is less likely to cause overthinking, so the pattern tends to reduce this problem." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "" }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Little time to plan means players can't get stuck over-thinking their options, so real time works against this problem." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Limited time to plan usually stops players from overthinking, yet it can also push them into freezing, so the effect goes both ways." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Analysis_Paralysis.svg" }, { "name": "Camping", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player stays in one spot of the world for a long time, waiting for something to appear.", "needs_to_really_work": "Waiting must be cheap, and a spot must give a lasting edge (range, cover, a spawn or resource point). Powerful ranged tools and hard-to-reach spots help it appear, while safe zones and alternative routes limit it.", "just_a_label_when": "A nice-looking vantage spot exists, but it is easy to flank or the target never comes there, so no one stays.", "knobs": "strength and range of weapons; how defensible spots are; spawn or resource frequency; number of flanking routes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Camping", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "If players can already see the whole game state clearly, the waiting stops feeling like expectation and becomes just idle time with nothing to do." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Camping works best with knowledge of good spots, so players are pushed to think ahead about where and how to set up." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Campers wait for events they expect but cannot time exactly, and that uncertain waiting builds suspense." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Camping to collect depends on how often items appear at spawn points, so players wait there for the next one." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Players wait with powerful long-range weapons in hard-to-reach places and fight only when opponents come into view." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "When guarding needs no movement, staying put and waiting is exactly what camping involves." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Stealth goals call for the same patient, still waiting that camping uses, so the two fit together easily." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Some games make teams camp at spawn points in order to change who owns an area." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies disturb players who try to stay in one place, making camping harder or impossible." }, { "name": "Flanking Routes", "why": "Routes around a camper's position let opponents attack from other directions, making camping pointless." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "If others cannot disrupt campers, especially those at spawn points, the campers dominate and the game becomes lopsided." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Protected spots attract campers, yet that same protection discourages anyone from camping near them." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since waiting in one spot can be a winning tactic, players have less reason to try different things." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Camping.svg" }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A team finds and picks a shared strategy, often based on a mix of strengths.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need complementary abilities or synergies to find, a reason to work together (common threat or goal), and room to talk. The game must not hand them one obvious best plan.", "just_a_label_when": "Roles are clearly labelled and the optimal team plan is spelled out, so there is nothing to discover.", "knobs": "how varied and hidden synergies are; how different the roles are; communication options", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Strategy_Identification", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "When players work out a shared plan successfully, the people who took part in finding it feel socially appreciated and rewarded by each other." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because players know that a joint strategy might be found, they are pushed to think ahead, as long as some of them notice that possibility." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "A strategy that players successfully figure out together can be seen as something the group achieved as a whole, not just one person." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Working out how to coordinate actions usually leads players to find, or deliberately set up, combinations where their moves reinforce each other." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Both coming up with the plan and then carrying it out as part of the group can make players feel united." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Strategy_Identification.svg" }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A structure the player builds so that it works for them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need to be able to build components that feed each other so output grows (positive feedback, combos), with several possible builds to choose from. There must be a payoff, such as a scoring phase, that makes the engine worth the investment.", "just_a_label_when": "Upgrades that are just flat bonuses and do not interact or compound, so there is no engine to build, only a list of purchases.", "knobs": "how strongly parts reinforce each other; cost and speed of building; when and how scoring starts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gameplay_Engines", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "An engine is itself a thing players build and own in the game, so it counts as one kind of player-made construct." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Once built, a strong engine produces most of its payoff in the phase where players harvest results, making that phase defined by engine efficiency." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players spend effort and resources building an engine up front, accepting a cost now in return for greater benefit later." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "When an engine is running smoothly, players may only need to maintain or watch it, so little active decision-making happens." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Making an efficient engine requires understanding how the game's pieces fit and reinforce each other, which players must know to build well." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Because an engine is assembled gradually from many parts, players must plan ahead so the pieces end up working together." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Building an engine is a means to an end, since it helps players progress toward winning rather than being the final aim." }, { "name": "Construction/Scoring Phase Shift", "why": "When players can build engines that boost their later actions, there is a natural moment to stop building and start cashing in on them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Engines act as a supporting goal in games relying on expansion phases, since building them helps players grow their position." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Letting players build engines gives them extra goals to pursue while the winner remains undecided until play ends." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gameplay_Engines.svg" }, { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Actions that benefit someone else rather than the player themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Helping others must cost the helper something or carry no obvious reward, with no shared payoff that makes it simply self-interest. Players must have a reason (social or hoped reciprocity) to do it anyway.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'gift' action exists but pays the giver as much or more, so players just do it for profit.", "knobs": "cost to the helper; whether payoffs are shared; whether gifts can be returned", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Altruistic_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When helping costs the giver something and nothing comes back, the giver is likely to feel let down, which is the sense of betrayal." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Helping others without direct payoff can draw them into working together, expecting that the favor will be repaid later." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Because the helper gains nothing right away, the gesture works on the hope that the receiver will return the favor at some later time." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "In persistent or drop-in worlds, both the giver and the receiver of help feel pressure to come back and keep the exchange going." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Receiving help that you did not pay for can make the receiver feel they owe something in return." }, { "name": "Individual Rewards", "why": "Since the action does not benefit the actor, it can simply reward one other player rather than the whole group." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "why": "Individual voluntary helpful acts by separate players, when viewed together over time, add up to a collaboration." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Unselfish actions suit these games because players visit each other's own spaces and need harmless things to do there." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Because unselfish actions are not hostile, they fit what visitors can safely do inside another player's own space." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Unselfish actions can be used in teams, but how rewards and penalties are set up decides whether they make sense." }, { "name": "Visits", "why": "Helping is a non-aggressive thing for neighbors to do when they drop by another player's space." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "When teammates suffer together, helping a teammate also helps yourself, so the action stops being truly unselfish." }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "When the whole team gains together, helping a teammate is tied to your own gain, which undermines the unselfish quality of the act." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Altruistic_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Expansion", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A stage where the main aim is to increase the share of the game world you control.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a world big enough to grow into, a way to own territory (occupation or building), and costs or unlocks that pace how fast growth happens. Goals that reward gaining ownership push players into it.", "just_a_label_when": "A map with claimable spots, but claiming gives no benefit or is capped so tightly that nobody spends a phase of play on growing.", "knobs": "map size and terrain; cost and unlock requirements for claiming or building", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Expansion", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Growing your hold on the world usually means claiming areas and building things, and that naturally pushes players to develop their in-game assets and holdings." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "When players don't know the map at the start, they must explore first, so spreading out into the world falls in the middle of the game." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "When players already know the map, they can skip exploring and begin claiming territory immediately, so expansion makes up the opening of the match." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Expansion.svg" }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "feelings × procedures", "what_it_is": "The player repeats the same actions or choices over and over.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game's loop must offer few action types and the best choice must stay the same across rounds. Whether it feels like practice or tedium depends on the skill growth and rewards around it.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with many menus or content on offer, but the same few actions win every time, so variety exists only on paper.", "knobs": "variety of actions needed; how long one action type is demanded; how fast the best play changes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Repetitive_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Doing the same thing over and over can make players feel they earned something just by sticking with it, even though it can also make the effort feel pointless." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Repeating the same actions gives players practice that helps them master the game, but once mastered, little novelty remains to keep them interested." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Even with options, the same choices recur, so at a larger scale no real choice remains." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "When there are no real choices to make, or no time to consider them, repeated play leaves players little influence." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Repetition can leave players feeling their work achieves little, though it can also make them feel proud of having endured it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Repetitive_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Feigned Die Rolls", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game master rolls dice for show, and the result does not affect how the game goes.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs a human game master, hidden rolls, and players who cannot check results (screens, secret rolls). The game master must be willing to override outcomes to shape the story.", "just_a_label_when": "The game master rolls openly in front of everyone or follows the dice anyway, so the roll is not feigned at all.", "knobs": "how many rolls are hidden; how often the game master ignores or overrides the dice", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Feigned_Die_Rolls", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "By announcing whatever result suits the moment, the game master can make players believe their rolls and choices mattered more than they truly did." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Since the roll is hidden and doesn't affect the game state, the game master is free to pick any outcome and report it as the dice's verdict." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "The game master can claim the hidden roll came out well or badly, so players feel fortune favoring or abandoning them." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "The game master pretends to let dice decide while secretly choosing the outcome, a deception that tabletop groups accept as part of running a game." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "By announcing a dangerous or near-miss outcome from the hidden roll, the game master can make players feel the stakes are real and uncertain." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Players can't see the rolled number or know whether a roll mattered, so they cannot be sure how their action was really resolved." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dice", "why": "The game master uses the act of rolling as a show, so dice appear to decide outcomes while actually having no effect on them." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "It gives the game master an extra tool for steering a session, letting them decide results in secret rather than leaving them to chance." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The game master can develop the story the way they or the players want, rather than letting random die results dictate how events unfold." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A bad roll could derail a planned plot, so faking the roll lets the game master keep the intended story from breaking." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "A game master can secretly fake a roll when a skill test would produce an outcome that harms the story, such as killing a player." }, { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Game masters can secretly adjust their own and players' abilities by pretending dice decided the outcome." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Feigned_Die_Rolls.svg" }, { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players help each other at different times and need not see each other's actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Game state must persist between sessions, and one player's action must give a real benefit to another who acts later. Players need enough trust, so keep the number of steps and the timing of rewards reasonable.", "just_a_label_when": "A game has a shared goal or gifts, but each player's progress would be the same without anyone else, so nobody is really working together.", "knobs": "how many steps needed to benefit; whether rewards come together or separately; time limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asynchronous_Collaborative_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Because collaborating without being present together is harder than collaborating live, it adds difficulty and layers to the game." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "When the joint effort takes several steps or can be done again, players must come back repeatedly to continue it." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "Players end up with different roles either because their abilities differ or because the moment they act defines what part they play." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Since players depend on others who may not act, they can pressure or make each other feel bad for not doing their part." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Players needn't watch or interact with each other to collaborate, so they can contribute without being identified, though this isn't guaranteed." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Relying on others whose actions you can't see forces players to choose between trusting and contributing or protecting their own interests." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asynchronous_Collaborative_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Back-to-Back Game Sessions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Right after one session, players play again with roles swapped.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must actually play again with roles swapped, so sessions need to be short enough and scores easy to compare across rounds. Lobbies help when players are remote.", "just_a_label_when": "The rules suggest playing twice with swapped sides, but nobody does or no one adds up the results, so imbalance stays.", "knobs": "session length; whether scores carry across sessions; how roles rotate", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Back-to-Back_Game_Sessions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because everyone takes each side in turn, an advantage one player enjoyed in one session is matched by a disadvantage in the next, evening out results." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Linking several sessions together with swapped roles creates a larger game around the individual sessions, where players compare how they did across the whole set." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Switching roles means a player experiences the game from a different position each time, so the sessions feel different, especially when starting conditions are uneven." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "When sides begin with unequal setups, replaying with roles exchanged lets each player hold every side, so the unevenness stops deciding who is better." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Tournament opponents often play multiple games against each other and alternate who goes first, which adds a fairness layer on top of the existing competition." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Moving first gives an edge that makes a single session lopsided, and repeating with swapped roles is meant to cancel it out, so the pattern works against that advantage." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Back-to-Back_Game_Sessions.svg" }, { "name": "Speedending", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "A player sure of the lead tries to end the game as fast as possible.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to estimate who is ahead, and must have actions that bring the end closer, such as emptying a shared supply. The winner must be decided after play ends, not by an instant win.", "just_a_label_when": "A game-end condition that is nominally reachable but that nobody can judge or trigger in time, so players play on and the ending is never rushed.", "knobs": "how clear the score standings are; what triggers the end; how fast end triggers can be depleted", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Speedending", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "When a leading player pushes the game to finish early, it succeeds in closing the game for one or several players." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skilled players show they can tell when the moment has come to stop building up and start finishing the game, or to react to others doing so." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "null" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Construction/Scoring Phase Shift", "why": "Recognizing the time to hurry the ending means switching focus from building up toward scoring, and those watching a rival do this must switch too." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Rushing the finish heavily changes any existing closing phase of the game, since players start working toward the end instead of long-term goals." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players focused on ending quickly, or on scoring while others end it, avoid spending effort on things that only pay off later." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Speedending.svg" }, { "name": "Middlegame", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "All stages of the game between the beginning and the end.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs recognizable phases, so the middle must have its own goals and kinds of action, such as expanding or building, different from the opening and the end. Rules like balancing effects can be tied to it.", "just_a_label_when": "A game whose phases are named in the manual but play feels the same throughout, with no real shift in goals or actions.", "knobs": "how long the middle lasts; what shifts in goals and rules separate it from other phases", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Middlegame", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Because the middle phase is intricate, players facing many options can get stuck overthinking, so planning there sometimes stalls into endless deliberation." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "The intricate choices of a middle phase give players plenty to weigh, which encourages them to think ahead and work out plans." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "As in other phases, playing through the middle lets players learn what works strategically, and the phase rewards applying that learning." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Middlegame.svg" }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player keeps reloading a save and replaying a hard spot until they get lucky.", "needs_to_really_work": "It shows up when saving is unlimited and cheap, retrying costs almost nothing, and outcomes are random or hidden. To prevent it, limit slots or saving, or make failure persistent.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that technically has a save limit but lets players copy or back up files, so reloading still costs nothing and the limit changes nothing.", "knobs": "how many save slots; where saving is allowed; how costly reloading is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Save_Scumming", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Once players lean on reloading to beat challenges, they end up doing tedious repeated work outside the intended play that exists only to get past obstacles." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Saving and loading are things players do outside the game's own world, so using them repeatedly to beat challenges turns those actions into a strategy." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Reloading again and again until things go well becomes repetitive effort for a small gain, which amounts to grinding." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Reloading saves to undo bad outcomes defeats the intended challenge of the chosen level, so designers may adjust levels once it is detected." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "If players can reload an earlier state whenever they like, they can undo any death, which empties permanent death of meaning." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "A cap on how many save files a player may have limits reloading, so the cap works against this behavior." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "Limiting players to a single save file works against save scumming, since they cannot keep many fallback states to reload." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Save_Scumming.svg" }, { "name": "Unpredictable Behavior", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Characters are capable of unexpected actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Agents need real variation, through randomness, complex rules or human control, while still staying within sensible limits. Players should not be able to learn and exploit a fixed script.", "just_a_label_when": "Agents that follow a fixed script with a bit of random flavour that never changes what they do.", "knobs": "amount of randomness in agent decisions; complexity of agent rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unpredictable_Behavior", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When an agent acts in ways players can't foresee, it looks as if the agent is pursuing goals of its own." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Agents that seem to have their own motives make the game world feel more believable and coherent, which indirectly supports its theme." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "If players can't guess what agents will do next, they also can't be sure how situations involving those agents will end." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When an AI or system player acts unpredictably, its performance becomes uncertain, creating the pattern instead of just adjusting it." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Non-human players that act in ways that can't be easily worked out give other players something they cannot anticipate." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "The pattern changes how any agent acts by making what it does next harder to anticipate." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Computer-controlled agents can be made unpredictable by adding randomness, sufficiently complex rules, or deliberately vague responses." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Non-player characters can be made unpredictable by having a game master decide their actions instead of fixed rules." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Agents that act unpredictably make it harder for players to figure out what will happen next." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unpredictable_Behavior.svg" }, { "name": "Scouting", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Moving through the world to learn about dangers while staying unseen.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs partial visibility of the world, a real chance of being detected, and a payoff for information such as threats or ambushes. Hiding places and routes make the activity richer.", "just_a_label_when": "Exploring the map with no enemies or no detection risk, so scouting is just walking around and nothing is learned or threatened.", "knobs": "detection range and chance; how much of the map is hidden; how many hiding places", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Scouting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Once you have safely learned where enemies are without being noticed, you can strike when they aren't expecting it, provided attacking is possible in the game." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Scouting.svg" }, { "name": "Cycle Deck Engines", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Cards that let you draw new cards, so the player runs through nearly the whole deck.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs deck building, cards that draw further cards, and a deck small or thin enough that cycling through it is possible. Costs and limits must keep the loop strong but not endless.", "just_a_label_when": "A few draw-a-card effects that are lost in a big deck and never let a player cycle it.", "knobs": "how many cards give extra draws; deck size; limits on plays per turn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cycle_Deck_Engines", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "" }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "Cards that let you draw more cards snowball, so each extra card adds more benefit than the last, which makes the deck behave like a self-feeding engine." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cycle_Deck_Engines.svg" }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Knowing the rules, possible actions, and value of moves apart from any specific situation.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have stable rules and structures that carry across sessions, and hidden or deep parts worth learning. Playing must give feedback that shows what works.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that changes so much each time, or is so shallow, that nothing learned in one session helps in the next.", "knobs": "how much stays the same between sessions; amount of hidden rules; how much depth rewards learning", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Strategic_Knowledge", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "When players understand how the game consistently works, they can judge more accurately how likely their planned actions are to succeed." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Because the knowledge holds across sessions, players can step outside play to learn it, memorize it, and share it with others." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "If players can apply what they know about the game's constant aspects to their actual moves, they become skilled and in control of play." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Knowing the risk and reward structures makes players more aware of costs and payoffs, so they feel torn between tempting choices." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Since the knowledge stays valid from one session to the next, players can extract it and commit it to memory for later use." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Such games only run if someone understands and carries out the rules, so knowing how the game works is a prerequisite." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Knowing the game's constants lets players think ahead and plan, both before and during play." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Knowing the game's constants lets players think ahead and plan, both before and during play." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Hidden rules give useful strategic knowledge, so players want to discover them, which makes finding such rules an information goal." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Players build up understanding between sessions to play better, though knowing everything perfectly would make further play pointless." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Knowing which areas matter most helps players decide where to concentrate their efforts to gain control." }, { "name": "Betting", "why": "If the odds and payoffs are open or can be worked out, players can use that knowledge to bet wisely." }, { "name": "Bidding", "why": "If the values at stake are clear or can be deduced, players can apply their knowledge to bid sensibly." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "Knowing the best spots to place oneself helps players camp effectively." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Knowing how environmental effects work lets players turn the surroundings to their advantage in a fight." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When teammates share what they know about the game, they communicate in ways that reflect on the game itself." }, { "name": "Deck Building", "why": "Players use what they know about the game to assemble decks that are more likely to produce combos or working engines." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Knowing the world's layout and features helps players move through it well, for instance when winning races." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Understanding the value of different rewards and risks influences which goals players choose to prioritize." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Knowing the best positions helps players defend or watch over something effectively." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Understanding the risks and rewards involved shapes whether players choose to pursue an optional goal." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "The more a player knows about the game, the better their chances of executing well, which reduces uncertainty about their performance." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "Understanding the risks and rewards involved shapes which goal a player picks from the available options." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "With several valid solutions, knowledge helps players work out which ones are possible or likely, though a single solution becomes pointless once known." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Knowing how obstacles and other world elements can be used helps players stay hidden and succeed." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players who know the statistics or hidden systems can see through the hidden help or randomness and lose the perception." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Knowing the odds or what will happen reduces the room for outcomes to feel like fortune." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "A player who understands the game's strategies can more easily guess what others will do, making them less unpredictable." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players come to know everything about how to play well, replaying has no purpose because nothing remains to learn." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "If players bring knowledge from earlier games, the solution may become obvious, which removes the uncertainty the game relies on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Strategic_Knowledge.svg" }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "You can estimate in advance how the game will change after actions or events.", "needs_to_really_work": "Rules must be deterministic and clear enough to read, and the game must show state and effects. Little hidden information or randomness should sit between an action and its result.", "just_a_label_when": "Rules are written down, but dice, hidden effects or opaque systems make outcomes impossible to foresee, so players cannot plan.", "knobs": "amount of randomness and hidden information; clarity of feedback and previews", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Predictable_Consequences", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "When players can foresee outcomes well, they may plan so far ahead and so long that they stall the game for everyone else." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Because each single action is understandable, players can chain many of them into long logical sequences, which makes the game as a whole deep and intricate." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "If players can see what their actions will do, they can work out how likely a plan is to work, and see what that likelihood is." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Knowing how actions change the game state is itself a skill, so players who learn these consequences well become better at the game." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Being able to foresee future states lets players notice an ending or goal approaching before it actually arrives." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "When players know what each choice will lead to, they must weigh those known outcomes against each other, which makes picking an action a struggle." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "Foreseeing outcomes shows a player who will win, so a player who cannot win themselves may decide which rival gets the victory." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Since players can see where the game is heading, they may judge that one player is practically certain to win from the current course of play." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "A player who sees they are about to win only in the short run may rush to finish the game before the long-term picture changes." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When effects of actions are easy to understand, players are encouraged to think about future moves and work out sequences ahead of time." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Understanding what actions lead to lets players make better-informed risk and reward choices, building up knowledge of what works strategically." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Players can only plan long-term strategies if they can reasonably foresee how their actions will change the game, which this pattern gives them." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Testing is only worthwhile if outcomes are consistent, and it works best when players can't see far ahead on their own." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Because outcomes follow predictable statistical patterns over many rounds, players can estimate odds when deciding what to wager." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Foreseeing where the game is going lets players notice approaching endings, which shapes how those ending points feel when they arrive." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Damage and similar penalties are normally expected in size and type, since surprising ones could make players feel the game broke an implicit promise and quit." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Actions whose results arrive later are easier to evaluate and so more appealing to try when players can foresee what they will cause." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players are only willing to invest if they can anticipate roughly what they might gain, so investments need a foreseeable range of results." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Unexpected penalties may drive players away from a game, so penalties are typically kept foreseeable to respect what players assume about the experience." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "Since players struggle to link actions to people and their strategies, they can't foresee what will follow, so outcomes become less predictable." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When a game is complex, players struggle to know what their actions will cause, so outcomes are less predictable." }, { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "Since a random extra-bad result can strike any attempt, players cannot be sure what an action will lead to, making consequences less predictable." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "Because a critical hit can unexpectedly add extra harm, players cannot be sure what an attack will do, which undermines predictability." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "Since a rare disastrous result can strike even a sound action, players can't count on their choices leading to the outcomes they expect." }, { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "Chance plays a bigger role and the rare results have effects ordinary ones cannot produce, so players cannot reliably foresee what an action will do." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "Since a critical success is a lucky, exceptional outcome, it makes it less likely that players can foresee exactly what an action will result in." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "A very long wait may leave the situation changed by the time the effect lands, so players can no longer foresee what it will do." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "When effects are delayed to keep events permanent, players cannot easily see in advance what their actions will lead to." }, { "name": "Open-Ended Die Rolls", "why": "Because extra dice can keep adding to the total, you cannot know the range of outcomes beforehand, so results are harder to foresee." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance in results makes outcomes less certain in the short term, reducing how well players can foresee what happens." }, { "name": "Trumps", "why": "Adding trump cards to trick-taking games makes it harder to guess what other players will play." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Hidden or missing information about relevant parts of the game state makes it harder for players to foresee what their actions do." }, { "name": "Unpredictable Behavior", "why": "Agents that act unpredictably make it harder for players to figure out what will happen next." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Making attacks hit with varying precision means players cannot be sure of an attack's result, weakening foresight in combat." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Exceptional events are unusual and unexpected by nature, so having them in a game means players can't always foresee what will follow their actions." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "If players already know what will happen, there is nothing left to feel lucky about." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Predictable_Consequences.svg" }, { "name": "Player Balance", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Game design that gives everyone equal chances of success or victory.", "needs_to_really_work": "Starting positions, resources and abilities must be near-equal, or any asymmetry must be offset by something else. Designers must watch for feedback loops that let an early lead decide everything, and test with real play.", "just_a_label_when": "The sides look symmetrical on paper, but one option or position wins nearly every time in practice.", "knobs": "how equal starting resources and abilities are; strength of catch-up or anti-snowball rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Balance", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "When players start with roughly equal odds, they can reasonably estimate how likely they are to succeed or win." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Balance does not stop skill from mattering; it makes contests last longer and demands more from players to show they are better." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "When opponents have different levels of mastery, balancing them is the main way to keep a contest between players fair." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "AI can skip physical interfaces and may join or leave mid-game, which can make the sides unequal." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Development gives some players more power than others, and over time this gap makes it hard to keep players evenly matched." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Giving different constructs different starting strengths, as in Europa Universalis and Victoria, makes players unequal and so disrupts balance between them." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Goals", "why": "Because goals differ, some players may get easier or more rewarding objectives, making it harder to keep everyone's chances fair." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Resource Distribution", "why": "Unequal resources give some players more possibilities to compete than others." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "When players start with different possibilities, it is hard to keep their chances equal unless the designer adds balancing measures or tests heavily." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "If others cannot disrupt campers, especially those at spawn points, the campers dominate and the game becomes lopsided." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Characters that have grown unevenly give players unequal strength, so those who played more or earlier gain an edge over latecomers." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Differences in character abilities, especially unequal ones from the start, can make some players stronger than others." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Combos often bring fast-growing or sudden jumps in power, so players who master them can gain large advantages and upset fairness." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "If crafting effort does not match item value, those who craft heavily can gain an unfair edge over other players." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "How a dead avatar is placed back into the world can tilt fairness between individual players." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "When someone leaves, the remaining players' standing can become uneven, disrupting the fairness the game was built around." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies with special abilities or extra information can feel unfair and upset players' sense of balance." }, { "name": "Entitled Players", "why": "Special abilities given to some players can tilt the playing field, making their position stronger than that of the others." }, { "name": "Extra Turns", "why": "Because one player acts twice before opponents respond, they gain an advantage that can tip the game in their favor and upset fairness." }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "An edge for whoever starts first makes players unequal in their chances, which undermines the goal of fair, balanced competition." }, { "name": "Flip-Flop Events", "why": "If double turns happen by chance or luck rather than by player choice, some players gain a strong advantage unfairly, upsetting the fairness between them." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Inserting player characters for players who arrive late can make the game unfair for the ones already playing." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Strong mastery can make it hard to create mechanics that keep players on equal footing." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "Differences in the combos players can build from their own elements can leave some players stronger, undermining even footing between them." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Long-lasting or unequal immunity gives some players a lasting edge over others, upsetting fairness between them." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "A kingmaker can decide the outcome for others arbitrarily, so players no longer have equal standing in determining the result." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Newcomers may have more or fewer resources and abilities than existing players, which makes players unequal." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Advantages that build up over time, late joiners, skill and tool differences, and cheating make balance hard to keep." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Giving some players abilities that others lack can tilt the game in their favor, making the contest uneven." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Letting outsiders change the game state too easily can tilt the game in favor of players who have helpers available." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Crafting and character growth accumulate over time in a persistent world, which can ruin fairness between players." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "How fair the game feels depends on who receives the help and how much, so uneven assistance can upset balance between players." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Characters of late-arriving players can be inserted into the game, giving them different conditions from the others." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Removing a player completely is the most definite misfortune and ends their chance of success." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Killing can eliminate players or bring death consequences, which are misfortunes that disturb equal chances." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Mixed player and character skill makes mastery differences stack up with ability differences." }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "Gains that make further gains more likely let a leader pull ahead and widen differences." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "They reward some players without compensating others, though random, circumstance-weighted effects can help balance." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Giving some players special abilities creates imbalances in what players can do, though it can also be used to compensate." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Special movement abilities for some players create imbalances in their abilities." }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "why": "Generated worlds can spread strategic locations, tools or weapons unevenly across players." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Buying advantages from outside the game can easily destroy equal chances." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance can counter snowballing, but the dice themselves can give some players luckier outcomes and disturb balance." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "Changing the world can spread tools, weapons or locations unevenly, though it can also be used to balance." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "When skills are distributed unevenly among players, their chances end up unequal." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Uneven access to key places gives some players advantages over others." }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "Players in higher tiers can have more power than others." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Uneven distribution of tools among players leads to imbalances." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Uneven distribution of vehicles among players leads to imbalances." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Uneven distribution of weapons among players leads to imbalances." }, { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "Since differentiated entities need unique abilities, players end up with unlike things, which is hard to square with equal footing unless everyone gets the same set." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Balance.svg" }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "The game easily adjusts to different groups of people and circumstances.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design must offer real options such as pausing, drop-in/out, adjustable length or location, and players or a facilitator must have the power to use them.", "just_a_label_when": "A rulebook line saying you may adapt the game to your group, while the rules give no practical way to pause, shorten or change anything.", "knobs": "how easily play can be paused or joined; how adjustable session length is; who may change the rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Social_Adaptability", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When a game bends to fit the social setting, players get to decide when and how they play it, which is exactly choosing freely." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Because players can shape when and how the game fits their situation, they gain real control over their play experience." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "When players use the game's flexibility to suit their own preferences, that shared control strengthens their feeling of being a group." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Hard challenges make it difficult for varied groups to play together unless challenges are optional or balanced by handicaps." }, { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "Linking game state to real-world phenomena binds play to each player's own surroundings and social setting, making it harder to adapt the game to different social situations." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Facilitators enforce rules, so players cannot easily bend them, for example to adapt to circumstances or let novices retake moves." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Since mediation makes interruptions harder to support, it works against letting a game fit players' varying social situations." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Changing rules is problematic for the same reason, as players must agree on which rules to use." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "Players differ in physical ability and in willingness to improve it, which makes it harder for the game to fit varied groups." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Social_Adaptability.svg" }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "The game bypasses its own calculation rules or makes hidden exceptions to them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Someone must be able to override results, either secretly by a facilitator or via a scarce player resource, and it must be rare so effort still matters. Hidden use requires outcomes not being fully open.", "just_a_label_when": "The rulebook mentions bending outcomes, but dice are rolled openly and rules are enforced, so nobody ever fudges anything.", "knobs": "how often overrides are allowed; whether they are secret or a limited player resource", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Fudged_Results", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players can bend outcomes themselves, they feel their choices steer events more than the underlying rules actually allow." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "A player-triggered fudge is a gift that makes play easier, so earning or holding that ability works as a reward that helps them." }, { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "why": "Players who can fudge can soften a bad outcome that has hit them, cushioning the damage of unlucky events." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "A token or card that lets its holder ignore an adverse effect gives that player a special power others lack." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "The ability to fudge can be handed back to players as a prize, such as fate points that are replenished for good play." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Adjusting outcomes lets the group get the play experience it wants instead of whatever the mechanical rules would have produced." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Fudging gives the people mediating or running a game a tool for that facilitating job." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "A fudge overrides the normal rules and can reverse results, so it acts as an event stronger than ordinary play, even when players trigger it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Fudging can bend what opponents do or how their actions affect players, changing how dangerous they actually are." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "A fudge can step in to prevent a game-ending loss, softening it or cancelling it depending on how often it is used." }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "why": "Fudging is often used to avoid losing lives, so it reduces or removes those penalties depending on its frequency." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Facilitators or players can fudge to keep someone from being knocked out, which weakens or cancels elimination." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Overriding or secretly altering rolls and chance outcomes skews the randomness so results no longer follow the raw odds." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Secretly altering outcomes means the odds players think they face are not the real ones." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Fudging exists to dodge game-ending outcomes, so used often it cancels the penalty's effect." }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "why": "If fudges frequently prevent life loss, the penalty stops meaning anything." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Frequent rescues from elimination mean being eliminated no longer reliably happens." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If results can often be overridden, players' skill and effort matter less, so fudges must be rare or limited." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Fudged_Results.svg" }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Heroes and other entities have specializations that can be developed.", "needs_to_really_work": "Entities must have uneven abilities that matter for real tasks, and a reason to divide work or to choose a niche. Choices should be meaningful and not obviously one-sided, so no single specialty is always best.", "just_a_label_when": "Classes or units have different names and icons, but their numbers and options are so alike that any of them can do any job.", "knobs": "how different the abilities are; whether specialties are fixed at start or chosen and changed during play", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Competence_Areas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "When specialties can be acquired while playing, players get a concrete aim: work toward becoming good at a particular kind of action." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skilled players show mastery by being good at their own specialty, and choosing which specialty to pursue can itself be a way to master the game." }, { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "When entities are each good at different things, they differ in kind rather than in raw power, so none simply outclasses the others." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "If players choose which specialties to develop, each playthrough can go differently depending on the choices made." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Different unit or character types are good at different things, which gives players a larger set of possible actions." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "Roles need entities that are good at different things, so giving each a distinct area of competence creates the specialization." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "In multiplayer games, developing a particular skill area ties a player's social role directly to that gameplay ability." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Specialties shape which abilities an entity has or is good at, since being a specialist means excelling at particular types of action." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "With specialized abilities, these constructs matter differently in play, because each is suited to particular tasks." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Specialties make characters matter in different ways, because each is functionally suited to certain tasks." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Specialties make different unit types matter in different ways, since each handles certain tasks better than the others." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "Losing abilities can wipe out areas where a player was skilled, while other players may become the only competent ones left." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Competence_Areas.svg" }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Players exchange, in real life, the items that make up the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must own different tradable items that keep value beyond one session, and be able to meet or exchange them. Item rarity and sources shape demand.", "just_a_label_when": "Items are labelled tradable, but all are equal or worthless, so nobody wants to swap.", "knobs": "rarity of items; how they are obtained; how easy trading is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Element_Trading", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Once players are used to handing game elements to one another, wagering those same elements on outcomes becomes a natural next step." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "The actual swap of items can happen outside the game itself, such as players arranging exchanges on their own rather than through game mechanics." }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "why": "When a traded element is very rare or especially important to play at the moment it changes hands, it can become a keepsake." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Because players want particular elements, trading creates a separate challenge of building up a desired set of items beyond playing individual matches." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Players can carry out the exchange of elements through an in-game trading feature, so the swap happens inside the game." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Players who put time into a game may sell rare items, areas or characters to others for real currency, creating real-world market effects." }, { "name": "Player-Player Proximity", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Moving elements between players changes how easy it is to complete a collection, since pieces can be acquired from or lost to others." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Because trading hands control of elements to other players, it changes how easily someone can reach goals of owning particular things." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "If players produce too many of a type of element, its value drops very low and the trading market can collapse." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Making trading central requires either players everywhere or electronic exchange of elements, which is hard to combine with play available anywhere." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Element_Trading.svg" }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "An effect reinforces itself: each next such effect is stronger than the previous one.", "needs_to_really_work": "Rewards must make the next success easier or larger, with no strong caps or counter-effects. Designers must check how quickly the effect grows, or the leader runs away.", "just_a_label_when": "A bonus is given for winning, but it is so small or so capped that early leads fade and nothing compounds.", "knobs": "growth rate of the reward; strength of caps or counter-loops; how much advantage carries over", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Positive_Feedback_Loops", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Gameplay Design", "why": "Designers may deliberately include these loops when they want the game to have particular system-wide behaviors, so the loop is a tool for shaping those properties." }, { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "why": "When the loop feeds on the challenges players face, success brings harder challenges, so the game keeps getting tougher as players do well." }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "Players can build setups where each reward makes the next gain easier, and the loop is what lets such an engine grow itself." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Whoever pulls ahead keeps widening the gap, so the eventual victor becomes easy to guess long before the game ends." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Self-reinforcing growth makes effects bigger as play goes on, so later closures outweigh earlier ones." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Combined with investments, they make successes and failures grow, so what you have committed feels more at risk." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players can set up loops that build on compounding gains, so earlier effort snowballs into bigger results." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "Rewards from loops often come as resources, so the loop strongly shapes how resources are gained and accumulate in a game." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Rewards can also take the form of access to units, so the loop changes how quickly players can obtain and grow their forces." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Negative Feedback Loops", "why": "The two work in opposite directions, so they can't both be applied to the same aspect of the game state, though they may govern different parts." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Gains that make further gains more likely let a leader pull ahead and widen differences." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "A cap on resources that fuel the player's actions stops the gains from compounding, so the loop cannot keep growing." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Snowballing lets one side pull far ahead of the other, which undermines keeping teams evenly matched." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Positive_Feedback_Loops.svg" }, { "name": "Helplessness", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Situations in which the player cannot change anything themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to see the game going on while having no useful input, and the state needs a clear end (a timer, a rescue by others, or the situation resolving). Without a way out or a clear duration it just feels broken.", "just_a_label_when": "A brief animation or stun where the player can still steer, act, or skip ahead, so nothing about their choices is actually removed.", "knobs": "how long the state lasts; what ends it (timer, rescue, none)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Helplessness", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A helpless player can't act, so they must wait while the game continues, though other players may still be playing." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "" }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Being stripped of the ability to act is unpleasant, so designers can use it as a punishment for failing or taking damage." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "When one player is stuck and can't help themselves, others get a goal of freeing them, which creates rescue situations." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "A stuck player can become the victim while teammates step into the role of helpers who save them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Helplessness acts like a huge event players can't control, so they nervously wait to see whether help arrives or doom comes." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Taking away all of a player's ability to influence outcomes is a drastic, overwhelming event that quickly raises players' tension." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "A stranded or incapacitated player can only be freed by someone else, who helps in the hope of being rescued in turn later." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "In multiplayer games, being clearly dependent on others can still leave players with an inflated feeling of their own influence." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Putting a player in a stuck state where they need aid lets them appeal to others, who then feel bad if they ignore it." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Making some players unable to act while others must help is a riskier way to get the group working through trouble together." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "In multiplayer games, being able to free other players from a helpless state is a power that only some participants hold." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "A player may choose a long, powerful action that leaves them unable to defend themselves until it finishes, making helplessness a price they accept." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Being unable to act undermines the sense of influence, although dependence in multiplayer games can sometimes still produce it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Having meaningful choices makes players feel they can influence outcomes, which works against feeling powerless." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Helplessness stops players from affecting how the game turns out, which directly takes away their agency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Helplessness.svg" }, { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "As the game goes on, the situation becomes harder and harder to change.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must be irreversible and combine so that earlier choices lock in later ones; resource loss helps. Reversibility must be mostly avoided.", "just_a_label_when": "Irreversible-looking moves that are easy to undo or have so little effect that the state remains open to the end.", "knobs": "how irreversible actions are; how strongly effects accumulate; resource depletion rate", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Entrenching_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Gameplay Design", "why": "Because the game's overall course is shaped by how it locks in, designers get a built-in structure that makes the game's outcome follow the system's behavior." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "As changes pile up and the state loosens less, players end up in a late phase where they mostly defend what they hold." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Early on, players compete to claim open space or territory before it gets locked in, which makes a middle phase of growing and grabbing." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Competition over claiming room to grow tends to fill the middle of play, once early choices have started to fix the state in place." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Since play reliably follows the same shape of opening up and then settling, the game offers a ready-made story arc, though it needs characters or factions to feel intentional." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When the game state can change less and less, players are unlikely to gain new kinds of actions, so variety in play tends to shrink." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Entrenching_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Players can move and change game elements outside of the rules.", "needs_to_really_work": "Components must be physical or open to hand manipulation, with no automated enforcement, and the group must tolerate rule bending. A human or self-run setup is needed rather than a strict program.", "just_a_label_when": "The rulebook says players may adjust things, but software or a strict facilitator blocks any rule-breaking move.", "knobs": "how much the facilitator or software enforces rules; how easily components can be altered", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Free_Game_Element_Manipulation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since players may move pieces whatever way they like, they can decide to bend or ignore the rules, so they choose how the game is played." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Because players can touch and alter game elements directly, they can quietly nudge outcomes, which lets them shape results in small ways while still playing." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Players being able to handle elements freely means they can add new pieces or elements to the game while it is going on." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players can change the starting setup or the current state of the game to even out differences in strength between them." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Since players can reshape the game by changing elements and rules as they wish, the game can fit whatever the group wants it to be." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Mechanical and computer facilitators do not naturally let players move game elements freely; this needs deliberate design." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "A game master may overrule what players did with elements, forcing them to retract their moves, which cuts against players' free manipulation." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "With so much power over elements in players' hands, it is hard to make an event that players cannot simply undo or change." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Free manipulation gives players direct hands-on influence, so a game where they have none is hard to combine with it." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Players holding this much power over elements makes it hard for a game to include events that overwhelm everything else." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Free_Game_Element_Manipulation.svg" }, { "name": "Negative Feedback Loops", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Rules that bring some game measure back toward a preset value.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must measure a part of the state, such as relative position, and apply a counter-effect strong enough to matter but not so strong that effort is pointless. It usually needs playtesting.", "just_a_label_when": "A catch-up bonus so small that leaders still win, or so large that it flips results no matter how people play.", "knobs": "how strong the correction is; what is measured; how soon it triggers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Negative_Feedback_Loops", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the loop pushes a measured value back toward a target, players who pull ahead get held back and those behind get help, evening out the game." }, { "name": "Critical Gameplay Design", "why": "A loop that keeps undoing player attempts to shift the balance can make a point about how futile it is to try to disrupt a situation." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "The loop checks how players are doing and changes the game in response, so challenge is nudged toward a set level as play proceeds." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Since the loop works against whoever leads, differences between players' standings stay small and no one gets too far ahead of the others." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "When the loop acts on team standings, it holds back the leading team, which keeps the teams close in strength." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with geometric progression, they reduce the value of repeating the same efforts, nudging players toward varied goals." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "In networks where players compete, the loop shifts power away from the strongest, helping keep the rival parties' strengths in balance." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Because position in a race can't be directly swapped, the loop alters things like speed so trailing racers catch up and leaders slow." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Resources decide which actions players can take, so the loop adjusts who gets access to them and thereby steers the measured game state." }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "why": "The loop can let the lowest-scoring player act first next turn, so the order of play itself helps weaker players recover." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "The two work in opposite directions, so they can't both be applied to the same aspect of the game state, though they may govern different parts." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Since leaders are pushed back and are harder to identify, runaway leads are unlikely, which undermines an early, obvious winner." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Negative_Feedback_Loops.svg" }, { "name": "Ninja Looting", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Taking loot that the player has no right to.", "needs_to_really_work": "Loot must be physically takeable by anyone nearby and ownership must not be enforced. The reward must be worth taking, and other players must be near enough to do it.", "just_a_label_when": "Loot labeled as shared or ownable that is in fact automatically assigned, so nobody can take anything from others.", "knobs": "who can pick up loot and when; how long loot stays unprotected", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ninja_Looting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Once a player grabs loot they weren't entitled to, or is accused of it, they become known as a 'ninja looter', a role among other players." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "When a teammate grabs loot others see as improper, the group itself falls into disagreement and tension among its own members." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ninja_Looting.svg" }, { "name": "Investments", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "A player gives up resources for a time for gain later, not knowing how it will turn out.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resources must be spent with the payoff delayed and uncertain, and the payoff must be worth the wait. Players need enough knowledge to weigh the risk.", "just_a_label_when": "Spending resources that return immediately or with certainty, so it is just a purchase.", "knobs": "cost; delay before payoff; size and certainty of the return", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Investments", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Players willingly put a resource at stake hoping for a later reward, which ties them to making that payoff happen." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Resources are spent now and the payoff arrives later, so the return is delayed from the commitment." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Players can pay to obtain new game elements, such as buying players in a sports league, so acquiring them by purchase is a way of drafting." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Putting resources in now to get a payoff later is a specific delayed effect, so you must return to collect the payoff." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Players keep putting effort or resources in over time before getting the effect, which occupies their options and drains resources while it continues." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Choosing how and when to invest gives players decisions about development, such as planned character growth." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Earlier investments pay off by making a character stronger, so receiving that payoff completes a goal of gaining competence." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Spending on skills and attributes brings no immediate reward but makes the character stronger later, so the cost pays off as better abilities." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "" }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Resources are tied up for a time so that a bigger payoff arrives later, such as Tetris giving more points for clearing several rows together." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Spending now for a later payoff requires players to plan which investments to make." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Resources you have committed could be lost, so you worry about their outcome." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Controlling a territory can be linked with investments, which give a reason to pursue ownership of it." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "When investing is mixed with capturing, players weigh options to find the choice that gives the best payoff." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Investing is a choice with costs and possible payoffs, so players must plan whether and when to commit resources to capture something." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "In turn-based games, spending resources can be the means for capturing, rather than only moving pieces." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Spending resources to add new cards to your draw pile lets you steer, indirectly, what your future hands will contain." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Investments commit Resources for a time without immediate results, so players must decide how to spend them with an uncertain future ahead." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Speedending", "why": "Players focused on ending quickly, or on scoring while others end it, avoid spending effort on things that only pay off later." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Investments.svg" }, { "name": "Trading", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "Players exchange resources with each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must hold different things of different value to them, be allowed to exchange them, and have a way to find and talk to each other. Needs must differ enough that swaps benefit both sides.", "just_a_label_when": "A trade menu in a game where everyone has the same needs and goods, so nobody ever gains from using it.", "knobs": "how unequal the holdings are; which items can be traded; trade limits or fees", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Trading", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Control can be acquired indirectly by exchanging resources with other players instead of conquering the place." }, { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Trading lets players coordinate, for example by refusing deals with the leader, once they agree someone is in front." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Trades whose effects arrive later let a player take what they want and then fail to hold up their side." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Trading is a form of negotiation, which gives players a channel and a reason to mislead each other." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "A trade needs both sides to act, so each player's action depends on the other's without necessarily involving cooperation." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Exchanges combined with delayed effects make results uncertain, as players cannot see right away how a trade pays off." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Exchanging goods requires both sides to agree and collaborate, even when it's unclear who benefits more." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "A trade that favors one side lets the worse-off player accept it now, expecting the other to compensate in a later deal." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "" }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "When players can swap goods with others, those other players become a place from which resources are obtained." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Trading can be rewarding in itself, and other rewards can make it more appealing." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Trading lets negotiators help others, but a dominator can pose as a negotiator to exploit it." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Players who are good with people may gain better deals when trading, so social skills are likely displayed in it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Players can acquire ammo by exchanging with others or buying it, which is another way to restock." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Players can obtain armor by exchanging with others or with the game, which is one common way to gain protection." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Exchanging items is a possible action for avatars, though it is more often given to characters." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Exchanging items with other players gives a route to ownership that avoids or softens conflict." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Players can swap items with other players or characters, turning acquisition into a trade-off against other items or resources." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Having several players enables swapping, often outside the formal rules." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Trading is rarely required, so it nearly always offers players a goal they may take on or skip, even if winning is hard without it." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "" }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Players can exchange resources among themselves when the resources can be transferred." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Players can obtain weapons by exchanging them with others." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Trading.svg" }, { "name": "Exploitation", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A game stage where the main aim is to use what you already have as efficiently as possible.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need owned resources, locations and abilities to optimize, plus enough system depth that efficient setups (gameplay engines) beat sloppy ones. Unlock timing and costs decide when this stage starts.", "just_a_label_when": "Resources are available, but there is only one obvious best use, so there is nothing to optimize and no phase of optimizing.", "knobs": "resource yield and number of resource sources; when optimizing abilities become available", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Exploitation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Because players are busy making what they already own work better, their holdings become more refined and developed over time." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "When the exploiting is aimed at raising a score rather than building up, it tends to take place at the close of a game." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "Once players feel they have squeezed all they can from their resources, they only need to watch things run, so action slows down." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Improving and maximizing what you already hold is usually what players do in the central stretch of a game, after growing and before finishing." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Exploitation.svg" }, { "name": "Resource Management", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "Allocating and spending available supplies wisely.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resources must be limited, useful for several competing ends, and spending must have consequences later. Players need enough information to plan their use.", "just_a_label_when": "Resources are shown on screen but are so plentiful or so single-purpose that no real choices arise.", "knobs": "scarcity; number of competing uses; income versus spending rate", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resource_Management", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Adding resources also adds actions, so players must juggle many pieces and decisions." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide how to use, store or convert resources, including choosing to do nothing with them." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Deciding how to spend and keep resources during play is a planning skill players can improve." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Many kinds of resources or individual items to handle, combined with complex gameplay, create a lot of repeated handling work." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Sorting and arranging resources can be satisfying in itself, giving players an activity to do for its own sake even without changing the world." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Managing resources offers many choices about what to produce, save and invest, all of which require planning." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Spending, saving and allocating resources means each use competes with other possible uses, so players weigh them." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resource_Management.svg" }, { "name": "Complete Resource Depletion", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "Some resource in the game is gone entirely, temporarily or permanently.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resources must be finite or consumed faster than they are replenished, and something must actually use them up, whether players or the system. The running out must change what is possible afterwards.", "just_a_label_when": "A resource is labelled scarce, but it replenishes so fast or is so plentiful that it never actually hits zero.", "knobs": "starting stock; regeneration rate; consumption rate", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Complete_Resource_Depletion", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Once a particular resource is gone, the conditions of play change, and that shift can mark the start of a game's final phase." }, { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "why": "Running out of a resource changes what players can do in the game, which can lock the situation into a fixed pattern." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "When running out of a resource signals that the game is over, players can deliberately drain it to finish the game sooner." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "With a resource gone, certain actions become impossible, so players can't compete against each other effectively and the outcome ends up level." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "The pattern determines whether a given kind of resource is available to players at all, either for a limited time or for good." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Complete_Resource_Depletion.svg" }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Players compete for limited resources.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resources must be scarce, shared and valuable, so one player's gain is another's loss. Players need to be able to interfere with or beat each other to it.", "just_a_label_when": "Each player has a private supply of the same resource, so they never actually compete.", "knobs": "total supply versus demand; how much is shared; how easily players can block each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resource_Competition", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "When several players want the same resource, they must take each other into account in how they act." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Regenerating Resources", "why": "If supplies keep refilling with time, players have less reason to fight over a scarce amount, so competition for them weakens." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "With each player able to hold only so much, there is less reason to fight over resources, so competition weakens." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resource_Competition.svg" }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Tasks that are solved mainly by thinking.", "needs_to_really_work": "The challenge must be solvable by deduction or experiment, with clear information, fitting difficulty and no pressure that replaces thinking. Brute-force trial should be costly or impossible.", "just_a_label_when": "A puzzle is presented, but it can be solved by trying every option or by luck, so no reasoning is needed.", "knobs": "difficulty; amount of information given; number of attempts; time pressure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Puzzle_Solving", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Solving puzzles creates no pressure to act before you are ready, so players can take it slowly and play in a relaxed way." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Designers can precisely tune how many steps and pieces a puzzle involves, so they can make it demanding enough to stretch players." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Because designers control how many elements and events a puzzle contains, they can pile on enough parts to make the play intricate." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "When a puzzle is solved by rearranging things in the game world, players are really trying to get the pieces into the right setup through movement." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Since a manipulation puzzle can be cracked by trying every combination, players may end up grinding through tedious repeated actions instead of thinking." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Getting good at working out puzzles is itself a skill players can build up and take pride in." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When not everything needed is visible at once, players have to remember what they saw earlier to reason toward the answer." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "Puzzles that you solve by manipulating the game environment pit players against the game's own challenges rather than other people." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "The difficulty lies in working out the right combination of actions, not in carrying them out, so thinking ahead is what the puzzle asks for." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "The planning needed to find the right sequence of moves is short-range and concrete, matching tactical thinking." }, { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "When it's unclear where the game lives, hunting for and judging information is natural; clues can be scattered widely and groups can solve them online." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Finding the right action means trying candidates, which works well when the player can undo each attempt." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Working on a puzzle involves finding out how to solve it, so the activity is driven by wanting that knowledge." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When each short level is solved as a puzzle, every level works like its own small game within the larger sequence." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Puzzle games with small self-contained levels give very short complete experiences, so the minimum session length can be very low." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Clues can be scattered over wide areas and many players can pool their efforts, so puzzles typically form the main activity." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Multiple solutions to a puzzle can add replay value when they lead to different developments of the story." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Puzzles need no time pressure or opponents, so they fit games played alone more than multiplayer ones." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Puzzles tend to appear in turn-based play because there is no pressure to act quickly, leaving time to think." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "In these games players have to plan ahead what their agents will do, which amounts to solving a puzzle." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If the same puzzles appear every session, players already know the answers, so there is little reason to play again." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Once a puzzle's answer is found, nothing more remains to learn from it, so no further improvement is possible." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Puzzle_Solving.svg" }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "It is hard to plan actions or understand what they will lead to.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be enough components, rules and options that interact, so that deciding or foreseeing outcomes is truly hard. The complexity must be in decisions, not just in bookkeeping.", "just_a_label_when": "Lots of tokens, stats and menus, but one option is clearly best, so there is little to decide.", "knobs": "number of components, rules and available actions; how much they interact; how much information is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Complex_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When there are many actions and interacting parts to weigh, picking a good move becomes hard, so players feel tested." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "If players must handle lots of separate game pieces to play, they spend effort on tedious manipulation instead of meaningful choices." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Because outcomes are hard to foresee in a tangled system, players try things out to learn what happens." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Complexity shows up in the middle of a game, once the board is rich, and can be used to create such phases." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Complex games can be hard enough that players fail or mess up, and the failure itself becomes fun." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Learning to cope with all the parts, such as using every combo skillfully, is itself a way of getting good at the game." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Many requirements that must be met together keep several goals almost within reach at once, though too many or unclear ones stop feeling close." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Complexity grows after early moves have built up a rich state but before the struggles are settled, so it marks that phase." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "If a complex game isn't very challenging, players can simply tinker around in it, as with building in Minecraft." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "With so many possibilities and interacting rules, players can't easily tell which course of action will work." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since the game has so many parts, each playthrough may have players focus on and use different pieces." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Even when everything is visible, the calculations can be too heavy to do during play, so the winner stays unclear until the end." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Many kinds of resources or individual items to handle, combined with resource management, create a lot of repeated handling work." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "A moderate amount of complexity can make players overthink, but piling on more can lower this effect." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Some complexity encourages players to plan ahead, but too much reduces how much planning they do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Too many requirements, or ones shown unclearly, keep players from feeling any goal is nearly reached." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When a game is complex, players struggle to know what their actions will cause, so outcomes are less predictable." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Complex_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The outcome depends on how skillfully the player performs the action themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Outcomes must depend on skill in a physical, mental or social task that varies from player to player and moment to moment. Success must not be guaranteed by simply knowing a procedure.", "just_a_label_when": "An action that looks skill-based but has a fixed outcome whatever the player does, or one so easy that everyone succeeds every time.", "knobs": "how demanding the skill task is; how much the result depends on performance versus system; tolerance for error", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Performance_Uncertainty", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Context Dependent Reactions", "why": "Because results hinge on how someone performs, that performance can shift with the current game situation, opponents, or onlookers, so reactions vary by context." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "When success depends on skill, players can usually get better, and against other players a stronger opponent always leaves a higher level to aim for." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Not knowing whether your own execution will succeed makes each action feel risky, which builds tension." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "If results depend on how well players carry out actions, nobody can be sure how things will end, so outcomes stay open." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Players can act less skilled than they are, so opponents wrongly judge them and pick poor actions or strategies." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Because players must carry out the actions themselves, they may not manage it well, so doubt about their own performance appears, as with other enactment." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "Critical failures come from chance rather than how well the player did, so they undercut outcomes depending on the player's own performance." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "Critical hits add more chance to combat, which works against games where the outcome depends mainly on how skilled the player is." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "Dramatic misses that come from chance emphasize bad luck over the player's skill, reducing the role of performance." }, { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "These rare results add more chance to the outcome, so what happens depends less on how well the player performs and more on luck." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "Critical successes usually add extra randomness to deciding how an action turns out, which works against the player's ability to judge how well they will perform." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "If performance is uncertain, it is harder for the winner to be known beforehand, since anyone's execution may vary." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance decides outcomes, which lessens how much the player's own performance influences results." }, { "name": "Trial and Error Solutions", "why": "If possible answers can simply be tried mechanically, success no longer depends on how well players perform, so performance uncertainty vanishes." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Performance_Uncertainty.svg" }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The player chooses among several options and weighs what can be given up for what.", "needs_to_really_work": "Options must have genuinely different, comparable costs and benefits, with no choice that is better in every way. Players must understand the consequences well enough to weigh them.", "just_a_label_when": "A choice between options where one is clearly best, so the 'decision' is obvious and players never hesitate.", "knobs": "relative size of the gains and costs of each option; how well the effects are shown to the player", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Trade-Offs", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because choosing one option means accepting a downside or giving up a rival option, strengths and weaknesses end up offsetting each other." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Understanding how the options compare lets players choose better, so learning the trade-off itself becomes a skill they can improve." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Having to weigh options against each other makes players think ahead about which choice will serve them best." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing how the competing consequences stack up helps players pick wiser options, so that knowledge becomes valuable." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "When each choice carries a cost and a gain, players must work out short-term moves by comparing what they give up and get." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Facing choices where something good or bad is at stake makes players uneasy about whether they picked correctly." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Adding choices with competing costs and benefits makes challenges more complex, because players must work out the best option." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Trade-offs bring different kinds of risks into sneaking challenges, so players weigh safety against progress." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Trade-Offs.svg" }, { "name": "PvE", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The game itself, not other players, creates the challenges for the player.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs system-controlled opponents or hazards with enough behaviour to be a real challenge. Players need reasons to team up against them.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies exist but are passive or trivial, so there is no real challenge from the system.", "knobs": "enemy strength and number; AI behaviour; difficulty scaling", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/PvE", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When the game itself supplies the opposition, players share the same opponents and have a reason to work together instead of against one another." }, { "name": "Symbiotic Player Relations", "why": "Shared opponents let players put their own disputes on hold and rely on each other, since everyone benefits from beating the common challenge first." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Having the game system push back against what players want is a basic way to create challenge, and challenge produces tension." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Setting players against the game system rather than each other makes them a united group facing the same chaotic challenges." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Facing a common threat from the game itself pushes players to side together, giving them a shared aim to accomplish." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "Fighting threats from the game itself gives players a shared reason to find common strategies, since they all face the same opposition." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Adding challenges from the game to a multiplayer game lets players team up even when the design doesn't require it, and shapes how they relate." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "The two kinds of challenge can coexist, and most games lean toward one; mixing some game-made opposition into a player-versus-player game shifts its balance." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "With no other players present, the challenge must come from the game's design, so game-made opposition is a basic way to give a solo game challenge." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/PvE.svg" }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The opponent or competitor is in the same social group as you.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must belong to a shared group while having goals that conflict, and the rules should keep the conflict from ending in outright elimination. The group's norms or limited actions keep it ongoing.", "just_a_label_when": "Teammates labelled rivals but with fully aligned goals, so no one ever works against another.", "knobs": "how strongly individual and group goals diverge; what actions are allowed against rivals", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Internal_Rivalry", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Because rivals share a social network, players must weigh how others react to their moves, so reaching a goal involves more considerations than a plain fight." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Rivals inside a group are a kind of enemy, but their conflict is held in check by the group's social norms." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Learning about rivals' plans lets players compete without fighting, so information gathering becomes a likely goal when rivalry exists." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Rivals often want the same items, such as loot, so claiming and holding those items becomes a goal that avoids direct combat." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Rivalry between members of the same group readily grows into wider conflicts inside that group." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Where players can fight each other, rivalry can end with one participant being knocked out of the game." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "When combat between players is allowed, rivals may attack and kill each other's characters." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A scripted story can set up, develop and resolve a rivalry, so the narrative itself can control the rivalry." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Social consequences differ with how and where a player pursues a goal, so rivalry offers different ways to play and gives a change from other conflicts." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Handling conflicts inside a group of non-player characters requires players to think through social situations to resolve them." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Rivalry inside a group that otherwise feels loyal or shares goals or enemies makes members weigh competition against cooperation." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Rivalry within a group, combined with roleplaying, makes players more likely to adopt social roles for their characters." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Competing with teammates can help one's own aims but may hurt social standing, so players balance the two." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Rivalries inside a faction are part of a character's social position." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Gaining companions can be a reward for resolving a rivalry, since other characters share the social network." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Rivalry among members for advancement adds challenge and changes how a faction's internal dynamics play out." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Rivals inside a faction make the player choose sides or support, putting pressure on the loyalty they owe the group." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Rivalry can be built into a scripted story but can also arise on its own in other kinds of storytelling." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Rivalry typically supplies goals of overcoming a rival or obstacle within the group." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "" }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Rivalry played out in character creates social roles and pushes players toward less direct ways of solving problems." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Competition among members makes teamwork harder, though it normally doesn't break the team up." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "An NPC competing with the player within the same group gives that NPC a special social status." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Friendly Fire", "why": "Friendly fire can spark rivalry, but because violence can quickly settle the dispute, it also makes it hard to keep a rivalry going long term." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Internal_Rivalry.svg" }, { "name": "PvP", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Players, as individual people, directly compete against each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need opposed goals, ways to affect one another and roughly matched skill. Matchmaking or balancing tools help sustain it.", "just_a_label_when": "Many players share a space, but they cannot hurt or compete with each other, so it is parallel solo play.", "knobs": "how much players can harm each other; matchmaking; balance and handicap tools", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/PvP", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because players are set directly against one another, the contest itself makes things feel tense, beyond whatever tension the specific actions already create." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Player-versus-player games are where preemptive balancing aims to keep players evenly matched so large gaps never open." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "When cheating is allowed in player-versus-player play, players can pose as other players or roles to deceive their opponents." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Facing other players whose performance decides the outcome lets nearly everyone keep improving, as in Chess and Go." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "" }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Taking player-versus-player competition and grouping the players into teams turns it into team-versus-team play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "The idea began in these online games, where players fighting each other was distinguished from fighting the game world, and it can be added as an option." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Playing against one another needs several people, so it fits multiplayer games as a way to shape how those players relate to each other." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "The two can sit in the same game, and a game mostly about fighting players can still include some challenges against the game environment." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Backseat Gamers", "why": "Outside help can feel like cheating and break the players' shared agreement, which matters most when opponents face each other directly." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Players fighting each other are at odds with working together, though both can coexist when teams compete." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Fighting other players needs opponents, so it obviously suits games with several people rather than ones played alone." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/PvP.svg" }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "A choice between benefiting yourself and benefiting another player or your group.", "needs_to_really_work": "Selfish choices must truly pay in the short term while hurting the group, and players must be unsure what the others will do. They also need other human participants who can be trusted or betrayed.", "just_a_label_when": "A shared-pool choice where cooperating is plainly best for everyone, or where the selfish option gives no real advantage, so there is nothing to agonize over.", "knobs": "size of individual vs. shared payoff; how hidden or delayed others' choices are; group size", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Social_Dilemmas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "When someone resolves a dilemma without gaining more than others, it can look like a selfless act, even if they really just did nothing." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Betrayal happens when a player takes a personal reward over a shared one, dumps penalties on others, or fails to repay an earlier favor." }, { "name": "Critical Gameplay Design", "why": "Because dilemmas exist in real life too, playing one can make players notice similar situations outside the game and reflect on them." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can freely decide whether to act selfishly or for the group's benefit, though their feelings toward affected players may sway them." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Players' relationships with those hurt by a selfish move can make them feel guilty about taking it." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Selfish moves may anger other players, so the one facing the dilemma feels pulled between personal gain and the group's goodwill." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "When a dilemma shows characters' choices instead of players', those choices can become key moments in a fixed storyline." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Facing animosity from possible selfish choices pushes the player to settle on an explicit role among the others." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Selfish acts risk upsetting others and trust is uncertain, so players feel pressure over what to do and what others will do." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "A dilemma forces a choice that can sharply change the character, and may or may not be part of a scripted story." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Bargaining over how to handle a conflict between personal and group interest can lead players to agree to work together." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Dilemmas change how players relate to each other, since other people fill the groups in which the choices are made." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Dilemmas that show characters' choices can become important events in how the story is told." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Competing interests among members can create choices where group and individual benefit clash, changing how the faction operates." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Situations where showing loyalty competes with other beneficial actions change how hard it is to remain faithful." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Casual games avoid situations that pit players against each other, and dilemmas create exactly that kind of social strain." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Social_Dilemmas.svg" }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player is unsure whether the information they have can be trusted.", "needs_to_really_work": "Some relevant information must be hidden, noisy or possibly false, and players must need that information to decide. It should not be so extreme that decisions become pure guesses.", "just_a_label_when": "Hidden information that does not matter for any decision, or that players can easily look up elsewhere.", "knobs": "how much is hidden; how reliable the information is; available sources of clarification", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Uncertainty_of_Information", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "When players can't be sure what is going on, nobody can tell who did something, which gives actions the cover they need to stay anonymous." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Because players can't know who is trustworthy or what others secretly plan, it becomes possible to turn on someone without being noticed in advance." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Not being sure of what you know gives players a reason to set themselves the goal of finding out more." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When players don't know what the world holds, they are encouraged to go look around to reduce that doubt." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "If players can't be sure what others know or intend, they can't predict each other's moves, so behavior becomes harder to foresee." }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "why": "Doubt about what others know or hold makes it possible to keep resources hidden from opponents without them finding out." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "When players can't rely on what they know, they can't be sure which choice is the right one, so solving the challenge stays open." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Not knowing whether your information is trustworthy keeps players worried about outcomes, which raises the overall sense of tension." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Bluffing only works if some of the game state is hidden from others, since there must be something unknown to lie about." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Not knowing where enemies are gives players a reason to search, and fog of war can be the cause of that uncertainty." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "With uncertain information, players can't be sure how actions will play out later, which adds doubt to effects that arrive after a delay." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Uncertainty makes it more likely that others get in the way of a goal, or makes players worry more that they will." }, { "name": "Outcome Indicators", "why": "Indicators normally reveal results, but they can themselves be made unreliable or unclear so they add doubt instead of removing it." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When players can't trust what they know, they can't foresee well what their actions will cause, so consequences become less predictable." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Not being sure of the situation pushes players to think ahead and plan to cope with the different possibilities." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Giving players extra information about the state removes some of what they would otherwise be unsure about." }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "Goal indicators give players information about their objectives, and that openness removes the not-knowing that uncertainty of information depends on." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "Hidden information can keep players from realizing a kingmaking situation exists, so they don't act on it." }, { "name": "Outcome Indicators", "why": "Indicators exist to tell players what an outcome was, so the more clearly they do that, the less is left unknown to the player." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Hidden or missing information about relevant parts of the game state makes it harder for players to foresee what their actions do." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Displays give players more information about the game state, which reduces the uncertainty that pattern depends on." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Public stats openly reveal what players have done, so there is typically nothing left unknown about that information." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Uncertainty_of_Information.svg" }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Desired actions get in each other's way: progress in one costs you in another.", "needs_to_really_work": "The goals must be of similar appeal, with consequences players can foresee or learn, so that choosing one really costs another. Choices should be hard to take back.", "just_a_label_when": "Several goals offered where one is plainly the best or all can be done anyway, so there is nothing to agonise over.", "knobs": "how many incompatible options; how equal their appeal; how reversible the choice is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Internal_Conflicts", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "When group members hold goals that clash with each other, they end up competing within their own group, and that rivalry can in turn spark more internal conflict." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Tough choices in a fixed story can lock in what happens next, and a set plot can also let players guess where each choice leads." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because several options are worth taking and each rules out others, players can come back and try a different path, such as another ending." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "A group facing several goals it cannot all reach must settle on one and work out together which plan will actually let it succeed." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Since taking one goal or action makes the others harder or impossible, players must give something up to get something else." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "With multiple choices that deserve consideration, players can pursue different options, so no two plays need feel the same." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Facing a conflict within the character can force a choice that radically changes them, making that choice a defining moment." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Conflicts among the player's own choices make predictable consequences a necessity to plan around." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can be given clashing goals, and how they settle the clash can reveal who they are." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "A whole faction may need to pick one goal from several, or its members may hold goals that clash with each other." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Having multiple possible goals means players must think not just about how to reach an aim but about which aim to pick." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Groups of players can face internal conflict over which goal to choose, or over a member's action others consider inappropriate." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "They bound the freedom so that at least one action or goal gets selected." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Strong disagreements within the group can be so disruptive that working together becomes impossible." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Conflicting goals among members can cause rivalry and a breakdown of the group, working against the unity a team needs." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Internal_Conflicts.svg" }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "feelings × conflict", "what_it_is": "Any minute of inattention can cost the player dearly.", "needs_to_really_work": "Several things must be able to hurt a player at any time, such as real-time events, multiple threats or continuous goals, with a real penalty for lapses. Lull periods must be kept rare.", "just_a_label_when": "A timer or enemies are on screen, but nothing bad happens when the player looks away, so they can safely ignore it.", "knobs": "how many things need watching; penalty for inattention; real-time pace; time limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Attention_Demanding_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "When players slip up and lose focus, the resulting mishaps and their consequences can turn into chaotic, fun failures that players enjoy." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because a lapse can cost players at any moment, they feel constantly on edge and have to keep their focus on play." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "Constant focus is required, so quiet periods where nothing demands attention cannot coexist with this kind of play." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Attention_Demanding_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Lucky Guess Solutions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player can guess the correct answer to a problem by chance.", "needs_to_really_work": "The puzzle or choice must have several options that can simply be tried with quick feedback. Few options and cheap retries make guessing likely.", "just_a_label_when": "A puzzle looks like it could be guessed but the choices are so many or penalties so harsh that guessing never works.", "knobs": "number of options; cost of a wrong try; how quickly feedback comes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Lucky_Guess_Solutions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Luck", "why": "When a guess happens to hit the right answer, the player succeeds through chance rather than skill, so the game gives them a taste of good fortune." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Because players may rely on guessing, nobody can be sure whether a given attempt will succeed, which makes outcomes hard to predict." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "A correct guess can feel like the player's own choice paid off, giving a sense of control over events." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "When players lean on guessing instead of reasoning, others cannot tell what they will pick, so their behavior becomes harder to foresee." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "How a puzzle is built can let players skip the reasoning and stumble onto the answer, changing how solving it plays out." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "How unclear the right answer is shapes whether players resort to guessing, so letting guesses succeed changes how uncertain the solution feels." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "If players feel a guess did not come from their own intent, the success feels hollow and undermines their sense of control." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Lucky_Guess_Solutions.svg" }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Attacks that the target did not expect.", "needs_to_really_work": "Combat must exist alongside hidden information (fog, stealth, hiding spots, traps), and attackers need a real way to approach unseen. Defenders must be able to be caught unprepared, with a cost for being caught.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies pop out of nowhere on a script, or the player is warned so clearly that it is just an ordinary fight with a jump-scare sound.", "knobs": "how much each side can see; how many hiding or flanking routes exist; damage bonus for striking unseen", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Surprise_Attacks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "A surprise attack you plan against someone who trusts you as an ally, like striking a partner at a convenient moment, is a clear case of betrayal." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "If a player cannot spot an attack coming in advance, it works as plain harm to them, since nothing could be done to avoid it." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Setting up an ambush takes forethought, and so does arranging your defenses so a possible ambush hurts less, so both sides end up planning." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players feel tense both when an unexpected attack actually lands and when they merely expect one might come." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "A cutscene can show a surprise attack by not letting players react, forcing them to appear surprised." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Unexpected attacks add a different kind of event to fights, changing how combat plays out and adding extra worries for players." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Events that cannot be anticipated cannot be influenced by players, which destroys the perception." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Surprise_Attacks.svg" }, { "name": "Trial and Error Solutions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The solution is found by simply trying all the possible options.", "needs_to_really_work": "The set of possible solutions must be small and visible, and trying a wrong one must be cheap enough that testing is possible. The solution should be found only by testing.", "just_a_label_when": "A puzzle with so many options, or such heavy penalties for a wrong try, that testing is unrealistic, or whose answer is obvious.", "knobs": "number of candidate solutions; cost of a wrong attempt; whether the answer changes between plays", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Trial_and_Error_Solutions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Lucky Guess Solutions", "why": "When players can try visible options one after another, they may stumble onto the right answer by chance instead of through skill or understanding." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "If players test options in a haphazard order, they can't predict whether or when they'll hit the right one, so their result stays uncertain." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Players who test the available solutions without a system choose in ways that are hard for others to foresee, making their behavior unpredictable." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Being able to test the known candidate solutions directly makes a puzzle easier to crack, since players can experiment instead of working it out purely by thought." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "Having a limited, visible set of options to try shrinks how unsure players are about the answer, though some doubt about which one is right remains." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Luck or simply trying every option can reveal the answer, so skill is not needed and there is nothing to improve." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "If possible answers can simply be tried mechanically, success no longer depends on how well players perform, so performance uncertainty vanishes." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "If solutions can simply be tested one after another, outcomes become foreseeable, which works against unpredictability." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Trial_and_Error_Solutions.svg" }, { "name": "Area Control", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Power over a zone: who can move through it and which actions are available there.", "needs_to_really_work": "Areas must differ in value, be contestable by several players, and give real benefits (resources, abilities) to the holder. Taking and holding must require effort and be possible to challenge.", "just_a_label_when": "Areas are marked as owned, but all areas are equal or no one can contest them, so ownership means nothing.", "knobs": "how many areas; how valuable each is; how hard they are to take and hold", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Area_Control", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Holding an area is never finished, since you must keep it for as long as others might take it, so the goal keeps running." }, { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "why": "If control of an area can't be challenged, the holder just digs in and the game settles into a static position." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Making control the focus of play pushes players to claim more and more places, creating a phase of growth." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Control works as a form of ownership, so players pursue goals of getting areas, especially when territories or check points mark clear targets." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "When control can change hands later, players must defend what they hold to avoid losing it." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Keeping an area is a goal that opponents can disrupt by attacking or entering it, so holding it is never safe." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Controlling a place can restrict where opponents may go, so their movement is limited by who holds the area." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "When someone else already holds an area, wanting it for yourself sets up an obstacle you must beat." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Losing control of a place takes away its abilities and resources, and designers can add extra punishments to encourage defending." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When several players want to reach the same area, getting there first becomes a competition." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "With many areas to hold, a player must keep checking on them all to know what is happening." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Controlled areas give benefits like resources and special abilities, and designers can add bonuses for conquering them." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "With many areas worth controlling, players choose which ones to go after, and that choice is itself a goal selection." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "If control requires staying alone in an area for a time, hiding can be a successful way to achieve it." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing how valuable each controllable area is gives players an informed edge when choosing where to fight." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Taking an area often serves a larger aim, such as positioning pieces to set up combos." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Since not every area can be controlled, players weigh which ones are worth the effort against the others." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "To control an area you first have to get to it, which gives players a goal of travelling there." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Holding an area that grants special abilities makes those abilities privileged when they are not offered in many places." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Because controlling a place can grant its location-bound abilities, those abilities become scarce or temporary depending on who holds the area." }, { "name": "Bases", "why": "Building a base can directly give a player control of the area around it." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Controlling areas lets players position their pieces better, which helps set up combinations of actions." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Controlling an area can give access to controllers, which are location-bound abilities found in particular spots." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Control is a type of ownership that shapes a game world by making some parts of it more valuable than others." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Holding the place gives access to abilities tied to it, so these become scarce, privileged, or temporary depending on ownership." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Controlling an area gives access to the resource spots in it, which is a main reason to want it." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Holding areas that are too large to watch from one position is one reason players take on scouting goals." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Area_Control.svg" }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "A game that coexists with everyday activities or blends into them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Gameplay must be able to happen alongside ordinary activities, through real-life actions that affect the game state, ubiquitous access and safe spots or drop-in and drop-out. It must not demand dedicated places or equipment.", "just_a_label_when": "A mobile game that is said to be played anywhere but needs focused attention and a dedicated session, so it never blends with other activities.", "knobs": "which real-life activities count; how often and when the game asks for attention; how interruptible it is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Pervasive_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Because pervasive games can sit alongside everyday activities, they can hide or blend into them, which is what lets a game pass as part of real life." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "Pervasive games run amid ordinary life, so outside happenings are likely to influence play, which makes the game's timing follow real-world events." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "Since other activities occur alongside play and the designer cannot fully control the setting, outside influences on the game tend to creep in, whether planned or not." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "Pervasive games often happen at least partly in public, everyday places, so those real places naturally become where play takes place." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Because play happens in public settings, people nearby who aren't playing can see what is going on and end up watching." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can do non-game activities while playing, adding things they can choose to do alongside the game." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "Together with extra-game input, play that blends into the everyday world is the typical way to let real-life activities affect the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Robotic Players", "why": "Automated players must handle the game and also behave sensibly toward the other activities overlapping with play, which raises what is demanded of them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Pervasive_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Each person decides how long to play, and this does not spoil the session for others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to leave and return without breaking progress for themselves or others, through pauses, saves, turn breaks or drop-in play.", "just_a_label_when": "A pause or save feature that exists but penalizes leaving, or is unusable in multiplayer, so players must stay until the end.", "knobs": "how easy it is to pause or leave; how much progress is lost by stopping", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Negotiable_Play_Sessions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Because players choose when to stop, they can play in short bursts whenever it suits them, which is how casual play works." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "When players need to agree on or discuss how long a session lasts, that talk happens outside the game's rules itself." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Letting players decide session length gives a base for also letting them shape how long a whole game instance runs." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Control over play session length is the starting point that makes it possible to also negotiate the larger game sessions." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Deciding for yourself how long to play gives players real control over their own experience of the game." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Since players can play parts of the whole game whenever and wherever they like, play can fit into any moment of life." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When each player picks their own session length, players no longer need to be playing at the same times as each other." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Letting players adapt play sessions to the time they have lessens the motivation to leave before the end." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "One player leaving can unbalance or spoil the game for the others who remain." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Negotiable_Play_Sessions.svg" }, { "name": "Arenas", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Open places in the game world where fights happen on their own or by design.", "needs_to_really_work": "Open spaces must be bounded and contain attractions such as resources or objectives, with other terrain types around them for contrast. Players must be drawn there by what it offers.", "just_a_label_when": "An open area is labeled an arena but has nothing to want, so players avoid it and fight elsewhere.", "knobs": "size and openness of the area; what draws players in; how many entrances", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Arenas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Since holding an arena gives access to key spots, players compete to dominate it and keep opponents out." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Thinking about the spots next to an arena naturally leads designers to place sniper positions overlooking it." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Controlling an arena opens access to check points and other parts of the world, so players treat it as valuable ground." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Arenas draw players into the same open spaces, so fighting concentrates there rather than spreading across the whole world." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Arenas are made by having open, bounded areas within a board, shaping where on the board play happens." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A world gets arenas by including open but constrained areas, which become noticeable battlegrounds beside other kinds of space." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Because arenas are so open, whatever is being driven along has many more directions to stray, making guiding it harder." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Designers add open, enclosed areas to a level so that fighting gathers there and the level has distinct zones." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Arenas draw players into one place, so they actually meet in a large game world." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "In team-based multiplayer, arenas give teammates a shared space where they can coordinate attacks or defenses together." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "With teams, an arena is a place where members can organize joint offense or defense against the other side." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Arenas.svg" }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Real-life knowledge about the game's subject helps the player.", "needs_to_really_work": "Game decisions must depend on facts that exist outside the game, and the game must not hand those facts to everyone. Players must also differ in how much they know.", "just_a_label_when": "Trivia sits in the game's theme or flavor text, but anyone can do equally well without knowing it.", "knobs": "how much outcomes depend on outside facts; how much of that information the game supplies itself", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Real_World_Knowledge_Advantages", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When a player's outside knowledge gives them a clear, visible edge, they can show off their skill, and others can easily see and recognize it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "If you know a lot about the other players and what they can do, they have a harder time fooling you with a bluff." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Knowing things from outside the game gives some players an edge, so their background affects results more than their play." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Real_World_Knowledge_Advantages.svg" }, { "name": "Seamful Gameplay", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "Knowing where sensors and connections work gives the player an advantage.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs location-sensing technology with real, learnable coverage gaps, and gameplay where being out of coverage helps, such as hiding. It does not work where coverage is everywhere.", "just_a_label_when": "Dead spots that exist but offer no advantage, or that players cannot find out about, so they are just glitches.", "knobs": "where and how large coverage gaps are; how much being unsensed helps players", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Seamful_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "Players start noticing where the invisible technology coverage begins and ends, so the physical places around them look different once they learn those hidden boundaries." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Coverage boundaries are usually hidden, so learning where they are is a skill that players build up over time and that gives them an edge." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Even a game that wouldn't otherwise be playable everywhere can become so, because dropping out of coverage is itself turned into something players can do in play." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Gaps in the technology's coverage can be exploited by players, who move into those gaps to avoid being detected." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "why": "Because location sensing doesn't work everywhere, gaps in coverage change how a player's position counts, turning dead spots into places with their own gameplay meaning." }, { "name": "Player-Player Proximity", "why": "The game can treat the technology's uneven accuracy at detecting where players are as part of the proximity rule rather than hiding it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Visible seams in the game's presentation can force explanations for characters or units appearing and vanishing." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "The pattern relies on dead spots, so a game designed to work everywhere has no gaps to exploit, making the two hard to combine." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Seamful_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "A player can influence how long they play without spoiling the game for others.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must give a meaningful experience at both short and long lengths, with natural stopping points and ways to extend or shorten play. Other players must not be harmed by the choice.", "just_a_label_when": "A game claiming flexible length while the content or progression needs a fixed time, so short sessions feel incomplete.", "knobs": "minimum and maximum session length; points where play can end", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Negotiable_Game_Sessions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "When players can pick how long a game lasts, they can fit it into short or irregular free moments, which is a key ingredient of casual play." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Because the length is up for negotiation, players have to talk with each other outside the game's rules to agree on how long to play." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Letting players decide how much time a game takes gives them real control over their own play experience." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Flexible session length lets the game fit different groups and their time constraints, so it adapts to the social situation." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Adjustable session length is one needed ingredient for playing anywhere and anytime, since players can fit games into whatever time is available." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When each player can shape how long they play, their sessions are likely to start and end at different times." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "When players agree on a maximum amount of time or when play happens, that limit also caps how long the whole game can run." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Letting players tailor sessions to their schedule removes a common reason for quitting partway." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "One player leaving can unbalance or spoil the game for the others who remain." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Negotiable_Game_Sessions.svg" }, { "name": "Tournaments", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "A goal to win a series of matches arranged as a competition.", "needs_to_really_work": "Matches must be linked by a bracket or standings so that earlier results shape later play, and there must be enough players and a schedule to run it. Players need a reason to care about the overall result.", "just_a_label_when": "A list of unconnected games with a 'tournament' label, where results never feed into a ranking or later matches.", "knobs": "format (elimination vs. round-robin); number of rounds; length of each match", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tournaments", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "A tournament's end clears away its ongoing state and replaces it with another, marking a clear closure." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Games made only of fighting are organized into tournaments, with later opponents getting harder so progress is visible." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Entering and leaving are tied to the start and end of each event, which avoids mid-game disruption to fairness." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Prizes of money or valuable items for winning or placing high are real-world rewards, and entry fees can be real costs." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Each individual game's result is a lower goal, and winning the whole tournament is the higher goal above them." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Rounds knock out participants, so later closures involve fewer players and are more important than early ones." }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "When earlier rounds have already settled the overall result, a prize in a later round no longer changes anything and becomes meaningless." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Keeping each round's result separate from the overall standing lets newcomers start fair in a round and catch up in the total." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Individual game results feed into an overall competition, so the tournament is a game built from the outcomes of other games." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "A big field of opponents gets split into several smaller contests, each with fewer rivals, so one large goal becomes many small ones." }, { "name": "Polyathlons", "why": "A tournament can be built from rounds of different game types, which makes it a multi-skill contest rather than repeats of one game." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "A tournament has the same game played again and again across rounds, so players keep facing the same kind of play." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "A tournament's result comes from playing a game several times, so repeated play is built into the competition." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players can organize a tournament around a game and run it themselves, though judges are often added for disputes." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Events with many matches mean participants not in a given game, plus interested outsiders, watch the individual games and the whole competition." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Rising stakes across rounds provide fresh challenges, which helps tension survive repeated play." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "Extra games or game portions can be played again until the tie is broken, which resolves it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Wagering is quick and distinct from other play, so it makes a convenient activity to build a tournament around." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "They let players see each other's skills, offering a stage for showing mastery." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Organizing players into contests lets even solo games be played against others." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Matching players against others so that obvious differences in their chances are small keeps contests fairer." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tournaments.svg" }, { "name": "Endgame", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A final stage that happens in every play of this game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Earlier play must lead to a state with a distinct character, such as fewer options, high stakes or elimination, and the game needs a regular way of finishing.", "just_a_label_when": "A phase labelled endgame in the rules that plays like the middle game, with the game just stopping.", "knobs": "what ends the game; how play narrows toward the end; how strongly earlier choices matter at the end", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Endgame", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Because the final phase makes every earlier choice matter, players may study their options so long that they stall the game." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Starting the last phase, finishing it, and naming a winner are all big turning points, so any game with an endgame has such closures." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Since all earlier effort comes to a head in this phase, players are pushed to think ahead carefully to get the best outcome." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "When players can see they cannot win in the final phase, they may choose to give up rather than play on." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "The final phase makes visible how earlier actions shaped the result, so players feel their past work counted." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Having a distinct final phase lets players build knowledge specific to it, such as what to do when the game is closing out." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Final phases often settle into locked positions, often from depleted resources, so players become easier to predict." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A game that can never be won has no end, so it normally cannot have a final phase." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Endgame.svg" }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Before the game starts, it is hard to say reliably how it will end.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be real sources of variance, such as chance, deep strategy or unpredictable players, and no dominant strategy or runaway leader. Skill should still matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with random elements that rarely change who wins, so the result is clear well in advance.", "knobs": "amount of randomness; balance between players; strategic depth", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Uncertainty_of_Outcome", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Betting only makes sense, or stays interesting, when nobody can be sure how the game will end, so players have something to wager on." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When players can't know how things will end, a good result feels like fortune, so uncertainty alone is often enough." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If the result isn't known beforehand, each session can end differently, which gives players a reason to come back and play again." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Not knowing who will win keeps players on edge about whether their efforts will pay off, creating a basic sense of suspense." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Uncertainty lowers the chance that skilled players win every time, though their expertise still gives them an edge." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "When the result stays open, it is less likely that one player is clearly out of the running yet able to pick the winner." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Making the result uncertain is the main way to prevent anyone from being the obvious winner." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Uncertainty_of_Outcome.svg" }, { "name": "Surrendering", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player stops the game, admitting defeat.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a visible losing position and a cheap way to quit, and the rest of the session should survive someone leaving. How readable the standings are decides how early people give up.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'concede' button exists but nobody ever uses it, or using it ruins the game for everyone else so it is effectively unavailable.", "knobs": "how clearly standings show who is losing; how easy it is to quit; what happens to the others afterwards", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Surrendering", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "A player who gives up is out of the game before its intended end, so the surrender itself is an early exit." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Someone who concedes stops playing while others carry on, so they become a player who departs before the session finishes." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "The player removes themselves by choice rather than being knocked out by opponents, which is a self-inflicted form of elimination." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When one player gives up but play can go on for the rest, participants no longer start and finish the session together." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "In competitive play, leaving can simply be treated as giving up, so exits fit into the game naturally." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "Conceding gives players an extra way to drop out besides being beaten, though it is rarely a pleasant one, so designers seldom encourage it." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A whole team can collectively decide it is beaten and give up to another team." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "End State Scoring", "why": "When it is hard to tell who is winning, players are less likely to decide they are beaten and quit." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Because the winner is unclear, players keep believing they still have a chance, so they are less tempted to give up." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Surrendering.svg" }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player is knocked out long before the session ends for everyone else.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to lose out long before the game ends, and no role is kept for them, so they wait a long time. The effect grows with game length and a lack of short rounds.", "just_a_label_when": "An elimination rule that exists but only triggers in the last minutes, so nobody sits out for long.", "knobs": "how easy and how early elimination is; game length; what eliminated players can still do", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Early_Elimination", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A player knocked out long before the game finishes has to sit idle, unable to take part like everyone else, for however long the game still runs." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "If eliminated players are given neutral enemies to control as something to do, they might end up deciding who wins among those still playing." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Players who are out can be turned into onlookers, watching the remaining game, which happens naturally in face-to-face play and can be supported with special views." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knocking players out early changes suspense in much the same way as ordinary elimination in multiplayer games does, though the effect is stronger." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "In game worlds where characters die often or at random, removing players early fits the setting and so can be justified." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Games with eliminate goals or player destruction must decide whether knocking players out early is wanted." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Early elimination is a more extreme form of player elimination, where players are removed much sooner relative to when the game ends." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Extermination", "why": "Ending the game with an extermination phase pushes knockouts toward the end of the game instance, so players are not removed early." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Giving players temporary protection at the start stops them from being knocked out early in the game." }, { "name": "Playing to Lose", "why": "Early elimination makes it hard for players to want to deliberately lose, since being out is already a drawback." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Early_Elimination.svg" }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "During the session, players can see who will almost certainly win.", "needs_to_really_work": "It emerges when snowballing mechanics, big skill gaps, readable scores and kingmaking exist without comeback tools. Designers mostly work to prevent it with uncertainty or catch-up mechanisms.", "just_a_label_when": "A leaderboard shows someone ahead, but comebacks or hidden scoring keep the result open, so nobody treats the winner as settled.", "knobs": "strength of positive vs negative feedback; hidden information; randomness; catch-up mechanisms", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Predictable_Winner", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "When everyone can see who is ahead, the other players tend to change their tactics to gang up on that front-runner." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "Players who feel they have no hope left may use their remaining moves to decide which rival wins instead of trying to win." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "The player who is clearly going to win wants the game over quickly, so they try to finish it early." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "Players who see the outcome as settled and feel their effort is pointless may simply quit, especially if the game gives no graceful way out." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "Once one winner is truly certain, every other player is left in a position where they can no longer win." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "With a winner already obvious, the closing stage of a game loses its interest because nothing is left to be decided." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In competitive games, players may think the winner is already clear, especially when scores are public." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Holding leaders back and helping others makes it hard to tell early who will win." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When the winner is clear, players can see their influence is small, though the exaggerated perception can mask this." }, { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "why": "Growing rewards can keep a likely winner from being obvious, but only when it is still uncertain who will actually earn those rewards." }, { "name": "Negative Feedback Loops", "why": "Since leaders are pushed back and are harder to identify, runaway leads are unlikely, which undermines an early, obvious winner." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "If performance is uncertain, it is harder for the winner to be known beforehand, since anyone's execution may vary." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "When it's clear who is ahead, what that player will do next becomes obvious, removing the uncertainty." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance events blur who is ahead, though players who understand statistics may still predict results when many random events occur." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Hidden objectives make players unsure what others are aiming for, so the likely winner is unclear." }, { "name": "Secret Scoring Mechanisms", "why": "Hiding how points are counted stops players from working out who is leading, so a winner can't be foreseen." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A certain winner drains the tension about who will win, though tension might still exist over who comes second." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "Making the result uncertain is the main way to prevent anyone from being the obvious winner." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "If nobody can win in the first place, there is no one to predict as winner, unless players compare scores against each other." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When the winner is obvious, trailing players feel their effort no longer matters." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "If everyone can already see who will win, the winner is clearly not being decided after play finishes." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Predictable_Winner.svg" }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "States from which no actions can lead to a win anymore.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules need irreversible actions, dominant strategies or kingmaking that can lock a player (or everyone) out of any route to victory, and the player must be able to notice or suspect this. Hidden scoring or a late-revealed winner can mask it.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that merely feels hard or a player who is far behind but still has a clear comeback path; nothing is actually closed off.", "knobs": "how reversible actions are; strength of catch-up mechanisms; how visible the score is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unwinnable_Game_States", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "When a player sees or believes no route to victory remains, continuing feels pointless, so they give up the match instead of playing on." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "When a player believes they can no longer win, they see no reason to continue and are more tempted to walk away." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "" }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Save Files", "why": "A saved game captured in a hopeless state becomes pointless to load for someone trying to win, since nothing they do can succeed." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "If players are trying to win but can no longer do so, their actions stop mattering to the goal they are pursuing." }, { "name": "Secret Scoring Mechanisms", "why": "Players trailing on visible scores can still hope that hidden points or others' unknown totals will let them catch up, so they feel less beaten." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If winning is impossible, nothing a player does can pay off toward victory, so their effort feels wasted." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Since the winner is only decided once play is over, players can't be sure they've lost beforehand, so the hopeless feeling is avoided." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unwinnable_Game_States.svg" }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "Players take on the goals and behavior of fictional characters.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give players an agent-like character or faction with goals of its own, real freedom in how to pursue them, and some internal tension or hidden aims. Add a world with enough texture that staying in role has something to respond to.", "just_a_label_when": "A hero with a name and a portrait whose goals are just the player's own score, so nobody ever acts as the character would.", "knobs": "how much character goals are set by the game versus chosen by the player; how much freedom there is in pursuing them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Roleplaying", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "In multiplayer roleplaying, players interact as their characters, so what one character does can affect how other characters in the fiction treat them." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "When players act out their character, this can show how much they care about what happens to that character in the game world." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Roleplaying usually leads players to speak or act as their character would, though a player may merely state actions without acting them out." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Characters being played need a setting that offers them chances and obstacles, so roleplaying always takes place in some game world and fills in its details." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players roleplaying together may step out of character to talk as themselves, and they can disagree about how much of that is acceptable." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Because roleplaying is a kind of performance, players can feel unsure about how well they are doing it." }, { "name": "Perspective Taking", "why": "Roleplaying pushes players to consider the character's in-world viewpoint beyond game mechanics, making them more likely to see things as that character does." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Players feel fulfilled when they manage to play in line with their character's wants and personality, whether or not the character succeeds." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Characters usually hold roles in their world, so players acting as them tend to behave according to those roles." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Players need skill to act out someone's social behavior convincingly, and also to support others' roleplaying without taking over scenes." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Acting out characters in the fiction helps keep play in line with the setting's theme." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Roleplaying means controlling game elements as if they had their own goals, which is what makes them agents." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Roleplaying encourages players to notice their character's actions and separates player from character, making those actions read as defining the character." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "When players try to meet their character's goals, succeeding or failing at them can itself change the character." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "In multiplayer roleplay, players must cooperate to keep the fictional world believable, whether or not their characters would." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can act in character in many ways beyond core gameplay, which gives them additional things to choose." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Convincingly playing a character who did not perform some hidden action is a skill that shows mastery." }, { "name": "Gossip", "why": "When players stay in character, they can share rumors as their characters, especially when they have free time to talk." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "The pattern is built on direct, unmediated roleplaying, with the added step that the playing is acted out physically instead of just described." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Players controlling characters and sharing their goals with them is a form of roleplaying, which is how player characters arise." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "When players describe what their characters do, that description is itself telling a story, so roleplaying produces storytelling." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In a lasting world, players must think about long-term effects of their actions, and their roleplaying can in turn change that world." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Roleplaying can happen with no other players, such as steering a country as history did or playing a character as decided at its creation." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Roleplaying makes players act toward a character's goals instead of their own, shaping how the agent is played." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Players acting out their characters can develop them in ways the rules would miss." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Historically, many of these games have been roleplaying games, so playing characters is a common form of action in them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because players are free to choose, they might add non-diegetic elements, which undermines the shared fiction." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "If the character design isn't consistently reflected in gameplay, the enforced behavior clashes with how players want to play the role." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Too much player freedom, or stepping out of character, can break the setting's theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Roleplaying.svg" }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The actions chosen during play determine what kind of character one becomes.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters need abilities that change or get interpreted according to the player's choices, and the game or its group must register and remember those choices.", "just_a_label_when": "Character traits are chosen from a menu at the start, and nothing the player does later changes them.", "knobs": "how strongly actions feed back into stats, relations or story; how many distinct paths exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Character_Defining_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Because every action a character performs shapes how players see them, using characters at all brings in this pattern, even without any system tracking." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Actions that shift a character's alignment or destiny can be notable enough to count as exceptional events, unlike routine ones such as raising a skill." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "When actions drive character development, players see their character grow more capable, which supports goals centered on becoming more competent." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "Since these actions are hard to undo and shape the character and its relations, they're interesting enough to be worth recording as statistics." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Actions that define a character only feel defining if they can't easily be undone, so they typically produce permanent consequences." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A chain of defining actions traces how a character develops and how relations with NPCs change, forming a story even when none was planned." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "If players are free to choose how their character develops, they can set a direction and steer toward it through their actions." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "When players aim to fulfil a character's role, their defining actions let them feel they are living up to that role." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Because defining actions are hard to reverse, many trigger major, lasting events, especially when combined with predetermined story structures." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Character Alignments", "why": "Actions that push an alignment to change count as defining the character, so the alignment shifts as a result of what the player does." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "The pattern changes characters either through the game system or through the players' shared view of who the character is." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Defining actions can alter relations with companions, since how the player treats them and behaves around them shapes the character." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "When a character's fate is undecided, the actions that determine which destiny comes true are the ones that define the character." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "The pattern is most typically applied to player characters, since players see the resulting changes as stemming from their own actions." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "How a player treats NPCs, individually or as members of a group, shapes who the player's character becomes and what is open to them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "Cutscenes take control away from players and may show the character acting against how players see them, undermining the sense that their own actions define the character." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "If defining actions shape a player character in ways the player dislikes, it can break their emotional engrossment, since players feel they own that character's interpretation." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Defining_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Characters' stories turn out differently from game to game because of what happens.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters or factions need tracked state that actually changes in response to events, and endings must differ enough to be noticeable. There must be few enough distinct outcomes, each reachable by different play, for players to see the difference.", "just_a_label_when": "Several endings that are only a cosmetic text change on top of the same arc, or a branching that always converges to the same fate.", "knobs": "how many distinct endings; which characters or factions have a tracked arc; how much play affects each arc", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Open_Destiny", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collections", "why": "Players may set themselves the aim of seeing every possible ending, which turns the full list of destinies into something to gather." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Because endings differ, players can build an outer game around reaching all of them, which can be tracked with achievements." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Players can choose to aim for particular outcomes, such as making a country unify, which become extra targets they may pursue or skip." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When agents' fates can differ between playthroughs, their agenda feels stronger in later games because outcomes are not fixed." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When players know what destiny their own character might have, they can steer play toward the arc they want." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players know other destinies exist, they have a reason to play again and try to get a different story arc." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "When the destinies are clearly different from one another, each one becomes a goal the player can pick and work toward." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Events in the world leave lasting marks on the characters living there, so the world feels like it responds coherently." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "" }, { "name": "Playing to Lose", "why": "Because a character's fate isn't fixed, players can choose how it goes wrong, and so losing becomes something they are free to aim for." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with a limited set of actions, letting players decide where the game goes gives them choices that lead to varied play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Letting computer-controlled characters have varying fates helps keep up the impression that they have intentions of their own." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Any character, not only the player's, can be given a story arc that changes with what happened in play." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Players interact most with companions and feel attached, so spending effort on their varied endings is worthwhile." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Groups, not just individuals, can end up with different fates depending on what happened during the session." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "It is one way of building a game's storytelling, letting the arc that emerges differ from game to game." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Giving non-player characters their own possible endings multiplies how many overall outcomes a game can have." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Player characters are the most common place for it, since their story can unfold differently depending on how the player acted." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can write several set endings into the planned story and pick among them based on play." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Different players get different experiences, giving them something to talk about with one another." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Scenes let designers give players local influence over events without letting the overall story arc vary, so they serve as a way to avoid this pattern." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Open_Destiny.svg" }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players communicate as people do in the game world, without leaving their roles.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must give players a reason and a way to speak in character, and avoid options that pull them out of it. Separate channels for out-of-game talk help.", "just_a_label_when": "A fantasy setting where players chat about scores and tactics in ordinary terms the whole time.", "knobs": "which channels exist; how strongly in-character talk is encouraged", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Diegetic_Communication", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "When players talk only as people inside the game world, nothing from outside intrudes, so the world stays believable and coherent." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "Live action roleplay depends on players speaking to each other in-world, so staying in-world in conversation is a core part of how that style is played." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Speaking in ways that suit the game world keeps the talk matching the game's theme, so the mood and setting feel unified." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "In-world communication shapes how players talk, since they must speak through their characters, who are the ones doing the talking in the fiction." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Speaking in-world is widely seen as improving roleplaying, because players keep acting as their characters rather than stepping out to talk as themselves." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "By definition, in-world talk refers to nothing outside the game world, so speaking about outside matters directly breaks it; designers mostly separate or minimize one." }, { "name": "Reflective Communication", "why": "Players mixing in-world talk with reflective talk must keep switching between the two, and slips in that switching can break the world's consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Diegetic_Communication.svg" }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "Rare events that are remembered because they are so unlikely or affect the game so strongly.", "needs_to_really_work": "Include rare, high-impact or surprising outcomes (critical results, betrayals, spectacular failures) that cannot be undone at once. Hidden information and randomness help, but the events must really change the game state, not just flash by.", "just_a_label_when": "A rare-sounding event that happens often, or one that changes nothing and is quickly reversed, so nobody remembers it.", "knobs": "how rare the event is; how large and how permanent its effect on the game state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Exceptional_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Because a memorable, unusual moment sticks in players' minds, they tend to retell it later, and that retelling becomes the seed of a story about that particular play session." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Exceptional events are unusual and unexpected by nature, so having them in a game means players can't always foresee what will follow their actions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Exceptional_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Enactment", "layer": "dynamics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player personally does and says what their character does and says.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs characters, a setting that invites in-character action and an audience of other players; rules should reward or at least allow performance.", "just_a_label_when": "Players pick a character name and class but speak and act as themselves.", "knobs": "how much the rules reward in-character play; presence of a facilitator or audience; warm-up support", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Enactment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Context Dependent Reactions", "why": "Because players act out things themselves, each performance varies with the surrounding situation, so the game can respond differently depending on where and how the action happens." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "When players speak and act as their characters, the performance itself keeps what happens in line with the game world's own logic." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "Having personally performed what a character does, players tend to identify with that character more and grow fond of them." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Any part of a performance that doesn't change the game's state still has real effects outside the game's rules, such as how others react." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Acting out a character well is a skill, so improving at it counts as getting better at playing the game." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Since players perform actions themselves, each attempt can come out slightly different, so how well it goes is never fully certain." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "A player's own performance can sway other players or the game master, so the player's real skill adds to what the character can accomplish." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "When players successfully carry out the actions their character is supposed to do, they feel they have truly lived up to that role." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Others watching a performance can appreciate it, so players can earn praise and approval from their fellow participants." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Performing draws attention to the player, which suits and encourages someone who enjoys taking the exhibitionist, show-off role in a group." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Performances that involve interacting with other people usually call on the player's ability to deal well with others." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "When players act out what their characters do, the resulting events form a story, so acting it out produces storytelling." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "If everyone is expected to act in-world but not all do, the fiction breaks, and players' free choices may bring in non-diegetic elements." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Enactment.svg" }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Games in which more than one player takes part.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must give each player a real role with consequences for the others, through competition, cooperation or communication. Players need ways to find and join each other.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that supports several players but where they play in parallel with no effect on one another.", "knobs": "number of players; competitive or cooperative; how much they affect each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Multiplayer_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Skilled human opponents are an easy source of challenge in competitive play, since you can simply face someone who is good at the game." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Teams and groups let each player specialize and build up a particular strength for their character over time." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Having other players around, plus social interaction and social skills, lets players help each other now and trust they will be repaid later." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "When players compete directly against one another, the other players become opponents to be beaten, especially when losing means being knocked out." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Players who share a game tend to coordinate, brag, negotiate and trade outside the formal rules, even if designers never planned for it." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because players interact socially around the game, what happens between them can carry on beyond the game itself without designers needing to plan it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Playing with others lets people choose how to organize themselves socially, form groups and identify with them." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Other players allow kinds of skill that solo games lack, such as negotiating, roleplaying and storytelling with the group." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Since you cannot be sure what other players will do, their actual moves can feel like chance when they are revealed." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Only with several players can the game contain participants whose choices are truly unforeseeable, so multiple players are required for this unpredictability." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "With several players and their differing specialties, people naturally settle into recognizable roles within the group." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Playing with others makes abilities like negotiating and reading people useful or necessary, though other patterns may be needed to guarantee it." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must plan short-term moves while allowing for what the others might do next." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "A tie needs someone to be equal with, so having several players in the same game normally makes ties possible." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Sharing the activity gives players a common focus, especially when they laugh at failures together or chat during quiet moments." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Even when players are not cooperating, having others to deal with opens up swapping items, knowledge or favors." }, { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Players in the same party can build their own norms, and other players simply change their attitudes toward those who break them." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "With several competitors, players see the leader as a common target and join forces against them, which levels results." }, { "name": "Bidding", "why": "Bidding needs several potential bidders, so a game with multiple players naturally offers it as a shared activity." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Having several people in one game, especially with roleplaying, creates the setting in which players must work together to keep the fiction going." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "With several players, someone may be removed from play or must wait for their turn, leaving them idle." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "With several people involved, any one of them might leave for outside reasons, so such games naturally face players quitting midway." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Players compete over tools, which makes the other players into targets to be removed." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players are clearly dependent on others, as with helplessness or delayed reciprocity, they can come to feel more influential than they are." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "Having multiple players allows responsibilities to be divided among them, and access to different devices can force specialization." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Several players are needed so that someone is available to hold and swap game elements with." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "With several human players and social interaction, rivalries form among them, and in guilds they may be hard to avoid." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "With several players competing and limited lives, opponents can be knocked out one at a time until one is left." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Loyalty can exist between players as mutual ties, mapped onto in-game representations, when alliances or guilds are present." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "The pattern needs several players sharing the chaotic experience, so the game must be multiplayer and players must feel they play together." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "" }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "With several players pursuing their own short-term goals, others can easily choose to block them." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Multiplayer games can give each player a space that is temporary (time limits, distance) or permanent through restricted actions." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "In games with several players, some players can have abilities that others lack, so differences between players arise." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Combined with distinct roles, playing with others lets people try different sub-challenges across sessions, giving each game a different feel." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "In multiplayer games with sanctioned cheating, players pretend not to be doing certain actions, much like the pretending in betrayal." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "A game built for several people can end up played by just one person, for example against computer opponents, so it works as a single-player game." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "In games with several players, a player may try to carry out forbidden actions without others noticing, when cheating is allowed." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Groups such as alliances, guilds or parties need to coordinate and cooperate, which calls for shared planning." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "When several players take part in a race, all of them strive to finish first, so their goals are identical." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "A shared accomplishment needs several people acting together, so a game with multiple players is required before the group can feel it succeeded as one." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Multiplayer games with players holding distinct abilities or skills create situations where combos need several people acting together." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "Having several players is the basic requirement, since there must be others to coordinate with and a reason to look for shared strategies." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "With real players there is the chance of cheating, and players must consider what others might do outside the rules." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "Having several players is a precondition here: only with more than one person can their session timings differ, though this alone doesn't cause it." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with functional roles, having several players with different roles adds to the variety of play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Skilled opponents are an easy way to make a game challenging, particularly in competitions." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Teams and groups let players develop specialties and team skills, and social abilities add new things to master." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "When a player is stuck, others can rescue them, which changes how helplessness plays out." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The more players there are, the harder it is to keep a fixed story and still let each player's actions shape the outcome." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Playing with others adds social layers to acting in character, but players may also step out of the game's theme." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "The shared experiences, group effects and drama of several players make a game more interesting to watch." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Players tend to swap what they know about good strategies before, during and after sessions." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "How hard it is to plan depends on how many actions other players take and how predictable they are." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "In multiplayer games run through a medium, the same world can be shown differently to different players via phasing, so the world's presentation varies per player." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "" }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Human-controlled members add team accomplishment and togetherness, and make party size and loot division harder to manage." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "In multiplayer games, different players can independently have the same quests, which saves development effort but causes inconsistent narration." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Cooperation is easier to get with all players working together, but friendly fire, mistrust and sabotage can limit it in teams." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Other players keep acting, so a retry may become impossible, making the pattern hard to offer without special powers." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When combined with turn-taking or fixed story, other players' needs or directions restrict individual choice." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Others may not want to wait around, so one person's interruption can cause idle time for fellow players." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "One player leaving can unbalance or spoil the game for the others who remain." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "One player leaving can unbalance or spoil the game for the others who remain." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Advantages that build up over time, late joiners, skill and tool differences, and cheating make balance hard to keep." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "With more players, it gets harder to let everyone affect a fixed story, and some players' effort matters less." }, { "name": "Save Points", "why": "It is hard to agree on a good moment to save unless all players are cooperating." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Players must agree on when to reload an earlier state, which makes loading awkward." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Changing rules is problematic for the same reason, as players must agree on which rules to use." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Players joining and leaving, or speaking out of character, can break the game's setting." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Waiting for others to plan and act forces downtime and can lead to over-long deliberation." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Late joiners, undone effects or less effective story influence can make some players' work count for less." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "With several players developing at different paces, their strengths can drift apart, which upsets fairness between them." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Uneven skill among competitors can make the game too hard for some and too easy for others." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Because some players progress further than others, growth can leave participants with unequal characters, hurting fairness among them." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "In shared games, crafting can disrupt the economy and balance between players if making items is not weighed against their value." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "With several people involved, someone is more likely to quit or introduce non-diegetic elements, which threatens the fiction." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "In multiplayer games, the fiction of the game world can be broken when people appear and disappear." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Other players can reduce a person's influence through balancing, shared penalties, alliances and voting, which weakens the perception." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When players are not evenly matched, strong mastery makes it hard to build mechanics that keep the game balanced." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Tools can give holders a clear edge over those without them, which creates unequal standing between players." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons delivered by vehicles can upset fairness between players, because vehicles also improve movement and may add armor." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Multiplayer_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Teams", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Agents or game elements acting toward one shared goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "Members must share rewards and penalties so their interests align. Some actions should benefit or depend on teammates.", "just_a_label_when": "Players wear the same colour but are scored individually, so teams have no effect on decisions.", "knobs": "team size; which rewards and penalties are shared; friendly-fire rules", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Teams", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "When the game stores facts about a team beyond just who belongs to it, such as traits or scores, the team becomes its own tracked construct." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Because team members share goals, they must work together, for example by splitting up to hold more area or passing items among themselves." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "When a team fails to reach its goals, members can feel bad about letting their teammates down." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Working together can give players a sense of social reward whether or not the team actually reaches its goals." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Playing as part of a team leads players to take on social roles within the group." }, { "name": "Symbiotic Player Relations", "why": "Members depend on each other to reach shared goals, so players' fortunes become linked, which matters most in multiplayer and online games." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Pursuing goals as a group creates a feeling of being together, whether or not the team ends up succeeding." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Team members can be undermined by a traitor, which complicates cooperation within the group." }, { "name": "Friendly Fire", "why": "Friendly Fire needs players grouped into teams so there are allies to hit; with player killing, that makes accidents on teammates possible." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Teammates may disagree when one does something others find inappropriate, creating friction inside the group." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Team members who can earn personal rewards by racing ahead of each other end up rivals within the team." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Placing players in teams makes them feel they are handling the overwhelming situation together as a group." }, { "name": "Shared Resources", "why": "Team members who jointly hold things like lives or retries have a supply that all of them access, which makes it shared." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Having teams in a multiplayer game makes social skills very likely to appear, though not always to affect gameplay." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Putting players on a team gives them shared goals, so whatever they achieve is felt as a group success." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Teams provide the coordinated group whose joint, well-timed actions form a team combo, especially when members are differentiated." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Development needs a team to exist, so in any game with teams, the changes happening to those teams are what make up this pattern." }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "why": "" }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "Teams supply shared goals and a group structure, and an opposing team provides an external threat, both motivating players to agree on strategies." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Once players are grouped into teams and those groups are set against one another, you have team-versus-team play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Putting agents on a team makes them work toward common goals, and reserves can let some rest." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Teams require the avatars to cooperate, and to a lesser extent coordinate, with each other." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Teams make characters cooperate and coordinate, and character development can improve the whole team." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "Teams can be required to be formed before players are allowed to enter a game instance." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "Applying teams to last-man-standing play pits team against team instead of individual against individual." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Teams influence large online games strongly because they tie players' fortunes together and bring on many social patterns." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Teams matter most with several players, because they create dependency between players and lots of social interaction." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Putting teams into player-versus-player play turns it into team-versus-team contests." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Teams push players to act out their roles in character rather than only chase their characters' goals." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Team play can pit personal gain against group benefit, for example through individual rewards or the risk of hitting teammates." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players must think ahead about how best to cooperate and coordinate with teammates." }, { "name": "Trick Taking", "why": "With teams in trick-taking games, such as Contract Bridge, partners naturally collect tricks and points together." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Lobbies can help team members meet and sort out how to play together in a mediated game." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "In team games, physical actions can be shared among members, with reserves letting players or coaches choose who performs what." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "The page only mentions teams as the setting where reserves allow resting during physically exhausting play, not a direct modulating reason." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can serve on a team, as when a player's character fights alongside many computer-controlled creeps." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Betrayal threatens the trust teammates need, lessening the sense of a team even while it increases tension." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "When team success rests on common goals, members help each other as a matter of course, which makes room for favors owed later smaller." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Conflicting goals among members can cause rivalry and a breakdown of the group, working against the unity a team needs." