Week 5 Reading - Tools For Creating Dreamatic Game Dynamics

- Game Design needed a more conceptual framework.
- The player experience
- Games as narrative
- Game design models

Introduction, Stories as Games: - 

That games crossover with other mediums e.g. theatre, film and TV.

- Some games become stories
- Climatic struggle... he states that drama is important
- "Sometimes a games drama is its primary motivation for playing"

• A story with an uncertain outcome.
• Story we control
• We (Game Designer) have less control.
• Conflict and tension creates drama, but we can only -nudge- players towards this.
• Nudging to create dramatic circumstances
• Games engage in story but in a different way to what we're used to.
• (Think of games in this structured way)

Story Arc: (Graph)
Control > Climax < Resolution Conclusion
--------Time-----------

- That games crossover with other mediums e.g. theatre film & t.v.
    - 'Senet' within the story it's old as shit... as well as 'go'
- Some games become stories
- Climatic Struggle, states that drama is important.
- "Sometimes a games drama is its primary motivation for playing"

Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics:

Mechanics: = Primary rules. But can also refer to the rules of other things
- NBA = Basketball rules but also means the rules of gravity and energy and humans mind and body.

If we think of a game as a system the mechanics are a complete description of that system.

Dynamics: = Behaviour of the game the actual events and phenomena that occur as the game is played.
- When we view a game in terms of its dynamics, we are asking.. "what happens when the game is played".

Aesthetics: = Emotional content
- A games aesthetic emerges from its dynamic how the game behaves determines how it makes the player feel.

The Dramatic Arc: An Aesthetic Model for Drama
We want:
- Drama as an aesthetic objective of our game design to be apart of the games emotion content.

- Yardstick for failing or succeeding in causing drama
"Aesthetic Model"
- Drama is one aesthetic among many games can cause all kings of experiences each is a separate aesthetic pleasure with its own aesthetic model.

Drama as an Aesthetic:
- The dramatic arc is an aesthetic model for stories; it's a statement about how stories convey their emotional content, and a yardstick that we can hold up to a story to see if it succeeds or fails at being dramatic.
(Add more notes on this)

Drama in Games:
Drama is important. Even though we don't have complete control over the narrative... but rather emerges from the events of the game.
- Drama originates from conflict
- Conflict comes from the contents around which the game is built.

Dramatic Tension:

Uncertainty: the sense that the outcome of the contest is still unknown. Any player could win or lose. (Without players become spectators)

- Uncertainty:
     -Which way to go.
     - The outcome is unknown.

Ways to create uncertainty...
 = Force: Actually manipulate the game state directly (Deliberately making a change)
= Illusion: Deliberately manipulating players perception of the the game state, without changing the actual game state (Subtlety) - If you get this in 'your' game, you're playing around with your players... (worth playing around with... go home and learn about this)... (Test all these techniques)

Inevitability: The sense that the contest is moving forward toward resolution. The outcome is imminent. (The outcome of the conflicts seems distant)

"Magic the gathering" - (Dramatic tension of the game is regulated by the game dynamics)

Positive Feedback Loops: - A Denouement
A speed boost for the leader cannot be caught.
Winners get a bonus

Negative Feedback Loops:
This is a technique use in order to draw players together... (rubber band technique)
Losers get advantages so that there will be a chance of a closer finishing end result.

This sometimes doesn't work because it feels unfair to players. (Players might perceive it as being unfair). I think in this is a feature which should be brought upon players subtlety
Forcing players to behave in certain ways... (might work) players might regard it as being unsubtle.


Hidden Energy:
Turbo boost: such as in racing games, e.g. 'Wipeout'. However can be obtained across other platforms.


Fog of War:
You can only strategies over what you can analyse. Fog of war is a common feature within most RTS games as well as others. Good players of video games can use little information from exposing the fog of war and still derive a solid strategy.

Escaoation:
(University Challenge) - Scoring system... (Refer to 'additional notes)
Compresses all the questions at the end... makes the end more dramatic by changing the pase in which he asks questions.

Decelerator:
Gladiators... cargo net by making players look close call ending (illusion) then it flips back round by the zip wire.

Cashing Out:
Where the score is reset to zero... 'Tennis mechanic' where the games are defined through sets.
- Best of three = Cashing out mechanic... (Every advantage that's set out is reset to zero)

Inevitability:
Draw a game to a close...
Ticking clock... their has to be mechanics within a game to remind players that the game is about to come to an end.

