grab em while they're hot!

Come on in, get yer board games right here in the 4th floor faculty! So rare, there's only one copy of em in existence! Up for sale give back this grade consultation day april 22!

SW33333T!

Thanks to you all for participating in this little game-appreciation-by-game-making course =) Awesome turnout, plenty of awesome games made by you guys!

Just so you know, there won't be class sessions anymore as the game submission was the final project I need from you guys. Grades should be out by the end of this week or next week (daming hahalungkatin o.O), stay tuned for when you can get your stuff back.

One last submission

Oh, and just one more submission I'd like from you guys. This will be an INDIVIDUAL submission.

1) A review of  at least 2 other groups' games that you have played on the April 4 and 5 game dates. Talk about them in the same way we talked about games back in the 1st half of the term. What did you like about them, what did they implement in the game that worked, etc. Keep it short, at most 1 page per game.

2) Your own comments about your own group's game, especially after seeing it in action. What worked as intended, what came out good or bad. Again, keep this short, at most 1 page.

3) Your comments about your groupmates. Were they helpful or not? how helpful or NOT helpful were they? what tasks were they assigned, and did they do them? what tasks were they not assigned, but went and accomplished anyway? All your frustrations and/or praises about your groupmates, dump them all here. At most 1 page.

These don't have to be too formal, just let out whatever comes to mind related to the topic at hand.

Type it up into a word file, and e-mail them to jose.elegado@gmail.com by April 9.

April 4 and 5 locations

In case you haven't already heard, the locations for our game days April 4 and 5 are as follows:

April 4:
1:30-330, at MPH 2 (10th floor)
330-530, at room 1115

April 5:
730-1130, room 1115
1130-330, Basement 3
330-530, room 818

Everyone is encouraged to come in at any time during these times, both to submit your group's game and especially to play the games of the other groups, whether from your section or not. At the very least, stick around until I get to play your game myself.

Thanks once again to the guys who were able to reserve the spaces for our outdoor game groups!

Pack your towels, rubber shoes, water bottles, and Game Faces! Here's to an enjoyable two days with you guys!

For the groups setting up an Outdoor game for their final,

As mentioned, here be the contact details of the representatives for all groups planning an outdoor game as their final. please coordinate with each other so that we can all share the same basketball court/gym or basement come April 5.

AB124:
Adrenaline! (estrada, relos, gomez, buenaflor)
-09166524929, gomezgalilee@gmail.com
Bayo Gals (tagle, sibayan, manipis, solano steffi)
-09176177782, steffisolano@gmail.com
Keme Games (leones, pacaba, ramos, solano abby)

AB122:
Jutsi Fruit (caronan david, concepcion, diloy, delacruz, manalili)
-09355512929, decignsbydici@gmail.com
Da Main Boys! (fulo, ricardos, ferrer, asuncion, magdaraog)
-09268296760, kareninaferrer@yahoo.com

AB124:
Wala Pa Ser (castro, saludar, romero, medel)
-0906386543, wynsleymedel1@gmail.com
Eios D2 (agpalo, suniga, rico, cabungcal)
-09354484079, gerizarico@gmail.com

AB126:
Triple S (solema, sarmiento, sabido)

I may have missed some of the outdoor groups; feel free to add your group and your representative's contact details in the comments. Or if you changed your mind and are not making an outdoor game anymore, let it be known in the comments as well, so that I may update this list.

Second half of the term, GO!

Before anything else, make sure you have a group already. Anyone who's joining a new group or accepting new members (again, 4 people maximum), please update me on them asap.

Let me just clear up a few things here, at the same time post some guidelines for the projects as well.

There shall be 2 games that you'll be making for the end-term:

1) The classroom game. One where your group of will run/manage a game that The Whole Class (or at least half of them) will participate in. This one doesn't have to be too complicated, consider it an extra practice run for coming up with and running a game. Really, the only meter here is the reactions of the class (with a little discussion on what worked and what didn't).

Take turns running the classroom game, check with me for the schedules that we agreed upon. (some changes: due to College Week, I will be moving the schedules of some of the groups:

AB 121 TF 130-330: margarita and co. (mendez, salvador, saflor, balabad): March 11.

