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Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit,
a series on video game design.

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So there's this bit in Uncharted 3 where Nathan
Drake is about to jump between two ships,

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and he says...

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NATHAN DRAKE: Okay, there's the ladder. Only got one shot at this.

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Which might make you think that you will only get, you know, one shot at this.

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But if you do mess it up and jump to your
death, then - this being a video game and

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everything - you'll respawn right back here
and it's about 10 seconds until Drake is back

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to saying...

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NATHAN DRAKE: Only gonna get one shot at this.

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Video games aren't always that good at raising
the stakes, are they?

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Which is perhaps why there are so few truly
great heist games, especially in single player.

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Because how can you have a game about pulling
off a big, high-stakes heist if you know that

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getting spotted or killed by a security guard
will just whizz you back to the last checkpoint?

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Enter: The Swindle.

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This is a game where you genuinely feel the
pressure. And you know that screwing up will

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be a big set back, so the stakes feel pretty
damn high.

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But there's more to a heist than just tension.
You also need to make the robber get greedy,

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to take more than they should and put themselves
in risky situations. Because that's where

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the best stories come from. And The Swindle
nails this, too.

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So let's break it down and figure out exactly how this game encourages you to become a master thief.

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The Swindle is a side-scrolling platformer,
with lightweight stealth mechanics. Which

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means whacking enemies in the back of the
head, rewiring mines, sneaking past security cameras,

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and hacking into terminals.

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In each randomly generated stage you'll try
to pinch as much cash as possible, before

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choosing to exit the level.

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Money earned in
a successful run will let you buy advanced

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abilities like triple jumps, bombs, quieter
movement, and a greater field of vision. Plus,

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you must buy access to later levels - including
the final caper. The swindle.

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There are two secret ingredients, though,
which encourage you to ignore the tiny scraps

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of cash - and go for the really big scores.

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For starters, there's a 100 day limit. Every
burglary, successful or otherwise, is counted

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as one day. And if you haven't finished the
final mission in 100 days, it's game over.

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And then there are the bonuses. Getting every
scrap of cash in the building, without being

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seen, gives you a ghost bonus. And making
off with most of the money makes your burglar's

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experience go up. Keep them alive long enough
and you'll earn huge bonuses for every successful

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heist.

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These two systems make you feel the pressure,
because if you mess up and fail a level - which

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is pretty easy when you get killed in one
hit - you'll get zero money, and you'll have

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to play as a new thief, which means you'll
have to start building up experience points

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from scratch.

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But they also pressure you into taking more money, and taking big risks. You'll want to make every day

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count by getting as much money as possible, and you'll want to get the XP and ghost bonuses.

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And that's smart, because the game

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is at its best when it puts you in those dangerous
situations.

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There are essentially three potential outcomes
when you take a big risk. You could pull off

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the impossible, and make off with the cash
like a ninja thief. Which is a pretty good experience.

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You could mess it up and trip an alarm, but
still make it out the level - sirens wailing

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in the background. That's also a good experience.

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Or you could fail completely, and lose the
money. Which isn't so great, but it might

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actually work out in the long run.

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Each failure makes puts you further and further
behind the 100 day deadline, which raises

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the tension even higher, which encourages
you to get even more greedy, and take even

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more risks - which could lead to more failure,
or it could lead to one of those epic heist

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stories.

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It's also important that failure isn't too
punitive. There are other games that are about

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preparing for one final mission, like space
survival game FTL, and cyberpunk spy thriller

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Invisible Inc. but screwing up in those games
is either game over, or it really puts you on

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the back foot.

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The Swindle is purposefully a little more
lenient, I think, which gives you the encouragement

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to take those risks. You can even retry the
final caper if you mess it up, though you

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must quickly raise the £400,00 fee to retry
the level. Which, yes, you guessed it, leads

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to you taking on more risky heists.

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Basically, The Swindle is a brilliant example
of using game design to encourage a certain

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type of behavior in a player.

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Because without that 100 day deadline, and
the other systems, you'd have a very different

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relationship with the game. And we know this
for a fact.

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I spoke to The Swindle's designer, Dan Marshall
who told me that at one point in development

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there was no 100 day limit. But he showed
this early build to a journalist who figured

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out that it was much safer to steal a few
quid, exit the level, and repeat this process

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thousands of times, than risk the big scores.

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And I don't blame the journalist - this is
a well documented phenomenon in game design

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called the dominant strategy. If a player
finds a loophole in a system that they can

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exploit for an easy win, they will almost
always opt to use it, over and over again,

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regardless of how tedious it is.

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So it's not enough to just hope that your
players will do what would be most fun - in

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this case, risk everything for a big score.
Without proper motivation or reward, players

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might never see your game in the way you intend
it.

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As a designer, it's your job to put in the
right pressure points and manufacture the

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right systems to encourage the player behave
in a certain way. In The Swindle that's the

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difference between feeling like you're nicking
a chocolate bar, and feeling like you're pulling

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off the heist of the century.

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Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed the episode,
please give it a like, subscribe to my channel

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