Game Design

1. Game Design Workshop
Naresuan University
9.2.2014
by C a ro li n a Is la s

2. Section B
Why game design?

3. Digital games
How much does it cost to make a “big” video
game?

4. What team do I need?
Producer
Designers (gameplay, balancing)
Artists
Programmer (graphics, physics, AI, sound, scripting, UI, game
tools, network....)
Level designer
Sound Engineer
Tester
Publisher

5. Model for interactive game
design
Important cycles:
play-testing,
evaluating, and
revising
Source Fullerton et al. (2004) page 197

6. Please make teams

7. Section C
game background

8. Definitions
Being playful
Gameplay
Figure from Islas Sedano, 2012

9. How old games are?

10. How old games are?
“The fact that play and
culture are actually
interwoven with one another
was neither observed nor
expressed, whereas for us the
whole point is to show that
genuine, pure play is one of
the main bases of
civilization.” Huizinga, 1950.

11. Meta classification
Source: Callois, R. (1961) Man, Play
and Games. Page 54.

12. Digital Game origins (1/2)
1958
Wally
Higginbotham
Screenshot source

13. Digital Game origins (2/2)
1961
Steve Rusell
Spacewar!
Screenshot source

14. Digital Games
Video games (timeline of consoles, video history MMO)
Mobile games ( video snake,
photo - trends)
Location-based games* (e.g. geocatching, visions with AR)
Pervasive games* (IPerG)
ARG (Alternate Reality Games)* (experience of the Lost Ring)
* transmedia

15. Please fill
PART II
of the questionnaire

16. Section D
Game Systems

17. System.... (in engineering)
..... is a combination of components that act jointly to
achieve a specific objective.

18. System.... (in engineering)
..... is a combination of components that act jointly to
achieve a specific objective.
Ogata, K. (1987) Dynamic Systems.
Page 417

19. System lexicon (engineering)
A component is a particular unit in the function of a
system.
A system can be call dynamic when the output depends
of an input from the past. That means, systems are
changing states or moving constantly to be useful.
Example: vehicles, entertainment equipment (TV, radio),
computers.
A static system is constant. Example: buildings, bridges,
furniture.

20. Defining
Games are dynamics systems of interaction
approached with a playful attitude .

21. Games Lexicon
Game components
Game mechanics
Game dynamics

22. Game components
Often includes:
Aesthetics
Story
Technology

23. Game mechanics
Game mechanics are the core of the game.
Taxonomies of game mechanics are incomplete.
Why?
a) involve objective set of rules
b) involve mental models of the players.

24. Taxonomy of Game Mechanics
suggested by Schell.
1. Space
2.Object, attribute and states
3.Actions
4.Rules
5.Skills
6.Chance

25. Game dynamics
Once players are playing the game is possible to
see the game mechanics in movement, so the
game dynamics unveil.

26. Section E
Players

27. IGDA defines
Hardcore Gamer: Gamers who typically play high-action,
extremely competitive games that require a greater degree of
involvement or dexterity in order to progress.
•Core Gamer: Gamers who typically play games with a steeper
learning curve or games that require some level of deeper
involvement or complex tactical challenges.
•Casual Gamer: Gamers who play games for enjoyment and
relaxation rather than games with steep learning curves or
requiring high levels of commitment or involvement.
source here

28. Features of casual games
by Brathwaite and Schreiber
1. Easy to learn
2.Reduced complexity
3.Casual conflicts
4.Short play time
5.Lack of commitment
6.Family friendly

29. Demographics
Classification by Schell
0-3: Infant/Toddler
4-6: Preschooler
7-9: Kids
10-13: Preteen or Tween
13-18: Teen
18-24: Young Adult
25-35: Twenties and Thirties
35-50: Thirty and Forties
50+: Fifties and Up

30. Five things Males like to see in
games according to Schell
Mastery
Competition
Destruction
Spatial Puzzles
Trial and Error

31. Five things Females like to see in
games according to Schell
Emotion
Real World
Nurturing
Dialog and Verbal Puzzles
Learning by Example

32. Malone
Heuristics for interaction in games
Curiosity
Challenge
Fantasy
Control *
* With Lepper

33. Section F
Evocative Objects

34. Evocative objects
Are things we learn with.

35. Sherry Turkle
We think with the objects we think we love; we
love the objects we think with

36. Seymour Papert
I fell in love with the gears.

37. Claude Levi-Strauss
Material things are goods to think with and good
to think with.
Bricolage as a way of combining and
recombining a closed set of materials to come up
with new ideas

38. Examples
Video 1 - feeling
Video 2 - designing new boxes, cognitive

39. Thank you!