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Purity of Design
By Corvus | August 9, 2006
This month’s Round Table (link) concerns Casual Games and their impact on games which are decidedly non-casual. So I thought I’d cover some of the casual game design ‘lessons’ I’m attempting to emulate in my design of the Honeycomb Engine.
At first blush, trying to emulate a casual game’s design strengths with something as complicated as a participatory storytelling engine is utter madness. A massively multiplayer system that focuses on providing a deep and meaningful narrative structure to player interactions within a complex world system cries out for a much different type of design, right? Well… maybe. If you don’t care about creating something that appeals to the broadest possible range of players. I’ve been checking out a lot of open source and free MMOGs lately and they all seem to have one thing in common: undue complexity. Complex and wordy character creation screens, cluttered menus, incomprehensible inventory and character systems. Add minimal animation and flat, static environments and you’ve pretty much completely lost me.
So what can be done to make it better? Let’s take a look at casual games for an answer.
Ease of Entry It’s pretty simple to get up and running with a well designed casual game. There no ambiguity, no confusion. Often, you’re presented with a brief on screen example of gameplay and set loose from there. As new elements are introduced, or new strategies become needed, you’re briefly introduced via another short tutorial and off you go.
Admittedly, casual game narrative structures are extraordinarily simple and contain very few verbs and nouns. But even when a game contains dozens (or even hundreds) of verbs and hundreds (even thousands) of nouns there is no need to dump all the available parts-of-game on the player all at once. WoW, for all my issues with their level based approach, does this very well. You start with a small sampling of verbs, limited nouns, small tutorial windows, and very clear environmental indicators in the form of bright yellow exclamation marks over the heads of character who are of use to you.
Ease of Egress In the causal game world, you must be able to put the game down quickly. Either the boss walks by your desk, or you really need to get to class. Regardless, if I had fifteen minutes available, there’s no way you’d find me firing up a MMOG, not even Puzzle Pirates.
This rule is tricky and, in the final analysis, may not be applicable. I have some thoughts about allowing ten to fifteen minute play blocks pay off long term, but it’s a weighty topic and deserves its very own post. Suffice to say that I’m working on some routines which would allow your character (should you wish it to) to continue having a presence in the world while you’re away. The trick is going to be to keep them as active NPC agents allowing them to continue with a pattern of activities, without incurring penalties when you log back on (i.e. so you won’t find them dead or destitute).
Visual Clarity, Visual Appeal I’m going to lump these two visual elements together. A casual game doesn’t have a lot of screenspace or play time to create visual appeal. Within moments, a muddied or unappealing game arena will send a user packing for the next casual game link in the list. So, not only does every element need to be appealing visually, it also needs to help the player understand their goals and recognize the obstacles to the goals.
This applies to the game environment, the menus, the character design, the animation, the item models, the use of color…. everything. These can be the most expensive asset to generate, but they are so important and, I feel, overlooked in many indie games. I’m not just talking about ’style’ or ‘cool factor’, but recognizing that every visual aspect of your game either detracts, or enhances, the end user’s experience.
Clear, Consistant Audio The delighted squeal of a Chuzzle when it explodes turns this Pop Cap game from a sadistic nightmare into a charming match three game. The harsh clang of trying to move a locked Chuzzle adds a sense of urgency to the gameplay. Every piece of audio is important. Equally important, I’d argue, as the visuals. Annoying music distances a player, well integrated compelling music draws them in. A ringing exchange of sword blows, or the hollow thump of a quarterstaff against a skull provides either a sense of conquest, or defeat. A flat slap of metal and a muffled bonk just sound like poorly recorded sound files. Create a reality with the audio. Ideally, you should be able to close your eyes and still have a good idea what’s going on around your character, what sort of environment they’re in, and what they’re doing. I don’t mean you need to have realistic sound, either. Just make sure that your sound track and audio effects are representational and working together to build a sound picture.
When I look at these design elements together, it becomes very clear that what I’m really focusing on is how a designer communicates with a player. It’s all well and good to design a game with some really cool features, excellent dialogue, or frightening monsters. But if you can’t communicate well with the player, across all fronts, they simply aren’t going to stick around to see how great your game could be.
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August 9th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
I hope I am not too late (or too early, in this case) to give a contribution to this debate (including, of course, Chris’ comments):
http://nongames.blogspot.com/2006/08/casual-hardcore.html
August 9th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Maybe what we’re calling casual games is just the early recognition of a better standard of good design. Of course, this is a controversial notion since it seems to thwart many classics, like Civilization or Balance of Power, but its an interesting idea. I’m generally of the casual persuasion, as you may have inferred.
August 9th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
I actually think the egress is paramount. If I left my own accessibility rant, I’d actually put this into the forefront.
Why? Because to me a game so much more habitual if I can press a button and stop doing it. Play five minutes on the bus, or ten minutes in a waiting room or an hour at home … it shouldn’t matter. At least it’s nice when it doesn’t. Sometimes I can schedule time for my gaming … sometimes I just have that urge to game.
August 10th, 2006 at 6:58 am
That’s an interesting notion, Patrick, if a bit out there. If I were to try and nail down a definition of casual game, I’m pretty sure it’s involve simplicity of narration, i.e. very limited verbs and nouns. I’m actually leaning towards Chris’s definition of casual as laid out in his post this morning.
Josh, I agree. The very fact that I can snap shut my DS mid play and pick it up again when I’m damn well good and ready has me drooling to play a decent RPG on the system. Now I just have to wait for one to be released! Still, it’s going to be tricky to work that into the Honeycomb engine’s core properly. Of course, the Drachurae Cycle will have attending games which can be browser based, so perhaps that can supplement.
August 10th, 2006 at 9:33 am
It’s funny, Chico, I almost name checked you after writing today’s piece as you really did set the ball rolling on this one! I’m not sure what it was about your post that clicked something in my head, but I frequently find your blog has that effect on me. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much!