AB122 WS 930-1130: G force (solis, vera, roman, escobar):  March 12.

2) The Main Game Project. (A different game from the classroom game, by the way) The one due on April 4 & 5, and will be played by your classmates on said dates. For this one, I'd suggest just going all out. Don't worry too much about the results or whether you think you know nothing about making games, just go Make Something! (and of course feel free to consult with me in the faculty room <thursdays are a good free day> if you have any questions.)

The meter for grading here is The Rulebook: if people can understand it, and therefore play your game with no confusion, it gets a high score. Naturally, a game with vague, hard-to-follow rules, or rules that result in a broken mess (ex: only one side ever wins, and the players can see it all coming a mile away), get a crap score.

The artistic level of all the parts of the game (concept, cards and/or minifigures, how well these relate to the concept. Also the "that looks like a cool game" factor of your packaging or rulebook) adds bonus points as well.

Ah, before I forget: by week 10 (March 21 and 22), I will be asking for a Progress Report on your games. An initial draft of your rulebook, some notes on whether these rules worked or not, maybe a second draft of your rulebook, any concept fixes or changes that you made, any initial artist pieces as well. All these, as a powerpoint file or a PDF document.

I hope that clears up things. if you have any questions, bug me on 09999427146 as well.

Good Luck, and Happy Game Making!

Hard to believe this still needs to be said, but

To Reference Something On the Internet is to use an idea that someone else has come up with to support Your Own Idea. (ex: archimedes has discovered that 1+1 =2! Based on this, I theorize therefore that 1+1+1+1 = 4!)

It is NOT using their written work word-per-word and submitting it as your own. (ex: I has discovered that 1+1 = 2!)

COPYPASTE-ING YOUR HOMEWORKS FROM THE INTERNET IS BAD!

WHY IS IT BAD? BECAUSE YOU LEARN NOTHING!

And do recall that you're in school because you want to learn things?

It won't be on my conscience if you leave APC with nothing new in your heads but ctrl-c ctrl-v.



(The fact that even minor instances of copypasting will render your papers burned in a bonfire is just an unfortunate side effect)

(I don't care either if I catch em or not, the grade isn't the result we're really after here.)


<end rantage>


Oh, and congrats to the few and the proud who got themselves a 4 on the midterm paper!

MIDTERM Guidelines

The Point: Write out a more convincing game review that uses more concrete evidence (stuff that's in the game, theories and concepts about what makes a game do what it does, etc.) to make its argument and statement that a game is one that must indeed be played. (As always, ANY game, not just video games, is a candidate for your analysis).

Some guide questions to help you guys in this:

On First Glance:
-What exactly was the game trying to be? What is the Core Concept that it is shooting for? What Aesthetic Goals does it wish to satisfy?
 --And what features/systems have been specifically included into the game (according to ads, trailers, demos, the tutorial level, etc) to help in fulfilling said core concept and aesthetic goals?

Upon Actually Playing the Game:
-What is the actual resulting experience that you got? Did it match the originally intended core concept or aesthetic goal? why or why not?

-Which features and systems improved the experience of the game? How were these features helpful? How would the game change if these features/systems were removed?

-Which features and systems did NOTHING to contribute to the intended Concept or Aesthetic Goals? Which features and systems actually distracted from, or diluted, or worsened the intended experience? Would the game be better if they were removed or replaced with another system, how so?

Your Conclusion:
-To which audiences would you recommend this game to?
-To which audiences would you NOT recommend this game to?
-Overall, would you recommend this game? Should it be hailed as the BEST GAME EVER, or should it burn in hell?


Oh, and feel free to not follow this guide, make up your own guide questions/outlines for your analysis. Also, feel free to use other concepts/theories that were not covered in the class. Just remember to LIST DOWN YOUR SOURCES.


