Developing a New Major

look at the page of notes from the peer evals - some good things - some very specific things people need to work on in the next project - better communication, more respect for the team, more idea generation, more respect for others’ ideas

talk about Craig’s game - radio game show - trivia quiz - what was your job as the studio audience? what kind of sound effects should he add? what would make it a better game?

look at the board game and book report assignments -  new detail added - don’t think of an idea now - pick a topic, do research - goal is to generate a bunch of ideas based on the info ou find so topic an integral part of the game - going to do some brainstorming on Wednesday - have them look at week 9 on mambo for hte details - quesiton is what else can ya do with the dance pad?

audio in games

audio = music, sound effects, dialogue

in a lot of games - the sound design is just a list of files, only a few are ever tested, and the design is only done to the extent of attaching a sound to an object. for some games you might really only need some background mp3 files and a few standard sound effects

bad audio makes you aware of the audio, breaks the immersion

need to create an audio design doc (part of/addition to the game design doc) - sets out the audio enviornment of the game, to show what technology being used. it’s the bible for the audio team but everyone will read/skim it - says what’s the general audio tone of hte game, brief statement about how music, sound effects and dialogue should work in that environment in general and hten details about how that will be implemented, has a list of all the sounds you need including sounds for weapson, transportation, and interface

way to give an cue about the state of the game, about changes in the state of the game. ex: the sound the mushroom powerups make in Mario - player can be focusing on what’s coming next and hear that they got the powerup

way to let htem know the change in location - tone of music changes when you enter the boss area - more threatening sound effects - sound helps tell the story, signaling the start of a new chapter in the story or the begining of a new level

many sound effects are actually composites, layers of sounds to create a new sound or a more realistic sound - for example in the Jurassic Park game , the T. rex roar used was a blend of elephant, lion, alligator, and a couple of other animal sounds. layers come into play also when trying to create ambient sound - places are full of noises -for exaple on a city street you might hear traffic, people walking, people talking, music from radios heard in cars, birds, planes, wind - amient sound creates the world in which we live in a game

music in games different purpose than games in film - in games music creates and reflects the emotional state of the player, whereas in film, the music reflects the emotional state of the characters on screen and gives the audience a visceral response to that state.

game muscians using concept of microscoring - creating hundreds of small score chunks that the game engine puts together as needed as player moves thru the game

game audio guys need to know how to mix the sound, how to edit, how to use sound libraries and how to record their own sounds

game music is not interactive music - the player doen’st have any direct involvement with the music like they do in rhythm & music games

games that are all sound (for people who can’t see - AudioOdyssey - for sighted and visually impaired to play together- http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/audiodyssey.php — this page has a 1:24 news story about the game with some screen shots - http://www.aip.org/dbis/stories/2008/18122.html

games without sound for people who can’t hear - games are starting to include subtitles - Ubisoft starting doing it in 2008 - Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, and Shaun White Snowboarding. - games aren’t required to have subtitles. think of all the uses for sound we talked about - cue things in the interface have been clicked, cue changing part s of the game, cue victories - those need to be shown in multiple ways as well as sound, need subtitles for cut scenes, for any spoken instructions, for any spoken character interaction.

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Game design, Video game, Video game music

Blythe, M. & Hassenzahl, M. (2003). The semantics of fun: Differentiating enjoyable experiences. in Blythe, J., Monk, A., Overbeeke, K., & Wright, P. (eds.), Funology: From usability to enjoyment.91-100.

lack of agreed upon set of terms - enjoyment, pleasure, fun, attraction - often used interchangably but all aren’t really synonymous - this article trying to lay out the difference between pleasure and fun

starts with flow - says it’s one of hte few psych studies of pleasure - flow = peak expeirence of total absorption in an activity, with a close match between skill and challenge, clear goals, constant feedback on performance, decrease in self-consciousness, time distortion, deep enjoyment — but most of the time our activities don’t take us out of ourselves so we don’t get to experience flow as often as we’d like

micro-flow - intrinsically satifsying activities done for a short period of time - like doodling, don’t give the deep intense flow experience - not thoroughly studied yet

politics of fun - fun now= diversion, amusement, jocularity according ot OED, but used to be low class, bad thng, make fun of, opposite of good things like labor and being productive, being serious, fun created to distract us from work, numbs us, turns us into passive spectators - “fun is something we buy, something we consume, something that ulitmately reproduces the situations of alientated labour that we are seeking to escape.” (p. 93)

these guys say people have need both to be absorbed sometimes and distracted other times - don’t want deep flow all the time (absorption) -enjoyment depends on the context and is not built into the activity, not guaranteed (every time you play a game it isn’t enjoyable) - “..enjoyment doesn’t exist in and of itself. It’s a relationship between ongoing activities and states of mind” (P. 94) — tho there seem to be some commong ground in what we enjoy based on pop culture, theme parks

