Behavioral Design
Data Dic 24
Identify the Problem
During the first week of pre-production, we conducted research through surveys on social media such as Reddit, Facebook, X, Steam, and Youtube to identify what elements Users considered difficult or were dissatisfied with within the game.
This Behavioral Design Document was made before the introduction of the Iron Mode in Baldur's Gate 3. However, the solution we design is different and doesn't implicate the creation of a new mode!
Quicksave - Quickload
A feature of the game allows players to manually Quick Save their progress at any moment, excluding cutscenes. Players can store multiple Quicksave data points, offering the flexibility to load them at any time.
​
Given the significant RNG elements in the game, players have adopted a specific approach:
Before each critical roll or decision, they Quicksave in advance. If the outcome is unfavorable, they reload the save to try again.
This strategy, known as Save Scumming, is a well-known practice observed not only in this game but also in various other strategy games.
Competitors
All of them with a more or less strong RNG component, addressing the Save scum problem in different ways.
From the Users' experience
From the Developers' experience
Strenght - Weakness - Opportunities - Threats
Save Scumming is a problem that afflicts other Strategy games, but particularly our competitors. To address this issue effectively, it's crucial to examine how they have tackled similar problems:
​
-
XCOM 2: Every check is precalculated, ensuring that the result of an action remains constant regardless of how many times a player Save Scums. The strategy remains unchanged, discouraging brute force approaches. If a player misses a 95% chance to hit once, they will consistently miss the hit. This system encourages players to explore alternative strategies for success.
-
Disco Elysium: It takes a different approach by "rewarding" failure with narrative progression, introducing moments of humor or different rewards. Failing becomes an integral part of the storytelling experience, offering unique outcomes based on the player's choices.
Even Larian's Developers encourage players to accept the result of the dice for a more immersive experience
Drive Theory
What factors lead Players into Save Scumming?
Archetype
Our Player fall in the Achiever category: they plan their strategy to reach a certain goal, they feel the need to win the battle or to succeed in the confrontation with their companions to progress into the story.
​
-
RNG frustrates Achievers as they aim for maximum success, using the game tools like modifiers, Advantage, and Inspiration to improve their odds. However, the D20 System's built-in rule ensures at least a 5% chance of failure, leading to increase frustration when a roll determines life or death (in combat) or a the success or failure to meaningful dialogue decision (out of combat).
-
Quicksaving and Quickloading ease the "try again" approach. No scenarios in BG3 where failing a roll offers more benefits than success.
-
Tabletop D&D thrives on improvisation for creative problem-solving, instead digital products like BG3 lack the flexibility to code every possible scenario.
Persona, based on our User Analysis
Diagnosis & Time Motivation Theory
The game uses the rules of Dungeons & Dragons: there's chance of failure through Check rolls when performing actions. The success or failure is determined based on the result of the roll.
The information that is provided before the roll are:
​
-
The Difficulty Class: this one allows the player to understand the difficulty of the check
-
The type of check: Skill Check, Saving Throw or Attack Roll
-
All possible bonuses that can be used for the roll: like modifiers or Inspiration/Advantage
Praxeology: Axiom 2
Uneasiness
Players keep losing battles and/or resources during battles (teammates, wasting potions/magic)
and make a game over.
At the core of the players' uneasiness is a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration towards the failure
of the dice that leads them to use the save scum to get out of their condition and get the desired result, but with no improvement in skills or change in approach to the problem.
During a battle of variable duration (Time Motivation Theory), this leads players to lose about a minute of time (15s for quicksave and 40s for quickload) to have a positive result only for a single failed shot.
User Analysis
Why are the Players perceiving the Unesiness?
-
Lack of basic knowledge of classes and combat mechanics.
-
Lack of basic knowledge of environment exploitation: arena composition, use of resources in it (such as explosive barrels), etc.
-
Superficial strategic approach and adaptability to the type of confrontation being faced.
Following the 5e system of D&D, the game present initial challenges for individuals without prior RPG experience. They grapple with an overwhelming amount of information, hindering the exploration of their team's full potential and the surrounding environment.
Before its media surge, the game had a lower profile and belonged to a less-played RPG strategy genre compared to more popular genres like action or FPS.
Condition to Act
How can the Players improve their skills?
Win fights by taking advantage of the arena, the resources in it and increasing the positive perception of his skills without making save scum.
The Weibel & Wissmath 2012 study is focused on developing a method for measuring both presence and flow, and trying to see if they are intrinsically connected phenomena.
They conducted three different tests using games of three different genres (racing game, role-playing game, and a jump and run game) and measured if differences in flow and presence in players were interconnected.
The two phenomena are distinct from each other: a game can invoke the feeling of presence in a player without invoking flow and vice versa.
Flow is a state where the person is fully immersed in a task. It has 2 characteristics:
-
A lack of self-consciousness, meaning that one does not have to think about one’s own self
-
A distorted sense of time, the feeling that time passes faster.
Some factors that increase the likelihood of a flow state occurring are:
-
A clarity of goals and feedback, the person performing the task knows what they are trying to achieve and can tell if they are doing well at it or not.
