Boundaries that lead to unlimited success
A couple of weeks ago, John Schafer, the producer of Stardock, as well as one of the leading designers of the last two parts of Civilization, posted an article in his blog under the telling title: “Do you want to make the game better? Limit the player. And although it was primarily about hardcore projects, it seemed to us extremely relevant for those who create the mobile game of their dreams. Moreover, the line between hardcore and casual projects on iOS and Android is now blurring, and all the most successful applications use integration with social networks to the fullest. So we decided to share with you some of the most interesting, in our opinion, moments.
Shafer believes that players should always think that they have a choice. It is very important. The project, thanks to this approach, will seem larger, deeper, more interesting, but for this it is not at all necessary to create all this diversity. And the infinite number of options, what Schafer emphasizes, is not such a good thing. To make it clearer, he gives the following example, at first glance, completely unrelated to games.
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So imagine that you go to the store because a friend asked you to buy flour to bake cookies. It happens that you find yourself in a very unusual shop, where forty sorts of flour are presented. And now you are standing in front of this Great Flour of the Wall and with fear think: “Which sort to choose? Will it even affect anything? Do I need any special kind of flour for cookies? A few moments before you finally go crazy, you will find an emergency exit and leave this store.
Your next goal will be a completely ordinary store. There are only three types of flour on its counter: universal, for bread and for pies. For a couple of seconds you think about which one to choose, but, in fact, it is clear that cookies are not bread at all, so you buy universal flour suitable for any purpose and return from the store as a winner.
The lesson is obvious: the provision of a large number of options does not mean more
of freedom. In fact, it just confuses the person.
Here it is appropriate to recall modern social games (including mobile platforms), where the number of menus is often just crazy. The need to go into each of them, choose something, and then choose in the next submenu acts so depressingly on any newcomer that he simply cuts down the application. And sometimes the situation seems so catastrophic that even those projects that seem to compromise (for example, My Horse) seem to be very difficult compared to such seemingly hardcore desktop projects as Wizardy 8 or Anno 1440.
The fact is that many people today forget about a good rule in design: the user's attention should be directed to no more than seven objects. It is based, so to speak, on human physiology. It has long been known that a person is capable of simultaneously memorizing a maximum of 5-7 things. Often even less. In the American School of Journalism there is even such a rule 5W + H, according to which any article should answer the following questions: Who, What, When, Where, Where, Why and How. It is believed that with more questions, the reader will simply get confused in the material.
We can give one more illustrative example, which is painfully familiar to any Internet user. Remember some mega-informative site with a large number of banners, images, text, links, headlines. Did you delight him? Especially if you needed to find something specific on it?
That's the same thing.
However, of course, there are those who like this madness and work with a huge array of information.
If you, for example, are developing a game for such people, you should not immediately present them on a silver platter.
The reason for the popularity of role-playing games with an open world (yes, we are about Skyrim) is not only that the users have a lot of opportunities, but also how these freedoms are “given” to them. The key to success is the right pace.
If at the very beginning of the player to show that Great Flour Wall, he may not run away, but he certainly won't be able to choose just one thing. This gameplay can hardly be called good. But, for example, starting with three quests that will lead to the nine following, which, in turn, will lead even further - you will give the necessary freedom, and also save the player a pair of gray hair.
The same applies to less complex games. For example, you can take at least any tower defense. If in the very first mission to give the player to build any tower, he will not only be able to figure out what its plus is, but also, perhaps, fail the mission or turn off the game altogether.
If you look at strategies, the restrictions on moving units are one of the best proofs of how restrictions make the game better and more interesting. For example, the inability of infantry to overcome water obstacles makes the fleet an important combat unit.
For a second, access to units (things, abilities, bonuses - to anything), possessing exceptional capabilities, is the main gift for many players. As in the economy, the deficit determines the price.
Of the good “mobile” examples are the Temple Run bonuses: you want more points, pay for the “magnet” bonus that will periodically appear on the track.
"Soft" boundaries - that is, those that interfere, but do not limit, play an equally important role. In Civilization, a large game map is almost always the main source of such boundaries. On one map, iron may be quite close to your capital, and on the other, it may not be even 15 tiles from the original parking lot. The lack of the necessary resource helps the player to choose the best development strategy. Adjust to the circumstances.
Setting a specific task is also one of the types of such boundaries.
Developers almost always forget how difficult it is to figure everything out for the first time (what to press, what to do, how it all works). At the same time, if a player is given a task (for example, to collect one or another type of resources), this helps him to focus on its implementation. In other words, he is not lost, being presented to himself in the future.
