Game studio ｜Exercise
Application Design II | B' in Creative Media
03.04.2023 -28.6.2023 (Week 14 -Week 1)
LECTURES
Week 1
Week 1
In class, Ms. Anis explained in detail the task requirements for the entire semester, including group tasks and individual tasks. For group tasks, we need to collaborate on a tabletop game.
In addition, Anis also introduced us to different types of games, including role-playing games, strategy games, action games, and so on. Each of these game genres has its own unique characteristics and gameplay that allow us to better understand the fundamentals and technical points of game design. Anis's explanation gave us a more comprehensive understanding of game development.
Week 2
INSTRUCTIONS
Lecture
Week 1 - # Introduction to Game Research
The modules are mainly briefed on, including subject syllabus and expectations, learning and assignment objectives, student responsibilities and assignments, and assessment methods throughout the semester. The week's focus is to give us an understanding of the content and objectives of the modules, clarity on study and assignment requirements, and an understanding of assessment methods throughout the semester.
Why do people play games?
Celebrations
Games are played to celebrate special moments of the year, such as harvests, victories in battles, homages to gods, and cultural festivals. These celebrations make people feel joy and contentment, emphasizing the importance of specific events.
Distractions and escapism
Playing games can bring feelings of optimism and hope, helping people distract and escape from the stress and distress of reality. Games provide opportunities for entertainment and pleasure, allowing people to forget about real-life problems for a while.
Strategy & Education
Games were one of the earliest forms of simulation, replacing real combat with strategy games. These games have educational value and develop strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills, and convey religious and philosophical ideas.
Week 2 - # Game principles , framework + fun experience
Game Direction and Purpose 2 Schools of Thought
- Ludology - Competitive Games/Challenges
Ludology refers to the game field where competitive games or challenges are the core, focusing on the rules, mechanics, strategy, and competitiveness of the game. In this type of game, players usually need to reach their goal by solving puzzles, completing missions, or defeating opponents.
- Narratology - Story-Driven Games
Refers to story-driven games that focus on the storyline, character development, and emotional experience in the game. In this type of game, players take on specific roles that advance the game by participating in the storyline and making choices.
Ludology - The essence of the game
Pursuit of Victory: The core goal of competitive games is to achieve victory.
Attainment of achievements: Competitive games bring a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Learning and understanding: By playing the game, players can learn and understand the rules, and tactics.
Explore Survival: Competitive games encourage players to survive.
Emphasis on rule challenges: Competitive games do not rely on complex storytelling.
What is narratology?
Narrative games are a genre of games that focus on storytelling.
Specific principles of gameplay to keep in mind during the design process /
Gaming and challenge experiences
- Rewards and achievements
- Rebellious behavior
- Multi-sensory experience
motivation
- A sense of engagement
- allure
- Replayability
- Social interaction
Week 3 - #Self-study courses
Week 4 -#Three-dimensional space since the early 1990s
With the advancement of audiovisual technology, the focus on game visuals has increased, and games have begun to adopt three-dimensional technology. Modern digital games often require real-time synthesis of three-dimensional images, which is closely related to the increase in computing power and available memory. Beginning in the 1990s, home computing devices with real-time 3D graphics became widely used in gaming.
Tomb Raider, also known as Lara Croft, is an action-adventure video game series that originated with the British game company Core Design and was very popular between 2001 and 2008. As technology has advanced, character design has changed. Here are the trends in character design:
- Original Design (1996-1999): Lara Croft features her signature tights, double-held gun, and long braids, with a prominent figure and a strong sexy image.
- Updated Design (2001-2008): As the technology evolved, game production companies updated the look of Lara Croft. Her appearance is more realistic and well-proportioned, the details of her costumes are more detailed, and the characters become more realistic and realistic.
Exercise 1 - My personal gaming history
About “Aobi Island”
Type: Virtual Community
Content： Aobi Island is an online game community website for children with Aobi (bear) as the theme character.
Release time: 25 September 2008
Development Company: Chinese Mainland - Guangzhou Baitian Information Technology
Background: Aobi Island is a mysterious island with a group of Aobi Island residents who are a friendly, fun, talented group of people who love to explore, build, make friends, and participate in various activities on this small island.
Gameplay: The game is mainly divided into exploration, socialization, and house decoration. In the exploration mode, players can explore various places on the island and discover treasures and beautiful things.
Game experience
The online time limit of Obi Island is 2 hours, and the game will be closed after 8:00 pm. This setting really makes my parents feel more at ease and let me play the game. When I was a child, I also liked to play Obi Island within the specified time. It made my child who had no self-control restraint.
In the game, I can elaborately dress up my character, which is one of my favorite features. I can choose different clothes, hairstyles, decorations, and accessories to make my character unique. Every time I get dressed up, I always feel satisfied and excited, allowing me to express my aesthetic in the game.
In addition, Obi Island also has a feature that I like very much, that is, it can raise elves. I can feed it, play with it, and even let it accompany me on adventures, which makes me feel very responsible and accomplished. Every time I come home from school, I always check on my elf first to make sure it is healthy and happy.
In short, Obi Island not only provides a variety of rich social, construction, and entertainment functions but also makes me feel a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. It is part of my childhood and one of my most cherished memories.
Content presentation
Presentation videos
Exercise 2 - what makes“this game playful”
Now that you have a lot of fun in your memory, choose one of your favorite games. The one that makes you a big fan and plays it again and again. Based on the Playful Iterative Design framework, review the components of a game – design, gameplay, and analysis – how they fit together to create an interesting experience for this particular game. These findings are most likely to strengthen and improve your current gaming ideas. Present your findings as a video demo and upload it to YouTube (set to private) for submission.
Interesting iterative design framework
By using the framework below and analyzing the selected game Fruit Ninja, I was able to understand the game mechanics, the player's possible emotions/behaviors, and the motivations gained after playing the game.
Exploration
When I received the assignment, I started to spend time thinking about which type of video game would best suit the specific task we were going to explore, and how to fit our ideas into it smartly. Since our goal is to combine the concepts of Monopoly and the Malaysian Dream to create a Taylor version of the game, I tend to choose Plants vs. Zombies as the theme for this exercise.
I chose Plants vs. Zombies because it has some similarities to our idea. First of all, Plants vs. Zombies is a resource management game where players need to effectively use limited resources to build plant defenses against zombie invasions. This echoes the concept that players in the Monopoly game need to manage assets, investments, and earnings.
Secondly, Plants vs. Zombies is a level-breaking game where players need to go through a series of challenges to achieve victory. This is in line with the idea of the Malaysian Dream, which encourages people to overcome various difficulties and challenges to achieve their dreams.
I started reviewing them in the slide below
Exercise 3: Re-mediating the non-digital?
Task
Identify non-digital games that have been converted to digital versions.
Discuss
- Brief description of gameplay
- Similarities and differences in game dimensions (real-life vs. on-screen): Hint! Choose a game with real-time or turn-based action; Describe its core game mechanics and explain how players temporarily experience them in two game dimensions.
- Pros and cons of 3D: Tips! Find a game that has appeared in both 2D and 3D versions; Compare and give reasons why 3D is beneficial in the game.
Present your findings as a video demo and upload it to YouTube (set to private) for submission.
I want to choose Monopoly, which is very close to what our group is about.
Brief differences between Monopoly digital and non-digital editions:
- Physical components vs. virtual interface: Non-digital versions of Monopoly include physical components such as physical maps, game characters, and houses, while digital versions present game elements such as images, sounds, and text through a virtual interface.
- Real-time interaction vs. turn-based: Non-digital versions of Monopoly are often turn-based, with players taking action in turn. The digital version can provide a real-time mode, allowing multiple players to operate and interact in real-time.
- Visual and sound effects: The digital version of Monopoly can provide a more realistic and vivid gaming experience with graphics and sound effects, including animation effects, music, special effects, and more.
- Multi-platform vs. online features: Digital versions of Monopoly can often play on multiple platforms, such as computers, mobile phones, or consoles, and offer online features that allow players to play or cooperate with other players online.
- Game Content Updates and Expansions: Digital Monopoly can expand game content by updating and downloading content, such as adding new maps, characters, or rules, to keep the game fresh and diverse.
Overall, the digital version of Monopoly offers players more convenience and entertainment options through virtual interfaces, real-time interactions, audiovisual effects, and online features, and can continue to deliver new gaming experiences through updates and expansions. The non-digital version is more traditional, with physical components and turn-based gameplay for a unique gaming experience.
Content presentation
Exercise 4 - World evolution in "This Game"
Task description
Identify video game series or franchises that revolve around the same world (ie: The Sims, God of War, Civilization, Guild Wars, Super Mario Bros.) and discuss how each iteration of the game affects the evolution of the world.
- A brief description of the selected game
- Similarities and differences in world architecture throughout the series/series, Prompt! Choose a game that revolves around the same world and lore. From here you can easily track the evolution of the world as the game progresses throughout the series/franchise.
Present your findings as a video demo and upload it to YouTube (set to private) for submission.
I chose Animal Crossing, and wanted to do the evolution of the Animal Crossings and Animal Crossing series, which accompanied me during the time when I couldn't go out during the pandemic.
《Assemble! Animal Crossing》
is a life simulation game in which players take on the role of a character who participates in the "Uninhabited Island Relocation Program" launched by Nook Inc. and intends to start a new life. At the beginning of the game, players will set the character's name, birthday and appearance, and choose the island to move to in 4 islands in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Jordan Biordi of CGMagazine mentions that being able to chat with villagers and exchange gifts can make players feel like part of the village, not just completing tasks. 4Players says the game is a bit boring, but judging by the captivating map design, cute details, and regular events, it's incredible what happened there
Presentation videos
Reflection
Through the four exercises provided to reflect on my adventure experience, I found this journey to be both enjoyable and challenging. As someone who is not an avid gamer, I needed to put in extra effort to research and familiarize myself with various video games in order to brainstorm ideas for the games I had played before and select suitable ones for each exercise.
During this process, I realized that game creators must consider various factors when building a game, and I felt fortunate to have been able to overcome the difficulties and successfully complete the tasks. These factors include motivating player engagement, technical requirements, designing error-free rules, exquisite visual design, and compelling background stories. However, I also became aware that there are many games released in the past that are widely regarded as "bad games." These games not only have shortcomings in certain aspects but also fail to provide a comfortable gameplay experience.
Based on these experiences, I strongly believe that when creating games, we need to consider how to develop engaging experiences through extensive game testing. This means conducting tests at various stages of game development to ensure playability and smoothness. Only through continuous feedback and iteration can we create games that satisfy players. Additionally, I also realized that player feedback is crucial to the success of a game, so establishing positive channels of communication with players after the game's release is essential.
In conclusion, reflecting on my adventure experience has made me deeply aware of the complexity and challenges of game development. By putting in extra effort and prioritizing all aspects of player experience, I believe our team can create enjoyable and entertaining game works.
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