For example: (in games)

- Scrabble = The bag of  ''letters" gets smaller so it's inevitable that the game is about to end.
- Number of Laps
- Bomberman = Smaller stages
(Areas get emptier, Filling up Boards) - Visual metaphor... doesn't have to have a score or timer.
- Tetris = Nearer the end.

(Quiz games are a good source for looking at game mechanics) - 'Golden Balls' ... at the end (Split or Steal) 'Prisoners dilemma'. Steal ball is more advantageous. P.D... lots of games end with this. Always mathematically better by stealing.

Week 4 Reading - MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research by Robin Kunicke, Marc Leblanc, Robert Zubeck

• Hunicke et al (2004) describe games as 'systems that build behaviour via interaction'

• From your reading of the article, how does this system work and what kinds of controls does the games designer have at their disposal?

For this weeks reading we looked at a paper which outlined some core components of games. These core components are defined as MDA:

M = Mechanics
D = Dynamics
A = Aesthetics

Introduction:

"All artifacts are created within some design methodology"
- Design Methodology: They help analyse the 'end result' to refine implementation and analyze the implementation to refine the result.


Towards a Comprehensive Framework
Game Design and Authorship happen at many levels and the fields of games research and development involve people from diverse creative and scholarly backgrounds.
Consideration to issuers outside that are (one focused area):
- Base mechanisms of game systems
- Overarching design goals
- Desired experimental results of gameplay

Complexity of 'agent', object and system behaviour
- AI and Game Design merge
MDA - Allows you to think about the process.

"Games are created by designers/teams of developers, and consumed by players. They are purchased, used and eventually cast away like most consumable goods".

:) Designer Creates ------> [GAME] <------ Player Consumes :)

- The production of cusumption of game artifacts
- Games differ from other consumer goods because they are 'unpredictable'.
The string of events that occur during gameplay and the outcome of events are unknown at the time the product is finished.

The MDA framework formalizes the consumption of games by breaking them into components

[RULES]--->[SYSTEM]--->["FUN"]

...and establishing their design counterparts.

[Mechanics]--->[Dynamics]--->[Aesthetics]

Mechanics:
- Describes the particular components of the game, at the level of data represententation and algorithms.
- The components of the game
- Data representation and algorithms. Player location. Dice. Rules of the  Game


Dynamics:
- Describes the run-time behaviour of the mechanisms acting on player outputs and each others outputs over time.
- What happens when you interact with the game. How rules might interact with each other... choices.
- How the board interacts and with the players.

Aesthetics:
- Describes the desirable emotional responses evoked in the player when he or she interacts with the game system.
- How the players feels
- Emotion - Interaction

"Games are more like 'artifacts' than media"
- Content of a game is its behaviour


MDA in Detail:

- Components of MDA framework thought up of "lens" or view" of a game
- From the designers perspective, the mechanics give rise to dynamic system behaviour, which in turn levels to particular aesthetic experiences. From the players perspective, aesthetics set the tone, which is born out in observable dynamics and eventually, operable mechanics.

The Designer and the player eath have a different perspective to MDA

Aesthetics:
Terms like: "Fun" and "Gameplay" are limited as they're unable to tell us what's going on.

Within the paper there is some vocabulary highlighted which I noted. I feel that Game Design should be taken more seriously and that establishing a critical vocabulary is vital in the development of this, linking back to Greg Costikyan's 'I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games'.

Vocab:
1. Sensation: Game as sense-pleasure
2. Fantasy: Game as make-believe
3. Narrative: Game as drama
4.  Challenge: Game as obstacle course
5. Fellowship: Game as social framework
6. Dicovery: Game as unchanted territory
7. Expression: Game as self-discovery
8. Submission: Game as a pastime

Games that could apply to this vocabulary are:
Carades: Fellowship, Expression, Challenge
Quake: Challenge, Sensation, Compitition, Fantasy
The Sims: Discovery, Fantasy, Expression, Narrative
Final Fantasy: Fantasy, Narrative, Discovery, Challenge, Submission

- How and why games appeal to different people?


Aesthetic Models:
Quake & Carades are both competitive.
- The succeed when the various teams or players in these games are emotionally invested in defeated each other.

Competitive games = adversarial play and clear feedback.