At the same time, it is not necessary for a player to take away all freedom. This, by the way, is a mistake of many tutorials. Your task is not only to explain to the user how to play, but also to give him pleasure in learning the basics. And in general, show how you can get from the game a real high.
You can read other materials about the development and promotion of applications on mobile platforms on our portal App2Top.ru
Illusion of choice
Shafer believes that players should always think that they have a choice. It is very important. The project, thanks to this approach, will seem larger, deeper, more interesting, but for this it is not at all necessary to create all this diversity. And the infinite number of options, what Schafer emphasizes, is not such a good thing. To make it clearer, he gives the following example, at first glance, completely unrelated to games.
')
So imagine that you go to the store because a friend asked you to buy flour to bake cookies. It happens that you find yourself in a very unusual shop, where forty sorts of flour are presented. And now you are standing in front of this Great Flour of the Wall and with fear think: “Which sort to choose? Will it even affect anything? Do I need any special kind of flour for cookies? A few moments before you finally go crazy, you will find an emergency exit and leave this store.
Your next goal will be a completely ordinary store. There are only three types of flour on its counter: universal, for bread and for pies. For a couple of seconds you think about which one to choose, but, in fact, it is clear that cookies are not bread at all, so you buy universal flour suitable for any purpose and return from the store as a winner.
The lesson is obvious: the provision of a large number of options does not mean more
of freedom. In fact, it just confuses the person.
Our capabilities are limited
Here it is appropriate to recall modern social games (including mobile platforms), where the number of menus is often just crazy. The need to go into each of them, choose something, and then choose in the next submenu acts so depressingly on any newcomer that he simply cuts down the application. And sometimes the situation seems so catastrophic that even those projects that seem to compromise (for example, My Horse) seem to be very difficult compared to such seemingly hardcore desktop projects as Wizardy 8 or Anno 1440.
The fact is that many people today forget about a good rule in design: the user's attention should be directed to no more than seven objects. It is based, so to speak, on human physiology. It has long been known that a person is capable of simultaneously memorizing a maximum of 5-7 things. Often even less. In the American School of Journalism there is even such a rule 5W + H, according to which any article should answer the following questions: Who, What, When, Where, Where, Why and How. It is believed that with more questions, the reader will simply get confused in the material.
We can give one more illustrative example, which is painfully familiar to any Internet user. Remember some mega-informative site with a large number of banners, images, text, links, headlines. Did you delight him? Especially if you needed to find something specific on it?
That's the same thing.
However, of course, there are those who like this madness and work with a huge array of information.
Limit - the road to happiness
If you, for example, are developing a game for such people, you should not immediately present them on a silver platter.
The reason for the popularity of role-playing games with an open world (yes, we are about Skyrim) is not only that the users have a lot of opportunities, but also how these freedoms are “given” to them. The key to success is the right pace.
If at the very beginning of the player to show that Great Flour Wall, he may not run away, but he certainly won't be able to choose just one thing. This gameplay can hardly be called good. But, for example, starting with three quests that will lead to the nine following, which, in turn, will lead even further - you will give the necessary freedom, and also save the player a pair of gray hair.
The same applies to less complex games. For example, you can take at least any tower defense. If in the very first mission to give the player to build any tower, he will not only be able to figure out what its plus is, but also, perhaps, fail the mission or turn off the game altogether.
The border
If you look at strategies, the restrictions on moving units are one of the best proofs of how restrictions make the game better and more interesting. For example, the inability of infantry to overcome water obstacles makes the fleet an important combat unit.
For a second, access to units (things, abilities, bonuses - to anything), possessing exceptional capabilities, is the main gift for many players. As in the economy, the deficit determines the price.
Of the good “mobile” examples are the Temple Run bonuses: you want more points, pay for the “magnet” bonus that will periodically appear on the track.
“Soft” borders
"Soft" boundaries - that is, those that interfere, but do not limit, play an equally important role. In Civilization, a large game map is almost always the main source of such boundaries. On one map, iron may be quite close to your capital, and on the other, it may not be even 15 tiles from the original parking lot. The lack of the necessary resource helps the player to choose the best development strategy. Adjust to the circumstances.
Setting a specific task is also one of the types of such boundaries.
Developers almost always forget how difficult it is to figure everything out for the first time (what to press, what to do, how it all works). At the same time, if a player is given a task (for example, to collect one or another type of resources), this helps him to focus on its implementation. In other words, he is not lost, being presented to himself in the future.
At the same time, it is not necessary for a player to take away all freedom. This, by the way, is a mistake of many tutorials. Your task is not only to explain to the user how to play, but also to give him pleasure in learning the basics. And in general, show how you can get from the game a real high.
You can read other materials about the development and promotion of applications on mobile platforms on our portal App2Top.ru
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/142626/
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