Filling the Void:
Making “In-Between”
Games
Arthur Humphrey,
Founder and Lead Designer, Last Day of Work
Last Day of Work
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Fish Tycoon
Plant Tycoon
Virtual Villagers: A New Home
Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children
Virtual Villagers 3: Coming Soon!
PART 1 –
ENCAPSULATING THE
COMPLEXITY.
What is an “In-Between” Game?
Casual
(Solitaire)
Core
(Doom)
Doomitaire®
What is the Advantage of an “InBetween” Game?
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Underserved Demographic.
Growing Demographic (as core digital
downloads become prevalent).
Differentiation by giving your ‘casual’
game more depth than the competition.
What is the Disadvantage of an “InBetween” Game?
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Harder to categorize the game: core
media thinks it’s too casual and will not
list the game; vice-versa. Same goes for
retail shelving.
Creating tremendous niche appeal….for 14
people.
What is my Definition of a Casual
Game?
There are many popular definitions that
you’ll be hearing over and over…
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A game that appeals to women in ‘the
demographic’…35 to 55.
A game where the player does one thing
at-a-time: move mouse, click mouse.
A game that sells well on casual portals!
For me: A game that is extremely
accessible, and starts very simply.
How accessible?
How accessible should your design be?
This accessible.
So, you have a non-casual game idea that
you think could work in the casual market…
How can you avoid scaring away non-gamers,
while not boring-to-death more experienced
gamers?
Making ‘Non-Casual’ Game Mechanics
Accessible to Non-Gamers:
Encapsulation of Complexity
Why is this important?
 Non-gamers can be intimidated by too
many options.
 They need guidance, and to have a
sense of progress immediately.
 This can be achieved by making the
game plain-out simple, but then we lose
the more experienced gamer market.
How?
There are 2 types of Encapsulation:
Game-mechanic
Encapsulation
Limit access to
more advanced
game mechanics;
Tutorial
encapsulation, and
‘just in time
tutorials’.
User Interface
Encapsulation
Bury (encapsulate)
screens into other
screens; add redundant
hotkeys for more
advanced players to
jump straight to
‘deeper’ screens;
Example:
World of Warcraft – Quest Dependencies
In WoW, players start with one quest-giver.
Upon completion of the initial quests, even
out of order, the player is fluidly
introduced to a new set of contacts and
the play options rapidly expand.
Non-gamers will get to that point more
slowly, more experienced gamers more
quickly. It causes the game to naturally
adapt to the players’ comfort level.
Example: Virtual Villagers Mechanics
Encapsulation
In Virtual Villagers, we limit what the
villagers can interact with until
advancement on the tech tree occurs.
Since we know that “x” points are needed
for a level of advancement, we can
basically turn a knob and decide when a
player will be granted access to a new tier
of game elements.
‘Just-in-Time’ Tutorial System
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A great way to introduce new features is
to use a triggered, or just-in-time tutorial
system (as opposed to a fully scripted,
‘hold-your-hand’ tutorial).
This reduces the invasiveness of the
tutorial, and continues to introduce
features as the player advances and is
ready for them.
Also easy to implement!!!!!
TIP: Use Random Tips as a Gentle
Introduction to Game Features.
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Easy to implement.
Causes a natural pacing of the
introduction of new features, linked to the
number of loads. More loads tends to ==
more comfort with the game.
Interface Encapsulation (In Brief)
You want these game screens
available from the main scene?
Are they all necessary to the player immediately?
All central to the core mechanic? Didn’t think so.
Here we bundled all the non-necessary UI
buttons into a subscreen. All that is left are 4
friendly buttons.
What about the more experienced
players? Aren’t they getting bored with
the slow pace?
No. Many of these pacing features are
determined by the adeptness of the
player, but there are additional steps
that can be taken…
Optional Game Mechanics
Add optional mechanics to the game. Make
them immediately available, but not ‘in their
face’.
More experienced players will seek these
out… non-gamers should not even
necessarily notice them.
In WoW: Crafting.
In VV: Collections.
PART 2 –
UNDERSTANDING CASUAL
THEME VS. CASUAL
MECHANIC.
Casual games are traditionally composed
of a simple, familiar game mechanic and
a familiar family-friendly theme.
Here is a casual mechanic: cards
Here is a casual theme: vacation
Is it necessary for both of these game
qualities to be ‘casual’? Where can we
bend the rules, and where might we
benefit from doing so?
1)Core Mechanic with Casual
Theme
Something we are starting to see are games
that were traditionally core (both in
mechanic and theme), but now re-themed
for the casual market. Let’s look at the
highly addicting Tower Defense webphenomenon and see what has been done
there…
Example: Tower Defense
Traditional
Tower Defense
iWIN’s
Garden Defense
Wow. The game is now family friendly and
looks like a casual game…is it enough?
2)Casual Mechanic with a Core
Theme
Example: 3-in-a-row
Popcap’s
Bejeweled
Infinite-interactive’s
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the
Warlords
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In both of these cases, the change in
mechanic or theme was designed to bring
a successful game mechanic into a new
demographic without ruining what worked
about the game.
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Any other good reasons to tinker with the
‘casualness’ of the mechanic or theme?
3) Problem Solving: Adapting your
Mechanic to Better Fit your
Demographic.
Our research tech tree
intimidated our test
users. Adapting it to a
more casual mechanic
(shopping metaphor)
helped instantly.
Virtual Villagers
In Summary:
1) Depth in your ‘in-between’ game is
great. Lots of reasons to do it.
2) Keep the learning curve EXTREMELY
shallow, but make more advanced
features available to those who look for it.
3) Optional game mechanics, random tips
at loading, just-in-time tutorial.
4) Be aware of how ‘casual’ your
mechanic and theme are, and adjust them
for the right reasons.
5) A core theme, even with a casual
mechanic, will have the biggest impact on
your distribution options.