La Decima Vittima is a film based around the idea that money is everything. Characters could fight to the death for £1million, and it shares a distinct relation to films such as 'The Hunger Games' or 'Battle Royale'.
The winners of the event would become a hero and revered across the world, it shows a society based around celebrity and victory. The purpose of these fights is to prevent war amongst humanity as it as seen as a viable solution to the violent sadistic people on earth. The movie itself has a good concept for a story but was very easy to see where the plot was going along with some very dodgy acting. The film shows that humans can't resist the urge to see if they can win and draws on the fact that games are an instinctive part of human life.
Thursday 29 March 2012
Remediation
Remediation:
Is when one type of media is represented in another type of media. eg. Tron.
Immediacy:
- Media that inspires towards transparency
- Trying to draw the viewer into the movie.
- Creating a immersive stage, graphically high quality
- As realistic as possible
Hypermediacy:
- Artefacts that are aware of and wish to show their own constructed nature.
- Computer game interfaces/huds for example
- World Wide Web
'Photorealism' is an example of 'immediacy'. It's not the medium of photography. Hypermediacy isnt the aesthetic preserve of the www, its tendancies have been picked up by news reels.
Overall, i think that the gaming and film industry have alot to learn from each other still about storytelling and interactivity.
Is when one type of media is represented in another type of media. eg. Tron.
Immediacy:
- Media that inspires towards transparency
- Trying to draw the viewer into the movie.
- Creating a immersive stage, graphically high quality
- As realistic as possible
Hypermediacy:
- Artefacts that are aware of and wish to show their own constructed nature.
- Computer game interfaces/huds for example
- World Wide Web
'Photorealism' is an example of 'immediacy'. It's not the medium of photography. Hypermediacy isnt the aesthetic preserve of the www, its tendancies have been picked up by news reels.
Overall, i think that the gaming and film industry have alot to learn from each other still about storytelling and interactivity.
Gender in Games
Gender in Games
Segregation in a male dominated industry
The article explains how the gender of the designers directly influence the target audience and the gender of the people playing the game.
As shown by the graphic below, the older you get the less games you play which would be expected stereotypically, but there isn't any real correlation about how many hours they spend playing games.
The article made me realise how male dominated the games design industry and even though people don't want to affect whether games are targetted at boys or girls, it is hard to help when there are no women on the team.
Segregation in a male dominated industry
The article explains how the gender of the designers directly influence the target audience and the gender of the people playing the game.
As shown by the graphic below, the older you get the less games you play which would be expected stereotypically, but there isn't any real correlation about how many hours they spend playing games.
The article made me realise how male dominated the games design industry and even though people don't want to affect whether games are targetted at boys or girls, it is hard to help when there are no women on the team.
Games Britannia Part 1
Dicing with Destiny
In the first episode, Benjamin Wooley talks about how games are instinctive as human beings.
He starts it by showing an ancient board game found in colchester called "Stunway Game". The game underlined the point above that humans play without thinking they are playing and that socialising is a massive part of playing games.
He then talks about Chess and how it is classed as a war game. There are no hindering elements to the player apart from the opponent sitting across the table. It is a tactically beautiful game that allows players to test their skill and knowledge purely just against the opponent.
In the first episode, Benjamin Wooley talks about how games are instinctive as human beings.
He starts it by showing an ancient board game found in colchester called "Stunway Game". The game underlined the point above that humans play without thinking they are playing and that socialising is a massive part of playing games.
He then talks about Chess and how it is classed as a war game. There are no hindering elements to the player apart from the opponent sitting across the table. It is a tactically beautiful game that allows players to test their skill and knowledge purely just against the opponent.
Games Britannia Part 2
Monopolies and Mergers
The programme was presented by Benjamin Woolley, and in the programme it goes through the game monopoly.
It introduces monopoly as being invented during the great depression in britain, it was then sent to america where it changed into something that promoted free enterprise and the american dream.It also explained how the main 3 board games in Britain (Monopoly, Scrabble and Cluedo) formed the main stage for british board games.
Finally it also explains how most british game designers have left it to the americans and moved on to making computer games.
