Hey Game Afternooners, there are few games that have hit the sweet spot in my life the way that Halo 3 did. When I was in middle school my friends and I would play Halo 3 every night in custom games or playing community made game modes with custom maps until 3 or 4 AM every Friday and Saturday night. In my opinion that's when video gaming from a social aspect peaked, and I doubt we’ll ever feel the same way again about games. Or at least I won’t and that's all I care about. Halo 3 was amazing because of its custom games built on a fantastic set of base mechanics. The customizable game modes were amazing and deserve an entire Sunday sandbox of their own but this time I want to talk about how to build a game around a specific set of mechanics. There are a couple games that I think truly came close to matching Halo 3 on the spectrum of unstoppable base game mechanics, let's talk about them and talk about what made their experiences truly memorable.
INTRO:
Alright we’re going to start with Halo 3 because it set the benchmark for me in my life and then we’re going to jump into the other games that got close. Here’s a quick intro on all of those games
Halo 3 is a 2007 first-person shooter developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360, serving as the third installment in the Halo franchise. Players take on the role of Master Chief, a super soldier battling against the alien Covenant and the parasitic Flood in an interstellar war. The game introduces features like saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor, alongside its signature mix of vehicles, weapons, and cooperative play.
Helldivers 2 is a 2024 cooperative third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 5 and Windows. A sequel to the 2015 top-down shooter Helldivers, it launched on February 8, 2024, to positive reviews. Selling over 12 million copies within three months, it became PlayStation's fastest-selling title and Sony's most successful Windows release.
Titanfall 2 is a 2016 first-person shooter developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game features a single-player campaign following Jack Cooper, a Militia rifleman, and BT-7274, a Titan, as they battle to stop a superweapon, alongside multiplayer modes that build on its predecessor's mechanics. The game was released with critical acclaim for its campaign design and multiplayer innovation.
Alright that's the intro to those games let's talk about how each of them found such success with building off of incredible base game mechanics.
THE MEAT:
Within each of these games there is something very important to keep in mind. All of their mechanics. Each of them have a single set of mechanics that the game is built around. By set I’m referring to a group of mechanics that work in tandem to accomplish the same goal. In Halo 3 we have the idea of running and gunning solved by a myriad of guns, grenades, and usable items. In Helldivers 2 we have the a set of mechanics built around massive obliteration solved by high capacity magazines where it doesn’t matter too terribly much if your aim is incorrect, and a Dance Dance Revolution digital arm pad where you have to type in codes in quick succession to launch nuclear sized explosions at enemy forces. Finally we have Titanfall 2 which leaned heavily into the parkour and gunning movement style of the pilot which allows the player to utilize alternate routes and speed to deal with enemies and titans alike.
These elements are just the base mechanics of the games. They are the foundation for the rest of the game to be built upon. Without a fun set of base mechanics your game is not fun. Within game design we must focus on these parts first and only once we have “found the fun” can we truly make something great. So let's talk about how to do that.
Start with a solid Pitch Phrase. This is a phrase that describes the main feelings behind your game and experience of your game. I personally like for these phrases to focus on the emotions that I'm trying to get my players to feel. For example in our game we’re developing right now about finding sticks the main Pitch Phrase I would use to describe it is “Discovery”. When creating your Pitch Phrase ask yourself what the main objective of your game is: Are you trying to get your players to fight each other? Create something? Break the Game? Figure that out and then your Pitch Phrase should focus on the elements that push that even further.
Once a Pitch Phrase has been chosen, create mechanics and ask yourself: does this mechanic help my player feel ______? If it doesn't, this is not part of your set mechanics. You can keep these mechanics in the game but you HAVE to have a solid reason for keeping them. If not part of your main set of mechanics these secondary mechanics should at the very least help leverage the main set. For example rolling dice can be a main mechanic, but being able to reroll a dice is a great secondary mechanic that helps fuel the main set.
With a solid set of base mechanics created for your game you can then move on to secondary mechanics. In my experience these mechanics tend to come naturally to gameplay. Oftentimes as I’m playing I'll desire to do some action because of my main mechanics. These typically create great secondary mechanics because it's already what the player is wanting to do.
From there test the game and see what’s fun and remove what isn’t.
OUTRO:
In summary, the foundation of any great game lies in its base mechanics—a cohesive set of systems that align with the game's core purpose and evoke the intended player emotions. Starting with a clear Pitch Phrase helps to define this purpose and guides the design of mechanics that reinforce it. By building around these solid core systems, introducing complementary secondary mechanics, and continuously testing to refine the experience, designers can "find the fun" and create games that resonate deeply with players.
Thank you for coming to my TED Paragraph and until next week It's Ya Boi Steve Michie.
