Level .02 - Rules & SWOT

The Rules

When we play a board game, one of the first things we do is read the manual describing the game's rules. If we want to play the game, we must understand the rules. If we don't know them, then:

• How do we distinguish whether someone is cheating or not?
• How will we know what the goal of the game is?
• How do we find out if we haven't finished the game yet?

It's a little different with computer games. Because we often start playing computer games without reading any instructions. However, the benefit is that the game works as a referee, who perfectly controls the rules and will allow us to make only such moves as we can (no cheating and evaluation of the goal happen by itself).

The rules are often discovered by players while playing (is this character ally or enemy? Can I jump from such a height without hurting myself? etc.)

If we had to define the rules, we could say that

rules are anything that defines what can happen in a game and is not the player's input

Rules can be organized and categorized for easier use. Again, the division itself may depend on the team, the game, etc. One of such divisions can be, for example:

• world rules - rules describing how the world works (how it looks, how players interact, etc.)
• gameplay rules - rules that define the game in terms of whether it is won or not

Changing and Adjusting Rules

Changing or adjusting the rules during the game ensures that the game remains exciting and fundamentally unpredictable. For example:

• if the player falls from a great height and is injured, he will not be able to move quickly due to the injury
• if the player is carrying a weapon and falls, the weapon may be damaged and will fire inaccurately
• if the player jumps into a trap, gravity will start working in reverse

Of course, it's good for the player to know about this change and not think that the game just broke ;-)

But rule changes don't always have to be sophisticated. The reasons for the change can be quite straightforward. For example:

• If the player is talking to his game buddy, who will give him important information, disabling the player's ability to use weapons is reasonably practical. It could happen that he will no longer receive any critical information.
• If the player enters a store where he should buy the necessary goods for his equipment, it would probably be quite practical that his sneaky properties do not work because otherwise, he would rob the entire store, and there would be no need to obtain the money to buy these items painstakingly.

In all this, do not forget the important thing - changes in the rules will directly impact the gameplay. And, of course, this impact can also be negative.

Balance

Game balance is essential. It is about how the rules help keep the player engaged.

Many of the same rules and game principles can be seen in many games because they are straightforward and keep the game's balance. For example:

• The player has energy/health in the game, reflecting his life force. If a player has a lot of it, he can take risks. If, on the other hand, it is not enough, he must protect it and be more careful.
• As we progress through the game, our skills improve and become stronger. However, the game must also respond to this. To maintain balance, the enemies must be stronger and more capable, or the puzzles and problems to be solved must be more challenging. Otherwise, if the game world doesn't change, I will become indestructible in a short time.

You may also notice that balance is handled in different ways in games. For example:

• If the player obtains a more powerful weapon (rocket launcher) that clears a mountain of enemies with one shot, it will charge slower or have only a limited number of shots.
• If the player has to take care of his health, first aid packages will not occur at every step, but only occasionally.
• If the player encounters a wizard in the game, he is fantastic for ranged combat because he has great offensive spells but will be very vulnerable and weak in close combat.

All the rules that try to maintain balance keep the game itself sufficiently challenging and a constant challenge for the player. Maintaining balance in a game is one of the biggest challenges for a game designer.

Learning the Rules

There are several ways to familiarize the player with the rules of the game:

• documentation - the rules should be clear enough because every time the player has to pause the game to read the instructions, it detracts from the overall experience of the game
• narration - audio commentary during the game
• in-game discovery - the narrative version is not always as memorable as the demo version. Therefore, allow your players to discover the rules by "tasting" them whenever possible—for example, a short interlude.

SWOT Analysis

During the semester, we will discuss various economic and business aspects with topics focused on game design, and SWOT analysis is an inherent part of them. Let's take a closer look at individual letters (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats):

SWOT analysis is a situational analysis for strategic planning, most often used in marketing. Therefore, it is not only an expression of the product's strengths and weaknesses but also an opportunity to find strategies for solving possible problems. The analysis and evaluation of individual aspects are based on the analysis of the internal and external environment of the company, or in our case, the game (product).

If you were to start a game studio or start working in one, you would certainly mean logistics and relationships in the internal environment and look for strengths and weaknesses. These aspects are primarily evaluated using the company's evaluation system or benchmarking (comparison with the competition). The external environment is the environment that cannot be controlled as well as the internal environment, e.g., interest or laws. Opportunities and threats are evaluated in the external environment. Aspects can also be identified by analyzing competition, demographic factors, or economic trends.

But we're talking about the rules of the games today, so let's stick to the ground and play the games. "Business" and the game have one thing in common: Goals. Let's define the game's goals and look at the SWOT analysis regarding its rules. Let's analyze the internal and external aspects of the game and its players and identify the advantages or disadvantages of achieving the game's goals.

Strengths and opportunities are fine. We can see them as a confirmation that we are going in the right direction when designing the game's rules. However, weaknesses and threats are an opportunity for us to change. Can we iterate the game's rules in such a way that we minimize these negatives and, on the contrary, maximize the achievement of the game's goals?

Try it on analyzing a card game. Play, record your gaming experience, and try to fill in the SWOT analysis table. Based on the analysis, iterate the rules of the game.

In our case, we decided on Spooky Wooky, an insight card game for ages 5+. There are ghosts on the cards that have different patches sewn on them. The game has 3 difficulty levels. The smallest players start with finding the same shape, regardless of color and number of symbols. This is quite difficult for older players - unintuitive, but young children can quickly get used to it. More demanding versions always consider two of the three parameters: Shape and color or shape and number.

We played the game with a little 5-year-old dinosaur. The game is fast and dynamic, and the winner is evident within 15 minutes. However, when comparing it with other games, we have to say that there are many similar and better observation games on the market. Emotionally, the shape and number version is more difficult because the colors confuse the players. The authors relied on proven "recipes," which does not make this game original enough. In addition, our little player evaluated that the ghosts on the card images were not interesting for him, and he would rather see tough heroes or soaked cars on them.

The game experience is over; now, look at the SWOT analysis. Let's first try to identify the objectives of the game. The game is probably intended for families and aims to entertain players of different ages dynamically.

If we want to iterate the game's rules, its positives can be a good hint for us in which direction to go. For example, we can search for threes of cards or change pairs of search parameters during the game, thereby increasing its dynamics. But it is also essential to look at the negatives and minimize them with iterations of the game rules. For example, if two players find a match at the same time, they must say a poem without error to decide between them.

We would have even greater possibilities in the case of digitizing the game. For example, the program can provide hints, identify the situation when no more pairs are in the game, or count down the time for a "move." Touch devices could make the game more interactive. A change of theme on the cards could interest even the roughest of little players.