Short-bond printed submission. No minimum page limit, recommended max page limit of 5 pages. DEADLINE for all classes is FEB 26.
(for the tue/fri classes, I will be in 1115 in the morning 730-1130, and 818/817 in the afternoon 130-530.)
Submit your stuff personally to me please, so you can confirm yourself that I indeed got your paper. Any other means (pigeonhole/email/facebook), and it WILL get lost.


That be all for now. Don't forget to add your comments in the experiment posts, and good hunting!

experimenting with Aesthetic Goals and Systems

Pick a game, identify and describe the core aesthetic goals and premise.

Now re-write the systems/rules of the game with different core aesthetic goals in mind. (Don't just buff/nerf the current systems while keeping the game essentially the same as before.)

Don't forget to explain how your new systems/rules will re-focus the game to the new core aesthetic goal.

Some examples:

Monopoly shall now be a co-op game about Mr and Mrs Dimayuga and their 6 kids staying out of debt! Have the 4 players be a team of 4, with different business and social skills, who win when the family stays alive, out of jail, and not bankrupt for 20 rounds! Obstacles include random tax hikes, mafia goons, typhoons, corrupt police, and inflation!

Left 4 dead is now all about zombie-themed music! A musical zombie apocalypse that uses rock&roll visuals and sounds as the cues of your impending doom! Much like what they did with the dark carnival finale, actually.

DotA is now a game that lasts only 30 seconds and needs only 1 button to play! A Rock-Paper-Scissors style 1vs1 turn-based battle on smartphones, poke your skill of choice to counter the enemy's own!

Flappy Bird is now a wide-open space about traveling the far reaches of the sky! A much bigger horizontal and vertical space for the bird to fly in, with all sorts of dangerous and friendly things to find! And you can't actually die here, just get a funny animation whenever you hit a dangerous object!

Add your experiment in the comments!

Week 4.2 Recap: Systems

A system is a set of formal and dramatic elements that, when put together and set in motion, achieve a specific effect/experience.

Consider a system's parts: An object in a game. Its properties (statistics, numbers, variables, and other details), behaviors (what it can do, what a player can do with it), and its relationships with other objects (what happens when this object and another object are used together)

   chess bishop. moves diagonally. captures enemy pieces by entering an enemy piece's square; is captured when an enemy piece moves into its square. 2 per side, starting at back row column 3 and 6.
   left 4 dead zombie. 1 hp, takes 1 damage from all weapons, more depending on which body part is hit. (head explodes when shot in the head). Idle until approached by players, then runs towards and attacks player (5 dmg per swing, changes with difficulty). Can be spawned by the computer several at a time, charging straight at the players, at pseudo-random intervals. Can climb walls. If a pipebomb is deployed, attacks the pipe bomb instead. Spawned when a player is covered in boomerbile. Spawns in any space not visible to any player.
   other examples: A timer on the upper-right of the screen. The player character. A cement floor, an ice floor, a grass floor. Hit points. Turn-based battle. A powerup. An enemy creature. An npc. A sniper rifle, a shotgun, a machine gun. Money.

An example, to differentiate between the dynamic and the underlying mechanics:
   The system/dynamic: Hit points.
     The rules/mechanics: A player's hit points is 100. A zombie's hit points is 5. A Tank's hit points is 1000.
   The system: cards, with colors/numbers.
      The rules: This card's color/number is yellow/3. It may only be dropped on a yellow or a 3.


Dynamics/systems are set in place, and fixed/tweaked/buffed/nerfed, in order to fulfill the following:

To encourage an aesthetic goal.
for example, to promote Fellowship, add:
4 players.
-obstacles that require more than 1 person to defeat.
-obstacles that require the other players to recover from
-resources that are severely limited and carrying space that's severely limited.

or to promote a Story that centers on relationships between people, add:
-dialogue choices.
-changing events based on the dialogue that is chosen.

To maintain the FLOW of the game.
add systems to manage the balance.
-a system that gives the player an advantage when he's losing, and gives him a disadvantage when he's winning.
-or a system that gives the player an advantage when he's WINNING, and/or gives him a disadvantage when he's LOSING.

add systems to manage the information feedback to the player.
-user interface

add systems to encourage the correct actions, and punish the wrong ones. Also to track the win/loss conditions.
-hit points on all creatures.

add systems to simply keep the game from dragging on for too long; the game MUST end eventually. 
-a timer

add systems to create conflict between a player's ingame goals.
-powerups in dangerous places.

add systems to just outright disturb the status quo (usually by chance).
-a 0.1% chance to give a free powerup to a random player.