The programme was presented by Benjamin Woolley, and in the programme it goes through the game monopoly.
It introduces monopoly as being invented during the great depression in britain, it was then sent to america where it changed into something that promoted free enterprise and the american dream.It also explained how the main 3 board games in Britain (Monopoly, Scrabble and Cluedo) formed the main stage for british board games.
Finally it also explains how most british game designers have left it to the americans and moved on to making computer games.
Narrative
The narrative of a story is part of 3 closely related elements of storytelling:
Story - All of the elements which end up being depicted
Plot - The chain of causation (the chain of events that happen within the story)
Narrative - The order in which events are revealed
Events in stories are shown either first hand (where the character actually shows you what happens) or second hand (revealed by characters who were either there or not).
The sequence is a debatable subject in games design. There are differences in narratives and interaction, the main point being:
•Narrative flows under the direction of the author.
•Interactivity is about providing the player with the motive power to act.
•Remember Games Ordering, Do, Show, Tell.
Facade is a good example of a game that uses narrative well, the whole game is based around talking to a couple who are arguing. The game is special because it interpretes anything you say as a player which directly affects the actions of the AI.
Story - All of the elements which end up being depicted
Plot - The chain of causation (the chain of events that happen within the story)
Narrative - The order in which events are revealed
Events in stories are shown either first hand (where the character actually shows you what happens) or second hand (revealed by characters who were either there or not).
The sequence is a debatable subject in games design. There are differences in narratives and interaction, the main point being:
•Narrative flows under the direction of the author.
•Interactivity is about providing the player with the motive power to act.
•Remember Games Ordering, Do, Show, Tell.
Some games have some narrative aspirations: By drawing on the roles and goals of various well known genres, the games seek to orient us to the kind of action that we might expect.
Facade is a good example of a game that uses narrative well, the whole game is based around talking to a couple who are arguing. The game is special because it interpretes anything you say as a player which directly affects the actions of the AI.
Sunday 25 March 2012
Bibliography [ED]
Bibliography
Koster, R. (2005) Theory of Fun for Game Design., Paraglyph Press.
Rogers, C. (2010) Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design., John Wiley & Sons.
Finkel, I. L. (2008). "On the Rules for The Royal Game of Ur" in Finkel, ed. pp. 16-32.
Caillois, R. (2006). “The Definition of Play. The Classification of Games”. Salen. K and Zimmermann.E. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. London. 122-155.
MartÃnez, Katynka Z. (2011). "Pac-Man meets the Minutemen: Video Games by Los Angeles Latino Youth", National Civic Review Vol. 100 Issue 3. 50-57
Jacobson, J. Hwang, Z. (2002). "Unreal Tournament For Immersive Interactive Theater Volume 45(1)", pg 39 - 42, 3p
Koster, R. (2005) Theory of Fun for Game Design., Paraglyph Press.
Rogers, C. (2010) Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design., John Wiley & Sons.
Finkel, I. L. (2008). "On the Rules for The Royal Game of Ur" in Finkel, ed. pp. 16-32.
Caillois, R. (2006). “The Definition of Play. The Classification of Games”. Salen. K and Zimmermann.E. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. London. 122-155.
MartÃnez, Katynka Z. (2011). "Pac-Man meets the Minutemen: Video Games by Los Angeles Latino Youth", National Civic Review Vol. 100 Issue 3. 50-57
Jacobson, J. Hwang, Z. (2002). "Unreal Tournament For Immersive Interactive Theater Volume 45(1)", pg 39 - 42, 3p
Royal Game of Ur [ED]
Iterating the Royal Game of Ur – Critical Games Studies
Jack Hutchinson (S148882)
“With particular reference to the readings you have undertaken related to game design and game mechanics, discuss the design problems you have encountered in tweaking the dynamics and game mechanics in The Royal Game of Ur, and explain how you overcame them. Support your answer with close reference to your readings using an appropriate method of citation. Append a bibliography listing the sources you have consulted.”
