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Behavioral Psychology In Level Design

December 27, 2011
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One of the most useful tools game designers have at their disposal is behavioral psychology. Behavioral psychologists believe that the inner workings of a subject’s consciousness are not important, and that outward behavior is the only relevant factor in predicting or influencing human action. Whether or not one agrees with this school of thought, it’s a highly useful model in game design because the only information that one can reliably observe in the context of a video game is the player’s in-game behavior. How is it possible to use the data from a player’s actions in a game to understand ways to teach them things they need to be taught in order to succeed? How can their behavior be influenced to push them towards or away from victory? Because players have limited avenues of expression in games, it becomes extremely important as a designer to be knowledgeable in the field of behavioral psychology in order to create an effective gaming experience.

Boss Battles

August 17, 2011
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The boss battle is a concept that has existed for almost as long as video games themselves. It’s such an old trope in video games that I believe many designers have lost sight of what their actual purpose was when they were first introduced, and what that means in the context of modern game design.

To begin with, let’s examine a classic: The Legend Of Zelda.

The first boss of the NES classic

GDC 2011 Diary: Day 5

March 5, 2011
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No writeup from yesterday since I didn’t actually go to the show. Stayed in to do some school work.

But today! Today, was the last day of GDC, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. My day was filled with panels designed for students to help them break into the industry. And boy did it ever help.

The first talk I attended was advice on building a good portfolio for visual arts. There was a lot of good tips and good advice that could be applied to job interviews in general. The sample work they showed from various students’ portfolios was all really impressive. Too impressive. By the end of the panel, I had lost all hope of ever becoming a visual artist. These guys are just way too good at what they do, and they’ve been drawing their entire lives. I don’t have the raw experience to compete with them. So it was all a very intimidating and belittling experience. But it also proved to guide me towards the light.

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GDC 2011 Diary: Day 2

March 2, 2011
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Decidedly less lectures today. Lots more hands on type activities and a little more faffing about on my part. Spent the entire day at part two of the game design workshop. But before I talk about that, I wanna show and tell some of the neat little things I’e experienced at GDC so far.

After I signed in on Sunday, I received a bag full of what I’ll generously call “swag.” Most of it was garbage trash, but inside it was a single blue square. On the back of the square was a note informing me that it was a pixel, and I needed to put the pixel in its designated place on a mural at GDC. Everyone attending GDC got a pixel, and we’re all going to put them together to create on giant mural. It’s actually a fun and neat idea, I thought.

The work-in-progress mural

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Styles of Storytelling

January 30, 2011
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In narrative driven video games, there tend to be two major schools of thought. On one side you have the “old-school” style of thinking in which stories are presented linearly, much like a book or a movie would be. More recently though, we’ve seen many games from western developers featuring non-linear stories. What this means is that the player can have a significant impact on when and how certain events play out in the game.

The most notable example of this style of story telling is BioWare’s Mass Effect series. In those games, players create a character (male or female), choose their appearance, and embark out into a rich sci-fi universe. Not only do players choose the appearance of their character, but they also choose how their character behaves. Every time you interact with another character in Mass Effect, you choose what the character you made will say, and what you say can and will have a profound impact on the game. Players who choose their words carefully can avoid certain conflicts altogether, while a more aggressive style might earn a few more enemies than other players. Sometimes, your actions can even determine whether or not major characters will die.

An example of the dialogue system in Mass Effect.

Case Study: Pacman Championship Edition Deluxe

December 24, 2010
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I guess this will be a new “series” I run in this blog, where I take a close look at a particular game and dissect it. My aim is to break down all the elements of a good game and figure out why exactly it’s good. Hopefully it will be an educational process for both myself and the reader! The first game I want to put under the microscope is a new title from Namco that came out for the downloadable services on Xbox 360 and PS3, Pacman Championship Edition Deluxe.

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