In the talk “Dynamics for Designers” given by Will Right at the Game Developer’s Conference in 2003, he discusses the ideology behind what makes video games work. His previous work on titles such as “Spore” and “The Sims” appear throughout his talk as examples of system dynamics and how players interact given specific variables. He covers the social stomach of a queen ant in relation to how propagation of information spreads throughout the human brain, where one is global which sends a tracer chemical to the local colonies to allow ants to know that the queen is still alive.

Will Right states in his talk that this relationship between ant colonies and their queen are a great analogue for the player responding to a game’s input. One example he states is in “Animal Crossing” for the Nintendo Gamecube where the player is constantly working with an NPC or another player. “You’re going around in Animal Crossing, a lot of times you’re gathering things, bringing them to somebody else. You can bring your card to somebody else’s Animal Crossing and give them a free treat. (For) the game players themselves, that propagation through agents is a main part of the game play”. “The Sims” is brought up as another example for propagation through agents, describing the large modding community that had sprung up due to dedicated fans adding their own skins. “For them, it’s like a meta-game on top of the sims, it’s a big part of the experience”.

Grouping is another form of social engineering driven by dynamic pressures. An example of this would be a conflict of some sort that pressures the player into joining a guild, partying up in an MMO, specializing their character in a specific class to be beneficial to the group as a whole. The whole act of grouping is dependent on “economies of scale”. Grouping based on classification exists in things like RTS games where you have to manage units. One more part of grouping is Attraction, which is made up of both flocking algorithms and schooling algorithms, both of which are themselves dependent on local and global communication.

Source: https://vimeo.com/193267720

For our third week of class, we discussed what our plans were for our first project. My project is centered around the concept of the desire to win instead of the action of winning, the competition driven and to what lengths people are drawn to with the grand prize of simply being declared the winner among their friends. The game itself is a simple card game like “Uno”, where players go around in hopes of emptying their hand, however, the odds aren’t in the favor of any players, but the game itself. Cards prolonging the span of the game, confusing rule sets, card management and manipulation of random status effects allow players to step on one another in order to win, only to be stepped on in the next turn, much like the Ouroboros, it’s a game of never ending torment, the cycle of the dullest game with the weakest prize can open others to do the most drastic things… I propose a modified “Uno” with cards designed for only the most masochistic player Draw +10 for everyone, Exodia the forbidden one, Monster Reborn, Land management from Magic The Gathering, Energy from Pokemon TCG, a complete hodge podge of the worst card game troupes into one awful experience. I had the pleasure to play this for a bit with some friends over steam and discord via Tabletop Simulator and we hated every second of it, that’s why I’m proud of it. It’s almost like a provocative art piece, made with the sole intent to ruin friendships. I believe competition is important, but it shouldn’t be the determining factor in the design of a game. I made this game with the idea that if I could hypothetically make an only competitive game, what kind of masochistic monstrosity could I create? I spent about a week designing the cards on photoshop and writing the rules to each special card, in all, I’d say that I’m pretty satisfied with the results. The game itself is designed to be played indefinitely and it’s an absolute chore to get through, ten out of ten, worst game I ever made.

DMS Blog Post #8

On week 11, we went over Fullerton’s chapter about balance in games. This was one of the important topics we covered because it’s what keeps players satisfied and a way to communicate with developers. In the chapter, Fullerton states “Players will do things that you could have never anticipated. There might be gaps in the rules that made sense on paper, but… they lead to irresolvable situations or gray areas.” This can be said for many online and multiplayer games, as it’s like a test between the players and developers for the direction of how playstyles will continue. The way players will play the game won’t always be the intended way, depending on what they’re allowed to do.

One game we looked over was League of Legends, which is like the definition of game balancing. Currently there’s over 140 playable characters in the game, and It’s hard to balance a game with that many playstyles and options. We also learned more about it from a video of their developer, Ghostcrawler. He mentions that there’s a lot to account for when balancing, such as catering towards lower or higher tier players, rewarding players for investing time in certain champions, and maintaining trust with the community. I agree with most of his points because League is also an esports game, where players are more strategic and experienced compared to regular players. If the developers were to balance the game just for esports, then it makes the game confusing or unfair for regular players. A good but repetitive system they use is to buff weak champions to make them playable and nerf the popular/strong ones so others can take their spots. This just shows it’s hard, almost impossible, to make everything balanced and equal without actively adjusting to player needs.

Another game we looked at was Hearthstone. It’s a turn-based card game and much like League of Legends, there’s a lot of cards and playstyles. In order to balance the game, cards have different costs and abilities, so the stronger ones would cost more and riskier, and lower ones are weaker. It’s important to know how to counter certain cards, choose the right ones, and know how to use them effectively. As shown in our playthrough, a starting deck against a much prepared and stacked deck will definitely be a disadvantage due to having outdated or weaker cards. This is all tied to balance, what’s fair for all players, and to not feel overpowered/underpowered.

Sources

League of Legends, Riot Games, 2009

Hearthstone, Blizzard Entertainment, 2014

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.