The Royal Game of Ur is an ancient board game that was discovered by Sir Leonard Wooley between 1926-1930 in southern Iraq. It is argued that the game is the oldest in existence as the board(s) found date back to 2600BC. The first version of the game board is made up of “a larger ‘body’ of 2x3 squares, a narrow ‘bridge’ of two squares and a smaller ‘body’ of 2x3 squares”. (Becker, 2008) It is layed out to force the players counters to cross paths and if the roll is right, to remove one of the opponents counters which adds tension and excitement to the game. The newer game board consists of a block of 3x4 squares where the counters enter, then a long bridge of 8 squares, bottlenecking the counters to add more overtaking and 'killing' of counters.
After play-testing with Finkel's rules on both boards, we decided to use the original board (Fig 1.) as we felt we could iterate the mechanics easier. This decision came about after playing both twice and feeling that the original board has a higher amount of skill involved with choosing when to spawn a new piece and choosing to strategically place counters to ensure they are safe from being removed. We felt that we could iterate the original game board to make it more exciting for the player, while keeping the luck element involved more so than we could on the newer board, as there are fewer chances to use tactics as once you are on that long bridge to safety, there isn't an option at the end to keep the counter in a safe zone, therefore minimising strategic capabilities and making the dynamics of the game stale, and repetitive.
There are many rule-sets to the game, Finkel arguably being the most conclusive by himself being the translator at the British Museum for the Mesopotamian clay tablets that held Babylonian and Sumerian words which revealed the first set of vague rules used for the Royal Game of Ur. Those are the rules me and my partner used when testing the game, as we felt it allowed the game to be more balanced than Bell or Murray's interpretations of the game.
We used the rules that Finkel documented (Finkel, 2008) in 'Rules for The Royal Game of Ur':
- Each player has 7 counters that they need to move from their spawn point to the other end to capture it. (See Fig. 1) All pieces start and end off the board.
- Players throw 4 tetrahedral dice marked with colour on two of the points to represent rolling zero to four in binary.
- Every throw, a player is allowed to either spawn a counter onto the board placing it with the roll thrown, or move an existing counter forward corresponding to the amount thrown.
- If a counter lands on a 'rosette' square, indicated on the board above by a star, the player gets another roll that moves that counter. Players that are landed on a rosette cannot be removed by the opponents counters.
- If one player's counter lands on a square that contains the others counter, it removes it from the board and back to spawn.
We made various iterations to the game, these are the ones that I feel made the game more enjoyable and more balanced to play:
The first immediate problem we found after playing the game a few times was that there was no real joy in winning. I personally felt as if the game was tricking you into thinking that there is a lot of strategy involved when you are deciding which piece to move, when in reality it doesn't matter as most of the time, there is only one real viable option to choose from. It is important to consider how the aesthetics of the game will change as we iterate it, as “If the player doesn’t see a clear winning condition, or feels like they cant possibly win, the game is suddenly a lot less interesting” (Hunicke, 2004) as too big of a change to it can make players frustrated or bored. To make a game balanced, chance and skill (Braithwaite & Schreiber, 2008) must be given in equal measures. Chance gives weaker players and the game a more competitive feel as it gives them a real chance of winning, yet “A [good] game is a series of interesting choices” (Meier, 1999) which (in my eyes) is the definition of skill in a game. Both are equally important to make the game appealing to the audience, the more balanced it is, the better the aesthetics will be for the player.
So the iteration we put in place was to allow the player to split up the amount he has rolled across any amount of counters in the game. For example, if a player rolled a four, he/she would be allowed to move one counter forward 2 squares, another counter 1 square, and spawn another counter onto the game board, therefore taking up the 4 rolled. We did this as we thought it would add an element of skill to the game by forcing the players to look more than one step ahead, therefore making it more worthwhile winning the game as you as the player would have made more choices based on calculated decisions rather than pure luck.
When we played this iteration, we found that we were taking a long time to make decisions as you felt you needed to be sure of what you were doing and the different odds you have of the opponent rolling a favourable number. As the games progressed faster, we found ourselves more encapsulated in the decision making, always thinking of what to do with each roll you might get next. This gave the game a real sense of strategy and skill that kept us as players on our toes. The downside to this was that it slowed the game down significantly, as our counters ended up piled behind each other in our respective spawn zones, waiting for a 4 roll to move one counter up the board anyway, which made the game repetitive and it at one point it was at a stalemate for 5 minutes. After a few games we found ourselves risking more by moving more counters less spaces, hoping the opponent won't roll a high number, making the game a lot more exciting, but while keeping the skill element by strategically placing counters based on the odds of the roll the opponent gets.
The second problem we found with the game, is that there are too few important moments in the game that create some sort of tension or excitement. Tension is the fear that the player feels when he/she thinks they are going to become the weaker side of the conflict. (Ventrulli, 2009) So to create more tension, the iteration we made was to make the Rosetta stone in the middle of the board give the player the option to travel through the enemies capture zone, or your own. As the player, you have to make that choice as soon as you land on the Rosetta.
Doing this created dramatic tension in the game, giving the player a choice, essentially playing it safe or going for the kill. The outcome is also relatively unknown until you get closer to the capture zone which makes the decision at the time seem more important to the player, but the outcome of the decision again all comes down to the chance of the roll. Playing through this iteration made us feel very anxious at times to see if the choice we made would pay off or not, but most of the time we would not get the chance to remove an enemy's counter as you land on the Rosetta stone too few times to warrant it being game changing. Upon realising this, we added a second iteration onto this one, which was to force the player to roll the correct number to exit the board. In the early stages of the game, it looked like it would be too much of a positive feedback loop for the player going into the enemy's spawn, as at some points there were more than 2 enemy counters waiting to roll correctly. This added tension throughout the game, but towards the end of the game it became the pivotal moment as one player would always be ahead, with the chasing player praying that they land on the Rosetta stone so they still have a chance to remove the enemy's counter and prevail. This gave the players the feeling that they still had a genuine fighting chance if they are behind in the race which gave the game the balance between stronger and weaker players.
~ Conclusion ~
In conclusion, we aimed to make The Royal Game of Ur as balanced and enjoyable for the audience as possible. We felt to do that we needed to incorporate more skill based iterations while still keeping to the original racing feel of the game. I think that the iterations I put in place gave the game more excitement to the players, but I believe that is why the original game passed from country to country with a different board in each, as it is so easy to manipulate depending on what you are looking for out of the board, be it divinatory purposes, gambling or just for fun. Iterating this game while keeping it balanced and enjoyable was difficult, but it was a lot of fun and our final iteration of the game proved to be enjoyable and engrossing.
Bibliography
Becker, A. (2008) “The Royal Game of Ur” in Finkel, ed. pp. 11-15.
Finkel, I. L., 2008. “On the Rules for The Royal Game of Ur” in Finkel, ed. pp. 16-32.
Hunicke, R., 2004. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research pp.1-4.
Braithwaite, B. & Schreiber, I., 2008. Challenges For Games Designers Charles River Media (chap 5 & 6)
Rollings, Andrew; Morris, Dave (1999). Game Architecture and Design (Quoted by Sid Meier, Date Unknown)
Venturelli, M., 2009. Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design – A PopCap Case Study pp. 2-4.
Interview [ED]
What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?
The Hunger Games
What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?
Photoshop for dummies
What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?
The Maccabees - UEA
What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on dvd?
Immortals
How often do you read a newspaper? (which one?)
Once a week - Metro/Evening Standard
Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?
British History Museum
How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?
30+
How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?
10
The Hunger Games
What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?
Photoshop for dummies
What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?
The Maccabees - UEA
What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on dvd?
Immortals
How often do you read a newspaper? (which one?)
Once a week - Metro/Evening Standard
Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?
British History Museum
How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?
30+
How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?
10
Saturday 11 February 2012
Week 16 - The art of game design
Jesse Schell.
Puzzles:
- Puzzles are in all forms of games. A puzzle can be which door to go through or which upgrade to grab.
- The "puzzle" of puzzles:
| Puzzles are a part of games but are they a game?
~ "Chris Crawford once made the bold statement that puzzles are not even really interactive, since they don't actively respond to the player."
