Why isn’t my game performing well? Many developers have asked themselves this question. I am here to enlighten you on how to make a good game. You will learn how to fix your current games, maximize player enjoyment, and create a game that is enjoyable for a large number of players.
Principles First, we need to understand the principles. Here are the main principles for game development:
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Cross Platform: All devices that have access to your game have a fair gameplay experience. This can be done by giving specific devices advantages or custom ways to interact.
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Gameplay loops: The game utilized a “gameplay loop.” This loop will help give the game an exciting and engaging feel.
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Progression: has a clear progression layout, that leads to an advantage over time.
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Easy to understand: Each stage of the gameplay loop should be immediately understood and meaningful. Any shortcomings can render your gameplay loop ineffective or unclear.
Hook the player: When a player first joins your game, this is the moment where they decide: will I become invested in this game? You should:
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Fair: Ensure that your game is immediately engaging and fair. You can use ranked systems, beginner servers, and features and design principles that are easy to understand.
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Easy: Each part of the game is easy to understand and begin playing. You could naturally force them through matchmaking systems. You can also gradually introduce features and offer tutorials.
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Fun: Ensure that the first time playing is the best. Since players decide whether to continue playing from the first time, it’s important to maximize their engagement and enjoyment on the first play. You can do this by boosting their luck on the first play or allowing them to quickly progress (before getting into the real progression.)
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Exciting: Make it so they also feel excited to come back. Do things like introduce all the different playing styles and somehow try to get them to engage with other users.
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Play again later: You should also add elements to encourage them to replay at a later time, such as the day after. Have an item that is timed or a daily reward system that is especially good the day after. Specifically, Roblox tracks this as one of their metrics, which is why you need to get them to play the day after the first time they play.
Player Types: Player types are different preferences of players. These preferences represent play styles, which you can accommodate within your experience:
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Achievers: These users like to gain high status.
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Socializers: These users like to socialize with others
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Killers: These users are competitive and like fighting.
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Explorers: - These users like to see new things.
Picking Player Types: Rather than focusing on trying to get every single playing style in your game, it’s more realistic to combine only a few. You should try to pick the main players you want and really emphasize your game on that:
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Achievement-based games: Focus on specific goals to reach and achievements to unlock. Achievers also like to gain benefits as a result of their achievements and popularity. Games that are big for achievers typically involve those job games where the more you work, the higher position and power you have. Players for this want to feel important and powerful, with badges and statuses displaying their greatness.
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Socialization-based games: Focus on interacting with others. Games that are big for socialization are games like Bloxburg and Adopt Me, where the game content is focused on roleplaying and interactions.
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Killer-based games: competitive games that involve beating opponents, whether they are PVE or PVP. A major part of the progression in these games is building your skills, so you need to have mechanics that are skill-based.
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Explorer-based games: Games with a focus on large maps and hidden secrets. I would say, however, that there aren’t many games that focus specifically on this.
Multi-player types: Players usually enjoy elements from a variety of player-type categories. For this reason, you should add a few features to accommodate player types in all categories without allowing them to be your main focus:
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Achievement systems: Leaderboards, achievements, XP, levels, ranks, etc.
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Socialization systems: Groups, clubs, teams, roleplay, etc
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Killer Systems: Competitive features, competitions, skill-based mechanics, etc
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Explorer Systems: new content, large maps, etc
Note: Remember this is an optional thing rather than mandatory. Pick whichever categories you want to hit. Don’t feel forced to hit each one.
Gameplay Loops: Gameplay loops are the backbone of your game. If your experience does not have a solid gameplay loop, it is highly likely to perform poorly.
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Purpose: Gameplay loops represent the “loop” of your game. Notice how, in many games, it seems like you are repeating a set of instructions over and over? This is the gameplay loop at work.
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Stages: Gameplay loops have three stages. Anticipation, Challenge, and Reward. Each stage follows the other, and they do not go out of order. It should go from Anticipation → Challenge → Reward, and so on.
Stages: The stages of Anticipation, Challenge, and Reward can seem a bit confusing and even a random order. Here is the purpose of this:
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Anticipation: Anticipation means to eagerly expect something. In the case of video games, they are eagerly expecting to perform better in the challenge stage. So these are things like upgrades, customizations, buildings, and anything else that makes the challenge easier. Your goal is to make it so they feel excited to see how it performs.
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Challenge: The challenge is pretty well known. It’s challenging. They are performing an action that is not guaranteed to lead to success. This stage must be difficult, but not too hard.
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Reward: In this stage, users are rewarded with currencies based on their performance. They can then use these rewards to hop back into the anticipation stage, and the loop goes forever.
Note: Try to avoid mixing the stages. For example, grinding for upgrades shouldn’t be the only challenge, and beating bosses without earning anything shouldn’t be the reward.
Variety: It is also important to have variety in your gameplay loop, or else it can quickly become boring:
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Anticipation: Offer multiple ways to do better and even add strategic elements. This can be multiple upgrade systems, guns, modifications, and even cosmetics like skins and emotes (anticipating that it will look cool.)
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Challenge: Offer multiple ways to play. This can be done through different game modes, maps, strategies, teams, etc. You want to have enough to the point where, when someone gets bored, they can quickly switch over to another thing in your game.
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Reward: You can add variety through luck-based rewards, or they can go with the anticipation variety. If you add a variety of anticipations, you can reward them in a variety of ways.
Maximizing gameplay loops: You can maximize your gameplay loop by ensuring that:
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Order: Each part of the loop is followed in order. Things like matchmaking systems going too quickly or constant challenges /rewards can break the loop and cause players to become unengaged.
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Clear: Each part of the loop is easily accessed. For example, there are no more hidden shops or hidden play buttons. Bolden important information and make less important information more bland.
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Variety: have multiple ways to play, a variety of maps, etc. Like how jailbreak allows you to be a cop or a prisoner.
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Difficulty: Ensure that your game is not too easy, but not too hard. Challenges can be overcome.
Conclusion: Overall, this research attempts to teach important elements of game design:
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Explore: Of course, there is more beyond this research, which I encourage exploring.
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How I found this: This information is achieved through research within my free time and/or speculation.
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Be critical: Critically evaluating the content of this post is recommended, as this content does not reference external sources.
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