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "" }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Giving certain members special powers in a team-versus-team game can make the sides unequal, causing problems with fairness." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "As long as team members can spawn again, the team cannot be eliminated." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Teams.svg" }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A program, machine, or person who keeps records and manages the game's participants.", "needs_to_really_work": "The facilitator must truly take over the work, such as hidden information, bookkeeping or fair judging, so that players need not do it. It must be reliable and trusted.", "just_a_label_when": "A computer or person nominally in charge, while the players still do all the tracking and rule checks themselves.", "knobs": "which tasks are handed over; who or what acts as facilitator", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dedicated_Game_Facilitators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "A neutral facilitator can be trusted to record what players accomplish, so it keeps track of achievements across separate game sessions." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Facilitators control enemies and non-player characters, and designers can make these look like independent agents even though the facilitator runs them." }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "Because the facilitator handles the interface and game state, players can act without others seeing who did it." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Planned player actions must be stored until they are resolved, and a facilitator is typically what holds them." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Seeing the whole game state, the facilitator can measure player progress and apply effects to even things out, including when players join." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "By managing information and unfolding the planned story, the facilitator can make betrayals and other intended story effects happen." }, { "name": "Cameras", "why": "The facilitator often renders what players see, including the viewpoint a camera gives in third-person or god-view presentations." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "By tracking how well players are doing, the facilitator can adjust difficulty so the game stays demanding enough." }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "When players cannot talk directly or must be limited, the facilitator supplies the channels through which they can message each other." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "The facilitator can carry messages between players, so it supplies the channels for games where players lack direct contact or have limited communication." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Since the facilitator updates the state and applies the rules, players need not handle complicated states or know every rule themselves." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "The facilitator can present story material, including through cutscenes, as part of unfolding the narrative structure." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Computer facilitators can keep the game world believable when the content itself is designed that way." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Facilitators are instrumental in showing players the standout elements of the game world, such as non-player characters." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A facilitator can force players to wait, for example after dying, and computer facilitators can also shorten waits by doing heavy calculations." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "The facilitator keeps game components and resources going when players change, adjusting balance or switching AI players on and off." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "Because it monitors player progress through full knowledge of the state, the facilitator can raise or lower difficulty as play proceeds." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Facilitators commonly run opponents in conflicts and combat, especially when a game has only one player." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "As an impartial non-player, the facilitator can compel agents and players to act in set ways, such as limiting when actions are allowed." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "Human facilitators can schedule happenings to coincide with real-world time, which a fixed automated system does less easily." }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "Human facilitators can change the rules as play goes on, which fixed rule enforcement would not allow." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "A facilitator that introduces or adjusts rules and content changes the game state in ways the game itself did not predetermine." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "The facilitator holds the full state, so it can render or describe what a character perceives from their own position." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Human facilitators can bend outcomes quietly, since they control resolution of actions and are not bound to apply results mechanically." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Humans can invent new elements and decide when they appear, while servers carry out the actual insertion into play." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Since it sees the whole game state, the facilitator can show players particular pieces of information they could not otherwise get." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Having the full state in hand, the facilitator can offer players a general summary of the situation they could not otherwise assemble." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The facilitator presents the game world to players, whether by rendering it on screen or describing it aloud." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "As a trusted non-player, the facilitator can reliably record and keep statistics about play." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "The facilitator, holding the whole state, can produce an overhead perspective that shows more than any one character would perceive." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Mechanical and computer facilitators can objectively enforce that things which have happened cannot be undone." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "The facilitator manages changes in player numbers, so someone joining after the start can be fitted in with suitable balancing." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "A facilitator controls when players may act, so it can impose quiet stretches in which they are held back." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Such games need constant updates and huge states tracked, a load that computers, sometimes aided by people, take from players." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "The facilitator sits between players and the game, deciding what information they get and so shaping how they experience it." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "By looking after components and resources, the facilitator lets a larger game continue across instances even as players come and go." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Facilitators run the characters players do not control, such as monsters and townsfolk, and present them in the world." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "By taking over bookkeeping and rules knowledge, the facilitator spares players effort, which counts as help from outside the players." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "The facilitator stores information about the world instance so it continues to exist between play sessions." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Watching how players are progressing, the facilitator can apply effects that keep their standing even." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "When the facilitator makes things harder for players, such as by controlling enemies in combat, it creates play against the game." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "The facilitator tracks when updates are due as time passes, so players do not need to." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "Because the facilitator controls the game state and its content, it can support changing the layout or makeup of the world." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "By easing setup and takedown and by adding or tweaking content, the facilitator makes playing again easier and more varied." }, { "name": "Replays", "why": "Since the facilitator generates the views of the game, those same views can be reused to show earlier play again." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "When people serve as facilitators, holding that important position can give them a satisfying role." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "The facilitator can store the game state and restore it later, supporting play spread across several sessions." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "The facilitator can keep track of hidden objectives so that individual players do not see each other's aims." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "The facilitator can deliver the story to players, improvising it if human or presenting it through scenes if computerized." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "Especially in games played over networks, a facilitator may be needed to keep everyone's play coordinated in time." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Computer facilitators can keep time-related matters coherent in the world only as far as their rules manage to." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Although merely having them does not cause it, facilitators are often essential to building suspense." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Computer facilitators can keep the world fitting its theme only as well as their rules can express." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "The facilitator often creates the camera-based rendering of the world seen from outside a character." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "The facilitator keeps track of when each update is due and stores planned actions until the tick comes." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "The facilitator can stop players from acting out of turn, making sure the turn order is followed as designed." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "With control of the game state, the facilitator can easily make overwhelmingly strong events occur." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "The facilitator can hold information about goals that players do not know and keep them concealed." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "Since the facilitator holds the state and actions, players need not be present at the same time." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "With no players present, someone or something must run the game, so a facilitator is required." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Being a neutral third party, the facilitator can safely hold the stakes that players wager." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Facilitators control enemies and resolve fights, and computers can do heavy combat calculations without making players wait." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Facilitators check that new elements are introduced properly, with humans deciding what and when and servers carrying it out." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Trustworthy records kept by the facilitator provide the statistics that inform how handicaps are set." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Because the facilitator applies rules and tracks information, players need to remember less of it themselves." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The facilitator keeps track of how the story develops and adapts it when something unforeseen happens." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The facilitator follows the planned story and makes sure it unfolds as intended." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "As an impartial party, the facilitator can generate random results fairly, provided it does so openly." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "In roleplaying games the facilitator describes the world, plays the non-player cast and resolves what characters do." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Facilitators typically run the opposition, such as enemies and non-player characters, that a lone player faces." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Being a trusted keeper of records, the facilitator can track completion times across game instances." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "At the start of each turn, round or phase the facilitator performs the needed updates and can stop out-of-turn actions." }, { "name": "Player-Artifact Proximity", "why": "Facilitators, like sensors, can measure how far players are from artifacts to decide whether the proximity condition has been met." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "The facilitator may deliberately force waiting, such as after dying, yet computer facilitators can also be used to avoid such waits." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "The page treats removing excise as a facilitator job, yet it never explains how the two conflict." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "Mechanical and computer facilitators do not naturally let players move game elements freely; this needs deliberate design." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "If the facilitator generates random results out of sight, players may suspect cheating instead of chance." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Having a dedicated facilitator is by definition hard to combine with players running the game themselves." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Facilitators enforce rules, so players cannot easily bend them, for example to adapt to circumstances or let novices retake moves." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Since play needs the facilitator to be present, the game cannot be played anywhere and anytime." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dedicated_Game_Facilitators.svg" }, { "name": "Game Masters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "People who run the game world and the players' interaction with it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give one participant the authority to run the world, adjudicate and improvise, backed by tools such as scenarios and rules. Players must accept their rulings.", "just_a_label_when": "A GM role is named, but it only reads out fixed text and cannot adapt anything, so it is a narrator.", "knobs": "how much authority and freedom the GM has; tools provided; whether the role rotates", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Masters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "A game master can grant brand-new abilities or alter existing ones whenever they judge the situation needs it." }, { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "A game master can negotiate with players to take abilities away, which helps keep the players evenly matched." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "A game master plays the characters and units that players do not control, such as opponents." }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "Players can secretly write down what they do, and the game master later acts it out so nobody can tell who caused it." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the game master can adjust how likely players are to succeed, they can even out differences between players." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "The game master's control over gameplay lets them tune difficulty so the whole group stays properly challenged." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "A game master can interpret, add, or change rules and adapt socially, so play can be richer than other facilitators allow." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "The game master has full creative control over building and maintaining the game world, so they do most of its construction." }, { "name": "Context Dependent Reactions", "why": "Since the game master's actions can be tailored to each specific session and situation, the game can react to exactly what is happening." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "A game master is one kind of facilitator, a person or program devoted to running the game rather than just playing it." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "By controlling agents and portraying the world, the game master keeps details fitting the game world even when improvising." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "A game master can tweak details of the game world so they stand out, making things easier or harder for players." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "" }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "The game master can change difficulty on the fly, for example by altering world details, to match how the players are doing." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Game masters interact with players by acting out characters and events themselves, which creates opportunities for enactment." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "When the game master controls non-player agents, those agents do exactly what the game master decides, which is human-whim for people." }, { "name": "Entitled Players", "why": "A game master is a player who holds abilities to affect the game's structure, so they are a standard case of entitled players." }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "Because the game master controls the rules, they can change them as play goes on, so the rule set keeps developing." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "The game master can add abilities or follow players' unexpected ideas, making players feel their choices matter more than they do." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "A game master takes bookkeeping chores onto themselves, sparing players, but a human doing this has to carry the workload." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "When a game master changes rules or content, it is allowed but not governed by the game's rules, so it comes from outside them." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "A game master can let players freely rearrange game elements, though they can also cancel those changes afterward." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "The game master has such broad power over how play unfolds that they can choose to trigger big events whenever they like." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Because the game master decides outcomes, they can quietly bend a result, such as a die roll, to protect the story or a player." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "A game master can retcon what happened or let players redo actions, effectively rewinding or changing game time." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Game masters often portray and describe the game world to the players, especially when it differs a lot from reality." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "A game master can declare any event permanent, but can also overturn it later by changing their ruling." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "The game master controls outcomes, so they can make players feel lucky by letting them succeed." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "The game master controls when players act, so they can share quiet stretches equally among everyone." }, { "name": "Memory of Important Events", "why": "A human game master can remember what happened earlier and let it shape later events." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "The game master takes over administrative work like tracking character details, acting as help that is not another player." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "A human game master can enact characters flexibly, so the story's outcome stays open rather than fixed." }, { "name": "Optional Rules", "why": "Since the game master has authority over the rules, they and the players can agree to add optional ones." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "The game master builds and maintains the game world over time, so it keeps existing between sessions." }, { "name": "Perspective Taking", "why": "Acting out non-player characters and judging how players see situations means the game master must think from others' viewpoints." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "The game master role gives the player in it a lot of power to shape what happens." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "A game master supplies information and guidance, or even steers a player's character, which extends what the player can do." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "By adjusting chances and negotiating ability losses, the game master can keep players on an even footing." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "A game master can avoid knocking players out by fudging, but can also remove players whenever they wish." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Holding great power over the game, the game master can remove a player from it on their own decision." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Players get a say in how their characters develop because the game master can accommodate their plans in the story." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "The game master can change explicit rules to reflect players' plans and descriptions, so real player skill counts alongside the character's." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "The game master is a player with far more power than the others, such as shaping rules and the world." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Being a game master is a role players can step into and feel they are living up to." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Game masters play out non-player characters, giving chances for in-character speaking and acting." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Game masters can create new scenes and rework existing ones as play develops." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "A game master can hold hidden aims of their own to challenge players and nudge play toward certain outcomes." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "A game master can respond to the group's mood and wishes, though the players do not directly control that flexibility." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Being the game master is a distinct role a player takes on, separate from the other players' roles." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "The game master commonly tells or improvises the story to players as part of running the game." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Since the game master can drop any planned plot at any moment, they can spring unexpected attacks on players." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "The game master can build tension by adding short-lived goals or by changing the story unexpectedly." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "The game master controls when players may act, so they can enforce an orderly sequence of turns." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "With so much control over play, the game master can bring in huge events when they want, such as to move the story along." }, { "name": "Unpredictable Behavior", "why": "A human game master playing agents can act in complex, surprising ways that fixed rules would not produce." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Because the game master can alter rules during play, the rules in effect can differ from one moment to another." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "A game master can narrate or describe scenes to players, and can adapt them fully to the game state and the players." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "A game master can take over or add roles when the number of players changes, keeping the group's game intact." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "A human game master can adjust rules or write a newcomer's character into the story, making late joining easy." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "A human game master holds the game state and delivers the world to players, so play reaches them through that person." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "If enemies don't seem to act on their own, players can blame the Game Master for deaths, making those deaths feel like killing." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "A game master can judge players' real-world activities by qualitative standards and adjust how they map to game changes on the fly." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A game master can enforce believable agent behavior and moderate players' improvisation so it stays in line with the theme." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "The game master can allow entirely new abilities or change existing ones as they see fit." }, { "name": "Adventures", "why": "If players' actions make a prepared adventure stop working, the game master can modify it." }, { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Games set in the real world have unpredictable events, so a game master adjusts the game to fit them." }, { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "A game master can revise a campaign when players' actions mean it no longer works as originally written." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "A game master can negotiate with players so that what they do is understood as defining their character." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "The game master supplies pre-made characters and can take control of players' characters." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "The game master plays companion characters when needed to keep the game fitting its theme." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "The game master supplies the information players use to judge their odds, so they strongly affect how clear those odds are." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "The game master controls opponents and can use pre-made characters as enemies." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "A game master can permit players to freely handle game elements, yet cancel whatever they did afterwards." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "A game master teaches and explains rules and world facts, so players need to memorize less." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Where the role can rotate among players, game masters provide a facilitator in games that have several players." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The game master is often responsible for the story structure and can change or drop it at any time." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "The game master enacts non-player characters, deciding what they say and do." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "The game master can take control of player characters, for example to keep them consistent or cover for absent players." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A game master can modify prepared story structures, or tell them, to fit what the players actually do." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "A game master can change existing scenes as well as create new ones to suit the situation." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "A rotating game master role gives a dedicated facilitator to games the players otherwise run themselves." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Game masters are uncommon here because humans are too costly and a computer one blends into the system, though some games have one." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "The game master can steer non-player characters and even override players' actions to keep everything fitting the game's setting." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "The game master controls units serving as the players' opponents." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "The page lists this relation but never explains why it holds, so no reason can be given." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Human staff can handle troublesome player interactions and gather information that guides how the rules should change." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "A game master who uses powerful events too freely overrides players' actions and works against their sense of influence." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "A game master can remove upkeep from players, though doing so means the game master takes on that work themselves." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "The game master can make any event permanent, yet can also undo it by changing their ruling." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "A game master can prevent eliminations by fudging results, but can also kick players out whenever they please." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "A game master may overrule what players did with elements, forcing them to retract their moves, which cuts against players' free manipulation." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Dice can kill characters when neither the game master nor players want it, working against the master's control." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Masters.svg" }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Only one player can take part in each game session.", "needs_to_really_work": "Without other people to push back, the game must supply its own opposition through puzzles, scripted enemies or time pressure. It also needs a clear decision on whether the game can be won at all.", "just_a_label_when": "A multiplayer-style game that is simply played alone, with no automated opposition or puzzle to replace the missing opponents, so nothing resists the player.", "knobs": "strength and behaviour of automated opposition; whether the game can be won; time limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Single-Player_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "With nobody else involved in the game's state, a lone player can act with less social consequence, which makes it feel detached from their real self." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "With only one player receiving information, the designer doesn't need to coordinate several people gathering clues together, which makes mystery-style play easier to build." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Since no other player takes part in or can influence the session, the player can act without anyone knowing who they are or what they did." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Because nobody else can change what happens in the game, the player's play area belongs to them alone." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Players needn't coordinate a start time with anyone, and with pauses or turns they choose when to play, which is one condition for playing anywhere and anytime." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "With computer-controlled agents as opponents, a lone player can still have combat despite lacking human rivals." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Adding extra players to a one-player game makes it behave like a multiplayer game, so entry and exit becomes a design concern." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "With no opponents to punish mistakes, harmful results can be undone through reversibility or reloading, so trying things is easy." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players alone usually decide when they play, and designs often unlock options gradually, so they can pick when to engage and which new actions to use." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "A solo game becomes multiplayer when something such as a tournament or shared score information connects its players." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "" }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "With no other players, removing resource needs and threats through sanctioned cheating doesn't harm balance, so players can potter freely." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "In single-player games, rewards can include gaining the ability to manipulate game time." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "One player controlling several units that can combine abilities forms a team without needing other human players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "" }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A plot is simpler to write when the player controls one character and the designer needn't handle complications arising from several players interacting." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "" }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "In single-player games, rewards can be accompanied by story scenes that give them extra attention." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "The game controls everything except the player's actions, so keeping the theme is easier, though players can still break it by ignoring goals." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "" }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Fighting other players needs opponents, so it obviously suits games with several people rather than ones played alone." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Deciding a winner afterwards only makes sense when several players could win, so it doesn't fit a game with one player." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Single-Player_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Companions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game-controlled characters that follow the player and help them.", "needs_to_really_work": "A companion needs a real role: abilities or goals that cover what the player's own character lacks, and behaviour reliable enough that the player can count on it. If they follow and talk but never change what the player can do, nothing happens.", "just_a_label_when": "A character trails behind the player and chats, but can't be hurt, doesn't act, and the player's outcomes are the same without it.", "knobs": "how strong and independent the companion is; how many can be had; whether they can be lost or turn traitor", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Companions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Companions are game-controlled characters that notice what the player does, so they naturally behave as believable agents who react to the player." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Because a companion shares the burden of overcoming problems, play becomes easier and less demanding, which suits relaxed, casual players." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "A companion may secretly be a traitor and turn against the player, becoming a hostile opponent after having seemed a friend." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players control or outrank their companions, so they feel far more powerful and important than the other inhabitants of the game world." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "Companions can be given abilities the player's character lacks, letting them cover jobs in the group that the player's character doesn't fill." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "By helping the player in play, companions make challenges easier, especially when tied to a mechanism that adjusts difficulty automatically." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "Companions are designed so their goals line up with the player's, which makes them characters that actively assist the player's progress." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players can obtain a companion by paying resources for it, so the companion is something spent on in hope of future benefit." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Since companions follow and work with the player, designers must decide how faithful they are to the player and the player to them." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A companion's own skills let the player's group do things it couldn't before, effectively giving the player extra abilities through the companion." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Companions are often characters run by the game rather than a person, so they carry all the design concerns of such characters." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Companions join the player's group as supporting members, forming part of the party that travels and acts together." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because companions stay close to the player's character, they are a natural focal point for scripted story events in main plots or sidequests." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Companions can hold special powers that the player gains access to through them, such as perks granted when a companion joins." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "When players must choose among a limited number of companions, or can lose them to death, companions become something to manage like a scarce resource." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "A companion can be given to the player as a prize for finishing a quest." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Companions who can be lost, or who might betray the player, create worry about what will happen to them." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "The theme can call for companions and shape their form, so those that suit the setting help keep the world consistent." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "How a player behaves toward companions, and in their presence, is a kind of action that shows and shapes the character's nature." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Players can build companion characters, like the grogs and companions in Ars Magica, so building produces them." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Companions that follow and aid the player, when run by algorithms, give the player a dependable partner to work with." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A single player can be given computer-controlled companions, which stand in for teammates in a team." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Companions that follow an avatar, but are simpler than full AI players, blur the line between controlling one avatar and many units." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Companions could in principle rescue players from helpless situations, although the page notes designers rarely use them for that." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Allies who accompany a player character, sometimes controllable by the player, add to what the character has and can do." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Allies who accompany a character form part of its social ties and can prompt its development." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "NPCs given goals that support the player become allies who travel with and help them." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Non-player characters can be made into enemies or companions, so players can end up choosing one over the other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Companions.svg" }, { "name": "AI Players", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Software characters that play roughly like humans and take their place.", "needs_to_really_work": "The AI must play by the same rules as humans, with a visible aim of winning, and work in the available modes (teams, drop-in). Skill level should be adjustable to fit the people it replaces.", "just_a_label_when": "A bot occupies a seat but plays passively or randomly, so it cannot substitute for a real player.", "knobs": "AI skill level; when AI can join or replace players; how predictable it is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/AI_Players", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Since a computer-run player can stand in for a person, the game can be played without a human fully taking on every role, though social contact disappears too." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "An AI player is itself a computer-controlled character that acts in the game on its own, so using one means the game contains agents." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Because an AI can fill in for a person who is away, players don't all need to be playing at the same moment." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "When someone leaves mid-game, an AI can take over their slot, so players can come and go without ruining the session." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "AI players can be made to always obey players' suggestions or orders, though the page says this is largely redundant since they already strictly follow their rules." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When players write or program their own AI players, they are adding new elements into the game that then act within it." }, { "name": "Game System Player", "why": "If an AI is simple enough and players know how its algorithm works, it behaves more like part of the game's system than like a real opponent." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Since an AI can play in your place, you can step away from a game and it can keep going without you." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "An AI can occupy a slot until a person shows up, so those who join after the start can still enter a game already running." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Players can start AI players, even ones they programmed, to take their place and do repetitive grinding work while they are away." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "AI players can be designed to be members of groups, working together with others inside them." }, { "name": "Possibility of Graceful Surrender", "why": "When a human quits, an AI can take over their position, so leaving doesn't destroy the game for everyone else." }, { "name": "Robotic Players", "why": "When an AI controls a physical robot, the result is a robot that takes part in the game as a player." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Offering several kinds of AI players, each playing differently, gives people different styles of play to experience." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "If every player in a game is replaced by an AI, nobody plays directly and the game runs by itself." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Building can be used to define how units or AI players behave, as in P-Robots and Crobots, where players only shape the robots' conduct." }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "When players can program AI players, the code counts as part of the rules, so changing it changes the rule set." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When a game runs itself without a human facilitator, the work of operating computer-controlled participants falls on the players and becomes upkeep." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "AI players can fill in for someone who leaves, letting people close their session when they wish without disturbing others." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "AI opponents can be set at different strengths, which, along with difficulty levels, gives players challenges to master." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When players must build the AI that plays instead of playing themselves, the contest becomes about creating those programs, which is a game on top of the game." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "A computer-controlled participant can stand in as another player, so a game can feel multiplayer even when only one human plays." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Computer-controlled players only create this uncertainty when their behavior is unpredictable; otherwise they merely change it. This case is covered under Unpredictable Behavior." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Computer-controlled players can do the killing, but players are less likely to see them as real actors with intent than human opponents." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Computer-controlled opponents can supply the pattern as long as they behave in ways that players cannot easily predict." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Computer-controlled participants can fill every other seat in a game made for several people, so a single person can play it alone." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "AI players let a multiplayer game be played alone or with more participants than there are people available." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Players' ability to learn or deduce how the AI behaves changes how unsure they are about their own execution; unpredictable AI creates such uncertainty." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "In games run by the players themselves, an AI means people must carry out its instructions by hand, which adds tedious extra work." }, { "name": "Solution Uncertainty", "why": "AI players think differently from people, so they change how hard it is for players to work out what to do." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "Working out a shared team plan normally needs negotiation, which is hard for AI, so players can instead just give it orders to follow." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "AI players can fill empty spots so teams have equal size, and they must be able to cooperate within a team." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Computer players can fill missing slots so opposing teams are the same size." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "A computer player doesn't use the physical interface, so when people must act with their bodies, the AI clearly isn't competing under the same conditions." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "AI can skip physical interfaces and may join or leave mid-game, which can make the sides unequal." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Swapping AI in and out during play can leave teams uneven, unless the game is purely cooperative." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/AI_Players.svg" }, { "name": "Parties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Groups of characters acting together toward a common goal within the world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters must need each other, for example through complementary roles, and the group must have a size limit or composition choices. The relationships among them must give real reasons for cooperating.", "just_a_label_when": "A group of characters that follow the player around but are interchangeable and contribute nothing, so the party is just a count.", "knobs": "party size and maximum; how roles are distributed; how many characters each player controls", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Parties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When members plan how to work together, one of them can break the trust of the group, which may end the party or stop it forming." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Planning how characters should work together in a party naturally leads members to combine their efforts toward shared goals." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Because members plan around working together, they can help each other now with the expectation of being helped back later." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Members of a party can compete with each other, either spontaneously or because a storyline deliberately introduces tension within the group." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Planning how characters work together can lead members to feel bound to the group and to each other." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "When every character in a party matters equally and a single player controls them all, their separate stories run side by side." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Planning how characters work together leads members to settle into particular roles within the group." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "In multiplayer parties, players must reach agreement on plans of action, so they need to be able to communicate and persuade each other." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Planning how characters work together lets members coordinate their abilities so that combined actions achieve more than separate ones." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A party can be a team, but it is not required to be one, since it need not have explicit gameplay goals." }, { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Groups of players can set their own norms, so members' actions change how teammates treat them." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Encouraging or enforcing parties groups players together, making them feel they tackle the messy challenges as one unit." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Groups acting together must coordinate, and coordination requires planning." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Grouping players into a party gives them a common purpose, so what they achieve is felt as shared." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "Parties give players a structured group with shared goals, which encourages them to settle on common strategies or helps cooperative players find each other." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Playing actively alongside one another in a group is one direct way for a shared sense of belonging to form." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "With limited resources to hand out, players must choose which member gets what, since each choice leaves others without." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Loot", "why": "In multiplayer parties, dividing found treasure can cause disputes, so games add rules for how the loot is split among members." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Placing player characters in a party puts them in a group where they need to cooperate." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Small groups support coordination and cooperation, in both player-versus-player and player-versus-environment play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "The possibility of betrayal reduces how much a party feels like a trusting group, even if it adds anticipation." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Parties.svg" }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game is built so players can join and leave during a session.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must keep working when the player count changes: it needs a way to rebalance, hand over or park a leaver's pieces, and bring a returner back without wasting others' effort.", "just_a_label_when": "A menu that says you may join or leave at any time, yet a leaver breaks the game or a newcomer is hopelessly behind and cannot take part.", "knobs": "how and when players may join or leave; what happens to their assets; how newcomers are caught up or balanced", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Drop-In/Drop-Out", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Since people can come and go freely, they no longer have to be playing at the same moment as everyone else." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When a person joins or leaves, the game may have to add or remove things like characters to match." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Players can use leaving and rejoining to mark their own pauses, so the game can be stopped and resumed without trouble." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Because each person can enter and exit independently, nobody has to fit their play to when others start or stop." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Because each person can enter and exit independently, nobody has to fit their play to when others start or stop." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players decide where the breaks fall by leaving and returning, so play can bend around their other social situations." }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "Onlookers who watch over a player's shoulder can step in to play and step back out again whenever they like." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Joining and leaving freely lets people play anywhere and anytime, even though latecomers have little effect on how the whole game turns out." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "Players can enter and exit on their own schedules, so their time in the game need not overlap much or at all." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Where game instances last long enough, delayed effects and favors owed make coming back for later sessions worth considering." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can end their session while others carry on unaffected, giving them freedom over when to stop playing." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "When a player leaves, a computer-controlled agent can take their place so the game's presentation continues undisturbed." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Letting players come and go is the pattern's usual home, since people rarely can all start and stop together." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "In cooperative groups, shared goals mean newcomers and leavers can be balanced without upsetting those who stay." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "With huge numbers of players spread around the world, it is impractical to get everyone to play and stop simultaneously." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Players can ease in and out of the game to avoid awkward encounters with people around them." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When it looks clear who will win, players can leave gracefully instead of continuing an interaction they no longer want." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Because the game already copes with people departing, an angry quit barely affects what other players experience." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Letting extra players join a solo game raises the same issues as in a multiplayer game." }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "When the number of players shifts, designers must decide whether and how the divided screen should adjust." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teams losing or gaining members mid-game can throw off the fairness between sides." }, { "name": "Backseat Gamers", "why": "When people can freely join or leave play, they can switch between giving advice from the sidelines and actually playing." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When players come and go, the difficulty may no longer fit the remaining group, making it hard to keep the game demanding." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Players joining and leaving at will require the fiction to explain why controlled figures suddenly vanish or reappear." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Those who just arrived or soon leave cannot have shaped the game much, so feeling very influential is hard." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In multiplayer games, the fiction of the game world can be broken when people appear and disappear." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Gaining or losing members can leave one team stronger than another, which is hard to correct." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "If players' sessions barely overlap, they have little chance to feel they are playing with each other." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Help given to newcomers can make the hard work of those already playing seem to count for less." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Easy joining and leaving softens the damage of a quitter but clashes with designs wanting everyone to commit to finishing the whole session together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Drop-Out.svg" }, { "name": "Factions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Groups in the game world united by which deeds they reward and forbid.", "needs_to_really_work": "Set clear criteria to join, stay and advance, and make group membership change what members can do or must do. Gatekeepers, quests or requirements make joining meaningful, and group rules must be enforced.", "just_a_label_when": "A faction label or banner that has no effect on abilities, access, goals or how others treat the player.", "knobs": "requirements to join and stay; how many factions one can belong to and what membership grants", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Factions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Factions have rules about acceptable behavior, so breaking them or advancing inside the group brings reactions from members, making player actions matter socially in the story world." }, { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "Which faction a character belongs to becomes a lasting trait of that character, describing who they are in the game." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Membership can mean the player keeps loyalty to the group as a goal they chose, provided belonging gives them some benefits." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Staying in good standing within a faction takes ongoing social upkeep, so players must keep working at it rather than finish once." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Hostile factions give the player many opponents at once, so conflict does not end after beating one foe." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Faction consequences push players either to follow the group's limited allowed actions and timing, or to risk breaking them." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Joining a faction can give access to training, so becoming a member serves as a step toward learning skills." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Membership can unlock knowledge held by the group, so joining often helps the player reach an information-gathering goal." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Factions can sell or provide special tools to members, so joining often supports a goal of obtaining items." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Rising within a faction needs specific tasks that stack into quests, forming layered goals tied to the unfolding story." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Because members have different interests and rules to follow, tensions can arise inside a faction, especially in multiplayer groups the designer cannot fully control." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Competing for advancement inside a faction sets members against each other, adding challenge, and can even arise from game events." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Being in a faction implies the member owes allegiance to it, either as a given goal or one the player commits to." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Factions can reward members with training or purchasable tools that give the player abilities they did not have before." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "With rivals inside the player's own faction, the player must find non-combat ways to beat obstacles and complete overcome goals." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "For a faction to feel distinct, members who act against its norms need to be punished, such as by being cast out." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "Joining a faction or being expelled from one permanently alters the player's standing and how the world treats them." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When players can choose which factions to join, the different goals and rewards each offers let them plan how their character grows." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Loyalty to the faction can be a goal set by the game itself, expected from members as part of belonging." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Factions are often central to a scripted storyline, appearing in main quests and shaping how the plot and their internal rivalries unfold." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Faction membership and advancement typically depend on completing specific tasks, which naturally take the form of quests." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Since getting in means achieving a goal, membership usually comes with payoffs like training, tools, companions or favors." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Competing interests inside a faction, especially in multiplayer, can put players in choices where group and personal benefit clash." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Joining a faction is usually a stepping stone toward bigger aims like gaining information, skill or items, rather than the end goal." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "In multiplayer games, factions give players a natural reason to group together and act as teams." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Faction membership can open access to buying and selling special tools, and factions can affect prices set by NPCs." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Letting players move up through ranks of a group gives each promotion more weight than the previous one." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "" }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "" }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "Effects applying to a whole faction hit all of its members alike, so the faction's reward is shared by every member." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Depending on how much the game is diegetic, a faction's members may be the players' characters as well as NPCs, shaping who is in the group." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Belonging to a faction can let players recruit allies as a reward for joining." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Because a hostile faction has many members, defeating one enemy does not finish the conflict, changing how elimination goals play out." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Factions can offer training or purchasable tools as membership rewards, making the player's existing abilities stronger." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Factions can control which quests NPCs offer and supply tasks linked to advancement, shaping what quests are available." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Faction membership can give access to special tools for purchase, and joining may require owning certain tools." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Factions held by NPCs can change what prices players pay and what they can buy, affecting trade." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "The structure and goals of a faction affect what loyalty to it demands and where it can be tested in the world." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Factions give players goals to join and allow designers to plan loyalty or rivalry among members." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Factions.svg" }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game lets you join at any moment without waiting for someone else's start.", "needs_to_really_work": "The system must be able to insert a new player into a running game, with spawning, a fair starting state, and some answer to the balance problems newcomers cause. It needs players to actually arrive at different times.", "just_a_label_when": "A join button exists but latecomers start so far behind or ahead that they cannot take part in a meaningful way.", "knobs": "how late one can join; what starting resources a newcomer gets; whether bots fill empty slots", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Late_Arriving_Players", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Newcomers rarely begin in the same state as players already in the game, so letting them join late means everyone starts from different footing." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can decide for themselves when to begin a session instead of waiting for everyone else to arrive." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When a late player joins and brings a new avatar, character or unit, the game must add fresh elements into the ongoing play." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Making room for a newcomer by kicking out a human player removes that person from the game, which counts as eliminating them." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "Since players enter at different moments, their play sessions no longer start or line up together." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "For people to drop in, the game must be able to bring in someone after the session has already started." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "People who join after play began may do so to aid those already playing, so their arrival itself is the help." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Players take turns at different times, so the game would have to be started by synchronizing everyone unless late arrival is supported." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Depending on how easy it is to rejoin a running game, late arrival can soften or cancel the penalty for leaving." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "With very many players coming and going at all hours, such games basically need people to be able to join whenever." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Players start at different times, but whether this is true late arrival depends on how much they can actually help each other." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The pattern only matters when several players are involved, since a single player has nobody to join or wait for." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Players may want to join a group after it forms or miss the session's start, so late joining lets them still take part." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Since the world keeps running, players must be able to come and go at will rather than start together." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Not needing everyone present at the start makes it easier for strangers to join without being known." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "Because players can join after play has begun, the opening phase of the game is typically affected." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "On teams, teammates are more likely to be left waiting for someone, so supporting late joiners matters more." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team-versus-team play, people on both sides would otherwise wait for absent members, which makes late arrival more important." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Letting players join late spares others from waiting for everyone to be present before play begins." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Easy rejoining turns the removal into a temporary penalty, so it no longer ends the player's participation." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Newcomers may have more or fewer resources and abilities than existing players, which makes players unequal." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Extra characters brought by newcomers strain a fixed story unless a game master can work them in." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "A newcomer can make one team stronger or weaker than the other, because they differ from existing members." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "New avatars, characters or units appearing mid-game can break the setting unless the fiction explains their arrival." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Newcomers can get benefits that others worked for, such as rewards, or lack them, which makes earlier effort feel less valuable." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Adding a newcomer's character into an ongoing multiplayer game can upset how even the match is." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Bringing in a newcomer's character mid-game is hard to do fairly, since the character holds the game values players care most about." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Late_Arriving_Players.svg" }, { "name": "Spectators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "People who watch the players' actions but do not affect the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Public information must be available to outsiders in a form they can follow, such as a view of the game or replays. Players eliminated early also need a way to keep watching.", "just_a_label_when": "Watching is allowed in theory, but the information shown is unreadable, hidden or too fast to follow, so spectators learn nothing.", "knobs": "how much information spectators see; delay of the view; whether they can talk to players", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Spectators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Backseat Gamers", "why": "When onlookers know a game is underway and try to steer it with advice or orders, they act as backseat gamers instead of quiet watchers." }, { "name": "Betting", "why": "People who aren't playing can still take part by wagering on how the watched game ends, which gives them a stake in it." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Watchers who can talk to players, knowingly or not, may pass along information or hints that help the players, especially when players signal them through extra-game actions." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Watching without being able to act is a role a person can hold within a game, distinct from the roles of those playing." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "By seeing which actions work in different situations, onlookers learn how to play well, even when nobody is actually playing, as in games with no players." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing others are watching makes players feel pressure about how well they perform, which adds nervousness to their play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Having onlookers lets players display their skill, especially in hard feats, and earn recognition from those watching." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Newcomers can watch the ongoing game first, which helps them grasp the situation before they join in." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Watching how automated stand-in characters are doing helps players decide whether to take over or leave them running on their own." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Such games can still be meaningful when people watch the events unfold, even if nobody steers them during play." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Casting real onlookers as in-game characters gives those characters more agency and unpredictability than computer-controlled ones." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Observers can push players to do better, but being watched can also make them anxious about whether they will succeed." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "A game with no one acting still has value when people watch it run, and they can learn from what works." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Since players know others may be watching, this changes how they use outside actions, and onlookers can also offer help." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Spectators.svg" }, { "name": "Handles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Nicknames by which players and their achievements are recognized.", "needs_to_really_work": "Names or symbols need to be tied to records or accounts and shown where others see them (scores, chat, over avatars). Decide how they are chosen and moderated.", "just_a_label_when": "A name field that is never shown or saved anywhere, or auto-generated names everyone ignores.", "knobs": "length and format; free vs preset choice; where they are displayed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Handles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When players get to pick or invent their own handle, they get a small but real choice over how they appear to others." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Showing a handle next to an avatar tells everyone which player controls which avatar, so the handle works as a status display." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "Players type their handle beside a score, so a ranked list of results can be tied to specific people and compared." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "A name that identifies a player's character to others, shown through an interface, adds an abstract quality that works as a minimal character." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Players appear under a chosen name rather than a real one, so others can't tell who they actually are." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "When players are not present together, a handle is the main way to tell who is who and who did what." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Handles shown over or beside avatars make clear which player each avatar belongs to." }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "In chat, handles let participants see who is speaking and recognize each other." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Distinct handles let teammates tell each other apart and predict what each will do, which helps them work together." }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "why": "A handle can be displayed in the crosshair when it is aimed at an avatar or enemy, naming the target." }, { "name": "Emotes", "why": "Placing the handle at the front of an emote gives these actions a common format so they are easy to recognize." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "Handles let players see and recognize one another while gathering before a match." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "When players only interact through a system, handles are what tell participants apart, which would otherwise be hard." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Handles give players ways to identify each other, find friends, and keep records, supporting play among many people." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Handles let party members tell one another apart and anticipate what each will do, helping them coordinate." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Stats are stored and displayed under each player's handle, so others can look up and compare performance." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Handles can be displayed along with the team a player belongs to, set by the game or by player agreement." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Names and other identifying labels can expose who someone is, so they need to be restricted in what they allow." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Handles.svg" }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players begin the session with different capabilities.", "needs_to_really_work": "Differences at the start must affect early choices and the likely course of play. Balance through playtesting, rotating roles or handicaps, and decide whether they are fixed, random or player-made.", "just_a_label_when": "Starts differ only in cosmetics or trivial amounts, so after a few turns no one can tell who began where.", "knobs": "how large the start differences are; fixed, random or player-chosen; compensation for weaker starts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asymmetric_Starting_Conditions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Gameplay", "why": "Giving players different starting positions is the main way to make them play differently from one another, so unequal starts are chiefly used to produce asymmetric play." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "A deliberately uneven start can act as a handicap, where one side gets a built-in disadvantage or compensation to even out differences." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If starts are randomized or chosen by players, each session begins differently, giving people a reason to play again and see new outcomes." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Real situations with several actors are rarely equal, so unequal starts make a game's fictional world feel believable and fit its theme." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Because players begin with different setups each time, the games that follow unfold in different ways rather than repeating the same pattern." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Giving players uneven starting positions, such as historically weaker or stronger countries, makes some starts more difficult than others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Unequal starting conditions such as uneven resources or goals add asymmetry to the worlds and scenarios players act within." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The pattern only matters with several players, since only then can one player's start differ from another's." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "Since the differences exist at the beginning of play, they directly shape how the opening phase of a game plays out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "When players start with different possibilities, it is hard to keep their chances equal unless the designer adds balancing measures or tests heavily." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "" }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters that differ from the start may not be equally powerful, which can upset fairness between players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asymmetric_Starting_Conditions.svg" }, { "name": "TvT", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Games where teams compete against each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "Fixed teams with shared goals and a scoring rule that compares teams, plus attention to team balance and to players leaving or joining. Teams must be able to affect each other.", "just_a_label_when": "Players wear team colours but score and win individually, so team membership changes nothing.", "knobs": "team size; balancing methods; how team results are scored", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/TvT", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Everyone, even opponents on other teams, shares the same game session, so the sense of being together reaches across team lines as well as within a team." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "In team-versus-team games, balancing effects are used to keep the competing teams evenly matched." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "When cheating is allowed in team-versus-team play, players can pose as members of other teams or roles to deceive the opposition." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "" }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Team balance only has meaning when teams compete against each other, and that competition is where the pattern gets applied." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Teams", "why": "Pitting teams against each other changes how a team plays, since its members now share the goal of beating rival teams." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Lobbies can help opposing teams get acquainted and agree on how a mediated match is played." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "In team-versus-team play, kills and their penalties can tilt the contest toward one side and upset fairness between teams." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/TvT.svg" }, { "name": "Team Development", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "Teams change over time because of the game's progress and the players' growing skills.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be real improvement options that cost resources and change what the team can do. Improvements should be visible and should shape later play.", "just_a_label_when": "The team has a level or rank that goes up, but it changes nothing in what the team can do.", "knobs": "cost and speed of improvement; what can be improved; caps on growth", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Development", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "When the team is a game-defined entity rather than real players, improving the team directly means that entity grows over time." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "As a team grows, its individual members can end up specializing, so each becomes the one who is good at particular things." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "If a team persists across several game sessions, whatever it gains or loses in one session carries into later ones outside the match itself." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Improving a team costs something now, such as training or resources, in exchange for a stronger team later, so it works like putting money in." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When teams last between sessions, getting the team as strong as possible becomes its own goal, a game layered around the actual matches." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Because growing a team takes limited things to spend, players must decide where to put them, which means handling resources." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "When real players make up the team and grow together, they share that progress, which can create a sense of belonging to the group." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "How much or how fast teams can develop depends on their relative position, and it lets them adapt to opponents' strategies." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Team growth can be designed to keep sides equal, but it is fragile since small differences can instead widen the gap." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "PvP", "why": "Team development affects player-versus-player play, since it can even out the strengths of players within a team or make existing differences larger." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Development changes what a team is like over time, so it alters how the team itself behaves and what it is capable of." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Team development affects team-versus-team play, because it can narrow the gap between teams but can also widen imbalances that already exist." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Growing teams can be designed toward balance, but even small differences in how they grow can widen the gap instead." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Development.svg" }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "Games where hundreds or thousands of players live and communicate in one world at the same time.", "needs_to_really_work": "A server infrastructure, support for joining and leaving at any time, and communication tools. Enough players need to be online and reasons to return so social play appears.", "just_a_label_when": "A big shared world exists but players hardly meet or affect each other, so it is solo play in a crowd.", "knobs": "player capacity per world; how much players interact; how often content is updated", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Massively_Multiplayer_Online_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "Such games need frequent patches for bugs, real-world timed events, and balance problems caused by player behavior, so their rules inevitably keep changing over time." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "With so many players talking and dealing both in and out of the game, trading for advantages is hard to prevent, though a design can openly embrace it." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Because so many different activities are available to a huge crowd of players, distinct roles tend to emerge among them naturally." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Social interaction and long-term time investment each make effort matter, and together they reinforce each other, so effort counts for more than in games with only one." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Online worlds shift into a distinct final phase once characters hit the top level, with competition, gear collecting and special quests." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Having very many players means designers must weigh the usual multiplayer options, such as letting people join late or leave without synchronized sessions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Splitting players into instances and the difficulty of continually producing enough story for a huge lasting world make it hard to keep the theme coherent." }, { "name": "Main Quests", "why": "Online worlds must welcome players who join late and keep opposing factions apart, who don't share quests, so one shared overarching quest fits poorly." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Massively_Multiplayer_Online_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game uses data from other players' sessions, but everyone plays separately.", "needs_to_really_work": "Servers must carry other players' results, such as scores, ghosts or gifts, into each person's game in a visible way. Players need to notice and react to this input.", "just_a_label_when": "A leaderboard exists but sits in a menu and never changes how anyone plays.", "knobs": "what data is shared between players; how visible it is; how much players can help each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Massively_Single-Player_Online_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Since players only lightly affect each other and needn't know or talk to one another, they stay emotionally distant from the other people shaping their game." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Because these games rely on servers to carry information between players' separate game instances, play is passed through a technical intermediary rather than happening directly." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "One player's game instance changes another's, which creates interaction about the game itself, beyond what happens inside a single play session." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Players get some social interaction through others' influence without needing to know or coordinate with them, so relaxed play isn't spoiled." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Adding information from other players' sessions turns an otherwise isolated game into one where other people's play affects yours." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Massively_Single-Player_Online_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "People make no direct decisions during play; the game runs by itself.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must run by themselves, with any player influence confined to setup, programming or rule creation, and be rich enough for interesting outcomes to emerge. Observers need a way to watch and compare.", "just_a_label_when": "A game where a player presses a button now and then but the outcome never depends on it, billed as a zero-player game with no real setup choices either.", "knobs": "how much freedom the setup phase gives; complexity of rules; how agents are programmed; observation options", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Zero-Player_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "When players write the programs that act for them, the program's rules fully dictate what the agents do once play starts." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "If people run the game's updates themselves instead of a game master or computer, the game's inner play is just mechanical bookkeeping, with the real game moved elsewhere." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Since nothing can be done during a session, players find their fun around it, such as watching, solving puzzles or building setups." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Player skill goes into programming, preparing starting states or writing rules, and the game then carries those out without further input." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Players who design agents that then play on their own need to know how the game works, and can learn by watching others' agents." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "With no choices during play, players have little to feel influential about unless the set-up phase is designed to give that feeling." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "All choices are made before the game begins and none after, so it conflicts in one sense but not another." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "The game runs without players acting at all, so there is nothing for them to influence." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Zero-Player_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Information about players that is easily available to everyone else.", "needs_to_really_work": "Stats must be visible to others, tied to a persistent identity and connected to meaningful performance. Who can see them must be decided.", "just_a_label_when": "Stats are kept but hidden, anonymous or irrelevant, so nobody sees or cares about them.", "knobs": "what is tracked; who can see it; how long it persists", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Public_Player_Statistics", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "When your stats are visible to others, your skill shows up outside the game itself, so how well you play can shape how people see you." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Because everyone can see the numbers, players start competing to have better statistics than others, which becomes a separate game layered on top." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players can look at others' stats to pick opponents of similar skill, so matches end up fairer." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Since stats update as players progress, outsiders can follow along and watch what players do even when watching wasn't otherwise possible." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Displaying results like high scores lets others see how well someone played, giving the effort extra worth." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Achievements can serve as public stats when others are able to view them, so their meaning changes once they are shown to others." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "Lobbies are a good place to show information about other players, so people can judge who they are about to play with." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Public stats let players display how skilled they are at the game for others to see." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "Goal achievements are tied directly to a player's progress, so making them public makes for a natural way to show how far someone has got." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When your performance is visible and you must stand behind it, the work you put in matters more and gives you status." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "Making players' records visible to everyone changes who can see them, letting players compare themselves with others." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Stats that follow a player across multiple game sessions can reveal who they are, undermining their ability to stay hidden." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Public stats openly reveal what players have done, so there is typically nothing left unknown about that information." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Public_Player_Statistics.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game expects people who are not playing to help the players.", "needs_to_really_work": "Outsiders must know they can help, and the help must be restricted by limited actions, power and cooldowns so it does not skew balance or devalue players' own effort. Information from helpers can be unreliable to keep it risky.", "just_a_label_when": "A help feature that nobody outside the game is told about, or that gives such weak or restricted help that it never changes any outcome.", "knobs": "how strong helpers' actions are; how often they can help; how helpers are informed and admitted", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Player_Help", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "Outsiders assist players without gaining anything in return, so the help they give is by nature a selfless act." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When an outsider helps a player, the two end up working together toward the player's goal, even briefly." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Broadcasting", "why": "Potential helpers must first learn that they can help, so players or the game send out calls to people beyond the game." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "The help comes from people who are not playing, so their contributions enter the game from outside its normal participants." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Asking for outside help signals that a player is struggling or doing well, which makes aspects of their performance visible to others." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "A human facilitator who counts as outside help can narrate and present the story in a lively way for players." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Advice from outsiders, like a friend's phone-in answer, may be wrong, so players cannot be sure how far to trust it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Outside help lets players affect each other's separate private spaces, where a helping act can be its own reward." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Even non-players can assist with chores in the space, and the owner still keeps essentially full control." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If outsiders easily change the game state, players have a harder time feeling that their own choices were what mattered." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Outside assistance can take over repetitive or uninteresting actions so players don't have to do them." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Others who carry out game-influencing actions on players' behalf lessen how much grinding players must do." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Letting outsiders change the game state too easily can tilt the game in favor of players who have helpers available." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Outsiders and their actions have no natural place in the game world, so unexplained appearances can break the setting's believability." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When outsiders do things easily for players, the players feel their own work counts for less." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Player_Help.svg" }, { "name": "Entitled Players", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Players get the right to change how the game goes and are responsible for everyone's experience.", "needs_to_really_work": "Some players must get real powers over how the game runs, such as creating content or removing players, along with a role that expects them to use these for others' benefit.", "just_a_label_when": "A title or badge for certain players that gives them no abilities to shape the game.", "knobs": "which powers are granted; who gets the role; limits on how powers are used", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Entitled_Players", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because these players can reshape how the game works, not just its state, they may feel their say over the game is bigger than it really is." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Entitled players are often given the power to add content to the game world, so they end up authoring new things others encounter." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Removing other players from a session is one kind of power that can be handed to entitled players, as a way of managing the game." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Making someone an entitled player simply means choosing which special powers over the game's workings to give them, which others lack." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "When entitled players use their powers generously, they can adjust the game to suit the group, helping it fit different people." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Holding abilities to mediate or facilitate play gives these players a recognized part among the group, separate from just competing in the game." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Entitled players can often narrate or invent events, even if only by creating content, so they take on a story-telling part." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Players allowed to alter the game itself can tune it so that working together becomes more enjoyable." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Entitled players are most often found in games where players work together, and their facilitating role fits and supports that shared effort." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Sharing out facilitation powers to players means the game master does not have to do all of the upkeep work alone." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Less powerful entitled players can be used alongside a game master to take over some of the chores." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The pattern is about choosing special abilities to give certain players among several, so it only makes sense when more than one person plays." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Since there is no winning to protect, extra powers for some players rarely cause unfairness, so the pattern is mostly used in such games." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Such players may use their abilities in ways that disrupt the fiction for the rest." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Special abilities given to some players can tilt the playing field, making their position stronger than that of the others." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Entitled_Players.svg" }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game offers different ways to take part, differing in time and kind of actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each tier must have a real, distinct role and requirements, and tiers must stay meaningfully connected to the same game. Players should be able to choose or move between tiers.", "just_a_label_when": "Tiers are only labels for how much someone plays, with no different game roles.", "knobs": "number of tiers; time and activity required per tier; ease of moving between tiers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tiered_Participation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Players in lightly involved tiers may sit idle between actions, and designers accept this on purpose because those players don't want to be active as often as others." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Offering several ways to join in, with different time and activity demands, lets a game fit people whose availability and interest differ." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "When each tier asks for different involvement and actions, players naturally end up with distinct parts to play within the group." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players in higher tiers can have more power than others." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tiered_Participation.svg" }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "All players' game sessions run at the same time and overlap.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs ways to get everyone present together and a pace that suits shared time, with breaks handled. Communication and waiting rules matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are online together but each plays alone and never has to react to anyone else's timing.", "knobs": "turn or real-time structure; how long sessions last; how breaks and late joiners are handled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Synchronous_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Because everyone must play at once, the group has to wait for latecomers at the start, and anyone who pauses makes all the others sit idle." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When several people are playing during the same stretch of time, the game is by nature a multiplayer one, and more overlap means more multiplayer." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Having everyone present and playing at the same moment is a direct way to give players the feeling of doing something together." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "If a turn leaves the other players with nothing to do, they are not really playing at the same time, which clashes with simultaneous play." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Synchronous_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player can choose not to reveal who they are.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must give players a way to hide their identity and must not leak it elsewhere, e.g. through cross-session statistics or friend lists. Communication has to go through masks such as handles or avatars.", "just_a_label_when": "A nickname field exists, but real names, linked accounts or public stats still reveal who the player is, so hiding changes nothing.", "knobs": "how much identity is shown; whether names, profiles and stats are linked across sessions", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Possibility_of_Anonymity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When you can hide who you are, other players can more easily treat you as just a game participant rather than a known person." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide for themselves whether to show their real identity or conceal it, and that option to pick either one is itself a choice." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "The pattern gives players the power to decide whether they will be anonymous, so when they use it, they end up unidentified." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Players may pretend to be someone else so they can stay anonymous when socially interacting, which is a form of roleplaying." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "If anonymity is wanted, designers need not help players identify each other." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Forcing anonymity removes the player's option to choose whether to be anonymous, which is the core of that other pattern." }, { "name": "Friend Lists", "why": "A list is about knowing who others are, so it works against letting players stay anonymous." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Stats that follow a player across multiple game sessions can reveal who they are, undermining their ability to stay hidden." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Even the option to stay anonymous works against social roles, making them less present or harder to adopt." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Possibility_of_Anonymity.svg" }, { "name": "Coaches", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "People who lead a team and give its members advice.", "needs_to_really_work": "The coach must have actual levers (training, tactics, reserves) that change team outcomes.", "just_a_label_when": "A coach title exists, but the coach can't affect anything the team does.", "knobs": "scope of the coach's powers; how team development is controlled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Coaches", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Entitled Players", "why": "A coach is a person with special standing over a team, so holding that role means being a player with extra entitlements." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Guiding and instructing teammates without playing yourself is a distinct position within a team, so being a coach is a social role." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Instructing and guiding team members, and deciding how to direct them, requires dealing well with people, so coaching calls on social skills." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Reserves", "why": "Coaches decide how the spare team members are used, so their choices shape how reserves come into play." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Coaches choose which direction a team's growth and training takes, so they shape how the team develops." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A coach is a special team member who helps with management and training instead of doing the regular actions." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Coaches.svg" }, { "name": "Friend Lists", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "The game keeps a list of players who matter to each person so they are easier to find.", "needs_to_really_work": "Provide ways to add, confirm and find friends, and tie services such as chat, invites and gifts to the list. Needs server infrastructure to track players.", "just_a_label_when": "A list screen exists, but it connects to no matching, chat or gifts, so it is just a contact book.", "knobs": "how friends are found and confirmed; what features are limited to friends; friendship levels", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Friend_Lists", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because players know how their friends play, they can pick the kind of session they want by choosing who to join." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players can shape the social side of a game to their taste by choosing which known friends to play with." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Friends already share past play, so a list makes it easier to team up with them again and feel together." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "The list narrows general chat so a player can talk only with chosen friends instead of everyone." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "The list limits a general communication service so a player reaches only their friends." }, { "name": "Free Gift Inventories", "why": "Neighbor-style friends in the list are the ones a player can give things to from their gift inventory." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "The list lets players quickly set up a game with their friends in a lobby rather than with strangers." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Players here need help from others to progress, so lists (often filled by invites) let them gain that help." }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "why": "The list needs supporting infrastructure, which meta servers supply so friends can be found and tracked." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The list helps players find friends and info on them, so they can join the same match or start a new one." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "The list makes it simpler to look up information on one's friends among all the players' public stats." }, { "name": "Visits", "why": "Neighbor-style friends in the list allow players to visit each other's play areas, which they otherwise could not do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Choosing to play with friends means existing opinions about those people, good or bad, affect how the game is played." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Keeping lists of known players lets people recognize each other, which defeats hiding identities, so they should be avoided." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "A list works by naming known players, which goes against keeping players anonymous." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "A list is about knowing who others are, so it works against letting players stay anonymous." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Friend_Lists.svg" }, { "name": "Game System Player", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A passive participant controlled by the system under simple rules, with no visible will.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give it simple fixed rules players can understand and perform, with enough power to actually threaten them. Its actions should be easy to carry out in self-run games.", "just_a_label_when": "A dummy opponent exists but can't affect the outcome, so it is just scenery.", "knobs": "how complex its rules are; how strong its actions are; how much randomness it uses", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_System_Player", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Because the system-run opponent threatens everyone at once, the human players share a common foe and have reason to team up against it." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "A player run by the game itself acts against the human players and can beat them, so it naturally becomes an opponent they must face." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Since its actions must be simple to carry out and easy to choose, it often gets special moves that ordinary players don't have." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "The system player is passive and rule-bound, so the players' challenge comes from the game itself rather than from other human players." }, { "name": "Symbiotic Player Relations", "why": "Having the same system-run enemy in common ties the human players' fortunes together, so helping each other serves each one's own interest." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When the game system itself acts as a participant in a self-run game, players must carry out its work for it, creating upkeep." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "A system-run player with unpredictable behavior brings in uncertainty of its own, rather than just adjusting existing uncertainty." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Opponents run by the game itself add this uncertainty when their behavior is unpredictable, since the pattern needs unpredictable other players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "With no separate game runner, players must carry out the system player's moves themselves, so its rules need to be simple and easy to perform." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_System_Player.svg" }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "Other players do not know who exactly is playing.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must remove or block identity cues such as names, voice and friend links, and enforce this consistently. Designers must decide whether anonymity is optional or forced.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are called 'anonymous' but use persistent handles, or can easily be recognised from chat or friend lists.", "knobs": "whether anonymity is forced or optional; which identity cues are hidden; whether communication is allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Anonymity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When nobody can link a player's real-life traits to what happens in the game, others feel more separated from the person behind the actions." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Friend Lists", "why": "A list works by naming known players, which goes against keeping players anonymous." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Social roles are harder to establish when players don't know who others are, since roles depend on recognized identities; gameplay-based roles can work around this." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Anonymity.svg" }, { "name": "Reserves", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Team members who wait outside the game because not everyone can play at once.", "needs_to_really_work": "The active-slot limit must be lower than the team size, and swapping must be allowed with some cost or timing. Members must differ in skill or stamina so choosing who plays matters.", "just_a_label_when": "Bench players exist, but all members are identical and swaps never happen, so the bench changes nothing.", "knobs": "number of active slots versus team size; swap rules, timing and cost", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Reserves", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A player whose character sits on the bench isn't taking part in the action, so being held in reserve means stretches of waiting with nothing to do." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "While waiting on the sidelines, players can think ahead, and choosing which characters to bench or bring in is itself a planning decision." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Because only some team members can be active, reserves let a team swap which agents are in play instead of using the same ones throughout." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Reserves let players change which characters are on the active team, so the lineup can be adjusted rather than staying fixed." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When physical exhaustion makes players' results unpredictable, rotating tired members out for rested ones evens out how well the team performs." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "If playing means physically acting things out, members tire, so reserves let them rest while others take over their role." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "Games that demand bodily effort wear players down, and having substitutes lets them recover while the team keeps going at full tempo." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Reserves change a team by letting it hold more members than can be active, so it can handle uneven sizes and rotate people in and out." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Reserves.svg" }, { "name": "Invites", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Actions by which a player calls new people into the game, sometimes earning a reward for it.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a way to reach people outside it (online link, share feature) and must let newcomers join a running game or world. A reward or social reason for inviting helps players actually use it.", "just_a_label_when": "An invite button exists but newcomers cannot join anyway, or nobody has a reason to press it, so no one ever arrives.", "knobs": "what the inviter gets as reward; how many invites are allowed; how easily invitees can join", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Invites", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Sending an invite happens partly outside the game world, such as contacting someone who isn't playing, so it counts as an action beyond normal in-game play." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "When players invite people to get assistance, they are asking someone who isn't currently playing to join and lend a hand." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "A game can pay players for successful recruiting, and an invite can itself be a gift waiting for the person being invited." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Bringing in more players helps games that depend on working together, since extra teammates improve how well a group can cooperate." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Invites only work if a game lets newcomers join an ongoing session, so games using them must already allow players to come and go." }, { "name": "Friend Lists", "why": "Invited people are often added automatically to the inviter's list of friends, so sending invites grows those lists." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Invites bring people in after a session has begun, so the game must already be able to accept those latecomers." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Invites suit games with very many players, because recruiting more people fits a large online population." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Invites make most sense in these large-population games, where recruiting more people adds to the crowd of others sharing the world." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Players may invite people to fill out their team or to strengthen the opposing one, changing team balance and how challenging play feels." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Invites.svg" }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "The system itself hides from players who the other players are.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must remove or limit names, friend lists and open chat, so players really cannot tell who others are or contact them outside gameplay.", "just_a_label_when": "Anonymous-looking nicknames that are still consistent and linkable, and open chat that lets players reveal who they are.", "knobs": "what identity info is hidden; which communication channels exist; whether exceptions for known friends are allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Enforced_Player_Anonymity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When players can't tell who others are, they judge each other only by what they do in the game, which separates the person from their in-game actions." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "Because the system hides who players are, nobody can know the real identity of anyone else, so anonymity arises as a direct result." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Players lack knowledge of who others are, so they can't be sure about the people they cooperate or compete with." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Since partners can't know who they are working with, cooperating involves added uncertainty about the other participants." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "The page only notes that anonymity could apply to high score lists, without explaining why." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Hiding identities makes most sense when several people play together, where the design restricts what information flows between them." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Players facing a choice between self-interest and the group must decide without knowing who the others are, adding uncertainty to the dilemma." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Because free text can reveal outside-the-game details about players, it is hard to keep them truly anonymous." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "Players tend to reveal personal details in conversation, and can also set up outside channels, which makes forced anonymity hard to maintain." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Anonymity is used to prevent harm from players oversharing with strangers, so real-world consequences of play become much less likely, which clashes with them occurring." }, { "name": "Friend Lists", "why": "Keeping lists of known players lets people recognize each other, which defeats hiding identities, so they should be avoided." }, { "name": "Handles", "why": "Names and other identifying labels can expose who someone is, so they need to be restricted in what they allow." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "Forcing anonymity removes the player's option to choose whether to be anonymous, which is the core of that other pattern." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "With players judged only on their play and not on who they are, it becomes hard for lasting social roles to form." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Enforced_Player_Anonymity.svg" }, { "name": "Robotic Players", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Real robots that take part in the game on equal terms with players.", "needs_to_really_work": "The robot needs sensors, movement and an AI that can really act in the physical play space and follow the game's rules, as a human participant would. The game must be built so that physical actions by the robot count in the game state and other players can respond to them.", "just_a_label_when": "A robot sits on the table or moves along a fixed script while a person or a program secretly makes all the decisions, so it takes no real part in play and nothing depends on it.", "knobs": "how much the robot can sense and do; how skilled its AI is; how much the robot's physical actions affect the game state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Robotic_Players", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "When a program controls a physical robot, the robot's body can act out things in the real world, so the machine player performs physical actions itself." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "A robot given a program as its brain can move its body through real space, so the machine player itself travels around the play area." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Robotic_Players.svg" }, { "name": "Initiative", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "players", "second_place": "dynamics × players", "what_it_is": "The ability of agents to act on their own, not only in response to events.", "needs_to_really_work": "Agents must be able to start actions that are not simply triggered by something the player did, and these actions must affect play. Players need to notice that the agent chose to act.", "just_a_label_when": "Agents that only react to player actions or follow a script that looks spontaneous, so they never start anything.", "knobs": "how often agents act on their own; what range of actions they can start", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Initiative", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Characters who act on their own help capture believable human behavior, supporting the theme." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Agents that act on their own rather than only reacting feel more tied to the world and less predictable." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "When NPCs act on their own, they seem more like agents, though it can make outcomes less predictable." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Autonomous units can act on their own, such as attacking enemies they find after moving to a location." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Initiative.svg" }, { "name": "Traverse", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal to move a game element from one point in the world to another.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear start and end point with a route that holds obstacles, choices or opposition, so the journey is not trivial. Progress should be readable to the player, for example through checkpoints.", "just_a_label_when": "A destination marker reached by simply holding a key down, with nothing to cross or avoid.", "knobs": "distance; obstacles along the way; number of checkpoints", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Traverse", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Navigation tasks can demand that you reach a particular place, so the goal of getting somewhere is what the task actually asks of you." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Since reaching a destination can be a goal, moving between places can carry a story along as players progress through it." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Finishing a traversal guarantees the player has ended up in a new environment, which gives a fixed story a clear step forward." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Several traversal goals chained together, or intermediate points along a route, show players how far along they are." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Many quests simply ask players to go to specific points in the world, sometimes within a time limit." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Designers often set a destination goal so that several competitors rush toward it, and the competition emerges when multiple agents pursue the same traversal goal." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Moving through a space with limited resources requires thinking ahead about the route." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When reaching a destination has several possible routes, the player chooses among them, so a set of selectable goals for a traverse task gives real choice." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Exploring is a form of traveling combined with learning, so having goals to cross the world contributes to it." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Stealth is formed by joining the aim of hiding with the aim of getting somewhere; moving across the game space is its other necessary part." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Trying to shoot while also trying to get somewhere is harder than doing just one of the two." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Traversal goals are often used to make sure players visit certain parts of the world." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Traversal goals make sure players pass through certain parts of a level." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Scouting goals can be set by having players follow specific routes so they notice differences in the world." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies that fill the route players must cross can block the way and make crossing harder." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Traverse.svg" }, { "name": "Quests", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of completing a task for which a reward is given.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each needs a clear task, a visible reward and a way to be offered and completed. Rewards must be worth the effort and tied to the world.", "just_a_label_when": "A quest log exists, but tasks are trivial, rewards meaningless or the requirements unclear, so players ignore it.", "knobs": "number and type of quests; reward size; how they are offered; difficulty", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Quests", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Because quests steer what a player's agent does and become, they can grow the player's in-game construct whether or not a reward is given." }, { "name": "Adventures", "why": "A single quest or a handful of them can serve as the backbone around which a larger adventure is built." }, { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Several quests strung together can form the core of a campaign." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Quests tie into the game's story and direct how agents act, so working through them can change a character over time, regardless of rewards." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Finishing a quest, or failing it for good, marks a clear moment where that piece of play ends." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Quests are planned in advance, including how they begin and finish, so they are temporary goals that exist only until resolved." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Quests can be nested as subgoals under bigger ones, and they work as building blocks for goal structures linked to the story." }, { "name": "Goal-Driven Personal Development", "why": "Quests link story structure to how agents behave, shaping where they end up by giving them goals to pursue." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Since players can see their progress and know exactly what completion needs, the approaching end of the quest stays in view." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "A quest can reward the player by letting them show faithfulness, for example to a faction or companion." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers must plan why a task exists and what completing it changes, so quests amount to pre-written story structure." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Quests that tell players exactly where to go push them to simply travel to destinations instead of searching around." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Finishing a quest pays out rewards or moves the story ahead, and even failure can matter if it visibly shows what the effort changed." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Randomly generated quests change what players are asked to do, so each new game has different tasks." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Randomizing quests makes the tasks players take on different from one play to the next." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Quests link the story with how agents behave, so they help define what those agents do and where they are headed." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Gaining a companion can be a fitting reward for a quest, and companions can have quests of their own." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Quests often unlock closed-off areas while active or as a reward when completed." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Quest-giving characters tied to factions can set groups against each other within the game." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Quests can create or steer the paths agents take, shaping their otherwise open fates." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Quests may be needed in such worlds to carry predetermined story, though their stated rewards also make the mechanics obvious there." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Quests are a very typical way of handing players a goal that becomes available at some point and may later expire." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Games built around quests often send players to far-apart places, so the travel between them tends to be skipped through instant jumps." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Quests that give known locations to visit remove the need to look around, so players may skip exploring." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Quests openly spell out mechanical rewards and requirements, which can expose awkward spots where the game's theme doesn't hold together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Quests.svg" }, { "name": "Clues", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items or information that hint to the player how to achieve a goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must carry real information about goals, appear at the right moment, and match the game's setting.", "just_a_label_when": "Hints exist but are too vague, too late or say what the player already knows.", "knobs": "how explicit they are; when and how often they appear; whether they adapt to player struggle", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Clues", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Hints that tell players what to do make a game less demanding, so players can progress without getting stuck, which gives a relaxed, easy-going experience." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "A game can hand out extra hints once a player has failed a task several times, so help scales with how the player is struggling." }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "A clue only informs the player and changes nothing in the game state, so it feels helpful without actually giving any concrete benefit." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "Clues that explain controls or mechanics, or sit in the interface, come from outside the game world, so they become features the characters could not perceive." }, { "name": "Rabbit Hole Invitations", "why": "Some clues hint not at how to act in the game but at how to begin playing it, which makes them a special kind of clue." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "A clue can push players toward actions that don't help their own goals but serve the story, so it misleads them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Hints about what players may meet ahead, such as dangers, make them anticipate threats and feel uneasy about what comes next." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Clues written as facts and events of the game world fit its setting, letting players use their understanding of that world to read them." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When a story is predetermined, clues make players want to work out what will happen next, which creates information-seeking goals." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "In story-driven games, story progress depends on getting certain clues, so obtaining them becomes an ownership goal without needing conflict." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Clues placed in the game give players pieces of the story to find, so they can form the story, provided they fit the game's theme." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "Clues can help players find out about a boss's weakness, making discovering that information a goal in a story." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Clues are introduced to tune difficulty, easing the challenge or letting players focus on the core of it." }, { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "Clues can lure players into finding hidden extras that are not needed to complete or win the game." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Traces and warnings can hint at where enemies are located, so players can anticipate them." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Clues can sit on the board or hint at where enemies and traps are on it." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Encouraging feedback about an area or object can push players to keep exploring it further." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Clues tied to movement, like signs and direction markers, help players find their way through the world." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Clues can be placed in or point to places in the game world, shaping what players notice and where they go." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Encouragement clues signal that a low-level subgoal has been completed, showing progress toward higher goals." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Clues can be located in levels or hint at what is in them, guiding players through the level." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Clues about movement, such as warnings of upcoming curves, tell players how to move." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Hints about what to do make puzzles easier for players to work out." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Clues such as helper hints or map markers show players how to complete or where to find quests." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Clues leading to secret areas can reveal resources that indirectly help players reach their goals." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "Clues can lure players toward hidden places they would otherwise not find." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Traces and explicit warnings let players figure out where traps are or that danger lies ahead." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Clues leading to hidden extras can be seen as hints toward goals the player has not yet been told about." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "When players find clues, they get hints that something may happen, which strengthens the pattern, as long as the clues fit the game's theme." }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "Hiding useful hints inside the sequence gives players a gameplay reason to watch it, even though their attention cannot be forced." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "Clues delivered through interface elements from outside the game world break the consistency of its setting." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Clues containing information from outside the game, like how controls work, break the consistency of the game world's theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Clues.svg" }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: become the owner of a certain game element.", "needs_to_really_work": "Make ownership of items, pieces or areas matter, giving benefits, points or progress, and make it contestable. Without contest or reward it is just a pickup.", "just_a_label_when": "Players can own things, but ownership gives no benefit and nobody can take it, so there is no pursuit.", "knobs": "value of owned elements; how contestable they are; how many can be owned", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gain_Ownership", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Ownership of an object or area can be made the stake of a wager, either chosen by players or required by the system." }, { "name": "Collections", "why": "Taking ownership of items one by one can end up completing a collection the player was building." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "When the contested object or area can be hidden, its current owners may try to hide it so ownership cannot pass to others." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "Players who want to acquire elements are often motivated to pursue arrangement goals, since succeeding at one usually lets them capture pieces." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Having to first obtain the item before carrying it adds a preliminary step that makes the delivery goal harder." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Winning ownership of new objects or areas typically makes a player's holdings grow." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When owning an object or area reveals new content, such as texts in a book, it helps complete goals about learning things." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Holding the special position that defines this goal normally requires first winning control of it, so ownership goals form its basis." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Ownership goals can be used to build story structure, and in turn story elements can supply information and motivation for those goals." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Ownership goals give designers a ready way to build quests, and obtaining the sought object can finish the quest." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Succeeding at sneaking past guards can be the way, or the only way, to obtain something without fighting its owners." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Contesting something another player holds creates opposition and uncertainty, which makes players feel strain." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Ownership goals tied to resources, such as taking resource locations, directly or indirectly shape how players handle their resources." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gain_Ownership.svg" }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal that need not be completed to win or finish the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The goals must be visible and worth pursuing for their own sake, and the game must not require them to win. Tracking them with a reward or penalty gives them more weight.", "just_a_label_when": "A listed side goal with no reward or interest, so nobody ever goes for it, or one that is secretly required to progress.", "knobs": "how many optional goals; whether the game tracks them; what reward or penalty they carry", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Optional_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "A goal built into the game's own structure can be turned into a tracked achievement, so a skippable objective becomes a recognized extra target." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Players must decide which extra goals to chase, and the goals themselves can be hard, so the choosing and the doing both add difficulty." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because these goals aren't required, players decide for themselves whether and which ones to pursue, which is why designers add them." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "An optional goal can be linked to an achievement that rewards finishing it, giving players a meta-game nudge to attempt it." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "Optional goals can be set up as a harder way of doing something, and the achievement marks that players chose the tougher route." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players leave some optional goals unfinished, they may start another playthrough to complete more or all of them." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "With several skippable goals available, players pick which ones to go after, so together they form a menu of goals to choose from." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Some skippable goals help players with the main goals, such as collecting extras that make required progress easier." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Because players choose to take the goal on rather than being forced, the commitment is theirs once a penalty attaches." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Many small, non-mandatory goals can be tallied up, and finishing enough of them awards the grind achievement." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When a game offers goals that aren't required, players can make a game out of completing them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Making a short-lived goal optional means players don't have to complete it when it appears, though they might interrupt other plans to try." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Giving members a range of skippable goals shows what the group wants, needs and intends, adding detail to who they are." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Skippable goals can fill in a sparse goal structure, adding more branches without making them required." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Optional_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Eliminate", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: remove certain elements from the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be targets that can be removed and ways for players to remove them, and the goal must matter to winning or progress so players pursue it.", "just_a_label_when": "Targets that are listed as removable but cannot be hurt in practice, or removing them gains nothing.", "knobs": "how many targets; how hard they are to remove; what removal gives", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Eliminate", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "Trying to remove game elements often leads players to seize them instead of destroying them, so going after targets can turn into capturing." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "When players aim to remove each other's pieces or characters, they end up fighting, which creates combat." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "If goals involve removing players or their pieces, some participants can be knocked out well before the match ends." }, { "name": "Extermination", "why": "When removing targets is the main activity for a stretch of play, that stretch becomes a phase of wiping out opponents." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Removing opponents is a way of beating them, so goals of removal naturally produce goals about defeating opposition." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Those who are targeted risk suffering a loss or setback if the removal goal is achieved against them." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "When the targets are players themselves, successfully removing them means they are out of the game." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Targets of removal want to avoid it, so they develop their own aims of stopping the others from succeeding." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A removal goal can be handed to players as a task to complete, giving them a clear mission." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "When generators keep supplying the things players must eliminate, the amount left to remove depends on how fast they are produced, so the goal's size changes during play." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Game elements aiming to destroy the player's pieces make them hostile, or players avoiding being destroyed marks them as enemies." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Removing opposing forces from a territory can be the way a player comes to control that territory." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "The pattern needs players to be able to remove each other from play, so an elimination ability together with shared goals makes it work." }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "why": "If every member of a team has a goal of being removed, completing all of those goals removes the entire team." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Being targeted for removal changes how players steer their characters." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can be assigned goals to remove game elements players care about, which makes them enemies and targets." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Removing the threats that endanger the element is another active route to success, instead of passively waiting out the danger." }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "why": "Designing the individual removal goals for each member encourages team wipe-out, as long as those members can actually be removed." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Targets that cannot be harmed make a removal goal impossible to achieve." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Eliminate.svg" }, { "name": "Gain Information", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: act so as to obtain information and draw conclusions from it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Hide information that matters for decisions, and give actions to uncover it. The knowledge must change what players do.", "just_a_label_when": "Players can discover facts, but the facts are irrelevant or already obvious, so searching has no use.", "knobs": "how much is hidden; cost and means of uncovering it; how useful the information is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gain_Information", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Conceal", "why": "When some agent in the game wants to stop others from learning something, hiding that information becomes its own goal, a counter to the seeking goal." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Learning where an item is located can be a first step toward getting it, so finding information leads into goals of acquiring things." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Non-player characters can ask players to find out something for them, which turns an information-seeking goal into a quest." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "When the information being sought is useful for something else the player is doing, finding it serves that other aim and becomes a supporting goal." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "When players lack knowledge about rules or state, they try actions to find out, especially if information is imperfect." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Exploration is partly about learning about the world, so combining information-seeking with travel produces it." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Discovering facts, phrases or action sequences is the heart of a puzzle, so any goal of finding information drives it." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Players may need to discover where the captive is held before they can free them, and finding them can be part of the reward." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Player-Artifact Proximity", "why": "In games where players move physically, an information goal can require being near a specific object before the knowledge is obtained." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Rescuing someone can serve an information goal, since those saved may carry knowledge players didn't expect, or the rescue may need information first." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Players may need to learn about weaknesses before they can beat an enemy, which changes how the encounter goes." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "If players aren't told where the goal is or what lies between, they must find out first, adding discovery to the task." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gain_Information.svg" }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: learn to perform a certain skill in the game at the required level.", "needs_to_really_work": "Offer abilities players can obtain through items, levels or upgrades, with real gameplay effects and a choice of paths. Players need a reason to want more power.", "just_a_label_when": "Upgrades exist but only give tiny or cosmetic bonuses, so nobody pursues them.", "knobs": "number and size of upgrades; cost to obtain; how many paths to choose", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gain_Competence", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Quests", "why": "Becoming stronger or learning a skill is often needed to beat a boss or get past a barrier, so a story can turn that aim into a quest." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "When the aim is to improve skills, players practice by trying variations of actions and learning how they turn out." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can choose which skills to build up, which feeds into freedom of choice about their own development." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Acquiring a tool can make a player more skilled, which gives a reason to want ownership of the tool." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Improving in a skill or area leads to unlocking actions connected to it, like leveling up in a skill." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "The simplest form of planned growth is players deciding how to get better at things, which builds on competence-gaining goals." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Improving skill can be a race when it gives the winner a temporary edge, provided the goal is exclusive or shared by all." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Working toward competence gives players a sense of power because their abilities get better, shaping how those abilities develop." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Development can happen without competence goals, but when players adopt them, their growth gets a direction and purpose." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Character growth can occur without these goals, but players who adopt them steer it and look forward to what comes next." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Competence goals are about wanting new or better skills, so they shape which skills players try to develop." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "When several players or agents share the same aim of becoming stronger, it becomes a symmetric goal, producing Red Queen Dilemmas or races." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gain_Competence.svg" }, { "name": "Evade", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: avoid being caught and avoid being hit.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a clear threat with a penalty if it hits, and the player must have means of avoiding it, such as movement, and a real chance of failing.", "just_a_label_when": "A danger so slow or easy to dodge that it can be ignored, or a hit that costs nothing.", "knobs": "speed and accuracy of threats; the player's mobility; penalty for being hit", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Evade", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Dodging never reaches a finished state by itself; the danger keeps coming, so players must keep avoiding it for as long as it threatens them." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "When dodging happens live in real time, players need to steer their position skillfully to stay out of harm's way." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Evasion tasks can be packaged as quests, and chaining such quests together can build up a story structure." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "When the danger comes from other agents' actions, evading means stopping those actions from succeeding against you." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "In turn-based games there is no reflex pressure, so working out a safe move by thinking is the skill that evasion calls for." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Avoiding a threat can be turned into a formal task given to the player, which makes it a quest." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Staying unharmed helps players reach other aims such as traversing an area or delivering something, so evasion backs those goals up." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because failing to dodge brings a clear penalty, players who are trying to evade feel pressure and unease." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Fleeing and chasing pair up, and giving the pursuing side special movement makes escaping difficult." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Combined with Overcome, evading forces players to decide at each point whether to play defensively or offensively." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Targets that are trying to dodge keep moving, which makes them harder to line up and hit." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Avoiding danger on the way supports the delivery goal, since the carrier must get through safely to hand something over." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Dodging the attacks of those trying to kill you makes their elimination goal harder to complete." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Either evading or overcoming can solve a problem, so the existence of one reduces the need for the other." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Avoiding hazards helps players get across an area, so evasion supports the crossing goal." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Having to avoid collisions or attacks makes you steer carefully, since mistakes bring penalties and good timing keeps you safe." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Evade.svg" }, { "name": "Survive", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal to keep your game elements from being destroyed or removed.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a real threat (enemies, hazards, draining resources) and a real loss when the thing dies. Players must be able to act to prevent that loss.", "just_a_label_when": "The thing to protect cannot realistically die, or dying costs nothing, so 'survive' is only a label on the screen.", "knobs": "threat strength and frequency; how fast resources drain; how many lives or how much health", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Survive", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Staying alive is not a one-time achievement; you have to keep your element alive for as long as play goes on." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Surviving means stopping something from happening, and it especially works this way when another participant is actively trying to eliminate your element." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "When the thing to keep alive is a non-player character, protecting it can be handed to players as a task that fits into the story." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "With no winning condition, play simply continues until the survival goal fails, so the game can only be lost, never won." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Adding a survival goal to the target of an elimination goal gives the pursued side a purpose of resisting, so each goal works against the other." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Needing to stay alive on top of many simultaneous challenges makes play more overwhelming, which makes a chaotic, barely-coping experience more likely." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "If the thing being guarded can die, then failing to protect it ends the guarding goal, which gives it real stakes." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "When the herded targets can die, players must keep them alive as well as steering them, which adds a way to fail." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Giving rivals a survival goal means killing a rival can no longer serve as an easy way to settle the rivalry." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Survive.svg" }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: it appears and disappears mid-game, and you can fail it through no fault of your own.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goals must appear and expire during play on their own terms, with failure possible beyond the player's actions, and be worth chasing.", "just_a_label_when": "Temporary goals that stay available long enough that everyone completes them eventually, so timing never matters.", "knobs": "how often goals appear; how long they last; how they are triggered, random or state-based", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ephemeral_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Goals that are hard to pull off, like stopping a rival carrier, can be rewarded with special achievements that recognize the skill needed to beat them." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "Ephemeral goals that are mandatory work like sub-goals of a larger goal, so the larger goal's requirements shift as these small goals come and go." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "When a goal can be dropped or lapses at an uncertain moment, the opportunity it creates is short-lived, though how long it lasts isn't fixed." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Because ephemeral goals add local detail unrelated to the main objective, players may misread them as meaningful clues in the story." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "They add small, local details to the game world that don't serve the main goal, making the fictional setting feel more believable and coherent." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Players usually can't know in advance that such a goal exists or what it will be, since it appears only mid-play." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since goals keep being added and removed during play, what players are working toward keeps changing, and random triggering makes each session differ." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Short-lived goals appearing during a session give players optional things to choose to pursue or ignore." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Short-lived goals given to players in multiplayer games let other players easily take up the simple, short-term aim of stopping them." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When randomness generates temporary goals anew each game, the objectives players pursue differ every time they play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Goals designed in advance can be handed to players selectively, by chance or on a fixed cycle, so they show up only at certain moments." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Goals that pop up and vanish can break the expected story flow and spoil plans unless they fit the story or are clearly signposted." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "Making some options in the set available only at certain times keeps the choices changing during play." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A game with no final victory can be built entirely from goals that come and go, so there is always something to pursue." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Constantly changing goals keep play from settling into repetitive routines, so they can help avoid grinding." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ephemeral_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Goal of stopping some other goal from being completed.", "needs_to_really_work": "The target goal must be one that can be interfered with, and the blocking agent needs real means, information and time to act. Opposing goals must conflict directly.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies exist with a blocking role, but they are too weak, too passive or unable to reach the target, so nothing is ever prevented.", "knobs": "strength and number of blockers; the information they have; time limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Preventing_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Goals", "why": "The one defending against a goal and the one pursuing it want opposite things, so their goals differ in nature rather than mirroring each other." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Concealing only matters when someone seeks the hidden thing, and successful hiding is what blocks those seekers from reaching their aim." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Since someone keeps trying to block the target, the blocking goal stays active until the target can no longer possibly be completed." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Whoever works against your goals, especially a computer-controlled character, tends to be perceived by players as an opponent or enemy." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "If one side succeeds, the other must fail, so both goals cannot be reached together." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "The preventer's aim and the target's aim cannot both be achieved, which makes them clash by design." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Opposing forces to a group make it natural to give players or agents a side they feel bound to." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Characters whose aim is to block the player act as the opposing force that the player must fight." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Whether they hold the goal being blocked or the blocking goal, players are likely to start seeing these characters as enemies." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Survival involves active threats and passive ones like starvation, so designers of blocking goals must balance those two forces." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Aims that stop others from achieving things clash with joint effort at a basic level, though teams can oppose each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Preventing_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: keep part of the game state within set limits.", "needs_to_really_work": "Something must threaten the held state so that it needs attention, and failing must have a consequence. The player must be able to tell how well they are doing.", "just_a_label_when": "The game says keep something above a level, but nothing pushes it down or failing costs nothing.", "knobs": "how long it must be held; how tight the limits are; how strongly the state is pushed away", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Continuous_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Since the goal must be kept up while players do other things, they must keep switching focus to check on it, which makes play demanding." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Because the goal has to stay satisfied over time, it is never fully finished and the possible ending keeps hanging over the player." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players must keep holding the goal state while a looming end or time demand weighs on them, which builds tension." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Players aware that a goal must be sustained start thinking about duration, so the goal can lead them to consider time limits." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Holding a state over time means players are always under pressure to keep it up, which adds time pressure to play." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "If failing to maintain the goal state ends the game for the player, the game can be built so that it only gets lost, never won." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Goals that never finish, paired with reasons to return, make timing your play a challenge." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "A companion needs to share ongoing aims with the player so it keeps staying alongside and helping throughout the game." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Ongoing shared aims let players negotiate how to deal with dilemmas over them, and teamwork can emerge from that bargaining." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Rewards can be made larger or better the longer players have kept the goal up, so lasting success pays off more." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Linking a dilemma to a sustained goal means players can't settle it once and for all but have to keep managing it over a longer stretch of play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Continuous_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal in which the same task faces two or more participants.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must truly succeed or fail together, with shared rewards or penalties. Added individual incentives decide whether the shared goal stays shared.", "just_a_label_when": "A team label or common objective in the text while outcomes and rewards stay individual, so players just pursue their own aims.", "knobs": "how much is shared versus individual; how big the shared reward is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mutual_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Symbiotic Player Relations", "why": "When players share a goal and its rewards, each one's success helps the others, so they end up depending on one another." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "A goal held jointly is by nature the same goal for everyone sharing it, so every holder is aiming at the identical target." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Because the goal belongs to the whole group, reaching it counts as something the team achieved together rather than any single player." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "A companion needs aims it shares with the player so that helping the player also advances its own purposes." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When players share an objective and also share the reward, they have good reason to pursue it jointly." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "When everyone is working toward the same aims, players feel they are facing the chaos together instead of separately." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "A shared aim combined with rivalry among the members makes players choose between helping the common goal and beating each other." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Agents who share the same goal need to work toward it together, which is what makes them a team." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Factions", "why": "Within a faction, what some members want logically becomes wanted by the whole group, so shared goals shape the faction's overall aims." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "With shared goals present, players who enjoy things going badly can end up enjoying the disaster together instead of only individually." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Sharing goals changes how players see penalties, compared with suffering a penalty when nobody else does." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Sharing goals changes how players value rewards, compared with receiving one when nobody else gets anything." }, { "name": "Shared Resources", "why": "When players already hold resources in common and are then given a common goal, it affects how they treat those resources." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "A set of goals can't both exclude each other and be shared by everyone, so the two kinds can't describe the same goals." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mutual_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Achievements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goals whose completion is remembered beyond a single play session.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs persistent storage across sessions, goals that point at varied or unusual play, and visibility to others if they are to carry social value. Goals should require effort or experimentation rather than happen on their own.", "just_a_label_when": "Badges pop up for things everybody does anyway, with no persistence or visibility, so they change nobody's play.", "knobs": "how many achievements; how hard they are; how visible and what they ask players to try", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Achievements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collections", "why": "Players can be asked to do an action or goal several times, or gather sets of other achievements, so achievements naturally form collections." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Achievements are recorded outside any single play session, so earning one leaves a lasting effect beyond the match where it happened." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Achievements are optional targets, so players decide for themselves whether to chase them, which gives them a choice beyond the main goals." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Hard achievements, such as those needing skillful play, show how good a player is; in single-player games they may be the only way to display it." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "Achievements are kept as records of what a player did, stored between game sessions, so they work as a type of saved play statistic." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Separate achievements can exist for individual goals plus one for finishing the whole set, as with the quest-area and region achievements in World of Warcraft." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "When achievements carry numbers, such as a completion percentage or summed point values, they can be ranked and compared like a score table." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Players can set their own aims around achievements, like earning every one or sets of them, creating a game layered on top of the main game." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Achievements give players extra targets they may pursue but need not, such as trying other play styles or completing tasks beyond the main objective." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "When achievements are tied to required goals arranged in tiers, earning them shows players how far through the game they have gotten." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Achievements are stored outside the player's own computer and can be viewed online, so others can see what a player has accomplished." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Because earning achievements can bring social standing, players may compete to get them before other players do." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Achievements for optional goals, alternative play styles, or every possible ending give players reasons to play the game again." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Each achievement is given for something the player did, and in-game items may also come with it, so it acts as a reward." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "Others can see the achievements a player has earned, so getting them can win recognition and status from the community." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "Achievements start out unearned and become available to the player once the required action or goal is done, including a goal of unlocking them all." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Achievements reward effort like repeated actions or hard play, and broadcasting them lets others notice that effort and give social standing." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Achievements can be given for finishing campaigns, such as completing all of them on the hardest difficulty, which shapes how players approach them." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "In games where characters' fates can vary, an achievement for each possible ending gives players a reason to replay to see them all." }, { "name": "Sidegrades", "why": "If achievements give in-game effects, sidegrades are fitting since they change options without upsetting the balance between players." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A game with no way to win lacks clear aims, but achievements supply goals for players to pursue, though only optional ones." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "Achievements may be tied to a game ending early or to staying through, so a player leaving a match can clash with earning one." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Achievements.svg" }, { "name": "Overcome", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of defeating an opposing force.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be an opponent with a way to resist or act against the player, and clear rules for what counts as defeating it. The opposing force needs agency or a story that makes it feel like a force.", "just_a_label_when": "An enemy that is on the goal list but is passive and cannot resist, so defeating it is just a chore, or a victory that is announced without any real opposition.", "knobs": "what opponents are to be defeated; how many; how defeat is defined and how strong they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Overcome", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "When you are trying to defeat an opposing force, the natural way to show that struggle is as a fight, so combat tends to appear." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "The opponent can try to defeat you too, so your goal and theirs cannot both be met; one side's win is the other's loss." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Beating an opponent often hands over control of things they held, so the winner ends up owning what was taken." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Winning against opposition usually depends on skill, so players are motivated to practice and get better at the game." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Stories are often written to give players a reason to want to defeat the opposing force, supplying motive and theme." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "After a defeat is completed, the loser may be removed from the game as a consequence of being overcome." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Because the opposing side can also try to defeat you, both sides end up chasing the same kind of goal against each other." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "An opponent who acts on their own and can resist you makes the outcome uncertain, which creates nervous excitement." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Combined with Evade, pursuing offensive goals forces players to decide when to attack instead of defending." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Agents in the game can try to defeat whoever is carrying something to its destination, which makes delivering harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Overcome.svg" }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: goals are linked so that completing or failing some affects others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goals must really depend on each other, so finishing lower goals is needed for, or helps, higher ones. The relationships should be visible to players so they can plan around them.", "just_a_label_when": "A list of tasks that can all be done in any order with no effect on one another, just presented as a tree.", "knobs": "number of levels; how strict the dependencies are; whether lower goals are required or optional", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Goal_Hierarchies", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Because goals are linked to each other, players must think about how the pieces connect and which route through them to take, which adds depth." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "When lower goals must be finished before higher ones, each completed layer ends a bigger chunk of play, so closure steps up as you advance." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A hierarchy of goals can suggest or serve as a starting skeleton from which a story's sequence of events is built." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Seeing goals that depend on one another pushes players to think ahead and plan how to work through them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Companion Quests", "why": "A companion's story can be too long for one quest or need pacing, so several smaller quests get linked together under a larger goal." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "The conflict with an enemy can be broken into many subgoals that players must complete in turn." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "The top of a hierarchy is a natural choice for a game's main goal, and the innermost goal is typically the main goal." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "A goal becomes supporting once it relates to a higher goal, so being placed in a hierarchy turns it into one." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "A long journey can be split into a tree of smaller goals, as in the overall structure of many Mario games." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The structure of a story tends to shape layered goals, so the two can influence each other." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Goal_Hierarchies.svg" }, { "name": "Herd", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: bring objects to a needed place not by moving them directly but by acting through others.", "needs_to_really_work": "The herded elements need their own movement and a limited set of ways for players to nudge them (pushing, luring, blocking), with a clear destination. The herded things must be able to go the wrong way so steering takes real effort.", "just_a_label_when": "Elements that just follow the player or a fixed path to the goal, so the player never has to handle their independent movement.", "knobs": "how stubborn or erratic the herded things are; how strong the player's influence is; distance to the goal", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Herd", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "When the things you herd can wander apart, you end up having to gather scattered pieces and bring them back together, which feels like collecting." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Herding is easy to phrase as a concrete task, like guiding someone to a spot, so games commonly hand it to players as a quest." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Since the herded things must reach a destination, getting them there means crossing the game space, so a traversal goal comes along automatically." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Adding herding goals on top of sneaking makes the task more demanding than stealth alone." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Agents that the player tries to herd become enemies when they resist, since they are trying to avoid the player's aim." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Each successful herding into an area can be a lower goal, with finishing all herding being the higher goal (together with One-Way Travel)." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Steering your own piece gets harder when you must also track how several herded elements are moving at the same moment." }, { "name": "Check Points", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Herd.svg" }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "A goal where a player has a task that the others do not know about.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give players private goals that matter for winning, and keep them hidden through cards or a facilitator. Other players must have a reason and a way to guess or probe.", "just_a_label_when": "Hidden goals that all players have identical or that do not affect how anyone plays, so there is nothing to guess or hide.", "knobs": "how many secret goals; how different they are between players; whether they must be fulfilled to win", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Secret_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Since knowing others' goals helps, players act misleadingly to hide their own aims, which is bluffing." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Hidden aims make players guess others' intentions while concealing theirs, adding extra layers of reasoning to the game." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Because rivals' goals are hidden yet useful to know, players set out to discover them as a goal of their own." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "When nobody knows what others are really trying to achieve, their moves become harder to anticipate." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Keeping your aim hidden means acting as a version of yourself without that goal, which is a form of acting." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Not knowing who is secretly closing in on a win keeps players uncertain and on edge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Hidden goals can create or deepen conflicts, since players or characters pull toward aims others don't know about." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "With several players, hidden goals are most useful, making it harder to spot who is winning and adding uncertainty." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Characters can carry hidden goals, which the player may then adopt as their own secret aims." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Character goals that stay hidden give players a stronger basis for more challenging acting of their role." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Hidden objectives keep players from knowing how close others are to winning, which makes naming a leader hard or impossible." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Hidden objectives make players unsure what others are aiming for, so the likely winner is unclear." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "Because the winner is unclear, players keep believing they still have a chance, so they are less tempted to give up." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Secret_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Guard", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: keep other players or elements away from certain zones or objects.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be something worth guarding and real opponents trying to get it, with ways for the guard to fail. The guard needs means to watch and block, either passive (traps, alarms) or active (combat).", "just_a_label_when": "An objective marked 'defend' that nobody ever attacks, or that cannot be lost.", "knobs": "what is guarded; how strong and how frequent the threats are; what means of defence are available", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Guard", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Defending something means constantly watching the area, items, or opponents involved, so the player's attention is kept busy." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "A guard goal is never truly finished until there is no remaining chance of the protected thing being taken or entered." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "If many players or agents share one guard goal but only one may fulfil it at a time, they end up competing for that spot." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Guarding is about stopping others from capturing, rescuing, or sneaking, so it works as a goal of blocking opponents' aims." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "When the guarded area is too big to see all at once, players must go look around to find out what is happening." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When players can freely place the pieces they use for guarding, they must think ahead about where to put them." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Players may choose between actively defending and chasing other goals, weighing the risk and reward of each tactic." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Guarding something against Capture, Rescue or Stealth makes the guarder's goal and the opposing goal impossible to both complete." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Rescue arises when some agents are assigned to guard something and others are given the aim and means to free it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Opponents set to watch for intruders make it more likely a sneaking player is caught, so the goal gets harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Guard.svg" }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal to complete a task that mainly helps reach the game's other goals.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reward must really make the main goal easier, and the link must be visible to players. Whether the goal is required or optional decides if players weigh trade-offs.", "just_a_label_when": "A side goal whose reward has no effect on the main goal, so it only looks like it helps.", "knobs": "size of the help given to the main goal; whether the goal is required or optional; cost to complete", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Supporting_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "When a helper goal must be finished before the bigger goal can be completed, goals end up stacked in layers, with small ones feeding larger ones." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Required helper goals that lead toward a main goal show players how far along they are, since finishing each one marks a step closer." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "A helper goal's challenge can differ from its main goal's challenge, so players get to do different kinds of activities along the way." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Computer characters pursuing goals that help the player make the game gentler and keep casual play more firmly in place." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "A companion needs goals aimed at assisting the player's objectives, which is what makes it act as a helper." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Computer characters whose aim is to help the player will assist rather than betray them." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Giving computer-controlled characters goals that help the player makes them coordinate with the player, producing team-combo-like results." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Players can attack the main goal head-on or use helper goals that might make it easier, which changes how hard the game is." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Helper goals placed around the world give players reasons to go look around and also lead to unexpected finds." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "Their rewards are meant to make a larger goal easier or more achievable, so they change how players approach it." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "They can give trailing players a chance to catch up, provided leaders don't find them easier and chasing them doesn't set trailers back further." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When helper goals are optional, players must choose between spending effort on them or going straight for the main goal." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Helper goals along a route split a long journey into smaller pieces and can sit at places like boosters or check points." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Giving NPCs aims that help the player makes them cooperative, leading to teamwork and simpler play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Something players take to be a helpful side goal may turn out to be a decoy, so the two can be confused." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Supporting_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal where the player chooses which goals to pursue from a set.", "needs_to_really_work": "Offer several goals that really differ in risk, reward, or path, and make choosing among them matter, for example by excluding others. The set may change during play.", "just_a_label_when": "A list of goals where one is clearly best or all lead to the same result, so choosing is not a real decision.", "knobs": "how many goals are offered; whether the set changes; whether choices exclude each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Selectable_Set_of_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "When players must pick among several goals, having so many options to weigh against each other can leave them stuck and unable to decide." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Letting a player who is behind decide which goals from the set count gives that player a way to catch up with rivals or NPCs." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "If goals differ in difficulty and players can tell which are harder, they can pick tougher ones to make the game more demanding for themselves." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Because the available goals are fixed in advance, players can only choose among them, which pushes their behavior toward those particular options." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players get to decide which goals to pursue, so they have real say over what they do, such as picking which quest location to travel to." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Having to choose between goals that all appeal to the player can pull them in different directions and make the decision feel hard." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Choosing among goals gives players a sense of steering where their character ends up, as long as the options represent distinct destinies." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Since players can choose different goals each time, they have reason to play again, especially when picking one goal rules out others." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Picking some goals from the set means giving up others, so players must weigh what they gain against what they leave behind." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Different goal choices lead players into different play experiences, provided the choices actually change how the game unfolds." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Making the choice explicit shows players that picking one goal shuts out others, and it can include goals that don't exclude anything." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A single required goal in the hierarchy can be swapped for a set of goals, letting players choose which one to work on." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Players need not be locked into one specific grind goal, because a set lets them choose among several to fulfil it." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Even when a game has open destiny, being made to choose goals forces players to commit to decisions about what their character is aiming for." }, { "name": "Polyathlons", "why": "Players may be allowed to choose which events make up the polyathlon, so the selection itself shapes the competition." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Within a fixed story, goal choices let players make some decisions, giving them a feeling of influence over how things go." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "With several goals to choose from, players and spectators know roughly what outcomes are possible but can't foresee the exact result as precisely as with a single goal." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Selectable_Set_of_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: choose one of several, because completing one closes off the others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define goals whose completion conditions really conflict, with clear rules for who or what wins when they clash (usually order of completion or a tiebreaker). Players need to be able to choose among them for the trade-off to matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Several goals are listed as alternatives, but a player can achieve all of them anyway, so nothing is given up.", "knobs": "how many goals exclude each other; whether exclusion is between players or within one player's own choices", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Excluding_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Once one excluding goal is finished, you know which futures are now impossible, so the game can safely remove leftover elements and actions tied to the failed goals." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "When finishing a goal cuts off other goals, such as pruning branches of a goal tree, players must be shown goal information that changes as play proceeds." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "Completing one goal makes the others fail, so those goals cannot all be achieved together, which is one way goals become incompatible." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "Because finishing one goal knocks out the others, players effectively choose which goals to pursue and can only complete a subset of them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Since one player's success blocks another's, or one goal blocks your other goals, stakes rise and conflict between players and choices increases tension." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When a goal to build competence can only be won by one party, it becomes a race to get there first." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When choosing one goal rules out another, players must replay to try the alternatives, especially when goals are selectable." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When achieving one goal rules out another, players must decide which is more valuable to them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Evade", "why": "Finishing your side of an excluding group voids the enemy's goals against you, so the need to evade disappears too." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Working out which goals exclude each other can be a skill players learn, especially if the game does not explicitly tell them." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "In a tree-shaped hierarchy, completing one goal can cut off branches, removing the goals under them and reshaping what remains available." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "Excluding goals tie one player's success to others' failure, which is at odds with rewards that all players share." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Since completing one goal voids the others, a shared or equal outcome cannot occur, making ties impossible." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Excluding_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Deliver", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: move a game item to a specified object or place.", "needs_to_really_work": "The object and the destination must both be specific, the trip must have some difficulty or opposition, and the delivery must be recognized by the game. The way there should require real movement.", "just_a_label_when": "An item that appears at the destination or is handed over by a menu, so no trip is made.", "knobs": "distance; what opposes the trip; how many items must be delivered", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Deliver", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "If the thing being delivered must be launched or thrown toward its destination, players end up needing to aim and shoot it." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Completing a delivery is a clear player action, so story threads can be advanced or changed depending on whether it succeeded." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A delivery task gives a clear errand to hand out, so it forms a natural basis for quests." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "When enemies actively oppose the delivery by evading or overcoming them, players must sneak the item past them, which creates stealth goals." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Since the item has to get from one place to another, the player must cross the game space, so traversal becomes part of the goal." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Herding is delivering with a twist: the thing being brought moves by itself, and players can only influence it indirectly rather than carry it." }, { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "why": "Delivering means carrying an item to a spot, and if the item's position matters, players must go there themselves, making their own location matter." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Artifact-Location Proximity", "why": "In games played in the real world, deliveries may need the game to track how close the item is to its destination." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Deliver.svg" }, { "name": "Collections", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: complete a whole set of smaller goals.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear set with visible progress, items with effort or variety behind them, and a reward for completion.", "just_a_label_when": "A completion list is displayed, but finishing it yields nothing and the items are trivial to get.", "knobs": "set size; rarity of items; reward for completion", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Collections", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Check Points", "why": "A collection can be made of checkpoints, so passing each one tracks progress, which helps most in races where players aren't forced down a single route." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Since a collection needs its parts gathered, wanting the whole collection naturally pushes players to go out and gather the required items." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "When a collection requires certain game items, players may also have to arrange or combine them correctly, which can create configuration goals." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A collection is itself a goal made from other goals, so having one automatically stacks smaller goals beneath a larger one." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Bringing several items together or solving several story problems can drive the plot forward, so collections can carry a story's progression." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Gathering items such as parts for repairing or building something gives players a purpose to pursue, so collections help form or structure quests." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "When resource generators feed items that a collecting goal needs, how many items are available varies with how often they are produced, so the goal's requirements keep shifting." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "A grind achievement can be built by requiring a set of many small goals to be completed, so a collection of them forms the grind." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Collections paired with testing achievements can push players to repeat actions to complete sets, producing grinding and grind achievements." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Gathering a full set of things, such as every achievement, gives players a goal that spans many games." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "When victory is calculated from sets of gathered resources, that combination effectively forms a points system." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Almost any game item can be the thing that is gathered, so a collection goal shapes why those items matter to players." }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "why": "A team wipe-out can be seen as a set of individual removal goals gathered together, so designing that set shapes how it plays." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Collections.svg" }, { "name": "Alignment", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: line up your pieces or elements in a row.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to move or place pieces, and opponents must be able to interfere, so completing the line takes planning. The line needs a clear payoff such as a capture or a win.", "just_a_label_when": "Lines form by chance with no player influence or no payoff, so there is nothing to aim for.", "knobs": "required line length; how pieces move or are placed; whether opponents can block", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Alignment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "In board games, once pieces line up, the alignment commonly triggers a capture, so lining things up is the step that lets you take pieces." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "Getting pieces into a line is just one specific way of arranging elements into a required layout, so it counts as a configuration goal." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "A line that is almost complete is easy to see, so players can tell they are close to finishing and feel pulled toward it." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Opponents or moving pieces can block or remove elements from a line, which makes it harder to finish and gives players a reason to stop others." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Each piece added makes the line look more complete, so players can read their progress straight from the board." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Working out how to move or place elements into the right positions, or remove ones in the way, is a puzzle players must figure out." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Aiming means lining up two points, the shooter and the target, so the aligning goal is what the shooting action consists of." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Alignment can serve as the starting goal that players compete over, with the hill being a state only one of them can hold." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Since players must place elements to form a line, the alignment goal changes how and where adding new pieces matters." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Players must move elements into position, and alignment can even decide which paths pieces take, so it shapes how movement works." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Alignment.svg" }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: take a desirable position in the game and hold it while others try to take it away.", "needs_to_really_work": "Several players must want the same hold-the-spot condition that only one can have, with holding rewarded over time. The holder needs some edge or pressure so the position matters and the others are pushed to contest it.", "just_a_label_when": "A marked zone exists but holding it gives nothing, or nobody can contest it, so people ignore it.", "knobs": "time required to hold; how fast score builds; advantage or penalty for the holder", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/King_of_the_Hill", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Players not holding the hill share a common enemy in whoever holds it, so they team up against that player, which pulls the leader back." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "The goal is never finished once and for all; a player must keep holding the position, and play continues while control is contested." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "Whoever currently holds the hill becomes everyone else's target, so who is being pursued keeps changing as control passes between players." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "Only one player or side can satisfy the goal at a time, so one player's progress means everyone else's is blocked." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Since others can take over the position, a player holding it can be disrupted, and each player can stop the others from succeeding." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Every participant is given the very same goal to chase, so no player has a different objective from the rest." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Constant competition and conflict over holding the hill, plus the shifting alliances against the holder, keep players on edge and uncertain of the outcome." }, { "name": "Alignment", "why": "A hill-style goal can be built by changing an alignment goal, so alignment can serve as the way that goal is played." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Holding the top position requires winning control of it first, so that goal is carried out through ownership." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/King_of_the_Hill.svg" }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal set by the developers in advance, before the game starts.", "needs_to_really_work": "Requirements and outcomes must be fixed in advance and visible enough for players to plan. A reward or consequence has to be attached to completing them.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal list is shown, but completing items gives nothing and changes no decisions, or players invent their own aims anyway.", "knobs": "how many goals; how they are ordered or nested; how much is revealed up front; reward size", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Predefined_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Because the goals are fixed ahead of time and often must be met to finish, players are pushed to steer toward particular game states." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Since the goals stay the same, players can practice reaching them quickly or again across several games, and that skill is what mastery looks like." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Because the designer settles in advance how each goal relates to the others, it is easy to arrange them into ranked layers." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "Since how goals relate is decided before play, the designer can easily offer players a preset group of goals to pick from." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Even when it is random which goal applies, knowing the set of possible goals is already knowledge about the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "When players face many preset goals, or ones that are hard to tell apart, choosing among them can become so taxing that they stall." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When several preset goals are on offer, players get to decide which one to chase, giving them real choice." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Having preset goals in a game can reliably make players compete against one another over reaching them." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Goals introduced mid-game that support the story are set in advance, so they don't give away plot early or disturb the order of events." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When players can pick among several preset goals, they can plan how their position will grow toward the one they chose." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Supporting goals can be preset by the designer, so their link to other goals is fixed before play starts." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "They are the simplest way to link players' goals to the story." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Predefined_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Conceal", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: prevent other players from learning the information they need.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need a way to hide things (hiding places, hidden information, decoys) and an opponent who actually searches or benefits from knowing. Without both, hiding is pointless.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal says to hide, but everything is visible to everyone anyway, or nobody is looking.", "knobs": "how much information is hidden; how many hiding places or decoys are available; how well opponents can search", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Conceal", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Hiding is something a player keeps doing for as long as someone could be searching, so the goal never gets finished once and for all." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Opponents can't see what a player is hiding, so they may not even realize that player is working on a concealment goal." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "Hiding the cheat actions from others, since they aren't shown as normal gameplay, is a main way to make cheating allowed yet secret." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Stealth is formed by joining the aim of hiding with the aim of getting somewhere; hiding is one of its two necessary parts." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Survive", "why": "Staying out of sight is one way to stay alive, so players with a survival goal tend to adopt hiding as well." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Conceal.svg" }, { "name": "Rescue", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of freeing someone who is guarded or cannot move on their own.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a held target, something that guards it, and means to overcome or avoid the guards. Rescuing must change the game state, such as progress or reward.", "just_a_label_when": "A captive mentioned in the story, but freeing it takes no effort or has no effect on play.", "knobs": "strength and number of guards; distance and obstacles to the target; reward for success", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Rescue", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a player's own character is the one needing rescue, that player may be stuck waiting and unable to act until someone frees them." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Rescue goals give a story something to hang on, and the plot can supply motivation and information for them, so they support each other." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Freeing someone means getting past the guards holding them, so rescue is defined through goals of beating or getting around those opponents." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Rescue goals are often used as fixed plot points in a game's story, such as a kidnapped character who must be freed." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Guards actively try to stop players from freeing the captive, so the rescue goal is defined by overcoming opposition working against it." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A captive in need of freeing is an easy, ready-made starting point for building a quest around." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "A Guard keeping a prisoner against Rescue means the guarder's goal and the rescuer's goal cannot both be completed." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Giving some players the goal of saving helpless teammates ties them together in a stressful, shared situation." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Rescue.svg" }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "feelings × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: the player commits in advance to completing a task, as if by contract.", "needs_to_really_work": "Taking the goal must be optional, with a real cost for failing or for giving up other goals.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'commitment' prompt that can be dropped at any time with no penalty.", "knobs": "penalty for failure; reward for success; whether goals exclude each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Committed_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Helping others now at a cost to yourself is a commitment, and you only get paid back if they return the favor later." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "When failing a goal would hurt badly, characters or players are effectively pushed to act in ways that serve that goal." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Having several goals to pick from means choosing one gives up others, so the player is pulled between competing options." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Even a single committed goal makes players weigh taking it on versus ignoring it, and several exclusive goals make that choice sharper." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "A goal an opponent is locked into becomes an especially valuable thing to uncover when it is also kept secret, so players seek that information." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Since players chose the goal and face penalties, both succeeding and failing hit harder emotionally, making the ending moment feel stronger." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Pottering relies on handling resources without pressure from rewards or penalties, while committed goals depend on exactly that kind of pressure." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Committed_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: the conditions of the goal itself change as the game goes on.", "needs_to_really_work": "Changes must follow clear rules and be visible enough that players can replan, yet not so large that the goal feels like a different one.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal whose displayed numbers or wording shift but whose real task, cost and approach stay the same.", "knobs": "which goal parameter changes; how big and how frequent the changes are; what triggers them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dynamic_Goal_Characteristics", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "When players don't know what a goal currently requires because it has shifted, the goal is effectively hidden from them, which pushes them to go find out what it is now." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "" }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Changing goal characteristics can add goals to a hierarchy or remove some from it, altering which goals players have to pursue." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "Even the overarching goal of a game can have parts that change, such as a story twist revealing a new objective." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When a goal shifts, plans players made toward the old goal may no longer fit, so they have to rethink and replan their development." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dynamic_Goal_Characteristics.svg" }, { "name": "Main Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal that shows the player which challenges to take on and gives motivation to play.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must state the overarching aim clearly and tie play actions to reaching it. Completing it should be how one wins or finishes.", "just_a_label_when": "A stated goal exists but other activities are more rewarding, so players ignore it.", "knobs": "how many main goals; whether all are required; how clearly they are shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Main_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Mandatory Goals", "why": "A main goal has to be reached to finish the game, so by its nature it is a goal players must complete." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Main goals often sit at the top of a goal hierarchy, or stand for the whole hierarchy, shaping how the smaller goals beneath them are arranged." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Story and main goals are two separate ways to motivate players, so a main goal can be shaped to support the story's progression." }, { "name": "Polyathlons", "why": "Each game inside a polyathlon has a clear main goal, and those individual outcomes are what decide the overall result." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Because main goals tell players up front what to aim for, they are goals fixed by design, though details may be filled in later." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Each match in a tournament has its own clear main goal, so the results of those matches determine the tournament outcome." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Games that can't be completed can still give a main goal showing what to strive for, such as surviving longer, so players can judge success." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A main goal normally lets the game be completed, while an unwinnable game by definition cannot be completed, so the two pull against each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Main_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Configuration", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: arrange game elements in a required order or layout.", "needs_to_really_work": "The target arrangement must be clear, and there must be real obstacles to reaching it, such as opponents, hidden information, time or a puzzle. Progress toward it should be visible.", "just_a_label_when": "An arrangement is named as the goal, but it is reached automatically by ordinary moves, so it asks for no planning.", "knobs": "size and complexity of the pattern; how many elements; how hard it is to place them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Configuration", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "Completing a successful arrangement typically rewards the player by letting them take some game elements, so achieving the goal shows up as capturing pieces." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Because the goal depends on where elements sit relative to each other, players can see an arrangement nearly finished, which creates a sense of being close to completion." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "" } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Configuration.svg" }, { "name": "Sidequests", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal made of tasks that can be skipped when completing the main story.", "needs_to_really_work": "Side quests need their own goals and rewards that are worth the detour, and a main quest they can be skipped from without breaking it. Some should lead to different outcomes or exclude each other so that choosing between them matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A fetch-and-return errand marked as optional whose reward is trivial or duplicated by the main path, so skipping it costs nothing and doing it adds nothing.", "knobs": "how many side quests there are; how big their rewards are; how many exclude each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sidequests", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because sidequests are extras, players decide for themselves how much of the game world to explore beyond the main path." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Sidequests sit beside the main quests and can be skipped, so they give players goals they are free to take or leave." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Sidequests are often built into the game's fixed story, adding detail to it without being required to progress." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A sidequest is simply a quest that is not part of the main quest line, so each one is a quest." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When sidequests exclude each other or there are too many to finish in one session, players have reasons to play again." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Sidequests give rewards and character growth like other quests, which helps players with the main game, so they work as supporting goals." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Sidequests give players free choice over which tasks to take on, and those choices can themselves define the character." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "Sidequests can add depth to the story around companions, letting players learn more about them without being forced into it." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Sidequests can flesh out the story of factions, so players get more detail without having to join or side with them." }, { "name": "Main Quests", "why": "Sidequests only exist alongside main quests, which they complement with optional extra content." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sidequests.svg" }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Goal: other players or the game itself can speed up, slow down or break its completion.", "needs_to_really_work": "Other agents need actual actions that can hamper the goal, and a reason to use them. Players should be able to tell who might interfere.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal others could theoretically interfere with, but no action in the game lets them, so it is effectively safe.", "knobs": "what actions interfere; who can interfere; how visible the goal and threat are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Interferable_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When a goal can be meddled with, even someone on your own side may choose to meddle with it, which amounts to betraying you." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Because others can affect a goal's progress, they can be given the aim of stopping it, so the interferable goal becomes the target of their own goal." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Players who share the same goal can still be given ways to disturb one another's progress, so the goals stay equal while remaining interferable." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Interferable_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Repeat Combos", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Combinations where the same action must be repeated a set number of times within a time limit.", "needs_to_really_work": "The required count and time window must be tight enough to need effort or skill but reachable. The reward must be worth the effort, and progress should be visible so players feel the chain.", "just_a_label_when": "A combo counter that rewards nothing, or a window so generous that every ordinary play meets it without trying.", "knobs": "number of repeats; length of the time window; size of the reward", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Repeat_Combos", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "why": "Finishing one combo usually starts the next, and each new one asks for a steadily larger count, so the targets grow in even steps." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "The pattern is a kind of combo: you chain the same action several times in a row to earn something extra." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Completing a combo typically kicks off another one, so there is always a fresh target waiting for the player." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "The goal only exists while the clock is running, so it vanishes if the player can't finish the repetitions in time." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Players only chase these combos if they can see how far along they are, so progress is nearly always displayed on screen." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "Some games turn a repeat combo into a named achievement, as in Team Fortress 2 where timed repeated kills unlock special awards." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Hitting the required number of repeats within the time limit pays out a bonus, which is the whole point of the combo." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Bonus rewards for repeating an action quickly make tedious repetition feel more worthwhile, so grinding becomes more interesting." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "Collecting reward widgets is a common action to count, so gathering them in quick succession can earn the player extra rewards." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Chaining the same combo again and again is a hard feat, so a goal asking for it or an audience watching it pushes players to sharpen their skill." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Repeat_Combos.svg" }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal that is unknown to the player at first, and sometimes later too.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goals must be genuinely hidden from the player at first and revealed later through play or clues. Hints should exist so players know something is there.", "just_a_label_when": "Goals that are labelled hidden but are listed in the menu or manual, or that can be guessed from the start.", "knobs": "when and how goals get revealed; how many hints are given", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unknown_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When players know a hidden goal exists but not its details, they are pushed to set themselves the task of finding out more about it." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Even if which goal applies is hidden, knowing the full list of possible goals is already useful knowledge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Hiding goals is often used on the smaller steps leading to a main objective, so those subgoals are discovered along the way." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When new goals are revealed mid-game, players who planned ahead have to rethink and change their plans." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Designers often conceal goals that were fixed in advance so players can't see the planned story structure too early." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Keeping goals hidden lets a scripted story unfold in order without giving away what comes next, so players' actions fit the narrative." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Players can be shown what they will win for finishing a goal while the way to achieve it stays hidden." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "When hidden goals get revealed later, players who chose among goals have to reconsider which ones they picked." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Once players have played, the goals they didn't know about become known, so the mystery is absent in later sessions." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Hidden goals are pointless if players can guess from others' behavior that they want the same thing, or if goals can't be detected." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unknown_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Enclosure", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: surround game elements with an unbroken line or wall made of other elements.", "needs_to_really_work": "Pieces need placement or movement rules that allow forming a closed boundary, and enclosing must earn something such as capture or ownership.", "just_a_label_when": "An enclosing shape that can be formed but gives no benefit, or the board makes closing it impossible.", "knobs": "size of the board; what can enclose and be enclosed; what enclosing yields", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Enclosure", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "Once you successfully wall in something, those enclosed pieces typically end up captured by the player who built the surrounding wall." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "Enclosure is a kind of Configuration, because pieces must be arranged in a particular surrounding layout to count as succeeding at it." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Closing off an area can hand the enclosing player control or ownership of what lies inside, as an alternative to simply removing it." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Enclosure can serve as the starting goal that players compete over, with the hill being a state only one of them can hold." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Since the aim is to surround things, it shapes where and how players place new pieces, which must be positioned to form the surrounding barrier." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Because surrounding is the goal, it affects how pieces are moved, as they are steered to close gaps in a wall or avoid being trapped." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Enclosure.svg" }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal where the sides have essentially the same tasks and the same rewards for them.", "needs_to_really_work": "All sides must have the same objective with the same requirements and rewards, and the means to pursue it must be comparable. Differences in start or tools quietly break the symmetry.", "just_a_label_when": "Everyone has the same stated goal, but different starting powers or rewards make it effectively different goals.", "knobs": "sameness of objectives and rewards; how equal starting conditions are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Symmetric_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "When every player pursues the same goal, nobody starts with a different objective, so the game is evenly set up between players." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because everyone's aims look alike, players can easily read what opponents are after and use that understanding to plan their own moves." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "If all players share the aim of eliminating each other, together with the ability to do it, each is pursuing being the last survivor." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Giving everyone the same goal makes them chase it at once, which is the plain form of a race." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Goals", "why": "Goals cannot be both identical and different for the same set of goals, so the two patterns exclude each other, though a game may use each for separate goals." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Hidden goals are pointless if players can guess from others' behavior that they want the same thing, or if goals can't be detected." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Playing another role with the same goal as before feels much the same, so replays offer less variety than with differing goals." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Symmetric_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Asymmetric Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: players have tasks of different kinds that cannot be swapped between them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each goal needs a different path and a different payoff, with abilities fitted to the goals, and some check that no goal is clearly easier. Cyclic strengths between goals can keep fairness while keeping the difference.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are handed different goal cards, but all goals reduce to the same thing, like 'collect the most points', so play looks identical.", "knobs": "how much goal requirements and rewards differ; whether goals are assigned or chosen; how well they are balanced against each other", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asymmetric_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Gameplay", "why": "When players pursue goals with different requirements, they have to act differently from one another, so what each person does during play ends up unlike the others." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "If goals differ from the very start of a game, players begin with unequal objectives, so their starting situations are already not the same." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Different goals create varied play, and that variety gives players reasons to play again, unless a single session already shows them everything." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since players work toward unlike goals, each game plays out differently, giving more variety than when everyone chases the same thing." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "End State Scoring", "why": "Players can have different requirements and rewards when final scores are counted, so the same end result is judged differently for each of them." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Because goals differ, some players may get easier or more rewarding objectives, making it harder to keep everyone's chances fair." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "Goals cannot be both identical and different for the same set of goals, so the two patterns exclude each other, though a game may use each for separate goals." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asymmetric_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Endgame Quests", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: complete a task available only at the end of the game, with a reward suited to that stage.", "needs_to_really_work": "Quests must be unlocked by reaching the end phase and be hard enough for experienced characters, with rewards that matter to players who have already maxed out.", "just_a_label_when": "Extra quests that are just earlier quests with bigger numbers, giving rewards nobody needs.", "knobs": "unlock condition; difficulty; reward type and value", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Endgame_Quests", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Once players hit the endgame or finish the main objectives, these quests give them extra things to pursue that they aren't required to do." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Endgame quests are simply quests built like any other, differing only in being offered at the late stage where they fit." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "Players only get access to these quests after reaching the endgame phase, so the content is opened up by that progress." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "Since players may have maxed out normal growth, these quests can reward stronger armor that is unobtainable before the endgame." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "These quests give players things to do once the endgame has begun, so they can keep playing as long as they find them interesting." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "The quests are meant to fit after the main storyline is done, so they usually avoid tying into it and instead extend play beyond it." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Because normal development may be capped, these quests can hand out better tools that only players in the endgame can earn." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Since players may have maxed out normal growth, these quests can reward stronger weapons that can't be gained before the endgame." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Endgame_Quests.svg" }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × outcome", "what_it_is": "Removing all members of the opposing team from the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Teams must be able to lose all their members for good, with no endless respawning. Eliminating members must be possible and worth pursuing.", "just_a_label_when": "Members come back immediately, so 'wiping the team' never ends anything.", "knobs": "how hard members are to eliminate; respawn rules; team size", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Elimination", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "When a team is wiped out, its members have no way to keep playing, so the loss ends the game for everyone on that side." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Since wiping out a team is a way to win, opposing teams can all share the aim of removing the others." }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "Every member of a team suffers the same loss when the whole team is eliminated, rather than just the one who fell." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Watching a whole team go down can sometimes be dramatic and fun in itself, even for those who lose." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "When every character on a team is wiped out, the players controlling them are eliminated too." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Allowing a team to be wiped out changes how multiplayer matches are won and lost, since groups can be knocked out together." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Making team wipe-out possible changes what being on a team means, because the group's survival now depends on all its members." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Spawning", "why": "If team members keep respawning, a team can never be completely wiped out." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Elimination.svg" }, { "name": "Main Quests", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Goal of completing a task whose completion wins the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "One overarching quest must organize the main story and places, with side quests supporting it. Its completion should be what wins or concludes the game.", "just_a_label_when": "A quest is labeled main but can be skipped without consequence, and players never need it.", "knobs": "length of the quest chain; how many places and characters it touches; whether finishing ends the game", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Main_Quests", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "The main quest is the overarching quest of the game, so finishing it is what counts as achieving the game's central objective." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The main quest carries the game's fixed story, tying plot events to gameplay so players follow a planned narrative path." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A main quest is itself a quest, just the biggest one, built like other quests and framing the smaller ones around it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Factions", "why": "Because the main quest drives where players go, important groups are usually written into it so players at least learn these groups exist." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The main quest pushes players through the world, so key places are typically tied to it and players end up seeing them." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "The main quest guides who players meet, so major characters are usually woven into it and players become aware of them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Online worlds must welcome players who join late and keep opposing factions apart, who don't share quests, so one shared overarching quest fits poorly." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Finishing the main quest is a way to win, so a game designed so that nobody can win clashes with having one." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Main_Quests.svg" }, { "name": "Mandatory Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "objectives", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of a task that must be completed in order to move forward.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must make it truly required for completion, with the requirement known to players. Any bypass undermines it.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal is marked required but a shortcut lets players finish without it.", "knobs": "how many goals are required; whether all or a subset must be done", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mandatory_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A hierarchy can contain required goals, as it must when it includes the main goal, though it need not." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Required goals tied to parts of the story make sure players experience those parts and connect goal completion to the narration." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "When defeating the opposition is required, a story reason for it is implicitly present." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "A required goal can be preset, so the designer decides ahead of time which goals players must complete to finish the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mandatory_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Combat", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Actions aimed at killing or defeating opponents.", "needs_to_really_work": "Opponents with opposing goals, an action set with real tradeoffs, and meaningful stakes for winning or losing.", "just_a_label_when": "Fighting animations play, but outcomes are decided by stats alone and nothing the player does matters.", "knobs": "damage and health; range of weapons and abilities; enemy strength; penalty for losing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Combat", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Fighting gives players a set of capabilities they can use to deal with conflicts that arise in the game." }, { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "When players choose to attack other players, especially by killing or eliminating them, others in the game world react to that aggression." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Enemies can cause trouble for the player during a fight, so the player must keep watching and responding closely." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "A fight needs an opposing force pushing back, so games with it tend to be harder than games without it." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Fighting typically ends with things being removed or broken, so objects in the game can be destroyed." }, { "name": "Extermination", "why": "Some games let fighting take a back seat early and then make it the main focus in a late phase of wiping out opponents." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When joining a fight or picking targets is optional, or when attacks can be done in different ways, players get to decide how to act." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Losing fights can knock a player out of the game, particularly in fighting games where defeat removes the loser." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "In games where players control avatars, fighting can lead to one player's avatar being killed by another." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "Fighting against opponents that the game controls is a straightforward way to make players face challenges from the game rather than from each other." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Fighting between players is the typical way player-versus-player conflict shows up, so combat is the usual route into this pattern." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Since enemies can hurt the player during a fight, the player feels pressure and uncertainty about the outcome." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When players can pick between fighting and other activities, or among several attacks, each option costs something, forcing them to weigh choices." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Fighting that depends on aiming, timing and moving while the world keeps changing makes the player's physical skill decide who wins." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Fights often split results so player ability decides whether you hit while character skills and weapons decide how much harm is done." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Players can free the captive by fighting and defeating the guards who are holding them." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Wanting to hold territory is often the underlying reason players fight, so combat shapes who controls areas." }, { "name": "Bases", "why": "Bases usually cannot fight themselves but can be targets of attack, so combat shapes how they are threatened." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "How well a player fights can be rewarded with experience points, which drives how the character grows." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Fighting is common in these games, either against other players or computer enemies, and it is often optional." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Fighting can cause units to be lost, so combat shapes how many units a player keeps." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Immunities and weak points can make fighting an ineffective way to beat a boss, so other solutions may work better than fighting." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Giving players a private space lets them stay safe from attacks unless they allow neighbors in, reducing fighting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Combat.svg" }, { "name": "Movement", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Action of moving game elements around the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a space and clear rules for how elements move through it. The terrain and goals should make where and how far one moves matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Things technically move, but in a space so empty or with goals so unrelated that position never matters.", "knobs": "speed or distance per move; terrain costs; restrictions on direction", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Movement", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Moving is one of the most common abilities in games, and different movement powers are what set apart pieces or characters." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Getting your elements to the right place or next to a target is how you catch or take something, so moving makes capturing possible." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Harder movement, such as more directions, momentum, or turning limits, makes controlling your element difficult and so makes play more challenging." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "You have to move elements through the world to reach items and gather them, so movement is a prerequisite for collecting." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Many movement options and complications like acceleration, fuel, or line of sight give players many factors to juggle, making play complex." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "When moving elements pushes other elements around, that pushing can build or arrange structures in the game world." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Through traversing, players can carry something from one place to another, which is what delivering requires." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Movement with no choices or challenge, especially over familiar ground, feels like tedious busywork players would rather skip." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Being able to move lets players pick where to go and what to do, which is a basic way of giving them choices." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Players have to move around a world to discover its areas, so movement makes exploring possible." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Any intentional movement through a world requires players to find their way, so navigating comes along with moving." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Because moving lets players cover distance and get things across the world, it also lets them guide other elements somewhere." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Moving is what lets players compete to get somewhere first, so racing depends on it." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Moving elements is how players cross the game world from one place to another." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Moving things that players don't control, like tiles or obstacles, can force players to react by moving, for example to dodge damage." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Evasion is done by moving something out of harm's way, so being able to move is what makes dodging possible." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Maneuvering is essentially just moving game elements, so ordinary movement becomes maneuvering once it happens in a live game." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "In turn-based play, moving a piece often needs thought first, especially with blocks, obstacles or warps in the way." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "When capturing depends on moving, players must plan where to go based on the positions currently in play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Movement can make aiming easier, and accuracy systems may punish fast movement or demand that players stand still." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Movement is an ability given to avatars, affecting how they behave in the world." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "When moving is the way to capture, the movement rules shape how hard it is to perform a capture." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Movement is something enemies can be given, and it shapes how they act in the game." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Moving elements change the world's state as they go, and the world's design in turn shapes how elements can move." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Movement is an ability units can be given, and it affects how they behave in the game." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Moving quickly can ruin the chance of succeeding with an aimed action, so how a player moves changes how accurate they are." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "How players move decides whether they reach or miss ability spots, and with random movement landing on one becomes luck rather than skill." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Scenes can make the movement actions of gameplay unnecessary, which takes away the very activity that movement is about." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Movement.svg" }, { "name": "Construction", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player adds or rearranges elements to create buildings or structures.", "needs_to_really_work": "Building must have a material or cost, restrictions, and results that affect later play, such as defence, production or scoring. Players need real freedom in what and where to build.", "just_a_label_when": "Players press a build button and a fixed object appears, with no choices and no effect on the game.", "knobs": "cost and materials; build limits; how much freedom in placement", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Construction", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Things players build become game elements in the world, and building them gives those elements new capabilities they did not have before." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "When building is made safe from destruction through private spaces or permanent results, it becomes a relaxed, low-pressure way to play." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Building offers many possible arrangements, so players are likely to stumble on combinations of parts that produce combo effects." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "A heavy focus on building in part of a game, when it adds new game elements, makes that part of play a growth phase." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "A heavy focus on building, when it improves elements that already exist rather than adding new ones, makes that part of play a phase of squeezing more value from them." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When there are many possible ways to combine what and how to build, players get to pick among a wide range of options." }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "Players can assemble working structures or mechanisms inside the game world through building, though designers more easily provide them as features of abstract player constructs." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Building takes effort and materials up front for later benefit, so each construction action works like putting something in to get something back." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The story of a game can itself be the thing players build, as in roleplaying games where the narrative is added to during play." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "What players build stays in the world, so their construction actions can leave lasting marks on how the game world looks and works." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Building alone does not make elements player-created; it does so only when players also have real creative control or craftsmanship over what they make." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Games can restrict building to certain players or roles, such as the engineer class in Team Fortress, which limits how much construction happens." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Building cannot usually be done without limits, so the material used for it turns into a resource that players must have or manage." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Because players can build structures, they can easily end up making protected places for themselves within the game world." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Choice among many things to build, together with creative control and self-set goals, makes it quite likely that players will plan ahead." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "When the story is something built during play, players and game masters need to tell and add to it as the game goes on." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Building can bring new elements into the world with a diegetic explanation, so they appear without feeling out of place in the setting." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Building things can create unexpected emergent effects, and players must try combinations to discover them; it also rarely triggers competition." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Letting players build things of their own within limits on what they have access to gives them creative freedom inside a clear boundary." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When building things can produce combos or emergent play, players can get good at exploiting those possibilities." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Assembling a character from parts or options before play, such as personalization, directly gives players a hand in what the character becomes." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Building things lets players think in terms of different quantities of elements, and with creative control they can set their own aims for what to build." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "When players also have creative control, building things gives them an activity worth doing for its own sake." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "" }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Building things can produce combos and engines, and knowing how to build them well is knowledge that carries between sessions." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "The page says laying tiles is nearly always a way of constructing something, since the world or structure is built piece by piece through placement." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Building something lasting, which others can also see, shows players a visible result of their work." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Players building persistent worlds naturally end up with different game worlds, and so different play, between game instances." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Building can be offered more abstractly, letting players make structures or functions in constructs like gameplay engines rather than in the physical world." }, { "name": "Bases", "why": "Letting players build bases changes how bases work in the game, since they become something players make rather than receive." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can be what players construct, which changes how they appear in the game, as with player-made characters in roleplaying games." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Building lets players change the game world, and in early online worlds the world itself was the product of player construction." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Allowing installations to be built by players changes how they function, since they appear where and when players choose." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "In early online worlds, committed players could expand the rules and world, and later ones let players buy and build houses." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "The page does not give a reason for this relation beyond saying the building material becomes a resource when it was not one already." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Because other players or enemies cannot destroy constructions in single-player play, building suits it, and results can still be shown to spectators." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can be the result of building, as in Age of Empires and Civilization, and this changes how they come into being." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "By programming how robots or AI behave, players can still influence gameplay in a game where they take no direct actions." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "What players build remains after they log off, which gives their effort lasting value and a reason to return." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Construction.svg" }, { "name": "New Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Skills gained during the game that open up new actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The ability must allow an action that was not possible before and be introduced at a time that opens new options. The game must give uses for it, such as new challenges.", "just_a_label_when": "A new ability that is only a number increase or a reskin of an old action, or one with no situation that calls for it.", "knobs": "when abilities are given; how many; how different they are from existing ones", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/New_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Handing out abilities depending on who is behind in the rankings, or trading them against losses elsewhere, evens out the field between players." }, { "name": "Card Building", "why": "When cards are what grant the abilities, players get new options by assembling or constructing those cards." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Gaining abilities opens up new kinds of things a player or character can do, which become areas where they are skilled." }, { "name": "Deck Building", "why": "With cards as the source of abilities, choosing which cards go into a deck decides which abilities a player gets." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Fresh abilities can make it harder for players to judge how likely their actions are to work, at least for a while." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A spot or condition in the world can be defined by the ability it hands out, so entering it gives that power." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Gaining abilities makes players feel more powerful, even when enemies gain matching abilities and nothing really shifts." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Wanting more abilities becomes a goal because they give players more control over what happens in the game." }, { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "why": "Spreading new abilities over a session means players keep receiving something better as they progress." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Some abilities hurt the player, like gaining the power to spread a disease, so receiving them works as a punishment." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The designer can fix in advance which abilities arrive at which points, so they follow the planned story." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "A new ability is something others lack until they get it too, and limiting how many can obtain it keeps it exclusive." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Because abilities widen what players can do, getting them is normally felt as a prize for progress." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Since abilities give more influence over the game, players pursue getting them as a stepping stone toward larger aims." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "New abilities, such as extra weapons, let players act in different ways as time passes, so play does not stay the same." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Granting abilities the player did not have before is a typical way the construct develops." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Acquiring new abilities can result from choices tied to advancement, so the character is shaped by what the player chose." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Gaining a power the character lacked before widens what it can do, which counts as growth." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "When individual units gain different abilities, they become distinguishable from one another, and so turn into characters." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Handing players an action they couldn't perform before is a direct way to reward them with new capability." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Owning a tool can give the player a new ability, which is a reason to chase ownership of it." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Players can plan by choosing which new abilities to acquire, which is a simple way to direct how their elements grow." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Giving team members abilities they did not have before, on characters or on an abstract team construct, is a way the team develops." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "Handing players a new ability and tying it to a time limit makes it the clearest case of a temporary ability." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Gaining a power is attractive, but if it costs another ability, players must decide whether the swap is worth it." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Giving players new things they can do mid-game changes the active rules gradually, which also eases them into complexity." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "New abilities add to the set of actions already available, changing what is on offer." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Abilities can be granted to a player's abstract entity rather than a single character, so it develops over time." }, { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammunition is a resource, so new abilities can provide new variants of it rather than being delivered by it." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars are one of the things that receive abilities, changing which actions they can carry out." }, { "name": "Character Levels", "why": "Gaining a level is one way abilities arrive, and new abilities are often what a level up brings." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can receive abilities as they develop, and these are tied to the actions they can take." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "When abilities become available influences whether players spend a phase growing their position." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "The moment abilities are unlocked affects when players are able to make use of what they have gathered." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Abilities can be attached to the things players act through, either to specific ones or to players generally." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Having more abilities gives players more options to pick from, increasing their freedom in the game." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When abilities arrive affects whether and when players explore the world, particularly if some places need those abilities." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Spending effort on things like technology advances can pay off by giving players abilities." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups are items placed in the world that give abilities, often only briefly." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Abilities can be presented as personal skills that a character develops over the course of play." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can be given abilities, which makes each one more valuable and possibly more like a character." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Gaining abilities adds to what players can do, which lifts their perceived chance of succeeding at those actions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving some players abilities that others lack can tilt the game in their favor, making the contest uneven." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "As different teams develop abilities at different rates, one side can end up stronger than another." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Giving an ability to individual units can make them stand out so much that they act more like characters than units." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/New_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The players themselves enforce the rules and keep all the records.", "needs_to_really_work": "Rules must be clear and simple enough for players to apply and check themselves, with tokens or turn order lessening what must be remembered. Players also need to be able to agree on disputes.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that claims players run it but hides required calculations or rule enforcement in an app or referee, so players do none of the work.", "knobs": "how much bookkeeping players do; rule complexity; helper tokens", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Self-Facilitated_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Since players can freely change the game state, they can improvise a way to let someone join or leave midway, mostly when the game isn't fiercely competitive." }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "Because players interpret and uphold the rules themselves, they can also change them as play goes on, especially when a human game master is present." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "With no one else handling setup and bookkeeping, players must do that work themselves, and it grows with many game elements or large worlds." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Players control the game state, so they can let beginners undo basic mistakes and try again." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "Since no outside facilitator enforces how pieces and state are handled, players are free to move and alter game elements as they wish." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players are able to change rules and the game state, and can set the game up in varied ways, so they choose how it is played." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Players can swap any outcome for one they agree on themselves, since nothing outside the group enforces the original result." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Players can improvise advantages or penalties on the spot to even out skill differences in head-to-head play." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Running the game takes effort from the people who facilitate it, and that contributed work counts as an investment in the game." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "Because players run the game themselves, they can pause play or the bookkeeping at any moment to talk to each other." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Players hold control over how play runs, so they can bargain over how a game session is arranged and carried out." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Players' ability to adapt things socially lets them agree together on how a play session goes." }, { "name": "Optional Rules", "why": "Since the players run the game themselves, they can make up extra rules before starting, and even while playing, to fit their tastes." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Since the group itself runs the game, it can throw out a player whose behavior the others find unacceptable." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "Players can bend or break rules when everyone agrees, to make the game more enjoyable for the whole group." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Because players can interrupt, reinterpret and change things, they gain the power to shape play, including the setup of the gameplay space." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Nobody else supplies descriptions or narrative, so the players, and any game master, must create the story themselves." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "Players are present together, which makes it easier to talk, share the workload fairly, and watch each other for mistakes or cheating." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "Players themselves can describe effects or tell uninterrupted stories, which plays the role of a cutscene without a separate facilitator." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Players run the rules themselves, so they can slightly change or add rules to bring in someone who arrives late." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Players can run and organize things themselves, so they easily invent their own games on top of existing ones, like wagering." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Players who run the game themselves can pair it with timed game instances in a meta game, letting them choose the overall duration." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players run the game themselves, so they can change the state or ignore rules to even out how things are going." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Players run the game themselves, so they can agree to change rules or game state whenever the teams feel uneven." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Early online worlds were set up and maintained by their own players, with trusted ones allowed to change the code." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Players deciding rules together can improvise handicaps to keep one-on-one competition balanced." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Players deciding rules together can improvise handicaps between teams to keep them evenly matched." }, { "name": "Configurable Gameplay Areas", "why": "When players run the game themselves, they are the ones who decide how the play area is set up, so this shapes how configurable it is." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "" }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "With no outside referee, players themselves must track whose turn it is, so clear signals matter since mistakes are hard to undo." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Having a dedicated facilitator is by definition hard to combine with players running the game themselves." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "No dedicated person is handling the presentation, so keeping to the fiction can't be guaranteed." }, { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "A server implements rules in code, which leaves little room for players to run the game themselves, so the two are hard to combine without extra simulation effort." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Players hold the power to ignore or change the story, which undermines its being fixed beforehand." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Players improvise descriptions and story, and the rules can't dictate how, so fit with the theme can't be guaranteed." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Players control the pace and can bend things, so deadlines are harder to enforce." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Players can replace any outcome with their own decision, so an overwhelming event can be softened or ignored." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Self-Facilitated_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player aims at a target and shoots.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need a way to point at a target and an outcome that depends on accuracy, with some difficulty from movement, distance or limited ammunition. The target must be clearly visible and the control precise enough to feel fair.", "just_a_label_when": "Shots auto-hit or snap to targets, so aiming is just pressing a button.", "knobs": "aim difficulty (target speed, size, distance); ammo count; hit tolerance", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Aim_%26_Shoot", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "When an in-world character performs the aiming and firing, that power counts as something the character can do, so the pattern becomes an Ability." }, { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Because aiming is a skill players can point at anyone, they can easily turn it toward whoever is ahead and attack that player." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Aiming can be used to take hold of targets, such as grabbing visible enemies or even collecting information instead of objects." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Taking aim and firing at enemies is a common way to fight, with hits causing damage or removing the target." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Shooting gives players a way to hit and break objects in the world, so those objects can actually be destroyed." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Successful shots at visible enemies can damage them or remove them from play, which achieves the goal of getting rid of them." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players see and picture themselves hitting or triggering what they point at, so their action feels more powerful than it really is." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Once there is more than one possible target, players must pick which one to aim at, giving them a real choice." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Normal aiming needs a clear view between shooter and target, so the shot depends on that visibility existing." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Hitting a target usually takes skill, so players cannot be sure a shot will land, except where dice-style rules replace aiming skill." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "When a straight view is not enough, players must work out a trajectory, such as an arc or a bounce, to reach the target." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Shooting gives you opponents and threatens damage or lost lives, though the stress can in turn make aiming harder." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Hitting a target while everything else keeps moving requires precise hand-eye coordination, which is exactly the dexterous skill this pattern describes." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Aiming takes a moment of sustained effort before firing, so the shot is itself an action stretched over time." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "Enemies with a weak spot make aiming harder in some fights, since players have to hit that specific spot." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Using friendly fire with aimed shots makes fights more challenging, because a missed or careless shot can hurt allies." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Enemies that aim at the player give the player something to dodge, creating goals about avoiding shots." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Enemies shooting at the player make it harder to move skillfully, just as enemy maneuvering makes the player's own aim harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "God Views", "why": "From a high overview it is too hard to line up the shooter and target accurately, so precise aiming does not work well." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Aim_%26_Shoot.svg" }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One player takes actions, then the turn passes to the next players.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear order and clear conditions for when a turn starts and ends, enforced by the rules or system. Designers should also deal with the first player's advantage and with waiting time.", "just_a_label_when": "Nominal turns that nobody enforces, so players act whenever they like.", "knobs": "turn order; what ends a turn; whether there are extra turns or time limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Turn_Taking", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "When only one person acts at a time, everyone else waits, and the active player may take ages weighing choices while others sit idle." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Someone has to go first, so the player order itself gives players unequal positions from the very beginning of the game." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "If turn order lets you finish one round and start the next back to back, you get two turns in a row, which is a strong chain." }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Because one player must act before the others, moving first can give them a lasting edge, especially in games where everything is visible." }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "why": "When an action takes several rounds to finish, other players get turns in between and can change the situation, disrupting it." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players' waiting leads to slow play, so they start pushing one another along themselves to keep the game moving without a dedicated referee." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Players whose turn hasn't come must wait and watch, so they effectively observe others play, possibly guessing hidden aims." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "While waiting, players can think ahead about their next move, and aiming for back-to-back turns also rewards planning in advance." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Turns can ease pressure for the active player, yet waiting, slow thinkers and possible interruptions can make everyone else more anxious." }, { "name": "Trick Taking", "why": "Each player plays one card or tile in turn inside the larger round, which is the basic structure of a trick." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Letting only one player update the game at a time divides play into turns, so any game using it is turn-based." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "In multiplayer games, players must wait for others to finish their turns before getting their own." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "When players act one after another, a slow player can feel pressured by others waiting and sense they are holding everyone up." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bidding", "why": "Bids can be placed one after another in sequence, or everyone can bid freely at once, so turns change how the bidding feels." }, { "name": "Cards", "why": "Games with cards often have players play or take them one at a time, so turns shape how cards are used." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Picking cards or pieces from a shared pool goes player by player, so turns decide who picks what and when." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Waiting players have idle time, which they can spend studying the state of the whole game." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Turns let each player separate planning, acting and watching results, and also create waiting time, organised negotiation and calmer social contact." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "How well players can foresee what happens depends on whether the order of turns is fixed or flexible, since that tells them who acts next." }, { "name": "Role Selection", "why": "Choosing roles or actions requires an order in which players choose, and that order is supplied by turns." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Players idle during others' turns can watch their opponents and try to work out what hidden objectives they are pursuing." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Waiting while an outcome is pending or an interruption could come makes existing nervousness stronger, though your own turn can relieve it." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Games with tiles often have them placed or drawn one player at a time, so turns shape how tiles are used." }, { "name": "Token Placement", "why": "Placing tokens needs an order of who puts down a token when, which turn taking provides." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Real-time play has the game moving on its own, which clashes with players waiting for their turn, except in tick-based combinations." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "If a turn leaves the other players with nothing to do, they are not really playing at the same time, which clashes with simultaneous play." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "On your turn you can plan without interruption, which can lower or remove tension." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Turn_Taking.svg" }, { "name": "Combos", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A set of actions that together achieve more than each does alone.", "needs_to_really_work": "A specific order or configuration must give a bonus clearly beyond the parts, hard enough to need skill or planning but discoverable.", "just_a_label_when": "A combo counter is shown, but the extra effect is tiny or comes from simply spamming one action.", "knobs": "bonus size; sequence complexity; timing window", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Combos", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "A combo is a new ability formed by chaining other abilities together, so performing the right combination gives the player a capability none of the parts had alone." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because combos can be made as hard to perform as the designer likes, pulling them off becomes a difficult task that tests the player." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Having many possible combos, and having intricate ones to execute, gives players lots of options and requirements to keep track of, making play more complex." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "A combo is a particular arrangement of actions, so achieving that arrangement can become a goal the player works toward." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Combos are usually long sequences that must be carried out in the right timing, so they act as one drawn-out action rather than a single input." }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "Gameplay engines are player-built setups meant to make combos possible, or so frequent that they happen continuously." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "The character may determine how well individual actions work, but arranging them so a combo happens is up to the player, mixing both kinds of skill." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Combos are often used to hand players special abilities, either as an extra reward or as a way to make characters different from one another." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Because a combo needs the right moment and situation, players must plan ahead to find or set up the conditions for it." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Well-timed button presses chained together in real-time play create tight press-and-response loops, giving clicking-style enjoyment without needing any clickable object in the world." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Combos can be hidden or can emerge from building things, so players must try different action sequences to find them." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "When combos aren't explained by the game, players talk about them outside play, which is an extra-game action." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Pulling off combos in a hard or complex game takes skill, so doing so shows mastery." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Paired with progress indicators, a combo chain shows players how near they are to a payoff, making the coming result easy to see." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Learning which elements or moves chain together, including hidden or built ones, is lasting knowledge that players can reuse to play better." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Players who know how to arrange owned game elements so they combine well can plan that setup ahead based on their knowledge." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Letting individual units chain combos gives single-player games a stand-in for team combos, since the units act like a cooperating team." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Combos are very common in fighting, where chaining attacks changes what a fight yields compared with single strikes." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Combos can accompany building, since putting pieces together in particular ways can trigger extra effects." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Combat combos often change how much damage is dealt, as chaining actions alters the result of the attacks." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Combos can allow movement that is normally impossible, such as a double jump or rocket jump extending how far you can go." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "The most obvious combo reward is changing the points players receive, so chains adjust how scoring adds up." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Combos often bring fast-growing or sudden jumps in power, so players who master them can gain large advantages and upset fairness." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "Not all elements work alike, so some combinations of them can be much stronger, and this can upset fairness between players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Combos.svg" }, { "name": "Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Actions a character or unit can take that change the state of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each agent needs a clearly defined set of actions that visibly change the game state, and the sets should differ between agents so that choosing who does what matters. Players must be able to see what an action does and why using it is worthwhile.", "just_a_label_when": "Elements have actions listed on paper, but the actions are the same for everyone or never matter, so nothing is actually done with them.", "knobs": "which actions each element gets; how many and how strong they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Players often build programs by arranging abilities in sequence, though the finished program isn't something the game element itself does, so it doesn't count as an ability." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Once game elements can perform actions, players tend to see them as agents who act in the world." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Chaining basic abilities into a sequence gives players a higher-level action, either with extra effects or because the moves couldn't be done otherwise or as fast." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Giving players many different abilities to choose from makes the game harder to master and take in, producing complex gameplay." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because abilities let players change the game state, they may come to believe they affect outcomes more than they actually do." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Having abilities to change the game state means players can decide what to do among several possible actions." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Abilities change the game state without forcing players to face challenges, so players can simply fiddle around with them aimlessly." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "A character needs some abilities to act at all, and without actions there is nothing that could define the character." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Abilities give players ways to change the game state by acting through their avatars." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Abilities give players ways to change the game state by acting through their characters." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Abilities give players ways to change the game state by acting through their companions." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Abilities give players ways to change the game state by acting through their units." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "A deliberate halt to the flow of game time and events.", "needs_to_really_work": "Game time must otherwise run on its own, and the pause must truly stop events, possibly with limits or saving. It must be available at useful moments.", "just_a_label_when": "A pause button exists, but the game keeps running or it is blocked in tense moments, so it can't be used.", "knobs": "when pausing is allowed; maximum pause length; what remains active during it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Pauses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "When players can stop the action themselves, they can play in short, loose bursts without committing to a long uninterrupted session." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "While the game state stops updating, nothing is happening for the players, which is by definition a stretch of idle time." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "A player-triggered pause is an action taken outside the game's own rules that lets players control when they engage with it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Being able to trigger a pause gives players the power to decide when they play, especially in single-player games." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "Freezing the flow of events is a simple, limited way of bending how game time runs." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Stopping progress lets players step away mid-game, though it only works well if other players aren't forced to sit idle." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Because play can be halted on demand, players can agree on when sessions start, stop, and how long they last." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players can stop the game to fit around other people or obligations, so the game bends to social circumstances." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "With events frozen, players can think calmly, for example by looking over game state overviews without any pressure." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Being able to freeze play lets people pick the game up and put it down anywhere, fitting it into everyday life." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "In a single-player game, pausing is a simple way to let someone step away and return." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Pausing relieves players of the stress of choosing between actions under pressure, making a limited set of options feel more comfortable." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Pauses give players time to study overviews of the game state in peace, without events moving on." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Opening an inventory typically freezes everything except item handling, so a pause changes how inventories behave." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "These games keep progressing automatically, so a pause is needed to break that continuous flow." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "These games update automatically at regular intervals, so a pause is what lets players halt that progression." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Since such games have no natural end, pauses let players create their own places to stop." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Always Vulnerable", "why": "Being exposed while away cannot work alongside stopping the game, since a pause would freeze events and shield players from threats." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "The page says the two are hard to combine but gives no reason why." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Pausing often sends players to interface screens outside the fiction, which reminds them they are operating a game." }, { "name": "Secondary Interface Screens", "why": "" }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Stopping the action lets players disengage, which can dissipate the tension that continuous play builds up." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Pausing lets players interrupt their experience of time pressure, though the limit still applies once play resumes." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Pauses.svg" }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game is split into clear parts where the player can think and choose an action.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must clearly mark when planning and acting are allowed and when not, with a clear end of turn. Decisions need to reward the time spent thinking.", "just_a_label_when": "A game described as turn-based where actions are really continuous and the turns do not limit anything.", "knobs": "how long a turn lasts; actions per turn; whether turns are simultaneous or alternating", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Turn-Based_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Because play is split into clear turns, there are obvious stopping points, so everyone knows exactly where the game stands when they return." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Clear stopping points between turns give players natural places to agree on when to stop or continue, so session length can be discussed." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "When a shared time limit is put on the turns, play advances in fixed time steps, which makes the game tick-based." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "In multiplayer games, players wait while others take their turns." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Turns give players time to think through their many options, supporting the feeling that their choices matter." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "" }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "In games built on alternating moves, others must wait on each decision, so a player who stalls may feel bad and be pushed to hurry." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Taking turns gives players time to think about each move, which suits movement puzzles." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Turns give players voluntary time to plan, even in single-player games." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Clear turn boundaries let players act at different moments and do other things while waiting, which makes play across different times workable." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "With time between turns, players can think through captures carefully, so capturing relies more on thinking than on quick reflexes." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Taking turns gives players time to think, so fighting becomes about reasoning and planning instead of fast reactions." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Turns create clear break points, so pausing is easy and players can tell exactly where to resume." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Waiting time lets players plan ahead when consequences are predictable, though this can also make the acting player overthink." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "When players must wait for others to finish turns together, downtime appears, and it hits harder than in asynchronous play." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "One updates continuously with the clock while the other waits for players to move, so they are hard to combine, though some games manage it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Waiting for other players' turns in multiplayer removes choice during that time, though it is accepted as fair." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Waiting for others to plan and act forces downtime and can lead to over-long deliberation." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Turn-Based_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Capture", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: remove a game element or bring it under your own control.", "needs_to_really_work": "Clear rules for who can capture whom and by what action, plus a real consequence for the loser (lost unit, lost ability, retaliation).", "just_a_label_when": "Pieces are called 'captured' but nothing changes for either side; they come back at once or the loss costs nothing.", "knobs": "which pieces can capture or be captured; the capture method; whether captured pieces switch sides or leave play", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Capture", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Capturing is tied to particular game elements, so each piece that can take others effectively carries its own capturing power as an ability." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Taking or removing opposing pieces is a common way for a game to give players fighting against each other." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Some captures need several pieces placed together, such as flanking a target from both sides, so combining positions produces the capture." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "If you are the target of capture, there must be a penalty and a way to move, so escaping capture is itself an evasion goal." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Capturing something can serve as a basic bottom-level goal whose completion contributes toward a higher goal in the hierarchy." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "When capturing a thing is the aim, others want to protect it, which gives them a goal of defending what could be taken." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Capturing is often how a player defeats an opposing element, so it commonly sits as a challenge to beat within the goal structure." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Being at risk of capture gives the targeted player a reason to avoid it, such as fleeing, which works against the capturer's aim." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Capturing something has a clear purpose that a story character can easily want, so it works as a quest with an in-world reason." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When one side tries to capture and the other to evade, giving one side a movement edge makes the other's task hard." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Capture goals in real time require players to physically reach or catch things while the game keeps updating, which tests their coordination." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Elements that try to capture the player's pieces become enemies, or enemies arise from trying to avoid being captured." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "A Guard defending against Capture sets up goals where one side's success blocks the other's, so one completed goal rules out the other." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Taking an opponent's pieces together with a change of who controls them makes the capturing player the new owner." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "" }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Taking over enemy units through a change of control gives players the abilities those converted units have." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Capturing an item or unit and gaining control of it moves the special abilities attached to it over to the captor." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "When capturing is paired with bidding, movement or investment, players must reason out the best way to take pieces with the smallest cost." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Capturing through movement or investment gives players alternative ways to act, and picking among them depends on the current state." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Deliver", "why": "When items being carried to a place can be captured, those carrying them need to defend them, which changes how delivering plays out." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Because a mistake in positioning can lead to a piece being lost, careful steering and placement matter more." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "A capture can happen when guards fail at protecting something, which then gives players the chance to rescue it and restore the guarding." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Capture.svg" }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "An action lasts so long that nothing else can be done during that time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The action must take long enough that doing it means giving up other actions, and it should carry risk, such as being interruptible or locking the player in. Effects can scale with duration or kick in after a threshold.", "just_a_label_when": "A short animation or brief delay that never stops the player from doing anything else, so no real trade-off exists.", "knobs": "duration required; whether it can be interrupted and how effects scale with time", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extended_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Stronger actions can demand more preparation and resources before they work, so power is paid for with commitment and the options end up evened out." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because an action must be kept up for a while instead of finishing instantly, it is harder to carry out than ordinary actions." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Since the action must run for some time before it pays off, anything you start has its result arrive later than the moment you began." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "If the required time is long enough, players probably cannot finish in one sitting and must come back in another session to see it completed." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "With several things to watch, the stretch before completion can be a quiet wait, and handling it well takes skill at shifting attention between them." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "When an action has a threshold before any effect, finishing it is a visible moment of completion, particularly when several players are doing it together." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When an action needs commitment up front or a stretch of uninterrupted time, players have to think ahead about when and how to start it." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Staying committed to an action that can be interrupted, or leaves you open to enemy attacks, makes players anxious about whether it will succeed." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Time spent on one lengthy action is time not spent on other things, so players must choose between that one and several ordinary actions." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Holding an aim longer can make shots more precise, so the time invested in the action directly improves how accurate the result is." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Combined with interruptible actions, simply finishing a lengthy action becomes a goal that players must keep protecting until it completes." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Actions that grow in consequence through compounding progression make effort pay back more and more over time." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Making an ability require sustained performance changes how it is used, so lengthy actions can be seen as altering abilities." }, { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Taking control of a place can require holding it continuously for a long time, as in capturing spawn points." }, { "name": "Artifact-Location Proximity", "why": "Games detecting real-world nearness may need the action to last a while so the technology can reliably confirm it." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "When several players must keep performing an action together, finishing it shows that they were all willing to cooperate." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Building activities can be lengthy actions, needing many individual steps or resources that could have gone elsewhere." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Controllers are game elements that supply lengthy actions which don't come from the player's own focus locus." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Crafting is a lengthy action tied to a focus locus, so making things takes sustained effort by that element." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Lengthy actions can limit choice when there seems to be too much, though they can also add ways of using actions." }, { "name": "Player-Artifact Proximity", "why": "Games detecting real-world nearness may need the action to last a while so the technology can reliably confirm it." }, { "name": "Player-Avatar Proximity", "why": "Games detecting real-world nearness may need the action to last a while so the technology can reliably confirm it." }, { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "why": "Games detecting real-world nearness may need the action to last a while so the technology can reliably confirm it." }, { "name": "Player-Player Proximity", "why": "Games detecting real-world nearness may need the action to last a while so the technology can reliably confirm it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extended_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game time runs at the same pace as real time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game state must update continuously on its own, with something (a computer, a timer, physics) driving it. Events must demand reaction within a short span so waiting has a cost.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with a visible clock or animation, but the state only changes when a player acts, so waiting costs nothing.", "knobs": "speed of the game clock; how long players have to react; whether pauses are allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Real-Time_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Because the game keeps moving without waiting, players must steer and fire at targets that are also moving, so aiming becomes a core action." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Since the game keeps running on its own, players must either time actions well or react quickly, so they cannot look away." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "The game must run along with the passing of time, so that real-world moments can line up with and trigger game events." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Because the game keeps flowing continuously, actions can stretch over a period of time instead of finishing in one step, though they can be interrupted." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "When the game keeps going and challenges players, they can fumble and fall behind, and the chaos of failing becomes fun, even with pauses available." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "The game updates itself regardless of what players do, so choosing to do nothing is always possible and the world still moves on." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Since the game doesn't wait, players must respond within a limited window or the situation changes without them." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Because actions happen live, players can time button presses and chain them into combos, producing feedback loops that make pressing buttons satisfying." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Real time is needed for these actions, since they only matter when the player must act while the rest of the game keeps changing." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Because events keep happening without waiting for you, movement demands constant attention and good timing, which turns it into maneuvering." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "On their own they do not create tension, but fast planning or action demands in real time can." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Parts of asynchronous play can take on real-time traits, so the real-time quality changes how that kind of play feels." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Capturing often depends on good timing against how the game updates, so real-time pace shapes how capture actions are done." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fights often hinge on correct timing, though in real-time strategy the fighting between units can resemble turn-based or tick-based combat." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "Players acting together at the same moment fits well with a game that runs continuously, so real time suits and shapes this kind of play." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Planning has to happen while the game keeps running, so players feel short on time and tension rises." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Moving play to real time can shift the shared feeling from talking with each other to interacting through physical, bodily action." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Real-time elements can be mixed in, such as physics playing out within a turn, so a turn-based game can partly run in real time." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Little time to plan means players can't get stuck over-thinking their options, so real time works against this problem." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Because play continues continuously, players must act or at least pay attention, leaving less room for idleness." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Constant time pressure limits how much players can plan ahead, which undermines designs that encourage careful planning." }, { "name": "Token Placement", "why": "Placing tokens depends on a fixed order of turns, which is hard to keep when everything runs continuously." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Real-time play has the game moving on its own, which clashes with players waiting for their turn, except in tick-based combinations." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "One updates continuously with the clock while the other waits for players to move, so they are hard to combine, though some games manage it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Real-Time_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Secondary Interface Screens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Screens with actions and data that add to the game's main interface.", "needs_to_really_work": "Move actions and information that do not fit the main view into dedicated screens, such as inventory or character sheet, and make them quickly reachable. They matter when they hold real decisions.", "just_a_label_when": "A menu screen that only repeats what the main interface already shows and offers no extra actions.", "knobs": "which actions and information go on separate screens; how many screens; whether the game pauses when open", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Secondary_Interface_Screens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues can be handed to players on a separate screen, and from there switched on so they appear in the main view." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Conversations get their own screen, which is a typical case of a game element that needs a separate interface." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Opening a side screen commonly stops the main action while the player reads or chooses, so the pause comes along with the screen." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Item holdings are usually managed on a dedicated screen because they don't fit the main view, as in Diablo." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "These screens offer actions the game world doesn't show as real things, so features that exist only for the player appear." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Since the screens pause play and show extra information, players get time to think ahead before acting." }, { "name": "Transferable Items", "why": "Inventory screens let players move items around, which turns those game items into things that can be passed on." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Map screens in the interface can display parts of the world beyond what players can reach, suggesting a larger world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Programming a character's actions is one of the things that can get its own dedicated screen." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "A character screen is where players change a character's traits or grant abilities, so it shapes how growth happens." }, { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "On a character screen players can change a character's characteristics, so the screen is how those values get altered." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Character handling takes place on a dedicated screen, which changes how players manage their characters." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues can be given on a side screen and then switched on to be displayed in the main interface." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "A party screen offers actions for managing companions that travel with the player." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Players can change difficulty from a screen outside the main play view." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "A side screen lets players turn automatic difficulty adjustment on or off." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Inventory screens change how players interact with their gear, such as handling what they carry." }, { "name": "Equipment Slots", "why": "Inventory screens can be used specifically for placing gear into the slots a character has." }, { "name": "Free Gift Inventories", "why": "Inventory screens can serve as the place where players access gifts offered to them." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Inventory screens can be the place where players exchange game elements with others." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Secondary screens can change how players perceive the game world compared with what the main interface shows." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "Statistics can have their own screen where players look at figures about their play." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Handicaps can be reached through a side screen where players adjust them." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "Score lists can be displayed on their own screen separate from the main play view." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Character screens are where players apply upgrades so that existing abilities get better." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Because these screens pause play, players can stop whenever they like and come back later." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Handling mules can be done on a separate screen, as part of managing programmed actions." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "On a character screen players can give characters abilities they didn't have before." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "A party screen can provide actions concerning non-player characters who accompany the player." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Managing a group of characters can get its own screen with actions for the members." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Things players make can have their own screen for creating and handling them." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Removing other players from a game can be offered through a separate screen." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "A party screen can give access to actions for characters the player created." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Players decide how a character grows by making choices on a character screen." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Side screens don't show other players the same world the main view does, so they suit private areas." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Secondary screens change how players view the publicly shared numbers about players." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Buying advantages can be handled through its own screen rather than in the main view." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quest information and handling can be placed on a dedicated screen." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Travel between places can be chosen through a side screen, skipping the main view." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "Handling saved games is an out-of-game action that side screens commonly support." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "By managing save files on a screen, they influence how often and when players save and load." }, { "name": "Sidequests", "why": "Optional quests are among the elements that may have their own screen, like main quests." }, { "name": "Sockets", "why": "Inventory screens can be applied to socket handling, such as fitting things into items." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Spawning is one of the elements that may get its own screen for player choices." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "These screens often hold non-diegetic features and take players away from the world itself." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Secondary_Interface_Screens.svg" }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Controlling the movement of objects in real-time games.", "needs_to_really_work": "Real-time movement with consequences for bad control, such as obstacles, enemies or timing. Speed and number of hazards decide the difficulty, and players need a good view of space.", "just_a_label_when": "Players can steer, but nothing needs avoiding or reaching, so movement is empty.", "knobs": "speed; number of obstacles; control sensitivity; penalty for collisions", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Maneuvering", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Steering things in real time means you must keep watching the screen and respond at the right moment, so your attention is constantly occupied." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Guiding an element through a live game takes hand skill, and fast speeds or tricky views make that physical skill matter even more." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Like other kinds of movement, steering lets you decide where to go and how to get there, giving you many options." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When the aim is to reach a place before others, controlling your movement skillfully is what decides who wins the race." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "" }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Steering and positioning tasks test player skill, so players feel they affect results even with just one correct course of action." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Aiming often happens while you or your target is moving, so how well you steer affects how easy it is to hit." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "No explanation is given on this page for the link beyond its mention as affecting how worlds are experienced." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Maneuvering.svg" }, { "name": "Deck Building", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "During a session, players add cards to their deck and then play with them.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a varied supply of cards with different prices and effects, and the cards must go into a deck that is reshuffled so that choices show up later. Players should be able to combine cards in ways that matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Players add cards, but they are all alike or so weak that the deck plays the same whatever is chosen.", "knobs": "card supply and variety; card prices; whether cards can be removed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Deck_Building", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Many different card types whose effects combine in varied ways give players a lot to juggle and understand." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Players assemble their own deck piece by piece, so deck building lets them construct something during play." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Cards are added to a deck one at a time as players pick them, which works like drafting." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide for themselves which cards go into their deck, giving them real control over its contents." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Improving a deck becomes a goal for players, and reaching it makes them feel more capable." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Cards enter decks that they weren't part of before, though only weakly since they already served as resources earlier." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Handling many card types and their interacting effects well lets players demonstrate skill." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Newly acquired cards can make what a player is able to do stronger than before." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Acquired cards cost something now and pay off later, since they may help once drawn at the right time." }, { "name": "Legacy Games", "why": "Permanently altering or destroying physical cards makes lasting changes to the game, turning deck building into a legacy game." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "If decks can be changed between game sessions, players get an extra layer of play around the deck itself." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Cards added to the deck can give players actions or effects they didn't have before." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Reaching deck-improvement goals pushes players to think ahead about what to acquire and how it fits." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Working toward a better deck leads players to plan longer-term about which cards to collect." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "With a large enough pool of cards, players rarely end up with the same deck twice, so games differ." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Shaping the set of cards you use lets you develop your player's construct through card choices." }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "Newly acquired cards go to the discard pile and likely won't be drawn soon, so they sit unusable for a while." }, { "name": "Cycle Deck Engines", "why": "Because players pick which cards join their deck, they can gather draw-granting cards that let them keep pulling new cards continuously." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "Players pick cards that work well together, which raises the odds of pulling off combinations." }, { "name": "Decks", "why": "Cards get added to decks one at a time during play, so a deck's makeup changes over the game." }, { "name": "Discard Piles", "why": "Newly acquired cards usually land in the discard pile, so they wait before they can be drawn." }, { "name": "Gameplay Engines", "why": "Players choose cards that fit together into self-reinforcing setups, so deck choices shape how engines form." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "What is in a player's deck decides what they are likely to hold when drawing." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "By picking which cards to own, players influence how likely certain draws are, shaping the luck they face." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Building a deck over time is one way to grow and shape a construct." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Deck_Building.svg" }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "World elements through which the player performs actions and decides how to use them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Give players clear elements through which their actions affect the world, and decide how many there are and whether control can switch between them. The actions offered must really be tied to these elements.", "just_a_label_when": "A character model is on screen, but all commands act on the world globally, so the avatar is just decoration.", "knobs": "how many controllable entities; which actions each one provides; whether control can be switched", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Focus_Loci", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "When a focus locus sits inside the game world, it acts as the in-world entity that carries out the player's actions, so it counts as an agent there." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Each individual locus may need its own steady attention, so having several of them to run can overload the player with things to watch." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Since most loci act by being present somewhere in the world, where they stand determines which parts of the map a player holds." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Loci are how players reach into the world, and each type changes the world in different ways, shaping how it can be affected." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The kind of locus decides what the player can see and know, so some story forms, like detective plots, fit poorly with certain loci." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Controlling several loci lets one player direct a whole group, with detail depending on how many individual loci they manage." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Which locus the player acts through affects how a fixed story can be laid out and what the player experiences of it." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Having multiple loci lets one player command a whole team at fine detail, though they must keep switching attention between its members." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Focus_Loci.svg" }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements that players make themselves for use in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must offer creation tools and a way for the made elements to enter play and matter there. Designers must also handle effects on balance and on the economy.", "just_a_label_when": "Players can make things, but they stay cosmetic or are never used in actual gameplay.", "knobs": "what players may create; how much freedom they have; how created items enter the game", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Created_Game_Elements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because players get to make game elements themselves, they gain real decisions about what to build, which gives them more choice over how they play." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Created elements are only meaningful if they can be brought into play, so making them naturally depends on a way to insert them into the game." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Items that players make can be handed over or swapped with other players, which gives trading something to exchange." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Through building or crafting actions, players put new items into the game world and feel that they made those items." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "When players design whole levels, such as in editors outside the main game, the created elements can grow from single items to complete playable areas." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Being able to make things gives players relaxed, aimless tinkering to do, provided the game does not add pressure like tension." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "When players build parts of the game, especially their own characters, they decide how they will play their role." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "If players produce too many of a type of element, its value drops very low and the trading market can collapse." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Created_Game_Elements.svg" }, { "name": "Drafting", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players take turns choosing game elements from a shared set until the choices run out.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be real choices between elements of differing value, with a clear order of picking. The picks must carry on to later play.", "just_a_label_when": "Players take items one at a time but they are all the same or the choice is forced, so it is only a handout.", "knobs": "how many options per pick; order of picking; how many picks", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Drafting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Drafting means several players take part in picking from shared game elements, so picking becomes a joint activity that the whole group takes part in." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "If players can't choose what to take and nothing happens between picks, drafting is just routine handing-out of items, which adds dull busywork." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When players get to decide which element to take from several options, drafting gives them real control over what they end up with." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players can pick abilities or elements suited to counter the other players' strategies, which evens out matchups." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "" }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "When forming teams is part of the game, players choosing members in turn can spread talent more evenly across teams." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "A separate drafting phase at the start is needed here as a way to split cards among players before they play." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Drafting can be how players build their future draw stacks, for instance by buying cards one at a time during play." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Drafting is often how a player's hand gets assembled, whether in a draft phase or by picking cards one by one." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "It is one of the tools for evening out players of differing ability, so matches against each other stay balanced." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "When players draft from the same limited pool, each pick removes an option for others, so they compete over scarce elements." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "When the drafted elements are members of teams, drafting can help even out the strength of opposing teams." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Letting players pick from several random outcomes gives them choice while the options themselves remain random." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Drafting.svg" }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Acts prompted by the game that do not affect the current play.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs real value in preparing, documenting, negotiating or running things outside the game state, such as planning, saving, storytelling or creating content, and the rules or interface must support it. Players should gain something from them later.", "just_a_label_when": "A menu or notebook option that nobody has a reason to use because nothing in play benefits from it.", "knobs": "how much the game supports and rewards out-of-game preparation, sharing or record keeping", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra-Game_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "When game events push players to do things outside the game, especially alongside outside input, they may start seeing real-world things differently." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Such actions are a way to give a game result effects beyond the game itself, since they don't touch the running game state." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players get extra options beyond in-game moves, and these can be used without changing how the game itself unfolds." }, { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Telling the tale of how a session went is an action outside the game, letting players describe characters and themes as their own." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "When a game offers lots of these outside actions, players may end up repeating them tediously." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players put effort into things like stories or characters that don't belong to one game instance or any game state change, yet matter to them." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Betting or minigames need actions that live outside the inner game, so those actions create a further game around it." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "When nothing can be done during play, players' only choices come from actions taken outside it, such as setting the game going." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Players can make elements outside of play itself, such as before a session starts or by making real-world props." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Saving and loading store or restore the whole game state instead of being play moves, so they are outside actions that let players repeat them." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "If the game offers no actions while running, the 'players' need outside actions to start it or make meaningful choices about it." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Players can send signals to onlookers, which makes it more likely or better quality that those watchers will help." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "Actions outside the regular game interface, when kept hidden, give players cheating moves the game tolerates; this works together with concealing them." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "For teams lasting beyond one match, members can train between games, and that outside practice is a way the team improves." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Actions outside normal play let designers control how likely watchers are to notice what players are doing, and can pass information to them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "The two are defined as mutually exclusive, so an action that doesn't touch the ongoing game's state can't also count as upkeep." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra-Game_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Hotseating", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "Players take turns sitting at one interface and making their moves.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a clear rule for when control changes hands, and the waiting players need something to do or to watch so the wait is tolerable. If secrecy matters, players must not see each other's turns.", "just_a_label_when": "Several players nominally share a device but the game never enforces turns, so they just crowd around or one person plays.", "knobs": "what triggers a handover (turn end, death, level end); turn length or time limit", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Hotseating", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Backseat Gamers", "why": "When players aren't meant to see each other's moves, everyone waiting beside the active player ends up watching and offering unrequested advice." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Only one person can use the interface at a time, so everyone else has to sit idle until their turn comes." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Players waiting for their turn can watch the current player, so they take on an onlooker role toward each other." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Since only one player can use the shared device at once, the game must have a rule for when control passes to the next player." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Players share a single device and take turns, which lets several people play without any extra communication interface." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Passing a single interface around lets several people play together even when only one player's worth of screen and controls exists." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "These games already have turns, so adding shared-device play is a small change that lets extra players take part." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Death is a natural moment to hand play over to another player, adding waiting time to the one who died." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "Both solve the same problem of several players sharing one screen, so using them together is redundant and one makes the other unnecessary." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Hotseating.svg" }, { "name": "Crafting", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Creating game items from other items or materials.", "needs_to_really_work": "Crafting needs inputs worth gathering and recipes or choices whose products matter for play. It should cost something, like materials, time, skill or tools, and the result should be better than what could otherwise be had.", "just_a_label_when": "There is a crafting menu, but the same items are easier to find or buy, so nobody needs it.", "knobs": "recipe cost; crafting time; skill or tool requirements; how many recipes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Crafting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Construction", "why": "Crafting means building game items through actions, so each crafted item is the result of a construction process the player carries out." }, { "name": "Converters", "why": "Crafters take in materials and turn them into different or improved items, so the people doing it act as converters." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "If the steps that make crafting possible can only be done before play starts, those steps sit outside the game itself." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Crafting needs no risk or player skill, so it is easy to turn into dull repeated work for materials or items." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Crafting can modify items you already own, and one result of that is making them work better." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Crafting normally uses up resources, at minimum play time, so the player pays now to get an item later." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Modifying or creating items, especially tools needed for other crafting, can give players things they could not do before." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Because players make the items themselves, what appears in the world is content that players produced." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Crafting can be restricted so only characters with special abilities can do it, which makes those abilities matter." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing which items can be made and what they require is information players can use to plan their choices." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Letting characters make artifacts helps explain how a world's civilizations exist, supporting the setting, provided only fitting items can be made." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Making items from available materials is a close relative of building, so players create freely but only within the tools and resources they hold." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "" }, { "name": "Deterioration", "why": "Crafting can be used to alter existing items, and a common purpose is to repair or counter their wear." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Crafting is how items come into being or get improved, so it shapes which items exist and how good they are." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Players making things adds content to the world and gives an in-world explanation for where items come from." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Crafting gives extra meaning to gathering resources, which makes that repetitive collecting feel worthwhile." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Items made by players keep entering a lasting world, which can upset its economy if effort and item value are unbalanced." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Making items can be set up to give growth, so the act of crafting feeds into a character's advancement." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In shared games, crafting can disrupt the economy and balance between players if making items is not weighed against their value." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In lasting worlds, repeated or chain crafting can flood the economy with items unless the effort matches their worth." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "If crafting effort does not match item value, those who craft heavily can gain an unfair edge over other players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Crafting.svg" }, { "name": "Minigames", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A small game inside another game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The small game needs its own distinct rules, and its outcome should feed back into the outer game. They should be short and different enough to bring variety.", "just_a_label_when": "A reskinned menu choice or a brief interlude with no skill or choice that changes nothing in the outer game.", "knobs": "how many there are; how long each lasts; how their results affect the main game", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Minigames", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Coupled Games", "why": "When a minigame's result is passed into the main game, the two games become linked, so the bigger game depends on what happened in the smaller one." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "If a minigame is optional and its result matters outside it, players choose to play it for the sake of something beyond the minigame itself." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A minigame's outcome can count as finishing a particular goal in the larger game, so the small game becomes one step toward a bigger aim." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "Because play is split into many short minigames, there are frequent natural breaks where players can pause and talk with one another." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "When a minigame passes nothing to the main game, playing it is an extra aim players may take up purely by choice." }, { "name": "Polyathlons", "why": "A series of different minigames can be strung together so players compete across several different challenges within one overall contest." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Using minigames over and over, or letting players replay a favorite one repeatedly, means players end up doing the same activity again and again." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "The result of a minigame can feed back into the main game as a direct prize for doing well." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "A minigame can serve as the single contest that players compete in, with the outer game organizing the competition around it." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since each minigame can play differently from the main game and from other minigames, players get a change of activity." }, { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "A small game can serve as the hidden surprise itself, such as a whole earlier game or a different arcade-style game tucked inside another." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "A goal can be packaged as a small self-contained game that only appears in certain situations, like the taxi missions." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Small self-contained games combined with information carried between them, as in tournaments, join up into a larger game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Hotseating", "why": "When a minigame finishes, that moment is a natural point for one player to hand over the game to the next." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Minigames let a game bring in new kinds of play and themes without feeling out of place, provided they match the main theme or being a minigame fits it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "If they do not share the main game's theme, as with easter eggs, they break consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Minigames.svg" }, { "name": "Action Programming", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player chooses actions in advance, and they are carried out later.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a gap between choosing and execution in which things can change, plus a limited set or budget of programmable actions. Players need enough consequence visibility to plan but not so much that outcomes are certain.", "just_a_label_when": "Players 'program' actions but execution is immediate or nothing changes in between, so it is just ordinary choosing.", "knobs": "how many actions are programmed at once; which actions are available; time allowed to plan", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Action_Programming", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Because players set triggers and rules for which actions happen, they effectively build units that act by themselves, like Mules or coded robots." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Actions are chosen first and carried out later, so a choice made early only shows its result after the sequence plays out." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Once players program what a unit does, the unit must follow those instructions during play instead of being freely controlled." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When programming happens outside the game itself, players may have to update the game state by hand, which adds tedious bookkeeping work." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "If programming is done before play starts, such as writing robot code, the programming itself becomes a separate game from the actual match." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Programming lets players build simple automated helpers whose behavior follows chosen triggers and rules, with no moment-to-moment control." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Players must commit to many steps in advance, so they cannot be sure the programmed sequence will actually work as intended." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Since choices are hidden and made ahead of time, especially across many steps, opponents cannot easily guess what a player will do." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Mistakes in a programmed sequence cannot be fixed, so players watch them play out, which can be entertaining, as in RoboRally and Space Alert." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must think ahead about what to queue up and how it will play out, so planning is required to play." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Players can build the code that will carry out the gameplay, as in P-Robots and Crobots, where programming is their only influence." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Choosing actions ahead of time and then watching them play out leaves you unable to change them, and a time limit adds more pressure." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Programming ahead of time lets players have some indirect effect on a game where they cannot act directly, especially when feedback is missing or slow." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Programming fits turn-based play well, but can cause waiting if players overthink their programmed choices." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "Setting actions before play begins lets players influence a game that otherwise runs without them, giving them some indirect effect." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Action_Programming.svg" }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The action must be timed to a set rhythm.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear, perceivable rhythm must exist and failing to match it must have a cost. Timing windows need to be tuned so success is possible but demanding.", "just_a_label_when": "Beat visuals or music that play along, but timing is not checked, so any input works.", "knobs": "tempo; width of the timing window; penalty for missing the beat", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Rhythm-Based_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "Hitting the right buttons in a set sequence and rhythm is itself a combo, and combos can be the reason players perform the rhythm actions." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Each rhythm action is self-contained, so designers can tune its difficulty very precisely, which makes it easy to build demanding, layered play." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "Players aim to line up their actions with the timing pattern, so the rhythm becomes a goal of arranging things correctly in time." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Players must keep performing actions and hold the rhythm steady over a stretch of time rather than doing a single act." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Because rhythm sequences are combos, learning to perform them well is one way players show skill in the game." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Players need to know which action comes next, and the indicators showing this keep a small upcoming goal always in view." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "In some games the timed button presses are mapped onto the character's moves, so pressing in rhythm makes the character move." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "When a combo is the only way to defeat enemies, performing the rhythm actions becomes the means to beat them." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Since players must hit precise timing over and over, they cannot be sure they will execute every action correctly." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "The rhythm repeats in its tempo or in the kind of action, so players keep doing similar things again and again." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Missing the timed actions can mean death, so players perform them in order to stay alive, sometimes with a story reason." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Pressing the right inputs in time with a beat is a narrower kind of dexterity, so it counts as a form of this pattern." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "In real-time games players must act as events happen, and rhythm actions shape this by making the timing and steadiness of those acts matter." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Some traps are repeating events that players get past only by acting in rhythm, so the rhythm changes how the trap works." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Rhythm-Based_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Excise", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "feelings × procedures", "what_it_is": "Side actions that are required to play but add nothing to the game by themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "It appears when the game state must be updated by hand (bookkeeping, tracking statistics, handling many units or characters) with nobody or nothing doing it automatically. To avoid it, automate the upkeep or fold it into real choices.", "just_a_label_when": "A task that merely looks like chores, such as a quick, enjoyable action that is actually a meaningful choice, so it is not true excise.", "knobs": "how much state players must maintain by hand; how much of it is automated", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Excise", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Doing required upkeep gives no real choices or progress, so it works like being forced to idle while the game waits." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "When tokens are used to cap how much of a resource can be held, the limit reduces the upkeep work of handling them." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "The page treats removing excise as a facilitator job, yet it never explains how the two conflict." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "The two are defined as mutually exclusive, so an action that doesn't touch the ongoing game's state can't also count as upkeep." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Weaving choices into chores makes them feel less like pointless work, softening the upkeep." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "A game master can remove upkeep from players, though doing so means the game master takes on that work themselves." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "If players can talk and interact while doing chores, the chores feel lighter and less burdensome." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Letting others do the repetitive tasks removes the tedious effort from the player." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Outside assistance can take over repetitive or uninteresting actions so players don't have to do them." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Buying a result lets players skip the repetitive effort of earning it, removing that grind." }, { "name": "Quick Returns", "why": "Fast ways back cut down the dull effort of traveling, easing movement chores." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Skipping across the map removes the need to cross uneventful ground by hand, reducing movement chores." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "When tokens are used to track resources, limiting how much can be held restricts how much tracking is needed." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Having a vehicle replaces plain on-foot travel, taking away the dull effort of ordinary movement." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Excise.svg" }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "An action happens only if several participants each do their own part.", "needs_to_really_work": "The result must really need more than one agent, with outcomes depending on coordination and a way for them to coordinate.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'team' action that one player could do alone, or participants who simply do their own thing in parallel.", "knobs": "number of participants; timing precision needed; how rewards are shared", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Collaborative_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "When players combine their actions, they can unlock things no single player could do alone, which effectively gives them new abilities." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Players may team up against whoever is leading, and this ganging up pulls the leader back toward the others." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Several players, avatars or units doing linked actions together works like a combo, just spread across more than one actor." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Needing others to act with you adds extra things to handle, namely negotiating, coordinating and timing, so play becomes more complicated." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Acting together is a way for players to cooperate, though not every collaborative action involves real cooperation." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Players often must talk and bargain outside the game's formal rules to line up their joint action." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skill at coordinating joint actions becomes something players can get better at, especially when teams compete against each other." }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "When a joint action carries a cost for everyone involved, all participants bear it together, which binds them to finishing what they started." }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "Giving everyone a payoff from a joint action encourages players to start collaborating in the first place." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When a joint action rewards some players and penalizes others, those involved face hard choices about whether to take part." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because joint actions need negotiation and good timing, players must think ahead and plan with others." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Successful joint actions show off what a group achieved together, particularly when they give players new abilities." }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "Several players adding to one shared outcome, such as placing cards or chips, leaves others unsure who contributed what." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When effects of joint actions are delayed, a partner can quietly undermine the shared effort, as with crisis resolution in Battlestar Galactica." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "When players act together toward a goal and failure hurts them all, the goal becomes something the group has committed to." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "When joint actions pay off only one player, the others go unrewarded for now and must trust that the favor will be returned later." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Although joint actions open up new possibilities, they limit what a player can freely choose because they must coordinate with others." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Joint actions can make teamwork more efficient than solo play, though teams aren't required since temporary alliances form while players act together." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Collaborative_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "The player finds their way through the game environment by actually moving through space.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs real-world goal locations, a way to confirm arrival, and obstacles that make the route matter. Designers must also decide whether speed and fitness should count.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are told to walk somewhere, but the goal could be completed from the sofa or the route never matters.", "knobs": "distance between goal locations; how arrival is verified; time pressure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Physical_Navigation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Since onlookers can't easily tell why someone is walking around, moving through real places blends into everyday life, as long as the pace stays socially normal." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Players use their own bodies to travel and find their way, so the navigation is itself a bodily act performed for the game." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "Walking and finding your way are things people do in real life, so doing them directly changes what happens in the game." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Players who already know the area they must travel through can find their way better, giving them an edge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Exploring changes when players use all their senses and are limited by their own bodies instead of controlling a fictional character." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Moving becomes bound by players' own physical abilities and uses their real senses, which alters how movement works in the game." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Racing changes because contestants are limited by their own bodies and senses, so how physically capable they are matters." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Sneaking works differently when players are limited by real bodies and can use all their senses to notice or avoid others." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Physical_Navigation.svg" }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Games where the player barely or never directly controls what happens.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must cut players off from changing the game state, while still giving them something to do around it, such as betting, building an agent beforehand, or setting up an initial state. Their involvement has to be real enough that they stay emotionally invested.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with only a few trivial buttons that look like input but make no difference to the result, and nothing else for players to engage with.", "knobs": "how much input players get, if any; whether they can prepare in advance or place bets", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/No_Direct_Player_Influence", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Since players only hand over instructions or agents that run without them, others need not be present, so play can happen at different times for each person." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "When players cannot steer during play, any agents in the game must follow behavior fixed beforehand rather than responding to live commands." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "When players write algorithmic agents that then play on their own, each player owns a different, self-made piece of the game." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "With no live input from players, the game effectively runs itself once started, so it behaves like a game that needs no players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Because players' choices only take effect after being set up, they find out later how well those choices actually worked." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Since the effects of player decisions on the game state show up only later, what players will do stays hidden for longer." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "Free manipulation gives players direct hands-on influence, so a game where they have none is hard to combine with it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players set up their characters but then cannot act during play, so no choices exist in the gameplay." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "If players cannot meaningfully affect the game at all, there is no skill to develop and nothing to improve." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Without direct input during play, the game always acts to some degree on its own, which reduces players' sense of control." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/No_Direct_Player_Influence.svg" }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A role-playing game where participants physically act out their heroes.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must act in person, in character, with believable props and costumes, and communicate in-world. The design must handle gaps between what players know and what characters know.", "just_a_label_when": "People wear costumes but talk and act as themselves, so it is just a normal tabletop game in costume.", "knobs": "how much in-character play is demanded; how real the props are; rules for out-of-game talk", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Live_Action_Roleplaying", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "Since players physically act out their characters, each player is the character and experiences the game world directly from that character's own viewpoint." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players sometimes need to talk about things their characters couldn't, so out-of-game talk can appear unless the design gives them a way to do it without breaking the fiction." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Both players and facilitators may have to roleplay so they fit the real world and the fictional story laid over it at once." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Since everything is physically acted out, protective gear used in play must be real or look convincingly like the genuine thing." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Players do their characters' actions themselves, so the characters exist through the players' own bodies and behavior rather than through description." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "It matters whenever a player's senses differ from those of the character they are enacting, which can create mismatches in what each can perceive." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "Because play is physical, objects used in the game must be real or look like real versions of what they stand for." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Since actions are physically performed, tools in the game must be real or look like real ones to be used convincingly." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Because play is physically enacted, weapons must be real or resemble real ones, which shapes what designers have to build or supply." }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Live action play involves lots of face-to-face talk, and treating that talk as in-world is a main feature of how it is played." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Showing the world from a position no in-world observer occupies can't be provided even by facilitators when everyone physically acts out their characters." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Live_Action_Roleplaying.svg" }, { "name": "Role Selection", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "The player chooses their abilities by picking one of a few ready-made roles.", "needs_to_really_work": "The roles must differ in what they offer, so that choosing is a real decision with trade-offs. Rules must state who can choose what and when.", "just_a_label_when": "A choice among roles that are effectively identical or where one is clearly best, so selection does not matter.", "knobs": "number and difference of roles; whether roles are exclusive; when selection happens", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Role_Selection", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "When roles are picked in a separate planning step before anything is carried out, the picks work like a weak program of what will happen next." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Picking a role means taking one option from a shared or personal set, which is a particular way of drafting what you get to use." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "If only one player can take a given role, everyone who wants it is chasing something that rules the others out." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide for themselves which role, and so which actions, they take from the small set of available ones." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "When players can pick up goals tied to the role they chose, acting on those goals lets them feel they are living up to that role." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Roles chosen in a planning phase can decide who acts first when the actions are carried out later, shaping the turn order." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Choosing from a limited set of actions each turn shapes what players can do in their turn, giving turns a role-picking structure." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Role_Selection.svg" }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Real-time games with long pauses between updates, leaving time to think.", "needs_to_really_work": "Ticks must be long enough to plan within and must cap actions per tick. Someone or something must enforce the schedule.", "just_a_label_when": "Updates happen so fast or so freely that players act continuously, so it is simply real-time.", "knobs": "tick length; actions allowed per tick; how unused actions are handled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tick-Based_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Players who want to do more than a tick allows must wait for the next one, though the tick's length caps how long that wait can be." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Because a tick leaves time to plan and act, players can leave and return between ticks without being punished." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "The game must advance in regular time steps, so that real-world moments can line up with and trigger game events." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When ticks are long enough to plan carefully, players have plenty of time to think through their moves, which can make their impact feel bigger than it is." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When a tick gives plenty of time to plan and act, players can pick for themselves when they want to play." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Players can stop playing mid-session without harm as long as they still have time to make their needed moves before the next tick arrives." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "Since the tick leaves generous time to plan and act, players can fit play around their own schedule and decide when to engage." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Each tick allows only a limited number of actions, so a player may also choose to do nothing and let that tick's chance pass." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "With private game spaces, players can take their turns at different times between ticks, making the game asynchronous." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Ticks work like a time limit on action points, since unused allowance is lost or capped when the tick passes." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Ticks decide how long players must wait when they want more actions than allowed, with the tick length setting the maximum wait." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Turning such a game tick-based limits how much each player can do or forces rests, while still requiring them to return regularly." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Ticks make a real-time game apply its changes in synchronized batches that players can notice and plan around." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "Ticks make everyone's actions and events update together at set moments, so shared play stays synchronized yet leaves room for planning." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tick-Based_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Bidding", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "Players offer resources in competition for the right to make a purchase or trade.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need bid resources that are scarce and also matter elsewhere, a clear rule for who wins and a reward worth competing for. Caps or limited budgets keep it a real trade-off.", "just_a_label_when": "Bids are called, but resources are plentiful, so everyone can always outbid at no cost and nothing is given up.", "knobs": "type and amount of bidding resource; whether the bid resource is spent or returned; what the reward is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bidding", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Bids can win rewards tied to holding territory, so competing bids become a way of deciding who controls an area." }, { "name": "Betting", "why": "Bidding means staking resources on an uncertain result, and the uncertainty mostly comes from not knowing how much others will bid." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Winning a bid lets a player take something from others, so bidding can serve as a way of seizing ownership." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Bidding needs several bidders taking part in one shared activity, even though they are rivals rather than teammates." }, { "name": "Converters", "why": "Players turn resources they hold into rewards by bidding, so the bidding act works as an exchange of one thing for another." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Bidding is optional, so as long as a player has enough resources to raise the bid, they choose whether to join in." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Bid costs vary, and resources spent on a bid cannot be used elsewhere, leaving players torn about how much to commit." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "In Bridge, the winning bidder gets to impose a goal on the game, so the auction decides which goal applies." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "Players compete over who wins the rewards on offer, and those rewards are usually resources, so bidding is a contest over resources." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Bidding is built around something that favorable outcomes hand out, so there are always rewards to bid for and distribute." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Because bidding is won by driving everyone else out of the contest, it lets a player take the role of a dominator." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "When players bid just to make rivals pay more, they must read and influence other people instead of valuing the prize." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must work out how much to bid and what else the resources are needed for, which calls for planning around costs and rivals." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Resources spent on a bid are unavailable for other uses, so players must weigh the bid against alternative spending." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "No one knows in advance how much the other players will bid, so who wins stays unclear until the bidding ends." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "An auction shows a currently leading result that rivals can still overturn, so players see a likely outcome that remains open." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Combined with capturing, deciding what to bid has no perfect answer, so players reason out the best option." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Bidding is won by driving out every other player who is unwilling or unable to bid, so it works like an elimination goal." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "The usual aim of a winning bid is to come away owning the reward that was bid on." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Bidding needs several bidders, so it adds a shared activity that players in a multiplayer game take part in together." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Bidding requires resources to bid with, and winning bids typically pay out resources, so it shapes how resources are spent and gained." }, { "name": "Trick Taking", "why": "In Bridge, the bidding stage comes first and sets up the trick taking that follows, so it modifies how that play works." }, { "name": "Trumps", "why": "In Bridge, the bidding determines trump for the play that follows, so it alters how the trump mechanic is used." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bidding.svg" }, { "name": "No-Ops", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Player actions that change nothing in the game state.", "needs_to_really_work": "Waiting must be a legal choice, or a forced effect, and the game state must keep changing while the player waits so that waiting has a point. Whether it is voluntary or forced determines whether it feels like a strategic choice or a punishment.", "just_a_label_when": "A pass button that is never worth using because the situation never rewards waiting, or a forced skip so rare that it never affects anyone.", "knobs": "whether no-ops are voluntary or forced; how often and how long they last", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/No-Ops", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Waiting out a turn lets a player hold off until the game reaches a state where a more active move becomes worthwhile." }, { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "When every other available move hurts opponents, choosing to do nothing becomes the generous option that spares them." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "Staying put and doing nothing is what lets a player sit in one spot, so being able to idle is needed for it." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a player does nothing, they have nothing to engage with, so idle stretches of play appear." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When passing is optional, players gain one more choice, such as waiting for others to act first." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "If the game carries on without input when players choose nothing, they can step away briefly to do something else." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "If doing nothing is the only thing a game allows, players cannot affect anything and just watch events unfold." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Making a player skip a turn or sit out is a way to punish them by taking away their chance to act." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Being made to stand by while enemies act, or waiting for a foe to show up or an aim to settle, builds suspense." }, { "name": "Turnovers", "why": "A rule can cut a player's turn short so the rest of it is spent doing nothing, which acts as a setback." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Holding still while waiting for the aim to steady or for a target to line up often helps a shot succeed." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When all other moves harm fellow players, doing nothing can be the cooperative choice within these dilemmas." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Staying motionless between careful movements helps players avoid being detected and so reach their stealth goals." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Making players lose actions or applying that to enemies changes how hard fights are." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "If nothing happens until the end and keeping it going is trivial, the steps before completion amount to doing nothing." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "If a player misses the time limit, being forced to do nothing serves as the penalty that makes the limit matter." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Forced moments of doing nothing make it hard to maintain a global sense of influence." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Forced skipping of actions removes options, typically as a penalty." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Making players pass removes their ability to act on the game, so they have less control over what happens." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Too many idle moves wear down suspense, even though some forced or voluntary waiting can build it." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Doing nothing too often becomes repetitive like any overused activity, leaving play less varied." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/No-Ops.svg" }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Placing pieces where their position relative to those already laid matters.", "needs_to_really_work": "Where a piece goes must matter for what follows, with relations to neighbors affecting play. Placement must vary between games.", "just_a_label_when": "Tiles are laid down but position has no effect, so it is decoration.", "knobs": "placement rules; who places; how many tile types and how drawn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tile-Laying", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "If tiles, cards or tokens are put down face-down during setup, players can't see what lies beneath them, which hides parts of the world." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When players put down tiles as they actually explore, discovering the map and building it become the same action, so exploring is directly tied to placement." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "If pieces that have been placed can be moved afterward, the world layout can change during play, and layouts already differ from one game to the next." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since players choose placements or chance decides them, each game ends up with a different layout, so play is likely to differ each time." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tile-Laying.svg" }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The order of turns changes during the game, by itself or by the players' choice.", "needs_to_really_work": "Order must really change between rounds by rotation, score-based ranking or player choice, and the first slot must carry a real advantage or disadvantage for the variation to matter. Limit player-driven changes so they do not dominate.", "just_a_label_when": "A rotating order in a game where acting first or last makes no difference, so the rotation changes nothing.", "knobs": "how order is determined (rotation, score, bidding); how big the first-player advantage is; how many changes players may make", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Varying_Turn_Orders", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the starting advantage of going first is taken away or reduced as the order changes, no player keeps the benefit, which evens out the game." }, { "name": "Flip-Flop Events", "why": "When the order reverses, whoever played last in one round can play first in the next, so that player acts twice in a row." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Changing who goes first means the edge that one starting position gives is lessened or removed, rather than staying with one player." }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Letting the first player drop to last in a later round, as in Puerto Rico, spreads that advantage around instead of fixing it on one person." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "The sequence in which players act is no longer the same every round, so the basic turn structure itself is altered." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Varying_Turn_Orders.svg" }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "The game's design lets one player step out for a while without spoiling the game for others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Stopping must not harm the player or others, which means saving state, pausing time, or having others covered by AI when someone leaves. It works only if the rest of the system also copes.", "just_a_label_when": "A pause or save option that still costs the player progress, or that wrecks the game for other players.", "knobs": "where and how often saves/pauses are allowed; what covers an absent player", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Interruptibility", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When one player steps away, the others may have to sit idle waiting, so letting people interrupt play can create waiting time for the rest." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since players can stop without penalty, they get to decide for themselves when to play and when not to." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "If skipping play carries no punishment, other people put little pressure on you to be present, so social obligation to the game stays low." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Because play can be dropped and picked up freely, it can blend into everyday life instead of needing dedicated blocks of time." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Being able to pause without negative effects lets players fit the game around their real-life schedules and situations." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Players can choose when to play, so they must weigh playing now against saving it for a later moment." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "With no penalty for stopping and resuming, a game can be played in many places and moments, whenever the player happens to be free." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "If play can be interrupted, the fiction must account for characters suddenly stopping or disappearing." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Games that can be paused or interrupted give people fewer reasons to quit for good, so they work against players leaving early." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "When play happens through a medium, other players may not see why someone stopped, making the interruption confusing." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Others may not want to wait around, so one person's interruption can cause idle time for fellow players." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "The world keeps changing even when you're away, so stepping out can still bring negative consequences." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Interruptibility.svg" }, { "name": "Team Combos", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Coordinated actions by several players trigger an extra effect they would not have alone.", "needs_to_really_work": "The extra effect must be big enough to justify coordinating, and players need to be able to notice or learn how to trigger it. Roles that differ, or timing windows, make it truly require several people.", "just_a_label_when": "Players acting near each other get a small bonus that they would almost as easily get alone, so no one coordinates.", "knobs": "size of the combo bonus; timing window; how many players and which abilities are required", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Team_Combos", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "A team combo is a joint action done right away as part of working together, not something negotiated beforehand or slowly paying off over time." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Team combos are simply combos in which the chained or combined effect comes from several players acting together instead of one player." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Team combos happen as an immediate expression of players cooperating, with everyone acting together to produce a shared effect." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "Designers can attach specific goals or rewards to team combos, which nudges players to try pulling them off." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Because players must coordinate, they usually end up taking on different roles so each contributes something distinct to the combo." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "When a team misses a combo at a crucial moment, the result can be a big, memorable mess that players find entertaining." }, { "name": "Team Accomplishments", "why": "Pulling off a team combo is a success the whole group shares, since no single player could take credit for it." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "If combos aren't explained or obvious, or there are many ways to combine abilities, players must work out which combinations work best." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Differing abilities or skill levels let teammates combine their strengths for effects." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Coordinated moves by several members become possible when a team contains differently skilled or placed members." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Team_Combos.svg" }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An action can be broken off before it has fully taken effect.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must have a delay or build-up in which others can respond, and there must be a means to stop them. The window should be long enough to react to.", "just_a_label_when": "An action that has a wind-up animation but cannot actually be stopped, so the wind-up is just decoration.", "knobs": "length of the interruption window; what can interrupt; cost to the interrupted", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Interruptible_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Letting a strong, slow action be stopped gives opponents a counter, such as blocking attacks or breaking combos, so powerful moves are kept in check." }, { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Because an action can be stopped before it pays off, players have a way to hold back whoever is ahead." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "An interruptible action only exists while it is still underway; once it finishes or is stopped, it is gone." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Others can stop the action only during a short window, so goals tied to it are available just briefly." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Finishing the action is itself something a player wants, and since others can interrupt it, that goal can be disrupted." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players can't be sure the action will succeed because others may stop it, and that uncertainty, plus waiting while unable to act, raises tension." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Combined with extended actions, the risk of being interrupted makes completing the action a goal players must keep working to protect." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "If an unfinished action can be disrupted, players feel they must complete it quickly, which they perceive as a time limit." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Many actions are abilities, so letting them be interrupted also changes what the ability is worth and how reliably it works." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Capturing can take effect after a delay, so other actions can cancel it before it completes." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Players can break a combo chain partway, so executing it depends on how well the opponent counters it." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "When an action's effects take long to arrive, players must weigh how long they can stay away before it is interrupted." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "An action that takes time to carry out can be stopped before it finishes, so the long duration becomes a vulnerability." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "An action that would cause a permanent change gets a window in which agents can stop it before it happens." }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "Even a sequence the game itself plays out can be cut off partway, so its progress is not guaranteed." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Depending on the game, others may cut into a story being told, turning it into something the players build together." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Several players can jump into a trade at the same moment and cut in, which can put participants under time pressure." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "When another player's action is interrupted during their own turn, it changes how turns normally work, sometimes needing special sequences." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "When opposition can break off ongoing actions, completing them becomes harder." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Making a trap's activation something that can be halted lets players stop it before its effect lands." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If an action can be interrupted and fail, the effort already put into it may be wasted, undermining the sense that work pays off." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Actions that can be interrupted add uncertainty that makes any displayed success chance inaccurate, which can lower the perceived influence." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Interruptible_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players do not need to play at the same time; each joins when convenient.", "needs_to_really_work": "Game state must be kept while players are away, with turns or ticks that do not stall others, and ways to show who else is in the game. Handle waiting with long timers, recordings, AI or gifts left for others.", "just_a_label_when": "A game is called asynchronous but still needs everyone online at once, or the world freezes and nothing happens in absence.", "knobs": "turn or tick length; how long state persists; what substitutes absent players (AI, ghosts, gifts)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asynchronous_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When players must wait for others to finish their sessions before a shared game can continue, that waiting time becomes idle time for those who are done." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "If players aren't tied to a shared schedule, they can decide for themselves when to play." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Because the game doesn't need everyone present at once, a player can stop and resume without breaking anyone else's play." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "The idle time spent waiting for others gives players a chance to think ahead about what they will do next." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Pushing flexibility of when to play further means people can fit the game into any moment or place they happen to have." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "why": "Players act at different times, so any teamwork they do together naturally happens without simultaneous presence or observation." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "When players take turns apart from each other, each in their own private space with little contact, each still treats the game as their own while others quietly influence it." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asynchronous_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Token Placement", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players choose future actions by placing their tokens on them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Action slots must be fewer than the demand for them, so placing a token blocks others, and each player needs only a few tokens. A clear turn order for placement is required.", "just_a_label_when": "Every action slot is unlimited or open to everyone, so placing a token is just a bookkeeping step that blocks nobody.", "knobs": "tokens per player; number and capacity of action slots; placement turn order", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Token_Placement", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Players choose which actions they will do ahead of time by placing tokens, but can still pick how to carry them out later, so it's a loose version of programming." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "During placement, players decide freely where their few tokens go, choosing future actions from the available options." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "Since each action slot can be taken only a limited number of times, players end up fighting over the same scarce spots." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Both the tokens players hold and the action spots they can fill become things of value that players manage and spend." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must work out where to put their own tokens while also guessing where opponents will put theirs." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When several players want the same action spot, the contest over who gets it creates anxious, uncertain moments." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Because tokens and spots are few, players must give up some useful actions to claim the most necessary or efficient ones." }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "why": "Some placement spots can change who goes first next, so where you place a token also affects the order of play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Players spend points to place tokens that mark which actions will be done later, splitting play into planning and carrying out." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Competing for limited action spots only makes sense with several players, so the pattern mainly shapes games with more than one participant." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Placement turns both the tokens and the available actions into valued items, adding to how resources work in the game." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Placing a token can change who acts next, so the placement pattern feeds back into how turns are ordered." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Placement isn't a test of reactions, so it fits games where players act in turns rather than simultaneously in real time." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Placing tokens depends on a fixed order of turns, which is hard to keep when everything runs continuously." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Token_Placement.svg" }, { "name": "Information Passing", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One character gives another information that can affect how the game goes.", "needs_to_really_work": "The information must change what players know or can do (a new goal, a clue, a better choice), and delivered through a channel such as dialogue or eavesdropping. It must be reliable or deliberately unreliable.", "just_a_label_when": "Characters talk but say only flavour text, so players learn nothing that affects their decisions.", "knobs": "how much and how useful the information is; how it is delivered; whether it can be false", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Information_Passing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "When a character passes along information the player can see, that information can hint at what to do or where to look next." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "A passing event can be enough to finish a goal of learning something, because the player receives the information it carries." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Passing information between characters can set up conflict inside a group without any fighting, for example by making members of a faction oppose each other." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "It is a main way to hand out story information bit by bit to the player, so it drives how a scripted story unfolds." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Because the player just receives information, what is passed can be misleading, steering attention toward something that turns out unimportant." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "When information can be overheard, goals to learn it can require staying unnoticed while listening in." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Passed information might be a red herring, so the player cannot be sure whether what they learned is reliable or useful." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "This is a way to make players aware that skippable goals exist, often through characters who tell them about these." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "What players learned in past exchanges alters what they are able to say in a later conversation." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "What characters pass on can give the player a new goal they may choose to pursue, changing how play proceeds." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "What characters pass on can set, complete or fail a fixed goal, directly steering the course of play." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "NPCs can deliver or elaborate on the story by passing information to players." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Sharing or passing on information lets rivals compete through scheming rather than combat, which suits rivalry-focused games." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Information_Passing.svg" }, { "name": "Mules", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Programs that take over monotonous, repetitive actions from the player.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have repetitive tasks worth delegating, and the automation must be able to run them without the player. Limits on efficiency or risks keep it from replacing play entirely.", "just_a_label_when": "An auto-play button that does the task but is so weak or so restricted that players still do everything by hand.", "knobs": "which tasks can be automated; how efficient; what risks come with it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mules", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When players get to build their own Mules, designing and tuning the best automated helper becomes a separate challenge layered on top of normal play." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "A Mule is a program that stands in for the player and extends what they can get done, so it works as an added capability for them." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "Letting a program do the player's work is a kind of shortcut, and it counts as cheating that either the players or the designers have agreed to allow." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "A mule is a game element that looks human-directed, so it can look like an agent even though it is not." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "A Mule has to be able to steer the player's Avatar, so its presence changes how the Avatar gets controlled." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Mules are mostly used to repeat actions that raise a character's abilities, so they change how quickly and how much effort players spend improving." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Mules often draw on information stored in a Character to decide what to do, so they shape how Characters get used in play." }, { "name": "Emotes", "why": "Since a Mule stands in for the player, it must handle expected social interaction, and letting it use Emotes is one way to do that." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Letting others do the repetitive tasks removes the tedious effort from the player." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Mules are AI players built to perform grinding in place of people, so players no longer have to do it." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A Mule must cover tasks like dialogue, which is hard to automate convincingly, and player-made Mules leave consistency up to the players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mules.svg" }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "The player personally performs actions that then happen in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a way to read or judge the body action, and a clear choice of which actions are enacted and which are abstracted. The physical demand has to be what decides outcomes.", "just_a_label_when": "A motion-controller game where a button press or tiny flick does the same job as the gesture, so the movement is just decoration.", "knobs": "which actions must be physically performed; how large and demanding the movement is; how strictly it is judged", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Physical_Enactment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "In live action roleplaying, every participant physically acts out their character, so the game world stays consistent, but it breaks easily if any single player fails to take part." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Physical enactment is a more demanding kind of enactment, where players do the larger or more dexterous actions with their own bodies instead of just commanding them." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "Live action roleplaying is roleplaying where players actually perform their characters' actions and attitudes with their bodies, so enactment combined with roleplaying produces it." }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "The interface comes from asking players to physically carry out actions, which sensors then measure, so the physical performance itself is the input." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When outcomes come from bodily activity, they depend on how well players physically perform it." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Physical_Enactment.svg" }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Actions by which the player changes the flow of game time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have a state and timeline that can really be paused, sped up, slowed or rewound, and the ability must cost something or be limited. In multiplayer, decide whose time is affected so others keep their agency.", "just_a_label_when": "A rewind or slow-motion button so cheap, or so rarely needed, that nobody changes decisions because of it, or a visual slowdown that changes nothing in the rules.", "knobs": "which time effects exist (stop, slow, fast, reverse); how often and at what cost they can be used", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Time_Manipulation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Being able to rewind or undo what happened lets players change their outcomes, so they can pick differently and reshape how a game session plays out." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Time control is usually handed to just one player and not to other agents, so it works as a special power only that player holds." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "In single-player games, slowing the player down or speeding up enemies makes play harder as a penalty." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "In single-player games, gaining the power to control game time can be part of what a reward consists of." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups can be the means by which a player gains the ability to stop, slow, speed up, or reverse game time." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Time manipulation is mostly found in real-time games, where players can alter the speed or direction of continuously running events." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "Being able to manipulate time changes how much actual time players have within a game session that is meant to be limited." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "If players can stop, slow, or reverse time, the pressure of a time-limited challenge shifts because the time available is effectively altered." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "When one player's time manipulation is applied in a multiplayer game, it typically takes away the other players' ability to make meaningful choices that affect the game." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Time_Manipulation.svg" }, { "name": "Polyathlons", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal of completing several challenges, each needing different skills.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each event must need a different skill and have a clear result that can be combined into a final score. The mix must make players be either generalists or specialists.", "just_a_label_when": "Several events are listed, but they test the same skill, so it is really one game repeated.", "knobs": "number of events; how different their skills are; how they are weighted in the total", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Polyathlons", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Since each event demands different skills, players must either focus on certain skill areas or become well-rounded across several of them." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Switching between events that each play differently gives players a changing mix of activities instead of the same play throughout." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Polyathlons.svg" }, { "name": "Trick Taking", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Several players play cards, and one of them wins that round.", "needs_to_really_work": "Cards need ranked values with rules for following suit, a winner-determination rule, and a clear scoring goal (most, fewest, exact). A turn order must exist.", "just_a_label_when": "Players play cards in a round but the winner is picked at random or the result changes nothing in scoring.", "knobs": "goal (most, fewest or exact tricks); suit-following rules; trump use", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Trick_Taking", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Because rule breaks and played cards come to light only later, players gain from remembering which cards already appeared in earlier tricks, so these games push them to memorize." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Winning a trick means beating the other players' cards in that round, so each trick is a small challenge the player tries to conquer." }, { "name": "Replays", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cards", "why": "The values of the cards played decide who wins the trick, and the pattern can matter so much that card sets get designed around it." }, { "name": "Discard Piles", "why": "Won tricks can be set aside as their own pile, acting like a special discard pile that players can look back through later." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Several players must each contribute a card to the same trick, with one of them winning it, so the pattern shapes play among many people." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Tiles, like dominoes, can be played into a trick and ranked by value so that one player wins them all." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Trick_Taking.svg" }, { "name": "Quick Time Events", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The game shows a sequence of button presses that must be performed instantly.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must be real-time, with clear prompts, fair time windows and meaningful consequences for failure. They work best where normal controls do not cover the situation.", "just_a_label_when": "Prompts appear but have no penalty or can't be failed, so they are a cutscene with a button press.", "knobs": "sequence length; time window; penalty for failure", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Quick_Time_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "A quick time event often plays out as a scripted scene showing the game world, so the prompts ride along with a cinematic-style presentation." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Each prompt asks for a specific input right now, giving players a short-lived objective that disappears once they succeed or fail." }, { "name": "Minigames", "why": "A quick time event can be packaged as a small self-contained challenge of timed inputs, separate from the main gameplay actions." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The instructions telling players which inputs to press are shown as interface overlays rather than things inside the game world." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Events with custom animations are built to kill the character in that exact situation, so players may feel the designers are deliberately out to get them." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Like cutscenes, these events can carry fixed story moments, since the sequence of actions and outcomes is set in advance by designers." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "Players must press a series of inputs in order and on time, which creates a beat-like pattern of actions." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "The prompts can show up unexpectedly, and the surprise of having to react instantly makes players feel pressure." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "These events only work when the game runs continuously, since players must respond within a short time window, so they shape how such games play." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "They offer players a way to dodge a trap by reacting with the right input, instead of only steering away from it or leaving its range." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Quick_Time_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Startgame", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "The first stage in games that have clearly separated stages.", "needs_to_really_work": "The opening needs few options and distinct goals from later phases, and starting conditions must be fair. A following phase must be clearly different so the structure is noticeable.", "just_a_label_when": "A section called the opening that plays exactly like the rest of the game, so players never notice a phase.", "knobs": "how many actions are available at the start; how long the phase lasts; how much starting positions differ", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Startgame", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because everyone knows the opening phase exists and how it tends to go, players are nudged to think ahead and prepare plans for it." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Openings repeat in similar ways each game, so players can learn and build up knowledge of different ways to begin." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Since openings follow common patterns and don't hinge on one game's exact state, players can make broad plans rather than reacting move by move." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Startgame.svg" }, { "name": "Card Building", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players themselves change the effects and properties of individual cards.", "needs_to_really_work": "Modifications must be meaningful and cost something, with real choices between them, and cards must be reused so the investment pays off.", "just_a_label_when": "Cards have upgrade slots, but one upgrade is clearly best or the changes are too small to affect play.", "knobs": "how many modifications a card can take; their cost; whether changes are permanent", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Card_Building", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Handling many possible changes to your cards gives players a lot to juggle, which makes the game harder to take in all at once." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Players assemble and shape their cards by choosing how each one gets modified, so they are building something out of their card pool." }, { "name": "Deck Building", "why": "When cards are gathered into decks, changing the individual cards effectively means the player is also shaping the deck, so both happen together." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide which cards to change and how, so they have real say in how their cards end up." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Players have the goal of making their cards better, which gives them something to work toward and grow at." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Handling the many modification options well is a skill, so players who manage it effectively show they have mastered the game." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Modifying a card can make what it already does stronger, so a card's owner gets better effects than before." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players spend resources now to change cards, hoping the changes pay off later, though the payoff is not guaranteed." }, { "name": "Legacy Games", "why": "When changes to cards are permanent, they carry over between play sessions, so the game changes as it is played repeatedly." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Permanent card changes persist outside a single session, creating a larger game of managing cards across multiple plays." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Modifying a card can give it effects it did not have before, widening what the player can do with it." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Deciding how to change cards gives players reason to think ahead about what they want their cards to become." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Choices about which card modifications to pursue shape longer-term play, so players need to plan strategically." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since players can modify cards in different ways, each game or player can end up playing differently." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "The page lists this as conflicting without giving a reason." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Card_Building.svg" }, { "name": "Auto-Aim", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "The game partly aims for the player, making targeting easier.", "needs_to_really_work": "The assist must really change hit results, such as pulling the crosshair or bending shots, in the situations where aiming is hard. Tune its strength against skill and fairness in multiplayer.", "just_a_label_when": "An aim assist option exists but is so weak it never changes a shot, or it only shows a marker without helping.", "knobs": "assist strength and radius; type (reticle pull, bullet bend, lock-on); where it is active", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Auto-Aim", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the game helps with aiming, weaker players get closer to stronger ones, though in multiplayer that same help can also tilt fairness the other way." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Since the game does part of the aiming, players land more hits and feel that those successes came mostly from their own actions." }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "why": "Aiming help is an extra capability the game gives the player on top of their own ability, making them more effective than unaided." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Success at hitting a target comes partly from the player's own aim and partly from the game's built-in assistance, so both contribute to the result." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "Lock-on style aiming puts a visible marker on enemies, which draws the player's attention to the things worth targeting." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "The assistance takes over some of the aiming work, so pointing at a target and firing becomes easier for the player." }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "why": "Some forms of the help pull the player's crosshairs toward enemies, or let a button press jump them from one enemy to another." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Aiming help can narrow the gap between players, but in multiplayer it can also favor whoever uses it, so it may support or undermine balance." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When the game handles part of the aiming, players no longer need to develop skill at it, so there is less ability to master." }, { "name": "Near Miss Indicators", "why": "Assisted aim bends shots toward targets, so it can become impossible to notice a shot that nearly missed, leaving nothing for such indicators to show." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Auto-Aim.svg" }, { "name": "Awareness of Surroundings", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Computer-controlled characters notice everything important around them and react.", "needs_to_really_work": "Agents must sense the relevant objects, agents and events and respond differently depending on them. Context-dependent reactions and memory make it more believable.", "just_a_label_when": "Agents look like they see, but they ignore pick-ups, other agents or events and follow a fixed script regardless.", "knobs": "what agents can perceive; sensing range; how rich their reactions and memory are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Awareness_of_Surroundings", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "An agent that notices what is around it has one of the basic ingredients it needs to seem to pursue goals of its own." }, { "name": "Sense of Self", "why": "Noticing and responding to things nearby is one of the prerequisites for an agent to come across as a distinct individual." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When characters respond sensibly to what is in the world, the game feels more coherent and fits its fictional setting better." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "The pattern shapes how computer-run agents behave by making them respond to what exists in the game world around them." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Computer-controlled foes are given responses to the player, items and other enemies nearby, so they act less blindly." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Computer-run characters react to things in the world, such as movement and closeness, which makes them seem more socially believable." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Awareness_of_Surroundings.svg" }, { "name": "Killcams", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Right after a kill, the player is shown a replay of it.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must record the moments before a death and show them right away, with a clear camera choice and view style. The replay must show enough to explain how the death happened.", "just_a_label_when": "A replay plays but from a useless angle or too late, so the player learns nothing about what killed them.", "knobs": "when the replay triggers; how long it is; camera angle; full screen or small inset", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Killcams", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cameras", "why": "A killcam needs a camera placed to film the lead-up to the death, so the designer must decide how that viewpoint is set up." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "Because it takes over play to show a short pre-made-feeling clip of a death, a killcam works like a small cutscene." