Captain Shrek
Guest
All right.
So this happens to be the third article in the series of Game Design: Basics. If the series seems a bit haphazard in its course (and it is) I am sorry for that. It was never planned in the beginning to be a consistent series. Probably in the future I will "streamline" it.
Links to previous articles:
1) The very basics
2) Choice and Consequences
This article is designed as follows:
0) Some general bitching ( as the title suggests, it can be safely ignored)
1) Introduction to the idea of Character design and some definitions
2) A brief look into SOME of character design ideas
3 ) Character Progression
In course of the reading, you might think that I am spouting quite very obvious things. But mind you, it is sometimes necessary to put the most obvious things in a consistent fashion so as to be clear about their implementation. This is NOT an exercise in creativity after-all but rather in book-keeping.
0) Some general bitching
So. This article is about the finer features that are NOT an aspect of a lot of computer games. But since the website is called rpgcodex.net and I came here to discuss CRPGs, it is appropriate to discuss some elements of game design that are integral to CRPGs. The terminology CRPG is just an umbrella term to delineate some certain games with some set of features (or even its subset) anyway. One of these features (which also is typically a feature of PnP RPGs) is Character Creation. It might be a good idea to see what has been done with this feature and what could be the crucial aspects ingrained within it that give the player an enriched experience.
NOTE: I am NOT a gaming historian. It is highly probable that you have played more games than I did and can provide more sophisticated and detailed arguments than I can. If you think so, DO provide them please. I will be happy to discuss them with you, regarding my views.
1) Introduction to the idea of Character and definitions
All discussion in this article is with respect to video games. That is to say, any terms used here are within a scaffold of Video games and video games alone. Character means a lot of things to a lot of people. To a video game discussion:
ALL it means is the properties associated with the player avatar that somehow affect the gameplay but not trivially so. This is the 'soft' definition we will work with throughout the article.
What do I mean by trivially? I mean that if the color of the underwear of your avatar DOES NOT contribute to character, then its NOT a part of your character. Unless somehow this turns out to be a game mechanic that changes the game-play in terms of combat/encounter resolution or somehow enters C&C as defined previously in an earlier article (see references at the beginning of the article). We are only interested in those properties that affect game mechanics severely. This seems like a weak definition. It is. I am counting on your common sense to see the difference. I know, its a bit too much to expect from Biowarian audience but we are the 'dex, guys.
Now we can appreciate that depending upon the game mechanics that the designer has decided to implement, character can mean somewhat related but comparatively different things according to the context of the game:
e.g. In the game where the Plot is exceedingly important driving element of the game (i.e. the what you end up doing in the game is driven by the story) Character creation is typically restricted to those properties which are meaningful to the plot. The best example is Deus Ex. It is completely possible to use this system to create other plots that will still have enjoyable integration of this character creation. But. Such plots will be restricted in their gameplay value due to a restrictive ruleset. This is the case when the game is created before the ruleset. Lets call them Type 1 games for now.
The second and more PnP like example is of course DnD based games. Where the system to create and progress with a character takes precedence over the Plot. Basically this system allows a much larger variety of plots as long as they follow some basic requirements that are enforced by the system (e.g. Lore that suits the ruleset). It is to be kept in mind here that these games need not have a plot at all (e.g. Blood Bowl) or very little of plot (Diablo). Lets call these games Type 2.
Some of you can already see that this distinction is artificial. Type 1 games can become type 2 if Rule-set is made more generic and solidified into rules for important encounter situations within the game. The italicized part is very much essential to discussion at hand: Important means, important for the intent of the games i.e. For wargames, probably the character need not have speech skills implemented as clealy as tactical or combat abilities (its just an example).
Thus Character creation NEED NOT HAVE ALL THE POSSIBLE CHARACTER PROPERTIES THAT HAVE EVER EXISTED.
Only those properties are necessary that make sense from the perspective of the game implementation. There is a dual reason here. Having too many 'un-necessary' character properties can lead to badly designed games where an a priori ignorance of the properties results in poor (read annoying) experience of the game. Also, it leads to inefficiency that increases the production costs without providing any entertainment value.
Now, that we have described what a character is, we can talk about Character creation and Progression.
