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How does the skill tree in turn-based tactical games provide motivation to the player by offering rewards? (A Grade thesis studying in UAL)

  • hongpengluo2022
  • Jan 8, 2024
  • 21 min read

Updated: Jan 9, 2024


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How does the skill tree in turn-based tactical games provide motivation to the player by offering rewards? 







Name: Hongpeng Luo 

Major: MA Game Design

Student ID: 22020189

Word Count: 6000



Introduction

If players have ever played computer games with a combat system, they may be familiar with a tree-like user interface where they can unlock the character’s skill or upgrade the character’s attribute. These user interfaces are usually named skill trees, which in some games are called talent trees or technology trees (Orava, 2019). Skill trees play a significant role in several games across all genres (Marius-Alexandru, 2021). In order to explore why the skill tree is important and how it encourages players to unlock more skills, some turn-based tactical games with skill trees are selected to analyse.  


Two games are included in my research. The first game is The Last Spell (2023), a rogue-lite grid-tile turn-based tactical game where the players need to arrange all characters' actions to fight against the zombies and protect the wizards. The second game is Gears Tactics (2020), a turn-based tactical role-playing game where players can explore the map and shoot the enemies freely without being restricted in grids. I have chosen these games because of three reasons. Firstly, my final major project is also a turn-based tactical game and picking similar games to analyse may give me some referable information. Secondly, these games have got many positive reviews on Steam, which suggests high quality. Thirdly, both of them have an upgrade system similar to or the same as the skill tree.




This thesis investigates how the skill tree in some turn-based tactical games can provide motivation from the aspect of reward for my final tactical game project. Firstly, a literature review was conducted to develop a critical context for the research, which focused on skill trees, rewards with motivation and contributed to the development of a suitable methodology. Then, analysis and discussion of the skill systems of the selected games will be executed according to methodology.


Literature Review

The Fundamentals of Skill Tree

From the research of Berry (2013), a skill tree can be considered as a user interface which consists of ‘nodes’ in a tree-like structure. Players can strengthen their characters by unlocking the ‘nodes’ in the skill tree. Mostly, players can only unlock the root node first and then unlock the leaf nodes that are connected to the unlocked nodes. Unlocking a skill node may require consuming some currency, which is usually named ‘skill points’ (Orava, 2019). Sometimes, the skill tree enables players to pay more skill points to upgrade the unlocked skills. 


About the fundamental characteristics of the skill tree, different theses will classify them differently. Berry (2013) pointed out that the ’node‘ is the most important part of the tree, and skill trees often have an unlocking mechanic, which is also named the gating mechanic. Orava (2019) viewed it in more detail, and he not only analysed the skill tree system via the dimensions that Berry mentioned but also analysed it via the number of skill trees and the scale of the skill tree. What’s more, Marius-Alexandru (2021) mentioned the complexity of the skill tree. These characteristics mentioned above will be discussed one by one in the following three paragraphs.



Initially, the nodes of the skill tree are the skill content, which is linked to the different components of the game (Berry, 2013). For example, it will be linked to the player’s attributes, such as the maximum health and attack points, providing a numerical boost. According to Orava (2019), the skills of games can be divided into active skills and passive skills. On the one hand, active skills will provide the players with an option or an action which needs to be invoked manually in the game. For example, to invoke an active skill in DragonNest (2010), you must drag the skill icon to the skill bar, a user interface that assigns skills to keys, and then press this key when it is available. Orava claimed that active skills can provide new gameplay directly because they can unlock a new way for players to act. On the other hand, passive skills mostly give numerical increases to players’ abilities. Sometimes, passive skills are also designed to trigger an extra effect when invoking active skills, bringing new gameplay. In Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017), the skill named Enhanced Predator Bow enables players to control the arrow directly after shooting it. This should be classified as a passive skill that provides an extra effect because it will be invoked automatically just after the player takes action, but the new control will give players novelty.





Next, gating mechanics, which require players to unlock the root nodes first, can prevent players from unlocking the most powerful skill at the beginning. What’s more, gating mechanics combined with the cost of skill points also enable the developer to control the progression or the pace of the players and encourage them to continue the game. An example of gating mechanics can be seen in Sekiro: Shadow Dies Twice (2019), where acquiring the skill requires skill points, and if a skill isn’t connected to an unlocked skill or there are not enough skill points, the skill can’t be acquired. In this case, players need to pass the level or kill more monsters to gain the skill points. 



