Week Sixteen

What game cultures am I part of? I'm part of two major ones, I think. One is (embarrassingly) the internet petsim culture. There are hundreds of different petsims on the internet, specialising in almost every animal you could think of, as well as different aspects of care. They're normally well known for being home to a very specific kind of person – the young, idealistic, animal loving girl. This is actually quite a misconception, I memorably was having an in depth discussion with someone who apologised for disappearing during a previous conversation. It turned out the staff at his nursing home had delivered his lunch. I seriously want to end up in a nursing home with the kind of internet access this guy has.

The second would be the online text RP culture. This one is massive. There is a vast array of forums and groups, email rings and purpose built websites. The main difference between text based rather than graphics based role playing it that the you can basically do anything that you can describe with words. This is an easily abused system, and requires a good group of moderators to work effectively. The subjects cover a massive range, but most popular games, movies and fictional books will have a collection of these websites dedicated to them. Its not hard to find somewhere to go and imitate your favourite character. Its harder to find a good original concept game that holds people's attention for long enough to last, but it does happen.

These online cultures are a good way to connect with like minded people who also enjoy talking about or playing the same games that you do. Think how hard it would be to start a pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons game now, finding people who have the time or inclination to actually play. Much easier to go online and find a group to play with over the internet. Its not the same, it slower and lacks the same interaction, but at the end of the day its a much brighter alternative to not playing at all.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?toplevel=2
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?toplevel=3

Creativity - Christmas Vacation

Creativity is the driving force behind all development. Without the ideas, there can be no final outcome. Are some ideas more creative than others? Possibly. Being the first person to have a certain idea must mean that you've worked harder to come up with something original. Or are all ideas equal in effort, and are some people just lucky to have thought about how to apply them first? Creativity tests measure the uniqueness of people's ideas rather than just the number of alternatives that they can come up.

Games manifest creativity in several different ways. All of their different components will have required creativity at some point during their creation – the idea behind them must have come from somewhere. Some people think that the most creative games are the ones with an unusual idea or concept that sets them apart from the others, the more unusual the better. Art stylisation would be an example of this, or a new style of controls. Every aspect of a game shows creativity to some level, but the parts of the game that make it different from other games are the most creative – the unique ideas.

Creativity therefore would be the job of each section of a development team as a whole. A director needs to be able to see who is best at generating ideas in which area, and then assigning jobs accordingly. Any member of a production team could be creative and have a unique idea, as every member of the team would approach it from a slightly different perspective. Its up to the director to use that to the best advantage

Technical limitations can lead people to be both more and less creative. One the one hand, the limitations create problems that need to be solved, which encourages creative solutions. On the other hand the constraints could lead people to think in a certain way, which might limit the ideas that they would have. Creativity needs new perspectives, and unique ideas. The constraints of technology mean that often there is a limit on how many unique ideas could ever be implemented. Often however this leads to the creation of new technology to solve those problems, so perhaps it is encouraging further creativity after all.

Technology encourages people to be creative in different ways. The need to think of something unique and individual where it seems that almost everything has already been done by someone else makes being creative more challenging, but the end results can often be more interesting. People are encouraged to discover a new way of thinking about or approaching an idea, which leads them to expand their understanding of something or to learn something completely new.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity
http://www.aventureforth.com/2006/08/21/what-is-creativity/
http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm
http://www.surestart.gov.uk/resources/childcareworkers/inspiringcreativity/whycreativity/
http://addadhd.suite101.com/article.cfm/creativity_and_adhdfe_library.php
http://seriousgamessource.com/features/feature_063006_second_life_library.php

Week Eleven

Is gameplay something that can be designed into a game, or is it the end result of all of the other design elements? Generally the term 'gameplay' is used to refer to the whole experience of playing a game, and surely that must be the over all end result of all of the parts of a game coming together. One then must be able to influence the gameplay by designing all of those parts to fit together in a certain way, which is where it becomes important to game production.

Gameplay has been adopted by some game reviewers as another game attribute deserving of a score. Another way in which to rate a game is to give its gameplay a number on a scale. It still seems to be a fluid term, however, so how do they decide whether or not the gameplay is good or bad? Are they basing it on graphics or sounds or how easy the controls are? Because most reviews have scores for those too. So surely a gameplay score should just be the sum of all of those other numbers?

Every game that's made must be playable, or else there's no point to the game... so therefore gameplay must be the most important part of a gaming experience. It seems to be non definable, games are too different from one another for one word that describes them all to have a strict meaning. Gameplay lays at the heart of the matter, however. Without play, there is no game...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay
http://experimental-gameplay.org/
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060130/adams_01.shtml
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11137
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060330/waugh_01.shtml

Call out for Cardboard

Yup, this is a call out for carboard packaging/tubing of any kind that anyone feels nice enough to hand over. Boxes, kitchen roll tubes etc. Preferrably whole, but I am a dab hand with the trusty PVA. I'm pretty sure no one will bother, but I know I won't ask in person, so :P.

I had a stash ready, you see, for the purpose I have in mind... And then the mice picked up hay mites, and all of it found the bin pretty quickly after that. I shouldn't have packed in all in their cage to bring it home, but there was not a lot of room.

And no, hay mites aren't contagious. They don't like people, we're icky.

R.I.P Shirley

So, first day back and I already managed to make myself look stupid. How basic a mistake is it to not save something in the right format? I am going to kick myself for weeks. Add another rank in idiot.

