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 - Game Design Professor researching games and players. PhD in learning and tech. Solo Twitch - Group Twitch - Website
Ian Schreiber - Senior Game Designer Oxide Games, previously Assistant Professor Rochester Institute of Technology.
Mohamed Abdel Khalik - Co-Founder Karnak Studios, Creators of The Daily Tut webcomic and Game Director on Tut Trials, an upcoming high action 3D platformer.
Notes
Rank is basically the number of people ahead of you.
Rating = number that shows probability of winning and not skill - comparable.
What do we want players to experience.
We don't want to match best vs. worst.
Designers want players to meet other players in their same skill level that can challenge them and not overwhelm them.
For new players it’s best to have their ranking fluctuate much more in early on.
But it is exploitable as new players can just create smurf accounts.
Overtime this tends to drive the player to a relative static position.
Which gives the player a less chance to change state.
To counter that, hide ELO system, “you're in an ungranular wide category and your rating is somewhere in there so people don't get frustrated. 60% of playerbase is in the bottom tier but you could be in the upper quartile of that.”
To counter smurfing, make the effort required greater than the reward they find in doing it.
Elo worked better than early rating systems.
It has fundamental assumptions since it was made for chess.
Desig0ned for skill (RNG), didn't draw a pawn in 10 turns lol.
Designed for two people.
Once you get into teams, then designers have to answer a few questions such as how much is you vs. team. Take one of us out and put them in solo queue - they won't be effective.
Sometimes designers can be asking too much of a rating system.
The more you get specific, the more you’re messing with your expectation.
plus/minus in hockey.
good predictor of player contribution.
Designers use seasons to reset the leaderboard - players reset their foot race.
We get to run it again.
I get reset far enough where I have to climb again.
Designers bribe you, congratulations - you reached this - take a bunch of stuff and then cut the legs from under them by moving them back. We're not sending you back, we're giving you a reward for how far you reached this season.
Designers should create different facets of a game that players get recognized/points for.