To maintain a "dramatic curve" in the game. Balance out in-game moments of calm and moments of tension, to get a general "start small, end with a climactic BANG!" effect.
-managing the appearance and aggressiveness of enemies in the game; easy enemies at the start, miniboss, period of calm, boss encounter, end stage.


To encourage the dramatic theme/premise. By duplicating an object/scenario/action by way of the formal elements/rules, a system represents an idea/theme/premise.

add systems for managing multimedia elements
-music, sounds, the player's camera position changes to match the current situation. (ex: a 1st person camera that shifts to a 3rd person camera under specific scenarios)

add systems for movement.
-how a person moves vs how a car moves vs how a tank moves.
-press the idea of a helplessly bound character by allowing the player to do miniscule and useless motions (struggle!)

To counter or take advantage of game-breaking player actions or bugs. 
-to discourage corner stacking/camping, add something that punishes players for standing in one spot for too long.
-someone discovered how to skip the stage by running on top of the ceiling! instead of removing it, instead add a hidden warp zone there!
-an outside judge/arbiter to settle clashes without either player learning of the other side's pieces.

Week 4.1 recap: Aesthetic Goals

Aesthetic Goals. A particular mindset/mood that a player may find themselves in that they wish to satisfy.

A game will be designed (through its choice of formal elements, dramatic elements, and dynamics/systems) with satisfying these aesthetic goals in mind. 

AKA a player is in the mood for a particular style of entertainment, there will be a game designed for it.

Sense/Emotion Pleasure. Show me awesome visuals/music/physical/emotional adrenaline rush! Games that mean to impress you with awesome moving lights and sounds and colors (may be abstract and all artistic). Games that are all about playing with music. Games that promote a physical adrenaline rush. Games that induce extreme emotions like fear, laughter, awe, sadness, cuteness overload.

Dance Dance Revolution. Rock band. Space Invaders Extreme. Tag. Patintero. Nintendogs. Tetris. Slender. Casino Slot Machines

Make-Believe. I get to be a _____!  

Games that focus on the experience of being another person, being another role, being in another universe. 

Rock Band. Call of Duty. Skyrim. Phoenix Wright. Left 4 Dead. Bahay-Bahayan. Farmville.

Storytelling/Narrative. Let me tell you a story. 

Games that are primarily about presenting a story. It can be a single linear piece, or it can allow the player to rearrange and customize the characters and events.

The Walking Dead. Final Fantasy 4,6,7,8,9,10. Tomb Raider. Phoenix Wright. The Last of Us. Otome games.

Challenge. An obstacle course! Of course I can clear it! 

Games that are focused on bringing skills to the forefront and using them to overcome all manner of obstacles, problems, and challenges.

Super Mario Bros. Flappy Bird. Racing Games. Bejeweled. Tetris. That finger-knife game. Hopscotch.

Fellowship. You will work together with your friends! 

Games that allow cooperative social interaction. Other players are your allies with whom you share a common goal, and there are plenty of opportunities to help and be helped by them.

Left 4 Dead. DotA. Patintero. Basketball. Soccer. 3DS streetpass games.

Competition. You will destroy your friends and gloat about it! 

Games that allow for a display of dominance. Other players are your opponents, who you will defeat in the game with a glorious display of bragging rights.

DotA. Street Fighter. Patintero. Pusoydos. Basketball. Soccer.

Expression. This is my idea, this is what I think, this is what I am, my personality, and what I do in the game shows it!

Games that double as artistic canvas, through which all sorts of ideas, concepts, and talents can spring forth.

The Sims. Minecraft. Dress-up games. Pokemon. Charades. Pictionary. Nintendogs. Grand Theft Auto. Scribblenauts.

Discovery. What else is out there?! Gotta find 'em all!