-
A balance between the difficulty of the task and the skills of the person
Presence is the phenomenon of "being spatially present at remote places displayed by technical interfaces”: the player feels present in the game world despite the computer screen.
Two preconditions of this phenomenon are suggested to be attention allocation and the establishment of a mental model of the mediated environment:
The game needs to require some level of attention from the player, and it needs to allow the player to imagine the environment it is trying to portray.
The mere act of reloading the game over and over again means that the players’ flow state is interrupted and takes them out of the immersion and virtual presence in the game.
Supermario Effect
"Too often we think we are improving simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are only reinforcing our current habits, not improving them."
- James Clear - Atomic Habits
If players keep doing the same things in the game without being aware of what they are doing (Save scum), they will continue to have the same outcomes throughout the game and in every other battle, fueling a sense of frustration.
What makes the difference for the players is to develop a new Mental Habit.
​
Save scumming lowers the stakes along with the apparent reward by taking away the player's sense of risk when interacting with the game's obstacles.
​
Building a new mental habit involves developing lateral thinking, a different strategy approach, creativity, acceptance of failure, and maintaining the level of immersiveness and realism that the game allows, while improving personal skills, rather than simply save scumming and waiting for the outcome decided by the odds. (Time Motivation Theory/Theory of Planned Behaviour)
In the approach of RTS (real time strategy) games with RNG (Random Numbers generator) components (such as the XCOM saga video game) this improvement is stimulated by the Developers themselves, that challenged Players to had different strategic approaches, exploiting the arena, responding to AI moves, and mastering their skills to win the battle.
​
Since death is no longer affordable and thus a stake is created - dramatic tension is restored, promoting at the same time creative solutions and quick thinking, both of which serve to create emergent gameplay and a more compelling experience.
"Failed checks are commonplace, and it’s all too easy to miss an attack, even when it looks impossible to do so. Understanding how to increase your chance to hit is a key component of combat"
"Failed checks are commonplace, and it’s all too easy to miss an attack, even when it looks impossible to do so. Understanding how to increase your chance to hit is a key component of combat"
Michael Douse, Larian Director of Publishing
Dialogue
The strong narrative component in Baldur’s Gate 3 affects the player's tendency to perpetrate "save scum" mental habit, and during dialogues, the emotional component that players feel toward the event, situation, and characters involved changes their perception of what they experience as a "Positive Outcome".
​
In minor dialogues such as simple interactions with NPCs, during which the emotional component is less strong, it is the game itself that often provides other ways to curb the obstacle and still achieve a perceived positive outcome.
​
Save scumming does not impact the player's investment in the story or world of the game, but instead the moment-to-moment challenges that the game offers, thus only impacting flow.
Time Motivation Theory
In all scenarios considered, despite the different contexts, the determining factor is always Expectancy. The player is fully aware of the meta-nature of Quick Save, which can ensure a positive outcome regardless of the situation.
Design Phase
During this phase, the goal is to implement changes to mitigate the behavior. To effectively address Save Scumming, we must recognize that it involves two actions:
-
Quick Save
-
Purpose: Assists the player and the system.
-
Functionality: The game starts from the last Quick Save upon opening, and before closing, the game automatically saves.
-
Decision: The Quick Save system will remain untouched.
-
-
Quick Load
-
Challenge: This element is often abused for Save Scumming.
-
Impact: Reloading a Save allows players to repeatedly attempt Skill Checks, deviating from the D&D experience of "Trusting the Dice."
-
Objective: Design a modification to the Quick Load mechanic to restrict how frequently a player can load previous Saves.
-
This mechanic, that we named "Labela's Blessing" enables the player to reload a previous save a specific number of times per Long Rest, with the available number represented by charges. A charge is used after each successful Quick Load, and once all charges are depleted, the player must wait until replenishing them.​
Replenishing Charges
-
Interaction at the Campfire during the Night Phase with a new NPC allows the player to regain charges at a cost in Gold (X gold for a Charge).
-
The cost varies based on the selected Difficulty Level, with Explorer mode automatically refilling charges at the end of the Long Rest.
Number of Charges
-
The quantity of charges adjusts according to the chosen Difficulty Level.
Quickload spheres were born from the womb of Labelas Enoreth, Lord of the Continuum who governs the orderly passage of time. Labelas accepts payment in gold for those who want to ferry their consciousness across space and time.
Mechanical Narrative
Save Scumming is a prevalent behavior in many Strategy games with RNG elements. Our research identified the primary cause as player frustration stemming from RNG outcomes, leading them to abuse Quick Load to ensure their strategies unfold smoothly without setbacks.
​
To address this, we've introduced a mechanic that restricts the frequency of Quick Load, transforming it into a valuable in-game resource. The intention is to encourage players to think more carefully about their decisions and embrace the possibility of a failed roll, mirroring the Dungeon & Dragons experience.
Conclusion
Thanks to my wonderful co-workers:
Brunetti Luca, Celata Francesco, Gaglioti Filippo, Onori Proietti Andrea