Challenges for Computer Games Designers - Chapter 2: Games Design Atoms

We have a set text for this year, and the set text is called Chellenges for Computer Games Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber published in 2009. For one of the readings set for the week, we had to read Chapter 2 of the book, it was about Games Design Atoms.

Atoms:- in this sense, atoms are the smallest indentiable parts of a game. Understanding how the parts interact is mandatory in games design.


The book then goes on to mention a few examples I will go into.


Game Space: the space in which the game takes place, the size varies. Examples that come to mind are games like Grand Theft Auto have a big game space as the game is free roam. Astroids has a limited game space, the game takes place in space on a screen.


The book also mentions avatars. There are two types of avatars, you can get avatars in digital games and avatars for non digital games. Digital Avatars are used to present the player in a game so MMO games like Champions Online, Runescape, DC Universe Online all have avatars that respresent the player on the screen in-game. Whereas Non-digital Avatars can be represented by the pieces on a game board, the book uses the pieces of Monopoly as an example as players pick the piece they want to control and that piece represents the player going around the board buying property and what not.


Game bits - physical items in a board game. Things like dice, plastic cards, the plastic army pieces in Risk and so on. In videogames, these bits are known as "art assets". These can be things like 3D Models, synthetic and photographic bitmaps, etc.


The chapter then goes into detail about game mechanics. Game Mechanic is a term that others would call a rule. But in the industry, the term is more of a commonplace. How things work really, Monopoly was used as an example as the game has a simple mechanic, if you land on a property you can buy it (which leads to you CRUSHING the competition).


There are a couple of "Common classes" of mechanics that are usually found in games:-
Setup - the start.
Victory conditions - one rule how the game is won. If a game has no rule to win, then it's not really considered a game.
Progression of Play - 
Player actions - the actions the player makes within the game space. An example (computer game wise) would be killing the enemies within the game and how it affects the games state. It's an action and it takes place within the environment and the affect is that there is one less enemy to kill.


Gaming Dynamics - pattern of play that comes from the mechanics once they're set in motion by players. This was probably the bit of the book that kinda got me a bit confused, so at the risk of typing up what I don't understand, I won't be going into any detail about it.


Goals: pretty straightforward, it usually means the victory condition. usually done done by doing through a variety of "missions" or "quests". In some cases, goals can be used to motivate, I mentioned FPS' having a variety of goals, depending on what game your playing (be it a Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, etc.)In  The Age of Discovery the player's goal is to discover new lands at sea.


The last bit of the chapter goes on to say that when it comes to developing game, it can go in any order (game state, avatars, machanics, dynamics and theme). I agree with this because sometimes you can start of with a character and depending on how your character acts and looks (depending on the game), when creating the game, it's all pretty self explanatory.


That's all for now, will be back with more stuff soon. 

Games Britannia Ep.1 - "Dice with Destiny"

Our lectureer had been mention for about a week or so about a program that came on about a couple of years ago or so of a program called Games Britannia. It's a 3 part documentary about the history of games in britain, luckily the class got the chance to watch the first episode, make notes and then post up our opinion.

The first game that was brought up was found in a Roman grave that was dubbed as the Stanway Game. It was to make the player to believe they were Roman. The pieces were always scattered on the board as if it looked like it was ready to be played. The game seemed like it was the sort of game the roman's would use as a way of planning ahead for wars, the pieces on the board represent their men and come up with strategies. The game in some ways could be debated as a early variation of the games we know as Chess and Drafts just obviously not to plan for a war.

Another game that came up was a game known as Hazard a.k.a the "devil's" game, the reason being was because back then gambling was frowned upon (still is to this day in some respect, but not as much). The game is fairly simple, players put any amount of money in a pot, players bet on the outcome of the dice, you pay to stay, the bigger the pot the more intense the game is. It is effectively a game of luck more than anything.

A game that was very popular that it had quite a few variations of was a Royal Game of Goose - a game all the family could enjoy. It was an interesting one as it was given something that wasn't given a dice, but it was (if that makes sense). Basically, back in those days, dice were seen as evil; as tools that children should not be playing with, hence why the game was given something else to act as it.

Chess is another one that came up in the program. It was said to originate from India and had different rules across the globe, then one day a king held a tournament with a set of rules and since then, those rules are the rules we play to this very day. It was believed to be a way to teach about war.

The program as a whole was very interesting and I got quite a lot out of it than I originally thought I would. Though to end the note on the whole thing, the narrator did cleverly point out that seeing as there are re-hashes of certain, it's has taken away the fun out of them. 

Critical Games Studies - Paida and Ludus

In the lecture, there were a few words words that I was introduced too from a book James Newman published "What Is A Videogame?", and this entry will be about what they are and a few examples of what they were. So, im going to start with these two words: Paida and Ludus.

Paida - means casual play. Playing for pleasure, free play. So, in some respects, The Sims is a good example here. There really isn't a clear outcome to the game, and you can pretty much play it too your hearts content, there is no end and you can play without having an outcome.

(Picture of The Sims, Paida game)


Ludus - is the complete opposite. It's more constrained by rules and has a clear outcome. Online gaming for First Person Shooters are a prime example of this (I.e. games like Call of Duty, Killzone, Resistance, so on). There are rules for the type of online play you decide to play on, taking a Team Deathmatch as an example, you and say, 5 - 7 other players are in a team and you have to get more kills on the opposing team within the time limit or hit the max amount of points before time runs out by killing the other team. It sounds like a pretty basic idea, but at the end of the day, there is a rule; to kill the enemy to rack up points for your team and the outcome being if you and your team succeed in this, you therefore win and the reward will be a fair bit of EXP.