Character creation is quite straightforward. Within the ruleset there are rules that describe how in a particular context a character can be generated and what values can be assigned to different properties (upper/lower limits). There are other things that can be done with it (like classes).
Similarly character progression is also described via the ruleset and incorporates the rules by which the character modifies his initially generated character as time progresses in the video game when certain conditions are met.
So much for starters. Lets get down to business.
2) A brief look into SOME of character design ideas
Let's start with some general observations.
Since great games by the definitions established in previous articles, provide you with high amount of content without annoying you, features associated with Good Character generation are:
a) Depth & Modularity
b) Balance
a) Depth & Modularity :
By depth, I mean to bring forth the idea of having a large set of options to create your character. Modularity is a trivial sounding part of depth. All it means that the properties ought to be divided into many categories that are easily navigated. Please understand that these categories need not be independent from each other.
I can think of the following examples off hand: Traits (e.g. SPECIAL), Life Backgrounds, Skills, Feats, Acquired properties (e.g. perks) etc. To have many of such categories that can be acquired separately but not necessarily independently from each other is Modularity. Depth is the number of option WITHIN every category.
Some of the games where these ideas are really well implemented are Fallout, Arcanum and NWN2. Please remember, that these properties MUST make significant contribution to the gaming experience (e.g. if you create a player with a raving lunatic background, it should reflect in the gameplay otherwise the property is NOT a part of character within this framework). The more the options the game gives you, the more are the ways in which you can experience the game. This is essentially the most fundamental means to give you replayability in a game. Remember always; More content better, less content bad.
b) Balance:
Balance is actually NOT a character creation element as it is a more generic GAME design element. But it is much more essential when the game offers you character creation opportunities. It should not happen that certain base character types are virtually unplayable when they are created de novo. Meaning that you should be allowed to completely gimp a character and get your backside kicked. BUT NOT RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. Another issue regarding balance is Hierarchical character properties. A ladder like progression of properties ensures that the character can not suddenly become too powerful but becomes gradually so. Without Hierarchy it is very difficult to provide content to the player that is challenging.
3) Character Progression:
Finally, we come to the end of the article with a brief view of Character progression. Now lean back into your chairs and give it a thought, as to what character Progression implies.
It means that the Player is becoming "stronger" over time. Sure. Stronger may not always mean that his innate abilities become more powerful. It may also mean that he gets more abilities in general. In this article even that means stronger. One of the direct implication of this idea is that enemies that you (can) encounter also become "stronger". It does not mean that all of them become stronger. It only means that you FACE stronger enemies. The job of the designer is to create an environment for the player where he can Feel the difference in the gameplay due to enhanced character through two things:
a) Easier encounters with previous environment
b) Encounters with stronger elements of the environment
The absence of either will reduce the experience of Character progression because without this difference the gameplay will NOT be affected significantly and more importantly enjoyably.
NOTE: Character Progression does not imply Character creation. Neither does Character creation imply Character Progression. It is completely possible to design video games with either or neither.
Character Progression can be done at least in two distinct ways:
a) Through LEVELING
b) Through Point allocation
In Leveling, the player is given a condition at which he is allotted All or almost all the components of the modular parts of the Character design to distribute at the same time. Leveling is MOST appropriate in those games where Progress of the game occurs from scenario to scenario, with increasing difficulty. If every scenario contains the content roughly enough to cap your level to a particular value that map becomes a benchmark for a given level/s. Point allocation is best done for games with open maps, where it is completely possible to encounter stronger creatures early on. But honestly, as far as I can see it is completely possible to do it any way as long its implemented well.
An important issue is, should you be given points for completing objectives (goals) or successfully engaging in non-goal encounters along with completing objectives. I personally believe that the question is of game-design again. If the game focuses on Combat then the latter is the chief way of distributing the points. If the game has more encounter resolution elements than combat then probably it should depend on the BOTH but adjusted for the sake of balance.
At the very end, I want to finish with a look at one of the fundamental aspects of CRPGs. Classes. Is it essential to have clasess? i personally don't think so. I believe that free-form (in terms of classes) games give us the maximum content as long as the design does NOT permit you to become master of all forms. This is again from the view of replayability.
With this final comment I bring this long winded and probably boring rant to an end. Now please discuss if you will.
