Comments on: Killing Bugs Is Rewarding http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/ I bake games. Indie style. Thu, 16 May 2013 13:23:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/comment-page-1/#comment-135236 Brian 'Psychochild' Green Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:47:56 +0000 http://www.gameproducer.net/?p=3159#comment-135236 Yeah, I really like Nicole's work at Xeo Design. I first saw her present at GDC, and I was sitting next to Raph Koster who pointed out her four types of fun were a lot like Bartle's four types of players. She's really friendly and down-to-earth, too. Yeah, I really like Nicole’s work at Xeo Design. I first saw her present at GDC, and I was sitting next to Raph Koster who pointed out her four types of fun were a lot like Bartle’s four types of players. She’s really friendly and down-to-earth, too.

]]> By: Juuso http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/comment-page-1/#comment-135224 Juuso Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:16:25 +0000 http://www.gameproducer.net/?p=3159#comment-135224 Wow :) Good link too: http://xeodesign.com/xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf Wow :)

Good link too:
http://xeodesign.com/xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf

]]> By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/comment-page-1/#comment-135222 Brian 'Psychochild' Green Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:53:55 +0000 http://www.gameproducer.net/?p=3159#comment-135222 The problem is that something that is going to be very rewarding has to present a great challenge. There must be a real possibility of failure in order for conquering of an obstacle to have meaning. The reason that your particular bug was so rewarding to resolve is because it caused you a lot of problems. Compare this to a syntax error caught by the compiler: it's more annoying that you made the error than it was rewarding to fix the typo. The fact that your bug may not even be fixable was extra frustrating, so overcoming it was extra rewarding. So, there's the rub for game design. We have to make players think there's a real chance for failure in order to give them that overwhelming sense of <a href="http://xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames.html" rel="nofollow">fiero</a> that we're describing here. Without this, we can only provide a middle of the road experience that doesn't have failure or victor overy major obstacles. So, it is better to give people something that's fun enough, or give them something where it can be both insanely fun and insanely frustrating? I think the old school players tend to like the latter. We fondly remember screaming at a stupid game in frustration, only to figure out the trick and beat it in the end. The current trend seems to be the former: frustrating a player leads to them hating you, and we don't want that. ;) The problem is that something that is going to be very rewarding has to present a great challenge. There must be a real possibility of failure in order for conquering of an obstacle to have meaning.

The reason that your particular bug was so rewarding to resolve is because it caused you a lot of problems. Compare this to a syntax error caught by the compiler: it’s more annoying that you made the error than it was rewarding to fix the typo. The fact that your bug may not even be fixable was extra frustrating, so overcoming it was extra rewarding.

So, there’s the rub for game design. We have to make players think there’s a real chance for failure in order to give them that overwhelming sense of fiero that we’re describing here. Without this, we can only provide a middle of the road experience that doesn’t have failure or victor overy major obstacles. So, it is better to give people something that’s fun enough, or give them something where it can be both insanely fun and insanely frustrating?

I think the old school players tend to like the latter. We fondly remember screaming at a stupid game in frustration, only to figure out the trick and beat it in the end. The current trend seems to be the former: frustrating a player leads to them hating you, and we don’t want that. ;)

]]> By: Juuso http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/comment-page-1/#comment-135221 Juuso Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:42:09 +0000 http://www.gameproducer.net/?p=3159#comment-135221 Yeh, I'm such a wimp.... but strangely I have no problem calling our 2 dogs to eat the spiders :D Yeh, I’m such a wimp…. but strangely I have no problem calling our 2 dogs to eat the spiders :D

]]> By: Junkyard Sam http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/06/19/killing-bugs-is-rewarding/comment-page-1/#comment-135207 Junkyard Sam Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:32:44 +0000 http://www.gameproducer.net/?p=3159#comment-135207 Ha! That's hilarious that you feel bad about killing bugs... I do too! It's a strangely bad feeling I get from that. And tracking down hard to find or obscure bugs - that's gotta be one of the hardest tasks for a programmer... Especially the ones that are often so hard to replicate, and seem to happen randomly. Ugh! Ha! That’s hilarious that you feel bad about killing bugs… I do too! It’s a strangely bad feeling I get from that.

And tracking down hard to find or obscure bugs – that’s gotta be one of the hardest tasks for a programmer… Especially the ones that are often so hard to replicate, and seem to happen randomly. Ugh!

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