Game feel

Game feel is the intangible, tactile sensation experienced when interacting with video games. The term has no agreed upon definition, but there are many defined ways to improve game feel.

Game feel is usually attributed to spatial games whose mechanics involve controlling the movement of objects or characters. Since the majority of games are spatial, studies involving game feel mainly focus on the movement and physical interactions between objects in games. The goal of good game feel is to immerse the player in an engaging and rewarding experience. A way to test game feel is to see if interacting with a game's most basic mechanics feels satisfying. At minimum, the game should feel engaging to play even after the plot, points, level design, music, and graphics are removed; if it is not, then the game may suffer from poor game feel.

History

Steve Swink had defined the game feel as "realtime control of virtual objects in a simulated space, with interactions emphasised by polish", including the "aesthetic sensation of control", pleasure of learning a new skill, extensions of sense and identity, interaction with physical reality. Prior to his work, the bridge between emotions and gameplay was described in terms of the "flow theory" of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, adapted to games by Sweetser & Wyeth (2005).

Metrics

There is no industry standard for measuring game feel, as the experience is highly subjective and defined differently by individual players and developers.

To establish a structured framework for research and analysis, Steve Swink's book Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation (2008) categorizes the experience into six distinct areas: input, response, context, polish, metaphor, and rules.

Input

Input is the means by which a player can control the game. The physical input device used by the player has an effect on game feel; for instance, using a joystick to control movement feels natural because the joystick itself offers physical feedback. In other cases, like with touchscreens, the input device can offer little feedback and be cumbersome for the player to use.

Official Gran Turismo kit with GT Force and Racing Cockpit

Game feel can be improved by using a control scheme that is easily understood by the player. Natural mappings allows a game designer to connect a game's movement mechanics to an input device. Realistic racing games, like Gran Turismo, make the most sense when using a racing wheel controller; in this case the input device directly matches the game's movement mechanics. Arcade cabinets often have unique controls to better relate to their movement mechanics. For example, Centipede uses a trackball as its main input; the inclusion of a trackball allows the player to move in all directions with ease, which is the main focus of the game's mechanics.

An Atari 2600 joystick, featuring a single directional stick and one action button

A Street Fighter IV arcade controller, featuring a directional joystick and multiple action buttons

Input sensitivity also plays a role in game feel. Sensitivity is defined as a "rough measure of the amount of expressiveness inherent in a particular input device." Each different controller has a unique inherent sensitivity, and because of that the pairing of controller and game can have a dramatic impact on game feel. A game that requires precision being matched with a low-sensitivity controller can make the game hard to play or even frustrating.

To evaluate input, Steve Swink categorizes the metric into three levels:

• Micro level: The individual components of an input device that, when interacted with, send a real-time signals to a medium to generate immediate feedback for the player.

• Macro level: The complete combination of all inputs on a device as a whole, which allow designers to evaluate the overall input sensitivity and possibility space of one device compared to another. For example, a standard joystick is limited to directional movement, restricting the player to one input at a time. In contrast, a modern controller features multiple buttons and sticks that can be pressed simultaneously, offering a wider range of input combinations and higher sensitivity.

The difference dictates hardware choices based on game complexity; simple games like Pac-Man utilize a joystick for precise four-way directional control, while complex games like Street Fighter require an arcade controller, which is a combination of both joysticks and buttons to execute advanced action sequences.

• Tactile level: The physical properties and structural quality of the input device, including its weight, construction materials, and the mechanical feel of its buttons.

Response

Response is how the game interprets and reacts to player input. In general, response in good game design involves controls that have a low delay and high sensitivity (also called responsive controls). If the delay between input and response is noticeable to the player, the game can be seen as sluggish and unwieldy.

Response is also how the game converts the player's simple input to more complex expressions of movement. For example, the controller on the Nintendo Entertainment System has a very simple directional-pad and two on-off buttons, but games like Super Mario Bros. took the simple input and allowed the player's expressions to be complex, fluid, and deliberate.

Context

Input and response require an environment that gives meaning to the player's actions. If the player has the ability to move the character in interesting ways, the environments in the game should reflect that and give the player interesting situations to play in. For instance, a racing game that focuses on careful steering and managing speed around corners would not be engaging if the race track was a wide, straight line; a track with slopes, bends, straights, and hairpin turns creates interesting scenarios for the player to interact with.