Dynamic Models:
- Dynamics wor to create aesthetic experiances. Fore example, challenge is created by things like pressure and opponent play.
- Fellowship can be encouraged by sharing information across certain members of a session.
- Expression

Reality isn't always "fun" (monopoly) (difficulty).

Mechanics:
Various actions, behaviours and control mechanisms afforded to the player within a game context.
Adjusting mechanics can help to fine tune the games overall dynamic.
(Lugging player) - bonuses?...

Tuning:
Refine the game tuning includes 'play testing'
Dicsuss flaws
Test to make the game well balanced

MDA At Work:
- Stages/Process of Game Design (refine notes)
First Pass:
Second: Pass
Third Pass:

Robs (additional class) Notes:

Simple Mechanics make for understanding of the game (rules)
Starcraft - infinate pasabilities (overwealming)
Monopoly - simplicity full understanding

Think about feeling:
- Clostrophobia
  - Limited space
  - Darkness
  - Limited movement
  - etc
Convaying an emotion/feeling.

Notes: 'Click to Enlarge'.

Group Project QTE

Week 3 Reading - Game Design Atoms & Gamasutra: FADT

Challenges For Games Designers: 'Games Design Atoms' by Brenda Braithwaite & Ian Schreiber (2008)
Week 3 Reading - Part I

For the first section of this weeks reading we looked at chapter 2 of the ‘Challenges for Games Designer’ book. I found this weeks reading rather useful hence the reason for the redonkulous amount of noted and how much I’ve decided to write about them. So thank you kindly for taking the valuable time to read this post who ever you all are.

Braithwaite introduces the chapter by stating that the word ‘game’ is often defined too broadly and that in turn this needs to be broken down into ‘atoms’ - atoms of game design are a way of making the processes of game significantly clearer by breaking it down through atoms.
The Game State, Game View & Game Space:
As if by magic Brathwaite makes us look at the bigger picture in order to fully understand games. Consideration to three separately defined topics are briefly addressed:

Game State: Means the state in which everything can change within a game, in certain video games this can be extremely complex, for example ‘Starcraft II’ the game state contains information about every possible move which revolves around vast amounts of units and every possible action and move from the opponents units. -”A collection of all relevant virtual information that may change during play".

Game View: Means the portions of what the player is able to see within a game, sometimes players aren’t always aware of the entire game state.

Game Space: Means the entire area of the game. This can be a small and simple board on which it’s played or a vast magnificent and visually beautiful fantasy world that can be huge.

In turn, I found this important information that I cannot help but note over-excessively. I feel that the breaking down of the processes of game design is important for me personally to truly understand and work with it.

Players, Avatars and Game Bits:
Brathwaite elaborates further on previous notes by defining other additional core components within the design of a game, the components include:

Players: Game space wouldn’t be a game without players - “By definition, all games have players since it’s the players who set the rules in motion”.

Avatar: “The thing that represents the player in the game word as an avatar” - however in some games there's no avatar, for example 'Civilization Revolution'

Game Bits (Board Games): These are things like property cards, dice, counters and plastic army pieces. We frequently refer to these game bits as ‘art assets’. - “The physical items required to play the game”.
- NPC: Non-Playable Character
- Fierce Enemy
Mechanics:
Mechanics are somewhat like rules within the game. More specifically they are how something works within it, for example:
- “If you do X then Y happens. If X is true, then you can do Y”.

A mechanic is all about possibility they have a dramatic impact of how the dynamics of the game play. A mechanic is all about possibility; they’re the vital ingredients for the designing of a game.

Whilst thinking about mechanics I thought about them and tried to apply them in the game that we’re currently developing for the group project module. I’ve listed what ‘I think’ are some of the mechanics within our game at the current stage of development:
- The player must acquire the ‘map’ item for the inventory to begin the game (Setup mechanic)
- The player has the freedom and ability to ‘free roam’ multiple areas, the user has the ability to set out own goals. (Player action mechanic)
- The player earning enough coins to leave the area within the game therefore wins the game. Completing various tasks will cause players to collects coins; these tasks involve the completion of QTE based mini games found within the world. (Victory condition mechanic)
- The game starts with one player and one player only throughout. (Progression of play mechanic)
- The player can always see information at any given time in relation to the inventory menu. Information in relation to quests can be often hidden. (Definition of game view(s) mechanic)

Setup: There must always be at least one rule that describes how the game begins.
Victory Conditions: There must always be at least one rule that describes how the game is won.
Progression of Play: Who goes first and how? Is the game turn based or real time?
Player Actions: Sometimes referred to as 'verbs', some of the most important mechanics describe what players can do and what effect those actions have on the game state.
Definition of Game View(s): Mechanics define exactly what information each player knows of at any given time. Note that some mechanics may change view, such as partially lifting fog of war.

