Copyright
by
The
Goodheart-Willcox
Co.,
Inc.
Lesson 10 The Key to Adventure—Beta 153
Name: __________________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________
Class: ___________________________________________
Situation
The creative director has reviewed your alpha game build from Lesson 9. The maze
functions well, but the game needs more immersion. You have been assigned the task of
learning about game immersion and challenges versus rewards within games. Later, you will
improve the game.
How to Begin
1. Read the passage below.
2. Complete the review questions.
3. Turn in all materials.
4. Complete the game build.
Reading Materials
A game with little challenge will quickly become boring for the player. In the Maze game
from Lesson 9, there is very little challenge, or difficulty. This makes the game easy to play,
but not very interesting to play after the first time. By adding difficulty, objectives, missions, tasks,
and obstacles, the player can become more immersed in the action of the game. Immersion is
the degree to which a player connects with the game world.
Critical to immersion and the success of any game is the association of risk to reward. Risk
is making a move that could cause damage to the player’s character. For example, a player takes
a risk when jumping over a hole. If the player jumps too soon, the character will fall in the hole
and lose a life. In this way, the player takes a risk in jumping over the hole.
For every risk, there must be a reward. A reward is a benefit given to the player. In the
case of the hole, the game programmer might place a coin or other token on the opposite side
of the hole that the player must collect to score points. Without the reward, the player would
probably just avoid the hole and find another path. When creating an obstacle or hazard, like
an enemy or a hole, the programmer must always balance the risk with the reward. Jumping a
hole might get the player to a coin. Defeating an enemy might give the player a new ability. The
reward must be great enough to make the player take the risk of injury to the character or defeat.
Another element that needs to be looked at when designing a game is the skill level
of the player. Part of the approval process for a game idea is to select a target audience. The
target audience is the typical player that might purchase the game. Usually, a target audience
is separated from everyone else by specific demographics. Demographics are observable
features of a person, including age, gender, income, education, cultural background, and so on. If
the target audience is 8-year-old boys, a cartoon-style game based on the popular Scooby Doo
character may be appropriate. On the other hand, if the target audience is 20-year-old college
students, the game would likely need to require greater skill and have more action than the
game designed for a younger age group. The age and skill of the target audience help determine
the amount of challenge and action needed in a game.
A successful game must have skill progression. Skill progression describes how a game
starts easy and gets harder as the player progresses through levels. By increasing the skill required
to complete higher levels, the game presents increasing challenges to the player. Skill progression