[MUD-Dev2] [Design] Design challenge: Bed-time game

[Acius]

Mike Rozak wrote:
> Zach Collins wrote:
>> But combat is excitative, at least when it's not numbingly repetitive.
> 
> Good point. Too much adrenaline is bad for sleep.

Because it's a bed-time game, Any kind of twitch gameplay is bad for 
sleep. Any time you're forcing your brain to work faster, you're pushing 
yourself awake.

Combat need not be twitch gameplay, however. Tactical turn-based combat 
lets you carefully consider everything, and take as long as you want to 
choose where to go. That said, I've been kept up later by tactical 
turn-based games than by any other kinds :-P. So there are more things 
to keep you awake than adrenaline.

> I think you might be jumping the gun on game-design specifics. Some 
> broader issues must be dealt with first:
> 
> - Mininotebook/UMPC screens are very small. How does this affect gameplay?

I assume that the answer is mostly to keep the on-screen information 
minimal--lightweight heads-up display, and don't overcomplicate things.

> - Using a mouse (touchpad) on a mininotebook/UMPC isn't all that easy, 
> particularly when it's resting on your lap/stomach.

It doesn't matter if the game isn't twitchy, but it would be polite to 
make the click-targets large. We're assuming the player is tired.

> - Same issues with keyboards that are really tiny and resting on your 
> lap/stomach.

Don't require the player to type a novel. Single-key commands are preferred.

> - Some UMPCs have touch screens and no keyboard; this changes the 
> experience too.

Yup, you tend to end up with spatial games, like moving pieces around on 
a board, rather than games that use text or arrays of commands.

> - Is it good to play game-audio in bed at night and wake up others? Or 
> does the player wear headphones (with a cord that gets tangled up)? Or 
> no sound in the game at all?

For bed-time? Silence is golden. That, or the sounds need to be very 
relaxing. Lots of ocean waves, waterfall noises, rain drops...

> - Does battery life and limited CPU affect the game design?

Make sure you save game state often ^_^. Most of the screens on the 
small devices can't do high-motion graphics anyway, so you're probably 
going to be doing a 2-D game with a lot of still images or sprites.

Since part of the purpose of a bed-time game is to get the player 
relaxed and sleepy, it makes sense to target and reward mental tasks 
that make you tired. In my case, that would be memorization, mental 
arithmetic, and some kinds of puzzle solving. Problems involving quick 
movement, social interaction, and the little 'rush' I get from reaching 
stated goals are going to wake me up a bit. Since we're trying to be 
multiplayer, perhaps the social interaction can be delayed? (more email 
than IM)

One style of game that seems appropriate is the Ikariam/Travian style of 
web-based empire building. The games run in real time, but moves often 
take several hours to complete. A game that explicitly encourages 
logging in at bed-time, checking yesterday's results, making several 
moves, and then logging off seems appropriate for the design goals. An 
added benefit is that, by limiting the amount you can do at once, 
there's a cap on how late you can stay up playing it. I'm sure there are 
a lot of other directions you can go with the idea, however.

-- Adam Helps