Anatomy of Game Design by Tom Smith

Author:Tom Smith [Smith, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781040148952
Published: 2024-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Benefits of Uncertainty

Uncertainty Tends to Avoid Analysis Paralysis

Analysis paralysis is a term originated by H. Igor Ansoff in 1965 for corporate strategy, but used by gamers to describe cognitive overload. When a player has too many options, or too many factors to consider for each option, that player can get overwhelmed. They may take a long time trying to analyze each option, or they may just shut down and give up. Neither is a good result. As a game designer, your goal is to create decisions that are interesting for the player. That means each choice needs a certain level of challenge, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

At any point in a game, the player has a certain number of options on what to do next. A simple choice might only have two options. You can build a whole game around this level of decision-making. Love Letter (2012) is a successful and fun game where the player never has more than two options (ignoring targeting and a few other secondary decisions). But most games have more. If you dissect a bunch of games, you’ll find that most of the successful games for average gamers try to avoid giving the player more than about five options to consider at any one time.

Most card games give each player a hand of about five cards

Magic: The Gathering: seven cards at most, but on most turns it’s actually five or less

Robo Rally (1994) gives the player up to nine cards, but each is very simple

Dominion (2008) gives the player five cards each turn, but with ways to draw more

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