Games that promote the thrill of finding new things, of exploring new locations, of experimenting with new combinations of a lot of everything.

Minecraft. World of Warcraft. Pokemon. Tomb Raider Classic. Nintendogs. Hide&Seek. Grand Theft Auto.

Abnegation. I want to rest; let me be dead to the world, a mindless drone for a little while... 

Games to soothe the tired, distract the bored, unburn the burned-out.

Farmville. Pokemon. World of Warcraft. Flappy Bird. Casino Games. Bejeweled. Talking Tom.

Any single game can actually be a source of more than one aesthetic goal; the sorting is in which of them are the game's PRIMARY aesthetic goals.

For more info on this topic, look up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepAJ-rqJKA as well as the Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics Hunicke_2004.pdf in the "videos and handouts" folder to the right.

A Wii and an Xbox360 in class this sat!

Now that I got your attention, some announcements:

1) Game Sharing Day!

Is this saturday Feb 1. My opportunity to let you guys play/see the games I plan to discuss in the coming class days, as well as a chance for all of us to share some of the other games we've used as examples to the rest of our classmates.

So if you have a laptop or USB drive full of games, or maybe a DS or PSP, or some board/card games, or whatever else you want to analyze, ask about, play with your classmates or just exude your fanboy/fangirl energies about, bring them this sat!

The tuesday/friday classes are welcome to join in as well (since this friday jan 31 is a holiday). I'll be in school all day (room 1115 in the morning, and 818/817 in the afternoon).

I'll still be checking attendance for the wed/sat people, by the way.


2) About the Jan 28/29 paper submission: 

My apologies, I probably wasn't too clear with what exactly was supposed to be discussed in this one; some people submitted essays that were meant more for the questions posted here in this blog.
Anyway, lemme straight up post here the guidelines for the Dramatic Elements paper essay (at most 5 pages):

Pick a game.
-A quick summary of what the game is about, how it's played.
-Is there a premise or backstory? How is this revealed in the game? (Through cutscenes? Text windows and spoken dialogue? Sound effects and music? A particular set of rules and procedures?)
-What's the challenge being presented? What skills are demanded from the player, and how are they used in the game (ex. the ability to strategize, the ability to spot color & space patterns, the ability to bluff)? What feedback does the game use to let him know of his progress/success/failure(visuals, sound effects, a big ol' "YOU FAIL" sign in his face)? How do the player's skills and the opposition he is presented with (be it computer opponents or other players) progress/escalate, and how is the balance between them maintained (if it isn't balanced, why not?)? Discuss the formal elements that help to enforce these.
-What's the potential for play? (what kind of play can happen in the game? in what ways can a player approach the game? ) Discuss the formal elements that allow for these to happen.

AKA What dramatic elements can be found in your game of choice?


I'll leave it to your own judgement. If you feel that what you gave me on Jan 29 doesn't match the above, feel free to submit a new piece. I'll give you guys till Wed, Feb 5 to resubmit your papers if you need to.

Refer to the Dramatic Elements recap post if you need a reviewer to help with this.


3) Blog comment deadline?

Some people have asked, what's the deadline for making the comment in the blog posts?

I clarify it now, you have until the Midterm to leave your comments. Any later, and I can't use them to add to your grade.


That be all for now.

playing with dramatic elements, pt2

Pick a game. By discussing its formal elements, how does the game keep its players (the lone player/team if vs system, or all sides if multiplayer) from quitting in frustration or falling asleep with boredom? (example: how does DotA make sure that both teams still have a motive to see the game through to the end even if one side has a huge advantage over the other?)

Add your analysis in the comments!

playing with dramatic elements

2 versions of the experiment for this post, you need only answer one of them:

1) Pick a traditional 52-card deck game (pusoy dos, tong-its, etc) or a traditional playground game.  Add a theme to it (backstory, premise, characters, etc). Discuss any rules changes, appearance changes, added pieces and props, etc. that will help the new game fit the theme. (examples: can Pusoy Dos be a game involving valiant knights and princesses fighting dragons and gods? can Gin Rummy be about the struggles of a SoMA student as he searches for the meaning of life? can Langit-Lupa be about Indiana Jones?)