- “Some mechanic combinations are easier for people to grasp than others”.

Dynamics:
Game dynamics is the ‘pattern of play’ that comes from the mechanics once they're set in motion by the players.

Examples of common dynamics and games include:
Race to the End Dynamic:
- Mario Cart
- Candyland
- The Game of Life
- Snakes and Ladders

Day[9] made me do it

Territorial Acquisition Dynamic:
- Starcraft
- Go
- Civilisation
- Risk
- Axis and Allies
Brathwaite outlines that ‘though these games share the same dynamic the mechanics used to achieve that dynamic are different from game to game’.

Dynamics are part of play experience, but not all are explicitly defined or enforced by the mechanics - for example, interactions that take place between players out side of the game state. (Commonly referred to as the 'metagame') - Some examples of metagame dynamics are player’s negotiations, discussions, alliances, online chat and trash talking.

Goals:
Simply outlined as:
- The ultimate game goal is goal is of course, the victory condition.
- They typically provide rewards that motivate players.

Theme:
When Brathwaite talks about film it’s stated that a game doesn’t necessarily need to have a strong and interesting theme to therefore be a good game (gg) to play.
A theme within a game simply makes it more appealing and engaging for the audience to play.
Here’s a little list of some games off the top of my head which I feel may lack a substantial theme yet still remain an enjoyable game to play:

- Pong (1972)
- Breakout (1976)
- Tempest (1980)
- Marble Madness (1984)
- Tetris (1985)

The concept of what the game is 'about' goes by many names. It’s often defined as ‘theme’, 'colour', 'story’ or ‘narrative' among other terms.
The theme of a game lies outside the mechanics yet somehow when chosen well, can make the mechanics feel more natural.

What comes first?

With all this in mind Brathwaite outlines that “It can go in just about any order” – Glad this has been confirmed, this is important information for the thought process which would go into making a perhaps original or good idea for a game mechanic or dynamic.

Putting it all together:

From this section in my own words I’ll put it as, “Never backspace. Never surrender.” Brathwaite basically tells us that an initial game idea being put into practice might not seem enjoyable at first but to keep working with it by ‘adding and subtracting mechanics’.
- “Learn to expirment and take joy in your designs and in the process of design. Remember you can make a game about anything”
-“Design a game and be hooked”


Gamasutra: Formal Abstract Design Tool by Dough Church:
Week 3 Reading - Part II
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3357/formal_abstract_design_tools.php 

For the second section of this weeks reading we looked at an article by Dough Church which covers the features of what a modern computer game is made up by breaking them down into sections.

How do we talk about games?
Church Getting the good points from simple games and applying the same concept to more complex bigger games.

Design:
- Design aspects withing the gaming industry has had the most trouble evolving.
Primrary inhibitor of evolution
- Lack of Common vocabulary
- Share language of Game Design
- Hard to trade genre specific inovations with other genres.
- FADT Formal Abstract Design Tools

Some aspects might work in one game but when crossed over ideas might work/flow well together.
- Controls gradually getting to know the controls

Tools:

Form user own goal - act on it
- Made to feel in control

Vocabulary:

Intention:
- Plan ahead/purpose
- Understand your play options and respong to situation

Percievable Consequences:
- The game reacts based on your action/input

Multiple Tools - Co-operation, Conflict, Confusion.
Story can over-ride intention
Intention, Consequenc, Story.

Breaking up the game:

The player does something and has expectations about what will happen.

PERCEIVABLE CONSEQUENCES... Why this is cool?

Very broad definitions of games.
People need to be slowly paced into a game/start simple.

Additional Notes:

Formal elements of games:
- Player intention - players ability to devise and carry out their own plans
Perseivable Consiquences

Games Britannia - Benjamin Woolley [Part 1 of 3]

The ‘Games Britannia’ television program we watched in Critical Games Studies I found to be pretty darn interesting. The program is a three-part series revolved around the ideas of popular games based from the Iron Age to the Information Age.

