Game Design analysis

Pokémon Go: Gym Battles!

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In the last blog post, we talked briefly about the battle system. In this post, I want to dive a little deeper into it. We’ll talk about how it works, how the designer’s messaging to the player is displayed, and the pros and cons of how this battle system works. In the interest of brevity, we’ll be discussing pokémon locations in the next post. I’m trying to shorten these just a little bit. If you haven’t read my broad overview of Pokémon GO, I recommend checking it out first. It can be found HERE. Without any further ado, let’s dive into the battle system.

Very brief review from last week’s post:

·      Player takes six pokémon into opposing teams’ gyms.

·      Player takes one pokémon into their team’s gym.

·      Pokémon strengths and weaknesses have an effect on damage received and damage output.

·      Concept of CP is similar to a pokémon’s level from the original games.

Battle:

Now we’re in the battle, our six pokémon are prepped and ready to go. The battle begins.

The player has a few different options:

·      Tap the Screen: Weak fast attack

·      Tap and hold the screen: Slow very powerful attack

·      Swipe the screen: Dodge attacks

These controls really help Pokémon Go’s battle system to be successful. Because they are built around mobile devices, using inputs that most players already understand, anyone can play and enjoy the gym battles.

To see what a battle is supposed to look like, I recommend checking out GameXplain’s video:

You'll notice that when Raticate would attack, the screen would have yellow flashes around the boarder of the screen.

This Gif image was taken from the above GameXplain video.

It also would lunge forward immediately after the flash. The yellow flash messages to the player to swipe to dodge. The Raticate lunging forward is when the actual attack hits. Although these are only on the screen for a split second, they are broadcasted for the player. This allows the player to dodge. Unfortunately, that’s it. The enemy pokémon can’t dodge the player’s attacks or even move.

Let’s take a look at the flow of how a battle is suppose to work:

Chart made with Lucidchart

As you can see, the player is constantly watching the enemy attack and responding to them to minimize the damage against the player’s pokémon. The best Pokémon Go players follow this flow and are able to take down gyms that are considerably more powerful, because they use their skill to compensate for their weaker pokémon.

Now that we’ve taken a look at how the battles are supposed to work, let’s take a look at the flow of how 99.9% of players battle in Pokémon go:

You’ll notice that players don’t swipe to dodge or use the more powerful attack.

Why don’t players dodge or use more powerful attacks?

Most gyms I’ve seen will have maybe three or four pokémon in them. So going in, I’m at an advantage because I’ve got two more pokémon than the gym. I can simply overpower them by pure numbers. The other reason is that I can attack so quickly that I can take out their pokémon typically before mine even hits half. The slow attack makes me vulnerable for a few seconds, which almost guarantees that I’ll take a hit. Why would I use an attack that does forty damage every four seconds, when I can dish out eighty plus damage in the same amount of time by simply tapping the screen as quickly as possible?

Additionally, the AI always follows the same pattern:

·      Attack with a weak/quick attack every X seconds

o   If pokémon falls under one-third health, use slow/strong attack every X seconds.

Usually I can eliminate that pokémon before they get their strong attack out. And even if I can’t, it won’t last much longer because it has no way of avoiding my attacks.

While I don’t think the designers intended to have a shallow battle system, it seems as if it is due to how players play the game. The only way I can think of to fix this is to create a cool down for player attacks. This would force the players to actually dodge the opposing pokémon and think more strategically about combat. The other way to fix it would be to either force players to only have the same number of pokémon as the gym, or make it even easier for teams to fill up their gyms with six pokémon. These tweaks would even the battlefield a little bit more and require the player to have a little bit more skill to take a gym down rather than a fast tapping finger.

For the next post, we’ll be talking about the pokémon spawn locations. I know there were some requests for me to rip on the game due to the absolute terrible server issues, which nullify the point of the designer’s messaging in place. But as that is technically not part of the game’s design and actually a bug, so I’m going to leave it alone. I hope you enjoyed this post.

I’ll see you next time,

Scott

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Basic Pokémon GO!

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Pokémon Go has a daily player base nearly the size of twitter’s. I think it’s safe to say there has never been a mobile game quite like this. Because I want to talk about the systems in place behind the scenes, I’m going to be splitting this post into two parts. For this week, we’ll talk about the basic functions of how the game works, and we’ll touch on finding the fun. We’re taking it slower because a lot of the information online has been incorrect and I want to set the record straight before proceeding. Next week, we’ll focus on the underlying systems at play; this includes the economy and Pokémon locations being affected by geography as well.

