Game Design TheoryThe Essential Experience

Paul Taylor 2010

Today’s Working Example

• Today we are focusing on a game about broken toasters

http://media.techeblog.com/elephant//ul/5172-450x-toasty_8.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VyRC4c-_u4A/R-FPY0P6D0I/AAAAAAAADFg/pCQXLDET2co/s400/10491.jpg

Why are we designing games?

http://bokardo.com/images/comics/content-or-design.gif

The Essential Experience

We are trying to create an experience

A game is simply our tool

An environment to allow players an experience

Creating the Experience

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/06/experience_map.html

How does one create an experience?

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/experience22.jpg

http://ih2.redbubble.net/work.2261257.3.flat,550x550,075,f.blue-storm-newport-the-hdr-experience.jpg

Separating Design and Development

http://www.gogaminggiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/manhunt-2-axe.jpg

What is Design?

The Oxford Dictionary:“a plan or drawing produced to show the look

and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is made”

Prototyping

The Oxford Dictionary:“a first or preliminary version of a device or

vehicle from which other forms are developed“

“the first, original, or typical form of something; an archetype”

Development

• The process of creating the actual artefacts

• In our world, it’s mostly art and programming

Breaking down the Game

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/files/crash_game.jpg

Creating an Experience

• This is the overall semester goal• You understand how difficult games and play

are to define?• Now we need some approaches to

considering game design piecewise

Dissecting a Game

• What do you do when multiple designers are to work on a game?

• So how do we divide and conquer?

• According to Schell....

The four basic elements of a game

Mechanics Aesthetics

Story (when used) Technology

*Stolen from TAOGD

What do we need for an realistic first person shooter game?

Mechanics Aesthetics

Story (when used) Technology

*Stolen from TAOGD

Doom

• The original ‘mass murder simulator’ by Dave Grossman, the leader of the Killology Research Group (http://www.killology.com/)

• See http://www.defunctgames.com/shows.php?id=bonuslevels-81 for a good laugh

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Doom_gibs.png

Context and Form

Paul Taylor 2010

Christopher Alexander

• Architect• Wrote ‘Notes on the Synthesis of Form’ 1964– A building architecture book which has been

influential computer scientists since• His approach to architecture design involved

two simple components, context and form...

Context

• This is the framework in which one is attempting to design

Form

• This is the mouldable content which interfaces with the context

• The Form is the only editable part of the whole

Context and Form

• Solutions should always be a form which fits within a context

• Alexander insists that a designer must consider many different forms and contexts to arrive at the best solution

Applying Form and Context to Design

• Broken Toasters..... ??

Form and Context?

Mechanics Aesthetics

Story (when used) Technology

*Stolen from TAOGD

So how do we decide upon Form and Context?

• C# is an Object Oriented Language

The End