In part one the presenter (Benjamin Woolley) investigates how the instinct to play games is a natural feature of human nature and elemental as language itself. Woolley looks at and takes us from the 1^st century to the Victorian era in this part.

‘The oldest known game in Britain was found in Colchester’. I previously wasn’t aware that it was found in Colchester, which isn’t far from where I live along the A-12, I thought that was kind of cool.

-         ‘Games are a way of exploring ourselves’.

He states that ‘Chess’ is a well-balanced game that is not difficult to play but it’s hard to master. This got me thinking about my own experiences and skill towards the games I play.  That little saying ‘a game that is not difficult to play but is hard to master’ stood out to me significantly, to which I instantly noted down. From my own perspective, I have a lot more respect for games that are considerably difficult to master and then turn have even more respect to the players who do manage to master them.
I think that ‘Starcraft’ sits nicely next to the definition of ‘a game that is not difficult to play but is hard to master’.

One thing that I found particularly fascinating was the brief focus around gambling and how gaming became increasingly associated with it. Although I kind of got the impression that the makers of the program perhaps have a more negative view towards gambling, as it seemed to be portrayed in a not very positive way.

-     ‘Backgammon’, made to be like life in that it requires both ‘luck and skill’.

-         ‘Faro’, a game of chance

“Winning was the greatest pleasure in life… loosing is the second”

Week 2 Reading - I Have No Word I Must Design: Towards a Critical Vocabulary for Games - Greg Costikyan

• A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires a player to struggle to its goals.

Costikan - "we need to understand what a game is... we need a critical vocabulary"

Gameplay - What the dickens does that even mean?
Costikan introduces the article by briefly going into detail about the term 'Gameplay' itself. When people say that 'this game has good gameplay', Costikan questions what this actually means. He states that 'gameplay itself is nebulous' meaning it's too broad for a specific definition and that games are an amazingly plastic medium meaning they can range dramatically. He states that when people say a game has 'good gameplay' that it's essentially as useful as saying 'that book is good' and that it doesn't really help anyone identify what's good about it, it's just all down to opinion.

I found this to be interesting. I agree with Costikan if defining a game in a more formal sense means that - it has to be specifically focused on the fundamental aspects of what actually make a game to be good, as appose to vague use of description. Therefore Costikan's argument is valid to which I agree.
In relation to this, I personally find the term 'it has good gameplay' to be almost a cliché phrase within the gaming industry. However with this in mind, it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad and should be shunned upon entirely. The connotations in which the phrase holds to a casual gamer or someone who doesn't play many games imply that the game is somewhat 'enjoyable to play' or 'addictive'... this understanding is what I would establish if a fellow gamer defined it like that to me.

Interaction - A choice with an outcome or purpose:
Costikan then goes into some description in defining the differences between 'games' and 'puzzles' and how this is important...

Games:
- Not static
- They change with the players actions
Puzzles: - Static
- Presented with a logic structure

Costikan states that 'Almost every game has some aspect of puzzle solving' and that 'you can't extract puzzle from game entirely'. I think that this was quite interesting due to it being something I hadn't previously considered before. He outlines that any game in some way or another be it a sci-fi fps shooter or a heavily themed war based strategy game, anything that requires you to make a decision is therefore a puzzle game. This aspect to do with the crossover of puzzles and games I found to be useful information in that....

Costikan also elaborates further on interaction within video games by stating that 'Interactive game is a redundancy', meaning that the player had to have some control over the game state.
Most recent games such as 'Final Fantasy XIII' contain very high definition and visually beautiful cut scene footage which help to give stunning representation to the narrative. From an artists point of view I adore this but from a designer’s point of view some may say this takes the interaction out of the game in that it's practically like watching a film. A lot of fellow gamers I've discussed this with dislike the game purely for that reason but personally I find the cut scenes somewhat rewarding. When considering how this could be improved through interaction of long cut scenes as a designer I'd personally establish some form of quick time event system where players would have to press buttons at certain times during cut scenes in order to keep them engaged. (see. Shenmue).

Goals - Interaction with a purpose:
In the goals section, Costikan basically covers aspects of what a goal within a game is and why it's important, he also talks about the way that players can sometimes make their own goals within games.

Costikan - 'Decision making is interaction with a purpose'... 'The need to make decisions is what makes things a game'.