2) Pick a movie or a book or a music track or a theatre play. How would you retell that work as a game? Focus your discussion on the formal game elements that you would use to demonstrate elements of the work (sequence and mood of events, characters and characterization, that spoilerrific death scene at the end, etc). If it's already been done before, discuss the resulting game as well, focusing on whether or not it properly captures (or even says something new about) what the original work was about. (ex: Romeo and Juliet as a dating game or an assassin's creed-style sneak fest? Frozen as a final fantasy-style RPG or a first-person shooter? Harlem Shake as an MMORPG or a realtime strategy game?)

Post your experiment in the comments!

Week 2.1 review: Dramatic Elements

The Dramatic Elements of a Game:

Multimedia Elements: Visual elements like images, animations, sounds. Concept elements like premise, story, characters, written dialogue.

As with careful adjustment of a game's rules, procedures, etc, choosing the multimedia elements of the game will alter the player's experience.


"Fun", or the concept of Challenge: The state of mind where a person is truly engaged and invested in the activity that he is currently doing.

Achieved in a person through a balance between the person's skill level and the difficulty of his current task. (the so-called FLOW theory. google "Csikszentmihalyi" for more info)
  high difficulty and low skill = frustration (failure is guaranteed), and the person gives up on the task.
  low difficulty and high skill = boredom (success is guaranteed), and the person loses interest in the task.
  a skill level that matches the difficulty of the task at hand = no true guarantee of the results (50% chance to succeed, 50% chance to fail, and subject to change due to plenty of factors, most important of which is the person himself). A much better motivation for a person to see the task through to the end.

Other parts that help produce the "challenge" and "fun" mindset:
-A person's skills are put to the test (things like calculation, spatial awareness, sense of rhythm, perception, strength, agility and flexibility, etc.)
-There is a clear goal to accomplish using the skills, and there is immediate feedback concerning the person's progress towards that goal. The consequences of any mistakes are obvious, as are the benefits of any correctly-performed task.
-The so-called Paradox of Control: a person has a sense of control over himself and his actions/skills only when the success or failure of the task at hand is clearly NOT under his control. (If all it takes for me to open a door is press a button, then it is not me who opened the door. If the door will not open unless I push it open myself, then it is I who opened the door)

The psychology of the above notes being: there is a certain pleasure to be had for a person in confirming once and for all that his skills are genuine, and the only way to do this is to pit them against something that will prove them false.

(recall all the kung-fu bad guy characters in the movies and animes, that actually LIKE it when the protagonist has a chance of winning against them)

Some signs that prove that a person has indeed achieved the FLOW state, and is indeed having "fun":
-Absolute Concentration. Nothing else on their minds, just the activity in question.
-No sense of self. Nothing else on their minds, especially not the worry of humiliation from others around them.
-Merging Action and Awareness. No need to stop and think about what to do next or how to do an action; the moment you think of it, it's done!
-No sense of time. Seems like only a few minutes have passed, when it turns out hours have already gone by. Or the reverse, a split-second action feels like it's moving forward in super-slow motion.
-The activity becomes an end in and of itself. No need to find reasons why you're still engaged in the activity or what you'll get out of it when it's finished; you are doing this Just Because.

Plug the "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" mindset into your game's players by choosing its formal elements and multimedia elements carefully!


Play: A state of mind where, in the desire or need to conform to the rules of a system (a tool, an activity, a law of nature or physics, a social setting, a game), a person nevertheless will do everything that he can do within that system, in an effort to "see just what he can get away with". Has the desirable side-effect of allowing a person to practice his own skills (by pitting them against the rules) and creating all sorts of oddball effects that, while still conforming to the rules, are completely unexpected and unpredictable.

