Stimulated Planning

Gameplay structures that encourage players to plan future actions in the game.

Some games provide players with the opportunity to predict with some certainty the outcomes of actions and thereby be able to plan what to do thereafter. The certainty of the outcomes and the number of possible future game states after a couple of actions decide if these games can be said to encourage Stimulated Planning amongst players. Depending on what type of challenges a game presents, the planning may include anticipating other players actions and planning.

Examples

All puzzles are examples of games that Stimulate Planning, and puzzle-like games like Ricochet Robots, Continuity, and Cursor*10 have the same characteristic.

Classical strategy games such as Go and Chess provide players that show the whole game state perfect information and have no unpredictability to the effects of actions provide ample support for Stimulated Planning. Diplomacy adds negotiation to the gameplay, and by doing so add making plans how to negotiate in the future part of the gameplay activity. Stratego is an example of a strategy game also supporting planning but with part of the game state hidden, while Poker, Roborally, and No Thanks use both randomness and hidden information but in this case encourages players to consider the other players' incomplete views of the gameplay as part of the planning.

Stimulated Planning can also be encouraged before gameplay begins. An important aspect of collectible card games, e.g. Magic the Gathering and Pokémon, is to create play decks from a large collection of cards before an actual game begins. Other games consist only of planning activities before the gameplay begins, for example Crobots or P-Robots where programming robots are the players' challenges and 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness where figuring out when to play is the main challenge. Looking at more ordinary games, role-playing games support players both before and during gameplay in planning how their characters can develop and this can be found in both tabletop systems (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons or GURPS) and computer-based systems (e.g. The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout series). Real-time strategy games such as Command and Conquer and Starcraft that provide different types of units and special abilities encourage players to plan how they are going to play before actually starting to play the games.

Making raids in World of Warcraft are examples of activities within games that can require extensive planning by whole groups of players, and the main gameplay activity of Space Alert is this type of group planning.

Using the pattern

Encouraging player to try to figure out how ones actions can cause the game to enter a wanted game state is the essence of Stimulated Planning. Stimulated Planning requires that players can have goals that are not immediately possible to try and reach, and that they can know or predict how immediate actions can be combined to get closer to reaching the goal with a level of certainty making the planning seem meaningful.

The ability to plan how a chain of actions can lead to a wanted game state depend on both how many actions is required and how difficult it is to make a correct assumption of the effects of those actions.

The presence of Enemies make the planning of actions more complex because one must consider their actions as well. If the Enemy actions are easily predictable, e.g. the movement of aliens in Space Invaders, this may require more planning in the form of Puzzle Solving or Dexterity-Based Actions for some parts of the plan. With more complex behaviors, either by opposing players or sufficiently complex Algorithmic Agents, the Enemies become Agents which may cause the planning to unpredictable and may shift the gameplay towards Negotiation or Social Interaction.

replannning

Perfect Information

Planned Character Development

That players must have a level of certainty of the consequences of their actions does not mean that complete predictability is desirable; one may want to plan so that one is intentional unaware of the exact outcomes to allow oneself to have Surprises. This can be a motivating factor for Game Masters, either because they themselves will be provided with challenges during gameplay or that the results narration is unknown to them.

--

Stimulated Planning requires that players have a Freedom of Choice between different actions and that those actions have Predictable Consequences. Besides making these two requirements exist in a game design, Stimulated Planning requires reasons for doing the planning and means for players to be able to do the planning. Direct Information and Perfect Information supports Predictable Consequences, either by allowing players to know the game state with certainty and thereby the possible actions, or by giving players exact feedback on actions. Symmetric Information can provide players with information about other players' goals and game elements, thereby stimulating planning, with the added feature that players know what other players know. Public Information can provide players with information about other players' goals or tactics, thereby also increasing the possibility of having Predictable Consequences of the players' own actions and tactics. Near Miss Indicators can help players readjust their planning, either by noticing their own failures or by becoming aware of other players' actions. Cut Scenes can provide players with overviews of the challenges they will later face.

