asian vs. western games: successful gameplay and design elements that makes no sense | ohad barzilay

Asian vs Western GamesDesign Elements that Make No

Sense

West and East

Setting Expectations

• Technical Game Design Talk (with some cultural refs)

• Not a Localization session• I will generalize (for time saving)

Who Am I

• Founded and headed 3 game studios so far• Previously GM / COO & CCO at Mytopia • Worked with Dreamworks, Endemol,

Showtime, Lionsgate, 888, bwin.party, Rovio

• Teaching in Game Dev programs for 8 years

Pet Monsters

Pet Monsters

Ongoing Rise of Asia

Ongoing Rise of Asia

Ongoing Rise of Asia

3 Approaches

1. Localizing Games 2. Copying Systems / Design Elements 3. Creating Western ver of an Asian game (or

reverse)

3 Approaches - Localizing Games

3 Approaches – Copy Systems

3 Approaches - Creating Western / Asian version

Game Elements

Western Players• Play for FUN• Seek Rules Clarity• Focus on Progress• Will accept some

grinding but will stop playing if game doesn’t progress fast enough

Gameplay Behavior

Asian Players• Play to WIN• Expect Rules Complexity• Focus on Efficiency • Will spend hours

calculating and optimizing gameplay in the same game region (grinding)

Gameplay Behavior

https://www.reddit.com/r/bravefrontier/comments/2quqq1/mechanics_analysis_damage/

Gameplay Behavior - Luck

Western Players• Everyone is equal• Luck is evenly

distributed

Asian Players• Luck is personal• Some people will always

be more lucky than others

• Fine with artificial influence on luck

Character Progression

Western Methodology – Experience PointsPerform actions (fight, train, cast spells)

Gain Experience (XP)

Level Up

(Repeat until Max Level)

Asian Methodology – FusionObtain Units

Fuse Units to character (XP)

Level Up

(Repeat until Max Level)

Character Progression

Spirits (Kami)

• Japanese’s Shinto, Chinese’s Dao are Animist religions

• There are thousands of spirits, many are local

• Every element in the world has a spirit – trees, rocks, stars, air, buildings, skills, abstracts, dead people

• Spirits can animate living and non-living things. They cannot really ‘die’, so can move one body to another

Spirits (Kami)

• Japanese’s Shinto, Chinese’s Dao are Animist religions

• There are thousands of spirits, many are local

• Every element in the world has a spirit – trees, rocks, stars, air, buildings, skills, abstracts, dead people

• Spirits can animate living and non-living things. They cannot really ‘die’, so can move one body to another

Character Progression

Asian Methodology – Evolution• Second Degree of Progression• Usually req Max Level + Evo Materials• Always provide visual change• Evo stage marked with Stars

Gacha

Gacha

• Toy Vending Machine giving out a Toy Randomly

• Very popular in Japan for getting Anime Characters

• Somewhat similar to Cards Packs• Often perceived as a slot machine in the

west

Gacha

Slots• Getting a Big Win is the

goal• Having small winnings

prevent a player from leaving the game

• Most rounds end with no gain at all

Gacha• Getting rarest unit is the

goal• The best unit is able to

give the user long-lasting benefit

• Even winning a lousy unit is beneficial to the system

Gacha Done Right

• Diversity is critical • Require big amount of units in cycle• Can be same power unit but different look

Gacha Done Right

• Price points Gacha with rising risk/reward• Guaranteed better minimum rewards

Types of Gacha explained - http://rittlethrone.com/index.php/2015/09/05/top-gacha-design/

Gacha Done Right

• Price points Gacha with rising risk/reward• Guaranteed better minimum rewards

Gacha Done Right

• Design: Required different type of level balancing

• Dynamically increase difficulty based on unit power

• Refresh Machines Periodically – highlight new units

• Tie Gacha to specific events, raids, holidays, levels

• Try Variations of Gacha • Boxed Gacha – specific number of rewards,

each use removes one until box empty• Friend Gacha – Send gacha use to a friend

Should you do Gacha?

There are 3 factors that affect progress in a game:• Player Skill: Better control skill = Better

outcome• Unit Skill: Better unit = Better outcome• Luck: How Random is the outcome

Player Skill

Unit Power

Luck

Player Skill

Unit Power

Luck

Player SkillUnit Power

Luck

Player Skill

Unit Power

Luck

Auto Play (Auto Battle, Auto Path)

Pay 2 Win

• Asia: Buying units in the game / paying to win a level is publicly acceptable

• West: Players are hostile to the concept - “cheating”

• Paying players in the west need to be able to pretend they earned everything without paying

• Asians expect excellent Customer Service if they pay, Westerns expect it even if they are not

Events

• Time-limited Quests• Happen on a clear schedule • Have clear reward type

• For Evo Materials• For Rare Units

• Main source of new content daily• Critical for monetization

Multiplayer

Western Players• Culture encourage

competition, individualism => Multiplayer is PvP

• Social Structure more loose, flexible, “everyone is equal” => Social in games includes chat, realtime play, meaningful contact

Asian Players• Culture encourage unity,

cooperation => Multiplayer is more PvE, Co-op

• Japan social structure is very strict, hierarch => Social in games mostly flat and not intimidating

Multiplayer

Visuals

- Too much detail

- Too Anime- Too Bright

- Too simple

- Too realistic

- Too dark

UI

What stands out for a western player:• Cluttered UI and HUD• Many Numbers• Art with too many details• Still images, only simple anim• Flashing bright colors• Signals overload

UI – Quick Examples

UI – Quick Examples

UI: Linguistic Differences

Characters Comfort• Logographic-based languages can convey

a lot of meaning in few characters

Lacking Emphasis• Japanese doesn’t have italics or capital

letters, get around by adding decorations, colors

UI: Cultural Differences

Risk Avoidance• Asian cultures does not encourage risk

taking or standing out from the crowd. Once a precedent has been set everybody follows it

Consumer Behaviour• People require a high degree of assurance

by means of lengthy descriptions before making a purchasing decision

UI: Technical Differences

Mobile Legacy• Japan had web, games on phones years

before the west. Screens were small and information was crammed which influence today’s visual look

Fonts• Lack of fonts for non-latin languages

(Chinese, Japanese). Each font requires thousands of characters to be individually designed = expensive, time consuming, bigger to download

Take-aways

• There is a big cultural and gameplay difference.

• Asian influence in mobile games is high, rising rapidly

• It changes the players (even western players) – whether we want it or not

• We need to adapt through understanding, not through copying blindly

• There are many things that can be adapted to fit each culture, if taken as a system and not as single elements

Thanks

@civaxo

3 Approaches - Localizing Games

Visuals

Storyline & Narrative

• Asian players likes complexity and many details in game mechanics, but more linear, simple plot

• Western players – the complete opposite• Both prefer stories tied to their own

history, mythology, cities, scenery. Martial Arts instead of guns etc.

Gacha

• Probability-based Unit Drop• Somewhat similar to Gambling games in

the west.• Player motivated by expectation to win

best reward.• Even when losing money, the expectation

prevents players from giving up