Character Driven Game Design

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140 Character-Driven Game Design findings, additional games were identified that would provide complementing examples and analyzed. The patterns identified in a game were successively searched for in the other games to provide validity of the pattern as well as provide additional insights to it. Since the paper focuses upon design aspects, the use of the theoretical models and concepts are primarily to support the design. This means that how correctly the models represent reality or everyday life is less interesting to how well they provide a good structure for creating interesting designs, in this case help create interesting gameplay and, to a lesser degree, narration. As in our previous paper [29], we do not describe complete design patterns, e.g., the relation between them, due to the space requirements needed. Instead we present the pattern names and the context in which they were identified. In addition to this, all new patterns are listed in an Appendix: Gameplay Design Patterns Introduced with short descriptions. In this fashion we used the patterns in an informal fashion, which sacrifices precision for accessibility, and do this with the aim of providing an overview of the area in this paper and mapping the field for future, more detailed, studies of individual patterns. The games described have primarily been chosen due to having a focus upon clear gameplay interaction with, and between, NPCs and being (commercially) available. The latter reason is a (weak) indicator of that a game in question has been well received by players but also ensured availability for continued research. The games have intentionally been chosen so they represent different types of games allowing the analysis to look many different approaches to the design space. Case Studies Next we will present case studies of various games and sketch finding as gameplay design patterns. We begin with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [8]—building on the findings and patterns collected in our previous inquiry [29]—and then continue with other cases. Previously identified patterns are differentiated from new patterns by having given references, and are in some cases generalized to be for both NPCs and a PC rather than just for the PC. Oblivion Characters in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [8] show a level of Initiative [29] to acknowledge the presence of other characters by greeting them or attacking them depending on the situation. However, mentions of characters both regarding discussion betweens NPCs and those between a NPC and the player character are based upon pre-scripted media snippets, meaning that the only cases where NPCs are part of conversation topics are when they are related to quests or services (such as training or trading). Thus NPCs do not have Context Dependent
Article 4 141 Reactions as they do not differentiate between which other NPC they are talking; as long as they are willing to talk to another NPC the things they say are independent of whom they talk to. The Gossip provided in this way has no meaning for Information Passing to other NPCs, rather their raison-de-être is to provide players’ with the possibility to gain information through Eavesdropping. The player can at any time interrupt these discussions, so the NPCs are not Competing for Attention. The PC can join several different groups within the game, such as the fighter’s guild, the mage guild, and the thieves’ guild. Each of these is a Faction, a specific social network where membership is defined by what actions are allowed, disallowed, and required. However, joining and advancing in these factions are in most cases strictly controlled by requiring the player to complete quests given by a specific NPC, although which NPC gives quests changes as the player’s character advances. This method is probably implemented to give players an incentive to travel to the place where the quest-giving NPC is located, but reduces the player’s possibility to affect the social network severely. In SNA, the system would be described as a K-plex where K equals the number of people in the network minus one, and joining or advancing is equal to getting a relation. That is, the player only needs to have a relation with one NPC and that relation is the only one the player can have to members in the group. This NPC is a Social Gatekeeper, one that determines how and when new members can join the group. Loosening these requirements could provide several gameplay possibilities. Letting K be the number of people in the network minus two or more would require players to solve quests for more than one NPC before advancing. This could be used to require more travel in the game, and in effect having several Social Gatekeepers that have to be unanimous. Loosening the restriction that the number of NPCs with quests is equal to K would let players choose which subset of quests to complete from a larger set, and could let the player be enemies with some parts of the network while still belonging to it. This pattern could be described as Internal Rivalry. Advancing within a guild makes the guild members react more positively towards the PC, so the game can be said to partially implement Actions have Social Consequences. However, once a character has reached a level in a faction, that position is stable until one has advanced another level or performs actions that the faction deem unacceptable and is rejected. The character does not need to perform any Social Maintenance, performing actions to redefine and reform the group, and for proponent of actor-network theory the faction would thereby not be a group in a social network. Even if the unscripted redefining of social groups may be perceived by designers as permitting to unpredictable evolvement of the gameplay, requiring players to perform actions or complete quests to maintain their position in a faction can provide additional Continuous Goals [9] to the gameplay.