Comes in 4 broad categories (google "Brian Sutton-Smith" for more details on this, his take on how Play works, or just observe what children do when they're playing, they be experts on the subject):
Competition: If a person can do something, he will find ways to prove that he can do it better than everyone else.
1-on-1 battles, high score tables, all sorts of contests.
Chance: If the rules dictate that the probability of an event successfully happening is very small, a person will find ways to make that event happen anyway, either by repeating the event over and over until it succeeds, or by manipulating the circumstances around the event to make it more likely to happen successfully (or more likely to fail, even). Or just placing bets on which outcome will actually happen.
Making dice roll a specific number. Using proper strategies to ensure the small army can defeat the much larger one. Shooting a pingpong ball into a paper cup. That carnival game where you catch goldfish with a paper net.
Make-believe and mimicry: If something exists, a person will find ways to duplicate it, using whatever he has on hand. If something is theoretically possible but doesn't exist, a person will find ways to make it exist, using whatever he has on hand. If something just plain CANNOT exist, a person will find ways to make it exist, again using whatever he has on hand.
Using pencil and paper to make Dragons. Using old clothes, paper plates, and acting to reenact World War 2. Charades. Pictionary. The character creator in a role-playing game. A mod that turns the badass biker player character into a badass pink octopus. Using engineering concepts to make Iron Man, and science concepts to make Captain America.
"Vertigo", aka to make oneself dizzy: If the rules say that a particular event is very disorienting, very dangerous, flat out will kill you, is completely unknown, or carries any number of negative effects, a person will find ways to bring himself as close as possible to duplicating the event (and any physical or mental effects it may bring) without doing any permanent damage to himself. That there will be no lasting damage suddenly makes a person brave enough to participate in the event; That there may be no lasting damage or that there will be no lasting damage only if the person's skills are very good is an even better motivator for some people!
Skateboarding. Hang-Gliding. Bungee Jumping. Mountain Climbing. Any of the extreme sports. That stab-a-knife-between-your-fingers-on-the-table game. Walking into a haunted house. Roller coasters. Travelling to unknown destinations. Poking an angry dog on the other side of the fence. Walking up to a lv50 monster as a lv2 character. Provoking all the cops in the city. Russian Roulette.

Any single activity can be covered by any number of the above categories.

Plug the potential for all sorts of play into your game by choosing your formal elements and multimedia elements carefully!

playing around with the Formal Elements

The blog post homework for the Formal Elements of a Game section:

Take a game, pick a formal element in that game, and change it up (ex: Street Fighter with 4 players in free-for-all or teams of 2, or Assassin's Creed with NO combat procedures whatsoever, or DotA without the ancient as the primary objective, or a mario game without a jump button). How do you think the gameplay will change from the original version? What other elements would you change/remove/add to accommodate this initial change? (If there are examples of actual game titles using these changes, or games that are more often played with certain changes/suggest changes right in the instruction manual, tell us about them as well)

Add your experiment in the comments!

week 1.2 review: Formal Elements of a Game

ABMA 122 peoples, leave your homework post here: pick a game, list out its formal elements.

A recap of the Formal Elements of a game discussed this jan 17/18: (a little game: try to guess which of the following examples refer to which games)

Players: How many people are playing? what's their interaction with each other?
Is it player vs player? team vs team? solo player vs team? many players vs each other? player vs system (aka single-player)? many players (not a team) vs system? team vs system?

Objective: What's the very action that you do to win the game?
Kill or tag the other player? Outrace the other player? Claim the entire board space as your own? score the most points? rescue the princess? erase the board of all the jewels on it? just stay alive for as long as possible? capture the flag? destroy the enemy's base?

Procedure: how do I go about getting to my objective? what is the primary action or actions that I can do in the game?
Do I run past the other player or tag them? Do I use letters to form words and score points? Do we take turns to roll a dice and move a number of spaces according to the dice result? Do I press the D-Pad to walk and mash buttons to attack or do special moves? Do I tilt the phone and swipe the screen to move out of harm's way?

