101 Game Design Principles for Social Media Game design principles are often incorporated into social media (gamification). The reason is that games are downright addictive. Game-like features can increase user engagement — encouraging desired behaviour from customers, partners and employees. Game design is a well developed field. After all, games have been around for thousands of years. The following 101 game design elements are commonly incorporated into social media and software (usually in small amounts). Game Mechanics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Motivations 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. Social Dynamics 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. Character Development 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. Narrative 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. Technology 82. 83. 84. Economics 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. Visuals 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101.
SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck Some companies keep a playbook of product tips, tricks and trade secrets. Zynga has an internal playbook, for instance, that is a collection of “concepts, techniques, know-how and best practices for developing successful and distinctive social games”. Zynga’s playbook has entered the realm of legend and was even the subject of a lawsuit. SCVNGR, which makes a mobile game with real-world challenges, has a playdeck. Rght now, that should be a lot of people. SCVNGR’s playdeck tries to break down the game mechanics into their constituent parts. SCVNGR Game Dynamics Playdeck Guide To This Document: This list is a collection of game dynamics terms, game dynamics theories that are interesting, useful and potentially applicable to your work here at SCVNGR. 1. Definition: A virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. Example: a badge, a level, a reward, points, really anything defined as a reward can be a reward. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Everything I Learned About Game Design I Learned From Disneyland As promised, here are the slides from my GDC talk. We had a "sold out" crowd and I got to meet lots of nice people after the talk. Please share these with your friends and co-workers. According to show officials, video and audio will be available after the show. Game Development Tools & Game Engines
Game Design : The Addiction Element What makes a game addictive? In order for a game to become addictive there must be a driving force to keep playing the game. Some reasons behind this are: to finish the game, to compete against others, to master the game's control and interface, to explore the game and getting a high score or equivalent. Addiction of Finishing the Game An addiction to finish the game is often based on either wanting to see the end result or just to complete it. In the case where a player finishes a game to see how it ends, there is a story motivation. Addiction of Competition The addiction of competing against others is a powerful one and can keep a game alive and thriving for incredibly long periods of times. Addiction of Mastery The addiction of mastery of a game or its control is also extremely powerful. Addiction of Exploration The addiction of exploration has been in computer games since the beginning. Addiction of the High Score Another type of high score addiction is over winning a game.
Game mechanics Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce a game or gameplay. All games use mechanics; however, theories and styles differ as to their ultimate importance to the game. In general, the process and study of game design, or ludology, are efforts to come up with game mechanics that allow for people playing a game to have an engaging, but not necessarily fun, experience. Game mechanics vs. gameplay[edit] Gameplay refers to the overall game experience or essence of the game itself. For example, the basic gameplay of a shooting or fighting game is to hit while not being hit. However, from a programming or overall design perspective, basic gameplay can be deconstructed further to reveal constituent game mechanics. Game mechanics vs. theme[edit] Games that are mechanically similar can vary widely in theme. Some wargames, at the other extreme, are known for extremely complex rules and for attempts at detailed simulation. Turns[edit] Action points[edit] Auction or bidding[edit]
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Fail-safes in Competitive Game Design: A Detailed Example I'd like to take an in-depth look at an example of designing balance into a game through the use of fail-safes. Although I'm choosing a fighting game, the lessons should apply to many types of games. I'll go into some excruciating, genre-heavy details, but I think that's necessary to give the full force of what's really going on here. Welcome to MvC2, don't even ask.Some games end up balanced through sheer coincidence, such as the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which is "accidentally a very good game." Somewhere in Japan, there is a very lucky stable of monkeys who managed to type up Hamlet, or perhaps a screenplay to The Seven Samurai. The hero of our story, the oddly named Guilty Gear XX (ggxx), had quite a different genesis. Each character in Guilty Gear XX plays very differently. Basically, there is a "design skeleton" shared by all the characters, with each character having his own unique "meat on the bones." Let's look at the "skeleton" of features common to all characters.
What is Gamification If you want to make Gamification actionable, Check out my Complete Gamification Framework called Octalysis and Video Lecturer Series. For those who been following my blog regularly, its pretty apparent that I have been writing heavily into the topic of Gamification. This may be an unfamiliar word for many of you. This post is a quick overview to explain what is Gamification about and clear up a great deal of misconceptions in the industry. Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and addicting elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities.2 This is what I call “Human-Focused Design” as opposed to the “Function-Focused Design.” Most systems are “function-focused” designed to get the job done quickly. The reason we call it gamification is because the gaming industry was the first to master human-focused design. Imagine if there is a truly addicting game, where the more time you spend on it, the more productive you would be. Yes. Why? Why?
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Slippery Slope and Perpetual Comeback If a game has slippery slope, it means that falling behind causes you to fall even further behind. For example, imagine that every time your team scored in basketball that the opponent’s team lost a player. In that game, falling behind is doubly bad because each basket counts for score AND it makes the opposing team less able to score points of its own. The actual game of basketball does not have this screwy feature though, so real basketball does not have slippery slope. Scoring in real basketball puts you closer to winning but does not at all hamper your opponents’ ability to score. Slippery slope is another name for positive feedback, a loop that amplifies itself as in a nuclear reaction. Slippery slope is usually a bad property in a game. StarCraft and Chess do have slippery slope. This is why there are a lot of forfeits in Chess. This guy just lost a Chess piece. StarCraft also has slippery slope. In basketball, the score is completely separate from the gameplay. Fighting Games
Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework (This is the Gamification Framework that I am most known for. Within a year, it was translated into 9 different languages and became classic teaching literature in the gamification space in the US, Europe, Australia and South America.) Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework Gamification is design that places the most emphasis on human motivation in the process. In essence, it is Human-Focused Design (as opposed to “function-focused design”). Most processes design around function and efficiency – they try to get the job done as quickly as possible. Even though many Gamification techniques were in use long before video games were around, games were one of the earliest examples of a holistic approach to implementing Human-Based Design – so now we call it Gamification. In the past few years, I have been digging deep into the formulation of a complete framework to analyze and build strategies around the various systems of Gamification. The 8 Core Drives of Gamification 8) Loss & Avoidance
Game Design, Psychology, Flow, and Mastery - Articles - Yomi Layer 3: Knowing the Mind of the Opponent This is not really how Yomi works.Yomi is the Japanese word reading, as in reading the mind of the opponent. If you can condition your enemy to act in a certain way, you can then use his own instincts against him (a concept from the martial art of Judo). Paramount in the design of competitive games is the guarantee to the player that if he knows what his enemy will do, there is some way to counter it. What happens, though, when your enemy knows that you know what he will do? Sound like a joke that could never happen in real gameplay of an actual game? Before we get into how ordinary human minds can become entangled in complicated guessing games, let's look at what needs to be there to create these guessing games at all. Let's say I have a move (we'll call it "m") that's really, really good. Now you don't know what to expect from me anymore. You don't have adequate choices yet. Me: m, c2You: c1, c3. Now I need a counter to c3. Example of Yomi Layer 3 from Virtua Fighter 3 In summary,