Game Decisions

 

Decision making in games by Brand New Game

For this week, we got to read some documents and watch a video discussing game design and the flow theory. I think the flow theory is most perfectly described by Game Design with Michael in his video What is FLOW THEORY in game design? - The Basics - (Part 1). In it he goes in-depth discussing what the flow theory is and how developers try to achieve it in their games. The flow state is a state of hyper focus in which the player is focused on nothing but the game and loses track of everything outside of the game for a period of time. This is an ideal area that games seek to achieve as it ensures the player will comeback to play the game again.

The flow state is like a series of rising bumps in a flow chart. Challenges should rise in difficulty while the players skills rise during their playtime. Keeping this balance is difficult but if achieved it allows the player to remain engaged as they are still challenged even with their better understanding. Yet the challenge can not rise significantly as it will stress the players out if the challenge is much further along than their skill level.

Hades is now the highest-rated game on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 by Video Game Chronicles

A game that helps maintain is flow state well is Hades by Supergiant Games. Hades is a roguelike action dungeon crawler in which the player must try to escapes Hel in one go without dying as death sends them back to the beginning of the dungeon. Hades begins by teaching you basic attacks through a training sequence and then throws you into the dungeon to let you let loose. The player is given enemies for the first few rooms who have only one form of attack, this allows them to learn evasive moves and adapt to the combat. As they continue through the dungeon they gradually increase the challenge by adding enemies who evade and attack, swarm enemies, enemies with projectiles, one with shields, and enemies who need to be hit with specific attacks, they even throw in the occasional boss. This gradual ramp in difficulty every few rooms as the players adapts to previous enemies always allows for fresh and engaging combat and with the added bonus of death restarting you, it makes you more determined to edge just a little further each time.

Reading about flow state was something I didn't entirely consider before that it is something developers would strife for. After thinking about my own experiences of flow state I can totally understand why it is a very desired thing as the ability to totally engross a user for hours on end is an impressive feat and one I enjoyed learning about.