How to Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is a mobile game, which utilizes your GPS location on the planet earth. As a player travels around the world, they will encounter different Pokémon based on their geography, which I will be exploring in greater detail next week.

 

As players encounter Pokémon, they can catch them by selecting them in the world map then throwing poke balls.

Players throw poké balls via a flicking motion starting from the poké ball and traveling up the screen.

Upon hitting the Pokémon with the ball, the player will have a percentage chance of catching them based on a few factors, which we’ll get to a little later. If the Pokémon is caught, the light turns off and “Gotcha!” is displayed, otherwise they will burst back onto the screen and players will have another chance to catch them.

 

How can I improve my chances of catching Pokémon?

There are a few ways. First, you need to understand the circles. If you tap and hold on the poké ball, you’ll notice a ring decreasing in size on the Pokémon. This is how Niantic shows the player’s chances of catching the Pokémon.

This image was pulled from SeriousPokemon’s video on how to throw a nice, great and excellent Poke ball and can be found HERE

The greener the circle is, the better chance the player has of catching them. The redder the circle is, the harder it will be for the player to catch the Pokémon. Players can reduce the redness of the circle via feeding the Pokémon or using more powerful poké balls, like the Master or Great balls, to increase their chances of catching the Pokémon.

The other way players can improve their chances is more skill based. When the circle shrinks, it creates a smaller target. If the player hits the target when it is at it’s largest, it will say “Nice!” and their chance of catching the Pokémon will increase. At about half way to the circle’s smallest point, if the player manages get the ball inside of it, the message “Great!” will appear, and further increase their chances. If the player throws their ball and hits the target at its smallest, it will say “Excellent!” and even further raise their chance of catching the Pokémon. Needless to say, it is best to always try to get it in the circle while it is at its smallest.

Upon capturing a Pokémon, a player is given experience, Pokémon candy, and stardust. Stardust is used to raise a Pokémon’s CP (Combat points, all you need to know is higher is better). Pokémon candy is used to raise a Pokémon’s CP and evolve them. The player’s trainer experience allows the player to level up the Pokémon to higher CP. This is similar to the badges in the original Pokémon games, as you’ll be able to use and attract stronger Pokémon as the trainer’s level rises.

You mentioned attracting Pokémon, is there an easy way to do that?

Well, players can search for them wondering around the world. Another way is to use items. The two major attraction items are incense and lures. Incense will attract Pokémon to you, and only you, as you walk. Thus you’ll have a higher chance of encountering that rare Pokémon you are looking for in the area. You can see some of the Pokémon in the area via the “Nearby” screen.

The feet at the bottom tell the player about how far away a Pokémon is. The less feet there are, the closer a Pokémon is. While this typically does show all the Pokémon in the area, sometimes, while using incense or lures, other Pokémon will appear as well that don’t show up on on the nearby screen. Also, if you notice the order in which the Pokémon are appearing above, the closest one is always in the top left corner, the next furthest in the top middle, etc.

 

The other way to attract Pokémon is to attach a lure to a poké stop. A lure will attract nearby Pokémon to a poké stop for all Pokémon trainers for 30 minutes. You can tell a poké stop has a lure attached by looking for ones with confetti flying out of them.

This route is good for if you’re not going anywhere for a while and are nearby a poké stop, or if you want to help a friend out catching Pokémon nearby.

 

 

So I get how to catch and attract Pokémon but what about all these gyms I keep seeing?

First the player will need to be trainer level 5. Then they'll need to choose team Mystic. (I’m kidding, they can choose any team they like.) Once they’ve chosen a team, it’s time to either support or take over their local gym!

If the gym color matches their team color:

Then they're going to support the gym.

In this kind of gym battle, the player is allowed one Pokémon, which they will use to attempt to defeat all the current Pokémon in the gym. For every Pokémon the player is able to defeat, they will gain trainer experience and they will raise the gym’s prestige.

Notice the Gym’s prestige highlighted.

 

 

When a gym’s prestige is high enough, another slot will open in the gym designated by this button:

 

The player can then add one of their Pokémon to the gym.

Side note: Don’t worry about your Pokémon in the gym when you are battling them. If you defeat them, they will automatically heal, unlike the Pokémon you used to challenge the gym that will only heal when you use potions. Also, you should put a Pokémon into every gym you can because you’ll get bonus rewards such as stardust and coins. We’ll elaborate more on that in the rewards section.

 

 

If the gym color does not match the player's team color:

Then the player is going to try and defeat the gym and take it over.

In this case, the player gets to take six Pokémon with them. They will then battle one by one against the Pokémon in the gym.

