Tackling Challenges through Creative Solutions
In the world of game design, a seasoned product developer has found an innovative approach to creating intricate progression systems for complex games. This approach, demonstrated through the creation of two games - the post-apocalyptic car combat game, Gaslands, and the solitaire space trader game, Oceans Of Space - has proven to be a practical and effective method for understanding and developing progression systems.
The individual, who is not a professional game designer, found it challenging to get started on the Gaslands campaign system. To overcome this, they suggested a valid strategy: isolate the problem and design around it, starting with something simple. This led to the creation of Oceans Of Space, a game built upon a standard deck of playing cards, which served as a testing ground for the designer's ideas.
Oceans Of Space was designed to explore the construction of a progression system. By mastering the core structural elements of this simplified system, the designer gained a foundational understanding of how these parts interact and affect gameplay. This knowledge was then applied to the more complex progression system of Gaslands.
The designer discovered that experimenting with gameplay structure in smaller systems like Oceans Of Space made it easier to map out narrative and gameplay progression. This clarity helped them see how progression motivates players and unfolds over time, a crucial insight when structuring the multi-faceted progression in Gaslands.
Building a simpler progression mechanic first also allowed the designer to test and refine progression dynamics quickly, learning what motivates player advancement, pacing, and reward systems in a manageable setting. The insights gained from this process were then scaled up to create the more intricate progression system required by Gaslands.
Moreover, the designer found that taking the problem space and creating something as quickly as possible, without all the super-structure and weight of the "main" game, can help find out what doesn't work and learn by failing. This approach was instrumental in the development of both Oceans Of Space and Gaslands.
In Gaslands, players will have to pay to repair lost hull points on their vehicles at the cost of 5 points for 1 can of gasoline. To add a layer of realism, the designer added a "repair" rule to simulate the inability of the team to repair long-term niggles in the cars. This rule not only adds a strategic element to the game but also builds tension and peril, a theme that the designer discovered can be effectively implemented through paying for repairs.
The designer also discovered that Oceans Of Space provided a valuable lesson in developing cohesion between narrative and mechanics. By highlighting the relationship between story progression and gameplay challenges in a simplified environment, the designer was able to integrate narrative and progression seamlessly in Gaslands.
In conclusion, starting with a simplified progression system game like Oceans Of Space can significantly aid in understanding and creating a more complex progression system for a larger game such as Gaslands. This approach serves as a practical "training ground" that helps designers internalize progression concepts and structural design techniques, which they can then effectively apply to the more intricate and demanding progression systems required by larger games.
The seasoned product developer, having successfully designed the progression system for complex games like Gaslands and Oceans Of Space, realized that starting with a simpler game like Oceans Of Space, which focuses on education-and-self-development and personal-growth, was an effective strategy for understanding and refining complex progression systems. This method served as a practical personal-growth and education-and-self-development tool, allowing the designer to explore and implement innovative wargames mechanics in a more intricate post-apocalyptic game like Gaslands.