This is compared to when man first found penguins (they're birds but can't fly?!)
- Scott Kim
| "A puzzle is fun and has a right answer"
~ The irony of that is that once a puzzle is finished it ceases to be fun!
- Puzzles vs. Games
| The main reason people don't class puzzles as games is because they aren't re playable.
- "When a game has a dominant strategy, it doesn't cease to be a game, it just isn't a good game.
- "A Puzzle is a game with a dominant strategy"
- GOOD PUZZLES
#1 Make the goal easily understood.
#2 Make it easy to get started.
#3 Give it a sense of progression.
#4 Give it a sense of solvability.
#5 Increase difficulty gradually.
#6 Parallelism lets the player rest (making the player stop and think, best way to avoid anger/rage-quits is to give multiple puzzles at once so if one appears too challenging they move onto another and still get a sense of achievement. (A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS REST)
#7 Pyramid structure extends interest (series of small puzzles which contribute to the completion of a larger puzzle.)
#8 Hints extend interest.
#9 Give the answer.
#10 Perceptual shifts are a Marmite (you get it or you don't).
Puzzles:
- Puzzles are in all forms of games. A puzzle can be which door to go through or which upgrade to grab.
- The "puzzle" of puzzles:
| Puzzles are a part of games but are they a game?
~ "Chris Crawford once made the bold statement that puzzles are not even really interactive, since they don't actively respond to the player."
This is compared to when man first found penguins (they're birds but can't fly?!)
- Scott Kim
| "A puzzle is fun and has a right answer"
~ The irony of that is that once a puzzle is finished it ceases to be fun!
- Puzzles vs. Games
| The main reason people don't class puzzles as games is because they aren't re playable.
- "When a game has a dominant strategy, it doesn't cease to be a game, it just isn't a good game.
- "A Puzzle is a game with a dominant strategy"
- GOOD PUZZLES
#1 Make the goal easily understood.
#2 Make it easy to get started.
#3 Give it a sense of progression.
#4 Give it a sense of solvability.
#5 Increase difficulty gradually.
#6 Parallelism lets the player rest (making the player stop and think, best way to avoid anger/rage-quits is to give multiple puzzles at once so if one appears too challenging they move onto another and still get a sense of achievement. (A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS REST)
#7 Pyramid structure extends interest (series of small puzzles which contribute to the completion of a larger puzzle.)
#8 Hints extend interest.
#9 Give the answer.
#10 Perceptual shifts are a Marmite (you get it or you don't).
Week 15 - What is a puzzle?
Scott Kim
What is a puzzle?
- A Puzzle is fun.
- You solve it using patient effort.
- A puzzle has a right answer.
The other half says that you view puzzles differently from games.
Why the "L" fold puzzle is fun:
- It's novel (Suspending rules of reality - Why would you fold a letter?) It's a change from the norm of reality.
- It's balanced. (Not too easy, not too hard, keeps the players attention and enjoys the challenge)
- It's tricky (You need to change how you percept the letter to gain the "correct" answer.)
The article says again that you still need to cater to the different type of players who play puzzles.
Puzzles vs Games
Game is where one player wins. There is an opposing player who responds to their actions. The difference isn't mechanics, mechanics can change easily.
Puzzles use rules like games, instead of winning, you are finding a solution.
Triangle of Play.
What is a puzzle?
- A Puzzle is fun.
- You solve it using patient effort.
- A puzzle has a right answer.
The other half says that you view puzzles differently from games.
Why the "L" fold puzzle is fun:
- It's novel (Suspending rules of reality - Why would you fold a letter?) It's a change from the norm of reality.
- It's balanced. (Not too easy, not too hard, keeps the players attention and enjoys the challenge)
- It's tricky (You need to change how you percept the letter to gain the "correct" answer.)
The article says again that you still need to cater to the different type of players who play puzzles.
Puzzles vs Games
Game is where one player wins. There is an opposing player who responds to their actions. The difference isn't mechanics, mechanics can change easily.
Puzzles use rules like games, instead of winning, you are finding a solution.
