Abstract

Video games are quickly becoming a major facet of modern culture, especially when

considering that they have only existed for a few decades. As games rise in popularity, more and

more people who are interested by games are beginning to fascinate themselves with the idea of

creating their own games. A problem then emerges, how exactly does one create objectively

successful and praiseworthy game design? With such a subjective medium, especially one that is

constantly changing every year, the idea of ideal game design is lost on several would-be

developers. Consider how creating video games is a business, and games which sell well

obviously have successful design. In fact, many games which are extremely popular have their

design mimicked and expanded upon by other titles. Thus, by studying what makes certain titles

popular, and by extent sell well, game developers should be able to find what makes for

successful game design. Current public opinion favors freedom of choice and large environments

which encourage exploration, giving credence to the rise of open-world games in recent years.

It’s because of developing games being a business that design is so heavily reliant on audience

appeal.
Introduction

Since the early 1980s, video games have cemented themselves as a firm keystone of

modern entertainment. With the rise of their popularity, several creative minds have been

formulating ways of creating their own games for the public to enjoy. Several of these potential

developers may find themselves at a loss on where to start designing their games. Surely the

most popular titles, those being heralded as ‘revolutionary,’ ‘innovative,’ and ‘genre definers,’

must have been made with some foundation or groundwork to start from. Video game design, as

a concept, does indeed have a baseline which acts as the beginning of individual game creation,

which has also evolved to conform to modern standards as the industry grows older. Game

development, simultaneously, is a business, and thus must appeal to a wide audience to gain

larger sales figures. This means that, theoretically, select video games which become successful

are more likely to have their design copied and evolved because they’ve been proven to be

financially beneficial. The aim of this paper is to discover, analyze, and evaluate the possible

causes for the change in consistent game design and also the possible origin of these traits and

mechanisms, as well as to predict where it may head next.

Review of Literature

The term ‘video game design’ itself refers to the overall correlation and function of all of

a game’s mechanics working in tandem with one another. Game mechanics are the various

different ‘rules’ that a game follows, whether it be controls, enemy or collectable interaction, or

visual aesthetic. By studying individual game mechanics, how they are created and how they

have changed over time, as well as seeing how they work together, one can begin to understand

how game design functions.

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 The origins of popular game design aspects are somewhat ambiguous. Video games share

some obvious similarities with their predecessors, board games, as learning tools. This helps

display how parts of their design are based in reality, as they are emulating something from life

in a more simplistic manner for someone, who is impressionable, to pick up on. For example,

Monopoly can educate on finances and money, and Oregon Trail on history (Manusos par. 3).

Several board games, such as Solitaire or Chess have even been adapted into simple video games

as well. On a broader spectrum, both video and board games also depend on player skill to

compete against an opponent, or series of opponents, to achieve a goal.

Another possible origin for staple game design is traits of human instinct. Ryan Clark, an

independent developer with over ten years of experience and more than seven games developed,

rationalizes this connection in his speech, given at the Game Developer Conference expo in

March of 2014, on the subject by saying..

“Video games have only been around for a generation or two, so [humans] haven’t

evolved much in their presence. As a result, the emotions and desires that cause us to

wish for things in games must be must be based on our evolutionary past. They must be

based on the emotions and desires that helped our ancestors survive” (Clark 0:55-1:10).

A more precise connection between game design and human instinct could be found in the open-

world survival/sandbox genre. In this type of game, which categorizes titles such as Minecraft,

Terraria, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players often start the game without any

kind of materials and tools and are forced to scavenge the environment for resources and survive

the elements. Clark draws connections between these mechanics and the activities that primitive

humans performed to build tribes and what allowed them to pass on their genes. What’s more,

working cooperatively with friends in these games is similar to humans working together in

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tribes (Clark 1:10-1:48). Similar parts of design which mirror aspects of human nature also

include using the dark to instill senses of fear, joy arising from accomplishing a goal or set of

tasks, and intrigue coming from a story being told.

