So, in our last post we learned how to make the player feel the progression through the design. How the progression in a game is not necessarily your character’s personal progress (as in, individual development) but how his actions can cause things in the game to change over time, and how this change is visually represented. Today, we’re going a little deeper into this topic.
Like previously mentioned, the player’s actions leads to change, which represents progress. An important concept that needs to be learned here is the hierarchy of actions that needs to be performed by the player in order to cause this progress.
Let’s go back to Mario once again so we can better understand such concept.
In every Mario game, the main objective is to save princess Peach at the end. But there isn’t a button that the player can just press to instantly save her. This is something that will be achieved through a series of actions throughout the game that is known as the so called hierarchy of actions.
In this scale, which can be represented by a pyramid where the final main action is on top and the most basic one is at the bottom, we can see the chain of actions that will lead the player to complete each step of the game. So in Super Mario World, the process of saving the princess is actually the process of defeating the Koopa Kids and destroying the castles. This is another action altogether, but the player understands that it is necessary in order to reach the end of the game. However, there is another action that leads you to beating the Koopa Kids. Since they are the bosses at the end of each level, you’ll first need to beat the levels in order to face their respective Koopa Kid. And what is the main, most basic action that you do in a Mario game in order to beat each level?
That is, of course, jumping.
In this way, we have an entire hierarchy of actions that need to be done, one smaller action leading to the next, bigger one:
Jump > beat the level > defeat the Koopa Kid > save the princess
And that’s what you have to keep in mind when making a game: how can the player’s actions lead to the game’s macro objective?
“If the player understands the way in which each basic action contributes to the objective, he’ll value it and create a bigger compromise with the game.” – Explains Ygor Speranza.
And with this, we saw just how those actions can combine with each other in a hierarchy, each one being one layer above. Therefore, we see how the player’s Core Action is directly connected to his final goal. If we were to make a percentage, each jump the player performs in Super Mario World will put him 1% closer to beating the game and reaching his objective. And it’s through this connection that we create a sense of progression. “Each time I jump I progress a little.” That’s the sensation the player must feel while playing a game. No matter how small this “Jump” into the next step of the progress may be, it will make him feel more invested if it clearly feeds into the next one. When the player understands this, he’ll realize that “each jump I make I’m a little closer to the end of the level, and each level I beat makes me one level shorter of beating the game.” It’s like a chain of actions where the smaller actions lead to the bigger ones.
So, to recapitulate: progression as a model in game design is composed by two parts: change and destiny. As things change in the course of a game, they transform in favor of a final destination.
But that’s only speaking in general terms. There are more types of progression, which we’ll be seeing in the next parts of this series. Until then, you can look at your game and ask yourself just how strongly tied the main character’s actions are to the game’s objective now that you understand this concept a little better.
