Level 8 of the Los Angeles Film School's Game Mechanics class.

1. Level 8
David Mullich
Game Mechanics
The Los Angeles Film School

3. Randomness
 Randomness
 Luck
 Surprises
 Easter Eggs

4. Decision-Making
 Predictable Consequences
 Perceived Chance To Succeed
 Trade-Offs

5. Risk and Reward
 Rewards
 Illusionary Rewards
 Penalties
 Risk-Reward Decision

7. Remember This?

8. Narrative Structures
The structure of stories that are unfolded by
playing the game.

9. Elements Providing Narrative
Structure
 Information About Future Events
 Characters and their Goals
 Changing Character Abilities
 Limited Set of Actions
 Irreversible Actions
 Illusionary Rewards
 Cut Scenes
 Ultra Powerful Events
 And…

10. Narrative Mechanics
Extra Credits: How Games Can Express An Idea Using Only Their Mechanics

11. What Was The Main Message Of This
Video?

12. Why Designers Use Narrative
Structures
 Explain
 Player Goals
 Game Reality Logic
 Game World Changes
 Balances Level of Complexity
 Encourages Emotional Immersion
Warning! May conflict with:
 Freedom of Choice
 Illusion of Influence
 Player-Defined Goals

14. Gameplay Immersion
Seizing the players’ attention and focus in a
game world or in the activity of play.

15. Contributors to Gameplay Immersion
 Game World
 Consistent Reality Logic
 Freedom of Choice
 Smooth Learning Curves

16. Types of Gameplay Immersion
 Cognitive
 Spatial
 Sensory-Motor
 Emotional

17. Disruptors of Immersion
 Downtime
 Save-Load Cycles
 Book-Keeping Tokens
 Status Indicators
 Invisible Walls
 Attention Disruption

18. Anticipation
The feeling of being able to predict future game
events in the games to which one has emotional
attachments.

19. Sources of Anticipation
Narrative Structure:
 Illusionary Rewards
 Ultra-Powerful Game Events
 Character Development
Game State:
 Predictable Consequences
 Delayed Effects
 Rewards
Procedures
 Turn-Taking
 Downtime
 Player Defined-Goals

20. Tension
The feeling of caring about the outcome of
actions or events in a game without having full
control over them.

21. Tension
Narrative Structure:
 Illusionary Rewards
 Ultra-Powerful Game Events
 Cut Scenes
 Surprises
 Leaps of Faith
 Player Ability Losses
 Enemies
 Deadly Traps
 Competition
 Betrayal
 Bluffing
 Red Herrings
 Attention Swapping
Game State:
 Uncertainty of Information
 Delayed Effects
 Penalties
 Combat
 Shrinking Game World
 Time Limits
Procedures
 Turn-Taking
 Downtime
 Player-Decided Distribution of
Rewards

22. How are the similarities and differences
between Anticipation and Tension?

24. Characters
Abstract representation of persons in the
game.

25. Why Designers Use Characters
 Serves as Focus Loci
 Encourages Emotional Immersion and
Identification
 Richer Narrative Structure

26. Character Design Considerations
 Does the game provide created characters
or do players create their own characters?

27. Character Development
The improvements of character’s skills and
knowledge.

28. Why Designers Use Character
Development
 Advancement through Narrative Structure
 Improved Abilities
 Varied Gameplay
 Player-Defined Goals
 Perceived Chance to Succeed
Warning! Can cause:
 Disruption of Player Balance

29. Character Development Design
Considerations
 Causes
 Game-Controlled Rewards
 Player-Controlled Investments
 Effect
 New/Improved Abilities
 Ability Losses
 Extra-Game Consequences

30. Player-Controlled Character
Development
Where character development is under a
player’s control and can be planned.

31. Player Controlled Character
Development
 Encourages
 Player-Defined Goals in Competency Areas
 Provides
 Freedom of Choice
 Creative Control
 Emotional Immersion
 Encourages
 Identification
 Strategic Planning
Warning! Can conflict with:
 Narrative Structure

32. Player Controlled Character Development
Design Considerations
 What options are players given for
developing their characters?
 What goals are required to use those
options?

33. Role-Playing
Players having characters with somewhat fleshed-out
personalities. The play is centered on making decisions
on how the characters would react in staged imaginary
situations.

34. Why Designers Use Role-Playing
Encourages:
 Social Interaction
 Emotional Immersion
 Story Telling
 Alternative Reality
Affects:
 Team Play
 Narrative Structures

35. What Makes Us Role-Play?
Extra Credits: Why game worlds feel real

36. What Was The Main Message Of This
Video?

37. Role-Playing Design Considerations
 What are the consequences of a player’s
character behaving in certain ways?
 How do character’s actions affect the game
world in a permanent way?