What is more, Orava(2019) added the dimension of the amount of skill trees and the scale of skill trees. Firstly, he pointed out that multiple skill trees will be arranged according to play style. This can be exemplified in Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), where there are five kinds of skill trees named Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool, which include play styles like melee attack, shooting, using traps, hacking and assassination. In this case, players can recognise which tree suits their preferred play style and easily make decisions. Secondly, he claimed that large skill trees enable players to create more skill combinations while small skill trees will be easier to use. This can linked to the complexity that Marius-Alexandru (2021) mentioned, which shows the difficulty of building the skill set to maximise the ability. For instance, finding the best skill set will be a problem. It is complex when there are multiple attributes, such as health point, defence rate and attack point, because they cover different aspects of a character’s ability, and players do not know the relationship between these attributes to calculate the earnings.




As previously mentioned, the skill tree is often synonymised with the passive tree or technology tree, but there are some differences. In the view of Marius-Alexandru (2021), passive trees only provide numerical advantages of players’ existing abilities, and skill trees extend the passive trees with unlockable skills. Reflecting on Orava’s thesis, the passive tree is considered only to contain passive skills. As such, one can interpret the passive tree as a special version of the skill tree. By contrast, the technology tree is defined as the tree simulating the process of technology in history, displaying technological determinism via its nodes’ sequence, social impact and characteristics of eras (Ghys, 2012). The technology tree is not just about the ability of the player but about what technology the game world has (Marius-Alexandru, 2021). In this case, the technology tree will focus on the dependencies between nodes from a historical aspect, which is more complex than the skill tree and beyond the focus of my discussion. Thus, a game with a technology tree will not be discussed in the following case study.



Reward and Motivation

Initially, the reward that succeeds in fulfilling players’ needs will generate motivation. In Reid’s literature review (2012), motivation can be divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is driven by people’s inherent enjoyment and extrinsic motivation happens when people engage in activities for potential rewards (Deci and Ryan, 1985). According to Schell’s book (2018), everything that humans do is trying to fulfil their needs, and games should deliver the fulfilment of players’ mental needs. Thus, if the reward in games can generate motivation and push players to continue the games, it should fulfil players’ needs.



Next, different players will possess distinct needs. Schell (2018) introduced three mental needs mentioned in self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985): competence, autonomy and relatedness. Firstly, competence refers to the desire to experience mastery. Secondly, autonomy refers to having the freedom to act in one’s own way. Thirdly, relatedness is the desire to interact with others. According to Bartle’s taxonomy (1996), players can be divided into four types, and they have different interests: achievers love achievement in games, explorers love exploring the game world, socialists enjoy interacting with other players, and killers enjoy killing other players. These two theories can be linked in the graph below to increase credibility, and since the research games are single-player games, killers and socialists will be excluded in the following discussion.



Thus, different rewards will be appealing to different players. Hallford and Hallford (2001) defined four kinds of rewards: glory, sustenance, access and facility. Facility reward means enhancing a player’s ability or unlocking new actions, and glory reward refers to overcoming the difficulty or dealing with the challenge. What is more, access reward refers to unlocking new resources. Combined with the player’s need discussed in the last paragraph, on the one hand, facility rewards that can enhance players’ combat ability, meet the need for competence, and glory rewards about overcoming difficulty to gain a sense of achievement will be appealing to achievers. On the other hand, the explorers will be interested in facility rewards that enhance the player’s ability for exploration or the access ability for meeting the need for autonomy. 




To measure the influence or degree of attraction of the reward, Wang and Sun (2011) summarised four attributes of the reward system: social value, how reward affects gameplay, the suitability of a reward for collection and the time required to earn a reward. When it comes to the extent of rewards affecting gameplay, the standard will differ from the type of players. Thus, to measure the attractiveness of the reward, how much does the facility reward enhance combat ability for achievers or exploration ability for explorers, how much the sense of achievement does the glory reward provide achievers, and how much freedom does the access reward give the explorers, will be discussed.


