Demand for more valuable games that offer more fun and more engagement for the player is only going to get bigger. With the overwhelming majority of games being available for free after a short download there’s hardly any commitment from the player and the next game is just an ad or a scroll away.
So how do you create games that have a lasting impact, that maintain the player’s interest for longer and eventually provide so much joy that players feel it is worth spending money on?
The list of must have ingredients that any game needs to be successful is nearly endless, but can be broken down into 3 pillars – the triforce of spend – fun, trust and value.
Each of these pillars can have an unlimited amount of ingredients, but let’s focus on Value for today. How do you design a game that creates value for the player?
To answer that question, we need to understand what value is. Value is quite an abstract concept to understand and what I found out is that value can only exist if there’s a comparison between 2 things. We can only understand the value of anything when it is placed and directly comparable to a context.
This is extremely important for game design and the creation of value is that the context determines the value of anything. Fresh clean drinking water is of less value in the Netherlands, as it comes flowing out of each tap, with anyone and everybody having access to it all time, whereas it is easy to imagine that fresh clean drinking water is super valuable in scorching hot desert environments.
With games, the game itself is largely creating that context of value – and that needs to be at the heart of the game’s design. A great context in game’s is the one that allows the player to feel and experiment with the value of their actions. Creating a game system that allows players to influence the value created through play is a great start. So what does that mean in practicality?
Let’s imagine the least valuable game as a starting point. Let’s say there’s a game that requires a player to tap a button to complete the level. Extremely simple, just 1 big button and a single tap, done. It would be an extremely boring game, just tap, next level, tap, next level, endlessly. The outcome of each level is always the same (+1) and there is no way for the player to make a difference, the value of the player input is approximately zero.
Value arises by making the player input valuable and directly related to the player’s input, the player’s performance if you will. So let’s say the button changes color and the player needs to time the button press precisely when it’s maxed out “green”. Also the button moves and changes shape. The smaller the button the more points it’s worth. Suddenly a game arises where the player’s input directly matters. A space of possible outcomes is available. Value is created.
So let’s break down what just happened. We created a system where there is no longer 1 outcome of a level, but a flexible amount of points. Let’s imagine the button slowly changing color between red and green. When it’s red it is worth 1 point and the closer it gets to green the value increases to a maximum of 100 points. Pressing the button when it’s max green is worth 100 points. The outcome of playing this level is anywhere between 1 and 100. There is value created in the player’s mind when the rule is understood. Although, this game will lose its value quickly (once the player is able to get that 100 score all the time) you can sense it is already more fun and more valuable than the earlier example. Now imagine the size of the button also changes and the size determines a multiplication factor of the color score. The smallest button which is super hard to press and see on screen is worth x10 the value and the largest button is worth x1 the value. Suddenly the player is faced with an interesting dilemma and score outcome possibility space increases to become 1 for a large red button (1 x 1 = 1) and 1000 points for a very small green button (10 x 100 = 1000). Although this game is not the most fun you can imagine, it does make the player’s input more valuable.
What’s important to notice here too is that the value is made very clear and tangible to the player. The level can end with a score – a direct reflection of the player’s performance. The context that we created for which we base our understanding of the value of our performance is in the outcome space (1-1000) AND the difficulty of pressing that button at the right moment. When the button changes colors fast and the size changes fast in a different rhythm, it becomes hard to get that perfect score. Nailing close to 1000 feels good in that context and is perceived more valuable because it is more challenging.
How to use the value that we created in a system that can be monetized is something I will discuss in the second part of this series.
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