Stuart Hacking

It’s not a great title but none of the other drafts I came up with were any better…

I’ve been thinking recently (and informally) about a schism in game design that seems to be developing. I think in part it’s due to the seeming rise in popularity of Role Playing elements within games. When I say Role Playing elements I’m talking specifically about the idea of the player assuming the role of a protagonist from an early stage and gradually building that character; resulting in, for example, more powerful options during play, unlocked equipment, more locations or simply to make the character look better. This typically happens when a player has accumulated enough experience points to ascend to a new level of play. Experience points are typically accumulated by applying the skills previously unlocked. This idea has started to become more pervasive even in games not commonly associated with character building. Examples include puzzle games (Puzzle Quest, Puzzle Pirates), First Person Shooters (Borderlands, Call of Duty), Racing Games (Forza, Need for Speed) and of course those games which are naturally Role Playing Games (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Pokémon, …and many more). (Note: Shameless list of some of my favourite games.) For me, this additional mechanic adds a new dimension to the game: Narrative. I like stories and I like characters.

The observation I wish to describe is the contrast between two different ways of presenting this narrative information to the player. I don’t wish to claim that one method is more correct than the other. Although I think that there are merits and danger for each that should be considered. It is these points I wish to briefly outline. Also: I’m not an expert in this area but I do enjoy games.

Introduction to RPG mechanics

Originally, I included this section in the description for Case 1. As it grew, I decided it merited it’s own section. Note: Some games will use different ideas; this is only intended as an example. I’ll describe a simplified Dungeons and Dragons style method.

In traditional tabletop games (using pen & paper, or boards) mathematical functions were devised as a way to roughly model expected outcomes of conflict/encounter. The idea was to avoid leaving everything to pure chance (dice rolls), but instead to modify the outcome of a dice roll based on the characters abilities. for example, A strong character will deal more damage, however, the range of damage is still affected by stamina and the type of armour the opponent is wearing. The dice roll itself merely introduces the idea of something going wrong, e.g. “Your character slips when swinging his weapon and only manages to graze your opponents forearm.”

It is not limited to performing moves in battle. Some characters in the game will have the ability to lie or persuade to gather information. These outcomes will also be based on the characters skill. Modified by the second person’s skills at detecting lies or flattery, and a chance dice roll. For example, “You attempt to impersonate a foreign diplomat to gain information…” “…however, the guard is not fooled by your accent.”

As your character gains experience, your chances of successfully exploiting a skill increase. On the tabletop, there was no computer to perform these calculations for you, so all of the functions where exposed to the players.

Case 1: “The D&D Method”

Yes: I’m bad at naming but it fits with the introductory example. In this case the player is given the raw numbers: “You will do 5 points of damage per hit. Your foe has 8 points remaining.” This is demonstrated in the Pokémon series, Neverwinter Nights and Eve Online for example. This hails back to the tabletop method.

The benefits of having all the raw information are arguably that you can make strategic decisions by testing the mathematics in advance and your plans can be optimised by carefully adjusting the variables. The drawbacks, perhaps, are that the intended purpose of the functions – to provide a model for realism – are not achieved. i.e. The game is reduced to nothing more than balancing equations.

Case 2: “The Once-upon-a-time Method”

The titles get worse, but what I’m getting at here is that in this case, a lot of the raw information is hidden behind a façade which is more abstract or opaque. This tends to present in games which are more about advancing a plot than performing the precise strategic operations. Abstraction may ranges from cosmetic change (Displaying bars and graphics in place of numbers on screen) to making the game logic fuzzy (“Character is big and strong”, instead of “Character has weight 55 and strength of 60″). City of Heroes by default will show simplified hints about the underlying attributes while Mass Effect 2 gives the impression that knowing the exact power of every attack is not significant for the player.

The benefits here are that you can find ways to hide the games computations from the player and present them with only the experience of the characters and story progression. The player has enough information to decide how the character will develop and move from event to event but without micro-managing individual attributes. The drawback is in giving less control to the player.

Thoughts/Conclusions

Already? Well, this wasn’t intended to be a thoroughly detailed examination or case study. It was just putting down some thoughts into a post. At least my host will know I’m still alive.

If I have one concrete opinion, it’s that a computer game has the wonderful advantage of having a calculator sitting underneath it. To this end, the mathematics of the games progression shouldn’t come at the expense of immersion into the game’s world. Of course, in some games, the math is central to the objective and shouldn’t be compromised. However, for any functionality that can be delegated to the computer, the designer should attempt to make the presentation as natural for the player as possible.

The key challenge is finding the right balance between giving the player absolute control of the numbers and presenting the player with an abstraction of the information that is compelling as a story.

Self fun, games, Math

Ladies and gentlemen, May I present “Eat the Jam!” The only game which combines a high powered pop culture quiz with a taxing conserve based forfeit.

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Masters of Doom

Masters of Doom [Amazon] follows the story of John Romero and John Carmack: Two of the most influential people in gaming history. The book begins in the 70s. Romero is a scrawny kid with a passion for gaming. He would soon extend this love into developing games for old microcomputers such as the Apple II. Carmack was born to parents with a strong scientific background. He would inherit this talent for scientific thought as well as a passion for role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.

The book chronicles the events of Romero and Carmack meeting in a company called Softdisk and immediately recognising the other’s potential. Both, now gifted programmers, they worked in a team called Gamer’s Edge producing games for magazines and porting existing games to new platforms.  Eventually Romero and Carmack would leave Softdisk to establish Id Software along with fellow team mates Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack.

We learn during the course of events at id software that Carmack is dedicated to pushing his knowledge of technology and developing an engine that taxes the machines’ capabilities. This is more important even than the games. Romero is passionate about design and wants to produce the most fun games, demanding more power from Carmack’s work. It’s the perfect collaboration, but eventually as the industry changed it would tear the company apart.

The latter part of the book covers the departure of Romero from id; the backlash of the Columbine massacre and it’s effect on the games industry; the birth of many new companies using the id technology and developing their own. At each stage, we not only read about the activities going on, but also have the opportunity to learn about each person’s motivation, personality and ambitions.

The ending is bittersweet- We now live in a world which is becoming dominated by technology such that, although more people can gain access to computers and enjoy the legacy provided by pioneers of digital entertainment, Hacker culture is becoming overshadowed by enterprise and I.T.

For me, the joy of reading this book was gaining an insight into the history of the industry I work in (which is software development). I turned each page with a ravenous hunger for more information. The book filled me with excitement as I envisioned the programming culture: All night coding sessions; gaming; working with friends- These are things I probably won’t experience in my own career. I highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in video games or programming.

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I’ve started getting into Nethack much more recently. It turns out that with a little patience overcoming the initial hurdle of graphics and controls, it is a very rewarding game for fans of RPGs. Unfortunately, it requires a fair bit of practice to become good at the game and I’m still fairly new as evidenced by my latest YASD: Killed by a small dog while helpless.

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