Gaming design has come a long way from the early basic designs that were revolutionary at the time. Graphics, storylines and immersive gaming environments have become standard, pushing the user experience standards higher with every innovation that has been introduced.
However, old school game design still features prominently in modern platforms. Sometimes overcomplicating game design can feel overwhelming for players, so the basic mechanics and loops that have proven to be successful for many years are still at the core of many games.
Players want to experience a quick reward loop and if they do not get that, they are likely to move onto another game that provides them with a faster reward. Attracting and retaining players is the key objective for successful games, so getting the right balance between making sure a game is easy to understand while enhancing it with advanced design features is essential.
These are some of the ways that old school game design can still teach modern platforms a lot about retention:
Shorter Sessions With Frequent Returns
Old school video games often lead to short sessions, where a failure was possible almost instantly. Players quickly got used to a cycle where they would fail and then quickly restart the game to improve on their last performance. Modern games that incorporate fast returns help to retain players, rather than the scenario where a player invests a large amount of time and then gets frustrated when they have to start again from the beginning.
As well as using this approach in video games, casino games like slots and shorter session card games also use this in their game mechanics. If you look through the game library at tikalcasino.online, you will see that the majority of the games are built around short sessions and players can choose games with higher RTP for more frequent returns.
Gradual Difficulty Increases
Another common feature from old school games that is still popular today is a gradual introduction of game difficulty. Players move through the game, learning more about the mechanics and developing skills that help them to get better the more that they play. By having a gradual increase in difficulty, players are more likely to continue playing video games as they won’t get disheartened by constant fails.
Increasing the difficulty in video games prevents boredom but if difficulty increases too fast, players can feel overwhelmed, which decreases retention.
Social Proofing
As far back as arcade games, social proofing was a major incentive for players, with the objective of getting onto the leaderboard displayed for the game being a top target. Leaderboards are still used in game design for increasing motivation with online high score tables providing an added incentive to continue playing. Players are not just motivated to beat other players, they also like to see personal progression by improving on their own scores on a regular basis.
Instant Feedback
Old school video games used sounds and visuals to provide instant feedback to convey a positive or negative outcome. In modern game design, there is more capability to improve on this but the basic principles remain the same. Receiving instant and ongoing feedback makes players feel like their gaming actions are meaningful throughout the gameplay, encouraging longer sessions.
Clear Objectives
With more limitations around graphics and mechanics design, old school games became very good at conveying important mission briefs in concise yet engaging formats. Modern games that follow this simplistic approach to providing objectives ensure that players do not get frustrated or lack an understanding of what they need to do to experience success.
Most games are still built around simple objectives, such as surviving or reaching the highest possible score, a universal gaming objective that works just as effectively today and helps players to focus on the objectives.
Focus on Human Psychology
When game designers are working through new concepts, a lot of consideration is given to human psychology. Sensory rewards play a big part in game design, and multi-sensory reinforcement drives increased retention. Today’s game animations and effects may be more advanced but the focus on human psychology is still as prominent as ever.
Many of the features incorporated into old school game design are still effective at driving retention and the basic principles remain the same, the only difference is that modern game designs have more capabilities to enhance the features and mechanics. Features such as progressive difficulty, human psychology triggers and feedback loops continue to be at the core of modern game design.
