Notes for Formal Abstract Design Tools week 3

Formal Abstract design Tools – Doug Church

“What is a modern computer game made of? It fuses a technical base with a vision for the player’s experience. All of the disciplines involved (design, art, audio, levels, code, and so on) work together to achieve this synthesis.”

“The technical base on which games stand (game code and content creation tools) is evolving”

“Across all genres and companies, we build on our own and others’ past ideas to expand technical limits, learn new techniques and explore possibilities”

“No single company or team would be where it is now had it been forced to work in a vacuum”

Design is “the least understood aspect of computer game creation. It actualizes the vision, putting art, code, levels and sound together into what player’s experience”

“Design is the game; without it you would have a CD full of data, but no experience”

“We need a shared language of game design”

“A precise vocabulary would improve our understanding of and facility with game creation.”

“Design is hard to point at directly on a screen”

“Formal Abstract Design Tools” (FADT) is an attempt to create a frame work for an all around critical vocabulary for games design as a whole and not just a single project.

“Using the right tools will help get the shape you want, the strength you need, and the right style”

“You, the designer, wield the tools o make what you want, don’t let them run the show”

Mario 64

“Players are given a small, simple set of controls, which work at all times. Simple though the controls are, they are very expressive, allowing rich interaction through simple movement and a small selection of jumping moves”

While playing through levels like Mario 64, the player is introduced and shown the world of the game, how it works and given insight and a sort of demonstration of the game world. As well as this the player is also shown different aspects of the game of which they cannot interact with yet for example a power up box, item etc under water but no way of getting there, until later on when the player has acquired the Metal Mario power up which allows them to walk under water, so the player can then travel back and go through the level again and get the power up box, item etc with the full knowledge of how the game works via simple movement controls. “It’s easy for the players to plan for action”

“They have been presented (usually implicitly) with knowledge of how the world works, how they can move and interact with it, and what obstacle they must overcome. Then, often subconsciously, they evolve a plan for getting to where they want to go. While playing, players make thousands of these little plans, some of which work and some of which don't. The key is that when the plan doesn't succeed, players understand why. The world is so consistent that it's immediately obvious why a plan didn't work”

“No one who plays Mario complains that they want to hollow out a cave and make a fire and cook fish, but cannot. The world is very simple and consistent. If something exists in the world, you can use it.” Everything has its specific purpose.

Goals and control are needed with games so that the player knows what they want and how to get it.

First FADT (Formal Abstract Design Tool) – Intention – “making an implementable plan of one’s own creation in response to the current situation in the game world and one’s understanding of the game play options”

“The simplicity and solidity of Mario’s world makes players feel more connected to, or responsible for, their actions.”

Second FADT – Perceivable consequence – “a clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player” Basically every action in the game has a reaction in the game world and to the player and the player must be able to figure out how to solve the problems they face with the actions and reactions within the game world.

“Perceived consequence is often used in RPG’s usually with plot or character development. A plot event will happen, in which the game (through characters or narration) essentially comes out and says “because of x, y has happened””

“Often, however, RPG’s are less direct about consequences. For example, the player may decide to stay the night at an inn, and the next morning he may be ambushed.... That causality is not perceivable by the player. While it may be an actual consequence to the player it appears random” i.e. it may be due to something the character did or the quantity of times he has stayed at the inn but to the player it appears random because they were not shown this.

Sometimes the player is forced into a decision due to an in game point created by the designers where they can chose either x or y and both have different consequences that the player has no control over unless they know the result of the decision before they make it i.e. through forums or they are told by a mystical helper.

"You had no way of knowing, but doing thing X results in horrible thing Z." 

When making perceivable consequences the player must not become frustrated like Mario

Third FADT – story – “Story really refers to any narrative thread that is continued throughout the game”

Stories are in all games, meaning all games have a path of which the player can follow either with them making a choice giving a different ending or following a set plan from the designer meaning the player has less control which is risking the player becoming bored

Definition of story - “The narrative thread, whether designer-driven or player-driven, that binds events together and drives the player forward toward completion of the game.”

“The more we as designers want to cause particular situations, the less control we can afford to give players.          “                   

“Tools must be chosen to fit the task... you cannot simply add more of each tool and expect the game to work”

“With a bit of a stretch, one can say that sports and fighting games actually mix all three of the tools into one.”

With every action there is an equal reaction.

“In either case, neither the fighter approach nor the sports simulation approach to story and intention is right or wrong. Each elicits a different set of reactions from the player. As a designer, you must understand the ramifications of tool usage if you're going to create the experience you intend.”

“Tools as a vocabulary for analysis present a way to focus on what player experience the designer wishes to create. In this high-level introduction to FADT, I have focused on intention and perceived consequence, with less attention to story. (And what story is mentioned is slanted toward the player-driven.) This is not because these are the only tools or even the best tools.”

“Our most important tools are the ones that involve and empower players to make their own decisions. That is something that allows each player to explore him or herself, which is something our medium is uniquely equipped to do.”

“FADT offers a potential framework for moving the design discussion forward”

 I hope that hits blog entry wasn’t too boring I know that these are just notes but hopefully they have answered the questions that have been asked of me, soon I will upload my drafts of my individual project of my own game, bear with me readers please.

Dan out x

p.s. my apologies for the random font sizes but i have imported this from word and it has decided to add random fonts and sizes and not complete the ends of lines where it should and i have already written this out twice and to be honest i do not fancy doing it again, sorry.