Game mechanics are methods that agents (players and NPCs) use to interact with and change the game state. They include actions like shooting, jumping, and turning. Game rules provide the framework for how game mechanics can be used, for example allowing a chess piece to move but not allowing two pieces to occupy the same space. Good game balance considers factors like fairness between players, an appropriate challenge level for players, meaningful choices, the right mix of skill and chance, and freedom versus control. Well-designed puzzles have goals that are clear, allow progress to be seen, seem solvable, and gradually increase in difficulty.

1. Game Mechanics,
Balance & Puzzles

2. Waarom?
• To improve our games!

3. Game Mechanics
• “Game mechanics are methods invoked by agents, designed
for interaction with the game state.” (sicart)
• http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart

4. Game Mechanics
• Methods =>werkwoorden
• E.g. Schieten, springen, draaien, etc.
• Agents =>spelers en Non-playercharacters (NPC’s)
• Interaction with the game state=> Agents veranderenietsaan
de game state.

5. Game Mechanics
• Zoek de game mechanics..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziT7FDL4tXo
• Is dit een game mechanic?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&
v=PvewR66iCUE#t=164s

6. Game mechanics& regels
• “Game mechanics are concerned with the actual interaction
with the game state, while rules provide the possibility space
where that interaction is possible […]” Sicart
• Spelregelsvertellen hoe game mechanics
gebruiktkunnenworden. E.g.
eenschakerkaneenschaakstukverplaatsen (mechanic), maar
mag geen twee schaakstukken in hetzelfdevakplaatsen (regel).

7. Wat komt er kijken bij game
mechanics?
• Space
• Objects, attributes, andstates
• Skill
• Chance

8. Space
• In welke ruimte kunnen de game mechanics gebruikt worden?
• Discrete vs. continuousspace
• OXO vs. Pooltafel
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FoC
KsP2wVvg#t=255s
• Nestedspace(een ruimte in een ruimte)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=74eL
OYIXshs#t=122s
• Zero-space

9. Objects, attributes, andstates
• Objecten =>Characters, props, tokens, scoreboards, anything
that can be seen or manipulated in your game falls into this
category. E.g. Een auto
• Elk object heeftattributen of categorieën van waarde
(gelijkaardigaanvariablen in OOP) E.g. Het attribuut ‘snelheid’
of ‘kleur’ van een auto
• Tijdens het spelenheeft elk object eenstaatafhankelijk van de
attributen. E.g. de snelheid is 150km/h
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN8AJ8Plgvw

10. Skill
• Fysieke skills =>skills involving strength, dexterity,
coordination, andphysicalendurance.
• E.g. Dance, dancerevolution
• Mentale skills =>skills of memory, observation, and puzzle
solving.
• E.g. Sudoku
• Sociale skills =>reading an opponent (guessing what he is
thinking), fooling an opponent, and coordinating with
teammates.
• E.g. Poker

11. Chance
• Chance is an essential part of a fun game because chance
means uncertainty, anduncertaintymeans surprises.
• Chance kun je bv. genereren met dobbelstenen of een
random() functie.
• Voor de geïnteresseerden: Ten Rules of Probability Every Game
Designer Should Know, p155, Book of Lenses

12. Chance
• Chance moet je balanceren:

13. Chance
• Mensen doen vaak geen koelbloedige kansberekeningen
• -> Risk aversion, lossaversion, ..
• E.g. Risk aversion: A person is given the choice between two
scenarios, one with a guaranteed payoff and one without. In the
guaranteed scenario, the person receives $50. In the uncertain
scenario, a coin is flipped to decide whether the person receives
$100 or nothing. (Wikipedia)

14. Balance
• Think of it like creating a new recipe — it is one thing to
determine the ingredient you need, but another to decide
how much of each to use, and how they should be combined.

15. 1. Fairness
• Symmetrical Games
• to give equal resources and powers to all players.
• Asymmetrical Games
• To simulate a real-world situation (war)
• To give players another way to explore the gamespace. (mortal
combat)
• Personalization (world of warcraft)
• To level the playing field

16. 2. Challenge vs. Success
• Flow =>If play is too challenging, the player becomes
frustrated. But if the player succeeds too easily, they can
become bored.

17. 2. Challenge vs. Success
• Heeft Kabul Kaboom een goede challenge vs. Success balans?
http://ludology.typepad.com/games/kabulkaboom.html

18. 2. Challenge vs. Success
• Increase difficulty with each success.
• Let players get through easy parts fast.
• Create “layers of challenge. ” (de speler punten geven, en
onder een bepaald percentage moeten ze het level opnieuw
doen)
• Let players choose the difficulty level. (easy, medium, hard)
• Playtest with a variety of players.
• As a designer, it makes sense to ask yourself “What
percentage of players do I want to be able to complete this
game? ” and then design for that.

19. 3. MeaningfulChoices
• Not just any choices, but choices that will have a real impact
on what happens next, and how the game turns out.
• Keuzes die meteen effect hebben, maar ook in het verder
verloop van de game effect hebben. E.g. Tetris, een blokje
verkeerd zetten geeft meteen weer dat die rij(en) een opening
hebben, en daar moet je verder in het spel rekening mee gaan
houden.
• Once a dominant strategy is discovered, the game is no longer
fun => e.g. eenaangepastversie van rock, paper, siccor

20. 3. Meaningfulchoice

21. 4. Skill vs. Chance
• Een goed game heeft een goede balans tussen skill& chance
(afhankelijk van het type spel).
• Veel skill zonder chance kan voorspelbaar worden
• Veel chance zonder skillkan de speler een gevoel geven dat
zijn inbreng er niet toe doet =>saai
• E.g. poker => delen van handen is chance, hoe je ze speelt skill

22. 5. Head vs. Hands
• How much of the game should involve doing a challenging
physical activity (be it steering, throwing, or pushing buttons
dexterously) and how much of it should involve thinking?