Additionally, some games ask players to care for multiple entities, whether it be human

characters or virtual animals, or some other form of sentient being. A way that developers make

players care more about these entities is by allowing a sense of customization, allowing these

entities to feel more personal to the player. Players can name these entities or purchase material

for them, thus making them unique to the player’s experience are putting a sense of anxiety over

the player’s head should any danger come to them. Scott Rogers, game designer for over 6 top-

selling games describes this mechanic in his book, Level Up! The Guide to Great Game Design,

“In [X-Com: UFO Defense], you command an international military team that battles an

invading alien threat. The team members you recruit are given rather non-descript [sic]

names. Then I learned you could rename them. All of a sudden, my team of previously

generic soldiers suddenly gained personalities. And something funny happened... I started

to care about them. Whereas I previously didn’t care whether they died or lived, I now

wanted to give them good weapons, heal them, and make sure they returned safely from

each mission. What this taught me was the power of customization” (Rogers 99).

Rogers explains how adding a sense of familiarity and control to entities makes a player feel

empathy and form a connection with them, thus caring about them and what could befall them.

This obviously stems from humans’ unique ability to empathize with others and create emotional

bonds, only here it's used to make players care about characters that exist in a virtual world.

Video game design, while retaining its bare essentials over the years, has changed by an

extremely large degree. Specific traits of design have also diverged and become characteristic of

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specific genres rather than all video games as a whole. An important leap in game design is the

stylistic change between arcade and console games. Arcade games were often characterized as

simplistic, repetitive games where the focus was on one objective, where the game could be

endless, or at least until the technology couldn’t calculate any higher. For example, think of

games like Donkey Kong which have players repeatedly climb to the top of scaffolding or how

Pac-Man consists of endlessly eating pellets in a maze. Once console games began to become

popularized, video games became more developed and featured a larger variety of

characteristics. The Legend of Zelda focused on exploring an expansive world and spelunking

dungeons of varying difficulty, and Super Mario Bros presented the player with a series of

platforming challenges and the occasional intimidating enemy encounter (“An Intro to Video

Game Design History” 2). Games of the console era often lacked the randomness of arcade

games, which were specifically designed to beat the player and eat quarters, and built a difficulty

curve. This curve (Appendix A) is a figurative representation of the challenges which a game

presents to a player and its relation to the player’s skill, which begins slowly, then climbs as the

game goes on, and eventually plateaus near the end (“An Intro to Video Game Design History”

3). While most games aimed to create this ideal challenge, others of the console era sported a

much steeper curve.

Some infamous early console games, which are renowned as extremely difficult and

unfair in places, featured much steeper and sharper difficulty curves. Games such as Castlevania

and Ninja Gaiden, both featured on the Nintendo Entertainment System are frequently cited as

examples of this. Cartridges of that time had very little room for data, and thus the few game

levels presented had to be lengthy and challenging to waste the player’s time (“Breakdown”

0:22-0:55). Developers were aware that they had to keep games interested so players would still

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return after being stopped by harsh difficulty. Some theorize these methods of wasting time were

so that their games could receive more revenue through rental sales (“Breakdown” 0:56-1:14).

Smaller cartridges also lacked the memory space for saving progress in a game and thus relied on

shorter overall structure― such as Super Mario Bros, which featured relatively short levels and

secret warping rooms which allowed a player to skip large portions of the game― or hidden

password systems (“Breakdown” 2:20-2:40). These password systems used randomly generated

strings of numbers and letters which allowed a player to restart at a similar point in the game

relative to where they found the password. As the technology grew stronger and games became

more focused on being fair and challenging, save systems and even difficulty curves began to

become prominent in the mainstream market.

