Replay value

Replay value or replayability is a term used to assess a video game's potential for continued play value after its first completion.

Factors:

1. Plot

2. Multiple classes

3. Multiple characters

4. Alternate paths

5. Performance grading

6. Unlockable characters and content

7. Alternate endings.

8. Games where the map and starting position is different every time you play it.

9. The community-developed mods.

10. Multiplayer is also often considered to increase the lifespan of a game.

11. Some games encourage replaying missions by adding Time Trial and Time Attack modes.

12. Secondary objective that may be difficult to complete, but necessary for additional elements to be unlocked.

13. New Game+ mode which lets players replay the entire game using select items or abilities from their first play through.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_value

User interface

1. Physical interface

a. What does the player pick up and touch? can this be made more pleasing?

2. Virtual interface

a. What info does a player need to receive that isn't obvious just by looking at the game world?

b. When does the player need this info? All the time? Only occasionally?

c. Are there elements of the game world that are easily to interact with using a virtual interface?

3. Juicy

a. Is my interface giving the player continuous feedback for their actions?

b. When a give the player a reward, how many ways am I simultaneously rewarding them?

4. Channels of info

a. list and prioritize info

b. list channels

c. map info to channels

d. review use of dimensions (color / size/ font)

5. Other tips:

a. Steal (begin with the interface of a known success in your game genre, and then change it around to suit the things that are unique about your game)

b. Customize

c. Theme your interface

d. Sound maps to touch

f. Balance options and simplicity with layers

g. Use metaphors (a great shortcut to giving a player understanding of how your interface works is by making it resemble something the player has seen before)

h. Test!

i. Break the rules to help your players

From: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Book-Lenses/dp/0123694965

Male and female players

Five things males like to see in games:

1. Mastery

2. Competition

3. Destruction

4. Spatial puzzles

5. Trial and error

Five things females like to see in games:

1. Emotion

2. Real world

3. Nurturing

4. Dialog and verbal puzzles

5. Learning by examples

From: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Book-Lenses/dp/0123694965