Skills

The numerical representation of how likely a Unit or Character is to succeed with an action, and what possible consequences the action has.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Many games uses numerical values to indicate how good the characters or units controlled by players are. The Skill values can be used directly to determine success or failure or let players know the likelihood of success or failure before doing the actions associated with the skill values. Further, having certain levels in particular Skills can allow extra effects to occur when the action is performed.

Examples

Example: tabletop roleplaying system such as GURPS or d20 use skills as the primary way of showing how experienced a character is in a particular area. Basic Roleplaying

GURPS Call of Cthulhu

Example: the Deus Ex series of computer games allows players to develop skill areas by acquiring implants.

Bloodbowl Bloodbowl (computer game) Torchlight

Elder Scrolls series Fallout series

Using the pattern

some things called skills are privileged abilities since if they have no degrees of skill...

Designing use of Skills in games depends on the type of game. Real-Time Games usually let the success or failure depend on how the player performed the action but let Skill levels affect the difficulty or allow Privileged Abilities linked to the action. Turn-Based Games make richer use of Skills, both regarding the evaluation functions used as well as the number of actions that are determined by Skill levels. Skill levels may be adjustable by players before gameplay to allow Handicaps to be set to achieve Player Balance.

Actions based on Skills can in Turn-Based Games either have dynamic or static evaluation. Static evaluation promotes Predictable Consequences but may ruin the Illusion of Influence if the value used in the evaluation functions is known. Dynamic evaluationusually contains some form of Randomness and thereby gives players the chance to have Luck, and can give players the Illusion of Influence through the use of Dice. Skills in Turn-Based Games can be further detailed by the introduction of prerequisites, specializations, maneuvers, and the process of basing skill levels on other skill levels.

The possibility to increase Skill levels instantiates Character Development (and Team Development) and can be done in several ways: the increase can be aReward for completing a goal; Extended Actions in the form of Investment may have Skill increases as their main result; or Improved Abilities through Tools, Power-Ups, or Chargers. The chance of increasing may be governed by Randomness, or may be automatic given use of the Skills. If players can affect which Skills can be raised, this allows for Planned Character Development. Budgeted Action Points can be used to control the amount of Skill increases in games with many Skills, and may ensure Player Balance in Multiplayer Games. Another way to limit Skill increases is to use Diminishing Returns, either by requiring more Investments to be done to increase the Skills or by making the chances of improving the Skills lower as the Skill gets higher.

Consequences

Skills are one way of differentiating Characters and thereby giving players Competence Areas. When this is used to create Orthogonal Unit Differentiation it promotes Varied Gameplay and Team Play in Multiplayer Games.

Having numerical values to indicate competence levels make it easy to implement Improved Abilities or Decreased Abilities. Being above certain threshold values can also be used to determine if one has access to Privileged Abilities. The possibility to increase Skills can be used to give players Gain Competence goals and advance the Narrative Structures through Character Development. Decreased Abilities are typically the effect of Penalties or Damage.

Known Skill levels give Predictable Consequences and thereby a Perceived Chance to Succeed. This can not only be used by players to make Risk/Reward choices but allows game designers to set the Right Level of Difficulty by adjusting the Skills of Enemies.

Relations

Armor, Character Development, Controllers, Predictable Consequences, Bookkeeping Tokens, Budgeted Action Points, Privileged Abilities, Improved Abilities, Decreased Abilities, Gain Competence,

Can Instantiate

Character Defining Actions, Competence Areas, Crafting, Player/Character Skill Composites

Can Modulate

Aim & Shoot, Avatars, Characters, Combat, Companions, Crafting, Enemies, Freedom of Choice, Health Mules, Tools,

Can Be Modulated By

Damage, Handicap Systems, New Abilities, Player-Created Characters, Randomness, Self-Service Kiosks, Tools,

Potentially Conflicting With

with Multiplayer Games

Player Balance

History

An updated version of the pattern Skills that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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