AGENDA, 2-20-12• Discuss Myst, Max Payne, and Colossal Cave

Adventure• Presentations• Discuss papers and writing • Begin lecture on “Video Game Aesthetics”REMINDERS• Arts & Entertainment Networking Event tonight

7-8:30 (see website for full info)• Quiz next Monday on this week’s reading• Next paper due next Wednesday

How to Write a Video Game Analysis

• A video game review has observations and evaluative conclusions (something is good or bad); more or less comprehensive

• An analysis uses more targeted observations (NOT comprehensive) in order to make an argument that connects the specific (the particular game) to the general (a broader idea, debate, or issue)

• Broader issues? Narratology vs. ludology, video game genre, definition of game or video game

Video Game Aesthetics

• Aesthetics: all aspects of video games which are experienced by the player (directly or indirectly)– Rules– Single-player vs. multiplayer– Perspective– Dimensions (2D, 3D)– Space and time– Visuals and sound

Rules• Rules: limit what you can and cannot do;

determine value of actions (in terms of score, winning, or progressing); define relationships between various elements– A game is its rules; transmedial– All rules coded into the game (less flexible than non-

electronic games)• Single-player vs. multiplayer– Single-player gaming is fairly unique to video games;

can be non- or even anti-social pastime– AI– Multiplayer—different form altogether?

Gameplay

• Gameplay: “the game dynamics emerging from the interplay between rules and game geography”– Game balance– Emergence: game dynamics that emerge without

being planned for– Vs. progression games (Myst, must complete list of

predefined actions to complete the game, unique to video games)

Perspective

• First-person vs. third-person

Perspective

• Top-down vs. isometric perspective

Isometric perspective

2D vs. 3D

Gamespace• Abstract, torus, or free

Gamespace• Scroll—usually horizontal, but can be vertical• Parallax scrolling• Off-screen space: active or passive

Game Temporality

• Play time – includes processing time (loading, saving, cut-

scenes, etc.)• Event time• “real time”: play time = event time• Pace

Visual style

• Photorealism, caricaturism, abstractionism• Stylization, “uncanny valley”

Video Game Audio

• Vocalization/dialogue• Sound effects• Ambient effects• Music– Auto-generated music

• Sounds affected by environment, spatiality, physics