If we view the skill trees system via the thesis above, we can create some links. Firstly, acquiring a skill node should be classified as a facility reward because it can enhance a character’s attributes, whose change of combat ability should be measured for achievers. Secondly, according to autonomy needs, the flexibility of the skill tree or the wide range of development choices, which enable players to build their own playstyle, should also be examined for explorers, including whether the gating mechanics are flexible, the number of the provided options and how the skill nodes provide various play styles. Thirdly, the complexity of the skill tree can also be linked to challenges for achievers, which is a part of the glory reward.




Methodology

Initially, case studies will be done for two selected games. In this part, the composition of the combat ability of the game will be summarised, and the four basic features of skill trees will be analysed, including gating mechanisms, the number of branches, the size of the tree, and the skill content inside the skill nodes. If there is no traditional skill tree, I will analyse which part can progress under the control of the player and can be previewed similarly to the skill tree to build an abstracted skill tree according to the gating mechanics.


After analysing the basic features of skill trees, I will compare and contrast the four basic features in both games and discuss the effect. To measure the rewarding effect, the various options provided, the influence of the skill node, such as providing power or changing gameplay, and the complexity will be examined. Then, the conclusion will be linked to reward, figuring out how the skill tree provides motivation. 



Case Study

The Last Spell (2023)

To analyse which components contribute combat ability to the character and find the position of the skill tree, I summarised the character’s ability. Firstly, each character will start with two positive traits and one negative trait, and a trait can be considered as a random initial passive skill or numerical adjustment, which will determine the initial role of the character to some extent. Secondly, the character can be equipped with different types of weapons, which will determine different sets of active weapon skills. For example, a character equipped with a wand can access weapon skills such as Sword of Damocles, Transfer and Magic Missiles, while a character with a crossbow is able to use Quickshot, Slow Death and Blaze. Some weapons with high rarity may also provide an extra numerical boost. Thirdly, players can choose one from a list of random level-up bonuses every time a character levels up. This part is highly randomised because not only is the type of numerical boosts random but also their rarity, which determines the value of growth in this attribute. Fourthly, players can unlock some passive skills named perks in the perks list using perk points gained from levelling up, which looks like a skill tree. There will be six to eight columns of skills for each character, and the extra two columns will be random type. Moreover, each column’s inner nodes will also be random, but the randomness is limited because the number of designed perks is limited. As illustrated in Figure 18, the composition of the combat ability of a character in this game is complex.




The perk list is similar to the skill tree because there are many nodes that can unlock passive skills, but there is no clear link between the nodes. Thus, an abstract skill tree according to the gating mechanism of the perk list should be built (see Figure 21). In the beginning, the player can only unlock the perks in the first row, and the rest can be reached as the game progresses. Different from the traditional skill tree mentioned by Orava (2019), the precondition of unlocking a perk in a row will be the number of consumed perk points instead of unlocking the perks linked to the target perk. In this case, the row can be considered as a big node containing a group of nodes, and there will be lines between rows.




When it comes to the number of trees or branches, the whole tree can be considered as a backbone without a branch. However, the skill nodes are sorted by column according to the theme of the playstyle. For example, the perks in the red column are all about melee attacks, the purple column is about Mana, the yellow is for the ranged attacks, and so on.



When it comes to the size of the tree, there are 30 or 40 perks on each character’s table, but a character can only gain 10 perk points in one game. Because of limited skill points, it is impossible for players to unlock all the perks and players have to specialise their character according to the character’s traits. 



When it comes to the skill content of the nodes, there will be three patterns of perk design: conditional numerical boost, strengthening active skill via tags and providing extra active skill. Firstly, most of the perks will enhance the character’s ability according to another attribute conditionally. For example, the Magic Fuel can increase the damage rate according to a character’s upper limit of Mana, which encourages players to increase the Mana when the character levels up. Secondly, some perks will strengthen the active skill with tags. For example, the perk named Initiator enables players to select more targets when spelling the active skill Quickshot because this skill is tagged with ‘Multi-Hits’. Thirdly, some perks also unlock some active action, such as Cheer for increasing an ally’s damage or Quick Reload for recovering the times of use of weapon skills. Thus, these passive skills will convert the character’s high attribute to advantage in battle or have a connection with the active skills, which will link the perk decision to the whole development of the character.



