Design Dive Notes

Share this post
Design Dive #26
designdive.substack.com

Design Dive #26

Designing For Down Time

Mohamed Abdel Khalik
Sep 15, 2021
Share this post
Design Dive #26
designdive.substack.com

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 - Co-founder and Game Designer at Evolved Play. Previously, Game Design Professor researching games and players at High Point University. PhD in learning and tech. Solo Twitch - Group Twitch - Website

Ian Schreiber - Senior Game Designer Oxide Games, previously Assistant Professor Rochester Institute of Technology.

Xelnath - Game Designer World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Snackpass. Founder Game Design Skill.

Anthony Wong - Game Designer at The Bad Nomads.

Brandon Dolinski - Level Designer Eidos Montreal. Previously Mass Effect Andromeda and Dragon Age.

Christopher Schmidt - Game Design Director at Bioware.

Brian Shurtleff - Game Designer at 1st Playable Productions.

Dave Neale - Designer of several Sherlock Holmes boardgames and 5 Minute Chase from Board & Dice. PhD Researcher and consultant in the psychology of play.

Omar Soliman - Team Lead at The Bad Nomads.

Alex Clark - Senior Game Designer at Nitro Games.

Zorbaz Englander - Creative writer and game designer on Old World.

Mohamed Abdel Khalik - Head of Game Design Relations at Machinations.

Notes

  • Types of games

    • Board games - not your turn.

    • Soccer - ball on the other side of the field.

    • RTS - things happening on the other side.

    • Idle games - energy timers.

  • The downtown can be a core activity like socializing in MMOs.

    • Hanging out in town between combat.

    • While there is a game underlying all this, socializing is a core activity.

  • Candy crush is a small game that is very focused

    • There are activities around core loop.

    • Players want to crush candy or they’re out.

  • Candy Crush fills a block of time.

  • Downtime paces for more intense experiences.

  • Different types of downtime.

    • Intersession breaks.

    • Session breaks.

  • It’s also player dependent.

    • Some players may be focused.

  • Down time can be integrated into the game experience.

  • Fractal Design of Downtown.

    • Engagement/Disengage.

    • Strategic Layer - Preloads etc.

      • Between levels take a break and calmly think for next mission.

        • Which champion you will play in LoL.

    • Tactical layer - what you do in the experience.

      • Changing situations in bursts but not always intense.

    • Skill layer - moment to moment.

      • You don’t want targets to pop up same time.

  • Pedal to 10 will make players no longer excited.

    • You need to manage the pacing.

  • Purpose - can players purposely express themselves towards the goals they’re working on such as going back to town and preparing my gear for the next adventure.

  • Inverted penalties - rested XP - turn a 50% negative into a bonus.

    • Return mechanic - go and come back.

    • Play the right amount and have something that lures you back tomorrow.

    • Don’t over indulge.

  • Aligning goals = fulfilling player fantasy.

  • Hard stops break that fantasy.

  • Knocked out of the game until the next round.

  • Traverse big area until you can go to the next quest.

  • Definition - Player cannot engage with the verbs.

  • Create supporting mechanisms that bridges downtown.

    • Among Us after dying.

  • Meta behavior - using the experience of one game outside the boundaries of the core game and using that to prepare for the next game.

    • Losing in Mafia.

  • Loading screen are downtimes.

  • Players want to optimize.

    • Building games with limited planning horizons.

    • Variance or limited information keeps players from overthinking it.

  • Co-op games suffer from Mr. Smartypants telling everyone what to do.

    • Commander problem.

    • Secret objectives.

Share this post
Design Dive #26
designdive.substack.com
Comments

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2022 Mohamed Abdel Khalik
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing