Learning the gameplay cycle on the example of runners
For the last three months, we have been working at GILP studio on two different games in the endless runner genre: Upside Down and Zoic Adventures (code name, both games are still under development). Although they have different mechanics, both are built on the same principle: run as far as possible, avoiding obstacles.
This was my first work on the design of the runner, so I studied the popular games in this genre and made a simple diagram of their gameplay cycle. Here is the scheme:
Let's look at each block:
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Players need time to understand what is happening. The brain needs time to adapt to the speed of movement, eyes - to get used to the design and color palette, and ears - to the pace of the music. Players need time to experiment with the possibilities before they face these difficulties. In other words, a warm-up unit is a safe zone in which you cannot lose. You can only learn, adapt and have fun.
This part usually lasts about 7-12 seconds . If you increase this gap, players may get bored; if you shorten it, the game will start too sharply. You can allow the player to run freely all this time and use the counter plus the running time, depending on what suits your game better. Just make sure that the players are exactly prepared for what awaits them!
Here is a brief list of what you can do in this block:
Now that the players know what is happening, it is time to “calibrate” their reaction time. Usually this process looks like a very simple task in which it is almost impossible to lose. When players die and restart the game, they are already accustomed to a different game speed *, suggesting a different reaction time. It is necessary to give players again to adapt to the new speed .
This is also the first stage when players encounter an obstacle, so it is important to explain which objects (pits, stones, lasers, circular saws, cars, etc.) will be obstacles. If possible, the first obstacle should not be in the player’s path. Thus, we will warn the player about the obstacle and not kill him.
* We assume that, as in many runners, the speed of the game gradually increases.
An example of using the calibration block in Zoic Adventures
Hey, the player endured all these insanely difficult trials, so it's time to reward him with interesting prizes! Although it sounds a little ridiculous, it’s very likely that the player died in your game 20 seconds ago. Therefore, it would be nice to reward him for trying again before moving on to really difficult trials.
Depending on the type of game, this may be a good point for the following actions:
This block should emphasize how interesting the game is. Why not show the player collected items in a beautiful design? So that it fits into the basic mechanics of the game. Make the player move. Let him enjoy the collection of items, not failing. In fact, it reminded me that it is also nice to make a safe zone here .
Familiarization with the game is completed, it's time to get to work! There is no time for talking, it is time to give the player various obstacles in accordance with the game mechanics.
In both Upside Down and Zoic Adventures, we wanted to use blocks with increasing complexity and create them according to the duration of the game. But later we decided that just increasing the speed of the game would be enough. Therefore, we randomly select blocks of obstacles from the list, avoiding repetitions. If over time the speed in your game does not increase, or increases slightly, I recommend working with obstacles ordered by complexity ( always remember about the flow ).
Yes, it was difficult! Now we need to give players time to relax and enjoy how far they have got. Recreation blocks are safe zones (failures are again prohibited in them) between a series of blocks of obstacles.
To avoid the unpredictability of random numbers, we used a pseudo-random distribution ( you can read more about it here ). So we guarantee that the player will randomly have a block of rest in front of the specified maximum number of obstacles .
Recreation blocks are very similar to reward blocks in which players are awarded for having gone so far. Use as rewards collected items, pleasant surprises, special transport and all that makes the moment of rest more vivid, and also adds a grain of excitement. The main difference with the reward unit is duration. Recreation blocks should be about 2-3 times longer than reward blocks, because players are at a much higher voltage than when going into a reward block.
An example of using the rest unit in Upside Down
After a block of rest, it will be good to put an obstacle in front of the players that is different from the usual ones. It should be more difficult or more interesting to pass. For example, in Zoic Adventures there is a unique type of “enemies” that appears only after blocks of rest.
You only need to be careful with the increasing complexity of these unique obstacles. The players rested, so it would be nice to warm them up before a big performance, say, an ordinary obstacle.
Extra lives are quite popular in modern mobile runners because they are a good way to monetize. When a player uses an extra life (by viewing ads, spending hard-won coins, etc.), it would be nice to reward him for it. So you can switch to the reward block, and then go back to the basic game cycle.
Do not forget that before using life, the game was interrupted. Therefore, even if you do not want to reward the player, you must give him time to re-adapt to the speed of the game, and then introduce obstacles.
This is just the simplest analysis of a topic that can be used as a starting point. In both of our games, we added a few extra blocks to better match the basic mechanics of the game, but we always tried to stick to the facts listed here.
