Hardcore Games for Casual Audiences

Jesse Schell (Carnegie Mellon University)

The seminar opened with Jesse playing the opening stanza of “When The Saints Go Marching In” on the harmonica.

Hardcore – big, expensive, immersive
Casual – small, colorful

The difference between hardcore and casual is more perceptual than actual.

Game genres, plaformers, shooters, stealth, survivor horror, text adventure, etc. Casual or Hardcore doesn't fit into this list. Any game can be played casually or hardcore, within limits. Some games by nature of complexity fit into the hardcore genre.

Attitude – hardcore players are generally obsessed. They read game magazines and game websites. Casual players play for fun – games are okay. Hardcore players want the game to define their lives. Casual players want games to enhance their lives. Hardcore players think punishment is a challenge. Difficulty itself is a challenge. Casual players think that punishment is. . .punishment. Hardcore players will sculpt their lives to fit your game. Casual players sculpt your game to fit their lives.

In some ways, casual games are more difficult because casual players can more easily discard your game. Hardcore players are more forgiving and will wait for the big payoff with the game. Casual players will not.

Hardcore games fit a much narrower demographic than casual. The typical 15-35 year old male demographic is the key.

Casual players like games. They're just not going to bend over backward for 'em. Kids love games and seniors love games.

Tips for bridging the gap between casual and hardcore players.

• Try to see games from the point of view of different demographics, not just your own.
• What people say they want is not necessarily what they actually want.

“Too many buttons”. People who were fans of classic games shy away from newer games because the controller is too elaborate. But it was really about the difficulty of simultaneous ambidextrous manipulation. The controller itself is a metaphor for the games. Nintendo made up the Wiimote for that very reason.

“The Elemental Tetrad”. Games consist of four main categories: aesthetics, story, technology, and mechanics. It's important not to concentrate on one piece to the detriment of the rest.

Tip#3: break it down. Break your game down to its most basic elements, throw out the stuff that's not fun for casual players, and then fill in the gaps with fun stuff.

Example: The Aladdin flying-carpet game. It was basically a flight simulator. The designers were tempted to keep in flight simulator mechanics, but it was eventually discarded in favor of a much simpler flight mechanic that concentrated more on unexpected and exciting elements.

Casual players don't like dying. In Toontown online, the life-meter was replaced with a laugh meter. Rather than dying, a character just gets sad and mopes around a bit.

Tip#4: Let people play their way. In Bejeweled, women tend to play in “infinite mode” in which you play as long as you want and there's no real goal or achievements. “It's just like knitting”. Make your game something that they can play their way.

Punishment: Make the hurting stop. Don't punish players. In “toontag”, the bounding sphere would grow to equalize the game between bad players and good.

Make things simple. A RTS game for kids had a 30-minute tutorial to get kids started and raise their confidence. Tutorials are a pain because they necessarily happen after everything else is complete, but you must budget for it in the development cycle. The secret for making tutorials is to work with users and clarify your instructions until you can point out the key things that trip people up.

Hardcore players are very critical of your product, and there's often no reward at the end of the development cycle. Casual players are grateful for what you've made.

In summary.

• See through their eyes
• Use the elemental tetrad
• break it down
• let them play their way
• make the hurting stop
• make awesome tutorials

Coverage by John Hattan

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