Transcript Corporate Strategy Overview

10 Ways to Make a
Bad Casual Game
(and 3 Ways to Make a
Good One)
Jason Kapalka
Co-founder, Chief Creative Officer
PopCap Games
[email protected]
Casuality Amsterdam, Feb. 8, 2006
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game

There’s no secret formula for coming up with a good new idea for a
casual game. It’s more an art than a science, and really good ideas
require luck and inspiration as much as anything.
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However, once you do have a good idea, it’s very easy indeed to
wreck it. A lot of cool game ideas lie entombed in the wreckage of
bad implementations.

The examples I’m using in this document of bad ideas are all from
earlier PopCap titles that we’d do differently now…
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#1.
MAKE IT REALLY HARD!

Not enough playing time in
your game? Kick it up to
SUPER MAX DIFFICULTY!

Make people fail each level 5
or 6 times, at least.

Punish newbies with violent
death. They deserve it!
Heavy Weapon was probably too hard for new players…
What you SHOULD do instead…

Don’t punish new players who click around
randomly at first. Give them time to experiment.

No casual game ever failed for being too easy.
But plenty have failed for being too hard.
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Games that depend entirely on skill can be
intimidating. Games that rely entirely on chance
can be boring.
Bad tutorials can make an easy game seem
much, much harder. Lavish lots of time and
energy on teaching people how to play.
What to do instead…
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Don’t neglect the fact that people may enjoy taking it
easy for a while on levels that they have mastered.
They don’t always enjoy going right into something at
their maximum level of skill.
See for example Bookworm… a game that is quite
easy once you have a bit of skill, but allows you to set
your own goals… like making a 10-letter word, or
using 4 gold tiles at once, and so on.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#2.
HAVE A DOZEN MEDIOCRE GAME
MODES INSTEAD OF ONE GOOD ONE

Which of these modes is
good? Which to play first?!

Difficulty level… do I want
Easy? Normal? Hard???

If you can’t decide on one
version of the game that’s
actually fun, just throw every
iteration in there! Quantity
will make up for quality.
Our game Big Money suffers from an overdose of game
Modes, plus difficulty levels… 9 ways to play!
What to do instead…
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Extra modes do provide value, but focus on making
sure the main game is as good as it can be.
Selectable difficulty levels are problematic. New
players have no way to know what subjective
terms like “Easy” or “Normal” mean in this new
game. Avoid if you can!
Be sure to explain alternate game modes as clearly
as you can before users have to choose what to
play. But see Rule #8! Nobody wants to read!
What to do instead…
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Dynamically adjusted difficulty levels are one way
to avoid the problem of having too many choices
for the user to make.
There are other possible solutions… in Typershark,
we give new users a brief typing test before they
begin the game, to determine their current typing
skill. The game then recommends an appropriate
starting level.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#3. Make it a 600mb download that requires 2 next-gen video
cards and 4gb of RAM and test it on just 1 computer

3d texture bump mapping is
awesome, let’s toss that into
our Solitaire game just for fun!

Nobody still uses a modem
anymore. Do they?

QA, shmoo A. It works fine on
my computer. Anyway, we can
always patch it later.
What to do instead…
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Don’t use 3d. Or have a 2d fallback mode.
Remember that every extra technical
requirement you add shrinks your potential
audience for the game… whether that is a
newer processor, more memory, a larger
download footprint, etc.
Test thoroughly.
What to do instead…

Beware of requiring weird plugins or the
like for your web game. Users are not keen
on installing the latest JVM. Similarly, any
apps you require to be present on the
user’s machine for a downloadable game,
whether that is the latest version of
DirectX, or some arcane video player, are
problematic and risky.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#4.
Price your game at $35. Or $3.50. And
sell it only from your myspace home page.

I dunno, that price just feels
right to me.

We don’t need no stinking
contracts or partners! We’ll
launch this game on our own!

Someone offered us a deal! No
time to read the fine print! Sign!
What to do instead…
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If you price too low, people will think your
game is probably garbage.
Be polite and reasonable when talking to
publishers. It’s a small industry and word
gets around if you’re difficult.
Consider your upsell incentives very
carefully.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#5.
Use the Right Mouse Button

Making critical control elements
rely on the right mouse button or
the mouse wheel is cool. Doesn’t
everybody have an RMB?

For that matter, why not use the
keyboard to control stuff too?
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Mouse AND keyboard at the same
time? Even better! How about a
flightstick?
What to do instead…
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Casual game players prefer to use a
mouse, and they don’t like to right-click or
use the mousewheel or keyboard.
Many players run games in windows… be
aware of the interface problems this poses.
Players do not generally have the patience
to master complex or fidgety control
schemes… if they don’t “get it” in 5
minutes they will move on.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#6.
Give it a terrible name or theme

Everyone knows casual game
players love dungeons. In space.
With robots. And skulls. Right?

How about a game with robot
skulls… in a SPACE DUNGEON?

Remember to use words that
resonate with your target
audience, like “blood,” “war,” and
“assault.”
What to do instead…
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Pick an easy-to-spell, easy-to-pronounce
title.
Make sure you can trademark the title.
Find non-violent, bright themes that appeal
to casual gamers.
Make sure your theme meshes well with
the mechanics of the game.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#7.
Award low scores

It’s not logical to award 10 points
when 1 point will do.

