0:00:01.500,0:00:06.660
SID MEIER: One of the responsibilities I think[br]we have as designers is to protect the player…

0:00:06.660,0:00:08.840
from themselves

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Whenever a designer makes a game, they‘ll[br]have certain ideas for what would be the most

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enjoyable or interesting way for a player[br]to approach things.

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For example, Jake Solomon reckons that XCOM[br]is at its best when the player is taking risks.

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He told Rock Paper Shotgun: “Risks are what lead to loss and what lead to triumph".

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But players will often have other ideas, because[br]many will simply gravitate towards strategies

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that will most likely lead to success - regardless[br]of how enjoyable those strategies might actually

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be - so they grind, they use repetitive tactics,[br]and they play slowly and cautiously.

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As Civilization 4 designer Soren Johnson puts[br]it, “given the opportunity, players will

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optimise the fun out of a game”.

0:00:52.100,0:00:55.590
He was talking more about exploits,[br]but I think the quote still works.

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And this is kinda what happened in XCOM: players[br]rarely took risks, because why would you?

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Instead, they found much more success when[br]they moved slowly, played cautiously, and

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overused the overwatch ability - meaning they[br]often ended up playing each mission in largely

0:01:09.799,0:01:11.799
the same, risk-averse way.

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But the awesome thing about design is that[br]the game’s developers can tweak things,

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to make sure players approach the game in[br]the way they think would be most interesting.

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The question is - what’s the best way to[br]do this?

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The most obvious answer would be to[br]add some kind of system that will stop the

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unwanted behaviour from occurring.

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And that’s what exactly Firaxis did when[br]it decided to introduce turn-limits to standard

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missions in XCOM 2.

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Many of the game’s missions will have some[br]kind of time limit - hack the network in 8

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turns, destroy the relay in 6 turns, extract[br]the VIP in 12 turns.

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And if you don’t finish that objective within[br]the turn limit, the mission is failed.

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And this means that inching slowly across[br]the map like in XCOM 1 is now massively discouraged,

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and the player is forced to move more quickly[br]and take more risks.

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A very similar thing happened in the making[br]of Spelunky.

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Creator Derek Yu says “I never intended[br]Spelunky players to collect every piece of

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treasure, get every item, or explore every[br]room each time they play.

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Instead, I wanted to force them to make difficult[br]decisions and experience both the satisfaction

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of choosing correctly and the regret of choosing[br]poorly.”

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So, he added the deadly ghost enemy which[br]appears at about two and a half minutes into

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every level to put pressure on the player[br]and discourage them from dawdling around.

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Now both of these decisions had the intended[br]effect - but they were also both met with

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some amount of controversy.

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Spelunky less so - that’s a long time to[br]spend in one level.

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Besides, the ghost doesn’t actually kill[br]you. You can still run away and finish the stage.

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But many XCOM 2 players hated the turn limits,

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and even made mods to rip them out of the[br]game.

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“I didn't expect people to have such a strong[br]reaction to the timers,” says Solomon.

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And turn limits were greatly reduced in the[br]game’s expansion, War of the Chosen.

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So, what went wrong?

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Well, there’s a bunch of things.

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Many people simply just enjoyed playing cautiously[br]in the first game, and expected to do so in

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the sequel.

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And Solomon suggests that “maybe there’s[br]a clumsy thematic wrapper on the turn-timer”.

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But one thing is clear: some players will[br]always react negatively to punishment.

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And, in XCOM 2, the fact that refusing to[br]speed up and take risks will see you fail

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the mission at hand, means that these players[br]felt that the game was punishing them for

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playing in a certain way.

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And there’s a famous story about World of[br]Warcraft - which I’ve never played so excuse

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me if I screw this up - but in the story,[br]Blizzard didn’t want people to play the

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game for too long - so they introduced a system[br]in the beta where the longer you played, the

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fewer experience points you’d get for killing[br]monsters and whatnot.

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But players hated it.

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They hated seeing the numbers going down.

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It felt like a punishment for playing the[br]game.

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So Blizzard did something pretty clever: they[br]flipped the system on its head.

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Now, players can build up a rest bonus whenever[br]they’re not playing the game, and then get

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an experience points boost when they next[br]log in.

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It’s essentially the same numbers, says[br]Blizzard, but making it a reward rather than

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a penalty made it much more agreeable to fans.

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So, it’s often better to encourage the behaviour[br]you want, than discourage the behaviour you don’t.

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Instead of punishing a player who is too slow,[br]reward a player who finishes the level quickly.