My graphics tablet is dead and I'm about ready to claw my eyeballs out. Don't get me wrong, I love pencil. Really. But I want to paint. I have wanted to paint ever since the damn thing gave up on me before Christmas, and now its frustrating. I just can't do what I want to do with a pencil right now, and it irks. Of course, once I order the replacement I will suddenly have no urge to pick it up for weeks on end.

Let's see... Something positive... Ah, my mice now hate me ever so slightly less. Maybe. And Santa brought me some cool stuff, but no one wants the run down of my girlie girlie non gamer presents.

Oooh, and my Grandmother had the next Cornwell book already. I know, its sad to borrow from your Grandmother's library, but we are talking about the woman who possesses the largest horror movie collection I've ever seen, and asks me to keep her company at the newest sci fi and or fantasy films.

I nearly managed an anime free Christmas, a minor miracle considering I spent it with the Fiance's Japanofile parents. Then they made me sit through Death Eater twice (or tree times. Eugh.) and some other stuff that's warped into a vague blur of bright colours and panty shots. Don't get me wrong, I like some anime. I am just a fussy, fussy viewer. Mostly its the art style that gets to me, if I don't like how it looks then I'll hate having to look at it for half hour.

The nerdy TV series of choice for this holiday was... dun dun dun the second series of Battlestar Galactica. Well, the second new series or something. Its complicated, it confuses me. Still, it was a good choice. Would you believe I picked up the tip to watch it at a Christian music festival? Well, its true. And I'm glad I did. Now just to source the next one and no one will see me for three days.

Still, despite the lack of artwork it wasn't a bad three weeks... I didn't break any bones, no new members of my family disowned me and I didn't mortally offend any further members of my Fiance's family.

Pretty good going.

Task - Week Ten

Games have a big visual impact, and the first thing most people will have to judge a character with is their appearance. Often the main character/s will be the very first thing someone sees on the art on a poster or the front of the box for the game, and the way they are portrayed is the starting point of a person's opinion of or reaction to that character.

There are a lot of visual tricks to use to trigger a response in someone to a particular character. Their clothing, stance, facial expressions, the way they move and what body language they use should be planned to a specific end in a good character design. Often silhouette and good choice of colours is essential, as these often get a subconscious response that the player may not even be aware of. Certain shapes and patterns symbolise things that have been ingrained on our brains for such a long time that we are not always aware when we recognise them. These can be very helpful in very stylised games, that allow for exaggerated shapes and facial expressions.

It can often be hard to use these in heavily realistic games, as there are strict design boundaries to be followed that mirror real life. Often this calls for greater subtly of design, and less exaggeration. How far can those boundaries be pushed while still remaining intact?

While appearance and visual are important, the way they behave (if this is out of a player's control) and they way they address other characters are also key to getting the desired response. Their dialogue has to fit the image you've built for this character, otherwise he becomes completely unbelievable... or ridiculous. The character's actions in turn have to mesh with his appearance and his dialogue, otherwise he appears to be contradicting himself.

While appearance is important in games, as a largely visual kind of entertainment, all of the elements of a character have to mesh together to support each other, or one particular element will seem jarring and wrong.

http://www.designersnotebook.com/Workshop/CharacterWorkshop/characterworkshop.htm
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000720/gard_01.htm
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10216
http://gamasutra.com/features/20060324/cifaldi_01.html
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20001204/davies_01.htm

Task - Week Nine

Should a console designer concentrate on how it looks, how it feels to play, or how easy it is to use? As the size of the actual technology involved decreases, the scope for creativity for the average console designer increases. A good looking console should sell more, but if there are other problems then it will soon be all over the magazines and internet. A revolutionary console who's new technology means it looks rather 'strange' might sell more to people who've done their research and want to try it out, but its less likely to attract the eye of a passer-by looking into the shop window. Or is it?

The major drive for early development was always practicality, making the box as small as the technology of the time would allow and selling on the sheer novelty of having a game console in your home. As this becomes commonplace, there's an increasing demand for a game console that looks good in the home.

Console design, shape and colour, help to establish an identity among competition at the same level in the market. Repeated shapes or colours also tie together generations of consoles from the same developers, which often have backwards compatability. Or their own hand-held consoles (often generations worth too now.) which can sometimes be compatible with their TV based systems. The need for branding, for creating something that's instantly recognisable as being from a certain company, is important for creating a name in the marketplace.

The need to stand out, and be one ahead of competitors, often drives the development of new technologies, such as the touch screen or the first game cartridges or the wireless controller. Where once military and academic was used to develop games technology, now the games industry is offering technologies back.

New designs are made to appeal to certain audiences. For example, the controller that minimises the damage done to one's wrists while gaming is just the thing a responsible parent might buy for their gaming offspring (or themselves). Or perhaps the more health conscious gamer, or the one who already has bad wrists from many years without this wonderful device.

The look of gaming consoles and their paraphernalia will probably continue to develop to more extremes, the smaller the technology gets. After a while the main factors of consideration have, and will continue to change to things like comfort, over all 'look', convenience and easy storage.

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050523/console_timeline/
http://ps3.qj.net/The-Ergonomics-Behind-the-PS3-Controller/pg/49/aid/503
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=091
http://wii.kombo.com/article.php?artid=6355&pg=1&comments=full