For week 9, we talked about Fullerton’s chapter on player viewpoints and immersion. In the chapter, Fullerton goes over the 1^st person, 3^rd person, and overheard perspectives in games, and how they all provide a different view and angle of their games. Fullerton states, “The controls, viewpoint, and interface all work together symbiotically to create the game experience and allow the player to understand and have agency within the system.” This applies for many game genres like first person shooter, real-time strategy, adventure/story games. For the game to display their information effectively, camera angles matter a lot for player movements, and for developers to show what players want them to see and experience. In the game Destiny, it takes advantage of 1^st and 3^rd person view, 1^st person for using guns and favoring precision, while 3^rd person was used for swords or supers, giving players a bigger view when using larger weapons. In strategy or turn base games, it’s mostly overhead/isometric views as It’s intended for easier access to information and to multitask, to show players a broad view of what they have and the environment.

For our class playthrough, we watched the first parts of A Night in the Woods. It’s a 2D, third person game about animals living human lives. The story follows a cat named Mae as she goes back to her hometown, exhausted and irritated about everything, but finds unexpected things happening. What I really like about A Night in the Woods is that it feels relatable and grounded. There’s no action-packed story to tell, but instead we get to explore the setting and it’s characters as if it’s a normal day for everyone. There’s soothing music, entertaining dialogues, minigames, interesting characters, and choices to respond to some situations like Twine games. though the main viewpoint was 3^rd person view, the game sometimes switches it up to other viewpoints like 1^st person or overhead for minigames, which is a fitting experience. This also helps with the immersion, how you’re following one character and seeing everything through her, and the different viewpoints are to switch it up whenever the game wants you to experience something closely or in a different angle.

Sources

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.

A Night in the Woods, Infinite Fall, 2017

Tracy Fullerton’s The Structure of Games discusses the differences between video games and other forms of media, along with what defines a game. Throughout the narrative piece, Tracy discusses the defining factor between a game and another form of media is that in a game, the player is participating within the game and has influence under the game’s outcome in some way. What makes video games so fun and enticing is player freedom and the ability to influence the game directly as an active participant. Within the chapter, Fullerton describes “With media, characters still have objectives, but the viewer does not. With games, the player does have specific objectives. Along with player involvement and objectives…”. The whole essence of a game is the interactivity between the player and the piece of media itself. Examples of this could include the dialogue wheel from “Mass Effect”, the Wikipedia-like dialogue between characters in “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind”. Various games implement a multiple ending route via branching paths like “Bioshock” or “Shadow the Hedgehog”.

Other avenues of player interactivity usually stems in some karma system like “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” or “inFamous” where the players actions towards various NPCs, quests, and the world around them influence their public perception and determine their alignment throughout the game. Some actions might just be an aesthetic change like the ability to create a custom character such as in “Soul Calibur 6” and “Saints Row the Third”. Even extremely linear games like “Half-Life 2” or “Portal” allow player interaction through the lack of cutscenes, making it so the player is never pulled from the experience.

“Mordhau” is a fine example of how gameplay itself could immerse the viewer in the experience. Throughout the game, the player controls one soldier of many fighting over various objectives. There is no story, only multiplayer, but where the game shines is its combat, an entirely physics based system that determines the player’s swing by moving their mouse in the attack direction, timing their blocks with their enemy’s swing, parries, reposting, and even thrusting your weapon forward by scrolling up on the mousewheel or scrolling down to perform an overhead strike. Every action the player does that is mouse related has some effect on their combat, leaving the player to become immersed in the game by basic mouse interaction.

This week talked about the narrative in games. Narrative is very important in my opinion. Yeah some games are fun when you can just go and mess around in the world and do whatever you want without having to worry about following a type of storyline. But when you play a game with a story it brings you in and introduces you to its world. In the video presentation that we watched in class that was given by Tracy Fullerton, she mentioned how some gamers like games to be “Formal, abstract, rational, and challenging”, she mentions how gamers crave games that are “Dramatic, narrative, meaningful, sublime”. I agree with both of these statements, because as a gamer I love to play games that can challenge me and make me work towards a goal or reward. Like escape room games. I love escape room games and any puzzle type of game. On the other hand I also love to play games that have a narrative where you immerse yourself into this fake world that the developers have made and makes you learn about the places and characters in it. Games like these build a bond between player and character so when something happens you feel it. For example I played the campaign for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare when in came out a few years ago and when I finished I begin to cry, because at the end of the a lot of main characters die, and  while the credits were rolling you got to hear every one of the main characters voice letter they left behind for their family for just in case they died. And yes I know it’s not real, but it made me sympathise with the fake families of those characters. Speaking about Call of Duty, they do a great job at combining both types of games. People play both the campaign and multiplayer and some just buy the game only for multiplayer, this is perfect for gamers like me who love to play both. I agreed with Fullerton when she said that “…if we’re better able to describe the meaningfulness to our play to ourselves and others then they will have a deeper resonance for us…” There are a lot of games that have resonated with me.

