Articles:Usability for Game Feel
From unthinkMedia
Contents |
Game Feel
Steve Swink defines games as, "the tactile, kinesthetic sensation of control in the game".
He included an interesting image in the article to help visulize what he calls "game feel"
Game feel is when the game feels intuitive, aesthetically pleasing and deep.
Worth
If we plan on incorporating a new mechanic there will be a learning curve for the users. They will get frustrated, but they will agree with the expectation of some engaging experience.
"Worth" is based on the difficulty compared to the reward for mastery. This made me think of: (worth = difficulty/reward) however I don't think that would work. If something is too easy and you are being rewarded for a non challenging task it might make the game worthless pretty quickly)
Our Challenges
- balance and tune mechanics to feel good.
- create mechanics worth learning
Gameplay Garden
Input
A players "organ of expression" in the game world.
Keyboard Inputs doesn't "feel" as good as an XBox 360 controller
Natural Mapping, a concept that Donald Norman speaks much of, is the relationship between the control interactions and the outcome from such action into the game world. This relationship creates a "clean, physical metaphor connecting the input device and the way it can alter the system."
Response
This is the method the game uses in giving feedback.
- processes
- modifies
- responds
There are varios types of sensitivity:
- reaction sensitivity: created by mapping user input to game feedback/reaction
- time sensitivity: an example would be "dampening" such as the longer you hold a button the higher you jump or faster you run.
- state based sensitivity: This is sometimes achieve through the use of multi button selections.
Context
This enable motions to have spacial meaning. With no context, such as background imagery, it would be difficult to understand how high or fast something is going.
Constraints are also import in building context. What would a football game be like if there where no boundaries?
You could "plan for happy accidents" by creating a sandbox and testing out various spacial layouts, and test to see what "feels good"
Polish
Add polish, but only what is essential for prototypes. This would allow you to test for various combinations of "physical clues", such as motion, tactile, visual and sound to increase the user experience and intended game feel.
There was a great mention of this in Game Dev Workshop book regarding the making of the clouds on this game http://www.tracyfullerton.com/projects/cloud.html
Metaphor
Game players will start any game with some preconceived notion, mental models, of how it is supposed to work and how it should make them feel.
Rules
The final layer of prototyping is to start to integrate the underlying rules of play to start testing for long term objectives. Create some "throw away goals" and see how they feel. This will help you understand what is going to be fun in your game.
