Prototyping Games With "The Metric System"

In a nutshell, the metric system is a tool that allows us to build out and test all of the interactions of a game (or the game's internal logic) without the need to build out the visual side of things or, for that matter, know much about programming. Put another way, its rapid prototyping + awesome.

So why is this so important? Quite a few reasons actually. Let me serenade you with a few of them.

Building games takes time. The bigger and more complicated the game, the more time it takes, and even with the more detailed plans and storyboards, you may not always know when something isn't working until you get far down the rabbit hole. With the metric system we can identify potential shortcomings with the game's designs significantly faster and address them far more easily than we could have previously.

Its not always easy to explain a game's interactions to someone, particularly if that someone is not a gamer themselves - a situation we encounter all too often making games in higher education. By having a tool that allows you to put together something that someone can actually interact with, we have the ability to let the game speak for itself - something would have been extremely time prohibitive given a more traditional development path. This also means that, should we be so inclined, we can do testing earlier.

Speaking of testing, Zac was able to build an epic feature into the Metric System that takes prototyping to a whole new level - the turn simulator. Simply type in the number of 'turns" you want to simulate, and the game randomly selects events based on the event prerequisite tree you've built out, shows you have the metrics have changed, and saved every move in a list you can review. Because the simulator works randomly, it can (and has) done things that human testers never would have thought to do - validating (or destroying) assumptions that you make about the rules of your game. It certainly does not eliminate the need for human playtesting, but it does add a new to the development experience - something which has already proved invaluable as we put together the more complex game we've ever designed.

Separation of Content and Presentation 

You're sitting through a mind blowing presentation with a message that is going to solve every problem you've ever had. Or at least it would have... if the presenter hadn't picked that slide template that screams "babies first powerpoint". Or maybe its their voice. Or the fact that they used poor poor comic sanz.

It doesn't make it right, but we're all human and we've all been there. We have a difficult time separating the content from the presentation. And when we're in that situation, sometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees, even if the trees are not whats really important, or they are a matter of subjective taste.

Thats not to say that the visual side of a game is not as important as the content - I would argue it certainly can be. But now we can keep those conversations separate until we're ready to have them. 

Without the Metric System, the EGC's game development process would be (and has been) extremely segregated, where the burden of development would fall nearly exclusively on the person with the technical expertise. For example, though I could design scenarios, metrics, or interactions, I lack the Flash skills to program them into the game and thus my work would have to become Zac's work. With the Metric System, however, I can actually get under the hood of the game - add events, manipulate numbers, even setup triggers without any Flash knowledge. Not only is this helpful in these early stages of development, but it also means that as we tweak the gameplay down the road, not everything needs to funnel through a single person. As a result, we can make the process more efficient and more collaborative, not to mention reduce some of the developmental pressure. 

Thanks to Zac's exceptional efforts, you're not just building a rapid prototype, you're actually building the game when you use the metric system. Efficiency to the max and one of the system's biggest benefits.

While one game might be focussed on building a campus and setting tuition, another might be focussed on jumping over platforms and avoiding enemies. Regardless of the type of game, its mechanics and logic that drives it can be abstracted and added to the metric system. The ability to rapidly prototype and play also means the ability to propose and explore more game designs without incurring increased risks of wasted time or effort.

There are certainly plenty of other benefits to using the Metric System and no doubt this tool will evolve as we think about new ways to work with it. But two weeks in, its already proven its worth as a stalwart in the EGC Game Development process. And though we're certainly not there yet - this tool could be the key to turning the economics game and the tile engine behind it into GenEd education in a box. But thats a story for another day...

I encourage you to jump over to Zac's blog and check out his thoughts on the Metric System.

Faster. Smarter. Better. Thats just how we do.