Game Goal vs. Design Goal

My students who are studying MMD1033 Game Design Principles always mix up two different matters--the game goal and the design goal when they write their game design document (GDD).

Game goal is what the player or avatar that represents the player intends to achieve in the game world. In most games, that would mean winning the game. In this sense, the designer should put himself / herself in the player's shoes when setting the game goal and any associated objectives.

Design goal is what the game designer intends to challenge players in the game world. Game challenges are formed by setting the game rules (what players can and cannot do) and the game goal, after considering the level of skills, knowledge and progress of the players.

To contrast the game goal and design goal, herewith an example that involves both of them:

• Game goal: Mario to rescue the Princess Peach from Bowser and save the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Design goal: to challenge the speed, accuracy and consistency of player's hand-eye coordination in controlling a game character (Mario) in a 2D or 3D game world.  

To players, they might not be able (or needed) to differentiate the above mentioned differences, especially when they play through first-person perspective. But it is important for game designers, and those who intend to re-purpose games (e.g. GBL teachers) to understand and take advantage of the differences.

The differences are obvious in games that feature background story or narrative (e.g. God of War, Super Mario Bro, etc). However, in games that were constructed with the three classical elements (rule-based, goal-oriented and feedback-driven), the delineation becomes implicit or blurred. Still, it is essential to separate game goal and design goal, particularly in diagnosing the success or failure of a game.

Goal and rules setting might be easy to game designers, but balancing the goal and rules with players' progressive enhancement and accumulation of knowledge and skills is tricky, because it involves tracking the learning progress of players, and learning happens in games through feedback mechanism. In other words, measuring players' learning progress over their in-game achievement is the key to get the game goal fits with the design goal. And this is very important to GBL or LBG practices--the design goal has been tuned towards education. 

In a word, game designers should be well-versed with the structural elements of games. By well-verse, I mean not only knowing what they are, but also knowing what they are not.