Reading/Writing Project 2

Exercise 2.7:

Risk: You play a game to conquest territories from other players.

Clue: You try to solve a murder mystery to find the true culprit.

Pit: Your goal is to bid on items that's based on Gavitt's Stock Exchange

Guitar Hero: You have to play various songs as an imaginary band

Exercise 2.8: 

A story within a game that has gripped me emotionally was the story of Persona 5, and that is because ultimately, the main character is basically you, you decide everything about what your character does and, in addition, the story of the game is quite relatable.  While there are fantastical elements to the story, the setting of a city and a school is quite mundane and relatable compared to going around an entire planet or universe.

GDW Ch. 4:

Main thing that engages people in a game is challenge.  However, challenge isn't just how difficult something is, it's how satisfying the game's tasks are to complete.  Challenge is usually individualized and is determined by how good a player is at the game.  Challenge is also dynamic, a player might find a task challenging at one point, but ultimately, won't find it to be challenging once they learn how the game works.  The game then has the task of trying to figure out how to remain challenging to the player.  An example is through FLOW theory.  When a person begins and activity, they have a low level of ability.  If the challenge is too difficult, player will become frustrated.  If challenge level is too low, player becomes bored.  If level of challenge remains appropriate to level of ability, person will stay at center region of flow.  Elements of Flow include...

Challenging Activity that requires skill: Flow occurs most often within activities that are "goal-directed and bounded by rules, that couldn't be done without proper skills".  If a person doesn't possess the necessary skills to do challenge, the task is meaningless.  If a person has the skills but is not assured of a particular outcome, then the task is challenging.  In order to make a game absorbing or investing to individuals, their relevant skills have to be used to deal with the challenges of the situation.  People have to become so involved that the activity they're doing practically becomes second nature.  In FLOW experiences, such as games, we know what has to be done, and immediate feedback is received upon achieving goals.  Another aspect of flow experiences is that it is mainly based upon concentration of the present.  In addition, there is also an idea that the player is both in control of the situation, and simultaneously not in control.  

When designing a game, think about:
-What skills does the target audience have?  What is their skill level?  Based on that, how can your game be balanced for players abilities.

-How can you give your players clear, focused goals, meaningful choices, and discernible feedback?

-How can you merge what a player is doing physically with what they need to be thinking about in game?

-How can you eliminate distractions and fear of failure?

-How can you make the game enjoyable as an end itself?

Play is physical, it's fun, it's an emotional stat when you have a good time.  It's technically meaningless behavior.

Play helps us learn skills and acquire knowledge, it lets us socialize, it assists us in problem solving, allows us to relax, makes us see things differently.

Four fundamental types of play:

-Competitive Play

-Chance-based play

-Make believe play

-Vertigo play

Types of players:

-Competitor

-Explorer

-Collector

-Achiever

-Joker

-Artist

-Director

-Storyteller

-Performer

-Craftsman

Premise is using traditional elements of drama to create player engagement with formal systems.  Most basic form of drama is through premise.  Premise is basically establishing the action of the game within a setting or a metaphor.  Without dramatic premise, games would be too abstract for players to become invested.

Characters are agents through whose actions a drama is told.

Key questions when writing character:

-What does character want?

-What does character need?

-What does player hope?

-What does player fear?

Story should also have an uncertain outcome.  However, the difference between the story of a book or film and the story of a game is that the resolution of a books/film's story is dependent on the author, the resolution of a game is depending on the player.

World building is the design of a fictional world that is natural as a complement to game design.  It starts off with a physical traits of a map, but can evolve into complete cultural studies of various aspects of the world (languages, myth, government, etc.)

Conflict is at heart of drama.

Exercise 4.1: 

For checkers, the game becomes engaging by being a set of rival teams in a sport.  Each team's goal is to get to the end of the other person's stage and if a player is crossed over, they are eliminated from the game.  Once a player gets as many players to the end of the board as they can, they win.  Upon playing this game with my friends and family, something I noted was that they didn't concern themselves with the character too much.  Part of the reason is because some of the people I play games with just view the game from its system mechanics as opposed to the dramatic elements.  This meant that they weren't interested in the story as a drive to win the game.  In addition, some of my family doesn't really care for sports, so the premise did not affect them.  Overall, the dramatic elements didn't change the game. whether or not this is because the people I played with inherently don't concern themselves with sports or if it's because these people are already familiar with checkers' inherent mechanics and the story doesn't ultimately change that is something I'm not sure of.  