Activities that require planning include Resource Management, Puzzle Solving, or completing Stealth goals. Especially Resource Management can provide a great variety of possible actions that can stimulate planning of how to make use of Limited Resources: which Resources and Units should be created by Producers or Converters, what Investments to make, and which Resources should be saved in Containers. Further, many sorts of actions promote planning: Extended Actions may require planning, and plans on when other actions could be started instead of continuing the actions; actions with Delayed Effects may require planning to make full use of Timing, but Timing may also be created by planning; having to choose between possible Rewards; and the long-term consequences of Irreversible Actions may require more planning than other actions. Coordinating activities into Collaborative Actions also requires planning, as does fighting against Enemies with Orthogonal Unit Differentiation or making use of one's own forces with various Privileged Abilities. Any Risk/Reward choices or choices that require Tradeoffs promote Stimulated Planning.

Planning is made possible through providing information to players and giving them the time to use it. Examples of ways players can be supported with Public Information to do planning include Book-Keeping Tokens or other Game State Overviews, public Scores, or open Discard Piles. Turn Taking, Safe Havens, and Ultra-Powerful Events can all give players Downtime, which can be used for Stimulated Planning.

The Right Level of Complexity of Stimulated Planning depends on how many actions and players have to be considered, as well as how far into the future gameplay the planning should be done. Number of players in a game is easy to design, and number of actions can be regulated by Limited Set of Actions. How many actions ahead players can move is more difficult, as players' usually want to plan as far ahead as possible, but can be modulated by Limited Foresight or avoiding too Predictable Consequences from actions. The complexity can be further modulated by requiring players to do Attention Swapping between different areas of gameplay.

Stimulated Planning can be promoted by the Extra-Game Actions of Save-Load Cycles, which allows players to explore the game first and then try to overcome challenges or to do Experimenting.

Irreversible Events Analysis Paralysis Real-Time Games Space Alert Turn-Based Games Turn Taking Private Game Spaces

Puzzle Solving

Strategic Planning Tactical Planning

Consequences

Stimulated Planning gives players a sense of Empowerment and is the effect of Predictable Consequences and either Freedom of Choice or an Illusion of Influence. The activity of planning also gives Cognitive Immersion but may cause Analysis Paralysis if the Right Level of Complexity is not achieved. Being able to make efficient use of Stimulated Planning without having Analysis Paralysis can be a measure of Game Mastery. Stimulated Planning can also be caused by giving players Creative Control, for example, through Planned Character Development, or by letting them do Experimenting.

When games support planning between game instances or game sessions if players have Strategic Knowledge, this is a form Stimulated Planning through Extra-Game Actions.

Puzzle Solving

When many actions are chained together they in practice can be seen as forming a Hierarchy of Goals.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Cognitive Immersion, Analysis Paralysis, Empowerment, Timing, Game Mastery

Can Modulate

Timing

Can Be Instantiated By

Direct Information, Extended Actions, Predictable Consequences, Discard Piles, Strategic Knowledge, Collaborative Actions, Score, Safe Havens, Privileged Abilities, Limited Set of Actions, Rewards, Ultra-Powerful Events, Irreversible Actions, Turn Taking, Planned Character Development, Freedom of Choice, Delayed Effects, Experimenting, Creative Control, Tradeoffs, Risk/Reward, Puzzle Solving, Resource Management, Illusion of Influence, Orthogonal Unit Differentiation, Resources, Save-Load Cycles, Extra-Game Actions, Container, Producers, Converters, Book-Keeping Tokens, Game State Overview, Perfect Information, Investments, Units, Cut Scenes, Symmetric Information, Stealth

Can Be Modulated By

Attention Swapping, Limited Foresight, Near Miss Indicators, Right Level of Complexity, Public Information, Limited Resources

History

A rewrite version of the pattern Stimulated Planning that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.