Triangle of Play.
Game - Win
Puzzle - Goal
Toy - No goal
Story - No Interaction
Tips for a good puzzle:
- Level Design (designer must cater to needs)
- Rule Design (rule sets are unique)
- Keep player happy, explain rules easily etc.
- Be creative.
Sunday 29 January 2012
Week 13 - Building a Simple Level
"Game Level Design"
There are 'building blocks' of a level:
- Concept | Overall idea of game
- Environment | Graphics, sounds etc.
- Beginning | Where the start of the level is
- Ending | Where the exit/finish of the level is
- Goal | Why should the player want to reach the end?
- Challenge | The thing that makes the player enjoy completing the level
- Reward | Not limited to a 'New Weapon or Armour' can just be access to next level.
- Failure | Why should the player try the level again?
Do you need a story? No. Some games don't have stories, but can do if forced (eg. Chess - Medieval War). Byrne describes stories to 'enhance' levels rather than to base games around them.
Although there may be many different types of game genres, almost all share the same basic requirements for the individual levels that make up the game. Knowing what these building blocks are is critical to knowing what makes a good level.
- The more players can do a task without aid, makes the game more fulfilling.
- Simply finishing the level can be a reward, no need for fireworks.
- Don't make the player blame a poor game for failure, make them want to play better.
There are 'building blocks' of a level:
- Concept | Overall idea of game
- Environment | Graphics, sounds etc.
- Beginning | Where the start of the level is
- Ending | Where the exit/finish of the level is
- Goal | Why should the player want to reach the end?
- Challenge | The thing that makes the player enjoy completing the level
- Reward | Not limited to a 'New Weapon or Armour' can just be access to next level.
- Failure | Why should the player try the level again?
Do you need a story? No. Some games don't have stories, but can do if forced (eg. Chess - Medieval War). Byrne describes stories to 'enhance' levels rather than to base games around them.
Although there may be many different types of game genres, almost all share the same basic requirements for the individual levels that make up the game. Knowing what these building blocks are is critical to knowing what makes a good level.
- The more players can do a task without aid, makes the game more fulfilling.
- Simply finishing the level can be a reward, no need for fireworks.
- Don't make the player blame a poor game for failure, make them want to play better.
Week 8 - Players who suit MUDs
How do different styles of player relate to the game world and the other players around them?
Richard Bartle's article describes the people who play MUDs will normally be divided between 4 play-styles.
Achievers: These players are primarily focused on completing the game as quickly and efficiently as possible. They look to improve their character constantly and look to complete personal goals. They like to think they are playing the game the way it's meant to be played and see the game as a competition.
Explorers: Usually want to find out as much about the game as possible. They like to push the game for bugs and go looking for things that are hidden (easter eggs etc.)
Killers: These players try to distress the other players on the game by killing or annoying them. They like to troll or hurt other players etc.
Socializers: Normally care more about conversing with other players than actually playing the game. They like to trade and share stories etc.
The player types shown above are described by Bartle as extremely significant, as each one can have an impact on the other. So to make the game successful, it is important to make the game balanced so you don't have too much of a decrease/increase in one type of player.
Games are not limited to these 4 player types and this is only one template for the way people play games.
Richard Bartle's article describes the people who play MUDs will normally be divided between 4 play-styles.
Achievers: These players are primarily focused on completing the game as quickly and efficiently as possible. They look to improve their character constantly and look to complete personal goals. They like to think they are playing the game the way it's meant to be played and see the game as a competition.
Explorers: Usually want to find out as much about the game as possible. They like to push the game for bugs and go looking for things that are hidden (easter eggs etc.)
Killers: These players try to distress the other players on the game by killing or annoying them. They like to troll or hurt other players etc.
Socializers: Normally care more about conversing with other players than actually playing the game. They like to trade and share stories etc.
The player types shown above are described by Bartle as extremely significant, as each one can have an impact on the other. So to make the game successful, it is important to make the game balanced so you don't have too much of a decrease/increase in one type of player.
Games are not limited to these 4 player types and this is only one template for the way people play games.
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