Grind Quest: Skills, Goals, and Feedback

Feedback loop can often be found in many games where it helps to reinforce player's behaviour in the game. Positive feedback loop helps to make players feel better and negative feedback loop tends to give some boost to players who are having poor performance. It is important to have good and balance feedback loop to help players achieve the goals in game, so players will not find the game is too simple and easy or feel frustrated easily.

The followings are the 3 examples I have in mind, how their feedback loop is clearly defined to help players achieve their goals with the skill they learn from the game.


1). Dead or Alive 5

DOA5 screenshots: a regular attack is being countered by a hold.

DOA5 screenshots: a throw is being performed.

The Goal of DOA5 is to defeat your opponent by using the right move of your character at the right moment, and this requires a certain amount of understanding of character's moveset in order to execute the right action at the right time. In order to help players achieve this goal, DOA5 has a rock-paper-scissors system, where movesets are divided into 3 categories and they counter each other. When the opponent is performing a regular attack combo, players have the option to encounter a hold (see above top image). If it performs successfully, players are able to stop the opponent's attack, and successfully execute this several time more can even turn the table from negative to positive and eventually win the match. Therefore, it is crucial for players to remember their character's moveset but also all the characters in the game. So they know how to react accordingly in order to lead to the best outcome, which would be winning the match. The feedback loop is nicely implemented compare to other fighting game, as taking the right action at the right time could favour players rather than just throwing out the attacks and expect the opponent will eventually dies.

2). Picross 3D

Picross 3D is a very unique puzzle solving game in my opinion. The goal of the game is to destroy blocks of cube from a a gaint cube to a specific object. In order to achieve this goal, this game provider numbers of some of the blocks to indicate which block would be in the actual object and which would be extra. The feedback loop in this game would be in the collector or achiever type players' flavourite. It is because it motivates players to solve the puzzle without destroying any actual cube in the process. This will also allow players to achieve full 3 stars for the puzzle, which they can unlock more other puzzles. In order to ensure players are using logical method to solve the puzzle, they put levels where players have to solve the puzzle without making one single mistake before moving on any further in the game. Moreover, after completing each puzzle, the object will be placed into a scene along with other objects that share something in common. Players can only get the objects by solving their puzzles one at a time. This can motivate players who like to collect by a lot every time they complete a puzzle as they are curious what the final scene is going to look like. 

3). Spot the Differences 

Spot the Differences is also a different kind of puzzle solving game that has been recreated by different companies over the decades. There are hundreds of version but the one that I like and want to talk about is the ones that have a timer, 3 magnifier, and the scoreboard. To start off, Spot the Differences heavily relies on the observation from the players. They have to spot and point out 5 differences in 2 images, and try to solve as many images as possible before time runs out. It is important to find out the differences accurately rather than just trying different location randomly. It is because when players solves the images without making mistakes can result in having time for the next puzzles. By continually doing so, players are able to solve more puzzles to achieve high score in the game. However, making a mistake by pointing by the wrong place can result in time deduction as punishment, which players should be avoid doing so. Therefore, players have to look carefully, while react fast enough before time runs out in order to score high in this game.

Overall, a balanced feedback loop helps players to enjoy the game. So, I want to takes these examples into consideration or inspiration when designing my own game. I would like to see players have observation on their surrounding carefully, critical thinking skill, learn and fully utilize the skills that are taught throughout the levels to achieve all the things they want in the game.