https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzpgOJ2ubI

I rather have a sense of wonder and agency.

But that is not entirely true. There are actual psychological models you can look at for what is more fun.

- Constantly getting a reward, or progressing, is more fun than getting nothing for a play set.
- Not having to click through 20 f***ing menus to do something (EVE) is more fun.
- Decisions are more fun than being forced to do something
- Balanced gameplay is more fun than losing continuously.

And yes, "make it fun" is pretty obvious. But so is "make it work" and yet NASA spent a bunch of time and money to build a zero G pen while the Russians spent no time and used a pencil. Sometimes the obvious is hard to make happen.

Just ensure that everything goes through the "is this fun" rigor test. That is all I am talking about. CCP Rouge's 4 Pillars are great, but since he failed to mention fun in there (like the Valkyrie EP did) I wanted to point out that video games should be fun. And that fun should be the foundation upon which his pillars rest.

-- Snip --

But that is not entirely true. There are actual psychological models you can look at for what is more fun.

- Constantly getting a reward, or progressing, is more fun than getting nothing for a play set.
- Not having to click through 20 f***ing menus to do something (EVE) is more fun.
- Decisions are more fun than being forced to do something
- Balanced gameplay is more fun than losing continuously.

And yes, "make it fun" is pretty obvious. But so is "make it work" and yet NASA spent a bunch of time and money to build a zero G pen while the Russians spent no time and used a pencil. Sometimes the obvious is hard to make happen.

Just ensure that everything goes through the "is this fun" rigor test. That is all I am talking about. CCP Rouge's 4 Pillars are great, but since he failed to mention fun in there (like the Valkyrie EP did) I wanted to point out that video games should be fun. And that fun should be the foundation upon which his pillars rest.

I in no way ever want EVE to be like WoW - AT ALL. So when I say fun I don't mean WoW.

As I said, I work in software (Oil and gas). And when we design a new system we often flowchart it out in a brainstorming document (a central circle that connect to other circles moving outwards). A big flaw I have always found is that many of our internal projects put "Improve X" or "Make Y work better" in the middle. And while that is the purpose of the system (the original idea) the core part needs to be "User Experience".

Because I have seen companies spend millions of dollars building the greatest oil well estimating system ever. Only for it never to be used because the engineers hate the UI and would rather keep the excel spreadsheet with it's little macros because it's easier to use.

So now, when I design a system I put "User Experience" in the middle. And we make sure that it is a simple for the user to use as possible. That way, (since humans are lazy) the employees will move over to the 5 million software we built and not stick with the excel spreadsheet.

The same principle applies to gaming. Yes, your original idea is great (the 4 pillars) but the central part of your game needs to be "fun". Because even if you make the perfect original idea, if it isn't fun then it will lose to a worse idea.

You do know that using the zero g pen vs the pencil is a completely wrong analogy right? You have the internet, research your meme before you believe it. The us made a pen because when a pencil lead would break and get sucked in the air vents it caused shorts and fires. This is not very good in an oxygen enriched environment. And uncontrolled shavings from said pencil also caused issues.

Research, google, use it.

Yes, I know that. But it is still a great analogy of KISS. Keep is simple stupid, "do not over think something", or "focus on the core problem"

As an eve player for 10 years, the thing you have to remember is eve is a 'sand box' its not a theme park.

Here is the difference.

In WoW lets say, you have a set path you must follow, inorder to advance and get things. You kill things with sticks, level up, but new gear, kill bigger things with a dagger, level up, buy gear, kill bigger things with a sword, level up, group with people and kill bigger things with bigger swords.

Essentually you go into wow knowing that you are going to 'ride' x, y, z, in this order. Game events are new 'rides' that you can run with each expantion

Eve... is not this way.

eve is like your parents taking you to the beach, setting you in the middle of the sand, turning over your bag of toys and saying 'have fun'

You can chose to star at your parents and wait for them to come over and help or guide you into making stuff. Or you can pick up one of the toys and do stuff.

The biggest misconception of eve is you need to wait to do things. This is bull. When I started, the learning curve was death. Its a difficult game to learn. But once you do its easy.

There is no need to wait. if you tell me what you want to do, right now, besides use cap ships, I can tell you EXACTLY what you need to do to do what you want in 2 days tops. You can do everything, in 2 days. Now, to be GOOD or Great at it will take longer, but that is a combination of skill, your experience, and your skill points. But there is never any need to sit and wait. longer then 2 days to do anything. If you get bored of eve in three months, that is on you. Not eve. That is your limitation. Once you look at it, as a giant sand box full of toys and you can pick up the basic of any toy you want in a max of two days (a lot in 20 min) it opens everything up. But if your goal is to jump in a titan, and that's it, then eve is not the game for you.

Legion should be a sandbox, you jump in, learn the basics and do what you find fun. I don't want to be guided form point a to be, just give me tools and let me explore and melt peoples faces off

Here is an example of what I am talking about. This is a brainstorming chart. And I put the word "Fun" in the middle. Why? Because at the heart every game should strive to be as fun as possible.

How does this work from a design perspective? When you have an idea, you try to match it to a bubble on the chart. You can always add more bubbles, I made the linked chart in roughly 10 minutes. All of the bubbles I put could be horrible, but I think I did a good job for 10 minutes.

Exciting Battlefields
What makes you want to jump back into battle quickly? Or what makes you go "AWESOME" when it happens?

- Orbital Bombardments
- Dynamic Maps
- Well places objectives
- NO RED LINE
- Cool Battlefield insertion (Dropship or Inertial Stabilizer drop)

All of these are fun.


Exciting Weapons
Legion is based in the future so we are pigeon holed into modern weapons. What are some awesome ideas that would make people excited.

- Multiple modes of fire
- Powerful look and sound
- Futuristic

Think of all the fun guns in series like Resistance, Gears, Halo or Killzone. Guns like the Auger or Chainsaw Rifle that are well known staples of each. Those are so much fun to use in the game. Legion needs guns that are incredibly fun to use. Weapons like plasma grenades, micro-rocket launchers, blaster cannons, beam lasers, drones. Things you won't find in CoD, BF, or MW. If a weapon isn't fun then it should be redone.


Meaningful Decisions, Sandbox, Immersion, Progression
These all work towards making a great fun game. Things like Planetary Conquest to New Eden Lore that help bring players in and keep them involved. People like to progress. People like the sandbox. People like to be immersed. And people like the risk / reward consequences of their decisions.


That is what I am talking about. I do not mean dumbing down the game for funs sake. Or only focusing on making it crack level addicting. But when you're looking at what features to include, which one is more fun?

- If it came down to speeders vs MTACs which one? MTACs of course, because they'll be f***ing fun.