Scales

My own personal description of ‘gameplay’ is the balance between challenge and fun in games. The game mechanics serve to create gameplay, for instance, the challenges themselves, the options available to the player, and the control systems in place allowing the player to make independent decisions.

No one likes a game that is too easy. Conversely no one likes a game that is so challenging that it is almost impossible to get through without some serious frustration. For someone to continue playing a game there must be some sort of payoff to the user. They must essentially be having fun and enjoying themselves. A lot of games try and address this with rewards, and level completion bonus along with unlockable extras. The best games get the payoff just right as the user is playing the game, providing just enough challenge that as the user makes progress through the game the satisfaction comes from the user being ‘good’ at the game, if that makes sense. There is no universal measure of whether a user is good at a game or not. But we all know from personal experience that some games we feel we are good at, and others we feel that we are not. When playing a game and you pull off a great headshot, or drift round a corner, or get an awesome combo, or do something generally perceived as skilful, you feel somewhat proud in that moment. This feeling is only enhanced if you feel that you have pulled this action off in spite of the challenge of the game.

So as I said, for me it is all about balance. If it’s too easy, you might pull off some ‘skilful’ things too often, lessening the impact of them. Games are a little like rollercoaster’s, you have to balance out the ups and downs, and then throw in the occasional loop.

So is it important? Yes! I think if someone so desired they could probably break down the individual gameplay for individual games, but there are no overarching themes/rules or categories that you can apply to all games. Even if someone can’t explain it, they understand gameplay on some level. They know when it is good of bad. With this in mind, it should most definitely be planned for and implemented in games carefully. It is possibly the most important factor in designing a game and also the hardest to get to grips with.

A little balance can go a long way.