Fundamentals Of Game Analysis And Design PDF

FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME ANALYSIS AND DESIGN Introduction to Game REYNALDO G. ALVEZ www.outofservice.com/bigfiv e What is a game? Ludwig Wittgenstein Wittgenstein argued that the elements of games, such as play, rules, and compe...

FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME ANALYSIS AND DESIGN Introduction to Game REYNALDO G. ALVEZ www.outofservice.com/bigfiv e What is a game? Ludwig Wittgenstein Wittgenstein argued that the elements of games, such as play, rules, and competition, all fail to adequately define what games are. From this, Wittgenstein concluded that people apply the term game to a range of disparate human activities that bear to one another only what one might call family resemblances.  Defined a game as an activity that must have the following characteristics: fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character separate: it is circumscribed in time and place uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable non-productive: participation does not accomplish anything useful governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a Roger Caillois different reality  A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements. Wikipedia.org A game is a closed formal system that subjectively represents a subset of reality. A game represents something from subjective reality, not objective. Games are objectively unreal in that they do not physically re create the situations they represent, yet they are subjectively real to the player Chris Crawford  Five major regions of games: 1. board games 2. card games 3. athletic games 4. children’s games and 5. computer games. BOARD GAMES These games consist of a playing surface divided into sectors populated by a set of movable pieces. Players maneuver their pieces across the playing surface in an effort to capture other players’ pieces, reach and objective, gain control of territory, or acquire some valued commodity. CARD GAMES. The games revolve around combinations built from these two factors. Players may gain or lose possession of symbols either by random processes or by matching some combination allowed by the rules of the game. Each legal combination is assigned a victory value for final assessment of game results. ATHLETIC GAMES These games emphasize physical more than mental prowess. The rules of the game rigorously specify a precise set of actions that the player is either allowed to execute or required to execute. Skillful use of the body is the player’s primary concern in these games. CHILDREN’S GAME Hide and Seek, Red Rover, Tag, and Kick the Can are common examples. Such games frequently take the form of group activities emphasizing simple physical play. The player’s primary concern in these games is the use of social skills illuminating the fundamental role of the group in human life. COMPUTER GAMES It is the current fad in gaming, the computer game. These games are played on FIVE types of computers: expensive dedicated machines for the arcades (“coin op” machines), inexpensive dedicated machines (“hand helds”), multi program home games, machines such as the ATARI 2600 and the ATARI 5200, personal computers, and large mainframe computers. The computer acts as opponent and referee in most of these games; in many of them it also provides animated graphics. FOUR COMMON FACTORS/ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS IN A GAME 1. REPRESENTATION: A game creates a subjective and deliberately simplified representation of emotional reality. A game is not an objectively accurate representation of reality; objective accuracy is only necessary to the extent required to support the player’s fantasy. The player’s fantasy is the key agent in making the game psychologically real. FOUR COMMON FACTORS/ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS IN A GAME 1. REPRESENTATION. Formal By formal means only that the game has explicit rules. There are informal games in which the rules are loosely stated. System The term 'system' is often misused, but in this case its application is quite appropriate. A game’s collection of parts which interact with each other, often in complex ways. Subjectively Represents Representation is a coin with two faces: an objective face and a subjective face. The two faces are not FOUR COMMON FACTORS/ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS IN A GAME 2. INTERACTION. The only way to properly represent this webwork is to allow the audience to explore its nooks and crannies to let them generate causes and observe effects. Games provide this interactive element, and it is a crucial factor in their appeal. GAMES VS STORY INTERACTION Story Game FOUR COMMON FACTORS/ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS IN A GAME 3. CONFLICT A third element appearing in all games is conflict. Conflict arises naturally from the interaction in a game. The player is actively pursuing some goal. Obstacles prevent him from easily achieving this goal. If the obstacles are passive or static, the challenge is a puzzle or athletic challenge. Conflict is an intrinsic element of all games. It can be direct or indirect, violent or nonviolent, but it is always present in every game.  FOUR COMMON FACTORS/ELEMENTS/COMPONENTS IN A GAME 4. SAFETY Conflict implies danger; danger means risk of harm; harm is undesirable. Therefore, a game is an artifice for providing the psychological experiences of conflict and danger while excluding their physical realizations. In short, a game is a safe way to experience reality. The Five Domains of Play Jason VandenBerghe correlated the five traits of the Five Factor Model with five domains of play—which can also be thought of as aspects of a game that players might be motivated to seek out. The Five Domains of Play 1.Novelty. This correlates with the first trait, openness to experience. Players who seek novelty like games that include a lot of variety and unexpected elements. The Five Domains of Play 2. Challenge. High-challenge players prefer games that are difficult and require precision to win. Their conscientiousness drives them to act, to accomplish things, and perhaps to try to complete everything in a game. The Five Domains of Play 3. Stimulation. Particularly via social engagement, this naturally correlates with extraversion. These players enjoy party games and others that involve interacting with other players. The Five Domains of Play 4. Harmony. Harmony describes as a quality of a game, the feeling that all parts of the game belong to a single, coherent whole. The Five Domains of Play 5. Threat. This domain is the most peculiar one because players’ reactions to it are the opposite of what you might expect.