Live blogging GDC Sid Meier: Interesting decisions

The famous interesting decisions line, Sid Google's himself too apparently.

Not interesting decisions: Choices a player makes randomly or non-choices where there's really only one right answer.

Not an argument that this applies to every game (rhythm/puzzle/etc.)

The importance of the fun as generating "those moments" for the player (shot of Sid with his son many years ago) 

LEGO game design: If you recombine fun elements from other games it should be fun - not so much

Better chances in the design phase to ask what kinds of decisions will I want the player to make over the course of the game. 

During development. To look at the decisions you've already asked the player to make and ask if they are interesting.

Valley of doom (half way to two thirds of the way through development) during bug testing, still useful to ask these questions.

Chracteristics of interesting decisions:

Tradeoffs (i.e. speed vs maneuverability, agility vs power etc)

Situational (i.e. selecting a car in relation to a track)

Personal - tied to gaming style/preference (i.e. preference for turtle vs. zerg)

Persistence - long or short term, designer needs to give players enough information for long term decisions.

Types of decisions:

Risk vs Reward - connected to situational

Short term vs Long term - connected to persistence

Play style and personality - connected to personal (you are not your players, or at least not all of them)

Multiple goals - short term, medium term, long term & may involve meta-gaming

Customization - Player investment. Even little cosmetic things can connect the player more closely to the game through smaller decisions.

Setting the scene - How decisions are presented and how the player is able to respond to them. What information does the player have?

What is the learning curve? Introduce the game to new players early.

Use genre conventions, also extend them or otherewise "do more."

Playing to players expectations/prior knolwedge and understandings in relation to content (i.e. historical connections, sci-fi, zombies, etc.)

Feedback (responding to player decisions)

Provide some kind of indicator acknowledging the player's decisons.

Give the player indicators that other choices would be meaningful (what would/will I do mext time?)

Also crucial for the "Does anyone know I'm here?" factor. You are in partnership with the gamer in play and feedback is your way of communicating that.

Decision feedback loop - refining your design through multiple iteration, listening to a lot of players.

Listening to different kinds of players, it's up to the designer to filter that content.

Player types in testing

Mr. Kick-Butt only cares about winning the game. Usually useful for tuning higher difficulty levels, but be careful with this feedback especially early on.

Ms. Genre Will love your game provided it's in their genre and you've used all the conventions. Useful, but limiting.

Mr. MinMax really needs to understand every algorithm in your game and wants to squeeze every possible advantage. Looking to reverse engineer your game, also limiting but useful.

Ms. Paranoid convinced the computer is cheating, has a paranoid approach to your game.

Mr. History useful input, but not the most important as it tends to hang up on historical details, not game play.

Mr. Bubble-boy Latches on to the moment of failure in your game. A reminder to present setbacks in a gentle way, but don't let this perspective over ride general experiences of other testers.

Mr. Designer They have another game in mind and their input is usually about the game you're not making.

Making decisions more interesting

More/less (balance of your decisions)

More important - connect the decisions to the game more directly

More/less information

More/fewer choices

More flavorful (a presentation issue) The rest of the people on the team can add a huge amount to the player experience of their decisions.

More/less time Most genres are in some sense defined by the amount of time you give the player in decision making. Relation between how much time you give e player to make decisions and how complex those decisions can reasonably be.

Get rid of it! If a decisions really isn't working after you try tweeking it, cut it. Sid says they cut roughly a third of the decisions they build into games.

Remystifying your game

Your game is ultimately more than just decisions. Make it about the fantasy that you're trying to create for the player.

Maximize awesomeness.

Make your game EPIC!

An awesome fantasy and cool decisions reinforce each other in terms of getting the player into your world and keeping them engaged.