Feedback Loops in Game Development
Developing a game is complex. As designers & developers, we need as many tools as possible to ease the process. Tools that we can decide to use along the way to either tackle a problem or create a new system from scratch.
Feedback loops is one of those tools. Developing & analyzing systems with this in mind can help you, among other things, control the balance, length & perceived fairness of a single session.
What is a feedback loop?
As often is, this concept is seen everywhere. Not just in video games. A feedback loop is when the output of a system is fed right back into the machinery as more input.
Let’s take an example from finance; namely compound interest. Let’s say you deposit your hard earned cash to a bank account for long term saving. The bank gives you an interest rate based on your deposit as a nice little thank you for storing your money there.
If the interest is reinvested in the account upon payout (take the output and feed it back in as input), the next payout will produce a larger interest.
Of course, there are a lot more parameters to it than that. But handled with care and caution you could have a money making machine right there. However, depending on the result of the feedback, it creates one of two loop types; Positive or Negative.
Positive feedback loops
A positive feedback loop in a game setting is when the result of your actions makes it easier to do the same tasks or get the same objects again.
An easy example to give is what many RPG:s do. You fight enemies and gain experience. That experience will eventually make you gain a new level. That level will make your character stronger and it will become easier to fight the same monsters again.
RPG games usually combat this type of loop by introducing tougher and tougher enemies as you grow stronger. This is to not make the game boring (from everything getting too easy) after a while and still keep the sense of progression you get from it.
Looking at it from a multiplayer perspective, a positive loop will give better players an advantage. Their skill will give benefits that will make it easier for them to win more and potentially ending the game faster.
However, a positive feedback loop should not be misinterpreted as something that always gives the player a positive outcome, like getting stronger, faster or obtaining stronger equipment. It is the magnitude of the effect fed back into the system we should be looking at.
Personally, I like to visualize this on a single horizontal axis showing where you are in terms of winning; left means you are losing and right means that you are winning.
The forces of the system pushes you towards the edges of the “axis of winning”. Let me give you an example to make it clearer.
Example – Worms
In the classic game series Worms, you have an army of worms with whom you can use a number of tactics and weapons to beat your opponent.
However, when one of your worms dies by the hand of your opponent, things get a lot harder for you. Losing a character in your team will make it easier for you to lose more since you don’t have as many chances to shoot your opponents as before. And if you have less worms than your opponent, it will get easier and easier for them to beat what’s left of your team.
A negative outcome for you as the player, but it is a positive feedback loop since it pushes you towards defeat. After one loss, it get’s easier to lose once more.
Negative feedback loops
A negative loop is just the opposite from a positive one. The results of your actions makes it more difficult to do the same tasks or get the same objects again.
The example everybody gives when reading about this is Mario Kart. If you are in the lead, the system will make it harder for you to stay there. Instead of getting the stars and blue shells, you’ll only get bananas and green shells. Consequently, the losing players will get only good objects, either targeting the ones in the lead or helping them advance and taking the leading position.
I like to visualize this too on the “axis of winning”, just as I did earlier with the positive loop.
However, this time the forces of the system pulls you back closer to where you started instead of pushing you away. Negative feedback loops can be particularly useful for controlling game length and balance. If a player has quickly gained the lead and found a dominant strategy, you might want to consider using a negative loop.
Of course, it all depends on the type of game you are making, but you might want to give losing players a chance to catch up. If it’s a single player game, you might want to combat some successes from becoming too powerful. Not only to control game length, but to give the player a challenge.
Example – Call of Duty: Warzone
Let’s take an example from Call of Duty: Warzone and specifically their “Plunder” game mode. It is a game mode where your goal is to collect as much money as possible until two teams collected more than 1 millon dollars. After that there’s a two minute race to the finish line and the team with the most cash wins.
However, if you and your teammates are doing well and earned a sizeable amount of cash that puts you in the lead, things will get more tricky. You will be marked as a HVT(High-Value Target) and all the other teams will be able to see the area where you are located. Thus making it more difficult to stay in the lead since people will most likely start hunting you.
Conclusion
Feedback loops is something all game developers can benefit from knowing. Using loops can have such a great impact on the game itself. A loop that is out of control can rapidly bring down the user experience of your game. It can leave your players with feelings that your game is unfair, unbalanced or even boring.
On the other hand, loops that are balanced and work together well can get your players wanting more for hours, days & months to come.
It is an important topic, and when you are creating your game you should make a conscious decision if your game should have them at all, what they are and how they work. Your game will benefit from it.
Thank you for reading! If you liked this type of post, please let me know! That way I can get a sense if I should do more of them. Also, If you have any comments, observations or perspectives about this – please talk to me on twitter!
