Sounds simple, but really, is it really easy to play "a game." But first, let us make a distinction between which game we are going to talk about. There will be tags that is used to define what type of games does an article can be applicable to. I will mainly categorize games as either a board game/tabletop game or a video game. Unfortunately, I don't have enough knowledge to discuss on sport games.
Starting the game
So, you've just bought this new game. You've read through the manual on how to play the game. Later that day you challenge your brother to play it with you. Since your unfortunate little brother had no chance of reading the manual before, you, the "somehow, I'm just the better player," win.
However, things changed when you start challenging an experienced player. You feel like you're winning as you're doing exactly what you've done to your little brother, but the odds doesn't favor you. Then you wonder where you've gone wrong with the game. But as you play more and lose more, you're bored and dropped the game once and for all.
So what exactly makes the experienced player better? How does this so called Experience Point come into play? Does it increase one of your statuses so that the other player have unfair advantage against you? No! The game starts with exactly the same condition, how come these masters have a consistent win rate against you?
Exploring the game
These questions lead only to a single question. "How do I win?" Surely, you would be eager to play only if you know you've a chance of winning. I mean, who likes to lose? Let's use a simple example for this explanation, tic-tac-toe. Between two experienced player, what is the percentage of one winning? Exactly zero. Everyone who have played tic-tac-toe knows that to start, play the center. Why you ask? Simply because the middle gives way to 4 possible winning conditions(initiatives), while the other offer only 2 or 3.
Knowing the objective of the game can be done by reading it on the manual, however to understand the objective of the game, one needs time. One knows that to win in a game of tic-tac-toe is by making three in a row first. However, making the first move on the center is the method to obtain the objective most efficiently.
Tic-tac-toe is a total open information game. It means, like chess, your opponent knows all the possibility that you have. Therefore, the strategy is limited by the game design itself, to follow a pattern. This pattern however, unlike chess, is very simple and to win(or make a draw) one must follow a simple strategy guide that involves no skill and no luck.
That, my friend, is the reason why we are bored with this game.
How to move the pieces
Now, let's elaborate a bit on how to achieve the winning condition. Goals that we need to achieve can be one of or conditional combination of amassing a number of token(Tennis, Table Tennis), having more token than your opponent after a time/condition limit(Soccer, Baseball), or by having a strange, weird, and unnatural relationship of pieces(Jigsaw Puzzle, Chess)
Okay, so we know what's the winning condition. But how do we achieve it? Simple, by understanding the game mechanics. Before we go on with this new awesome jargon, let us see first what makes a game, a game. Three simple thing contributes to one person ability to win the game: Skill, Strategy, and Luck. Like I said before, tic-tac-toe uses relatively no skill and literally no luck. It is a game of pure strategy. Guessing a number on a dice, in return, is a game of pure luck (except when you have a rigged dice). Jenga, on the other hand, is a game of pure skill (unless luck plays a part and you're having an earthquake on your turn).
Now, these 3 attributes are mainly used to design a game mechanic. Game mechanics are used to enhance one or more of these attributes. Adding a dice into a game makes it a game with luck involved in it. However, adding two die into a game decreases the luck factor and actually added strategy factor. Strange? I'll discuss on this another time.
Making turn, and deciding how many action you can do per turn, increases strategy factor. On the other hand, making a game in real-time, and not limiting the number of action one can do per turn, greatly emphasize skill attribute. Resource management, a skill used in many games, might be different from one game to the other.
So, what's next?
Great! We now understand what we need! More skill, more strategy, or more luck. Now what to do with them? I will explain on how mechanism defines the intention of the game designer, why luck makes game more interesting to some and less interesting to others, and many, many more on the second part. Until next post!
Exploring the game
These questions lead only to a single question. "How do I win?" Surely, you would be eager to play only if you know you've a chance of winning. I mean, who likes to lose? Let's use a simple example for this explanation, tic-tac-toe. Between two experienced player, what is the percentage of one winning? Exactly zero. Everyone who have played tic-tac-toe knows that to start, play the center. Why you ask? Simply because the middle gives way to 4 possible winning conditions(initiatives), while the other offer only 2 or 3.
Knowing the objective of the game can be done by reading it on the manual, however to understand the objective of the game, one needs time. One knows that to win in a game of tic-tac-toe is by making three in a row first. However, making the first move on the center is the method to obtain the objective most efficiently.
Tic-tac-toe is a total open information game. It means, like chess, your opponent knows all the possibility that you have. Therefore, the strategy is limited by the game design itself, to follow a pattern. This pattern however, unlike chess, is very simple and to win(or make a draw) one must follow a simple strategy guide that involves no skill and no luck.
That, my friend, is the reason why we are bored with this game.
How to move the pieces
Now, let's elaborate a bit on how to achieve the winning condition. Goals that we need to achieve can be one of or conditional combination of amassing a number of token(Tennis, Table Tennis), having more token than your opponent after a time/condition limit(Soccer, Baseball), or by having a strange, weird, and unnatural relationship of pieces(Jigsaw Puzzle, Chess)
Okay, so we know what's the winning condition. But how do we achieve it? Simple, by understanding the game mechanics. Before we go on with this new awesome jargon, let us see first what makes a game, a game. Three simple thing contributes to one person ability to win the game: Skill, Strategy, and Luck. Like I said before, tic-tac-toe uses relatively no skill and literally no luck. It is a game of pure strategy. Guessing a number on a dice, in return, is a game of pure luck (except when you have a rigged dice). Jenga, on the other hand, is a game of pure skill (unless luck plays a part and you're having an earthquake on your turn).
Now, these 3 attributes are mainly used to design a game mechanic. Game mechanics are used to enhance one or more of these attributes. Adding a dice into a game makes it a game with luck involved in it. However, adding two die into a game decreases the luck factor and actually added strategy factor. Strange? I'll discuss on this another time.
Making turn, and deciding how many action you can do per turn, increases strategy factor. On the other hand, making a game in real-time, and not limiting the number of action one can do per turn, greatly emphasize skill attribute. Resource management, a skill used in many games, might be different from one game to the other.
So, what's next?
Great! We now understand what we need! More skill, more strategy, or more luck. Now what to do with them? I will explain on how mechanism defines the intention of the game designer, why luck makes game more interesting to some and less interesting to others, and many, many more on the second part. Until next post!
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