*This blog post is inspired by the book The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and is for personal study purposes only
Rational:
In the book The Design of Everyday Things, the writer defined experienced design as
The practice of Designing products, processes, services, and environments with a focus placed ont he quality and enjoyment of the total experience.
The game design itself requires multidisciplinary approaches to solve development and experience problems. Therefore, knowing traditional design principles will give more unique perspectives on solving problems and inspirational ideas.
What are the fundamental principles of interaction?
Before we get into a deeper understanding of interaction principles, we must know that the game is designed for players. Therefore, we focus on human needs, players' capabilities, and rational or irrational behaviors. This approach is called HCD (Human-centered Design); it often requires frequent shifting perspectives from designer to player during the game design process.
Many game design problems occur when something is wrong with the communication process between the game and players. Using user-centered design will be much easier to frame issues with communication, such as missing information for what actions are possible(signifiers), what is happening (feedback), and what is about to happen(conceptual Model).
A tutorial without any helpful information will form a confusing and frustrating experience due to players having no ideas about how the gameplay works. That is why tutorials in modern games introduce mechanics with something the player has to press before going to the next stage. It is designed for forcing players to memorize the basic controls to form a solid conceptual model(how the game works) for future challenges. Although the approach might seem a bit rough and rusty, hey, it works. However, with a better understanding of HCD, the solutions will be more evident and inspirational.
There are six fundamental principles mentioned in the book:
Affordance - How game elements could be interacted with; for example, a laser gun in an FPS game could afford interactions such as picking up by players, shooting lasers and even throwing it to enemies.
Signifiers - How information shown in games helps players make expected gameplay; for example, when a player is near a pile of gold, a UI with "press X to pick up" will appear to indicate the possible interaction. This tip is one typical example of signifiers.
Constraints - How interactivity is defined by devices, genre, culture, and gameplay mechanics; for example, games on mobile devices could not handle a large amount of precise input compared to computer games. It is usually more challenging to play FPS on a console than on a PC.
Mappings - It is a relationship between input and gameplay, how a game makes its natural and easy-to-learn input system, such as pressing w to move forward. Press the left button on the mouse to shoot in FPS games.
Feedback - How the game gives players information on their actions. For example, giving players visual or sensational information after each input, such as when pressing w, characters in games will move forward. When a button is pressed, a click sound will play, the button will change color, a dialog box will pop up.
Conceptual Model - in the player's mind, how exactly the overall game works and how to play it.
Affordance
What is affordance exactly?
Affordance can be understood as "is for," the keyboard is for(affords) player inputs. However, the capacities of players should also be considered when talking about affordance. One typical example of explaining affordance is keyboard affords inputs. If a player has never played computer games or used a keyboard before, the keyboard loses its affordance.
Affordance is different from the property, and there is anti-affordance
Another characteristic of affordance is representing the relationship between an object in the game world, not property. Property can be comprehended as attributes, such as how heavy the chair is, how fast the player's movement is. Affordance represents a relationship between the agent (player) and the object (props), and it exists while properties on both sides match each other. For example, the virtual wall in the game affords destruction by players if players' attack is over 1000.
Anti-affordance describes the impossible interaction due to the properties of the object conflicts with the capability due to physical, semantic restrictions. For example, if the wall in games designed is visible with a collider that restricts the player from passing through it. Then this wall anti-afford passage and vision of players, both affordance and anti-affordance, should be perceivable by the player. Therefore, both affordance and anti-affordance will create a better understanding of how objects in the game world could interact with players.
How can affordance be communicated in game design?
While designing such walls in games, there should be enough information (signifiers and feedback) provided to let players know the possible interactions and why they cannot destroy the wall. Such as highlighting the wall with a text saying "try to destroy this wall when you have 1000 attack points". Alternatively, in the game "The Ghost of Tsushima," while the player is near "supplies"(a type of currency), there will be a clear sign telling the player there is a possible interaction.
This image clearly shows the possible interaction and relationship between the player and the supplies (Affordance) - supplies could be picked up by players, with a signifier " R2" indicating the possible interaction.
Visible affordance will provide a much stronger clue for possible interactions. Specifically, there always be some clear road telling players to follow in level design. For platformer games, the platform itself is a visible affordance telling players this is an object that could be jumped upon.
Signifiers
What are signifiers exactly?
Signifiers could be regarded as a way of communicating the possible interactions, such as buttons on the screen telling players where they can press. The button itself is a signifier signifying where the interaction should take place.
Affordance determines what interactions are possible, and signifier determines where the action should take place. Affordance might be unclear if the signifier itself is missing. For example, how do players know they can pick up the supplies without an object signifier?
Why is signifier more important than affordance?