Rules: The many other specific guidelines that must be followed for the game to work. Comes in 3 flavors:
     Rules about objects and terms. Specify what the objects and terms used in the game are, and how they're used.
Who/what is the team 1 player? Who/what is the team 2 player? who/what is that mushroom/flower/odd walking mushroom with teeth? what are these little squares with letters and a small number on them? what does "check" mean? What is the "flag"? what is a "critical hit"?
     Rules about restrictions. Specify what CAN be done and what CANNOT be done under which conditions.
Can I break bricks or shoot fireballs? Can I ask for two cards from the other player instead of one? can I lay down a red 9 if the last card played was a blue 6? can I use shotgun shells with the sniper rifle? can I use the str-99 weapon if i only have 98 str? can I cast the BB1 spell using BBR? Can I use the last player's short word to build a longer word? can I backtrack? the team 1 players may run anywhere, but each team 2 player blocking them may only move on a horizontal line.
     Rules about effects: If 2 objects or rules interact with each other, what will be the result?
If I jump and land on the odd mushroom with teeth, the mushroom is smooshed. If a punch lands on the arm, there is a chance that the arm is crippled. If a player is successfully tagged, he becomes the new "it". If player 1 makes the ball's first bounce outside the border, player 2 gets a point.

Boundaries: The borders of the game, within which the game happens.
The agreed-upon playground space. The game board. This 52-card deck. Wuhu Island.

Resources: Anything in the game that is very useful or mandatory for a player to win the game, but is limited (can only be used a set number of times or for a limited amount of time) or hard to find, claim, or use, or all of the above.
100 coins = extra life. Extra lives. Hit Points The gold that can be earned from last hits to buy stat-boost armor. Guns, Ammo, Bombs. The 5 minutes that you may wander in peace before That Thing starts aggressively chasing you. The full-house combination in your current hand. A 2 of diamonds. The "triple word score" tiles on the board, the many 1-point "e" tiles, and the lone 10-point "z" tile. The broken wall to hide behind. Multiple team 1 players to help in distracting the current team 2 player. The power meter needed to unleash The HUEG-ASS Hyperbeam move. Your one move for this turn. The Red Lightning of Doom that has a cooldown of 150 seconds. The timer, and powerups that extend it.

Outcome: The point in the game when someone can be declared the winner or the loser. Comes in 2 flavors:
     Zero-sum game: When there is a very specific "1 wins, 1 loses, game ends" outcome.
Checkmate. Your Ancient is destroyed. Your Hit points are zero, KO! Time is up, and you're still alive. Ride the flagpole at the end of the stage. Check who has the most points when the tiles are all used up.
     Not zero-sum: The win conditions are a bit more flexible or non-specific, and not necessarily the end of the game proper. Often enforced by the player himself rather than the game.
Amass $9,999,999 by turn 6/16. Speedruns. To be the proud owner of the Legendary Spiked Pauldrons of Badassery. To build an exact replica of ninoy aquino's face using trees.

Conflict: Anything in the game (rules, resources, boundaries, etc) that is set up specifically to STOP the player from winning, or give him a hard time. Comes in 2 flavors:
     Obstacles and Opponents: Obstacles are there specifically to get in your way or enforce a loss if left alone; Opponents are either also chasing after the same win condition as you are, or have a win condition that is directly opposite to your own; often also allowed to interfere in your efforts like obstacles do.
The other players or team. The army of mooks and their boss. The timer in the upper-right corner. That (player-controlled) Thing that wants to eat you. The alarmed car sitting right in the middle of the firefight that will summon more enemies if it is hit.
     Dilemmas: Anytime that, thanks to the ways that the rules, resources, etc. interact, a tough decision must be made, where none of the answers are an obvious right answer (all have their advantages AND disadvantages).
Should I chase after that (rolling into imminent unknown danger) powerup? which gun should I pick up? shall I play my full-house now, or save it for later? which of my 3 enemies should I ally with for now, which should I attack?

Welcome to GameCon!

Where we talk about games, and figure out why we like 'em so much!
And use what we've figured out to try making our own game!

So then, are there any specific games you guys would like me to discuss in the class?

Poke ze comment button downstairs, and lemme know!

test post, 1 2 3, test post...

let us see how this works. hopefully this blog site serves as a more unified (and exclusive, no facebook-distractive other posts) means to communicate with the classes, as well as serve as an avenue for discussion among the students.

right, here's to the 1st no-computers, all concepts class!