Game design@itp v3

Game Design @ ITP

• Games are a major entertainment form of the 21st
century. As a design discipline, digital game form
combines game worlds, rule sets and play to
actively engage a player in an ongoing acquisition
of skill.

• You will iteratively design, visualize, develop,
document and test unique game concepts to a
proof of concept stage.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012 Emma Westecott 1

Game Design @ ITP

• Effective design operates within set constraints;
the basic design criteria of digital game form i.e.
What is the point of the game? How do you play?
How does the game-play feel? etc. provide an
excellent framework within which to pose wider
questions. Games provide a context for a fresh
investigation of the meaning of and the
relationship between the roles of artist, designer
and player. The basic building blocks of game
structure; the game world, the game rules and
the player provide a schema for experience
design. Starting from an understanding of how
current commercial games function this session
introduces students to the discipline of game
design.


What is a game?
Excerpts from Salen & Zimmerman (2004)
• A formal game has a twofold structure based on ends and
means; Ends: It is a contest to achieve an objective. Means; It
has an agreed set of equipment and of procedural “rules”
(Parlett, D)
• Reduced to its formal essence, a game is an activity among two
or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their
objectives in some limiting context. (Clark C. Abt)
• [Play is] a free activity standing quite consciously outside
“ordinary” life as being “not serious”, but at the same time
absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity
connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained
by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and
space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner.”
(Huizinga, J)
• Playing a game is the voluntary effort to overcome unnecessary
obstacles. (Suits, B)
• A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.
(Salen & Zimmerman)

What is game design?

• “Design is the process by which a designer
creates a context to be encountered by a
participant, from which meaning emerges.” (Salen
& Zimmerman: 41)

• “The game designer envisions how a game will
work during play. She creates the
objectives, rules, and procedures, thinks up the
dramatic premise and gives it life, and is
responsible for planning everything necessary to
create a compelling player experience.” (Fullerton:
2)


Game Design @ ITP

• Salen, K & Zimmerman, E. (2004) Rules of Play: Game Design
Fundamentals. London: MIT Press. ISBN: 0-262-24045-9.

• Splits field into primary schemes:

RULES
PLAY
CULTURE


Gameplay modelling

Reality is amazingly complex. The only
way our minds are able to get by at all
is by simplifying reality so that we can
make some sense of it. Thus our
minds do not deal with reality but with
models of reality.


Gameplay modelling


Gameplay modelling

Our mind does this with everything
we make sense of e.g.
images, human
relationships, decision-
making, etc.

Games work as models, they are
less work for our brain than the
real world.

Approaches to game design

• Blue-sky (assuming no constraint)
• Slow boil (given a theme uses extensive
research)
• Mechanic (e.g. Mario’s jump; Katamari’s roll)
• MDA (http://mahk.8kindsoffun.com)
• IP (based on specific franchises)
• Story
• Research (e.g. flOw)

From Fullerton, T. et al. (2008) Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating
innovative games. 2nd ed. Burlington: Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-240-80974-8.

Types of design in games

• World design (back story, setting, theme)
• System design (rules, mathematical
patterns)
• Content design
(characters, items, puzzles, missions)
• Game writing (dialogue, text, story)
• Level design (layout of maps, placement
of objects and challenges)
• User interface (player input, game
feedback)
• From Fullerton, T. et al. (2008) Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating
innovative games. 2nd ed. Burlington: Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-240-80974-8.


Csikszentmihalyi - Flow

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow – the Psychology of Optimal Experience.
New York: Harper Perennial.


Csikszentmihalyi - Flow

Key components for flow:

1. Clear goals
2. No distractions
3. Direct feedback
4. Continuously challenging

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow – the Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Perennial.


Iterative development

Game design, like most forms of design, is an
iterative process. This means that the game is
quickly prototyped, played and refined again
and again before it is finalized.


A game schema


What is a game prototype?

Prototyping lies at the heart of good game
design. Prototyping is the creation of a working
model of your idea that allows you to test its
feasibility and make improvements to it.

Prototypes are like sketches whose purpose is
to allow you to focus on a small set of the
game’s mechanics or features and see how
they function.


What is a game prototype?

There are many types of prototypes, including
physical prototypes, visual prototypes, video
prototypes, software prototypes. The important
thing to remember when prototyping is that you
are not creating the final design, you are simply
trying to formalize your ideas or isolate issues.


Prototyping tips

• Answer a question, i.e. is our core gameplay
fun? How do we judge this?
• Forget quality.
• Don’t get attached.
• It doesn’t have to be digital
• Pick a rapid development environment.
• Build the toy first.


Turning ideas into games

Key questions to ask yourself are:
• What is the conflict in my game?
• What are the rules and procedures?
• What actions to the players take and when?
• Are there turns? How do they work?
• How many players can play?
• How long does a game take to resolve?
• What is the working title?
• Who is the target audience?
• What platform will the game run on?
• What restrictions or opportunities does that environment have?


Fleshing out game structure

Key questions to ask yourself are:
• Define each player’s goal?
• What does a player need to do to win?
• Write down the single most important type of player action
in the game?
• Describe how this functions.
• Write down the procedures and rules in outline format.
• Only focus on the most critical rules.
• Leave all other rules until later.
• Map out how a typical turn works. Using a flowchart is the
most effective way to visualize this.
• Define how many players can play.
• How do these players interact with each other?

GAME DESIGN PROJECT:
Converting digital to physical
Overview:
This oft-used game design exercise enables the student to
understand the nuances of the pure design underneath the art
and realized through the programming. There are multiple
places to start a non-digital version of a digital game:

Adapted from Fullerton, T. et al. (2008) Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to
creating innovative games. 2nd ed. Burlington: Elsevier Inc. ISBN: 978-0-240-80974-8.

Assignment Overview:
1.Literal conversions attempt to re-create the gameplay experience as
closely as possible in a non-digital medium for which it is ideally suited.
Super Mario Kart is an excellent example of a game that could be
converted to a race to the end board game with little modification to the
game structure.
2.Thematic conversions take the basic theme of the digital game and
apply that to a traditional style of non-digital game. For instance, one
could make the original Super Mario Bros. into something similar to a
Dungeon & Dragons traditional RPG. One would borrow the storyline
from Super Mario Bros., but not the mechanics. Instead, players might
roll characters (or get preselected ones) and search for a princess
hidden in a castle.

Assignment Overview:

3. Mechanic conversions take a particular, common mechanic in the
digital game and use it as the basis for a non-digital game.

When doing a conversion, don’t force it. Think of a game, and consider
how it might work in a non-digital format. A good match doesn’t feel
forced.


PICK A GAME, ANY GAME
You have been contacted by Indiecade and asked to look at indie
releases in the last year and create a board-game or physical
prototype for one of the games.


Method:
1.Choose your game.
2.Choose a method.
3.Determine player expectation.
4.Scavenge what you can (list all the elements you can lift immediately from the
videogame).
5.Fill in the blanks (list everything you’re missing before you have a complete game).
6.Create deliverables (create a prototype and a tentative set of written rules).
7.Play the game with the group in class.


Game design@itp v3

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