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "When the killcam follows the action from a moving outside view, it can mark key things on screen so the player knows where to look." }, { "name": "Replays", "why": "A killcam is built from a replay: it plays back the moments just before a death right after they happened." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "A killcam can show the kill from outside the character, such as following a bullet, giving a moving third-person perspective on the event." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Showing how a kill happened lets players learn what worked and exposes killers' tactics and locations, helping others compete." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Killcams are mostly used in fights, where they replay how a fight ended and expose details players could not see in the moment." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "They are most common in first-person games, where players often cannot tell how they died, so the replay shows what the view hid." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "The replay is triggered by kills or other important deaths, so it presents the moment one player or enemy kills another." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "By showing the victim how they died, a killcam can help balance player-versus-player matches so one side dominates less easily." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Replaying the fatal shot reveals where a hidden shooter was, so victims learn the sniper's spot and can respond to it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Killcams.svg" }, { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The player can act to reduce their own risk of failure.", "needs_to_really_work": "Bad luck must be possible and costly, and players need real options to reduce it, such as rerolls, known odds or a choice of action order. The options must cost something.", "just_a_label_when": "A mitigation option that is available but either always the obvious choice or so weak that it does not change outcomes.", "knobs": "how many rerolls or extra chances; how much they cost; how well the odds are known", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Misfortune_Mitigation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skillfully reducing the damage of bad outcomes, such as choosing a smart action order, becomes a skill players can get better at, as in Bloodbowl." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When players can guard against bad results, they can better foresee what their actions will lead to instead of being at the mercy of chance." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Luck", "why": "Players may feel lucky when they dodge misfortune, but the feeling can vanish when one player's good luck is another player's bad outcome." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Mitigation gives players ways to counter or reduce the effect of random results, so chance has a weaker hold on the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Luck", "why": "Opponents' mitigation can counter a player's luck and spoil the feeling of being fortunate." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Misfortune_Mitigation.svg" }, { "name": "Turnovers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A game event ends one player's turn and immediately passes the turn to another.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must carry a real chance of failure, and failure must end the turn immediately and cost the player their remaining actions. Players need to see that risk before they act.", "just_a_label_when": "A failure that is called a turnover but the player keeps acting or loses nothing meaningful.", "knobs": "chance of failure per action; which failures end the turn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Turnovers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "Because each risky action might fail and end your turn, doing enough of them almost guarantees a stop, so the number of actions is loosely limited." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Losing the rest of your turn is the price of a failed action, so a turnover works as a punishment for failing." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Since a failure can cut your turn short, players must think about which actions to attempt first, putting the important or riskier ones in a sensible order." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "A player keeps going until failing at something, so success decides how long a turn lasts." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Ending a turn as punishment for failing at certain actions gives a way to decide when the turn stops." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Turnovers.svg" }, { "name": "Bag Building", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players put tokens into a bag and later draw them back out.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must choose what goes into the bag and when to draw, with token types that really differ in value, so the contents change draw outcomes. Decide whether bags are personal or shared.", "just_a_label_when": "Tokens go in a bag but all are the same or are drawn without choices before, so bag contents don't matter.", "knobs": "token types; when tokens are added and drawn; personal or shared bag", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bag_Building", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Investments", "why": "Choosing which tokens to add to your bag is a commitment now that shapes what you may draw later, so each token acts like a stake in future turns." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Because you pull tokens from the bag without seeing them, you cannot know which one comes out, which brings uncertainty into play." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bag_Building.svg" }, { "name": "Workshopping", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Techniques used before the game: building the world together or preparing for the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Sessions must have defined techniques to create characters, relationships and setting together, with enough time and facilitation for everyone to take part. The output must feed into play.", "just_a_label_when": "A group discussion that produces nothing used in the game, or a handout read silently.", "knobs": "length; techniques used; how much is created collectively; facilitator involvement", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Workshopping", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Preparing together beforehand helps players create and portray characters so that what they do stays believable within the game's fictional world." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Because players shape their characters during the workshop, those characters become elements the players themselves made rather than ones supplied by the designer." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Preparing together beforehand helps players create and portray characters so that they fit the game's intended theme and tone." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Workshop activities help players build up and play their characters, filling in details and relations that would otherwise be missing." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "The practice began in Nordic live action roleplaying, where techniques like Ball of Yarn and Slow take-off ease players into the game." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Giving players creative control over their characters' initial details can turn those characters into ones the players themselves made." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Working out characters beforehand helps players set or grasp goals tied to their roles, making the feeling of fulfilling a role more likely." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Workshops support players who must take on roles by easing the difficulty of portraying characters, usually early in a game." }, { "name": "Substitute Actions", "why": "Workshop techniques can make players aware of how to use substitute actions properly, which is one of the challenges they help with." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Workshopping.svg" }, { "name": "Password Save Files", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A save that consists of a single password.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game state to save must be small enough to encode in a short code that players can write down and type in. The code must be generated from the state and accepted on entry.", "just_a_label_when": "A code that is just a level name anyone can guess, or one that does not actually restore the progress it claims to.", "knobs": "what state the password encodes; its length and format; when it is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Password_Save_Files", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Because a password is just a short piece of text, players can easily copy it and hand it to others, so sharing progress becomes simple." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "A password stores a small amount of game state and needs only a way to type it in, so it is a lightweight kind of save." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Password_Save_Files.svg" }, { "name": "Extra Turns", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": "dynamics × procedures", "what_it_is": "A player takes another turn right after their own turn.", "needs_to_really_work": "Specify the trigger (a reward, a roll, a card) and whether the player controls when it happens. Because it can double a player's actions, it must be balanced against how strong a single turn is.", "just_a_label_when": "An 'extra turn' that has nothing meaningful left to do, or comes only when the game is already decided.", "knobs": "how often extra turns are granted; what triggers them and whether players choose when", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra_Turns", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "When a player's action fails, getting another turn right away lets them try again, so the extra turn works as a second shot." }, { "name": "Flip-Flop Events", "why": "Normally turns alternate between players, so a player moving twice in a row interrupts that back-and-forth, though only mildly." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "The player gets to do twice as many actions before anyone else moves, effectively stretching their share of game time." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Extra turns change the usual order of play by inserting additional turns for the player who just moved, instead of passing to the next." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Because one player acts twice before opponents respond, they gain an advantage that can tip the game in their favor and upset fairness." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra_Turns.svg" }, { "name": "Meta-Techniques", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "In role-playing, players tell each other something without passing it on to their characters.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must give players actual methods for signaling about rules or desired direction without speaking through characters, and players must be taught and use them. The method must suit the fiction.", "just_a_label_when": "A rule that says players may communicate out of character but gives no actual technique, so it is just ordinary talking.", "knobs": "which technique types are offered; how intrusive they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Meta-Techniques", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "Meta-techniques give players a way to pass messages about rules or what they want from play, so they work as an extra channel alongside in-character talk." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "In live action roleplaying, meta-techniques change how in-character communication can happen, letting players share information without having their characters say it." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Meta-techniques shape scenes by letting players signal without interrupting them, or by inserting extra scenes that carry information, and by signaling when scenes should end or start." }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Meta-techniques supply extra ways to signal out-of-world needs, so ordinary conversation can stay in-world without interruption." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Meta-Techniques.svg" }, { "name": "Bag Management", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players can remove or swap tokens in the bag without playing them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Removing or replacing tokens must really shift the odds, with a cost or limit so it is a decision. Choose how many tokens and what kinds can be manipulated.", "just_a_label_when": "Players may remove tokens, but the effect on later draws is negligible or the action is free and obvious.", "knobs": "how many tokens can be removed or replaced; cost of doing so; whether draws are blind", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bag_Management", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Letting players pull tokens out of a bag, or swap them, gives them real decisions about what stays in the bag, rather than leaving it to a fixed process." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Putting tokens into or out of a bag shapes a temporary player construct that changes during play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bag Building", "why": "Bag Building is about adding tokens to a bag; Bag Management changes how that works by letting players also take out or swap tokens without playing them." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bag_Management.svg" }, { "name": "Substitute Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One action stands in for another, as if replacing it.", "needs_to_really_work": "The replacement action should keep as much meaning as the original, and players must be told and have a chance to practice it. Without a shared understanding it does not work.", "just_a_label_when": "A named stand-in action that nobody has been told about or that resembles nothing of the original, so people stop and explain what it means.", "knobs": "how closely the action resembles the original; how much briefing and practice is given", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Substitute_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because players act out a stand-in gesture rather than stopping to talk outside the fiction, the game world stays unbroken and believable." }, { "name": "Meta-Techniques", "why": "Replacing an unplayable action with an acceptable stand-in is itself a technique players use from outside the fiction to handle a problem, so it counts as one." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "They let players handle out-of-game communication without interrupting an ongoing scene, while the fiction stays consistent." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Players keep physically performing their character's deeds, but the movement is a safe stand-in, like touching only arms and shoulders instead of acting out sex." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Meta-Postures", "why": "Both address the same design problem in different ways, so choosing one approach works against using the other." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players can express information through stand-in actions instead of speaking as themselves, so out-of-world talk is avoided." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Substitute_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Warming-Up Roleplay Exercises", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "procedures", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Exercises before the game that help players get into their roles.", "needs_to_really_work": "Exercises must target the specific roleplay skills the game demands, be short and low-pressure, and be done right before play with everyone participating. They should also teach any special rules used.", "just_a_label_when": "A generic icebreaker listed in the rulebook that people skip or that has nothing to do with the roles in the game.", "knobs": "length; type of exercise; amount of group interaction; relevance to the game's roleplay demands", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Warming-Up_Roleplay_Exercises", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Workshopping", "why": "Warm-up exercises are one kind of workshop technique, so running them before a game is itself a way of doing workshopping with the players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enactment", "why": "How a warm-up is designed depends on getting players ready to physically act out their characters, so enactment shapes what the exercises look like." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "Warm-ups are built to ease players into live-action play, such as by energizing them or reducing social shyness before the larp starts." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Practicing beforehand makes players more likely to perform satisfyingly and lets them shape or adjust their roles to suit themselves better." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Warm-ups are designed around preparing people to play characters, helping those who feel unsure about their ability or unfamiliar with the rules." }, { "name": "Substitute Actions", "why": "Warm-ups can be used as a chance for players to practice using substitute actions before the real game begins." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Warming-Up_Roleplay_Exercises.svg" }, { "name": "Characters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A set of traits and properties that make up fictional people and creatures in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "They need a persistent identity with data that changes and matters, which players can identify with or role-play.", "just_a_label_when": "A named figure appears on screen, but there are no data or changes behind it, so it is just a skin.", "knobs": "depth of personal data; how much players can customise; how much the character changes during play", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Characters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Characters are hidden game-state values standing in for diegetic people, so they are a kind of abstract construct belonging to the player." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Characters give an acting entity its traits, though they usually need an Avatar or Unit to be shown in the game world." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "If characters already differ in traits before play begins, players start the game with unequal strengths or abilities." }, { "name": "Coaches", "why": "Hattrick is given as an example where the coach is itself a character, so that game's coaches come from this pattern." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Characters keep hidden traits of in-world people out of view yet still let them influence play, so the fiction stays believable." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Players or game masters act out their characters using voice and body, even when no visual avatar is present." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When a lot of character information must be stored and kept up to date by players, that bookkeeping becomes tedious extra work." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "When there is no concrete game world or avatar, the character is what the player's attention and control attach to." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Characters can be the ones bound to or receiving faithfulness, giving personal ties and a way to choose whom to stay true to." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Characters can be the thing that the story or the players' pursuits revolve around, serving as the object driving events." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Characters populate stories with people whose relationships matter, giving richer narrative material, though gameplay traits and storytelling can exist separately." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Designers can create characters with traits and then have the game system control them rather than any player." }, { "name": "Perspective Taking", "why": "Because characters give players someone to identify with, especially through roleplaying or telling stories, players come to see through that person's eyes." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Developing a character or equipping gear boosts what it can do, yet the player's own skill still affects how actions turn out." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designed characters are important focal points around which designers plan what happens, and they engage players emotionally." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "When players act out their characters well and see that as a goal, succeeding at it gives them a sense of fulfilling the role." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Characters give players someone to tell stories about, and their traits supply material for those tales." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Characters can be harmed or killed, so keeping them alive becomes a goal for players." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because characters can take damage, suffer penalties or die, players feel anxious about what might happen to them." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Any action by a character shapes how players interpret it, even if the game has no system for changing the character's statistics." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Development is by definition a change in a character, so having characters whose traits can change is what makes it possible." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Characters are things players commonly hide, and if they are vulnerable or have a weak spot, players take up concealing them." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "" }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Because conversation must come from someone inside the game world, players speaking through their characters naturally produces in-world communication." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "" }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Characters keep track of internal states, which lets complex personality-driven behavior be maintained over time." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Characters are things players can move away from danger, so they serve as the bodies that carry out evasion." }, { "name": "Melodramatic Structures", "why": "Switching which character the player controls lets the player see events from several viewpoints, so they end up knowing more than any one character does." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Player characters come into being when players are given control of characters in the game." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Characters are something players control and can plan the growth of, so they must exist for character-based planning to happen." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Characters are tied to accounts whose passwords can be handed over, so a whole character can be bought and sold for real money." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Characters carry goals and intentions that players can take on, and acting according to their personality and context is roleplaying." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "When characters have different abilities, a combo can require their joint actions, so one player cannot perform it alone." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "When players control different characters with orthogonally differing abilities yet must act as a team, they have to figure out how those differences fit together." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "" }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Characters that players shape through their own planned growth give lasting proof that the player's decisions and work mattered." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Having characters allows enemies to be more detailed and to be tied into social relationships with the player's character." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Characters are the abstract side of the world's inhabitants, and they link hidden values to concrete things in the world." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "The many numbers attached to a character allow rewards such as raised attributes and skills, new abilities, or gained items." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Characters hold the abstract information like attributes and skills, while avatars are their tangible presence, so the two usually affect each other." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "The characters one is loyal to, and the bonds with them, change how strong and personal the loyalty feels." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Persistent characters give players lasting roles and specialties within the group." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "If players feel attached to their characters, the penalties those characters suffer are felt more strongly." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Paired with freedom of choice, characters let players pick or build the role they play, making success easier and more satisfying." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Individually managed units can become more like characters, though mostly units are indistinguishable from each other." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Characters that differ from the start may not be equally powerful, which can upset fairness between players." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Death consequences applied to important characters in a fixed story can threaten to destroy that story." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Differences in character abilities, especially unequal ones from the start, can make some players stronger than others." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "If important characters die through death consequences, the planned story can be broken." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Characters.svg" }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Abilities that let someone do what others cannot.", "needs_to_really_work": "The ability must open genuinely different tactics or goals, and access must be defined and balanced. Skilled play should not easily make up for its absence.", "just_a_label_when": "A special power is named, but it is weak or easily imitated, so privileged and ordinary agents play the same way.", "knobs": "who gets the ability; its power; how often it can be used; how it is obtained", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Privileged_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "If some special actions are available from the first moment, players start the game with different capabilities, so their starting situations are unequal." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When actions are limited to certain players or units, each one becomes the one to turn to for particular tasks, giving them their own area of expertise." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "A game can adjust which special abilities players receive and when, for example based on race positions, so those behind are helped and the gap narrows." }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "why": "Being allowed to stop an action midway is itself a power others lack, so it counts as one of these special abilities." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Because some players can do things others cannot, unsupervised gaps may widen over time, though a game can also adjust who gets what to even things out." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Special abilities distinguish story characters, and gaining a new one can mark a key story moment, so they help the designer lay out an intended plot." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Certain special abilities, like creating or manipulating resources or restoring health, can become a steady source of supply that keeps replenishing." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Being able to enter places that others cannot is one form of special movement, so access to a refuge can be such a privilege." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "When special abilities exist from the start, players know what they have and can plan their approach over the long run." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Abilities gained mid-game change what players or their rivals can do, forcing them to adapt their short-term plans to the new situation." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Giving an enemy abilities the player lacks changes how the fight plays, making it feel like a distinct boss encounter." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "A special ability that lets players ignore a blocking hazard makes having that ability the condition for passage." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "" }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "A boss with powers others lack makes players work out how to cope with them." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "Letting only certain avatars act as spawn locations gives those avatars a special power that others lack." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "When only certain characters hold particular abilities, a combo depending on them can only happen if those players act together." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with boss monsters, special abilities held by only some enemies make those encounters feel different." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Providing certain abilities only to certain game elements gives those elements special standing among others." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Special abilities are typical parts of a construct, and giving them out makes constructs differ from one another." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Switching alarms on or off is an unusual power, and when a game offers it, it often strongly shapes how play goes." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Special abilities can be expressed through an avatar's skills, which lets the ability be adjusted further." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Abilities can be tied to a character so that losing the character means losing the ability, which helps set characters apart." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Giving players special fighting actions, such as combos, changes what they can do during a fight." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Companions may have their own special abilities, and gaining a companion can bring the player extra abilities connected to it." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Some players can take less damage or be immune to it, which changes how harm affects them compared with others." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Special sight abilities can make certain things in the game world stand out, helping the player notice them." }, { "name": "Discard Piles", "why": "A player may be allowed to look through or take from the discard pile when others normally could not." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Special rights may let a player search the draw pile or choose cards from anywhere in it rather than only the top." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Special powers that only enemies have make them harder, and are one way to create bosses." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Special immunity or reduced effects means hazards in the environment do not hurt the privileged player the way they hurt others." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Some units can see more of the map than others, because they are less limited by hidden areas." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Tying an ability to owning an item gives an in-world explanation and makes players want to obtain that item." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Being allowed to look at another player's cards is an information power that sets the holder apart." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Being able to restore health is a special action that changes how long a player can keep going." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Being able to undo something that would normally be permanent is a power that some players have and others do not." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Some units may follow different visibility rules from others, so they can see things that others cannot." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Special abilities for some players can encourage or require roles and enable team combinations." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Because certain abilities are special to some players, getting a new one is worth more or less depending on what others already have." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Computer-controlled characters may have abilities that players do not, which distinguishes them from the human side." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Some players can ignore or pass obstacles that block others, which changes how those barriers affect them." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "When some of the several lives have special abilities, they become worth different amounts to the player and affect balance." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Special immunity can lessen or cancel penalties for some players, and giving penalties to others can leave the rest with relative advantages." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Special abilities can make the characters that players control exceptional compared with others in the world." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Players may deliberately work toward special abilities, and the existence of such abilities creates choices they must weigh in planning." }, { "name": "Role Selection", "why": "A role's actions are only special if other players cannot do them, and extra bonuses can reward those who choose roles." }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "why": "Knowing about hidden resources is an information advantage that some players hold and others do not." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Some players get special powers to change the game state or rules, like handling the bank, sharing the facilitating work." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "The effect of special abilities depends on teams, since they can be mirrored between teams or divided among members." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Certain units can have different vision rules or carry abilities, and abilities can move between players along with units." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "Being the one able to activate a warp zone can be a special power granted to certain agents." }, { "name": "Zone of Control", "why": "Some units can ignore zones of control that restrict others, which changes how they move." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Whether a user has special abilities can decide who is allowed to use particular tools." }, { "name": "Transferable Items", "why": "Transfers can be restricted so only characters able to use or equip an item may receive it, as with class limits in Dragon Age II." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving some players special abilities creates imbalances in what players can do, though it can also be used to compensate." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Special abilities held by players on one team can make teams unequal, unless the other teams have matching abilities." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Privileged_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Avatars", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Figures in the game world through which the player acts; their fate depends on the player's success.", "needs_to_really_work": "One entity must be the player's main way to act and be affected, and its fate must matter to the player. The more defined the avatar, the more it limits how players can role-play it.", "just_a_label_when": "A character model is shown, but its fate doesn't touch the player's progress, or the player really controls many units, so the 'avatar' is only a picture.", "knobs": "how much personality and detail the avatar has; how tightly its fate ties to player success; one or switching avatars", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Avatars", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Avatars are the main protagonists, and as long as players pursue goals through them, they act as human-controlled agents inside the game world." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Avatars can fight, and that fighting ability is what makes goals about capturing something or someone possible." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting is a common ability given to an avatar, so players do battle by acting through that one entity." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "When a player can only know what their one avatar can perceive, the world is revealed piece by piece, like a mystery to investigate." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "How well an avatar's actions succeed can depend on the player's own skill, which makes physical execution a bigger part of play." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "An avatar is an entity inside the game world, so giving players a point of focus through it never breaks the fiction." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Avatars can be damaged and fight, so they can be knocked out, and removing them becomes a goal, especially between players." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "In multiplayer games where players try to eliminate each other, one player's avatar is an opponent that other players must fight." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Players' main way of affecting the game is through a single entity in the world, which becomes the place their attention and actions centre on." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Because an avatar only perceives some of the world, players only see part of the game state, leaving the rest hidden." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "An avatar enters the game when a player joins and stands for their actions, so joining adds a new element to the world." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Whatever an avatar can perceive decides what counts as discovered, so moving it around lets players find new parts of the world." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Story and character-related patterns like loyalty to someone or something can be applied when players have an avatar to carry them." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "When players look after several diegetic persons as one group, and losing one hurts at once, it resembles a weak form of parallel lives." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "When an avatar is eliminated, the game may simply end for that player, since their success is tied to it." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can hold back areas until the avatar gains certain abilities, so story progress follows the order they planned." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "An avatar with a personality and goals invites players to act in character, though a heavily defined one narrows which roles fit." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "In multiplayer shooters, some avatars can be given the special ability to act as a place where other players enter the game." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Since an avatar's loss ends a life or the game, keeping it alive becomes a central aim in many games." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "As the main protagonists, avatars are often essential to making the game fit its theme, though the theme also limits what they can be." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Avatars are things players commonly hide, and if they are vulnerable or have a weak spot, players take up concealing them." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "" }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Avatars are what players move to dodge threats, so they supply the thing that does the evading." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Avatars are solid objects in the game world, so they can stand in each other's way and hinder movement." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "When players meet only through an in-game representation, others see the avatar rather than the person behind it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Avatars need a world to exist in, and things like obstacles and hazards affecting them shape how that world feels and is understood." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Whether an avatar blocks sight or not changes how it relates to the world around it." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Avatars are the usual visible form of a character, and some character traits are shown only cosmetically through them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "God Views", "why": "When an avatar limits what a player perceives, an all-seeing overview becomes impossible." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Controlling several elements at once removes the single point of focus that an avatar relies on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Avatars.svg" }, { "name": "Randomness", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Events and effects in the game cannot be predicted exactly.", "needs_to_really_work": "Random outcomes must have known ranges and affect decisions that matter. The balance with player skill needs to be chosen deliberately.", "just_a_label_when": "Random rolls happen, but the results are trivial or always overridden by skill, so luck changes nothing.", "knobs": "size of the random range; which events use it; probability distribution", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Randomness", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Random elements can be applied before play starts, such as randomly generated characters or trump suits, so players begin the game with different circumstances." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because chance results ignore skill and hit everyone alike, they weakly even out differences between players, and more so when outcomes add up gradually." }, { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "Random outcomes applied to skill use can land on extreme bad results, producing critical failures." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "When combat results are decided by chance, some rolls can land on exceptionally strong outcomes, which become critical hits." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "When combat results are decided by chance, some rolls can land on exceptionally bad outcomes, which become critical misses." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "Random outcomes applied to skill use can land on extreme good results, producing critical successes." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players physically shake and roll dice or handle cards themselves, they may feel they steer the result and credit luck as something they control." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Random events that are very unlikely, or that strongly change how play goes, stand out to players as exceptional." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "When results vary unpredictably, players cannot easily work out the rules by trying things, yet they may have to try things anyway, like testing potions." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Random elements like dice and card hands produce unpredictable results, and some of them will feel favorable to the player." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Since players often know the odds, and cards once drawn leave the pool, they are encouraged to remember distributions and played cards to guess what comes next." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Everyone has the same chance to receive a random result, which gives a basic but shaky equality, since players feel cheated once an outcome is revealed." }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "why": "Randomness can go beyond shuffling placements and generate whole game worlds, so dungeons and levels differ each time they are played." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Chance changes each game session, and what puzzles require, so playing again gives different experiences regardless of what the players do." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Chance can create extreme or impossible odds that still take time to play through, so players enjoy watching an attempt fail dramatically." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Because players often know the odds, they can learn the distributions and use that knowledge to make better risk and reward choices." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "If players feel they influence the outcome or care about it emotionally, for instance through betting, not knowing the result creates suspense." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Players usually know the chances of outcomes but not the actual result, so what they know about upcoming events is limited yet bounded." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "Since effects and events cannot be exactly predicted, players cannot be sure how things will turn out, which is the most basic consequence." }, { "name": "Unpredictable Behavior", "why": "Adding a little chance to computer-controlled players or agents makes their actions harder to anticipate, so players cannot easily deduce the rules behind them." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Chance lets a game mimic how real aiming is imprecise, replacing detailed deterministic rules with a randomized result." }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "When the game system itself adds random actions, any action seen might be the system's rather than a player's, which blurs who did it." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Chance can decide when an event begins, so players get brief occurrences that they could not plan or predict." }, { "name": "Loot", "why": "What a player gets is not known beforehand and is left to chance; without that uncertainty it would just be a plain, predictable resource." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "Random processes like cards, wheels or dice settle outcomes, so players only initiate them or bet and never decide the result." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Random placement of resources can accidentally make some spots more valuable than others." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Chance applied to enemies, goals, worlds, levels or quests makes game instances differ from each other." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Chance can decide when a rule starts or stops applying, as in Fluxx, where drawn cards alter the rules." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Randomness can decide how agents move, making their movement unpredictable." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "A little chance in computer-controlled agents makes their behavior less predictable, so players find it harder to deduce the underlying rules." }, { "name": "Asymmetric Resource Distribution", "why": "Randomly handing out resources gives players unequal holdings, which is one of the main reasons games use chance." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Chance can hide balancing by giving players overlapping random ranges for rewards or penalties depending on their position, as with randomly effective power-ups." }, { "name": "Betting", "why": "Players who bet on random outcomes become emotionally invested in the result, which heightens tension." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Chance can set the starting skills and conditions of characters, modeling the variety found in the real world." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Adding random actions to collaborative efforts makes it easier to disguise who contributed what, keeping others' actions anonymous." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Chance can decide fights, including damage and aiming, and it can create extreme outcomes like critical hits and misses." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Chance stands in for the detailed variation in real-world harm, so damage amounts vary randomly instead of following fine-grained rules." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Random results limit what a human facilitator can steer, which only matters when facilitation is done by people." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Chance can determine when an effect starts and how long it lasts, so its timing varies." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Even when an outcome is uncertain, known odds let players weigh a risk-and-reward choice that does not rest on their own skill." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Chance can decide when temporary goals appear and how long they remain available." }, { "name": "Free Gift Inventories", "why": "Chance can decide which rewards players receive from free gifts." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Dice results can constrain a game master's power over player characters, though they may fudge results when a random outcome would be unwanted." }, { "name": "Game System Player", "why": "A modest amount of chance in computer opponents makes their behavior less predictable." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Randomly placing or changing world elements makes each game session differ from the last." }, { "name": "Generic Adversaries", "why": "Chance can vary individual enemies while still keeping them recognizably alike." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Drawing from shuffled stacks or decks gives players randomized hands." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Random placement or appearance of elements makes each play of a level different, though it may cause balance problems." }, { "name": "Moveable Tiles", "why": "Chance can determine how tiles move or where they end up." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Chance can determine how far or where agents and tiles move." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Chance can determine whether and how severely a penalty strikes." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Random elements can be built into how characters are generated, as in many roleplaying games." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "The effect of a picked-up power-up can be set by chance, which can also mask balancing." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Chance can change the specifics of goals, so what players aim for differs between sessions." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Randomly ordered events can combine into a story, and seeded stacks can place key events within certain regions while keeping exact timing random." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because future events cannot be calculated, players find it harder to foresee what their actions will lead to." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Randomly changing what a puzzle requires makes puzzle games worth replaying." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Chance can vary the details of quests so that they differ between sessions." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "When worlds can change, chance can alter them so each game instance differs." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Chance can decide whether and what players receive as reward." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skill use is often settled with random results, abstracting messy or risky actions into something manageable, and creating critical successes and failures." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "Drawing tiles from a shuffled stack randomizes what players get to place." }, { "name": "Trumps", "why": "In card games with trumps, the trump suit can be chosen randomly before play starts." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Chance can decide the order in which players take turns, making it unpredictable." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Chance applied to enemy traits makes their difficulty uncertain, adds variety, and encourages players to gather information." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Outcomes that depend on chance limit foresight and counter predictable consequences, reducing how much planning helps." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "" }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "If the facilitator generates random results out of sight, players may suspect cheating instead of chance." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If players do not feel lucky, chance counters the effect, and players who know the statistics will not hold the perception." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Experimenting needs consistent outcomes to learn from, and chance results make it harder to draw conclusions from trials." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Heavy randomness weakens player control, so players doubt that improving their play is possible or worthwhile." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Dice can kill characters when neither the game master nor players want it, working against the master's control." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Chance limits what player skill can achieve, so it works against mastery." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "Chance makes it harder to know in advance who is ahead, so it is less clear that anyone is stuck as a kingmaker." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Chance decides outcomes, which lessens how much the player's own performance influences results." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Chance can counter snowballing, but the dice themselves can give some players luckier outcomes and disturb balance." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "If much of the design depends on chance, planned story elements can become irrelevant." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Chance events blur who is ahead, though players who understand statistics may still predict results when many random events occur." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Since future events cannot be calculated, long-term planning gets harder, though known odds still allow planning at a higher level." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When chance heavily affects outcomes or can flip success into failure, players feel their effort matters less." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Chance in results makes outcomes less certain in the short term, reducing how well players can foresee what happens." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Randomness.svg" }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Animals, monsters, and other creatures whose behavior follows rules rather than player control.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must respond to the game state and produce actions that look purposeful and relate to the player's goals (hindering or helping). Behaviour needs enough variety to avoid being solved at once.", "just_a_label_when": "Entities repeat a fixed loop regardless of what the player does, so they behave like scenery.", "knobs": "complexity and aggressiveness of behaviour; how much it reacts to the player; how many agents", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Algorithmic_Agents", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Because agents run on rules, designers can make those rules react to how the player behaves, so a companion may leave or attack after the player changes conduct." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Algorithms are what give game entities their own behavior, so any entity driven by them is an agent that acts without a player deciding for it." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Designers can write agent rules to oppose the player and tune them, so the agents reliably supply difficulty to overcome." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Agent rules can range from simple to learning-based, and richer behavior gives players more to read and respond to." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Designers give algorithm-driven entities goals that oppose the player's, and they reliably act on them, producing opponents." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Since developers write the rules, every agent follows what the designer fixed in advance, giving consistent behavior compared with other similar agents." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When players can write agent algorithms during play, they add new acting entities into the game world themselves." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "An agent can temporarily stand in for a human player, so the game can carry on while that person is away." }, { "name": "Memory of Important Events", "why": "Program-controlled characters can have this only if their code notices which events matter, stores them, and brings them up and reacts at fitting moments." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When players write the agent algorithms in a set-up phase, creating and testing those algorithms becomes a game of its own around the main play." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "When players write their own algorithms, those can be used as helper tools to carry out tasks for them." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Story characters the player can interact with need rules governing what they do, so agents supply the NPCs a narrative depends on." }, { "name": "No Direct Player Influence", "why": "If players write the agents beforehand and then only watch, the running game proceeds without their direct input." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "Agents can be given rules that pursue goals apart from the player's, so they appear to want something themselves." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Algorithms players author become new content in the game, particularly agents tied to characters that would not otherwise exist." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because designers must author agents ahead of time, their behavior is part of the fixed story whenever a game has narration." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Rules set by designers mean agent responses follow fixed patterns, letting players foresee results at a general level of the game." }, { "name": "Sense of Self", "why": "Game-controlled agents must react to their environment to act at all, so nearly any game with them already includes some degree of this pattern." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Agent behavior sets how much short-term planning players must do and how hard it is, since they must deal with what agents do." }, { "name": "AI Players", "why": "An AI player is built by designing rule-based agents that take on the role a player would have." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Computer-controlled opponents give a single player someone to fight, so combat can exist without other human players." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Computer-controlled agents can react constantly to what the player does, which lets them play the role of a companion following and assisting the player." }, { "name": "Context Dependent Reactions", "why": "Code can make agents react to situations, though designers must write rules covering every plausible case, which is workable for large numbers of characters." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "As companions, algorithm-driven characters help the player and won't betray or trick them unless designers make them do so." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "Software-driven agents can only show attachment if their algorithms generate in-world social consequences, alongside the presentation needed to display it." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "" }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Computer-run characters who develop over time and may end up in different places make each playthrough differ from the last." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players who build their own programmed agents must plan ahead, and complex agents make opponents consider what the agent will do." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "When players get creative control to build agents, planning is all they do, since the agents carry out the plan afterward." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A lone player can have a team by playing alongside companions that the game's algorithms control." }, { "name": "Zero-Player Games", "why": "Agents following set algorithms, like Sims or robots, run the game on their own so humans have no need to act." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Agent rules can sometimes take over a player's avatar, such as acting bored when no input arrives, then give control back." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Algorithms can run or influence a character, such as backup players stepping in or showing idle behavior when the player is absent." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Most agents act through a game world, so algorithm-driven agents are a common building block of what populates and happens in it." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When players write the algorithms, they must understand the game system in general, which pushes them to plan ahead." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "By adjusting how agents behave, designers control how much short-term planning the game requires and how hard it is." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "The number and behavior of computer opponents can be tuned to adjust difficulty." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Having at least one computer-controlled member makes it easy to enforce the faction's rules and their social consequences." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "A program can drive NPC behavior so they act in the world without a human controlling them." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Computer-controlled entities can supply the conflict and combat that other human players would normally provide, so a lone player still has opposition." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "When the system controls units, their behavior comes from algorithms, making them work as enemies." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players create agents beforehand and the game then runs without their input, they can't feel more influential than they truly are; shared control with agents also muddles agency." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Agents are usually run by computer code, so needing a computer limits play to places and settings where computers are available." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Mastering a game means seeing characters as mechanical functions, which makes it hard to feel emotionally drawn to those agents." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "If players fully understand computer opponents that never vary in their destiny, there is nothing new left to discover on replay." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Algorithmic_Agents.svg" }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An ability the player already has starts working more effectively.", "needs_to_really_work": "The improvement must noticeably change what actions achieve, be tied to progress or rewards, and be paced so it does not erase challenge. Players should be able to feel the difference.", "just_a_label_when": "A level-up that raises a stat so slightly or so evenly with enemy scaling that play feels exactly the same.", "knobs": "size of each improvement; how often and by what route it is gained; whether players choose", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Improved_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When another party hands out boosts, or when boosts are paired with weakened abilities, power gets evened out between players, so the boost works as a balancing tool." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Stronger abilities make a player's actions more potent, which carves out the things that player is especially good at doing." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "If boosts are handed out before play begins, they set how hard or easy the game starts out for the player." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Places or conditions in the game world can be defined by the boosts they give, so being there changes how effective your actions are." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because boosted abilities let players change the game state more, they feel like they are shaping events even more than they really do." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Stronger abilities are a natural prize for success, and since they make later actions work better, they help players keep achieving things." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Getting a boost is typically the payoff for finishing goals about becoming more skilled, so improvement and the goal reinforce each other." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Stories often make the hero and their foes grow stronger, and that growth lets the plot reach bigger, later-stage conclusions as play advances." }, { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "why": "When a character or construct keeps growing stronger through improvement, the player keeps receiving ever-larger benefits as the game goes on." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Making abilities stronger is an intuitive thing to give players for achievements, since it directly makes their actions more effective." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Stronger abilities empower players to influence the game state more, which in turn generates smaller aims that help them toward bigger ones." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Making existing abilities stronger is a typical way the player's construct develops." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Giving a normal enemy upgraded abilities makes it notably tougher, which is one way to turn it into a boss." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Gaining better abilities can follow from choices the player makes, so what the character becomes depends on what they chose to do." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Raising attributes, skills or caps makes a character more capable, which is exactly what developing means in play." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Owning controllers, equipment, sets, tools or vehicles can make a player stronger, so wanting the boost motivates the ownership goal." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Players can plan by choosing to upgrade abilities they already have, which is one simple way growth is directed." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "A stronger version of an ability that skill alone cannot make up for becomes a privilege over those who lack it." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Making what members can already do stronger, whether on characters or on an abstract team construct, is a way the team develops." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "" }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with character or construct development, better abilities give players more things to do as they progress." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "This pattern is about changing how well abilities work, so designers choose which abilities to boost, by how much, and when." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Boosts can apply to these via investments, tech unlocking, or upgrading, though new abilities fit them just as plausibly as improved ones." }, { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammo alone does not boost abilities, but several varieties of it, like in Fallout, can offer different improvements." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars can become stronger through stat increases or by owning items, which explains the improvement within the game's theme." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Improvement can add more action points or make actions cost fewer of them, so players get more done each turn." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Applied to foes, boosts make the game harder to beat, while lavishly given to players they can make it too easy." }, { "name": "Character Levels", "why": "Growing stronger can come with advancing levels, and levels can also let players choose which abilities to boost." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can have their attributes, powers, or skills raised, which makes improvement easy to explain in the game's story." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting is among the most common types of action to benefit from stronger abilities." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Until players get used to their new strength, the boost can make it hard for them to judge accurately how likely an action is to work." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Opponents can be strengthened too, using whichever mechanism fits what they are, such as avatars, characters, or units." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Joining or teaming up with a group can be the reason for a boost, especially when the character represents an organization." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When players pick which abilities to improve, they get real choices about how their character or construct develops." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Moving around is a very common action to boost, as with speed increases in racing games." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "If boosts arrive mid-game, they shift how much success relies on the character's strength versus the player's own skill." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups can be shaped by the improvement they offer, and they may make abilities adapt to the situation during play." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skills are a direct target, and improving them can be done by raising a number or by using them often." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can receive boosts through items, investments, tech unlocks, or upgrading, which fits their place in the game world." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Stronger characters can make tasks easy, so too much improvement erases the challenge." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Improved_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Skills", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A measure of how likely a character is to succeed at a task; it grows with experience.", "needs_to_really_work": "Skill values must visibly change the odds or the outcomes of actions, and different skills must matter in different situations. Players need some way to raise them and to see the effect.", "just_a_label_when": "A skill list on the character sheet whose values barely move the success chance, or a skill that nobody ever has reason to check or improve.", "knobs": "number of skills; how strongly a skill value shifts success odds; how fast skills grow", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Skills", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "A skill is one kind of trait describing how well something can do an activity that training could improve, so it counts as a characteristic." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Because characters differ in what they're good at, players end up with distinct areas where their character is the stronger choice." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Games with very many skills, or extra details like specialties and familiarities, give players lots of rules and options to juggle." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "A large skill list often includes making things, so having the right skill is what lets a character craft." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Since a skill value shows how likely an action is to work, players can judge their odds before attempting it." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Raising a skill makes later actions with it more likely to work, so the increase itself helps the player progress." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Skills that can be raised give players a clear goal to work toward: becoming better at something over time." }, { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "Giving characters different skills makes them differ in what they can do, not just in how strong they are overall." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "When building their own character, players pick which skills it has and at what levels, usually by spending a budget of points." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "In real-time games, a character's skill level can change how hard an action is, while the player's own execution also matters, such as aiming." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "A skill can act as the gate that decides which characters are allowed to use a particular ability." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When skills unlock special abilities, different characters play differently, and players can choose which skills to improve." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Using a skill successfully earns experience in it, so the actions performed decide which areas the character grows competent in." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A critical hit can reduce the target's skills as one of its extra harmful effects." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Different players having different skills means a combo can require several people's skills together, which one player alone could not supply." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Skills set how competent a character is with abilities, so the same ability can work better or worse for different characters." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "A character's skill can make aiming easier or harder, so physical shooting accuracy depends partly on the character and partly on the player." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Different skill sets help tell player avatars apart from each other by what each one is good at." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Gaining or raising skills is a usual way characters grow during play." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Skills make characters differ from one another, and which skills a player chooses to improve says something about the character." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "When a game has fighting, skill levels usually influence how well characters do in it." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Skills can make allied helpers differ from one another, just as they do for player-controlled characters." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Having a particular skill can be what permits a character to use a specific controller." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Skills can determine whether and how well a character is able to make items." }, { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "Higher or lower skill levels typically shift the odds of an especially bad outcome occurring." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A character's skill level usually changes how often an attack lands as an especially strong hit." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "Skill levels typically affect how likely an attack is to go disastrously wrong." }, { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "Skill levels usually shift the probability of extreme outcomes, so skills and critical results influence each other." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "Skill level typically changes the chance of a roll turning out exceptionally well." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Skills can be used to make enemies differ from each other, as they do for player-controlled entities." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Skills can change how much health a character recovers when healing, so they influence restoration." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Because skills make characters differ in competence, a character carrying things for others is less useful than a skilled one." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since skills express chances of success, they affect how well players can foresee the results of what they intend to do." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Having the right skill can be required to use certain tools, so skills decide who may use them." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Better character or player skills can reduce the wobble or hit-area size, making shots more accurate." }, { "name": "Character Levels", "why": "Some games, such as the Elder Scrolls, decide when a level is reached by counting skill points gained, so skills drive the levelling." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Skills often state success likelihood, and deterministic skill tests leave less room for misjudging influence." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "When skills are distributed unevenly among players, their chances end up unequal." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Skills.svg" }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "In a certain part of the world, actions and events work differently than elsewhere.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each area needs a rule that alters actions, movement or events, and it should be noticeable and matter to choices of where to go.", "just_a_label_when": "Areas with a different look or label that behave exactly like all others.", "knobs": "which areas have effects; effect type and strength; whether permanent or temporary", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Environmental_Effects", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alien Space Bats", "why": "When an area's special effect has no visible, believable cause in the game's world, players may feel it arrives from nowhere, which is what these are." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "A harmful or slowing area pushes players to avoid crossing it and funnel through the narrow gaps left beside it." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "An area's effect can be explained by something that happened earlier, so players read the world's history from how the place behaves." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Effects that make player actions easier act like helpful tools placed in the world, giving a boost to whoever uses them." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Because an effect applies only in a certain spot, the ability it grants or removes is tied to that place." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Areas such as liquid, ice or vegetation can make travel slower or harder to steer, restricting how freely pieces move through them." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "An area that only slows progress rather than killing still stands in the way, so players must pay a cost to cross it." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "An area can give or negate abilities for some game elements, so only certain ones can use or resist what it does." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Some areas make travel quicker or easier, and a game element can be allowed to cross where others cannot." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "Harmful areas threaten players with no opponent involved, so they face danger from the world itself rather than from other players." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "When players know in advance what an area does, its position becomes valuable to reach, hold or avoid." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Since effects are known ahead of time, players can map out routes and goals around them long before reaching them." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Areas that cost lives or health create a need to endure them, making staying alive a goal in itself." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must work out moment-to-moment how to dodge or exploit area effects, particularly against other players or enemies." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Many settings are dangerous to humans or their stand-ins, so hazardous areas make the game world feel true to its theme." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Different areas change what actions are possible or costly, so play feels different depending on where you are." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Each effect applies only in its own place, so the rules players follow change from one spot in the world to another." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Hazards in the environment prevent travel, and players need a switch, immunity or special ability to get past them." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A place needs to be free of harmful environmental effects to be safe, and players can be made immune to them to create a haven." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Effects spread across an area, such as a lake of acid, can work as traps covering all the types of hidden danger." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Each effect has to be weighed against which of the player's characters it touches, changing what those characters can do there." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Terrain can make moving cost more or fewer points, changing how far a player's limited budget stretches." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Areas can change how fighting and its harm work for those inside them." }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "why": "Designers must decide whether an area's effect applies to objects that exist within the game world." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Effects change details of the board, making some spaces behave differently from others." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Effects alter what parts of the world do, though how each part links to the rest remains most important." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Effects change details of a level, so different stretches of it play differently." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Areas can block or alter what can be seen, as vegetation or height differences can." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Dangerous areas can take away lives from those who enter them." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Players must avoid disadvantages or use advantages from effects, shaping how they steer and position themselves." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Areas can speed up, slow down, or entirely stop travel through them." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Places where power-ups show up can be seen as effects, since the area produces them." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "When effects relate to how well players perceive things, they influence goals about scouting and finding information." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Helpful effects in a region give players a reason to fight to own that region." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Designers must decide which of the player's units an effect applies to, changing what those units can do inside it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Environmental_Effects.svg" }, { "name": "Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "feelings × rules", "what_it_is": "Unpleasant consequences for the player's position, progress, or abilities.", "needs_to_really_work": "The effect must actually worsen the player's position, progress or abilities, and it must follow from specific events. It needs to be large enough to be felt but fair enough that it does not break the experience.", "just_a_label_when": "A penalty so small or so easily undone that players ignore it, or one that is announced but changes nothing in the game state.", "knobs": "how severe; what triggers it; whether it can be recovered from", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Penalties can work by removing or destroying items a player owns, which turns those items into things that can be destroyed." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Penalties usually happen at a specific moment and then pass, so they behave as short-lived events in play." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Because penalties set players back, especially by removing abilities, players must learn to cope with setbacks to become skilled at the game." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Heavy punishments for attackers, like guards intervening, discourage aggression and give a weaker form of safety in an area." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Penalties like downtime can bench a player, for example making them watch others play, which turns them into a spectator." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing something bad may happen to you creates worry and suspense while you play." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "A cost tied to a chosen goal turns it into a commitment, since failing or forgoing other goals has a price." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Evading only matters if being hit or caught costs you something, so a penalty gives the dodge its purpose." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "With the risk of penalties, a betrayal succeeds only if the betrayer plays the role well enough to avoid being detected." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Attaching penalties to different tasks signals how important each is, so players know where to put their attention." }, { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "Penalties can alter a goal's requirements so that it becomes harder to fulfill." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Penalties on short-lived goals draw players to focus on them, while still leaving the choice to prioritize other things." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Being killed needs some penalty to hurt, and killing nearly always brings one, whether to the victim directly or by rewarding the killer." }, { "name": "Quick Time Events", "why": "Penalties for failing these events push players to attempt the required actions, since they have little choice." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Penalties can reduce or otherwise negatively change what a player holds." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Penalties can be used to temper rewards, balancing out what players gain." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Penalties can lower a player's score as a negative change." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "Losing one of several elements normally costs little, such as only the actions that piece gave, which keeps the loss from stopping play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Suffering a penalty can shatter players' belief that they have great control over what happens." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "In single-player games, players can reload an earlier save to undo a penalty, making it avoidable." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A penalty that ignores the game's story or world, like killing a character yet restarting them earlier, breaks the sense of fit." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Rules that shrink the leader's lead so the contest doesn't end too early.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must really give help to those behind or cost to those ahead, at the right game phase. Too strong and players feel effort is wasted; too weak and the gap stays.", "just_a_label_when": "A catch-up rule exists but gives such a small bonus that a leader still always wins, or it is only mentioned in the manual.", "knobs": "strength of catch-up; when it applies (early, middle, late); preemptive or corrective", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Balancing_Effects", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "In single-player games, balancing effects set how hard the game feels, so they can keep play relaxed and easy, often by adjusting difficulty on the fly." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "In single-player games, balancing effects can raise or hold the difficulty at a demanding level, often by adjusting it dynamically as the player performs." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players don't notice the balancing at work, they feel their own choices decided the outcome, so hidden balancing makes their influence seem larger." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Keeping players close in standing means bigger goals stay open to everyone longer, so larger outcomes get settled later in the game." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because leaders get held back and trailing players helped, nobody is clearly winning, so uncertainty about the result lasts as long as possible." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "They shift fortunes between opposing players or teams, pulling a stronger side back or helping a weaker side so contests stay even." }, { "name": "Possibility of Graceful Surrender", "why": "These can offset the unevenness caused when someone leaves, helping the remaining players keep a fair game after the exit." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Rules that help the struggling side and hinder the leading side during play push teams back toward even footing." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Corrective balancing can make up for uneven starts, such as a first-move edge, by giving the disadvantaged side compensation later on." }, { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "This pattern covers players choosing to act against whoever is ahead, which is a player-driven version of the balancing the page describes." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Characters who are already skilled can be made to progress more slowly, which evens out results without players seeing it." }, { "name": "Drafting Spreads", "why": "Charging extra for picking items deeper in the spread offsets the advantage some players have from picking first." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Players who join midway are behind, so the balancing must correct gaps after they arise instead of preventing them at the start." }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Compensation such as turn order changes or replaying sessions can offset the edge that moving first gives." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Because late joiners start behind, balancing has to correct imbalances once they exist rather than head them off." }, { "name": "Middlegame", "why": "Balancing is typically applied here because it would be premature at the start and would cheapen the finish at the end." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Balancing can be done by giving new abilities to trailing players, or by making new ones additions to choose from rather than automatic upgrades." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Racing games commonly give boosts to those behind or limit those in front, so that the field stays close." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Placing weaker players at strategic locations and stronger players at poor ones corrects imbalances." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Since balancing pulls competitors toward equal standing, games where ties are possible tend to end with players level." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Setting the order of turns so that disadvantaged players get the most favorable positions corrects imbalance between them." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "These help equalize the field when opponents differ in skill, so the player-versus-player contest stays fair." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "These mechanisms help keep the competing teams evenly matched so neither side dominates." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Auto-Aim", "why": "Aiming help can narrow the gap between players, but in multiplayer it can also favor whoever uses it, so it may support or undermine balance." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Since the game shifts help and penalties to players, they cannot reliably calculate their own odds of success." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If players can see that balancing is what tipped the result, they no longer feel their own actions made the difference." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When the game levels out differences, a skilled player gets less sense of being better than others." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "By keeping the outcome open, balancing avoids situations where a losing player decides who wins." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Holding leaders back and helping others makes it hard to tell early who will win." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If leaders are penalized and trailing players helped, hard work counts for less in the final standing." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Balancing_Effects.svg" }, { "name": "Character Development", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Over the course of the game, a character gains new skills and grows stronger.", "needs_to_really_work": "Visible progress with clear triggers, improvements that actually change what the character can do, and some player choice in direction.", "just_a_label_when": "Numbers go up but the experience of play stays the same, since challenges scale in step and no new options appear.", "knobs": "growth rate; sources of progress; size of each improvement; amount of player choice", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Character_Development", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "A character is something the player controls, so any growth in it is a case of the player's in-game stand-in getting stronger or changing." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Gaining new or better abilities, especially ones only the player has, makes players feel their own choices matter more than they really do." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Changes like a character's looks shifting as it grows have no effect on rules, yet remind players of what they did and signal ability to others." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Players who have progressed far create gaps with latecomers, and that imbalance pushes players to buy and sell characters or items outside the game." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "When progress carries over between sessions and players can look at it, those saved changes work as a record of how they have played." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Because growth often comes from collecting points through repeated activities, players may repeat those tasks over and over just to advance." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "When players know growth is coming and can see how near the next step is, the effort they spend becomes something they feel invested in." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Growth is commonly handed out as payment for achievements, such as experience points earned from winning fights or finishing quests." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "Handing out new or improved abilities opens up options that were closed before, so the character's growth works as unlocking." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Seeing progress accumulate, and in persistent worlds having others notice it, makes players feel their time spent has lasting worth." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Players need not think about rules for a power until the character gains it, so the rules they deal with change as the character grows." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "When characters grow over time and players have freedom or creative control, the character gradually becomes something the player shaped, not only something prepared beforehand." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When characters can grow in chosen ways, players get a richer thing to plan, so planning naturally rests on this growth." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "When a team is made of characters, each character getting better over time automatically means the team as a whole is changing." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Characters who grow and change over time are one of the ways to reproduce the nuance of believable human behavior." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "As a character grows and gains new or improved abilities, players have more options of what to do as the game proceeds." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "As a character grows, its visual form should reflect that, so how the avatar looks changes along with the character's progress." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Development is a change applied to the characters themselves, shaping what they can do and how strong they are." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Joining a faction or improving standing with one counts as growth, and that standing then shapes what the character may do toward its members." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Character growth can advance a game's story, and it can also produce story structures of its own as the character changes." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Since growth typically enlarges what a character can do, it changes how much of the outcome depends on the player's own skill versus the character's." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "One way a character grows is by having its maximum limits raised, so development directly changes these ceilings." }, { "name": "Secondary Interface Screens", "why": "Tracking growth needs places to show it, so development calls for dedicated screens or extra parts of existing ones." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "A character's skills are one of the things that get raised through growth, making the character more likely to succeed at actions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Because some players progress further than others, growth can leave participants with unequal characters, hurting fairness among them." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In a world that keeps running, those who started earlier or played more have stronger characters, so latecomers are at a disadvantage." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Characters that have grown unevenly give players unequal strength, so those who played more or earlier gain an edge over latecomers." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "When characters grow stronger by themselves, the game helps the player, which reduces how much personal skill matters." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Strong character progression can prevent players from mastering the game, since improved stats carry results instead of the player's own skill." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Development.svg" }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "New game elements are added to a game already in progress.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define what can be inserted, when, and by whom, and let the new elements really change the situation. Who controls the insertion shapes pacing and surprise.", "just_a_label_when": "New things appear, but they are the same as before or too weak to matter, so nothing changes.", "knobs": "what is inserted; how often; who controls the insertion", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Element_Insertion", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Construction", "why": "When players are the ones adding new elements, they can place pieces so that they interact with or build on what is already in the game." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Managing the adding of elements takes upkeep effort from players, which adds tedious bookkeeping that isn't really the fun part of play." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "If an inserted element wasn't among the elements the game originally defined, bringing it in counts as input from outside the game." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When several different elements are available to insert, players get to pick which one to bring in." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Controlling the pace at which new elements arrive lets the game build toward larger goals and wrap-ups as play moves forward." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Inserting often costs resources and the chosen element might turn out well or badly, so each insertion is a bet players make." }, { "name": "Legacy Games", "why": "When an insertion is permanent, it carries over and alters later game sessions, which is how legacy-style games are built." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Because new elements keep arriving into the game, they work like resources that are replenished, and may even have to be used." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Since inserting elements uses up resources and involves risky choices, players must plan how to spend and allocate what they have." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies can be added during play instead of existing from the start, which brings new opposition into the game." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Placing elements into the game world is a creative act that gives players a hand in shaping play while staying within what the game offers." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Bringing in a boss is a less common form of insertion, mostly tied to quests and set story structures." }, { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Facilitators can control the timing of when elements are inserted, so insertion shapes what they do." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "New elements such as spawned enemies and loot keep being added to the world, changing what it contains." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "New elements added into a level change what it holds and give players surprises." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Adding elements, even improvised ones, gives progress and surprise to stories and keeps endless stories from getting repetitive." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Introducing characters into the game is less common than other insertions but can move a story forward and surprise players." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "Pick-ups are found in large numbers in games, so they are frequently the things that get inserted." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Player characters can be added and removed to match which players are present, though this is less common than other insertions." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups are plentiful in games, so they are common items to be inserted, sometimes at random times and places." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Planned insertions of characters or monsters can serve fixed story structures, especially around quests." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Inserted elements are resources, and the way they come in can be adjusted by converters, generators, or regeneration." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units exist in large numbers, so they are a common thing to insert, such as armies in strategy games." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "The game itself can supply new elements, for example as loot, giving players a source of items to trade." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Adding a newcomer's character into an ongoing multiplayer game can upset how even the match is." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Inserting player characters for players who arrive late can make the game unfair for the ones already playing." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Putting new player characters in because someone arrives late can cause balance problems among the players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Element_Insertion.svg" }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "New rules are added to the game as it goes on.", "needs_to_really_work": "There has to be a channel to deliver new rules (patches, expansions, a game master, legacy-style carry-over) and the rule set must be large enough that changes alter what good play is. Players need to be told or able to find out what changed.", "just_a_label_when": "A patch that only fixes bugs or adds cosmetic items, so the way anyone plays stays exactly the same.", "knobs": "how often rules change; how big each change is and what it touches (new abilities, removals, balance)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Evolving_Rule_Sets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "Designers change rules over time by taking away things players could do, which is one typical way of altering how a game plays." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When some players or teams gain an edge, new rules can be added later to even things out again." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Rules keep piling up or players must learn how new rules mix with old ones, so the game becomes harder to grasp." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "A rule added that only lasts for a limited period becomes a short-lived happening within the game." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Because short-lived rule events can come with objectives attached, those objectives naturally exist only while the temporary rule is active." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "When a temporary rule is linked to something happening outside the game, such as a date, the event follows real-world timing." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "If rule changes come neither from the game itself nor from players, they arrive from an outside source like a facilitator or game master." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Each time rules change, players must sharpen their skills or knowledge to keep up, so there is always something more to learn." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Adding fresh capabilities is a common choice when designers decide what to change in the rules." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Game masters or players alter rules so the game behaves more like how they believe things work in the real world." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Whether play feels different depends on whether changes merely rebalance or instead radically alter play through gained or lost abilities." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Since rules change as time passes, the game necessarily has different rule sets at different moments." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "As rules keep changing, unexpected interactions between them accumulate, so combos can slip in even though designers try to counter them." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Designers keep changing a persistent game, so you must come back regularly to keep up or you fall behind others." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "When new rules appear during play, players unaware of them may feel results were bent, even though no one cheated." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "In persistent worlds, changing rules can renew the need to explore after players have already seen everything." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Rules get revised over time so strong ways of playing are reduced and weak ones lifted, evening out differences in power." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Rules that change over time can smooth out imbalances that appear, easing the fragility of balance built from differing roles or growth." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "When different players hold different elements, unexpected combinations arise easily, so adjusting rules over time is especially useful." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Changing rules over time helps these games keep players balanced, supply new content, and give people reasons to come back." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Worlds that keep running must change rules while people are playing, which can annoy players who feel hurt by the changes." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Rule changes can be used to keep fairness between competing players." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Changing rules alters what counts as good strategy, so players must keep updating what they know to stay current." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Rule changes can be used to keep fairness between opposing teams." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Evolving_Rule_Sets.svg" }, { "name": "Ability Losses", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player loses abilities they once had, for example as a punishment.", "needs_to_really_work": "The loss must have a clear trigger (a failure, an enemy effect, running out of a resource) and noticeably shrink what the player can do. The player also needs to see how it can be undone or worked around, or it just feels arbitrary.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'loss' is announced but the player can still do everything useful, or it lasts so briefly that it is ignored.", "knobs": "which actions are lost; what triggers it; how long it lasts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ability_Losses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When a strong ability that few others have is taken away on purpose, the gap between players shrinks, so the loss works as a deliberate equalizer." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Losing abilities can wipe out a whole area where a player was skilled, though only once every unit holding that ability is gone." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Taking harm can do more than lower health; it can also strip away actions, so the harm shows up as lost abilities." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "If enough abilities vanish, a player may be left unable to act meaningfully, which leaves them idle until something is restored." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Hazards in the game world, such as radiation or solar flares, can remove abilities from players or their pieces." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "When lost abilities can be recovered, players get a new aim of working to win those abilities back." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Taking away abilities is a straightforward way to punish players who fail at goals or make bad choices." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "If the lost abilities are never recovered and leave the player unable to act, that is the same as being permanently removed from play." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "If the loss is only temporary and leaves a player unable to act, it equals being knocked out for a while." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Some stories require characters to lose their abilities or gear at set moments, so the designer scripts the loss into the plot." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Blocking actions that would not fit the setting, like attacking shopkeepers or allies, keeps the game world coherent from a story viewpoint." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When gaining one ability costs another, players must weigh what they give up against what they get." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Cursed items or hidden hazards can strip abilities from players who run into them without knowing the cost." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When story events take away abilities, players must adapt to having fewer actions, which changes how the game feels." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Taking abilities away changes the player's construct too, though this is rare and mostly makes sense for story reasons." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "" }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "Using an action temporarily takes it away from the player, and that short-lived loss is what a cooldown amounts to." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A critical hit can take the form of the target losing abilities, which is an effect on top of ordinary health loss." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A haven can let hostiles enter but strip their ability to act harmfully there, so the area stays safe despite their presence." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Rules that change which abilities players have, such as removing them as a penalty, alter what a player can do." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Losses can hit a single player character, so that one avatar loses actions it used to have." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Having fewer actions available makes the game harder, which can help keep it demanding." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Losing abilities counts as negative growth for a character, and restrictions from joining a group can shape how a character develops." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Fewer available actions make the game simpler to handle, lowering its complexity." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Dying can cost players their abilities, for instance when respawning without earlier gear or skills." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "When players' abilities can vanish, it becomes harder for them to judge accurately how likely they are to succeed." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Each lost ability removes an option, so players have a smaller set of actions to pick from." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Items such as cursed objects can cause the loss, and gear may be taken away along with the abilities it gave." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Taking abilities from players can hurt everyone equally as a penalty, or can even things out if it targets an advantage only some had." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "A loss of ability may only become real once every unit that had it is gone, so the unit count affects it." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Losing abilities is one way a construct's development can go, changing what the construct can do." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Losing abilities is a penalty that changes a character's traits and can be a form of character development." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Losing abilities can wipe out areas where a player was skilled, while other players may become the only competent ones left." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Losing abilities shrinks what players can do, which tends to weaken their feeling that they have great influence over the game." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Blocking actions can keep a story consistent, but for roleplayers it breaks the sense of the world by stopping things they would expect to do." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ability_Losses.svg" }, { "name": "Game Servers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Computers or mechanisms on which each separate play of the game runs.", "needs_to_really_work": "Implement the rules and let players join and leave instances reliably, handling non-player actions and state. Stability and scale shape what is possible.", "just_a_label_when": "A server is mentioned, but the logic really runs on clients, so it adds no mediation or consistency.", "knobs": "players per server; persistence of the world; rule enforcement versus simulation", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Servers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "A server can do the facilitating work, handling large amounts of data and complex calculations and executing things like element insertion." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Many servers are in charge of holding and showing the game world to players, in addition to running the rules." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "Running the game requires the server to track what happens, so those numbers exist already and are easy to expose outside the game." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "Keeping track of separate game sessions is practical mainly when a server exists, so servers make frequent use of instances." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "A server can sit between solo and multiplayer play by hosting online games where players mostly play alone, as in FarmVille and Candy Crush Saga." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Players act through the server program, which holds the state and relays events, so play is inherently carried by a computer or machine." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The main purpose of a server is to give players a shared place to connect to and play together online." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Some servers host worlds that must never be reset, so copying the server would make versions drift apart." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "If the server simulates the game components instead of enforcing rules in code, players can run the game themselves on it." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "Because the server holds the game state and handles all updates itself, players do not need to be present at the same time." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Servers can often handle both the individual games and what links them, so the higher-level game runs there." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "A server can offer optional help that takes over some of the bookkeeping chores players of self-run games would otherwise do by hand." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "With extra effort, a server can simulate the game's components, making self-run play possible on it, though this is otherwise hard to combine." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "A server implements rules in code, which leaves little room for players to run the game themselves, so the two are hard to combine without extra simulation effort." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Servers.svg" }, { "name": "Spawning", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The moment an avatar, unit, or other element appears in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must say what appears, when, where and with what advantages or penalties. It must fit the pace of the game, such as reviving players or refilling enemies and resources.", "just_a_label_when": "Elements that reappear instantly in the same state with no cost or delay, so removal and death carry no consequence.", "knobs": "what spawns; how often; delay before respawn; where it can happen; penalties on respawn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Spawning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "When respawning follows a death, players only notice what they lost once they are back in the world and see their weakened state." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Entering the world can make players wait and look around before acting, and a respawn after dying also costs lost play time." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Spawning is a way for the game itself to drop new elements into the world, such as enemies or items, without a visible source." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "Because players can be put back into the game easily, someone who stepped away can rejoin without the game being ruined." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "How often and when new resources appear sets how plentiful or scarce those resources feel to players." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "In persistent worlds, spawning can be timed to happen at regular intervals, which makes the game progress in steps like a clock." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "Spawning needs a place to happen, so the act of spawning in a game world makes use of spawn points." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Spawning sets up player characters at the start, when they enter new levels, or when they are revived after dying." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Choosing when new elements appear changes how much pressure players face and so how hard the game feels." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Spawning can bring back objects after players have destroyed them, so they are available again." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Spawning is how opponents get introduced during play, and both their frequency and type can be tuned." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "New items such as installations and vehicles can be placed into the world during play by spawning them." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Spawning adds elements into the world while it is running, changing what is in it over time." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Spawn timing decides how quickly targets reappear, which determines how easily players can repeat tasks to reach grind goals." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Newly spawned things can be said to come from places players cannot reach, though this raises the question of why players cannot go there too." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Spawning can place structures into the world during play." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "New players can be dropped into an ongoing game through spawning, so they do not need to wait for a restart." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Spawning places players or other elements when a level begins or when players move into a new one." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Players can be killed and still return through spawning, so killing others does not remove them from the match." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Spawning can be limited to when players are active so that new elements match player activity." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Players are often at a disadvantage just after appearing, so the way spawning is designed decides how fair the game feels." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Because killed players come back, the game can allow them to be killed without knocking them out for good." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "After major story events, spawning can place players in new locations or introduce new story elements to move the plot along." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Spawning is a way to bring resources into the world while the game is running." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "" }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Vehicles can be introduced into the world during play by spawning them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Steadily Decreasing Resources", "why": "Spawning brings in some kind of resource, which works against a game where resources only run down, unless spawning itself spends a resource." }, { "name": "Team Elimination", "why": "If team members keep respawning, a team can never be completely wiped out." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "As long as team members can spawn again, the team cannot be eliminated." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Few game settings have a believable reason for things to simply appear, so spawning is hard to fit into the story." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Spawning.svg" }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Abilities are available only in certain places in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Certain spots must give real, useful abilities that are not available elsewhere, and be limited or contestable. Movement rules should let players choose to reach them.", "just_a_label_when": "Special spots exist but give weak bonuses or nobody needs them, so players walk past.", "knobs": "how strong the ability is; how many such places; who can control them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Location-Fixed_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When abilities sit in specific places, players can decide whether to travel there and whether to use what they find, giving them real options." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Because such places are few, only whoever reaches or holds them gets the ability, so it becomes a limited advantage." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "If the ability at a spot is vital or gives a big edge, that spot becomes worth fighting over and planning around." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "When a player must take an action to trigger a place's ability, it feels like a short-lived power they borrow rather than own." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Abilities that fire automatically when a player enters a spot hit them without choice, producing dramatic, outsized moments." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Places in the world can make particular abilities stronger or possible at all, changing what players can do depending on where they are." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "An avatar gains new or better powers while at specific spots, so its capabilities shift with where it stands." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Certain spots can strengthen something a character already does, making it better only while at that place." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Reaching a particular spot can hand a player something they could not do elsewhere." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "A tile can itself stand for a place-bound ability, or be altered by other elements that supply such an ability." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units get new or better abilities by being at specific locations, so where you station them changes what they can do." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Much of a world's gameplay character comes from abilities that are tied to particular spots in it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Location-Fixed_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items that can be broken or destroyed.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must have a means and a reason to break the objects, and the breaking must change the game state, such as opening a path or giving loot. The object needs a visible durability.", "just_a_label_when": "Scenery that looks breakable but is not, or whose destruction changes nothing.", "knobs": "durability; what destroys it; whether it comes back", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Destructible_Objects", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Because objects can be broken, smashing them becomes a natural goal players are asked to complete, especially when destroying them also drops rewards." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "When a player's lives are tied to several breakable objects that are all in danger at once, the player is juggling multiple lives in parallel." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "If a destroyed object doesn't come back through respawning, its absence stays in the world and permanently alters it." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Breaking an object is a believable in-story reason for it to vanish from play, so removing elements doesn't clash with the game's setting." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Breakable objects that hurt things nearby when destroyed, or set off falls, avalanches or floods, can be turned into traps." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "When a destructible object is broken it can leave obstacles behind, which narrow the route and so create a choke point during play." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "Pieces of the world that can be destroyed or taken away let the play area get smaller one clear unit at a time." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Destructible objects that can act as traps let players use the environment, and deciding how to use them takes planning." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor can be made breakable, for example through wear, so protective gear eventually becomes useless." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Nearly any item can be given the ability to be destroyed, which changes how players treat it." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "When things in the world can be wrecked, players must handle the world differently, and in some games even terrain or buildings can be lost." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Making an obstacle breakable lets players decide between going around it or spending effort to destroy it." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "In tile-based games a tile can be destroyed, which removes pieces of the board as play goes on." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "A trap that can be destroyed can be disarmed to remove the threat, or exploited to turn it against enemies." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons can wear down and break through use, so players cannot rely on them forever." }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "why": "When a solid item can be broken, its blocking effect is only temporary and it can serve as a trap." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "An installation can have starting health and be destroyed, which makes it something players can lose." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Letting vehicles be destroyed gives players without them a way to deal with their advantage." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Destructible_Objects.svg" }, { "name": "Fog of War", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Unexplored or unseen parts of the world are hidden from the player.", "needs_to_really_work": "Hide parts of the world and make player entities with limited sight ranges reveal them, so lacking information truly affects choices. Decide whether terrain and units are hidden separately and whether revealed areas re-hide.", "just_a_label_when": "A dark overlay exists, but the map and enemies are fully known or revealed at once, so it never limits decisions.", "knobs": "sight range of units; whether explored areas re-hide; separate fog for terrain versus units", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Fog_of_War", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Because knowing the terrain and what it holds gives a tactical edge, hidden areas make players want to find out what lies in them." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Unseen parts of the map create a reason to send pieces out to uncover them, so exploring becomes a goal in itself." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "When the fog returns to areas nobody is watching, players have to keep watching them repeatedly to notice changes, which becomes an organized guarding activity." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "When the fog returns to areas nobody is watching, players have to keep watching them repeatedly to notice changes, which becomes an organized scouting activity." }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "why": "A game can choose to leave resource locations hidden, so players only learn where they are once they have discovered them, whether or not terrain or enemies are hidden." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Since players only see what their own pieces can perceive, they cannot be sure about the rest of the world and must act on partial knowledge." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Hidden areas mean players can't see everything at once, so they must recall what they saw earlier." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "When you can't see parts of the battlefield, enemies can approach or strike from places you aren't watching, so attacks catch you unprepared." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Hidden enemy information is most noticeable in fights, since players cannot see opponents fully and so can be caught off guard by surprise attacks." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Overviews of the game state show only what the player's pieces have perceived, so uncertainty is built into what the overview reports." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "With two fog layers, never-seen and currently-unseen, players are pushed to revisit the same areas repeatedly to spot what has changed." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Fog hides the parts of the world nobody is observing or has yet explored, so players perceive only a portion of it." }, { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "Players can move freely across the whole world with this ability, yet fog stops that freedom from revealing everything inside it." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A god view could show everything, but fog limits it to what the player's pieces could perceive, giving imperfect information as a first-person view naturally does." }, { "name": "Mini-maps", "why": "The fog hides information on mini-maps in the same way it does in the main view of the game world." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Resource locations can be left out of what the player sees, so players must find them rather than being shown them from the start." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players must account for unseen areas and unknown enemies when planning, which changes how they need to prepare their approach." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must account for unseen areas and unknown enemies when planning, which changes how they need to prepare their approach." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Fog gives a third-person view the limited knowledge that a first-person view gets automatically, so the player cannot see everything from above." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Fog_of_War.svg" }, { "name": "Installations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Large tools in the world that the player cannot move or carry away.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must give actions that are better or different from those available elsewhere, and be placed where players would want to go. Limits like cooldowns or cost keep them from dominating.", "just_a_label_when": "A large fixed object in the scenery that offers nothing that could not be done elsewhere, so no one needs to use it.", "knobs": "where they are placed; what they offer; cooldown or cost of use", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Installations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "Some installations are protective structures, like sandbags in Memoir '44 that shield units in a hex, so they work as armor fixed in place." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Because installations are big and fixed, they can block or narrow routes, forcing movement through limited spots." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Installations can be the thing players operate to gain access to actions or resources, so they act as fixed controls." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "An installation can need certain items to function, so players get goals of bringing those items, like ammunition for a weapon installation." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Their sheer size makes installations stand out in the game world, and this can be reinforced by tying map widgets to them." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Installations are said to suit expansion phases, since placing or taking them extends what a player can do and reach." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Installations give players special actions and resources at their location, which makes them well suited to the phase of exploiting what you hold." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "They offer players useful actions and can reveal the map around them, which draws attention and activity to their location." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Like avatars and units, an installation can reveal the area around it, thereby clearing hidden parts of the map." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Being large and visible, installations are easy to recognise in the world, especially when linked to geospatial widgets, so players use them to orient." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Since an installation cannot be carried, the actions it grants are only available to avatars who go to where it stands." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Their size and fixed position mean they can physically get in the way of players moving through the space." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "They are large and usually scarce, so the actions they provide are only available at certain places, sometimes limited by cooldowns." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "When an installation works as a controller that gives access to resources, its location becomes a place players go to obtain them." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Having a fixed installation with useful actions makes its spot valuable, so players plan around holding or using it." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Because installations make certain places valuable, players must think ahead about where to go, defend or place things." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Installations are tools too large or fixed to carry, giving players actions that are unavailable or less efficient elsewhere." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Heavy weapons such as ballistas, turrets and mounted guns are too big to carry, so they sit in place as installations." }, { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "A hidden surprise can be concealed inside an object in the game world, and interacting with it in the right way triggers it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Installations give avatars abilities that only work at their location, changing what the avatar can do there." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "An installation has its own presence on the board, which alters the space it sits in." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Installations have their own presence in the world they occupy, changing how that world plays." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Installations can hand benefits to whoever controls an area, which supports goals of holding a location." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Installations have a spot and presence within a level, shaping how that level plays." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Installations make the places where they stand more valuable, which raises the worth of the territory containing them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Installations.svg" }, { "name": "Vehicles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Elements that let you move faster or differently than usual.", "needs_to_really_work": "Vehicles must provide clearly different movement, speed, protection or weapons from walking, and be reachable at set places or buildable. The world must be shaped so the difference matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A model you sit in that moves like the avatar at the same speed and gives no new access or power.", "knobs": "speed; terrain access (air, water); armor and weapons; spawn locations and numbers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Vehicles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "A slow vehicle can make up for its sluggishness by shielding whoever rides inside it from attacks." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "A vehicle can hurt other game elements just by crashing into them, even if it carries no gun." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Vehicles are usually much bigger than the characters using them, so they stand out visibly in the game world." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Getting a vehicle is a prize because it makes later travel, access and play easier." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Because vehicles bring speed, access and protection, players want to get hold of one and set that as a goal." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Vehicles often steer differently from normal movement, so players improve their skill by learning to control them." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Riding a vehicle can let a character move faster, or trade speed for something else useful like protection." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Weapons mounted on a vehicle give its user attacks that others without the vehicle cannot make." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Some vehicles let players cross things normally impassable, such as air, water or lava." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Players may compete to reach the spots where vehicles are found first, and vehicles change how fast racers get places." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "The places in the world where vehicles can be found become valuable spots players seek out." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "Vehicle locations can be where vehicles are created during play, and in some games vehicles themselves let players respawn." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "A vehicle changes how players can move around, so it works as an instrument for getting things done." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Reaching new areas and handling the vehicle itself both give players different kinds of play to enjoy." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "A vehicle can carry guns, or count as a weapon itself because it injures things it runs into." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Players in vehicles can be denied entry to certain areas, which restricts their advantage." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "A vehicle that is immobilized but still works as a tool or weapon can serve as an installation." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Obtaining a vehicle gives the character actions, like new ways to travel, that come from the vehicle." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Vehicle locations are named as valuable places to control in shooter games." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Vehicles carry avatars and change how they get around the game space." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Needing a certain vehicle can be the condition for passing, and vehicle users may also be barred from passages to keep things balanced." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Vehicles change how pieces or characters can move across a board." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Vehicles change how players travel through large or hazardous worlds." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Vehicles change how players get through a level." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "When a vehicle is destroyed, the game can make that cost players a life." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Each vehicle steers differently, so real-time controls for moving around change when riding one." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "The basic purpose of vehicles is to give faster or different ways of moving than normal." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Vehicles change how quickly players get places, which affects who wins a race." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Faster or otherwise impossible movement makes it easier to complete goals about reaching a destination." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Vehicles carry units and change how they move around the game space." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "A vehicle with special movement can carry players into places that would otherwise be closed to them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Having a vehicle replaces plain on-foot travel, taking away the dull effort of ordinary movement." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Vehicles usually travel more easily, possibly across other terrain, so they can undercut the reasons an area was made unreachable and clash with the theme." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Uneven distribution of vehicles among players leads to imbalances." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Vehicles.svg" }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Events that players cannot influence in any way.", "needs_to_really_work": "The event must really be beyond player action and have a visible effect on play. Players should know about it in advance if you want planning around it.", "just_a_label_when": "An event shown as unstoppable that players can in fact prevent or ignore with little effort.", "knobs": "when and how often it occurs; how large its effect is; whether it is announced", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ultra-Powerful_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "A forced event can guarantee that a new companion joins the player at a set moment, since the player cannot prevent or alter it." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Because players cannot stop an event once it is running, a consequence set to land later is certain to arrive." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A very powerful event can disable or remove players' ability to act, leaving them waiting." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "If a huge event is announced ahead of time, players can see it coming, though only when it is clearly advertised." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Story structure is built mainly from events the player cannot change, so the narrative proceeds in the designer's chosen order." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Fixed story beats are made from events players cannot alter, so the plot unfolds in the designer's chosen way." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When players know an unstoppable event is coming, they can foresee what it will cause in the game." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "When an event takes control away, the player can only watch it happen, becoming a spectator instead of an actor." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "If players know unstoppable events are coming and what they do, they can plan ahead around them." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing when and how an unstoppable event occurs, such as with moveable tiles, is information players can use to their advantage." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "An event that players cannot prevent can guarantee an ambush happens, no matter what they do." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Since players cannot halt the event, it can be used to make a countdown reliably run out." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Making a lengthy action unstoppable means players cannot interrupt it once it has begun." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Events that players cannot change typically narrow what they are able to decide." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Game worlds are naturally prone to being changed by events players cannot influence, like the sun rising and setting." }, { "name": "Ghosts", "why": "A ghost's recorded actions must be unstoppable, because interrupting one would probably invalidate all its later actions." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Such events can force players to move, which changes how they have to position themselves." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "When quick travel is not already triggered by something else, the travel action can be made unstoppable." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "The presence of unstoppable story events strongly shapes how a story can be told in the game." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Games with turns often have bookkeeping steps after everyone has played that players cannot affect." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Sudden overwhelming events can wipe out whatever sense of their odds players had built up." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "These events develop beyond players' control, so even if players trigger them they cannot affect how they unfold." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "Players holding this much power over elements makes it hard for a game to include events that overwhelm everything else." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players can replace any outcome with their own decision, so an overwhelming event can be softened or ignored." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ultra-Powerful_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "What changes in the game when a character dies.", "needs_to_really_work": "The cost of dying must be big enough to make players avoid it yet small enough not to make them quit. Saving and reloading must be limited, or the penalty disappears.", "just_a_label_when": "Dying brings back the player on the spot with everything intact, so death is just a short animation.", "knobs": "what is lost on death; how far away and how fast respawn is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Death_Consequences", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Permadeath-style deaths remove the player entirely, so a death can end the whole game for that player." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "When dying means permanent elimination, the player is punished by having the game end, which is the harshest penalty a death can carry." }, { "name": "Loot", "why": "A killed character's gear can be left in the world, giving whoever caused the death something to pick up." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Dying is packaged as a cost to the player, such as lost lives, gear, or points, so death consequences work as penalties." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Since a dead avatar must return to the game world to keep playing, dying leads to the avatar being placed back in play." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "If dying makes players lose their gear, the abilities that gear gave them end at death rather than lasting the whole game." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing that dying carries a cost makes players more anxious about the dangers they face." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "When consequences attach to avatars, how and where they return to the world shapes balance and how much lost gear remains." }, { "name": "Character Levels", "why": "Dying may lower a character's level, which is a common way to penalize death even if hard to justify in the story." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Death consequences can be applied to characters, such as requiring new ones or taking away abilities, changing what dying means for them." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Dying can make players lose their gear, which explains lost abilities naturally and decides how much is left behind for others." }, { "name": "Friendly Fire", "why": "If a kill comes from a teammate, the usual reward for the killer may not be given, so the consequence changes." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Death consequences bundle the penalties that come from players killing one another, deciding what the victim loses and the killer gains." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "A kill can raise the killer's score, and a death can lower the victim's score, so scores shift with deaths." }, { "name": "Hotseating", "why": "A player's character dying can serve as the signal that ends their turn and hands the device to the next person." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Death consequences applied to important characters in a fixed story can threaten to destroy that story." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "How a dead avatar is placed back into the world can tilt fairness between individual players." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "If a key character in a scripted story can die, the planned plot can be broken." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Players can reload a saved game after dying, undoing the cost and making the consequences hard to enforce." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "How dead avatars return to play can favor one team over another, upsetting fairness between teams." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Death_Consequences.svg" }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A setting where the player chooses how hard the game will be.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each level must change the play in a meaningful way, such as the enemies' numbers, skill or the player's resources. Players must be able to pick and change the level.", "just_a_label_when": "A menu with easy, normal and hard that only change a name or a small number, so the games feel the same.", "knobs": "what each level changes; how many levels; whether the level can be changed during play", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Difficulty_Levels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Players can pick an easier setting, so someone wanting a relaxed session can lower the demands and play without much pressure." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Players can pick a harder setting, so skilled players can raise the demands and get a tougher test." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide for themselves how hard the game will be, which gives them a real choice about the kind of experience they get." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "After finishing a game on one level, players can replay on a harder one, though the top level marks a ceiling on improvement." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Players who raise the level as they get better follow a gradual learning path toward mastery of the game." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Levels let players or opponents adjust how hard play is for themselves, which works as a handicap, especially when each player can set their own." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Levels change how many challenges must be beaten and how likely failure is, so a session can be adjusted to what players want." }, { "name": "Optional Rules", "why": "Since players may depart from the standard setting by choice, the chosen difficulty acts as a rule they can opt into." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "Making character death permanent can be offered as an extra, harder mode, as in the hardcore versions of some games." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players get some say in what the game demands of them, so it can fit different people's needs, though only in a basic way." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "A game with several difficulty settings can give a separate achievement for finishing on each setting, so harder settings act as the handicap." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "Levels can change how skilled computer-controlled opponents are, so they play better or worse depending on the chosen setting." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Levels can change how capable the automated agents controlling enemies are, making them tougher or weaker to face." }, { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Levels can make ammunition more or less plentiful, so players have more or less to work with." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Levels can scale the damage players take or deal, making fights more or less punishing." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Levels can change how many enemies appear, so the same game throws more or fewer opponents at players." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Players use difficulty settings to decide how much freedom they want when some freedom is already built into the game." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "In multiplayer games, players typically pick the difficulty in the lobby before play begins." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Restricting map and position displays, as in the realism mode of one shooter, makes team coordination harder and so raises difficulty." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Levels can change how much health players have or how easily they recover it, altering how much punishment they can take." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "A level can forbid some built-in cheats, such as an ironman mode that blocks console commands, to make the game harder." }, { "name": "Secondary Interface Screens", "why": "Difficulty is usually chosen on menu-style screens outside the main play view." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Levels can change how often enemies appear or reappear, which raises or lowers the pressure on players." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Levels can make healing items and other tools more or less common, which shifts how hard it is to survive." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "If players choose easy levels just to finish or dominate, they skip the growth that real mastery needs." }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "Reloading saves to undo bad outcomes defeats the intended challenge of the chosen level, so designers may adjust levels once it is detected." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Repeatedly saving and reloading lets players dodge consequences, which undermines the difficulty the level was meant to enforce." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Difficulty_Levels.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Characters whose creation the player was able to influence in some way.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need real options, such as traits, equipment and skills, that change how the character plays. Designers must balance the freedom against the time and knowledge it demands.", "just_a_label_when": "A long creation screen with only cosmetic choices, so every character plays the same.", "knobs": "number and depth of options; randomness in creation; when in the game customization happens", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Created_Characters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "Because each player spends time building their own character, participants begin the game with different strengths and setups rather than identical ones." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Since players think through how a character should act while making it, that character ends up behaving in the way its creator chose instead of the designers." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Shaping a character from the start makes players feel their choices will steer how the story unfolds, perhaps more than they truly do." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Characters that players build are themselves pieces of the game made by players, whether they are controlled by the player or by the game." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Choosing freely how to build a character lets players pick what kind of role they want, and then enjoy succeeding at pursuing that character's goals." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Players can also create characters that the game controls, such as companions, so the pattern is not limited to the character they play." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Equipment is one of the typical things players can alter when shaping their character." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Letting newcomers build their own character allows them to make one that suits the characters already present in a multiplayer game." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Players who shape their character may feel they are influencing how the narrative develops, changing how the story seems to unfold." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Some games let players build characters that are not controlled by them, like companions in roleplaying games." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "The most natural use is letting players make the characters they will control during play." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Having made the character themselves, players are more likely to act in a way that fits it when roleplaying is part of the game." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skills are one of the typical traits of a character that players are able to choose or change." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Stories written in advance by designers may not have roles that fit characters players invented, making the two hard to combine." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Making many character choices up front can work against smooth learning." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Created_Characters.svg" }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "The order of events in the game matches the order of events in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design must remove or limit saving, reloading and free retries, so events stay as played. Lives or pauses must not let players erase outcomes.", "just_a_label_when": "The story claims events are final, but players can reload a save and redo any moment freely.", "knobs": "whether and when saves are allowed; number of retries; how events are permanent", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Temporal_Consistency", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Because play can't be rewound or discarded, events stay in one fixed order; a mystery needs that, though players' viewpoint must also be limited." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Since gameplay can't be thrown away, designers must build the planned story around events that really happened in order, though flashbacks can still be used." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Contextualization", "why": "In live-action roleplay, staging scenes from the future or past steps outside the single running timeline, so the order of events is broken." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Redoing events breaks the sense that the story world moves forward in one consistent order." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "Since instances can be re-entered by the same or different groups, the same events replay, which clashes with a believable flow of time." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "Replaying story events that already happened makes the narration contradict the timeline of the game world." }, { "name": "Save Points", "why": "Going back to a save and replaying parts of the game can clash with the story's timeline and what the player already knows." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "What you do in play no longer matches the order of events in the story world, because reloading jumps you backward." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Scene-based structure lets designers deliberately jump between times, as when a game switches between modern and historical characters." }, { "name": "Setback Penalties", "why": "If the story acts as though every challenge was passed on the first try, the repeated attempts caused by setbacks contradict the narrated timeline." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Temporal_Consistency.svg" }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An event after which an ability works worse than before.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reduction must visibly change what the player can do and be tied to a cause the player understands. It should usually be limited in time or reversible, or it becomes a dead end.", "just_a_label_when": "A penalty so small that the odds of success barely move, or one that is always cured at once.", "knobs": "size of the reduction; how long it lasts; how it is cured", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Decreased_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "If an ability is weakened so far that success becomes impossible, the weakening has effectively turned into a complete loss of that ability." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Weakening some abilities, especially when paired with strengthened ones elsewhere or limited in time, evens out how well players can act against each other." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When units or team members end up weakened by different amounts, each is left strong in some areas and weak in others, which sets them apart." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Players can pick how much weakening they begin with before play starts, which makes the game easier or harder to their taste." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "The game can quietly apply weakening depending on how well a player is handling challenges, adjusting difficulty without announcing it." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Specific places in the game world can weaken whoever enters them, so the surroundings themselves cause the reduced effectiveness." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "If lost strength can be recovered, being weakened gives players a reason to set the goal of getting back to their former level." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Starting some players with reduced abilities evens out skill gaps, and either players or a game facilitator can set this up." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Reduced abilities can show up as slower or restricted movement, for example in certain areas or when wearing heavy gear." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Weakening what a player can do works as a punishment, since later actions become less effective or less likely to work." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "" }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "When weakening hits players who did not expect it, such as through items or surroundings that look harmless, it works as a trap." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Lowering abilities alters the construct, though it is uncommon and usually motivated by narrative." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "" }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "A used action is temporarily weakened in availability, so the cooldown can be seen as a time-limited reduction of what the player can do." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "" }, { "name": "Upgrades", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Ability strength can be turned down without removing it, so the player keeps the action but it works less well." }, { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Different ammo types can bring a drawback, such as less damage, in return for a benefit such as better penetration." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor's protection can come at a cost, like slowing the wearer or reducing athletic skill." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Weakening players makes tasks harder, so the level of challenge can be tuned without making the game more complicated." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can be made weaker by events in the story or by what happens to them, changing how well they perform." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Weakening a character after death is a typical way to make dying matter." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Sudden weakening that players did not see coming lowers their odds of success, so they can no longer reliably judge those odds." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Cursed equipment shows its harmful effect only once it is put on, weakening the user who equipped it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Actions stay available, but weakened ones become less effective, so players are pushed away from choosing them." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "An item can carry a downside as well as an upside, or be a trap that weakens its holder." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Weakening players who are ahead, or giving others advantages, narrows the gap and shifts how well players can act against each other." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "When skills are numbers, they can easily be lowered by adjusting the value, for example when wearing heavy armor." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Individual units can be weakened by events, such as damage, so they differ in how well they perform." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Weakening abilities is one form of development that alters what a construct can do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Weakened abilities tend to be felt as penalties, which makes it hard for players to believe their influence on the game is bigger than it is." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Decreased_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Events whose consequences cannot be undone in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "No other rule or action may push that part of the state back, and the game must be able to enforce this (system or facilitator). Players must also understand that it cannot be undone.", "just_a_label_when": "The event is called permanent but a later action, undo, reload or house rule quietly reverses it.", "knobs": "which events are made permanent; how often they happen; how clearly players are warned", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Irreversible_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Once an irreversible event happens, some parts of the game state no longer matter for later play, so players can treat that part as finished." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Combined with loyalty, an irreversible event such as a betrayal makes someone a lasting foe, helping build a fixed story." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Events that can be undone and repeated feel ordinary, so making them permanent lets them feel special and rare." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "When a player must pick among several choices that can never be undone, the weight of choosing creates inner conflict." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "When permanent events alter a game world that can be reconfigured, those alterations stay and cannot be restored." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A story can only move forward meaningfully if past events stay fixed, such as leaving a level for good or changing loyalties." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "Permanent events remove parts of the world that cannot return, so the playable space keeps getting smaller as play goes on." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Since actions cannot be taken back, players are pushed to think ahead before committing to them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players know a choice may be permanent and others may press them to act quickly, which creates pressure." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players understand permanent results as clear progress or failure, and built things cannot be destroyed, so their work feels worthwhile." }, { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "why": "Actions that cannot be undone gradually narrow what is still possible, especially when their combined effects interact, pushing play toward a few local situations." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Because many player actions are abilities, making those actions permanent in effect changes how the abilities work and are used." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "An alarm can only be triggered once, or its effects stay even when triggered again, so it acts as a permanent event." }, { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Territory gained, like settlements in Settlers of Catan, cannot be lost later, so control becomes permanent." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Development choices that cannot be undone make a character's growth a series of lasting commitments." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "If built things cannot be destroyed, players need not worry about losing them, which makes building more rewarding." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Permanent events can change a game world so that it can shrink or change in ways that cannot be restored." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Finishing one level and moving on without any way back makes the transition between levels permanent." }, { "name": "Loyalty", "why": "Combined with loyalty, events such as revealing a traitor change allegiances in a way that is hard to take back." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Permanent character-defining events shape how a character's path develops during play." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "With no way to undo moves, mistakes in puzzles cannot be fixed, so solving them becomes harder." }, { "name": "Sockets", "why": "Upgrades are one way to affect sockets, and since upgrade choices are permanent, they shape what the socket holds." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Moving where spawning happens is a permanent change that advances the story in real-time games without needing levels." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Unstoppable events are a good starting point for making permanent changes, though other events can still counter their effects." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "If actions can't be undone, each choice has lasting consequences, which makes the choice matter." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "When a reconfiguration is caused by something that cannot be undone, the world's changes become permanent and the pattern is felt more strongly." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "Making each shrinking step permanent is what keeps the world getting smaller, so it strengthens the effect." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Delaying consequences can discourage players from reloading saves to undo events, but it makes outcomes harder to foresee." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Soulbound gear cannot be traded once equipped, which stops players from buying game advantages." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "If actions can't be undone, trying things out becomes risky, so players avoid it." }, { "name": "Free Game Element Manipulation", "why": "With so much power over elements in players' hands, it is hard to make an event that players cannot simply undo or change." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "The game master can make any event permanent, yet can also undo it by changing their ruling." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "" }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When effects are delayed to keep events permanent, players cannot easily see in advance what their actions will lead to." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Making equipment soulbound prevents trading it, which closes off one way of buying advantages." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "If players can save and reload, they can return to an earlier state, so events cannot be totally permanent." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Irreversible_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One game element must be able to see another directly.", "needs_to_really_work": "The world needs things that block sight and actions that depend on seeing, such as shooting, stealth or detection. The blockers must be placed so that position matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A sight rule is declared but the map has almost no blockers, so everything can always see everything.", "knobs": "how much cover or obstruction exists; sight range; which actions need sight", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Line_of_Sight", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alignment", "why": "Because seeing is a game element, designers can turn visibility itself into a goal, such as getting pieces into positions where they can or cannot see each other." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Observation ranges work like line-of-sight functions with a maximum distance, so what a piece can see sets what is revealed and what stays hidden." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "When aiming cannot rely on a clear view, players need to think of other ways to reach the target." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "A spot only works for sniping if it gives a clear view over large play areas, so open sightlines create such locations." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players must plan routes to avoid being seen by agents when attempting stealth goals." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Agents that perceive the world only act on what they can see, so sight decides what they can notice or interact with." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "You can only aim at what you can see, so sight availability decides whether a shot is possible at all." }, { "name": "Area Control", "why": "When sight rules exist, holding certain parts of the world matters more, since those spots determine who can see and act on what." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "An avatar acts only on what it can perceive, so sight determines which targets and things it can interact with." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Attacks often require seeing the target, so sight decides who can fight whom, though some indirect attacks can bypass this." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Sight-triggered detection by traps or waiting agents shapes evasion, since avoiding being seen becomes the way to escape." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Sight limits make a controlled unit's viewpoint the place where attention gathers, changing which areas and things players focus on." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Navigation only becomes a challenge when you cannot always see where you are going, so how often sight is available sets the difficulty." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The world must contain things that can block sight, so the layout of the world determines who can see what." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Landmarks help players find their way mainly because they can be seen from far away, so sight availability governs their usefulness." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Level layouts with walls and obstacles decide which spots can see which others, shaping how the level plays." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Sight can enable movement, such as grappling hooks or portals that only work toward spots the player can see." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Scouting succeeds by seeing things, so planning around where one can be seen or must look becomes part of the task." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "A sniper spot is good because it gives a clear view of many places while other places lack that view." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Being sighted by agents or traps is how stealth fails, so players must plan around which positions are visible." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Traps can trigger when something enters their view, such as laser beams or trip wires that detect a passing player." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units act only on targets they can see, so sight decides which enemies or objects each unit can affect." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Line_of_Sight.svg" }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An action's result depends on both the player's own skill and the character's attributes.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each action's result must include a real contribution from the player's execution and from the character's attributes. Neither part should be able to cancel the other.", "just_a_label_when": "The character has stats, but the player's input decides everything, or the reverse, so one part is only for show.", "knobs": "relative weight of player skill versus character stats in outcomes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player/Character_Skill_Composites", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "When success depends on both player and character skill, becoming more capable empowers players, which motivates them to chase competence goals." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Players who lack personal skill can make up for it by playing longer to strengthen their character or gear, which encourages repetitive play." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Character stats help results look like those of a skilled hero even while the player is still learning, so the story stays believable." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Players do the aiming, while the sway of the aim depends on weapons, upgrades and skills, blending player and character influence." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "When there are only weapons and tools and no abstract character, the pattern is a way to shape how the avatar performs." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fights frequently use this mix, for example player skill deciding hits while character skills and weapons set harm." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When the character part actively carries out actions, the result becomes a mix of player and system, which changes how uncertain performance is." }, { "name": "Player Unpredictability", "why": "Because character stats influence results, outcomes depend less on how the player behaves, so the player's behavior is typically less unpredictable." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Strong character progression can prevent players from mastering the game, since improved stats carry results instead of the player's own skill." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Great player mastery can make the character part unimportant and make it hard to keep the game balanced." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Mixed player and character skill makes mastery differences stack up with ability differences." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "If player mastery outweighs character growth, the effort spent on building the character feels less valuable, and vice versa." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Skill_Composites.svg" }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A way of moving that is available to some and unavailable to others.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game world needs obstacles, restricted areas or travel costs that the special movement overcomes in a meaningful way. Its effect on goals like capture or evasion must be considered.", "just_a_label_when": "A unit has a flashy movement type, but the map offers no obstacles it bypasses, so it travels the same as everyone.", "knobs": "which units can do it; what obstacles it ignores; duration or cost", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Privileged_Movement", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Some ways of moving, like swinging or being fired from cannons, force the player to aim and shoot in order to travel." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When only certain avatars or units can move in a special way, they become the ones best suited to particular parts of play." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Moving through the air lets a player look over the world from above, giving a broad view of what is going on." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A special way of moving can be handed to the player later as a new power, opening up things they could not do before." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Giving a new way of moving lets designers decide which blocked places open up when, so story parts unfold in a chosen order." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Being able to move in a way others cannot is simply one kind of special ability granted to some game elements." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Special movement that is temporary, or picked as part of setting up a character, makes different play sessions feel different." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Letting one side move better than the other makes the disadvantaged side's chase or escape hard." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Requiring a special way of moving to enter an area keeps hostile units and avatars from getting inside." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Special movement can be given to the player's avatar so it moves differently from other game elements." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "If the chaser has special movement, catching targets is easier, but if the target has it, escaping becomes easier and capture harder." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Special movement can let a character use routes that normally only open under certain conditions, reaching places others cannot." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies can be given special movement, or lack it, which changes how threatening they are and where they can reach." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Special movement can lessen or fully avoid the harmful results of hazards in the environment, such as damage or lost abilities." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Special movement helps the one fleeing get away more easily, but gives the pursuer an edge if they hold it instead." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Sometimes the only way to explore parts of the world is through the special movement, making it the key to discovery." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Flying gives an overview of the world that aids finding your way, yet it can make navigation too trivial." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Special movement can make driving targets to a place easier for the mover, but harder when the targets are the ones who have it." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "A special way of moving can let a character enter places that others cannot reach, such as the air." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "The pattern changes the ordinary rules of movement for chosen avatars or units, so they move differently from the rest." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Some special movement lets a character pass over or ignore things that would normally block others." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Special movement makes getting from one place to another easier for the mover, and unlike other goals this is never reversed by giving it to a target." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Particular units can be given a different way of moving, making them more valuable than the other units." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Abilities like flight can reveal the surroundings and open up movement, which can undercut the difficulty of finding the way." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Special movement abilities for some players create imbalances in their abilities." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Privileged_Movement.svg" }, { "name": "Controllers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Stationary world objects that provide actions available nowhere else.", "needs_to_really_work": "A player must have to go to the controller to use it, and using it must have a useful effect on the world or on their abilities. Their location should matter so that fights or travel form around them.", "just_a_label_when": "A lever or console is in the world, but it can be used from anywhere or does nothing significant.", "knobs": "where they are placed; who can use them; what the effect is and its cost", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Controllers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Because a controller's abilities only work at its fixed spot, players may need to hold the surrounding area to keep using it." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Some controllers are intangible spots where players can build or destroy things, such as material boxes that get assembled into bridges or bases." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Controllers give new abilities, which makes players feel their actions matter more, especially when using them completes quests." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Controllers hand players new abilities, widening what they can do, and this is clearest when using them completes quests." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Since the abilities of a controller can require holding its location, players may set a goal of taking possession of it." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Installations, a kind of controller, give players stronger versions of abilities they already have, such as mounted weapons with more firepower." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "The effects a controller triggers can be permanent, and story-driving controllers typically cause changes that cannot be undone." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Controllers cannot be moved, so whatever abilities they give are available only to someone standing at their position." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Controllers give actions not possible elsewhere, and from the player's view they work as abilities they did not have before." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers decide where and when players can use controllers, so activating them can push a fixed storyline forward." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Units or avatars standing near a controller get access to its abilities, which others elsewhere lack, so these are often privileged." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "A controller's abilities can only be reached at its spot and may need area control, so that spot becomes valuable to hold." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Controllers look like big machines or control panels, so they can change far-off parts of the world without feeling out of place." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Controller effects, like activating moveable tiles or advancing the story, can produce large, dramatic changes in the game." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Controllers paired with resource generators are a place-based way to keep supplying resources, making them renewable." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "A resource generator that players can harvest gives some control-like interaction, and this makes that generator a resource location." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Giving players a control to operate alarms lets them turn them off wrongly, fake them, or stop them being raised." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Controllers can be restricted to certain avatars, and may be placed to affect areas beyond what avatars can usually reach." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Switches commonly work by opening a passage that was blocked until the controller was activated." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A switch can alter environmental effects when their area is fixed; otherwise installations, which grant abilities, are more likely to affect them." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Controllers are among the elements a designer can put on a board to populate it." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Controllers can influence parts of the game world that units or avatars cannot normally reach, and they are fixed within it." }, { "name": "HUD Interfaces", "why": "Using an installation may change the player's interface, including the HUD, to better suit the actions it offers." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Activating a switch can finish a level, and controllers can affect parts of a level out of the usual reach." }, { "name": "Moveable Tiles", "why": "Both kinds of controllers can affect moveable tiles, though switches are better at starting and stopping them than steering their movement." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Activating a controller can count as completing a quest or goal, which is how designers use them to move players along." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "A switch can start quick travel when activated, letting players move across the world in a way they could not otherwise." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Controllers can be restricted to certain units, and they affect parts of the world beyond what units can usually reach." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Controllers.svg" }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A mechanic that imitates how hitting a target is sometimes easier and sometimes harder.", "needs_to_really_work": "Shots must actually miss based on understandable factors the player can influence, and the current accuracy should be shown to them. The effect must be big enough to alter how they position and fire.", "just_a_label_when": "A crosshair that wiggles for show while every shot still lands exactly where aimed.", "knobs": "spread size; penalty from moving or taking damage; time to aim; effect of skills and upgrades", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Variable_Accuracy", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Once a shot may miss, landing hits takes more effort, and the extra actions and upgrades involved make fights harder to master." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Players must juggle things that affect their aim, like skills, upgrades and aiming actions, which adds more factors to track." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "With stationary aiming, moving and aiming pull against each other, so players cannot do both well at once." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Stationary aiming only lets players aim while standing still and may block unaimed shots while moving, restricting how they can move." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Designers use less certain hits to weaken some weapons, especially sniper ones, so different weapons end up more evenly matched." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Real aiming is hard, so missing sometimes makes shooting feel more believable, provided the skills, upgrades and weapons that affect it suit the setting." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A critical hit can make the target's aim less reliable, adding a penalty alongside the health it loses." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "The player aims, but how much the aim wanders depends on the character's weapons and skills, tightly fusing the two." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Shots may miss their target, so the basic act of aiming and firing becomes harder." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Because aiming and shooting get harder, fights as a whole become tougher to win." }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "why": "The aiming reticle changes to show current accuracy, such as by moving slightly or showing a hit area." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Movement often worsens aim, and stationary aiming goes further by requiring players to stand still to aim." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Since long-range shots become less certain to hit, spots favored by snipers are less useful." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Accuracy changes how well each weapon performs, and sights or upgrades for it can alter how reliable it is." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Making attacks hit with varying precision means players cannot be sure of an attack's result, weakening foresight in combat." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Variable_Accuracy.svg" }, { "name": "Dice", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "Physical cubes that give a random outcome from a set range, most often equally likely.", "needs_to_really_work": "The kind and number of dice must match what is being decided, and outcomes must actually affect the game. Players can then learn the odds and use them.", "just_a_label_when": "Rolls that are ignored or overridden, so the result never matters.", "knobs": "type and number of dice; what the roll decides", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dice", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Because dice sit on the table and players watch them land, they draw attention as a spot to look at, especially when actions or the world are abstract." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Dice are not a relation that follows from boards; the page only notes that when a game has boards, dice become an out-of-world element alongside them." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "Some games make the dice themselves the main pieces, with each player owning different dice, much like owning different cards." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "On a board or map game, dice are not part of the fictional world, so players handle something that exists only outside the game's setting." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Rolling dice picks one result from a fixed set of outcomes, so what happens next is left to chance rather than player choice." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Players can learn how likely different results are for the dice in use, and use that understanding to make better decisions." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Rolling several dice lets players aim for matching combinations, so the dice results themselves can form scoring sets." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Damage", "why": "Dice are often rolled to decide how much harm an attack does, making the amount vary from one hit to the next." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Dice can set how far a piece moves, as in classic race games where the roll decides how many spaces you advance." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Dice can be rolled to check whether a character succeeds at a skill, so chance affects the outcome of the attempt." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dice.svg" }, { "name": "Equipment", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items that a character can wear or hold in their hands.", "needs_to_really_work": "Items must change what the character can do when equipped, and there must be several to choose from with trade-offs, so choosing matters.", "just_a_label_when": "Items that can be equipped but give only cosmetic changes or are strictly better than every alternative.", "knobs": "number of equippable items; strength of their bonuses; wear or limited uses", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Equipment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "Cursed gear is equipped like any other item but weakens the wearer instead of helping them." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players pick which item to use, and since several are usually on offer, that selection is a real choice." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Because gear can give better or new abilities, players have a concrete reason to want to acquire it." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Players usually put on an item to get a boost over what they could already do." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Some gear, like cursed items, cannot be taken off again, or cannot be traded once used, so equipping becomes permanent." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Equipping an item can let a character do actions it could not do before." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "If only certain characters are allowed to use particular gear, those characters gain special powers others lack." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Armor, tools, weapons and items giving passive benefits are all equipment, which makes equipment a group of game items." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "Gear grants abilities only while held, and it can be used up, worn out, or lost, which makes those abilities temporary." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Equipped items can change how the player's on-screen character looks, especially when they are purely cosmetic." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Allies who travel with the player can be given gear too, which lets a designer decide who gets it." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Since gear is chosen from what the player holds, equipping changes how the inventory is used." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Computer-controlled characters can be allowed to use gear, and restricting it to some of them grants special powers." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Player characters can use gear, and in games where they are made by players, choosing their gear is part of that creation." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Soulbound gear cannot be traded once equipped, which stops players from buying game advantages." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Games wishing to avoid buyable advantages can make equipping permanent, so used gear cannot be traded on to other players." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Equipment.svg" }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The result of an action or event appears not at once but after some time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The gap must be long enough to be noticed and the effect must still matter when it lands. Whether players can see when it will happen decides if it brings planning or suspense.", "just_a_label_when": "A delay of a moment that players do not notice, or an effect that no longer matters when it arrives.", "knobs": "length of the delay; whether the timing is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Delayed_Effects", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Making stronger actions take longer to finish lets a designer even out different options, since power is paid for with waiting time." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "After you trigger something, the outcome is already decided but not yet shown, so you are left in a state of waiting for it." }, { "name": "Interruptible Actions", "why": "While an action is still waiting to take effect, there is a window in which an opponent or the player can stop it." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Because results arrive later, they can still stand as permanent outcomes, even though players are also warned that the later consequences are hard to foresee." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When players cannot tell how long the wait is, they can feel fortunate or unfortunate before the result is revealed." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "If the wait always lasts the same amount of time, players can remember it and use that knowledge when deciding what to do." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing how delays work in a game is itself a skill that players can learn and use to make better long-term decisions." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "With a fixed, remembered delay, players can arrange their short-term moves so that other actions line up with when the effect lands." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Waiting for an outcome to arrive creates suspense, particularly when players cannot see the details or must rely on others." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Players who know an effect is coming feel pressure to act before it lands, especially when the action can still be interrupted." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When a trade or joint action pays off later, there is time for one side to break the deal before it does." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "If players know when delayed effects will land, they can time their actions so effects coincide and reinforce each other, forming a combo." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When results of actions don't appear immediately, players find it harder to know what their actions accomplished." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Because the payoff for helping arrives later rather than at once, the helper must wait and trust the other player to follow through." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "If results take long enough to appear, you must leave for real-life reasons and then come back to see what happened." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When results arrive later, such as after development time, players must plan to make good use of the timing." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "A pause before a capture takes effect gives the other player a chance to respond, as is believed for an ancient Roman board game." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Joint actions are normally immediate, but they can be changed so the result arrives later after players have cooperated." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Making the destruction of objects take effect after a delay is one way to introduce waiting into a game." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Adding a wait to a dilemma between players can raise the tension, since they must hold out before seeing how others chose." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "A trap can work after a delay, which can give a victim time to avoid its effect." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "A very long wait may leave the situation changed by the time the effect lands, so players can no longer foresee what it will do." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Delaying consequences can discourage players from reloading saves to undo events, but it makes outcomes harder to foresee." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Delayed_Effects.svg" }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Rules that make the game easier or harder for individual players to even out their chances.", "needs_to_really_work": "The adjustments must change real quantities, such as resources, health, abilities or head starts, in proportion to the skill gap. Players must accept them, whether voluntary or enforced.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'difficulty' setting that only renames levels or tweaks a number too small to feel, so strong and weak players still have very unequal chances.", "knobs": "size of advantage or penalty; which attribute is changed; voluntary vs enforced", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Handicap_Systems", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Giving weaker players help or stronger players a burden evens out their odds, so every participant feels they have a fair shot at winning." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Because players can pick how much help they get, they can choose an easygoing experience instead of a demanding one." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Players who want a tougher experience can take on a disadvantage, which raises the difficulty and gives them a real test." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Help given to weaker players makes everyone believe they can win, even when their actual impact on the outcome is smaller than they think." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Handicap levels follow players from game to game, so they can link separate matches into one larger ongoing structure such as rankings in Go or Golf." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Since handicaps give mismatched players similar chances, a player can find many more opponents with whom a game is worth playing." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving advantages to the weaker or later-moving side compensates for starting differences, as when Go gives points to the non-first player." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Handicap ratings in games like Go and Golf can be read as numbers measuring how good a player is." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Giving weaker teams a head start or stronger teams a penalty compensates for skill differences before or during play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "A designer can tune how well computer-controlled players perform, which lets handicap shape the challenge they provide." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Handicap can change the gaming skill of automated agents, which makes them easier or harder to deal with." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When a handicap changes which actions are available to a player, it narrows or widens their options compared with others." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Letting players start with more or less health, as in Tekken, gives one a handicap over another." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Raising or lowering skill levels in a character's makeup is one way to apply a handicap." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "When players face each other, handicap evens out their different skills, which creates balance between them." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Giving some racers head starts or movement limits changes how a race plays out, so the handicap shapes the race itself." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Bonuses added to some players' scores give them an edge or a cushion, which changes how results are compared." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "When teams compete, handicap evens out the difference in strength between them, which creates balance between teams." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Handicaps even out skill differences among players, helping balance and challenge." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Handicap_Systems.svg" }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A character is forced to take certain actions so that their personality is kept or developed.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must actually limit available actions or take control at set points, and the enforced behaviour must fit the character or story.", "just_a_label_when": "A character described as loyal or cowardly whom the player can still make do anything.", "knobs": "which actions are forbidden or forced; when control is taken; how strictly this applies", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Enforced_Agent_Behavior", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Controlling what characters do, by forcing events to happen or blocking them, keeps the story following its planned course." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Making it impossible for agents to act against teammates keeps cooperative groups intact in team-based games." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When agents are made to act as the game world expects, their actions stay in line with the setting's theme." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "When specific defining actions must happen, the game can force the character to perform them, for example through cutscenes." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "The character carries out the action itself on the player's behalf, tying the result to character traits as well as the player's setup." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "Making an AI always follow players' suggestions or commands shapes how it behaves, though its rules already bind it." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "The pattern can be applied to some agents more strictly than others, shaping how constrained each one is." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Though their rules already fix behavior, the pattern can add specific constraints beyond what other agents have." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Forcing key actions steers a character's growth so it goes in the direction the designer planned." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Forcing agents to behave as the world would expect keeps their actions fitting the setting." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Blocking actions such as characters killing each other stops rivalry setups from ending too soon." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Giving characters their own agency means outcomes depend partly on the system's actions, not only on the player's skill." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Constrained choices can support roleplaying, but only when the character's design carries over consistently into play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Having actions forced, especially during cutscenes, makes it hard for players to feel they have more control than they do." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Enforcing actions limits or removes what players can pick, particularly when control is taken away outright." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Forced behavior can override players' own plans for their characters, unless the constraint comes from those plans." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "If the character design isn't consistently reflected in gameplay, the enforced behavior clashes with how players want to play the role." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Enforced_Agent_Behavior.svg" }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Cheating that the rules allow or that other players consider acceptable.", "needs_to_really_work": "Offer specific rule-bending actions, decide who may use them and what happens if caught, and keep them out of the normal action menu. In multiplayer, detection risk and some hidden information make it matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A cheat menu that nobody needs or that has no effect on goals, or a 'cheat' that other players are never able to notice or object to.", "knobs": "which cheats exist; who may use them; chance and penalty of being caught", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sanctioned_Cheating", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because the allowed actions are normally off-limits, using them makes players feel they have more sway over the game than ordinary play would give them." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Sanctioned cheats often let players make themselves immune to harm, such as a god mode, so being unkillable becomes an officially allowed shortcut." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Cheating can mean acting as if you had special powers other players lack, so allowing it hands someone abilities outside the normal rules." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "The rules let players take on another player's identity, such as a disguised spy, in opposed play, which makes deceiving them part of the game." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "In single-player play, cheating can give new actions and remove resource limits, so players have more options." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Allowed cheating tends to benefit disadvantaged players more, since they gain more from it without risking larger losses if caught." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "In single-player games, cheating removes resource worries and threats, so players can potter without upsetting balance against other players." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "In multiplayer games, players pretend not to be doing certain actions, which works like betrayal's pretending and so counts as roleplaying." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "When cheating is allowed, players get a goal of doing out-of-game actions without other players seeing them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "If cheating is allowed, players must watch for others' hidden actions outside normal play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Difficulty settings can decide which allowed cheats are available, for example a strict ironman mode that permits none of them." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Allowed cheating affects fairness between players, and can even be used to even out balance, though others' cheats are hard to notice." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "When players compete directly, cheating must be disguised, so they pretend to do one thing while doing another, risking exposure and creating suspense." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "With no rivals to wrong, allowed cheating gives players freedom to set their own goals and shape how they want to play." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Runners set extra, narrow goals for themselves, so exploiting glitches that would otherwise look like cheating is usually accepted." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team contests, allowed cheating forces members to act one way while doing another, adds tension, and can be used to balance the teams." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sanctioned_Cheating.svg" }, { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A hero's deeds change how other characters in the world treat them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Characters or factions need defined norms and a system (a score or behaviour rules) that visibly changes how they treat the player after relevant actions. The reactions must carry real benefits or costs.", "just_a_label_when": "NPCs say different lines after a theft but treat the player exactly the same, so nothing in play changes.", "knobs": "which actions count; how strongly NPCs react; how visible and lasting the reputation is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Actions_Have_Diegetically_Social_Consequences", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "When actions needed for ongoing goals carry social fallout, players must keep up good standing over time, so the goal never really finishes." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "If players can pick which faction or set of norms to belong to, they decide whose approval matters and act accordingly." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Characters who belong to several factions can hold clashing norms, so members of the same group end up disagreeing when they meet." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Overlapping faction memberships bring different norms into collision inside a shared group, producing competition among its own members and forcing players to choose whom to back." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Choosing which faction or norms to follow lets players take on social aims they may pursue or ignore." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "Encoding social reactions into computer-controlled characters changes how they behave in play, which shows them acting on their own motives." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Breaking a group's norms, or skipping expected deeds, can be punished when others notice, so social consequences naturally carry a cost." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Following a group's norms can be rewarded, and breaking some norms can even earn benefits, such as joining a thieves' guild." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "When players choose which faction or norms to join, each choice brings its own social aims, giving them a menu of goals." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When some acts are shown as socially unacceptable yet still possible, and characters visibly react to them, the world feels believable and coherent." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Actions can change how the player character relates to NPCs inside the game world, and that change in relationships helps define the character." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "Computer-controlled agents need rules making player actions change how others in the world treat them, which is how their emotional reactions get produced." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When a player's action affects how others in the game world treat them, that social cost must be weighed against what the action gains, especially alongside internal rivalry." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Social consequences change how computer-controlled characters act during play, since their behavior is shaped by what players have done." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Social consequences can be tracked per character, so a character's deeds define them and affect how others regard them." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Companions in a player's party react to the player's deeds, which narrows which actions the player can freely take." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Norms are often shared across a faction, so the group's members respond to actions according to those common rules." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A world can define norms that most inhabitants share, so acts within it are judged by those standards." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "Helpers nearby will notice and react to the player's actions, which limits what the player can comfortably do." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "Characters in the same faction as the player can disagree with their actions, turning social reactions into conflict within the group." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Since others expect certain actions, doing nothing can also have consequences, such as a friendship fading when neglected." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "In games with companions, party members respond to what the player does, changing which actions are practical for the group." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Because actions have in-world social consequences, ending a rivalry by eliminating a rival becomes a costly trade-off or risk rather than a free choice." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "NPCs carry a world's social rules, so harming people in places where it is unacceptable can make them or the authorities react." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Actions_Have_Diegetically_Social_Consequences.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Strikes that deal noticeably more damage or give a special effect.", "needs_to_really_work": "The chance must be low enough that it feels special but high enough to happen in normal play, and the extra effect must be clearly larger than an ordinary hit. It may depend on skill or weapon.", "just_a_label_when": "A hit is called critical and a number pops up, but the damage is barely different from a normal hit.", "knobs": "chance of a critical; damage multiplier or extra effects; skill or weapon modifiers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Hits", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "A critical hit is one kind of unusually good or bad outcome, so it counts as a member of the broader family of critical results." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "Landing a critical hit is a special kind of success for the attacker, which makes it a specific form of critical success." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "If the chance of a critical hit is very small, seeing one becomes a rare, memorable moment in play." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Because a critical hit comes from a chance roll, the player who lands one feels fortunate, while the one on the receiving end does not." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "A critical hit can inflict harm the target could not otherwise suffer, going beyond extra damage to add special negative effects." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Critical hits change how fights feel by adding a chance of surprising outcomes, so battles are less repetitive and predictable." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "A critical hit changes how much harm an attack does, making some hits far stronger than the usual ones." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "They are opposites: a critical hit is an extraordinary good result, a critical miss an extraordinary bad one, though one side's miss can feel like the other's lucky break." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Critical hits add more chance to combat, which works against games where the outcome depends mainly on how skilled the player is." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because a critical hit can unexpectedly add extra harm, players cannot be sure what an attack will do, which undermines predictability." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Hits.svg" }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "The game changes its difficulty by itself depending on how the player is doing.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must measure performance reliably and link it to parameters that really change the challenge, with changes gentle enough not to feel like cheating or to be easily gamed.", "just_a_label_when": "A system that is switched on but whose adjustments are so small, or tied to a poor measure, that a good and a bad player face the same challenge.", "knobs": "what performance is measured; how strongly and how quickly difficulty reacts; whether it is visible or optional", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dynamic_Difficulty_Adjustment", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the system shifts challenge toward how well someone is doing, it nudges outcomes toward evenness, though not necessarily between players and the game itself." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "In single-player games the adjustment can be tuned to keep difficulty gentle and forgiving, so play stays relaxed." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "The same adjustment can instead be tuned to keep pushing back as players improve, so they stay tested." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players don't know the system is quietly helping or hindering them, they credit their own actions for results that the system actually shaped." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "When the system secretly and forcefully changes how game events turn out, the outcomes shown to players are not the true ones." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Adjusting challenge to how well someone is performing is a way of giving weaker players help, so it is a kind of handicap." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Offering automatic difficulty adjustment as something players may switch on lets them choose an easier game by using it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "It helps cover for a departing player, so people can leave a session without harming the others' game." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "The game changes how hard things are based on how players are doing, narrowing gaps between opposed players' fortunes." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "The game adapts its challenge as play goes on, so a team that is ahead or behind gets pulled back toward parity." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "How strongly computer-controlled participants perform can be raised or lowered to match how well the human players are doing." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "How much harm is dealt or taken can be scaled up or down, making fights easier or harder according to player progress." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "The number and performance of opponents can be changed to fit players, as when their strength scales to match the players'." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Top speeds can be altered, such as letting trailing racers go faster so they can catch up." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Between competing players, the adjustment is used to make their chances more even, producing balance among them." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Against the game system, it aims to hold challenge at a chosen level, which players may set through difficulty settings." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "In team-versus-team play it is applied so that the competing sides end up evenly matched." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If players can spot cases where the system rather than they themselves decided the result, the false sense of control can collapse instead of growing." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Adapting the challenge to the player can cast doubt on whether effort led to success, though skillful use may avoid it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dynamic_Difficulty_Adjustment.svg" }, { "name": "Sets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Groups of game elements that are worth more together than apart.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define clear combinations that give a win, score, or bonus bigger than the parts, and make the parts available with enough chance and trade to work toward. Progress toward completing sets should be visible.", "just_a_label_when": "A set bonus so small, or pieces so easy to get, that players never go after the combination deliberately.", "knobs": "which combinations count; bonus size; how rarely pieces appear", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collections", "why": "Because a set only pays off when all its parts are held, players are driven to hunt for and gather the missing pieces." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Using several items together for a bonus makes equipping or picking them up act as a chain of actions that combine into one payoff." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Each piece needed to finish a set becomes something the player wants to acquire, so every missing piece is a goal to obtain." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "When every item of a group is equipped together, the player gets stronger than the individual items would make them." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Goals that ask for a group of items but not every possible one leave the surplus collecting as a goal players may ignore." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Defining certain combinations of items as sets gives those items extra effects beyond what each one has alone." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "A hand can be judged by the sets it contains, so completing a hand made of sets can end the game or decide ranking." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sets.svg" }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "Abilities available only for a limited stretch of game time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The ability must be strong enough to change what players do and must truly expire. Players should face a choice about when to use it.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'temporary' power lasts so long, or recurs so often, that it is effectively permanent.", "knobs": "duration or number of uses; power level; how often it can be gained", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Temporary_Abilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "When a temporary ability runs out, the player no longer has it, and that disappearance is exactly what an ability loss is." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "A short-lived boost such as invulnerability can help late-arriving players keep pace with others without permanently changing the game's power balance." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Giving newcomers a brief strong ability lets them feel their actions matter a lot, even though they have only just joined." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Since the ability will vanish soon, players feel pressure to get the most out of it before it is gone." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Because abilities come and go during play, players keep switching between having and lacking them, so the way the game plays changes." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Abilities that can only be used a limited number of times are used up like a resource tied to action." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Making some abilities temporary changes how abilities work, since players only have access to them at intermittent points in play." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "When players join at different moments, temporary abilities can give those arriving late a helpful boost." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Newly spawned players can receive a short-lived ability, such as brief invulnerability, to help them get started." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Temporary_Abilities.svg" }, { "name": "Geometric Progression", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "With each step of effort, the result is multiplied by the same factor.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear multiplier applied to a cost, reward or effect, with a ratio above or below 1 chosen on purpose. The numbers must be large enough that players notice the growth or decay and change how they invest.", "just_a_label_when": "A ratio so close to 1 or with such low starting values that the growth is invisible, so it plays like a flat linear increase.", "knobs": "the common ratio; the starting value; where in the game it is applied (costs, rewards, scores)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Geometric_Progression", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Negative Feedback Loops", "why": "When each extra effort multiplies the effect by less than one, gains shrink, so players are pushed to spread their effort around instead of piling onto one thing." }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "When each extra effort multiplies the effect by more than one, the more you already have the faster you gain, so leads snowball." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When investing, the growth rule makes players think ahead, either saving up enough resources for a big payoff or avoiding spending where returns would shrink." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Rewards that grow as a chain gets longer let combos of different lengths succeed, with longer ones paying off more." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Growth that compounds, combined with reinforcing loops, makes later effects far larger than early ones, so later closures matter more." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Reward size can be compared against player effort that grows by multiplying steps, linking investment of effort to payout." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Together with investments, it means a failed investment wastes resources and weakens those still unspent." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Consequences that multiply over time make effort feed on itself, so earlier work keeps strengthening later results." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with negative feedback, it makes repeating similar efforts less rewarding, so players are pushed to pursue different goals." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Because gains grow or shrink by a fixed factor, players must rethink whether to concentrate or spread out what they gather." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "The longer an action continues, the more powerful or rewarding it becomes, so sustained effort pays off more and more." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "The growth rule decides whether one large investment beats several small ones, shaping how players split their resources." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Penalty schemes can use a progression directly, so each further penalty grows or shrinks by a constant factor." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Progression schemes get applied to resources, usually through investments, so how much they yield depends on how many are committed." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Reward schemes can follow the progression directly, making each added effort give a proportionally larger or smaller payoff." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Since scores come from rewards and penalties, those can be calculated with the multiplying rule when points go up or down." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "The progression can apply to how many elements are collected or equipped, so each extra item changes the set's value by a constant factor." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Whether gains snowball or shrink changes what players consider worth trading for and how they value what they hold." }, { "name": "Vulnerabilities", "why": "The progression can govern how a vulnerability works, so each further hit or exposure changes its effect by a fixed multiple." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "why": "The two translate effort into effect in different ways: arithmetic depends only on a single unit, while geometric makes the effect depend on the number of units." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Geometric_Progression.svg" }, { "name": "Permadeath", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "feelings × outcome", "what_it_is": "A character's death is irreversible and they cannot be brought back.", "needs_to_really_work": "Death must truly remove the character with no respawn, and loading an earlier state must not be possible, or it loses meaning. The game must be built around the loss so it feels like a real stake.", "just_a_label_when": "A death that is advertised as permanent but can be undone by loading a save or a free revive, so it costs nothing.", "knobs": "what can permanently die; whether there are extra chances; whether saves are allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Permadeath", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because one mistake can end a character for good, players must play carefully, which makes the game harder and more tense." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "When a character dies for good, that clearly ends something, giving the player a definite point where a chapter of play is over." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Permanent loss of an avatar or character is a form of consequence for dying, and a very harsh one." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Since a single death removes you for good, a player can be knocked out long before the game would otherwise finish." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Because the character's death ends the play session, dying permanently means the game is finished for that player." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Once the character dies there is no undoing it, so the death is something that can never be reversed." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Losing your character for good takes you out of the game, so the player is removed from play." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Since sessions end at death, players spread their total playtime across many separate runs and so keep starting the game again." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "In multiplayer, players who died for good can watch the remaining play, which helps keep them around for the next round." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "In multiplayer games, a player whose character dies for good cannot act and must wait for the others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Permanent death mostly matters for avatars, since those are what players control, and it makes their loss final rather than temporary." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can be made to die for good, which changes how much their loss costs, especially when the characters are player-controlled." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "With several players, permanent death knocks some out while others carry on, leaving the eliminated ones idle unless they leave or watch." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Permanent death matters most for characters players control, unlike replaceable units or minor non-player characters whose loss is usually unimportant." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Killing another player is final and its rewards stay, which can tempt attackers, yet eliminating people also spoils shared enjoyment, which can discourage it." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "If a character the story depends on can die for good, the planned plot may break, so it must be designed around who can die." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Lives", "why": "Lives mean players have more than one, whereas permadeath means a single death is final, so the two cannot both hold." }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "If players can reload an earlier state whenever they like, they can undo any death, which empties permanent death of meaning." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Saving and reloading at will lets players reverse deaths, so the character's loss is never truly permanent." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Permadeath.svg" }, { "name": "Vulnerabilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Weak points that others can take advantage of.", "needs_to_really_work": "Weaknesses must change damage or effects noticeably, differ between enemies or situations, and be discoverable or hideable so players adapt their choices. Counter options must exist.", "just_a_label_when": "A listed weakness with a negligible bonus, or one that applies to every enemy equally, so there is nothing to exploit.", "knobs": "damage multiplier; which entities have which weakness; how obvious the weakness is; availability of exploiting weapons", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Vulnerabilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "A weakness being hit can strip an entity of some of its abilities, so the vulnerability's effect is a lost capability rather than just lost health." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "Being struck in a weak spot can leave an entity less capable, so the vulnerability's penalty shows up as reduced abilities." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Ordinary objects become breakable because they carry a weakness that lets them be destroyed, so a vulnerability is what makes them destructible." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A weakness to something like sunlight makes the surroundings dangerous only to certain creatures, so the setting affects some characters but not others." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Penalties or lost abilities from a weakness usually last only briefly, appearing as short events unless an ongoing environmental condition keeps renewing them." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When players know weaknesses exist but not which enemy has which, they set out to discover that information." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing which entities have which weaknesses is valuable information that players can use to plan how they play." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Because different enemies are weak to different things, players switch weapons or powers, and hiding their own weaknesses creates different play goals." }, { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "The pattern is built by punching one specific weakness into that otherwise complete immunity, so the weak spot is what lets damage through." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "When game pieces can be exploited by others, players want to hide some of them while showing or giving up others." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "When something can be harmed easily in certain places, players must protect those places, which sets up evasion goals." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Fighting enemies prompts players to probe for their weaknesses, which requires trying out different actions against them." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Knowing which enemies are weak to which weapons or powers lets players prepare before a fight." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "When enemies are weak to certain weapons or powers, players must plan which to use, and combining the two requires more planning." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammunition can be built to trigger a specific weakness, like silver bullets against werewolves, so its value depends on the target." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "A player's own avatar can have weaknesses, so players must protect them and hide them from opponents who could exploit them." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Bosses can be given weaknesses, which changes how they are fought and what players must do to defeat them." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters can be made weak to certain attacks or conditions, changing how they fare in fights and in different places." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Since enemies take more harm from some attacks than others, fights revolve around choosing what to use against whom." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "A weakness changes how much harm an attack does, such as adding extra damage or multiplying it when the attack type matches." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies with weaknesses give players openings to exploit, and players may test enemies to find out what hurts them most." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Because weaknesses change how much damage lands, they indirectly change how quickly an entity's health runs down." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "When a weakness ties to environmental effects, such as sunlight harming vampires, it affects where an entity can safely go." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units can be weak to certain attacks, so they are strong or fragile depending on what they face." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons gain or lose usefulness depending on whether they can trigger an enemy's weakness, which pushes players to switch between them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Complete immunity cannot coexist with a weakness to the same danger, except where one weak point exists to beat an otherwise immune foe." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Vulnerabilities.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Player Proximity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rules depend on how close players are to each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must define what counts as near, which effects follow and how they are detected. It must also plan for the social contact this brings.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are told to stay close, but nothing in the rules reacts to the distance.", "knobs": "distance threshold; what is triggered when entering, keeping or breaking proximity", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Player_Proximity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "When the play area isn't fenced off from everyday places, needing players to be near each other pulls the game into ordinary surroundings." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Since players must get close to one another, they have to walk or move around in the real world, so moving becomes part of playing." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "When technology detects how close players are to each other, stepping outside its coverage lets a player go unnoticed." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "Being physically near others means face-to-face interaction, which changes how deception works because players can watch and read each other directly." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Because closeness between players counts in the rules, a game master can learn part of the game state without being present themselves." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "Places where players are standing near each other gain extra meaning in the game, so the real-world area becomes more valuable to play." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Close physical contact makes interaction between players unmediated and likely, so abilities like persuading and reading people matter more in play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Player_Proximity.svg" }, { "name": "Unlocking", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Gaining access to new abilities or game content.", "needs_to_really_work": "Content must be truly withheld until a clear requirement is met, and players should know it exists. The unlocked item should be worth the effort.", "just_a_label_when": "An 'unlock' that gives something trivial or that was available all along, or a requirement so easy it is never felt.", "knobs": "what is gated; the unlock requirement; how visible the locked content is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unlocking", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Access Rewards", "why": "Gaining entry to content that was already set aside for you feels like a prize of its own, specifically a reward of access." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "When players know something is locked, they may repeat tasks over and over just to reach the point where it opens." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Seeing in advance what can be unlocked lets players choose a path and plan their character's growth toward those goals." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Getting hold of something that was preordained and waiting for you naturally feels like being given a reward for what you did." }, { "name": "Sidegrades", "why": "Some unlockable items are not stronger but more specialized, so unlocking them widens the player's options instead of raising power." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Because unlocking follows the actions that earned it, those actions feel worthwhile, unless the player simply paid to skip ahead." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Designers decide which abilities can be unlocked and tell players, which shapes how and when those abilities become available." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Reaching the endgame phase of a game can open up new gameplay content, so unlocking affects what the endgame offers." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Unlocking is commonly used to control how and when these special abilities are brought into play." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Designers often use unlocking to control when players get access to vehicles during play." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Unlocking is often used to pace the arrival of weapons, and in some games it supplies specialized options rather than better ones." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unlocking.svg" }, { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Reward or risk grows in direct proportion to the effort invested.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each unit of effort must give the same increment, with no multipliers or thresholds. Players need to see the relation so they can plan.", "just_a_label_when": "The rule is called linear, but bonuses or thresholds are hidden in the numbers so the real curve is not linear.", "knobs": "amount of reward per unit of effort; minimum or maximum investment", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Arithmetic_Progression", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Because rewards can be claimed anytime without spoiling later investments, players can put in small amounts and try things out without facing a big risk." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since investing in small chunks doesn't force big risk-or-reward gambles, players can decide how much to commit and where to put it." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "The payoff grows by a simple, easy-to-remember fixed step per unit of effort, so players can work out in advance what they will get." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Reward size can be set against player effort in steady, equal steps, so each increment of effort yields a matching reward step." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Players find linear outcomes intuitive, so they are often used when players wager resources against each other, with winnings scaling directly to the stake." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Time spent on an extended action can be the effort that is tied in a straight line to the effect it yields." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "The pattern sets how much return each unit invested brings, so it shapes how investments compare with other options in the game." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "The effect linked to effort can be negative, so a failed action's penalty can grow by an equal amount per unit of effort." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Spent resources are the most common effort, and the pattern ties each unit spent to a proportional effect." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Rewards can be scaled so each extra unit of effort adds the same fixed amount of payoff." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Scores can be the effect that rises by a constant step for each unit of effort put in." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "The number of pieces collected in a set can serve as the effort that is linearly linked to its effect." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "The pattern fixes what each unit of effort is worth; the value may be modest but is known beforehand and so is safer." }, { "name": "Vulnerabilities", "why": "Vulnerabilities can be the effect changed by effort, rising or falling by an equal amount per unit." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Geometric Progression", "why": "The two translate effort into effect in different ways: arithmetic depends only on a single unit, while geometric makes the effect depend on the number of units." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Arithmetic_Progression.svg" }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The ability to take no harm from attacks and other dangers.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decide which damage types are blocked, for whom, and whether the immunity is permanent or timed. It only matters if the dangers it blocks are otherwise real, and if some others lack it so it is a privilege.", "just_a_label_when": "An entity is labeled immune but the threats it ignores never occur, or everyone has it, so it changes no decisions.", "knobs": "which damage types are covered; who has it; how long it lasts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Invulnerabilities", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "When players meet an immunity they didn't know about, they try different attacks and actions to learn what works against it." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Immunity only matters if others lack it, so whoever holds it has a special advantage that sets them apart from other entities." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "A surprising immunity becomes a problem to crack, as players must work out how to get around it." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players who run into an unknown immunity must plan how to counter it, or how to use their own to advantage." }, { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "A weak point only matters when the target is otherwise untouchable, so a near-complete immunity is the base the design starts from." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Being immune to a blocking hazard lets players ignore it, so immunity becomes the requirement for crossing." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Learning what an enemy cannot be hurt by is useful knowledge, so uncovering such immunities becomes something players aim for." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "" }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Giving characters immunity to harmful effects that others lack, often briefly after spawning, makes them safe wherever they are." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Player avatars can be made immune to certain dangers, changing what threatens them in the game world." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Bosses are more often given immunities than ordinary foes, and these are often complete ones." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters under player control or opposing players can be given protection against particular dangers, changing how they can safely act." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Immune entities change how fights go, since some attacks stop working, and fighting may become impossible altogether." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Immunity limits which kinds of harm can affect an entity, shrinking or removing the damage it takes." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Such objects could be given immunity, but they are usually already safe from everything except what is specifically meant to destroy them." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Giving opponents immunity to some dangers makes them harder to beat and makes the game more challenging." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Because immune entities take less or no damage, their health is protected from being reduced." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Immunity to collisions, falls, or environmental hazards means entities can move through places that would otherwise hurt them." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Newly spawned avatars are unprepared and vulnerable, so brief immunity can protect them while they get their bearings." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units controlled by players or by their opponents can be given immunity to certain dangers." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Making players unable to be harmed makes killing harder or impossible to carry out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Damage", "why": "Permanent protection reduces how often damage matters, though it need not remove damage entirely if other damage types remain." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Giving players temporary protection at the start stops them from being knocked out early in the game." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Targets that cannot be harmed make a removal goal impossible to achieve." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Long-lasting or unequal immunity gives some players a lasting edge over others, upsetting fairness between them." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Immune players cannot be killed by others, so attacking them becomes difficult or impossible." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "If one side keeps immunity for long, it dominates and the teams stop being evenly matched." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When entities cannot be hurt, there is little at stake, so the feeling of danger fades." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Immunity that the game's fictional world doesn't explain, such as protecting story characters, feels out of place in that world." }, { "name": "Vulnerabilities", "why": "Complete immunity cannot coexist with a weakness to the same danger, except where one weak point exists to beat an otherwise immune foe." }, { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "The weak point exists to break a complete immunity, so it works against the very invulnerability that it is built on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Invulnerabilities.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Rules depend on whether the player is physically near a place.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs reliable position detection or self-reporting, defined places, and gameplay that truly depends on arriving there. The cost of travel has to be reasonable.", "just_a_label_when": "Places are listed as targets, but the player's actual position is never checked or never changes anything.", "knobs": "trigger distance; number and spacing of locations; how position is verified", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Location_Proximity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "When players must visit places they don't know, going there for the game can make them see those real spots differently." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "When the playable area is big enough, like city-wide games, players have reason to come back to the places that matter in the game." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "If the game never clearly marks where play happens, location-based rules blend into everyday surroundings and play spreads into normal life." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Since rules react to where players really stand, they must find their own way to those physical places." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "Reaching places on foot means a player's fitness and movement ability affect success, which can make play unbalanced." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When time is limited or someone arriving first blocks others from the effect, players compete to get to the place fastest." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Players who know the area well can reach places sooner, giving them an edge that may unbalance the game." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Unless there are very many spots, the places that players' positions are checked against become important points in the game." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Rules that reward being at certain places naturally give players goals of travelling from one place to another." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "In games tied to where players physically are, casual play works when distance doesn't force more movement than players wish." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "In games that use technology to sense where players are, moving out of the sensed zone lets players avoid being detected." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Knowing where players are lets game masters trigger events depending on players' positions." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "Because rules depend on players' real positions, the game always ends up played within physical real-world space." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Location_Proximity.svg" }, { "name": "Characteristics", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Numbers and facts that describe an individual hero, item, or other creature in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Values must differ between entities and affect outcomes, and some of them must be changeable during play.", "just_a_label_when": "Entities have stats, but all are identical or ignored by the rules.", "knobs": "which stats exist; their ranges; how they change", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Characteristics", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When different agents carry different Characteristics, each ends up better at some things than others, so distinct areas of strength appear among them." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Any growth in a player's characteristics counts as development of the player's abstract construct." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Growth is usually carried out by changing a character's characteristics, which directly alters what the character can do in the game." }, { "name": "Team Development", "why": "Changing the traits of members, on individual characters or on a team described as an abstract construct, is one way to make the team develop." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Characteristics can describe things like countries or civilizations, so they shape how these abstract constructs behave in play." }, { "name": "Bases", "why": "Characteristics can be attached to bases, so the data stored there changes how a base works." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characteristics are naturally part of characters, so the data on each character strongly shapes how that character functions in play." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teams can carry their own Characteristics, so the data attached to a team affects how it performs and develops." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Characteristics.svg" }, { "name": "Cooldown", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "After use, an action is unavailable for some time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The wait must be long enough to hold back repeated use, and the player must have other useful things to do meanwhile. The remaining time should be visible or learnable.", "just_a_label_when": "An ability has a cooldown so short that it can effectively be used continuously, or nothing else is worth doing while waiting.", "knobs": "length of the wait; which actions are covered; shared or global cooldown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cooldown", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "Each ability can only be used once per cooldown window, so cooldowns put a ceiling on how often a single action can be performed." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because the strongest actions can't be repeated endlessly, players can't rely on one best move, which keeps options more evenly useful." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "If a player has nothing else to do while an action recharges, the waiting becomes idle time with no meaningful choices." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Using an action makes it unavailable for a while, which works as a cost for acting, similar to spending energy." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Players know roughly how long the wait lasts, so the moment an action returns is always a looming, anticipated event." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Since a used action is locked, players must think about when to spend it and what to do in the meantime." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "When a shared cooldown covers nearly every action, play moves in fixed time steps, much like a game that runs on ticks." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "While one action recharges, players are pushed to use other actions, so they end up mixing different moves." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Designers pick which abilities get a waiting period before reuse, so cooldown shapes how often each ability is available." }, { "name": "Cards", "why": "In card games, used cards can be turned sideways to show they can't be played again until they recharge." }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "Used cards are tapped to show they are unavailable until they refresh, typically at the start of the owner's next turn." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Installations are among the actions commonly given reuse delays, so they can't be triggered over and over." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Putting a wait on help from outside the player's own actions limits how much outside input the game receives." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Powerful abilities are often given cooldowns so they can't be spammed, and shared cooldowns link them without breaking the theme." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Tools are commonly given reuse delays, so players can't use them continuously." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "A waiting period after use can limit how often a weapon fires, either instead of or together with ammunition." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cooldown.svg" }, { "name": "Fixed Distributions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Guaranteed randomness: by known moments, a preset set of outcomes will have come up.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must draw from a limited pool without replacement (like a deck) or force a spread over a cycle, and let players know or track what has appeared. Visible history lets them predict what is left.", "just_a_label_when": "A shuffled deck that is reshuffled every draw or a random roll, so past results never constrain future ones.", "knobs": "cycle length or pool size; whether players can see what has already been drawn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Fixed_Distributions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "why": "Knowing what has already come out of a guaranteed mix lets players judge what is left, so they can prepare for or soften bad outcomes." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because the overall mix is guaranteed, players can use what has already appeared to predict better what is likely to come next." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "When players aren't openly shown the mix, learning what it contains is valuable insight that they can use to plan their moves." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When outcomes follow a known fixed spread but are hidden, tracking which results have already occurred gives an advantage." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Guaranteeing the overall mix over a cycle narrows how wild the random results can get, making chance less extreme." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "When random results come from a known, fixed set of possibilities, players can better estimate what outcomes are likely." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Luck", "why": "When players succeed at using the known mix to predict or soften outcomes, results feel earned rather than lucky, which weakens the feeling of luck." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Fixed_Distributions.svg" }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items that really exist inside the game world, which can be seen and picked up.", "needs_to_really_work": "The items must take part in the game's physics or rules, blocking movement or sight or being moved and broken. Players must be able to interact with them.", "just_a_label_when": "Objects that are drawn solid but can be walked through and do nothing.", "knobs": "which items are solid; whether they can be moved or destroyed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Diegetically_Tangible_Game_Items", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Construction", "why": "Because items physically occupy the world, players can place and arrange them to build structures, which lets them make new spaces or defenses." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "If a solid item can be moved, it can hurt other things when it crashes into them." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Players can stack or position solid items to reach spots they otherwise couldn't, or use them to wall off spots themselves." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Anything with a physical body in the world takes up space, so it blocks passage and becomes something to get around." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Needing to place or stack solid items to reach somewhere out of reach turns arranging them into a puzzle." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Players can use solid items to build barriers that shield a spot from others, creating a protected place." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Players usually expect objects in a game world to be physically present, so solid items fit the theme they already imagine." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Solid items can be set up to break or to hit things when they move, so they can catch others out." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Solid items stand in the avatar's way and change how it must move, and avatars can themselves be solid things that others deal with." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "The pattern works by giving ordinary game items a physical body in the world, which changes what they are and how they behave." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Solid items fill the world with things that block, stack, and react, so the world's layout and how it can be traversed change." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Placing or moving solid items can open up places that were unreachable, or can close places off." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "A solid item physically sits between viewer and target, so it can hide things from view." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Because solid items take up space, characters can't pass through them and must go around, over, or push them." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "Props become something players can bump into, stand on, or move rather than just look at, which changes how the world feels." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units must route around solid items and may themselves be solid, so they can block each other and need arranging." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups vanish when an avatar touches them, so there's little point making them solid objects that players interact with physically." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Diegetically_Tangible_Game_Items.svg" }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Game events are triggered when a certain moment in real time arrives.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must run in real time or ticks and know the real date or time, and the event must offer something worth showing up for, with players told in advance.", "just_a_label_when": "A holiday theme that is only a visual reskin with no different gameplay or rewards, so nobody schedules around it.", "knobs": "which real-world dates trigger events; event length; how far ahead players are told", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Events_Timed_to_the_Real_World", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Because holidays and big sports events are well known and set far ahead, players easily remember when to log in, and outside sources remind them too." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Since an in-game event begins and ends together with its real-world occasion, it naturally appears for a limited time and then disappears." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Shared real-world dates let many players gather at the same moment without needing to coordinate through the game itself." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Game time has to be matched to how time passes in the real world, which changes how consistently the game treats time." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "In a game set in an invented world, bringing in real-world holidays can feel out of place, such as fantasy citizens celebrating Valentine's Day." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Events_Timed_to_the_Real_World.svg" }, { "name": "Friendly Fire", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Attacks by members of the same team damage their own teammates.", "needs_to_really_work": "Teams must exist, and damage rules must apply to allies, with real cost to hitting them. Players need to be in situations where stray hits are plausible.", "just_a_label_when": "Friendly Fire is switched on, but damage to allies is trivial or ranges are so short that nobody ever worries about it.", "knobs": "damage dealt to allies; area-of-effect size; whether the option is on at each difficulty", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Friendly_Fire", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Since shots might hit teammates, players must aim more carefully instead of firing freely, which makes combat harder." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Teammates who get hurt by each other's shots can turn on one another, and blame for failures can create friction inside the team." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "When an accidental hit on a teammate happens without sparking real conflict, players can find the mishap funny and enjoy the blunder." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "In games that imitate real weapons, hurting allies by mistake matches how real firearms behave, so the rules fit the setting." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Letting players switch friendly fire on or off changes how risky play is, making the game harder or easier than the usual norm." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Teammates can be hit, so players must take care about who is in the line of fire when shooting." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Combat rules reach allies as well as enemies, so fighting means watching out for friends instead of just attacking." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Allied companions that can be damaged or killed can become victims or even culprits of stray attacks." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Team members can now harm each other, so being on the same side no longer guarantees safety." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Harming teammates can be used to make cooperation within teams harder." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Friendly fire can spark rivalry, but because violence can quickly settle the dispute, it also makes it hard to keep a rivalry going long term." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Friendly_Fire.svg" }, { "name": "Optional Rules", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rules that players themselves decide whether to use.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rule set must have clearly separate modules that can be added without breaking the core game. Too many options add confusion and production cost, so a small set that is easy to explain works best.", "just_a_label_when": "An option that is listed in the rulebook but changes nothing in play, or is so entangled with the core rules that nobody can use it without breaking the game.", "knobs": "how many optional rules; when they can be chosen (before play, during play, by whom)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Optional_Rules", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Each optional rule adds to what players must know and handle, so a game with many extras becomes more complicated to play." }, { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "If extra rules are brought in mid-game and cannot be taken away again, the rules keep growing and changing as play goes on." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Any added rule means more bookkeeping, and optional ones add the further chore of remembering which of them are currently switched on." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players get to decide at the rules level whether to adopt each extra rule, which gives them real control over how the game is played." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "When extra rules can be introduced during play and also dropped later, the rules in force differ from one moment to the next." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Making features such as assistance or friendly fire optional lets players pick them to shift difficulty, so the choice itself becomes a level." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Tabletop roleplayers often add optional rules so the game feels truer to its setting, though whether that is really theme or realism is debatable." }, { "name": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", "why": "Making the adjustment something players can switch on or off lets it work as a difficulty choice, and also avoids weakening the value of effort." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Optional_Rules.svg" }, { "name": "Switches", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "World elements that players use to trigger events or actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The activation must change something that matters (open a path, alter hazards, change rules), and players must be able to find the switch and guess roughly what it does. Position and state handling are the main choices.", "just_a_label_when": "A lever that only plays an animation, or whose effect was already available some other way.", "knobs": "number and placement of switches; what each does; whether reusable, timed, or one-shot", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Switches", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Agents that notice something specific can trigger a switch automatically, so the switch becomes an alarm instead of something a player presses." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Just having a switch visible in the world invites players to try interacting with it." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "A switch is a simple control that permits only a few actions, usually turning an effect on or off." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "A switch that visibly changes look with its state shows its status itself, so no separate on-screen indicator is required." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "A switch can be made to work only once or to refuse further changes, so its effect cannot be undone." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "What a switch sets off can leave lasting alterations to the game world that remain afterward." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Single-use switches tell designers exactly when a player did something, so they can advance the planned story with cutscenes, dialogue or new areas." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Once players know what a switch does, they can think ahead about when and whether to use it." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "If players spot a switch in a different state than before or than expected, it shows them something happened earlier." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "The chain of events a switch starts can grow into something very large and dramatic." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Flipping a switch can bring new rules into force, so the game plays by different rules afterward." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "A switch can remove a barrier or hazard, so players must find and activate it before the way opens." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Switches make environmental effects appear or vanish, letting players change conditions in the world." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Placed at particular spots on a board, switches change what happens there and so shape how the board plays." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Placed at particular spots in the world, switches alter what is possible there and so shape the world." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Placed at points within a level, switches can change its layout or rules, or even end it." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "A switch can be what players activate to start fast travel between locations." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Switches.svg" }, { "name": "Upgrades", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Changes to items that make them more effective.", "needs_to_really_work": "Upgrades must measurably improve an ability of existing equipment and cost players something, like scarce materials or an irreversible choice, so selection matters. Slots and acquisition rules must be clear.", "just_a_label_when": "A cosmetic or tiny numeric bump that no one can feel, or one upgrade so obviously best that every player takes it.", "knobs": "size of the boost; cost and scarcity; number of upgrade slots; whether installing is reversible", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Upgrades", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Upgrades are themselves items that are fitted onto other gear, so they count as a kind of equipment, like gems, scopes or silencers." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide when and which improvements to apply, so having upgrades available gives them real say over how their gear develops." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "The basic purpose of an upgrade is to make an item or its user better at something, such as dealing more damage." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Installing an upgrade is often permanent, so once a player commits to one, that choice cannot be taken back." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Because applying an upgrade is often permanent, players must weigh the different upgrade options against each other and give up some in favor of others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor is one of the most common kinds of gear that can be improved by fitting upgrades onto it." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Adding upgrades can be controlled by the game's crafting rules, while giving wholly new abilities to gear is treated as crafting rather than upgrading." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "Upgrades can change how likely critical hits are, as a special case of improving damage-related abilities." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "Upgrades can alter the chance of critical misses, as a special case of improving damage-related abilities." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Damage is a common ability for upgrades to improve, so adding one makes a weapon hurt more." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Upgrades are fitted onto other gear to make it more effective, changing how well that gear performs." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When a game has composite skills such as accuracy, upgrades tied to the relevant skill change how well the character performs it." }, { "name": "Sockets", "why": "Sockets hold upgrades, but upgrades can in turn affect the sockets, for example by adding more slots." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Upgrades can improve how precisely attacks land, since accuracy is one of the abilities they commonly enhance." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons are a common type of gear that upgrades improve, such as with scopes or extended magazines." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Upgrades.svg" }, { "name": "Character Levels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Stages of a hero's growth; each new one grants and strengthens abilities.", "needs_to_really_work": "Clear thresholds, a meaningful reward at each step, and a sensible number of levels, with content for those who reach the top.", "just_a_label_when": "A level number is displayed but nothing is unlocked or improved when it rises.", "knobs": "number of levels; points needed per level; what each level grants", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Character_Levels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "A character's level is one of the traits that describe that character, so having levels automatically adds one more such trait to the character." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Each new level is a goal players work toward, and reaching it marks that their character has become more capable." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Because the level is a number that goes up with progress, it works like a score showing how far a player has come." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "Reaching a new level can open up things that were unavailable before, such as new abilities or powers." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Level-ups can offer choices presented as the character's own decisions, such as which teacher to study under, which then shape who they become." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Levels give a structured way to measure advancement, so moving up a level is the visible form that a character's growth takes." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "In online games, reaching the top character level moves players into a distinct final phase of play with its own activities." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Levels change what a character is like, since each step up represents the character developing and becoming different from before." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "A level increase can have the side effect of letting the player have more helpers, which is an uncommon reward." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "With many players, someone will eventually reach the top level, so designers must provide endgame content for them to keep playing." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Levels can serve as the requirement for getting new abilities, so the level system controls when those abilities become available." }, { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "Reaching a new level can change Characteristics broadly in one step, rather than each type of data being adjusted individually." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Advancing in character level can raise skills, and in some games gaining skill points is what earns a new level." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Levels.svg" }, { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Entities differ in kind of abilities rather than in number: not stronger, but different.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each entity must be able to do something others cannot do at all, not just do the same thing better. The differences need to matter in play so that players need the entities for their special function.", "just_a_label_when": "Units with different names, looks and stat numbers, but who all do the same kind of thing, so they are just reskins with different values.", "knobs": "how many entity types; how unique each ability is; how the sets are distributed among players", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Orthogonal_Differentiation", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When pieces can do truly different things, each one matters in its own way, so players must weigh many distinct roles and the game becomes more intricate." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because each entity carries distinct importance, there are different ways to use them, so playing again can feel different from the last time." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "If you control pieces with different kinds of abilities, you need to think ahead about how to make the best use of each one." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Pieces that act in different ways, not just stronger or weaker, give more variety than the same number of pieces that only differ in degree." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Team members with different strengths and weaknesses cover each other, so whole teams end up with equal overall chances." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Differently specialized team members can be designed to offset each other, though this is fragile because small inequalities can tip the balance." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Making characters differ in non-overlapping ways means no one player can do the whole combo, so teammates must combine their contributions." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "When characters have clearly different abilities or powers but still need to function as a team, players must find ways to combine those differences." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "The pattern works on abilities by making them differ in kind, so one entity can do something others simply cannot." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters get different kinds of abilities, making each one valuable for something unique, and in team games each player may have their own." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies can be given different kinds of abilities rather than just different stats, as with monsters that spawn others or resurrect the dead." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "Players can control entities with different ability types, but this makes it hard to keep sides alike unless everyone gets the same set." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Teams may have entities with differing ability types, which can be kept fair only if each team receives the same set of them." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units in a game can each have different kinds of capabilities, so a player must use a varied army to get full value." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Since differentiated entities need unique abilities, players end up with unlike things, which is hard to square with equal footing unless everyone gets the same set." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "Teams with entities that have unique abilities are hard to make even, though giving every team the same differentiated set resolves the problem." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Orthogonal_Differentiation.svg" }, { "name": "Player Augmentations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Support that helps the player perform game actions better.", "needs_to_really_work": "The help must truly change the success of specific actions, and must be tuned against the game's challenge. Designers must decide who gets it, so that it neither trivialises play nor feels useless.", "just_a_label_when": "An assist option exists but is so weak, or so hidden, that results are the same with or without it.", "knobs": "strength of the help; which actions it affects; who receives it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Augmentations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "Because the augmentation acts on the character the player controls, that character can end up doing things on its own or by rule rather than by the player's direct input." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players feel the help is boosting their ability to shape events, they can come to believe they influence the game more than they really do." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "When the game itself hands the boost to players, it works as a reward that makes later play easier." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "If players sense that the help increases their power to affect what happens, they feel more in control of the game's outcome." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving help to some players and not others, or in different amounts, can even out or tilt how evenly matched they are." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Since the help acts on the in-game character, success comes from a mix of what the player can do and what the character is assisted to do." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "The boost applies to the characters or units players control in the game, so it changes how those agents behave and perform." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Assistance makes it easier to finish a game very quickly, which helps runners, though some see that as cheating unless exploit-finding is the point." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Aids that perform actions for players can make them lose the sense of their own agency, depending on how they see it." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "The game helping the player makes challenges easier, which lessens the importance of the player's own skill." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "If players do not feel the enhanced abilities are under their control, the augmentations fail to give them real influence." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "How fair the game feels depends on who receives the help and how much, so uneven assistance can upset balance between players." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Because help reduces how much player skill and work determine results, their effort seems to matter less." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Augmentations.svg" }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "A player is removed from the session by others' decision, not by the game's rules.", "needs_to_really_work": "Someone must hold the power to kick, such as a moderator or a vote, with clear criteria and a defined length and scope. Without that, it will be unfair or ignored.", "just_a_label_when": "A kick button exists, but kicked players can rejoin immediately or nobody has the authority to use it.", "knobs": "who may kick; vote threshold; duration and scope of the ban", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Kicking", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Because players can be removed for social misbehavior, not just for breaking the written rules, anyone may be forced out of a game sooner than the rules themselves would end their play." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players can vote to remove others, they get to choose who they play with, which can make them feel their actions carry more weight." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Removing someone is done outside the game's formal rules, as a social or administrative step about behavior rather than a move within gameplay." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "A kicked player's session ends right away, so being removed has the same result for them as the game finishing." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Kicking takes a participant out of the game instance, so they can no longer play, just as if they had been eliminated." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "A player who gets kicked takes on the label of being banned, an unwelcome reputation among the other players." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Together with voting, it lets players remove those who don't follow how the majority wants to play, choosing their co-players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "Kicking usually applies to a single game server, and can be limited to the current game or extended to bans of set length or permanent." }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "why": "A meta server can apply a ban across all play instead of one server, widening the reach of a kick." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Kicking fits best where several people play together, since removing a misbehaving player there is clearly different from an ordinary game ending in single-player games." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players who can be removed by others may lose their sense of influence, even though kicking others feels powerful." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Kicking.svg" }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal where the reward must be split among several players.", "needs_to_really_work": "A reward must go to a group, with a clear rule on how it is divided or room to negotiate. Individual rewards on the side weaken it.", "just_a_label_when": "A reward everyone gets in full anyway, so there is nothing to share or argue about.", "knobs": "who shares; how it is divided; reward size", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Shared_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "When a reward is split by the system or by players, the weakest players can be given the best share, which evens out the differences between them." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "When everyone in a group receives the same payoff, they all want the same outcome, so their aims line up." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "A shared reward is simply a reward, just one that must be divided among several players rather than going to one." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "If a reward cannot easily be cut into equal parts, players must argue over who gets what, which creates a dilemma among them." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "When a reward is hard to split evenly, some players step up to handle the dividing, which gives them a special role in the group." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Getting the same reward together binds players into a unit, so a common payoff can be the basis for forming a team." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Because the reward goes to several players at once, they feel they succeeded as a group and share something common." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When a prize is split among players alongside a common aim, working together is how each of them gains." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Factions", "why": "When benefits go to all members of a faction, belonging to the group pays off collectively." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "When the whole team gains together, helping a teammate is tied to your own gain, which undermines the unselfish quality of the act." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "If the reward is already split among everyone by design, individual helpful acts need no repayment, so situations of owing a favor happen less often." }, { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Excluding goals tie one player's success to others' failure, which is at odds with rewards that all players share." }, { "name": "Individual Rewards", "why": "A given reward cannot go to everyone and to only one player at once, so the two kinds exclude each other." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "A tiebreaker picks a single winner from tied players, so the tie that would have led to a shared reward no longer occurs." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Shared_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Cosmetic Game Items", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items that differ from others only in appearance.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must change looks only, not abilities, and be visible to others, with enough variety or rarity that players want them. Players should be able to choose, show or collect them.", "just_a_label_when": "An item is sold as cosmetic, but only one player sees it or it is not displayed anywhere.", "knobs": "number of variants; rarity or cost; how they are obtained; how visible they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cosmetic_Game_Items", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because an item's looks don't change how play works, players value it mostly for reasons outside the game, such as showing off or trading it with others." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Decorative ornaments placed in the game world can take up space, so they may end up blocking movement even though they exist for looks." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Cosmetic items stay appealing to players across sessions, and with several players present they can be swapped among them." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Items can exist purely for looks without changing gameplay, so they are a type of game item." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Wearable items can be given different looks without changing what they do, so players can alter how their avatars appear." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "A cosmetic item takes an ordinary item and gives it a distinct appearance, or exists as an item that serves only that visual purpose." }, { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Achievements can award appearance-only items, which show off accomplishments and signal status without affecting gameplay." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Items that only change looks can be shown on the avatar, helping express differences between avatars." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cosmetic_Game_Items.svg" }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game's rules change over time, but within a preset collection.", "needs_to_really_work": "Clear triggers must change the active rules during play, such as random cards, locations, switches or new abilities, and players must be told about the changes. The shifts must alter what good play looks like.", "just_a_label_when": "A rule list that technically has conditional clauses which never trigger in practice, so play stays the same throughout.", "knobs": "how often rules change; trigger type (random, location, progress); how many rules can change at once", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Varying_Rule_Sets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Having to keep track of rules that shift during play gives players more to think about, which makes the overall gameplay more intricate." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "When the rules change in step with a story's growing confrontations, each stage can end in a bigger, more significant wrap-up." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since the rules in force keep changing, players face different situations over time instead of repeating the same play." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Rules that shift temporarily can grant abilities for a limited period." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "In games meant to be complex, introducing rules in stages lets players learn bit by bit, which keeps the complexity manageable." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Changing the rules can produce the escalating effects that stories use to stagger significance." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Varying_Rule_Sets.svg" }, { "name": "Moveable Tiles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "World elements that move, but not of their own will.", "needs_to_really_work": "The tiles need clear movement rules, such as what triggers them and where they stop, and the level must be built so their movement matters, for example by carrying, blocking or opening routes.", "just_a_label_when": "Tiles that move as decoration, on a path that never affects where players can go or what they can do.", "knobs": "movement pattern, speed and what triggers it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Moveable_Tiles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Damage", "why": "A moving tile can squeeze a piece or character against a wall or another object, hurting or removing it." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "A tile that is itself a barrier can cut off parts of the world, though its movement can also reopen them." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Since the tiles travel through the world, their very presence introduces motion, which can carry avatars or units along." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Depending on size and position, a moving tile can stand in the way and keep other game elements from passing." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "When player actions cause the tiles to move, the layout of the world changes because of what players do." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Together with damage, moving tiles can cause harm that players cannot stop, so players must time their actions around it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Shooters or targets riding on tiles, or tiles blocking the line, force players to account for the tiles' motion when aiming." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Tiles can serve as alternate routes that let players reach areas that were otherwise cut off." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Moveable Tiles are ordinary tiles given the ability to move, so the pattern adds motion to what a tile can do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Tiles are elements that don't move by their own will, while agents act on goals, so the two fit poorly together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Moveable_Tiles.svg" }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Players themselves agree on how long the whole session will last.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have an adjustable end condition and a point before play where players agree on it. The game must still work at different lengths.", "just_a_label_when": "A length setting that exists in the menu but is nearly always left at default, or one where a short setting breaks the game.", "knobs": "which limits players can set: time, turns or score target", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Negotiable_Game_Instance_Duration", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Because players have to talk and agree on how long the game will last, that discussion itself becomes an activity outside the game's rules." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players can fit the game's length around their other plans, so the game works for people with different amounts of free time." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Since the length is agreed in advance, everyone stays for the full game and experiences all of it together, rather than drifting in and out." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Letting players adjust how long a game runs fits their available time, reducing the need to leave early." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A story with fixed events assumes a certain length of play, so if players shorten or stretch the game, the story may not fit unless it can scale." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Negotiable_Game_Instance_Duration.svg" }, { "name": "Transferable Items", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "Items that can be passed from one character to another.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be an action to give, drop or swap items, and a clear set of limits about which items and to whom. Items must have value to other players or characters to make transfers worthwhile.", "just_a_label_when": "An option to hand over items that is blocked for nearly everything useful, or covers items nobody wants.", "knobs": "which items can be transferred; to whom; what limits apply (binding, class restrictions)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Transferable_Items", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because items can change hands, players get to decide which things they end up carrying instead of being stuck with what they started with." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Since possession of an item can pass to someone else, getting hold of particular items becomes something players can aim for as a goal." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Being able to hand objects to teammates lets players support one another and back up joint play." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Because items carrying abilities can change hands, the special powers move from one player to another." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars can stand in for characters as parties to a transfer, though anything beyond trivial exchanges still needs them to have inventories." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters are the ones who give, receive or lose items, so being able to pass items around changes what they can possess." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Players can pass items to companions to equip them well or let them carry loads, as in Fallout and Dragon Age II." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Trading may be allowed with every kind of character except enemies, so enemies mark a limit on who can take part in transfers." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Designers choose which items can be handed over and by what actions, so transferability becomes a property layered on top of items." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Some restricted items can still be sold to non-player characters, so these characters remain valid recipients even when players cannot exchange them." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Items can be handed between player characters, as in Left 4 Dead, so the group is equipped as well as possible." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Transfers are mostly done through menus rather than in-world actions, so the same system works for resources as well as items." }, { "name": "Self-Service Kiosks", "why": "Locked items can often still be sold to kiosks, which take them out of the game so other players never get them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Transferable_Items.svg" }, { "name": "Access Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "A reward that opens up content or actions that were unavailable before.", "needs_to_really_work": "Some content must be actually locked at the start and opened by an achievement, and the opened content must be optional and worth wanting. The gate must be visible so players know what they are working toward.", "just_a_label_when": "The 'unlocked' area or action was available all along, or it is forced on the player so it is not an optional access at all.", "knobs": "what is gated; what unlocks it; how soon new access arrives", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Access_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "New content is offered rather than forced, so players decide whether to use it, which leaves them in charge of how they play." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Because access is granted in a set sequence, players meet challenges in that order and finish them one after another, producing larger closures along the way." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "Since players are offered new options instead of being made to use them, they have more say over what happens in the game." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Gating access controls what players reach and when, so story parts can be told in the order the designer planned." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Access Rewards are one kind of reward: getting entry to gameplay that was previously unavailable is itself what the player is given." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Receiving a reward, usually for finishing a goal, can unlock an area that was closed off, so the blocked state is only temporary." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Access Rewards affect how levels work, since earning access can make additional levels open for players to choose between." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Access_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Context Dependent Reactions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "feelings × rules", "what_it_is": "Game characters respond differently to events and items depending on the situation.", "needs_to_really_work": "Agents must react to relevant conditions such as place, history or who is present, and those reactions must be seen to differ. This needs enough authored content or logic, or a human playing the agent.", "just_a_label_when": "Characters seem to react but use the same canned response whatever happens.", "knobs": "how many context factors are checked; how many distinct responses are written; human or algorithmic control", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Context_Dependent_Reactions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Real-world behavior is never identical each time, so varying responses by situation makes the game world feel more like a believable place." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When characters respond differently depending on circumstances, players are more likely to feel those characters are pursuing goals of their own." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Because identical repeated actions feel unnatural, tailoring responses to the situation helps the game stay true to the feel of its theme." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "Giving agents situation-based responses lets them be personalized and lets their reactions fit many different things in the game world." }, { "name": "Awareness of Surroundings", "why": "Agents that respond differently depending on circumstances come across as noticing what is around them." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "If guards only protect certain places or times, they need to respond sensibly when they meet other agents elsewhere." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Code-driven reactions may be the only practical way to give a large crowd of non-player characters this kind of varied responding." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Computer-controlled characters can react differently when sneaking matters, which marks off the sneaking parts of a game from the rest." }, { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Having agents react to the current situation in their world makes them appear more alive and delays players reducing them to simple objects." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Context_Dependent_Reactions.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Predefined random failures in combat that harm the attacker themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a small random chance that a failed attack has a real penalty, such as dropping the weapon or hitting the wrong target. It should be rare enough not to feel unfair.", "just_a_label_when": "A miss is called critical, but the result is exactly the same as an ordinary miss.", "knobs": "chance of it happening; how severe the penalty is; skill or weapon modifiers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Misses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "A critical miss is just a critical failure that happens specifically during fighting, so it is a combat-flavored version of that broader idea." }, { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "Because a critical miss is a kind of critical failure, and critical failures are one kind of extreme outcome, it also counts as a critical result." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "A critical miss is rare, so it stands out from ordinary play and can count as an exceptional event, unless it happens so often it stops being special." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "When a critical miss happens, the attacker typically suffers some disadvantage as a result, which is exactly what a penalty is." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Players don't want to botch an attack, but when an over-the-top disaster does happen, watching it unfold can be fun in itself." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Critical misses add rare, extra bad outcomes for the attacker on top of the normal results the combat rules would produce." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "They are opposites: a critical hit is an extraordinary good result, a critical miss an extraordinary bad one, though one side's miss can feel like the other's lucky break." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Dramatic misses that come from chance emphasize bad luck over the player's skill, reducing the role of performance." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since a rare disastrous result can strike even a sound action, players can't count on their choices leading to the outcomes they expect." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Misses.svg" }, { "name": "Legacy Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "The results of one game permanently change the conditions of later games.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must specify lasting changes, such as new components or rules, that carry to later sessions, while a core of fixed rules keeps it the same game. Players must be able to track the changes.", "just_a_label_when": "A campaign log or score is kept but nothing in the next session actually differs.", "knobs": "how big and how frequent the permanent changes are; how much of the rule set stays fixed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Legacy_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Evolving Rule Sets", "why": "When the permanent changes involve rules rather than just components, the game's rules shift from one session to the next, so the rule set evolves." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Because each session leaves the game different in content, players keep finding new things, which lets them explore the game's world over time." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Since outcomes carry over and shape later sessions, play stretches across multiple sessions, which makes the game a meta game by its very nature." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Legacy_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Actions from which you cannot tell exactly which player performed them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must be pooled or hidden (shuffled cards, simultaneous play) so no one can trace the source, and the identity must matter to the outcome. Social channels must not leak who acted.", "just_a_label_when": "Actions are called anonymous but everyone can tell who did them from turn order or table talk.", "knobs": "how contributions are mixed; whether identities are revealed afterwards; what penalty exists for revealing yourself", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Anonymous_Actions", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When the setup hides even which players are taking part, nobody can tell who is acting, so players feel separated from the actions themselves." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "If actions can't be tied to a particular player, others can't link moves to people, so players stay unidentified in the game." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Playing a role convincingly while pretending you did not perform certain hidden actions is a skill that counts as mastery." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "When actions are anonymous, players must roleplay themselves convincingly to hide their identity, so roleplaying becomes necessary to succeed." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "When an effect comes from a particular game element, hiding the player who triggered it changes how that ability works by keeping its user unknown." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "Because nobody can trace actions back to a player, a betrayer can act against others without being noticed and may even do so repeatedly." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since players struggle to link actions to people and their strategies, they can't foresee what will follow, so outcomes become less predictable." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Anonymous_Actions.svg" }, { "name": "Development Time", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A set amount of game time needed for an event to produce its main effect.", "needs_to_really_work": "The time must be fixed and known and must be long enough to make players plan around it. Showing progress makes waiting readable.", "just_a_label_when": "A timer so short or so skippable that players never have to wait or plan.", "knobs": "length of the time; whether it blocks other actions; whether progress is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Development_Time", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Because an action only pays off after a set wait, its result arrives later, and the wait is fixed and known in advance." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "If you must wait for a started action to finish and nothing else is available to do, you simply sit idle." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "When you cannot start the same action again until the first one is done, that action effectively stretches over the whole waiting period." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Players can remember when several timed events will finish so they can line them up and use them together at the right moment." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since the waiting period is a known, fixed amount, players can tell ahead of time when an action will take effect." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because results land in the future, players must think about what the game will look like then, not only what it looks like now." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Knowing how long events take lets players track them and arrange combinations of events so they land together at well-chosen moments." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "When things take a known time to develop, players can time their actions so results arrive together, creating combos if they manage the timing." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Making the wait before something finishes long enough forces you to leave the game, and you must return later to see the result." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Together with progress indicators, visible build-up time lets players see how close something is to being finished." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Actions that take time to complete and can be interrupted feel like deadlines, because delay raises the risk that others will thwart them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Construction", "why": "The pattern is mostly applied to building-type actions, where making something takes a set amount of time before it is complete." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Crafting is a kind of construction, so making an item commonly takes a fixed wait before the result is available." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Development_Time.svg" }, { "name": "Possibility of Graceful Surrender", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "The player can give up or leave without spoiling the session for others.", "needs_to_really_work": "Leaving must not break the game for the others. That means handling the leaver's resources, closing kingmaker loopholes, and rebalancing or substituting an AI for the departed player.", "just_a_label_when": "A quit button exists, but leaving ends the match, ruins it for others or counts as a punishable desertion, so players stay on or ragequit.", "knobs": "what happens to the leaver's pieces and resources; whether an AI takes over; penalty for leaving", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Possibility_of_Graceful_Surrender", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "Offering a clean exit means players who feel they can't win can quit sooner instead of staying on, so people leaving early becomes normal." }, { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "" }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "Letting someone leave without hurting others is itself a way of giving up, so allowing graceful exit amounts to allowing surrender." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When players can drop out at different moments, each person's session ends at a different time, so participants' play is no longer aligned." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Giving players a clean way to concede lets them exit mid-game without ruining things for others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Final standings become easy to read late in a game, so players are most tempted to quit then and the exit option matters most there." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "Players who see they can't be the final survivor can bow out gracefully instead of dragging on in a contest they can't win." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "When a likely winner is obvious, trailing players lose hope, and a graceful exit lets them leave without spoiling things for others." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Possibility_of_Graceful_Surrender.svg" }, { "name": "Save Files", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Files with data that can be used to restore the state of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Build real storage and loading of the full or partial state, and decide how saving is triggered and how many slots exist. Slot limits and where saving is allowed decide whether it supports pauses or invites abuse.", "just_a_label_when": "A save that only records progress through a password or level number, or loads into a state that immediately kills the player, so it does not truly restore the game.", "knobs": "number of slots; manual versus automatic saving; how much state is stored", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Save_Files", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Knowing they can go back to a stored state, players feel safe trying risky actions they would normally avoid." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Making, loading and destroying saves are things players do outside the game's own rules, so having saves creates these actions." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Because saves exist, players can take part in extra activities around them, and trading game elements is one of these." }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "Players can reload a stored state whenever an outcome displeases them, so they repeat it until it goes their way." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Since a stored state is always available to return to, players can fall into repeatedly saving and reloading." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "A save file normally isn't a gameplay resource, but it becomes one when a cap limits how many can be kept." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Built-in pauses cover only short breaks; saves let players stop for days or months and still rebuild their game later." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "" }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "Limiting players to a single save file works against save scumming, since they cannot keep many fallback states to reload." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Save_Files.svg" }, { "name": "Save Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places in the world or between levels where the player can save the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Put saving at chosen locations or between levels, ideally in safe spots, and space them so retrying costs real effort. Decide whether saving is manual or automatic and how much state is stored.", "just_a_label_when": "Save points placed so densely, or saving allowed anywhere anyway, that they never limit anything or mark any progress.", "knobs": "distance between save points; manual versus automatic; how much state is saved", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Save_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Check Points", "why": "A save point placed at a spot in the world can double as a check point, or turn an existing one into somewhere you can save." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Players have to reach a save point, and arriving there feels like finishing a stretch of play, so it marks a natural ending." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Because players can restart from a saved point after failing, they effectively get another try at what they just lost." }, { "name": "Password Save Files", "why": "If a save point only records that the player got there, a simple password can store that and nothing else." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "Saving at a save point means the game must store some or all of its state somewhere, which requires a save file." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Players must travel through the world or finish a level to reach a save point, so getting there becomes a movement goal." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "If a save point sits where death follows right after loading, players can be stuck in a state they can never get out of." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Save points can be added onto existing check points, changing them from a simple progress marker into somewhere players can also store their game." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "When tied to check points, save points guarantee that progress on particular parts of the goal structure is kept rather than lost." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Save points can sit inside a level or in the gaps between levels, so designers choose where in the level structure saving happens." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "Saving lets players go back, which undermines permanent death, but dying can be made to send players back to the last save point." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Save points tend to be put in safe places so that a loaded game does not drop players straight into danger." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "Designers decide where saving is possible, so spacing save points far apart makes retrying costly and discourages repeated save and reload." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Since players must get to save points, these locations shape where they head and can add new destinations to reach." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "" }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "It is hard to agree on a good moment to save unless all players are cooperating." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Players can return to earlier states and retry to push their score higher, so the score no longer reflects a single uninterrupted run." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Going back to a save and replaying parts of the game can clash with the story's timeline and what the player already knows." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Save_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Zone of Control", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A game element affects how the elements next to it can act.", "needs_to_really_work": "Units must project effects onto neighboring spaces, such as forced stops, extra movement cost or attack penalties, strong enough to shape movement and positioning. Terrain and choke points should make it matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A highlighted area around units that has no effect on movement or combat.", "knobs": "radius; effect strength (stop, extra cost, free attacks); which units generate it; exceptions", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Zone_of_Control", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Because a unit's zone reaches past its own square, claiming ground gets easier, so zones can make pushing outward into new territory the main focus of a phase of play." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Enemy zones can force a unit to stop, pay extra movement cost, or risk attacks when passing through, which restricts how freely pieces can move." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Knowing how to use zone of control effects efficiently, especially with choke points, is something players can plan around ahead of time." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Units that extend a zone of control limit and shape where others can safely move, so players must plan around those zones." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Since a zone gives a piece influence beyond the exact spot it occupies, it changes how much of the map a player effectively holds." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars can project a zone, though rarely, giving the character reach over neighboring spaces beyond its own physical location." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Zones make passing through narrow spots more costly or dangerous, so these spots become much more important to hold or avoid." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Zones usually give friendly units advantages or hostile units disadvantages in fights, such as making enemy retreats impossible or tackles available." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Entering or leaving an enemy zone can stop a unit, cost extra movement, or allow attacks, so zones shape where pieces can go." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units are the most common source of zones, which extend their influence to adjacent spaces and change how they and nearby enemies can act." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Zone_of_Control.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Artifact Proximity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rules depend on how physically close the player is to certain objects.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a way to measure or verify closeness, a defined distance threshold, and events that really depend on it. The artifacts must matter to gameplay.", "just_a_label_when": "A proximity condition is claimed, but players can complete the task from anywhere or the check is never enforced.", "knobs": "distance threshold; what is triggered on entering or leaving; how long players must stay near", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Artifact_Proximity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "When the game uses physical artifacts whose positions it detects, those artifacts can serve as the items players trade." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Because play is tied to real-world locations, if that area stays open for everyday activities, the game ends up woven into ordinary life around other people." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Since a player must be near an artifact to affect it, they have to actually move their body toward it or to a set distance from it." }, { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player-Player Proximity", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Artifacts can be items such as tools, so where an item physically sits becomes part of how it works in play." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "Tying interactions to physical closeness links the play area to actual places in the real world." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "When a tool is an artifact requiring closeness, its physical location becomes a gameplay feature that changes how the tool is used." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Artifact_Proximity.svg" }, { "name": "Always Vulnerable", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player's resources may be at risk even when they are not playing.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game world must keep running and allow harm to offline players' assets, with real losses possible. There should be no pause or protection for absent players.", "just_a_label_when": "The game claims offline risk but offline assets are protected or losses are trivial, so absence costs nothing.", "knobs": "how much can be lost offline; how long protection lasts, if any", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Always_Vulnerable", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "If you stop watching the game, you may be hurt by events you missed, so players must stay alert to what is going on." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "When players cannot be online all the time, they come back regularly to check on and protect what could be harmed in their absence." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because things can go wrong while you are away or inattentive, players feel ongoing worry about what might be happening to their stuff." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting is where being exposed while absent shows most clearly, since attacks can land on a player who is not there." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "It pushes players to focus more on the things they care about, which sharpens the fun of games built around things going wrong." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "A player's key places or objects can be attacked during others' sessions, making players keep watch over them." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Whatever players have put effort into can be threatened even while they are away, so the investment is never fully safe." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "In these persistent worlds, a player who logs off can keep their belongings from being removed only if the game does not make them exposed when they leave." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "In group play, others or a game master can fairly act for an absent member, and it feels odd to protect only the missing player's stuff." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "One version needs player-versus-player play, because other players' sessions are what let someone's assets be threatened while the owner is away." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Players' resources are not automatically removed or protected when they leave or take a break; they stay at risk." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "Such games keep advancing on a timer, so players who leave still face consequences instead of the game halting for them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Being exposed while away cannot work alongside stopping the game, since a pause would freeze events and shield players from threats." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Always_Vulnerable.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Failures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An especially severe outcome of random failure that an ordinary miss never produces.", "needs_to_really_work": "The bad result must be clearly worse than an ordinary failure and happen rarely, from a defined random chance. It must have effects the player really feels.", "just_a_label_when": "A critical failure is announced, but its effect is the same as an ordinary failure.", "knobs": "chance of it happening; how bad the effect is; which actions are covered", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Failures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "A critical failure is one kind of critical result, since it is an unusually extreme outcome of an action, here a bad one." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Because these bad outcomes are rare and go beyond ordinary failing, a critical failure can turn into a standout moment in play." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "The harm from a critical failure is usually delivered as specific penalties on whoever suffered it, ones an ordinary failure would never impose." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skills and critical failures shape each other: skills offer an easy way to build the formulas that decide how likely a critical failure is." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "They pull in opposite directions: one is a randomly extreme bad result and the other an extreme good result of the same kind of action." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Critical failures come from chance rather than how well the player did, so they undercut outcomes depending on the player's own performance." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since a random extra-bad result can strike any attempt, players cannot be sure what an action will lead to, making consequences less predictable." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Failures.svg" }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rewards placed around the world even though, by the world's logic, they should not be there.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must appear in the play area, be clickable or collectable, and be worth the effort of collecting. A time limit or auto-collect rule sets how much attention they demand.", "just_a_label_when": "A reward icon that pops up and gives nothing extra, or is collected automatically so that clicking is pointless.", "knobs": "how often widgets appear; time before they auto-collect; reward size", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Reward_Widgets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Because players must click the floating rewards to collect them, the game gains more clicking actions, which is the main reason designers use this pattern." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Putting a reward into the world as a clickable object means the game now contains widgets that sit in the environment without belonging to it." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "If players have to keep clicking each reward to collect it, that repeated clicking can become a chore, though it stops being required when collection is automatic." }, { "name": "Ninja Looting", "why": "Since the rewards sit out in the shared game space, someone other than the intended recipient might grab them first." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Instead of simply changing a value or handing over an item, the reward now has to be seen and picked up from the environment, changing how it is received." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "These widgets float in the game world yet are not truly part of it, so they break the sense that everything shown belongs to the game world." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Reward_Widgets.svg" }, { "name": "Setback Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A penalty forces the player to repeat past actions or go back over the same path.", "needs_to_really_work": "Failure must send players back to redo something that cost real effort. It should not remove them from the game, and the size of the loss decides how sharply it hurts.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'setback' that costs almost nothing to redo, such as a respawn a few steps back.", "knobs": "how much progress is lost; how far back the player is sent", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Setback_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "Having to redo completed actions makes the player's goal harder to reach, so the goal's difficulty shifts depending on how often and how badly the player fails." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Undoing progress is a cost imposed for failing, so a setback is simply one particular way of penalizing players without removing them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players know a failure could throw away earlier progress, so they feel uneasy, and the bigger the possible loss, the stronger that feeling." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Levels", "why": "A setback's design depends on which levels or stages the player must go through again, so it shapes how much of that progress is repeated." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Setbacks often work by pushing players back or forcing them to travel routes again, so they directly change how far and where players move." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Having to redo sequences of actions repeatedly often makes no sense within the fiction." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "If the story acts as though every challenge was passed on the first try, the repeated attempts caused by setbacks contradict the narrated timeline." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Losing progress already earned can make players feel their earlier work was wasted, which undermines the sense that effort pays off." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Setback_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An action succeeds by chance and gives a special effect that would otherwise be impossible.", "needs_to_really_work": "A rare random roll must give a clear extra benefit beyond normal success. The chance may be tied to skill or tools, and the bonus must be felt.", "just_a_label_when": "A roll is called a critical success, but it gives nothing extra over a normal success.", "knobs": "chance of a critical; size of the bonus; skill or tool modifiers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Successes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Critical Results", "why": "A critical success is one of two kinds of critical result; the other kind is its opposite, the critical failure, so success is a member of that group." }, { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Because a critical success gives special extra benefits that ordinary successes lack, it can stand out as an unusual, exceptional moment during play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Skills", "why": "Using a skill is an action that can end in a critical success, so having critical successes as a possible outcome changes how skill use plays out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "They pull in opposite directions: one is a randomly extreme bad result and the other an extreme good result of the same kind of action." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Critical successes usually add extra randomness to deciding how an action turns out, which works against the player's ability to judge how well they will perform." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Since a critical success is a lucky, exceptional outcome, it makes it less likely that players can foresee exactly what an action will result in." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Successes.svg" }, { "name": "Artifact-Location Proximity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rules depend on how close a real object is to a real place, detected by sensors.", "needs_to_really_work": "Sensing hardware has to be reliable and tied to a clear game condition, such as delivering an item, and the sensing range and the thing that counts as 'near' must be chosen on purpose. A short delay or a required action on entering or leaving helps cover for sensor errors.", "just_a_label_when": "Objects carry tags or the place has a sensor, but the game never checks them, or the same result could be got by pressing a button, so carrying the object to the place means nothing.", "knobs": "sensing technology and range; which objects trigger it; delay or extended action on entering or leaving", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Artifact-Location_Proximity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "Because items must be brought to real places, players start noticing ordinary spots and surroundings differently, seeing them through the lens of the game's goals." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Since the game checks where an item sits, players must come back to the same sensing locations again to place, retrieve or move artifacts." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Gameplay depends on real objects and real places being sensed, so the game spills out into the physical world rather than staying on a screen." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Delivering items to a specific location means players must find their way through real space to reach it." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Players must visit actual locations, so knowing the real surroundings well helps them reach the sensing spots more effectively." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because a place triggers game events when an artifact is near, some locations become more valuable than others to control or reach." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Players have to visit locations to meet the game's conditions, so they must travel between places, even without the game tracking their own position." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Using the pattern means physical game items are modified so a sensor placed at a location can detect them." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "Sensed artifact positions let game masters remotely steer and keep track of a pervasive game or LARP without being present." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "The items that get modified to be sensed are quite often tools, so their position at a place affects play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Artifact-Location_Proximity.svg" }, { "name": "Critical Results", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An unusual random outcome of an action with an effect not available from an ordinary result.", "needs_to_really_work": "The special outcomes must be unusual, come from the dice or random process, and do things ordinary results cannot. Their trigger must be clear so players understand what happened.", "just_a_label_when": "Rare outcomes are listed, but they only repeat what ordinary successes or failures already do.", "knobs": "trigger chance or dice condition; size of effects; which actions can produce them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Critical_Results", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Because these outcomes are rare by definition, whenever one happens it stands out from ordinary results and becomes a notable, out-of-the-ordinary moment in play." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Open-Ended Die Rolls", "why": "Rare outcomes can be triggered by dice combinations, such as collecting enough dice with particular values, so they change how such rolls are read." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Rare special outcomes change how using a skill plays out, since the usual result can occasionally be replaced by something extraordinary." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "These rare results add more chance to the outcome, so what happens depends less on how well the player performs and more on luck." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Chance plays a bigger role and the rare results have effects ordinary ones cannot produce, so players cannot reliably foresee what an action will do." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Critical_Results.svg" }, { "name": "Stack Seeding", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Chosen cards are placed in set parts of the deck beforehand to steer random draws.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs drawing stacks and a rule that places certain cards in certain positions, at setup or in play. The seeding must be strong enough to shape what happens, not just reshuffled away.", "just_a_label_when": "A rule that places key cards but then shuffles the whole stack again, so the seeding has no effect on what is drawn.", "knobs": "which cards are placed; how deep in the stack; when seeding happens (setup or during play)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Stack_Seeding", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Placing key cards in set parts of the stack makes them appear in a planned order, such as guardians showing up before the thunderstones that follow them." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because designers decide roughly where certain cards sit in the stack, they know better when those cards will come up, so outcomes become less left to chance." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cards", "why": "Designers choose where particular cards go in the stack, so when those cards get drawn is controlled instead of purely random." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "The stack itself is rearranged or built in sections, so certain elements are guaranteed to land in particular parts of it." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Chance still shuffles things within sections, but placing key elements in set zones narrows how wild the draw order can be." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Tiles drawn from a stack can be positioned the same way as cards, so designers can control roughly when specific ones appear." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Stack_Seeding.svg" }, { "name": "Individual Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A penalty that affects only one of the players.", "needs_to_really_work": "The penalty must hit only the player who earned it and be meaningful enough to affect their choices. How it interacts with shared rewards or teams should be clear.", "just_a_label_when": "A penalty so small or so easy to dodge that the player ignores it, or one that spreads to others anyway.", "knobs": "size and type of the penalty; what triggers it; who chooses the target", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Individual_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Penalties", "why": "It is the plain, basic kind of penalty: a setback that lands on just one player instead of being spread across several." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When a penalty hits one player while rewards go to that player or to everyone, players face tension between personal and group interests." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "If failure costs only the person who suffers it, players may be less willing to commit to a goal they all share, compared with shared penalties." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "With only one player, any penalty necessarily lands on that player, so individual penalties are the only kind of penalty available." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Penalties aimed at one member can blur into the whole group, for example when a punished player's absence also weakens teammates." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "Individual penalties are designed to avoid hurting other players directly, whereas shared penalties deliberately hit several players, so the two pull in opposite directions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Individual_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Trumps", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "In trick-taking card games, a suit that beats the cards of all other suits.", "needs_to_really_work": "The trump suit must really override normal ranking and must be chosen in a way that matters, such as being fixed, random or bid. There must be a trick-taking game for it to modify.", "just_a_label_when": "A named trump suit that happens to rank the same as normal, or is so rare it almost never decides a trick.", "knobs": "fixed vs. changing trump; how trump is chosen (random or bid)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Trumps", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "A trump suit adds an extra rule about which cards win, so players have more to weigh when choosing what to play, making the game more complex." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Only cards of the trump suit can override the normal winning order, so holding and playing one gives a player a power others lack." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Trick Taking", "why": "Trumps change the basic trick rule, where the highest card of the led suit wins, by letting a special suit beat every other suit." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Adding trump cards to trick-taking games makes it harder to guess what other players will play." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Trumps.svg" }, { "name": "Player-Avatar Proximity", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rules take into account how close the player and their avatar are in reality.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must track both the real position of one side and the virtual position of the other, and base events on how they relate. Both positions have to matter to play.", "just_a_label_when": "Both positions are tracked but the relation between them triggers nothing.", "knobs": "distance threshold; how long proximity must hold; what it triggers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player-Avatar_Proximity", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Orthogonal Differentiation", "why": "Because players and avatars rarely get the same ways of moving, the two end up with different movement abilities that don't directly compare." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Both players and avatars can move around, so closeness between them means someone must physically travel to get near the other." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Players and avatars are unlikely to move in the same ways, so one side tends to get movement options the other lacks." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Having two distinct kinds of movement gives players different experiences to try, especially when character classes offer only one of those kinds." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "In hybrid spaces this proximity rule changes how avatars matter, since their virtual positions affect and are affected by where real players are." }, { "name": "Hybrid Gameplay Spaces", "why": "It is a spatial feature that can be used in these mixed spaces, changing how players are able to act within them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player-Avatar_Proximity.svg" }, { "name": "Ambiguous Responses", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game-controlled characters reply in ways that can be understood in more than one way.", "needs_to_really_work": "Responses need to be truly open to several readings with no signal telling which is meant, so players have to judge meaning. This requires some uncertainty to remain over time.", "just_a_label_when": "A line is vague in wording but the context makes its meaning obvious, so nobody is ever unsure.", "knobs": "how many responses are ambiguous; how much context clarifies them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ambiguous_Responses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Ambiguous replies can set up misunderstandings, like those in comedies of errors, so designers can use them as building blocks in a fixed story plot." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When a reply could mean several things, players cannot be sure what was actually meant, and that doubt creates tension." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "An ambiguous reply adds doubt about what was actually communicated, so the information players receive becomes less certain." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "Vague agent behavior lets players read their own thoughts and feelings into it, so agents seem to have goals on first and later plays." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Computer-controlled characters can give ambiguous replies, either through tagged dialogue options or, as ELIZA does, by only ever giving vague replies without understanding the conversation." }, { "name": "Information Passing", "why": "Making replies ambiguous changes how information moves between characters, since what is passed on can be read in more than one way." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "Unclear responses help rule-based agents seem less predictable, so players keep them as agents rather than simplifying them." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "When a character answers vaguely, players cannot take the reply at face value and must guess its meaning, making the conversation harder." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Vague replies help an NPC seem to understand the player even when the system cannot truly parse what was said." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ambiguous_Responses.svg" }, { "name": "Open-Ended Die Rolls", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Some rolled values require rolling the dice again until a final result forms.", "needs_to_really_work": "Certain results must trigger further rolls that add to the total, so the range has no fixed ceiling. The trigger value, the dice it applies to and any cap decide how often the extreme results happen.", "just_a_label_when": "A re-roll rule so rarely triggered, or so capped, that results never go beyond what a normal roll could give.", "knobs": "which results trigger rerolls; which dice it applies to; whether there is a cap on repeats", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Open-Ended_Die_Rolls", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exceptional Events", "why": "Because top results keep triggering extra rolls, totals can climb far beyond the normal range, producing rare, standout outcomes." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When working out the final total takes real effort from chained rolls and adjustments, the calculating itself becomes a burdensome chore." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Since a lucky streak of top results can push a roll unusually high, players can hope for a fortunate outcome." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "If only player characters get the extra-roll rule, they gain a special advantage that other characters lack." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dice", "why": "The rule changes how ordinary dice behave, since certain faces cause more dice to be rolled and the result has no fixed ceiling." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Skill checks can use the extra-roll rule, or a game can make it available only after a successful skill roll, favoring skilled characters." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because extra dice can keep adding to the total, you cannot know the range of outcomes beforehand, so results are harder to foresee." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Open-Ended_Die_Rolls.svg" }, { "name": "Sidegrades", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Item improvements that help only in certain situations, not in general.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each option must give a gain in some situations and a loss in others, balanced so no option is best everywhere. Players need to be able to tell when each is useful.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'sidegrade' that is strictly better than the base item, or whose downside never matters, so it is just an upgrade.", "knobs": "size of gain versus loss; how specialized; how it is unlocked", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sidegrades", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Because a sidegrade is strong only in certain situations, players can use it to place themselves in a niche where they perform especially well." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Sidegrades trade a gain for a loss instead of being plain improvements, so players must decide which option suits them rather than just taking the best one." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skilled players can get more out of a sidegrade by spotting the moments where its strengths apply and exploiting them." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Whatever their skill level, players can swap in different specialized options whenever they like, which lets them change how they play." }, { "name": "Upgrades", "why": "A sidegrade is a specialized upgrade that offsets a gain in one ability with a loss in another instead of simply making things better." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Like ordinary upgrades, fitting sidegrades can either be open to anyone anywhere or be limited by a crafting system that controls how they are installed." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "why": "Increasing rewards rely on things getting more powerful, whereas sidegrades only offer variety without more power, so the two pull in opposite directions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sidegrades.svg" }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "feelings × rules", "what_it_is": "The character knows about the world exactly what the player knows.", "needs_to_really_work": "The interface and information rules must give the player only what the character knows, and the reverse. Any gap has to be closed on purpose.", "just_a_label_when": "The game claims the player sees through the character's eyes, but the UI shows hidden facts the character couldn't know.", "knobs": "how much information the player has beyond the character's knowledge; what the interface reveals", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player/Character_Awareness_Consistency", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Hiding Places", "why": "Whether players can judge their hiding quality as well as their character could shapes how hiding works; the Thief Light Gem gives players that sense." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "The closer the player's knowledge matches the character's, the more the character acts on what the player actually perceives and understands." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Keeping player knowledge in line with the character's is often easiest with elements from outside the fiction." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "Players can see far more than any character in the world could, so it's hard to limit their awareness to what the character knows." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Players see more than their avatar can, and the avatar may sense things players can't, so what each knows no longer matches." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Awareness_Consistency.svg" }, { "name": "Repetition of Position Draws", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": "mechanics × outcome", "what_it_is": "If a position repeats during a game, the game ends in a draw.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rules must define what counts as the same position and how many repeats end the game, and someone or something must track the history. The draw must be a real result that players can aim for or avoid.", "just_a_label_when": "A rule that is written down but never checked or enforced, so endless loops continue.", "knobs": "number of repeats that trigger the draw; what counts as identical state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Repetition_of_Position_Draws", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "When a position keeps recurring, the rule ends the game as a draw, so neither side wins, and a player who is behind can aim for that outcome." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Players whose moves cancel out and loop the game back to the same state would otherwise go on forever, so the rule stops that loop by declaring a draw." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Repetition_of_Position_Draws.svg" }, { "name": "Coupled Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Events in one game affect events in another, and they depend on each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a real data link, such as a score, item or result, that changes the state of the other game. Players need to notice and care about the effect.", "just_a_label_when": "Two games share a brand or login, but nothing that happens in one changes the other.", "knobs": "which direction the effect goes; what is passed between them; how strong it is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Coupled_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Crossmedia Gameplay", "why": "When two linked games are woven together tightly enough, players stop seeing separate games and feel they are having one experience spread across several media." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "What happens in one game feeds into the other as outside influence, so the receiving game takes input that comes from beyond its own play." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A fixed story in both games forces one to pause until the other catches up, or lets players learn upcoming events by playing the other game." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Coupled_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Revoke Rules", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "rules", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "In trick-taking games: what to do if a player broke the rules of play.", "needs_to_really_work": "The rule must say when a violation is detected, who decides, and what penalty applies. The penalty must be big enough to discourage breaking the rule yet allow play to continue.", "just_a_label_when": "A penalty written but never applied because violations are rarely checked, so breaking the rule costs nothing.", "knobs": "size of the penalty; time allowed to challenge; who checks", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Revoke_Rules", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Breaking a card-play rule costs the offender something, usually points, so the revoke handling works as a punishment placed on the guilty player." }, { "name": "Sanctioned Cheating", "why": "Since the game carries on after a violation with a fixed consequence, breaking the rule becomes an allowed, priced choice, though the harsh cost and easy detection make it rarely worthwhile." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Kingmaker", "why": "When one player would otherwise be handed a sure win, deliberately triggering the revoke handling may be the only way to stop that outcome." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "The usual consequence of a revoke is a change to the offender's points, so the rules adjust how scores are reckoned." }, { "name": "Trick Taking", "why": "These rules are added to trick games so that illegal card plays within a trick can be dealt with without wrecking the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Revoke_Rules.svg" }, { "name": "Units", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Expendable pieces controlled by a player or the game, usually faceless and acting in groups.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be many similar controllable or opposing elements whose individual loss does not decide the game, with actions that matter at a group level. Counts and costs should make losing units meaningful as a resource.", "just_a_label_when": "A single unit renamed as a group, or many units so identical and disposable that no one cares about losing them.", "knobs": "number of units; their cost and strength; how much autonomy they have", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Units", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "Because units can fight, they make goals about capturing enemy pieces possible." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "With several controllable elements, players can have units act together in ways one piece alone could not." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Units usually carry actions that harm other units, so fighting between them is a natural result of having them." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Having many units with different abilities lets players chain their effects together, which a single piece could not do." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Units can accompany a player's avatar or character, with varying autonomy or direct control through that avatar." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Managing many units forces players to keep switching attention between them, which makes play harder to keep track of." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Building a well-matched set of units is itself a kind of construction, besides producing each unit individually." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "When units are in danger of being lost, players are constantly trying to keep them alive." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Units give players several points of action in the game world without breaking the fiction." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Units can be destroyed by damage, so other players can set goals of removing them." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "When the game system controls units, they typically serve as opposing forces driven by algorithms or game masters." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Controlling many units demands lots of input, which can become tedious busywork, especially in self-facilitated games." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Each unit is a separate point through which players can act on the game world." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Each unit can reveal the area around it, so having more units clears more hidden territory." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since a separate decision can be made for each unit, players have more options than with one avatar of the same abilities." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Units can be taken from neutral pools or from enemies, so winning control of them becomes a goal." }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "why": "Units are many game elements played at once, each more expendable than an avatar." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Because losing some units can even be useful or needed, players manage them as a resource at a higher level than with avatars." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Units are things players acquire, construct, and spend to reach their goals." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Several units acting like a team encourage players to plan when and where to use them, especially uncommon types." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Players who risk penalties from losing units have an ongoing aim of keeping them alive." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Units fit a theme of many individuals or groups working together, though that theme also limits how they look and act." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "In some games units are placed as tiles rather than moved one by one, which makes them resemble tokens." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When unit types differ in what they can do, players must choose between them." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Different unit types suit different stages of play and can counter each other, so what players do changes over time." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Increasing the number of units or improving them strengthens the player's construct, as in the Civilization series." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Varying how many enemy units appear is an easy way to calibrate how tough a fight is." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Units that each receive their own new abilities become differentiated individuals, so characters emerge from them." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Units are things players commonly hide, and if they are vulnerable or have a weak spot, players take up concealing them." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Units are movable pieces players can pull out of danger, so they act as the things that evade." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Units are highly mobile and, being physical items in the world, can block one another's movement." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing how to get the most from units with different abilities is knowledge players develop and reuse." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Individual units in a single-player game can be seen as a team, so combining them acts like a team combo." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Units that can perform combined actions let one player command a team in a single-player game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "Units can make abilities into limited resources, so losing a unit means losing what it could do." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Units able to build bases or installations may be required before a player can expand." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Units good at collecting resources encourage players to focus on harvesting." }, { "name": "Extermination", "why": "Once units with the strongest fighting abilities are available, play tends to shift toward wiping out opponents." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Exploring may be allowed only to units with special movement abilities." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Units give players several points to affect the world, and many units make it hard to view and navigate everything." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "A basic design choice is whether units block sight lines, and unit abilities can vary around sight." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Each unit's movement and actions can count as its own turn, creating turns inside a turn." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Units can be part of a construct and also a way to develop it, as with cities and units in Civilization." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Units are a concrete form characters take, as in games controlling several individuals." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Controlling several elements at once removes the single point of focus that an avatar relies on." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Controlling several units gives players multiple viewpoints at once, which goes against restricting information to a single character's perspective." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Giving an ability to individual units can make them stand out so much that they act more like characters than units." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "NPCs are individual people with variation that players don't control, whereas units treat inhabitants as an undifferentiated group, so the two clash." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Units.svg" }, { "name": "Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements that players spend to perform actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resources must be required for actions and be limited enough that spending is a choice. They need visible quantities so players can plan with them.", "just_a_label_when": "A counter named like a resource that no action needs and no loss reduces, so it has no use in play.", "knobs": "what actions cost; starting amounts; income and loss rates", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "When valuable resources sit in the game world, players are motivated to claim and hold the areas where those resources are found." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When one resource can serve several purposes, players must weigh competing uses, which makes the game harder to master." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "If an ability's power or availability depends on a resource, having less of it makes the ability weaker." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Actions that need particular resources leave players unable to act while they lack them, so they must wait." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Running short of resources removes the means to act, so players feel unable to affect what happens." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Tying an ability's strength to a resource means that holding more of it makes the ability more effective." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Obtaining a resource you didn't previously have can unlock an ability that was unavailable before." }, { "name": "No-Use Bonus", "why": "Placing resources on actions nobody picks gradually makes those neglected options attractive, balancing the choice between actions." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Resources can be what players compete to gather first, so the contest to get them turns into a race." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Because resources are limited and needed for actions, players usually have to plan how to gather and spend them." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Resources can be handed out to players for finishing quests or reaching goals, serving as the payoff." }, { "name": "Sustenance Rewards", "why": "Resource rewards work well as sustenance when players might run out, since the reward keeps them supplied." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "In games with a main score, the resources players hold can serve as a secondary count that separates tied players." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When one resource can be spent on several different things, choosing one use means giving up the others." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Damage applied to resources or attributes the player owns shrinks them, which is how the penalty is built." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Gathered resources can be counted up to decide victory, which turns that total into a points value." }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Using up resources to perform abilities controls how often players can use them, and more resources can strengthen their effect." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Resources help define and show the status of the constructs that players control." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Resources such as ammunition or energy are consumed when shooting, which changes how the shooting works." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Resources help define a character and show its condition." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Resources like energy that change how actions work can also change what the controllers do." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Tools manipulate resources, and that manipulation is what shapes how crafting works." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Resources placed in the world, and how players find them, help define what the world is like." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Resources such as energy are spent on moving, which changes how movement works." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Resources can be given as rewards for completing quests or goals." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "Resources can be hidden inside secret areas, which affects how they are found." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Tying a tool's use to spending resources adds a cost that forces trade-offs." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Time Limits", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Time allowed for an action, a goal, a game mode, or the whole game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The timer must be tied to a real consequence (failure, loss, elimination) and be short enough relative to the task that players must skip or trade off something. It must also be visible or otherwise noticed.", "just_a_label_when": "A generous timer that nearly everyone beats with room to spare, or one with no penalty when it runs out.", "knobs": "how much time is given; what happens at zero; how time can be gained or lost", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Time_Limits", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "When players can see the clock counting down, they must keep glancing at it while playing, which pulls their attention and makes the game demand more focus." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "A time cap makes players unable to plan at length, so they must act under pressure, which makes succeeding harder and more demanding." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "When the allowed time is very short, things are available only briefly, so events appear and vanish quickly." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Tying the clock running out to losing the game makes the deadline a clear, explicit threat that players focus on, as in racing games." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "Giving extra reward for finishing a goal within a time allowance rewards players who accept the pressure, such as through speedruns." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "When players choose the time limit, they set a cap on session length themselves." }, { "name": "Negotiable Play Sessions", "why": "A time limit on a game instance gives everyone a known end point, which makes it easier to agree on whether to play." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Linking an expired clock to removing a player makes the deadline explicit and focuses players' attention on it." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "Because the time allowed has a fixed maximum, time becomes a resource with a ceiling on how much anyone can have." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "With a time limit, players have to treat the time left as something they spend and manage while pursuing goals." }, { "name": "Sustenance Rewards", "why": "Letting players earn extra time by completing actions, such as reaching checkpoints in racing games, rewards them by prolonging play." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Needing to finish something before time runs out, especially with a visible clock, creates pressure and unease about achieving it." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "Limiting how long each update round lasts, or how many rounds exist, turns a turn-based structure into a timed tick structure." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "A fixed time limit ends the game instance at a set point, so players may finish equal, which makes tied outcomes possible." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "A clock can serve as the end condition for a session or mode of play, bounding how long that instance lasts." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Having to act before a deadline, shared among players, makes them feel rushed and push to finish sooner." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "With little time, players can't do everything, so they must choose between actions and weigh which is worth the limited time." }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "Attaching a required waiting time to an action before it can be reused is exactly what creates the cooldown." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Letting players set a clock or a number of turns directly fixes how long the game instance will last." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "A reward that can only be collected for a limited time can serve as a skippable goal, since players may choose to go for it." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Requiring something to be completed before a deadline puts players under pressure, which is enough to make a race." }, { "name": "Repeat Combos", "why": "A deadline is a core ingredient: it forces the repetitions to happen quickly, which is what turns plain repetition into a combo." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "A countdown on how long an ability can be used directly makes that ability last only a limited time." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Strict time limits force each session to end, which means the game stops on a clock and not because anyone achieved victory." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "A time limit can set how long a lost ability stays gone, creating a recovery period." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "A deadline adds pressure to aiming and shooting, since players must hit their targets within the time available." }, { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "" }, { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "why": "A deadline on shared actions that happen at different times can strengthen the tension and guilt already present among collaborators." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "The length of time a player must keep up a goal like surviving or evading can be set by a time limit." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "A time limit can bound how long a weakened state lasts, giving recovery periods." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "A clear time limit tells eliminated players how long the game will last, easing the downside of waiting." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Taking harm after staying in a place for a set period ties a time limit to the game world's effects." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "A goal can be made available only for a limited span, so players must pursue it before it disappears." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Evading goals often use a duration players must keep it up to win, so time sets the winning condition." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "With little time to plan, players may try something with little hope of success just to learn for the next attempt." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Time limits can bound how long a pause may last, and pausing real-time play undoes the pressure the clock creates." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Changes in the world, like areas becoming unusable, can impose deadlines, and traces can be removed after a while to avoid clutter." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Penalties like helplessness are often made temporary with a time limit to keep the gameplay balanced and varied." }, { "name": "Hotseating", "why": "Limiting the time per turn restricts waiting for others, making it practical for players to share one device in turns." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "A visible countdown makes the approaching ending of a goal or session feel close and about to arrive." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "A time limit can set how long a boost lasts, making it a temporary advantage that supports balance." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Time limits are often attached to invulnerability so it lasts briefly, avoiding balance problems that permanent immunity would cause." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "The winner can be whoever holds the leading position for a set length of time, which also ends the game." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Other players' impatience creates implicit deadlines, and designers may add formal ones to keep balance and shared pressure." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A time limit can make a gained ability only temporary, helping balance between players or teams." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "A fixed duration caps how much physical effort or endurance players need to provide." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Time can set how long a power-up lasts and how long before a new one appears, balancing play and adding variety." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Goals about stopping something can be won by holding out until the time has passed." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "In multiplayer games a clock can be used to limit how long a player may use a space alone." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "A clock caps how much play time can be spent on solving puzzles." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Adding a clock to a race makes the time pressure more noticeable than just the competition against others." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Delays before a power-up reappears or an action is available again set the interval at which the resource renews." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "A clock can make a resource vanish after some time, such as when other players exploit a shared one." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "If rewards are collected automatically after a delay, collecting them manually becomes an optional goal done before time passes." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A countdown can mark when a refuge stops being safe, forcing players to leave." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "A scene can be given a limit on its duration, so players must finish what they do in it within that span." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "A timer before each reduction in world size produces tension and also limits how long the game instance lasts." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "A solo game has no other players creating pressure, so time limits only appear if the designer deliberately adds them." }, { "name": "Switches", "why": "Time can determine how long a switch stays active, as a modulated item in the game." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "With little time available, players cannot plan thoroughly, which restricts tactical planning." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing time is running out while trying to reach a goal increases tension." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "Time limits can cap the number of rounds in addition to how long each round lasts." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Tiles that dissolve after a while turn the changing world into a deadline for players to move on." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Marks left by actions are removed after a time so the world does not become crowded with them." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "A clock limits how long players can spend on trading, guaranteeing a maximum for that activity." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "A trap with a delay before activation gives players a limited window to move away." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Capping the length of each turn reduces the time players wait for others." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Time limits can be counted in updates to the game state, so they work even without real-time play." }, { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "why": "Forcing a wait between similar investments stops players stacking many identical arithmetic investments at once, though it can reduce their freedom of choice." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "A deadline pushes players to plan and act instead of idling, since once time is up they can no longer act." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Pausing lets players interrupt their experience of time pressure, though the limit still applies once play resumes." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Limits such as automatic collection before a deadline make the repeated tasks optional rather than required." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Deadlines force players to hurry or follow the game's schedule, undermining the freedom to act whenever they wish." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players control the pace and can bend things, so deadlines are harder to enforce." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Time_Limits.svg" }, { "name": "Weapons", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items used to cause death and destruction in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Weapons must differ in damage, range, speed, ammo or special effects so choosing one matters, and the world must offer situations where each is better. Acquisition should feel earned.", "just_a_label_when": "Several weapons with different names and models but identical stats and handling.", "knobs": "damage; range; rate of fire; ammo limits; accuracy; special effects and unlock timing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Weapons", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Ranged weapons are a new way to attack, so players must now aim and fire at targets rather than just closing in." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Different weapons let characters or units specialize in different roles, so each can be the one best suited to certain tasks." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Weapons are what let characters hurt things in the game world, and different weapons can deal different amounts of harm." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Some weapons can stun a target, which forces that target to be unable to act for a short while." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Weapons are items used for combat, so they count as gear a character carries, unless the game only has one kind." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "When a new weapon is handed out during play, it gives the player a more capable way to fight, which works as a reward." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "A weapon is a concrete object inside the game that players can find, carry and use." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "A weapon can make existing combat actions better, such as stronger hits, faster attacks, easier aiming, or longer reach." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Magical or especially powerful weapons can become the object that a story revolves around, as in many traditional tales." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A weapon can give a character something they could not do before, like attacking from afar or stunning a target." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Because weapons improve what a character can do in combat, the result depends on both the player's own skill and the character's gear." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "When only some players or characters get hold of a weapon's new powers, those powers become a special advantage for them." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Firing certain weapons, such as rockets or concussion grenades, can propel the user, giving movement others lack." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Weapons can be grouped into collections, either only weapons or a mix of weapons and armor, designed to go together." }, { "name": "Sidegrades", "why": "A new weapon that gives no clear advantage over the ones already available is just a different option, not a better one." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Weapons are a kind of tool whose purpose is combat, so designing them follows the same thinking as designing tools." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Having many weapon types gives a natural place to make each one hit with a different level of precision." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "A variety of weapons offers different ways of performing aim and shoot actions." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing which weapons exploit which enemy weaknesses is knowledge that applies across sessions and helps players choose well." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Knowing which weapons enemies are vulnerable to lets players plan their approach before combat begins." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Enemy weaknesses to particular weapons make players plan which weapon to bring to bear." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with new abilities, access to new weapons gives players different things to do." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Weapons can make aiming easier, for example through better accuracy." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Weapons change what an avatar is able to do in combat by improving or adding abilities." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Weapons change what a character is able to do in combat by improving or adding abilities." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Weapons change how fighting works by making characters more efficient at it and by offering tactical and strategic choices." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "Some weapons can be designed to make critical hits more likely." }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "Some weapons can be designed so that critical misses become more or less likely." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Weapons delivered by vehicles can upset fairness between players, because vehicles also improve movement and may add armor." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Uneven distribution of weapons among players leads to imbalances." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Weapons.svg" }, { "name": "Tools", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Elements that give actions in the world or make them easier to do.", "needs_to_really_work": "A tool must open up a new action or clearly improve one, and players must have a reason to want it and a way to obtain and use it. Scarcity or wear makes the choice of tool matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A named item that only gives a cosmetic change or a tiny bonus nobody notices, or one that every character has from the start.", "knobs": "which actions it enables or boosts; how common it is; whether it wears out", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tools", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Because tools can be limited to certain groups or users in the game world, who gets to use them can trigger social reactions inside the fiction." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Using a tool such as a ranged weapon can require the player to actually aim and hit a target, so the tool brings that skill-based action into play." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Since tools are separate items that can be picked up, players get a goal of gathering them." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "When several tools can be used at once, designers can decide to reward particular pairings with a combined effect." }, { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "Tools let different characters or units be good at different things, and in team play players can specialize around who holds which tool." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Some tools exist to enable or influence crafting, so having them lets players make things." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Weapons are a common kind of tool, and they exist to cause or alter damage." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Tools are items that characters carry or wield, so they change how the character works by being part of its equipment." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Tools change the results of actions, and choosing among them makes players feel their own decisions had even more effect than they did." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Receiving a tool is itself a reward that makes later actions easier or possible." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When several tools are available, players can pick which to use, giving them meaningful options." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Tools can grant new or privileged abilities, so acquiring them lets players fulfil goals of becoming more capable." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Tools are valuable items, so players want to obtain them, and unequal possession in multiplayer strengthens that desire." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Tools are a type of game item, so they are separate objects that can be picked up, dropped, destroyed or traded." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "A tool can make an avatar or unit perform an existing action better than normal, for example through bonuses to skills." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A tool can let a character do something it otherwise could not, because the ability comes from the item." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Because tools alter the outcome of what avatars or units do, success depends on both the player's skill and the character's equipment." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Tools can give abilities that others lack, especially when the tools are scarce or when only some players hold them." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Some tools enable special ways of moving, such as a grappling hook that lets the player swing." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Where a tool can be obtained matters, so places that supply tools become valuable spots for players to seek out." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Tools, like armor, can be grouped into matching collections that players try to assemble." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "When tools have limited uses, wear out, or can be stolen or traded away, the abilities they give do not last." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Tools give extra or better abilities through believable objects, so the game world's theme isn't broken." }, { "name": "Vision Modes", "why": "Some tools such as thermal sights give the player a different way of seeing, extending sensory abilities." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons are a specialized kind of tool whose purpose is to allow or influence damage and combat." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "When players fight over tools in a multiplayer game, opponents become targets to remove." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Rare tools that took effort to obtain can be traded between players for real money, giving them value outside the game." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Tools stay useful to players across sessions, and with multiple players they can be exchanged." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "" }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Using a tool brings a benefit but demands resources or causes wear, so players compare these against each other." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "A tool can determine how shooting is done, so the item shapes what the player must do to hit." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "Certain tools allow alarms to be switched off or on, changing whether the player gets detected." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Tools change what avatars are able to do by giving them better or additional abilities." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Equipping tools makes characters work differently, so two characters can behave unlike each other." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Weapons and other tools affect how fights play out by changing damage and how attacks are performed." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Items like keys and ID cards act as tools that decide whether a player can get through a restricted path." }, { "name": "Controllers", "why": "Some tools are what let players activate a controller in the game world." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "Certain tools are needed for, or alter, the process of making items." }, { "name": "Critical Failures", "why": "A tool can raise or lower how likely it is that an action goes badly wrong." }, { "name": "Critical Successes", "why": "A tool can change the odds of an action succeeding exceptionally well." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies can use tools too, so what they carry changes how they behave and how hard they are." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Tools that restore health are common, so they directly alter how much damage a character can survive." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Tools can raise skills, giving users bonuses to actions they are already trained in." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Tools change what units can do by supplying improved or new abilities." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "" }, { "name": "Critical Misses", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Tools can give holders a clear edge over those without them, which creates unequal standing between players." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Uneven distribution of tools among players leads to imbalances." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tools.svg" }, { "name": "Game Items", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Objects inside the game world that can be carried or used.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each item should have identity and an effect or use that matters, and be carried, found or moved. Different agents may use them differently.", "just_a_label_when": "Items are collectable, but all do the same or nothing, so picking them up changes nothing.", "knobs": "types and effects of items; how scarce they are; whether they wear out or can be dropped", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Items", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Designers can name a destination for an item, and the goal is met either automatically on arrival or when the player deliberately drops it there." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Items can carry notes, pictures or memories, so finding one lets players piece together what happened earlier in the world." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When players may drop items they hold, they decide for themselves where to leave them, which is a real choice they control." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "An item, especially a single one in a fixed spot, makes a natural thing for players to aim at and take as a goal." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "If players aren't playing at the same time, an item changing hands means different players effectively see different owners over time." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Most kinds of items can carry story content, so they can be used to tell a story in games generally." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can deliberately place items to drive a fixed story, and MacGuffins exist specifically for this purpose." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "If players know where an item is, they can hurry to reach it before others do, creating a race." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "When items sit in a board, world or level, the spots where they lie become places where that resource can be found." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Items are a kind of resource, differing only in that each unit has its own identity and presence in the world." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Items can be handed out after players finish achievements or quests, giving them something tangible and useful for their effort." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When valuable items might be lost, for example by theft, players worry about keeping them, which builds tension." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Having items present in the world helps the setting feel coherent, though the theme also limits how those items can look." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Because players can drop items where they choose, they can leave marks of their own passage in the world." }, { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Taking items that belong to others counts as stealing, which breaks norms and triggers hostile reactions from those affected." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Items that can be stolen by others give players something to protect, so they must keep watching for thieves." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Giving a character better armor, tools or weapons makes it more capable, so acquiring gear is itself a way the character develops." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Any item that can be equipped, rather than merely carried, becomes equipment." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Items need value beyond a single session to be worth trading, which a persistent world gives them." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "When a MacGuffin does exist in the game, it can take the form of an object the player can hold or handle." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "When players must gather a set of items but not every available one, collecting the leftovers is a goal they can skip." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Items can be given a price and sold, either by the provider or between players, so owning better ones can be bought." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "" }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Items placed in the world, like false power-ups or hidden triggers, can serve as traps of any visibility type." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Items can be handed out as the prize for earning an achievement." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Items can lie on a board before anyone picks them up, changing what the board contains." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Items can be placed in a world as pick-ups waiting to be found, adding to what the world holds." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Items can be placed within a level before being collected, adding to what the level offers." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Items can be given as the reward for completing a quest." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Items a character holds or gains are part of its resources and can be rewards." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Items.svg" }, { "name": "Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "What the player receives and experiences as pleasant.", "needs_to_really_work": "Rewards must be tied to meaningful achievements and valued by players. Their size and timing should match the effort, so players feel they earned them.", "just_a_label_when": "Rewards given for anything, or of no practical or emotional value, like a badge that changes nothing.", "knobs": "reward size; how often they are given; what triggers them and how certain they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "When rewards come as many small separate pieces, players are drawn into gathering them, which turns into a collecting activity." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "If players must wait before a reward becomes available, they have a reason to come back to the game later to claim it." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "A reward that can only be obtained during a short window becomes a fleeting event players must catch or miss." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Getting a reward signals that a player has succeeded at a goal of improving their skill or ability." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Receiving a reward can show that a player's own plan for how to develop their character or position has worked out." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Tension arises depending on when rewards are given and how sure players are that they will actually get them." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "A reward that can only be collected for a limited time can serve as a skippable goal, since players may choose to go for it." }, { "name": "Repeat Combos", "why": "Picking up a reward is often the action that starts the count, as in CityVille where collecting rewards builds toward the combo." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "A reward widget comes into being when an ordinary reward is made to show up as a clickable object placed in the game space." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Rewards are handed out to mark that a player has finished a part of the game that was hard." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Improving an item that a player already has, rather than giving a new one, is another way rewards shape items." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Rewards are given to show that a player has demonstrated real skill at playing." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Rewards and penalties balance each other: a reward can soften a penalty, and a penalty can offset a reward." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Killing other players can be rewarding in itself, but extra rewards can make it more appealing." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Completing a quest is a typical moment when a game hands the player a reward." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "Rewards can be placed in the game world as visible objects, requiring movement to pick them up." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "Ordinary rewards change the game state in players' favor, while these don't, and a normal reward can lose its effect and become one depending on context." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A reward design may not fit the game's fiction, so it can break the theme when theme matters." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Cards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Elements used to hand out various resources without showing in advance how they are distributed.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decide what is printed, which card types exist and in what numbers; use shuffling or hidden hands so the randomness and secrecy matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Cards are used only as a menu or list, never shuffled or hidden, so a table would work just as well.", "knobs": "deck size; number of each card type; information shown on each side", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "When a card grants a player new abilities, the card itself stands in for part of what that player's character can do." }, { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Cards can each stand for an action, so players can pick and arrange them to plan what they will do." }, { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "A card can simply be a marker that records something for a player, such as an ability, spare action points, or an extra chance." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "A card held or spent can represent a unit of allowance that limits how much a player may do." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Cards that carry their own special rules can be played together so their effects build on each other." }, { "name": "Decks", "why": "Cards are often gathered into a pack of chosen types and amounts, which is exactly what a deck is." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Since cards are separate items that can be handed out, players can take turns choosing which ones they get to keep." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Cards are easy to shuffle and stack, so a pile from which players draw unseen cards comes naturally." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "A card kept by a player can be spent later to get another attempt or second try." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Cards that give players abilities or stand for actions become the thing players pay attention to and act through." }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "why": "Physical cards can belong to individual players, who bring or collect different ones, so each player's set of elements differs." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When players can work out which cards are still unplayed, remembering what has already appeared helps them predict what comes next." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A card can give its holder a power they lacked before, so gaining the card means gaining the ability." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Shuffling and drawing from a stack of cards gives unpredictable results, while the designer still controls which cards are in it." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Cards can be made to stand for different kinds of resources and handed out in a chosen mix." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Individual cards can be parts of a larger collection, so players gather several cards to complete a set." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Adding new cards to what a player holds gives the player new or better abilities, an easy way to develop." }, { "name": "Anonymous Actions", "why": "When players put cards down together, observers can't tell whose card is whose, so each individual contribution stays hidden." }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "The game is built from cards, and these provide the collectible pieces that players own and bring to matches." }, { "name": "Cycle Deck Engines", "why": "The engine runs on cards whose effects let you draw further cards, so each card played pulls in the next ones." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "Cards can be dealt face-down to each player, so a goal stays hidden from everyone else." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "The page says the pattern is not limited to tiles; cards can also be laid out so that their positions relative to one another matter." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Gaining or arranging cards is one way to develop a construct and change its capabilities." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cards.svg" }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An unseen part of the game that stores the player's parameters and possible actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The construct must hold information that actually drives what players can do in the world (resources, abilities, units), and must be under player control. It needs a clear link to the game world to matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A player sheet or panel exists, but it only displays information and has no effect on what happens in the game world.", "knobs": "what data it stores; how it connects to units and the world", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Abstract_Player_Constructs", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "When constructs give different players different special abilities, such as picking a leader and civilization, everyone begins the game with unequal strengths." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Since these constructs live outside the game world, hidden things like attributes need no in-world explanation, which makes the world feel more like reality, where much is unseen." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Players who must manage or interact with these abstract records may feel they are doing bookkeeping chores instead of playing the game itself." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "When no full character is used, such a construct can still carry some of the planned story, though it struggles to engage players emotionally." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A construct's state and growth show how well a player is doing, so any threat to it makes players anxious about success or failure." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Development needs something abstract tied to the player to improve, so having such constructs makes development possible at all." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "Starting players with differently strong constructs like countries, based on the setting, means some positions are naturally harder to play than others." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "These give players something abstract under their control whose growth they can plan, so they are needed for this kind of planning." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Even non-person entities like countries or civilizations can hold goals players adopt, so playing them can count as roleplaying." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Tracking which levels a player has completed in their game profile works much like a points total in other solo games." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bases", "why": "Constructs can change what bases are able to do and which actions they allow." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Constructs hold complexity that the world cannot show itself, and so they shape what happens within it." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Constructs can change the abilities and available actions of installations, as seen in the Victoria series." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Constructs can change what units can do, such as species abilities affecting the creatures in Ursuppe." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving different constructs different starting strengths, as in Europa Universalis and Victoria, makes players unequal and so disrupts balance between them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Abstract_Player_Constructs.svg" }, { "name": "Health", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A measure of how much damage a character can take before serious penalties.", "needs_to_really_work": "Damage must reduce the value and reaching zero or thresholds must have real consequences. Sources of damage and ways to restore it need to be balanced so the number matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A health bar that never drops meaningfully or refills freely, so damage has no effect on play.", "knobs": "maximum health; damage amounts; healing availability", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Health", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "why": "Health is usually a pool that isn't tied to a place and gets used up as play goes on, so it works as this kind of resource." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Health is a number that drops during play and can be restored by healing, so players spend and manage it like any other resource." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "A health value displayed on the HUD gives an avatar one abstract changing quality, making a very weak form of character." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "Besides lowering the target's health, a critical hit adds extra consequences, so health loss is one part of how it shows up." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Damage applied to health lowers the main value players need to stay alive, which is the most common form of this penalty." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Giving something a health value is a natural way to make it a character, and a health display alone can hint at one for an avatar." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Because hits wear health down gradually instead of ending things at once, fights have more steps and effects that build up over time." }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "why": "Enemy health may stay hidden until players aim at a target, so the crosshair becomes the way to find out how hurt it is." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Damage can exist alone, but once health is present, damage has something to reduce, and together they create energy penalties." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Objects that can be broken sometimes carry a health value, so they take several hits before being destroyed." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Health sits between full strength and losing a life, giving intermediate states instead of an immediate jump to losing a life." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units are a natural fit for a health value, which shows how much punishment each one can take before being lost." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "When few values are shown constantly, like health on a screen, it is easier to see them as belonging to the avatar." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Health.svg" }, { "name": "Damage", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Harmful effects from actions or events that lead to bad consequences.", "needs_to_really_work": "Damage must be tied to clear causes players can avoid, must be measured in a visible way, and must lead to a real consequence when it piles up. The amount per hit must be small enough to allow several failures.", "just_a_label_when": "A health bar that drops but is refilled so easily or so cheaply that taking hits never matters.", "knobs": "damage per hit; how much health there is; how often damage sources occur", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Damage", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "When fighting depends on player skill, damage gives that skill something to act on, so hits and dodges combine player ability with character stats." }, { "name": "Deterioration", "why": "Damage lets items wear down gradually and eventually break, instead of staying intact until some single event destroys them." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Hazards in the surroundings can inflict damage, and often the harm they cause is exactly what makes them what they are." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Taking damage is a way of being punished for failing to avoid danger, so damage is itself a kind of penalty." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Hits add up over time, so accumulated damage can be what finally lets one player eliminate another." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "In skill-based fighting, damage is one of the system parts that ties the player's own aim and timing to the character's stats." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Damage counts down how many more failures a player can afford, so it behaves like a stock that is spent, though on a smaller scale." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "When damage comes in several forms or has different effects, players benefit from learning which is which, and that understanding becomes strategic knowledge." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because players can foresee what damage does, both the threat of being hit and actually being hit make them anxious." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Damage can leave visible marks on damaged things, giving players clues about what happened earlier." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "When an environmental effect or game item causes damage, together they can work as a trap." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "The simplest way to create a critical hit is to make an attack deal more damage than a normal one." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Damage is the usual tool for building this penalty, since it subtracts from a value the player depends on." }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "why": "Taking damage in a game that has lives can directly cost the player a life, so damage can hand out the life loss." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Damage caused by moveable tiles is often an event the player cannot influence once it is triggered." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Avatars are among the usual entities that can be harmed, so damage shapes how they fare." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters are common targets that can suffer damage." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Damage lets attacks wear opponents down gradually, so a fight is made of many hits instead of one decisive blow." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Things players build can be destroyed by damage, which makes investing in building a risky choice." }, { "name": "Consumers", "why": "Making consumers perform actions whose required resources are expressed as health makes damage a result of their consumption." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Damage is what allows objects in the game world to be broken or destroyed." }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "why": "Physical items in the game world can be harmed by damage when they are destructible." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Because damage accumulates, a single successful attack need not remove an enemy, so several successes are required." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Damage can make items degrade over time." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Losing the contested position can lead to taking damage, so not holding it carries a cost." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Damage measures how many failures remain before a life is lost, and can also cause life loss directly." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Failing to steer around dangers leads to damage, so moving well is how players avoid it." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Running into obstacles one failed to avoid can cost players damage." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Damage can reduce a character's skills, which weakens what they can do." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units are common entities that take damage, and enough of it destroys them." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "Damage can ruin a player's aim in games where accuracy varies, which counts as a form of harm." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Damage can target resources and reduce them, for example by lowering health or energy." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "Permanent protection reduces how often damage matters, though it need not remove damage entirely if other damage types remain." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Damage.svg" }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "Points the player spends to take actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "Points must be scarce enough that players have to choose, actions must cost different amounts, and replenishment must be set clearly. If everything is affordable, there is no budget.", "just_a_label_when": "Points are shown, but they are so many and refill so fast that no choice is ever limited by them.", "knobs": "points per turn or period; cost per action; refill rate; cap", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Budgeted_Action_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "Because every action spends from a small pool of points, only so many actions fit into a turn or time window." }, { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Points can be spent to choose actions that get queued up in a sequence and carried out later." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Strong abilities can be given a higher point price, so players cannot use them as often as weaker ones." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Handling the points and weighing which actions to buy gives players more to juggle and think through." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide for themselves which of the available actions to spend their points on, and may repeat them." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Once the points are used up, a player can no longer act and may feel stuck until they come back." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "When points pay for moving, how far a unit can travel is bounded by how many points remain." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "The pool of points has a maximum, so players cannot stockpile beyond a set amount." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Players must decide how to spend and save a finite supply of points across the actions they want." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Points act as an indirect resource, since they are spent to pay for actions rather than being the goal." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Having several affordable actions to pick from pushes players to think ahead about how to use their points." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Choosing among actions with a limited budget gets players working out short-term moves and how to spend points for best effect." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Spending points on one action means they are unavailable for others, so players give something up with every choice." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Limited points make the benefit of coming back clear, because once they are spent you wait for them to refill before acting again." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "When action points refill through a regenerating resource, players must wait for refills, which creates a tick rhythm." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Each character can have its own budget of points limiting what it can do, or points can be used to build the character beforehand." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting actions such as attacking or shooting cost points, so players must decide how much to put into combat." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Before play, points can be spent to pick which gear a character starts with." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Points can be put into longer-term choices such as developing technologies, trading present actions for future gain." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Moving costs points, so how far and how often units can move depends on the budget." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A new ability's strength is softened because using it takes points away from other actions." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "A special ability gives less advantage since using it uses up points that could have gone to other actions." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Actions cost points from a value that slowly refills, limiting how often they can be used as time passes." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Points can be used before play to pick the skills a character will have." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Turns can be shaped by points, such as refilling everyone's points each turn or taking one action in turn until all are spent." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "In turn-based play the points are usually refilled at the start of each turn, setting how much a player can do." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Each unit can hold its own pool of points that it spends on moving, turning, and fighting." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Budgeted_Action_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Regenerating Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Resources that accumulate by themselves as game time passes.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear refill rate and usually a cap must be set, and the resource must matter enough that players spend it and wait for it. Refill speed should shape pacing of play.", "just_a_label_when": "A resource that refills so quickly or so little that it never runs short, or one nobody needs, so the refill changes no decision.", "knobs": "regeneration rate; cap size; what pauses or speeds up regeneration", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Regenerating_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Because time passing keeps adding new units of the resource into play, regeneration works as a steady way of inserting game elements without any player action." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Since the resource refills just by waiting, it never runs out for good, which turns an ordinary resource into a renewable one." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "When resources refill over time in a lasting world, you are drawn back to use them once they have recovered." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "Resources that refill at set intervals force players to wait for the next refill before acting, which produces ticks." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammo can be made to refill over time, so designers control how often players can shoot by tuning how fast it comes back." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Action points that return as time passes mean players must wait for more actions, so the refill pace sets how fast play moves." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Health that heals on its own over time changes how players handle damage, since they can recover instead of needing to find healing." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Lives that come back after a wait, as in some puzzle games, let players retry without a permanent limit on attempts." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In an ongoing world players could drain every resource for good, so refilling over time keeps supplies available and play going." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "" }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Any resource can be given a self-refilling rate, and adjusting that rate lets designers tune pacing and the choices players make." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Non-Renewable Resources", "why": "A resource cannot sensibly be both permanently finite and one that grows back on its own, so the two ideas work against each other." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "If supplies keep refilling with time, players have less reason to fight over a scarce amount, so competition for them weakens." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Some resources refilling by themselves may not fit the game's story or setting, which can make the world feel less believable." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Regenerating_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Tiles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Pieces used to hand out resources without showing beforehand what is where.", "needs_to_really_work": "Tile types and counts must be chosen so they distribute resources or build the world in a way that matters. Hidden or randomised tiles need a known distribution.", "just_a_label_when": "Tiles are all identical in effect, so which one you get changes nothing.", "knobs": "number of tiles; mix of types; hidden or shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tiles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Like cards, tiles can be gathered by a player into a personal collection that represents what that player has built or owns, and adding more tiles lets it grow." }, { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "Tiles can be used like markers to record game state, such as who owns something or how strong a unit is, often by flipping or turning them." }, { "name": "Configurable Gameplay Areas", "why": "Because tiles are separate pieces, they can be arranged differently before play begins, so the play area changes between games, as in Settlers of Catan." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Adding tiles to the play area is itself a way of building something during the game, as when players place tiles to extend the world." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "When tiles fill the whole space and make up the world itself, nothing in the play area contradicts the fiction, so the game world stays believable." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Tiles are physical items that can be handed out by letting players pick them from a shared selection, which is a way of distributing them during play." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Tiles can be piled face down so players take them one at a time as needed, as in Carcassonne." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A tile can stand for a kind of terrain or surrounding condition, so placing or having it in the world carries that condition's effect on play." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Players place, remove, flip or otherwise handle tiles, so those tiles become the spots where their attention and actions gather, as with flipping in Othello." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Tiles can be the pieces that a board is made of, dividing it into clear areas that players can easily tell apart." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Tiles are commonly joined together to form the world players act in, whether built up, worn away, or laid out before play." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Tiles can serve as the building blocks of a level, breaking it into distinct sections whose positions and options are easy to judge." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When the set of tile types is fixed and tiles are drawn and played, players can try to remember which have already appeared and which remain." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Tiles can share an identical back so they can be shuffled or hidden, making the order in which types appear or the layout they form unpredictable." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "Since each tile is a separate piece that can be added, removed or moved, the shape of the play area can change as the game goes on." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Like cards, tiles can be collected into groups that belong together, so players gather matching or related pieces." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "A tile can be given special features such as resources or abilities, which makes the place it marks more valuable to hold or reach." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Because each tile marks a clear area, it can be claimed by a player, and ownership can be changed by flipping or controlling the tile." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Adding tiles to a player's setup, as in Puerto Rico, gives new or improved abilities." }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "why": "Generators work with abstract ideas but must finally output concrete building blocks, and these are usually tiles that make up the world." }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "why": "Board pieces that can be removed make convenient units for shrinking, since taking one away cleanly cuts down the play area." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "Tiles are the namesake and main element: players place them so their positions next to other tiles shape the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Placing tiles on a player's board is one way a construct is developed, as in Puerto Rico." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tiles.svg" }, { "name": "Heterogeneous Game Element Ownership", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Each player brings their own game elements to a new game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Components must differ enough in function that choosing and combining them matters, and the sets must be balanced or limited so that having more or rarer pieces does not decide the game. Players also need time and means to build and tune their own sets.", "just_a_label_when": "Players bring their own pieces but all pieces are functionally the same or one set is clearly best, so ownership changes nothing in play.", "knobs": "how much the elements differ in power; limits on set size or cost; how much players can customise", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Heterogeneous_Game_Element_Ownership", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betting", "why": "Since players bring their own pieces, those pieces can be wagered against each other, so owning game elements naturally leads to staking them on outcomes." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "When the elements players bring do not all work the same way, certain pairings of them will team up for special effects." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "Players must assemble their own set of elements from what they own before a game, so building that set becomes an activity of its own." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Buying, winning or losing the pieces happens in the real world, so what occurs to them affects players beyond a single match." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because each player picks which owned elements to bring, they decide for themselves how their side of the game is put together." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Players add elements of their own choosing into the game at the start, so each person decides what they put in." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "Players who want particular elements they lack can swap with others who own them, making exchange a natural part of play." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Obtaining the elements costs real money or effort up front, and players hope that spending will pay off in better play later." }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "why": "Since any one element might not appear in a game, bringing, getting or winning a special one becomes a notable event worth remembering." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Players treat the elements they own as raw material and play a building and collecting activity around them before and between actual matches." }, { "name": "Pay to Play", "why": "Because players need to have their own pieces to take part, joining in indirectly requires spending money to obtain them." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Owning and arranging a personal collection of elements lets players tinker with it just for fun, sometimes simply for looks." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Elements are bought with real money, so those who can afford better or more pieces may start a game with an edge." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "In the building activity around the game, the owned pieces are the stock players draw upon and manage to put together their sets." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Players belonging to a team are themselves the contributed parts of a game, so each game gets members brought by different people." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When players own more kinds of elements than they can use at once, they must pick which ones to use and which to leave." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Each player needs to bring only part of what is required, which eases setup anywhere, yet it also means players must carry their pieces." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "The many possible sets of elements players might bring mean each game can begin from a very different arrangement." }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "Players each own different sets of game pieces, which is exactly what lets everyone bring their own distinct cards to a match." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "When players own different elements, such as their own cards, knowing how those elements combine is important lasting knowledge." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "When players own different elements, they can plan how to set up their own part of the game to make strong combinations." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Players can make their own stacks to draw from out of the elements they own, instead of sharing one common stack." }, { "name": "Fixed Distributions", "why": "When players build their own drawing stacks, they decide beforehand what the contents and proportions of those stacks will be." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "The pattern only makes sense when several players each contribute their own pieces to a game." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "If elements can change hands because of how play goes, players have more at stake, which noticeably changes how tense the game feels." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Players can be allowed to pick which units they own and how many." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "Not all elements work alike, so some combinations of them can be much stronger, and this can upset fairness between players." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Differences in the combos players can build from their own elements can leave some players stronger, undermining even footing between them." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Players need less than a whole game to play, but they must still have their own pieces, or carry spare ones for others to borrow." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Heterogeneous_Game_Element_Ownership.svg" }, { "name": "Hands", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A set of game elements of a certain kind that a player currently holds.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must hold hidden elements they can pick between, with a size limit and a clear way to refill. The elements held need to matter enough that choosing among them is a real decision.", "just_a_label_when": "A hand where the next play is forced or all cards are identical or visible, so holding them gives no choice.", "knobs": "hand size; refill rule; whether hands are secret or open", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Hands", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Containers", "why": "A hand is a holder that gives each player ownership of cards or tiles they've collected but haven't yet put into play." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because a hand holds several elements, players get to pick which one to use now and which to keep for later turns." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Hands are usually hidden, so working out or peeking at an opponent's hand gives a strategic edge and becomes something players aim for." }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "why": "Players normally keep their hands hidden from opponents, so the cards or tiles inside act as private resources only the holder knows about." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "A hand of items that cannot be replaced lets players deduce what remains as play goes on, so later outcomes become easier to foresee." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cards", "why": "Hands are most often filled with cards, and the actions those cards offer determine what a player can do from their hand." }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "In these games the hand is what shows a player which actions are available to them at any given moment." }, { "name": "Decks", "why": "Hands are usually filled from decks, so how a hand is refilled and sized changes how a deck gets used." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "Holding several tiles lets a player choose which one to place on their turn, which is how hands shape tile-laying play." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Tiles can fill a hand just like cards, so a player holds several to choose from and place later." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Hands.svg" }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A stack of cards or tiles in a set order, drawn from to determine an outcome.", "needs_to_really_work": "The pile must be hidden and shuffled, and its mix of element types must be set on purpose so the odds are real. Players need reasons to care what comes next, such as hands to build or plans to make.", "just_a_label_when": "A pile of cards that is never shuffled or whose contents are all the same, so what comes out is known and drawing changes no decision.", "knobs": "what goes into the stack and in what mix; number of stacks; how it is seeded or shuffled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Drawing_Stacks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Players draw cards or tiles from the stack to gather resources, so pulling from it is how they build up what they own." }, { "name": "Containers", "why": "The stack holds game elements together in one pile that players take from, so it works as a place where pieces are stored." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "Players pick game elements from the stack, or from visible ones beside it, to choose what they keep, which is the core of drafting." }, { "name": "Fixed Distributions", "why": "Designers decide how many of each element go in the stack, so the mix is set beforehand even though the order is shuffled." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "As the stack shrinks, or when a special card shows up, players can see how far along the game is." }, { "name": "Geometric Progression", "why": "Each card not drawn becomes more likely to come up on the next draw, so odds climb in a pattern like geometric growth." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Since players can't control what comes off the top, good or bad draws feel like fortune, especially when choosing between several stacks." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Players who see the cards they or others draw can remember what has already come out and so what remains in the stack." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Shuffling sets an unpredictable order, so what a player draws next is a matter of chance." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Because cards are held back in a shuffled pile, players don't know what they will get until they draw it." }, { "name": "Cycle Deck Engines", "why": "Players keep pulling fresh cards from their draw pile, and the engine works by letting them go through most or all of it." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because cards or resources come out one at a time, players can remember what has already appeared and use that to work out what remains and plan around it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Decks", "why": "The cards or tiles that make up a deck are what get put into the stack, so the stack is a way to use a deck." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Drawing from the stack is how cards come into players' hands, so what the stack gives shapes what they hold." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Cards or tiles drawn from stacks often represent resources, so the stack controls how players gather them." }, { "name": "Tile-Laying", "why": "When the stack holds tiles, drawing them supplies the pieces players then place on the board." }, { "name": "Fixed Distributions", "why": "Drawing items from a stack without putting them back means the whole set is used up over time, so the mix is assured." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Drawing_Stacks.svg" }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items lying in the game world, usually picked up by touching them.", "needs_to_really_work": "Items must be placed where reaching them costs something or means a choice, and they must give a gain that players care about. They should be visibly distinct so players can find and want them.", "just_a_label_when": "Items lie everywhere in such quantity or with such trivial value that players grab them on autopilot and nothing is decided.", "knobs": "how many are placed; where; how much each gives; whether they respawn and how fast", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Pick-Ups", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammo is a common thing players find lying around, so a collectible object in the world is a typical way to hand out more bullets." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "When an item must be actively activated to be grabbed instead of touched automatically, players need to interact with it, so it becomes something to click." }, { "name": "Collections", "why": "Because players tend to gather these items anyway, designers can turn that into a formal goal like taking every pill to finish a level." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Collectibles are easy to tell apart and visibly change the world when taken, so they make clear targets for goals about acquiring things." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When players need the items to reach goals, they must travel around the world to find them, which pushes them to explore." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Placing collectible items in the world is a common way to keep supplying players with things like ammo, armor or health." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "When the collectible is itself the resource, the spot where it lies marks a place players can go to get that resource." }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "Some collectibles are not the resource but let players obtain it, so they act as a source without being the resource themselves." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Collectibles can be the resource itself, and after pickup they often turn into a number such as ammo, health or armor." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "If players need collected resources to finish main goals, then gathering the items by moving around becomes a smaller goal that serves the bigger one." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Since these items are noticeable and vanish when taken, a spot where one is missing hints that someone has already been there." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "After pickup, an item can stop being an object and just raise a number held in something like a player's abstract status." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor is one of the resources commonly delivered by collectibles that add to a number once picked up." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "A collected item can lose its individual identity and increase a numerical value kept on the character who took it." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Needing to first pick up an item before bringing it somewhere adds a required step to delivery goals." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Taking collectibles visibly changes the board, and hunting for them encourages players to move around it." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Collectibles are usually made by taking ordinary game items and making them something players can take." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Picking items up visibly changes the world, and needing them sends players moving through it." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Health packs lying in the world are a typical collectible, and picking one up adds to the player's health value." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Picked-up items are meant to be collected, so they go into an inventory, or they add to a number stored there." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Collecting items changes what a level looks like and can be required to complete it, such as taking all pills." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Some collectibles exist only to give players an extra life when they are taken." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Players steer their avatar toward items to grab them, so the desire to collect shapes how they move around." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "When collected resources are needed for goals, players have a reason to travel through the space to reach the items." }, { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "why": "A collectible is a single spot in the world that feeds a resource which otherwise is not tied to any place." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Taking a collectible can turn it into a resource amount, so the pickup changes how much players have." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Some collectibles have no other purpose than to raise the player's score, as ordinary pills do in Pac-Man." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Pick-Ups.svg" }, { "name": "Inventories", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "A place where everything a character carries is stored.", "needs_to_really_work": "It needs limits (space, weight) and real actions (use, drop, equip, trade) so that managing items is a choice. The limits must be tight enough to force choosing.", "just_a_label_when": "An item list with no limit and no actions beyond viewing, so carrying anything is free and no decision arises.", "knobs": "capacity; what actions are available; how items are sorted and accessed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Inventories", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because inventories let characters keep items out of sight yet instantly usable, the game world stays believable while play stays smooth." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Managing items by hand in an inventory takes effort that isn't the fun part of play, so it can feel like tedious chores." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "When an inventory opens as a separate screen, it brings in interface elements that don't exist inside the game world itself." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "Inventories usually have limited room, so a character can only carry so many items, which creates a ceiling on what can be held." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Carrying items fits the setting, so an inventory can support the theme, though it can also work against it." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Inventories give the basic means to hold and move items between owners, which trading depends on." }, { "name": "Transferable Items", "why": "Since inventories are where items are held and handled, they provide the groundwork that lets items be passed between characters, such as through stealing or trading." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Inventories change what characters can do by setting how many items they can carry, which restricts them." }, { "name": "Deterioration", "why": "Some games let players use their inventory to counteract wear on items, such as Fallout letting players negate the effects of deterioration." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Inventories give players a place to examine, drop, and otherwise handle items, and they limit how many can be stored." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Items carried by a group of characters can be managed through inventories, and Dragon Age II shares one inventory among the player and companions." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "If a picked-up item keeps its identity as an item after retrieval, the inventory shapes how it is handled afterward." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Inventories can hold resources as well as items, and these often cannot be dropped, so the inventory affects what resources are available." }, { "name": "Upgrades", "why": "Some games, like Fallout 3 and Dragon Age II, let players install upgrades on items through the inventory screen." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "They help players remember things they would need to keep track of anyway, so they adjust the upkeep rather than cause it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Inventories can show items differently from the game world or allow unrealistically large loads, and pausing screens make this worse." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Inventories.svg" }, { "name": "Armor", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items that protect against damage.", "needs_to_really_work": "Armor must reduce the damage taken in a measurable way, with costs or limits (weight, slots, class restrictions) so equipping choices matter. Combat needs to be dangerous enough that protection is valuable.", "just_a_label_when": "Armor looks impressive and has a high number, but damage is so small or armor so abundant that it never changes outcomes.", "knobs": "damage reduction per piece; who can wear which; weight and slot limits", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Armor", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "A designer can make armor cost the wearer some skill or attribute, so stronger protection comes with a penalty that keeps choices balanced." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "When armor is a game item, players must be able to pick which pieces to wear, so it works as equipment." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Armor can be an object in the game world that a character owns and carries, which makes it an ordinary game item." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "For the wearer, armor makes them better at surviving combat, so it feels like a boost to their abilities." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Armor can instead be a countable supply, such as a number that drops when hit and is restored by finding more." }, { "name": "Sets", "why": "Games can group several armor pieces, or armor together with weapons, into matching collections that are designed to be used together." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Damage applied to armor wears down the player's protection, a numeric loss that leaves them more exposed." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Protection comes with a drawback like reduced speed, so players must decide whether the safety is worth the loss." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Armor changes how well an avatar withstands attacks, and often changes how the avatar looks, signaling its protection to players." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Armor changes how well a character withstands attacks, and a game may restrict which characters are allowed to use particular pieces." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "By shielding the fighter's health, armor shifts how fights unfold, and to opponents it acts as a reduction in their ability to hurt." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Armor sets how much harm gets through, and in some games hits wear down the armor itself too." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Armor stands between attacks and a character's health, so health is lost more slowly, and losing armor makes losing health more likely." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Realistic games often penalize skills for characters wearing powerful armor, since heavy gear hampers them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Armor.svg" }, { "name": "Decks", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Sets of cards the game uses as a single whole; they can be shared or personal.", "needs_to_really_work": "The set of cards must be shaped so that what is left in the deck gives useful information and chance. Players should be able to see or learn what the deck holds.", "just_a_label_when": "A pile of cards that is reshuffled every time, so no one can track anything and the order is irrelevant.", "knobs": "number and mix of cards; one shared deck or one per player", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Decks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Because tracking which cards have already left the deck gives you an edge, players are pushed to remember what has been played and what remains." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "A deck's order is unknown to players, so whatever card comes next is a matter of chance in any card-based game." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing what is in a deck, whether because you built it or it was pre-set, lets you plan around what you may draw." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "Each player brings or is given a personal deck to play with, so decks are a defining, constantly present part of this kind of game." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Decks.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Renewable Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "Resources whose amount does not grow during the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be no generation or replenishment of the resource anywhere in the game, and there must be consumers that use it up. Without consumption, players can hoard it and the scarcity never bites.", "just_a_label_when": "A resource labelled as finite but with a hidden refill, or one so plentiful for the game's length that it never runs out and never changes decisions.", "knobs": "starting amount; consumption rate; whether the limit is global or per player", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Renewable_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Action Caps", "why": "When actions need a specific resource that can never be refilled, each player can only perform that action as many times as they hold the resource." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Using up, capturing, or removing such a resource from the game cannot be undone, because nothing can bring the resource back." }, { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "If the energy needed to use an ability cannot be refilled, running out makes the loss permanent instead of temporary." }, { "name": "Complete Resource Depletion", "why": "Since these resources can't be replaced once used, any use of them moves the game toward having none left." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "With resources that cannot be replaced, less remains later, so grabbing the last ones matters more than the first." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "As limited resources get used up, what is left becomes easier to work out, so players can predict more as the game nears its end." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "When resources can't be replaced, experimenting with them costs something, so players plan more carefully." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Capture", "why": "As non-renewable items get captured, fewer of them remain in the game, so each further capture matters more and more." }, { "name": "Cards", "why": "Cards are often dealt out and then leave play once used, so they cannot be used again." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "If companions can die and cannot be replaced, the pool of possible companions shrinks, making each loss matter." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "A deck that is drawn through only once, or very few times, runs out and cannot keep supplying cards." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Player-held fudging abilities need not be used up permanently, since they can be refilled, but making them non-renewable would limit their use." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Lives can be a resource that only goes down as play continues, with no way to get it back." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Because the resource cannot be gathered again and again, using helper units to repeatedly collect it becomes less effective." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Since you cannot fix uneven holdings of such resources by simply adding more, gaps between players are harder to correct." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Limiting how many times a special ability can be used turns it into a resource that gets used up." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Once cards or similar items are used up and the pool shrinks, outcomes become more predictable, which changes how much chance is involved." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Starting players with resources that never replenish encourages planning across the whole session." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "If all units exist from the start and can be lost, they cannot be replaced, which tends to speed up the game." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "If a hand starts with a fixed set that is never refilled, its contents are used up and the hand steadily shrinks." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "A world that goes on forever has trouble with resources that run out for good, since play must still work once they are gone." }, { "name": "Regenerating Resources", "why": "A resource cannot sensibly be both permanently finite and one that grows back on its own, so the two ideas work against each other." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "A resource cannot sensibly be both permanently finite and one that is replenished, so the two ideas work against each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Renewable_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player improves something outside the game world, such as a rating, rank, or reputation.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a player-level structure that can be improved, with improvements that really change which options are open or how strong they are. Players should be able to see progress and ideally choose its direction.", "just_a_label_when": "Numbers on a sheet go up, but they unlock nothing and change no decisions, so it is just a counter.", "knobs": "what can be improved; cost and pace of improvement; how much choice players have over direction", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Abstract_Player_Construct_Development", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Growing your player's powers makes your actions feel stronger, so you feel more in control, even when the game raises difficulty to cancel out that gain." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "If improving your player's attributes demands a lot of repeated effort or resources, players may repeat tasks just to get the development." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "Developing a player's construct often opens up new abilities tied to what the player focuses on, making new options available." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Because the player's own structure visibly grows, the work spent in play feels rewarded and worthwhile." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Listed as working together with Abstract Player Constructs and Freedom of Choice to create Investments, but the page gives no explanation." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When something abstract the player controls can grow in chosen ways, players get richer room to plan how it should develop." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "As the player's construct gains new or better abilities, players get more options to choose from as play goes on." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bases", "why": "Improving bases is one way to improve the player's construct, so development affects how bases work." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Development is the internal growth of the things players focus on, so it changes those focal points." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Developing the player's construct can come from more or improved territories, so development shapes their role." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Development can come from more or improved units, such as gaining promotions, so it changes how units work." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Constructs often grow stronger over a game, so this ongoing development keeps changing them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "With several players developing at different paces, their strengths can drift apart, which upsets fairness between them." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In worlds that keep running, differences grow over time and newcomers are measured against long-time players." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Development gives some players more power than others, and over time this gap makes it hard to keep players evenly matched." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Abstract_Player_Construct_Development.svg" }, { "name": "Lives", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The number of attempts a player has before the game ends.", "needs_to_really_work": "Failure must remove a life but not end the game at once, and running out must end it. Dangers must be real enough that lives are actually lost.", "just_a_label_when": "Players have a number of lives but gain them so easily, or are so seldom hit, that losing one never matters.", "knobs": "starting number of lives; how often they are lost; how they can be regained", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Lives", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Lives are a number or counter that exists as a game concept rather than a physical thing, so they almost always appear as part of such constructs." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Since each life can be lost, players constantly aim to stay alive as long as possible with the lives they have." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Because losing one life doesn't end the session, players get further tries as long as at least one life remains." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Once the last life is gone, that loss must end the session, otherwise it would be no different from losing any earlier life." }, { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "why": "The count of lives belongs to the player overall and is not tied to a place or object in the game world." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Running out of lives must remove the player from play, or losing the final life would feel no different from losing others." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "The number of lives a player holds is something that can be gained, spent, and lost during play, so it works as a resource." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "After a life is lost the player continues, so the game must put them back in play, even if at the exact spot they died." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Each life can be lost to enemies, traps, or other players, so players try to keep staying alive for as long as they can." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players can easily grasp what is at stake, so the risk of losing a life makes moments of danger feel more tense." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "Giving players limited lives in a multiplayer game means they can be knocked out when lives run out, leaving a final survivor." }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "why": "" }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "When lives come back at regular intervals, players must wait for ticks before they can play again." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Lives are usually attached to avatars, tying how well the player does to how long their avatar can keep going." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "The page only says lives are sometimes used together with boss monsters, without explaining why." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Lives are usually attached to characters, linking the player's successes and failures to what happens to that character." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Losing lives is often the result of failing to dodge attacks in fights, so lives raise the stakes of combat." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "Objects that can be destroyed can be given lives through parallel lives, so several of them can be lost one after another." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Because wiping out all of an opponent's lives removes them from the game, killing other players gains a clear benefit." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "A counter of lives is a system element shown to players, which shifts how they perceive other game elements." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "Lives mean players have more than one, whereas permadeath means a single death is final, so the two cannot both hold." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Real characters don't have several lives, and returning after death through spawning also feels unrealistic, which can clash with the theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Lives.svg" }, { "name": "Loot", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items, usually random, that the player finds in the world as a reward.", "needs_to_really_work": "Defeating or searching things must yield items with some randomness and enough variety that players want to check. Items must matter to later play, and distribution among players needs handling.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies drop items that are always the same or worthless, so killing them gives no reason to look.", "knobs": "drop rate; spread of item quality; what kinds of items can drop; how it is shared", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Loot", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Hunting for one specific drop can turn into tedious grinding when players must sift through lots of items they don't want before finding it." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Loot puts new items or resources into the player's hands as a result of play, which is a straightforward way of adding game elements." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When several players want the same drop, they may stop talking it over and simply hurry to grab it before anyone else." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Defeating enemies pays out items taken from them, so the loot works as the prize players receive for completing an elimination goal." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "If players know what kinds of drops exist and how likely each is, they start working out how to get the ones they want." }, { "name": "Bidding", "why": "When players in a multiplayer game find loot, they may decide among themselves to divide it by bidding, so bidding appears spontaneously." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Giving inhabitants valuables makes them targets, which lets players treat them as enemies worth attacking." }, { "name": "Ninja Looting", "why": "Ninja looting can only happen if there are dropped resources to take, so the existence of loot is the basic precondition for it." }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "Loot is something players collect from foes or characters, which makes it one concrete way resources become available." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "Ammunition is one of the resource types a drop can contain, so loot changes how much of it players have." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor is one of the item types that can be taken from defeated foes, so loot decides what protection players end up with." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Because winning fights yields drops, loot gives players an extra reason to fight beyond whatever motives already exist." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Defeating or removing a target is what earns the drop, so loot adds a payoff to elimination goals." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Carrying valuables can be reason enough for players to treat inhabitants as enemies, and enemies are the usual source of drops." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Equipment can be part of what a defeated opponent leaves behind, so loot affects which gear players acquire." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Drops can consist of items such as armor, tools and weapons, so loot determines which items players come to own." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "A game master can shape what drops appear to keep things balanced or fit the story, and players may even give them wish lists." }, { "name": "Generic Adversaries", "why": "Ordinary, interchangeable opponents are the most common holders of drops, which they release when killed." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Non-player characters can also be a source of drops when they are targets of elimination goals." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Disagreements over how drops are split can leave a group's members unable to settle on a fair division, weakening the group's stability." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Drops can include resources like money or energy, but if the contents were fully known ahead of time it would just be an ordinary resource." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Tools can be part of a drop, and tools the owner didn't use while fighting can seem odd and clash with the setting." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons are a typical drop from defeated foes, though ones the owner could have used but didn't can look inconsistent." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Loot.svg" }, { "name": "Ammunition", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Consumable items without which a weapon cannot be used.", "needs_to_really_work": "Ammo must run out and be refilled by effort (pick-ups, trading, reloading), so players have to ration it. Several ammo types with different effects add meaningful choices.", "just_a_label_when": "Ammo is displayed but is effectively unlimited or always at hand, so shooting never involves a decision.", "knobs": "ammo supply and cap; reload time; number of ammo types", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ammunition", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Special ammunition types can give a weapon extra power or effects, so the ammo players pick shapes what their character can do." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Ammo handed out can help players keep fighting and reach their next goal, so it works as a reward that eases progress." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When several ammo types fit one weapon, players decide which suits the situation, which gives them real options." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "Ammo can be shown as a concrete object in the game world, not just an abstract number." }, { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "why": "Once gained, ammo is simply added to a player's supply and is not tied to a place on the map." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "Ammo can be a collectible object lying in the world that players grab, sitting between abstract counters and full items." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Ammo is something players must have and spend to fire weapons, so it acts as a resource." }, { "name": "Sustenance Rewards", "why": "Depending on the game's design, ammo can be given to keep players going so they can continue using their weapons." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "If specialized ammo is hard to obtain, the powers it grants are only available for a short time before running out." }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "why": "Damage applied to ammunition lowers how much the player can still shoot, which is a numeric loss that limits their actions." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Limited ammo or reloading downtime means each shot has a cost, so players must plan when and how to fire." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Spending limited shots, or picking special rounds that hit harder or truer but do less damage, forces players to weigh gains against costs." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons need ammo to be used, so ammo controls how often and in what way a weapon can be fired." }, { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Limited ammunition restricts how often players may shoot, adding tension and making them decide between firing now or waiting." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ammunition.svg" }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "You can try again if you are not happy with the result of an action.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decide which events can be retried, how many retries exist, how they are earned or refilled, and whether retries can be stacked. The game state must allow trying again, and other players' actions must not make the retry impossible.", "just_a_label_when": "A retry that is so limited, or so late, that players never actually use it to change an outcome.", "knobs": "how many retries; how they are gained and which events they apply to", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra_Chances", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "A retry gives another shot at a random outcome, so if success is possible at all, the odds of eventually succeeding go up." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because retries improve the odds of a good outcome, players tend to feel they control results more than they truly do." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players decide whether and when to spend a retry, so they get a real option about how to handle a bad result." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "A retry lets players change an outcome they dislike, though only weakly since the new result is still random and not chosen." }, { "name": "Game Time Manipulation", "why": "Retrying lets players undo a result and have the moment play out again, effectively bending what happened in the game's timeline." }, { "name": "Misfortune Mitigation", "why": "When a roll or draw goes badly, a retry softens the damage, though using it costs a limited resource." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Using retries amplifies whatever odds already exist, so likely outcomes become even more likely and players can foresee results better." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "In multiplayer games, retries can be given to particular characters as special powers, like a luck advantage, so others cannot disrupt them." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Retries are limited, so players must weigh when a result matters enough to spend one." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Retries can be earned, held and spent like other game assets, so designers must decide how players get and keep them." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Handing out new retries as play goes on works as a prize that players are glad to receive." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When a team shares a pool of retries, members may disagree over who should use them, creating tension between individual and group interests." }, { "name": "Shared Resources", "why": "A pool of retries held by a whole group is one concrete form of a supply that several players draw from." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dice", "why": "Rerolling a die gives another try on the very same situation, softening the effect of a bad roll." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Players can draw another card or tile from a stack after an unwanted draw, giving a second try." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "The more retries players are given, the less final the termination feels, which changes how harsh the penalty really is." }, { "name": "Permadeath", "why": "Retries such as rerolls can coexist with permanent death, giving a chance to avoid a fatal result without making death reversible." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players risk being knocked out but can use retries to try to avoid it, though too many remove the threat." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Enough retries can weaken or negate the penalty for ending the game, undermining the penalty's purpose." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "With retries, a good result needs less luck, and others' bad luck is less likely to benefit you." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Other players keep acting, so a retry may become impossible, making the pattern hard to offer without special powers." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "If retries let players avoid being knocked out too easily, the threat of elimination disappears." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Redoing events breaks the sense that the story world moves forward in one consistent order." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra_Chances.svg" }, { "name": "Betting", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "A player stakes resources hoping to win on an uncertain outcome.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must own resources they can stake, and the outcome must be uncertain with payoffs related to perceived odds. Decide whether the economy is closed or open.", "just_a_label_when": "A bet is offered, but the payout is fixed and risk-free or the stake is trivial, so nobody weighs the choice.", "knobs": "stake sizes; payout ratio; when the result is revealed; optional or forced", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Betting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "If players can be scared or fooled into dropping their bets by what others do, wagering becomes a stage for deception." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "When a wager isn't settled right away, players must wait to learn whether their stake pays off." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Players may wager game resources on their own initiative, which creates stakes and outcomes that reach beyond the game's own rules." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Wagering means deciding whether, what, and how much to stake, so players get real options to choose from." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Skill pays off when results aren't purely random, or when knowing the odds of a random event gives you an edge." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "An unresolved wager leaves players watching an ending that is close but not yet decided." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Placing a wager means putting something in at risk, hoping to get back more than was committed." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When the event being wagered on is affected by chance, winning can feel like fortune smiling on you." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Because staking something is optional, players can decide for themselves to chase winnings as a personal aim." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "" }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Choosing how much to stake, and which of several things to stake, is a decision about how to spend holdings." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Players can offer in-game resources as prizes for winning a wager, whatever the official rules say about it." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "The chance to wager leads players to organize their own side games around the game's resources, without any rule asking for it." }, { "name": "Social Skills", "why": "Wagering favors people who can read others, such as spotting who wants which resource or who is being fooled." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A stake that hasn't been settled yet keeps players anxious and expectant about how it will turn out." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Wagering on game outcomes means players bind themselves to a result with something to win or lose, even though the rules don't back it." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Players can wager on how a game turns out, creating a self-made game that depends on the result rather than on playing it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Optional wagering lets players choose to set themselves goals of acquiring things, and wagers can be about things not usually seen as resources." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Wagers redistribute what players hold, and rewards can be a different kind of resource than the stake, converting one into another." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Betting.svg" }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Collectible items that immediately give a benefit or advantage.", "needs_to_really_work": "Pickups must sit in places worth reaching and respawn on some schedule. Their effects have to matter for current goals and be balanced against the other players' advantages.", "just_a_label_when": "Shiny items lie around but give a negligible bonus or one that is never needed, so players ignore them.", "knobs": "spawn frequency and place; effect strength; effect duration or number of uses", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Power-Ups", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "When a pickup appears, players get a short-lived aim to go and gather it, which is exactly what collecting means." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Power-ups show up and can vanish or be taken, so they hand players a brief objective of grabbing them before the chance is gone." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Power-ups naturally make players want to become stronger or more capable, since they grant new or better abilities." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "A power-up is a weaker kind of game item: an object placed in the world, though it only exists to be picked up." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "Picking one up can make something the avatar already does stronger, such as quad damage multiplying weapon harm." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "Power-ups are pick-ups that stop existing once taken, since touching them is their only use." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Because only one or a few players can grab a given power-up, the new ability it grants belongs to just those players." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players must decide when to grab a power-up or where to wait for one to appear, which is short-term planning." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "Power-ups often grant powers that last only a limited time or a few uses, then run out." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "When their random effects are weighted by a player's situation, trailing players tend to get better boosts, as in Mario Kart." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "The spot where power-ups are found is valuable because of the benefit it provides." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "They can add theme-fitting content but strain belief since they obviously exist to give gameplay effects." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Power-ups can give an avatar a new ability or make an existing one stronger, changing what players can do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "They clearly affect gameplay, which makes them look like game-system devices instead of things belonging to the world." }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "why": "Power-ups vanish when an avatar touches them, so there's little point making them solid objects that players interact with physically." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "They reward some players without compensating others, though random, circumstance-weighted effects can help balance." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Their immaterial, vanish-on-touch nature feels out of place next to ordinary items and landmarks, which can clash with the game's theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Power-Ups.svg" }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Limits on how many resources can be stored or spent.", "needs_to_really_work": "The cap must be low enough that players actually reach it, so it forces them to spend or lose income. It also has to apply to a resource that matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A cap set so high that nobody ever reaches it, so it never affects a decision.", "knobs": "cap value per resource; whether caps can be raised", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resource_Caps", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "A cap stops resources from piling up without limit, so it breaks runaway growth and keeps players closer together in strength." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Lowering a cap is a way to punish a player, since they can then hold less than before." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Raising a cap is a way to reward a player, since they gain room to hold more than before." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ammunition", "why": "A cap can set the maximum number of rounds a player may carry, since ammunition is a countable resource." }, { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "why": "Caps on investments force steady, evenly growing gains to be spread over time rather than gathered at once." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "A cap on how much can be invested at one time forces players to spread their spending out over time." }, { "name": "Regenerating Resources", "why": "Once a resource is at its cap, regeneration stops adding anything, so the cap decides when refilling has no effect." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "When a renewable resource reaches the cap, new supply is wasted, so players must use it to benefit from renewal." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Any numerical resource can be given a maximum, which limits how much a player may collect or store." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "The number of save slots can be limited, even though this limit is rarely part of the game's story." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "The number of units a player may own can be limited, as with population limits in strategy games." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "Using tokens to enforce a cap on holdings limits how much bookkeeping players must do, which works against the usual burden of upkeep." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When tokens are used to track resources, limiting how much can be held restricts how much tracking is needed." }, { "name": "Positive Feedback Loops", "why": "A cap on resources that fuel the player's actions stops the gains from compounding, so the loop cannot keep growing." }, { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "With each player able to hold only so much, there is less reason to fight over resources, so competition weakens." }, { "name": "Save Files", "why": "" }, { "name": "Save Scumming", "why": "A cap on how many save files a player may have limits reloading, so the cap works against this behavior." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resource_Caps.svg" }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Areas of the world where resources are located.", "needs_to_really_work": "Locations must be placed so that getting there costs something, such as distance, risk or rivals. Resources must be useful enough to be worth the trip.", "just_a_label_when": "A resource node placed right at the start where everyone gets it with no effort or trade-off.", "knobs": "number, placement and richness of locations; access cost and who can take them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resource_Locations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Once players know where resources are, getting the most out of those spots becomes the focus of play, which marks an exploitation phase." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Since players can reach these spots and others may contest them, taking hold of a resource spot becomes a goal in itself." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When resource spots are known or merely suspected to exist, players are motivated to roam the world to find and reach them." }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "A place holding useful resources is by its nature somewhere players can draw those resources from, so it acts as a source." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because resource spots are valuable, they are often places worth fighting over or holding, which makes them strategically important." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Designers decide where resources are placed within the world, so resource locations shape how the world is laid out and used." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Putting resource spots in areas players can't yet enter lets them see rewards ahead of time and set goals to reach them." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "The choice of which resources to put in which spot determines what players can find and where, shaping how those resources are obtained." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "In games built on territories, each distinct gameplay area can hold its own resource, so resource locations give each territory its character." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Some games only put resources in certain tiles, so resource locations decide which tiles hold value and which do not." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resource_Locations.svg" }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Resources that are replenished in some way during the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a clear way the resource comes back (spawning, producing, timers) and a limit on speed or amount, so that using it is still a real choice. Players should be able to over-use it and suffer for it.", "just_a_label_when": "Resources are called renewable, but they come back so fast or in such quantity that spending them has no cost.", "knobs": "what renews; renewal speed and conditions; maximum stock", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Renewable_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "When renewing a resource takes an action, being the one allowed to perform that action can be a special power only certain characters have." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "Players must work out how much of a renewable resource they can spend without wrecking its ability to refill." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When several players draw on the same renewable supply, one player overusing it hurts everyone else sharing it." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Because overspending can damage future refills, players must choose between meeting immediate needs and keeping long-term benefits." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Action points are a typical resource that can be made renewable by refilling them." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "If renewing resources takes an action, being able to do it can be a special ability that characters hold." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Extra chances are a typical resource that can be renewed so players get them again." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Owning the sources that renew resources can become a goal players pursue when control can change hands." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Health is a typical resource that can be renewed so it is restored during play." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Lives are a typical resource that can be renewed so players get more of them." }, { "name": "Mules", "why": "Mules only help for short stretches when resources do not renew, so renewal changes how useful they are." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Long-running worlds need renewal so resources are not used up entirely or piled up in particular places or states." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Making a resource renewable means it keeps being introduced into the game rather than running out." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units are a typical resource that can be renewed so players can get replacements." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Non-Renewable Resources", "why": "A resource cannot sensibly be both permanently finite and one that is replenished, so the two ideas work against each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Renewable_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Energy Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A punishment that reduces a numeric supply the player needs to take actions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The value must matter for actions and lead to a worse outcome at some threshold; the loss must be large enough to notice and be recoverable or not by design.", "just_a_label_when": "A health bar that drops but regenerates instantly or never reaches a threshold, so nothing is at risk.", "knobs": "amount lost per event; starting amount and maximum; recovery rate and threshold effects", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Energy_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "When there are no lives, running a value like health down to its limit can end the game directly and knock the player out." }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "why": "When a game has lives and the reduced value is tied to them, running it down to the threshold costs the player a life." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Shrinking a number the player needs to act is simply one specific way of punishing the player, so it counts as a kind of penalty." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Losing a value that threatens worse outcomes later makes players nervous, though less so than losing a life or ending the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Lives", "why": "When the reduced value is connected to the lives, losing it can cost the player a life; without lives it leads to termination." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Energy_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Content or items earned in the game that remain available after it ends.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a durable item, such as a kept component or a produced record, tied to a specific game instance and actually handed to the player. It must carry some value in memory, status or later use.", "just_a_label_when": "A generic souvenir or a stats screen that nobody keeps, shows or cares about, and that is not tied to anything that happened in play.", "knobs": "what is kept; how scarce or personal it is; whether it has use in later games", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Memorabilia", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "A kept souvenir, especially one won from another player, shows others what you achieved, so owning it earns you recognition from your fellow players." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Physical keepsakes must be handed to players, so needing them in hand works against letting people play anywhere and anytime." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Memorabilia.svg" }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rewards that make later actions or progress through the game easier.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reward must actually change what players can do or how easily they do it, such as new abilities, better tools, stronger skills or progress toward the end. The strength should match the effort required to earn it.", "just_a_label_when": "A reward that looks like a power-up but gives a negligible bonus, so play is no easier than before.", "knobs": "size of the ability or power boost; how often and how hard it is to earn", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Facilitating_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Getting stronger or more capable can make players feel their actions matter more than they truly do, since the reward itself boosts how effective they feel." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Being able to do things better can widen what players are able to do, giving them more options in how they play." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "When players can act more effectively, their choices have a bigger impact on the game, which strengthens their sense of agency." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "These are a kind of reward: they give players something in return for play, specifically a gain that makes acting or finishing the game easier." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dynamic Goal Characteristics", "why": "A reward can simply change what a goal demands, making it easier to meet, so it alters the goal's requirements as play goes on." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Moving players on to a new level counts as a reward that advances them spatially toward the end of the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "If players weren't allowed to pick what they get better at, the reward gives them power without real choice, working against their freedom." }, { "name": "Player Agency", "why": "When the improvement is handed out rather than chosen by players, being stronger doesn't give them real control over their development, undermining agency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Facilitating_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Action Caps", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "The game limits how many actions can be taken per turn or per period of time.", "needs_to_really_work": "The cap must be tighter than what players would like to do, so that they have to choose which actions to spend. It matters most in turn-based or tick-based play where the player cannot simply act faster.", "just_a_label_when": "A limit exists on paper but is so generous that it is never reached, so players never need to prioritize.", "knobs": "number of actions per turn or period; whether the cap is per action type or total", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Action_Caps", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "A shared pool of extra actions, like Space Hulk's command points, lets any piece act more flexibly, so a cap can actually widen the options players have." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "Because actions count as a limited resource, restricting how many you may take is itself a ceiling on that resource." }, { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "With only so many actions available, players must decide how to spend them, which turns the action supply into something to manage." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "The number of actions you can take works like a currency that you hold and spend, so actions become a resource." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Since you cannot do everything, you must think ahead about which actions are worth using, which pushes you to plan." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Arithmetic Progression", "why": "When repeating an action steadily increases a reward, a cap stops players from piling up those repeats at once and spreads them over time." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "These games only become interesting for caps because players must choose which actions to do in a tick, since they cannot do them all." }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Caps matter most here because players must pick which actions to use in a turn when they cannot do everything." }, { "name": "Visits", "why": "Limiting how much a visitor can do keeps the owner doing most of the work in their own space, so their effort still matters." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Caps push players to plan carefully, which can cause overthinking in multiplayer turn-based games, though a small enough cap keeps the choices few." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Unless the cap is used to grant extra actions, restricting how many things you may do reduces how free your choices are." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Action_Caps.svg" }, { "name": "Deterioration", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items wear out from active use.", "needs_to_really_work": "Wear must actually reduce an item's usefulness, and players must be able to fix, replace or manage items so that using them is a choice. The speed of wear must be noticeable but fair.", "just_a_label_when": "A durability bar that wears so slowly, or is repaired so cheaply, that players never think about it.", "knobs": "wear per use; repair cost; what happens at zero durability", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Deterioration", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "When an item wears out completely, its owner loses whatever it let them do, like a Minecraft tool that eventually breaks." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Because strong gear wears down with use, its power can't be relied on forever, which keeps it from dominating the game." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "As an item wears down gradually, it works less well, such as weapons in Fallout 3 dealing less damage as they degrade." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "If worn items are removed once they stop providing anything useful, they effectively become objects that can be used up and destroyed." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "Since wear steadily uses up an item's usefulness, the abilities it grants last only for a limited time rather than permanently." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Each use wears the item down, so players must weigh the benefit of using it now against the wear it costs." }, { "name": "Vulnerabilities", "why": "Wearing down is a weakness of equipment, because the more it is used the less dependable it becomes." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Wear reduces or removes what an item lets its user do, so abilities become weaker or disappear as the item is used." }, { "name": "Armor", "why": "Armor wears down mainly because it absorbs attacks, so its protection shrinks the more hits it takes." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Any gear can be made to wear down with use, which limits how long it stays useful and invites repair or replacement." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Tools are common targets for wear, so using them gradually degrades them, as with tools in Minecraft." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons commonly wear out through use, such as dealing less damage in Fallout 3 as they degrade." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Deterioration.svg" }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Events that exist in the game only for a limited time and then disappear.", "needs_to_really_work": "Events must start and end by clear rules, last briefly in game time, and offer something that is not available otherwise.", "just_a_label_when": "An event that is announced as limited but lasts so long or repeats so often that missing it costs nothing.", "knobs": "duration; frequency; what triggers them; what they offer", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ephemeral_Events", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Events that only exist for a while give you a reason to play during that window, if you learn about them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Short-lived events can draw players back, but only if players learn about them, for instance through announcements or seasons." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ephemeral_Events.svg" }, { "name": "Steadily Decreasing Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A supply that inevitably shrinks as the game goes on.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be no way to generate or refill the resource, and players must have a reason or requirement to use it. The depletion rate sets how long the game can last.", "just_a_label_when": "A resource meter that goes down but is refilled by pick-ups or regeneration, so it never really runs out.", "knobs": "starting amount; consumption rate; whether anything can restore it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Steadily_Decreasing_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Entrenching Gameplay", "why": "Because options for spending a shrinking resource vanish as it runs out, players' earlier choices lock them into paths and fewer alternatives remain." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "When a resource can never be replenished, each time a player spends it becomes a weighty commitment rather than a casual, repeatable choice." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "If the depleting resource is the one needed to survive, or players' demand for it has no ceiling, it eventually runs out and winning becomes impossible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "The pattern restricts a resource by blocking ways to add more during play and giving players reasons to use it up." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "When the draining resource is what players need to stay alive, survival goals become something the game itself works against." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Spawning", "why": "Spawning brings in some kind of resource, which works against a game where resources only run down, unless spawning itself spends a resource." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Steadily_Decreasing_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Chargers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Places in the world where the player's resources change while they stay there.", "needs_to_really_work": "The effect must be strong enough to be worth a detour, tied to a place, and must cost something (time, risk, exposure).", "just_a_label_when": "A glowing pad is placed on the map, but the effect is negligible or the pad is on the route anyway, so nobody chooses it.", "knobs": "refill speed; size of the boost; number and placement of locations; exposure to risk", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Chargers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "Chargers are parts of the game world itself that act on whoever stands in them, so they work as effects of the environment." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Chargers create natural spots to head toward, and reaching them lets players strengthen their position, which builds their ability to do well." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "A charger can give a temporary upgrade, such as a speed boost, to anyone using it, making them more capable than before." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "The benefit only exists at the charger's spot, so players get the ability or bonus only while they are in that place." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "When a charger lets players exceed the game's normal limits, like moving faster than otherwise possible, the boost counts as a privileged ability." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "A charger refills supplies again and again for players nearby, so what they spend can be regained by returning to it." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Chargers are fixed places where players go to obtain resources, so they serve as spots in the world where resources can be found." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Chargers can hand out resources like ammunition or health, and they can also be treated as valuable resources in their own right." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because chargers give supplies, boosts and goals to head for, the areas that contain them become important places to control or visit." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "In races, chargers give players something extra to aim for along the way, which helps them in the main goal of winning." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Since the benefit accrues the longer you stay, players must choose between remaining on the charger and doing other things." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Chargers become natural destinations in the world, so players have a reason to travel across the map to reach them." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Health", "why": "A charger can restore health, such as medicine cabinets that heal avatars, changing how much damage players can endure." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Players must steer or move their avatar onto the charger to benefit, so moving around the world gets shaped by where chargers are." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Chargers like speed boosters give racers a boost along the course, so they affect speed and who gets ahead." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Chargers replenish what players hold, such as ammunition, and how fast they refill changes how much players have available." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Chargers.svg" }, { "name": "Secret Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Resources whose existence or properties at least one player does not know.", "needs_to_really_work": "Hide resources through fog, hands, or unrevealed placement, and make finding or knowing them valuable. Players need a reason to search or infer.", "just_a_label_when": "A hidden resource that is irrelevant to play or that players can always see anyway, so hiding changes nothing.", "knobs": "how much is hidden; how many resources; how easy it is to discover them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Secret_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "A hidden resource tucked away in the game world can work like an Easter egg, though it only feels distinct if the resource is rare or unique." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When players suspect hidden resources might exist, they get a reason to go find out what and where they are." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Players who know some resources may be hidden are motivated to roam the world and search for them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Hidden resources placed in the world, like secret areas, add something extra to discover within the setting." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Because resources may be hidden, scouting becomes more rewarding since it can uncover them as an added payoff." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Resources can be concealed from players, requiring them to find them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Secret_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Shared Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "Resources that several players can access during a game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Several players must be able to use or change the same resource, and the resource must be scarce or important enough that sharing creates tension or cooperation.", "just_a_label_when": "A common pool so plentiful that nobody has to negotiate or compete for it.", "knobs": "who has access; how much is available; rate of use or refill", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Shared_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Resource Competition", "why": "When several players can draw on the same supply, they end up contending over who gets to use it, so rivalry over that supply appears." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Sharing a supply puts players in spots where their own interest and the group's interest pull apart, and this worsens when they must also cooperate." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Because everyone's dealings revolve around the common supply, players may settle into distinct parts in how they handle or claim it." }, { "name": "Symmetric Resource Distribution", "why": "Everyone with access to the same supply holds the very same stock of it, so no one has more than another." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Contending over the common supply creates pressure, and it grows when cooperating players distrust one another about how it gets used." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Since others may use up the common supply, a player's window for using it is effectively shortened, acting like a deadline." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bag Building", "why": "The items placed into a common bag are held in common, so the bag-building process turns into something players share." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "When a whole team draws from one pool of lives, the lives stop being individual and become a common supply." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "A penalty can be applied to the common supply itself, so its effect falls on everyone with access rather than a single player." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Sharing alters ordinary resources by letting other players also manipulate them, which changes how players perceive who owns them." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "A reward can be given into the common supply, so everyone with access to it benefits from that payout." }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "The common supply can be what a group-wide penalty hits, so the loss lands on all who hold it." }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "The common supply can be what a group-wide reward is paid into, so all holders gain from it." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Handing players common resources along with the goal affects how they go about working toward it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Shared_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Bases", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Stationary objects in the game world that give players actions or resources.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each base must provide something useful that is tied to its place, and be buildable, capturable or destroyable so that holding it matters. Position should create real strategic differences.", "just_a_label_when": "A building is shown at a spot but gives nothing different from anywhere else, so ownership changes no choices.", "knobs": "what each base gives; cost to build; whether it can be captured or destroyed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bases", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Expansion", "why": "Setting up new bases is what spreading out looks like, so phases where players are founding bases mark the game's growth stage." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "Once bases exist, using them well to gain their benefits marks the phase where players cash in on what they built." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "A base that someone else already holds gives other players a clear target: take it over, which becomes a goal." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "A base is a more elaborate version of an installation, a fixed built structure that sits in the game world." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Because a base cannot move, whatever actions or benefits it offers can only be used at that one spot." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Bases are often placed where resources already exist, or they supply resources themselves, so they turn into resource spots." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "A newly built base usually makes its spot important to hold, unless that spot was already valuable before anything was built." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Players can use bases to influence narrow passages, since where a base stands can affect who controls movement through them." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Bases are deliberate constructions placed in the world, so having or building them changes what the game world contains and offers." }, { "name": "Laning", "why": "Whether bases exist or can be built is likely to change how the laning phase plays out." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Building a base can create a new important spot, so constructing bases changes which places in the world matter." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bases.svg" }, { "name": "Pay to Play", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "To play, you must pay in one form or another.", "needs_to_really_work": "Payment must be required to start or to continue playing, and it needs to be tied to something players want enough to pay. The price and timing have to fit what players find acceptable.", "just_a_label_when": "A payment that is optional for cosmetic extras only, so nobody actually pays to play, or one required once at purchase, which is just ownership.", "knobs": "price; when payment is demanded (entry, continue, extras); what each payment buys", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Pay_to_Play", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "Charging players to play brings in money, and that income may be needed to pay for the dedicated staff who run the game." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Since players are already paying to take part, the game can also sell them extras that give them an edge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Players can pay to keep going after a Game Over has actually happened, so the loss no longer ends their session." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Paying can buy players extra lives, letting them carry on playing after losing the ones they started with." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "Selling pick-ups means players who get stuck can only progress by paying, which makes paying an indirect cost of playing." }, { "name": "Upgrades", "why": "Selling upgrades means players who get stuck can only progress by paying, which makes paying an indirect cost of playing." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Pay_to_Play.svg" }, { "name": "Free Gift Inventories", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "A set of items given to a player to hand out to others as they see fit.", "needs_to_really_work": "Periodically grant gift items with some randomness, and let players choose recipients, often limited to friends or neighbors. The gifts need to be useful so giving matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A gift button exists, but the items are worthless or automatically sent, so nobody chooses and nothing is exchanged socially.", "knobs": "how often gifts are granted; how random their contents are; who can receive them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Free_Gift_Inventories", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "Handing over presents to other players costs the giver nothing in direct terms, so giving looks like a selfless act of helping others." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "By passing gifts to others, players appear to work together and help each other progress, even though no formal joint goal exists." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "A gift can carry an unspoken expectation that the receiver will return the favor later, so giving creates a debt to be repaid." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because players choose who benefits from the gifts, they feel their decisions matter more than they truly do." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Receiving a gift can make a player feel obliged to give something back, so the giving can act as social pressure." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "The gifts are held as a set of items a player stores and later hands out, which is exactly what an inventory is." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "The gifts are usually something the game grants to players, so they work as rewards that are then passed on." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Gifts given with the hope of getting something back later amount to an indirect exchange, even though no trade is negotiated." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Giving gifts needs no real-time interaction, so recipients can collect them whenever they next play, which suits players who are not online together." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Gifting offers social contact with no direct negative consequences and little effort, which fits relaxed, low-commitment play." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Players mostly play alone, and gifting lets them interact socially without needing to be online together or risking harm to each other." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "The gifts contain resources, and since they keep being supplied to hand out, those resources seem renewable unless limited and shown by status indicators." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "An extra reward can be offered for players other than the one who earned the main reward." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Free_Gift_Inventories.svg" }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Rewards that do not help with goals and improve nothing.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reward must still feel like a recognition to players, through look, status, information, or social value, even though it gives no gameplay benefit. Players need some reason to want it.", "just_a_label_when": "A reward that changes the game state after all, or one so dull that no one notices or wants it.", "knobs": "how attractive or visible the reward is; how hard it is to earn; how much social or story value it carries", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Illusionary_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Players who are ahead may chase these non-mechanical prizes, spending effort on something that doesn't strengthen them, which gives trailing players room to catch up." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Receiving a prize makes players feel their actions mattered, even though the prize changes nothing about the game's state or outcome." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Though they give no in-game advantage, they can still pay off outside the game, such as earning standing among other players." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Because they offer something to collect or unlock, players have a reason to repeat tedious actions even when nothing in the game gets easier." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Handing one out tells players something about where they stand in the game, so the prize doubles as a signal of progress." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Such prizes can show players information about the game state, which helps them see how they're doing and build up their skill." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Where a game can't be won, these prizes can still give players something to aim for." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Ordinary rewards change the game state in players' favor, while these don't, and a normal reward can lose its effect and become one depending on context." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Illusionary_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The further the game progresses, the bigger or better the rewards.", "needs_to_really_work": "Rewards must really grow in value that players can use or see, paced against rising difficulty or costs so they keep up. The growth should be noticeable between stages.", "just_a_label_when": "Rewards that are labelled bigger but are worth the same, or are cancelled out by matching cost increases so nothing feels better.", "knobs": "growth rate per stage; reward type (resources or abilities); match to rising difficulty", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Increasing_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Because the prizes keep growing, each later stage of play ends with a bigger payoff than the one before, so finishing later stages feels more significant." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Since the prizes get bigger over time, how large or strong a player's rewards are tells them roughly how far along in the game they are." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "why": "Growing rewards can be set against steadily tougher challenges, so players feel the increasing effort is repaid and the difficulty stays balanced." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Many stories show heroes growing stronger, so giving players stronger rewards over time lets the gameplay's growth match the story's growth." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Giving players larger amounts of resources as rewards later in the game changes how much those resources matter and how they function." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "This pattern changes ordinary rewards by making them grow in size or quality the further players progress." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Growing rewards can keep a likely winner from being obvious, but only when it is still uncertain who will actually earn those rewards." }, { "name": "Sidegrades", "why": "Increasing rewards rely on things getting more powerful, whereas sidegrades only offer variety without more power, so the two pull in opposite directions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Increasing_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Individual Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A reward that goes to only one player.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reward must go to a single player and matter enough that others want it for themselves. It creates competition only if players can compete for it.", "just_a_label_when": "A reward given to one player that has no value or is quietly shared with everyone, so it makes no difference who gets it.", "knobs": "size of the reward; who qualifies; how contested the winning is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Individual_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Individual Rewards is simply one kind of reward, so it counts as a reward whenever a game hands something out for actions or completed challenges." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When a player sees that a group would gain more from the reward than they would alone, keeping it for themselves creates a tension between self and group." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "When a reward goes to just one player, the others who helped get nothing now and must count on being repaid afterward." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "In team games, personal rewards tempt members to rush ahead of one another in a race, setting teammates against each other." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Since only one player gets the payoff, helping each other becomes less appealing and harder to arrange, even when several players contributed." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Giving the prize to just one person can weaken the motivation to work together and make cooperating more complicated." }, { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "When the reward goes to a single player, players have less reason to chase a common aim, and pursuing it becomes more complex." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "With only one player, whoever performs the actions and completes the challenges is necessarily the one who receives the reward, so it is always individual." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "A given reward cannot go to everyone and to only one player at once, so the two kinds exclude each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Individual_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Parallel Lives", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "mechanics × outcome", "what_it_is": "Losing one element does not stop the game, but losing all or a set number does.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must control several elements at risk at once, and losing one must hurt but not stop play. The elements should matter enough that players must decide which to protect, so threats come at them concurrently.", "just_a_label_when": "Several units where only one really matters, or ones so easily replaced that losing them never forces a choice.", "knobs": "how many elements; how much each is worth; how many must be lost to end the game", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Parallel_Lives", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Once a player has lost every one of their separate pieces, they can no longer keep playing, so they drop out of the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Lives", "why": "Parallel lives add to ordinary lives by spreading the risk over many elements, and losing them all can cost just one proper life." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Managing several lives at once means players may face several sources of penalties simultaneously." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Parallel_Lives.svg" }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Each player builds their own card collection and draws on it to pick cards for a session.", "needs_to_really_work": "Cards must differ in power or function, be acquired over time, and be built into decks, with new cards released regularly.", "just_a_label_when": "Cards are sold in packs, but all are nearly equal or a few dominate, so collecting and deckbuilding don't matter.", "knobs": "rarity distribution; how cards are obtained; deck size; expansion frequency", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Collectible_Card_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "Individual cards carry their own rules, so when a player puts several together, their effects can stack into larger combined outcomes." }, { "name": "Deck Building", "why": "Since each player brings a personal collection, they must pick which cards to include before playing, which makes assembling a deck a task of its own." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Players must obtain cards and choose which to use before a match, so meaningful activity happens outside the actual play session." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "When new cards arrive, their unfamiliar effects can surprise players, which feels to them like the game's outcomes being bent in unexpected ways." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Better cards can cost more and a bigger collection offers more options, so spending money can translate into an edge in play." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Collectible_Card_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Sockets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Slots in an item where upgrades, such as gems, are inserted.", "needs_to_really_work": "Socket counts must be limited and the upgrades must offer meaningfully different benefits, so that choosing what goes where is a real decision. Whether upgrades can be removed changes how risky the choice feels.", "just_a_label_when": "Sockets that always take the same single best upgrade, or are so plentiful that nothing needs to be chosen.", "knobs": "sockets per item; types of sockets; whether upgrades are removable; how upgrades are obtained", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sockets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because sockets are slots the player fills on their own initiative, players decide when they want to upgrade their gear and which upgrade to use." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When upgrades can be taken back out of sockets, players can swap them around and weigh the different benefits each upgrade offers against the others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Sockets are built into pieces of equipment, and designers choose how many each kind of item has and what types they are." }, { "name": "Upgrades", "why": "Sockets decide where upgrades can go, and different socket types can restrict which upgrades fit, shaping how upgrades are used." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sockets.svg" }, { "name": "Sustenance Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A reward that refills something constantly used up, such as health or fuel.", "needs_to_really_work": "Something must be constantly draining so the refill matters, and the refills must arrive at a pace that keeps players near, but not at, running out. Timing and placement of supplies is the main design work.", "just_a_label_when": "Pickups that top up a resource nobody ever runs short of, so collecting them is pointless.", "knobs": "drain rate; amount per pickup; how often and where supplies appear", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sustenance_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Because players keep needing more of the supply, they go out and gather it repeatedly, which turns resupplying into a gathering activity." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Players must keep getting the replenishing reward over and over to avoid penalties, so obtaining it never becomes a one-time objective." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Sustenance rewards are simply one kind of reward available in games, so they fall under the broader reward category." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Consumers", "why": "Anything that uses up resources creates a need for those resources, so supplying them is shaped by what those consumers burn through." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Resupplying eases pressure for a while, but if the needed supply keeps draining, the pressure returns and lasts longer." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Vehicles use up things like fuel, so players need refills as rewards if they are to keep driving them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sustenance_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Resources that are at least partly not tied to a place in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have a world in which other things have locations, and the resources must be held as abstract counts that cannot be seen, stolen or carried in space. Designers choose which resources and whether all or only acquired instances are abstract.", "just_a_label_when": "A counter in the interface that is still tied to a physical item players must go and fetch or guard in the world, so it behaves as a located resource anyway.", "knobs": "which resources are abstract; whether all instances or only collected ones are non-localized", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Localized_Resources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "Non-Localized Resources are a kind of Resource, one that simply has no place in the game world, so each one is a specific form of Resources." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Because these resources are fully or partly missing from the game world, they change what the world contains compared with a world where all resources are physically placed." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "In games with inventories, non-localized resources can be tied to certain inventory parts, so particular resources are handled separately from everything else carried." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Localized_Resources.svg" }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places, abstract or real, within the world where resources can be found or obtained.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each source needs a clear way to obtain resources, with a cost, a limit or competition. Different sources should give different kinds or amounts so choosing among them matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A source that gives resources automatically with no action or limit, so it works like a number going up.", "knobs": "yield per source; cost or effort to use it; number of sources and their types", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Resource_Sources", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Resource Management", "why": "When players can change, defend, or create the places where resources come from, they must start deciding how to handle those supplies." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "If players need what a source offers, they start thinking ahead about how and when to go get it." }, { "name": "Loot", "why": "When enemies or characters can be robbed of useful goods, they become a place players go to gather resources, and that is where loot comes from." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "Sources determine how players get hold of resources, so they shape how those resources enter play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Resource_Sources.svg" }, { "name": "Converters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Elements that turn one resource into another.", "needs_to_really_work": "The exchange must have a clear ratio and cost, and the output must be worth more to the player than the input in some situations. Players need to decide when and how much to convert.", "just_a_label_when": "A conversion exists, but the rate is so good or bad that nobody ever uses it or everyone always does.", "knobs": "conversion ratio; speed; what goes in and out", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Converters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Turning one component into another builds layers of game components, so players must understand chains of relations." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "" }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "Converters produce new elements and so can be viewed as spawn points, since things come out of them." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Turning one thing into another means giving up the input, so players judge whether the output is worth the exchange." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "With many resources and ways to convert between them, players have more different things they can do." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Items", "why": "A converter can be one way new item instances appear at a location after the first ones are taken." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Turning resources into something else through converters can limit grinding's impact, though the converting can itself become more grinding." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Converters let abstract resources be told apart by their state, so a closed economy can still keep renewing them." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Resources can be upgraded into more valuable resources by converters." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Converters under a player's control can turn units into upgraded versions or produce new ones." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Converters.svg" }, { "name": "No-Use Bonus", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": "dynamics × resources", "what_it_is": "Unused actions are given a bonus so they get chosen more often later.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must be chosen from a shared set, and the bonus must grow enough over turns to shift the value of the neglected option. The reward type should matter to players.", "just_a_label_when": "A bonus so small or so irrelevant that unpopular actions stay ignored, or one that arrives only after the action has already become attractive for other reasons.", "knobs": "what resource is added; how much per unused turn; whether the bonus accumulates or resets", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/No-Use_Bonus", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Each turn, bonuses that appear on unchosen actions are a small amount of resources added to the game that all players share in, not just one." }, { "name": "Renewable Resources", "why": "Unchosen actions get fresh resources added each turn, so resources in the game keep being replenished instead of being used up for good." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When a skipped action piles up bonuses, players must weigh taking that growing reward against other options, which makes their choices harder." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Adding bonuses to actions nobody picked changes how appealing each way of spending points is, evening out how often they get used." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "An action with many stacked bonuses is likely to be picked, which is easy to foresee, but new trade-offs make other choices harder to predict." }, { "name": "Role Selection", "why": "Roles that nobody picks gain extra rewards, which makes them more attractive next turn and spreads players' choices more evenly across roles." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/No-Use_Bonus.svg" }, { "name": "Consumers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements that use up resources.", "needs_to_really_work": "Something must really be spent or drained, at a rate that matters to what players can do. Players must have to deal with that demand, by feeding it, controlling it or competing with it.", "just_a_label_when": "Something is described as using resources, but the amount is trivial or nothing ever runs short.", "knobs": "how much and how fast they consume; what they consume; whether players control them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Consumers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Capture abilities can be extended so that game elements consume what they take, which makes consuming an ability." }, { "name": "Complete Resource Depletion", "why": "Consumers keep using up resources, and if they use them faster than new ones arrive, the supply eventually runs out entirely." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "" }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Things that automatically drain a player's resources act like enemies, threatening loss without any benefit." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "Using up something to achieve an effect is a cost, which players must compare with the benefit they get." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Consumers offer one way to carry out removal, though they do not by themselves give players the needed actions." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Resource flows must be managed, so how consumers use up resources affects how supply and demand stay balanced in the world." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Things that use up resources deplete them, and together with producers they shape the flow of supply and demand." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Consumers.svg" }, { "name": "Asymmetric Resource Distribution", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players receive different sets of resources, so each has their own possibilities.", "needs_to_really_work": "Resource differences must change what a player can do, with trade, scarcity or access to keep it interesting, and enough balance to stay fair enough. (The source page is a stub, so this is a best reading of the name.)", "just_a_label_when": "Players hold different amounts of some resource that has no use or can be freely swapped, so the gap changes nothing.", "knobs": "how big the differences in starting or ongoing resources are; who gets what", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Asymmetric_Resource_Distribution", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Gameplay", "why": "" }, { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "When the game world hands out resources unevenly, players begin with different amounts or kinds of materials to work with." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Giving some players fewer resources than others makes them less efficient, which works as a handicap." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Giving players unequal resources makes them play differently, and the page lists it twice among the asymmetry-based routes to variety." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Unequal resources make the incentive to reach the shared goal differ from player to player." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Giving players unequal starting resources pushes them toward different strategies, though it can harm fairness unless controlled." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Unequal resources give some players more possibilities to compete than others." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Asymmetric_Resource_Distribution.svg" }, { "name": "Containers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements inside which other elements can be stored or hidden.", "needs_to_really_work": "A container must limit or organise what it holds, through capacity, access or location, so that holding something changes what can be done with it. Players should have to choose what goes in and out.", "just_a_label_when": "A bag or chest exists, but it holds anything without limit and puts nothing in the way of using the contents.", "knobs": "capacity; access rules; what can be put in", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Containers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "A container can hold only so much, so its size gives the cap a physical form inside the game world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Containers regulate what resources and items a character can hold." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Containers limit how much of a resource players can hold." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Containers.svg" }, { "name": "Symmetric Resource Distribution", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "resources", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "All players receive resources in equal amounts and on equal terms.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each player must start with, and have access to, equal amounts and kinds of resources. Equal sharing must also hold up over time.", "just_a_label_when": "The totals are equal on paper, but the resources are placed so some players can reach or use them more easily.", "knobs": "amount and kind of starting resources; placement of resource sources", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Symmetric_Resource_Distribution", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": true, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Giving everyone the same resources at the start means no player begins with a built-in edge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Resources", "why": "Giving all players equal resources pushes the game toward fairer, similar starting conditions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Symmetry removes variety, so when everyone has the same resources there is less difference between players and sessions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Symmetric_Resource_Distribution.svg" }, { "name": "Enemies", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements that actively get in the way of the player reaching their goals.", "needs_to_really_work": "Enemies must act against the player's goals with real consequences, and the player needs ways to face them; they also need to fit the theme to be recognised.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies drawn as threatening but too weak or passive to hurt or block anyone.", "knobs": "number of enemies; their strength and behaviour; how they appear", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Enemies", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Shooting at foes is the most typical way players beat enemies, as in first-person shooters, so enemies naturally create aiming-and-firing actions." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "When foes show up, players must watch and react to them, so keeping track of enemies takes up their attention." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Enemies can be trapped or taken rather than killed, so one way to overcome them is a goal of capturing them." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Foes that can act against the player, such as by moving, make winning harder and force players to work for success." }, { "name": "Collections", "why": "An overall fight against an enemy can be split into a set of smaller goals, such as several duels, that together form one collection." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Enemies can damage health or lives and be fought back, so their presence gives players a reason and means to fight." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Foes with different abilities, or patrolling guards, give players several things to weigh and respond to at once." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "When some enemies are passive or only look for players, players can choose to stay hidden rather than fight them." }, { "name": "Consumers", "why": "Enemy actions cost players resources like health or lives, so enemies behave as something that drains what players own." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Enemies are drawn with distinct shape and color, and huge bosses stand out, so players notice them in the game world." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Enemies are commonly beaten by being destroyed, and some seek to destroy the player, so elimination goals arise on both sides." }, { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "why": "Adding more foes, or tougher ones, as play goes on makes the opposition steadily harder to deal with." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Players often must learn who an enemy is or find its weak spots before they can act against it." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "A foe can be turned to the player's side by winning it over, as with converting units, so beating it can mean gaining it." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Enemies can patrol or watch over an area, giving them the job of keeping players out or noticing them." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Beating an enemy can mean making its goals permanently impossible, so enemy goals can be blocked by players." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A permanent enemy can be the main driving force of a story, giving the narrative a clear opponent to build around." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Players are motivated to get past enemies, whether by destroying, avoiding, or converting them, so overcoming becomes a goal." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Enemies can punish players in ways other than killing them, such as taking resources, which counts as a penalty." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can fix when and how an enemy appears, such as in a cutscene, so the story shapes how the enemy affects play." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Enemies work against what players want, and players work against theirs, so each side's aims block the other's." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "When enemies are controlled by the game rather than by other players, players are fighting the game's own opposition." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Since enemies can remove health or lives, or stay hostile for a limited time, players get the goal of lasting through the threat." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "When players can choose how and when to meet enemies, or can use weaknesses and traps, they can plan their approach." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Having hostile elements in the world that threaten players makes them feel uneasy and under pressure." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Many game themes need opponents, so including enemies helps the game fit its setting and story." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "A boss can start as an existing enemy type made harder with special abilities, so it still reads as a stronger version of a familiar foe." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Foes placed at a narrow passage block movement until players defeat them, so beating them is the condition for passing." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Facing opponents makes players try various approaches to find out what hurts them, such as their weak spots." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Spotting enemies first lets players decide whether to avoid them or choose whom to attack first." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Enemies holding choke points or strongholds deny passage to the places they guard, making those places off-limits until beaten." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Computer-controlled opponents can chase the same hill goal as a lone player, so they compete with that player over it." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Players must discover how a particular enemy can be beaten, which turns the fight into something to deduce." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When no human rivals exist, computer-controlled opponents can compete against the player, giving a race an opponent to beat." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "When enemies' whereabouts are uncertain to players, players must go looking for them, which creates a scouting goal." }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "Defeated opponents can hand over loot, so they serve as a place where players obtain resources." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "" }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "A missing or changed enemy can signal that something happened there, so the absence itself acts as a negative trace." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "When enemy actions are partly decided by chance, players can't know what the enemies will do next." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Randomizing enemies is one way to vary play, and giving them different traits makes encounters differ." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Enemies bring disturbances that make staying in one safe place harder or impossible." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Making enemies stronger, more numerous, or more varied raises how hard the game feels." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Enemies with hidden advantages or sudden powerful actions make it harder for players to judge their odds." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Players avoid enemy penalties by dodging, but what matters is the threat of harm the enemies pose." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Enemies can be placed on a board, and their positions or hard-to-reach final foes shape how it is played." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Enemies can appear as surprises while players explore, changing what they find in the world." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Where enemies are placed in the world changes how the environment feels and plays." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Enemies can be placed or arrive in waves at levels, which shapes the challenge of each one." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "In games about steering movement, enemies are extra hazards players must actively steer around." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Adding enemies can create conflict in otherwise cooperative games and can bring players together against a shared foe." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Computer enemies with special abilities or extra information can feel unfair to players and upset the sense of balance." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Without other players, enemies are what supply conflict or combat in a one-person game." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Enemies disturb players' planning, though control over encounters or traps can still encourage some planning." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players who choose when to meet enemies, or know their weaknesses and traps, can plan approaches in the moment." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Enemies can block routes or fill areas players must cross, forcing them to choose how to get through." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Enemies can be part of a character's social relations in the game world." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "NPCs given opposing goals become adversaries, which allows competitions needing many participants in single-player games." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Adding enemies to a quest makes it harder and more complex." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Enemies disturb players who try to stay in one place, making camping harder or impossible." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Non-player characters can be made into enemies or companions, so players can end up choosing one over the other." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Enemies whose abilities or odds are hidden make it hard for players to tell how likely they are to win." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Explaining why enemies can't be met early or why they appear can strain the game world's logic." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "A non-player character can be turned into either a helper or an enemy, which sets up a tradeoff." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Enemies with special abilities or extra information can feel unfair and upset players' sense of balance." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Enemies disturb what players are doing, making careful planning harder or impossible." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Enemies that fill the route players must cross can block the way and make crossing harder." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Opponents can offset players' gains and, when more difficult than expected, work against the feeling of influence." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Enemies.svg" }, { "name": "Traps", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Elements or events that kill or wound characters.", "needs_to_really_work": "The hazard must be able to hurt the player in a way that matters, and be fair, either learnable by observation or memory or spotted by clues. The penalty has to be real for players to change their movement.", "just_a_label_when": "A hazard that does so little harm, or is so telegraphed, that players walk through it without any change in behaviour.", "knobs": "damage or penalty; how well hidden it is; how often it triggers; whether it resets", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Traps", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "A trap that springs without warning can be staged inside a story so that someone the player trusted turns out to have led them into danger." }, { "name": "Consumers", "why": "A trap that can fire repeatedly keeps draining the player's health or resources each time it is triggered, so it acts as a recurring drain." }, { "name": "Diegetically Tangible Game Items", "why": "Players can use physical objects in the world, working under the game's physics rules, to build traps themselves." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "Traps give players something to dodge, so avoiding their effects becomes a goal in itself." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "They can hurt enemies or serve as distractions, giving players additional tactical options." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "A trap placed as a barrier, or one that covers a whole region like an acid lake, makes that region unsafe or unreachable." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Traps you cannot spot beforehand kill or hurt you first, so players learn by remembering where those dangers are for next time." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "With traps close by, players cannot step freely and must restrict where and how they move nearby." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Springing a trap costs the player something, such as lost abilities, damage, or even lives and units." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Traps can be set off to force events, such as sealing an area or opening a tunnel, so the story follows its planned path." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "Traps are hazards built into the game itself, so players face the environment rather than each other, unless another player placed them." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Traps that disguise themselves as useful items or helpful effects mislead players into going for something harmful." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players must plan routes and actions to avoid hazards in order to succeed." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "When the player does not know a trap is there, it strikes unexpectedly, working like an ambush." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "If players know a trap exists but not exactly where or when it fires, they feel nervous as they proceed." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "A triggered trap forces players to move away before it activates, giving them a limited window to leave." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "A trap becomes an overwhelming event when, once sprung, the player can neither stop its activation nor dodge what it does." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Traps are paired with time limits or scripted sequences so that players who are not watching get caught." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Traps give players a way to remove targets, and they invite planning ahead." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Traps made from destructible objects let players use the environment against others, which requires planning where and when." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Traps let players remove opponents without attacking directly, especially when players can place or move them." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "A trap's harmful effects can be set to affect only certain game elements, such as those representing enemies." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Traps make poking around the world riskier, since players may trigger a hazard while looking for new places." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Traps are elements added into the world that threaten players and can render parts of it dangerous or cut off." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Traps can help defend something, since they harm those who approach it without a defender attacking." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Traps can block access to areas, either as a barrier or as an effect over the whole region, or open up new ones." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Springing a trap can cause an instant death, which uses up a life." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Nearby traps force players to move more carefully and in more complicated ways to get past them." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Traps constrain where players can safely move and can demand careful movement to avoid them." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "A trap can pretend to be a power-up, so what looks like a reward actually hurts the player." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Traps in the way make saving someone else more dangerous for the rescuer." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "Some traps, like crushers and flame jets, run on a fixed cycle, so players need rhythmic timing to get past them." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Triggering a trap can destroy units outright, so what it does can change how many units a player keeps." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A place must be free of harmful effects like traps to be safe, so the two cannot coexist in the same spot." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Traps.svg" }, { "name": "Obstacles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Elements that block the shortest path between two places.", "needs_to_really_work": "Obstacles must sit on routes players want to take and force a detour, a wait, or some action to bypass them. Whether they can be destroyed, moved or ignored by some players defines what they mean for play.", "just_a_label_when": "Decoration placed off the routes that players take, or an object that can be walked through or around at no cost.", "knobs": "size and placement; whether they can be removed or bypassed, and by whom", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Obstacles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Obstacles placed strategically narrow the available routes into tight passages, so movement is funneled through a few spots and play becomes more challenging." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Skilled players can slip past stationary objects or other vehicles by steering and reacting precisely, so dodging obstacles becomes a test of hand skill." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Obstacles that slow, weaken or damage players through environmental effects stand out in the game world because of what they do, and visuals can emphasize this." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Experts can get past several obstacles at once or without spending extra resources, using timing, dexterity or clever route-finding that novices lack." }, { "name": "Hiding Places", "why": "Opaque obstacles stop players and agents from seeing what is behind them, so they work as basic building blocks for spots to hide." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "When an obstacle such as a locked door blocks the way into a region, players cannot enter until they remove it or have a special ability." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Because obstacles restrict how avatars and units can move or maneuver through a world, they directly impose limits on movement." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Players can treat getting past obstacles as a puzzle, for example by finding the cheapest route or by using portals between places." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "Obstacles can hide areas by blocking them from view or making them harder to notice, intentionally or not, so players may miss them." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Placing obstacles so that certain areas are harder to notice can create routes for travel that players must discover." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "Something physically in the way stops movement until removed, for example by a switch, so clearing it is the condition." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Obstacles blocking a narrow passage by their mere presence push players to clear them away." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "An obstacle is not a trap by default, but becomes one when players moving too fast are caught off guard by it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Non-transparent obstacles block line of sight, which interferes with shooting at targets and changes which places are good for sniping." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Obstacles affect how avatars can move through the world, since they have to get around or past them." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Obstacles placed well in the way of movement, especially by forming choke points, make traveling through the world harder and more demanding." }, { "name": "Destructible Objects", "why": "When a destructible object is destroyed, it can leave behind debris that becomes a new obstacle, so the two can affect each other." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Blocking access to areas or forcing detours is a common reason for placing obstacles on game boards." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Large obstacles make it hard to get an overview of surroundings, which complicates exploring the world." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Big obstacles hide the surroundings from view, so finding your way around becomes more difficult." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Obstacles in game worlds block access to areas, force detours and affect how avatars and units can move." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Levels can contain obstacles that block areas or force detours, shaping the routes players can take." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Obstacles that are not transparent stop players from seeing past them, cutting off views across the area." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Obstacles limit how avatars and units can steer through boards, worlds or levels, forcing them to find ways around." }, { "name": "Moveable Tiles", "why": "Obstacles can change the direction a tile moves in, which gives players a roundabout way of steering the tiles." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Obstacles slow or block progress and can create choke points, so they shape how movement must be done." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "In rhythm-focused games, hitting an obstacle can serve as the in-world reason for the player's failure to keep the beat." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Blocking line of sight can make a spot with a good view worse for sniping, while making the spots behind cover better." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Large obstacles make it difficult to survey surroundings, which makes crossing the world harder." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Obstacles affect how units can move through game worlds, as they must go around or past them." }, { "name": "Vehicle Sections", "why": "Higher speeds in vehicle sections mean obstacles are more of a challenge, as there is less time to react." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "If warp zones are available from the beginning, they let players skip past obstacles and so make them pointless as barriers to movement or sight." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Obstacles.svg" }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Powerful enemies that must be defeated to progress toward the goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "A boss must differ in how it is fought, via special abilities, weak points or phases, not just extra health. It should be placed at a point of closure and be foreshadowed.", "just_a_label_when": "A normal enemy is renamed 'Boss' with a bigger health bar, so the same tactics work and it feels like a slog.", "knobs": "boss health and damage; special abilities and weak points; number of phases or lives; placement", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Boss_Monsters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Bosses are tougher than ordinary enemies and call for different play, so they give specific stretches of a game a harder, more demanding feel." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Beating a boss is a goal players must achieve, and because the encounter is planned, defeating it becomes a required target." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Placed at the end of levels or instances, a boss marks a bigger finish point, so players feel a larger chunk of the game is complete." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Players must get past the boss to move on, and its special abilities make defeating it a goal that needs real effort." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Bosses can be planned as the finale of levels, quests or instances, so they act as built-in story beats." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A boss is a stronger, more special enemy than usual, so meeting one raises the player's sense of tension more than ordinary foes do." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When a boss is placed at a closure point or designed as a character with a defined nature and history, it fits the game's theme." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Bosses often stand out because of their sheer size, though the pattern can be applied to make them even more noticeable." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "A boss with special abilities forces players to figure out how to beat it, so the fight becomes a puzzle." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Giving bosses special abilities that ordinary enemies lack makes fighting them feel different from the rest of a level." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Bosses can serve as the finale of a game board, though this happens less often than with levels or quests." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "A boss can act as the finale of an instance, giving that section of play a planned climactic ending." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A boss can close out a level, and a level may even center on a specific boss when it is a finale level." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A boss can serve as the climactic end of a quest, giving it a planned finale." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Bosses often guard the resolution of rescue goals, balancing the importance of whoever is being rescued." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Immunities and weak points can make fighting an ineffective way to beat a boss, so other solutions may work better than fighting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Boss_Monsters.svg" }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Items or information created to confuse or distract players.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decoys must look as plausible as the real clues and cost players something to check. The game must also have real uncertainty so that players cannot tell them apart at once.", "just_a_label_when": "A fake clue that is obviously irrelevant at first glance, so it is ignored and does not distract anyone.", "knobs": "ratio of false to real clues; how convincing the decoys look; cost of following a false lead", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Red_Herrings", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Misleading items and facts make players work harder to figure out what is true, so reaching the right action becomes more demanding." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Decoys add extra outcomes and extra things to weigh, so players juggle more possibilities before deciding what to do." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because false leads sit next to the real one, players can pick among several options even if only one is actually right." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Deciding which items or information deserve attention and which are bait is itself a puzzle players must work out." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Once players know decoys may exist, they can't be sure their efforts will pay off, which raises unease." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Filling a world with irrelevant extras makes it feel fuller and more believable, which helps the setting seem coherent." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Players can place decoys to help hide their real units or plans, making concealment goals easier to achieve." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Mystery stories use false leads to keep players unsure which suspect or clue is the real one." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Decoys give players wrong or useless data, so collecting accurate knowledge takes more care." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Players hunting for a needed item can be sent after the wrong objects, making getting the right one harder." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Irrelevant content scattered around the world gives players more to check, making exploration slower and harder." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Extra misleading content in the world makes finding the right way around more difficult." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Decoy objects and information fill the world with content that doesn't serve the goal, adding extra material to the setting." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Levels get filled with useless or misleading items that players must sift through." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Misleading elements in a story make it less certain how events will unfold, and can spring plot surprises." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Fixed plots, especially mysteries, use false leads to keep players guessing about how the story will progress." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Misleading elements send players the wrong way, making the puzzle harder to study properly." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Something players take to be a helpful side goal may turn out to be a decoy, so the two can be confused." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Red_Herrings.svg" }, { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A strong enemy has a weak spot, and hitting it is the easiest way to win.", "needs_to_really_work": "The target must be really resistant to normal attacks, with one specific weakness that is much more effective. Players must be able to discover it (clues, experimenting) and have the means to exploit it.", "just_a_label_when": "A weak point is labeled on the enemy but normal attacks work just as well, so nobody needs to look for it.", "knobs": "how much more damage the weak point takes; how hidden it is; what is needed to exploit it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Achilles%27_Heels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing where a foe's or your own hidden weak point lies is valuable information that players can carry across encounters and use to their advantage." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Because a weak spot is the key to winning or staying safe, players plan ahead in the long run to exploit it or guard it." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Players work out the concrete moment-to-moment steps needed to reach and strike a weak point, or to shield their own." }, { "name": "Conceal", "why": "When a character or unit has a weak spot others can exploit, players are pushed to hide that piece while showing or sacrificing others." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "A weak spot on a unit gives players a reason to shield that particular spot, which creates a goal of evading attacks there." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Games with enemies push players to try different attacks until they discover the particular weakness that works against them." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Finding out an enemy's weak point is a kind of information target, so discovering it counts as a goal of gaining information." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Working out the hidden weak spot of an enemy or boss is a puzzle for the player to figure out." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Giving certain enemies a particular weakness makes players handle those enemies differently, which varies the encounters in a level." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "A player's own character can be given a hidden weak point, which then has to be protected or kept secret." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Tough bosses are the usual holders of a weak point, so beating them demands finding and hitting it rather than brute force." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Characters under a player's control may carry a special weakness, though this is less common and forces players to guard it." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fights change because the weak point is the only or easiest way to win, so players aim for it instead of fighting normally." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Harm can only be dealt, or is dealt much more easily, through the special weakness, which changes how damage is achieved." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Goals of destroying a target are reshaped because the target can only be removed by exploiting its special weakness." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies, especially tough ones, are the typical owners of a weak spot, which turns beating them into a search for the right attack." }, { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "The weak spot punctures an otherwise complete immunity, making it partial instead of absolute." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Goals of getting past an obstacle are changed because the obstacle yields only to its particular weak point." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Exploiting a weak point may need a certain tool, which gives that tool an extra, specific purpose." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Some weak points can only be hit with a certain weapon, which gives that weapon a special role." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Combining specific strengths and weaknesses can leave a unit with one critical weakness, motivating players to hide or evade." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Invulnerabilities", "why": "The weak point exists to break a complete immunity, so it works against the very invulnerability that it is built on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Achilles%27_Heels.svg" }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "Goal: two or more goals that cannot be completed together because they exclude each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "The goals must truly exclude each other in play, either for one player or between players, and be known to those pursuing them. Players need to feel the cost of choosing one over another.", "just_a_label_when": "Goals that are described as conflicting but can all be completed in the same game, so no choice has to be made.", "knobs": "how many goals clash; whether they clash for one player or between players; how soon the conflict is visible", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Incompatible_Goals", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "When goals clash only for a single player, different players can each take one goal and act together so that all of them get completed." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "When one player holds several goals that can't all be done together, they must struggle with which to give up or postpone." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Teammates who share an overall aim but hold goals that exclude each other end up competing against their own side." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "If clashing goals can end with a player being removed from the game, the aim becomes being the one who remains." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Teammates with clashing goals must weigh helping the group against pursuing their own aim, creating a tension between personal and shared benefit." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Since finishing one goal tends to play out differently than finishing another, each game session can unfold in its own way." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Clashing goals bring tension and conflict into the story, so the narrative mirrors the opposition found in the gameplay goals." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "When one player can't do all goals together, they must choose which to chase or in what order, shaping their plans." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Having to choose among goals that can't all be met affects how a player acts out their character's choices." }, { "name": "Sidequests", "why": "Because a player can't pursue every goal at once, they must decide which side goals to take on and when." }, { "name": "Configuration", "why": "If two arrangement goals need the same elements that cannot be reused, completing one rules out the other, so players must choose between them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "A set of goals can't both exclude each other and be shared by everyone, so the two kinds can't describe the same goals." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Tied results let several players meet the same goal together, which is exactly what incompatible goals rule out." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Incompatible_Goals.svg" }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Changes that make moving worse than it was before.", "needs_to_really_work": "Movement must already matter in the game, and the limitation must be felt in play, with players needing to plan around it. It should be tied to places, states or enemies.", "just_a_label_when": "A slowdown so small or so easily avoided that players ignore it and route exactly as before.", "knobs": "how much speed or range is lost; how long it lasts; terrain costs", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Movement_Limitations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "If movement is hampered badly enough, players can only do well in certain places or situations, which carves out zones where they are competent." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Slowing or hindering movement can stand in for or accompany hit damage as a way of hurting a player's capabilities." }, { "name": "Decreased Abilities", "why": "Making movement worse, such as slower or harder to steer, is a direct way to weaken what a player can do." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a player temporarily loses all ability to move, they are stuck waiting with nothing useful to do." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Hindered movement can be used as a punishment instead of, or alongside, losing health." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Being restricted in how you can move makes situations feel more pressing and risky." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Capping top speed for those in front in a race slows leaders and keeps the field bunched." }, { "name": "Critical Hits", "why": "A critical hit can leave the target hampered in how it moves, which is an extra consequence beyond health loss." }, { "name": "Handicap Systems", "why": "Slowing or restricting some racers, or giving others a head start, handicaps them in a race." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Evade", "why": "Since moving is harder, escaping or dodging threats becomes a tougher goal to achieve." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "With fewer movement options available, the player has fewer choices about what to do." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Hindered movement often makes getting around the game world harder." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "These limitations are negative changes applied directly to how movement works, such as lowering speed or making control harder." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Slowing racers, for example the leader, helps balance a race and can serve as a handicap so others can catch up." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Movement_Limitations.svg" }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game's outcome depends on how well players control their own bodies.", "needs_to_really_work": "Tasks must really test strength, endurance, precision or reflexes, and be scored so that ability decides the result. The demand must be clearly measured.", "just_a_label_when": "A game labelled 'active' where physical skill makes no difference to the result.", "knobs": "how demanding the physical tasks are; time limits; how strictly performance is scored", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Physical_Prowess", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because players must physically perform activities, they are likely to train those abilities outside the game, so exercise spills over into real life." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Physical abilities can be improved with practice, so players can get better at the game by developing their bodies' skills." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Outcomes depend on what players' bodies can do in the moment, which varies and cannot be fully predicted, so results stay uncertain." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "Players have to actually carry out specific physical actions themselves, so what they do in the real world directly changes the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Since players must physically act things out, their bodily skill sets how well they can perform those required actions." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "When games involve moving through real places, players' physical ability affects who gets to the goal locations first." }, { "name": "Robotic Players", "why": "Robots must be designed around the physical demands of the game and balanced against what human players' bodies can do." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "When a game tests bodily ability, tiredness affects how well people perform, so swapping in reserves lets players or coaches change how uncertain performance is." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Needing bodily ability lets who a person physically is decide how they do, so outside traits leak into the game." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Players differ in physical ability and in willingness to improve it, which makes it harder for the game to fit varied groups." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Physical_Prowess.svg" }, { "name": "Ghosts", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Records of players' past attempts, including your own, become opponents in a new game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must record player actions and replay them in the same setup so the ghost's performance can be compared directly. Decide whether ghosts affect the player and whose runs get saved, and the setting needs a clear measure such as time or score.", "just_a_label_when": "A ghost that is always the same fixed, designer-made run, or one that is shown but has no way to compare or race, so there is nothing at stake against it.", "knobs": "whose runs are saved and how they are chosen; whether the ghost can affect the player; whether runs are shared", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ghosts", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "Although a ghost cannot react to anyone, the game itself replays its recorded moves, so it acts as a very basic computer-controlled opponent." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Each person plays a whole session at a different time, and results are compared afterward through the recording, so players never need to be present together." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "A ghost is a recorded player's presence in the game world, so it can be treated as a character that stands in for that player." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Ghosts are usually displayed as a see-through figure on the track or map, showing where an earlier attempt was at each moment." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "A ghost keeps an entire past session rather than just a number, so it works like a leaderboard entry you can actually watch and play against." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Many people's recorded sessions fill your game, so you effectively share the world with others while each of you plays alone." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Playing against others' recorded runs gives a solo game a feel of multiplayer competition, with full sessions finished before results are compared." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Because ghosts bring in time limits, the player ends up trying to get to the goal before the recorded run does." }, { "name": "Replays", "why": "A ghost is simply an earlier session's recorded actions played back again inside the current session." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Having a recorded run to beat adds a time limit, which pushes players to finish the same course as fast as possible." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Beating a recorded run means finishing before it does, which makes the ghost's pace act as a clock the player must beat." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Ghosts add extra entities and sequences of recorded actions to the world, so it contains more going on than it would without them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Few game settings include see-through beings that nobody can touch or affect, so a ghost often does not fit what the story world allows." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Few game themes include immaterial agents whose actions cannot be influenced, so adding ghosts can clash with the setting a game is built around." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ghosts.svg" }, { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": "dynamics × conflict", "what_it_is": "The more successfully the player plays, the harder the challenges become.", "needs_to_really_work": "Success must feed back into a harder next challenge, such as stronger enemies, bigger waves or tougher levels, and the climb must be steady and outpace most players' skill. Without an end condition, or with one far away, the difficulty keeps rising instead of flattening.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies get bigger numbers or new skins, but skilled players still cruise through because nothing demands more skill.", "knobs": "difficulty growth rate per success; step size and ceiling of the scaling curve", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Ever_Increasing_Difficulty", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because each challenge gets harder, players keep meeting tasks that stretch them, so the game is built to give them demanding play at some point." }, { "name": "FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Difficulty keeps rising until players are in overwhelming situations, which sets them up to enjoy things going completely wrong." }, { "name": "Further Player Improvement Potential", "why": "Once difficulty climbs past what a player can currently do, there is always room for them to get better at the game." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Each time a player beats a tougher challenge, they complete a bigger goal, so the climb produces larger and larger finishing points." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "Since the game pushes players into overwhelming situations, they eventually fail, and that dramatic failure can itself be fun." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Rising difficulty keeps players unsure they will succeed, and this uncertainty is a main reason designers include the pattern." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A game that can never be won can keep making challenges harder indefinitely, so this pattern fits it best and works there most reliably." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Stories usually want tension to build as they go, and steadily harder gameplay supports that same rise." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Ever_Increasing_Difficulty.svg" }, { "name": "Generic Adversaries", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Enemies that cannot be told apart from one another.", "needs_to_really_work": "One template spawned in numbers, simple enough to be interchangeable, with a defined spawn timing and place. Some small random variation or loot variety helps stop them feeling flat.", "just_a_label_when": "Enemies that look different (new skins or names) but behave and fight exactly the same, or a single 'crowd' that never poses a threat.", "knobs": "how many appear and how often they spawn; how strong they are; how much variation is allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Generic_Adversaries", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Because every adversary of a type behaves the same, designers can fill the world with large numbers of hostile opponents from a single template." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Since these foes are plentiful and easy to spawn on demand, players can be given endless fights to work through for progress." }, { "name": "Repetitive Gameplay", "why": "Each of these foes calls for the same actions and solutions, so facing them again and again gets monotonous unless something else changes." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "A unit is one of many interchangeable pieces, so having identical adversaries is exactly what makes such units possible." }, { "name": "Waves", "why": "Because the opponents are identical and can be created as needed, a designer can send them at the player in large groups, one batch after another." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Enemies that are all alike can serve as NPCs, though varied looks or traits help them feel less interchangeable." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Generic_Adversaries.svg" }, { "name": "Quizzes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A set of questions asked to players during the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Questions must fit the audience, be well written and have fair answer options. The number of questions and format should suit their role in the game.", "just_a_label_when": "Questions are shown but are so easy or guessable that knowledge makes no difference.", "knobs": "number of questions; difficulty; multiple choice or free answer", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Quizzes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Lucky Guess Solutions", "why": "When players don't know an answer, which is likely since nobody knows everything, they can just guess and sometimes get it right by chance." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Players can remember answers they've seen before and carry that knowledge into later sessions, which makes it a way to get better at the quiz." }, { "name": "Minigames", "why": "A quiz can be a short side activity inside a bigger game, and how many questions it has depends on that role." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Because players often don't know every answer, they have to work out or deduce a response from what they do know." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Players who already know the facts being asked about answer more easily, so what they learned outside the game gives them an edge." }, { "name": "Trial and Error Solutions", "why": "With multiple choice questions and several allowed attempts, players can try options one after another until they hit the correct one." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Once a player has learned a question's correct answer, there is nothing left to figure out about it, so playing the same quiz again is less interesting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Quizzes.svg" }, { "name": "Waves", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "conflict", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Attacks at set times by a large number of identical enemies.", "needs_to_really_work": "Groups of enemies must arrive on a schedule with pauses between, with escalating size or type, and defeat must threaten the player. Rests need to be long enough to prepare.", "just_a_label_when": "A steady trickle of enemies labeled as waves, with no clear groups, pauses or growth.", "knobs": "wave size; time between waves; growth rate; enemy mix and resistances", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Waves", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Sending many foes at the player in one timed burst forces the player to handle a lot at once, which makes play demanding." }, { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "why": "Because later waves usually come harder than earlier ones, the player faces steadily tougher opposition as the game goes on." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Waves change how enemies reach the player, bunching them into timed massed attacks instead of letting them appear in a steady trickle." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Waves.svg" }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Fictional worlds in which the game takes place.", "needs_to_really_work": "The world must actually define where things are and how they move or interact, with boundaries and rules that tie into the actions. The fiction should explain and support the rules, not sit apart from them.", "just_a_label_when": "A fictional setting used only as wallpaper or a title, while the rules would work the same on a plain grid.", "knobs": "size and boundaries; continuous vs discrete space; what elements and resources are placed in it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Worlds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "When a world must keep its state between play sessions and nobody wants the bookkeeping, a computer or other dedicated helper has to hold that state." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Having a fictional world gives the game a setting that its elements and characters' behavior can be made to fit, so consistency becomes possible." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Because the world is a place with laid-out objects and details, the way things are shown and positioned can tell story without any dialogue." }, { "name": "Explicit Random Seeds", "why": "When worlds are generated with randomness, letting players type in a chosen seed lets them rebuild the exact same world again." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "A world that can't be seen all at once, and may hide secrets, gives players a reason to go look around." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Maps and landmarks help players find their way around a world, and the world's shape and size make that finding-your-way a real task." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "If designers deliberately plan the order and layout of events in a world, the world itself carries a fixed story path." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "A fictional world gives players a place and inhabitants to act as and within, which is the basis for playing a role." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "When players must move avatars or units through a world, getting from one place to another naturally becomes a goal." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Information in this pattern mostly reaches players through the game world, so the world is the main carrier of what the single character learns." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Detailed worlds in games that run themselves leave players to maintain and describe the world, which is upkeep." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "In a world where the viewpoint can be moved, such as with a god or third-person view, players can survey the state." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Worlds that are randomly generated or built by the players differ between sessions, so the setting offers new challenges each time." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Randomizing game worlds, or letting players construct them, makes each instance different." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Expansion", "why": "How big a world is, what its terrain looks like, and where resources lie all shape how players can spread out into it." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "A world's layout and contents constrain how players can steer through it, and maneuvering in turn changes how the world is experienced." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "A world naturally limits where players can go, and how they move affects how the world feels to them." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Where resources are placed gives a world character, and how scarce or reachable they are changes how players treat them." }, { "name": "Agents", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Invisible walls used to bound an open world are not part of the fiction, so they can break the world's believability." }, { "name": "Invisible Walls", "why": "Using them to keep players inside a world's edges is practical, but they don't fit the fiction and can undercut its consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Worlds.svg" }, { "name": "Levels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A part of the game where all the action takes place until a goal or end condition is reached.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each level needs boundaries, a goal or end condition, and real differences in content or play, not only looks. The number and order of levels shape pacing.", "just_a_label_when": "Levels differ only in colors or theme, while the play stays the same.", "knobs": "number of levels; how they differ; how much randomness; length of each", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Levels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Chaining levels lets a designer move a story forward in controlled steps, so a series of levels naturally becomes a campaign." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Designers know exactly which challenges each level holds, so they can keep some levels simple and relaxed." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because the designer controls what each level contains, they can deliberately build levels that demand more from the player." }, { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Every level has an end, so finishing one gives a natural stopping point, stronger when you cannot go back." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Levels each show a different part of a larger world, which hints that the world is bigger and holds the game together." }, { "name": "Ever Increasing Difficulty", "why": "Making each successive level harder steadily raises the challenge until the game is finished, or forever if levels are generated." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "A level is only a portion of the game, so failing it is separate from losing the entire game." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When several levels are available at once, as in Super Mario, players decide which one to play." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Moving into a new level puts the player in front of new game elements, adding them to the game as a whole." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "A level assumes another one follows, so finding the way to the next level becomes a short-term exploration goal." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Levels shrink the world to a bounded area, limiting how much players must find their way around, though designers must still plan routes." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A level can either be a piece of a bigger world or be the entire world, so levels define how the world is delimited." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Finishing each level serves the larger aim of finishing the game, giving players smaller goals nested inside a bigger one." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Completing a level feels like a clear ending while more levels remain, and this is stronger when saving happens only between levels." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "While play is confined to one level, the rest of the game world is closed off and cannot be reached." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Unless randomly generated, levels are authored in advance, so designers can fix the order in which the story unfolds." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Completing a level usually sends players straight to another level, skipping the distance in between." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "A level is essentially a scene whose boundaries are clearly defined, so it works as a distinct unit of the game." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Levels are limited chunks of world, so reaching the exit is a natural goal, often marked by opening a door or beating a boss." }, { "name": "Unknown Goals", "why": "Each level can have different end conditions, so players may not know what they will need to accomplish in the next one." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Levels can differ in structure, goals and activities, so moving between them changes what players do." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Short levels solved as puzzles can each be viewed as a separate game, and the series of them forms the larger one." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Small levels that each work like a complete game let players stop after a short, satisfying chunk of play." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When levels are randomly produced for each game, players meet different layouts and challenges on every playthrough." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "In games with unlimited tries, which levels a player has cleared serves like points for comparing progress." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "Different levels can carry their own rules, so progressing from one level to another swaps which rules apply." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Dividing a world into levels means players only have to find their way in a smaller area at a time, making it easier." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "" }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Levels that require different skills mean mastering the game takes more skills, or the flexibility to switch between them." }, { "name": "Hotseating", "why": "Finishing a level is a natural moment for the next player to take over the game." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "In games with movement, players are typically held within the current level until it is completed." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Levels.svg" }, { "name": "Game Boards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "A surface where it is easy to move elements and keep track of their positions relative to each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "The layout must carry spatial relations that matter to the rules, such as movement, regions and positions. It should organize components the game needs.", "just_a_label_when": "A board is included, but it is just a backdrop; positions on it have no rule effect.", "knobs": "size and layout; number and type of regions; connections between spaces", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Boards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Because boards often work as maps, a board can show the game's world and the places within it that players move through." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "A board can be built with blocked spaces inside it or around its edges, giving it areas pieces cannot enter." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Making a board is much like making a level, especially when one game uses several different boards in turn." }, { "name": "Score Tracks", "why": "When a board records how players move tokens from place to place to win, that progress itself acts as a score track." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "In board and tabletop games, a board or map used with dice and tokens is something outside the fictional world, so it counts as non-diegetic." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "A physical board forces players to be near it to play, which works against gameplay that can happen anywhere." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Boards.svg" }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "The world exists by itself, whether or not anyone is playing it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Servers or facilitators must keep the world running continuously, with state updated even when players are absent. Characters and items must be tracked over time.", "just_a_label_when": "A world that exists only while players are logged in or that resets each session, called persistent in marketing only.", "knobs": "what state persists; how the world updates while players are away; reset schedule", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Persistent_Game_Worlds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Because the world keeps running without everyone present, players can take part at different times instead of all gathering together, so play becomes partly asynchronous." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "A world that continues over time has specifics that must be found, described, and updated, creating state-handling work." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Items, characters and invested effort stay valuable over time, so players do things outside the game such as trading for real money, and storytelling adds more." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because storytelling and trading go beyond the world's own rules, they produce outside effects like real-money sales and out-of-game narrative activity." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Since the world is always available and latecomers and drop-ins are supported, players can pick when they play instead of following a fixed schedule." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "Social contact accumulates over a long time in an ongoing world, which lets competition between players develop alongside guilds and status." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Since the world must preserve what happened to characters and items, it can't be undone, and designers aim for events to stay consistent over time." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Resources, building, and character growth give players many things of value, so there are plenty of chances to include trading among them." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "A world that keeps going between sessions lets regenerating resources, delayed effects and timed events give you reasons to return." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "A world that continues over time gives items lasting value beyond one session, making them meaningful to trade." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "A world that lasts needs new rules or added content, otherwise players run out of anything left to explore." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Listed as combining with Player-Planned Development or Character Development to create Investments, but the page gives no explanation." }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "why": "Because the world continues over time, purchased advantages keep their value for a long while, making buying worthwhile." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "A world that keeps its state makes the results of building or character growth last, so work is not lost." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Together with construction or creative control, the lasting worlds players make end up different from one game instance to another." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Since there is no set end point, long-term growth of a character stays valuable, so players treat it as an investment they own." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "The world has to keep track of characters even when their players are away, and attachment to them grows over time." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "The attachment players feel for long-lasting things can spread from their characters to the groups they belong to." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "The world must remember items, though short-lived ones like power-ups needn't persist, and items can be traded for real-world money." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Persistence makes a game world exist independently of sessions, which changes how players relate to it and how they behave in it." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Persistent worlds suit very large player groups best, and such games let a single character's play run for years." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "A world that continues between sessions makes the most sense when many players share it, and lets their social interaction grow over time." }, { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "Because the world lasts with no fixed endpoint, players regard their long-term plans for a character as an investment they own." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Because the world endures, players may play their characters more cautiously, and roleplaying becomes the basis for the world's ongoing storytelling." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "When a world keeps updating between visits, spawn points must keep activating, with care taken not to create too many instances." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "These games need the world to keep updating at each tick whether or not players act in between." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Visiting only works without players being online together if the game world keeps existing and changing between sessions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "In worlds that keep running, differences grow over time and newcomers are measured against long-time players." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "In a world that keeps running, those who started earlier or played more have stronger characters, so latecomers are at a disadvantage." }, { "name": "Crafting", "why": "In lasting worlds, repeated or chain crafting can flood the economy with items unless the effort matches their worth." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Because the game never ends, it is hard to keep making closures steadily more intense, so the two rarely combine." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "The world keeps changing even when you're away, so stepping out can still bring negative consequences." }, { "name": "Non-Renewable Resources", "why": "A world that goes on forever has trouble with resources that run out for good, since play must still work once they are gone." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Crafting and character growth accumulate over time in a persistent world, which can ruin fairness between players." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A world that continues without end cannot follow a fixed plot, so it must rely on never-ending stories or small scripted pieces." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Without a never-ending story, a world that goes on forever struggles to keep its theme consistent, especially when it has small scripted pieces." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Persistent_Game_Worlds.svg" }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Events in the game affect something outside it, for better or worse.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game's results must really feed into something outside the game state, such as prizes, money, the next game session's rules or another game. Players must know about the link and care about it.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'real-world prize' or carry-over that players find worthless or that never actually changes anything outside the match.", "knobs": "what outside thing results are tied to (money, rewards, future games); how large the stakes are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra-Game_Consequences", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "Letting in-game purchases or play send real money or goods to a good cause gives players the experience of being generous, as in buying special seeds for charity." }, { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Giving feedback for basic actions that doesn't alter the game state can still make clicking feel rewarding and encourage players to keep doing it." }, { "name": "Legacy Games", "why": "Results from one play session can add, remove or change components or rules, so later sessions of the same game play out differently." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When play can affect things beyond the game, such as money or emotions, players feel more is at stake and so more tension." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Stakes set outside the rules, such as on a bet, still make players bound to an outcome, though the designer can't control them." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Quick games without lasting outside effects let players test freely, since a failed session can simply be restarted." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Investments", "why": "Entry fees and betting tie what players put into the game to real-world costs, and time and effort invested can also gain outside value." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Outside consequences can be linked to in-game penalties, adding real losses or lost standing to what happens in the game." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Extra-game consequences can add real-world prizes or social standing that are often tied to corresponding in-game rewards." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Scores can be converted to real money at a set rate, which makes points in the game matter outside it and creates gambling." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Games played in public spaces can intentionally be set up so that the outside effects feed back into the game state." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Positive outside-the-game recognition can offset too-hard challenges." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Real-world rewards or penalties can add to any tension already coming from play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Telling players about consequences outside the game brings in things that don't belong to the game's own world, which breaks its internal consistency." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Anonymity is used to prevent harm from players oversharing with strangers, so real-world consequences of play become much less likely, which clashes with them occurring." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Consequences outside the game are not part of the game's theme, so informing players of them clashes with the setting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra-Game_Consequences.svg" }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Parts of the world where control or access gives an advantage.", "needs_to_really_work": "The location must give a real advantage, such as resources, safety or access, and be noticeable to players. The advantage must be balanced between sides or contested.", "just_a_label_when": "A prominent landmark that gives no advantage when held, so players ignore it.", "knobs": "size of the advantage; how many such places; how visible they are; how evenly they are distributed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Strategic_Locations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Once a player reaches a valuable spot, staying put there to keep others from using it becomes a natural goal." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "When locations can be owned, their value makes players want to take them over through controlling the area." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "If players know valuable places exist but not where, they set out to search the world for them." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "After reaching a valuable place, players may defend it so opponents cannot get access to it." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Because some places give lasting advantages, players can remember where they are and use that knowledge later." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Knowing which places are valuable, especially when their worth comes from map layout, is knowledge players can carry between plays." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Players who know where the valuable spots are can build long-term plans around them, weighing risk against reward." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "When players know where a valuable spot is, they set a goal of travelling to it." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Identifying which places in the game matter strategically is something players want to learn, so it works as an information target." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Valuable places on a board, such as the center in Chess, change how much each position matters." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Players who remember valuable places use that knowledge to find their way around the world." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Valuable places in a world focus play on certain parts and change how much each area matters." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Holding a valuable place gives an advantage, which suits goals about being the one in control." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Valuable spots in a level focus play on specific parts and change how players move through it." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Knowing valuable places helps players choose the best routes when competing to reach them." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "If players can pick where they appear, knowing valuable places affects which spawn point they choose." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "When places can be owned, valuable ones become the territory players most want to take." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Uneven access to key places gives some players advantages over others." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "" } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Strategic_Locations.svg" }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places in the world that can be seen but not visited.", "needs_to_really_work": "The areas must be visible and be blocked by a believable barrier, and the blocking must be reliable. If players are meant to get in later, a visible condition for access helps.", "just_a_label_when": "An area that looks blocked but can be reached by an exploit, or that is blocked with no visible reason so it feels like an arbitrary wall.", "knobs": "how much of the world is blocked; what blocks it; whether and how access is later unlocked", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Inaccessible_Areas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Blocked-off areas make a small, limited play space feel like part of a bigger world, so the setting seems believable and consistent." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "When the playable space surrounds an unreachable zone, that zone acts as an environmental effect; lava, water or poison also make areas unenterable." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Visible but unreachable surroundings and entities emerging from them make a small play area look larger than it really is." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "Because players cannot enter these areas, their options for where to move are restricted, which is a limit on movement." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Opening areas only at set moments, such as after goals or quests, lets designers unfold the story in their intended order." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Spots that can't be entered but still allow shooting or throwing let someone attack from there without being reached." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "When some players or units can reach an area others cannot, that area gives the first group a valuable advantage." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Blocking everything except certain paths in a large free-movement space turns those paths into the routes players must use." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Seeing a blocked area, especially one with useful things inside, gives players a goal of finding a way to reach it." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Blocking off parts of the space leaves only a few openings between regions, and those remaining openings act as choke points." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "When an area is sealed off and guarded by enemies, players must clear those enemies to proceed, making removal necessary." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Keeping certain characters out of an area leaves it unreachable for threats, which makes it a refuge." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Blocked areas stop movement but not other actions, so characters can still talk across them." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Controlling which places are reachable and when lets designers reveal the world's story gradually through what players can see." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Closing off places removes options, so players have less say in where they go." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Unreachable areas can ring a board or sit inside it, shaping where pieces can go." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Players must work out routes around or into blocked places, which changes how they find their way through the world." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Unreachable areas can surround the playable space so all action stays inside, while the world still seems bigger." }, { "name": "Laning", "why": "Unreachable areas placed between lanes force players to stay in their lane instead of crossing over." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Levels can be fenced in by unreachable areas or have blocked pockets inside them, shaping where play happens." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Blocked areas stop players and units from moving into or out of certain places, so movement must go around them." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Small blocked pockets can lie along a route, and blocking everything else leaves just the route to travel." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "" }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "Showing the events in a place players can see but not enter keeps them from disturbing the set story without it feeling forced." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "If the reason an area can't be entered doesn't fit the game's setting, such as an invisible wall, the theme feels broken." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Vehicles usually travel more easily, possibly across other terrain, so they can undercut the reasons an area was made unreachable and clash with the theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Inaccessible_Areas.svg" }, { "name": "Territories", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Parts of the world that belong to one of the inhabitants of the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Ownership must be clearly marked and able to change hands, and owning a territory must bring a benefit. Players need means to take or defend them.", "just_a_label_when": "Regions have names and colours but owning them gives nothing, so nobody fights over them.", "knobs": "number and size of territories; benefits of owning; cost of capturing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Territories", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "When territories are treated as player constructs, they aren't part of a player's focus loci, so land parcels can act as abstract things the player manages." }, { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Territories give a formal structure to area control by defining which areas are owned and what holding them means, though the two can also work separately." }, { "name": "Expansion", "why": "When adding new territories becomes the main way a player grows their abstract holdings, play turns into phases centered on expanding." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "If territories hold location-fixed abilities that are scarce, such as supply points, those abilities become privileged and worth fighting over." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Because territories can change hands, they become something players compete for and count as assets, especially when they contain resource generators." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Since territories can be lost, players must worry about which ones to defend, and that worry creates tension." }, { "name": "Zone of Control", "why": "Territories are usually passive, but they can be set up so that the owned area also exerts influence over neighboring space, as in Civilization." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Construct Development", "why": "Gaining more territories or improving them strengthens the player's construct, as in the Civilization series." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Controlling territory can be the reason for an ownership goal when tied to area control, elimination, investments or control transfer." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Formally defined territories give control clear targets and let the game recognise who holds what." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Territories split a game world into domains held by different players, changing how the world is divided up and played over." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Territories divide a level into separate domains held by different players, changing how the space is structured." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Players may need to own a territory to use abilities tied to it, either through what it contains or its nature, so ownership gates those abilities." }, { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Gaining territories is one way a construct can develop and grow." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Showing ownership usually means drawing a colored overlay on the world, which is not something that exists inside the game world's fiction." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Ownership is shown by overlays placed on the world itself, and such interface elements don't belong to the game's fictional setting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Territories.svg" }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places in the game world where game elements are safe from any threat.", "needs_to_really_work": "The place must be truly shielded from traps, enemies and other players, by access rules or disabled hostile actions. It also needs a reason to go out again, such as risk and reward outside, or it just becomes a hiding spot.", "just_a_label_when": "A pretty calm-looking area that enemies can still walk into or that still damages you, so it protects nothing.", "knobs": "where havens are and how many; what they block; whether they expire or need a condition to enter", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Safe_Havens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Placing resource generators inside a haven gives a team a protected source of supplies, which helps even out the advantage between sides." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "When players have useful things to do inside the haven, such as resupplying, they tend to stay there rather than venture out." }, { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Havens act as natural stopping points along a route, so players can treat reaching one as a milestone while crossing the world." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Some havens make it impossible for your own actions to hurt you, so players can freely try things without fear of consequences." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Because a haven stops attacks in that spot, the ability to attack is effectively tied to place and unavailable there." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "If there are meaningful small things to do inside a haven, players can relax and tinker there without pressure." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Havens act as checkpoints and strategic spots, so players think ahead about how to reach them and what to do there." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Since havens act as checkpoints on a journey, their positions become valuable places that players deliberately aim for." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Since nobody can attack in a neutral haven, players feel safe enough to meet and swap goods with each other." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Spawning avatars can be shielded by havens so they are not attacked the moment they enter the world." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Pieces or characters inside a haven cannot be taken, which changes how capturing works." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting is impossible inside a haven, but it exists only in contrast to the rest of the world, so combat is shaped rather than ruled out." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Elements inside a haven cannot be removed by attackers, so elimination actions work differently there." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Special protected squares on a board stop attacks on pieces standing there." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Havens carve out protected zones within a dangerous world, defining safe areas against everything else." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Havens can stop attacks within or between levels, giving players a protected break point." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Safe areas let location-based play avoid interfering with other activities in particular places while play continues elsewhere." }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "why": "A haven around where characters appear prevents enemies from attacking them as soon as they enter." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Havens work as checkpoints along a route, giving players reachable goals while crossing the world." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units placed in havens are protected from hostile actions, and can also be made immune to dangers others face." }, { "name": "Player Killing", "why": "Marking some areas of the game world as off-limits to killing lets designers control where and how much it occurs." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Protected spots attract campers, yet that same protection discourages anyone from camping near them." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Safe places let players relax, which reduces stress, so they can undercut the pressure a game builds." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A safe zone may seem unexplained in the setting, so it needs an in-world reason to fit the theme." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "A place must be free of harmful effects like traps to be safe, so the two cannot coexist in the same spot." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Safe_Havens.svg" }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Links between distant places in the world that make them neighbors.", "needs_to_really_work": "Entrances and exits must connect distant places with clear activation rules, and the shortcuts must matter for travel, loops or map topology. Their effect on obstacles and exploration should be considered.", "just_a_label_when": "A portal between two spots that are already next to each other, or one used only for cutscenes.", "knobs": "number and placement; destinations; activation conditions; one-way or two-way; who can create them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Warp_Zones", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Warp zones are often set up in linked pairs, so a player who goes through one can come back through the other, which keeps the world believable." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A warp zone inside the world can be shown as a visible element of the surroundings, such as a portal or magical effect." }, { "name": "Flanking Routes", "why": "When players can build their own warp zones, as engineers do in Team Fortress 2, they can open unexpected paths to attack from the side." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "If a warp zone must be switched on each time, players decide for themselves when and whether to skip across the world." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "Warp zones placed inside the world can also appear as interface-style map markers rather than as objects that belong to the fiction." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "A point-to-point warp zone inside the world can take the form of a built structure in the setting, such as a teleporter." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Warp zones give players a way to travel between places where ordinary routes do not work." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Warp zones can appear or be revealed as the story unfolds, and can carry players to the spot the story needs next." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Being able to create warp zones is itself a special movement power that lets a character skip across the world." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "In Portal, players place their own warp zones to get past obstacles, so using them is itself the puzzle." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Warp zones let players jump swiftly between separated parts of the game world instead of traveling the whole way." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Edge warp zones that are always active let a flat map behave like a round world, so the setting stays coherent." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Boards and levels more often contain warp zones because moving between them is usually done by quick travel." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Because text-game moves are really warps, going north then south may not bring you back, so players must puzzle out the layout." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Warp zones link distant or separate parts of a world, even whole distinct worlds like Minecraft's Nether, changing how the space is connected." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Levels that are not physically joined seem connected because the game moves players between them once objectives are done." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Warp zones change how players can move by letting them skip across space where normal routes would not work." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "A warp zone can bypass whatever stood in the way, making obstacles pointless, especially if it is available from the start." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "If a zone itself, or the areas it leads to, aren't part of the world, using it reveals the fiction as constructed." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "If warp zones are available from the beginning, they let players skip past obstacles and so make them pointless as barriers to movement or sight." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Warp zones can break the theme by pointing to unreachable areas, or by skipping the time that such travel should take." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Warping is an alternative to routes and jumps between places without a believable physical connection, which undercuts the world's consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Warp_Zones.svg" }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A passage is open only if a condition is met, like a key, level, or quest.", "needs_to_really_work": "The passage must be blocked for real until a condition is met, and the condition should require something the player does or gets. The player should be able to see the blockage and learn how to open it.", "just_a_label_when": "A door looks locked but opens with a trivial action or no real requirement, or the player can walk around it.", "knobs": "what is required to open it; how visible the requirement is; whether it stays open or can close again", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Conditional_Passageways", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Access Rewards", "why": "Passing through the barrier means you met its requirement, so getting past it is itself the prize for what you did." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "When the requirements are known and involve learning or mastering something, players pursue that skill-building just to get through." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "When the requirement is collecting a particular item, such as a key or card, players set out to acquire it to pass." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Because gates demand finishing earlier, easier challenges first, players reach bigger completion milestones step by step as they advance." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Locking areas until conditions are met forces players to reach places in a set order, so the story unfolds as the designer intended." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Only those who satisfied the condition can go through, giving them movement options that others in the game world lack." }, { "name": "Quick Returns", "why": "Some passages open only once you reach a certain point, after which coming back is easy, so the barrier eases travel afterward." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "If only certain players or teams may pass, others are shut out, creating places where the permitted ones are protected." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "When players don't realize a blocked route exists, the area behind it stays hidden until discovered." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Blocking some players from certain areas, such as those in vehicles, or letting only some in, creates safe zones that even out advantage." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Gates can link parts of a world that can't be walked between continuously, deciding how players get from one area to another." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Meeting the passage's condition opens up places that were previously unreachable, so the gate decides when they become available." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Players typically must finish one level before moving on, so the gate controls access between levels." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "The barrier is first built on a possible route and then blocks travel, so it limits where and when players can move." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A passage can apply only to certain players or require team coordination, so team membership decides who gets through." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "A route is first made so travel between two points is possible, then blocked until the condition is met." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Goals located behind blocked areas become challenges because reaching them requires first meeting the passage's condition, shaping who completes them and when." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Some passages allow or forbid vehicles, often because vehicles are too large for the opening, so the gate limits who can pass." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "Warp zones can be set to activate only in certain circumstances, making that shortcut a conditional passage." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Conditional_Passageways.svg" }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game's state changes something outside it, and neither a player nor the rules does so.", "needs_to_really_work": "Pick the outside source (real-world time, other games, non-players, facilitators), and give the game rules for accepting and processing that input. Players must be able to see how the source affects play.", "just_a_label_when": "A feature that reads an outside signal but never lets it change anything meaningful in the game state.", "knobs": "which outside sources are allowed; how strongly their input alters the game state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra-Game_Input", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "When players can influence the outside input, they may act to trigger it, and the game thereby makes them notice certain real-world things." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "When clock or calendar information feeds into the game from outside, game events can happen at particular real-world times." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "If players are able to shape the outside input themselves, they may be pushed to do things outside the game purely to steer that input." }, { "name": "Handles", "why": "Some outside input never changes gameplay but supplies material like profile pictures, which social games use to give players recognizable identities." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "Combined with pervasive play, input from outside the game is the typical way of making real-life activities feed into game state." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Input based on dates and times creates events tied to the real world, which can change how likely players are to come back." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Outside activities coexisting with the game offer easy ways for them to influence play, either by design or because they are hard to prevent." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Dropping outside input straight into the game as content can clash with the game's story world unless that world resembles where the input came from." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra-Game_Input.svg" }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Parts of the game space directly controlled by only one player.", "needs_to_really_work": "Other players' actions must truly be blocked or limited in that space. The designer decides what visitors may do and how spaces interact with the shared game.", "just_a_label_when": "Each player has a named area, but others can attack, alter or sabotage it freely, so it gives no safety.", "knobs": "who may enter or act; what visitors may do; whether the space is permanent or temporary", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Private_Game_Spaces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Since nobody else can disrupt your space, you can play relaxed without worrying about reacting to opponents." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Other players start out unable to enter or act in your space unless you have accepted them as neighbors." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "Each player's space works like their own separate copy of the game area, where outsiders can only do limited things." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "With no other players to worry about, you can wander and tinker aimlessly in your space without pressure." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Because others cannot touch your space, it becomes a protected place where your progress stays secure." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "Temporary private spaces, such as players being far apart, give everyone a clear early phase before they interact." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Since others cannot interfere, you can safely think ahead, and parallel planning means waiting less for opponents." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Players own their private spaces, which makes them a kind of claimed territory belonging to one person." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Each player gets a space of their own, so they can treat it as a personal game while still being lightly connected to others." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Construction", "why": "Safety from interference gives players creative control, so building and developing things in their space works especially well." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Others cannot be hurt by your absence or disrupted by your return, so joining and leaving whenever you like is easier." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "When players act in separate spaces, a departure barely affects others, though this also limits how much players can influence each other." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A game space can be an actual part of the game world, or just part of the game state." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "With separate spaces, existing players are not harmed or threatened by newcomers, so joining is easier to allow." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In multiplayer games these spaces can be temporary or permanent, changing how much players can affect each other." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Developments in a private space accumulate over time in lasting worlds, though visits from others can partly offset this." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Turn-Based Games", "why": "Because players' actions affect each other less, everyone can plan their moves in parallel instead of waiting." }, { "name": "Tick-Based Games", "why": "When each player acts in their own space, ticks let them play at different times, making the game asynchronous." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "With fewer causal links between players, competition is less likely to cause overthinking, so the pattern tends to reduce this problem." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Giving players a private space lets them stay safe from attacks unless they allow neighbors in, reducing fighting." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Without direct interference from others, play feels less pressured, so games with private spaces are less likely to be tense." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Private spaces can clash with the story, since rivals leaving each other's holdings untouched can seem illogical in the setting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Private_Game_Spaces.svg" }, { "name": "Scenes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "A part of the game tied to a specific place and time within the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define each scene's location, who is present and how it ends, whether by a time limit, a condition, or a game master's call. Scenes must differ in setting or situation to feel like separate units.", "just_a_label_when": "Chapter labels over one continuous stretch of play where nothing about place, cast, or situation changes between them.", "knobs": "scene length; how scene ends are decided; how many characters and locations per scene", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Scenes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Adventures", "why": "Scenes let designers chop a story into separate located episodes, so they can pace and structure an adventure step by step." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When scenes aren't built as fixed levels, world details can be made up only when needed, so new elements can be dropped in as play goes." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A scene presents a slice of the game world, showing players only the part where the current action takes place." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Scenes give designers firm control over how a story is laid out, since each episode can be placed and ordered deliberately." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because designers decide which scenes occur and how long they last, the story's course is set ahead of play." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "Without fixed levels, scene details are settled only when needed, so the world can be reshaped from scene to scene." }, { "name": "Melodramatic Structures", "why": "Changing scenes is the moment where the game can hand the player a different character, which gives the player a wider picture than any single character." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Scenes can guarantee that players actually meet a boss, since the boss is built into a particular episode." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "A scene can put the spotlight on one character, deciding who is present and sometimes who can act." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Placing story clues in a scene ensures players will encounter them, because the scene fixes where play happens." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Scenes restrict the area where play takes place, so moving around matters less or stops mattering." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Scenes whose details are created only when needed leave room for stories to be told and shaped during play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Movement", "why": "Scenes can make the movement actions of gameplay unnecessary, which takes away the very activity that movement is about." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Scenes let designers give players local influence over events without letting the overall story arc vary, so they serve as a way to avoid this pattern." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Scene-based structure lets designers deliberately jump between times, as when a game switches between modern and historical characters." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Scenes.svg" }, { "name": "Check Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places in the game world that mark progress toward the goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "Placement along a route that matches the goal, clear signalling, and a real effect when reached (progress counted, order or area control).", "just_a_label_when": "A marker is visible, but reaching it changes no state, so skipping it costs nothing.", "knobs": "number and spacing; whether order is forced; how visible they are; what happens on reaching them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Check_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Backtracking Levels", "why": "Placing a check point at the far end of a level makes players travel out to it and then return, creating the backtracking structure." }, { "name": "Collections", "why": "Check points are scattered places to visit, so reaching them already amounts to gathering a set, especially when order or completeness is optional." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Check points can mark the spot where something carried must be brought, as with the area where a captured flag has to be delivered to score." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Where check points are placed pulls players into wandering around the world to find and reach them while pursuing another aim." }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "A check point is a spot showing where a goal is achieved or approached, so it tells players what they are heading toward." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "Check points can serve as the destination that creatures or objects must be guided to, turning guiding them there into the goal." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Because check points are distinctive places in the world, players can use them to recognize where they are and navigate." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "A check point marks a location as relevant to play, drawing the player's attention to a place worth going to." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Reaching a check point shows how far a player has advanced through a level or ongoing goal, since it records a state change." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Check points can sit at places that already matter, or they can make an ordinary place matter just by being a target there." }, { "name": "Supporting Goals", "why": "Check points are not the main aim but help players work toward some larger objective by giving smaller places to reach." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Check points reached or passed can remain as marks of where players have been or how far they have gotten." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Check points set places to move between, so a goal of crossing the world becomes reaching one point after another." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "When holding an area counts as reaching a check point, the ownership goal is fulfilled through that area control." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Reaching check points shows how control of an area is gained, since visiting them is how a player takes the area." }, { "name": "Arenas", "why": "Placing check points so that they draw many players to one spot can bring players together into an arena." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Check points let players see how far they have come within an ongoing goal that has no single endpoint." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Check points affect how players move around a world, and can bring them together in large worlds." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Check points show how far a player has gotten through a level and can bring players together in large levels." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Since players head toward check points, where these are put shapes the routes and paths players take through the world." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "By their placement, check points draw many players to the same places, solving the problem of getting players co-located." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Check points are typically geospatial widgets, objects that exist for game purposes rather than belonging naturally to the game world, so they clash with a consistent fiction." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Check_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Spawn Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places where characters, units, or enemies appear.", "needs_to_really_work": "Placement must take safety, fairness between sides and strategic value into account, since spawn locations draw camping and attacks. Safe zones or protection are often needed.", "just_a_label_when": "A marked point that all elements simply appear from with no influence on fighting, routes or balance, or one placed so far from anything that nobody cares about it.", "knobs": "where they are placed; how many there are; whether they are fixed or moving; protection around them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Spawn_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "If new arrivals show up unprotected at a spawn point, other players can wait nearby to ambush them, and when spawned items are goals, players may linger there." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Where you place spawn points decides how dangerous the arrival area is, so placement helps set how hard the game feels." }, { "name": "Flanking Routes", "why": "When players can place spawn points themselves, they can set up new arrival spots that let them approach opponents from unexpected sides." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Spawn points near a world's edge can look like entrances from beyond the map, making the world seem larger than the playable area." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because new game elements appear at spawn points, controlling or watching those spots matters, which makes the locations strategically important." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A player whose avatar appears at a spawn point under immediate threat feels pressure, since they must react right away." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Resources appear at spawn points over time rather than always being there, so collecting them requires coming back later." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Letting certain players, like squad leaders, act as places where others appear is a special power not available to all." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Converters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "If respawning after dying is part of the penalty, where the spawn point sits affects how harsh or mild that penalty feels." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies that appear during play come out of spawn points, so those locations shape where and how foes show up." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Spawn points are among the elements a designer can place on a board to populate it." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "These are places where the game keeps adding elements, and they tend to become places players care about." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Placing these in a level lets new elements appear during play, and where players appear sets their starting conditions." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Pairing a haven with the place where characters appear keeps respawning players from being attacked immediately." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Real life has no place where things simply appear, so spawn points need an explanation like magic or teleportation to fit the setting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Spawn_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Choke Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Places on the map where the way into other areas can be blocked.", "needs_to_really_work": "The narrow passage must be the main (or only) route, with few alternatives, and the surroundings must make blocking or holding it worthwhile.", "just_a_label_when": "A narrow spot exists, but there is an equally easy bypass, so nobody needs to pass it or defend it.", "knobs": "width and length of the passage; number of alternative routes; who controls it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Choke_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Because a choke point is the narrow gateway to other regions, players naturally try to hold it, so fighting to own that spot becomes a goal." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "When several choke points lead to a place, players pick which one to push for, and teams may even attempt multiple at once." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "A narrow passage that everyone must pass through shapes how movement works, so holding it gives a real advantage and makes it a valuable spot." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When something like an environmental hazard sits in the choke point, players can choose to risk going through it rather than being forced to." }, { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "A narrow spot guarded by enemies or obstacles stops travel until the defenders or blockers are removed, making the route conditional." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "When a narrow passage is guarded by enemies or blocked by obstacles, players must remove them to get past, making removal necessary." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Arenas", "why": "Choke points mark where an arena ends and make its open space feel larger by contrast with the tight approaches around it." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting at a choke point gets easier or harder depending on who holds it, and it favors short-ranged powerful weapons." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies controlling a choke point can block the way, so getting through it means beating them." }, { "name": "Flanking Routes", "why": "Several choke points between the same areas act as alternative routes, but easier alternative routes can stop a spot from working as a choke point." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Narrow sections can be built into a board so that only a few passages join its different parts." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Designers can build narrow sections into a world so that only a few passages link its separate regions." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "A choke point is a small place that must be passed through, so guarding it becomes a natural goal." }, { "name": "Herd", "why": "With fewer exits at a choke point, the creatures being driven have fewer places to escape, making herding easier." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Designers can include narrow sections in a level so that just a few passages connect its other parts." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Because routes are squeezed into small areas, how players and units can travel through the world is affected." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Since everyone has to funnel through the same narrow places, players are more likely to run into each other." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Having to pass through a narrow, watched spot leaves little room to hide, so sneaking past becomes harder." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "A narrow passage, especially one held by enemies, makes crossing from one place to another more difficult." }, { "name": "Vehicle Sections", "why": "Vehicle-impassable choke points sharply set the tight passages apart from open areas, causing speed to differ greatly and changing play there." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "A choke point can be built to hinder only vehicles, and it may make players leave the vehicle to bypass it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Flanking Routes", "why": "If a location always has an easier way around it, it stops working as a choke point because players will simply avoid it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Choke_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Purchasable Game Advantages", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "The player can spend real money to gain advantages in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goods must be tied to meaningful game effects, with prices and transfer rules defined. The designer must accept the effect on balance and on other players' sense of effort.", "just_a_label_when": "A shop exists, but items are cosmetic or trivially available through play, so buying gives no real edge.", "knobs": "what can be bought; prices; power of purchases; tradability", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Purchasable_Game_Advantages", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Buying or selling advantages happens outside normal play with real money, so each purchase is an action that sits beyond the game's own rules." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "When money spent outside the game brings new advantages into it, the outside transaction feeds directly into what happens inside play." }, { "name": "Game Element Trading", "why": "When players sell advantages to one another, the purchase becomes an exchange of game elements between those players." }, { "name": "Unlocking", "why": "When the game provider is the seller, paying can skip a requirement and open content immediately, like paying to avoid needing neighbors in CityVille." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can choose to pay real money to meet goals right away." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "Action points can be sold for money, letting players pay to do more than their normal allowance permits." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Players discussing deals inside and outside the game makes buying advantages hard to avoid, though some designs accept and encourage it." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Players aren't competing directly against each other, so selling advantages doesn't upset fairness between them." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Because items and characters carry value, players or facilitators can sell them for real money, which adds to the world's economy." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Each unit of a resource can be given a real-money price, which makes resources an easy thing to sell, as in FarmVille." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Games wishing to avoid buyable advantages can make equipping permanent, so used gear cannot be traded on to other players." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Buying a result lets players skip the repetitive effort of earning it, removing that grind." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Paying lets one player get the same progress that another earns through skill, which undermines the value of mastery." }, { "name": "Irreversible Events", "why": "Making equipment soulbound prevents trading it, which closes off one way of buying advantages." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Buying advantages from outside the game can easily destroy equal chances." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When others can simply buy what you worked for, your achievements feel less worthwhile." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Purchasable_Game_Advantages.svg" }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A path that must be traveled to reach certain places in the game world.", "needs_to_really_work": "Routes must be the actual way between key places, with no free shortcut, and take meaningful time or effort. Something on or about the journey, such as hazards, choices or waiting, makes the travel matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A corridor that players can bypass or skip with instant travel, so it adds only a loading pause.", "knobs": "route length; number of alternative routes; whether shortcuts or fast travel exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Transport_Routes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "When enemies oppose the player or the route can only carry so much, the path becomes a narrow spot where movement gets held up." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because routes physically connect places that could plausibly be linked in the game's fiction, travel between them makes sense inside the world." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "When several routes lead somewhere, players must work out which one to take, so finding their way becomes part of play." }, { "name": "Laning", "why": "If different routes join the same starting and ending areas, players end up spread across parallel paths, each one acting like a lane." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "A long route that asks little of the player's attention can produce calm stretches with little happening." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "A route gives players the simple goal of getting from one end to the other." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A route makes players move between two points on a board, shaping how they cross it." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A route makes players move between two points in the world, shaping how they cross it." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A route makes players move between two points in a level, shaping how they cross it." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "The basic point of a route is to make players move from one place to another, so it shapes that movement." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Games use instant jumps so they do not need to provide routes for travelling between places, making the two alternatives to each other." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "Warping is an alternative to routes and jumps between places without a believable physical connection, which undercuts the world's consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Transport_Routes.svg" }, { "name": "Flanking Routes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Alternative paths to the needed place that others may not know about.", "needs_to_really_work": "Add alternative paths to key locations that are less obvious or less defended than the main route. For them to matter, defenders must be unable to guard everything and the routes must lead to something worth reaching.", "just_a_label_when": "Extra paths that are as obvious as the main route or all covered by the same defenders, so nobody surprises anyone.", "knobs": "how many alternate routes; how hidden, narrow or long they are compared with the main route", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Flanking_Routes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Because unguarded side routes make sneaking possible, defenders must keep watching those paths to block movement through them, which keeps their attention constantly busy." }, { "name": "Laning", "why": "Giving players several parallel paths, typically three, to reach the same place splits movement into separate lanes." }, { "name": "Scouting", "why": "Since side routes can hide enemy approaches, players need to send someone out to find where opponents are actually coming from." }, { "name": "Selectable Set of Goals", "why": "Extra ways to reach or take a location let players choose which approach to use instead of following one fixed path." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Side routes may be left unguarded, so players can slip through unseen, and the possibility encourages sneaking even more." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Because side routes add pressure on top of what the areas they lead to are worth, they become valuable spots to hold or watch." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Using or defending against side routes depends on where units are and what players know about them, so you must plan around that." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Multiple ways to reach or capture a place give players different strategies to try, so matches don't always play out the same." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "Paths that let players hit an enemy from two directions at once make a coordinated attack, which is a combo of positions." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "With alternative routes available, one teammate can keep enemies busy while others take the route around, a classic team combo." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Alternate paths to key locations make them harder to hold and add variety to play." }, { "name": "Arenas", "why": "Alternate paths placed near an arena create a different style of play, making the arena stand out as its own kind of space." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "Side routes make waiting in one spot riskier because enemies can come from another direction, and may make camping pointless." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Side routes bypass narrow passages, so they reduce how much those passages matter and can undermine their purpose." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Extra paths make it harder to win or hold an area in a fight, since enemies may arrive from unexpected directions." }, { "name": "Combos", "why": "If a side route is left unguarded, attackers can hit from two directions at once in a two-pronged attack." }, { "name": "Galleries", "why": "If a gallery upsets player or team balance, extra routes give those in the lower area other ways to get through." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A flanking route is a region shaped by how a board's parts connect, and it often becomes a strategic location." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A flanking route is an abstract region of the world's space which affects how players can move around." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Because there are more ways in, defenders must watch every access, and with too few players or units they cannot cover them all." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "" }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Additional routes change how easily players can get from place to place, and some can be one-way or limited to certain vehicles." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Hidden approaches mean you can't easily be sure where enemies are or which way they will come, so gathering information gets harder." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "If the area is too open for the sniper, extra routes let enemies approach from the side and reach the spot more easily." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Unguarded side routes make sneaking goals possible, and where they are already possible the routes make them more attractive." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Since opponents may not expect or watch these routes, attackers can use them to strike from an unforeseen direction." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "A route can be made usable only by vehicles, or only by those on foot, which changes who can take it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Routes around a camper's position let opponents attack from other directions, making camping pointless." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "If a location always has an easier way around it, it stops working as a choke point because players will simply avoid it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Flanking_Routes.svg" }, { "name": "Self-Service Kiosks", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Places in the game world where players make deals or get services themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Place them at chosen spots with services that players actually need, such as trading, healing, or quests, and let their stock refill or limit it. Their location should shape movement.", "just_a_label_when": "A kiosk whose service is never needed or is available everywhere else, so no one has to go there.", "knobs": "what services; where placed; stock and refill rate; prices", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Self-Service_Kiosks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gossip", "why": "Players can walk up to a kiosk and listen to rumors from it, making hearing gossip one of the common services offered." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "Some kiosks appear as non-player characters who assist the player, so such a helper is one way a kiosk can look." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "A kiosk gives players actions for reaching its services, which makes it a fixed installation in the world." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "Because a kiosk offers its services only at its own spot, players must go there to use those abilities." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "A kiosk can be shown as a character, such as a vendor who can only trade and talk and can't be attacked." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Players can receive quests at a kiosk, which is one of the typical services it hands out." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Since a kiosk's services exist only at its spot, that spot becomes worth visiting and planning around." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "Using a kiosk is an action players take to reach its services, so it works somewhat like a tool." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "A kiosk can act like a vending machine where players buy and sell items, one of the most usual services." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Deterioration", "why": "A kiosk can offer repairs, letting players fix items that have worn down or been damaged." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Kiosks are placed at chosen spots on a board, so they shape which services are available where." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Designers pick which services appear at which places in the world, so kiosks affect how the world is used." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Kiosks can be placed at chosen points inside a level, giving that level services at particular spots." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "A kiosk can provide training, letting players improve their skills by visiting it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Self-Service_Kiosks.svg" }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Worlds built by an algorithm rather than drawn by hand by an author.", "needs_to_really_work": "The generator needs good rules, parameters and randomness that produce varied yet playable worlds. Balance checks or seeds help keep results fair and reproducible.", "just_a_label_when": "Worlds are generated, but outputs look nearly identical or are broken, so the variety adds no new play.", "knobs": "generator parameters; amount of randomness; seed use; balance constraints", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Procedurally_Generated_Game_Worlds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Algorithm-built worlds can be far bigger than hand-made ones, so players have lots of places to choose from when deciding where to explore." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The algorithms take some input and output whole worlds, so the world itself is produced by the generator rather than built by hand." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Generated worlds are huge, which feels open, but the truly interesting gameplay is rare and sits mostly in a few hand-placed spots." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because random input is almost always used, each new game gives players a different world to explore, which gives a reason to play again." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Since the world is expected to be vast, a generator that produces great size lets the game keep up the feeling of a big, coherent setting." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "A generator can make large worlds containing different kinds of play, or produce different worlds each time that play differently." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Generated worlds can spread strategic locations, tools or weapons unevenly across players." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Generated worlds can make prepared stories irrelevant unless story creation is built into the generation process." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Procedurally_Generated_Game_Worlds.svg" }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Places in the game world that are good for shooting from far away.", "needs_to_really_work": "The spot needs a long sightline over a useful area and relative safety, for instance through height, cover or hard access. Counterplay such as flanking routes or kill replays keeps it from dominating.", "just_a_label_when": "A high ledge with a nice view that is exposed from every side or overlooks nothing worth shooting at, so nobody gains from using it.", "knobs": "sightline length; amount of cover; how hard it is to reach; how many counter-routes exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Sniper_Locations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Enemies holding a sniper spot can watch and threaten the ground in view, so others struggle to move through it." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "Because snipers can set up slow, strong shots from relative safety, they are tempted to stay put in these spots." }, { "name": "Hiding Places", "why": "Sniper spots are usually also places where the shooter is hard to notice, so they commonly double as hiding spots." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Staying unnoticed is an advantage in these spots, so players try to sneak both when getting there and while staying." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "They give a natural advantage for attacking at range, which makes the spot valuable to hold within the level." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Reaching a sniper spot and using it well, or pushing out someone already there, takes forethought rather than rushing." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Strongholds and sniper positions held by enemies deny the surrounding larger area, so players can't safely enter it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "These spots offer vantage points for long-range shooting, changing how aiming and shooting plays out in a level." }, { "name": "Arenas", "why": "Sniper spots can be added to an arena so that its open play area becomes watched and attacked from a safe position." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "By offering strategic places to fight from, they change how fighting unfolds across the play space." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Whoever uses them, whether players or enemies, the spots change how hard it is to defeat those enemies." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "They give boards places that offer a ranged advantage, changing how fighting is done there." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "They add positions in the world from which long-range attacks are possible, shaping how fights play out there." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "They give a natural advantage point, so they are good candidates for places players compete to hold." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Placing them in a level creates strategic spots that change how ranged combat is done there." }, { "name": "Surprise Attacks", "why": "Players can set up slow, powerful shots in relative safety, so ambushes become easier, though not every shot is a surprise." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Revealing sniper positions to only some team members keeps snipers from becoming too strong while still limiting how useful the spots stay." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Sniper_Locations.svg" }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Servers that assign players to game servers and store shared data about them.", "needs_to_really_work": "The service must really connect players to game servers, remember their data across sessions and offer features like friend lookup. It needs enough players to make the routing worthwhile.", "just_a_label_when": "A server list or login screen that only lists servers and neither routes players nor stores anything across sessions.", "knobs": "what the server stores and offers: matchmaking, friend lists, global rankings", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Meta_Servers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "A server above individual games can store records that matter across games, letting them follow players between servers and be shared globally." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "They store and pass on information between games to the game servers, supporting play that spans many game instances in large games." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "A meta server sits above the individual game servers and helps players find the one that suits them, shaping how players get spread across servers." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "These help remote players find one another to start games." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "They let players choose and move between game servers, adding another layer of mediation on top." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Meta_Servers.svg" }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The world's basic layout can change during a session or between sessions.", "needs_to_really_work": "The world must be made of parts that can be rearranged, and either the rules or the players must actually rearrange them. Changes have to alter what choices are good, not just how things look.", "just_a_label_when": "A world that is re-skinned or has cosmetic changes, but the layout and routes play out the same every time.", "knobs": "what can change; when it changes (between games or during play); who triggers the change and how often", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Reconfigurable_Game_Worlds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Asymmetric Starting Conditions", "why": "When the world's layout changes from one game to the next, players may begin in positions that are not equally good, so starts end up uneven." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "A layout that differs each time you play gives players something new to discover, so they have reason to explore it again." }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "If a reconfiguration is not automatically undone after a while, the altered world stays that way and players keep playing in the new form." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Because the world can be rearranged between sessions or by players' actions, each new playthrough feels different, which gives players reason to return." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Changing the world's structure changes what situations players face, so play differs from one session to another, especially when players do the rearranging." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When the world changes each session, players have to memorize the new layout anew, especially if they can't see all of it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Reconfigurability is a property applied to a game world, determining whether and when its fundamental structure can be altered." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Changing the world during play without a sensible in-story reason can make the world feel illogical and break its internal consistency." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Changing the world can spread tools, weapons or locations unevenly, though it can also be used to balance." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Reconfigurable_Game_Worlds.svg" }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Ways to reach another place in the world, skipping intermediate points.", "needs_to_really_work": "Travel points must be reachable, with rules for when it works and what it costs. The world should have enough distance that the shortcut matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A map teleport exists, but the world is so small or the travel so restricted that nobody needs it.", "knobs": "where it is available; cost; unlock conditions; one-way or two-way", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Quick_Travel", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abilities", "why": "Since moving is tied to what game elements can do, jumping across the world works as something a player or character is able to perform." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When jumping ahead is an action in players' hands, they decide whether to skip the journey or walk it themselves." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A forced jump can be one of the scripted events in a story's fixed sequence, moving players to where the plot needs them." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Instant travel is usually stronger than ordinary movement, so it can be a special power that sets its holder apart." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "Because skipping the places in between is typically more powerful than regular moving, it can serve as the basis for a special form of movement." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Granting a jump, for example after finishing a level, can act as a prize that recognizes good player performance." }, { "name": "Setback Penalties", "why": "A jump can also be handed out as a negative consequence, relocating players in response to how poorly they performed." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "When a jump is imposed as a reward or penalty, players cannot refuse it, so it becomes an event they have no say over." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Choosing destinations on a map implies more world exists than players actually visit, though a limited destination list can give away the limits." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Quick travel can be built into the world itself, changing it so that distant places connect without a continuous series of locations between them." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "It changes how players get around by letting them reach faraway spots without passing through the spaces between, and may even alter line of sight." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Jumping is commonly used to carry players from one scene to the next when the story changes location." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Skipping across the map removes the need to cross uneventful ground by hand, reducing movement chores." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Skipping repeated trips through already known areas removes a repetitive chore, so jumping counters the grind of long, linear travel." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Games use instant jumps so they do not need to provide routes for travelling between places, making the two alternatives to each other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Quick_Travel.svg" }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × outcome", "what_it_is": "The game's rules themselves limit how long a single game can last.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clock or a turn/action count must be built in so the session truly ends at a known point, with end and scoring rules that work when time runs out. The cap should be clear to players before they start.", "just_a_label_when": "A timer shown on screen that never ends the session or changes who wins, so players can ignore it.", "knobs": "length of the session cap; whether players can choose it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Time_Limited_Game_Instances", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Because every session has a fixed maximum length, each one is certain to reach an ending point, so players will always eventually hit game over." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "When the cap is based on a running clock, players see time draining away and feel pushed to act faster before it runs out." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Short rounds with fixed endings give players regular chances to start or stop without disturbing anyone." }, { "name": "Game System Player", "why": "A turn limit acts as a passive opponent: when time runs out the players lose, so the clock itself plays against them." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Combined with a self-run meta game, games that have a time limit give players a way to pick how long play lasts." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Together with ending play to win, a game that stops at a set time can leave players evaluated as equal when it stops." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Bounded inner games make it easier to line up and synchronize the larger structure that strings many games together." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "With only so much time to play, players have a limited window to earn points, which changes what skills help them score highly." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Capping each match's length lets organizers guarantee when the whole event finishes, since every individual game has a known upper bound." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "With saves, a time limit loses its point from a planning view, since you can restore the state and try again." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "A game with no real end cannot sit with a rule that forces each session to stop after a limited time." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Time_Limited_Game_Instances.svg" }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Features of the real physical place where the game is played affect the play itself.", "needs_to_really_work": "Actions must be bound to specific physical places or distances, so that moving the body matters for what you can do. Distances, boundaries and the space's features must actually be used by the rules.", "just_a_label_when": "A game played in a room or park where the place is only a backdrop and any spot would work equally well.", "knobs": "size and shape of the space; which actions are allowed only inside it or at certain spots", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Real_World_Gameplay_Spaces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "When play happens in actual physical places, outside happenings affect the game and become game events, whether the designer planned them or not." }, { "name": "Hybrid Gameplay Spaces", "why": "A game must first have a real physical play area before that area can be combined with a virtual one into a hybrid space." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "If players can't see everything about the physical space at once, those who know the place better gain an edge." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Real-world gameplay spaces, combined with self-run play and adjustable areas, let players set boundaries that shape how long a session lasts." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Playing in real places is a main way to put players where other activities happen, especially in games needing little interaction." }, { "name": "Physical Navigation", "why": "Play happens in actual physical surroundings, so finding your way through the game means finding your way through the real place." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "If computer-controlled players are to take full part in a game played in physical space, they need robotic bodies that can move there." }, { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "Live action roleplay can be staged in a tiny room where space is irrelevant; adding real space makes movement and distance matter to play." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Real_World_Gameplay_Spaces.svg" }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Parts of the game world that are hard to notice.", "needs_to_really_work": "Hide areas behind obstacles or hidden triggers, give subtle clues, and put something worth finding inside. Players must be able to find them with effort.", "just_a_label_when": "An 'area' that is empty or trivially visible, or one that cannot actually be found, so searching earns nothing.", "knobs": "how well hidden; clue strength; reward inside; how many", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Secret_Areas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Easter Eggs", "why": "A secret area can be a deliberately planted hidden bonus, such as a concealed room that shows its creator's name." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When players know or suspect hidden spots exist, they are motivated to search the world more carefully instead of just following the main path." }, { "name": "Hiding Places", "why": "Because a secret area may be unknown to other players and to enemies, it can serve as a safe spot to hide." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Designers often include hidden areas not required for progress, giving players an extra thing they can choose to hunt for." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Secret areas are commonly stocked with resources, so players who find them are paid off for their searching." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Knowing where a secret area is gives a player an advantage, which makes that location valuable to know about." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Secret areas let a designer conceal some portion of a board from players." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Secret areas let a designer conceal some portion of the world from players." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Secret areas let a designer conceal some portion of a level from players." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A quest may require players to find a secret area, making the hidden space part of the task." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Secret_Areas.svg" }, { "name": "Landmarks", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Noticeable objects in the game world that make it easier to find your way.", "needs_to_really_work": "Objects must stand out and be visible from many places so players can use them to orient. They must be spread across the space and be distinguishable from each other.", "just_a_label_when": "Many similar tall objects or decorations that look alike, so players still get lost.", "knobs": "how many; how large and distinctive; where placed; how often visible", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Landmarks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "A distinctive object can be set up so players follow it or read it as a hint about where to go." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Landmarks may be needed to make a world feel coherent, since their look can be what establishes the theme." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Standout objects can be placed so they form a trail players follow." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "They cannot carry much information, but they can still contribute a meaningful part of a story told through the world." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Distinct elements help players find their way around the board." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Players who are less likely to get lost feel safer venturing out, so exploring is encouraged." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Recognizable objects let players work out where they are by their position relative to them." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Distinct elements help players find their way around the world." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Distinct elements help players find their way around a level." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "They can be placed to show the route racers must follow, such as glowing pillars of light." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Placing them along a route makes it more significant and gives players a sense of how far they have traveled." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Landmarks.svg" }, { "name": "Hiding Places", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × rules", "what_it_is": "Places in the game where a person or thing can be hidden.", "needs_to_really_work": "Seekers must truly be less able to notice things in them, and there must be enough, well-placed spots to make concealment a real option without making it trivial. Players should be able to judge how good a spot is.", "just_a_label_when": "Decorative crates or bushes that do not block sight or detection, so hiding in them is no safer than standing in the open.", "knobs": "number, size and placement of hiding spots; how well they hide; how clearly players can tell they are hidden", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Hiding_Places", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Hiding spots give players somewhere to put themselves or objects where others can't see them, which is exactly what trying to conceal something requires." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "When hiding depends on how well others perceive you, players may not know how good their spot really is, so a gap between player and character knowledge appears." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "Anyone inside a hiding spot is hard for others to find or attack, so the spot ends up working as a place of safety." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Places that avoid detection let players move and act unseen, so sneaking becomes possible in the first place." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Hiding spots make gathering information about others harder, since what you are looking for may be tucked away unseen." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "An existing safe haven can be turned into an explicit hiding spot, adding concealment to its protection." }, { "name": "Scouting", "why": "Hiding spots make scouting harder because the things a scout looks for can be out of sight." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "How many hiding spots exist and where they sit changes how easy or hard it is to stay unseen." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Hiding_Places.svg" }, { "name": "Instances", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Parts of the world are created for a particular group of players when they are needed.", "needs_to_really_work": "The system must create isolated copies on demand with a set group size, and the content must be worth entering as a group. Access conditions (group size, timing) should be clear.", "just_a_label_when": "A zone called an instance that everyone still shares, so crowding and interference are the same as before.", "knobs": "group size required; how often and when instances open; content and difficulty inside", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Instances", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "When entry to an instance is limited to certain times or conditions, players tend to wait near its entrance until they can get in." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "If a player may go into the same instance more than once, each visit gives another attempt at it." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "An instance is a separate space that players choose to try entering, so it stays closed off until they do." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "An instance works like a level: a self-contained area with its own content, which players decide to enter." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "Because several groups can enter the same instance repeatedly, the story events inside it happen again and again, so the narration contradicts itself." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "Splitting players into limited-size instances means servers carry less traffic and are used more efficiently." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Instances let games with huge player populations keep small groups apart, avoiding overcrowding and ensuring players actually meet each other." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Instances are mainly used within persistent worlds, giving groups their own sub-areas that are created when needed and discarded afterward." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quests are often placed inside instances so a limited number of players take part, letting designers balance them for that group size." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "why": "Instances get created, discarded and recreated, so what happens inside them has little lasting effect on the wider game world." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Since instances can be re-entered by the same or different groups, the same events replay, which clashes with a believable flow of time." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When an instance is recreated many times, players notice its enemies and rewards are just game mechanics, which breaks the fiction." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Instances.svg" }, { "name": "Invisible Walls", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Barriers that stop you from passing but do not stop you from looking.", "needs_to_really_work": "Collision must reliably stop movement at the edge while the view carries beyond it, and placement should be where players do not expect to go. The more natural the edge looks, the less it breaks immersion.", "just_a_label_when": "A boundary players can walk through, or one that is obvious and unexplained so it simply looks like a bug.", "knobs": "where the walls are placed; how much is visible beyond; how they are disguised", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Invisible_Walls", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because players can see terrain beyond the barrier, the world feels like a bigger, believable place rather than a small box, even though only part is playable." }, { "name": "Framed Freedom", "why": "Players seem free to roam, but the barrier quietly sets the real limits, and whether they know it depends on whether they bump into it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Seeing a wide world makes players feel they can go anywhere, which gives a sense of choice until they run into the barrier." }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "why": "Showing scenery past the playable edge makes the world look larger than it is, and this costs little to build." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "The barrier blocks movement into regions players can still see, which turns those regions into places they cannot enter." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Hidden barriers in a maze mean players cannot see the walls and must remember where they are to find a path." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "The barrier stops players from moving into certain places, so it works as a blocker even though it does not hide the view." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Showing a larger world supports the setting, and explaining the barrier as a force field or hex keeps it fitting the theme." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "When some directions are blocked, the paths still open become the main ways players travel through the world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Conditional Passageways", "why": "A barrier can sit at or around a gateway, such as a force field, tempting players to meet the requirements needed to pass." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "It keeps play inside a designed part of the world while the rest is shown only as backdrop." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "It limits how players can move through a level, keeping them in the intended area." }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "why": "Since players can see world parts they cannot affect, it gives a story reason why a scripted scene cannot be interfered with." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Players can see where the goal is yet cannot walk straight to it, so they must find a route around the barriers." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "They can expose that players lack the freedom of movement they first assumed." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Hitting a barrier that cannot be seen or explained breaks the believability of the world, unless it is given an in-world reason." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Using them to keep players inside a world's edges is practical, but they don't fit the fiction and can undercut its consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Invisible_Walls.svg" }, { "name": "Shrinking Game Worlds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "The game world gets smaller and smaller as the game goes on.", "needs_to_really_work": "Parts of the world must be permanently removed on a schedule or by player action, forcing players closer together. Shrinkage needs to be irreversible and fast enough to matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A map whose edges close only cosmetically or so slowly that the game ends before anyone feels it.", "knobs": "how fast and in what order the world shrinks; what triggers it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Shrinking_Game_Worlds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "The world getting smaller acts like a force of nature in the game space, changing conditions for everyone playing in it." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "As the space tightens, players are pushed together, so each clash matters more and the outcome of the whole game gets decided step by step." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "When parts of the world vanish, players have less ground to move on, so where they can go is restricted." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "A world that shrinks must be changeable by its nature, and each shrinking step is a change to the world's layout." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "With less room to move and opponents closing in, players feel growing pressure about what will happen next." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "Since the world only gets smaller and cannot regrow, play cannot go on forever and the match is guaranteed to end." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Disappearing parts of the world can leave players stuck or cut off, especially when opponents choose which parts are removed." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Shrinking changes the whole play area for everyone at once, which makes it a drastic event that affects all players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The pattern changes the size of a game world over time, so the space players start in is not the space they end in." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "The playable space gets smaller as play proceeds, which limits what players can do." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Shrinking_Game_Worlds.svg" }, { "name": "Illusion of Open Space", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "feelings × boundaries", "what_it_is": "The world looks more spacious than it really is: there are fewer playable zones than it seems.", "needs_to_really_work": "The unreachable scenery must look credible, be consistent with the setting, and be blocked in ways players do not easily notice. It breaks down if the blocks are obvious or conflict with the theme.", "just_a_label_when": "A flat backdrop or map edge that obviously ends, so players see the limit at once and the world does not feel bigger.", "knobs": "how much unreachable scenery is shown; how the blocks are disguised; level of detail of distant areas", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Illusion_of_Open_Space", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "When the world seems to continue past where you can walk, its presentation doesn't abruptly stop at the edge of the playable area, so the fiction stays believable." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "A world that looks bigger makes players feel they could go many places, giving them a sense of choosing where to travel." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Many themes suggest wide open spaces, so making the world feel bigger helps the game match what its theme implies." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The pattern makes a world appear bigger than the area where play really happens, without needing to build all of that space." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "It is often applied here because it makes sense that players can see more of the world than the route lets them pass through." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "If players discover the illusion, such as hitting a barrier, the theme's promise of open space is broken, even though the in-world fiction may hold up." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "It may reveal that the freedom players assumed they had is not real." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Illusion_of_Open_Space.svg" }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Ordinary life activities unrelated to the game change its state.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design must pick which everyday activities count, measure them reliably, and map them to clear state changes. Players need to see the link between what they did and what the game did in response.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that only shows your steps or activity as a decorative number, while nothing in play depends on it.", "knobs": "which activities count; how they are measured and converted into game state changes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Real_Life_Activities_Affect_Game_State", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Changes in Perception of Real World Phenomena due to Gameplay", "why": "Doing everyday activities with an added game purpose can lead players to view those activities differently than before." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "Using ordinary real-life activities to change the game means the game takes in input from outside the game itself, so this is a kind of it." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Letting real-world activities drive game state spreads play into everyday life, making pervasive play possible." }, { "name": "Real World Knowledge Advantages", "why": "Since good performance at certain real-world activities pays off in the game, knowing how to do those activities well helps players." }, { "name": "Ubiquitous Gameplay", "why": "Because ordinary activities count as game input, play can happen wherever and whenever players are doing them, making ubiquitous play possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Robotic Players", "why": "Because the game uses what real players do in life, robotic players become harder to design, though this is rarely a practical issue." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When things done outside the game change its outcome, players' real-life circumstances shape play instead of only in-game actions." }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "One feeds ordinary non-game activities into the game, while the other builds in-game activities that merely resemble real ones, so the two approaches don't fit together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Real_Life_Activities_Affect_Game_State.svg" }, { "name": "Persistent Game World Changes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Changes in the game world that do not revert on their own.", "needs_to_really_work": "Player actions must alter the world state and that state must be kept, not reverted by resets or temporary instances. There must be ways to change the world, such as building, destroying or moving things.", "just_a_label_when": "World changes that vanish on reload or after a short time, or that are only visual and do not affect later gameplay.", "knobs": "which changes persist; for how long; whether and when the world resets", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Persistent_Game_World_Changes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because changes to the world stay put, they can lock the story onto a fixed path, since earlier events keep shaping what comes next." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "When player actions leave lasting marks on the world instead of vanishing, players feel their work mattered beyond a brief moment." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The pattern affects the external world players act in, making it something that keeps changing rather than staying the same, unlike players' own attributes." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Lasting changes strengthen the feeling that effort matters in a world that already continues to exist, though the word persistent is used differently in each." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Instances", "why": "Instances get created, discarded and recreated, so what happens inside them has little lasting effect on the wider game world." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Persistent_Game_World_Changes.svg" }, { "name": "Quick Returns", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "World design where returning to a point is much easier than getting there.", "needs_to_really_work": "It should open only after the outward journey, so return is cheaper than getting there. It must link to places players actually revisit.", "just_a_label_when": "A shortcut exists but is as long as the original route or opens before the journey, so nothing is saved.", "knobs": "when it unlocks; how fast; which places it connects", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Quick_Returns", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Movement", "why": "A quick return is itself a special way of getting around, so it adds a distinct form of travel through the world." }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "A return method can be given to players as a newly gained power, such as a skill they unlock that carries them back." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Return methods can be limited to the player, who can use them while others or enemies cannot, making the shortcut a special power." }, { "name": "Privileged Movement", "why": "The fast way back can be something only the player's character is allowed to do, setting their travel apart from normal movement." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "When a return works by instantly jumping between two points, it is a narrower, often one-way or limited version of fast travel." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Being sent instantly back after finishing a goal serves as a prize, sparing the player a tedious walk home." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Instant transport back after a goal is a dramatic, overwhelming moment that happens to the player rather than being earned step by step." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Adding fast ways back changes how the world is traversed, since previously visited areas become easy to get to again." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A level can include a shortcut out so players need not walk the whole way back after reaching its end." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "Routes between places can be made shorter on the return trip, so coming back is much easier than going out." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Once players have met a goal of reaching somewhere, a quick return spares them from having to cross the same ground again." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Backtracking Levels", "why": "A quick return would skip the walk back, but this pattern depends on players actually traveling the whole level again, so the two cannot coexist." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Fast ways back cut down the dull effort of traveling, easing movement chores." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Repeated trips over known ground feel like grinding, and a fast way back removes that repetition, so the two pull in opposite directions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Quick_Returns.svg" }, { "name": "Vehicle Sections", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game areas designed for driving or flying a vehicle.", "needs_to_really_work": "The terrain scale, obstacles and routes must suit vehicle speed and abilities, and vehicles must be available there. Walking through should be clearly worse than driving.", "just_a_label_when": "A big open area with a car parked in it where walking is just as fast and the layout is the same.", "knobs": "size of area; vehicle availability; density of obstacles and choke points; speed difference versus walking", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Vehicle_Sections", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Walking through a vehicle area, or entering it by accident without a vehicle, makes the player's trip tedious and pointless, which is the excise." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "In a continuous world mixing vehicle and other areas, knowing where one type ends and the other begins helps players plan, which counts as strategic knowledge." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "These areas are stretches of a world set aside for traveling in vehicles, so they function as transport routes." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Whole boards can be made into vehicle areas and mixed among other boards, changing how those boards are played." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Parts of a continuous world can be designated for vehicle travel, so the world mixes vehicle and non-vehicle regions." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A whole level can be a vehicle area, or most of a level can be, with a few places requiring travel on foot." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Such areas often let players make use of what their vehicle can do, which shapes how they steer and position themselves." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Because players travel using vehicle capabilities, and vehicle travel is faster than ordinary travel, how movement works in that area changes." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "Parts of the game built around vehicle use shape when and where players ride them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Vehicle_Sections.svg" }, { "name": "Laning", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "All movement follows a few set routes, which makes the game more predictable.", "needs_to_really_work": "The map must offer a small fixed set of routes between areas, such as bases, and make leaving them hard or pointless. The lanes must lead to real choices and meetings between opponents.", "just_a_label_when": "Paths are drawn but players can walk anywhere, so the lanes are ignored.", "knobs": "number of lanes; their width and length; how blocked the space between lanes is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Laning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Because movement is funneled into a few set routes, crowding tends to occur inside those lanes or where they finish, forming narrow spots." }, { "name": "Scouting", "why": "Opposing forces approach along the same lanes from both sides, so you must think about what enemies are doing and may want to look ahead." }, { "name": "Startgame", "why": "The way players respond to the available lanes makes up the opening phase of a match." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Having several lanes to pick from forces players to make choices, which pushes them to think about longer-term plans." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Choosing among lanes creates immediate decisions about how to handle each route, which encourages players to plan their moves in the short term." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Levels", "why": "Lanes are a way of shaping level layout, since designers lay out the map as a small set of routes." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Lanes limit where agents can go, narrowing free movement into a few predictable paths." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Lanes often serve as the paths for units, whether player-controlled or not, while avatars may use slower or riskier alternatives." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Fixed lanes make enemy arrival predictable, while players still choose different tactics." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Laning.svg" }, { "name": "Visits", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A temporary stay in a part of the world controlled by another player.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be private player spaces, a way to be allowed in (friends or neighbors), and a small set of allowed actions, preferably helpful ones. The visit should also leave the owner something to see or gain.", "just_a_label_when": "A view-only gallery of another player's space where the visitor can do nothing and nobody notices the visit.", "knobs": "who can visit; which actions visitors have; daily action caps; benefits to host and visitor", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Visits", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Movement", "why": "A visit is just a player traveling into an area owned by someone else, so going there is a kind of movement, though with fewer things to do." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Walking through another player's space lets you see what they have built or achieved, which gives a small, informal way of seeing their progress." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Visits make parts of the world a guest can enter but with fewer actions available there than in other areas of the world." }, { "name": "Massively Single-Player Online Games", "why": "Visits let games where everyone mostly plays alone gain some social contact while keeping the relaxed, low-conflict feel of casual play." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Visits need an area owned by another player, and they open that otherwise solitary space to restricted guests so it feels less lonely." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Visits.svg" }, { "name": "Configurable Gameplay Areas", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A physical play space that can be assembled differently from session to session.", "needs_to_really_work": "The area must be built from rearrangeable pieces or markers, and the changes must alter distances, routes or length of play. Someone must be responsible for setting it up each time.", "just_a_label_when": "The board can technically be rearranged, but players always use the same standard layout, or every layout plays the same.", "knobs": "how many layout variants; who sets it up; how much the layout can vary", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Configurable_Gameplay_Areas", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "Since changing the play area changes how long a game takes, players or facilitators can bargain over how long a given round will last." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Sessions", "why": "Because the size or layout of the area affects play time, those in charge can discuss and agree on what a session will look like." }, { "name": "Reconfigurable Game Worlds", "why": "This is the special case where the world is arranged before play starts, which is one direct way of making a world reconfigurable." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "When players can set the play area themselves, in a self-run game, the game can be fitted to wherever they are." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Fictional game spaces can be altered from one game to the next, for example by rearranging how the world is laid out before play starts." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "When play happens in physical locations, the area can be changed between games, for instance by moving markers or by installing the supporting technology differently." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Configurable_Gameplay_Areas.svg" }, { "name": "Galleries", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "dynamics × boundaries", "what_it_is": "Raised platforms from which narrow passages are easy to keep in view.", "needs_to_really_work": "Build elevated positions overlooking a narrow route that enemies must follow for some distance, with height giving a real advantage. Alternate routes can offset the advantage.", "just_a_label_when": "There is a raised ledge, but the enemy can bypass it or it gives no combat edge, so the height means nothing.", "knobs": "height and length of the overlook; availability of flanking routes; cover", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Galleries", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Camping", "why": "Because the high ground gives a strong, hard-to-reach advantage, players are tempted to stay put there and wait for opponents to walk by." }, { "name": "Choke Points", "why": "Overlooking the narrow passage turns that passage into a spot where anyone passing through is exposed and forced to funnel along under fire." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Raised areas give a good view over the lower passage, so they can also work as places to shoot at others from a distance." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "The advantages of holding the high ground make these areas worth fighting over and valuable to control." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting changes because those above can attack those below for a long stretch while enjoying the benefit of height." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Since the high ground favors whoever holds it, opponents become easier or harder to deal with depending on which side is elevated." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Height differences built into a board are the main way a gallery is created, shaping how the board plays." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Elevated areas that overlook passages can be built into a world's terrain, changing how fighting and travel work there." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Holding the elevated spot makes defending a location easier, since attackers must pass through the overlooked area below." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "A gallery can be used to give extra advantage to the places players are trying to hold in this kind of goal." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Designers can use height differences within a level to create overlooked passages that change how the level plays." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Players in the lower area must travel along the elevated area for some distance, so their routes are constrained and exposed." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Galleries.svg" }, { "name": "Fake Game Cancellations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "feelings × boundaries", "what_it_is": "The game pretends to be shut down so it can later surprise players with a continuation.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a believable cancellation message through some channel, and contact details collected beforehand so players can be reached again. It only fits games meant to blur the line between game and real life.", "just_a_label_when": "A cancellation notice so unconvincing, or with no way to contact players again, that nobody is surprised or it simply ends the game.", "knobs": "how convincing and through which channel the cancellation is announced; how long before players are re-contacted", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Fake_Game_Cancellations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Pretending the game is off leaves players unsure what is part of the game, which is the blurred line between game and reality that this style of play wants." }, { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "Shutting down the game's servers is a simple way to make the cancellation look real to anyone checking whether the game is still running." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Fake_Game_Cancellations.svg" }, { "name": "Hybrid Gameplay Spaces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game is played at once in a real place and in a virtual or abstract one.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a real link between physical places and virtual ones (sensors, overlays, or rules), so that where the player physically is changes what happens in the game. Both parts of the space need to matter for play.", "just_a_label_when": "A game set in a real location that only uses it as a backdrop, where the virtual part ignores where players actually are.", "knobs": "how strongly physical position affects the virtual state; the sensing or overlay method; size of the real area", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Hybrid_Gameplay_Spaces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Input", "why": "Because the game depends on a real-world space, things happening in the physical setting, on purpose or by accident, can end up affecting play from outside the game's rules." }, { "name": "Pervasive Gameplay", "why": "Since part of the play happens in real places, play may spill into everyday life, though whether that works depends on which actions the game actually asks of players." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Hybrid_Gameplay_Spaces.svg" }, { "name": "Backtracking Levels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "boundaries", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "The player must finish a level and then return along the same path.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must detect reaching the far end and then require a trip back, ideally with something changed or earned so the return is not just repeated walking. No shortcuts back.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are told to 'go back', but a teleport or instant exit takes them there, so the return trip has no content.", "knobs": "level length; what changes on the return; whether shortcuts exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Backtracking_Levels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Because the return trip passes through the same space again, the surroundings can make the second pass feel different from the first, giving players new kinds of play." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "This is a kind of level where players pass through it and then must come back through it again." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A board can be set up so players must cross all of it and then cross it again in reverse." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A level is changed from a one-way path into one players must cover to the end and then retrace fully." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "The route through the space is designed so players walk it out and then return along it, getting more use from it." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Players end up with two travel goals, reaching the far point and then coming back, instead of just one, which changes the traversal aim." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Quick Returns", "why": "A quick return would skip the walk back, but this pattern depends on players actually traveling the whole level again, so the two cannot coexist." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Without an extra reward at the far point, walking all the way back feels like effort that earns nothing, weakening the sense that effort pays off." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Backtracking_Levels.svg" }, { "name": "Scores", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Numbers used in the game to decide who wins.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define what raises or lowers the number, by how much, and what values trigger events or end the game. Players must see the score as tied to the actual goal for it to drive play.", "just_a_label_when": "A score shown on screen that does not determine winning, ranking, or any decision, so players ignore it.", "knobs": "points per action; end threshold; public versus hidden; penalties", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Scores", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Scores are a basic number that the game tracks for each player, so they are one of the most common kinds of player-held game data." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Because points keep piling up, players are always working to gather more of them, which makes accumulating points an ongoing activity." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Raising your number never finishes, so the game always gives players something to keep working toward." }, { "name": "Exploitation", "why": "In games with distinct phases, the stretch where players focus on squeezing out as many points as possible is the cashing-in phase." }, { "name": "Facilitating Rewards", "why": "Points help players reach the end or a win, so earning them acts as a reward that moves them toward finishing." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "When everyone can see the totals, one glance shows how each player or team is doing overall." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "Ranked numbers from past plays can be stored and shown, letting single players measure themselves against others or their own earlier tries." }, { "name": "Investments", "why": "Players may have to choose between taking points now or building up abilities that pay off later, so points compete with future advantage." }, { "name": "Non-Localized Resources", "why": "When points can be spent, they belong to the player in general rather than sitting at a specific place on the board." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "In tournaments, low point totals can be the reason a player gets knocked out of continued competition." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "A visible total shows how far players have come, and in games that cannot be won it is the way to see advancement." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Games can end when someone hits a target number or has the most at the end, so players hurry to get ahead." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Players want to beat their own earlier totals, or opponents, which gives them a reason to start another round." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "If players are allowed to deliberately lower their points to pay for other actions, the points work as something to spend." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Points are generally added when players succeed at goals, so gaining them is itself a payoff for good play." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Seeing the totals openly lets players think ahead about what they need to do to catch up or stay in front." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When totals are visible or hidden until the end, players stay unsure who is winning, keeping excitement up." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Two players can end with identical numbers, so using points for outcomes means equal results may happen." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Reaching a set point total can stop the game, so the number that triggers the end decides who wins." }, { "name": "Construction/Scoring Phase Shift", "why": "Where points decide the game, players eventually stop improving their position and turn their efforts to collecting points, creating the shift." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Visible scores show everyone how players compare, so people start judging who is likely to win, even if the numbers mislead." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "When a game ends as soon as someone finishes, several players can finish together, and their scores can then separate them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Back-to-Back Game Sessions", "why": "When games are played one after another, points from each round can be compared or used to break ties between the sessions." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Finalizing totals can happen when a character dies, and dying may also lower the points, so the two affect each other." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Racing to reach a target number is the usual result of points, while King of the Hill offers a different way to compete." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Hitting certain point totals can grant extra lives, as a shared jackpot does in Pinball Dreams." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "Setting a point value that triggers events like ending the game is a way of defining what players are trying to achieve." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Points give players an obvious way to compete against one another by comparing numbers." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Points let solo players compare themselves with earlier plays or other people, for example through high score lists." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "A point total is usually attached to a team as a whole, so the group is compared rather than individuals." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Points work as information carried between games, so results from many games can be compared and used for rankings." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "With no way to win, a points total still shows players how well they are doing." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Points are normally the main method for deciding the winner once play is over." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Points can trigger the game's end when reached, or break ties if several players could end it simultaneously." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Showing scores makes players see the game as a system, which can change how they perceive everything else." }, { "name": "Save Points", "why": "Players can return to earlier states and retry to push their score higher, so the score no longer reflects a single uninterrupted run." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "A score no longer shows how well you played in one continuous run if you can rewind and retry parts of it." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Points are difficult to justify within a game's theme, so they easily clash with it." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Scores.svg" }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A player is forcibly removed from the game before it ends for everyone.", "needs_to_really_work": "Clear elimination conditions are needed, together with a plan for what eliminated players do, such as spectating, and for how long the others keep playing. Game length must keep waiting time acceptable.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are 'out' in name but are respawned at once or keep playing, so being eliminated costs nothing.", "knobs": "how easily and how early players can be eliminated; what eliminated players can still do", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Elimination", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Once a player is knocked out, their own session is finished, so that player experiences a game-over moment even while others keep playing." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "In games with closed economies, removing players pushes their resources into the hands of fewer and fewer remaining players as the game goes on." }, { "name": "Individual Penalties", "why": "Being eliminated hits one particular player rather than everyone, so it works as a punishment aimed at a single person." }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "why": "Because players drop out one by one, the game can be won by whoever is still alive after everyone else is gone." }, { "name": "Spectacular Failure Enjoyment", "why": "In some situations, the player who is knocked out can still find the dramatic way they lost entertaining." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Players who are out can keep watching the rest of the game, which partly makes up for no longer playing." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Since losing means everything invested is wasted if the session ends against your will, the threat of it makes players more nervous." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "When the first player is knocked out well before the others finish, their sessions end at noticeably different times." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "If a game cannot be won, the player is bound to be removed eventually, since endless waiting or impossible goals would frustrate then bore them." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "In multiplayer games, an eliminated player is out of play and must wait for others to finish." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Dropping out may be acceptable in the final phase of a game, where players are more willing to accept being knocked out." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Where several people play, one can be removed while the others carry on, which changes how the shared game works." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "Elimination breaks everyone playing together, so synchrony only holds among those who have not yet been knocked out." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teams can be wiped out when their members are eliminated, and the team structure affects how elimination plays out." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Players with lower scores than others can be removed from a tournament, so it shapes who stays in contention." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Being knocked out wastes all the work a player put in, while survivors and the one who eliminated them feel their effort mattered more." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players know a game does not promise they will keep playing to the finish, which undermines feeling overly powerful." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "If retries let players avoid being knocked out too easily, the threat of elimination disappears." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Frequent rescues from elimination mean being eliminated no longer reliably happens." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "A game master can prevent eliminations by fudging results, but can also kick players out whenever they please." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Removing a player completely is the most definite misfortune and ends their chance of success." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Players' characters usually have major roles in a planned story, so killing them off breaks the plot." }, { "name": "Team Balance", "why": "When teams exist, losing members unevenly can leave one team much weaker than another." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Players who are removed have to sit out, so the group does not finish the session together." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players lose all value of what they invested when forced out before finishing, which damages their feeling that effort pays off." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Elimination.svg" }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Games that have no winning conditions at all.", "needs_to_really_work": "The system needs no reachable winning state, plus something that guarantees play ends, such as rising difficulty, a survive goal or a time limit, and some way to compare results like scores. Otherwise players have no reason to continue.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that calls itself endless but actually has a final boss, a victory screen or a reachable completion state.", "knobs": "how fast difficulty rises; length of time limit or resource drain; presence of score tables", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Unwinnable_Games", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Since the game can never be completely beaten, players come back to improve on earlier results, which keeps them replaying." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "With no win to reach, the only way players stop is by giving up on the game design itself." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "Because the game has no winning state at all, every moment of play is necessarily a state from which winning is impossible." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "If a game offers no real chance of winning, players are more likely to quit before it ends." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "A game with several players can still have no winning condition, so the unwinnable design applies to group play as well." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "A game played alone can also be built without any winning state, so the unwinnable design applies to solo play too." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "In games that never end, players grow more skilled and more powerful, which can make the challenge too easy unless difficulty rises too." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "A game that can never be won has no end, so it normally cannot have a final phase." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Since players cannot truly win, a global sense of influence is hard to keep, so designers rely on local influence." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "With no way to win, there is no building toward ever-larger closures, so the two generally can't be combined." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "A main goal normally lets the game be completed, while an unwinnable game by definition cannot be completed, so the two pull against each other." }, { "name": "Main Quests", "why": "Finishing the main quest is a way to win, so a game designed so that nobody can win clashes with having one." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "They end only in failure and may run indefinitely, which limits possible stories and clashes with non-repetitive narration." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "If nobody can win in the first place, there is no one to predict as winner, unless players compare scores against each other." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "A game with no real end cannot sit with a rule that forces each session to stop after a limited time." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "This needs a winner to be named at the end, but an unwinnable game has no winner to name." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "This needs ending play to count as a win, but an unwinnable game has no winning state to reach by stopping." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Unwinnable_Games.svg" }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Show how close the player is to finishing, beyond the arrangement of the elements themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must show measurements tied to real goals, at the right moment and in a readable way. The information has to help players decide what to do next.", "just_a_label_when": "A bar is on screen but is cosmetic, misleading or unrelated to actual goals, so it does not guide anything.", "knobs": "what is measured; how precisely; when it is shown; to whom", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Progress_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Seeing how your actions move you toward a closure lets you judge whether you are likely to reach it." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When the displayed progress matches the game's main goals exactly, players may feel their actions matter more than they truly do." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "When the indicator shows values that largely decide how a game session ends, such as scores, it becomes an indicator of the overall game state." }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "Closures usually relate to goals, so showing how close you are to a closure also shows how close you are to a goal." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "Progress displays can keep a closure visibly near but unreached, especially when paired with combos or development time." }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "If the displayed progress lines up perfectly with the game's overarching goals, moving it can feel like a reward without real value." }, { "name": "Increasing Rewards", "why": "" }, { "name": "Near Miss Indicators", "why": "If the display only appears right after you narrowly failed to reach a goal, it shows how close you came." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "These displays show measurements to the player rather than the game world, so they sit outside the fiction unless given an in-world form." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When players can see their own and other players' progress displays, they naturally compare and compete over who gets there first." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Scores are a typical value central to a game's outcome, so showing them acts as a progress display of the game state." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing how close or far a closure is keeps players anxious or excited about whether they will reach it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Combos", "why": "A progress display can show how far through a combo you have gotten, helping with extended actions of this kind." }, { "name": "Delayed Effects", "why": "Displays can tell players how long remains until a postponed effect occurs." }, { "name": "Development Time", "why": "Displays can show how long remains before something finishes developing, and can create hovering closures with it." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Displays help players see how far along they are in actions that take a long time to complete." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "A display shows how much of a repetitive effort has been done toward the achievement." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Visible measures of advancement help players perceive how close they are in the race, even for abstract goals." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "A display can tell players which action in a required series comes next." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "Displays can show how much time remains before the limit ends, informing players about it." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "By revealing how much time is left, displays change how urgent the time constraint feels." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "A display shows how far players have travelled toward a traverse goal, such as on a map." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Since such games cannot be won, a display can instead let players compare their game instance with others." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Displays give players more information about the game state, which reduces the uncertainty that pattern depends on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Progress_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Tied Results", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Two or more results are counted as equal and have the same consequences.", "needs_to_really_work": "Results must be coarse enough that equal values can happen, and the rules must say that equal means equal. The game needs several competitors to compare.", "just_a_label_when": "Scores are so fine-grained that ties essentially never happen, so tie rules are never used.", "knobs": "scoring granularity; whether ties share rewards or are broken", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tied_Results", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "When players are judged equal they get the same outcome, so a bad result is split among them without any formal team." }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "Players judged equal receive the same reward, so a prize is shared among them without needing teams or other formal groups." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "A player can let others share a reward with them, but doing so lowers their own benefit, creating a conflict between self-interest and generosity." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Allowing ties adds more kinds of outcomes that can be carried over into the larger meta game that the tournament represents, adding granularity." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Since completing one goal voids the others, a shared or equal outcome cannot occur, making ties impossible." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "Tied results let several players meet the same goal together, which is exactly what incompatible goals rule out." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "A tiebreaker exists to remove ties, so it works against them, although it can still occasionally end in one." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tied_Results.svg" }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "The winners are decided only after the gameplay has finished.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a clear end trigger and a scoring or comparison step afterward, and the standings must stay hard to calculate during play, through hidden scores or complexity. Otherwise the result is known early.", "just_a_label_when": "A final tally that merely confirms a leader who was obvious and uncatchable long before the end.", "knobs": "end trigger; how visible scores are; scoring formula; hidden versus open information", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Winner_determined_after_Gameplay_Ends", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Construction/Scoring Phase Shift", "why": "When players sense the game is about to end, they can switch from building up resources to cashing in points, since the winner is only decided afterward." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "A player who thinks they lead but fears others will overtake them may rush the game to its end, since the result only counts then." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because nobody knows for sure who has won until play stops, players stay uneasy about their chances, and the strength of that feeling depends on how well they think they are doing." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Since the winner is not known until after play, every closure can stay meaningful to the very end when paired with hidden scoring." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Where players may end the game quickly, someone who correctly judges they are ahead can stop play and win, combining the two patterns." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Not knowing who will win until play is over changes how the final phase feels and how players act in it." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Declaring a winner only after play ends depends on the game reaching its end state, so the ending becomes the moment results are revealed." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "One way to choose a winner is to judge results only once play is over." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "When a game round has a time limit, the winner is worked out once that limit stops play, rather than during the round." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "If everyone can already see who will win, the winner is clearly not being decided after play finishes." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Deciding a winner afterwards only makes sense when several players could win, so it doesn't fit a game with one player." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "Since the winner is only decided once play is over, players can't be sure they've lost beforehand, so the hopeless feeling is avoided." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "This needs a winner to be named at the end, but an unwinnable game has no winner to name." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "The two conflict because here the winner is decided after play ends, though a successful rush to end the game can still produce this kind of win." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Winner_determined_after_Gameplay_Ends.svg" }, { "name": "Last Man Standing", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: knock out rivals until you are the only surviving player or team.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players must be able to eliminate each other (lives, health, or removal) with goals that conflict. The game ends or moves on when only one remains, and it should handle what eliminated players do.", "just_a_label_when": "Players are called survivors but cannot really remove each other, so the winner is decided by something else.", "knobs": "how easily players are eliminated; how many lives; whether alliances or surrender are allowed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Last_Man_Standing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Because everyone is trying to knock out rivals, players may gang up on whoever is strongest, and they sometimes form short alliances to do it." }, { "name": "Collections", "why": "Each opponent a player knocks out can be counted as a trophy, so beating rivals builds up a set of defeated opponents." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Players drop out one by one during the struggle, so some are knocked out well before the final survivor is decided." }, { "name": "Endgame", "why": "Since players are removed step by step and a sole survivor ends play, phases using this goal naturally feel like a game's closing stretch." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Every player removed is a small finished step, and it makes the next removal matter more, so the stakes rise as play goes on." }, { "name": "Interferable Goals", "why": "Every player wants to eliminate the others, so pursuing your own goal directly hurts or blocks everyone else's goal." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "To be the last one left, you have to beat the other players, so defeating opponents becomes part of the challenge." }, { "name": "Survive", "why": "Everyone is being targeted for elimination, so staying in the game while others are trying to remove you is central to play." }, { "name": "Symmetric Goals", "why": "All players have the same aim of eliminating each other, so each side wants exactly what every other side wants." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "Eliminating losers until one remains gives a simple structure for running a tournament." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Once only one player remains, actions that remove others no longer matter, so winning comes with the competition ending." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Applying the last-one-survives contest to whole teams instead of single players gives you teams competing against each other." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Last_Man_Standing.svg" }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "Rules for separating results that would otherwise be equal.", "needs_to_really_work": "The secondary rule must be clear in advance and rarely tie itself. It should feel fair to players.", "just_a_label_when": "A tiebreaker rule exists but ties on it are just as common, so ties remain.", "knobs": "which secondary criteria are used and in what order", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tiebreakers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excluding Goals", "why": "Because a tie can't stand, only one player or team can come out on top, so one side reaching the goal shuts the others out." }, { "name": "Incompatible Goals", "why": "With ties ruled out, players can't both succeed, so their aims clash and one side's success means the other's failure." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Since a tie is never allowed, players cannot split a prize or a loss even if they would like to, which creates awkward choices." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Forcing a single outcome makes every close contest matter more, since players know a dead heat won't save them from losing." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "A tiebreaker rule can itself leave players equal, so a further tie may appear and some games stack several tiebreaking levels." }, { "name": "Varying Rule Sets", "why": "A sudden-death extension continues play only when a tie occurs, so some games run longer than others under a different rule." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bidding", "why": "Ties make it unclear who gets the reward, so a tiebreaker is used to produce a clear order among bids." }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "why": "" }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "They make sure a contest cannot stay undecided, so every attempt to defeat an opponent ends as a success or failure." }, { "name": "PvP", "why": "When players compete for a goal and ties are not wanted, an extra rule is needed to decide a single winner." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Extra rules make sure that only one competitor is declared winner when several finish together." }, { "name": "Score Tracks", "why": "Reaching a certain spot on a track first can decide ties, and having tiebreakers also changes how the track gets used." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "When points end up equal, extra rules are added to separate players and give a single winner." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "A tiebreaker can itself end in a tie, so designers may add another tiebreaker after it." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "A tiebreaker is applied exactly when the main rule gives equal outcomes, so ties become rarer or disappear." }, { "name": "Tournaments", "why": "" }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Team contests can end level, so a method for deciding a winner may be needed, just as with individual contests." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Shared Penalties", "why": "A tiebreaker splits tied players apart, which removes the equal outcome that would otherwise have given them a shared penalty." }, { "name": "Shared Rewards", "why": "A tiebreaker picks a single winner from tied players, so the tie that would have led to a shared reward no longer occurs." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "A tiebreaker exists to remove ties, so it works against them, although it can still occasionally end in one." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tiebreakers.svg" }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player who reaches a state that itself ends the game wins.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a specific achievable end condition that declares a winner at once, plus rules for simultaneous achievement or ties. The goal must be within reach of competing players.", "just_a_label_when": "A goal that exists on paper but the game ends by timer anyway, or the winner is decided by a later count.", "knobs": "threshold needed (score, targets, survivors); tiebreaker rules; time cap", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Winning_by_Ending_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Because reaching the winning state stops play, the game ends for everyone involved at that moment, so players hit game over as soon as someone wins." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "The winner is usually the biggest outcome of a game session, and this pattern settles it right at the end of play, completing the largest closure." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "When a player is close to reaching the ending goal, everyone knows play may stop soon, which makes the moments before it feel tense." }, { "name": "Game System Player", "why": "When the game ending counts as a win for the system, the passing of the limit works like a quiet opponent that beats the players." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "If several players can end the game simultaneously, a tie arises, so another measure like score is used to pick the winner." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Combined with time-limited game instances, ending play to win becomes a specific case of a timeout leaving players equal." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Endgame", "why": "The exact condition chosen for ending play strongly shapes how the final phase of the game unfolds, if the game has one." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "A goal that ends play and crowns its achiever works when several players compete, unlike the alternative of deciding the winner afterwards." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "A lone player can also win by reaching an ending goal, such as finishing a story's last challenges, so the pattern is not limited to competition." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "Players can end a timed game early by winning, and if nobody has won when time runs out, a tie or the game system can win." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Ending play this way is a reward while this pattern's ending is a penalty, so the two are hard to combine." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "This needs ending play to count as a win, but an unwinnable game has no winning state to reach by stopping." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "The two conflict because here the winner is decided after play ends, though a successful rush to end the game can still produce this kind of win." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Winning_by_Ending_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Game Over", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An event after which the player can no longer take part in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Define clear triggers such as losing lives or elimination, with real exclusion from play. The risk must be credible.", "just_a_label_when": "A Game Over screen appears, but the player instantly resumes with no loss, so there is no exclusion.", "knobs": "what triggers it; how easily it can be reached; whether and how play can resume", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Over", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Downtime", "why": "When a player is knocked out but a new game instance starts soon, the knocked-out player just waits, so the lockout becomes idle waiting time." }, { "name": "Extermination", "why": "Once players can be locked out, everyone starts trying to eliminate others, and rising risk of being locked out marks the start of a phase focused on eliminating opponents." }, { "name": "Unsynchronized Game Sessions", "why": "In a multiplayer game, one player hitting a loss state stops their play while the others carry on, splitting the endings." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Even when a game cannot be won, being locked out can still happen as a penalty, so it works as the way the game ends." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Play can stop before the winner is known, so the lockout comes first and the result is settled afterwards." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Fake Game Overs", "why": "A fake game over only pretends the game ended while real play continues, so it cannot coexist with an actual game over event." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Over.svg" }, { "name": "Shared Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A goal to meet a requirement, or else the penalty falls on several players at once.", "needs_to_really_work": "A failure must hit a group or common pool, so that everyone has a stake in avoiding it. Decide how it is divided or whether players can negotiate it.", "just_a_label_when": "A penalty labelled as shared but hitting each player individually, or so mild that nobody cares to coordinate.", "knobs": "who shares it; its size; how it is split or negotiated", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Shared_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Mutual Goals", "why": "Since everyone suffers the same loss on failure, players share the aim of avoiding it, or the penalty makes an existing shared aim matter more." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "A shared penalty is simply a penalty, just one that lands on several players together instead of on one person." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "When one failure hurts everyone, players must weigh their own interests against the group's, which is the tension behind many social dilemmas." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Deciding how to handle, spread out, or accept the group's penalty can lead a player to take on a recognizable role in the group." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Teams form when players both suffer the same penalties and enjoy the same rewards, so shared penalties are one of the two required parts." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Going through a loss alongside other players gives them a feeling of being in it together." }, { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "When a group suffers together if a shared goal fails, each member is committed to making it succeed." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Factions", "why": "When punishments apply to every member of a faction, the group's rules affect everyone together." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Altruistic Actions", "why": "When teammates suffer together, helping a teammate also helps yourself, so the action stops being truly unselfish." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Players may suffer penalties they did not cause and could not avoid, which clearly shows how little control they have." }, { "name": "Individual Penalties", "why": "Individual penalties are designed to avoid hurting other players directly, whereas shared penalties deliberately hit several players, so the two pull in opposite directions." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "A tiebreaker splits tied players apart, which removes the equal outcome that would otherwise have given them a shared penalty." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Shared_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "High Score Lists", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Results are saved after a game so they can be compared.", "needs_to_really_work": "Results must be saved and shown where players will see them, be comparable across attempts, and be ordered fairly with ties handled. Someone must care about the comparison, whether themselves, friends, or the world.", "just_a_label_when": "A list that resets on exit, is hidden in a menu, or is full of unreachable or fake entries so no one tries to beat it.", "knobs": "how many entries are kept; who can see them (local, friends, global); time-limited versus all-time lists", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/High_Score_Lists", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Landing a spot on the list is an outcome that lasts beyond the match, so what happens in one play session carries into the world outside it." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "The list keeps results from finished sessions, such as scores, times or percentages, which makes it a stored record of how people played." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Because the saved results can be seen later, players can build a bigger game on top of the original, like trying to climb the rankings." }, { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Seeing past results gives players their own targets to chase, such as topping their earlier run or passing a friend, though the game never asks for this." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Players want to do slightly better than their last attempt, so they keep coming back for more sessions even after finishing the main play." }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "why": "When friends and others can see your ranking, you get recognition from them for doing well, which feels like a reward." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Since results stay visible after a session ends, other people can look at them and notice how well someone played, even without watching live." }, { "name": "Tied Results", "why": "Because lists are ordered, two players can land on the same value, so the designer must either break the tie or show both as equal." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Sharing scores lets solo players compare themselves with others, which turns a single-player game into a form of multiplayer." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Beating earlier results is a simple, visible target that pushes players to keep improving their skill at the game." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "A shared or global list turns a solo game into a contest, because players can compare their results with other people's." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "In games with no way to win, the list still gives players something to aim for, namely a better result than before." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/High_Score_Lists.svg" }, { "name": "End State Scoring", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Points are added up only after the game has ended.", "needs_to_really_work": "A large share of points must be hidden or uncounted until the end and depend on the final state, so players cannot easily calculate standings.", "just_a_label_when": "A final tally that merely repeats a score everyone already knows, so the end changes nothing.", "knobs": "how many points are held until the end; how hidden the scoring is; what final conditions give points", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/End_State_Scoring", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Players may burn lots of time trying to work out everyone's standings and possible final points, and open information makes this nearly certain unless standings are easy to see." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When players can't work out who is ahead before the final count, they tend to feel their own moves matter more than they really do." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because nobody can be sure of the standings until the final tally, everyone stays anxious about how the last count will turn out." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Outcome", "why": "With points revealed only at the end and standings hard to calculate, nobody knows who will win until the final count." }, { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "When scores are only revealed at the end and are partly hidden, players can conceal their standing, which makes bluffing about it easier." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Final scoring can happen when a player's elimination ends play, though that ending may only be temporary rather than permanent." }, { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Final scoring takes place once gameplay ends, so it shapes how a permanent ending of the game is resolved and who wins." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Some or all points are held back and only handed out after play stops, changing when players actually receive their score." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "If points are only counted at the end, players cannot tell who is ahead during play, so they have no clear target." }, { "name": "Surrendering", "why": "When it is hard to tell who is winning, players are less likely to decide they are beaten and quit." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/End_State_Scoring.svg" }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "feelings × outcome", "what_it_is": "A player is removed from the game early as a punishment while the others' game continues.", "needs_to_really_work": "Elimination must really remove the player from play, with no cheap way back (no free continues, easy rejoin or endless extra chances). The trigger, such as losing the last life or health hitting zero, must be clear and plausibly threatening.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'Game Over' screen that drops you back a few seconds earlier with everything kept, so nothing is actually lost.", "knobs": "what triggers elimination; how easy it is to rejoin or continue", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Termination_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "Being removed from play as a penalty ends the game for that player, so the affected player experiences a game over." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Losing your session is a cost imposed for failing or being targeted, which makes it one particular kind of penalty." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "The penalty takes a player out of the game while it continues for others, which is exactly what eliminating a player means." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because a player might get thrown out, they feel anxious about it, and the more likely it seems, the stronger that feeling." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "Unwinnable games can still punish players for ending play, since failing or quitting can have consequences even without any victory." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Penalties for ending the game can take players out of influencing the game for a while before the winner is decided, changing how the result comes about." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Enough retries can weaken or negate the penalty for ending the game, undermining the penalty's purpose." }, { "name": "Fake Game Overs", "why": "Penalties for ending a game make no sense when the game hasn't truly ended, so a fake ending and such penalties clash." }, { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "Fudging exists to dodge game-ending outcomes, so used often it cancels the penalty's effect." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Easy rejoining turns the removal into a temporary penalty, so it no longer ends the player's participation." }, { "name": "Winning by Ending Gameplay", "why": "Ending play this way is a reward while this pattern's ending is a penalty, so the two are hard to combine." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Termination_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Rewards for repeating the same action many times.", "needs_to_really_work": "A counter requires many repetitions of an action, set high enough to reflect real dedication but still reachable by persevering. Repeated tasks should vary or be meaningful or they are only chores.", "just_a_label_when": "A threshold so low it's reached by accident, or one that counts something players already do constantly, so it marks no extra effort.", "knobs": "required count; whether tasks must differ or be the same; how visible the progress is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Grind_Achievements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "A grind achievement is simply a kind of achievement: a named recognition players earn once they've done some activity enough times." }, { "name": "Collecting", "why": "Because the award needs the same sort of goal reached many times, players end up gathering up those repeated successes, which makes collecting a part of play." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "When the achievement asks for different tasks rather than one repeated task, players must visit and try varied places, such as discovering many locations or whole regions." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "Offering the same achievement at several counts means that once players reach one level, the next, larger one becomes their new target." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Reaching these achievements requires doing the same action over and over, so players naturally end up grinding." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Like achievements in general, they give players an extra layer of goals outside the core game to chase and compare." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "They hand players a prize for persevering, so they work as a reward like other achievements do." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "They show how much time and dedication a player has put in to a game or its community, so the effort feels recognized, though less strongly than goal achievements." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Repeating events and encounters many times, or filling play with menial tasks, can break story consistency and slow the unfolding of a fixed story." }, { "name": "Testing Achievements", "why": "A grind achievement needs a high number of repeats; if the count is too low, it turns into a testing achievement instead." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Achievements built on collecting spawned items are problematic when the items appear from nowhere." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Grind_Achievements.svg" }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Goal: complete a game task in order to earn an achievement reward.", "needs_to_really_work": "Goals must be real, challenging and require skill, and the achievements must be recorded persistently and, ideally, be visible to others. Difficulty must be high enough that getting one reflects mastery rather than luck or routine play.", "just_a_label_when": "A badge for something trivial or automatic, such as finishing the tutorial, which changes nothing about how people play.", "knobs": "which goals have achievements; how hard they are; who can see them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Goal_Achievements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "A goal achievement is simply one kind of achievement: a lasting record, kept outside any single play session, that the player reached a particular objective." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Requiring a simple goal to be completed many times, once players have gotten skilled enough that it feels routine, turns a goal achievement into a grind achievement." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Like achievements generally, goal achievements give players something to collect and compare, which creates a game of pursuing them layered on top of the main game." }, { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Each goal achievement shows a goal was reached, and a series spread across levels or challenges shows players how far along they are." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Earning a goal achievement works as a reward, though if the goal is too easy it feels like a prize merely for trying something." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Because these achievements usually demand beating a real challenge, they make the effort feel worthwhile, especially when others can see the proof of skill." }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "why": "Giving a separate goal-based achievement for each difficulty setting is an easy way to make the player's chosen harder condition earn its own award." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Goal achievements that need to be distinguishable from easy or grind awards are often paired with hard-to-reach goals or difficult action sequences, raising the challenge." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "These achievements can require players to show real skill, so earning them documents how well someone has mastered the game." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Luck", "why": "If chance can stand in for skill, such as a random enemy attack being hit by accident, the achievement stops proving mastery and drifts toward grinding." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Goal_Achievements.svg" }, { "name": "Secret Scoring Mechanisms", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Ways to earn points that are revealed only when used or in the final count.", "needs_to_really_work": "Offer hidden ways to score that are revealed only when used or at final count, and make them large enough to change who wins. It needs a multiplayer game with a visible leader to disturb.", "just_a_label_when": "Hidden points that are tiny or that everyone can already deduce, so the leader is still obvious.", "knobs": "size of hidden points; how many hidden scoring routes; when they are revealed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Secret_Scoring_Mechanisms", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "When a hidden point source only pays out if a player quietly meets a private requirement, it works like a secret goal that player is pursuing." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Because nobody knows how many hidden points rivals hold, everyone stays unsure about who is ahead, which keeps players on edge until the reveal." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Hidden scoring keeps the final result uncertain, so every closure stays important right up until play ends." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "End State Scoring", "why": "Hidden points are often tallied automatically when final scoring begins, so the end count includes scores nobody saw coming and the final tally changes more." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Hiding how points are earned leaves players uncertain about who is leading." }, { "name": "Score Tracks", "why": "Since some points never appear on the public track, the track shows only part of each player's real total and so matters less." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Hidden point sources make players uncertain about each other's totals, so the scores in a multiplayer game are only partly known during play." }, { "name": "Winner determined after Gameplay Ends", "why": "Hidden points keep the final result open until the end, so what happens along the way can still seem to affect who wins." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "When scoring is hidden, players cannot judge who is in front, so they lack the basis for ganging up on anyone." }, { "name": "Predictable Winner", "why": "Hiding how points are counted stops players from working out who is leading, so a winner can't be foreseen." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Game States", "why": "Players trailing on visible scores can still hope that hidden points or others' unknown totals will let them catch up, so they feel less beaten." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Secret_Scoring_Mechanisms.svg" }, { "name": "Closure Points", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "dynamics × outcome", "what_it_is": "Moments when part of the game state is removed or becomes unavailable.", "needs_to_really_work": "Reaching them must actually remove or lock part of the game state, and players must see what is ending.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'level complete' screen appears, but everything carries over and can be revisited, so nothing really closes.", "knobs": "how often they occur; reversibility; how clearly they are signalled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Closure_Points", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "If a game always shows its closure moments in the same recognizable way, players learn to read them as signs of what the game's larger aims are." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Because closure points drop old parts of the game state and bring in new ones, they are how bigger stages of completion get built up as play moves on." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Closure points give players a clear moment where earlier work visibly pays off, letting them feel that their effort counted." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Closure_Points.svg" }, { "name": "Handicap Achievements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "A reward for a goal completed while voluntarily making the game harder.", "needs_to_really_work": "The restriction must really raise difficulty, such as limited weapons or time limits, and be optional, with the achievement recorded and visible. It needs a base game strong enough to support the harder play.", "just_a_label_when": "A 'challenge' whose handicap is trivial or cosmetic and makes no difference to how you play.", "knobs": "kind and severity of the restriction; which goals it applies to", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Handicap_Achievements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Handicap achievements are a subcategory of achievements, so they work as lasting recognition of what a player has done, just with a harder condition attached." }, { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Because the player must finish a goal under a self-imposed limitation, the play becomes harder, and this can open up challenge players might otherwise never try." }, { "name": "Goal Achievements", "why": "They are built on an ordinary goal and just add a limitation to it, so they count as a kind of achievement for reaching a goal." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Collecting these achievements creates an extra layer of play on top of the game, where players pursue the awards as a separate activity." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "Players can always finish the underlying goal without the handicap, so taking on the handicap is a choice, making it more optional than other achievements." }, { "name": "Optional Rules", "why": "The handicap can be seen as extra rules players choose to adopt, such as limiting weapons, and then must follow themselves." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Getting the achievement pays players back for finishing something in a harder way than required, so it works as a reward." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players must make sure they obey the handicap rules themselves while pursuing the achievement, so they are running that extra game on their own." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Players get recognition for extra effort even though that effort was entirely their own choice, which makes the effort feel worth something." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Since the achievements require harder play, earning them lets players show off how skilled they are, perhaps more clearly than ordinary goal achievements do." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Such achievements usually push players into harder play, which clashes with the easygoing nature of casual games." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Handicap_Achievements.svg" }, { "name": "Social Rewards", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "feelings × outcome", "what_it_is": "Rewards that raise a player's standing among people rather than giving an in-game benefit.", "needs_to_really_work": "The reward must be visible to other players, through lists, titles or shown achievements, and must be something that others actually respect. It should not change the in-game balance.", "just_a_label_when": "A badge that only the owner ever sees, or one handed out for trivial actions so that it earns no recognition from anyone.", "knobs": "how visible rewards are to others; how hard they are to earn; how many kinds exist", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Social_Rewards", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Because the reward is about how other players see you rather than helping you in the game, its effects land outside play itself." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Since this reward doesn't change game balance, designers can hand it out for repetitive effort without making one player stronger than another." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "It is a kind of reward, but what it gives is appreciation from other players instead of an advantage in the game." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Rewards that others can see give exhibitionists something to brag about." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "" } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Social_Rewards.svg" }, { "name": "Testing Achievements", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "A reward for the player simply trying out some action.", "needs_to_really_work": "The tested activities should be optional ones players might otherwise skip, and trying should be cheap. The reward should be noticeable enough to nudge behavior.", "just_a_label_when": "The achievement is for something every player does anyway, so it never changes what anyone tries.", "knobs": "which activities are included; how easy the trigger is; how visible the reward is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Testing_Achievements", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Testing Achievements are simply one kind of achievement, awarded just for having tried an activity, so using them automatically creates achievements." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Because the reward comes from merely trying something new, players are nudged to poke at unfamiliar features while they are still learning them." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "Every achievement type can feed collection goals, and these easy ones add cheap items to collect without much extra effort for players." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "In games with different ways to play, rewarding a short try of each style gives players a reason to come back and play another way." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Getting an achievement for trying something works as a reward, giving players a payoff for stepping into an activity." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "The goals of a testing achievement can be counted further, so the first success gives the testing award and a set number of successes gives the grind one." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Collections paired with testing achievements can push players to repeat actions to complete sets, producing grinding and grind achievements." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "Fallout: New Vegas gives an achievement for recruiting any companion, which pushes players to try using one instead of ignoring the option." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Achievements can be given just for attempting a particular quest, which makes players try quests they might otherwise skip while following a single path." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "When players choose between different ways of playing, an award for trying each one gets them to sample styles they would otherwise not pick." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "A grind achievement needs a high number of repeats; if the count is too low, it turns into a testing achievement instead." }, { "name": "Grinding", "why": "Encouraging players to try other parts of the game gives them a break from grinding." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Testing_Achievements.svg" }, { "name": "Life Penalties", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "mechanics × resources", "what_it_is": "A punishment the player receives upon losing a life.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs Lives and a clear trigger for losing one, either a direct hit or full damage. Losing a life must move the player closer to game end, with respawn in between.", "just_a_label_when": "A life counter drops but players can regain lives freely or ignore it, so failure costs nothing.", "knobs": "what triggers a life loss; how many lives exist; whether lives can be regained", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Life_Penalties", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "When a player loses a life and has none left, the game must apply an ending penalty, otherwise lives wouldn't mean what they normally do." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "Losing a life is itself a cost imposed on the player for failing, so it counts as a kind of penalty." }, { "name": "Spawning", "why": "While the player still has lives left after losing one, they need to be put back into the game world, which requires respawning." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Knowing a mistake could cost a life makes players nervous, and the feeling grows sharper when only one life remains." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "Losing a life is one specific form of what happens to a player on dying, so it shapes and narrows that consequence." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Losing a life is itself a penalty, and it can bring further effects because losing every life ends the session." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "If fudges frequently prevent life loss, the penalty stops meaning anything." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Life_Penalties.svg" }, { "name": "Fake Game Overs", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "outcome", "second_place": "feelings × outcome", "what_it_is": "The game announces that everything is over when in fact it is not.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a believable game over presentation, then a clear resumption of play. It fits only games where a real game over exists and carries weight, so the fake can shock players.", "just_a_label_when": "A game over screen that is obviously fake or comes with no loss, so players feel no sense of failure.", "knobs": "how convincing the fake ending is; how and when play resumes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Fake_Game_Overs", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Fake Game Cancellations", "why": "Because the game pretends play has ended when it hasn't, players briefly think the session was cancelled, and that false ending is what produces the fake cancellation." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The false game-over screen is an interface element sitting outside the game's story world, so showing it brings a non-diegetic feature into play." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players who believe they've suddenly failed feel a jolt of worry until play resumes, so the trick generates tension." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "The fake ending bends what players take to be real about the game's state, which makes it a case of play that blurs or alters reality." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game Over", "why": "A fake game over only pretends the game ended while real play continues, so it cannot coexist with an actual game over event." }, { "name": "Game Termination Penalties", "why": "Penalties for ending a game make no sense when the game hasn't truly ended, so a fake ending and such penalties clash." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Fake_Game_Overs.svg" }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The order in which the story is presented is fixed before the session begins.", "needs_to_really_work": "Story beats need triggers tied to player progress, and the narrative must connect to goals, characters and clues. The designer must decide how much player choice may bend the order.", "just_a_label_when": "There are cutscenes and text, but they are skippable decoration that neither guide goals nor react to what the player does.", "knobs": "how linear the story is; how many branches; how story events are triggered", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Predetermined_Story_Structures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "Companions are characters that designers plan into the narration, and they work as focal points through which the planned story reaches players." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "A cutscene is a pre-made story event, and a whole story structure can be assembled from them, so each can count as a story structure itself." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Designed story structures limit what players can do, yet they can also make the choices players do get feel more consequential than they really are." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "Most story narration only describes what happened and doesn't change the game state, so its effects stay outside the game's rules." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Planned events can be placed so players feel fortunate, but this only works if the fortunate event comes as an unexpected surprise." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Revealing a story set in advance through gameplay is the main way narrations get told in a game." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because the story is fixed in advance, earlier events and foreshadowing let players guess what comes next, especially when the story is replayed." }, { "name": "PvE", "why": "Players often face characters the designers created as part of the story, so the story's cast becomes the opposition in play." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Players think about how the story may unfold, and combined with goals and clues this encourages them to plan ahead." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Having story parts authored before play gives the game a way to tell a story to its players." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Events can be designed to foreshadow what may happen later, which builds anticipation and tension in players." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "A scripted story can set up moments that radically change a character or make different choices lead to very different outcomes." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "With a fixed story and clues scattered in it, players try to deduce what comes next, which creates information-seeking goals." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Story progress can depend on obtaining clues, which turns obtaining them into an ownership goal." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "In such games a prepared story can help set the game apart from the real world." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Games lacking an overarching story can add small local stories to give bosses more substance." }, { "name": "Character Development", "why": "Stories focus on player characters, so the story events are a way of affecting how those characters develop." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "Goals of improving one's position can be combined with narrative goals, and finishing them can lead to character development." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "An instance can hold a self-contained story that different groups experience independently without affecting each other." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "In a world that persists, a story can only be used once or only as a local story without world-wide effect." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "Stories tend to center on player characters, shaping what happens to them." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Such characters are not designed by the designers, but prepared stories can influence them or become part of them to support certain narratives." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Because the story focuses on the player character and its development, it can motivate players to roleplay." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "If important characters die through death consequences, the planned story can be broken." }, { "name": "Coupled Games", "why": "A fixed story in both games forces one to pause until the other catches up, or lets players learn upcoming events by playing the other game." }, { "name": "Death Consequences", "why": "If a key character in a scripted story can die, the planned plot can be broken." }, { "name": "Early Leaving Players", "why": "A planned story can break when a participant disappears, since the facilitator or system counted on that player's role." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "A set story limits possible actions and event order, which restricts how much influence players feel they have." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Once a story branch is explored, the outcome is known, so choices there become meaningless." }, { "name": "Grind Achievements", "why": "Repeating events and encounters many times, or filling play with menial tasks, can break story consistency and slow the unfolding of a fixed story." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Extra characters brought by newcomers strain a fixed story unless a game master can work them in." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "With more players, it gets harder to let everyone affect a fixed story, and some players' effort matters less." }, { "name": "Negotiable Game Instance Duration", "why": "A story with fixed events assumes a certain length of play, so if players shorten or stretch the game, the story may not fit unless it can scale." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "A world that continues without end cannot follow a fixed plot, so it must rely on never-ending stories or small scripted pieces." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players' characters usually have major roles in a planned story, so killing them off breaks the plot." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Stories written in advance by designers may not have roles that fit characters players invented, making the two hard to combine." }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "why": "Generated worlds can make prepared stories irrelevant unless story creation is built into the generation process." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "If much of the design depends on chance, planned story elements can become irrelevant." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "When a game is replayed and the story reused, players can predict it and lose surprises." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Players hold the power to ignore or change the story, which undermines its being fixed beforehand." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "These ask players to ignore everything except the most efficient play, so the story is disregarded." }, { "name": "Unwinnable Games", "why": "They end only in failure and may run indefinitely, which limits possible stories and clashes with non-repetitive narration." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Predetermined_Story_Structures.svg" }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "dynamics × drama", "what_it_is": "The structure of stories that the game contains or can generate.", "needs_to_really_work": "Events and goals must be linked to the story so that progress moves it forward. The structure needs points of tension and closure that gameplay actually reaches.", "just_a_label_when": "A story told in intro text and cutscenes that has no link to the goals or actions, so play would be identical without it.", "knobs": "how tightly the story is tied to goals; how linear or branching it is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Narration_Structures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "A story's structure naturally has moments where parts of the plot wrap up, so a narration gives players those checkpoints along the way." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "The story context helps players make sense of where things stand in the game, giving them a picture of the current situation." }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "Closure points in a story can show players what they are heading toward, so the narrative ends up signalling goals." }, { "name": "Hovering Closures", "why": "A narration keeps players wondering how it will end, leaving the outcome pending while they keep playing." }, { "name": "Secret Goals", "why": "The story can supply a reason why individual players have hidden gameplay aims, which makes those private objectives feel believable." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Players want to find out what happens next or how the story ends, and that curiosity creates tension." }, { "name": "Goal Hierarchies", "why": "A story's hierarchical or sequential structure can be filled in with goals, turning it into a goal hierarchy." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "A story helps players understand intricate evolving gameplay from a narrative angle as well as from the rules angle." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "The narration can support the design of delivery goals by giving them story context." }, { "name": "Evade", "why": "The narration can support evading goals by giving them story context." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "The narration can support goals of acquiring things by giving them story context." }, { "name": "Main Goals", "why": "The story gives players reasons to pursue main goals and links the game's narration to their main motivation." }, { "name": "Mandatory Goals", "why": "The story gives reasons within the game world for completing required goals and tells players how to achieve them." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "The narration can support overcoming goals by giving them story context." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "The narration can support rescue goals by giving them story context." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player-Planned Development", "why": "A story fixed before play works against letting players plan how things develop." }, { "name": "Pottering", "why": "Idle tinkering by design produces nothing noteworthy, so it gives the story no events to build on." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "A story can lack tension itself, or block players who want to interact with the game system, which reduces tension." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Narration_Structures.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Characters in the game world that players do not control.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a world for NPCs to live in, and each NPC needs a clear role and recognizable look. Whether they act as agents with goals or only as scenery or story devices decides how much they matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Figures standing in the world that do nothing, say nothing and affect nothing, so they are scenery with a name tag.", "knobs": "how many NPCs; what role each has; whether they have agency and goals", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Player_Characters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", "why": "" }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Characters without agency can still act as the sender or receiver of a delivery, giving the player someone in the world to bring something to or from." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Talking with NPCs is a common function, ranging from a canned line saying they have nothing to say to conversation being the main way of playing." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "NPCs can be grouped into social blocs that players deal with or join, so how you treat one NPC can affect a whole group." }, { "name": "Gossip", "why": "NPCs in conversation can pass along rumors that point toward optional goals or show that the world remembers past events." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "An NPC can be the thing the player must protect, which turns a person in the world into the objective of a goal." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "NPCs without agency can only offer services to players, like a kiosk, so they act as simple helpers." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "An NPC companion can be tied to the player's story so that choices about them pull the player in opposing directions." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "NPCs carry information and emotion through people and social relations, so they form the core of how stories are told, even if only seen in cutscenes." }, { "name": "Predefined Goals", "why": "Through conversation, NPCs can hand out, back up or close out goals that the designers set ahead of time." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can build NPCs and events around them in advance, then let the story unfold through dialogue with them." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "NPCs commonly hand out and judge quests, giving players tasks and deciding when they have been completed." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "A world that should have inhabitants feels wrong without individual people in it, so NPCs help the world fit its theme." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "NPCs can handle buying and selling of transferable items even when they have no agency of their own." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Unique bosses are usually built as characters with their own nature, history and appearance, rather than as copies of normal enemies." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Computer-controlled characters with helpful goals can guide and assist players, pushing play toward being easy and supported." