The Lenses of Endogenous Value, Problem Solving, and Holographic Design

      A game that doesn't have anything valuable for a player is pointless. Likewise, a game that doesn't have problems to solve is not enjoyable. A game is supposed to make the player want to play that game. A game should make a player so engrossed in the game, that he/she forgets about time and keeps playing and playing. Most top grossing games today make a player keep playing that game over and over game.

The Lens of Endogenous Value:

      What is endogenous value? Basically endogenous value in a game is when objects in the game or part of the game have a value to the player generated inside the game. If a game is more difficult, a player would want to play it so they can have the accomplishment of beating the game. Another thing that can make a game more valuable to a player is by giving them rewards. RPGs have good endogenous value as they make a player want to level up and be better.

      In Rise, a valuable object to the player might be completing the game. Since it's an action game with strategy involved, it will be a little difficult. The player has to plan his way through the game. The difficulty of Rise can be an endogenous value, as the player might find completing a level to be an achievement.

The Lens of Problem Solving:

      Rise is basically asking the player to go through each level without being killed, and kill the boss at the very end. It's a simple, straightforward game. A surprise element to this overall problem is that if an enemy shoots you one, you're dead, and the level will restart again. So each level must be completed without being shot at or you'll keep restarting. This can be addictive, as the player will eventually keep playing over and over again to finish the level. Well, that's the plan at least.

The Lens of Holographic Design:

      In Rise, the game elements that make it enjoyable would include the aesthetics, the story, and completing the game. Other elements that could make it enjoyable could be the sprites in the game, and how they look. Putting a scoring mechanism could make the player keep playing Rise to get a high score.

      Some elements that could detract from Rise could be aesthetics, and the simplicity of the game. Since I want Rise to be arcade-like, the sprites won't be very defined, and if a player is looking for something visually pleasing, he/she might not like my game. The other element could be that it's not very complex. All the player does is try to kill the guards in each level so he/she can reach the end.

      Some changes that could improve Rise could be making it more visible, and adding complex elements to the game. Those elements could include harder enemies, or harder levels. All in all, I think adding more elements to make Rise more difficult could make it more enjoyable.

The Lenses of Surprise, Fun, and Curiosity

        Playing games is all about satisfying your curiosity, or just to have fun.  Gamers play games because games are fun, or maybe they were just curious about a game and wanted to try it out.  I know that there have been numerous occasions where I wanted to play a certain game because I was curious about it.
The lenses of surprise, fun, and curiosity are essential for a game.  If a game is not fun, it will not be very popular.  If a game doesn't have a curiosity factor that makes the gamer want to keep playing, it will not be very successful.  Without surprise, a game can quickly become tedious.

The Lens of Surprise:

Rise will not have a considerate amount of surprises as it is mostly a straightforward game.  Some surprise factors that might be put into Rise would be variation of enemy types.  What I am thinking is to make the player kill specific types of enemies in  a certain way.  So there will be different enemy types, and the player will have to come up with a strategy to kill each one in a specific manner.
The story might have a couple of unexpected twists that might put Roman, the antagonist, into further peril.  As of now, I'm unsure whether that might happen or not.

The Lens of Fun:  

As I mentioned earlier, a game without any fun, will not be played by many people.  The fun parts of Rise include killing enemies and shooting stuff.  In this day and age, many games include shooting and blowing up stuff.  Today's gamers expect some kind of action in a game for it to be fun.  Therefore, I made Rise to be an action/adventure game.
Some elements that might make the game funner would be a different array of weapons, bloody graphics, and more overall action in the game.

The Lens of Curiosity:

A gamer continues to play a game for many reasons.  Some of those reasons can be that the game is entertaining, or that the gamer is curious as to how the story will end.  To hook the player, I would want them to ask themselves “What is going to happen next?”  If a player keeps asking that question, he/she will want to keep playing the game.  I want Rise to be able to put that question into a player's mind.

RISE: State Machine Diagrams for Characters

Roman's State Machine Diagram

Guard/Enemy State Machine Diagram

Boss State Machine Diagram

RISE: Game Design Proposal

RISE

            RISE is the story of Roman, an average guy who decides that one day he doesn't want to be average.  The first thing he tries to do is kill his boss.  Roman want to kill his boss because for ten years. Roman worked for him and in those 10 years nothing came from the job.  But little does Roman know that his boss is also a mob king.  When Roman sets out to the mansion where his boss lives, he is surprised to see it heavily guarded.  Roman must now go through the guards and kill the man who made his life miserable for the past ten years.  To get to his boss, Roman must use strategy to eliminate the enemies before he can fulfill his wish of murdering his boss. 

