Robs Friday Lesson 26/10/2012

In today's lesson we were given these point to think about:

- What challenges do the players face, what actions do they take to overcome them?

- How do players affect each other?

- Is the game perceived by the players as fair?

- Is the game re playable? If so why?

- What is the games intended audience?

- What is the 'CORE' of the game, second by second, minute by minute, the things you do over and over, that represent the fun part?

We were then asked to pair up and play the most basic versions of the game Battleships. Once we had played through it the once we were then tasked to make some iterations to the basic game to see how it would effect it. You have to only make one change at a time so that you know if that one iteration has made the game any better or worse then change it again. Our first iteration was to add a second shot once you managed to sink one of the ships which you could use straight away or wait to use it later in the game. I found that this worked very well within the game.

Our second iteration was adding more grid space by adding the rows K and 11. We found this not to be very useful and decided to just forget about that. The third iteration which we thought was a bit different but worked surprisingly well was adding different shaped ships to the bored like the triangle shaped ship, three across and one down, and the one box ship. We found that this made the game more interesting and worked very well with our first iteration.

Thinking about the points we looked at first i would say that players affect each other by taking shots at each other; but as you don't know where there ships are placed which brings the strategy mechanic to the game. I would say that the game is very fair as you both have the exact same amount of chance to hit each others ships and the rules work very well to make it fair. The game is highly re-playable as games can be quite quick and once you have played the game you want to play again to try and beat your opponent; especially once you had added the iterations to the game.

The game audience would be anyone that likes to play games, but would probably be played by mostly children and family's. The core parts of Battleships is placing your ships within the grid and then trying to shoot the opposing ships, trying to to use a strategy so that you do not miss the ships and get them to miss shooting your ships.     

Jesse Schell (2008) The Art Of Game Design A Book Of Lenses

What are the skills required of a game designer?

Animation - Most games now days have some sort of characters that need to seem alive and the word animation means to give life.

Anthropology - You have to work out what your audience "desire" so that your game can meet that.

Architecture - Having an understanding of the relationship with people and spaces will help building game worlds as you will be making more than just a building; you will be making cities.

Brainstorming - Will have to come up with new ideas by the dozens if not the hundreds.

Business - In the end of the day its a industry which needs ti make money. So a better understanding of the business side of it the better chance of making the game of your dreams.

Cinematography - Every game now has some sort of movie animation to it; this is for it to be able to tell better stories.

Communication - Have to have a good communication so that you can resolve any disputes or problems that come up as well as finding out what the audience think about your game.

Creative Writing - Going to have to come up with fictional worlds;  as well as the people and events within them.

Economics - Need an understanding of economics and how they affect games.

Engineering - New technology is always being developed and you need to know both the limits and powers of it as modern games are some of the most complex engineering in the world with having millions lines of code.

History - Need to have an understanding of our history as a lot of games are based on historical events.

Management -All teams need some sort of management working towards a goal.

Mathematics - Games are full of math so will need to delve into it time to time.

Music - To truly touch people with your game you will need to have music within it to embrace them.

Psychology - The goal of your game is to make the audience happy; so a understanding of the mind works is a must.

Public Speaking - You will regularly have to present your ideas to catch peoples attention and put your game out there. If you are not confident, clear, natural and interesting then they may not listen to what you are saying.

Sound Design - Sound is what convinces the mind it is in a place.

Technical Writing - Will have to create documents that describe your ideas without leaving any gaps or holes.

Visual Arts - Games are full of graphics and you must know graphic design so that you can give the game the feeling you have for it.

These are just some of the basic skills needed in the games industry according to Jesse Schell. There are some others like creativity and logic which are second most important but the most important skill needed within the games industry is listening.

You have to be able listen to everything to make right decisions about your game. The five things to listen to are:

- Team

- Audience

- Game

- Client 

- Yourself

You have to listen to all these things so that you know how people are and how the game is going. It not just enough though just to listen to what they are saying; you have to listen the way they say things their tone of voice, their body language, and their facial expressions. This is because they could say one thing but mean the complete opposite and its your job to be able tell.   