Players need to know how the gameplay works, how interactions take place. Therefore, they will find any possible clue to help them cope with the overwhelming information overload. The job of a good designer is telling players how to play the game, and it is accomplished by carefully and player-centered perspectives with adequate signifiers telling how the gameplay, UI, inventory, skill tree works.
Each orange box represents recognized signifiers in the God of War 4 Playstation version, and they are designed to tell players how to interact with the complex system.
If players do not know how to interact with the skill system, how could the system afford the interactivities of upgrading stunning, savage skills? Therefore, building good communication is more important than designing a super complex system without knowing how to use it.
Perceived affordance is a signifier but may be misleading.
One thing interesting about perceivable affordance is that it is a signifier. For example, the platform in Hollow Knight is a signifier itself, telling players this is something they can jump on.
However, the perceivable affordance may also be misleading if poorly designed. The prank video below clearly shows the unique characteristic that how we perceive the thing might work will possibly be wrong. For example, we twist the doorknob to open the door, and the knob in the video looks exactly like the doorknobs we usually see, but it's poorly designed for prank purposes. The poor man believed totally in the perceived affordance and resulted in the waves of laughter.
A good signifier means a good communication channel; thus, a good design.
Communication can be understood as to how designers clearly explain their ideas, mechanics, and gameplay to players. Since game breath interactivities, it is vital to clearly deliver gameplay mechanics and interactions.
We can say that Catmario is poorly designed on purpose regarding the lack of communication between players and the game because players do not know what interactions will be possible and what mechanics they could follow to beat the game. It is full of misleading perceivable affordance platforms, thus creating a frustrating experience.
How to use signifiers in game design?
1. make perceivable affordance functional consistent
In my opinion, it is essential to make the perceivable affordance consistent. One example is in the Ghost of Tsushima.
This is a perceivable affordance that tells the player this could be climbed. When players encounter such stones, they will instinctively know what interactions such objects afford.
2. put signifiers near the interactable objects
Another tip is putting signifiers near the object that holds the affordance, thus creating a logical connection. For example, the branch affords iron hook interaction. Therefore it puts the signifier closely to the branch to create a clear, logical connection.
3. Think in players' shoes, provide signifiers in time
This might be the hardest one, and it requires a deep understanding of the system with in-depth playtests. The whole point is providing signifiers with interactions they want to trigger.
One good example is that when players die too many times in most games, they will be given signifiers to lower the difficulty. Although it might be regarded as insults for hardcore gamers, it does improve the life of quality for most players.
Constraints
Definition of constraints
There are four different types of constraints, physical, cultural, semantic, and logical. All four of them limit the set of possible actions that players can do. Such as, in most platformer games, how far Mario could jump (the physical constraints of the designed character) limit how many possible interactions could happen. When a shroom appears, it is limited for its function of granting Mario a second chance semantically. Affordance is a relationship between the object and the agent. Therefore, constraints of the objects and agents limit how affordance manifests.
Physical constraints, perceivable affordance, and signifiers are three elements that determine what can be done when we interact with objects (affordances that are manifested through the world). On the other hand, other factors such as conceptual models, semantics, logic, and cultural constraints limit affordance inside agents' heads.
Different types of constraints
physical constraints
Physical constraints are mainly about what knowledge is in the world. Thus how the appearance of the objects tells players what physical limitations are and how they will affect possible interactions. However, objects in games that are virtual do not show a strong correlation with the concept but considering various controllers' physical constraints is one helpful approach to apply it.
One example is the Playstation controller or Xbox controller, both of them are bad at FPS games due to the two-dimensional movement of the aiming cursor being solely controlled by one finger - thumb compared to mouse controlled by wrist, elbows, and fingers. Console players often find it harder to aim, therefore, developers often provide players with functions such as aim assistance or mechanics such as slowing time while aiming to ease the pain.
Cultural constraints
Something normal in one culture might be offensive in another culture, the way we behave might be seen as inappropriate in another culture. It occurs because people follow schemas or patterns when they interpret the situation and follow the behavior script to guide the sequential behavior. The constraints derived from culture play a huge part in game design, especially when we talk about localization the internationalization process.
The backlash often occurs when the narrative or aesthetic design neglects the local cultural, geopolitical and moral context. One example is the neglected geopolitical sensitivity of a country and labeling some areas as an independent state or designing a dance move or interaction move that offend a particular culture. Therefore, it is essential to research the cultural background when publishing the game in certain areas and respect the players from the target market.
Semantic constraints
Semantic is the study of meaning thus, it relies upon the meaning of the situation to control the set of possible interactions. The meaning of things shifts and changes while technology advances,
Application of the concept is in dungeon designs, players need to pick up the key and put it onto the specific hole to unlock particular contents. The design clearly shows that only the blue shiny crystal will fit into that hole, thus the semantic constraints of the design limit what interactions (only put in the blue crystal will be accepted) will happen.