It doesn’t matter if people think
the game is low-scoring.

Touchy-feely psychological
factors have no place in game
design!
What to do instead…
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Award lots of points!
Set up as many combos and bonuses as
you can, to reward the player for anything
positive they do. Reinforce with audio and
video.
If something “feels” fun, pursue it whether
or not it seems to make sense in “normal”
game design terms.
What to do instead…
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The original version of Dynomite awarded
just 1 point for each match, so games
tended to score in the low hundreds of
points. When we added a zero, users all
felt the game had become easier and more
fun.
Little things like sound effects can also
produce huge psychological impacts.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#8.
Expect users to read

If the game is complex, we’ll just
put a few pages of instructional text
at the beginning.

What do you mean you didn’t get
that part? There’s a threeparagraph pop-up that explains it!

It’s best to explain everything all at
once so people understand the
function of every single thing in the
game before they start playing.
Once again, Dynomite serves as a perfect anti-example.
Check out that wall of microscopic text!
What to do instead…
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Use as little text as possible.
Show, don’t tell. Use illustrations and animations
whenever possible.
Lead users by the hand… make the instructions
interactive and engaging.
Use big, readable fonts, and pay attention to layout
and typography. Don’t make whatever text you do
have hard to read.
What to do instead…
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The more text you have, the more difficult it will be if you
ever have to localize it.
If you’re producing a game in a language that isn’t your
native tongue, do not skimp on getting a good writer who is
fluent. Writing very clear instructions in a very small space
is NOT an easy task, and style matters.
Be careful with stories. It’s very easy to put in way too
much text, so that people will just ignore or skip it. You
should probably never have more than a single screen of
story stuff at any given point, eg. between levels. Keep in
mind some people will skim or skip it no matter what.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#9.
Make it challenging and cerebral

People LOVE really hard, really
challenging mental puzzles. The
kind that can totally stump and/or
frustrate you for HOURS.

Well, some people do, don’t they?
People who play Sudoku or the New
York Times Crossword puzzle?
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What do you mean those people
aren’t the same ones playing casual
games? That’s just crazy talk!
Our game Mummy Maze, based on a clever old pen-andpaper puzzle… critically acclaimed, popular with the
people who read GAMES magazine, sold about 1/100 th
as well as Bejeweled.
What to do instead…
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Strive to make games compelling,
addictive, and replayable.
Avoid stumping the player so that they
can no longer proceed in the game.
Be generous with hints. Let them play
the way they want to play.
What to do instead…
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The model for most casual games is
closer to Solitaire than the New York
Times Crossword Puzzle.
Remember that many casual players
want to relax when they play a
game… they don’t want to be
challenged, frustrated, or agitated.
This is in stark contrast to the typical
console title, which is aimed at
producing excitement.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game:
#10. Ignore what everyone else says about your game

What the hell does my MOM
know about games, anyway?

These testers have been
playing the game for 6 months
now! So I trust their opinion on
how new players will feel.

If you don’t get it, you’re…
you’re just stupid!
What to do instead…
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Use the Mom Test.
Get fresh audiences frequently to see
how newbies will respond to your
game.
The less interested and experienced a
person is with games, the more you
should listen to their comments about
The worst casual game!
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Suppose you had an idea for a game
where you had an 8x8 grid of 7
different objects. And you swapped
them to make sets of 3 or more, which
would disappear.
You might take this idea and create…
3 WAYS TO MAKE
A GOOD CASUAL GAME

There is no science to coming up
with a really good game idea.

But try not to screw it up when
you do come across one.
3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game:
#1. Give Feedback to Players
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Good feedback helps make
gameplay intuitive
When players do something
bad, guide them to do
something better. When
they do something good,
reward them in as many
ways as possible!
Make the interface invisible
so the user is “one with the
game”
Bejeweled 2’s interface is a lot cleaner and simpler
than many of our earlier games.
3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game:
#2. Consider Your
Customer
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The typical casual game
consumer may not be like you!
By nature, they are likely to be
less familiar with computer game
conventions than you. For that
matter, many things about
computers may be new to them!
They’re not stupid… but they are
very different. Remember to take
things like age and eyesight into
account.
3 Ways to Make a Good Casual Game:
#3. Get EXCITED about your game!
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If you can’t even get interested
in the game you’re working on,
how will your players?
Don’t make a game because
your research indicates that “this
type of player” statistically likes
“this type of game.” If you have
no passion or feeling for the
game, it will show.
When developers are interested
in what they’re working on, they
will contribute new ideas and
improvements.
10 Ways to Make a Bad Casual Game
•
1. Make it really hard!
•
2. Have a dozen mediocre game modes instead of one good one.
•
3. Make it a 600mb download that requires 2 next-gen 3d video cards
•
4. Price your game at $35. Or $3.50.
•
5. Use the right mouse button.
•
6. Give it a terrible name or theme.
•
7. Award low scores
•
8. Expect users to read.
•
9. Make it challenging and cerebral
•
10. Ignore what everybody else says about your game.