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And there are loads of good ways to encourage[br]player behaviour.

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It starts with the fundamental, moment-to-moment[br]gameplay, where designers can tweak the game’s

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most basic mechanics to push players towards[br]a certain style of play.

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Take the latest DOOM, where the designers[br]wanted to promote an aggressive sort of “push

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forward combat”.

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One way id Software achieved this was through[br]the glory kill mechanic which provided plenty

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of compelling reasons to close in on your[br]foes, instead of running away and firing from

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a safe distance.

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This move instantly kills an enemy, it doesn’t[br]use any ammunition, and it showers the player

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with useful health pick-ups.

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And so, despite years of FPS games training[br]players to run away and hide behind cover,

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in DOOM, players spend much of the game racing[br]headfirst towards demons.

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Likewise, Bloodborne encouraged players to[br]be more aggressive than they were in Dark

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Souls by adding the rally mechanic which lets[br]you recover health if you strike an enemy

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within a few seconds of taking damage.

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Players are less likely to back off and wait[br]for an opening if they have a chance to win

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back some health with a quick, aggressive[br]attack.

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Other examples of this sort of immediate encouragement might include the

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Burnout games, where you gather much-needed boost by doing all sorts

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of fun things like driving close to other cars and racing into oncoming traffic.

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You’ve gotta drive dangerously to win.

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And Hyper Light Drifter, where the only way[br]to recharge your gun is to slash bad guys

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with your sword, encouraging you to get up[br]close and personal with enemies.

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Encouragement can also be baked into more[br]abstract, overarching systems like scores.

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In most character action games, you can finish[br]the stage even if you’re pretty sloppy and

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rely on the same few tactics for the whole[br]game.

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But you’ll end up with a crappy grade at[br]the end of the level.

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To get a better grade, you need to play in[br]the way that the designers intended.

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So, for a game like Devil May Cry which is[br]all about being stylish, you’ll get better

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grades - plus, some handy items - if you use[br]varied and more difficult attacks, and use

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your guns to keep the combo ticking along.

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Likewise, Tony Hawk’s makes you connect[br]up different tricks to keep your combo going,

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and will give fewer points each time you repeat[br]a move.

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In all of these games, the only way to get[br]a high score is to play in the most stylish

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and interesting way possible, and to use the full extent of the game’s mechanics.

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Rewards like experience points and achievements[br]can also be used for this purpose, because

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the designer gets to choose exactly what sort[br]of activities or challenges the player must

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do to earn those points, and can tailor this[br]to reward players for taking actions that

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fit the game’s intended experience.

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GRAYSON HUNT: Ooh, son of a mother. Tech is wild. This cocky leash is grading my performance.

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Now, this is not to say that games should[br]never discourage, punish, or penalise people.

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This will always have a place in games.

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But for those games that do focus on negative[br]enforcement, they should be wary of pushing the

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slider from discouraging a playstyle, to practically[br]forcing you not to use it.

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Not to beat a dead horse, but playing fast[br]in XCOM 2’s timed missions is not just the

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best way to play - but, basically, the only[br]way to play.

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Because forcing a very specific playstyle[br]is difficult to pull off.

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I’m sure we’ve all played stealth games[br]where getting spotted by enemies leads to

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instant failure.

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And sure, this makes you play in a stealthy,[br]ninja-like manner, and doesn’t allow you

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to just Rambo your way through the game with[br]superior fire power, but it’s also annoying,

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and it gets rid of exciting moments like where[br]you get spotted but manage to escape and go

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back into hiding.

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So the goal is not necessarily to shut down[br]tactics that can lead to uninteresting playstyles.

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For example, if players are spending too much[br]time hiding safely behind cover in a shooter,

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when you’d prefer them to run around the[br]battlefield, you don’t have to remove cover entirely.

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It’s more often about keeping this stuff[br]as a valid tactic for certain situations - but

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tweaking them so the player will not abuse[br]or completely rely on them.

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So, you can discourage players from abusing[br]cover by having enemies throw in grenades

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or having cover break over time.

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Or you could encourage players to stay out[br]of cover by giving them points for fighting

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out in the open.

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And to go back to the stealth example, there[br]are better ways to encourage stealthy play

0:08:19.960,0:08:22.729
than just insta-failing players who get spotted.

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You could discourage direct attacks by making[br]the player very weak.

