About Game Design

Since my crystal ball is in the repair shop this week, the following is based more on a gut feeling: My prediction for 2010 is that video games developers around the world will better understand how non-hardcore gamers tick! Well, either that, or they’ll skip out on or waste some money.

I recently had the pleasure of playing video games with somebody who hadn’t played video games before. Of course this wasn’t the first time for me, but all those other encounters happened before I joined the video games industry. In other words, back then I lacked the experience and knowledge to truly appreciate how precious those moments were.

I got a lot of feedback that I expected, though I underestimated the amplitude quite a bit. There was way too much punishment for failure? I guess the latest “Prince of Persia”, auto-play mode in Mario Brothers Wii and that new MegaMan title featuring super-easy difficulty weren’t an accident then.

The difficulty and complexity ramped up too quickly, especially in the opening moments and first minutes? When we say “it’s so easy my grandma could play it” that usually means “a pro could play it with a single hand while watching TV” – because you still got to know all the basic concepts and controls when you pick up the controller. If you have to look at the controller while the action is unfolding, you are screwed, if only psychologically and not pure gameplay-wise (but that is more than enough).

But what truly got to me was the innocence that I witnessed regarding the unwritten rules of typical games. More complex concepts like “Respawning”, “Aggro” and “Quests” that have become second nature for every console and PC player are still completely foreign territory for non-gamers, and usually they aren’t introduced and explained that well.
I heard lots of comments like “why are those guys attacking us? We didn’t do anything to them” or “no, there aren’t any more herbs to pick – I just got them all”.

Don’t get me wrong – I do not say that every game has to be (or even should be) enjoyable for everyone. I also don’t say that every single bit of information the player might ever need has to be given to her when she might first make use of it. I’d just like people to think more carefully before saying “my grandma could play it”, because frankly, she probably can’t – and definitely not all by herself.

Yet don’t give up on the casual and non-gamers (and their money) yet. Actually we have a great opportunity here – who could better explain the intricacies of a game to a completely new player than someone who is experienced with the game just as well as with her? And what would be a better way to teach all those concepts than playing the game together? Just give the target group the proper tools to expand itself.

Basic coop support would already make me a happy guy, but if you want to really ensure that I’ll buy two copies on street day, please offer different roles for different skill sets, or at least empower players to distribute the work load themselves, allowing the more experienced gamer to pave the way, to ease the learning curve.

With that in mind, I am looking forward to a great year 2010, hoping for lots of new games with coop play support that I can spend my time and money on. I’ll do all I can to expand our target audience.

What about you?