Polish

Polish (also referred to as "aesthetics") is the extra details that influence the player's senses. Since games are primarily focused on sight and sound (graphics and music/sfx), polishes amplify both the visuals and the audio of the game to make the overall experience more engaging to the player.

Visual

Visual aesthetics add details to the game world that make it feel more vibrant and connected. Visual details can subconsciously inform the player of the subtle interactions between the objects in the game world. Simple examples include adding particle effects, like dirt being kicked up by the game character's feet or water splashing from a pool, can enhance the inherent connection between physical objects in the game world.

Visual effects can also improve game feel by introducing extra spectacle and dazzling the player. Vivid colors and bright aesthetics can make a game feel alive, and adding effects like bright flashes, sparks, explosions, debris, and camera shake enhances the impact of events in the game.

Sound

Sound effects emphasize the interactions between objects in the game. Having weak or quiet sound effects can lead to the game objects feeling weak and less impactful. If the sounds themselves are low quality, it can be especially distracting to the player. Good game feel requires appropriate, impactful, and pleasing (non-repetitive) sound effects.

Music can also have a big effect on game feel. Game music's main purpose is to reinforce the main mood or tone of the game. Action games generally use loud and bombastic scores to emphasize the feeling of power and triumph, and horror games generally use subtle, tense music with loud spikes to drive home moments of intensity.

Metaphor

Metaphor in game feel refers to how the game mechanics relate to the game's theme. If the game involves things the player understands, the player will bring preconceived notions of how those things should behave. For instance, a realistic driving simulator game carries expectations of how the cars should handle; if you swap the model of the car out with a model of a fat running man (without changing the controls or movement) the game feels completely different and the previous expectations are no longer present.

A gameplay screenshot of Pac-Man illustrating the threat of pursuing ghosts and a Power Pellet positioned at the top-right of the maze.

Rules

Rules, or game mechanics, are defined interactions between game elements designed for specific gameplay purposes. Without the context provided by the rules, these elements may appear unrelated to one another; however, the rules establish their relationships, which dictates how players interact with them.

For example, in Pac-Man, consuming a "Power Pellet" temporarily allows the player character to eat the enemy ghosts. This rule changes the player's tactical approach on these items, often leading them to strategically leave the pellets on the stage until needed, rather than consuming them immediately. Without this rule, the item would not alter player behavior or affect the perceived threat level of the enemies.

Steve Swink categorizes rules into three distinct levels based on how they affect gameplay:

• High-level rules: Rules that influence player behavior by incentivizing or restricting the use of specific subsets of mechanics, thereby guiding strategic choices within the gameplay system.

For example, in multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, the "last-hitting" mechanic awards additional gold to the player character who delivers the final blow to a minion or creep. This rule incentivizes players to time their attacks precisely rather than continuously using abilities and basic attacks without strategy.

• Mid-level rules: Rules that target specific active game objects, temporarily shifting the player's immediate priorities and altering the sequence of their actions.

For example, in multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, defensive towers often receive a significant armor reduction when enemy minions or creeps enter their radius, making the structures vulnerable to player attacks. This mechanic functions as a mid-level rule that instantly shifts the defending team's immediate priority from other map objectives to clearing the enemy creeps and protecting the tower.

• Low-level rules: Rules that determine the traits and behavior of a single object, altering how players perceive it.

For example, in multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, standard minions or creeps travel in groups and are defeated in a few attacks, causing players to perceive them as minor, low-value encounters. In contrast, major jungle monsters or bosses appear individually on the map with significantly higher health and defense pools. Although the player's attack mechanics remain identical, the high number of strikes required to defeat these unique monsters alters player perception, making the encounters feel much more intimidating and valuable.

Sources

• Pichlmair, Martin; Johansen, Mads (18 November 2020). "Designing Game Feel: A Survey". IEEE Transactions on Games. 14 (2): 138–152. arXiv:2011.09201. doi:10.1109/TG.2021.3072241.
• Sweetser, Penelope; Wyeth, Peta (2005). "GameFlow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games". Computers in Entertainment. 3 (3). Association for Computing Machinery: 3. doi:10.1145/1077246.1077253.

External links

• Steve Swink's Game Feel book official website
• Game Feel: Why Your Death Animation Sucks by Nicolae Berbese at GDC Europe 2015.
• Juice it or lose it a talk by Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho