Book Excerpt: Patterns in Game Design: Using Design Patterns

Example: The analysis of Pac-Man in Chapter 2 provides a basic understanding of the game. For a more detailed description, the analysis can be expanded by identifying game design patterns in each category and then identifying subpatterns and how all patterns in the game relate to each other. The existing analysis gives many game design patterns to start with: the holistic category gives Lives, High Score List, and Meta Games; the boundary category gives goals of Collection, Levels, and Role Reversal (through the power pill); the temporal category gives Time Limit, Movement, Geometric Rewards for Investments (regarding the number of captured ghosts); and the structural category gives Enemies, Power-Ups, and Inaccessible Areas.

Example: Many of the more abstract design goals of games, for example player balance and emotional responses, are impossible to predict without play testing. If the results of play testing are used to identify game design patterns, for example the presence or absence of Illusion of Influence and Perceived Chance to Succeed, the knowledge contained in the pattern descriptions can be used to adjust the game design to the intended gameplay. This can become easier if the more abstract design goals have been described as game design patterns also, for example, that the game should have Tension in the Social Interaction and Player Constructed Worlds.

Design: Applying Game Design Patterns

Implementing patterns in game design allows the designer to control what will occur in the game. Unlike previous uses of patterns in other fields, our patterns are not primarily a problem-solving method. Instead, the patterns and the component framework are generic tools. Game design patterns are useful for several potential user groups who have inherently different working methods. Not only can the patterns be used more often if more groups can use them, but communication between those groups becomes easier and thereby cross-disciplinary work.

Some may object that the use of patterns takes the creativity out of game design or renders the designers into “mere pattern cranking machines” that automatically churn out games. Another fear is that the use of patterns will lead to a situation where all games ­follow the same pattern and fall into stereotypes where nothing new is or can be created. Such potential objections stem from confusing the everyday meaning of patterns as something repetitive with the main idea of design patterns as introduced by Alexander et al., in which design patterns can be considered hypotheses, and collections of patterns can be considered a language that can, and should, evolve over time. In one sense, the choice of the term ­ pattern might be regarded as a mistake, but as the term has clear and firmly established meaning in professional fields, e.g., in computer programming for example, it is unnecessary to invent new terminology, something that would indeed lessen the usefulness of the pattern concept as a tool to overcome communication difficulties in various professions. A more appropriate view on the use of patterns is to compare it to artistic endeavor in general: artists have a much better chance to create something novel when they are, though not necessarily consciously, familiar with the works of other artists. Not only can they position their own work within a community of peers, but they can also be more certain when they are ­innovating and creating something novel.

Game design patterns support design in four main ways: idea generation, structured ­development of game concepts, communication between members in design groups or projects, and solving design problems regarding gameplay.

Idea Generation

Somewhat paradoxically, the game industry has become what can be called conservative, due to the economically successful model of sequels and branding. The unwillingness to go beyond existing frames is found not only in thematic and gameplay styles but also in the limited use of mediums or hardware platforms. We believe that the use of patterns can help the exploration of new types of games, as they can provide a structured way of detecting how gameplay changes with changes in gameplay environments. This is especially likely for novel game mediums such as games on mobile phones or pervasive gaming, which are developments of computer games but need to function in social conditions similar to those in which more traditional games are played.

Game design patterns can help idea generation both in unstructured or structured ways. Simply choosing a set of patterns randomly and trying to imagine a game using them is one unstructured way of generating ideas; the use of patterns in brainstorming is a bit more structured and precise than traditional brainstorming. Patterns give descriptions of recurrent features in game design and sometimes the target for brainstorming is how to break, modify, or add to the patterns. A more structured approach is possible when one knows that some specific game design patterns, or gameplay that is related to some specific game design patterns, should be part of a game design. In these cases, game designers can study individual game design patterns to try to implement the patterns in ways that are different from the ones in the examples studied.

Example: Assume generating ideas from three random patterns, for example, Last Man Standing, Shared Resources, and Safe Havens. The first pattern gives several ­associated patterns, but one, Dynamic Alliances, is close to the pattern Alliances that is modulated by Shared Resources. This sparks the idea of having all players ­cooperate against a common enemy and although they cannot kill each other directly, they can make it more difficult for other players to survive by depleting the Shared Resources. Looking at the related patterns to Resources in general, it becomes apparent that either Non-Renewable Resources or Limited Resources should also be used. Safe Havens also mention Dynamic Alliances in the context of providing safe areas to negotiate, but if the places with Shared Resources are also Safe Havens, this would promote players to gather there when under attack and also to probably restock on Shared Resources. The game designer can then expand this basic game idea by defining what Enemies the players have, how they can fight them, and what the end and winning conditions are for the game.