Pro Tip: You can see the gym’s line up by looking at the Pokémon stationed there. They will appear from weakest to strongest. You can also rearrange your order by tapping on your Pokémon in the pre-fight screen. Plan against their weaknesses!

For each Pokémon in the gym that is defeated, the gym will lose prestige. The player will more than often have to defeat the Pokémon at the gym multiple times to lower the prestige to 0 and make it available to be taken over.

Pro Tip: While it is tempting to put your strongest Pokémon in the gym, it is recommended that you do not because then you won’t be able to defeat the Pokémon and increase the gym’s prestige.

When it is ready to be taken over it will be gray and look like this.

 

Okay but then what about rewards?

Well, aside from the most obvious reward of Pokémon, players receive a variety of rewards based on their actions.

  • For catching Pokémon: Players are rewarded with stardust, trainer experience and Pokémon candy. If the Pokémon has not been caught before, the player will be rewarded with additional stardust and experience.

  • Transferring a Pokémon will convert the Pokémon into candy. This can be done via selecting a Pokémon and scrolling all the way to the bottom of their stats page, then select transfer. The player will lose this Pokémon so it is advised to make sure they wish to transfer it before they do.

  • For hatching an egg, players are rewarded with a common, uncommon, or rare Pokémon based on if the egg was 2K, 5K, or 10K respectively. Eggs are hatched after being incubated while walking 2K, 5K or 10K. Eggs can be found via navigating to the Pokémon screen and swiping right. Incubators can be equipped by selecting an egg, selecting start incubation and selecting the incubator you wish to use.

  • Evolving Pokémon will net the player trainer experience as well. The player will gain additional experience if the evolved Pokémon is one that has yet to be caught.

  • Holding a gym: Once per every twenty-one hours, players can redeem rewards for holding gyms. For every gym they have a Pokémon in, they will get 500 stardust and 10 coins.

Side note: this is the only way to get coins without spending real world money. It’s important to know that you can redeem your gyms once every 21 hours. You don’t have to hold the gym for 21 hours. I recommend quickly taking over a few gyms then redeeming it because gyms don’t typically last long. This button is located in the shop. To access it select the poke ball on the front main screen then select shop.

 

Next week, we’ll get into some advanced concepts in Pokémon Go, like tracking Pokémon, evolving Pokémon and other systems.

So, why is this fun?

As I’ve mentioned before, the concept of fun is subjective. Everyone finds different actions fun in different games. From what I can see, there are two primary kinds of fun explored in Pokémon Go.

  1. Catching all 150 Pokémon

  2. The Gym Battle

Catching all 150 Pokémon

Honestly, this is a combination of simple intuitive mechanics built for mobile phones, adorable creatures, and a human desire to collect things. In mobile game design, simplicity is king. The mechanic of tapping Pokémon, and then catching them, takes very little thought to get started. Every mobile user is familiar with tapping and flicking because we use it in functionalities like surfing the net. The concept of “I flick this ball and it will fly the direction I flick” allows older individuals to enjoy it as well. It’s something they would understand in real life unlike the concept of leveling up in Dark Souls. Ultimately, I think it is that incredibly tense moment where the poké ball is shaking and the player is holding their breath waiting to see if they caught the Pokémon that is the most interesting. It’s an excellent balance of tension to keep the player catching Pokémon.

As far as the adorable creatures go, it’s the IP. Pokémon is a juggernaut, which has been around for 20+ years. A similar game would not be nearly this successful if it didn’t have them attached (See Ingress). For my particular generation, Pokémon in the real world has been a dream since we were all kids. Additionally, the mobile phone install base is HUGE! Not to mention the game is free. There is very little stopping people from trying out this game. Hell, they didn’t even have to advertise the game. It stealth released and all the news outlets picked it up. That shows the power of the Pokémon IP.

Then there is the exploration and social media photo sharing. We saw the power of photo sharing in games with Nintendo's previous app, Miitomo. This allows players to share their experiences and draw in additional players on social media. Niantic successfully leverages the outside world as their MMO Pokémon world. (More on that can be found HERE ) It’s actually quite clever because people are so shut in nowadays that using the actual world as their environment to explore just makes sense. This is the same appeal gamers get from exploring World of Warcraft or Destiny. What’s going to be around the next corner? A Lapras? A Dragonite? Nope, just another damn Pidgey.

Finally, there is the collection aspect. Going back to the original 150 Pokémon was an excellent choice because catching them all seems very doable. This is unlike the current version of Pokémon, which no longer advertises “Gotta Catch Em All” for the 3DS games. Had they included all the current Pokémon it would have been too much for players and the tug to collect them all wouldn't be as strong, due to them being overwhelmed.

So how about the gym battles?