However, there are some cases where you can get some games that do offer both Paida and Ludus. I am going to go on a whim and say Grand Theft Auto could be an example. My reason for htis is simple, the game is free roam and instead of playing for the story, you have the choice just to go around freely doing whatever you want to do from hijacking cars, attacking the innocent or exploring the surroundings of Liberty City (or wherever it is that the game is taking place in) or you can play for the story which the main outcome being that you advance in the story and unlock more weapons, cars and so fourth. Another example is Burnout Paradise, you have the choice to explore the "open world" you can drive around in or you can do the races which unlock cars which will benefit you online when in competition.


Newman also goes on to talk about how games can be described using concepts like:

Agon: competition.


Alea: chance/randomness.


Illinx: movement.


Mimicry: simulation, make believe, role-play.


He gives a couple of examples of games that have may one or two of these examples. The first example he gives is Tetris as it has elements of Agaon as players will see if they can beat the other's score, while the Alea aspect is the blocks that come down on the screen, you don't know what order the blocks come in you can only wait and see what comes down and you have to then place the square in the right place.
(A picture of Tetris)


He also uses the Sega coin-op R360 as another example as it does have agon, there is competition involved against players, but there is also a sense of mimicry involved as the player adopts the role of the flighter pilot and spins around inside a motorized cockpit.


One example I thought of was Dance Dance Revolution (or DDR for short). There is Agon involved, players do go head to head to see who can get the most points, there is Illinx involved if you think about it, the player has to move there foot onto the right arrow in time with what they see on the TV screen as it shows where there foot has to go, and then it can be argued that there is some form of mimicry involved as it to make the player believe that they are dancing (hence the name).

(a screenshot of Dance Dance Revolution)

Reading 1: In the beginning, There is the Designer

I know it's late, a couple of weeks late to be blogging this, but, better late than never, right? Anyway, the first reading we had to do was a text called "In the beginning, There is the Designer" by Jesse Schell. I had to read the article and then make notes about what it was telling me. From what I got from it, it was talking about self belief.

• I do agree with it a lot, I always think that self-belief is the first step to doing anything, success, pitching ideas, anything, if you don't have faith in yourself, then who else can believe in you?

• He also said a quote in the text that I thought was quite interesting: "If you aren't failing, you aren't trying hard enough, and you aren't really a games designer". My reason for that is because, if you try something and it doesn't go as planned, you can learn from your mistakes, it is what helps you go further in anything.
  
• In the article, he listed a few skills that are considered important, but he said that listening is the most important. He then gave five major categories for when it comes to listening: Client, Team, Game, Audience and Self.
  
  Client: the ones funding your project, failing to deliver means they'll take their business elsewhere.
  
  Team: the people who will help design your game, the skills each possess come together.
  
  Game: getting to know the game inside and out, knowing the genre and what exactly goes on in it.
  
  Audience: the people who play the finish product. Actually have an example: the developers of THQ with the upcoming WWE '12, they listened to what people had to say about it (most didn't react too well to the grappling system of the Smackdown vs Raw series.) and have changed it to something that makes it easier.
  
  Self: making decisions

Personally, I thought the article was a good read and enjoyed it. I'm not sure what you thought of it, so, tell me what you all thought. Till the next time.

Hello World

My name is Daniel Leaf (or Dan Leaf, Dan, Danny Boy, Leaf, etc). I am currently a student at University Campus Suffolk studying a BA Hons in Computer Games Design, as you can see, I am aspiring to be a Computer Games Designer, that is my goal. This blog has been created so I can put my thoughts up on the texts I will be reading in the semester as well as show some of the work that I will be working on throughout the year.

I suppose you may want to know a few things about me, so I will give you a few minor things, had to answer a little Q & A in class earlier (only a couple of questions), so, here goes something: -

What is the last title of a book (fiction) you are currently reading?
Last fictional book I am currently reading is "To Where Your Scattered Bodies Go" by Philip Jose Farmer. It follows the adventures of the adventures of Sir Richard Francis Burton and his companions who have long died and have found themselves in a new world with a ongoing river and they make it their quest to find what the river is and what it represents. I haven't read much for it to give you a full detailed description, but from what I have read so far, it is enjoyable and look forward to reading more.

What is the last live performance you attended?
I went to attend a live taping of TNA Wrestling at the Wembely Arena in January with my dad and my little cousin. As you can tell by this, I am fan of Wrestling (well, the sports entertainment kind anyway), have been since I was a kid. It's not fake, it's scripted and it takes some talent to do the kind of things they do and I respect that.

Last title of a film you saw at the cinema/online or watched on DVD?
I watched Good Burger (the two main guys from Kenan and Kel starred in it) with a flatmate, I wouldn't say it's my favorite (partly because the question didn't ask) but it was definitely enjoyable and amusing if you have that kind of sense of humour.

Which art gallery/museum/exhibition did you last visit?
It would have to be the National Gallery. Never use to visit galleries much but I did an art course for a year before I came to University as it was expected of us, I haven't been to one recently, but I do plan on going to one soon. I like art, and isn't computer games design an art form?

How many hours a week do I spend playing video games?
Maybe about 6 - 9 hours, it's an estimate. Will be less than that one though I can assure you haha

How many hours a week do I spend time playing games other than video games?
Again, another estimate, I'd say the same answer as above.


A few random questions I was asked in relation to the ones I was asked above:

What size shoe do I wear?
I'm size 10 :D


What were my favourite subjects in school?
I enjoyed Maths, DiDA (Dipolma in Digital Applications), and English.

Well, here you have it, I will post up more in due course. So, take care.