Formal Design Tools

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Formal Design Tools

• Feedback Systems
• and the Dramatic Structure of Competition

A rant by MAHK
GDC 1999
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Game Design Fortune Cookies

• Aimless wandering is the enemy of fun.
• Hardship is not the same as gameplay.
• Create compelling illusions, not realistic
  simulations.
• Know your roots.
• 50,000,000 Elvis fans cant be wrong.

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The Alternative Formal Design Tools

• Rules, Models, Techniques
• Well-defined
• Abstract (i.e. cross-genre)
• Day-to-day utility
• Well-understood application context
• Lenses, not value statements

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Lecture Overview

• Context Competitions
• Feedback Systems
• Definition
• Positive Negative Feedback
• Application to Games
• Dramatic Structure
• Definition
• Application to Games
• Drama-Creation Techniques

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Obligatory Disclaimers

• This is really pointy-headed.
• There will be math.
• No LaPlace transforms No game theory.
• This may be review.
• Leave now.

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Part 1 Feedback Systems
A feedback system monitors and regulates its own
output.
Room
Thermometer
Heater
Too Cold
Too Hot
Controller
Example An Ideal Thermostat
Cooler
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The Thermostat System is Negative Feedback

• Reduces the difference between the actual
  temperature and the target temperature.

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Negative Feedback Systems

• Drive their output towards a target value.
• Keep their output within an acceptable range.
• Are stable.

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Positive Feedback
Room
Thermometer
Heater
Too Cold
Too Hot
Controller
Cooler
Example The Evil Anti-Thermostat
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Positive Feedback Systems

• Drive their output away from the target value.
• Left to their own devices, will drive their
  output to infinity.
• Are unstable.

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In Other Words
? Troom F(Troom Tthermostat)
Or
? Troom F(Troom Tthermostat)
F(x) is any increasing function.
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Feedback Systems in Games
Game State
Scoring Function
Game Mechanical Bias
Controller
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Example Negative Feedback Basketball
For every N points of difference in the two
teams scores, the losing team may have an extra
player in play.
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Laptop Motivation Slide
This is the point in my talk where my laptop
crashed at the GDC in march. A round of
encouraging applause, please, to my laptop, for
making it this far.
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Positive Feedback Basketball
For every N points of difference in the two
teams scores, the winning team may have an extra
player in play.
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In Other Words
? Sme F(Sme Syou)
Or
? Sme F(Sme Syou)
F(x) is any increasing function Sme and Syou are
the two teams scores.
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Feedback Rule 1

• Negative feedback stabilizes the game.
• Positive feedback destabilizes the game.
• Stability is game balance.

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Feedback Rule 2

• Negative feedback forgives the loser.
• Positive feedback rewards the winner.

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Feedback Rule 3

• Negative feedback can prolong the game.
• Positive feedback can end it.

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Feedback Rule 4

• Positive feedback magnifies early successes.
• Negative feedback magnifies late ones.

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The Most Common Example The Intrinsic Negative
Feedback in Many-Player Games
Everybody gang up on the scourge!
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Other Feedback Examples

• Battle Arena Toshinden desperation moves
  (negative)
• Civilization exponential growth (positive)
• Wing Commander system damage (positive)

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One More Example An Auto Racing Game with Guns

• Front-mounted guns negative feedback
• Rear-mounted guns positive feedback

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Feedback Rule 5

• Feedback systems can emerge from your game
  systems by accident.
• Be sure to identify them.

• Many-player games
• Simulations

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Feedback Rule 6

• When two different feedback systems are in
  conflict, one will overwhelm the other.

• Theres no equilibrium
• Small biases matter

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Feedback Rule 7

• Players are stabilizing influences.

• The player who is ahead
• Sandbags
• Gets lazy
• Has too many options

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Feedback Rule 8

• Feedback systems can take control away from the
  players.

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Feedback Summary

• Feedback systems exist in games
• Negative feedback stabilizes the game.
• Positive feedback destabilizes the game.
• Some feedback systems are emergent.
• Both positive and negative feedback are useful to
  game designers.

On to Part 2...
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Part 2 Dramatic Structure
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Dramatic Structure

• Formal tool for narrative design.
• Competition can have dramatic structure.
• Some games have both competition narrative.

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Dramatic Structure In Games

• Creates a sense of wholeness.
• Provides a larger context for small decisions.
• Creates games that make good stories.

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What Creates Dramatic Tension?

• Competition is Conflict.
• Uncertainty The winner is unknown.
• Inevitability
• Resolution is imminent.
• The game is moving forward.

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• Dramatic tension does not guarantee dramatic
  structure.

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Dramatic Structure Examples

• Basketball (organized vs. pick-up)
• Clock creates inevitability
• Magic The Gathering
• Deck, Mana create inevitability.
• Deathmatch
• Small-scale drama in each confrontation
• No overall structure

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Creating Inevitability

• Approach the end of the game through
• A non-reversible process.
• A non-renewable resource.

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Creating Uncertainty

• We want the game to feel close.
• Thus, negative feedback systems can induce
  uncertainty.
• Other stabilizing forces also work.

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Timing the Climax

• Too Early
• Too much time spent knowing who will win.
• Players become spectators.
• Too Late
• End of game takes the players by surprise.
• A moment of realization is necessary.

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Timing the Climax

• In games, the climax comes relatively late,
  because
• Again, competition is conflict.
• It does in narrative.
• Some resolution occurs after the game ends.

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Resolving Dramatic Tension

• Maintain the same sense of inevitability (i.e.
  the same non-reversible process.)
• Replace uncertainty with certainty, through
  de-stabilizing forces (e.g. positive feedback).

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Example Basketball

• Negative feedback moves climax later.
• Positive feedback moves it earlier.

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Example StarCraft

• Uncertainty
• Fog of War
• Inevitability
• Finite raw materials
• Time is a resource
• Uncertainty erodes over time.
• Exponential growth eventually destabilizes.

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Example Titan

• Details
• Build Conquer game
• Fighting costs units (attrition).
• Winning fights earns units power
• Attrition remains constant, but rewards increase.

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Example Titan

• Early game
• Costs outweigh rewards
• Stable uncertain
• Late game
• Rewards outweigh costs
• Unstable certain
• Weak sense of inevitability.

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Example FireTeam Deathmatch

• Details
• Deathmatch with teams.
• Phase 1 Infinite resurrection, earn lives.
• Phase 2 Finite resurrection, spend lives.

(Phase 2 has positive feedback)
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Example FireTeam Deathmatch

• Inevitability
• Time limit
• Uncertainty
• Phase 1 is stable uncertain
• Phase 2 is unstable certain
• Phase 1 is longer than Phase 2 late climax

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Example You Dont Know Jack

• Uncertainty
• Questions increase in value over time.
• High-Scoring bonus rounds late in the game.
• Inevitability
• Fixed game length
• Can easily climax too early
• Random feedback elements

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A Newtonian Metaphor

• Dramatic Tension Potential Energy
• Stabilizing/Destabilizing Forces Force
• Forward Progress Distance

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Dramatic Structure Summary

• Games can benefit from dramatic structure.
• Non-reversible processes create inevitability.
• Stabilizing forces create uncertainty.
• Resolve the tension you create.

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Questions?

• mahk_at_lglass.com
• www2.lglass.com/mahk

Shameless Plug GDC 2000
Formal Design Tools Emergent Complexity,
Emergent Narrative