Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Although giving higher scores for
desirable
actions and lowering scores for
undesirable
actions
in a game is the norm, it's even possible to create scoring systems that don't necessarily favor
one style of playing or action over another. In
Wonder City
(2013), a game I helped create, the
player guides the actions of a character who's just discovered she has superpowers. Through a
series of decisions, the player decides how this superheroine will relate to other characters, pro-
tect her secret identity, and deal with tricky situations (see Figure
6.14
). There's no single score
that determines how well a player did; instead, the game
keeps track of the kinds of choices the
player makes. Does the heroine use her powers at every opportunity or try to solve problems in
other ways? Does she collaborate with her friends, or is she more of a loner? After each chapter
of the game, the player sees icons that represent a style of heroism: direct or indirect, powerful
or restrained, collaborative or independent, among others.
Figure 6.14
Making decisions in
Wonder City
.
Although the game's system keeps track of these styles with a series of numerical scores, we
actually opted
not
to show the numbers to the player. In
Wonder City
, we wanted the game's
conversation with the player to focus less on trying to affect the score and more on the player's
gut feeling about how she wanted her character to behave in each situation that requires a
decision. The result is a scoring system that's more like a personality test: there's no
better
score,
only different scores that reflect ideas back to the player about the style she's created through
a series
). Like the other parts of a game's resistance that
we've discussed in this chapter, score can be shaped in many different ways, depending on
what kind of conversation you're trying to bring about.
of cumulative choices (see Figure
6.15