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Computer characters whose goal is to stop the player supply the opposing side that makes a fight happen." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Computer characters given the purpose of supporting the player will assist rather than betray, giving the player a cooperative partner." }, { "name": "King of the Hill", "why": "Game-controlled characters can pursue the same hill goal as a player, standing in for rival players and competing with them." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Dealing with rivalries among game characters in a group gives players social situations to figure out." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "System-controlled characters can serve as nonviolent rivals so a lone player still has someone to beat." }, { "name": "Resource Sources", "why": "Non-player characters can give out loot, so they act as a place where players can obtain resources." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Non-player characters give players diegetic figures to interact with, and game masters roleplaying them makes the exchange flexible." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Computer-controlled characters can coordinate with the player to produce what is effectively a team combo." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Making NPCs into enemies lets quests be tuned to be harder, since opponents with opposing goals raise the challenge." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Having any NPC implies a world they live in, so adding them calls for a fuller world or leaves it feeling inconsistent." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "NPCs can be given helpful or hostile goals, which lets designers shift quests toward casual, complex or challenging play." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "An NPC can be the person the player must save, making a character in the world the objective of the goal." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Opposing NPCs let a single player practice things like racing in a meta game, and NPCs can also teach skills through conversation." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Other characters in the world can tell or show the player things, giving another route for information in a world-centered pattern." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Units", "why": "NPCs are individual people with variation that players don't control, whereas units treat inhabitants as an undifferentiated group, so the two clash." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Player_Characters.svg" }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Story clips during which the player can do nothing.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must carry information the player needs and be placed at points where a pause fits, such as before a challenge or at a change of place. Their length and the ability to skip them decide whether they help or annoy.", "just_a_label_when": "A long cinematic that adds no new information and changes no state, which players simply skip.", "knobs": "length; frequency; whether they can be skipped", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cutscenes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "A cutscene can set up a situation or stress an upcoming choice, making players notice which actions define their character." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Cutscenes can reveal information about future challenges, such as enemy weaknesses, letting players judge how likely they are to win." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Cutscenes stop gameplay, so players have nothing to do while the scene runs, which is a break in activity." }, { "name": "Enforced Agent Behavior", "why": "During a cutscene, players or other agents are made to act as the scene dictates, with no say in what happens." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "When a cutscene only moves the story forward and leaves the game state unchanged, its effects stay outside the game's mechanics." }, { "name": "Game Pauses", "why": "Cutscenes halt play, and the game clock too in real-time games, so they work as a pause in the game." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "A cutscene can show players the layout or situation of a new level, giving them a summary of where things stand." }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "why": "Cutscenes can give players hints about future challenges, which point toward what they should aim for." }, { "name": "Lull Periods", "why": "If players find a cutscene dull, the stopped gameplay becomes a stretch where little of interest happens." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Cutscenes can show details of key story objects, and such objects may exist only within cutscenes yet still belong to the game world." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "To make sure players cannot miss the information, cutscenes remove their ability to act, so any input they give does nothing." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Cutscenes can give details about non-player characters that normal play cannot, and these characters may exist only in cutscenes." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "Cutscenes shown when players meet new enemies, bosses or traces can mark those things as worth attention." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Cutscenes are the most common way to unfold a fixed story, and a fixed story can in turn be partly built from cutscenes." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "Cutscenes can show props that the ordinary gameplay could not, and props may exist only within them while still being part of the game world." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "A cutscene is a scene whose content is localized and fixed, presented as a sequence players watch rather than act in." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Cutscenes can give knowledge about coming challenges and show goals and odds, which gives players something to plan around." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Cutscenes are one of the most controlled ways to tell a story, presenting the game world's alternative reality or its set plot." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "A cutscene can tell players how to handle future challenges, for example by showing an enemy's weak point." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Because a cutscene takes complete control of the game state, the designer can guarantee the presentation fits the game's theme." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "A cutscene may use a third-person camera for dramatic effect, regardless of the view the game normally uses." }, { "name": "Transport Routes", "why": "When a cutscene carries players from one location to another, it functions as the means of travel between those places." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "A cutscene takes over the game state completely, overriding whatever players or the game were doing." }, { "name": "Unpredictable Behavior", "why": "The first time players see a particular cutscene it can contain surprises, which make agents seem to act unpredictably." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "A cutscene plays automatically, so it can deliver the clue without the player missing it, or point them to where the clue is." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "Cutscenes can show the action through a character's eyes at a given moment, even when the rest of the game presents the world another way." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A cutscene can show the world from above without a player-controlled camera, since its viewpoint movement can be fully scripted in advance." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "A scripted cutscene can bring in a helper at a given moment, usually as part of a fixed story, like the tow in Mario Kart." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "Cutscenes can reveal an enemy's weak point to players, giving them knowledge for meeting future challenges." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Cutscenes can change how players see their avatars, since the scenes make the avatars act in ways players do not control." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Cutscenes are commonly placed when players first meet a boss, announcing its presence and marking it as important." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Cutscenes can present defining actions as part of the story, or can break them by showing the character acting against how the player sees them." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Cutscenes are commonly placed when players first meet new enemies, showing their presence and marking them as noteworthy." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "A cutscene may use a first-person camera for dramatic effect, even if the game normally uses another view." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Cutscenes give the designer complete control over how players perceive the world, including details gameplay could not show." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A cutscene may use a god's-eye camera for dramatic effect, regardless of the view the game normally uses." }, { "name": "Inaccessible Areas", "why": "Cutscenes can give players a look into places they cannot reach, and can make them aware such places exist." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Cutscenes can show details of key story objects, and such objects may exist only within cutscenes yet still belong to the game world." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Cutscenes can give details about non-player characters that normal play cannot, and these characters may exist only in cutscenes." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "A cutscene shown after the game ends can tell what happened afterward, which helps players realize the future was left open." }, { "name": "Quick Returns", "why": "Cutscenes can depict a fast trip back to an earlier place, covering the movement instead of having players play it." }, { "name": "Quick Travel", "why": "Cutscenes can show the fast trip between places, covering the movement instead of having players play it." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Cutscenes stop gameplay and, in real-time games, also stop the running game time." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Cutscenes are commonly placed when players come across traces, so that these can be marked as points of interest." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Cutscenes usually present a character's traits in the world, which restricts what players can choose." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Automatically played scenes reduce the risk that players miss a clue, or point them to the elements that hold it." }, { "name": "Penalties", "why": "In single-player games, a cutscene can emphasize a penalty's effects without interrupting other players." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quests are often opened and closed with cutscenes, which mark their start and finish dramatically." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Short story scenes can draw attention to a reward or tie the story to when it is handed out." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Cutscenes take control away from players and may show the character acting against how players see them, undermining the sense that their own actions define the character." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Cutscenes remove player agency, which makes it hard to also make players feel their influence is larger than it is." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "In cutscenes, players or other agents are made to act as scripted, which limits what players can choose to do." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "Cutscenes are made to draw attention to the story presentation, which runs against keeping social aspects of play small." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cutscenes.svg" }, { "name": "Player Characters", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "Characters the player directly controls and through whom they take part in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The character needs its own traits, abilities and a role in the story that give the player something to act through and care about. The link between player knowledge and character knowledge needs to be handled.", "just_a_label_when": "A named figure on screen with no traits, history or effect on play, which is really just a cursor.", "knobs": "how detailed the character is; its power compared with others; how much the player can shape it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Characters", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Agents", "why": "When players steer a single character, that character feels like an acting being with its own will rather than a mere piece being moved around." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "A player character gives players one specific place in the game world through which they act and interact with it." }, { "name": "Gossip", "why": "Because players control a character, they get a natural way to talk about events and other characters, including in-world rumor-sharing." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Players' characters can help build up the story as it unfolds during play." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "A party can be made up entirely of player characters, as is typical in multiplayer games." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Player characters matter to prewritten stories, mainly through the events they take part in and some set traits, though not necessarily every detail." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "A player character gives players a natural starting point for playing a role, and the freedom to decide how to act it out." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "Having a character of their own lets players tell stories about what it does and experiences, using the creative control they have." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "A character stands between a player and others, so people interact with the character and not the person controlling it." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "If defining actions shape a player character in ways the player dislikes, it can break their emotional engrossment, since players feel they own that character's interpretation." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Putting new player characters in because someone arrives late can cause balance problems among the players." }, { "name": "Game Masters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Bringing in a newcomer's character mid-game is hard to do fairly, since the character holds the game values players care most about." }, { "name": "Player Balance", "why": "Characters of late-arriving players can be inserted into the game, giving them different conditions from the others." }, { "name": "Player Characters", "why": "" }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Since players control how their characters behave, they may act in ways that don't fit the game's theme unless someone supervises or their actions are limited." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Characters.svg" }, { "name": "Storytelling", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "Stories that are told inside the game itself.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs agents, places and conflicts that carry a story, and a way to deliver it that does not break the game's own world. Choose between a fixed story and one that follows what players do.", "just_a_label_when": "A story told only in a manual or intro that has no connection to actions in play, so it could be removed without changing anything.", "knobs": "fixed vs. adaptive story; how it is delivered (cutscenes, environment, facilitator); how often it appears", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Storytelling", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Telling stories can count as acting outside the game proper when the telling doesn't affect the game state or only partly involves decisions that matter to it." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Letting players narrate gives them room to decide what happens or what is said, which widens the choices open to them." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Stories often bring in new objects, places or events, so telling a story naturally adds elements to the game." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A story can describe and thereby bring a game world into being, including showing what its history looks like." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "In games like Once Upon a Time and roleplaying games, being good at telling stories counts as a skill that makes someone better at playing." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Telling stories either supplies a game with an existing narrative frame or builds and extends one as play goes on." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "When players or human game masters narrate, the things they invent and add to the world are elements created by the players." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "Being the storyteller is a role a player can take, and doing it well gives a feeling of having fulfilled that role." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "" }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Stories can wrap every action and event in the game in the feel of its fictional reality, keeping everything fitting together." }, { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "When someone tells a story without interruption, whether a game master or a player, the telling works as a cutscene." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "Narrative can be used as a channel to express the emotions agents feel about what happens in the game world." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Telling what specific characters do counts as roleplaying when they act in line with their personality and context." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Fudged Results", "why": "A story can offer an in-world explanation for why a result was bent, making the adjustment feel natural." }, { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "Narration can justify newly added elements in the fiction so they fit the world rather than feeling arbitrary." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Storytelling can shape how a world is presented, its history and how its events are framed." }, { "name": "Persistent Game Worlds", "why": "Stories told in a lasting world can influence how it develops and feed ongoing, never-ending narratives." }, { "name": "Player Created Game Elements", "why": "Narration can explain player-made additions in story terms, keeping them consistent with the fiction." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Players' freedom to tell their own story can introduce non-diegetic elements that break the fiction." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Storytellers with creative control may add unfitting objects or events, or make characters act out of character, spoiling the fiction's coherence." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Storytelling.svg" }, { "name": "Props", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "World objects that exist only for appearance and play no part in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "They need to fit the setting and be visually distinct from usable items. They work best when they also provide mood, landmarks or clues.", "just_a_label_when": "Objects are scattered randomly with no theme, or look like usable items so players waste time on them.", "knobs": "how many; where placed; how distinct from usable items", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Props", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "A prop can be shaped or placed so it hints at where to go or what happened, giving players direction without any interaction." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Filling the world with objects that merely exist makes it feel like a believable place, so props help the world stay consistent with itself." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "Props placed around a scene let the setting hint at events and add story flavor without characters or text telling it." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Props can be things players want to acquire, such as objects needed to satisfy goals like decorating a farm or pleasing zoo animals." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Varied props make wandering the world more interesting, and decoys that look like sought-after things force players to search around." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "A prop made large or distinctive stands out in the scenery, so players can recognize it and use it to orient themselves." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Since a prop needs no function and little needs to be revealed about it, it can serve as an objective that matters only in the story." }, { "name": "Obstacles", "why": "Large props like buildings or trees can physically block movement, offering a natural-looking alternative to invisible barriers." }, { "name": "Player Aids", "why": "Physical props such as maps can be used at the table to help players understand the game, without being part of the rules." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "A prop can look like a hint or marker while leading nowhere, misleading players who expect it to mean something." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Adding more detailed objects to a world makes it fit its setting and mood better, strengthening the theme." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Props can be arranged to look like evidence left behind by someone or something, guiding players about what has passed through." }, { "name": "Feelies", "why": "A feelie is simply a kind of prop that lives outside the game's main medium, so props are the broader category it belongs to." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Props add decorative detail to a board, making it richer without changing what players can do on it." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Props make exploring more interesting through variety, and decoy props can make searching necessary because players must sort real finds from fake ones." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Props designed as clues, traces or landmarks help players find their way, while decoy props can make finding the way harder." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Props fill a world with details that define it, adding richness without adding anything players can actively do." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Props add detail to a level, filling out the scenery so it feels like a place rather than an empty layout." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Props can't drive a fixed story alone, but they add flavor and can carry parts of it through the setting." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Props supply details that make it easier for players to imagine and act out being in the fictional world." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "A prop that looks like a usable object but does nothing, or draws interest and then can't be used, exposes an inconsistency in the world." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When a prop looks the same as or very similar to other game items, it blurs what is functional and breaks the theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Props.svg" }, { "name": "Replays", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Recordings of a past game that can be watched again.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must record enough state or input to replay faithfully, and players must be able to find and watch the result. Playback is only useful if there is something worth reviewing or sharing.", "just_a_label_when": "A replay button that records poorly, drifts from what happened, or cannot be viewed, shared or used for anything.", "knobs": "what is recorded; who controls recording; how long recordings are kept and how they are shared", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Replays", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "When the system keeps recorded sessions, it can feed the saved actions to computer-controlled entities, so they behave like earlier human players." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Starting and stopping a recording is something done outside the game's own rules, so letting players make replays gives them such out-of-game actions." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Consequences", "why": "A replay is something gameplay leaves behind outside the game itself, which makes it a consequence that lives beyond the session." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "When players decide whether and when to record, they gain an extra option about what to do with their play." }, { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Players who choose to record can later turn those saved sessions into stories about what happened in that specific playthrough." }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "why": "A replay shows what happened in one particular session, so it works as a way of presenting data about that session." }, { "name": "Ghosts", "why": "Saved system-made recordings can drive see-through opponents that repeat the earlier run's actions, so players race against past performances." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Because a session is saved, other people can watch it afterwards, even though they were not present or playing at the time." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Recordings let runs be shown, compared and used as opponents, supporting the contest of finishing a game as fast as possible." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Replays let players store what they enacted during play, so their performance can be kept and viewed later." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Broadcasting", "why": "Saved recordings can be sent out to audiences outside the game, giving broadcasting something to show." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Where it is unsure how well players will perform, replays capture their actions so the outcome can be stored and reviewed." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Replays are said to make particular sense when players physically act things out, since that performance can then be preserved." }, { "name": "Single-Player Games", "why": "Replays can give solo games a social side, since recordings may be shared and bragged about even when no one plays together." }, { "name": "Speedruns", "why": "Recording a run allows others to watch it at their convenience, as long as there is some way of sharing the recording." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Replays.svg" }, { "name": "Loyalty", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The drive to keep your word and support a person, group or cause within the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a character, faction or cause to be loyal to, with a cost for breaking it and tempting reasons to do so. Without that choice it is only background story.", "just_a_label_when": "The story says you serve a faction but nothing in play rewards or punishes staying with it.", "knobs": "what penalties follow betrayal; how many competing loyalties; how tempting the alternatives are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Loyalty", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Committed Goals", "why": "Breaking a loyalty usually brings penalties, so the player is bound to the commitment and must keep honoring it rather than drop it freely." }, { "name": "Continuous Goals", "why": "Loyalty to a person, faction or party is a relationship that has to be kept up over time instead of being finished once." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Players may feel bad about letting down those they are loyal to, or try to make up for a past lapse in showing it." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "When a player holds goals that clash with a loyalty, or several loyalties that cannot all be satisfied, they are torn between choices." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "When players can choose whether to take on a loyalty at all, that commitment becomes a goal they may accept or decline." }, { "name": "Overcome", "why": "Giving other agents goals that oppose a loyalty creates conflicts, so the player must get past those obstacles to stay faithful." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Loyalty can be set up or ended by scripted story events, and stating it as a promise or ritual ties goals into the plot." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "When something opposes whatever the player is loyal to, staying faithful can mean stopping those opponents from succeeding." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "A loyalty can be imposed on a player by a dramatic game event, so it exists without the player choosing it." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Declaring loyalty to a cause, character or faction, or breaking it, is an action that clearly defines who the character is." }, { "name": "Internal Rivalry", "why": "" }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Where players feel loyal to a group, adding rivalry within it creates the tension between group and self." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Adding loyalty to an avatar gives the player's figure a commitment that shapes what it should or should not do." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Loyalty adds a commitment to a character, and choosing to keep or break it can define who that character is." }, { "name": "Companions", "why": "Companions can leave if they feel their loyalty has been misused by how the player acts, so loyalty affects how they behave toward the player." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Loyalty to a faction adds rules and expectations about how members must act, shaping what a faction means to the player." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Loyalty.svg" }, { "name": "Helpers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Characters not controlled by players who help the player.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decide what each helper can do and where or when it appears, so the help matches a real moment of need, such as a puzzle, a shortage, or a lack of information. The help must be useful enough to rely on but limited enough that players still have to make their own choices.", "just_a_label_when": "A character stands in the world with a friendly name and model but only repeats flavor lines, so players gain nothing and never need to consult it.", "knobs": "how much and what kind of help they give; how often, where and when they are available; what it costs the player to use them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Helpers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Helpers often hand players hints, such as gossip, that nudge them toward what to do next without stating it outright." }, { "name": "Gain Competence", "why": "A helper that withholds aid until the player makes amends gives the player a goal of becoming capable enough to earn that help." }, { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "When a helper won't share help automatically or has withdrawn it, players must pursue the knowledge it holds, creating an information-seeking goal." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Helpers can push a scripted story forward and add extra detail to it, so they serve as a vehicle for the plot." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Helpers can perform special services players can't do themselves, such as healing damage or crafting." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Helpers can assign tasks or assist with them, so talking to them can hand players missions to carry out." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Because helpers speak indirectly rather than stating the true game state, what they say can mislead players." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Some helpers act as merchants or service providers, letting players exchange goods with them." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Helpers appear within boards and assist players there, changing how play on that board goes." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Helpers live in the game world and give players help while they explore it, shaping the experience there." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "A helper can rescue players from a stuck or hopeless situation, such as being towed out of the ocean in Mario Kart or revived by companions." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Helpers placed within a level give players aid in that specific place, affecting how the level is played." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Helpers can move a fixed story along and supply extra details to it, altering how the plot unfolds for players." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Helpers give aid in completing quests, and gaining a helper's aid may itself require a quest, changing how those quests play." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "A non-player character can be turned into either a helper or an enemy, which sets up a tradeoff." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Helpers.svg" }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "The player knows exactly as much as one particular hero does.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must truly limit what the player knows to what their one character perceives, and give clues through the world. It works best with a single player.", "just_a_label_when": "The player controls one character but the interface shows information the character could not know.", "knobs": "how much the character knows; how clues are spread over the game", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Detective_Structures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Gain Information", "why": "Because players only learn what their one character can learn, they naturally set goals to find out more, whether about the story or the world." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Since information mostly comes through the game world itself, players explore it to find what they need to know, and this exploring can be done just by moving around." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Limited, incomplete information plus the chance of surprises keeps players unsure what comes next, especially when clues hint that something may happen." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Restricting players to one character's viewpoint means they begin without the full picture, and unseen events happening elsewhere in the world can keep that gap open." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Limiting knowledge to one protagonist is one specific way of deciding how a game's story is presented to players." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Controlling what the player learns, and in what order, helps make sure fixed story events are revealed in the intended sequence." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "In open worlds, a pointer-style control lets players explore away from any particular character, breaking the single-character limit on information." }, { "name": "Melodramatic Structures", "why": "The two start out incompatible, and since the page says this clash must be kept up through the whole game, they cannot easily coexist." }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "Players can see the other players' screens, so each can see what others' characters see, which undermines restricting information to one character." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Controlling several units gives players multiple viewpoints at once, which goes against restricting information to a single character's perspective." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Detective_Structures.svg" }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game elements the story revolves around and that drive the narrative forward.", "needs_to_really_work": "A chosen object or character must be what goals such as capture, deliver or protect point to, so story and play both depend on it. It need not be detailed, only important to the goals.", "just_a_label_when": "The story mentions a special object but no goal or action in the game involves it.", "knobs": "which goals refer to it; how present it is in the world; how its importance is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/MacGuffins", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alien Space Bats", "why": "A MacGuffin that clashes with the game's world and its theme would turn into an out-of-place element, so it must fit the setting to avoid that." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Capturing needs something to grab, and a MacGuffin can be that object without needing any special traits beyond being the thing everyone wants." }, { "name": "Deliver", "why": "Delivering needs something to carry to a destination, and a MacGuffin can fill that role since only its being transported matters, not what it is." }, { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "Eliminating needs a target to be destroyed, and a MacGuffin can be that target without needing any particular characteristics." }, { "name": "Gain Ownership", "why": "Simply getting hold of something is a goal that needs a game element but no specific traits, so a MacGuffin can serve as the prize." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "When MacGuffins are present as concrete objects, they can be items; this is especially common when the goal is capturing, delivering, or eliminating." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "MacGuffins give players something to rally their goals around, which lets a story take shape in the game." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "By supplying the thing characters strive for, a MacGuffin sets up a story framework that is planned ahead of play." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A MacGuffin can define the aim of a smaller, local task, not just the game's overall goal." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Having a MacGuffin may be necessary to keep the game's theme coherent, even though how it looks is rarely constrained by the theme." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Eliminate", "why": "If enemies carry important objects, players are more driven to remove them, and this also marks them as enemies." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/MacGuffins.svg" }, { "name": "Gossip", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "dynamics × drama", "what_it_is": "Game characters pass information to each other by word of mouth.", "needs_to_really_work": "Information in the world must be uncertain, so statements can be true, false or partial and players can't instantly check them. Someone must actually pass messages along, and acting on them must matter.", "just_a_label_when": "Idle chatter lines that repeat facts already known or never affect any decision, so it is flavour text only.", "knobs": "who talks to whom; how reliable the information is; what topics it covers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gossip", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "Gossip can tell players how they or others behaved in the game world, so what a character did spreads and brings good or bad social results." }, { "name": "Betrayal", "why": "When players trade talk in negotiation, they can pass on false or damaging tales about others, which lets them break someone's trust." }, { "name": "Information Passing", "why": "Gossip is a spoken exchange between characters, so whenever it happens, facts or rumors move from one character to another." }, { "name": "Storytelling", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Gossip most often concerns characters, so what is said about them shapes what others know or believe of them." }, { "name": "Delayed Reciprocity", "why": "Gossip helps sustain players' belief that favors will be repaid later, because information about who did what keeps circulating." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Game-provided gossip can point players toward notable places or things in the world that are worth noticing." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Rumors told by characters in the game can hint at possible quests, informing players about tasks they might take on." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Rumors heard earlier can change what is available to say later, and they also act as a source of hints." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gossip.svg" }, { "name": "Alien Space Bats", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A silly or supernatural explanation for why the game world differs from ours.", "needs_to_really_work": "The fantastic element must have visible consequences in the world and its gameplay (new items, abilities, enemies), kept consistent with the theme. Introduced mid-game, it should be explained by the story.", "just_a_label_when": "A mention of magic or aliens is in the backstory, but the world and rules play exactly like the real-world version.", "knobs": "how big a departure from reality; when it appears; how many new elements it brings", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Alien_Space_Bats", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game Element Insertion", "why": "When a fantastical agent appears mid-game, it gives a reason to bring in new enemies, items, or units that fit that agent's nature." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "A mid-game fantastical event is usually a surprise, so it changes how the story unfolds and shifts the way the narrative develops." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Giving the altered world a fantastical cause lets its odd features feel like they belong together, so the setting hangs together as one theme." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "When such an agent shows up during play, it usually arrives as a huge, world-changing event that goes far beyond ordinary happenings." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "New fantastical elements can unlock fresh element insertions and make levels differ from each other, so play stays varied across the game." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "They are a physical story element in the world, often explained at the start by a summary update." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "A fantastical cause arriving during play can justify adding new kinds of enemies that suit what was introduced." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A fantastical event can justify new environmental effects, since the strange agent's nature explains why the surroundings behave differently." }, { "name": "Game Items", "why": "A fantastical event can justify new items appearing, since the agent's nature explains why such objects now exist." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "These implausible causes change aspects of the real world, so the resulting game world is a twisted version of ours rather than invented from nothing." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "New abilities and game elements introduced by the fantastical cause can be used to make one level feel different from another." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Such explanations are usually planned in advance as part of a fixed story, because improvising them live would be hard to pull off convincingly." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "When a fantastical agent appears during play, it can give a reason to hand the player new special abilities." }, { "name": "Summary Updates", "why": "These explanations are best given early, often through summaries or marketing material, so players aren't caught off guard and their expectations of the theme stay intact." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "A fantastical event during play can justify adding new units, since the agent's nature explains why they now exist." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "If the effects of the fantastical element aren't carried through to the story, world, and gameplay, the setting stops feeling coherent and the theme breaks." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Alien_Space_Bats.svg" }, { "name": "Campaigns", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × procedures", "what_it_is": "A chain of pre-designed game episodes played in order.", "needs_to_really_work": "The parts must be linked by shared story, carried-over progress and connecting material, so they feel like one arc. Decide what state carries over between parts.", "just_a_label_when": "Levels are grouped under a 'campaign' title but nothing carries over and nothing links them, so they are just a list.", "knobs": "number and length of parts; what carries over; amount of story between parts", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Campaigns", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "A campaign fixes in advance a sequence of parts that players go through in order, so the story's overall shape is already laid out before play begins." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Campaigns.svg" }, { "name": "Adventures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Pre-designed events and challenges used to build the content of a play session.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs ready settings, events, characters and goals that can be used with little preparation, and ideally structure (quests, scenes) plus room for a game master to adapt when players go off-script.", "just_a_label_when": "A pile of lore and locations is labeled an adventure, but it has no goals or events for players to run into, so a group can't actually play it.", "knobs": "how scripted or open the content is; length; how many are linked into a sequence", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Adventures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "When several adventures are written to be played one after another, the linked sequence becomes a campaign, like the chain of Dungeons & Dragons modules from G1 through Q1." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "An adventure is itself a ready-made set of settings, events and characters prepared before play, so it is a case of a story whose shape is fixed in advance." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Adventures.svg" }, { "name": "Finale Levels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "Levels built to feel like the conclusion of a storyline.", "needs_to_really_work": "Build the last area to resolve the narrative arc, with harder play and a boss or climax, positioned so it feels like the end. The difficulty and story should peak together.", "just_a_label_when": "The last level is just another ordinary level with a credits screen, with no rise in challenge or sense of closure.", "knobs": "difficulty spike of the final level; how much story resolution it carries", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Finale_Levels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Closure Points", "why": "Because a finale wraps up the story arc, it becomes a clear spot where an adventure or campaign visibly reaches its end." }, { "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", "why": "Finishing a finale ends the narrative arc and usually comes with harder play, so completing it feels like a bigger payoff than earlier stages." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A finale is built as an enclosed play area, so it can be designed with the same tools as any ordinary level." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "The page says finales can produce scenes as well as levels, but does not explain what in play makes that so." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Adventures", "why": "A finale sits at the end of an adventure and sets its overall shape by acting as the explicit point where it concludes." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "Final bosses can show up elsewhere, but the finale is often the sealed-off place where they can actually be beaten." }, { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Some adventures serve as a campaign's last stretch, so a finale shapes how the whole campaign is structured and where it ends." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Finale_Levels.svg" }, { "name": "Summary Updates", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A recap of events before or after the game itself to bring the player up to speed.", "needs_to_really_work": "The summary must give players what they need to know about the setting or the consequences, at the right time and in short enough form to be read. It fits games with a planned story.", "just_a_label_when": "A recap screen that repeats what the player already knows, or one so long that it is skipped without being read.", "knobs": "when it appears; how long it is; how much information it contains", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Summary_Updates", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Cutscenes", "why": "A summary update is a kind of cutscene: it pauses active play to tell players what happened before or after, so each summary is a cutscene." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "In multiplayer games, an out-of-play player is given only a recap while waiting for the others to continue." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Adventures", "why": "Summary updates are usually written alongside an adventure, giving players the background before it starts and the outcome once it ends." }, { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Because they are attached to scenes and adventures, summaries also shape the wider campaign, and can be written specifically to open or close one." }, { "name": "Melodramatic Structures", "why": "In games built around melodrama, a summary can explain the new situation players find themselves in, helping them make sense of changing circumstances." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "When a game's story is planned in advance, designers can write summaries to fit its fixed parts, delivering needed background at planned points." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Summaries are written together with scenes, so players are told what they need to know when moving into or out of each one." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Summary_Updates.svg" }, { "name": "Feelies", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "feelings × drama", "what_it_is": "Real physical items packaged with the game that strengthen the impression it makes.", "needs_to_really_work": "Props must fit the game's world and tone and ideally carry clues, backstory or help, so that using them deepens immersion. They must be made to match the theme of the game.", "just_a_label_when": "Generic box extras, such as stickers or a poster, with no link to the story or play, so they add nothing to the experience.", "knobs": "how many props; how themed they are and whether they carry clues or helpful information", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Feelies", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "A prop can carry hints about the game, so a designer can use a feelie to nudge players toward solving something, like a map with hints." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because feelies are extras made to deepen the experience, they should fit the game world's internal logic, so this consistency matters even more for them." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Being physical objects that sit outside the game medium, feelies stand out from the rest of the game's in-world elements." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Broadcasting", "why": "When a feelie shows events that already happened in the game world, such as a diary, it conveys that world's story outside the game itself." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Since feelies are extras, a designer can fill them with misleading details, giving players false leads along with or instead of real hints." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Feelies exist to enrich the experience, so they are usually made to match the game's theme in look and feel." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "Physical extras packaged with a game, like a map or booklet, are props that exist outside the game itself and carry no gameplay." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Feelies.svg" }, { "name": "Phasing", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "In one session, world elements are removed or changed for some players.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design must define the phases, the triggers for entering and leaving them, and whether players share a phase. Gameplay must also be tied to what each phase shows, so the difference actually matters.", "just_a_label_when": "Different players see slightly different scenery, but nothing in their goals, options or story differs, so nobody notices or cares.", "knobs": "how many phases exist; what triggers entering and leaving; whether players share a phase", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Phasing", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because the world changes to match each player's own progress, players feel their actions reshape it more than they really do, since the change is only shown to them." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "When a group of players shares a phase and everyone else is phased out, only that group can interact with the same things, which works just like an instance." }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "why": "Different players are shown different versions of the world or story, so the accounts of what happened no longer match across players." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Phasing gives players different available actions depending on which part of the game space they are in, producing private areas." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Phasing changes what elements of the world are shown, so the world itself, or at least how players perceive it, differs depending on the player." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Phasing works by having each player's interface show different things, which only makes sense when play is experienced through a mediating presentation." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In a game shared by many players, phasing lets subgroups or individuals see different game elements, such as teams seeing themselves as friendly and others as enemies." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Players can be shown world changes tied to their place in a fixed story without designers having to make those changes permanent for everyone." }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "When phasing is applied to a single player, that player gets their own version of the world that others cannot interact with, like a private space." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Taking on a quest can move a player into a temporary phase, so the world updates or removes elements, like completed quest givers, to reflect their progress." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Players see different versions of the world, so those comparing their experiences find the world doesn't add up." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Phasing.svg" }, { "name": "Scripted Information Sequences", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A preset chain of events plays out while the player can still act.", "needs_to_really_work": "Place scripted events at particular points so players can still act, give reasons for them to watch, such as clues or threats, and decide how interruptible they are.", "just_a_label_when": "A cutscene in disguise, where the player is locked in place or the world is frozen, so there is no gameplay during the sequence.", "knobs": "how interruptible; trigger location; whether they threaten the player; clue content", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Scripted_Information_Sequences", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "The scripted events happen at fixed spots in the game world, so the story is told through the place itself while players move around." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Unlike a cutscene, players can wander elsewhere or keep playing while the events run, so they still decide what to do." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "A scripted sequence can show non-player characters acting on their own goals, making them seem to have purposes beyond the player." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The sequence plays out the same fixed way each time, so designers can deliver a set story without stopping gameplay." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "If the sequence endangers players' health or lives unless they get out of its way, it works as a trap and pushes them to notice it." }, { "name": "Ultra-Powerful Events", "why": "Once a sequence starts, players typically cannot stop or change it, so it runs its course regardless of what they do." }, { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Scripted scenes naturally pull players' eyes, and paired with traps or required continuing events they punish those who stop watching." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "If players notice that information follows a script, they realize events are predetermined and feel less influential." }, { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "In games meant for replay, scripted sequences get seen repeatedly and become noticeable patterns, which undermines the impression that agents act from their own goals." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Seeing the same sequence repeat across playthroughs reveals its artificial nature, weakening the illusion that characters act independently." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Scripted_Information_Sequences.svg" }, { "name": "Character Alignments", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × rules", "what_it_is": "A system classing heroes as good, evil, or neutral by their moral stance.", "needs_to_really_work": "Alignments must be linked to what characters can do or how others treat them, and breaking one's alignment must have an effect.", "just_a_label_when": "A moral label appears on the character sheet but never affects rules, NPC reactions or penalties.", "knobs": "number and axes of alignments; penalties for acting against them; whether alignment can be changed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Character_Alignments", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ability Losses", "why": "When a character acts against their alignment, the game can punish them by weakening their abilities, for instance because a god disapproves or because of psychological fallout." }, { "name": "Characteristics", "why": "An alignment is a trait attached to a character that limits which actions that character may take and how others can act toward them, such as revealing it with a spell." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Because alignments are stated openly, designers can build tough choices that belong to the characters themselves rather than only to the players." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "Alignments steer how characters are expected to behave, and breaking those expectations can bring penalties or push a character to switch alignment." }, { "name": "Factions", "why": "Alignments can describe the shared norms of a group, so a faction's members and actions are shaped by the alignment it holds." }, { "name": "Player-Created Characters", "why": "Players choose an alignment when making their character, which pushes them to think about how that character will act and be played." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Alignments tie moral stances to kinds of actions, giving players a guide for how their character would behave in the story." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Character_Alignments.svg" }, { "name": "Companion Quests", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × objectives", "what_it_is": "Goal: complete a quest built around the player's companion.", "needs_to_really_work": "Triggers that players can notice, goals that matter to the companion's story, and rewards that change the companion or the relationship.", "just_a_label_when": "A companion has a quest on the list, but it is generic, has no story link to them, and changes nothing about them.", "knobs": "number of quests per companion; triggers; rewards and effect on the companion", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Companion_Quests", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences", "why": "How a companion's quest turns out can decide which ending the player gets, so choices made for a follower visibly change the story's result." }, { "name": "Open Destiny", "why": "Because the quest centers on a follower, how it resolves can leave that companion's fate undecided and dependent on what the player does." }, { "name": "Optional Goals", "why": "A companion quest is a kind of sidequest, so players can choose to skip it and still carry on with the main game." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers write companion quests to give followers a prepared story arc that players can explore, rather than letting it emerge from play." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "A companion quest is simply a quest, a goal given as an in-world mission, whose focus happens to be a follower instead of the player." }, { "name": "Sidequests", "why": "Companion quests are a specific type of sidequest, since they are extra missions centered on followers and not part of the main objective." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "The quests give followers their own story to play through, changing them from simple helpers into characters with goals and arcs players can explore." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Companion_Quests.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Consistent Narration", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "dynamics × drama", "what_it_is": "Narration in the game whose parts do not agree with each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "Story elements must be repeated or contradict the game world's history, with instances or phasing isolating the inconsistency so that only the players inside it see it. It must be a deliberate trade-off for the sake of reuse or scale.", "just_a_label_when": "A story that is just sloppy and contradictory by accident, with no reuse or purpose behind it, which only breaks immersion without giving anything back.", "knobs": "how much story content is reused; how isolated each player's copy is (instancing or phasing)", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Consistent_Narration", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Adventures", "why": "Adventures can be replayed or reused for different groups, so the narration about them gets repeated and ignores earlier playthroughs." }, { "name": "Campaigns", "why": "Campaign stories can be reused for groups who join later, so the same narration is told again despite what already happened elsewhere." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Improvised storytelling can include repeated or contradictory elements, and this often goes unnoticed or is not treated as a problem." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Designers can alter a fixed story by deliberately reusing some of its parts, choosing which pieces repeat and how players may notice." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Quests are handed to every player who meets the requirements, even repeatedly, so the story ignores that others already completed them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "When separate game instances do not affect the larger story, players' sense of power over the narrative is limited." }, { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "Replaying story events that already happened makes the narration contradict the timeline of the game world." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Repeating story content makes characters act as if earlier events never occurred, which clashes with the theme the world is supposed to hold." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Consistent_Narration.svg" }, { "name": "Player Aids", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": "mechanics × interface", "what_it_is": "Handouts with extra information about the game world or the current situation.", "needs_to_really_work": "The aid must hold information players can use or react to, and be given at a well-chosen moment. Its look and material should fit the fiction.", "just_a_label_when": "A handout that only repeats what the players already know and is thrown away unread.", "knobs": "what information it holds; when it is handed out; its material and visual design", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Player_Aids", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "A handout such as a letter or map can carry information that helps players work out what is going on or what to do next." }, { "name": "Feelies", "why": "A player aid can serve as a feelie when it fits the game's world and theme, though feelies that only add flavor and give no information are not aids." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Handouts are given to players as the prepared story unfolds, either at set events or from the start, so they help deliver that fixed plot." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Because a handout can hold information relevant to a puzzle, players can use what it reveals when they try to solve it." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Holding items that could exist in the game world can inspire players to act in character." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Player_Aids.svg" }, { "name": "Melodramatic Structures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The story is built so the player or viewer knows more than any character.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must show events from several viewpoints or add commentary, and this extra knowledge must change how the player reads what the character does. The perspective shifts have to be large enough to matter.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with several playable characters or a wide camera that shows the player nothing beyond what the current character already knows.", "knobs": "how often the viewpoint switches; how much the player is told beyond the character", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Melodramatic_Structures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [], "changes": [ { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "The pattern shapes how a game tells its story by letting the player hold knowledge that the in-game people do not have." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "It can be layered onto a fixed story, giving players extra knowledge about it, while characters' available gameplay actions stay the same." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "The two start out incompatible, and since the page says this clash must be kept up through the whole game, they cannot easily coexist." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Melodramatic_Structures.svg" }, { "name": "Contextualized Conversational Responses", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A character replies in conversation taking into account everything currently happening in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Replies must be chosen from relevant game state, such as who is speaking, where, and what has happened, using rules or authored dialogue per character or place. Players should notice that the replies fit.", "just_a_label_when": "A character has many lines, but they are picked at random or ignore what just happened.", "knobs": "how many state variables affect replies; how much dialogue is written; per-character or per-location variants", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Contextualized_Conversational_Responses", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Own Agenda", "why": "When a computer-controlled character voices fitting emotions about the specific situation it is in, players read it as having its own goals and concerns." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Replies that adapt to the situation supply the conversation content, which makes the exchange work as a dialogue and stay true to the setting." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Algorithmic Agents", "why": "Designers can build the context-sensitivity into an agent's own rules, so what it says changes according to the game state it checks." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Instead of rules, designers can write dialogue lines tied to a particular character or place, so what is said fits the current circumstances." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Contextualized_Conversational_Responses.svg" }, { "name": "Contextualization", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "drama", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A scene interrupts the current one to show important information, like a memory or a look ahead.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be a clear signal for starting and ending such scenes and someone with authority to call them. They must give information that changes how the current scene is understood.", "just_a_label_when": "A scene break is announced, but it just repeats what players already know and changes nothing about the main scene.", "knobs": "who may trigger it; how often; flashback or flash-forward; which characters take part", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Contextualization", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Meta-Techniques", "why": "The pattern is itself a game-stepping-out technique, so using it means players apply a rule-level device that works on the story rather than inside it." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Each use produces a whole new short scene, such as a remembered or anticipated moment, that is played out and cuts into the ongoing action." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Characters", "why": "During these inserted scenes players can portray their character at another time, or play other figures who matter to the story, changing who is on stage." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Players get to act out events from other moments rather than only the present one, so the range of what they can portray widens." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Dropping into an already running scene, the inserted material interrupts it and adds context, so the original scene is altered while it continues." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Temporal Consistency", "why": "In live-action roleplay, staging scenes from the future or past steps outside the single running timeline, so the order of events is broken." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Contextualization.svg" }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Information that gives more than you can see just by looking at the game elements.", "needs_to_really_work": "Collect scattered information into views such as maps or panels that support planning, and make them accurate and easy to read. They should show things players can't see directly.", "just_a_label_when": "An overview screen exists, but it shows only what is visible anyway or is too cluttered to use.", "knobs": "what information is included; level of detail; how accessible it is during play", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_State_Overviews", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Progress Indicators", "why": "Because an overview shows where you and others stand, it works as a way to tell how far along everyone is." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Seeing your own and others' positions side by side makes players feel they are racing each other." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "When people outside the game can also see the overview, they can follow what is happening and watch along." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "When an overview shows a player is ahead, they may try to finish the game quickly before others catch up." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Information about your own and others' situations gives players material to think through and plan around." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Overviews reveal your own and other players' situations, which helps players understand the bigger picture and choose strategies." }, { "name": "Balancing Effects", "why": "Public information such as scores lets players see who is ahead, which they need in order to gang up on the leader." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Area Control", "why": "Overviews present who holds which areas, changing how players follow and judge control." }, { "name": "Camping", "why": "An overview can help players know where camping spots are located, informing combat planning." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Shared knowledge of the state in multiplayer games affects how players coordinate with each other." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "The overview is part of the interface, which already sits outside the game world, so it can also show information about these actions." }, { "name": "Fog of War", "why": "Overviews affect how hidden or revealed parts of the world are perceived and how much the fog matters." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Overviews give information that supports moving around and discovering the world." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Overviews help players find their way by showing where things are." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Overviews change how players perceive the structure and layout of a level." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Having state information shown can change how much a player needs to remember during puzzle-like play." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Overviews give information that helps players decide how to move, directly or through race positions." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Seeing the shared state affects how players interact with each other." }, { "name": "Preventing Goals", "why": "Overviews can show the state relevant to blocking goals, helping players know what to stop." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Overviews can alter how puzzle information is held and recalled by the player." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Showing positions on a track or board lets players see where everyone stands in a race." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Overviews give players information about the world that scouting would otherwise gather." }, { "name": "Sniper Locations", "why": "Overviews can reveal where sniping spots are, helping players plan for combat." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Overviews help players plan fights by showing where threats and advantageous positions are." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Overviews give information that helps players cross the game world toward a destination." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Overviews let players keep track of all the units they command." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Summaries of the game's state encourage players to view elements through the lens of the system rather than the setting." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Overviews can reveal too much, lessening the challenge of finding your own way." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "When the state is shown to players, there is less need to remember it themselves." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Overviews can reveal too much information, making scouting for it less necessary." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_State_Overviews.svg" }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An indicator, not the game world itself, tells about the game or other players.", "needs_to_really_work": "Show information players really need, in a form they can read quickly and tied to decisions. Choose what is shown beyond what the avatar could sense.", "just_a_label_when": "An indicator is on screen, but it shows something irrelevant or duplicates what is already obvious.", "knobs": "what is displayed; update speed and prominence; diegetic versus non-diegetic", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_State_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Indicators that show things the avatar couldn't sense, or things outside the player's current focus, give players a wider picture of what is happening." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "Many indicators, such as map icons or floating markers, don't fit the fiction of the game world, so they end up being features outside it." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "When indicators reveal how far other players have progressed, players can see who is ahead and begin competing to get there first." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Indicators change quickly and grab attention, so players become more aware of things like a ticking clock and feel pressure." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Indicators can add to how avatars look, such as highlighting the selected one or showing owner names, helping when avatars alone are too complex to read." }, { "name": "Budgeted Action Points", "why": "The number of action points left is a typical thing players need to see, so indicators display it." }, { "name": "Capture", "why": "Indicators help players weigh risk against reward when they're going after a capture goal." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "When characters are complex, their depiction alone may not convey enough, so indicators supplement it." }, { "name": "Collaborative Actions", "why": "Indicators can show how far other players have got in a shared action so teammates know what stage it is at." }, { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "When many rules and states are in play, indicators help players stay informed about the state in ways the world alone can't." }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "Showing how long until an ability is usable again is a common use, so players know when they can act." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Indicators can display how much harm has been taken, giving players a readout rather than leaving them to guess." }, { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Markers show whether an avatar is controlled by a human or not, which matters when players can join and leave." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Indicators can draw attention to fleeting events the game detects, so players don't miss them." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "More information helps players plan their moves, which supports the feeling that their tactical choices matter." }, { "name": "Extended Actions", "why": "Indicators can show how much time has been spent on a long action, so players can see its progress." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Indicators can mark where or who the important focus points are in the world, or in a race." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Indicators let players perceive more of the world than they otherwise could, adding information beyond what is directly observable." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Remaining health is among the most common things shown, letting players see how close they are to defeat." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Indicators show how many lives are left so players know how many failures they can still afford." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Having the state displayed can make players' need to remember session details smaller or remove it altogether." }, { "name": "No-Ops", "why": "Indicators show when a player is forced to wait and cannot act, so the lockout is visible." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Score values are a typical piece of state displayed, often via a score track." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Showing how near the player is to being spotted makes sneaking easier, as with a visibility gauge." }, { "name": "Temporary Abilities", "why": "Because these run out through time or uses, an indicator is needed to show what is left." }, { "name": "Time Limited Game Instances", "why": "Indicators show the time remaining in sessions that end on a clock." }, { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "A display of the time left makes the limit visible to players as it runs down." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "Because time displays draw attention, they make players more conscious of how little time remains." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Indicators can mark which units are selected, since that fact isn't part of the game world itself." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Showing numbers like lives or scores in any form can push players to see other elements as game systems instead of in-world things." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "If the game displays the details, players needn't remember them, which reduces or removes the memory challenge." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Giving players extra information about the state removes some of what they would otherwise be unsure about." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_State_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Interface elements tied to a place in the world but not part of it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Information must be attached to a location or object in the world, positioned so it is seen when needed, and it should actually help players decide something. Accept that it breaks the fiction.", "just_a_label_when": "A marker or label that repeats what is already obvious on screen, or one placed in a HUD corner far from the thing it describes.", "knobs": "what information is shown; where and when it appears; whether it shows through walls or only in view", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Geospatial_Game_Widgets", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Messages from chat can be shown near the characters who spoke them, so the chat text is placed at spots in the game world." }, { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Route points, such as racing way points, are hard to fit into the story world, so they are shown as widgets placed at those locations." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues can be shown as widgets at their locations so players are unlikely to overlook them, as in detective-style games." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Every widget is information about the game state, shown at a place in the world, so each one acts as an indicator of that state." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "When many widgets are shown at once, together they give players a broad picture of what is going on in the game." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Widgets work as markers fixed on places or on things like enemies and units, helping players find and refer to them." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The widgets are not really part of the game world, so placing them in it brings in elements that the story world cannot explain." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Power-ups are only loosely present in the world and may not fit its story, so widgets can stand in as the power-up itself." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Widgets such as racing checkpoints can lay out a visible trail through the world that players follow." }, { "name": "Auto-Aim", "why": "Lock-on aiming often shows enemies with clear markers placed in the game space, and these marker widgets are one way the aiming help is delivered." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Showing a handle through map-style on-screen widgets gives the avatar a name-like trait, which is a light form of character." }, { "name": "Reward Widgets", "why": "A reward widget comes into being when a reward is shown as a clickable object placed in the game space, which is what these widgets are." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Widgets attach to avatars, such as hovering names or glowing outlines that let teammates see each other through walls." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Widgets near avatars can show abstract character details, and showing a handle can start giving avatars or units a character identity." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Clues shown as widgets are hard to miss, which changes how games built around investigation play out." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Markers such as selection circles or the god finger show where the player's attention or control currently sits." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Widgets give players information at specific places in the world, adding an information layer on top of it." }, { "name": "Handles", "why": "Player names can float above avatars as widgets, so the name is shown right where the avatar is." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "Health bars float above units or characters, so their condition can be read at their location." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Widgets deliver information at specific places in a level, such as route points or markers, shaping how players read it." }, { "name": "Mini-maps", "why": "A weaker form puts widgets on mini-maps, which still pins them to world locations, as pings do in strategy games." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "" }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Shared markers visible through objects and placed by members help a party cooperate on the same targets." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "Widgets are added to pick-ups so players are less likely to miss where they are." }, { "name": "Power-Ups", "why": "Widgets make power-up locations noticeable so players don't overlook them." }, { "name": "Props", "why": "When a prop does offer a bit of information through a click, interface markers placed at its location show players that it can be used." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Markers and pings on targets let team members point things out to each other and act together." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Territories are hard to explain within the story world, so widgets are a common way to show their extent." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Widgets on units show health or which unit is currently selected, so the status is visible right at the unit." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Linking such widgets to installations makes sure they stand out in the game world." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Map-like interface elements can show goals and the state of the world, supporting planning." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Taking away map aids or outlines, as in realism mode, makes finding things harder, so the aids work against challenge." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Widgets are not actually part of the game world yet appear in it, so the world can't stay fully consistent." }, { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Widgets that highlight important objects take away the need for players to explore and look around on their own." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Widgets are non-diegetic additions in the world, so the game's theme can't be fully kept intact." }, { "name": "Territories", "why": "Ownership is shown by overlays placed on the world itself, and such interface elements don't belong to the game's fictional setting." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Geospatial_Game_Widgets.svg" }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": "feelings × interface", "what_it_is": "Parts of the world stand out by shape, color, or texture and hint at what can be done with them.", "needs_to_really_work": "The feature must stand out from its surroundings and mean something consistent, so that players learn what it signals. It should still fit the world.", "just_a_label_when": "Something is shiny or colored differently but the look has no link to what it is or does.", "knobs": "how strongly it stands out; how reliably it signals the same thing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Diegetically_Outstanding_Features", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clickability", "why": "Making an activatable item look different from its surroundings signals that it can be interacted with, which supports players knowing what to click." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Marking pickups, chargers, resource generators or traps with a striking look hints at what is there, and vulnerable spots on entities can be flagged the same way." }, { "name": "Environmental Storytelling", "why": "A feature can be placed or styled purely to narrate something, such as luring players toward a spot, so the world itself tells part of a story." }, { "name": "Illusionary Rewards", "why": "Spotting a marked item feels like a win, yet the item may not actually help the player, so the reward is only apparent." }, { "name": "Landmarks", "why": "Distinctive, easily seen features give players fixed reference points they can use to orient themselves in boards, worlds, or levels." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "A character can exist entirely as a striking feature of the world, without taking part in gameplay." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "A feature can draw players to a spot where nothing useful is, misleading them on purpose." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Because a standout feature gives players a reason to head toward or steer clear of it, they start planning their route." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "If a feature's meaning can be understood before its effects show, players can recall and reuse that knowledge when the same feature reappears." }, { "name": "Traces", "why": "Positioning noticeable features in particular ways can imply that something happened there earlier, leaving a trail players can read." }, { "name": "Movement Limitations", "why": "" } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achilles' Heels", "why": "Marking an entity's weak spot with a distinctive look gives players a hint about where to strike." }, { "name": "Alarms", "why": "A distinctive look on a fixed-location element can tell players where an alarm sits in the world." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Agency-bearing elements like the player's character can be given a distinctive look, which is a common use of the pattern." }, { "name": "Boss Monsters", "why": "A boss that is already large can be made to look even more noticeable through added distinguishing features." }, { "name": "Chargers", "why": "Giving a charging spot a distinctive look tells players where it is, though it may not help them." }, { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Locations that do not rely on physical game elements, like race checkpoints, are marked by distinctive surroundings so players recognise them." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "A change in how an entity looks can show that it has been hurt, reflecting what happened in play." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Narrative-related features can be planted to support games built around investigating, offering things to find and interpret." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Enemies are among the agent-like elements that can be given a distinctive appearance, which is a common use of the pattern." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "A distinctive look can indicate where an environmental effect is located in the game world." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Variations in how a board looks can create standout spots that draw players' attention." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Landmarks created by standout features make it easier for players to complete exploration goals." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Distinctive features serve as landmarks that help players find their way around the world." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Differences in the appearance of parts of a world make certain places more noticeable than their surroundings." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "A big installation can be made even more visible by adding distinguishing features to it." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Variations in how a level looks can mark interesting spots and help players pick them out." }, { "name": "Location-Fixed Abilities", "why": "A typical use is telling players where in the world a location-bound ability can be found." }, { "name": "MacGuffins", "why": "Narrative-related objects can be made to stand out through distinctive features, tying them into the story." }, { "name": "Narration Structures", "why": "Standout features can be used to shape story-related elements of a game, like plot objects." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Agent-like characters can be given a distinctive appearance, or even be made entirely of such features." }, { "name": "Pick-Ups", "why": "A distinctive look shows players where collectible items are, acting as a clue even if the item is not helpful." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Most games need these features designed before play begins, since the story is fixed in advance." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "A distinctive look can tell players where to find resources in the game world." }, { "name": "Safe Havens", "why": "A distinctive look can tell players where safe places are located in the world." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Locations not tied to physical elements are usually marked by distinctive things nearby so players recognise their importance." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Distinctive features can lure players near a trap or let them guess one is there, which can reduce surprise." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Landmarks created by standout features can make it easier to reach goals involving crossing the world." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units, as agent-like elements, can be given a distinctive appearance so players can pick them out." }, { "name": "Vehicles", "why": "A vehicle that is already big can be made even more noticeable with added distinguishing features." }, { "name": "Warp Zones", "why": "A distinctive look can tell players where a warp zone is located in the game world." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Elements that stand out strongly may be perceived as not belonging to the world, even if they technically do." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Diegetically_Outstanding_Features.svg" }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Players act in the game and communicate with each other through a technical system.", "needs_to_really_work": "The design needs a game system or server that takes player input, decides what it means, and decides what each player gets to see. The designer must choose what the system shows, hides and delays.", "just_a_label_when": "A game that runs on a computer or network but lets players see and change everything directly, so the system filters or interprets nothing.", "knobs": "how much the system filters and delays what players see and do", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mediated_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "When the system limits how players can talk to each other, they feel distanced from one another, which can produce detachment from the people behind the characters." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "When a system deliberately restricts communication, it can go further and force players to stay unidentified to one another." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Since the system builds what players see and hear, it takes on the job of presenting the state of the game world to them." }, { "name": "Player Anonymity", "why": "If the system limits how players can communicate and this is done on purpose, players can end up not knowing who the others are." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because the system controls what players experience of the world, a designer can steer them along a fixed story." }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "This kind of view is hard to offer unless a system builds the presentation shown to players, so mediation makes it possible." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Showing the action from outside a character needs a system constructing the picture, so these views are hard to support without mediation." }, { "name": "Tiered Participation", "why": "When only some of the gameplay can be reached through the system, some players join through it while others take part physically, with different expectations." }, { "name": "Tooltips", "why": "Hints shown on request need a system producing the presentation, so they are hard to offer without mediation." }, { "name": "Vision Modes", "why": "Switching how the game state is displayed needs a system generating the display, so these modes are hard without mediation." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Combined with phasing in multiplayer games, it lets each player feel like the protagonist of the story despite sharing the world." }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "why": "" }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "" }, { "name": "Private Game Spaces", "why": "Where the system mediates play, phasing can limit what players can do in each area, creating spaces others cannot affect." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "Because a system mediates, the game state can be held still until a player is ready to act, which allows turns at different times." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "When talk between players passes through a system, face-to-face social interaction disappears, making working together harder." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Acting through a system limits how expressive a performance can be, so nuance is hard, but slipping out of character is less noticeable." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When players' communication is also routed through the system, they lose direct social contact, changing how multiplayer play works." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "" }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When the game is run by a system, that system must handle the time between games, which lobbies commonly help with." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "When a medium such as a computer controls what players see and do, the designer can control how the prewritten story is delivered, making it easier to use." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Where a system mediates play, phasing can partly let quests affect a world that many players share." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "When play runs through technology, lobbies and invitations can be used to set up teams ahead of play." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "When a system runs the game, it can provide lobbies where players coordinate joining and leaving before the match begins." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "When play happens through a medium, other players may not see why someone stopped, making the interruption confusing." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Since mediation makes interruptions harder to support, it works against letting a game fit players' varying social situations." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mediated_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Tokens don't represent world objects but simply store data about the game state.", "needs_to_really_work": "Tokens must correspond to values the game really tracks and be easy to read and update, with a choice of public or hidden. Too many cause extra chores for players.", "just_a_label_when": "Tokens are on the table but players track values in their heads or on paper anyway, so the tokens are only decoration.", "knobs": "what values are tracked; how many tokens; public or hidden", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Bookkeeping_Tokens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Tokens that hold game state force players to spend effort updating and handling them, which is upkeep work with no real decision in it." }, { "name": "Extra Chances", "why": "Tokens can stand for spare tries or lives, so holding one literally shows a player still has another attempt." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Moving, counting and updating tokens are things players do outside the game's fiction, purely to keep the state accurate." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "Even though tokens are not part of the world, players can aim actions at them, for example to show an action is done or to gain a power." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "A token that is not part of the fiction but sits on the game board becomes an out-of-world interface piece located within the world." }, { "name": "Improved Abilities", "why": "" }, { "name": "New Abilities", "why": "Receiving a token can mark that a player has gained a power to affect the game world, so the token itself represents the new ability." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "When tokens are visible to everyone, they record the state openly so players can survey it." }, { "name": "Token Placement", "why": "The pieces players put down to mark chosen actions are bookkeeping tokens, even when a game calls them workers." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Action Programming", "why": "Players can lay down cards as tokens to fix in advance what their characters or robots will do later." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Tokens keep the game state on the table, so players don't need to hold it in their heads." }, { "name": "Resources", "why": "Tokens can stand for money, spare tries or points, so they record how much of each resource a player has." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Because tokens uphold the state, players can run the game without a computer or referee keeping track." }, { "name": "Skills", "why": "Tokens record which skills or attributes a player has and when they are newly gained or improved." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Visible tokens show the current state, which makes it easier and more tempting for players to think ahead." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Tokens such as first-player or current-player markers show whose turn it is, even when seating order doesn't decide it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "" }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "When tokens are used to cap how much of a resource can be held, the limit reduces the upkeep work of handling them." }, { "name": "Resource Caps", "why": "Using tokens to enforce a cap on holdings limits how much bookkeeping players must do, which works against the usual burden of upkeep." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Bookkeeping_Tokens.svg" }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The camera follows a chosen object and moves with it, rather than seeing through the hero's eyes.", "needs_to_really_work": "The camera must follow a chosen entity smoothly and show enough surroundings to play. Controls must fit the camera angle.", "just_a_label_when": "The camera sits behind the character but is so fixed or so cramped that it gives no extra view of surroundings.", "knobs": "camera distance and angle; follow smoothness; which entity is followed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Third-Person_Views", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Watching your own avatar on screen can remind you it is a character with its own personality and goals, slightly nudging how you act." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Because the view shows everything around the followed entity, including what is behind it, players get a broad picture of the surrounding situation." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "A camera following a specific avatar still ties what players see to one character, so it can carry the pattern in open worlds." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Offering this view along with first-person lets players pick how they see the world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Seeing both shooter and target makes aiming harder, so some third-person games switch to first-person for aiming, or add auto-aim to help." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Third-person views usually lock onto the player's avatar, centering the visuals on it and letting the player see it." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Turning is not centered on the player's focus point, so movement feedback feels less natural and precise physical actions can get harder." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "The two views can't be used at once, but games can let players switch between them or show third-person moments through mirrors and killcams." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "A third-person view can lock onto a chosen focus point, keeping the player positioned on it, so the two need to be designed together." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The view is a way of presenting the game world, centered on a followed entity and showing its surroundings." }, { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "A god-finger selection can pick the focus point, after which the view switches from the overview to following that selected thing." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A game can use an overview as its basic presentation and drop into a followed view once something has been chosen." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "Seeing how your controlled entity sits relative to other things makes steering and positioning easier than from a first-person view." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Third-person views can follow a unit, or a small group of units, so players need not keep manually re-centering the view." }, { "name": "Character Defining Actions", "why": "Seeing the character from outside encourages players to interpret it, which helps them notice what its actions say about it." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Live Action Roleplaying", "why": "Showing the world from a position no in-world observer occupies can't be provided even by facilitators when everyone physically acts out their characters." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "Players see more than their avatar can, and the avatar may sense things players can't, so what each knows no longer matches." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Third-Person_Views.svg" }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game provides ways for players to send messages to each other.", "needs_to_really_work": "Channels must reach the right people at the right time and fit the pace of the game, with ways to filter noise.", "just_a_label_when": "A channel is offered but is too slow, too noisy or unavailable when coordination is needed.", "knobs": "channel types; audience scope; delay; filtering and moderation", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Communication_Channels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Channels let players talk to each other, and that talk can stay in the game world's voice, so in-fiction communication becomes possible." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because a channel permits in-fiction talk, the game world's fiction can be kept coherent if players choose to speak in character." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "A channel may be the only way players can act out characters through speech or messages, so it gives them a stage for enactment." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "Players can use channels to chat about things unrelated to the current play, such as sharing strategies, which counts as activity outside the game itself." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Players can use the same channels to step out of the fiction and talk as themselves, so out-of-character conversation becomes possible." }, { "name": "Possibility of Anonymity", "why": "A channel is the basic requirement for hiding behind a pseudonym while talking, because there must be some way to speak before identity can be concealed." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Letting players interact through messages shapes how groups form and how members settle into or keep particular roles." }, { "name": "Togetherness", "why": "Talking, bragging, and negotiating with others through the game gives players the feeling of being part of a shared experience." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "The game can intercept or alter messages, or invent fake ones, so players cannot be sure what they receive is true." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "A helpless player can use a way of talking to others to ask for aid, and that request makes others feel they should respond." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Asynchronous Collaborative Actions", "why": "Players can talk about joint actions that are not done at the same moment, which makes them easier to arrange." }, { "name": "Asynchronous Gameplay", "why": "The pattern is just as useful when players take turns at different times, so channels shape such play too." }, { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Discussing plans through channels makes working together easier, more interesting, and better grounded." }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "With several channels available, different ones can be set aside for in-fiction talk so it stays separate from other talk." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "Special channels can be given to players grouped in a lobby, tailoring who talks with whom." }, { "name": "Helplessness", "why": "Channels let others in a multiplayer game voice guilt or negotiate over a helpless player, changing how helplessness plays out." }, { "name": "Massively Multiplayer Online Games", "why": "Such games with huge player populations nearly always provide many kinds of channels, from chat to preset gestures." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "When play happens through a system, channels are what allow any deeper social interaction between players to take place." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Channels only make sense where several players exist, and they change how those players relate to each other." }, { "name": "Mutual FUBAR Enjoyment", "why": "Being able to talk while things go wrong together strengthens the shared fun of the experience." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Offering separate channels lets designers give out-of-character talk its own space apart from in-fiction messages." }, { "name": "Player Kicking", "why": "Removing a player is easier and better justified when the group can discuss it through a channel first." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Channels help players coordinate and time their actions while the game keeps running." }, { "name": "Reflective Communication", "why": "Players can think and talk about their play through channels, which makes such reflection easier." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Channels extend what players can do when acting in character, giving more ways to engage in roleplay." }, { "name": "Social Dilemmas", "why": "Players can debate a dilemma through channels, making negotiation and social interaction more likely." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Designers can give onlookers their own dedicated channels, separate from those used by the active players." }, { "name": "Synchronous Gameplay", "why": "The pattern works equally well when players act at the same time, helping them talk during play." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "Combined team actions become easier to arrange when teammates can discuss them as they happen." }, { "name": "Trading", "why": "Players can haggle and arrange exchanges more easily when they can talk to each other about them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Talking to each other lets players share, on purpose or by accident, more about themselves than the game itself requires." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Players can use the open channel to speak out of character, which breaks the believability of the game's fiction." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Players tend to reveal personal details in conversation, and can also set up outside channels, which makes forced anonymity hard to maintain." }, { "name": "Ragequitting", "why": "The sense of togetherness that talking creates can work against players angrily leaving, so the two pull in opposite directions." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Communication_Channels.svg" }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The world is shown as a creature inside that world would see it.", "needs_to_really_work": "Needs an avatar in the game world and a camera or presentation that shows only what that avatar could perceive, including line of sight. For immersion, movement and aiming should respond naturally.", "just_a_label_when": "A camera placed at the character's head height that still shows the player things the avatar could not perceive, such as through walls.", "knobs": "field of view and what the avatar can see; whether players can switch viewpoints", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/First-Person_Views", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Because players only know what their avatar can perceive, what information they hold is controlled, which lets mystery-style games hide clues and reveal them gradually." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "Seeing the world from the avatar's position means players can only perceive things the avatar could actually see, so obstacles block what is visible." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "The view is tied to what the avatar senses, so the player knows exactly as much as the character does, with no gap between them." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Seeing through the character's eyes, together with indicators or special vision, expresses what the character can perceive even when there is no other character definition." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Offering this view alongside a third-person one lets players choose how they look at the game world." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When paired with indicators or special vision, what the player can see depends on both their own attention and the character's abilities." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "Seeing from the avatar's own position gives feedback like real movement, which helps with precise aiming and shooting, and some games switch to it for aiming." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "A first-person view limits what players see and can make them imagine an avatar from tools or weapons shown as held." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "Because the view feels like moving through the real world, it makes skill-heavy physical actions feel more immersive and easier to judge." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "It lets players experience the world from inside it rather than from outside, changing how the space is presented to them." }, { "name": "Maneuvering", "why": "The view gives movement-like feedback, so steering or moving through space feels immersive and engaging for players." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "The two views mostly can't coexist, except when mirrors, cameras or portals let avatars see themselves, or when players can choose between them." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "The choice of where the player's attention and control sit limits which views are possible, and an avatar's-eye view doesn't fit well with that kind of control." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/First-Person_Views.svg" }, { "name": "Traces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": "dynamics × interface", "what_it_is": "World elements that lead the player to places that matter in the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The marks must be noticeable but not obvious, and reliably (or deliberately unreliably) connect to something in play such as enemies, loot or traps. Players must be able to read them and act on them.", "just_a_label_when": "Decorative marks that sit in the world but correspond to nothing, so following them gets players nowhere.", "knobs": "how visible they are; how reliable they are; how long they last; whether players can alter them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Traces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Spotting a trace tells players something about where to go or what happened, so each trace works as a hint toward interesting gameplay." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Traces get noticed because they stand out from their surroundings, so the attention they draw makes them this kind of feature." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Traces left before play, especially as part of environmental storytelling, reveal the designer's planned events and so help the fixed story unfold." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Finding traces can be either the main aim of scouting or a supporting hint, so looking for them is itself scouting." }, { "name": "Red Herrings", "why": "Players can move trace elements to fake a trail, so a trace can point toward something other than what it appears to show." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Traces made during play show what happened and where, so players can use them to decide their next moves." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Traces point players toward spots where danger or rewards wait, and heading toward them without knowing what is there builds unease." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Traces can be shown as leftovers of earlier events in the world, so they fit the setting instead of feeling pasted on." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When players can alter traces, they must choose between spending time hiding their own trail and doing something else, such as hiding guards." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Challenging Gameplay", "why": "Traces can give players accurate or misleading information about what lies ahead, letting designers tune how hard play feels." }, { "name": "Damage", "why": "Harm done in play can leave visible marks behind, so damage is one way traces appear as consequences of events." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Traces suit stories where players piece together events gradually from a single viewpoint, as detective stories do." }, { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Traces commonly show where enemies are or have been, so players can find or track them." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "Traces can lead players to specific points on a board and can change how the board looks." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Traces give hints about where to look, which shapes where players choose to search when exploring." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Traces affect where players want to go, and dropped items can mark a route they have taken." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Traces send players to particular places in a world and can alter how parts of it appear." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Traces lead players to particular spots in a level and can change how its parts look." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Because traces affect where players want to go, they shape and support the movement needed to reach goals." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Traces serve as hints that players can use to work out the answer to a puzzle." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Detecting traces can be the main aim of scouting or a hint that supports it." }, { "name": "Resource Locations", "why": "Traces can show where supplies are, as with signs of earlier survivors that lead players to restock." }, { "name": "Traps", "why": "Traces can warn of traps, or players can fake a trail to lure others into one." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "When a goal is getting somewhere, traces can mark the route, steering the player's way there." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Traces.svg" }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Channels where players exchange messages directly inside the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "Useful channel types (local, team, global), a way to find the right audience, and rules about who may speak and what.", "just_a_label_when": "A chat box exists, but it is empty, hidden, or so noisy and mixed that nobody uses it for coordinating.", "knobs": "types and scope of channels; moderation or filtering; friend lists", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Chat_Channels", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Ambiguous Responses", "why": "Because players type whatever they like, their wording can be vague or open to several readings, so a reply may not clearly say what the sender means." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "A chat channel is simply a communication channel carried by written text, so having one automatically gives players a way to talk." }, { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Free-form typing lets players act out their character's feelings and story beats that the game's own actions might not let them express." }, { "name": "Guilting", "why": "Since players can write anything, they can use messages to make others feel bad or obligated, which the page lists as a consequence of free expression." }, { "name": "Information Passing", "why": "When characters receive what is typed in a channel, knowledge travels from one character to another through those messages." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Players interact through typed text rather than directly, so at least part of the game is experienced through that medium." }, { "name": "Social Roles", "why": "Being able to talk freely makes it easier for players to take on and play out particular roles among other players." }, { "name": "Dialogues", "why": "Free chat becomes a true dialogue system when paired with computer-controlled characters or with utterances that alter the game state." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "" }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Where players chat, emotes let them express their characters' feelings in text, which supports roleplaying." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Free chat lets players talk with characters in the most nuanced way, which can strengthen the sense of theme, though it also invites abuse." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Free-form messages let players coordinate and plan together, which supports working toward shared goals." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "The same channels usually carry over into lobbies, so players can chat there before play begins." }, { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "Servers normally handle the receiving, storing and delivering of messages, so chat shapes what they do and who can reach whom." }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "why": "When chat runs over a meta server, players can reach everyone playing the game, not just those on one server." }, { "name": "Parties", "why": "Channels can be limited to party members, letting them talk privately among themselves." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Channels can be restricted to teammates so they can communicate secretly, away from other players." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Actor Detachment", "why": "Chatting lets players reveal personal details beyond gameplay, undoing the hiding of identities that mediated play would otherwise give." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Text boxes or overlays sit outside the game world, and mixing player and character channels can also break the fiction." }, { "name": "Enforced Player Anonymity", "why": "Because free text can reveal outside-the-game details about players, it is hard to keep them truly anonymous." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Players control what they write, so they can say things that clash with the game's theme and designers cannot guarantee a fitting tone." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Chat_Channels.svg" }, { "name": "Dialogues", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Conversations inside the game world that the game system controls.", "needs_to_really_work": "Replies must lead somewhere, giving information or changing the game state, and the system must handle what players can say. The choices should fit the characters.", "just_a_label_when": "A conversation tree where every option leads to the same answer and nothing changes.", "knobs": "number of branches; how choices affect the game state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Dialogues", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Gossip is a kind of information passed in conversation, and that same information can serve as hints, so dialogue can end up delivering clues." }, { "name": "Communication Channels", "why": "A dialogue is itself one form of communication channel, so having one means the game provides a way for parties to exchange messages." }, { "name": "Diegetic Communication", "why": "Because the game controls what can be said inside a dialogue, messages can be delivered in the game world's own terms." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Replies from characters can appear inside the game world, such as speech bubbles, showing the player something about what is going on." }, { "name": "Gossip", "why": "Gossip is one specific sort of information passing, and dialogue is made of information passing, so conversations are where gossip gets shared." }, { "name": "Information Passing", "why": "Every statement made in a dialogue conveys something to the listener, so each utterance is an act of passing information." }, { "name": "Internal Conflicts", "why": "A dialogue offers several possible next lines, each with its own aim, so players must weigh competing goals against each other." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Dialogues are written ahead of play and their lines follow a cause-and-effect order, so they fix the story's course in advance." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Companions", "why": "Companions matter greatly to the player's character, so they tend to get richer and more elaborate conversation systems." }, { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Conversation lets players ask around and gather facts, even from places they cannot reach, which suits investigating a mystery." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Goals", "why": "Characters can give out, move forward and report on short-term objectives through what they say." }, { "name": "Helpers", "why": "Helpers have important relations with the player's character, so they are given more developed conversation options." }, { "name": "Non-Player Characters", "why": "Computer-controlled characters can be made to start talks themselves or reply in various ways, changing how talking with them feels." }, { "name": "Quests", "why": "Talking is a common way for a game to hand out a quest, track how it is going and report its completion." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Dialogues.svg" }, { "name": "God Views", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The world is shown without being tied to any object inside it.", "needs_to_really_work": "A camera players can move freely over the world, independent of units, with enough detail to be useful. Decide what stays hidden (fog of war) so there is still uncertainty.", "just_a_label_when": "A zoomed-out camera that is actually locked to a character or a fixed spot, so the player still sees only what that character sees.", "knobs": "camera freedom and zoom range; how much is hidden by fog of war; number of display modes", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/God_Views", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Because the view isn't tied to any one game element, players can see the whole world and shift that view quickly, which gives them an overview of what's going on." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Players can vary how they look at play and more easily see which actions are actually available, which affects how many choices they feel they have." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The view lets the world be presented and shifted independently of its contents, changing how players take in the world as a whole." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "" } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "From a high overview it is too hard to line up the shooter and target accurately, so precise aiming does not work well." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "When an avatar limits what a player perceives, an all-seeing overview becomes impossible." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "A view that lets players look around the world freely, ignoring in-game objects, makes finding the way trivial." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "Players can see far more than any character in the world could, so it's hard to limit their awareness to what the character knows." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "With an unrestricted view, scouting becomes trivial because players can simply look wherever they like, unless information is hidden from them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/God_Views.svg" }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The screen is divided into parts, each constantly showing its own view of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must run on a shared screen with real-time play, with a layout that gives each view enough space to be readable. It should adapt when the number of players changes.", "just_a_label_when": "A divided screen where the views are so small or the same that players cannot play independently, or one view is only a static picture.", "knobs": "number of views; layout; size of each view; whether it changes with joining players", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Split-Screen_Views", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "When a spare view is left over, such as the fourth quadrant in a three-view layout, it can show an overview of the game's overall situation." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Giving each player their own section of one screen lets several people play together on one display, each looking at their own part of the world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cooperation", "why": "Seeing what teammates are doing, even when their characters are in different places or on separate screens, makes coordinating with them easier." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Splitting the screen lets players be in different places and face different ways, and gives players with several screens a better view of each other's actions." }, { "name": "Real-Time Games", "why": "Since everyone acts at once, each player needs a constantly visible view of their own; splitting one screen makes simultaneous real-time play possible on one display." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "Players can see the other players' screens, so each can see what others' characters see, which undermines restricting information to one character." }, { "name": "Hotseating", "why": "Both solve the same problem of several players sharing one screen, so using them together is redundant and one makes the other unnecessary." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Split-Screen_Views.svg" }, { "name": "Extra-Game Broadcasting", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game events are sent out through channels other than the one where the game is played.", "needs_to_really_work": "Decide which events get sent, when and through what channel, and put players in control of sharing so it does not feel like spam. Events like achievements, rewards and uncertain moments are worth sending.", "just_a_label_when": "A share button or notification stream that sends trivial events nobody wants to see, so no one outside the game ever reacts.", "knobs": "which events are broadcast; how often and through which channel", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Extra-Game_Broadcasting", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Messages sent outside the game can remind absent players about chores, recent happenings, or coming events, pulling them back to play." }, { "name": "Fake Game Cancellations", "why": "Announcements through outside media can be staged to pretend a game has been shut down, which fits games that hide that they are games." }, { "name": "Game Instance Stories", "why": "Whatever gets announced outside the game retells what happened in a particular play session, so each broadcast is a small story of that session." }, { "name": "Invites", "why": "Letting players decide to push game news outward means they can use that channel to ask friends to join, without the game spamming everyone." }, { "name": "Non-Player Help", "why": "Players can choose to post their game situation outside the game, which lets people who aren't playing step in and assist them." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Sending out what players are doing makes their performance visible to anyone, which works as openly available information about how players are doing." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Because game events appear in another medium, people not playing can follow along and watch, so watching becomes easy to arrange." }, { "name": "Value of Effort", "why": "Showing one's feats, like speedruns or builds, to an outside audience gives the effort extra worth through others seeing it." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Achievements", "why": "Earned achievements make good good-news items to announce outside the game, so broadcasting often focuses on them." }, { "name": "Construction", "why": "When players can trigger broadcasts, things they built become worth showing off, so the effort of building feels more worthwhile." }, { "name": "Encouraged Return Visits", "why": "Outside messages can remind you of tasks you need to do, strengthening the pull to return." }, { "name": "Ephemeral Events", "why": "Outside messages can warn players that a short-lived event is coming, so they know to come back and catch it." }, { "name": "Events Timed to the Real World", "why": "Ads for upcoming events can work well here, since things seen in the real world can remind people of the game event." }, { "name": "Performance Uncertainty", "why": "Moments where the outcome of a player's skill is in doubt make interesting news, so they are good candidates for being announced outside." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Handing out rewards is positive news, so it is a fitting event to announce through outside channels." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Sending stats out to people who aren't even playing, such as on Facebook, widens who gets to see them." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Extra-Game_Broadcasting.svg" }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An on-screen mark that helps aim a weapon or choose a target more precisely.", "needs_to_really_work": "The marker must show where an action will land, with fixed or movable placement, and match how aiming really works. It can also carry accuracy or target information.", "just_a_label_when": "A crosshair is drawn on screen, but it is not where shots actually go, so it does not help aiming.", "knobs": "fixed or movable; auto-aim strength; how much accuracy or target information it shows", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Crosshairs", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "When the aim point can move freely, the reticle acts as a pointer that triggers actions directly on whatever it targets, instead of picking items from a list." }, { "name": "HUD Interfaces", "why": "Because the reticle is a graphic laid over the game view, it can become part of the heads-up display or cause one to be added." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The reticle is an overlay that the characters in the game world couldn't see, so adding it brings in an element existing only for the player." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "The reticle shows players where a shot will go, which makes aiming and firing at targets easier to do." }, { "name": "Combat", "why": "Fighting often depends on aiming at foes, and the reticle supports this by helping players target them accurately." }, { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "The reticle gives visual help for actions needing precise hand control, since players can see exactly what their aim is pointing at." }, { "name": "Friendly Fire", "why": "The reticle can change when it points at allies, or vanish entirely, which warns players and helps prevent them from hitting teammates." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "The reticle's look is often changed to match whichever weapon is currently equipped, so it reflects that weapon's behavior." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Crosshairs.svg" }, { "name": "Equipment Slots", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Spaces where the player puts the items they want to use.", "needs_to_really_work": "Slots must be limited and specialised so that choosing for one means giving up another, and items must differ enough to make that a real trade-off.", "just_a_label_when": "Slots that can always be filled with the same best items so there is never a choice.", "knobs": "number and types of slots; whether they replace or add to an inventory; how much items differ", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Equipment_Slots", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Competence Areas", "why": "When slots are the only way to carry gear, the particular mix of items a player places in them can amount to choosing what they are good at." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Slots can work as a strictly limited inventory, so a player holds only what fits in the slots and must leave or drop other items." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "With only a few slots and no general inventory, putting one item in a slot means giving up another, so players weigh each option's pros and cons." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Armor", "why": "Each slot is dedicated to one kind of gear, so armor pieces get their own slots that show which armor the player is wearing." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Slots by themselves, without an inventory, simplify equipment handling, which suits avatars where players focus on a single mode of interaction." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Used with an inventory, slots let players change how a character performs by choosing which carried items are equipped, including companions as well as player characters." }, { "name": "Equipment", "why": "Slots let players show which of the many items they found they want to use, and each slot is limited to a certain type of equipment." }, { "name": "Inventories", "why": "Slots can sit on top of an inventory as the place where players pick what to use, or replace it by tightly limiting what can be carried." }, { "name": "Tools", "why": "A slot can be reserved for tools, so tools have their own dedicated place instead of being mixed into a generic carrying list." }, { "name": "Weapons", "why": "Weapons get dedicated slots, often one per hand, with two-handed weapons filling both, and sometimes extra weapon slots to give players more choice." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Equipment_Slots.svg" }, { "name": "Score Tracks", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A strip on which the players' points are marked.", "needs_to_really_work": "Provide a track with enough spaces, a rule for overflow or shared spots, and public visibility. It gains meaning when it also affects turn order or tiebreaks.", "just_a_label_when": "A track that only mirrors a number kept elsewhere, is hidden or rarely consulted, so no one reacts to what it shows.", "knobs": "track length; what happens at the end or on shared spots; whether position affects turn order or ties", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Score_Tracks", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Beat the Leader", "why": "Because everyone can see who is ahead on the track, players may team up against the front-runner to pull them back." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "The track's markers show each player's current standing, so the board itself reports the state of the game." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Seeing all players' markers on one track gives a quick summary of how everyone is doing in scoring." }, { "name": "Movement", "why": "Whenever points are gained, a player's marker is moved along the track, so updating a score is itself a kind of moving." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "Since markers advance as points are earned, players are effectively racing each other along the track." }, { "name": "Speedending", "why": "A player who leads but sees rivals about to overtake them can try to finish the game early." }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "why": "The positions of markers on the track can decide who goes first each round, so order changes as standings change." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "A track lets one marker per player stand in for many point tokens, so fewer tokens are needed, though not none." }, { "name": "Excise", "why": "Moving a marker on a track makes recording points less tedious than handling piles of tokens, which cuts some of the administrative effort." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A board that isn't already a score track can have one added to it, so tracking progress adds to the board." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "The track gives a way to store and display points, which changes how scores are handled in play." }, { "name": "Tiebreakers", "why": "Players sharing or reaching the same spot on the track can have ties settled by how the track's positions are arranged or ordered." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "Players' places on the track can fix who acts when, as in games where track position sets turn order." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Score_Tracks.svg" }, { "name": "Gameplay Statistics", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Records of values and events that can be viewed during or after the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must track meaningful events or values and make them reachable by players during or after play, and players must care about them, for example to compare or review. Presentation should be readable and persistent.", "just_a_label_when": "A stats screen full of numbers that nobody looks at or can use, or records that are lost as soon as the session ends.", "knobs": "what is recorded; how long it is kept and who can see it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Gameplay_Statistics", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "When players must update their own character sheets by hand, that bookkeeping chore is itself the work of keeping gameplay records." }, { "name": "Memorabilia", "why": "Saved records of what happened in play give players a keepsake of their games that they can look back on later." }, { "name": "Spectators", "why": "Because the records exist as artifacts outside the moment of play, other people can follow and watch what players have done." }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "why": "Meta servers gather results like stats from each individual game server, so those per-match numbers are the material that lets a meta server keep player records across games." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Abstract Player Constructs", "why": "Records about a player's progress are often held inside constructs that stand in for the player, so the statistics shape what those hold." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Many statistics are stored in the characters themselves, so the recorded values change how a character is described." }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "why": "Records can be shown in systems outside actual play such as lobbies, which alters what players see there." }, { "name": "Scores", "why": "Player scores are one of the main things worth recording, so tracking them turns plain points into lasting records." }, { "name": "Public Player Statistics", "why": "Public stats are simply the player's own recorded gameplay data opened up so others can see it, not just the player." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Gameplay_Statistics.svg" }, { "name": "Vision Modes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The same view of the world is shown in different ways, such as thermal vision.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each mode must reveal information the normal view hides, such as hidden objects or clues, and have a cost, limit or tradeoff so switching is a real decision. Otherwise one mode wins permanently.", "just_a_label_when": "A colored filter that shows exactly the same information as the normal view.", "knobs": "what each mode reveals; energy or duration limits; how many modes exist; how they are unlocked", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Vision_Modes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Switching views can uncover hints in the world that are invisible in the normal view, so players learn things by looking differently." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "A special view can make certain objects stand out from their surroundings, so players can spot the things that matter." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Because the views often act as special abilities, players feel more powerful and influential than the game's actual demands warrant." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "A different view can reveal hidden routes or places that the ordinary view never shows, leading players to concealed spaces." }, { "name": "Varied Gameplay", "why": "Players must keep changing how they look at the world, so the way they play shifts between different viewing styles." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Special ways of seeing give the avatar a perceptual capacity, which counts as an abstract character trait." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "Special sight options in a first-person view make what the player perceives a mix of their own attention and the character's abilities." }, { "name": "Privileged Abilities", "why": "Switching how the world is seen does not add actions but changes what a player perceives and can do, setting them apart." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "Seeing through a character's eyes suits sight-altering abilities, so the same first-person camera can show different information depending on the active mode." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "The same game world can be presented in several ways, so the mode changes what players perceive of it without changing the world." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "Overview perspectives have no story reason to hide information, but with huge amounts of data, separate views can reduce overload." }, { "name": "Line of Sight", "why": "A mode can make some things visible that were hidden, or let sight pass through objects that normally block it." }, { "name": "Picture-in-Picture Views", "why": "The mode can be applied to a small inset window only, changing what is shown there while the main picture stays unchanged." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Watching a character from behind or above fits sight-altering abilities, so the same camera can show different information depending on the active mode." }, { "name": "Secret Areas", "why": "Special ways of seeing can help players notice a hidden area or sense that something is unusual." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Modes that reveal important objects spare players from exploring to find them." }, { "name": "Gameplay Mastery", "why": "Game-provided help with seeing makes challenges easier, so players need less of their own skill." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Vision_Modes.svg" }, { "name": "Discard Piles", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A place where cards or tiles are put after they have been played.", "needs_to_really_work": "The pile must have a rule for whether it is open or closed and whether cards come back. Its contents must matter, for example by refilling the deck or being searchable.", "just_a_label_when": "A pile where used cards just sit, nobody looks at it and it never affects play.", "knobs": "open or closed; whether cards can be retrieved; whether it refills the deck", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Discard_Piles", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Drafting Spreads", "why": "When players may take from the pile of used cards, as in Rummy's last played card or the whole pile, it becomes a source for refilling hands." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "If a game ends after cards or tiles are used up, a growing pile of used ones shows players how far along the game is." }, { "name": "Cooldown", "why": "Cards placed in the discard pile are unlikely to return to the hand right away, creating a waiting period before reuse." }, { "name": "Replays", "why": "Keeping a separate discard pile for each trick lets players rebuild what was played afterwards, acting as a replay of a card game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Analysis Paralysis", "why": "Piles anyone can look through give players a fuller picture of the game, which gives them more to think over and can stall decisions." }, { "name": "Cards", "why": "Cards that have been played get a set place to go, and in some games can later be taken back out of it." }, { "name": "Collectible Card Games", "why": "Used cards wait in the pile so a player's whole set gets played before any card is used again." }, { "name": "Decks", "why": "Used cards wait in the pile so every card gets played before reuse, so the pile shapes how a deck cycles." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "When the drawing stack runs out, the used cards can be shuffled to form a new one, so they return to play." }, { "name": "Hands", "why": "Where players may pick cards back out of the pile, what they end up holding is partly decided by what has been thrown away." }, { "name": "Memorizing", "why": "Hidden piles that can't be looked through reward players who remember which cards were already played, as with Blackjack." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Piles whose contents are visible let players work out what remains and what may come, which gives them material to plan with." }, { "name": "Tiles", "why": "Tiles that have been played get a set place to go, just like used cards, and may be reused later." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Discard_Piles.svg" }, { "name": "God Fingers", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An interface element showing where the player is currently acting on the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "A pointer that works anywhere in the world and is unaffected by it, with actions tied to what it selects or points at. The input handling must be responsive and the available actions clear.", "just_a_label_when": "A cursor that appears but can only click menus, or one that merely shows position without letting players act on the world.", "knobs": "which actions the pointer allows; selection modes; its range and precision", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/God_Fingers", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "A pointer lets players pick any spot in the world to act on or look at, so it works as a point of focus." }, { "name": "Geospatial Game Widgets", "why": "The pointer is an interface element tied to locations in the game world, which lets players navigate and interact with places regardless of where their characters are." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The pointer is not affected by world events and usually exists outside the game's fiction, so it counts as an element the characters can't perceive." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Attention Demanding Gameplay", "why": "Because the pointer lets players select and command characters or units from anywhere, they can handle many simultaneous demands more easily." }, { "name": "Avatars", "why": "Players use the pointer to choose an avatar, direct where it goes, or pick what it interacts with, shaping how the avatar is controlled." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A pointer fits an overhead view naturally, because players can pan and scroll with it to bring new parts of the world into sight." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Players click on units to select them, then point to show where they should move or what they should attack." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Detective Structures", "why": "In open worlds, a pointer-style control lets players explore away from any particular character, breaking the single-character limit on information." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "A free, world-external pointer to manipulate things isn't part of the fiction, unlike a figure the player controls inside it." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "The choice of where the player's attention and control sit limits which views are possible, and an avatar's-eye view doesn't fit well with that kind of control." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/God_Fingers.svg" }, { "name": "HUD Interfaces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Information and action buttons are shown over the picture of the world, as if on glass before the eyes.", "needs_to_really_work": "It must show the information players need at the moments they need it without cluttering the view, and update reliably with the game state. What it includes should match what the design wants players to track.", "just_a_label_when": "A screen overlay with decorative or redundant elements that tell the player nothing useful for decisions.", "knobs": "what information is shown; how large and prominent; whether it fits the game world", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/HUD_Interfaces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "" }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "A HUD can be the only place a player gets certain hints, so by showing them it creates those clues in the first place." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "An overlay layer is a clear, always-visible spot for showing the current condition of the game, so it naturally supplies these indicators." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Because the overlay sits in front of the world view, it gives players a clear place to see the overall situation at a glance." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "HUDs often display things like attributes that characters in the game world wouldn't see or know about, which brings in elements outside the fiction." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "When the overlay doesn't clash with the game world's fiction, the information shown feels like it belongs, which helps keep the theme coherent." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Showing a handle or health value on screen gives an avatar abstract qualities, which is a minimal form of character." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Aim & Shoot", "why": "A crosshair on the overlay directly shapes how players aim and fire, since it shows them where their shots will go." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "A HUD can remind players of clues available elsewhere, changing how easily they recall or find them." }, { "name": "Equipment Slots", "why": "When slots replace an inventory they offer little functionality, so they are simple enough to fit directly into the heads-up display." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "The view gives no overview of the whole game state, so extra on-screen information such as health, weapons or maps is added to make up for it." }, { "name": "Health", "why": "When the player's own avatar isn't visible, a heads-up display is how its health value gets shown to them." }, { "name": "Lives", "why": "Lives are typically shown continuously on the HUD because they are central to how a session is progressing." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "On-screen displays of handles or health give an avatar abstract qualities." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Information overlaid on the display isn't part of the world, and may clash with some themes." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/HUD_Interfaces.svg" }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": "mechanics × drama", "what_it_is": "Parts of the game's presentation that do not fit into its fictional world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game needs a world with a fiction and then must show information that does not belong to it, such as indicators, markers or notifications. Placement and prominence decide how much they break consistency.", "just_a_label_when": "A HUD element dressed up as an in-world object so it looks diegetic, or an indicator that duplicates what the world already shows and adds nothing.", "knobs": "how much non-diegetic information is shown; how prominent it is and whether it can be hidden", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Non-Diegetic_Features", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "When several people play together, they can all see the out-of-world elements on screen, which gives them something shared to notice and talk about." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Because players notice the out-of-world elements, they chat about them with each other, and that talk itself happens outside the game world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Drop-In/Drop-Out", "why": "Out-of-world notices can tell players when others join or leave a game that allows this, keeping everyone informed." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Since information about the game's status is usually presented outside the fiction, these features often take the form of state indicators." }, { "name": "Player/Character Awareness Consistency", "why": "Showing players extra information can bring what they know closer to what their character would plausibly know." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues delivered through interface elements from outside the game world break the consistency of its setting." }, { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Having elements that aren't part of the world directly contradicts a world made only of its own elements." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Out-of-world elements don't match the game's theme or setting, which challenges how well everything fits together thematically." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Non-Diegetic_Features.svg" }, { "name": "Cameras", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Abstract objects that define the point from which the game world is seen.", "needs_to_really_work": "The camera type (follow or fixed, over-shoulder or overhead) must be chosen to match what players need to see, and control must not burden them. It affects surprise and tension through what is hidden.", "just_a_label_when": "A camera is present but it is fixed to show everything or is so awkward that it gets in the way, and view makes no difference to play.", "knobs": "camera type and angle; player control or automatic; field of view", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Cameras", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Dexterity-Based Actions", "why": "When steering the camera is not easy during play, the player must also manage fiddly controls, which adds a skill demand to the game." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Actions", "why": "If players can control the camera, they need extra actions such as panning, rotating or zooming that exist only to adjust the view." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Letting players adjust or switch the camera means they decide for themselves which part of the world they look at." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "A camera can show the world from a better spot than any single game element, so players can take in the overall situation." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "A camera that stays fixed relative to the environment, rather than following an entity, gives the player a view over the world from above." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "A camera that moves along with a game entity shows that entity from outside, giving the player a view of it." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When the camera moves freely between units, players cannot watch everywhere, so they must pick which parts of the world deserve their attention." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Cameras determine what part of the game world players see and from where, so they shape how the world is presented." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Because the camera decides how play is shown to the player, changing it changes how gameplay is mediated." }, { "name": "Picture-in-Picture Views", "why": "A camera can supply a third-person view inside a first-person game by showing it in a small inset." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "A camera is an incorporeal thing that gives views no character in the game world has or could have, which clashes with in-world consistency." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Cameras.svg" }, { "name": "Game Lobbies", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": "mechanics × players", "what_it_is": "A place where players gather before a game starts.", "needs_to_really_work": "Provide a place to find players and games, choose settings, and communicate before starting. It needs server infrastructure and communication tools.", "just_a_label_when": "A lobby screen exists, but it only auto-assigns players with no choice or talk, so it is just a loading screen.", "knobs": "lobby scope; communication tools; filters and matchmaking options", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Game_Lobbies", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Because a lobby lets players pick which game to join or who to team up with, they get real control over their playing partners." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Back-to-Back Game Sessions", "why": "In games made of repeated matches, the lobby is where players hang out between rounds and talk over the match they just finished." }, { "name": "Difficulty Levels", "why": "When players set the rules together, lobby chat gives them a place to negotiate which difficulty setting the group will use." }, { "name": "Early Elimination", "why": "Players knocked out before a match ends can wait in the lobby and stay busy until the next game starts." }, { "name": "Game Servers", "why": "Once a player connects to a particular server, a lobby on that server lets everyone there gather before play starts." }, { "name": "Instances", "why": "Lobbies used during play let players find partners first and then enter an instance together instead of alone." }, { "name": "Interruptibility", "why": "When pausing is allowed, the lobby shows who has stepped away and lets players agree how to deal with it." }, { "name": "Late Arriving Players", "why": "Players already in the lobby can chat and decide whether to wait for others to show up or begin immediately." }, { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Lobbies let players in computer-run multiplayer games choose what kind of game to play and with whom." }, { "name": "Meta Games", "why": "When a game is really a series of matches, the lobby is the shared space that ties those matches together." }, { "name": "Meta Servers", "why": "At the top level, a lobby on a meta server helps players browse and choose which game server to join." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "Lobbies help players who are far apart find each other and pick roles." }, { "name": "Player Elimination", "why": "Players who are out of the current match can use the lobby to occupy themselves until the match is over." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Lobbies give players a place to gather and form teams before play starts." }, { "name": "TvT", "why": "Lobbies let players sort out who joins and leaves before play, which helps when games are run through a mediating system." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Game_Lobbies.svg" }, { "name": "Mini-maps", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A small map showing the game world in broad outline.", "needs_to_really_work": "The map must show the player's position and relevant things in the world in a readable way, and the world must be big enough that overview is needed. What it shows or hides should be chosen deliberately.", "just_a_label_when": "A small map that is too vague or too cluttered to read, or a world so small that nobody ever looks at it.", "knobs": "how much it shows: zoom, markers, hidden areas", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mini-maps", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "A mini-map can carry hints that exist only on it, telling players roughly where something interesting is so they must still find the exact spot in the world." }, { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Besides showing where the player's focus is, a mini-map often displays other information about the current situation, so it works as a status display." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "By showing the whole world area separately from the main view, it lets players see how their position relates to the world at a glance." }, { "name": "Picture-in-Picture Views", "why": "A mini-map is a small extra display placed inside the main screen that shows a different view of the world than the main one." }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "A mini-map is a small, continuously updated alternate view of the game world, so it counts as a weak form of split-screen." }, { "name": "Team Strategy Identification", "why": "In team games, a mini-map shows where teammates are, so players can base a joint approach on knowing everyone's positions." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Check Points", "why": "Where checkpoints are located in the world can be marked on the mini-map, making them visible to players." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "Clues can be placed only on the mini-map to point to a general area while the player must look in the world to pinpoint it." }, { "name": "Environmental Effects", "why": "The mini-map can show where environmental effects are and the main environment features such as land and sea, so players know what lies around." }, { "name": "Focus Loci", "why": "The mini-map shows where players' points of attention are, including other players' locations, relating them to the larger world." }, { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "Seeing the layout ahead of time or recording it afterward helps players explore, sometimes making exploration so easy it stops being a challenge." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Showing where players are and where to go helps them find their way, and can make navigating trivial." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A mini-map presents the world or level in a small, compact form, and may let players zoom or pan to see different parts." }, { "name": "Installations", "why": "Installations are world elements that can be interesting to mark on the mini-map so players know where they are." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Levels can be shown in compact form on a mini-map just as larger game worlds can." }, { "name": "Multiplayer Games", "why": "In games with many players, the mini-map lets them see teammates and others, which supports working together." }, { "name": "Races", "why": "In races, the mini-map gives players awareness of the course and surroundings, which is one main reason for adding it." }, { "name": "Strategic Locations", "why": "Important places in the world are worth displaying on the mini-map so players can quickly spot them." }, { "name": "Teams", "why": "Team members can see each other's positions on the mini-map, which helps them coordinate and combine their actions." }, { "name": "Traverse", "why": "Because players can see the world layout and their position, moving from place to place becomes easier." }, { "name": "Team Combos", "why": "A mini-map shows teammates' and enemies' positions, giving players the information they need to coordinate their combined actions." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Game World Exploration", "why": "If a mini-map shows places the player hasn't been to, it hands over what they were supposed to discover." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Showing position and direction on a small map takes away the uncertainty that navigation depends on, so the challenge can vanish." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mini-maps.svg" }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Hints that guide the player to important places and objects in the world.", "needs_to_really_work": "The indicator must be clear and well timed, pointing at things that really matter. The game has to decide how much help it gives so it doesn't ruin exploration.", "just_a_label_when": "A marker is always on screen but is ignored, or points at things that don't matter.", "knobs": "how many things are marked; how obvious the marker is; when it appears", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Point_of_Interest_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "When the game tells players where to go or look, they need less effort to find their way, so play becomes easier and more relaxed." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Pointing out notable things adds a perceptual capability to the avatar, which counts as an abstract trait of a character." }, { "name": "Player/Character Skill Composites", "why": "When added to a first-person view, they let what is noticed in the world depend on both the player and the character's abilities." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Cameras", "why": "Indicators often work by moving or turning the camera toward the interesting spot, so the camera's behavior changes." }, { "name": "Clues", "why": "By drawing attention to certain places, indicators make it more likely that players notice clues placed there." }, { "name": "Diegetically Outstanding Features", "why": "Pointing players at a spot makes them aware of features in the world that stand out, which they might otherwise miss." }, { "name": "First-Person Views", "why": "Indicators can be used in first-person play, where they can stand in for what the character perceives." }, { "name": "Game World Navigation", "why": "Showing which way to move or look makes it easier for players to find their way through complicated game worlds." }, { "name": "God Views", "why": "Indicators work with overhead perspectives too, guiding attention to important spots in the world." }, { "name": "Mini-maps", "why": "A mini-map or compass is one interface element that can carry the pointer toward an interesting location." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "Indicators can be used when players see their avatar from behind, for example turning it toward the exit." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Experimenting", "why": "Pointing out important entities for the player removes the need to search and explore for them." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Point_of_Interest_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Alarms", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Warnings about an important change in the game, like fuel running low or guards spotting the hero.", "needs_to_really_work": "A clear trigger and a perceivable signal, plus a real consequence (enemies converge, a timer starts) so players must react. Players should know what raised the alarm and whether it can be stopped.", "just_a_label_when": "A siren sounds but nothing in play changes, so players ignore it.", "knobs": "what triggers it; how loud or visible; what penalty follows; whether it can be reset", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Alarms", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bluffing", "why": "When players can trigger alarms themselves, they can set off a false one to mislead others, so the alarm becomes a tool for deception." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Since alarms are triggered at set moments, a designer can use them to make a planned story beat happen reliably, though player-controlled alarms make this harder." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Alarms can be used against enemies or as distractions, adding tactical options beyond just being a hazard." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "The theme can call for alarms and limit how they look and work, so alarms that fit the setting help keep the world consistent." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enemies", "why": "Raising an alarm can bring in new enemies or send existing ones to the spot, and it explains why their behavior changes." }, { "name": "Game Boards", "why": "A raised alarm changes how players have to relate to the board, since the situation on it is now different." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Alarms pass along information about what is happening in the game, so they work as a quick summary of important changes." }, { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "Once an alarm is raised, players must treat the world differently than before, because its state has changed." }, { "name": "Guard", "why": "Alarms tell guarding players about threats or detection, which makes the job of protecting something easier." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "A raised alarm changes how players must approach the level they are in, because conditions there have changed." }, { "name": "Reconnaissance", "why": "Setting off an alarm can mean the scouting goal has failed, or make finishing it harder by adding a penalty." }, { "name": "Rescue", "why": "Alarms can make the rescue longer or harder, since being detected can bring trouble down on the players." }, { "name": "Stealth", "why": "Setting off an alarm shows the player was spotted, so it can mean failing a sneaking goal or make it harder to finish." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Alarms can help build a game's theme, but the theme in turn limits what kinds of alarms fit." }, { "name": "Units", "why": "Units controlled by the system may switch from passive to active behavior when an alarm goes off." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Letting only special avatars or units raise alarms keeps the story on track but may make no sense within the game world." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Alarms.svg" }, { "name": "Auxiliary Game Screens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The game uses several separate screens, such as a TV and a phone at once.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each screen must show information that differs from, or adds to, the main screen, such as private data or overviews, so that looking at it affects decisions. Decide whether it shows shared overviews or private facts.", "just_a_label_when": "A second screen only mirrors the main one or shows decoration, so no one needs to look at it.", "knobs": "what information goes on the screens; shared or private; number of screens", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Auxiliary_Game_Screens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Conceal", "why": "Because each player's extra screen can show private views, one player can know things others don't, which lets designers build goals about hiding information from opponents." }, { "name": "Crossmedia Gameplay", "why": "Since play can stretch across different kinds of displays, such as a console and a handheld, the game already spans media, though only in a mild way." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "A secondary screen can hold a summary of the game's situation, like health or scores, so players needn't leave the main view to check it." } ], "changes": [], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Auxiliary_Game_Screens.svg" }, { "name": "Crossmedia Gameplay", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One session is played across several different kinds of media at once.", "needs_to_really_work": "Each medium must be given a distinct job that the others cannot do, and the media must be linked by shared game state or goals. Players need clear ways to move between media without friction.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with a companion website or app that only shows ads or duplicates information, so dropping it changes nothing in play.", "knobs": "how many media are used; how much each one contributes to the game state", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Crossmedia_Gameplay", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "When a game spreads across many media, those media can be blended among everyday non-game media, so players may not be sure what belongs to the game." }, { "name": "Rabbit Hole Invitations", "why": "Non-interactive media like TV shows and commercials can be used to invite people into the game, which is easier before the main play begins." }, { "name": "Real World Gameplay Spaces", "why": "If the media a game needs are in different places, or some use location as input, play spreads into the physical world." }, { "name": "Functional Roles", "why": "When players use different devices or media, each can only do certain things, which pushes them toward different roles." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "The story parts can be spread over several different media, so that crossmedia play carries the prepared story." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Using several media lets a fixed story be revealed in pieces from different viewpoints, or lets clues arrive from varied sources." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Crossmedia_Gameplay.svg" }, { "name": "Drafting Spreads", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The options players take turns choosing from are laid out in view of everyone.", "needs_to_really_work": "The display must show several different elements that are refilled in a clear way. Their values must differ so that choosing and watching others matters.", "just_a_label_when": "A display where all cards are alike or the order is fixed, so picking is not a decision.", "knobs": "number of cards shown; how it is refilled; extra cost to pick deeper ones", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Drafting_Spreads", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Whoever picks first sees the whole spread untouched and can grab the best item, so later players face weaker leftovers." }, { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Showing several items at once lets players pick among them, and showing more items gives them more options to choose from." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because the available items are visible, players can foresee what they might get, and a bigger display makes outcomes easier to anticipate." }, { "name": "Trade-Offs", "why": "When reaching items further down the spread costs something extra, players must weigh a better item against paying that price." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Deck Building", "why": "The page only says spreads can be used in games with deck building; it gives no reason for how they change it." }, { "name": "Decks", "why": "The spread is a way to draft items out of a deck, so players pick from visible cards rather than only taking unknown ones." }, { "name": "Drafting", "why": "An open display gives drafting a visible set of options, letting players see alternatives and guess what others may take later." }, { "name": "Drawing Stacks", "why": "Spreads are often built from part of a drawing stack, which also supplies replacements when items are taken." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Since the displayed options often come from random sources, players choosing among them reduces how much chance decides what they get." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Drafting_Spreads.svg" }, { "name": "Mimetic Interfaces", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Sensors judge how accurately the player copies movements, and this is part of the game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The sensors must measure real physical movement and the game must score how well it is done. Tolerance should be tuned so players can learn gradually.", "just_a_label_when": "A game with a themed controller, such as a plastic guitar, where pressing buttons gives the same result and the physical action is not really measured.", "knobs": "how strictly the performance is judged; how tolerant the early levels are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Mimetic_Interfaces", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Because the game reads the player's real bodily movements as input, the player has to act out the in-game action rather than just trigger it." }, { "name": "Exaggerated Perception of Influence", "why": "Games can let players keep going, judge leniently, or play the real sounds, so players feel they are performing better than they actually are." }, { "name": "Player Physical Prowess", "why": "When the required movements resemble real-world skills, how well players do depends on their own physical ability." }, { "name": "Role Fulfillment", "why": "The movements copy what athletes or musicians do, so performing them lets players feel they are taking on that role." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Minigames", "why": "Such interfaces usually support only a narrow set of detectable actions, so short minigames suit them and add variety through changing themes." }, { "name": "Rhythm-Based Actions", "why": "Rhythms are simple to present and simple to check against what the player does, so measuring physical performance fits them well." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "AI Players", "why": "A computer player doesn't use the physical interface, so when people must act with their bodies, the AI clearly isn't competing under the same conditions." }, { "name": "Minimalized Social Weight", "why": "These interfaces draw attention to the player because they involve visible physical performance, which works against keeping social pressure low." }, { "name": "Real Life Activities Affect Game State", "why": "One feeds ordinary non-game activities into the game, while the other builds in-game activities that merely resemble real ones, so the two approaches don't fit together." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Mimetic_Interfaces.svg" }, { "name": "Near Miss Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "After a failure, the player sees how close they or others came to the goal.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must measure closeness to success and show it clearly after a failure. It needs to be informative enough that players use it for their next attempt.", "just_a_label_when": "A generic failure message, or a near-miss display that shows the same thing whether the miss was narrow or wide.", "knobs": "how precisely the near-miss is measured and shown; how often it is displayed", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Near_Miss_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Seeing how close a failed try came tells the player what to change, so the near-miss information works as a hint for the next attempt." }, { "name": "Determinable Chance to Succeed", "why": "Knowing how narrowly they missed lets players estimate how likely the next try is to work, so the odds become something they can judge." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "They are basic indicators that show how close something came, contributing information about the state." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "When a later attempt with poor odds succeeds, players feel lucky, and knowing how near earlier misses were sharpens that feeling." }, { "name": "Replayability", "why": "Learning how close they came makes players want to try again, since the near miss suggests success is within reach next time." }, { "name": "Tension", "why": "Being told they almost succeeded makes players more aware of how near the goal was, which raises the strain before the next attempt." }, { "name": "Outcome Indicators", "why": "A near miss indicator is a special case that reports the result of an action that almost succeeded, so it counts as an outcome indicator." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Outcome Indicators", "why": "A near-miss indicator is itself a kind of outcome indicator, reporting how a failed attempt turned out rather than just that it failed." }, { "name": "Save-Load Cycles", "why": "When players can reload saved states, seeing how nearly they succeeded tempts them to reload and retry the attempt." }, { "name": "Stimulated Planning", "why": "Near-miss feedback gives players fresh information that pushes them to think through and adjust their plans as part of play." }, { "name": "Tactical Planning", "why": "Learning how close an attempt came gives players information they can use to revise their short-term tactics." }, { "name": "Variable Accuracy", "why": "In games where aim quality varies, a player who was nearly hit can be given lower accuracy to offset the near-miss warning." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Auto-Aim", "why": "Assisted aim bends shots toward targets, so it can become impossible to notice a shot that nearly missed, leaving nothing for such indicators to show." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Near_Miss_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Picture-in-Picture Views", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "One image or view is shown inside another.", "needs_to_really_work": "The inset must show information players really need during play that the main view cannot, in a place and size that does not hide the main action. Its content should change what players decide.", "just_a_label_when": "A small window duplicates what the main view already shows, or is too tiny or cluttered to read, so nobody uses it.", "knobs": "what it shows; its size and position; whether players can move, resize or switch it", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Picture-in-Picture_Views", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "When the small inset shows abstract information, it works as a readout of how the game currently stands, even though it is a view." }, { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "An inset can show either a local or global view of the game world, giving players a summary they otherwise couldn't see." }, { "name": "Point of Interest Indicators", "why": "Insets can be shown on the fly during play to draw attention to something important, without replacing the whole screen." }, { "name": "Split-Screen Views", "why": "The inset divides the display into separate presentations at once, so it is a kind of split screen where one part sits inside the other." }, { "name": "Third-Person Views", "why": "The inset typically shows something from outside the player's own viewpoint, so it creates an external perspective, unless it shows what a diegetic entity sees." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Killcams", "why": "A killcam shown in only a small part of the screen, instead of taking over the whole presentation, is an inset view used to highlight an event." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Picture-in-Picture_Views.svg" }, { "name": "Emotes", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Commands with which a player shows their hero's feelings without affecting the game's course.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need a simple way to trigger the actions, visible to nearby others, and a reason to use them such as social play or role-playing.", "just_a_label_when": "A few emote buttons that nobody sees, or whose output is the same canned animation that carries no personal expression.", "knobs": "freeform or fixed list; how many emotes; who sees them and how they are labelled", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Emotes", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Free-typed emotes let players decide how their character acts and feels, so they get to play out the character's behavior in their own words." }, { "name": "Roleplaying", "why": "Because players can write what their character does and feels, emotes let them visibly act in character, which shows they are roleplaying." }, { "name": "Emotional Attachment", "why": "In games where play happens through an avatar, visual emotes give the avatar a way to express feelings inside the game world." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Avatars", "why": "When avatars are graphical, emotes can be paired with set actions like dances that the avatar performs, adding expression to the avatar's behavior." }, { "name": "Characters", "why": "Emotes give players a way to show their character's feelings through actions that change nothing in the game state." }, { "name": "Chat Channels", "why": "Emotes are typed in the chat and shown to nearby players, so they add a different kind of message to the chat channel." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Truly freeform emotes let players put anything they like into the game world, which can break what fits inside the game's fiction." }, { "name": "Thematic Consistency", "why": "Since players can write anything into a freeform emote, they may add content that clashes with the game's intended theme." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Emotes.svg" }, { "name": "First Player Tokens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A token shows who goes first in the turn order.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have a changing turn order across rounds and the token must be passed according to clear rules. For orders with more than two positions, more markers or an order track may be needed.", "just_a_label_when": "A token that stays with one player or is ignored because the order never changes.", "knobs": "how the token is passed; how many positions in the order need markers", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/First_Player_Tokens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "A first player token is a physical piece players use to record a piece of game state, namely who goes first, so it counts as a bookkeeping token." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "When turn order changes, players must spend effort remembering who goes first; the token takes over that remembering and reduces this upkeep burden." }, { "name": "First Player Advantages", "why": "Holding or showing the token makes it obvious to everyone who goes first, which slightly emphasizes the benefit that position gives." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Without a computer or referee, players must manage the order themselves, and a physical token gives them an easy way to do that." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "The token shows whose turn comes first in each round, helping players keep track of who acts when." }, { "name": "Varying Turn Orders", "why": "When the starting player changes between rounds, the token (or a set of position tokens) marks the current order so nobody forgets or disputes it." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/First_Player_Tokens.svg" }, { "name": "Goal Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Information that shows the player what their current goals are.", "needs_to_really_work": "They must give accurate, timely information about goals and progress toward them, in a form players can read at a glance. The information must connect to something players can act on.", "just_a_label_when": "A quest log or marker that is vague, outdated or hidden, so players still don't know what to do or how close they are.", "knobs": "how much detail is shown; how precise (exact vs vague); how often it is updated", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Goal_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Because goal indicators show where players stand relative to their objectives, they naturally help players grasp the overall situation of the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Time Limits", "why": "When a time limit is part of how a goal is defined, showing the goal to players changes how that limit is presented and perceived." }, { "name": "Time Pressure", "why": "When a goal includes a deadline, displaying the goal changes how strongly players feel rushed, since the information about it is now visible." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Player-Defined Goals", "why": "Showing designer-made goals pulls players' attention toward them, which competes with players inventing and following objectives of their own." }, { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Goal indicators give players information about their objectives, and that openness removes the not-knowing that uncertainty of information depends on." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Goal_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Tooltips", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "An explanation shown when the player pays attention to a game element.", "needs_to_really_work": "The text must contain information that actually helps decisions, appear at the right moment and with the right delay, and not flood the player. It should cover the elements players are likely to be unsure about.", "just_a_label_when": "A popup that merely repeats the item's name or flavour text and teaches nothing about how it works.", "knobs": "which elements get tips; how much detail; hover delay before showing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Tooltips", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "Hovering over something reveals text about what it is or does, which hands players hints they can use to decide what to do." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Features", "why": "The text boxes that pop up exist only for the player, not for the game world, and they vanish again shortly afterward." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Tooltips deliver strategic knowledge without cluttering the screen, so players can use it when planning." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Quick explanations on demand help players keep track of many elements and rules, so intricate games feel easier to handle." }, { "name": "Crosshairs", "why": "Whatever the aiming mark points at can show extra text, so the aim tool also becomes a way to ask the game for details." }, { "name": "God Fingers", "why": "Resting the pointer on an element brings up details about it, so the pointer now also works as a tool for requesting information." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Tooltips give designers a concrete way to pass on knowledge about how the game works, which players can then use to plan." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Pop-up text is not part of the game world, so showing it can break the feeling that everything seen belongs inside that world." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Tooltips.svg" }, { "name": "Outcome Indicators", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Extra signals about how an action ended, beyond its effect in the world.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be an outcome that players cannot easily read from the world itself, and the indicator must report it clearly and at the right time. The detail level can be varied to keep some uncertainty.", "just_a_label_when": "An indicator that repeats what is already obvious on screen, or one that appears too late or too vaguely to help players understand what happened.", "knobs": "what outcomes are indicated; how precise the information is; how long and when it is shown", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Outcome_Indicators", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Game State Indicators", "why": "Outcome indicators are a kind of game state indicator, since they show players that something changed in the game as a result of what happened." }, { "name": "Predictable Consequences", "why": "Because players are told what an action achieved, they can learn what their actions lead to and anticipate results of similar actions later." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game State Overviews", "why": "Outcome indicators can be included as one part of an overview, adding information about what recently happened to the picture of the game's current situation." }, { "name": "Rewards", "why": "Showing the result of an action makes any reward the player earned from it visible and clear, so they notice they succeeded." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Uncertainty of Information", "why": "Indicators exist to tell players what an outcome was, so the more clearly they do that, the less is left unknown to the player." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Outcome_Indicators.svg" }, { "name": "Explicit Random Seeds", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player can enter the number from which the game builds its randomness.", "needs_to_really_work": "The game must have a seeded random generator and show a clear way for players to enter and share the seed. The same seed then has to give the same results every time.", "just_a_label_when": "A seed field exists, but the game mixes in the clock or other randomness, so identical seeds give different worlds.", "knobs": "what the seed controls (whole world, level layout, just a setup); how visible the seed input is", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Explicit_Random_Seeds", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Freedom of Choice", "why": "Letting players type in their own starting number means they, not the game, decide which random outcome the session is built from." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Game Worlds", "why": "A chosen seed can shape how a world's starting setup is arranged, so the same number brings back the same arrangement." }, { "name": "Levels", "why": "Entering a seed can steer the random setup of a single level, so players can get the same layout again." }, { "name": "Luck", "why": "Players who land a fortunate start can reuse its seed to get that same good start again, reducing how much chance decides things." }, { "name": "Procedurally Generated Game Worlds", "why": "Players supply the number the generator works from, so they control how the automatically built world turns out and can recreate it." }, { "name": "Randomness", "why": "Instead of the game picking a number on its own, the player's number drives the random sequence, changing where the unpredictability comes from." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Explicit_Random_Seeds.svg" }, { "name": "Loading Hints", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Game tips that are shown while the game is loading.", "needs_to_really_work": "There must be waiting moments, and the hints must be useful, correct and varied enough to be read. They should connect to what the player will do next.", "just_a_label_when": "Vague or repeated tips, or generic lore lines, that teach nothing about play.", "knobs": "how many hints; how they are chosen; how long they display", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Loading_Hints", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Clues", "why": "While players are stuck waiting, the hints shown on screen hand them useful pointers about how to play, so the idle moment becomes a source of guidance." }, { "name": "Strategic Planning", "why": "Strategic knowledge is too large to show during play, so hints on loading screens give players what they need to plan." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Complex Gameplay", "why": "Tips shown during waits give players a little extra explanation of the game's many parts, making an intricate game easier to grasp and understand." }, { "name": "Downtime", "why": "Loading pauses are forced waits that would otherwise be dull; showing hints in them gives that empty time some value for the player." }, { "name": "Predetermined Story Structures", "why": "Because the hints can touch on the plot, the waiting screens can carry pieces of the authored story forward, not just gameplay advice." }, { "name": "Strategic Knowledge", "why": "Designers gather strategy facts and choose which ones to display, so the hints become a channel that passes this knowledge to players." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Loading_Hints.svg" }, { "name": "Rabbit Hole Invitations", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A vague invitation that draws a person into a particular game.", "needs_to_really_work": "The cryptic messages must be placed where target players will find them and be intriguing enough to follow. Several are spread over media and time since individual ones may be missed.", "just_a_label_when": "A clue is posted, but it is too obscure or in the wrong place, so nobody finds or follows it.", "knobs": "how many; where posted; how cryptic; timing", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Rabbit_Hole_Invitations", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Crossmedia Gameplay", "why": "The cryptic invitations are placed in media other than the game itself, such as trailers and posters, so play stretches across different media before it begins." }, { "name": "Extra-Game Broadcasting", "why": "The invitations are messages sent out through channels outside the game proper to reach people and pull them toward playing, which is what this broadcasting means." }, { "name": "Puzzle Solving", "why": "Because the invitations are cryptic, people must first work out and decode them before they can actually enter the game." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Alternate Reality Gameplay", "why": "Games that hide their existence need a way to recruit players, so cryptic invitations are a fitting way to draw people into such gameplay." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Rabbit_Hole_Invitations.svg" }, { "name": "Current Player Tokens", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "A token showing whose turn it is.", "needs_to_really_work": "The token must be clearly visible and the rules must say exactly when it passes. It is most useful when turns are long or players act out of turn.", "just_a_label_when": "A token that sits on the table but is passed late or ignored, while players still ask whose turn it is.", "knobs": "token size and visibility; the exact moment it is handed over", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Current_Player_Tokens", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Bookkeeping Tokens", "why": "A current player token is a physical marker that records game state, namely whose turn it is, so it counts as a specific kind of bookkeeping token." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Excise", "why": "Knowing clearly who is up makes the chore of closing one turn and starting the next smoother, so less effort is spent on administration." }, { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "In games where players run the rules themselves with no automation, the token gives them a simple way to track whose turn it is." }, { "name": "Turn Taking", "why": "In games where players act in turns, the token passes from player to player to show whose turn it is, even after breaks or long turns." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Current_Player_Tokens.svg" }, { "name": "Meta-Postures", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "Agreed poses and gestures convey information about the game without breaking character.", "needs_to_really_work": "The gestures must be few, easy to learn, clearly different from each other and visible without breaking the fiction. Everyone must know the meanings.", "just_a_label_when": "A list of gestures on paper that players forget or ignore, so they keep speaking out of character anyway.", "knobs": "how many gestures; how distinct and how visible they are", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Meta-Postures", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Because gestures let players pass on game information silently, they can keep the fiction unbroken instead of forcing everyone to speak out-of-character." }, { "name": "Meta-Techniques", "why": "Gesture-based signals are one specific kind of out-of-fiction aid, so using them means you are applying a broader meta-technique family." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Pre-agreed postures turn some out-of-game messages into quiet signals, changing how much plain out-of-character talking players need to do." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Players must hold or perform the special gesture, so their body movement while acting a character is somewhat restricted." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Gestures used to signal out-of-game messages are not part of the fiction, though they are less noticeable than speech." }, { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Having gestures available can lead players to exchange more out-of-game information overall, which undermines the aim of keeping that communication low." }, { "name": "Substitute Actions", "why": "Both address the same design problem in different ways, so choosing one approach works against using the other." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Meta-Postures.svg" }, { "name": "Self-Reported Positioning", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": null, "what_it_is": "The player's physical location matters in the game, but the player reports it to the game themselves.", "needs_to_really_work": "Players need a way to report their location, and the game should use that location for something. Trust or checks decide whether reports can be false.", "just_a_label_when": "A check-in button whose reported place has no effect on anything in the game.", "knobs": "how location is reported; how often; whether reports are checked", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Self-Reported_Positioning", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Self-Facilitated Games", "why": "Because players themselves announce where they are, they act as the ones running the location side of the game, giving a limited form of players facilitating play." }, { "name": "Social Adaptability", "why": "Since players only report a position, they can skip actually traveling when short on time or unwilling, or avoid bothering people at those places." }, { "name": "Casual Gameplay", "why": "Players can claim a location they aren't at, so they only move as much as they want to." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Mediated Gameplay", "why": "Players send their positions to a game system, so the system relays and holds location information, changing how play is carried through that intermediary." }, { "name": "Player-Location Proximity", "why": "Proximity still matters, but players state their locations instead of being sensed, so they need not truly be there, which relaxes the physical requirement." } ], "conflicts_with": [] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Self-Reported_Positioning.svg" }, { "name": "Prompting Techniques", "layer": "mechanics", "part": "interface", "second_place": "dynamics × interface", "what_it_is": "In role-playing: lines that hint how to change the scene without leaving character.", "needs_to_really_work": "The group needs shared, easily noticed signals that fit the fiction, learned before play. Different scenes may need different prompts.", "just_a_label_when": "Signals are listed in the rulebook, but nobody notices or uses them, so players still break character to change scenes.", "knobs": "which signals exist; how subtle they are; who may use them", "catalog_page": "https://gdp.cse.chalmers.se/index.php/Prompting_Techniques", "catalog_page_is_a_stub": false, "links": { "can_cause": [ { "name": "Diegetic Consistency", "why": "Prompts are chosen so they fit the game world, so players can signal scene changes without saying anything that feels out of place in the fiction." }, { "name": "Meta-Techniques", "why": "Prompting is one particular kind of meta-technique, a method players use to support their acting by coordinating without leaving the fiction." } ], "changes": [ { "name": "Enactment", "why": "Prompts can be used alongside any kind of acting, letting players signal preferences about where the play goes without interrupting their performance." }, { "name": "Physical Enactment", "why": "Physical, live action play benefits most because prompts let it continue without out-of-character interruptions, so it is where they are used most." }, { "name": "Scenes", "why": "Prompts can be set up to signal that a certain kind of scene should begin or that a current one should end." } ], "conflicts_with": [ { "name": "Non-Diegetic Communication", "why": "Prompting gives players other ways to pass information, so they have less need to step outside the fiction to speak." } ] }, "pictogram": "pictograms/Prompting_Techniques.svg" } ] }