Exercises:

6.7: 

   Our game, Mythological Madness, is a 2-player local mobile game where both players take control of two gods and fight one another.  It features a risk/reward system that can punish you if you get too greedy, but could also reward you for your ambition.  Basically, you have 3 attacks, light, medium, heavy, and the stronger an attack, the lower the chance it'll land.  You press the on screen buttons to attack the enemy, once one enemy god disappears, you win.

6.8:

  Our game is a 3D AR mobile game to be played between two people.  Due to a disagreement, the Japanese Sun and Moon gods have decided to enter a fight with one another.  Now you must wield their awesome power and see if you can defeat them in combat.  You start the game on a splash screen and then are taken to the title, upon hitting play, you may hold your phone against any surface and you will see the two models on screen, if you have another player, he/she will take control of the other character.

 Upon deciding who is who, it's time to start, start by selecting your opponent by tapping their model and press an attack button.  If you see the health bar above them go down, your attack landed, if you didn't, it missed.  Basically, each player has 3 attacks, a light, a medium and a heavy.  Now, although it would be very tempting to just go ahead and continually use the heavy attack, there is a catch, each attack has a chance to miss, and the stronger the attack, the higher the chance it will miss, and if it misses, it's the opponent's turn, so choose wisely.

Both players go back and forth like this until one enemy dies, whoever is left standing wins.

7.8:

Core gameplay is basically a screen with 2 models and 4 buttons arranged in a 2x2 row.  These are attack buttons, models are floating in game area because they are gods.  Those 2 models are the characters, once one disappears, whoever is still present wins.  The four buttons are the main buttons with which to play the game.  In order to change turns, just give the phone to whoever you're playing with.

10.1:

The first gameplay prototype was something no one understood because it didn't work at all, there was no damage dealt, just a random chance to get the phone to vibrate.  Eventually we made these decrease the opponent's health.  People could surprisingly figure out what to do, they just couldn't do anything yet.  What's missing is visual feedback, which we are going to add in healthbars to represent.

Readings:

Chapter 4:

In games, constraints of rules and procedures are rigid structures, while play within that structure is the freedom of the player to act within those rules.

Play is described as spontaneous, loud, not work, physical, fun, an emotional state where one is having a good time.  It's meaningless, it's done for intrinsic value, but can have utility.  It's a way to get a feel for the shape of the world.  It's child's work, it's what they do to learn about the world they are in. 

Play has may different faces, it can help us learn and acquire knowledge, let us socialize, assist us in problem solving, help us relax, see things differently, induce laughter and fun.  However, by contrast, it can also be serious, making its players push boundaries through experimentation.  Play is recognized as a way of achieving innovation and creativity because it helps us see things differently or achieve unexpected results.  Play is a state of mind.

4 fundamental types of play:

Competitive

Chance-based

Make-believe

Vertigo

Further categorized through rule-based play or free-form play.

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Types of players include:

-Competitor: Plays to beat other players

-Explorer: Curious about world, loves to go adventuring; seeks outside boundaries

-Collector: Gets items, trophies, knowledge, etc.

-Achiever: Plays for varying levels of achievement

-Joker: Doesn't take the game seriously-plays for fun

-Artist: Driven by creativity, creation, design

-Director: Loves to be in charge

-Storyteller: Loves to create or live in worlds of fantasy and imagination

-Performer: Loves to put on a show for others

-Craftsman: Wants to build, craft, engineer, or puzzle things out

Figure out how people enjoy game, some gain enjoyment from spectating, some get enjoyment from playing.

Adding on to challenge and play, games use drama to create engagement with players.

Characters are agents through whose actions a drama is told.

Any character that has been given thought to has to have 4 key questions answered:

-What does the character want?

-What does the character need?

-What does the audience/player hope?

-What does the audience/player fear?

Story:

Outcome of a story must be uncertain the first time a game is played, and uncertainty of a game is resolved by the player.

In order to progress to the next story point, a player must be able to succeed past the current story point and level.

World building is the deep design of a fictional world, which can start with maps, but can include complete cultural studies.

Dramatic arc starts with conflict.  Conflict sets events of the game in motion and places obstacles that prevent the player from accomplishing their goals.

Chapter 6 (p. 171):

Experimental games are games that have been created to try to do something new with games or make a game design discovery.  They help players push forward the frontiers of game design by revealing new game mechanics, patterns of play, and even create new game genres.  We can hone our skills as game designers by making experimental games.

By making these games, we can try out new ideas, playtest new mechanics, and explore what can be done with games as a form.

Experimental game design is important because it's very important when it comes to games as a cultural practice.

You might be able to approach the challenge of designing an experimental game by just using some random subject to make a game based on.  Once you've selected that, stick with it through to the very end.  Consider it from every angle.  Choose at least one formal element of a game and do something special/unusual with it, and finally, finish the game.

Chapter 8 (p. 258):

In addition to a viewpoint, there is other information that a game will need to know and the actions they need to take.  How does a developer put this in or around the main view?  The game uses an interface, which works together with the controls and viewpoint to make the game experience, and it needs to be understandable.  Goal of an interface should be to make it as easy to understand as possible, while still being innovative.

