Scientifically Measuring Games

Carpe Delirium attempts to create a heuristic method for evaluating game designs.

Concept

* Originality - It possesses elements that have never, or at least not in this particular combination, been part of a game before.
* Freshness and replayability - It is different each time it is played. Repetition in sequence, progress, and events are avoided.
* Match between system and the theme - The system uses concepts intuitive and familiar to the players through their understanding of the theme.

Rules

* Complexity and target groups - The complexity of the game rules is consistent with the target audience for the game.
* Complexity and influence - The complexity of the game rules is commensurate with the player'’s level of influence over the course of the game.
* Learning - The presentation and order of the rules make the game easy to learn.
* Playing Aids - Summaries of often-used, complex information are provided for players.
* Completeness - Rules cover all possible occurrences in game play. Players can easily find answers to rules questions.

Player Involvement

* Player desire - Players want to play it again.
* Player influence - Players have the opportunity to affect the games progress and direction. They play the game, the game does not play them.
* Tension - There are no long periods of relatively low tension. The game gets to the action relatively quickly.
* Reasonable waiting times - Players are not subjected to long periods of inactivity while they wait their turns. Players act simultaneously or are involved in others' turns.
* Meaningful choices - At any decision point a player has small number of meaningful choices. There should not be one option which is optimal for all decision points.

Balance Issues

* Equal opportunity - The initial state of the game gives every player an equal chance of winning.
* Turn order - Overall the first and last players should have neither an advantage nor a disadvantage over the rest of the field.
* No early elimination - All players are involved in the game until it'’s almost over.
* No runaway leaders - Every player has at least a theoretical and preferably a practical possibility of winning until the very end.
* No "kingmaker effect" - A player who no longer has any hope of winning cannot somehow determine the winner.

Production

* Recognition rather than recall - The game components make the game status visible, minimizing the players'’ memory load. A player should not have to remember information from one part of the game to another.
* Legibility - Text is clearly legible and tokens are clearly distinguishable.
* Uniformity - The title, theme, format, and graphics give a unified impression of the game.
* Component quality - Components are durable, functional, visually and tactilely appealing.

I don't agree with everything said, but I believe that this list is quite useful as a sort of checklist for a designer to go over with each major iteration of a design.