Flow - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php
Pseudo-random distribution - http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Pseudo-random_distribution
Depth in Simplicity - Creating a Jetpack Joyride
This was my first work on the design of the runner, so I studied the popular games in this genre and made a simple diagram of their gameplay cycle. Here is the scheme:
Let's look at each block:
')
1. Warming up
Players need time to understand what is happening. The brain needs time to adapt to the speed of movement, eyes - to get used to the design and color palette, and ears - to the pace of the music. Players need time to experiment with the possibilities before they face these difficulties. In other words, a warm-up unit is a safe zone in which you cannot lose. You can only learn, adapt and have fun.
This part usually lasts about 7-12 seconds . If you increase this gap, players may get bored; if you shorten it, the game will start too sharply. You can allow the player to run freely all this time and use the counter plus the running time, depending on what suits your game better. Just make sure that the players are exactly prepared for what awaits them!
Here is a brief list of what you can do in this block:
- Explain the basic mechanics of the game
- Tell about the collected objects
- Show additional tasks
2. Calibration
Now that the players know what is happening, it is time to “calibrate” their reaction time. Usually this process looks like a very simple task in which it is almost impossible to lose. When players die and restart the game, they are already accustomed to a different game speed *, suggesting a different reaction time. It is necessary to give players again to adapt to the new speed .
This is also the first stage when players encounter an obstacle, so it is important to explain which objects (pits, stones, lasers, circular saws, cars, etc.) will be obstacles. If possible, the first obstacle should not be in the player’s path. Thus, we will warn the player about the obstacle and not kill him.
* We assume that, as in many runners, the speed of the game gradually increases.
An example of using the calibration block in Zoic Adventures
3. Remuneration
Hey, the player endured all these insanely difficult trials, so it's time to reward him with interesting prizes! Although it sounds a little ridiculous, it’s very likely that the player died in your game 20 seconds ago. Therefore, it would be nice to reward him for trying again before moving on to really difficult trials.
Depending on the type of game, this may be a good point for the following actions:
- A story about special items that players can collect.
- Change of decoration (color, background ...)
- Adding a random moment of pleasant surprise
This block should emphasize how interesting the game is. Why not show the player collected items in a beautiful design? So that it fits into the basic mechanics of the game. Make the player move. Let him enjoy the collection of items, not failing. In fact, it reminded me that it is also nice to make a safe zone here .
4. Difficulties
Familiarization with the game is completed, it's time to get to work! There is no time for talking, it is time to give the player various obstacles in accordance with the game mechanics.
In both Upside Down and Zoic Adventures, we wanted to use blocks with increasing complexity and create them according to the duration of the game. But later we decided that just increasing the speed of the game would be enough. Therefore, we randomly select blocks of obstacles from the list, avoiding repetitions. If over time the speed in your game does not increase, or increases slightly, I recommend working with obstacles ordered by complexity ( always remember about the flow ).
5. Rest
Yes, it was difficult! Now we need to give players time to relax and enjoy how far they have got. Recreation blocks are safe zones (failures are again prohibited in them) between a series of blocks of obstacles.
To avoid the unpredictability of random numbers, we used a pseudo-random distribution ( you can read more about it here ). So we guarantee that the player will randomly have a block of rest in front of the specified maximum number of obstacles .
Recreation blocks are very similar to reward blocks in which players are awarded for having gone so far. Use as rewards collected items, pleasant surprises, special transport and all that makes the moment of rest more vivid, and also adds a grain of excitement. The main difference with the reward unit is duration. Recreation blocks should be about 2-3 times longer than reward blocks, because players are at a much higher voltage than when going into a reward block.
An example of using the rest unit in Upside Down
Bonus
Unique obstacles
After a block of rest, it will be good to put an obstacle in front of the players that is different from the usual ones. It should be more difficult or more interesting to pass. For example, in Zoic Adventures there is a unique type of “enemies” that appears only after blocks of rest.
You only need to be careful with the increasing complexity of these unique obstacles. The players rested, so it would be nice to warm them up before a big performance, say, an ordinary obstacle.
Extra life
Extra lives are quite popular in modern mobile runners because they are a good way to monetize. When a player uses an extra life (by viewing ads, spending hard-won coins, etc.), it would be nice to reward him for it. So you can switch to the reward block, and then go back to the basic game cycle.
Do not forget that before using life, the game was interrupted. Therefore, even if you do not want to reward the player, you must give him time to re-adapt to the speed of the game, and then introduce obstacles.
Conclusion
This is just the simplest analysis of a topic that can be used as a starting point. In both of our games, we added a few extra blocks to better match the basic mechanics of the game, but we always tried to stick to the facts listed here.
Additional reading
Flow - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php
Pseudo-random distribution - http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Pseudo-random_distribution
Depth in Simplicity - Creating a Jetpack Joyride
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/316448/
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