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!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
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!
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.
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.
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