Additionally, something which video games evolved to create soon after the introduction

of home consoles was the concept of ‘boss battles.’ Scott Rogers defines a boss battle as “a large

and/or challenging enemy that blocks a player’s progression and acts as the climax/ending to the

game’s environment, level, or world” (Rogers 342). Bosses act to test what a player is capable

of, and what they’ve likely learned after traversing the past few levels. They aren’t native to a

particular genre either, they can be found in almost any game. Bosses often don’t introduce any

new mechanics to players during their fights and rely on players mastering what they’ve already

learned to overcome the challenge put forth. Bosses usually rely on ‘attack patterns,’ which the

player is required to pick up on and adjust to when dealing with the challenge. “Patterns are at

the heart of every traditional boss fight and are created when several attacks and behaviors are

strung together into a predictable sequence” (Rogers 346). Notably, as video games evolved and

technology improved, bosses became more cinematic and scales became larger. Instead of the

player facing a monster who was maybe twice the size of their character, the player could now

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face a large robot which towers over buildings. This sense of scale both helps intimidate a

player— because of the dangers that come with facing a foe of immense size— but also

invigorates them— to feel the thrill of taking down such a large threat (Rogers 344-350). This

helps bosses feel unique among the usual level structure which most games follow.

Recently, there has been a significant rise in the popularity and success of Indie games.

Indie games, or games developed by independent developers or teams, are often not backed by a

major company and are simply created out of someone’s passion for games. Thus, most Indie

games have taken cues from older games, and often build off of mechanics which the new

developers took great interest in. Indie games have a firm footing on most internet platforms

because of the general lack of commercial restriction, but several companies have built

distribution platforms for Indie games to be sold on. “Indie games are growing at an incredible

rate, thanks largely to digital distribution services like Steam, Desura and Newgrounds. ... One of

the results of this is a wave of new and interesting composites” (“An Intro to Video Game

Design History” 4). Because Indie developers aren’t usually restricted by the limitations or fears

of commercial failure that major industries face, they are free to experiment with design however

they please. While not entirely limited to Indie developers, players themselves often like to find

ways to experiment a game’s programming or mechanics, and to find innovative methods to

enjoy a game, as Kenneth Bowen discusses in his article, “The realm of make believe and the

extension of gameplay space.” Bowen cites a specific example, the popularization of the ‘rocket

jump’ technique, as follows,

“One of the original examples emergent gameplay is in the first person shooter game

called Quake [sic], in which users were able to perform two actions: jumping and firing a

shoulder mounted rocket launcher. When the user combined these two actions by firing a

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 rocket at their own feet, users could propel themselves farther and higher than with a

regular jump, an example of unintentional emergence. This emergent gameplay behavior

became one of the most prolific First Person Shooter game tropes called the Rocket

Jump” (Bowen par. 2).

As shown above, it’s entirely possible for Indie developers, or even collectives of players, to

influence major companies with their toying of game mechanics. This type of experimentation

and creativity is what helps the game industry, and design as a whole, flourish and evolve.

As games continue to change and evolve, major industries always seem to want to grow

and strengthen technology. This can be seen in the mid 1990s, where 3D games first began to

emerge, with titles such as Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot. Today, however, the games

industry seems to be pushing towards virtual reality, or VR. The first major iteration of VR in

video games can be traced back to Nintendo’s Virtual Boy system in 1995, which worked in a

similar way to modern VR headsets. Instead of strapping to one’s head, though, it stood on a

tripod and had to be peered into at all times (Flanagan par. 4-6). Unfortunately, the system’s

commercial failure, along with the numerous issues it presented for players, would scare major

companies from the technology for almost two decades. In the 2010s, independent developers

began experimenting with the technology again and popularized the idea of combining VR with

games. Companies such as Sony and Microsoft began producing VR systems soon after, with the

PSVR and HoloLens, respectively. A problem in design that arises with VR, however, is that

most developers who haphazardly restructure games for the technology fail to change important

mechanics in the game to support the new limitations of the hardware (“Virtual Reality Flips

Game Design”). VR as a whole seems to be pushing for a more immersive gaming experience. It

allows players to view open-world environments in, what feels like, person. It also works

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especially well with the Horror genre, for example, as the scares will affect the player almost

directly, instead of behind a screen (“Virtual Reality Flips Game Design”).

