Essential Elements of Games and Video Games: Rules, Goals, and Play

1. L L Line CSE 420 Computer Games Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

2. Objectives • Know the essential elements of a game—rules, goals, play, and pretending—and what they do in the context of playing games • Know the formal definition of a game • Understand the nature of challenges and actions, as well as the formal definition of gameplay Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

3. Objectives (Cont.) • Become familiar with the concepts of symmetry and asymmetry, fairness, and competition and cooperation • Learn the various benefits that computers bring to games • Become familiar with the ways in which video games entertain people Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

4. Objectives (Cont.) • Understand the player-centric approach to game design • Know how the core mechanics and the user interface work together to create gameplay • Explain how gameplay modes and shell menus make up the structure of a game • Recognize the three stages of game design and describe the design work in each stage Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

5. Objectives (Cont.) • Know the kinds of jobs required on a design team • Know the kinds of documents that a game designer is likely to need and what they are for • Know the qualities required of a good game designer Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

6. Objectives (Cont.) • Take a game idea and add the necessary material to make it into a design concept • Define the player’s role or roles in the game • Know the different genres of games and think about which one your game may belong to Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

7. Objectives (Cont.) • Know how to choose a target audience and understand the special considerations associated with designing for specialized markets • Plan the progress of your game • Understand the differences among the kinds of game machines and how these differences affect the way people play on them Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

8. What Is a Game? • Toys do not have rules or goals • Puzzles have goals • Games have rules and goals Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

9. What Is a Game? (Cont.) • A game must include • Play activity • Pretended reality • A nontrivial goal • Rules Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

10. Essential Elements of a Game • Play • Play requires participation • Making different choices while playing the game a second time affects the results • Pretending • Creates an artificial reality known as the magic circle • Artificial importance is assigned to events within the magic circle • To leave the magic circle, stop playing the game Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

11. Essential Elements of a Game(Cont.) • Goal • Every game must have a nontrivial goal or object • The rules define the goal • The game designer sets the rules, thus defining the object of the game • The player must overcome one or more challengesto achieve the goal • The goal is often a victory condition, but victory or defeat is not required in all games Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

12. Essential Elements of a Game(Cont.) • Rules • Rules are definitions and instructions that players accept for the game • Rules define the actions the players may select that will help them achieve the object of the game • Game designers must make the rules understandable to the player Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

13. Things That a Game Is Not • A game does not have to include • Competition • Conflict • Entertainment • Fun • These are qualities of some games, but not essential to the definition • Serious games are not necessarily made for entertainment or fun Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

14. Gameplay • The player must overcome a nontrivial challenge • Challenges require mental or physical effort • A challenge can be composed of several smaller challenges • Challenges can be required to reach the goal or optional to add game content Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

15. Gameplay (Cont.) • The rules determine what actions are available to the player(s) • Different actions may be • Permitted by the rules, or • Required by the rules, or • Prohibited by the rules • Video games permit only actions that are programmed into the game Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

16. Gameplay (Cont.) • Gameplay therefore consists of: • The challenges that a player must face to arrive at the object of the game, and • The actions that the player is permitted to take to address those challenges plus other possible actions that are enjoyable Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

17. Fairness • Players expect that the rules will guarantee that the game is fair • Fairness is not an essential element of a game, but a quality of good games • Players often change rules of a game if they perceive it as unfair • Fairness is particularly important in video games because video games seldom allow rule changes Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

18. Symmetry and Asymmetry • In a symmetric game, all players use the same rules to accomplish the same goal • In an asymmetric game, different players follow different rules to accomplish different goals Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

19. Competition and Cooperation • When players compete, they try to accomplish mutually exclusive goals • When players cooperate, they work together to accomplish goals that are the same or similar • Competition modes are ways to build cooperation and competition into games Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

20. Hiding the Rules • Video games do not require written rules • The game enforces the rules • The player can’t change the rules • Provide adequate clues for players to overcome a challenge • Using trial and error to overcome a challenge frustrates many players Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

21. Setting the Pace • The software determines the speed of the events in a game • The player can’t affect the speed of the game unless the software has to wait for player input • The computer allows for modulation of the pace, so players can rest between periods of intense activity Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

22. Presenting a Game World • To present a game world, video games can use • Pictures • Animation • Movies • Music • Dialog • Sound effects • Text and subtitles Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

23. Artificial Intelligence • Today, artificial intelligence is used for • Strategy • Pathfinding • Simulating the behavior of people and creatures • As artificial intelligence advances, games will add more uses for it • Natural language parsing • Natural language generation • Pattern recognition Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

24. Aesthetics • All game elements should be high in quality and present a harmonious look and feel • The look includes the quality and appearance of the graphics, movie clips, animation, buttons, and fonts • The feel includes the music, dialog, user interface, and objectives • Harmony is the feeling that all game elements are part of a coherent whole Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

25. Storytelling • Most games incorporate some kind of story • Video games can mix storylike and gamelike entertainment almost seamlessly • They can make player feel he is inside a story and affecting flow of events • This is one reason why video games are considered a new medium Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