            The left and right arrow keys move Roman horizontally, while the up arrow key will allow Roman to jump.  The space bar will make Roman attack his enemies.  IF Roman doesn't have a weapon of any sort, then pressing space bar will allow Roman to tackle his enemy.  When Roman does have a weapon, pressing space bar will allow Roman to use that weapon.    

            To appeal to a gamer, a game must be visually pleasing.  Aesthetics are important to a game designer in the way that they can captivate the gamer, and make him/her want to play the game multiple times.  The aesthetics for a game can be made specifically for the genre of the game, or for what type of audience the game is targeting.  For example, if a game is targeting children, then it would make sense for that game to have bright colors that might appeal to children.   For RISE, I plan on using just minimalistic colors, mostly black, white, and gray.  I want RISE to feel arcade-like, and since many arcade games didn't implement a lot of colors to their games, I believe using just minimalistic colors will help RISE be arcade-like. 

            Sound is also an important aspect for a game; because it makes the player better experience the game.  A gamer doesn't rely much on his sense of touch when playing a game, so to make up for that lost sense, the sound effects of a game come in.  For RISE, I would want to have good background music.  Since the game is an action game, it would make sense to put some kind of action themed background music.  Noise effects will also be included when a character interacts with an object or enemy objects.  Since the enemy will have gun, when they shoot their guns a bullet sound effect might be played.

            Game mechanics are the core of what a game truly is.  They are the skeleton of a game, and when aesthetics, story, and technology are taken away, only the mechanics of a game are left.  Game mechanics include space, objects, actions, rules, and skills.  Space would include what dimension it is, whether it is discrete or continuous, and if it has bounded areas which may or may not connect.  For RISE, the space would be two-dimensional and be continuous.  It also would include different areas, or levels, that are connected with each other.  To move to the next level, a player would have to complete the current level.  Objects include anything that can be manipulated in a game, like a character.  Each object can have a attribute, and an attribute can be static or dynamic.  A static attribute would be color and a dynamic attribute would be movement.  RISE objects would include the antagonist, enemy characters, and props included for level designs.  Actions ask the question “What can the player do?”  In RISE, the antagonist can move around, run left or right, jump and attack enemies.  The enemy objects just walk left or right, and when they the spot the antagonist, they start shooting bullets.  Rules add goals to a game.  Without rules, a game would be not exciting.  Games have a lot of rules, but the most important rule is what the object of the game is. In RISE, the player's goal is to defeat the enemies, and kill the boss at the end of the game.   Defeating enemies in each level would be a short term goal, while defeating the boss at the end would be considered a long term goal.  The mechanic of skill focuses more on the player than the game.  A game should require the player to exercise a skill, or certain skills.  Skills include physical skills, mental skills, and social skills.  RISE will include mental skills as the player is required to observe the movements of the enemy and plan his attacks according to those movements.

            Technology is the medium of a game designer's game.  Technology used for RISE primarily comes from GameMaker.   GameMaker allows for the creation of simple or complex games, that are up to date with today's expectations.  Of course, RISE won't be a top notch game, for it would take month to make a very good game.  What GameMaker can do is allow for the making of games such as Pac-Man.  GameMaker has limitations, but it's up to the designer to work within those limitations and make his/her game good, and maybe even produce a wonderful game.

            The characters in RISE will consist of Roman, guards, and one boss.  Roman will look like an average person and will wear black. Since the game will be arcade-style, every character will have a pixelated look.  Roman's outfit will probably be black pants and a black shirt.

            The enemies/guards will be slightly larger than Roman.  They will all have the same uniform, but there will different types of guards.  In the beginning level/levels, the guards will carry either no weapons, or just a police baton.  As the player progresses through the game, the guards will become more dangerous, and will be equipped with better weapons. 

            There will be only one boss in RISE, and Roman will confront him in the last level.  The boss will be a large sprite, and will be wearing a suit.  In addition to that, the boss will be carrying a weapon, unknown for now, that will make defeating him quite a challenge.