Gears Tactics (2020)



The combat components of this game are clear and have only three parts: classes, equipment and the skill tree. Firstly, every character in this game will have a class, such as Vanguard and Support. The class will determine what kind of primary weapon this character can equip. For example, the only primary weapon for supporters is Lancer. Secondly, different kinds of primary weapons will provide different initial active skills. What is more, characters can also gain some passive skills from the equipment components. Thirdly, characters can gain two skill points when they level up, and the skill tree type is determined by the classes. For instance, supporters can unlock some active skills for healing via the skill tree, while vanguards can increase their survivability. 




When it comes to the gating mechanism of the tree, it is standard and simple, which is the same as the traditional skill tree. The rule is that if a node is linked to any unlocked node, then it can be acquired. At the beginning, the node in the centre will be automatically unlocked, and then players can acquire the skill nodes linked to the initial node. Different from The Last Spell (2023), there are lines between skill nodes, and the tree is clear, so we do not need to construct the abstract skill tree according to the gating mechanics.



When it comes to the number of trees or branches, the tree of each character will have four directions. For instance, the skill tree of Support has four directions for different styles: Surgeon, Combat Medic, Paragon and Strategist. The Surgeon is for single healing, the Combat Medic is for group healing, the Paragon is for strengthening others, and the Strategist will strengthen the character himself. The clear structure helps players learn the possible playstyle of this character quickly.




When it comes to the size of the tree, the tree is small because almost all of the nodes can be unlocked by the end of the game. A character can gain 2 skill points every time he levels up, and the maximum level is 15, which means a character can gain 28 skill points. However, there are only 34 skill nodes in the skill tree except for the initial one. Thus, as the game nears its end, the skill tree of a character will look full.



When it comes to the skill content of the nodes, there will be three kinds of nodes in different shapes. Firstly, the nodes in a square shape will unlock a passive skill. For example, after players unlock the square node named Chainsaw Rush, the effect of the skill will be triggered automatically when the character kills an enemy with the active skill named Chainsaw Attack. Secondly, the nodes in a hexagon shape without an arrow or with one arrow will unlock an active skill, which needs to be manually invoked during the battle. Thirdly, the hexagon nodes with multiple arrows will upgrade an active skill. For instance, the node named Empower Level 2 will upgrade the unlocked skill named Empower and add an extra effect without bringing new active skills.




Discussion



After analysing these two games, a summary of the findings can be seen in Figure 33. The following section will discuss these findings regarding the variety of options provided, the influence of the skill nodes and the complexity of the skill tree.


Wide range of meaningful options 

Initially, the number of branches in both games can display various development paths of the character. Although there is no strict branch structure in The Last Spell (2023), the designer still groups the nodes into different columns with different tags, indicating different playstyles. In Gear Tactics (2020), there will be different branches that represent different subclasses and unlocking the node at the end of the branches requires the player to acquire most of the nodes in the same branch. The guiding role of the skill trees that teach players what they can do, mentioned by Berry (2013), can be shown in both games to educate players on what the skills are like and how their character can develop, attracting the players who tend to build their own character.



Next, The flexible gating mechanism and the large scale of the skill tree give The Last Spell (2023) a wider range of choices compared to Gear Tactics (2020). Different from the traditional one, the skill tree in The Last Spell only requires the number of consumed skill points instead of connecting to the acquired nodes, and there are eight skill nodes in each row, which will provide more options and possibilities for players. For instance, if players want to unlock the fourth node in the skill tree, there will be 840 possible combinations of choices. By contrast, if players want to acquire a particular skill node of the skill tree in Gear Tactics, players must unlock all the nodes in the path from the root nodes to the target node, which will reduce the number of possible skill schemes compared to The Last Spell. 



