Exploring Game Design

Inspiration image about discovering new things

We started this week's tasks by reading articles about defining what a game is to a more detail and in depth explanations. 

I used to define "game" as one or multiple players who works together to complete certain tasks with a set of rules that they must follow whether they win or lose. However if I put more thoughts into it, the definition gets more profound and brings me more in depth about what a game truly is.

As I read though the first article that was talking about particular definitions of what a game is depending on how much interaction they have with it. For example, the more interest they have about games the more knowledge they can share with people.

There is an interpretation from the article that I like based on a book called "Rules of Play" by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. They explained that games are a "system in which players engage in an artificial, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome" (quantifiable mean a concept of winning and losing in a game context) which is the closest definition to how I explained it earlier.

Another interpretation that still embedded in my mind is that games are a "form of art which participants, termed players, makes decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal" by Greg Costikyan. The explanation is very direct and simple yet understandable for me, as every players have different ways on how they would play the game.

Other articles that I have read explains about games in another approach. The last two articles were focusing on practical advices and methods that us students, can apply when we are going to create our first game this semester. I find them useful because before we could make our own game understanding what it truly means is not enough. It means that we also have to learn various techniques in order for us to plan and develop our game better.

Asuna from SAO gif (my favorite character💓)

In generating ideas, there are four techniques that could help us according to the articles I have read.

• Concentration
• Brainstorming
• Scamper
• Ramsey Theory

Brainstorming is one of the most effective and common techniques that can help us generates ideas. It is also a method that I use on other modules. This method could also work perfectly in groups because you share your ideas with everyone.

Concentration is also known as an effective way and doesn't require any training at all. From what I can tell, you generate ideas in the same place or location all the time, it can hold your mind from thinking new ideas. So if you try to break your daily cycle for at least once, it can change your way of generating ideas entirely.

Lastly, I have also made notes about advices that I obtained from the articles. 

the article that I read was about giving helpful recommendations for game developer beginners. The advices were straightforward and it gave me a lot of things to take notes of such as:

• Keep your first project idea simple.
• Focus on the game content not the appearance (you can do it on a later stage). 
• Think of your play-testers too. (You have to make sure that your game is functioning properly and fixed the errors before letting other people play your game).
• There is ALWAYS place for IMPROVEMENT.

 

In conclusion, there will always be different definitions about "games" because we live in a time where everything keeps evolving whether in technology or in society. Different methods and techniques will also be discovered to help more game developers create magnificent games.

Sources

1. "What is a game anyway?" by Ian Schreiber - link to an external site 
2. "So You're Going To Make A Game For The Very First Time?" by Lewis Pulisher - link to an external site
3. "Four Basic Methods for Generating Ideas" by Vasiliev Ilya - link to an external site