Development of Game Concepts

Once an initial game concept exists, game design patterns can be used to develop and structure it. By first describing the concept as a small set of patterns, it can then gradually be fleshed out, and more specific design choices can be made as to how to instantiate those patterns through subpatterns and how the different design patterns interact. The process can be iteratively refined by examining the chosen subpatterns until the preferred level of detail is achieved. A form of stress testing can then be performed by picking random patterns not included in the game design to see if they do not provide the intended gameplay, if they make the game too complex, or if they have been overlooked.

Example: Assuming that one is to design a team-based FPS, the game design patterns Team Play, Cooperation, Aim & Shoot, and First-Person View give natural starting points to think about the gameplay in such a game: by looking at Team Play a game designer can see that Shared Rewards, Shared Penalties, Asymmetric Abilities, and other patterns can affect how team play actually occurs in the game; Cooperation points to the potential use of Collaborative Actions, Delayed Reciprocity, and Social Dilemmas; Aim & Shoot unsurprisingly can be used together with Eliminate goals but can also be used to create Capture or Delivery goals, and can be made more difficult through Obstacles; finally, First-Person View points out that this pattern gives players the limited overview known as Fog of War and can be modulated by Status Indicators. Ideas for specific game design choices may be inspired by looking at the presence of some patterns in several of the initial patterns. The presence of Extended Actions and Collaborative Actions can, for example, give the idea of splitting Aim & Shoot into two actions so that one player has to aim for a certain period of time while another player does the actual shooting.

Problem Solving

Game design patterns contain information about how games have achieved certain types of interaction within gameplay. This information can be used by game designers who know they want a specific type of interaction by identifying the correct game design patterns and seeing what possibilities for instantiating them exist in the designer's current work. This can be done by inserting new patterns that have the instantiates relation to the wanted pattern, by modifying existing patterns that have instantiated by or modulated by relations to the wanted pattern, or by introducing a pattern from scratch.

The same approach can be used to remove unintended or unwanted interaction from games. Once this interaction has been identified, game designers can identify the corresponding pattern and see what typically causes it to occur. The game design can then be analyzed to see which of these causes exists, and the design can be changed to eliminate them.

Example: Assume that a team-based game with strong elements of Conflict does not have enough Tension . Going through the many patterns that instantiate Tension , the game designer notes that Betrayal is not used. Examining the Betrayal pattern, the game designer notices that it not only increases tension but (naturally) Conflict , which is in line with the general gameplay. However, the game does not give any motivation to betray one's own team, so the designer introduces a possibility of one team giving Individual Rewards to a player on the other team if that player agrees to a Committed Goal . This is a form of Negotiation , which is difficult to perform in a game where the teams are in permanent Conflict , so the game designer introduces Safe Havens where players cannot attack each other. Based upon this addition, the original game design needs to be reexamined, especially the consequences of adding Safe Havens : not only are they Strategic Locations and points to go when conducting negotiation but also points to guard against possible betrayers.

Communication

Using patterns to describe a game offers advantages when presenting the game design to people. Besides allowing a structured description of the design, motivations for particular design choices (described as patterns) can be made in two ways: by ­
relating the choices to other games using the same patterns or by describing how
replacing the pattern with other patterns would change the gameplay. This advantage is increased if people already have been introduced to design patterns from previous game designs as they can more easily compare the designs.

In contrast to common sense concepts, game design patterns offer a way to check a static definition whenever there is uncertainty. The definitions do not have to be those found in this book: definitions may be made more specific for particular projects or written completely from scratch.

Improved communication can help the design and creation of games on many levels: initial ideas, design concepts, and design documents can be more clearly expressed; members working on the same part of a game design have a smaller risk of misunderstanding each other; members within the same project can more easily communicate with people that have different backgrounds and professions; the agreement between developers and distributors can become more exact on what should be developed; and comparing the final game with the initial description is easier.

Example: Game design patterns can allow producers to more specifically describe what game they intend to make, for example “an FPS where we increase the Tension by not having Safe Havens and only allowing saving at specific Save Points .” This also makes it easier to verify that the game design contains agreed game features, since they are more explicitly described.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have presented several ways of using game design patterns. For analytic use, we have described how game design patterns can be identified through structural analysis or play testing. For use in game design, we have described how game design patterns can support the design process by supporting idea generation, structuring the development of game concepts, providing solutions for problem solving, and aiding communication.

References

[Adams03] Adams, Ernest and Andrew Rollings. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New Riders Publishing, 2003.

[Church99] Church, Doug. “Formal Abstract Design Tools.” Game Developer Magazine (August 1999). (Also available online at http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990716/design_tools_01.htm.)

[Costikyan94] Costikyan, Greg. “I Have No Words and I Must Design.” Interactive Fantasy 2 . Hogshead Publishing, 1994. (Also available online at http://www.costik.com/nowords.html.)

[Falstein02] Falstein, Noah. “Better by Design: The 400 Project.” Game Developer Magazine (March 2002).

[Fullerton04] Fullerton , Tracy , Christopher Swain, and Steven Hoffman. Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games. CMP Books, 2004.

[Preece02] Preece, Jenny, Helen Sharp, and Yvonne Rogers. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2002.

 

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