MultI -PLAYER

1. MultI-PLAYER Barkan TOPRAK

2. Overview • Difference between single player games and other pursuits • Single player games: Illusion of another player or designer • Reality concept in a multiplayer game • Battling, cooperating or simply socializing • It has a much greater importance than any single-player game can ever manage • Examples from well-known games • Single-player: Solitaire has extreme minority of available choices • Multi-player: Chess, Monopoly

3. Motivations • Multi-player games satisfies “What Players Want” • Replacing AI opponents provides much deeper and more unpredictable behavior • Opponents will learn as they play: as players improve, so too do their opponents  Desire to be challenged is met! • Many people play multi-player games just to socialize

4. Starcraft 2 Tournement

5. Motivations • Multi-player feature of a game can change player’s perceived importance of playing the game • Brag and shame feelings • Alternate realities

6. motivations • Much more dynamic experience than interacting with a computer alone • All “wants” that multi-player games satisfy: challenge, social experience, potential for bragging rights, emotional payoff, deeply interactive experience • It is important for designers to keep this list in mind

7. motivations • Allowing the use of mechanics may not work in single-player games • Some titles are ideally suited to being single player, others are can only work on multi-player experiences

8. The forms • Single System Multi-Player • Pong, Mario Bros., sport games, fighting games • Same portion of the game world, both visible • Can be problematic • Split-screen • New technology: same screen but different displays • Advantages: much fun from interaction

9. The forms • Online Multi-Player • Players invisible to each other • Quake, Counter-Strike, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Ultima Online, WoW • Extremely social experience • Provides chat and voip

10. Design considerations • Significantly different challenges in their design • “Pause moments” • Let players know how much time they will play • “Hope” is important: Mario Kart example • Customization • Multi-player game designers have much less dictatorial control over players’ experiences

11. Design considerations • Changing AI to real players may not be enough • Take cue from multi-player non-computer games • Cooperating creates a unique experience that cannot be replicated in a single-player game • Protect newbies, they are vulnerable & valuable for long-term success • Single player training • Level limitation

12. Call of duty end-game scoreboard

13. Design considerations • People play to socialize • Some games allow players to chat or talk with each other but some don’t • Communication types • Playing games with people that we already know VS people that we just met • Every feature or mechanic you add to our multi-player game should be examined to determine how it impacts the players’ social experience • Though not every feature needs to be a social one.

14. Development issues • Development teams must decide: multi-player, single-player or both • Play-testing and user feedback • You never can anticipate what players will attempt to do • Closed & open beta: sometimes not enough • Patches • Listening to community • Monitor behaviors: Used most and used least

15. Conclusion • The future of multi-player gaming looks bright • Single-player games will probably continue to be more popular because the players can start and stop whenever they want • Multi-player games provide unique experiences

16. Thanks • Thank you for listening, any questions?