23. 6. Competition vs. Cooperation
• Determining who is most skilled at something is a basic
human urge. Games of competition can satisfy that urge.
• Cooperation/Collaborating and succeeding as a team is a
special pleasure that can create lasting social bonds
• Wat is het verschiltussen cooperation en collaboration?
• Geenredenomzebeidenietsamentezetten. E.g. FPS
multiplayers, samenwerken in één team tegeneenander team

24. 7. Short vs. Long
• If the game is too short, players may not get a chance to
develop and execute meaningful strategies. But if the game
goes on too long, players may grow bored, or they may avoid
the game because playing it requires too much of a time
commitment. E.g. Minotaur ->als het speltelangduurt,
Armageddon!

25. 8. Rewards
• Praise. Points. Prolonged Play. A Gateway (new parts to play).
Spectacle. Expression Powers. Resources.
• Gradually increase the value of the rewards as the player
progresses in the game.
• A good way to keep people from getting acclimated to
rewards is to make them variable instead of fixed.
• E.g. geef niet altijd 15 punten bij het verslaan van een vijand,
maar 1/3de kans voor 20 punten en 2/3de kans op 10 punten

26. 9. Punishment
• Punishment creates endogenous (deeper) value. (Resources in
a game are worth more if there is a chance they can be taken
away.)
• Taking risks is exciting.
• Possible punishment increases challenge.

27. 9. Punishment
• Many of them are simply rewards in reverse.
• Shaming • Praise
• Loss of points. • Points
• Shortened Play • Prolonged Play
• Terminated Play • A Gateway (new parts to play)
• Setback • Spectacle
• Removal of Powers • Expression Powers
• Resource Depletion • Resources

28. 9. Punishment
• One thing that psychological study has shown is that reward is
always a better tool for reinforcement than punishment.

29. 10 .Freedom vs. Control
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MloaJR2YkGA
• Vs.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&
v=nxaSt0aOxj0#t=176s
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnck2oXdxMo

30. 11. Simple vs. Complex
• Innate complexity =>When the very rules of the game get
very complex, I call this innate complexity. This is the kind of
complexity that often gets a bad name.
• Emergent complexity =>This is the kind of complexity that
everyone praises. Games like Go that have a very simple rule
set that gives rise to very complex situations are said to have
emergent complexity.

31. 11. Simple vs. Complex
• Elegance =>Elegance is one of the most desirable qualities in
any game, because it means you have a game that is simple to
learn and understand, but is full of interesting emergent
complexity.

32. Puzzles
• The thing we really care about is how to create good puzzles
that will improve our games. Here are ten principles of puzzle
design that can be useful in any game genre.

33. 1. Make the Goal Easily understood
• If players aren’t sure what they are supposed to do, they will
quickly lose interest, unless figuring out what to do is
actuallyfun.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&
v=jmORLxAgip8#t=156s

34. 2. Make It Easy to Get Started
• When you present a puzzle to players (or a game of any
kind), they should be able to clearly visualize what their first
few steps would be.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&
v=QxXkcg-stLE#t=135s

35. 3. Give a Sense of Progress
• Players need to see that they are making progress when
solving a difficult problem.
• Dit is de 35ste slide, nog 8 slides tegaan!

36. 4. Give a Sense of Solvability
• If players begin to suspect that your puzzle is not solvable,
they will become afraid that they are hopelessly wasting their
time and give up in disgust. You need to convince them that it
is solvable.

37. 5. IncreaseDifficultyGradually
• Most puzzles are solved by taking a series of actions that are
often small steps toward a chain of goals that leads to solving
the puzzle. It is these actions that should gradually increase in
difficulty.
• Braid (http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/04/10/download-
braid-demo/)

38. 6. Parallelism Lets the Player Rest
• Givethemseveraldifferent related puzzles at once. This way, if
they get tired of banging their head on one of them, they can
go off and try another for a while.

39. 7. PyramidStructureExtends Interest
• This means a series of small puzzles that each give some kind
of clue to a larger puzzle.

40. 8. Hints Extend Interest
• Sometimes when a player is about to give up on your puzzle in
frustration and disgust, a well-timed hint can renew their hope
and their curiosity.

41. 9. Give the Answer!
• Sure, it’sa little sweeter if you solved it yourself, but if you
have given serious consideration to a problem, your problem-
solving brain is primed for a rush of pleasure at merely seeing
or hearing the answer.

42. 10. PerceptualShifts are a Double-
EdgedSword
• When a player is able to make the perceptual shift, they
receive a great deal of pleasure and solve the puzzle. But if
they are not able to make the perceptual shift, they get
nothing.
• 6 lucifers => probeer vier gelijkvormige driehoeken te maken
=> je mag enkel de uiteindes van de lucifers met elkaar
verbinden..

43. 10. PerceptualShifts are a Double-
EdgedSword
• http://www.metacafe.com/watch/621789/how_do_you_mak
e_4_triangles_with_6_matches/