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Aalto University Publication Series
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Contents List of Publications 9 Ack
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List of Publications This thesis co
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Introduction To explain my interest
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1. Introduction 13 Game designers h
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1. Introduction 15 tertainment. Whi
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1. Introduction 17 and involuntary
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1. Introduction 19 dition, the game
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Game Characters Characters are an i
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2. Game Characters 23 can fly, and
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2. Game Characters 25 Figure 2.1: H
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2. Game Characters 27 David Houghto
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Game and Gameplay Design First, I l
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3. Game and Gameplay Design 31 Figu
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3. Game and Gameplay Design 33 what
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Character Engagement and Game Desig
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4. Character Engagement and Game De
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4. Character Engagement and Game De
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Conclusions My study has two primar
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5. Conclusions 43 Factor Perceivabl
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5. Conclusions 45 PC that lead to s
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References AARSETH, E., 2004. Genre
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References 49 Behavioral Neuroscien
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References 51 New York: John Wiley
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References 53 NICHOLS, S., 2004. Im
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References 55 K., C-64 version. Mas
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Research Material Assassin’s Cree
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Appendix 1 59 Quick Start Cthulhu.
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Gameplay Design Patterns In this Ap
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Appendix 2 63 Detective Structure I
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Appendix 2 65 accepted and disallow
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Appendix 2 67 References —— art
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Appendix 2 69 sibility of Surprises
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Appendix 2 71 —— Modulates: Cha
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Appendix 2 73 (Egri, 1960) of a cha
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Lies and Seductions Credits CREATIV
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Article 1 77 Characters in Computer
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Article 1 79 It is important to not
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Article 1 81 attacks, which are all
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Article 1 83 almost anything in the
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Article 1 85 situation(s) —— Ch
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Article 1 87 its physiological, soc
Page 89 and 90: Article 1 89 Banner. Obviously, it
Page 91 and 92: Article 1 91
Page 93 and 94: Article 2 93 Player Character Engag
Page 95 and 96: Article 2 95 elaborately simulated
Page 97 and 98: Article 2 97 affects and performing
Page 99 and 100: Article 2 99 (Björk and Holopainen
Page 101 and 102: Article 2 101 player would fear the
Page 103 and 104: Article 2 103 available and what po
Page 105 and 106: Article 2 105 Many games also use c
Page 107 and 108: Article 2 107 petty criminal, Tommy
Page 109 and 110: Article 2 109 site for empathetic e
Page 111 and 112: Article 2 111 Grodal, T. (1999). Mo
Page 113 and 114: Article 2 113 emotion. Personality
Page 117 and 118: Article 3 117 Gameplay Design Patte
Page 119 and 120: Article 3 119 are constructed predo
Page 121 and 122: Article 3 121 ter, especially in ga
Page 123 and 124: Article 3 123 General overview Clau
Page 125 and 126: Article 3 125 similar goods. This i
Page 127 and 128: Article 3 127 Conversational Respon
Page 129 and 130: Article 3 129 is very strict one an
Page 133 and 134: Article 4 133 Gameplay Design Patte
Page 135 and 136: Article 4 135 described in this pap
Page 137 and 138: Article 4 137 the ANT, is seeing a
Page 139: Article 4 139 Egri’s Premise rela
Page 143 and 144: Article 4 143 this can be seen as a
Page 145 and 146: Article 4 145 heathens as part of o
Page 147 and 148: Article 4 147 Faction member will h
Page 149 and 150: Article 4 149 Discussions In this s
Page 151 and 152: Article 4 151 than character relati
Page 153 and 154: Article 4 153 Conference, 2007. 30.
Page 155 and 156: Article 4 155 Name Information Pass
Page 157 and 158: Article 5 157 Lies and Seduction Pe
Page 159 and 160: Article 5 159 Figure 2. A gameplay
Page 163 and 164: Article 6 163 Character-Driven Game
Page 165 and 166: Article 6 165 and physique); ——
Page 167 and 168: Article 6 167 —— providing goal
Page 169 and 170: Article 6 169 Part of a character d
Page 171 and 172: Article 6 171 Character Defining Ac
Page 173 and 174: Article 6 173 given that the traits
Page 175 and 176: Article 6 175 and want to be in goo
Page 177 and 178: Article 6 177 rectly available to a
Page 179 and 180: Article 6 179 4th ed. Steve Jackson
Page 183 and 184: Petri Lankoski MA, Lecturer, Game D
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