big questions – what is level design and how’s it related to gameplay, how can we make game environments real?, from end of chapter#1 – define level design and how it relates to gameplay, story and character development; #3 be able to define the different perspectives; I’d like them to do #9 – find some [...]
Category > Game design
reading notes – dunniway & novak – gameplay mechanics – ch 9
game scan be linear – do all the missions in a particular order, picking up skills and weapons along the way, with more difficult challenges as they go along, as designer you have to think how you’re going to help the player move thru the game and what you have to make available along the [...]
reading notes – ch10 Novak – roles & responsibilities – team
big questions – team roles & responsibilities, from end of chapter #1, #8
publishers – activision, thq, atari – they fund, market, and distribute the game. smetimes they have their own in-house development teams to actually create the games – EA publishes and develops games
third party developer – when a publisher goes to another company to [...]
reading notes – ch5 of Novak – Characters
some big questions I like – how are game characters diff from characters in other media? what are some character tyeps/archetypes?, what are several purposes of dialogue in games? – questions from teh end of hte chapter – #4 – pick 3 fave game characters – why do you like them, what are their types, [...]
reading notes ch4 Novak – Storytelling
key questions that might make some good discussions – how are game stories different from stories in movies/tv – (could we compare games based on movies wiht the movies?), what is interactivity, how does story affect immersion in a game, – at the end of hte chapter be able to answer #1 (good discussion quesion [...]
reading notes – Konzack Rhetorics of Computer and Videogame Research
I really liked this chapter from The Players’ Realm by Williams and Smith – the author looks at a variety of “rhetorics” around videogames – different ways of talking aboujt and thinking about videogames that usually seem to exist just one at a time in people (they’re either all narratology or all ludology for instance) [...]
education of a game designer ch from crawford’s on game design
get a degree – credibility, teaches you how to learn, saleable skill – and gotta have combo of CS and H&S & media
have realistic expectations – most peopel will never design a hit game, mostpeopel in the industry get paid crap wages, work long hour – – because there are so many other people who [...]
common mistakes ch from chris crawford’s on game design
several big mistakes
- don’t obsess about cosmetics unless they add to the central game play – lots of games have realistic blood, but it doens’t add anything – the blood isn’t slippery for instance. same with big piles of bodies – they look cool – but if the enemy can just walk thru them with [...]
creativity ch from Chris Crawfor’s on game design
creativity comes from being able to make associations between differen tthings, combine them in new ways
so best way to be creative is to have lots of association to be able to recombine – “you want to populate your mind with a wonderous and colorful diversity of ideas..” (p. 99)
- gotta read – everyting and anything, [...]
reading notes – interactivity chapter from Chris Crawford’s on game design
fun hard to define, no word in any other language, we have lots of words for humorous and enjoyable and playful but hard to sumup fun – “informality, enjoyment, and near-vulgarity that our word ‘fun’ connotes” (p. 71)
the key point – the reason for being – of games is at first look “play” – that’s [...]
