[MUSIC] As we think about affective system design, what we're really doing is trying to explore the mechanics and dynamics through which we're going to allow the user to reach those goals. So let's talk about mechanics, right? We'll start there. Game mechanics are really the kinds of choices, the kinds of actions that a player can take in a game world, right? And what we're doing is constructing the ramifications that those choices will have on the rest of the game, all right? And so this can include things like altering the game world, right, or altering elements within the game. So one of the things I want you to think about, particularly as it relates to game design, is get rid of that distinction between digital and non-digital games, all right. As a game designer, all games are interesting, right? All games have a player state, a game state, and ways in which the player sort of modifies those or interacts with those systems. So for many game designers, a board game is as interesting, if not more so, than the latest and greatest AAA title that came out that everyone is excited about. So game mechanics interact with, as I said, the game world, the game elements, its economy, or the rules, right? How do a player's actions relate to the rules? What are the consequences of those actions? So dynamics become the systems that the player interacts with through mechanics. Think about mechanics like a verb, right, an action, a thing you can do, right. So maybe it's pressing a button, maybe it's pressing a key, and that might relate to, say, jumping, which is a verb, remember? Back to one of our early activities. Verbs were really important because they help us find our mechanics. But it's the interaction of those mechanics with some underlying system. The system is like the rules. When you pull out a board game and you read the rules, you're reading about the system that's supposed to underlie the game. When you modify the rules of Monopoly to make it not so horrible, with house rules, you're modifying the dynamics of the game. I mean, I suppose if you added punching somebody as part of Monopoly, you'd be adding a mechanic. But that's different, and I don't know how that would relate to the rules of the game, right? But a player interacts with the game by providing some kind of input, right, taking an action. And those actions are read and processed through the rules, and it shifts the game state, it changes either the board or the numbers that represent its economy. All right, you're shifting some underlying game state, and in doing so, you can also adjust the player state, right? That's the output. It changes the thing either on the screen or the board itself. These are the things that you're interacting with, right? And so it's a combination of mechanics and dynamics that will result in interesting elements of gameplay. So, for example, right, dynamics of mechanics are different perspectives on the same game. So, for example, lets talk about Pacman, right? The player controls Pacman, right? And by adjusting the position of the joystick it changes Pacman's direction. The game state represents, well, what pellets have been consumed. Where are the ghosts? What is the ghost's current state? All of those things are really important as you design games, to think about the relationship between those two things. And, so, dynamics really emerge from the interaction between a player and the mechanics and that underlying game state. And so if you can start to think about, well, what's the game state look like? How is it changing based on my actions? Then you're thinking in the right terms. So there are a lot of analytical approaches to analyzing games, right? And in particular for play testing, we're gonna talk about that later. But being able to dissect and pull apart, well, how does this action relate to a shift in this game state? It's actually really important. As it relates to gameplay as a whole, we were already talking about that there's this conversation between you as a designer and your player, and that happens through the combination of mechanics, dynamics, and affect, all right. So, we literally take those things and encode them in the code of the game, which is why it's important for you to learn at least a little bit about coding, which is why we started the entire specialization that way. Because it gives you an appreciation for how a computer thinks, how it works. I like to think about a computer as a big spreadsheet. There's no reason that you can't use, say, Microsoft Excel or any spreadsheet program to think about your game, to think about how its underlying state changes based on the actions of the user. And so dynamics emerge from the specific sets of mechanics. And they do that through their interaction with the player which is really where we find our effective goals, right? And how does that interaction happen, right? What kind of affect do we evoke by, I don't know, for example, adding a time limit. By adding a time limit we change the relationship that the player has. No longer do they get to freely explore but it adds some tension. Time pressure is a dynamic that can create tension, right. There are other things, I don't know, maybe placing a bomb in the game. Or that the bomb is going to go off in two minutes and so you need to handle that. Or maybe there's a resource that's consistently being depleted. Even in one my favorites, Super Mario Brothers, what's the first thing that you notice? There's a countdown timer ticking down. There's no reason it had to be that way, except for the fact that without that motivation why else would you do it? And, of course, the time in Super Mario Brothers actually relates to the ability to get more points, right? Because if you finish a level rapidly you get more points for the amount of time that was left, right. So there are all these options that really ultimately affect the player in different ways. And so, back to the DPE model, right. What we're really exploring here is this middle tier, right, the gameplay component of this, where we're looking at mechanics, dynamics, and affect. And that's what I want you to think about, right, as you're designing these things. But this is also a tool that you can use for analysis. You can take this and dissect games with it as well, right. You can look at the playground, all right. And maybe it's a game about schoolyard fights, and so there's kicking. And there actually is a really great game about schoolyard fights called Sissyfight, and you should probably check it out. But we can actually use this model to explore games that we're already playing, and begin to think a little bit more like a designer. And try to understand, well, what are the kinds of systems that are at play here? And what kind of affect are they evoking from me? So those are really good tools for you, right? Next time you play a game, put that model right in front of you. Think about it a little bit. Because the systems that you're interacting with, the affects that you're experiencing, are the things that you're trying to now create yourself. I'll see you next time. [MUSIC]