So this happens to be the third article in the series of Game Design: Basics. If the series seems a bit haphazard in its course (and it is) I am sorry for that. It was never planned in the beginning to be a consistent series. Probably in the future I will "streamline" it.
Links to previous articles:
1) The very basics
2) Choice and Consequences
This article is designed as follows:
0) Some general bitching ( as the title suggests, it can be safely ignored)
1) Introduction to the idea of Character design and some definitions
2) A brief look into SOME of character design ideas
3 ) Character Progression
In course of the reading, you might think that I am spouting quite very obvious things. But mind you, it is sometimes necessary to put the most obvious things in a consistent fashion so as to be clear about their implementation. This is NOT an exercise in creativity after-all but rather in book-keeping.
0) Some general bitching
So. This article is about the finer features that are NOT an aspect of a lot of computer games. But since the website is called rpgcodex.net and I came here to discuss CRPGs, it is appropriate to discuss some elements of game design that are integral to CRPGs. The terminology CRPG is just an umbrella term to delineate some certain games with some set of features (or even its subset) anyway. One of these features (which also is typically a feature of PnP RPGs) is Character Creation. It might be a good idea to see what has been done with this feature and what could be the crucial aspects ingrained within it that give the player an enriched experience.
NOTE: I am NOT a gaming historian. It is highly probable that you have played more games than I did and can provide more sophisticated and detailed arguments than I can. If you think so, DO provide them please. I will be happy to discuss them with you, regarding my views.
1) Introduction to the idea of Character and definitions
All discussion in this article is with respect to video games. That is to say, any terms used here are within a scaffold of Video games and video games alone. Character means a lot of things to a lot of people. To a video game discussion:
ALL it means is the properties associated with the player avatar that somehow affect the gameplay but not trivially so. This is the 'soft' definition we will work with throughout the article.
What do I mean by trivially? I mean that if the color of the underwear of your avatar DOES NOT contribute to character, then its NOT a part of your character. Unless somehow this turns out to be a game mechanic that changes the game-play in terms of combat/encounter resolution or somehow enters C&C as defined previously in an earlier article (see references at the beginning of the article). We are only interested in those properties that affect game mechanics severely. This seems like a weak definition. It is. I am counting on your common sense to see the difference. I know, its a bit too much to expect from Biowarian audience but we are the 'dex, guys.
Now we can appreciate that depending upon the game mechanics that the designer has decided to implement, character can mean somewhat related but comparatively different things according to the context of the game:
e.g. In the game where the Plot is exceedingly important driving element of the game (i.e. the what you end up doing in the game is driven by the story) Character creation is typically restricted to those properties which are meaningful to the plot. The best example is Deus Ex. It is completely possible to use this system to create other plots that will still have enjoyable integration of this character creation. But. Such plots will be restricted in their gameplay value due to a restrictive ruleset. This is the case when the game is created before the ruleset. Lets call them Type 1 games for now.
The second and more PnP like example is of course DnD based games. Where the system to create and progress with a character takes precedence over the Plot. Basically this system allows a much larger variety of plots as long as they follow some basic requirements that are enforced by the system (e.g. Lore that suits the ruleset). It is to be kept in mind here that these games need not have a plot at all (e.g. Blood Bowl) or very little of plot (Diablo). Lets call these games Type 2.
Some of you can already see that this distinction is artificial. Type 1 games can become type 2 if Rule-set is made more generic and solidified into rules for important encounter situations within the game. The italicized part is very much essential to discussion at hand: Important means, important for the intent of the games i.e. For wargames, probably the character need not have speech skills implemented as clealy as tactical or combat abilities (its just an example).
Thus Character creation NEED NOT HAVE ALL THE POSSIBLE CHARACTER PROPERTIES THAT HAVE EVER EXISTED.
Only those properties are necessary that make sense from the perspective of the game implementation. There is a dual reason here. Having too many 'un-necessary' character properties can lead to badly designed games where an a priori ignorance of the properties results in poor (read annoying) experience of the game. Also, it leads to inefficiency that increases the production costs without providing any entertainment value.
Now, that we have described what a character is, we can talk about Character creation and Progression.
