An Emergent Approach to Adventure Game Design

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An Emergent Approach to Adventure Game Design

• David Mörtsell

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Introduction

• Disappointing games
• Adventure games
• Monkey Island
• Scripting
• Large games

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Emergent approach

• Let units act according to rules
• Emergence
• Units interact with each other and with the
  environment
• Simple rules complex behaviour
• Example Ant colonies

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Issues with the emergent approach

• Planning, testing, tuning
• Inconsistency
• Uncertainty
• Loss of creative control
• Feedback needed

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Planning, testing, tuning

• Defining the rules that determine objects
  behaviour
• Conways game of life

Issues
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Inconsistency

• Similar situations with different possibilities
• Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
• Consistency vs. reality

• Issues

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Uncertainty

• Difficult to predict players behaviour
• Deus Ex

Issues
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Loss of creative control

• Uncover a path
• Difficult to tell a specific story

Issues
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Feedback needed

• Complex world creates need for feedback
• Thief

Issues
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Benefits

• Efficiency
• Consistency
• Extensibility
• Uncertainty
• Larger possibility space

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Efficiency

• Easy to add objects into the game world
• Change objects

Benefits
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Consistency

• More consistent than scripted games
• Guns and windows

Benefits
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Extensibility

• Easy to extend, scale well
• Collectible card games
• List on each cards
• Different classes of cards

Benefits
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Uncertainty

• Already mentioned
• Main idea of emergent approach

Benefits
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Larger possibility space

• The game
• Many possible trajectories
• The players
• More possible strategies
• Gearheads

Benefits
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Summary conclusion

• Time consuming in different ways
• Larger games
• Future scripting emergence
• Difficult, but possibly better

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Questions?