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Game Designhttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/idc/ituniv/kurser/11/gameplaydesign/
Staffan Björk
Some General Points
Teacher & supervisors Staffan Björk ([email protected]) Erik Fagerholt ([email protected])
Locations Lectures here at Grace Hopper
10.00-12.00 Tuesdays and Fridays Exercises in our studios
13.00-15.00 Tuesdays and Fridays Supervision, floor 4, house Svea
13.00-15.00 Tuesdays and Fridays if no exercises Optional board game nights, Wednesdays 16.00+
Learning Objectives
After successfully completing the course you should be able to:
Understand the role of a game designer within a game design project
Motivate different perspectives on games and use of games, both from practical and ethical aspects
Discuss game design features explicitly using both de facto industry concepts and academic frameworks
Pitch game design concepts for an audience
Relate current game designs to earlier examples, from the direct predecessors to the first recorded examples
Learning Objectives, cont.
Further, after the course you should also be able to:
Plan game design projects according to best practice descriptions
Develop a game design concept from initial idea to a full game design concept, using iterative design processes and prototyping
Specify target audiences and develop game design concepts for these
Analyze different game design using analytical tools to be able to
Suggest design changes and Compare different game designs
Aims of the course Focus on Game Design
Not Implementation Not Graphics Not Sound Not Project Management Not Business Models Not IPR Gameplay Design
Interaction Design
Game Design All types of games not only
computer games
Aims of the course, cont.
Counter-part to Simulation Engines
Game Designer is the natural step from Lead Programmer But also an area with strong
aspects of interaction design
Working efficiently as programmer requires understanding of game design
Some relevant games
Some relevant games, cont.
Some relevant games, cont.
Some relevant games, cont.
General Structure Mandatory assignments
2 individual 2 in groups
2 Elective assignments Three exercises
Activities Analyzing Training in pitching Low Fidelity Play Testing
A lot of writing Train communication & argumentation Seek & use references Expected to play & discuss games Supervision is to help with projects
and with writing But no exam
General Structure, cont.
Parts of the Course History of Games Famous Game Designers Analyzing Games Narratives & Games Designing Games Communicating Design Ideas Games & Education
The Book Use chapters Use exercises during lectures
Why is Gameplay important?
The core of a game
Still underdeveloped area Interaction Design
Improve game industry Current knowledge
Licenses Sequels Work from good game designers
A Word about Simulations
Course Focus on Games Interaction Design most
distinguishable in that area
Applicable in many other areas Encouraging behaviors Balancing users Steering activities Adjusting activity to player
actions
Formal Requirements, cont.
Grading Based on point gained on mandatory and elective assignments
Score Grade-49 Fail50-69 3 | G70-89 4 | G90+ 5 | VG
Course Evaluators Volunteers?
Reporting By email Send to [email protected] Have [Gameplay Design 10: Assignment] in the signature Having the attachments names using the format "[Last Name],[First
Name] Assignment [x]"
Formal Requirements
Assignments 1 What is a game? [10 pts, Tuesday 20110125] 2 Game Analysis [10 pts, Thursday 20110204] 3A Game Idea[5 pts, Friday 20110211] 3B Playtest [10 pts, Friday 20110218] 3C Oral presentation of project [10 pts, Tuesday 20110222] 3D Project report [15 pts, Friday 20110301] 4 Personal report [40 pts, Friday 20110311]
Elective Assignments E1 Kudo game [10 pts, before Friday 20100225] E2 Game Jam [20 pts, Friday 20100128 - Sunday 20100130]
For the regular assignments there are also minimum scores needed
The Role of Game Designers
Related texts: Chapter 1
Responsibilities of Game Designers An Advocate for the
Player Have clear vision of
target group Providing good
gameplay Creating ideas Ensuring quality
Making sure that intended gameplay is achieved
Project Leader
Skills Required by Game Designers Communication Writing Speaking Compromising Finding Ideas &
Inspiration Extensive knowledge
of games Extensive knowledge
of gameplay
A Player-Oriented Design Process Involve players
No, not yourselves Iterative Design
Setting an initial goal Stepwise developing
and refining Evaluating against
initial design goal
See Human-Computer Interaction & Interaction Design for more details and specific methods
Evaluate Playtest
Test Ideas Implement
Generate IdeasIdentify Target Group
Formalize Ideas Create
Specification
Game Exercise: First to 12
Game: first to 12
The winning condition is to be the player that makes the shared value reaches 12
The two players take turns increasing the value by 1 or 2
The shared value begins at 0
Break
Is “First to 12” a game?