However, while not as feared in the market as it was initially, Virtual Reality remains

confusing for and detached from modern consumers. Although major companies have invested

into it, for example the previously mentioned Microsoft and Sony, there is a significant lack of

mainstream video game players who own a VR system. Steam, the one of the most popular

distribution platforms for digital PC games, reports that only 0.12% of its users have registered

VR devices on their accounts, as of January 2018 ("Steam Hardware"). The lack of VR

ownership may also be blamed on the high prices, ranging anywhere between $400 and $800 for

the VR headset alone, to VR being cumbersome to use in small rooms anyways ("Game over for

virtual reality?" par. 3-5). These low figures signify that there isn’t a widespread audience of VR

for gaming, at least at the moment. Because of this small market, major studios may once again

grow fearful of the technology and stop supporting it, thus stifling the possible creativity and

evolution the hardware provides for game design.

While VR seems to be the focus of modern game design, half a decade ago most major

companies seemed very interested in motion controls. Motion controls are those which affect

gameplay in a variety of ways based on sensors in the game’s remote controllers which pick up

how the controller is being moved. Systems such as Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect

were based almost entirely on this style of controls. The reason that these controls were so

popular was because motion controls allow a player to feel as though their physical actions have

an effect in the game (“CNN: The future of video games” 6:30-7:18). While they haven’t

disappeared completely from the market, motion controls are not nearly as big of a selling point

as they were in the early 2010s. However, motion controls serve as part of the basis for VR, as

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the headset itself tracks the player’s head movements and translates that into the game’s camera

movement.

Video Game Design, as a concept, has a baseline which acts as the beginning of

individual game creation, which has also evolved to conform to modern standards as the industry

grows older, as well as accommodating for the wants and desires of players based on commercial

success or failure. Game design appears to have a solid basis in human nature, and what we want

and desire to accomplish. Game design has changed over the years to become more open to

experimentation, via more advanced and capable hardware, and the industry being filled with

more people being inspired by other games. As game mechanics become popularized due to the

game retail sales, independent developers can experiment with mechanics present in financially

successful games. Additionally, it would seem that game design is striving to include technology

with further incorporates the actions of the player, whether it be through VR or motion controls.

Because of this strive for interactive hardware and the possible origins of game design, it would

seem that Game Design is evolving in a way to strive for larger amounts of immersion. Video

games want to feel extremely natural and real, which is why design is changing to accompany

that. Further studying of video game design could help to create a list of objectively-positive

traits characteristic of game design which all developers could follow and hope to evolve.

Research Collection and Data Collection

The data was collected through a survey which targeted video game players and their

opinions on traditional game mechanics. The hypothesis behind this research is that mechanics

which are more prominently favored by players are those which are more objectively successful.

Thus, mechanics which are prominent in modern titles should be the same one that are preferred

by most audience members. The surveys conducted, which were completed electronically,

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collected the opinions of high school-age avid game players, both of their opinions on video

game mechanics, exemplary games, and how much Virtual Reality affects gaming. The audience

was chosen because it has the widest appeal amongst the gaming industry, and is thus the

audience the industry will cater to the most. These results have been compiled into charts shown

below which display the consensus formed by the surveys.

Results and Data Analysis

The hypothesis going into the assignment was that, due to game development being a

business, successful game design must be engineered to cater to a wide audience. Therefore, the

trends in games which audiences prefer should reflect current popular trends in the gaming

industry. The questions in the survey addressed popular and common game mechanics, those

which are often considered standard in today’s market. The survey also questioned why players

begin to lose interest in games, as well as their interest in Virtual Reality, and why or why not

they currently consider purchasing the technology for VR.

The charts display the opinions of the video game players who took my survey for each

question. Some of the charts display what percentage of responses chose which answer, and

others display significant collective free response answers provided by the game players. Similar

responses have been collated into the same percentage.