During the last week of class, we were able to play the game When Rivers Were Trails. This game took us through the journey of Indigenous people as they interacted with each other and white men while navigating their ever-shrinking lands. The game mechanics are very simple and allow the player to really focus on the message and educational opportunity that the game provides. This game was developed to be used as an educational tool for younger audiences and that can be felt in the simplicity of the gameplay. Also mentioned during class was the game Oregon Trail. While both games occur at the same time, they show vastly different perspectives on life in the West. Both of these games, by themselves, are great educational tools that let people learn about history in a very hands-on approach. These two games together can provide a full picture of the time period and are a great lesson on how your circumstances can greatly impact your view of the world and how two different perspectives can view the same event. Using games like these are a great way to supplement traditional education.

Sources:LaPensée, Elizabeth, director. When Rivers Were Trails. Vimeo, 28 Apr. 2020, vimeo.com/340980168/e2ab19649e

Robert Ebert’s Video Games Can Never Be Art is a sad piece. I can picture it being the ramblings of an old man past his prime, looking into a new field within his study with a gaze of dissociation and confusion. I can understand, I have grandparents who don’t like me playing video games. There comes the misunderstanding of what defines “art”, which is subjective. When one critiques whether something is or isn’t art, it becomes muddled with non-sequiturs and opinions as opposed to actual critiques on the artistic integrity of a given piece because art is inherently subjective.

An example of his bias would be in his choice to showcase “Waco Resurrection” as an example of videogames and how they can “Never be art” to his majority viewer base of movie goers. This is essentially the equivalent of showing “Birth of a Nation” to discredit every movie ever made, which is just a poor argument to be made. Most of the article is him talking about cave paintings and this crummy little indie game made by some guy in his 20s.

Robert Ebert points out in his article that the game “Braid” which has a mechanic where every time you die, you can rewind time and avoid death. I personally finished Braid and loved it, while Robert writes that “In chess, this is known as taking back a move, and negates the whole discipline of the game.” Now, I would agree with him if Braid were chess, but Braid is not chess. Braid’s level design is specifically set with the time reversal mechanic in mind to allow for puzzles to be completed in ways that make you think outside the box. Hearing “It’s like chess” just goes to show that he has no idea what he’s rambling on about because he has little to no investment what so ever.

In all, I believe Robert Ebert has his heart in the right place, but his lack of research and understanding for the medium sticks out like a sore thumb. He isn’t consistent in his sources and it shows through the various gaps between completely unrelated topics as he grabs at straws looking for any small shred of evidence to support his opinion.

When it comes to game design, I find that one of the most important things is communication. In order to be able to communicate different aspects of a game effectively, there needs to be proper documentation of a game through its development.  Within the Fullerton chapter “Communicating Your Designs” there were a few styles of documentation that are common in game design for sharing ideas with others.  One form is a Flowchart to help map out the path of the game.  For my group project, before writing out my narrative I created a flowchart of the choices the player would get to make and the separate paths that were possible. This helped me to stay on track with my narrative and note where the parts of my narrative would intersect with the other narratives that my group members have made.  One communication tool that I have yet to personally try but seems important is wireframes. That is because “wireframes are an excellent communication tool between the designer, the artists, and the UI programmers” (451,452). This is important so that multiple departments working on the game can have a specific vision of what the game will be.  This helps everything to flow more smoothly and for the finished product to be more polished.

Finally, I feel that another very important thing when designing a game is to be able to pitch it to others. In class we worked on creating a short verbal pitch and delivering it.  When making my pitch it really helped me to pull out the most important aspects and takeaways from my game.  It also helped me to realize certain aspects of my game that I needed to finalize and work on because it was harder for me to put into words and explain that specific aspect over others. The more condense and straightforward a pitch is, the more appealing it can come across to the person who is listening.  I feel that to make a proper and impactful pitch, the person needs to have a deep understanding of the game overall.  It is something that I definitely need to work on and improve on for the future.

Works Cited

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

Video games are the only medium in which empathy can be explored. This is because a game gives agency to a player unlike books and movies. This was demonstrated in class with “When Rivers Were Trails”. As player has to go through the plight of Native Americans and learn about what happened to them. A similar game that tries to have an empathetic impact on the player is “Specs Ops the Line”. For the first half of the game it is a painfully average third person cover shooter. It hits all the beats that a generic shooter would have to hit such as macho man shooting at Americans current enemies. There is really no thought in the actions that is being done. Like is done in so many shooters before it. However, it is slowly reviled the atrocities that were taken. In the vein of “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad and the movie “Apocalypse now”. Unlike those mediums the player had an active participation in what happened. Even if most action beats were forced, there were opportunities to refrain from acting as it was a game. It tries to explore morality with more than just a slider as is common with most games. It makes the player evaluate themselves and what they did in the course of the game. It also demonstrates that the player will do anything by listening to the authority. In the context of the game it is a man over the radio telling you what to do. As it is just a game it is possible to walk away and not complete it and the game even recommends that to the player. On death screens it makes fun of the player telling them it is just a game and that makes it okay to do what they are doing. Even though most people would find it morally repugnant.
Even more mainstream titles such as Battlefield one has tried to demonstrate that while it is a game there are real world consequences to what it is depicting. They do this by showing name of someone who died in World War 1 when the player dies.