Group Project Update

This is the map and part of the GUI I have designed for the group project, the map is the first version and can probably be improved over time. The GUI I have gone with stylish bubble buttons which are appealing to the audience. The 4 dotted buttons will be the 4 towers which are available to place, the upgrade button is to upgrade each tower and the destroy button is to remove a tower.

I am now working on more GUI to add to the game, such as a timer, the next wave, health, and score.

MDA: Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics

"MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research" Robin Kunike, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek


MDA has been described as a framework in which we can break down and design games. In the article it describes these tools in detail and how they effect the designers and the audience.

MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. These are 3 tools which are part of the structure of the game and heavily effect the designer and the audience of the game. In the order they come (MDA) they are looked at differently by designers and the audience.

The designers look at the mechanics of the game first which then leads to the dynamics, but the audience looks at the aesthetics of the game first, they look at how the game feels and what it's like to play. The designer will create and add the components of the game for examples the rules, they will add the representation of the player and a lot more, basically the game atoms. Then these mechanics will effect the dynamics of the game for example the tactical choices which need to be made to pass a certain point. These then create the aesthetics which make the game more real to the player. This is like the competitive urge the player gets or the happiness when the player wins.

With MDA the designer can easily change the aesthetics of the game simply by giving the player fewer choices. For example the game Amnesia: The Dark Decent the user is made to feel very afraid and helpless, mechanics such as using very small very low lit corridors, adding small things which would catch your eye and make you jump and of course the only defence being a sprint key. This all makes the game much more tactical because the user has a lot more chance or being killed, so the user needs to make the tactical choices under the conditions which brings a whole new feeling with the aesthetics.

Understanding the MDA framework I find will be extremely useful in the future, especially with the group project we are working on. We can use the MDA to fine tune the games we create and make them as good as they can get.

Group work with Rob: Batteships

Today with Rob we looked into the game Battleships. A very simple game in which you place ships on a grid and try to destroy your opponents ships. After playing one game we were told to then change the game in a single way by adding or removing a rule.

Our first change was that once you hit an enemy ship you received an extra turn. So if you hit a five block long ship you could possibly have 6 turns in a row. This helped speed the game up but it was still hard finding the ships with the amount of open water.

Next we added more ships in to try and fill the water but we found the game progressed to fast and was too easy to win. So we enlarged the grid to make it more open. This way we found that the bigger ships fitted in better and the game went at a steady pace. This could of just been luck obviously as there is no way of telling where other ships are.

Some of the other rules added by other ships I thought were very good. The idea of a “torpedo” which can take out a whole column or row I though was a brilliant idea and makes the game much more interesting. Also, having an “Admiral” which would be one block and once this was hit the person would win. This then helps if a person is losing badly then they could come back and win, unfortunately it raises the unlikely issue of playing a one shot game. This then could make the game frustrating for other players.

The images posted are mine and Joe’s first round games and the additional rules are written on the bottom.

Formal Abstract Design Tools.

"Formal Abstract Design Tools" By Doug Church from Gamasutra

Doug Church speaks heavily of making a vocabulary in which designers can talk to other designers when analysing and breaking down video games. He says that having a wider vocabulary will make analysing and testing games much easier than just saying "This was fun" or "This game isn't fun". He states tools in which designers can use and add to the language in which I personally think will help when analysing and finding out whether a game is fun or not.

He says that when breaking down games, you should look at a game you love but the bits in there which make you frustrated and annoyed, then use these mistakes as learning opportunities. He also states that you should only use the tools you need to use. Not all of the tools work well together; they can conflict and make a bad game. A good designer will take their time and look into what tools they need to use to make the game good. They don't rush into it and throw every tool they can into the game.

He says the way find the tools that designers use, we need to break down a game and find the "concrete aspects" of the game and then analyse them to find the Formal Abstract Design Tools. He then looks into tools which a lot of designers use.

Intention

"Making an implementable plan of one’s own creation in response to the current situation in the game world and ones understanding of the game play options."

Intention is put across as a really important tool in a game. Players make hundreds of subliminal plans to move forward in their games. If they do an action and it goes wrong then they are likely to realize and accept why it has gone wrong. Then they can rectify the problem to push the game forward. He then links intention with the next tool.

Perceivable Consequences

"A clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player."

This is basically saying that if the player does something in the game, then the game reacts clearly to tell them whether the interaction was successful or not and it can lead more into the story or more activities. The action in which the player does depends on what the consequence the player expects. There are games which have consequences in which the player cannot possibly expect and Church states that this can frustrate the player and then they can lose interest in the game.

Story

"The narrative thread, whether designer-driven or player-driven, that binds events together and drives the player forward toward completion of the game."