26. Risks and Rewards • Risk is created by uncertainty • If the player overcomes the risk, a reward should be given • The size of the reward should match the size of the risk Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

27. Novelty and Learning • Video games can offer more variety and content than any traditional game • Novelty alone is not enough to sustain player interest, however • People enjoy learning when it takes place in an enjoyable context or provides useful mastery • Games should supply both enjoyable context and useful mastery Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

28. Creative and Expressive Play • People love to select, design, and customize • This activity can have a direct effect on gameplay • As video games reach a wider audience, creative and expressive play become increasingly important Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

29. Immersion • Immersed players lose track of the real world outside the game • Immersion can be • Tactical—the sense of being “in the groove” • Strategic—observing, calculating, planning • Narrative—the feeling of being inside a story Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

30. Socializing • Most traditional games are played with other people, making it a social activity • Several methods allow people to play video games together • Multiplayer local • Networked play (multiplayer distributed) • LAN parties • Group play Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

31. Art, Engineering, or Craft? • Game design is not purely an art nor an act of pure engineering • Game design is a craft • It includes both creative and functional elements • It can be learned Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

32. The Player-Centric Approach • Player-centric game design is a philosophy of design in which the designer envisions a representative player • Two duties in player-centric design: • Entertain the representative player • Empathize with the representative player • You are not the representative player • You are not the player’s opponent Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

33. Other Motivations That Influence Design • Market-driven games • Games trying to appeal to the maximum number of people, regardless of implications for harmony • Designer-driven games • Designer retains all creative control, usually to the detriment of the game • Games for a specific license • Content must fit into an existing world • Limits creativity, but often very lucrative Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

34. Other Motivations That Influence Design (Cont.) • Technology-driven games • Games built to show off the hardware running the game • Art-driven games • Games built to show off the artwork • Games are visually innovative but seldom good otherwise; comparatively rare Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

35. Integrating for Entertainment • Integrating characteristics to entertain players requires designer to • Have a specific vision • Consider the audience’s preferences • Understand licensing benefits and exploit them to the game’s best advantage • Understand the capabilities of the technology • Consider aesthetic style Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

36. Core Mechanics • Core mechanics generate the gameplay • Define the challenges • Define the actions • Define the player’s effect on the game world • Core mechanics determine how realistic the game world seems to the player • Realism is a continuum between abstract and representational Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

37. User Interface • Mediates between the core mechanics and the player • Interprets player’s mouse clicks or button presses • Displays the result of the player’s input • Can also be called the presentation layer • Presents the game world to the player • Includes artwork and audio effects Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

38. User Interface(Cont.) • Interaction model • Identifies the way in which the player acts upon the game world; common models include: • Avatar-based—through a character in the world • Multipresent—the player can act on many places at once • Camera model • Viewpoint of the virtual camera, and its behavior • Simple models are called perspectives. First- and third-person are common perspectives. Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

39. The Structure of a Video Game • Structure is composed of • Gameplay modes • Shell menus Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

40. Gameplay Modes • Gameplay modes consist of the available gameplay and user interface at a specific time • Not all actions are available at all times • Available user interface choices should be related to the current actions • A game is in exactly one gameplay mode at a time. • It can move to another mode as necessary Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

41. The Gameplay Mode Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

42. Shell Menus and Screens • Shell menus are used when the player is NOT in a gameplay mode • The player can’t affect the game world • The player can save or load a game, adjust the hardware, etc. Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

43. Forming the Structure • Gameplay modes + shell menus = structure • The game switches between gameplay modes as required: • In response to specific player requests • In response to events in the game Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

44. Stages of the Design Process • Concept stage • Elaboration stage • Tuning stage • Note that these are purely stages of design, not of development; development includes many more factors • “Pre-production” and “production” are development stages that overlap the design stages Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

45. Concept Stage • During the concept stage, you • Define the fundamental game concept, including the game’s genre • Define an audience • Determine the player’s role in the game • Think about how to fulfill the player’s dream • Concept should not change after this stage Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

46. Define the primary game mode Design the protagonist Define the game world Design the core mechanics Create additional modes Create the first playable level Write the story Build, test, and iterate Elaboration Stage • During this stage, you Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

47. Tuning Stage • You enter the tuning stage at the point when the entire design is locked and no more features may be added to the game • During the tuning stage, the design team makes small adjustments to levels and core mechanics • Polishing is a subtractive process—removing imperfections Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

48. Game Design Teams • A game design team may include • Lead Designer • Game Designers • Level Designers • User Interface Designers • Writers • Art Director • Audio Director Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

49. Documenting the Design • Design documents are used • To communicate your ideas clearly to other team members • As sales tools • As design tools • To record the decisions made • The process of writing a document can turn a vague idea into an explicit plan Lecture #1 Games and Video Games

50. Types of Design Documents • High concept document • Tool to sell your game concept • Two to four pages • Game treatment document • Sales tool with more detail than the high concept document • Summary of the basic game design Lecture #1 Games and Video Games