Martin C. Martin

Title

Abstract

The elation of succeeding, the frustration of being stuck -- these emotions can captivate players for hours and hours. This talk presents an organizing framework for game design, by asking "how does each element affect the player's ability to play better and better?" Four principles are developed, hand in hand with examples showing how they apply in a plethora of common situations. Finally, some emerging trends are examined that suggest practical steps.

We've all played games through the night, not stopping because "I'm finally getting the hang of it! I can do better! Just one more game..." Looking at this improving mastery sheds a surprising amount of light on game design. For example, creating easier difficulties by simply lowering unit stats can completely change the player's strategy: if enemies are slower, players may run past them, not learning to fight at all. And adventure games offer no way to learn from partial answers: either you think to use the marker on the passport, or you don't.

Game design is typically taught as a collection of principles, but this talk organizes it around its effects on skill learning. Four design principles are developed and explored with many examples. Specific design decisions are addressed, leading to practical advice. This framework draws together emerging trends from recent work in both game design and practice.

Bio

Martin C. Martin created his first professional game 17 years ago for the Amiga, and has since worked on Star Trek: Armada at Activision, and headed Esc, a virtual nightclub mod for Unreal Tournament. He completed postdoctoral work at MIT's Media Laboratory, in the Human Dynamics group. Before that, he was a postdoctoral associate at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory after completing his Ph.D. in Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. He now creates simulations of group human behavior at Icosystem Corporation.