GAMEPLAY LOOPS 

Overview

In this workshop I cover what a gameplay loop is, and begin work on two gameplay loops for my potential game idea. The gameplay loop refers to the activities and risks a player takes, the reward that they get for them, and the opportunities that arise because of these actions​

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Gameplay Loops

A gameplay loop is the heart of the gameplay experience for the player.

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It involves any actions that the player takes, and any risks that might come with taking that action, the reward they'll receive for completing said action, and the opportunities that they're given from completing the action.

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An example using Mario:

Activity/Risk: Jump on enemy/get hit by enemy

Reward: Get coins

Opportunity: Progress to further levels

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In order to come up with my own gameplay loops, I have identified important questions to ask myself when considering each element.

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Activity/Risk

Any action that the player takes should be meaningful. In this loop, what is the player doing that is meaningful? What is the in-game risk for making that action?

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Reward

This is the driving factor for why players do anything in games. Without risk and rewards for those risks, there is no reason for the player to continue playing. Is the reward the player gets for taking this action sufficient, or is it motivating?

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Opportunity

How will these activities present themselves further in the game? How far should this go? Will these opportunities add variance to other gameplay loops?

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Questions to consider:

• How compelling is this loop?

• What is its rate of difficulty per time?

• Is the progression from one opportunity to another well balanced?

• Am I just making players grind?

• Is this fun?

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Is a game really a game if there is no chance for the player to fail?

I think a game can still be a game if there is no chance to fail. Although a lot of games are made compelling through the risk of failure, and motivating players to want to perform better at a given task, I don't think that this is a necessity to define a game. We see many other games on the market that don't have a major focus on failure. Games like Minecraft and The Sims don't have any particular goals for the player to fail at, except for a couple minor goals. More than that, these games seem to be able to bring about a self-imposed sense of failure, rather than a dictionary definition of one.

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As my game right now doesn't stand to be very challenging (for good reason, as this would go against my essential experience), I don't intend on featuring very hard failures. However, this could potentially need to change, as without a well thought out gameplay loop the gameplay might not be very compelling for players. I will set out my current thoughts for potential gameplay loops, and then discuss with my peers on how I could make gameplay more interesting.