Hey guys below are my notes from a couple of weeks back. I have taken notes on each reading we have been set and done them all on time and now I have some more time on my hands I am uploading them all in order of readings. I hope they don't bore you too much and you are learning as much as we are in our course when you are reading them.
Many thanks
"Senate" and "GO" are contenders for the oldest games known to man.
Games are becoming more and more compelling, "The game becomes a climatic struggle that builds to a satisfying conclusion"
"Drama us a desirable quality in a game" if not a necessity.
A lot of the time dram is what draws in and makes the player continue on the find the conclusion.
We must ensure great dram to create a great game.
But "We cannot craft the game dram directly"
"We cannot create dram only the circumstance from which dram will emerge."
MDA:
Mechanics: " all of the necessary pieces that we need to play the game" - primary rules
Dynamics: "behaviour of the game, the actual events and phenomena that occur as the game is played"
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"What happens when the game is played"
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Dynamics are not directly created from the rules as predicting every players moves is impossible
"A games dynamics emerge from its mechanics"
Aesthetics: Basically how the game looks and feels when playing. It's "emotional content"
"Understanding how specific game dynamics evoke specific emotional responses is one of the greatest challenges of game design"
when we play games the experience can be described as "a causal flow that starts with its mechanics, passes through dynamics, and ends with aesthetics"
Designers work opposite to what the player wants. The player wants good aesthetics but we must establish how to make the emotional responses in the aesthetics but through the mechanics, then the dynamics, before we get to the aesthetics, but we start with aesthetic goals when creating the mechanics, confusing stuff.
The dramatic arc: An aesthetic model for drama
Firstly we use a "Aesthetic model" - these models help to determine if we have achieved our aesthetic goals/ objectives, and if we are headed in the right direction.
Every aesthetic pleasure has its own aesthetics model.
Aesthetic model for drama:
- Climax
- -
- -
Conflict- - Resolution
"Visualises the dramatic arc, the rising and falling action of a well- told story."
tension is a key point in creating drama
Diagram as a mathematical model:
Dramatics tension Y axis
Narrative time X axis
"The idea that tension can increase and decrease is an important one for our diagram to have any meaning"
Dramatic tension - "level of emotional investment in the stories conflict; the sense of concern, apprehension, and urgency with which we await the story's outcome"
Drama as an Aesthetic:
Dramatic arc - "Model for stories; it's a statement about how new stories convey their emotional content, and a yard stick that we can hold up to a story to see if it succeeds or fails at being dramatic"
The dramatic arc says that well told stories should posses dramatic tension "and that over time the tension should take on a particular shape, building towards the story's climax and then dissipating"
"Dramatic arc is corner stone of our aesthetic model of drama"
Drama in games:
"We must assume that our game will be dramatic, even when we don't have direct control over the narrative, a narrative that isn't scripted in advance, but rather emerges from the events of the game."
Conflict is the key cause/ or starting point of "Drama" "Contests provide conflict" e.g. challenging players intellect, others stamina, competitions between other players, solitaire challenges for single player.
Dramatic tension consists of two factors:
Uncertainty: "The sense that the outcome of the contest is still unknown, any player could win or lose" much like an enigma in media terminology.
Inevitability: "The sense that the contest is moving forward toward resolution. the outcome is imminent"
"Neither is sufficient by itself"
Game dynamics that produce Dramatic tension:
"A games uncertainty and its inevitability are evoked by different systems and dynamics "
force - "The approach of creating dramatic tension by manipulating the state of contest itself"
"The game is close because we make it close, or at least we limit how much an advantage one player can have other another"
Illusion - "The approach of manipulating the players perceptions so that the game seems closer that it is"
Metaphorically speaking a "ticking clock is the sense of imminent resolution that gives a game its sense of momentum and forward progress" A reminder that the game is coming to its conclusion.
Feedback systems as a source of Uncertainty:
"Rules of play provides a discussion of cybernetic feedback systems, and the way in which they apply to games"
Example of feedback system found in a game:
Game state>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Scoring Function
^ |
^ |
Game mechanical bias<<<<<<<<<<<Controller
"The game state is the complete status of the game at a particular moment" - think of all of the information needed to put in a "Save game" file. For board games the game state include things like piece positions and indications of who's go/turn it is"
For FPS the game state would include - name of current level, position of all objects on that level, and players health and items.
In physical games i.e. basketball - "The state includes not only the score and time left on the clock, but the complete physical and mental state of all the athletes"
"scoring function is the sensor in the cybernetic feedback system" It creates a physical measurement to determine winner and loser and the difference between them.
Examples are lap times for racing games, high scores for FPS etc.
"The games mechanical bias is the actuator of the cybernetic feedback system. It is a rule of the game that chooses which player receives the game mechanical bias"; its decision is based on the scoring function.
for example in racing games giving the losing car a speed boos to catch up. This is an example of a negative feedback system: "the scoring function is the distance between the two racers, the speed boost is the game mechanical bias, and the controller is the rule that says the speed boost goes to the losing racer." This makes the difference in score smaller.
This means that the game competition is kept close and more of a challenge and enjoyable for both players.
Positive Feedback systems:
Another feedback system is called in the "spite mode" this is the opposite of negative feedback system and would give the advantage and game mechanical bias to the player who is leading. Spite mode makes one player who is in the lead stay in the lead and makes the score difference as large as possible. Its called a positive feedback system.
Negative feedback as a source of uncertainty:
Negative feedback systems cause dramatic uncertainty.
Positive feedback systems make the game come to a close.
Other sources of uncertainty:
Positive/Pseudo feedback: gives the appearance of a negative feedback system but no system actually exists, just gives the ILLUSION of the loser catching up, but no rule or mechanic exists for this.
Escalation:"Describes a game mechanic in which the score changes faster and faster over the course of the game, so that there are more points at stake at the end of the game than at the beginning."
Hidden energy: similar to Pseudo - feedback, but players given equal opportunities i.e. turbo but is up to the players when they chose to use it and it can give the illusion of both a negative feedback system and a positive feedback system. Much like stamina at the start of a sprint compared to stamina in a marathon.
Fog Of War:"Simulate limitations of game characters' ability to perceive and monitor the world around them"
Decelerator: "The decelerator describes an obstacle that slows the players down late in the game""Creates dramatic uncertainty by creating the illusion of a close game"
Cashing out: "Cashing out describes a game mechanic where the score of the game is reset to zero"
Source of inevitability:"The sense the contest is moving towards a conclusion" much like this blog post, happy reading
Dan out x
