Gameplay Dynamics
Gameplay consist of all player experiences, primarily the challenges, choices and consequences that the player faces with in the game. Simply giving players challenge, choices and consequences doesn't make for good gameplay unless these elements are interwoven with each other.
The following video from Extra Credits provides an overview how and why players choices having meaning in a game.
A gameplay dynamic is a system where one action has a range of influences on gameplay elements, features, and/or challenges. To put it simply, a gameplay dynamic is when one action has multiple reactions that influence gameplay elements.
Challenges
There a many different types of challenges and some game objectives or game genres will typically make use of specific challenge types. These types include:
- Explicit : immediate and often intense
- Implicit : not specifically added to the game but is an emergent feature of the game itself
- Prefect : the complete state of play is known to all players
- Imperfect : players are provided with only a fraction of the information
- Intrinsic : knowledge gained inside the game
- Extrinsic : knowledge gained outside the game
Choices
Just as there are different types of challenges there are diferent types of choices that can be implmented in games, such as:
- Hollow : no real consequences
- Obvious : no real choice
- Uninformed : arbitrary choice
- Informed : player is given ample information
- Dramatic : taps into the player�s emotional state
- Weighted : balanced choice with consequences on both sides
- Immediate : immediate impact
- Long-term : impact will be felt later
Consequences
The most important aspect of choice is consequences. If we think about how puzzles differ from a game, is that puzzles have "one right answer". While, that is not the case for the game, far too often designers tend to provide players with choices that seem to lean towards one right answer.
However, creating choices that consequences on both can provide greater player engagement as well as replayablity, as the player is left wondering what they took the other choice.
Gameplay Balance
Balance refers to the perception that the game is consistent, fair and fun. To establish a balance the gameplay needs to provide:
- Consistency of increased challenges
- Fairness by proving positive feedback (reward) instead of negative feedback (punishment)
- Fun, the player should never stuck with no way of moving forward in the game
In order to ensure the right amount of balance in the game, consider the following:
- Variables of your system are a set of numbers that define the properties of your game objects. (grid size, number of pieces, number of moves)
- Dynamics, the forces that at work when the game is in motion. Combinations of certain rules could cause imbalance.
- Reinforcing relationship occurs when a change in one part of a system causes a change in the same direction to another part of the system. (player gaining rewards within rewards, shifting balance of the game)
- Dominate Objects, avoid making one object worth more than anything else, thus by having said object the player is bound to win
- Dominate Strategies avoid making one strategy that is more effective than others Positions , the goal is to make the system fair so that all players (starting positions) have an equal opportunity to win
- Skill, matching the level of challenge provided by the game system to the skill level of the user. As the player skills increase challenge should increase.
- AI characters should not be 100%, they should work in a range of options so that the player make still over take them in the game.
Symmetrical vs Asymmetrical
Balance in games really boils done to the idea that every player has equal opportunity to win the game. Games in which players are given same position, info and resources, are called symmetrical games. However, there are games in which players are given different abilities, resources, rules, or objectives; these are called asymmetrical games.