With this section I very much enjoyed the way how detail goes into how players go about achieving different objectives through a calculated fashion. Games like 'Mario' and 'Quake' require 'quick response and interface mastery' whereas games like 'Chess' and 'Dungeons & Dragons' require 'careful planning'.

Costikan - 'Most games have goals, very few don't, but some do'

'Sims City' is an example of a 'game' that has no explicit goal. Now I've put 'game' in inverted commas in reference to Sims City because the designers themselves defined it during promotion and advertisement stages as a 'software toy' - "it is a set of player defined objectives overlaid on the toy", I personally would still consider Sims City a game. The promoter for the game used a ball as an example of what it's like in that the player similarly has the freedom to set out their own 'goals'. Sims City has no victory conditions; no objectives, no goal, and no inherit win state despite that Sims City is still a good game.

'Sims Earth' has no goal it's like switching a light 'on and off'... hm, I'm now quite interested to play Sims Earth...

Similarly to Sims City, online RPGs work in the same way in that they have no specified goals and they are just implemented by the player themselves. Costikan states that 'Character improvement is a key concept' players are then motivated to improve their characters. RPG players are often striving for ultimate character improvement but often there is no win state within the game. Players search for their own goal, Costikan outlines that 'Self preservation is a good goal'. A downside to this aspect which I can relate to is that 'players often feel lost in RPGs as they don't know what their next goal may be' in turn, this then leads to boredom.

Costikan - 'Games are goal directed interaction, but goals alone are not enough'.

Struggle - Improves skill:
Costikan begins by outlining in depth why struggle is an important and fundamental part of any game. He says that 'competition creates struggle, but isn't the only way to create struggle'.

The aspect to which I found of within this section was the little rant which I picked up on where Costikan goes about puzzles & interactive story. For games like this I got the impression he disliked the fact that people may well look up walkthroughs for a game to easily breeze through the puzzle in order to watch the interactive story - 'Removing the puzzles will turn a 30 hour game into a four hour story'.

- 'Without the puzzle it's no longer a game, there's no struggle!'

Balance:
Balance isn't looked into too much detail by Costikan, he simply states that's important within struggle. I decided to talk a little bit about balance and what I think about it, I mean it's my blog after all...
Arguably, for a game to be a 'game' and for it to work properly it needs to have good balance - meaning it cannot be too difficult or too easy.

I had a short discussion with one of my lecturers about this to which I outlined that I personally find a desire to play difficult games as a whole more appealing. I think a game can be difficult and still be defined as an appealing, satisfying and well recommend game to play. I sometimes find games that appeal to a smaller 'hardcore' audience yet have still been successful more interesting for research.

A game needs to be easy to play but difficult to master (Starcraft, Chess)... for me, that's the ultimate balance for a well balanced game. I simply enjoy difficult games in order to feel that overwhelming sense of accomplishment at the end to make the hairs at the back of you neck stand (well maybe not quite like that, but ya know) - the harder it is to achieve the more satisfying it is.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm simply an opinion. An opinion which can only be considered. I'd imagine that only a small percentage of gamers out there perhaps think the same way, otherwise the industry would probably be dead. I think that was kind of what my lecturer was trying to get at, or at least that's what I got from him. He implied (satirically) that as designers we need to branch out to as many people as possible and that people need to be eased into a game nicely, otherwise if something is too difficult players just get bored and frustrated by endless loosing and in turn, to put it bluntly 'will not play your game'.

Structure - Shapes player behaviour:
You basically need a structure in order to hold the game together and in align. He elaborates on the idea that 'certain rules help to shape the behaviour of the game'... however, this is not always the case.

(Edit/Add Later)

Endogenous Meaning - Things that are meaningful within the game:
Endogenous meaning is the things within a game which make them worth striving for, the things that feel extremely important, the reward systems within the game and everything that feel meaningful.

Upon discussing briefly with my lecturer, he asked me if I had ever spent a number of hours collecting something within a game. To which I replied, "of course - Devil May Cry 4, the little red orbs" he then went on a discussed that these things I spent all those hours collecting don't actually mean anything. They have no physical value of any kind, yet at the time they feel like the most important thing. I did somewhat understand this concept before... I was just never aware of the term 'endogenous meaning' which make it definable. I found it quite interesting.

