Lecture 05 creative_and_expressive_play

1. FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME
DESIGN
CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE GAME PLAY
Sayed Ahmed
BSc. Eng. in CSc. & Eng. (BUET)
MSc. in CSc. (U of Manitoba)
http://sayed.JustEtc.net
http://www.JustETC.net
Presented at the University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Just E.T.C for Business, Education, Technology, and Entertainment Solutions
Textbook References:
Fundamentals of Game Design, 2nd
Edition, Ernest Adams
1
sayed@justetc.net,www.justetc.net

2. TOPICS AND LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
 Describe self-defining play
 as a way a player can project his personality into the
game world by selecting an avatar and the avatar’s
attributes
 Explain creative play
 as a way to allow players to design or construct as
part of the gameplay
 Examine several types of creative play
 Self defining play
 Constrained creative play
 Freeform or unconstrained creative play
 Storytelling creative play

3. TOPICS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
(CONT.)
 Difference between
 constrained creative play
 and freeform creative play
 How games can provide
 storytelling play by allowing players to create stories
 Ways in which you can provide
 additional creative freedom
 by allowing the player to modify a game
 Level editors, mods, and bots

4. SELF-DEFINING PLAY
 Lets the player project his personality into the
game world by
 means other than gameplay choices
 Methods
 Avatar selection
 Avatar customization
 Avatar construction

5. FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES
 Attributes
 Functional – affects gameplay
 Cosmetic
 Functional attributes affect gameplay
 Characterization attributes
 Define fundamental aspects and change slowly or not at all
 If you allow players to select such attributes
 Think about balancing
 Status attributes
 Give the current status of the character and may change
frequently
 When players assign values to characterization
attributes, they define themselves in a creative
way

6. FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES (CONT.)
 Allowing players to set all functional attribute
values may introduce bugs; instead
 Give players a fixed or random number of points to
assign among all attributes
 Include a set of default or recommended settings for
new players who want to get started quickly
 Allow players to earn the right to set their character’s
functional attributes any way they like

7. COSMETIC ATTRIBUTES
 Cosmetic attributes do not affect gameplay
 Cosmetic attributes make a game more fun at a
low implementation cost
 Typical cosmetic attributes:
 Headgear, clothing, shoes, and jewelry
 Hair color, eye color, skin color
 Body type or size
 Paint color, decals, insignia on vehicles

8. CREATIVE PLAY
 Many games offer the player
 The chance to design or build something
 If you also offer
 Allow players to save and reload creations
 Computerized creative play
 Constrained creative play
 Freeform creative play

9. CONSTRAINED CREATIVE PLAY
 A player can create
 only within artificial constraints
 imposed by the rules
 May sound limiting but the purpose is
 Provide a structure for players’ creativity
 Play can be limited by the economy
 Simcity – needs money to further build
 Role playing – need experience before learning new magic
spells
 Can require that the created items meet specific
physical requirements
 Spore – create creature with existing body parts under
certain rules (must have a backbone)
 Can require that the created items meet specific
aesthetic requirements

10. MEASURING AESTHETIC
CREATIONS
 Unlike physics, computers have no innate way of
measuring aesthetics
 You must provide a system.
 Some possibilities:
 Fixed aesthetic rules (e.g. certain colors clash)
 System of trends the player can research
 Allow public to vote online

11. FREEFORM CREATIVE PLAY & SANDBOX
MODE
 Provides unlimited time and resources
 Traditionally known as sandbox mode
 Usually offers fewer rewards or no rewards
 Constrained game play games may offer special
sandbox mode with no or little rewards
 RollerCoaster Tycoon – sandbox mode
 Pinball construction set
 Adventure construction set

12. STORYTELLING PLAY
 Provide features that allow players to create and
share stories
 Forums and captured images assist this ability
 The Movies by Lionhead
 Let people make their own movies and share them
online
 Stunt island from Disney
 Sims
 Capture screenshots and create story boards

13. GAME MODIFICATIONS
 For utmost creative freedom
 allow players to modify the game itself
 Pros
 Popular with core gamers
 Extends the lifespan of a game
 Cons
 You have no control over the modification
 Allowing players to create modifications can put the
reputation of your game at risk

14. LEVEL EDITORS
 Allow players to construct new levels for a game
 Players may be able to construct a new landscape,
place challenges in it, and write a script for the game
engine to run
 Tools must be included with the game
 Half-Life 2, Starcraft

15. BOTS
 Artificially intelligent opponent that the player
can program
 Players create tougher opponents than the
original game included
 Sometimes to practice before playing with real
players
 Quake III Arena
 Great deal of support for bots
 BotStudio
 Help players to create bots

16. SUMMARY
 You should now understand
 How players express themselves through their
avatars
 How to provide creative play
 How to provide storytelling play
 Why players create modifications
 With this understanding
 You should be able to add support for creative play to
your game