Appeals #

Engine Building #

When a player continually updates a state (e.g. a farm or RPG character or desk) with new elements, with each step making the state better at achieving some goal. Often, the state will become even better with each update that the last update made it; the rate of state betterment per step is convex. In the end, the state may be able to “go infinite” or otherwise reach some victory game state in one turn.

Examples #

The game board is an engine in Magic: TG.
The player boards + cards in Agricola.
The player boards in Wingspan.

Knowledge Building #

Playing through the games gives insight that allows progression. One way to identify this is to compare how long it would take to complete the game on the first playthrough vs the second. If the second playthrough would be much faster, then knowledge building is a large part of the game.

Examples #

Outer Wilds
Roguelikes

Trial-Discovery Game Loop #

One very satisfying game loop goes like this:

The game presents a difficult trial or puzzle
After completing the trial, the player is rewarded with a discovery like:
1. a new part of the story
2. some new mechanics to play with
3. new customization options for character building or more generally future trial preparation
Back to step 1

In my opinion, for the loop to work well, the trial must be hard. This can be hard to implement in a game with lots of customization options (some builds might trivialize trials, and some may make them impossible). In this case what I’ve seen work the best is games that make trials on the harder side, but also provide intermediate content for players to do to e.g. level up their party. This way, players with builds that aren’t working as well can choose to just get stronger to the point where their build does work. And players with good builds are rewarded by making it through the discovery loop faster.

Games that do this really well both with story and with character customization in my opinion include:

Urgency #

Some sense that the player needs to do something to avoid loss is important to avoid players getting bored. If nothing happens when they do nothing, how much do the player’s actions really mean?

Categories: Gamedev

Backlinks: Xcom 2 + War Of The Chosen, Fell Seal Arbiters Mark, Experiences,