GDS 2017: Viktor Bocan - Honest Game Design [EN]

A talk about fundamental challenges in designing game mechanics. How much do you want to help players enjoy your game and how badly do you really need it? Can you, as a designer, cheat? And should you? Honest game design means that you create a sincere game and let the players in. Where lies the line between developing a game and creating a product for consumers? Technical aspects, examples from gaming history and few backstage stories included.
About speaker
Game designer and occasional programmer for more than 20 years. Started with small games, went through big studios (2K Czech) back to indie projects. Former lead designer at Bohemia Interactive (Operation Flashpoint), currently design lead on Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Has passion for systems, technical design and connecting all small things together.

[@andrewpaull7485]

Its refreshing to hear a developer focused on challenging players rather than catering to them. Altho limiting player options can also work against that very same thing i think. The only negative I had from kingdom come was my inability to customize for harder difficulty. Even with hardcore mode. If it wasnt for mods allowing me to remove all hud, slow motion, and stamina effects i wouldve had much weaker experience & broken immersion. Its a complement to the game design its perfectly playable without huds & aids. Its just a shame for me warhorse didnt go further in difficulty or allow an option to do so unmodded. In a way thats porn too

[@Pavl9k]

You are a hardcore gamer then I don't think there is many people like you and WH are all for modding so as you said there is a way to do it not easy though

[@andrewpaull7485]

@@Pavl9k yeh agree extremely hard I think to risk potential sales making it too challenging, which is why it was so great seeing someone willing to do so to stick to their vision! And I think they did it a good way having base game setting bar high & then having hardcore mode. I just think there is still a place for adding a few options without comprimising your vision for the game. Especially when you already hsve set bar high. But as u say the mods are there & will be given more support in future even. Just bit of shame people missed the opportinity on first playthru because its such great game & they designed it brilliantly for total immersion by having a naked ui for those who enjoy that experience.

[@SmartK8]

I agree about everything except for having plenty of settings. I'm not talking about switching plot of the game or some other extremes, but you can't design for all the eventualities. For example I have volume on my audio setup set in such way that it works for everything.. except for games (DirectX?) for some reason. All the games start loud as fuck (twice as loud). I really need option to lower it down immediately (usually have to suffer through unskippable intro.. well it's your game so your choice to not allow to skip it.. isn't it?). But why not have it for things in game that can be easily parameterized (and cost almost no time)? Why should I care if people cheat the game by lowering difficulty to even play it? Why not have Pussy/Still Pussy/Normal instead of Easy/Normal/Hard? How is it different from taking away in-game choices? Oh, you wanted to steal this item instead of fighting the enemy? No. That's not how I designed this RPG. I will not allow it. This is mental. Viktor (or whoever invented it before him) comes off as a control freak by suggesting this rule. Just let the player play the game the way he wants. Don't cheat and don't lie to player, but not everyone has time to play hardcore difficulty. Nobody is forcing you to put easy/normal option in your game, but don't force others to not put it there. It's really sad calling it a design fail. It somehow reminds me of conservative people who get really pissed off when they hear about alternative (different) life styles. "NO, my way is the only correct way. If your other way exists, that means my way might not be optimal/correct and that's real scary. Therefore I will shun your so called way forever and ever."

[@TBC256]

When I want to try a game on an expo, the first thing I do is to change difficulty from casual to hardest.

[@alesdrobek2512]

When KCD came out I thought "the biggest and maybe only major mistake they did is they didn't include difficulty options". Now I know why :D Completely disagree with Viktor, obviously, not every game can be Dark Souls. And apparently Warhorse disagrees with their own lead designer too because they eventually added quicksave and Hard mode so yeah. Also the "the less options in Settings the better" rule is just bad, we're all different and we have different preferences. You only piss people off because they'll have to download a boatload of mods which is much more annoying than just flipping a few switches in the options.