What’s more, the high ratio of acquired nodes to the total skill nodes in the skill trees of Gears Tactics (2020) makes the character homogenised because players have no choice but to unlock almost all of the skill nodes. Although in the early phase of the game, players can specialise the character via the skill tree, the specialisation will fade out in the later phase. According to Game Maker’s Toolkit (2018), if a game allows players to unlock most of the skill nodes by the end of the game, players will fail to consider their skill choices carefully. The decision will be meaningful if it can affect the outcome, and players can exercise the choices during the game (Braithwaite, 2017). Thus, the decision is less meaningless if it just influences the order of getting the skills and all skills are accessible at the end. In this case, the design of limited skill points with this scale of skill tree can have more chance to cause meaningful play because it influences the development path of the characters and specialises the characters in the long term. By contrast, in The Last Spell (2023), only a quarter of skill nodes can be acquired by the end of the game, and thus, each character can only master part of the skill tree, making the influence of players’ choices long-lasting.



In this case, The Last Spell (2023) rewards players with a wider range of meaningful skill choices, which will be similar to access rewards that meet the autonomy need or the need of explorers, providing motivation. Firstly, both games succeed in displaying various playstyles using the group or branches. This can provide motivation to the player at the beginning of the game by allowing them to see how they might develop their character. Secondly, the flexible gating mechanism and large scale of nodes of The Last Spell enable the explorer to explore the skill tree and develop the character freely. Thirdly, the ratio of skill points to skill nodes of The Last Spell prevents the character's specialisation from disappearing in the later phase of the game. Otherwise, the skill nodes are not enough to specialise the character and players with autonomy needs will lose their motivation.



The influence of the skill nodes

The influence of the skill nodes in The Last Spell (2023) depends on the type of the skill nodes and the other part of the character’s combat ability. Firstly, the perk with conditional numerical boosts in The Last Spell relies on another part of combat ability, and the power provided is unstable. For instance, if the character’s maximum health point is greatly improved via the initial trait, level-up bonus and even the numerical boost provided by rare weapons, the perk Bodybuilder (see Figure 38) will be powerful and strengthen the character greatly. However, if the max health point of the character is lower than 100, the perk will be useless. Secondly, the power of the perk that enhances the weapon skill will depend on the weapon. If the perk matches the weapon skills, it can greatly strengthen the character and even change the gameplay. For example, with the perk named Epidemic, the active skill named Slow Death (see Figure 40) can cause a group poisoning and slowing effect because the debuff named Contagion enables defeated enemy pass their negative effect to nearby units, which changes the skill dramatically and provides more strategic options. Thirdly, the influence of the perk that unlocks a new active skill will be stable. For instance, Fatality (see Figure 41)  enables characters to execute the enemies in low health points in melee points, which encourages characters with this perk to harvest the dying enemies and change the play style.






The influence of acquiring one single node in Gear Tactics (2020) will be easier to analyse than that in The Last Spell (2023). Firstly, the skill nodes that can unlock active skills of Gear Tactics can provide an extra option for players to utilise the action economy, bringing new possibilities. Secondly, the impact of skill nodes that upgrade the active skill will be less than that can unlock a new one because these kinds of skill nodes only strengthen the active skill numerically or attach an extra effect. Thirdly, the nodes that unlock passive skills also give some numerical boost to the active skill instead of offering variety. Thus, the influence of these three kinds of skills will be ranked as unlocking active skills, upgrading active skills and unlocking passive skills.




The influence provided by the skill nodes, such as strengthening the character or introducing new gameplay, can be regarded as a kind of facility reward that meets the competence need or the need of the achiever, providing motivation. Firstly, the skill nodes in both games strengthen the character’s ability or even change the gameplay, which can be considered as a facility reward because they can enable players to do what they couldn’t do before. Secondly, this feature that strengthens the avatar can meet the competence need, a desire to experience mastery, and the need of achievers who enjoy becoming stronger. Thirdly, according to Wang and Sun (2011), if the skill node is more influential, the reward will be more rewarding, which suggests that unlocking an active skill will be the most rewarding in Gear Tactics (2020) and the rewarding effect in The Last Spell (2023) depends on other parts of combat ability. Finally, since the needs of the players can be met, they will be motivated because of the rewards.