Logical constraints
Logical constraints are interactions limited by the logical thinking process and evaluation. Game mechanics is derived from the logical constraints thus creating the core gameplay. Based on Ernest Adams's idea of gameplay, it is the challenge and possible actions towards the challenge. Challenge occurs while there are logical constraints occur, for example, you have to solve the puzzle with five moves or kill enemies while not being shot. All challenges are logical constraints that produce interesting gameplay.
Insights into game design
The constraint principle is a great tool to use to produce interesting gameplay and mechanics. Such as assistance mechanics when players' devices have physical limitations, smooth and interesting dungeon experience by utilizing semantic and logical constraints. It also helps the localization and design team to decide if the content is offensive to certain demographics.
Mapping
Definition of mapping
Mapping originated from math demonstrating the relationship between two elements; therefore, in interaction design, it represents how player input and interaction intertwine with each other. One example of mapping in the game The Ghost of Tsushima is the mapping of button "R2" with any interactable objects in the game world, such as picking up supplies and props, using the iron hook, talking with NPCs, etc.
It is unnecessary to complicate mapping in games, such as mapping four unique buttons, one for talking to NPCs, one for mounting, etc. The essential part is to make players remember and understand how the game works with unified and simplified control and input connection. The more accessible players understand the mapping in the game, the easier players will learn the game quicker, the better the game experience will be.
Natural Mapping
Natural mapping occurs when the mapping is intuitive; for example, in most Playstation games, the left stick controls player movement. There are different types of natural mappings that we can get inspiration to utilize the concept into game design; for spatial analogies, walking forward, players need to move the joystick forward is one example.
From a cultural and biological standpoint, putting up hands signifies more, and down represents less. Therefore the up and down button could be used to increase or decrease the quantity when you at a merchant could also be regarded as natural mapping. However, the natural mapping in one culture might be counterintuitive for players from other cultures. One example is games developed in western countries that use "X" for confirmation and "O" for cancelation. However, it goes the opposite in eastern games.
How can we use mapping to enhance the game experience?
For designing PC games, there is no need to map player movement with EDSF since players are already familiar with the mapping of WASD However, observing what mapping players are familiar with will bring a considerable improvement for the product outcome, such as adapting mappings of conformation and cancelation For instance, when players change the language of the game to Asian languages, ask them what style they prefer before starting the game or automatically change the mapping to adapt their natural mapping.
Feedback
Definition
Feedback is the communication of the action consequence. It answers the question "What has just happened?" It plays an important part for players to evaluate the current state of gameplay. One typical example is when players shoot bullets at enemies, there is a number popped up on enemies' heads telling how much damage dealt. All feedback should be immediate as well, try to avoid any delay of the feedback because players hate it.
Sensory feedback
Sensory feedback usually occurs when the game gets constant or discrete input from players. Such as when pressing a button, there are usually three states - normal, hover, and diabled. Or players see their characters move in the game whenever they move the joystick.
Currently in games, there are only three types of sensory feedback- visual, auditory, and tactile. Visual and auditory feedback experience is developed to an incredibly satisfying state that players love for most games. However, tactile feedback is still underdeveloped because the equipment of playing games remains relatively the same.
Playstation put some effort into the design of its own controller which brought a whole new dimension of interactivities into games. The tactile feedback of pressing the trigger in FPS and racing games all hugely improved the games' overall quality.
Emotional feedback
Emotional feedback is provided when the overall state of the game changes. Such as "You win!" when the player tried his best and beat the game. It is the feedback that the player needs to keep playing and get interested in for a while.
Design such feedback will need empathizing skills thus HCD, analyses what the player wants to get from the game itself. It requires designers to test their game throughout and reflect on the result to add in more feedback.
Feedback should be informative.
Feedback should be designed to suit the current state of the game. Telling players what happened when they suddenly died or tips on improving based on their play style are helpful feedback. Feedback such as beeping sounds from nowhere in the game, or a sudden chime sound will only produce more distraction and confusion instead of providing a better experience.
Do not put too little feedback, nor too much.
Too much feedback is annoying, people hate to see there are countless numbers on players' screen. Too much of them often numbed players from filtering more critical information and created so much noise into the experience. Too many announce and events in mobile games usually cause people to ignore all of them, split rewards into 10 events only will make the reward less rewarding and become a chore instead of game that players enjoy.
On the contrary, too little feedback will cause confusion and frustration that players could not form a firm understanding of your game. Players don't know if they did wrong or right, thus they have no idea about how to play the game properly.
Feedback should be planned.
Feedback must be prioritized, unimportant information should be displayed unintrusively. Important information should be displayed in a way to draw enough attention.
Reference
Norman, D., 2013 The design of everyday things New York, N.Y.: Basic books.
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