Book Exercise: 1.2 D.O.A
What is a Game?
Definitions of Games
D. Parlett
Game historian with focus on board games, word games, and card games.
Distinguishes between informal and formal games.
puppies play
”playing around”
sandbox play
means & ends
Has a winner
“every game is its rules”
Parlett, D. The Oxford History of Board Games, 1999.
C. C. Abt
”...a game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context.”
Abt, C. C. Serious Games, 1970
J. Huizinga
”[Play is] a free activity standing quite consciously outside ”ordinary” life as being ”not serious”, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings, which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means.”
“Magic Circle”
Huizinga, J. Homo Ludens, 1938
R. Caillois
Free Separate in time and space Uncertain Unproductive – creates no goods or wealth Governed by rules Categories
Competition [Agôn] Chance [Alea] Make-Believe [Mimicry] Vertigo [Ilinx] Callois, R. Man,
Play and Games, 2001
C. Crawford
“A closed formal system that subjectively represents a subset of reality.”
”Interactive representation” (the cause-effect relationship)
”Conflict” (obstacles that challenge the goal pursuit)
”Safety” (psychological experience of danger, without the physical realization thereof)
Crawford, C. The Art of Computer Game Design
B. Suits
”To play a game is to engage in activity directed towards bringing about a specific state of affairs, using only means permitted by rules, where rules prohibit more efficient in favour of less efficent means and where such rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity.”
or“playing a game is the voluntary effort to
overcome unnecessary obstacles.”Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia, 1990
G. Costikyan
”A game is a form of art in which participants, named players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal.”
From: Costikyan, G. I Have no Words and I Must Design
E. Avedon & B. Sutton-Smith
”Games are an exercise of voluntary control systems, in which there is a contest between powers, confined by rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome.”
From: Avedon, E. & Sutton-Smith, B. The Study of Games
K. Salen & E. Zimmerman
”A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.”
”Game design is the process by which a game designer creates a game, to be encountered by a player, from which meaningful play emerges.”
From: Salen, C. & Zimmerman, E. Rules of
Play
J. Juul
1. Rules2. Variable, quantifiable outcome3. Value assigned to possible outcomes (+ -)4. Player effort5. Player attached to outcome (game
contract)6. Negotiable consequences
” A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels attached to the outcome, and the consequences of the activity are optional and negotiable. “
http://www.jesperjuul.dk/text/gameplayerworld/
J. Juul, cont.
Transmedial Games not bound to a
specific media Some games are
implemented on several different media
J. von Neumann & O. Morgenstern”Theory of rational behavior for interactive
decision problems. In a game, several agents strive to maximize their (expected) utility index by choosing particular courses of action, and each agent's final utility payoffs depend on the profile of courses of action chosen by all agents. The interactive situation, specified by the set of participants, the possible courses of action of each agent, and the set of all possible utility payoffs, is called a game; the agents 'playing' a game are called the players.”
From: Von Neumann, J. & Morgenstern, O. Theory of Games and Economic
Behavior
T. Fullerton, C. Swain & S. Hoffman A closed formal system Engages players in
structured conflict Resolves in an unequal
outcome
From: Fullerton, T., Swain, C. & Hoffman, S. Game Design Workshop
Assignment 1
What is a Game?
Assignment 1
What is a Game? 1400-2000 word argumentation for your personal
definition of what games are. An individual assignment due in 1 week!
Learning outcomes Reflect on your personal view on what a game is, and
how others may differ in their opinion Write argumentative texts where you take one
position with motivations and argue against possible objections
Compare games that belong to different categorizes to analyze the common features and differences between genres and mediums of games
Assignment 1, cont.
Requirements One sentence definition Comparison to the definitions presented today Answer the following questions
Is weight lifting a game? Is Sudoku a game? Is all forms of gambling games? Is a game played if two computer programs met each other in Chess
over the net? Examples & counter-examples of things that fit the definition
(besides weight lifting, Sudoku & Roulette) Reflect on how your definition of games affects the role of a
game designer (e.g. what must be emphasized)
Thank you!
Questions?