Games Stories

 Article one

In this reading the article has pointed out that we can all agree games are not movies however although yes this is technically correct I personally feel the games are movies but you can be the main character and make choices. 

Video

I fell for the trick like explained in the video that the creators give you a sense of freedom when it says “___ will remember that” or “These actions will have consequences” although as I started age developing before this module I have been introduced to the reality of this. I really enjoyed this weeks reading as I found the video to be the most favourable they mentioned one of my favourite games “The Walking Dead” and they confirmed what I have been figuring out with the trick statement in the above.

Week 9 Reading and Writing

For this week we have to reflect on our readings and overall I do find the readings to be helpful at times for example my favourite reading is the YouTube video for week 6. It helped me construct my own Game Design Document and it was really well explained however the written articles are not my strongest suit as the authors commonly use difficult to understand language. I found the Games MDA article to be the most difficult to process and to this day I have no clear understanding of this concept. I would rate the readings to be a four or five out of ten as it wasn't all unclear as I did find useful work strategies that I will frequently use. I am getting good ideas for my own writing and project after analysing the best best reading segments.

Looking back at the tutorials I feel like some are necessary but most of them if not nearly all of them took up a lot of my time every week and this sabotaged my progress in this module and other modules. I wouldn’t say the reading helps me every week with my game but it does at times. Unity tutorials help me with my game project every week more than the readings. I have made a strategy for my future self as I write my readings and this consists of me saying what I learned, what I found difficult and what I found to be useful for the other tasks or my game. This means I can look back at this and remind myself of the information I have previously learned. I am happy with my game project although it’s a little different from what I originally envisioned but what I thought of would require more time for this kind of development. I consider my game to be my biggest accomplishment in this module. If I had to redo the readings I would spend less time trying to make lots of paragraphs for my blog as I would run out of time for the time estimate. I wouldn't absorb some of the information this way as-well.

I chose this image from my blog post from my “week 6” label on Blogger because as I mentioned before this helped my with my Game Design Document. I really enjoyed this video from the reading as it is my favourite and I am recommending it to my fellow students who chose the articles over the video and people from outside of this course that are perhaps interested in it.

Looking forward from now I would like to have more videos included in the readings just equally as much as there are articles to have a variety of options just like we do for the written articles. 

In conclusion after looking back at the readings there are pros and cons started in the above therefore I am 50:50 with the readings and how much they help me with my project and my knowledge/ skillset in this module.

Game Fun

 

The visualization of the gamification design process by Gamified UK founder Andrzej Marczewski shows how all of those elements result in the outcome of “fun” therefore you do not see this word included in the visualisation. I agree and disagree with the statement that fun cannot be a building block as what would you consider it if the developer finds fun in developing/ designing a game? I found the 4 keys to fun to be very interesting in this reading and I never considered what kind of fun my game for my project is. The "5 Groups of Fun" are similar to Nicole Lazzaros 4 Keys and personally I learned more from Nicoles 4 Keys as I found it less difficult to absorb the information.

Games Decisions

Readings

Article 1

In this article in the second attempt I learned that simplicity is key to a successful game when it comes to the features/ skills. I was already going to implement this into my own game as I am using the Roblox skills/ features. In this section the writer of this article states that you should use the skills people already know but I personally disagree because personally people like myself like a challenge and learning new skills would fulfil this. When it comes to features I will be using the Main Menu for “Play, Settings and Quit” for the buttons.I connected with the learning curve for complex Webb apps section as whenever I fail the advanced features I begin getting frustrated. I learned that you gain the knowledge and skills of using advanced options over time. You need to learn the basics and also seek help in articles or tutorials. I will do research on books like that online and buy them to grow my knowledge in Multimedia, Website Developing etc. I learned that the learning curve for the game grows faster steadily as the user obtains more information because it’s fun.

Through this article I have learned that this is called "exploratory learning".

