Transcript Wireless Game Design

Wireless Game Design
Games Anywhere, Anytime
Greg Costikyan
www.ungames.com
www.costik.com
[email protected]
Who Am I?
30 Commercially Published Games
Online Games Since 1989
First online game with 1m+ users
Journalist, Analyst & Consultant
Founder & Chief Design Officer,
Unplugged Games
Consultant & Advisory Board Member,
The Themis Group
SF Writer
What We’re Going to Do Today
10-11: Wireless Game Design
11:15-12:30: Game Design Theory
2-3: SMS & MMS Game Design
3-4: WAP Game Design
4:15-6: J2ME & BREW Game Design
Other Stuff
Mainly Phones, Will Touch on PDAs
Should Have Time for Discussion
Presentations at
www.costik.com/presentations/
I talk too fast, and too softly
Stop me before I sin again.
What is a Mobile Phone?
Device for Sending & Receiving Data
Primarily Geared for Voice
Can Send & Receive Other Data Types
A Small Computer
some processing power
local RAM typically 128-500k
Limited Media
small form factor screen, often b&w
input geared to voice calls with some additions
sound handling limited
A Different Game Platform
Like Developing for 8-bit consoles or early
micros
...with tiny screens
Networked from the start!
It’s a Social Device
A New Style of Game: Media Poor,
Communication Rich
Design to the Medium’s
Strengths
...instead of struggling with its limits
Network Access the Primary Strength
Gameplay is not a function of whizzbang graphics
It’s a function of quality of interaction.
Nothing is as satisfying as interaction
with other people
Other Strengths
Portability
why was a primitive platform like Gameboy so successful?
Ubiquity
you take your cellphone everywhere
It’s Always There
play anytime you have a moment free
Aphorisms to Design By
“Nobody on their deathbed ever said I wish I
had spent more time alone with my
computer.”
--Dani Bunten Berry
“It’s not the motion, it’s the meat.”
--Greg Costikyan
“It’s the people, stupid.”
--Dani Bunten Berry
“It’s a service, not a product.”
--Gordon Walton
What do the Strengths Imply?
Short Play Times
it’s a “spare moment” platform
persistent, short session games as well as short complete
games.
Play on Their Schedule, Not Yours
Majestic is an example of what not to do
Persistence: a Key Component for Networked
Play
Use the Network
...even for soloplay games
Community is Vital for
Networked Play
True Online Since the Earliest Games
MUD in 1979
the COLS in the mid-80s
both light & hard-core games today
Current Technology Makes it Hard:
no simultaneous voice-and-data
neither WAP nor J2ME provides intrinsic messaging
latency makes multiplayer beyond head-to-head a problem
How You CAN Support
Community
Challenges
Leaderboards
In-Game Messaging
Diplomacy/Trading
Web Site
Buddy Lists/Presence
Clan Messaging (UPOC)
Design for the Hard Core
On the wired Internet, two successful styles:


Hardcore games
Free “light” games
When people paid by the hour, hardcore ruled
(and even today, bring in more money)
This is an early-adopter market
Fighting, combat, sf/fantasy—and sports
Stay away from “gameshows” and classic
games
The Metagame
“The Things Around a Game that Affect it”
Community part of that...
Deck building & card trading in CCGs
The baseball season
Metagames lead to obsessive, repeat play
...and your income derives from continued play, not a onetime sale
Leaderboards are a start...
Ways to Create a Metagame
Persistence
Tournaments
Trading
Ways for Players to Reward Each Other
Offline Activities (deck construction)
Stable Strategies (Chess, Diplomacy)
Obvious Weaknesses
Graphics & sound will always lag other
platforms
Small (and variable) form factor
Many manufacturers & carriers
...and inconsistent implementation of standards
Inputs designed for non-game use
...of course, that’s true of PCs, too...
Less Obvious Weaknesses
Latency is High (1 sec+)
...and likely to remain so
Games were a second thought when
standards were established
...but no longer are
...but they still don’t understand networked games
No support for simultaneous voice-and-data
...but has to happen ultimately
Avoid Games that Depend on
Low Latency
Soloplay games (never hit the air
network)
Turn-based games.
 Round-robin
 Simultaneous movement
“Act whenever” games.
 Limited by real time
“Slow update” games.
“Giants maneuvering in the mist.”
Dealing with the Form Factor
One, small window on world
 No StarCrafts or Civilizations
 Small board layouts fine (e.g, Chess, card games)
 One “actor” works (e.g., RPGs, side-scrollers)
Games that don’t require a layout at all
 Mainly text, graphics “dress up” rather than are
core to gameplay
Zoom levels
Coping with UI
Avoid Text Entry when feasible
Use Menus
Arrows plus “select”
Nethack/Ultima III keypresses
Design to the Business Model
Is it a service or a product?
What drives your revenue?
How can you maximize player
satisfaction and minimize support cost?
Does play style dovetail with business
demands?
Design to the Technology
Exploit its strengths
Design around its weaknesses
Demonstrate what’s compelling
Don’t get stuck with the preconceived
What Makes this Fun?
Nobody Knows what Works—You’re free
to innovate!
Dev cycle (and costs) are low—You’ll
see your work live within months
Someday, soon, a wireless game will
blow us away...
Show us something we’ve never seen before
Demonstrate how this medium enables game
styles we haven’t seen on consoles, PCs, or in the
arcade
Innovate or Die
99% of wireless games aren’t
“designed” in any meaningful sense
load of imitative crap
rock-paper-scissors, text adventures, fucking HUNT THE
WUMPUS, for god’s sake.
Innovation is what blows markets open
Don’t be a Vidiot
Don’t Be Constrained by video and PC
games of the last 5 years
“The game” is an amazingly plastic
medium; software is infinitely plastic
Look to...
Non-digital games
wargames, RPGs, CCGs, party games, trivia, German
boardgames, LARPs, miniatures, PBM, improvisational drama
The history of videogames
puzzle games, sidescrollers, “maze” games, Robotron
The history of computer games
academic games, Balance of Power, M.U.L.E.
The history of online
MUD, multiplayer air sims, “game shows”, Bingo
Wonky little areas of innnovation today
RealArcade, the indy game movement, Sissyfight, Cheapass
“I’m interested in all sorts of
games.”
--Richard Garfield
designer of Magic: The Gathering
Innovation Doesn’t Mean
Originality ab initio
“If I see farther, it is because I stand on
the shoulders of giants who have come
before me.”
--Robert Burton
Steal a la carte, not whole cloth
If you can’t make yourself a Parker,
Roberts, Gygax & Arneson, Garfield,
Baer, Bartle, Miyamoto, Yeo, or Wright
--at least innovate at the margins
You Have the Opportunity to
Reinvent “The Game”
for this new medium.
Don’t blow it.
Beer or die.
URLS
Me:
www.costik.com
www.ungames.com
www.themis-group.com
Wireless Gaming Review:
www.wirelessgamingreview.com