Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Players Psychology & Game Play Design



Every game player has his or her favored type of game play, whether consciously or subconsciously they play a game to gain something from it on a psychological level, as a game designer we must see the psychology behind both the game we design and the people that play it. In this process we must answer the questions  before it the player asks it, thus keeping the game from losing its appeal. Building a puzzle game puts us in strategy column, making it important to anticipate what we think the players will do to solve the puzzle/obstacle and change it up, upping the  challenge of the game. If it is too easy the player may walk away, second we must understand the importance in utilizing the appropriate  type of reward system in the game. If the game posses to be draw out with high difficulty or too little for too long of period without a reward system to balance out the players work (& time) may result in a player walking away.

A reward system is a must, but it is also important to determine how it is executed. In this process the designer must decide how and when each reward is given. The How/When is vital to game players interest and desire to continue playing that game. In the Game world the dispensing of  rewards has been generalized into two types of methods, Ratios and Intervals.  Ratios; are rewards given based on the number of actions a player completes. Intervals; are in which the  period of time changes after each reward. It is our job to get inside the players head and keep them on their toes and interested in our product, in doing so these are some of the things we need to look at and understand about game design.

Michael

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