The first question in the survey (Appendix B) asked what traits keep players invested in

playing games. A majority of respondents chose ‘Intriguing/Engaging Story’ as one of their

factors, followed by ‘Complex Gameplay’ and ‘Expansive Worlds.’ This should show that

players value world-building in a game, they enjoy having a story to be involved in and a large

environment to explore. Players also seem to enjoy a more intricate style of gameplay as opposed

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to something more simple, which could display how players want to have more opportunities to

pull off improve actions using hard-to-master game mechanics.

The next question (Appendix C) revealed that most players seemed to agree that, in the

future, they would like to see games put more of a focus on open-world environments and

freedom. These trends both point towards how player would like to explore large areas at their

own leisure, rather than being led along a linear path. Players want to have freedom to do as they

please in a game, it would appear.

The results of the third question (Appendix D), which asked what games or franchises

players felt were particularly innovative, most commonly cited the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

This series, which is classified as Open-World, is infamous for allowing players to do whatever

they please in a realistic city setting with little limitations. Again, these results are reflective of

players’ desires to move freely in an open space, which GTA is often credited for helping

popularize.

With the question which asked players of their perspective on game difficult (Appendix

E), results showed that a significant majority answered in the middle, between a relaxed

challenge or an unforgiving one. Slightly more chose a more difficult game as opposed to easy,

which could show that players wish to be given a challenge over breezing through obstacles

effortlessly. This almost unanimous opinion can be interpreted as players wanting something that

can challenge them, but can overcome swiftly once they get the hang of it.

When asked what they thought were essential parts of game design (Appendix F),

respondents more commonly answered ‘Freedom of Choice,’ with ‘Skillful & Technical

Mechanics’ following behind. These results show that above all, players seem to be fond of

escaping linearity and creating their own path in games. Similarly, having more focus on

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mechanics which require high skill could result in more satisfaction when players overcome a

challenge.

Players, after being asked why they start losing interest in games (Appendix G), most

commonly answered that they had simply done all there was to do in a game. The second-most

common was that players felt the game became too boring or lost focus. This would mean that

game designers would have to keep games different enough to keep player attention and to not

use elements which are too similar as to bore players. The same notion could be applied to the

idea of games becoming too repetitive.

The next two charts display player opinion on the rising trend of Virtual Reality in

games. Over 85% of respondents agreed that VR has a future in games (Appendix H), though

only 56% said that they had interest in purchasing VR equipment (Appendix I). It would seem

that a notably large group of players would like to see improvements made to the current VR

system in games, specifically in the technology’s exclusivity. They complained that not enough

games, or at least none that interested them, were exclusive to VR, and thus had no interest in it.

Nevertheless, the results show a slight majority of target-audience players have interest in

purchasing VR, namely for strengthening immersive gaming experiences.

After looking through the data, common trends point towards a favoritism for open-world

environments and freedom of choice in games. This would help give credence to the current rise

in popularity of open-world games, this trend is backed up by Ryan Clark’s claims of human

instinct tying to game design, since the preference for open-world games has such wide appeal

amongst the general audience.

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Conclusion

The data collection results point towards a favor in large-environments that encourage

exploration and a general freedom of choice. This would likely point to the massive popularity of

open-world games in recent years such as Minecraft and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Because making games is a business, the design involved in game development is based around

how well it appeals to a general audience. This trend seems to be widely recognized in the

industry, as the prevalence of of open-world games has stayed quite common for the past half-

decade. After all, both major companies and indie developers alike have taken part in this

phenomenon. The data collected which helped come to this conclusion, however, is somewhat

limited in that it only helps identify successful game design in a few genres, if not one somewhat

broad genre. It also asks only of the opinions of a single, albeit quite large, chunk of the general

gaming audience. If trends were studied on the sales of other genres, amongst the entire

audience, however, more conclusive evidence may be gathered. By picking up on trends like

these, game developers can experiment and further evolve game design which is shown to

resonate among audiences. Thus, the creative process behind this entertainment cornerstone can

be mainstreamed and perfected.

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Appendix A

An illustration of the ideal difficulty curve (Sidell).

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

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Appendix D

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Appendix E

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Appendix F

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Appendix G

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Appendix H

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Appendix I

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