Sunday, December 18, 2016

Day 40: FotLC through the 113 lenses from The Art of Game Design

Day 40 - Lens 46: The Lens of Reward
Ask these questions to determine if your game is giving out the right rewards in the right amounts at the right times:

What rewards is my game giving out now? Can it give out others as well?
Rewards are mostly from winning challenges or from allying in challenges, those being taking a new base or getting an alliance token respectively. You get some form of reward if you take a base in the form on increases production of warriors in recruiting turns. Gaining heads on recruiting turns in the end game could be considered a reward. Becoming ruler of the wasteland is rewarded by getting to read the victory letter. I can't think of other possible rewards...

Are players excited when they get rewards in my game or are they bored by them? Why?
I think the rewards feel like a natural part of the game but I don't think they stand out in a winning a pull of  a slot machine kind of way since they are not random or unexpected. I think winning a betrayal is the most unexpected exciting reward. Players do respond to that every time.

Getting a reward you don't understand is like getting no reward at all. Do my players understand their rewards?
I think that the rewards are pretty clear. Sometimes players don't get the way a challenge will play out the first time and don't like the results. I have altered the rules document and explanation of the challenges to make them as clear as possible.

Are the rewards my game gives out too regular? Can they be given out in a more variable way?
The rewards are player dependant. That makes them variable in both good and bad ways. The bad is that if the players play in a way that minimizes or denies rewards the game can be less satisfying.

How are my rewards related to one another? Is there a way that they could be better connected?
I think that all of the rewards are pretty tightly coupled. Each leads into or impacts the next. None of the rewards exist just to be a reward.

How are my rewards building? Too fast, too slow, just right?
Again this really depends on play. In a typical game I think the structure of the game makes the reward frequency feel about right throught the game.


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