Panel
Paul Stephanouk - Design Director of Candy Crush. Previously EA, Zynga, Bossfight, Schell Games, Big Huge Games. 20 years experience building and running creative teams.
Kelly Tran - Cofounder at Nucleus. Former Game Design Professor researching games and players. PhD in learning and tech. Personal Twitch - Group Twitch - Website
Mike Sellers - Professor of Practice at Indiana University. Previously, Lead Designer, Creative Director, and General Manager in AAA game companies, producing MMO, social, and mobile games.
Ian Schreiber - Senior Game Designer Oxide Games, previously Assistant Professor Rochester Institute of Technology.
Dave Neale - Designer of several Sherlock Holmes boardgames and 5 Minute Chase from Board & Dice. PhD Researcher and consultant in the psychology of play.
Mohamed Abdel Khalik - Co-Founder Karnak Studios, Game Director on Tut Trials, an upcoming high action 3D platformer.
Notes
Designers might have a cool mechanic that doesn't fit in the core loop so they should shelve it for another game.
A support mechanism could end up becoming a core mechanism.
Supporting mechanisms can be seen as the spices to the recipe.
Mechanisms can reinforce or contrast the core loop.
There is no universal formula for good supporting mechanisms.
The alchemy of mixing and matching is what keeps it from being a science.
Start from a core loop and move outwards.
New designers want to race through but it’s not a good idea to do that.
Less rules is better.
Don't write a rule you don't have to write.
Don't add a mechanism you don't have to add.
Synergy between the different mechanisms is where the nugget is at.
finding elegance in less mechanisms is key.
What is the criteria to know if mechanism is connected to the core loop?
Defining a loop: everytime I do a loop I'm ahead in the game than I was before. I beat monster, I get gear, to fight bigger monster. The core loop is the moment to moment gameplay in repetition on a constant basis. Core loop is mandatory to the game and won’t be the same game without it.
Good supporting mechanisms add interesting decision density to a branch of the core loop without making the loop more complex.
Supporting mechanisms can add new motivations or reasons to play the game absent from the core loop.
Items in Mario Kart are a mechanism but are not necessary to the core loop.
items in Mario Kart are not a skill check, it allows for variance and rubberbanding so the race is not strongly solved.
Core mechanics cannot be removed.
Core loop = what makes it a game.
Supporting mechanisms = what makes it fun.
Supporting mechanisms can take the form of a new theme or a new mechanic similar to Hearthstone or Munchkin.
More mechanisms leads to unexpected consequences, CCGs and RPGs have a big problem with that. Mobile progression driven games have that problem too.
Get the game smaller not bigger.
Designers need to sense when the game is being more complex for it's own good.
Dead end side paths on the giant schematic are usually where you find your bad mechanisms.
If designers need to explain how cool a mechanism is = red flag.
Designers shouldn't get emotionally invested in their mechanisms.
Free to play = part of the business is getting people to pay and no one wakes up wanting to pay
Designers have to drive behavior that isn't purely altruistic for the sake of fun such with free to play mobile. Part of the business is getting people to pay and no one wakes up wanting to pay.
White board, create a box for every noun that can interact , draw arrows between them for all the verbs in the game and mention the interaction. Move them around so you don't have arrows crossing each other. Group the boxes together so the arrows are localized and not all over the place. If there is a circular form it's a loop and if it’s strengthening then it’s a positive loop and vice versa. If said loop is in the middle of every system then it’s a core loop. This technique shows designers which mechanisms to cut such as a box on the periphery that interacts with one thing. If a few things interact with each other but not with the core then the designer can possibly just remove that cluster. if the designer has two things that have all the same connections then they could combine them or cut one to avoid design confusion. - Ian Schreiber
The core loop theory breaks down when discussing Sandbox or JRPG games.