0:08:26.420,0:08:30.919
In the Arkham games, Batman is useless against[br]enemies with guns, so punching the crap out

0:08:30.919,0:08:34.830
of guards during the stealth bits is a bad[br]tactic, but you can stay alive long enough

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to grapple hook your way back to safety.

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Or you could encourage stealth by using the[br]scoring systems mentioned earlier.

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In Hitman, the only way to get a high score,[br]or finish many of the challenges like Silent

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Assassin, is to play in the most sneaky way[br]possible.

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Never get seen, hide the bodies, delete the[br]camera recordings, and so on.

0:08:52.870,0:08:57.950
Or, one less obvious way to tackle it, is[br]to make players more aware that direct attacks

0:08:57.950,0:08:59.910
are not the focus of the game.

0:08:59.910,0:09:04.000
With Mark of the Ninja, lead designer Nels[br]Anderson said that the game originally had

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an in-depth combat system with different stances[br]and parries and whatnot, but this level of

0:09:09.260,0:09:14.640
depth signalled to the player that direct[br]combat was may more important than it actually was.

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By reducing the combat to something much more[br]simple, players now understood that direct

0:09:18.510,0:09:20.380
attacks were not point.

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Anderson explained this on the podcast Designer[br]Notes,

0:09:22.940,0:09:27.440
NELS ANDERSON: People would try to sneak,[br]they would fail, and then they’d just Rambo

0:09:27.440,0:09:28.560
through the rest of the level.

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It’s like: okay, we just need to pair this[br]down, get rid of as much of it as possible,

0:09:33.380,0:09:35.010
make it really simple.

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And once we just kept pairing it down to,[br]the amount of presence it had in the design

0:09:39.750,0:09:45.160
was about proportional to how important we[br]thought it should be, that’s when it sat

0:09:45.160,0:09:46.190
about right.

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So, designers should know how they want[br]players to approach their game.

0:09:50.490,0:09:55.500
Perhaps stylishly, or stealthily, or while[br]taking risks, or using the full extent of

0:09:55.500,0:09:58.960
the mechanics, or just feeling like a demon[br]murdering machine.

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Whatever they think is most fun, or interesting, or thematically relevant.

0:10:03.269,0:10:07.470
But if a player can reach their goals - from[br]microscopic targets like “get health”

0:10:07.470,0:10:11.940
or “defeat an enemy”, to longer-term goals[br]like “reach the end of the level” or “earn

0:10:11.940,0:10:16.290
a new skill point” - if players can reach[br]those goals more easily through ways that

0:10:16.290,0:10:21.380
don’t match that intention, and are actually[br]pretty boring, then the game might have a problem.

0:10:21.380,0:10:26.380
Locking off that easier route is certainly[br]one way of going about it, but forcing players

0:10:26.390,0:10:30.600
to meet your vision and punishing them for[br]playing otherwise, is fraught with difficulty.

0:10:30.600,0:10:35.560
And so while I personally understand and even[br]appreciate XCOM 2’s turn timers in the broad

0:10:35.560,0:10:38.720
strokes, I’m not surprised that they were met[br]with controversy.

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So, it’s often better to encourage and incentivise[br]a player to see the game in the best possible light.

0:10:45.060,0:10:50.820
To allow for other playstyle, but give rewards,[br]high scores, easy kills, and handy resources

0:10:50.820,0:10:53.820
when the player is meeting that intended experience.

0:10:53.820,0:10:57.090
Now, please, this is definitely not as easy as I’m[br]making it sound.

0:10:57.090,0:11:01.960
There are plenty of pitfalls to think about[br]and some of the most controversial and disliked

0:11:01.960,0:11:07.800
mechanics are those that were initially designed[br]to encourage or discourage a certain way of playing.

0:11:07.800,0:11:12.820
But when used really well, this type of design[br]can subtly push a player towards having the

0:11:12.820,0:11:18.440
best possible experience, and, like Sid says,[br]protect players... from themselves.

0:11:20.920,0:11:21.800
Hey, thanks for watching!

0:11:21.800,0:11:23.180
I hope you found this one interesting.

0:11:23.180,0:11:28.220
I love seeing all the differnet ways that designers[br]try to encourage and discourage different

0:11:28.220,0:11:31.570
behaviours, and it’s fascinating to see[br]how successful they end up being.

0:11:31.570,0:11:34.640
I’d love to hear your examples from games[br]you’ve played.

0:11:34.640,0:11:36.560
Or games you’ve made, if you’re a designer.

0:11:36.560,0:11:39.100
Leave ‘em in the comments below, if you[br]like.

0:11:39.100,0:11:41.780
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