Homework and notes for the Oct. 2, 2008 class

Hey guys,

I spoke with Rafael Vargas earlier this week and he committed to doing his lecture in late November, so we can look forward to hearing from him at the end of the semester.

With that being the case, we will press on in our studies this week and begin discussing the actual process of creating games.

First of all, here's the homework:

Journal Prompt: Spatial Discussion: Play a "sandbox" game and a linear game (come to me if you need examples.) Give a brief summary and/or description of each and describe the spaces within each game. Detail the experience of playing through either type of game and discuss the opportunities and spatial descriptors available to the player in each.

EXTRA CREDIT (in addition to the other prompt): Flip-flop: Describe a game that you have played or read about and give a detailed description of its core mechanic and basic rules. Then, with that description, write a different story for the game utilizing the exact opposite atmosphere (ex: bloody sci-fi epic becomes a Barbie-esque fantasy world) than it had before, but maintaining the exact same core mechanic and gameplay style/rules.

1. Core Mechanic - The most basic element of a game. It is the thing that a gamer does over and over again. Many game designers refer to designing games from a core mechanic as "designing by verb", since designers often begin from a single action.

2. Core mechanics can become analogous of analyzing the actual uses of architectural spaces then building the spaces of the building to be forms or "rules" that are expressive of that "core mechanic."

3. Rules - A set of guidelines that control the behavior of players within a game and restrict the actions and movements that the players may take. There are 3 types of rules

• Operational - The written "rules of play" of a game. these are the guidelines that control player behavior and describe explicit player actions.
• Constituative - The mathematical logic that exists "under the hood" of games. They contain the logic of the game but do not describe how the players should interact with this logic.
• Implicit - The "unwritten rules" of a game. Includes etiquette and behavior that goes unstated when a game is played.
  

4. A game's rules are not the strategies that players create. Strategies are series of moves created by the player from the possible movements they can make within the game's rule system. They are developed for the purpose of gaining an advantage.

5. A games rules are also not the artwork, atmosphere, or any other narrative element that is part of the game's identity. Case in point: Super 3D Noah's Ark is a religious-themed game created by adding new artwork to the Wolfenstein 3D source code.

6. Digital games utilize programming code to assign behaviors to objects such as building parts and furniture that make them act like their real-world counterparts and limit player movement. This means that the rules of digital games are, for our purposes, structures and space.

7. Architecture is expressed in different ways through various types of games.

8. Classical gamespaces can inform the way we look at the gamespaces we create and serve as precedents for how we lay out spatial sequences.

• Labyrinth - An elaborate structure that consists of a single winding path leading to a final stopping point, usually found in the center of the labyrinth. Consisting of only a single path, it is not difficult to navigate.
• Maze - A tour puzzle featuring a complex branching passage that the occupant must navigate to find an exit or end condition. Often purposely confusing to navigate since they offer choices which can result in the occupant finding dead ends.
• Rhizome - A structure in which every point is interconnected with every other point. The internet is described as such a space, since it is a place where any information is accessible at any given time. Has no real-world counterpart.

9. Sandbox - Games in which the action takes place in a large open world that a player is free to explore at their leasure. The player can take on different tasks and missions based on characters they interact with and odd jobs they can procure in a non-linear fashion.

10. Linear game - A game that presents players with a prescribed set of actions or gamespaces in a sequence that they must work through.

11. Sandbox games, often portrayed as urban spaces, utilize many of Kevin Lynch's principles to help a player create a cognitive map of a place and orient themselves.

12. Different qualities of spaces can help stage different events:

• Cramped space - Space where an occupant feels claustrophobic and unable to act. This often makes a person feel like they cannot defend themselves. In games this is used for intense shoot-outs or places where the player is to feel cornered (the Morph Ball in Metroid)
• Intimate space - A space that allows an occupant access to every part of their surroundings. This sort of space is the ideal "refuge" space. This type of space makes occupants feel that they are in control of their surroundings. This is used often in games to create the players "home base" or the first level.
• Prospect space - A wide open space where occupants feel exposed and in the view of danger. This is used in games to create cinematic boss battles or large-scale conflicts.
  

13. In games, winning often means mastering the rules of the game. Winning in digital gamespaces and architectural spaces often translates into mastering the space, as demonstrated by various sequences from the movie, Tron.