Character creation is quite straightforward. Within the ruleset there are rules that describe how in a particular context a character can be generated and what values can be assigned to different properties (upper/lower limits). There are other things that can be done with it (like classes).
Similarly character progression is also described via the ruleset and incorporates the rules by which the character modifies his initially generated character as time progresses in the video game when certain conditions are met.
So much for starters. Lets get down to business.
2) A brief look into SOME of character design ideas
Let's start with some general observations.
Since great games by the definitions established in previous articles, provide you with high amount of content without annoying you, features associated with Good Character generation are:
a) Depth & Modularity
b) Balance
a) Depth & Modularity :
By depth, I mean to bring forth the idea of having a large set of options to create your character. Modularity is a trivial sounding part of depth. All it means that the properties ought to be divided into many categories that are easily navigated. Please understand that these categories need not be independent from each other.
I can think of the following examples off hand: Traits (e.g. SPECIAL), Life Backgrounds, Skills, Feats, Acquired properties (e.g. perks) etc. To have many of such categories that can be acquired separately but not necessarily independently from each other is Modularity. Depth is the number of option WITHIN every category.
Some of the games where these ideas are really well implemented are Fallout, Arcanum and NWN2. Please remember, that these properties MUST make significant contribution to the gaming experience (e.g. if you create a player with a raving lunatic background, it should reflect in the gameplay otherwise the property is NOT a part of character within this framework). The more the options the game gives you, the more are the ways in which you can experience the game. This is essentially the most fundamental means to give you replayability in a game. Remember always; More content better, less content bad.
b) Balance:
Balance is actually NOT a character creation element as it is a more generic GAME design element. But it is much more essential when the game offers you character creation opportunities. It should not happen that certain base character types are virtually unplayable when they are created de novo. Meaning that you should be allowed to completely gimp a character and get your backside kicked. BUT NOT RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. Another issue regarding balance is Hierarchical character properties. A ladder like progression of properties ensures that the character can not suddenly become too powerful but becomes gradually so. Without Hierarchy it is very difficult to provide content to the player that is challenging.
3) Character Progression:
Finally, we come to the end of the article with a brief view of Character progression. Now lean back into your chairs and give it a thought, as to what character Progression implies.
It means that the Player is becoming "stronger" over time. Sure. Stronger may not always mean that his innate abilities become more powerful. It may also mean that he gets more abilities in general. In this article even that means stronger. One of the direct implication of this idea is that enemies that you (can) encounter also become "stronger". It does not mean that all of them become stronger. It only means that you FACE stronger enemies. The job of the designer is to create an environment for the player where he can Feel the difference in the gameplay due to enhanced character through two things:
a) Easier encounters with previous environment
b) Encounters with stronger elements of the environment
The absence of either will reduce the experience of Character progression because without this difference the gameplay will NOT be affected significantly and more importantly enjoyably.
NOTE: Character Progression does not imply Character creation. Neither does Character creation imply Character Progression. It is completely possible to design video games with either or neither.
Character Progression can be done at least in two distinct ways:
a) Through LEVELING
b) Through Point allocation
In Leveling, the player is given a condition at which he is allotted All or almost all the components of the modular parts of the Character design to distribute at the same time. Leveling is MOST appropriate in those games where Progress of the game occurs from scenario to scenario, with increasing difficulty. If every scenario contains the content roughly enough to cap your level to a particular value that map becomes a benchmark for a given level/s. Point allocation is best done for games with open maps, where it is completely possible to encounter stronger creatures early on. But honestly, as far as I can see it is completely possible to do it any way as long its implemented well.
An important issue is, should you be given points for completing objectives (goals) or successfully engaging in non-goal encounters along with completing objectives. I personally believe that the question is of game-design again. If the game focuses on Combat then the latter is the chief way of distributing the points. If the game has more encounter resolution elements than combat then probably it should depend on the BOTH but adjusted for the sake of balance.
At the very end, I want to finish with a look at one of the fundamental aspects of CRPGs. Classes. Is it essential to have clasess? i personally don't think so. I believe that free-form (in terms of classes) games give us the maximum content as long as the design does NOT permit you to become master of all forms. This is again from the view of replayability.
With this final comment I bring this long winded and probably boring rant to an end. Now please discuss if you will.
of GRPG discussion.