Week 1 Reading - In The Beginning There Is The Designer, Jesse Schell

The first week of reading given was pretty much set out to be a confidence building exercise, with a general overview to the fundamentals and characteristics in which help to define what is to be a ‘game designer’. Personally, I found the article uplifting and insightful making it a nice introductory read for the beginning of my course. Some things I already knew some things I didn’t and some things simply boosted my self-esteem and confidence. With that in mind, it was a refreshing read.

Personally, for me, I found the sections entitled 'The Secret of the Gifted' and 'The Most Important Skill' the most beneficial.

The section ‘The Secret of the Gifted’ outlines that game designers aren’t all born with this so called ‘special gift’ which makes them naturally good at something be it Art or Mathematics etc. But the truth is there are two kinds of gifts, the minor and major gift. Minor gifts are the things that people can do easily, almost without thinking and the ‘Major gift is the love of your work’. By loving your work in essence your game design skills will instinctively grow. This boosted my confidence and pretty much destroyed any slight ounce of doubt I had in myself.

The section 'The Most Important Skill' states the most important skill of all (obviously) which is required in becoming a designer. That skill is ‘Listening’. The moment I read this I immediately noted down on the side of the page, ‘I agree with this completely’. I had a little hunch before reading ‘The Most Important Skill’ that it would be something that seems so simple. Schell elaborates on the idea of listening by applying it to a scenario where he basically says that human nature can often mean different things and that these things should be looked at together in order to get the real message. I think applying the ability to read people to the industry itself is highly beneficial.

Thanks for reading. gg

15 Minutes, aaand go!

 - "You can make a game in 15 minutes, it might not necessarily be a very good game, but it's a game nonetheless."

We were given a task, which was to design a board game of any kind within 15 minutes. Naturally I was somewhat hesitant to begin with on what to design. Once I thought of an initial possible idea I just thought to myself "well I've only got 15 minutes, heck I might as well just go for it", which was what I did.

Game bits required:
- One six sided dice.
- 2/4 Counters.

Rules:
- The game is meant for two players but can also be played with four.
         - If four players are playing then it becomes a co-operative game where the same coloured counters race to the end. Both counters must make it to the end to judge the winner.
- The aim of the game is to race to the end of the goal.
- Players start at either bottom right or left of the board.
- Players take it in turns to roll the dice and move in according with the dice roll.
- When players reach the 'question mark' they must pick up a card (even if the number rolled on the dice exceeds the question mark square)
- If the player(s) land on the number '8' square players can skip to square number '13'.
- If the player(s) land on the number '13' square players go back to square number '8'.
- If at any point players overtake another counter the player that's overtaken goes back by two squares.

Newman - Paidea vs Ludus

Paidea – effectively, “play” for pleasure:

When I was asked to think about the types of games that include the concept of what Newman defines as 'Paidea' I initially thought to myself, arguably most games are played for pleasure. With some thought into the types of games that would spacifically only be played for pleasure and that's it I thought about games such as flight simulators, or any other kind of simulation based game e.g. The Sims, Sims City even some Online Role Playing Games are played purely for pleasure. This is mainly because these games hold an unclear win state meaning the player doesn't play for any other reason other than to relax or for pleasure (Paidea).

Ludus – more constrained by rules, with a clear outcome (winning):

Games like Starcraft II, Starcraft: Brood War, Warcraft 3 are all definied as an eSports game hold the idea of Ludus. They all are constrained by rules within the game itself and the clear outcome is to win. These are all very logical mathmatic based RTS games which only really hold arguably only a small set of emotional responses that are limited by the face of competitive play.

Agon - Competition:

• Destruction Derby 2, Hogs of War, Tekken 3,

Alea - Chance/randomness:

• Hexic, Bejewelled, Uno, Columns, Tetris, Poker

Ilinx - Movement:

• Geometry Wars, Trials HD, Rag Doll Kung Fu, Little Big Planet, Ecco the Dolphin, Wipeout 2097, Marble Madness, 1942,

Mimicry - Simulation, make believe, role-play:

• Ace Combat, Shenmue, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, SSX, Transworld Snowboarding, PGR3, Forza,

Combinations:

            -          Wik Fable of Souls: Ilinx, Agon

-                     Bust a Move: Agon, Alea

-                     Pong (1972): Agon, Ilinx

-                     Micro Machines: Agon, Ilinx

-                     Skate: Mimicry, Ilin

Bits & Bobs

Examples of Artwork both digital and non-digital so far...

Inital Character Art

Digital Edit

NPC

More to come very soon...