39. Creative Control
Players have the ability to be creative within
the game world.

40. Why Designers Allow Creative
Control
 Emotional Immersion
 Empowerment
 Investment
 Ownership
 Social Status

41. Sources of Creative Control
 Storytelling and Role-Playing
 Construction
 Player-Defined Goals
 Planned Character Development
 Player-Constructed Worlds

42. Illusion of Influence
Players feel that they can influence the outcome
of the game, regardless of whether that is
correct.

43. Requirements For Influence
 Smooth Learning Curves
 Right Level of Difficulty (or Randomness)
 Perceived Chance to Succeed

44. Illusion of Influence Design
Considerations
 Can players choose which events should
occur in the game?
 Can players create objects or events in the
game?
 Can randomness give players a feeling of
luck?

45. Freedom of Choice
Players have the ability to make choices in
the game.

46. Freedom of Choice Requirements
 Illusion of Influence
 Perceived Chance to Succeed
 Seemingly Different Effects for Each
Choice

47. Why Designers Allow Freedom of
Choice
 Cognitive Immersion
 Strategic Planning
 Perceived Chance to Succeed
 Risk-Reward Trade-Offs
 Emotional Immersion
 Empowerment
 Replayablity
 Varied Gameplay
Warning! Can cause:
 Analysis Paralysis

48. Freedom of Choice Design
Considerations
 What actions are possible for the players?
 What can players do with those actions?
 How do those actions affect the the results
in the game?
 Can the players choose their own goals?

49. Story Telling
The act of player’s telling stories within a
game.

50. Why Designers Use Storytelling
Provides:
 Narrative Structures
 Freedom of Choice
 Creative Control
 Emotional Immersion
Encourages:
 Role-playing
 Social Interaction
 Strategic Knowledge
 Player-Decided Results
 Extra-Game Actions (Bragging)
 Game Mastery

51. Storytelling Design Considerations
 Is the storytelling done by a game master
or by the players?

53. Capture
The goal where the end result is the elimination
or change of ownership of an actively resisting
goal object.

54. Ways To Capture
 Alignment
 Configuration
 Enclosure
 Contact
 Connection
 Combat

55. Why Designers Use Capture Goals
 Gain Ownership
 Transfer of Control
 Support Eliminate Goal
 Prevent Other Player’s Evade Goals

56. Capture Design Considerations
 What game element must be captured?
 What game element(s) can do the
capturing?
 What action is used to capture the game
element?
 Is the aim to eliminate or gain ownership?

57. Guard
The goal to hinder other players or game
elements from accessing a particular area in the
game or a particular game element.

58. Why Designers Use Guard Goals
 Promote Ownership
 Encourage Strategic Planning
 Prevent Other Player’s Rescue Goals

59. Guard Design Considerations
 What is the objective to be guarded?
 Is the objective guarded actively or
passively (or both)?

60. Choose one of the following games to play:
CAPTURE
 Arabian Knights (2-6p, 120m)
 Cosmic Encounter (3-5p, 60-120m)

GUARD
 Ghost Stories (1-4p, 60m)
 Shadows of Camelot (3-7p, 60-90m)
 Star Trek: Expeditions (1-4p, 60m)

61. Group Quest
Design an analog game prototype using
mechanics supporting one of the following goals:
 Capture
 Guard

63. Cut Scenes
Sequences of story-telling where players
cannot act within the game.

64. Cut Scenes
Extra Credits: Cutscenes

65. What Was The Main Message Of This
Video?

66. How To Use Cut Scenes Appropriately
 Reinforce the powerlessness of the player.
 Contextualize gameplay
Warning! Can cause:
 Downtime
 Disruption of:
 Focused Attention
 Illusion of Influence

67. Cut Scene Design Considerations
 Where do the cut scenes appear?
 What information do they convey to the
player?
 Is their sequence pre-determined, or can
the order vary based on the game state?

68. Ultra-Powerful Events
Events that cannot be affected by player
actions.

69. Forms of Ultra Powerful Events
 Cut Scenes
 Deadly Traps
 Controllers
 Moving Platforms
 Shrinking Game Worlds

70. Why Designers Use Ultra-Powerful
Events
 Enforce Narrative Structure
 Provide Anticipation
 Turn Actions into Irreversible Actions
 Ensure Player Balance in Turn-Based Games
Warning! Can cause:
 Downtime
 Diminished Freedom of Choice
 Diminished Perception of Chance to Succeed
 Diminished Illusion of Influence

71. Ultra-Powerful Events Design
Considerations
 What is the event that the player cannot
affect once it unfolds?
 Can the player affect why and when the
event starts?
 What are the consequences of the event?
 Are those consequences predictable for
the player?

72. Describe a Cut Scene
and Ultra Powerful
Event for telling a
story’s complication
and climax on the
LMS.