The improvement of the rules of game design the robustness of the verb __ Network technology

We want the verbs we create to develop as much as possible, making them a rich, three-dimensional character. Not only does this mean that verbs interact more with other rules in the game, it also means that for each interaction, the player wants a proper response. Verbs are rules that allow players to learn the rest of the game's rules. If you play at home some way triggers a verb without getting any feedback, the player learns nothing, whether it's the verb itself or the rules of the game. We need a robust verb that can communicate with the player, even if it just says "No, you can't do that." "This seemingly negative message is as important as telling the player what to do."

Here is an example of my own work. 2009, I developed a game called "Into the Tomb" (Tombed), the protagonist is an archaeologist, Danje Jane 2. Jane, who was investigating the catacombs, was forced to dig deep into the loose layers of Earth as she triggered the tomb's body--a sharp barbed wall that quickly fell down. She was holding a shovel and could use it to dig through the soft clods beneath her feet. "Digging" is a key verb, the verb in the title screen of the game has been set up: Jane stood on a piece of ground can be dug, with a shovel in hand, the text on the screen tells the player "Press Shift" start. When the player starts by following the instructions, Jane starts digging the ground. Because every lump of dirt is dug up, the same color and the associated clods (a total of three colors) will all disappear, so Jane will immediately fall down, through the title screen, into the game.

So now, the player knows what the most important verb of Jane is ("digging"), what key is pressed to trigger it ("Shift"), and what the effect of a shovel on the soft clay that will appear after the game begins. Jane's other verbs are to "go left" or "go right" on the stable ground. When there is no ground at the foot, she falls down until she lands on the ground again.

In addition to the dirt that can be dug, there are solid pieces of metal that are not dug. They are used to limit the action of Jane, in other words, to create a choice for the player. Perhaps, rather than trying to dig a piece of metal, she needs to move back and forth around the metal blocks to avoid the fast-approaching barbed walls. Maybe she needs to wait and let the barbed wall hit the metal blocks to destroy them. Here, there is another rule: the spiked walls can destroy any square, including metal blocks. Therefore, the metal wall is actually a speed control mechanism to prevent Jane from running too quickly out of the screen so that the player can not see and control her.

But how do players know all this? Knowing that Jane's shovel can destroy obstacles, but how they know it is not valid for metal. Let me tell you. The home shovel ran into the first metal barrier and the game provided feedback telling the player what had happened.

Here's what happens when Jane uses an irrevocable piece of metal in a shovel shovel: it bounces back and emits a metallic "ding" sound (see Figure 2.4). Even if a player cannot use this verb to pass through an obstruction, there is a perceptible effect that gives the player information about the relationship between the verb and the obstacle. When the player uses the verb, the rule "Jane cannot dig through" is communicated to the player or is strengthened.

Fig. 2.4 Jane tried to dig through the clods and the metal

In fact, the way the game introduced this rule was this: players had to dig three layers of dirt at the start of a different color. Figure 2.5 shows the first scene of the game. When the clods are hit, every same color of dirt that it touches will be crushed, but the different colors of the clods will not. This is the basic rule of the game and the first thing the game teaches players.

Figure 2.5 The opening of the tomb

When Jane had dug through all three colors of clods, she reached the bottom of a metal well with two walls on either side. She can shovel a piece of metal with a shovel, but the shovel only bounces and makes a "ding" sound. After a while, the barbed wall will reach the top of the wall, smash all the pieces of metal together, release Jane, and let her fall to the ground below. So now players are basically aware of two rules: "Jane can't dig through metal" and "spiked walls can crush metal".

Each interaction that allows the player to expect an effect should be triggered, even if the effect is negative. This is what I call a strong verb. If a player hits metal with a shovel and nothing happens, like a shovel without a metal or a shovel and metal that doesn't exist to each other, the player may still realize that he can't dig these pieces of metal, but then we can't communicate our rules effectively. It's also possible that the player needs more time to figure it out, and then as he hesitated, the pointy-tipped ceiling smashed down and crushed him to death, so he started again. The player wasted time, but did not learn anything. This is a bad design. As creators, we have to seize any possible opportunity to teach players the rules and strengthen them.