PAIDER and LUDUS

In today's critical game study lesson we looked into Paider and Ludus and the differences between them. Paider is a free activity where there is no goal or profit to be gained; so effectively you "play" for pleasure. Where as Ludus has clear constraints like rules and will have a clear outcome, for example winning. Within these you also have four different types of game which are: Agon- competition, Alea- chance/randomness, Ilinix- movement, and finally Mimicry- simulation/make-believe/role-play.

We were then looking at games that would be a Paider or Ludus game or both as well as having aspects of the types of games. From looking at different games I found that most games have both Paider and Ludus aspects and could fit into more than one of the types. So for example the Assassin's Creed series fits into both as it has the sand pit styled free roam where you can just go around the city's climbing the buildings and doing whatever you like as well as the story line and time challenges. They also have a part of ilinix in them as its all about movement doing the art of parkour.

A example of game that's heavily based on Ludus would be the Call of Duty series as they are all based about boundaries and having rules and not doing exactly what you want. These games have a lot of agon within them has it is all about competition on the multi-player to see who is the best. Then just as a few more examples of other games that fit into these types of games; there are:

Agon - Need for speed, Quake
                                   -Tetris is a bit of Agon as well as Alea
Alea - XCOM, FTL

Ilinix - Mirrors Edge
                                 -Tony Hawk's games are a bit of both Ilinix and Mimicry for playing as famous skaters
Mimicry - Sims, RPG Games

First Board Game

Yesterday we were given the task to come up with a board game in 15 minutes. Which at first I was a bit shocked on how long we had to make it as it didn't sound like would have enough time to make it. So in the 15 minutes I had I made a very basic board game which up to four players could play. We were then asked to play each others game and give each other at least 1 piece of  feedback that would help us make our game better. After that we had to go back and change one thing in the game that was not working properly to see if the game improved. I thought that this technique works very well as you can work out quickly if a game works and is fun to play; if not you can scrap it and start again with little time wasted. Looking forward to what we do next week.

Introduction Task to Critical Game Studies

Today we had a task to do a interview with another member of our group to find out a bit more about each other and then give back our own answers to see what we answered to the questions. These are the questions we had and my answers to them: 

1. What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?

The books that I have been reading most recently are the Darren Shan's The Demonata series. These series of books are made up of 10 books which I read 7 out of the 10 in 2 weeks. I have three left to read which I have bought but yet to have finished reading.

2. What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?

At first I was not sure what would count for this but after talking to the group the last non-fiction book I read a part of is the Action Script 3.0; telling you some of the basics for coding.

3. What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended? 

The last live performance I attended was the Ventriloquist  Paul Zerdins. It has to be the best live show I have seen and what made it better was I got seats right at the front.

4. What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema/online or watched on DVD?

Well for me there where two movies that I have mostly recently seen as I watched them both on the same day. The first one was the new Resident Evil Retribution 3D in Colchester cinema which I was slightly disappointed with but thought the 3D was good. The second movie was Prometheus which I bought on blu-ray. I thought this movie was amazing and very engaging and stunning visual effects. 

5. How often do you read a newspaper? (Which one? online or physical?)

I read the newspaper quite often; about 3-4 times a week as I read them as sort out the papers at work. I read lots of bits and pieces from a few different papers like The Sun, Daily Mail, and Daily Star. 

6. Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?

I have been too lots of different gallery's, museums and exbitions over the years. For example I have been to the Tate Modern for a Photography trip for my A-levels. As well as the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum. The most recent exhibition I have been to would have been at Earls Court for the Euro Gamer Expo 2012.

7. How many hours a week  do you spend playing video games?

As mostly a console gamer I used to play games a lot; all day everyday as I didn't have much else to do because I worked mostly evenings so had the whole day from about 10am-5pm to do what ever I wanted. As I am now at University I do not have the time to play games as much any more. I would say I play them for a couple of hours on a Monday and Sunday.

8. How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

I don't play many non-digital games other than card games like cheat and rummy with my brother and sister. I would spend about 2-3 hours a week doing this. 

Start of Blogging

Hi my name is Harry and I have just started Computer Game Design course at University Suffolk. As a part of the course we have to create a Blog and frequently update it with my work and ideas. So I will be using this a lot more over the next three years. Please feel free to leave your feedback on what I do; even if it is negative as this will help me to improve on my work. Thank you