Sticky from the Start

Stieg Hedlund, Turpitude LLC

Austin Game Developers’ Conference,

2008

5 Keys to Stickiness:

Set Ups and Pay Offs

Consistency and Dependability

Feedback and Rewards

Reasons to Stay/ Return

Personal Stakes

Building a Sticky Game Mechanic

Sticky from the Player Perspective

• A challenge to be conquered can be fun, but not

necessarily sticky

• Stickiness focuses on the journey, not the

destination

Sticky systems keep players engaged.

Diablo II – What Made it Sticky?

A Short History of RPGs

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

1974: D&D – 1st commercial tabletop RPG

1975: Dungeon – 1st Computer RPG

1980: Akalabeth – 1st successful CRPG

1991: Neverwinter Nights, 1st Graphical MUD

1996: Diablo released

Tabletops Early Electronics

Middle Electronics

From 1991 to 1996…

Is the RPG dead?

1985-1990: Bard’s Tale, D&D 2nd edition, Dungeon Master the First Action RPG, Might & Magic, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, and others

RPGs stagnate

• Stripped down CRPG residue:– No die rolling for character creation– No upfront character customization– No EDO storyline (elves/dwarves/orcs!)– No dialogue trees or moral choices

Diablo

Real-Time Combat +Deep, Rich Gameplay= The New Action RPG

Diablo’s Shortcomings

• Separate single- and multiplayer

• Peer-to-peer

• Classes didn’t differ enough and lacked clear

progression paths

A Quick Aside on Vision vs. Feedback….

• A loud minority wanted the cruft back!

• Diablo II explored new ground instead of

regressing

REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE IN THE TIMELINE:

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

RPGs stagnate

Differentiating Diablo II

Game “ X ”

Loot based

Character Evolution

Game “ Y ”

Game “ Z ”

Set Ups and Pay Offs

• Sticky games need aspirational hooks

for players

• Foreshadowing in gameplay—

What am I playing for?

Back to Stickiness Key #1

The Importance of Class Progression

• RPGs are about character progression– This concern trumps all others

• Classes need specific and differentiated

gameplay– also customization, deepening the differentiations

A new game mechanic was needed!

Inspiration Strikes

Diablo II's Big Innovation

• Introducing the Skill Tree

• Skill Trees are sticky:– Predictable yet

personalized advancement– Tangible improvements at

every level– Scarcity of points gives

consequences to choices

No mysteries here: The entire skill tree is visible from the start

What About the Other Stickiness Keys?

Stickiness Key #2

Consistency and Dependability

• Let players play on their own terms

• Predictability and anticipation of rewards

keeps players playing

Power to the Player!

• A single “Skill Point” is given at each level up

• Skill points and Trees allow players to customize

builds

• Reaching advanced skills requires planning

and commitment, but also has significant

payoffs along the way

Stickiness Key #3

Feedback and Rewards

• Digital rewards with tangible effects– Analog boosts can supplement

• Overlapping reward systems

The Ding! Factor

• Diablo II features digital rewards for leveling up:– You can use equipment you couldn’t before– Your avatar’s health and mana increase– You receive new attribute points– You receive new skill points

• Allocating those skill points gives a tangible increase

in power

Digital vs. Analog Rewards

Time

Reward

Analog Reward SystemDigital Reward System

Hybrid Reward System

The Ding! Factor

• You immediately receive health and mana

increases, and go to full:– You are likely to be in combat, so you get a mid-battle

bonus– You don’t stop and walk back to town to train skills

Stickiness Key #4

Reasons to Stay/ Return

• Next level

• Better equipment

• “Just one more turn!”, etc., etc.

Leveling

• Leveling gives players predictable and

meaningful rewards—keeps them playing

• Beginning players quickly gain new skills, getting

them invested

• Long term goals make even grinding a

meaningful experience

“Bad dream, honey?”

Stickiness Key #5

Personal Stakes

• Your avatar

• Your skills

• Your points/ money/ items

• Your ability to share with others….

