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Variable-Interval Reinforcement

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by Aiursrage2k, Dec 20, 2014.

  1. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    If you skip to 22:20 jack talks about the idea of Variable-Interval Reinforcement and why games likes like FTL are so popular
     
  2. CaoMengde777

    CaoMengde777

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    LOOL made me think of playing "Path of Exile" .. theres a rediculously rare and valuable "Mirror of Kalandra" and supposedly it can drop from any stupid crate or urn or enemy in the game(dunno if thats true)... so you end up wanting to look in all of them

    its actually really crappy, and part of what made me HATE the game, hate the devs, and HATE myself for playing it LOOOOL
     
  3. RockoDyne

    RockoDyne

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    So skinner boxes, or operant conditioning chambers for the overly academic? FTL is actually not a great example of this. It's present, but it's a small part of a much more complicated system. Roguelikes in general are like this. What is actually more important in these games is your skill/knowledge, while the random drops contributes more to changes in play style.

    Compare this to MMO's and Diablo-esque loot based games that are JUST the skinner box, and are all about being the mouse pressing the button hoping for drops.
     
    Gigiwoo likes this.
  4. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Works for dogs. And humans. And people who play your games. Skinner boxes (aka interval-based-rewards) are a part of most modern games, in most genres: WoW, LoL, Candy Crush, and yes, even Cookie Clicker. It's an important tool in the designer tool box.

    Gigi
     
  5. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    Theres a synergy between the professional youtube LPers (northernlion for example) and rouge likes especially binding of issac -- because they can keep playing the same game over and over again (which will in turn drive traffic to the game).
    http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/29/the-binding-of-isaac-meant-to-fail-rescued-by-hardcore-fans/


    I started looking at the roguelikes on steam, and noticed the top sellers were all pixel art.
    http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Rogue-like/#os[]=mac&p=0&tab=TopSellers
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2014
    Gigiwoo likes this.