Core Principles of game design.
FORMAL ELEMENTS
Players
Rules
Objectives
Conflict
Boundaries
Outcomes
Resources
Procedures
PROC-BORP
Players
The player voluntarily plays the entertainment and accepts the rules they actively participate in the game/world that they are in. For example in assassins creed the game expects you to not kill NPC's when free roaming other you will restart from a checkpoint.
Objectives
Objectives are structures that help engage the player in the game and if not completed may not let you progress but if completed may reward the player as in Spider-man PS4 after the final boss battle you unlock a new suit and ability this rewarding the player as they have followed all the main objectives
Procedures
procedures the action or methods of play allowed by the rules. These guide what a player can engage with or their behaviour within the game. As they act as an authority
Rules
Rules define the game's object and limit the player as this is a structural element that controls what a player does in game and without rules this mean the player can cheat things like fall damage or world limits and this breaks the game and what is was meant for because developers put these rules in for a reason so the player can have a experience when playing.
Resources
Resources are items or ideas that are made valuable by their availability or ability. Like food, money, life's and weapons/Armour. All which are helpful to the player so this incentives the player to earn things such as them to make their experiences with things like boss battles or exploring easier.
Conflict
Conflict creates challenge and pushes the player to resolve it to benefit them. Conflict also allows for character development so the character is different at the end of the game then when they first began their journey this creates relatable and engaging stories/characters. In God of war (2018) when the stranger attacks Kratos in his own home, he is forced to take his son atreus on a journey that he believes atreus is not ready for, but the threat of conflict from the stranger forces them to go on their journey and acts as a catalyst for the entire game.
Boundaries
Boundaries define where the game takes placed like a fantasy land or a cyber punk city this can ground the player in the world allowing to really engage with world and its characters as if a map is too big players players may find it disengaging like is death stranding where most of the game play is delivering packages from point a to b on a map that has no transport systems. A game that really uses it environment and boundaries effectively is Spider-man PS4 which uses the island of Manhattan well as a boundary because using things like traffic, birds, people on rooftops and aeroplane it brings the map alive and engages the player that they forget that the map actually has limits.
Outcomes
Outcomes are the consequence of a player's action in a game which can allow players to invest emotionally and how their character is viewed in the game world like in watch dogs helping people and stopping things like muggings boost how you are seen in the public eye however if you go around shooting people and hitting them with your car it will decrease and you will be seen as a menace and people are more likely to call the police on you, so this is up to the player how they want it all to unfold.
Comments