Exercise 4.6:

1. Uncharted 2: A treasure hunter seeks out to find Marco Polo's lost treasure while fighting off a war criminal.  The premise enhances the game because, due to the simplistic premise, it allows for more expansive storytelling because the end goal is clearly defined.
2. Persona 5: A group of high-schoolers finds a connection the an alternate dimension which allows them to overwrite the minds of certain individuals.  In addition to this, these students also have to balance out their school lives.  The premise enhances the game because the game, at its core, is set in a realistic setting where every aspect of the world is set up and leads into one another.
3. Infamous: A man gets superpowers and it's his choice to decide whether or not he uses those powers for order or chaos.  The premise enhances the game because the central mechanic is based upon the narrative.
4. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time: A robot is captured and taken to a massive clock while his friend is trying to save him, however, the robot might be more important than he thought.  This premise enhances the game because it allows for two different gameplay mechanics that complement each other pretty well.
5. Uncharted 4: A retired treasure hunter and his brother seek out to find Henry Avery's lost treasure before a rich entrepreneur can.  The premise enhances the game because it gives us a purpose to seek our end goal.

Exercise 4.7:

1. Ragna the Bloodedge-Brought to life within game by giving him an almost full backstory which gives him a reason to do the actions he does within the game and gives him a core set of ideals that he doesn't waver past, although his outlook on the world changes throughout the games.  What allows me to identify with him is how much he has to struggle in the games.  Almost none of the things he wants to achieve come to him easily.  He always has to work exceptionally hard to achieve his next goal but he always perseveres, almost to a fault, and it makes me want to support him in his endeavors.  He's a dynamic character due to the fact that each important event in the game changes how he views the world and how he makes his decisions
2. Kratos-Brought to life within the game in a similar way to Ragna in regards to backstories, however, the entire series' story is told from Kratos' perspective.  What allows me to identify with Kratos' is how he acts on impulse a lot of the time, and because of this, when he stops to think about his actions, he is abhorred and wants to correct his mistakes.  On the surface, Kratos seems flat because his mannerisms in each game (save for the 2018 game) are largely similar, however, when paying attention to the way he acts, he seems like a dynamic character.  He goes from a proud general to a vengeful and broken man that is inherently isolated by everyone and knows only one thing.
3. Vergil-Brought to life within the game by being an obstacle to the main characters, and a lot of the time, is the cause of the conflicts within the game.  He's a power-hungry man who is willing to do anything to gain more power.  I can identify with him because due to an incident in his past, he took away a different lesson than his brother, who was also involved in that incident.  This lesson shaped his outlook on the entire world and it's identifiable because it shows how singular events can shape the lives and outlook of individuals.  Probably a static character since his goals and central conflict with him largely remain the same throughout the entire story.  

Exercise 4.8: 

Uncharted 4 is a game that successfully melds its story line with its gameplay.  This game succeeds because it is centered around characters we already know and its gameplay is meant to move the plot of the story forward, as opposed to just be gaps in between stories.  The plot unfolds in a simple manner, as you get to certain points of the story, the story just progresses, you don't know what happens before the game starts, you don't even know how it ends, you just go through the story while it unfolds in front of your eyes.

GDW Chapter 8:

4 areas of investigation in digital prototypes:

-Game Mechanics

Game mechanics are basically prototyping the central way the game works and plays.  An example of digital prototyping for gameplay is seen in the work of Jonathan Blow, the creator of Braid.  He prototyped several other mechanics related to time and one question that led to an interesting prototype idea was how billiards would change if the player had pre-cognitive abilities.  Prototypes of game mechanics also help test out ideas for features that might sound unrealistic at first, but upon testing, prove to be quite useful.  Mechanics will usually involve using spreadsheets for number crunching and game logic. 

-Kinesthetics-"feel"

Kinesthetics are how game and controls feel, how responsive game interface is, etc.  Has to be prototyped digitally.  Feel of digital game is the type of controls available for use.

Aesthetics shouldn't be worried about for physical prototypes.  Sometimes, you can add aesthetics to a game's prototype, but don't let it overtake the functionality of the game's prototype.  A good way to do this is with...

Storyboards-Series of drawings of a visual sequence

Concept art-Paintings or sketches of characters and environments, exploring looks, palettes & styles for visual aesthetic.

 -Animatic mock-up of game in action

 -Interface prototype for visual interface of game

 -Audio sketches are early drafts of music and SFX that help set tone of game

-Aesthetics-"look, sound"

-Technology

-Control schemes

Know what controls are available and what you want to use, how they are typically used, and how you can make those controls your own.  Create a control table to make sure everything is accounted for.  Designing controls is iterative.

-Viewports

Overhead views: Looking down at an object from above

Side view: Used as a way to look at the game from only x and y plane.  Leaves a significant amount of cognitive effort for solving complex puzzles and other forms of play.

Isometric View: 3D space with no linear perspective.  Good at allowing "god's eye" view.

First person: puts player in character's shoes

Third person is usually behind player.

GDW Chapter 11:

You can tell if a game is fun by asking playtesters, but there are 3 other elements that engage players with the formal systems:

Challenge: 

Reaching & Exceeding Goals

Competition

Stretching Limits

Exercising Difficult Skills

Making Interesting Choices

Play:

Living out fantasies

Social Interaction

Exploration & Discovery

Collection

Stimulattion

Self-Expression & Performance

Construction/Destruction

Story: Improve player choices, have most of their decisions have meaning.  Have rewards and punishment, balance the game.