Progression

I believe progression is the key to creating longevity for any game.  Progression keeps people playing, they want to improve and become stronger.  Progression gets player invested in there character and in the game.  A good progression system is one of the most important aspects if any game.  With that said I have a big problem with how games have been doing progression.  Here is my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of progression.

The Good: The role of progression is two fold.  First, is that players progress to make their characters stronger.  As players progresses they will unlock new abilities, collect better gear and unlock powerful talents.  These are to facilitate a sense of achievement for the player.  This keeps the game fresh and interesting.  It motivates the player to continue playing, the desire to unlock a new ability or get new gear.  However, there is a balancing act involved.  Give the player too much, and you diminish the sense of achievement.  Give the player too little and the game quickly become stale and boring.  

The Bad:  The worst thing about progression, by far, is what I call the division.  Progression is a system to improve and strengthen a character, to set him/her apart.  This creates a divide between the player and those he plays with.  It makes it extremely difficult to play with other, especially real life friends.  Here is an example:

A buddy of mine was really into World of Warcraft.  He started playing a little over a year before me.  He invited me to play one day and I accepted.  I was excited at the prospect of exploring dungeons and fighting the Alliance with my friend.  However, I was level 1 and my friend was level 60.  (Ignoring mechanics of decreasing experience and what not when grouped with a higher level player; lets focus on some philosophy).  I soon realized it was not fun to play with my level 60 friend!  He was too strong, I felt useless.  My being there contributed nothing.  Astonishingly, it was not fun for my friend to babysit me either.  The content was too easy, everything we did was trivial for him.  We quickly came to the conclusion that it would be best for me to level up solo as quickly as I could.  This lead to me and running through content as quick as humanly possible.  The game soon became a chore.  

Games need to be centered around the concept of always being able to play with friends in a fun and meaningful way.  

The Ugly:  I don't know why I chose this saying, but I am sticking with it.  The ugly is my ideas on how progression could be handled.  First I will state the objective of my system of progression, then try to articulate a system to accomplish it.  Progression should 1. give the player a sense of achievement and improvement while 2. allowing him to play with anyone at anytime.  Without getting into the topic of customization (a whole other can of worms for me) players should be free to progress in any way they please.  The main ways a player progresses is through utilities (this is what I call abilities, I'll explain more).  Weapons and armor should be customization choices.  By that I mean that no such thing as better gear, only different.  Same with weapons.  It isn't about finding the best weapon, rather it's about choosing a weapon that fits your play style.  As a new player should be free to go buy the highest damage dealing sniper rifle in the game, go shot a veteran player in the head and kill him.  Well what about the veteran player you ask?  This is were I want to talk about progression.  

As a player progresses he doesn't become stronger in the sense that he/she has more life or inherently deals more damage.  Just thinking about it, logically that doesn't make sense.  The difference between a Navy SEAL and I is not that a Navy SEAL can get shot in the face more times than me and not die.  The difference is that a Navy SEAL has the tech and the experience.  Therefore as a player progresses he can start to acquire more utilities.  These are obtained at the players discretion.  A few potential examples: stealth generator, jet pack, wrist mounted flame thrower, thermal vision, sentry turret, grappling hook ect.  None of these utilities give the player more life or allow him to one shot a lowbie.  Rather they offer him/her an advantage; you could say they make the game easier for him/her.

  

Lets revisit our example of a newbie with a powerful rifle, trying to kill a veteran player.  The veteran play can use the stealth generator to avoid getting shot from long range.  The new player doesn't have thermal vision so at long range can't see the veteran.  The veteran player can use a grappling hook to pull the newbie off balance, preventing the newbie from getting a clear shot.  Also the veteran can plant a sentry turret, which will attack the newbie, leaving the veteran free to dodge and avoid damage. 

This I believe is a more fair approach to progression.  The players regularly get cool new utilities that help him/her in combat.  The veteran can expect to win most fights against newbies.  But at the same time the newbie has a legitimate opportunity to win.  Not like in WoW where no matter what you do you will constantly miss and the veteran can kill you with an auto attack.

Welcome to 'The Arena'

I am really excited about the people who have joined in to work on this project so far.  I've always knew I wanted to get into game development.  I never felt there was a ton of opportunities to gain experience or get involved though.  I am hoping that this project can be a positive experience for everyone involved.

I am really excited about what lies ahead.  Having talked with a few of the people who signed up I can tell we have a passionate and talented group.  I want nothing more to make games fun games that people will enjoy.  However my number one priority is that I want this to be a great learning experience for anyone and everyone who is interested in a career in the gaming industry.