This is more about what brings the player to the next point whether it is player driven or designer driven story is a massive tool but can easily conflict with other tools. For example in Final Fantasy, the games are heavily story based but is almost completely designer-driven with the large cut scenes and the linear story line. But they give the player a lot more control by making the combat system completely player driven. They separate tools to make the game much more player driven. He says that it's like reading a book but to turn the page you must win in combat and by doing this you control the characters and items which you find through the story.

So from this I can see that certain tools are very important in games and that not all tools work well together. Also, I understand that this is just a scratch on the surface of the vocabulary meaning that I personally can expand the language and make a much better and more informative analysis of a game which I am looking into. From this now I can easily break down a game and look into the tools they have used and the tools which could make games better.

Design Methods.

During the design methods lecture today we had a tutorial on illustration and painting using Adobe Photoshop. Using a sketch of a Zombie like creature we were given, we were given instructions on hod to sketch this in Photoshop. Then we were instructed about how to paint the creature and use different effects on how to make it look realistic.

My illustration I used stereotypical colours which you would find on a zombie for example, green skin. I used the original outline with effects to make it stand out more as well as erasing bad area's and parts which needed improving. Then using the brush tools at various sizes and using multiple colours to make the skin and clothes look realistic and believable.

After this I added in the blood spatters and then added lighting effects to give it more of a 3D, less flat image of the skin. Then added a background texture to add some more subtle points of interest to the image.

There are some ways I would improve this. Using a better brush for the blood spatter, this could be made more believable and look a lot more appealing. Also, adding more detail for example the shoe laces or even adding a shadow just to give the picture more depth.

Other than the improvements I made I felt a lot was learnt from this tutorial by Phil and really enjoy drawing this up.

Paidea vs Ludus

These are some examples of my understanding of Paidea and Ludus styles of gaming. Notes were taken from “What is a videogame? Rules, Puzzles and Simulations” by James Newman.

Paidea

Paidea is a term used to describe a game, it studies the games rules and how the audience plays the game. It is described to be a game which you “play” for pleasure. A game which has no rules or goals and gives the player a choice to make their own. Newman notes the popular game SimCity as a example of a good paidea game due to there being no goals and no rules within playing it. The audience plays the game for fun and creates their own goals for example not to let riots break out etc.

A modern day example could be the popular game Minecraft by Mojang. This is now a worldwide massively multiplayer game in which there are no rules, respective to the game mode. It is classed as a sandbox game and with the different styles of game modes; the user has the choice of what to play. The “Creative” mode found in the game is a brilliant example of paidea as it has no rules. You have an infinite supply of items and no health meaning that you can make your own goals. This can be taken over to the “Survival” game mode in which there are still no rules but there are ways to lose. Architecture in the game is a large activity in which most players find much more fun. The fact that they can build anything in their imagination with different materials means that they have the freedom and this demonstrates the “Play” for pleasure. The goals are created by the user whether it is to survive as long as possible or build a structure which is in their eyes beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.

Ludus

Ludus is a term given to games which are more constrained by rules. The games and activities involved have a solid framework in which players can play competitively. There is a clear outcome in ludus for example winning and losing.

For example, a game such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a way of explain ludus. There are strict rules in which the player must play by for example: Respawn times, weapons. But the games are all played competitively and always have an outcome with a winner and loser. There are also goals in which the audience use their skills towards such as, Top kills, most headshots and a levelling system. These are all examples of how this game is ludus.

Though, there are games in which paidea and ludus could be chosen between and dropped at any moment. Even with the example of Minecraft people could create a game inside the game which then would have its own set of rules with a clear winner and loser. For example, the game “Spleef” was invented inside Minecraft. This is where two players hit blocks away from each other’s feet and try to make the opposing player fall to their death. This means that a sandbox, paidea game now contains a set of rules with a clear outcome every time. It gives some understanding of how paidea and ludus could be used in a single game.

I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games

'A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals' (2004:24) 

A review of this quote from the article by Greg Costikyan, notes taken previous to 07/10/2011. We look in detail into Interaction, Goals, Struggle, Structure and the term "Endogenous meaning"

Interaction
One of the first points he makes is that there is a difference between a "game" and a "puzzle". He says that people don't call a crossword a game but it is clearly a puzzle. This is because there is no strategy, no really goal and no opposition. 

Interaction needs a purpose to be involved in a game or classed as a game. For example, you can get media classed as Interactive Entertainment which is normally found on a website sometimes a Flash based website. In these site you can interact a lot and control the media such as pausing a video or choosing an article to read but you cannot interact with the media so that you cannot class this as a game technically. There is no puzzle, struggle or goals which means it can't be classed under the genre of a game.


Goals
A game needs goals to be classed as a game. Without them it is pointless to play as there is no reward to playing the game and interacting with it. Meaning that the audience has nothing to achieve and nothing to reward themselves with.

