Gameplay Pacing

entersimon

Hey all!

I'm curious to know your philosophy on game pacing. I've read quite a bit on it, and it seems like going easy to hard then back to very easy over and over again can be quite successful.

This doesn't fit in with all types of games though. Robot Unicorn Attack for example has an increasing difficulty until you eventually lose.

It's a giant question, I know, but I'd love to hear how others attack this very important issue in their games.

Don't forget to mention what type of games you're working on.

:^)

quantumsheep

This is something that's come up while polishing my next game, .Matrixx (which is being made to hopefully show what you can do with a template - in this case tshirt's iDot template - with a little imagination and effort!)

The game speeds up as you play, but at certain intervals it slows back down again - just to give you room to breathe a little!

I've also added extra lives that you can collect once certain scores are attained. Ten thousand points, for example. Then 30,000 points... and so on.

The way I came up with the intervals was by playing and playing and playing the game (it's bloody addictive!), and noticing when I *wished* there was an extra life there.

All this is basic game design. I know not everyone's a retro fan, but if you look at something like the original Galaga arcade machine, you'll notice that extra lives are awarded after getting a certain score.

What's more, the game *tells* you. "Extra life at 10,000 points, then every 20,000 points after that" or something. It's giving you a goal and the promise of a reward before you even put in your money!

Again with Galaga, After the 10th level you'll notice the enemy attacks essentially reset to those of level 1. The designers are essentially saying "you made it through 10 levels - it was bloody tough, wasn't it? Here, have a little break"

You can learn a lot from old games, believe me. They're called 'classics' for a reason!

Additionally, powerups can help alleviate a difficulty. In Air Supply, the shields, full air and slowdown powerups essentially gave you a breather (pun intended!).

The shields meant you were safe from enemy attack.
Slowdown obviously slowed you down (which could be a good or bad thing!).
Full air let you concentrate on other stuff.

Without these powerups the pace of the game would have been incredibly different, and to the game's detriment, I believe. But again, as with .Matrixx, it was through constant playtesting that I was able to get the interval just about right for when the powerups should appear.

entersimon

@quantumsheep

I've been playing a lot of retro games to get a feel for the pacing, and I've found that for me, the point based extra life really is the most rewarding type of extra life you can get. You can see your progress and as you get closer to the magic 10,000 or 20,000 points, the tension grows. As soon as you reach the goal, the tension drops dramatically. It's a great way to have a build and drop in the gameplay without having to change the way your enemies or heroes are controlled.

I like the way you look at powerups as pace changers. Timing of powerups and how they affect gameplay can have a dramatic effect on how fun a game is.

I immediately thought of the BFG from Doom. The fact that it was a rare experience, and so dramatically different from the rest of the arsenal you were used to using made it reallllly rewarding.

In the game I've been working on for the past few months, Simon and Mojo, I'm using timing, score, the addition of enemies, and powerups to affect game pacing. It's a delicate part of the process, and in my eyes it's the key factor to whether you'll have a time tested quality game or just another drop in the mobile game bucket.

I've also got a brand new type of joystick that I'm hyper excited about.

I'm thinking about taking a week long break once I get the game pacing down to what feels good for me and then coming back to it with some fresh eyes. It's hard to get a good feel for what everyone else will experience if you're in the development bubble all day every day.

quantumsheep

entersimon said:

I've been playing a lot of retro games to get a feel for the pacing, and I've found that for me, the point based extra life really is the most rewarding type of extra life you can get. You can see your progress and as you get closer to the magic 10,000 or 20,000 points, the tension grows. As soon as you reach the goal, the tension drops dramatically. It's a great way to have a build and drop in the gameplay without having to change the way your enemies or heroes are controlled.

If you have an iPad, I hope you'll try out .Matrixx - and that you'll like it!

As to arcade games… the good ones… well, you can bet a lot of time and thought went into their pacing.

If a game was too hard, and ended too quickly, then most people would give up on it (Defender is the obvious exception to the rule!).

If it was too easy, then the arcades wouldn't make much money.

The balance had to be *just* right. And that's one of the reasons that they're still relevant today in my opinion.

entersimon said:
I like the way you look at powerups as pace changers. Timing of powerups and how they affect gameplay can have a dramatic effect on how fun a game is.

.Matrixx has an 'anti' powerup in it too Think of it like the skull in Bomberman - it gave you 'the lurgy' as my friends used to say, where usually you slowed down to a crawl.

The powerup I have has a dual function - if you pick it up, it might do one thing or another. That element of chance I think is quite cool. I hope people like it!

entersimon said:
I immediately thought of the BFG from Doom. The fact that it was a rare experience, and so dramatically different from the rest of the arsenal you were used to using made it reallllly rewarding.

A bit like the power pills in Pac Man

The other nice thing about Doom is the sometimes long stretches of… well, *nothing* happening.
It's the calm before the storm. If Doom started off with every enemy type in the first room… well, it would have been doomed

Instead, you're introduced to new enemies one by one, usually in small numbers at first, then greater numbers as you progress.

And in-between there's those moments where you're just making your way down a corridor expecting trouble… but nothing happens. And that's when you get *really*worried.

I often cite Aliens as one of the most influential films ever - on every form of media, including games. The pacing in that film is incredible. The titular xenomorphs don't even appear on screen for at least an hour! And their impact is only heightened by that fact when they *do* appear. Incredible stuff

It's true of most genres.

If you look at something like platform games, Mario, for example, encounters one enemy at the start of a level. Then there's two. But having already dealt with one, you're 'trained' in how to progress. The difficulty builds at a manageable level. It doesn't just throw you in at the deep end!

Racing games have those long straights in them. After getting round a particularly dodgy corner, the straight is a huge relief. It eases the tension, ready for the next lap usually…

Even puzzle games do it. Getting the 'long' block in Tetris to get four lines at once… easing of tension.

entersimon said:

In the game I've been working on for the past few months, Simon and Mojo, I'm using timing, score, the addition of enemies, and powerups to affect game pacing. It's a delicate part of the process, and in my eyes it's the key factor to whether you'll have a time tested quality game or just another drop in the mobile game bucket.

I happen to agree with you, and I look forward to your game!

entersimon said:
I'm thinking about taking a week long break once I get the game pacing down to what feels good for me and then coming back to it with some fresh eyes. It's hard to get a good feel for what everyone else will experience if you're in the development bubble all day every day.

Yep - if I slept well and got a full day's work done, I could get .Matrixx out by the 8th I reckon. But I'll be sending it to testers first to get their feedback and opinion and play-testing some more. So more likely the 16th I reckon.

It's all about pacing

QS