Asymmetry Bricks

What is this?

Asymmetry Bricks is a design tool for the ideation of asymmetric gameplay mechanics. It does this by combining different Types and Vehicles of Asymmetry, offering game designers a prompt that they can use to create game mechanics. The Types and Vehicles are categorisations that can provide you with terminology you can use to describe how asymmetry exists in games. Our goal is to help game designers communicate aspects related to asymmetry and to provide you with a tool you can use to conceptualise new and interesting game mechanics.

 

Asymmetry? Types? Vehicles? What are those?

You are probably familiar with the term asymmetric game. Typically describes a multiplayer game in which players are sorted into different teams with different abilities, sometimes using different input devices. However, asymmetry – variations in gameplay caused by how differently players can act in a game – can exist in a variety of ways (even in single-player games!), so long as the game's mechanics have the potential to generate different experiences for different players.

An Asymmetry Brick is composed by two elements:

• Type – The form asymmetry takes in that game. For instance, players may be able to use different abilities, be pursuing different goals, or face different challenges.
• Vehicle – The method through which the game's asymmetry emerges during play. For example, players can get access to different gameplay elements depending on their character's progression, their location in the game world, or simply random factors.

In short, an Asymmetry Brick describes how a game mechanic works in relation to the asymmetries it fosters during play and how those asymmetries emerge during the game.

For instance, here's a possible combination for an Asymmetry Brick:

On the left side, we have the Vehicle. In this case, it's called Progression, and it relates to the character progression of the player's avatar.

On the right side, we have the Type. In this case, it's called Ability, which means that the player can get access to different kinds of actions in the game.

When we put these two elements together, we get an Asymmetry Brick that describes gameplay mechanics in which a player's current level of progression influences the actions they can perform in a game. This type of system is very common, and you can see it in action in games with RPG elements where you unlock abilities by levelling up.

However, other combinations are less common! We hope that through our tool, we can inspire game designers to explore these new and interesting ways to inject asymmetry into play.

How do I use it?

You build Asymmetry Bricks by combining different Types and Vehicles and use them as a prompt for ideating on game mechanics. Here are examples of two different approaches:

• You can use the tool to generate random Asymmetry Bricks and use them as an inspiration to develop a new gameplay mechanic.

• If you have already decided something about the game you want to create, you can use the tool to develop that idea further. For instance, if you know you are going to have systems of Progression in your game, you already have a Vehicle you can use to generate asymmetry, and you can use the tool to get new ideas for what Type of asymmetry you can generate with those systems of progression.

Alternatively, you can mix and match this type of ideation with other processes (e.g., brainstorming). Find what works for you and your team.

 

Notes

This work was developed with the help of game designers as part of a research work for the Doctoral Program in Digital Media at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. I would like to thank my supervisors Prof. Pedro Cardoso and Prof. Miguel Carvalhais, who helped me throughout the process of developing the framework and categorisations that support this design tool.

This work was developed with financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e Tecnologia, FCT) through the individual research grant 2021.07891.BD.