Endeavor

Here's something to think about:

What's a "level-up"? It seems pretty simple at first glance, but games do level-ups in tons of different ways.

In the same vein as Robot Wants Kitty and Level-Up, Endeavor gives you control of a character with a very limited set of abilities and tasks you with a huge goal to achieve.


Each piece you find or challenge you complete gives you the immediate reward of a better character, but your goal is still out of reach.



You "level-up" by finding different parts and training that allow you to access new areas. You don't so much level-up as grow. Check them out, and have fun!

_{Robot says: "I will have you kitty."}

Treadmillasaurus Rex

You should all play this game right now
Treadmillasaurus-Rex

Taxonomy of Game

Today we talked about starting a taxonomy of games that we can develop now and then modify later after some kind of structure is in place.
Slides from presentation here

We started making a sort of hierarchical structure for very general categorizing of games from a Developer's point of view.

Thanks to Russell for writing stuff on the board and others for the constructive discussion.
Some sort of structure form emerging (but not quite there yet).

Aesthetics in games

I gave a presentation today based on an interesting article by Robin Hunicke. It suggests a approach to game design that focuses on Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics as a progression through game development and game "consumption". I focused on Aesthetics for this meeting because of it's position as the first thing that user's see when playing a game. The article and PowerPoint are below, along with a few comments on some of the games I used as examples.

MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

Presenting a Game (PowerPoint)

Braid was probably my favorite discussion of the day, and I really liked how in depth some of our analyses can go. Mike brought up a good point about many games affording users the ability to completely disregard narrative and focus solely on game-play. If you've got the moo-lah I say check it out, it's a beautiful game.




If you dig rhythm games Audiosurf is a great one to have. It generates tracks based on the music from your computer, so it's a great game to play if you want to turn your brain off a little and get to "feel" your music.





Gregory Weir is one "d" short of Weird, and it's pretty appropriate. His games are deep and very message heavy. He tends to focus on one dynamic and use that to tell his story, whether his users like it or not. If you get the chance play "The Majesty of Colors" and any other game on LudusNovus.

That's it for tonight, Cheers!
Russell

Telling a Story

Amy Ogan's talk on Tuesday got me thinking about narrative (in games and in general). And I'd like to talk a little bit more about this at the next meeting.

I often find myself playing a game "just to see the ending" and I sometimes even reduce the difficulty just to progress through the story at a faster clip. In this case, I think narrative is a detriment to the "game in the game" because I end up being more concerned with watching rather than doing. So is this a flaw in the design of the game or merely a personal preference?

I think it would be cool to discuss the types of narrative that we encounter in games and how they affect the way we play or don't play them.

Here's an interesting example of a game that is quick and will hopefully get you thinking. It's The End of Us and I won't say anything more than it's in space. Check it out and mull it over for a minute or two. I was surprised by my reaction to it, and maybe you will be too.



Another great game to check out is Digital - A Love Story. If you were ever into text-based adventure games then this is a great game to play. It's amazing what you can do with just text and a simple interface.



I'll try to address both of these games as well as some others that I think do a great job of telling a story in one way or another.


Cheers,
Russell

"Best" and "Worst" games of the year

Hey guys,

I was thinking the other day "what makes a game successful?". Yes, we discussed in the meeting that the one underlying feature that is present in every game is the presence of a goal (internal or external). However, I am wanting to take a step back and look at this from a more general view. Every year wired magazine puts out a list of their "best" and "worst" games of the year. I thought it would be interesting for us to look at this list and try to determine what elements are present in these games that make them a hit or bust. In the interest of time, I have only listed the games from last year. As I find older lists I will post them. Discuss.

Gooooooooooal(s)!

I'm going to go ahead and make a strong claim that the one element common to all games is the presence of a goal. There must be some goal outcome, product, state, score, etc. for the interaction. The goal could be to achieve the highest score, draw the fastest picture, last the longest, play all your cards, build the best machine, save the princess, advance to the next level, eat the most donuts, or unlock some secret. The goal provides some context for the interaction. There is some ultimate purpose (whether it be practical or trivial). Each action taken within the game has the potential to advance you towards a specified end (or to lead you astray). With the right goal, you can still have an enjoyable game after you take away the points, leave out the fantasy world, and eliminate the competition (from the design - ha I'm funny). However, simply having a goal does not make it a FUN game. Goal does not equal fun. But anyway, that's my claim. All games have some goal. Who's with me, and who's against?

Fantastic Contraption

I also visit Kongregate on occasion, though not as much as I used to (unfortunately). One of my favorite games is definitely Fantastic Contraption. It is a mechanics creation-based puzzle game. The main goal consists of moving an object from a starting position into a designated area by building some kind of simple machine (vehicle, sling-shot, ramp, etc).

Most of the "typical" game elements are missing: points, time pressures, narrative, competition, and fantasy. Yet, I become completely engaged and persistent whenever I play. There is something about successfully creating a novel device or tool that is inherently rewarding. Even when I had to cheat and check online for alternative solutions, it invariably just gave me another idea to try, and I still had to work through the fine tuning to complete the task.

The Company of Myself

The game that Russell shared ("Glum Buster") reminded me a lot of another game called "The Company of Myself."

It has been consistently of one of the most highly rated games on Kongregate.Com, and has received some impressive praise from users:

• "This game is truly a masterpiece. It is a piece of art. Every level had a good design, and a good meaning. I cried at the ending. 10.10"

• "This storyline is greatly moving and saddening, and provoked a very depressing emotional response from me. I was so touched upon seeing the final report that I was nearly brought to tears. This truly is a masterpiece of a game, and is nothing short of beautiful."

It is similar to Glum Buster in that both introduce a variety of mechanics and puzzles as the levels progress -- some are humorous and others are rather fiendish.

What sets this game apart, as alluded to by the user comments, is the story. Company's story is revealed piece by piece as users move through the game via the commentary of the character. It it worth it to play all the way through.

Glum Buster

Couldn't wait to get this stuff started, so here's a game! If you've heard of it great, if not, play it!



It's called Glum Buster, kind of a puzzle/adventure/art hybrid. It's free to play, or you can tip if you like it. I enjoyed it, and it's got a lot of diversity when you consider the dynamics in each "world". It took me longer than a flash game to finish, but it's a nice break game in between reading or working.

Cheers,
Russell

Basic format

Here's the basic format.

• We can try to meet in 430, so that we can use the projector to display anything.
• The group will meet during lunch on Tuesdays from 12-1 (remember not to speak with your mouthful). This time can be changed later if enough people agree.
• Each week someone is in charge of finding something to talk about. If no one volunteers, or if someone forgets, then I will take responsibility for finding something to discuss (or I will see if someone else has something).
• Whoever is in charge gets to decide how the meeting goes for that day. If they want to wing it and just pull up a random site and ask people's opinion. fine. If they want to send out a link a week ahead of time and ask people to play a game. fine (but you can't expect everyone to play the game because this isn't work). If they want to discuss a cool journal article related to game design or serious game efficacy. fine. Anything goes as long as it relates to games in some way.