With that all said I want to take a moment to talk about my vision for "The Arena".  First and foremost I want this project to be reasonable.  I want to be able to finish it.  I want to finish it and show people a completed game.  That is why I want to keep this game simple.  Basic concept, You team up with some buddies and enter into a, Romanesque sci-fi, arena and fight other players to the death.  Obviously I have a lot of ideas i'd like to explore and i'd like to expand the game but we need to start basic.  A few weeks ago Blizzard's Jonny Ebbert came to BYU and spoke to a bunch of students about making games.  (That was the kick in the butt I needed to decided I really was going to do this).  He said something that I thought was quite profound.  He said that in order to make a great game, you need to figure out what the player will spend most of his/her time doing.  Once you know what it is, you need to make that feature awesome.  That is what I am trying to do with "The Arena".  I want to make the most fun combat of any game.  Once we are sure that we have accomplished that goal, we can start thinking about expanding.

Best case scenario for "The Arena" is that is becomes massively popular, it becomes the next League of Legends.  If that happened, I would immediately start to find money, or look for a publishing deal to make this into a real company.  Of course I would continue to support and improve "The Arena", but I would love to more ideas and concepts.  I have always been fascinated and drawn to open world games.  If "The Arena" succeeds, I would love to make it into an open world game.  A game were friends can explore a vibrant and rich world together.  Then, bringing it full circle, having the players return to the arena to test their skills against other players.

Worst case scenario for "The Arena" is that we make a game that doesn't get much attention.  However, we still made a game.  We can slap that onto a resume and show employers.  When Jonny came and spoke, I asked him what would be more valuable from a hiring stand point, straight A's or having made a game.  He laughed a little and responded, "If you make a well polished game, we won't even look to see if you graduated college".  So I think worst case scenario, we get a good job out of it.

How to Make Your Business Successful

When it comes to running a business I believe most people surround themselves with like-minded people or people with very similar traits.  Whether you are a group of hyper intelligent people, charismatic people persons or tenacious business men all can benefit from one simple principle.  This principal is diversity.  All people seeking to enter into the commercial sector should seek to find a working balance of mavens, connectors, and salesmen.  Companies who find this balance are more often than not the companies who find success.

              A good company needs a healthy balance of mavens.  These are the know it all’s.  They are smart; they keep up to date with the latest technology and constantly learning.  Mavens are important because they are the ones who improve the working technology of the office.  More importantly, Mavens are the ones who provide the greatest boost to the quality of your product or service.  Companies who fail to accumulate Mavens tend to suffer as they become out dated.

              Just as important as having people with the know-how, it is important to have connectors with the know-who.  Connectors know everyone and more importantly they know the right people.  They are the ones you want on your side.  They can bring in talent, investor and endorsers.  It doesn't matter how brilliant you product or idea is if you can get other people to join you and support your endeavor.  Companies who fail to find connectors more often or not are lost in the mix.

              Now that you have the smarts and the support, it’s time to sell your product or service.  This should be easy right?  You have a brilliant product and all the backing you’ll need, they product should sell itself.  False, this is where 90% of businesses fail.  Salesmen are tenuous and they know how to get the word out and how to get people to pull out their wallets.  Salesmen with the combined efforts of the mavens and the connectors will proved to be beneficial to any company who find the right balance.

#twitterstake

There is an underground society in the LDS community.  They are known as #twitterstake.  During priesthood session of this general conference I decided to experience General Conference is another way, through Twitter.  It was a very positive experience, initially I thought that “tweeting” during conference is disrespectful and will distract me.  When I discovered is there is a vast community of people who are sharing live quotes and insights for the current talk.  Even the churches official Twitter account was participating in the sharing.  With all this positive influence I actually found it easier to stay awake and attentive during the session.  I recommend that anyone who reads this to try “Tweeting Conference” at least once.

Ethics and Computers in Society

When is comes to ethics in computer science one may think it only involves not hacking and not developing content that is inconsistent with or personal or religious beliefs.  There is a great deal more that is expected of us however.  Computer science is a valuable skill, one that will make some very wealthy in their life time.  We will all experience some form of success, it is imperative that we remember to give back.  Remember to give back to the community by teaching programming to others.  Remember to give back to the institutions that taught us.  Most importantly remember God, who has given us all that we have.  We earn nothing in this life but that which He gives.  So in 10 to 15 years, no matter our situation, stay ethically and morally responsible.

Games For Human Development (Vlog)

Gaming Addiction

There is a stigma to massive multiplayer online games that they are addictive.  This is no more true than saying that cars are addictive.  The activity shouldn't be blamed for a person's addictive personality, if it wasn't games it would be something else.  A friend from growing up was by any definition of the word addicted to games.  When he was banned from them, he simply moved on to the next thing.  Those with obsessive personalities need something to pour their energy into.  Ironically, the "signs" of someone who is addicted to games are the same signs you would see in anyone who is passionate about anything: music, art, programming.  While we should strive to maintain balanced lives, we must recognize that any activity can become "addictive".  We should therefore resist blaming games for being the problem.