Games GDD, Game Decision

 Reading

Article 1

A game design document is something new I have learned this week, I thought it would be a great way to communicate my ideas for my module but I have now learned it’s for memory aid too. Before reading this I questioned if I can in fact make my game design documents in various different ways and this article has answered my question especially with the embedded tweet of somebody’s game design document that is a journal. I found the design docs section to be helpful as it explains each section in detail, When I went onto the Project task for week 6 before reading this I had a difficulty understanding what I have to do but as I said this made it clearer and I will come back to this section if I find anymore difficulties. The rules for good design documentation made me realise I might not use Dundoc as suggested for my GDD, This section mentions “how to create design documentation superior to that used in the concurrent industry” therefore I will prioritise these rules and make them my checklist for my task. Keeping your words short is my favourite point as it showcases “less is more” and many times in my tasks I forget this and write as much as possible. Point number seven confused me as I didn’t think about including any code in my GDD as I don’t have any yet but after I finish this reading task I will look further into this point. 

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Using a Game Design Document | BenderWaffles Teaches RPG Maker Tutorial HOW TO #2 Guide VX MV MZ. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/1JopXec177w [Accessed 7 Nov. 2021].

Tutorial

From article one I learned a GDD is great for memory aid but in this tutorial the creator stated that a GDD is important because you might get "backed into a corner" and not know what to do next. I will use this template for my GDD Project task this week I find it to be the most helpful reading task this week. I wish there was a video for this reading week on abstract and derived classes for GDD because that confused me.

Games MDA

 Design, Dynamics & Experience (DDE) for Game design

I have never come across this topic therefore MDA and DDE are new things I have come across for this week’s reading. When I read the definition of MDA I thought Aesthetics would fall under Design therefore when I read it neglects design aspects then I started getting confused.

My favourite framework from this reading.

image source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Elemental-Tetrad-Adapted-from-Schell-2008-Retrieved-from_fig3_336069825

In this article I found the Elemental Tetrad to be the best framework. This diagram has the “more visible and less visible” spectrum that makes it so clear compared to the rest. 

I agree that Mechanics and Aesthetics are in fact directly connected. In my opinion they should be connected as game development should have a constant flow through all these aspects mentioned in the Tetrad. In MDA, they describe it like a ladder without steps that have “no connection”. I agree with Brian Winn in this article as MDA does focus on purely the outcome of entertainment from this framework and not the art that can go into serious games. 

I enjoyed reading this article as it showed me different pros and cons of each framework. For my project in this module I will come back to this reading and pick the suitable framework that would work for my game.

I don’t like Winn’s framework and even though it has more detail to it I feel like there it too much. Without an explanation I cannot understand this framework. I enjoyed the analogy of the car for MDA, “motor, gearbox and wheels”. It made me understand it more and for my final project I will not choose the MDA framework. DDE seems like the best option as it shows there is more to the game than just mechanics. I found this week’s reading to be the most challenging but informative.

Game Elements

 What are the qualities of games?

https://tudublin-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/shaun_ferns_tudublin_ie/EWlNUos7p8lFgRytGr80kbYBzMrZ6rnlKTegFJnnr_fSLg?e=3kRB39

Anon, (2014). The formal elements of game systems and game design atoms «The Acagamic. [online] Available at: https://acagamic.com/courses/intro-to-game-design/the-formal-systems-of-games-and-game-design-atoms/.

“Then I went on to say that completely defining the word “game” is impossible”. The person writing this definitely contradicted themselves as it is possible but no definition is perfect.

I’m not sure if calling formal elements “atoms” is correct as yes they are technically made up of atoms as we are all but we don’t go and call a desk a bunch of atoms. This is just my personal opinion though.

Players

Objectives (goals)

Rules

Resources and Resource Management

Game State

Information

Sequencing

Player Interaction

Theme (Narrative, Backstory, Setting)

Games as Systems

The Atomic Elements listed above is a good list to remember while developing a game as you can use it as a checklist. I will be doing this for my final project for Multimedia Development in my course.

I disagree with the statement that the critical analysis of a game is not how “fun” it is but how many people consider buying the game or not. Although the consumer statement is true it is also partially on how fun the game is and how fun it looks depending on every target audience.

Here I learned that when you give a critical analysis of a game or ask someone to review your game we need more Ethan “it’s fun”. The analysis has to go more into depth with detail. 

I will be coming back to this article in the future when developing a game. It’s my personal favourite the questions the article gives on critical analysis are really good once again a very useful checklist.

