System Dynamics

This is our 4th lecture for Game Design and Production 2 and so far it is swell.

Basic system elements

The following elements guide interaction quality in games. They help make the game more interactive friendly.

Objects

Objects are the basic building blocks in a game. They are the items you will see or a described setting in a game. Examples, of objects include: 

• game pieces
• in-game concepts
• players
• player representations
• areas/terrain

Each of these examples are what the user will see and use to go about playing the game. In a board game, players need pieces in order to move around on the board. In a digital game, players will sometimes need to find objects in order to move unto the next level. All of these are key features in any game to include some sort of interaction between the players and the game.

Properties

Properties describe the qualities or attributes of the objects. Professor Nacke used the board game chess as an example in the PowerPoint. For each chess piece there is an attribute that defines what kind of task it can do on the board. For example, the horse can only move in the form of an 'L' shape whereas the soldiers can only move forward. This is what properties can do. Your objects must contain attributes to differentiate from other objects. If all the objects in a game can do the same thing it would be boring. 

Behaviors

Behaviors are just potential actions in a given state. For example, in chess, if a soldier goes to the other end of the board, the player can choose to switch into any other object available in the game. In Candy Crush, if you pair up 4 or more of the same colour objects they will turn into a unique object with very different and better attributes than the regular coloured objects. All of these behaviours in the examples I just described are limited of course because they are more predictable by the players. The more behaviours you include in your game the less predictable it becomes. However, to me, it is always fun to include these small behaviour roles in your game objects because it simply makes it more fun. In addition, I hope to incorporate special behaviours with the objects in our GDW game project this year.

Relationships

Relationships are like the opportunities you can get within a game. They are determined by chance or by rule sets. I think its like rolling a set of dice to determine where to go next, or spinning a digital wheel to find out how much coins you will receive. Relationships are VERY IMPORTANT in a game. If you do not have relationships then you just have a group of objects that does nothing. I remember Professor Nacke speaking about this in class. He was asking if a stack of blank cards will still be referred to as a game. I remember a student was saying yes it was but, when the prof further explained that having a stack of blank cards means it has no relationship he quickly changed his mind and agreed. Having no relationship in a game is just a collection of white paper if you ask me.

Each of these elements are a great benefit to the game dynamics. They help players look forward to the game because of things like objects, behaviours, properties, and relationships. These features truly impact the decision of the players and it makes the game more intriguing as well.