The gym battles are part of a larger turf war across the country. Like mentioned before, when a player takes over a gym it changes to their color. Someone who lives nearby might want to hold that gym simply because it is close or a business they enjoy visiting. But Niantic has created a sort of tug-of-war between the three teams. They’ve had years to refine this style of battling across the world due to their previous game Ingress.

I would say the actual battles are fun, but outside of the actual preparation, they just involve the player tapping on the screen as quickly as possible until they win. It’s nearly impossible for a player to hold down a gym for more than a few minutes due to how simple the combat system is. Making it nearly impossible to actually obtain a decent amount of coins from them. The other issue is that there is no end to the fight. There is no winning in Pokémon GO. There is no credits rolling or goal for the player outside of catching all of them. Which, as of right now is impossible because we don’t know how to get Mew-two or the legendary birds. It just kinda goes on until we burn out. While they advertised the game to have trading and public events none of that is in the game. It doesn’t even quite qualify as a beta because it’s not feature complete. The experience as a whole feels incredibly shallow. With that said, I plan on continuing to attempt to catch them all when the servers are actually working. In my free time enjoy the simple mechanics, nostalgia, and catching the old Pokémon I grew up with.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s look into the basics of Pokémon Go. Next week, we’ll be diving deep into the advanced mechanics of the game. We’ll also be getting really technical about leveling up, Pokémon hunting, and we’ll talk about how the app brings people together.

I’ll see you guys next week,

Scott

P.S. GO TEAM MYSTIC! (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

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Disney Magic Kingdoms - Game Design Analysis

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Disney Magic Kingdoms - Game Design Analysis

I wrote this from a design perspective and hope anyone who hasn’t familiarized themselves with the app can enjoy the post. I start off outlining the mechanics and how the game functions, to familiarize the reader. From there, we get into the game’s economy balancing and how the designers promoted engagement.

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The Dark Zone Versus The Prisoner’s Dilemma

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Today we’re going to spend some time talking about The Division, more specifically the Dark Zone. I recorded some of the game play in the Dark Zone this week. About an hour and a half in total, if you’d like to view it, it’s available here:

Don’t have an hour and a half? No problem! My post is built so you don’t have to watch the video if you don’t have the time. If you'd like to watch me go rogue, just jump to the fifteen minute mark.

Backstory: In case you haven’t heard of The Division, it is a cover-based shooter with RPG elements. Imagine if you will, the mechanics of Gears of War but with a leveling system, which has an effect on how much damage the player will do. The Dark Zone is the PvP (player vs. player) area of The Division.

In the Dark Zone, the player is tasked with collecting loot by killing enemies, and then making their way over to an extraction zone to drop off their loot. This is because they have to “decontaminate” the loot before they can use it. When they have loot, a little yellow pouch appears on their backpack to notify other players they have some loot. Upon reaching the extraction zone, they can call in a helicopter that can take loot from four players at a time. The helicopter takes about ninety seconds to reach the players. During this time, the players will have to defend against waves of enemies who spawn in and attack them. Once the helicopter has arrived, the players will need to make their way to the helicopter and drop off their loot by holding a button for a few seconds to secure it.

So, that’s the dark zone in a nutshell.

Wait you said there was going to be PvP?

Ah! Yes! Of course! At any given time, other players can find you, kill you, and steal all of your hard earned loot. In concept, this sounds like it could be a really cool idea. Let me elaborate on how the PvP works:

  • If a player attacks another non-rogue player (does X damage), they go rogue for twenty seconds.

  • If a player kills another non-rogue player, they go rogue for eighty-nine seconds

  • When a player has gone rogue, their position is alerted to all other players within a certain distance.

  • If a rogue player continues to harm other players their timer will increase.

  • Rogue players cannot leave the Dark Zone until their timer has run out.

  • When a rogue player is killed, their gear can be taken by anyone.

  • Players who kill a rogue player DO NOT go rogue!

I think the developers were attempting to create a version of the prisoner’s dilemma by creating this system.

For anyone who does not know it, here’s a brief Wikipedia excerpt about the prisoner’s dilemma:

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principle charge. They hope to get both sentenced to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The offer is:

  • If A and B each betray the other, each of them will serve two years in prison.

  • If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve three years in prison, and vice versa.

  • If A and B both remain silent, both of them will serve only one year in prison on the lesser charge.

For a further explanation, please enjoy This Place's video:

If we take this into account when looking at The Division, we can see that much like both of the prisoners staying quiet, if players leave each other alone or even work together they will get something. Probably not the best thing for either of them but something nonetheless.

If one player betrays the other and steals their loot, they have come out on top with more loot! And the other player comes out with nothing.