Game Design

Reading One Notes

There is more than on definition to gaming

The formal elements to games

Games like tic-tac-toe have their own interpretations 

When criticising a game this isn’t a bad thing- you look at the good and bad parts

The criticism might not make you happy but its important to take it into account. Criticising here means analysing. This can be good as it can bring people together because of the common interests.

People use many games to describe one game but this isn’t good as nothing everyone played the mentioned games.

Katamari Damacy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEAP-4iUirY

I have done some research on Youtube about this game and I would describe it as a family friendly tycoon simulator where you go around a city and attack items on the ball.

You can use terminology for game design but its a slower process. 

The correct definitions:

“A game has “ends and means”: an objective, an outcome, and a set of 

rules to get there. (David Parlett)”

“A game is a “voluntary effort to overcome unnecessary obstacles.””

“Games are a “form of art in which the participants, termed players, make 

decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the 

pursuit of a goal.” This definition includes a number of concepts not seen”

Wrong definition:

closed, formal system” 

I took note of all the elements as I felt it was necessary for my improvement within this module and all my future work.

This reading gives us many examples on why the above definitions were all imperfect. Logic games are different from role-playing games or choose your own adventure books.

It has to come a point where there are questions like are games a form of play? Like playing with a ball etc. and if games are stories?

The reading improved my growth mindset as it’s more open-minded now.

The purpose of this reading was not to help us physically but mentally especially with vocabulary to communicate in “a meaningful way”.

Make a game on paper or Microsoft paint. 

Relieve the stress

Ask a lot of questions to yourself while your doing this.

Conflict in games makes it interesting.

You don’t need to be a professional at programming to make a game.

Reading two notes

The ideas aren’t accidental 

Everyones views and process of research are different and affect the final idea

The gaming industry is considered new and has “higher future growth prospects”.

Competition within the industry as fewer games within the industry are profitable. 

Companies look for talented teams with atmospheres that encourage creativity.

Those are some of the core values of game design companies.

In a conference a lady has come forward and said that game companies should recruit “outside of their comfort zone”.

Even the most creative people struggle with repetition.

“the ability to generate ideas is shown to be one of the  characteristics of successful business ventures”

Lack of systemic approaches to games

“studies show that creativity training has the highest impact on originality of the ideas”

Systemic Techniques:

Brainstorming

Ideas come from other games or similar things for inspiration.

Not many studies have been done on creative processes in game design.

“game design should be seen as an organic process”

Inspiration sources:

Watching shows and movies, playing other games, reading etc.

Formal techniques do not result in truly original ideas.

“Good designers are judged on the value of their creative thoughts, not on their skills to use ideation techniques”

“game ideas work as a starting point for game production”

Reading three notes

The techniques are: 

• Concentration 
• Brainstorming
• Scamper
• Ramsey

Brainstorming: 

Statement of the Task

resources aka the amount of money, the number of team members etc.

Generation of Ideas

Grouping and Selection

Scamper

Methods

Substitute

Combine

Adapt

 

Modify

Put/ apply

Eliminate

Reverse

The Ramsey method

if you want to become a high-class specialist:

Remember: Ramsey wrote a theory that, if you take a significant amount of information and start looking at it closely and manically, you can find new information or find inconspicuous links. This explains why people with various psychological disorders, like paranoia and schizophrenia, can see evidence everywhere of their rightness and their theories. This theory can also be used in the opposite direction, creating previously unobtrusive concepts at first glance. The essence of this method is that you collect the maximum amount of information on the topic that you need to assemble the games. And then you start to study this data, looking for hidden connotations and imperceptible connections in it until the concept of the game is collected from these pieces. The effectiveness of this method depends only on two factors: the amount of information received and the effort spent studying this information.

Personal Links from my interests:

Article one: https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/game-elements/

What I like about this article it it basically breaks down with given readings have talked about in less and more easy to understand words. 

I like how this article also includes "fun" into this list as the readings were more formal and never mentioned this. 

Article two: https://unity.com/how-to/beginner/10-game-design-tips-new-developers

We are currently using Unity as one of our tools for this module and I stumbled upon this section within their website. They included something the readings did not: Design with users in mind, look for viral quality etc. I will go back to this article with my future work.

Article 3: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcgt/2015/549684/

I found this article interesting because they have mentioned a GBL design model. All the other articles and readings didn't mention this and I found this quite useful.