Form follows function, when making a game, ask yourself what the formal elements of the game is before designing the interface or controls.  If you don't do that, you end up with a game that's just like every other game.  Today, many designers will revert to comparing their games to other games in terms of how they design their game, which might make a game sound fun, but that makes the game completely lack innovation or originality.  The key to solving this problem is by going back to the original concept of the game and ask what is so interesting about this idea.  The best approach is to never design an interface first, but let the game evolve from the necessities mandated by the function of the game.

Visual interfaces are metaphorical to help us navigate the computer.  When designing an interface, consider what visual metaphor would best communicate all the procedures, rules, boundaries, etc.  

Chapter 10:

-How do you make sure your gameplay is functional, complete, and balanced.

First figure out what you're testing for.

Foundation: During this stage, your primary concern is to see whether or not the basic idea for your game is enjoyable.

Structure: After foundation has been laid, structure has to be added to make the prototype functional for playtesters other than yourself.  At this point, the prototype works at a basic, but clunky level, you need to build out the rules and procedures to the extent that the system can be played by people who don't have a full vision of that end experience in mind.  At this point, you want to figure out whether or not the intuition you had was correct?  Is there any merits to continuing with this idea?

Formal details: If you are onto something, now you need to settle on a fully functional version of the game, but where to start?  Start by making sure the game is functional, internally complete, and balanced.

Refinement: If your game is functional, complete, balanced, then you test for accessibility.

A game has to be functional before it can be complete, and in order for a game to be considered functional, the system has to be established to the point where someone who doesn't know anything about the game can go ahead and play it.

A game is internally complete if every single possibility under all conditions of how a game played is done.

Sometimes, system issues could be loopholes or could actually be beneficial to the game.

In order to weed out loopholes, try:

-Using control situations to test aspects of the system in isolation

-Do playtests where you instruct testers to try and disrupt the system

-Find testers who enjoy breaking games

Dead ends have to be fixed before a game can be considered complete.

Balance is used to make a game better.  It is the process of making sure the game meets the goals you have set for the player experience: that the system is of the scope envisioned and the elements of that system work together the way they are supposed to.  There are 4 balancing areas: Variables, dynamics, starting conditions and skill

Variables: A set of numbers that define the properties of the game objects.  These variables can define how many players the game is designed for, how large the area is, how many resources are there, properties of those resources, etc.  Variables also determine important aspects of how games work when when in action.

Dynamics: Balance forces at work when game is in action

Reinforce relationships between 2 aspects of the game.  A change in one part of the system should cause a change in the same direction in another part of the system.  The problem with this is that the stronger player constantly gets rewarded until the game concludes.  The way to balance this is to change the reinforcing relationship into one that balances power more fairly.  Simply stop the better player from gaining more power from one success.

Goal is to make a game balanced, but not stagnant.

Dominant objects: Keep similar objects within a game proportional in terms of strength.  No single unit should be significantly more powerful than other units.  Think of Rock-paper-scissors as an example.

Balance for skill, balance dynamically, balance NPCs, etc.

Chapter 11:

A game has to have challenge

Reach goals, compete against others, exercise skills, stretch limits, make choices

Play

Live out fantasies, interact with others, explore, collect, perform, create/destroy

Story

It isn't needed, but it's helpful because it makes players choices important.

Reward and punish

Make a game easy to play by as many people as possible.

Chapter 16:

When contacting professionals, bring knowledge of games and the game industry.

Take academic programs as a lot of major dev companies look to those first for new hires.  It's notable game companies will mainly look for those with technical skills.  Get good with programs involved around game design. 

Play video games and analyze their systems, try learning something.

Design games and levels so as to get more experience.  Design content for existing games, if you want.

Know the industry so that you are aware of topics and you can show your knowledge about the subject matter.

Network with other people in the industry, go for events, look up people and contact them online, create a business card and give it to those you meet.

Join organizations related to the industry, such as the IGDA.

Go to conferences

Email others

In terms of jobs, start at the bottom, don't just try to go ahead and do the highest level, start at entry level and ork your way up.

QA testing is a good entry level job

After building up your experiences in work, pitch your original game. 

Process is:

Get someone who reviews 3rd party submissions

Get ready to sign a submission/confidentiality agreement

Pitch in person

The materials you will need are:

Sell sheet-explain idea/title market.  Includes title, genre, amount of players, platform, ship date, two-paragraph description, bullet point list of features, game art.

Demo-A playable version of the game, which allows the publisher to evaluate the final version of the gameplay

Video-Use this if you don't have a gameplay demo, most credible video is one created using your game code

Design overview-An explanation of game design without excessive detail

Prospectus-Like a resume for your company

Storyboards-Still images from game

PowerPoint-Compilation of key visuals and points from other pitch materials

Technical design overview-How does technology work and intended dev path

Competitive analysis-What titles are you competing against

Before leaving a pitch meeting, ask when you're going to get a response.  Follow up with a thanks email, as well as supplementary materials requested during meeting.  If you don't receive a response within 7-10 days, then contact the individual who set up the meeting with no more than one e-mail and one phone call per week

If you don't get anything from a publisher, it's alright to try doing independent game development.  Independent games are hard to try doing as you effectively have to handle everything yourself, and some indie devs have other side jobs.  Overall, they are long shots, and the main goals of an indie dev are to create a game that will be picked up and distributed by a major publisher, or just self distribute.