Interaction in a game is useless without a goal. If a game has a point of interaction it needs to have a decision which will change the game and create a goal. For example having a switch, you could just walk past it and ignore it or you could press it and receive something good or bad which could then change the future of the game.
He says about the game "Sim City", saying it is being a software toy because it has no goals in the game, there are no written goals to achieve. Instead you make your own goals and when you achieve your goals you create your own rewards. This could even be compared to the modern day game Minecraft by Mojang, this is a sandbox game in which different game modes allow you to create your own goals. The Creative game mode allows you to build anything you want. People choose to build amazing structures with beautiful architecture. There have been many articles stating how architecture in this game effects the rewards and just from building using certain methods such as "The Golden Ratio" which was a equation discovered by Pythagoras and expanded into terms the game could use by The Voxel Team. But this creates goals in building and rewards you with amazing structures of beauty.


Struggle
A game without struggle could be classed as a bad game. Struggle means that the audience has something to work against to achieve their goals and be rewarded for beating them. For example Half-Life 2, the struggle in the game is to find the correct path and grind though endless enemies and once this struggle is beaten the audience have reached the goal and receive an award such as an achievement, better weapons or more story. Normally it ends in the creation of a new struggle with new goals to achieve and better rewards.
Saying this, a game needs to have a balanced struggle. This is very important as if there is too much of a struggle then the user gets frustrated or stuck and begins to dislike the game or even stops playing. But then if the game doesn't have enough struggle then the user finds the game to easy and the user stops playing because it is too easy. 


Structure
Structure is very important in a game. It is what builds a framework for the game and make it playable. He states that even children playing a game such as Tag, they invent rules which are the structure of the game and make it fun and playable. The structure also shapes the player of the game, it makes the player think about skills needed and they think ahead about the struggle and strategy they will need to win the game. 

A game such as Scrabble is a good example. It comes with set rules but there used to be no rules about time taken each turn. This meant that the audience needed to create their own rules on the amount of time taken each turn otherwise they would be punished. This also adds to the struggle and makes the game more fun.


Endogenous Meaning
This comes from the quote at the start of this post he says this is part of what a game actually is. Games have interaction, goals, struggle and structure which all make the game attractive. However, there are certain aspects in the game which make it especially addictive. These achievements could come in the form of medals, guns, money etc. They are basically status symbols which users can show off to other users to prove their skills. But these achievement gained have no purpose in real life. Meaning that the skills gained or the achievements gained are useless in real life. But these achievements make the games very addictive and make the user work hard for them.

There are items in some games which come under this description but can be traded for real life money, for example hats in Valve's Team Fortress 2. But if the company goes bust or they change their policy then again these items gained are useless in reality. 
A good example is Call Of Duty games in which there are a lot of different achievements to gain throughout the game mainly in multiplayer. Things like the levelling up system, titles, new guns, medals and the actual console achievements. These are all ways in which the user can use their skills to gain these status symbols but are useless in real life. 

What does Schelle offer to the would be game designer?

Notes from Jesse Schelles "In the Beginning, This is the Designer" 2009


After reading through the few pages of this text many thing become apparent and the advice Schelle offers designers can provide helpful and even inspirational information for the "would be game designer". Such as in the first few paragraphs it is easy to see that one of the biggest problems is that people who want to be designers are not confident enough to actually follow through in this. He states that a lot of people believe that they need to have a lot of experience designing games to become a games designer and that they don't have the confidence to find the experience. Then he informs the reader just to say out loud "I am a games designer" after saying that once you have said this, you are no a game designer.

A main point put across is that if you are not confident in your work or not passionate about your work then you will struggle a lot in the industry. Making a game is an art and for art you need to be passionate otherwise you won't enjoy your own games. This means that your games won't become the standard which they could be and might not be what you want exactly. Also, he says that failures are a large part of your job. You cannot learn without failure and you should not take the failures to heart but learn by them, improve on them and make everything better. He importantly says about how much more you will fail rather than succeed but this is good. He uses the quote from jugglers,

"If you aren't dropping, you aren't learning. And if you aren't learning, you aren't a juggler."

Then goes on to say,

"If you aren't failing you aren't trying hard enough, and you aren't really a games designer."

After this he lists a lot of skills vital for the games design industry but says no one could possibly master these all basically and that if you know one, that's good if you know a few that's even better. But he really emphasises how important one skill is. Listening, this is so important just due to the amount of people and/or bodies of people you need to listen to to be and expert games designer.

For example, while working you will need to listen to your team, your workers, your management, any clients, and especially the audience because you are making a game for the audience. You must listen to what they want because if they want one thing and you give them the other they won't buy your game and it will not succeed and not make money.

But listening goes so much deeper, Schelle says about how important body language is, like reading someone's tone of voice, how they are standing and how this helps read exactly what they are trying to put across to you. This means that you will be able to listen to and communicate with the person, be it the client or anyone you work with, much more efficiently making the game infinitely better.