In our previous article, we covered the essential steps to build your own Web3-enabled game. Today we discuss the cornerstone of a game, game design.
So, what makes a good game? Marketing wisdom indicates that the success or failure of a game largely hinges on how well it caters to the preferences, needs, and expectations of its players. That’s why understanding the players themselves, and what they truly desire, is absolutely vital when it comes to designing successful games. So, let’s ask ourselves the important question: What exactly do players expect from a game that they consider “good”?
When playing a game players seek a combination of challenge, mastery, and reward, all packed with entailing and motivating activities. This is where gameplay takes center stage as a crucial cornerstone of game design. It serves as the foundation that holds everything together, while game mechanics act as the tools through which players interact and partake in these gameplay activities.
In this article, we explore the crucial role of gameplay and game mechanics in captivating players. By adopting player-centered perspectives, we provide insights and guidelines to enhance the game design and create engaging experiences within the Web3 gaming realm.
– Streamlining Core Mechanics
Game designers should strive to create a cohesive set of core and satellite mechanics. Core mechanics should be easy to learn, remain relevant throughout the game, and serve as the backbone of the gameplay experience. By minimizing the number of core mechanics and their features, designers can ensure a focused and intuitive experience.
– Embracing Polyvalence
Designing versatile game mechanics allows players to interact with them in multiple ways. This flexibility caters to diverse player preferences and playstyles, enhancing the depth of the gameplay experience. By embracing polyvalence, designers can unlock a myriad of possibilities and keep players engaged and motivated.
– Satellite Mechanics: Fueling Motivation
Carefully crafted satellite mechanics complement the core mechanics, fostering sustained player motivation. These mechanics should be thoughtfully integrated to support and enhance the utilization of core mechanics. By leveraging satellite mechanics, designers can elevate the overall gameplay experience and encourage continuous player engagement.
– Minimizing Peripheral Distractions
Peripheral gameplay elements, which deviate from the core mechanics, should be minimized whenever possible. By maintaining a focus on the core mechanics, designers can ensure a coherent and seamless experience for players. Avoiding distractions allows players to fully immerse themselves in the gameplay and amplifies the sense of challenge, mastery, and reward.
– Renewed Interest through Temporary Suspension
To reignite players’ interest, designers can strategically suspend the use of specific mechanics. This temporary removal creates anticipation and curiosity, prompting players to eagerly await the reintroduction of the mechanics. By carefully balancing the timing and frequency of these suspensions, designers can instill a sense of freshness and dynamism into the gameplay experience.
– Core Gameplay and Meta-gameplay
Engaging players in meaningful and fulfilling activities is vital to sustaining motivation. Core gameplay and meta-gameplay activities should provide players with a sense of challenge, mastery, and reward. By carefully crafting these elements, designers can create a sense of progression, accomplishment, and satisfaction, keeping players fully immersed in the game world.
– Evolving Mastery through Variation
Enabling continuous growth and development of mastery is key to fostering long-term engagement. Designers should offer a limited number of gameplay activities with numerous variations, allowing players to explore different strategies and playstyles. This approach adds depth and longevity to the gameplay experience, keeping players captivated over time.
– Efficiency through Focus
Focusing on a restrained set of core mechanics enables efficient development processes and minimizes the need for additional resources. By prioritizing quality over quantity, designers can allocate their efforts effectively, refining and perfecting the core gameplay experience. This approach ensures a polished and well-balanced game while streamlining the development cycle.
Conclusion
In a moment where the hot topic is how to make Web3 games more appealing to a mass audience of Web2 players, gameplay becomes more important than ever and the main pillar of the game design activity. A handful of good core mechanics and some carefully thought satellite mechanics allow creating games with simple but yet rich and entailing gameplay, capable of providing players the challenge, mastery, and reward that they seek, without unnecessary difficulties, thus sustaining and enhancing their motivation.
Web3 game designers hold the keys to crafting captivating and immersive gameplay experiences. By focusing on core mechanics, leveraging the potential of satellite mechanics, and adhering to player-centered design principles, designers can sustain and enhance player motivation within the Web3 gaming landscape. By combining simplicity, depth, and efficiency, designers become the architects of engaging digital realms, delivering enriching experiences to players with as few mechanics as possible.