This month we're examining approachability in games. How can we remove barriers to entry for new players?
This week we begin with the six axioms of approachability that will help display the direction we'll be taking this month. Each week we'll look at plenty of examples of games that use some interesting methods that games use to connect with an audience.
I'll update this post as we progress through the month. I hope you'll join me with your own thoughts and ideas.
We're continuing our topic on appraochability this week with how to improve the first impressions of players during your game. Previously we looked at how to position your game so it can be pitched to new players and now we are looking at taking full advantage of their commmitment to participating.
How can you ensure new players buy in to your game?
I think an important thing though on the other hand is not to compromise your vision of your game and what it's about. If you do that, you ruin the experience for those who are really seeking what it's supposed to be about. Know your core audience.
For example, look at the Resident Evil series. Started of as pure survival horror, was praised heavily for it. But they wanted to try to attract the more casual shoot-em-up immature crowd and thus they compromised what Resident Evil was originally about and they ended up making bad games and alienating their core audience while their newer audience (the shoot-em-up bros) were simply just lukewarm about the product.
Excellent point devaloki! Sticking to your core concept is probably the most important design goal. Ideally, implementing approachability wouldn't interfere with other goals and I hope some of these solutions can be helpful.
This week we look at Parsimony as a method to invest in your audience and find ways to both make a game simpler to learn. We also look at Assurance which includes some ideas of how to encourage new players to play again and return as experienced players.
http://www.gamesprecipice.com/captivate-the-audience-2
Comments and criticism are always appreciated.
How much should designers consider the learning curve of their game designs? In our penultimate article on Approachability we take a look at quite a few example games and their learning curves. How does the learning curve of your game affect your intended audience?
http://www.gamesprecipice.com/the-learning-curve/
Perhaps our best article yet. Comments and criticism are always appreciated.
Oh one other thing too: I think having a separate "walkthrough" in addition to the rulebook is a good way to get players into the game and learn it easily. Some people learn things easier by seeing something as it works, rather than straight out reading the rules.
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In our second week of Approachability we are focusing on the introductory phase of a new game. How can we prevent a new game from appearing to be an overwhelming experience for hesitant players?
http://www.gamesprecipice.com/extending-the-invitation/
This week we focused on Familiarity and Purpose.
Familiarity is the ability to establish connections with players based on their prior experiences. In Scrabble a new player might have concerns of seeing letters and words and various scoring spaces on the board but if it is pitched as "We build a crossword puzzle" that may alleviate concerns over the idea behind the game before it begins.
Purpose is the process of establishing the objective in a game and allowing players to position themselves around the end goal.