Sadly, it is impossible for both players to betray one another because one will go rogue. The killed player won’t be able to do anything to the player that betrayed them, unless they can find them again after they respawn but before the rogue timer of the other player runs out.

Went rogue… Didn’t end well.

This brings me to the issue with the mechanic. The punishment for going rogue is fairly severe, with every other player hunting the rogue without fear, while the reward is completely random. When the criminal decides to betray his buddy, he is banking on the other player not betraying them first. The developers attempted to create a similar feeing by having the other players be the great equalizers. So if you betray someone, you’re going to have quite a few other people coming after you.

While this does still give a light feeling of the dilemma, it’s like having the mafia waiting outside for the two guys, and if they only see one they know to kill him. And kill him they will.

Another issue with this is, it’s a response. In the dilemma, the prisoners are separated and neither can make the decision with any influence from the others. In the Dark Zone, players can talk to one another, which already allows them to try and lie or work together. This is a pretty cool concept, but it turns the dilemma on its head. So now our prisoners are instead being questioned together, and they can talk to one another in private without the police watching, and are then given a chance later to give their final answer, while separated, to the police. In this case, players talk about not killing one another, then one can change their mind without saying anything, and kill the other player.

So the player now has the mafia chasing them, not to mention the guy who he betrayed who got out of prison early on good behavior, as the player they killed can respawn nearby. I’d bet that nine times out of ten, players who go rogue with the intention of stealing other player’s gear don’t make it out alive.

Side note: There are groups of trolls who like to kill other players but eventually even they get overrun.

Not only do they not make it out alive, but they lose Dark Zone experience, Dark Zone funds and their own loot.

As you can see I lost my loot, 823 credits, a Dark Zone Key and 667 XP.

This brings me to the biggest issue with the Dark Zone Dilemma. There is no incentive to go rogue. Yes, you can kill a player and steal their loot. But even if you do, you have no idea what they have on them until they drop it, and more than often than not, the player is not going to have anything of value. Let me remind you this is a loot based RPG that means A LOT of weak items drop and only a few good ones do. So there is a high chance that when you do kill another player, they are going to drop something worthless.

Because of this, the prisoner dilemma is absolutely trashed. If I’m a prisoner and the police give me the option to betray my buddy, but they say “Eh, instead of locking you up for three years, we’re only going to lock you up for one to three years, but most likely still three,” I might betray him. A chance is nice! Not amazing but nice. But let’s think about if they are asking me to betray a mob boss. So the boss will go to jail and I could get out a few years earlier, but I’ll spend the rest of my life running from the mob that is constantly trying to kill me. Let’s be honest, they are probably going to be waiting for me the day I get released. Why the hell would I betray them? This is the biggest problem with The Division’s Dark Zone.

While I believe the Dark Zone was created with these really cool ideas in mind, the lack of rewards versus high risk is not worth it. This has created a very polite Dark Zone where no one bothers one another. And aside from trolls who decide to go rogue and really have no actual desire to extract, or purposely move into another player’s line of fire to get shot and make that player rogue, no one goes rogue.

So, how do we fix this? We need to make it worth it to a player to go rogue. I think a system where the bag, which notifies other players you have gear, changes color based on the rarity of the loot inside will make players feel as if going rogue is worth it. If someone has a very rare item, like a purple rarity gun, change the bag purple. I feel like this will further increase tension on both sides and make players more likely to go rogue when another player has something really rare. While this could make for something like the end of The Departed, it would also make for some really intense firefights.

Side note: for those who haven’t seen The Departed, SPOILERS! This is the ending! There is some blood. You’ve been warned!

The second change I’d like to see would be to the punishment of the players who have gone rogue. Losing money, annoying but fine. Having a waypoint above their head that let’s other players easily hunt them down, fine. Losing experience and levels is not. If they must keep it, then let the player lose experience up until they would level down, and not lose any more experience or levels past that point. But I’d like to see them get rid of that punishment altogether. By the way, that same punishment happens to players who haven’t gone rogue. Get killed, lose experience. I’ve dropped entire levels from being killed a few times in a row. It’s insanely frustrating and makes you want to die even less, which further pushes me from wanting to go rogue because my chance of death increases exponentially. Remember, while rogue, everything is hunting you.

I hope this enlightened you to how the prisoner’s dilemma, one of the most interesting game theory concepts, can go so wrong in a game. I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to hear what changes you think would make the players more likely to go rogue without breaking the game. I’ll be back next week with an update on the Gardens of Eden, the game I’m working on in my free time.

I’ll see you guys next week,

 

Scott

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