Putting the more influential skill nodes deeper can keep the players motivated. According to Knezovic (2023), if the reward is becoming better as games go, players will be less likely to give up the game because the increasing reward can keep players in a constant state of advancement. Linked back to The Last Spell (2023), the perks in the deeper rows will be more powerful, which means they are more influential. For example, the perk Magic Fuel in row 2 can only increase damage by 42% at maximum, but the perk Specialist can directly increase damage by 50% if the character meets the condition (see Figure 45). In this case, the rewarding effect of the skill nodes in the deeper row will be stronger to keep the motivation of players.



The complexity of skill trees

When it comes to the complexity of the tree, the skill tree in The Last Spell (2023) is more complex because of the complex composition of combat ability and the high randomness. Firstly, each character’s skill tree will be slightly different because two of the columns will be randomly generated, and the nodes inside one column will also be randomised, which requires the players to read the whole skill tree and plan the skill scheme at the beginning. Secondly, the plan needs to take the factors outside the perks into consideration, including the numerical boosts when levelling up and the active skill provided by the weapon. If the system provided much numerical boost in the upper limit of the character’s Mana, the player may need to consider changing the original plan and choose some perk that can convert the high amount of Mana into damage, such as Magic Fuel (see Figure 45). In this case, finding the optimal scheme needs more player consideration. For Gear Tactics (2020), the complexity of the skill tree will be simpler because the skill tree of each class will be fixed, and the passive skill provided by the equipment will be weak. The main thing that provides complexity is that this game emphasises teamwork, which requires imagining a situation that cooperates with other characters when deciding the skill scheme.




The complexity of the skill tree can be regarded as a challenge, which is a part of the glory reward, helping to meet the needs of achievers and providing motivation. Firstly, the complexity of the skill tree refers to the difficulty for players to find the best scheme of the skill tree, and thus, it will challenge players. Secondly, the glory reward will happen when the player finishes a difficult task, which can be similar to mastering a complex skill tree. Thirdly, mastering the skill tree as a glory reward can meet the need of achievers to provide motivation. For example, after finding out their best scheme, the achiever will be happy to share their build via the Internet, showing that they have mastered the perk tree.



Design Framework

About using skill trees to motivate players via rewards:

  • Skill trees should provide players with a wide range of skill choices that enable players to customise the development of characters, meeting the autonomy need or the need of explorers. To provide wider choices, developers can consider flexible gating mechanics or large-scale trees.

  • A clear group of skill nodes help players recognise the different development paths of characters faster.

  • The ratio of skill points and the skill nodes should be balanced. If a player can unlock almost all of the skill nodes by the end of the game, the customisation will fade out. In this case, the players with autonomy need will lose motivation.

  • Skill trees with influential skill nodes can provide players with facility rewards, which will meet the competence needs or the needs of achievers. Design more active skills or some passive skills that can introduce new gameplay will be more influential.

  • Put the stronger skill nodes far from the root so that players can get a better reward as the game progresses to maintain motivation.

  • Skill trees with complexity can provide a challenge for players, and in this case, achievers' needs will be met to provide motivation.


Conclusion

In this thesis, I have explored how the skill tree in the tactical game provides motivation using rewards. From reading the literature on this topic, I learned that a reward meeting players’ needs would generate motivation and identified three key aspects that can be used to measure the degree of rewarding effects of the skill tree. These key aspects are various options, the influence of skill nodes and the complexity of the skill tree. After decoding the basic features (gating mechanism, branches, scale and skill content) in the skill trees and analysing these three aspects in the skill trees of Gear Tactics (2020) and The Last Spell (2023), I have found three key ways that players can be motivated. Firstly, the various choices provided by the skill trees, similar to access rewards, can meet autonomy needs or the explorers’ need to explore the game world, and thus, motivation can be enhanced. Secondly, the skill nodes that influence the game, including strengthening the avatar or bringing new gameplay, can work as a facility reward to meet competence needs or the achievers’ desire to become stronger. The more influential the skill nodes are, the more motivated players will be. Thirdly, the complexity of the skill trees can be considered as a challenge, a part of the glory reward, helping to meet the achievers’ need to overcome challenges, which can motivate them. The research in this thesis has focused solely on tactical games. Therefore, these conclusions are limited to tactical games, hence why all other types of games are excluded from the discussion. As my case study focused on single-player games, only explorers and achievers are relevant to the discussion and findings in this thesis.


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