Choices with Consequences

• The scarcity of skill points results in choices with

consequences:– Scarce points force the player to choose a focus– Subclasses and Sub-Subclasses and Hybrids are

emergent:• Players were exploring and inventing

– Proving them out– Fine-tuning and– Sharing with the community

Other Consequences

Sub-Subclasses

• The skill tree system was surprisingly successful especially in the number of viable builds:– The Amazon Class* for example provides (at least):

Bowazons: Mageazon Vamp Dexazon Speedazon Sniper Mutli-Strafer Multizon Burizon Rebel

Javazons: Lightning Fury Staticzon Poison Viper

Spearazons: Spearazon Jabazon Impalazon Fendazon Tankazon

Hybrids: Lightning Fury Mother of

Elements Elemental

Maiden Themes:

Demon Hunter Undead Hunter Goldfinder Angelzon Stormcaster

* diabloii.net Diablo II Strategy Compendium, Amazon Subclasses, author: “Kristy”

Building Skill Trees

Skill Tree Checklist

• Create and Subclasses (and Sub-Subclasses)

– Distinct builds: Do skills warrant their own branch?

– Expectation: Do skills make sense to the class?

– Viable builds: Will the skills be useful to players?

– Aspirational: Could I see myself looking forward to this skill?

– Non-Redundant: Will this skill become obsolete later?

– Synergistic: Will this branch work with other branches in interesting ways?

– Orthogonal skill factors

Skill Tree Pitfalls

• Cookie-cutter builds

• Emergence leads to unforeseen imbalances

• Generally uniformity of character identities

cross games

• Elder game systems like Raiding dictate specific

builds

Avoiding the Pitfalls

• Play the hell out of your game– Hire designers/ exploiters– Scaling problems

• Simulations allow quick deployment of character builds and testing outside of the game

• Look beyond games for inspiration– Games become self referential

• Use the keys, throw away unnecessary forms

Skill Trees in Other Games

World of Warcraft

• Separation of skills/ talents that define the class

from specializations

• Web-based avatar build minigame

Hellgate: London

• All on a single screen is difficult for a player to

understand

• The classes are understood

more by analogy to

other games;

Blademaster = Paladin?

The Stickiness Keys Again

Set Ups and Pay Offs

Consistency and

Dependability

Feedback and Rewards

Reasons to Stay/ Return

Personal Stakes

Key 1: Positive Application

• World of Warcraft’s Draenei starting

experience gives players a taste of mounts

and powerful enchantments within the first

10 levels

– Expectations quickly setfor high level play

– Appetites whetted for progression to higher levels

Key 1: Negative Application

• Star Wars Galaxies made becoming a Jedi so

difficult that many players lost interest

before getting a taste of what brought them

to the game to begin with

– The game went against player expectations onbecoming “Jedi”

Key 2: Positive Application

• In Grand Theft Auto IV, players can drop any

objectives and go on a criminal joyride at

will, knowing that they can always come

back to the mission later.

– The GTA series quickly establishe that players are free to pretty much do whatever

Key 2: Negative Application

• In Final Fantasy XI, abruptly becomes

group-mandatory, alienating players who

might have enjoyed early levels solo.

– The formula changes suddenly, which can drive players away

Key 3: Positive Application

• Super Smash Brothers Brawl has numerous

systems of rewards and collectables. Great

for the audience.

– Don’t like stickers? How about trophies.

– Don’t like trophies? How about music.

Key 3: Negative Application

• Achievements on the new Mega Man 9

are…

HARDCOREZ! Great for hardcore audience,

but if they wanted to appeal to a more

mainstream group…

– Beat the game in less than 60 minutes

– Clear the gamewithout dying

– Clear the game 5 timesin one day

Key 4: Positive Application

• Rare Pokémon that only come out during

certain conditions, such as specific days or

hours.

– Players on the quest to “catch ‘em all” will continually look forthe rare must haves

Key 4: Negative Application

• Total destruction of your village and loss of

all your resources in Travian which forces

the player to start over.

– A simple design flaw, plus the chance that you start near an advanced player = the potential for maximum frustration

– Why return after that?

Key 5: Positive Application

• Wii Fit Charts your actual weight gain/ loss

—you can’t get much more "personally

invested”

– Tracking your actual performanceties you to the game very well, aslong as you don’t get frustrated

Key 5: Negative Application

• You begin playing MGS2: Sons of Liberty as

Snake but play the majority of the game as

a new character that didn’t have any

player investment.

– Players were committed to Snake after MGS1

– The change-up was not what players expected or wanted

!

Thank You

Any Questions?

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TurpitudeDesign.com