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. Freedom of Choice does not necessarily need to be present or extensive, e.g. No Thanks provides only two actions while still having Stimulated Planning) but unless it exists the planning is limited to either performing an action or not (which is another way to explain the gameplay in No Thanks), and the same applies to Illusion of Influence.

Narrative Structures is a common tool to provide players with a long-term goal not immediately accessible, but Outstanding Features in Game Worlds that are either far away or difficult to reach may fill the same purpose. Giving players Creative Control encourages players to set up their own Player Created Goals but may fail if players are uninspired.

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.

Predictable Consequences

The number of actions available is one aspect of this

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.

A basic requirement for being able to draw conclusions about what effects ones actions will have is knowing something about the current game state. Games with Perfect Information of course provide this, but games with Imperfect Information may use [[Game State Overview|Game State Overviews to provide sufficient information to support the planning.

Complex Gameplay

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.

Since games that provide players with too much support for planning may cause Analysis Paralysis, and Downtime for other players in Multiplayer Games, Stimulated Planning may need to be balanced with Limited Planning Abilities. This can be through hiding parts of the game state, e.g. through Fog of War or Uncertainty of Information, or through providing Limited Foresight to counter Predictable Consequences, e.g. by making the outcome of actions depend on Randomness.

Planning may occur by itself between play sessions, and for this reason Stimulated Planning can be said to be encouraged by Asynchronous Games. Planned Character Development in roleplaying games and Technology Trees are example of game features that further increase the likelihood of the Extra-Game Actions of planning between play sessions.

Games can also have Stimulated Planning between game sessions by containing Deck Building or making Strategic Knowledge important.

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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 Real-Time Games Space Alert Turn-Based Games Turn Taking Private Game Spaces

Puzzle Solving

Strategic Planning Tactical Planning

Consequences

Stimulated Planning gives Player Created Goals and Hierarchy of Goals since players are required to set up smaller goals that together lead to the intended games state. When players perceive they benefit from extensive planning and engage in it, this provides Cognitive Immersion and may turn gameplay into Puzzle Solving if enough information is available and there are Predicable Consequences. When information is insufficient but can be gained, Stimluated Planning instead causes Player Created Goals to Gain Information, possibly through Experimenting. It also can give players a sense of Empowerment in that they can envision how they can effect the gameplay, and being able to efficient plan can be a measure of Game Mastery.

When it may not be possible to see a solution Stimulated Planning may give rise to Analysis Paralysis. This may not need to be a problem in Single-Player Games since the layer is occupied, but for Multiplayer Games this leads to Downtime for other players and even very short period of planning may give rise to this.

For games that encourage planning between game sessions, e.g. through Deck Building or making Strategic Knowledge valuable, the may lead planning in the form of Extra-Game Actions.

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.