• fun = distraction, triviality, repetition, spectacle, transgression, distracted from teh self and our problems, satisfies an important underlying psych need but it’s superficial, winking paperclip in Windows is distracting and meant to be fun, antonym of serious, absence of seriousness
• pleasure = absorption, relevance, progression, aesthetics, commitment, deeper form of enjoyment, focus on the activity, not short lived, can be spontaneous, “happens when people try to make sense of themselves - explore and nourish their identities” (p. 96)

“work can be a pleasure, it can be absorbing. But is it fun? The workplace can be the site of fun, but it is generally in the context of a break from work. Fun cannot be serious and if it is then it ceasues, in this sense, to be fun. It is likely then that repetitive and routine work based tasks and technologies might be made fun thru design but non-routine and creative work must absorb rather than distract if they are to be enjoyable.” (p. 96)

triviality & relevance - opportunities for personal growth are relevant to people (and relevant brings pleasure), bring pleasure not fun, watching campy movies are fun - they’re trivial, distractions, we don’t take any lessons away for our own life, having radio on in the background is distraction, trivial, fun - - concentrating on a song on the radio that triggers memories and emotions is relevant (memory is a source for relevance) and brings pleasure. Relevance can also come from anticipation because we have to befocused on the activity

repetition & progression - fun based on repetition; pleasure based on progression because progression makes us think, surprises us, stimulates us. pop culture based on repetition and formulaic stories and repeated themes. High culture focused on progression, gradual change, development of themes; there is some repetition in that there are genres but no desire to create formulas (no sequels). “Satisfaction is the emotional consequence of confirmed expectations, whereas pleasure is the consequence of deviations from expectations.” (p. 98). flow based on progression of skills and challenges

spectacle and aesthetics - fun needs spectacle and engaged senses, attention needs to be grabbed. “Spectacle and wild colour signal and signify fun. Subdued pastels do not. If there is an aesthetic of fun then it is gaudy and fleeting, it bursts at the eye like a firework.” (p. 99) - “the fun of hte spectacle is a result of the intensity of perceptual stimulation, whereras aesthetic value is concerned with the quality of perception” (p. 99)- classical architecture, classical art, things of enduring value and appreciation

transgression and commitment - fun is the unexpected, “involves a transgression, albeit temporary and playful, of accepted forms of work behaviour.” (p. 99), temporary break from seriousness. commitment is pleasurable because you’re absorbed. “imagine 2 people playing a game. for the first the game is appealing. she figured out strategies to win in the context of the game. she accepts the game. the activity of playing, understanding nad using hte rules absorbs her. she will experience pleasure. the other person finds the game boring, but wants to oblige the first person. in order to distract herself from the boredom she finds a way to cheat, to bend the rules. by doing this she ridicules the game, but she may now have fun laying it. both players enjoy themselves but their experiences will significantly differ in quality.” (p. 99-100)

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Boredom, Flow, Game, Popular culture, Recreation

Sengers, P. (2003). The engineering of experience. in Blythe, J., Monk, A., Overbeeke, K., & Wright, P. (eds.), Funology: From usability to enjoyment. 19-29.

engineers have worked for efficiency in production - and managed to suck the fun out of most jobs. So peopel go home and try to cram as much fun in at home as possible and accomplish little

hci does the same focus-on-efficiency as production engineering

no room for experiemntation or for user to change how the system is used if context changes - gotta change by integrating experience and fun into systems. need to look at a lot of systems and tasks that exist between work and fun that are important to users

describes some projects they worked on to create open ended experiences between user nad computer

rules for designers (nonexhaustive)

• instead of representing complexity (in software), trigger it in the mind of hte user - can’t get a complete user model - too complex, so instead focus on the actual user experience, focus on teh suer’s strength in engaging in complex interpretation using their cultural background konwledge
• instead of representing complexity, bootstrap off it - can’t model rich complex human behavior completely so build system to interact with human behaviro, human motion - those already complex
• thik of meaning, not information - humans want to know what something means to them, not raw data

says systems for the home need to focus on fun and experience, not efficiency - so home doesn’t become like work, gotta create systems that take into account not just fun but “serious play”

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Overbeeke, K., Djajadiningrat, T., Hummels, C., Wensveen, S., Frens, J. (2003). Let’s make things engaging.  in Blythe, J., Monk, A., Overbeeke, K., & Wright, P. (eds.), Funology: From usability to enjoyment. 7-17.

“physicality of the product should be reinstated to restore engagement. Fun, as such is not hte issue, engagement is.” (p.

we all talk about user-centered design and starting our design process with the user/person - but these guys say design seems to focus on just one aspect of the person or another (designers with psych background focus on cognitive stuff, designers with programming background focus on logic stuff) - these guys say people have 3 kinds of skills - cognitive, perceptual-motor, and emotional - and good design should play on all of those - knowing, doing, feeling - can’t focus just on cognitive/intelligence angle; can’t reduce emotion to just “fun” and smiley faces

“users are not interested in products; they are in search of challenging experiences” (p. 9) - wants to use all his senses, doesn’t want everyting made “easier” - usability is more than ease of use - “A user may choose to work with a product despite it being difficult to use because it is challenging, seductive, playful, surprising, memorable or even moody, resulting in enjoyment of hte experience.” (p. 9) - learning to play an instrument isn’t easy but reward worth the effort

aesthetics important part of usablity and it’s not just making products beautiful - these guys say should want not beuatiful appearance but rather beautiful interaction and engaging interaction

• product has to function correctly, do what it’s supposed to do - nothing i ndesign makes up for that
• user’s needs, interests and skills differ (from person to person, over time) and so not all products resonate with all people all the time
• designer doesn’t always know the context in which the product will be used
• design needs to have aesthetic richness - use all the senses. designer can evoke or intensify feelings but they can’t force someone to have specific feeling
• product should be open to let user create his own story about usage, should allow exloration and interaction

10 rules

• think experiences - not products.think about context for the experience and how to use all the senses. think about how to let hte user create his own experience in the context you’ve created
• think beauty in the interaction, not just in appearance
• think enjoyment of hte experience, not ease of use
• think rich actions, not buttons - all buttons now require the user to do the same thing regardless of what the button does (user pushes and machine starts, stops, goes into reverse, records, palys…) - need to differentiate the actions of the user
• think expressiveness and identity , not labels - lots of controls look alike so they have to be labeled - they think controls should look, sound, and feel different, give user lots of feedback about the product’s use
• metaphor sucks - user usually doesn’t understand the product because of the metaphor and probably has more than one metaphor they use to understand
• show. don’t hid, don’t represent. show the actual thing, not some alternative representation - we hide the cassette in a camera and then put some representation on the screen to show it’s loaded and how much time left
• Think irresistibles, not affordances. A products beauty of interaction can draw people to interact wiht a product, regardless of affordances
• we can understand people’s emotions by how they use products
• don’t think thinking, just do doing. - these guys say we need to do “do” earlier and more often - handle physical objects, manipulate materials - loets you be more creative in ways that just thinking ever will

goal of hte arrticle is to be provocative - enjoyment should not be an afterthought and can not be added to a product by pasting on a smiley face

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Since I may be leaving IC in a year, I need to start to think about how i can apply what I’ve learvned about videogames to other fields so I can try to fit into other college programs and still hopefully get to do some videogame work.

I’m going to do more research on the fun angle because that seems to be very applicable. I’ll still be making notes for classes but I”ll also be annotating things about fun especially fun in other fields

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ya don’t - well go look it up you slacker

Ok so today I”m the penguin - the provost just said fuck you to this penguin - no tenure for you. So all this hard work (it was fun, but it was work) was for naught. Someone else will get to run the program I designed - that hurts people.

Oh well - not ltike the economy is in a tailspin and thousands of people are getting laid off every week. Oh wait - well fuck you penguin again. Still gotta look for a new job - at least I have a year. Come on economy - shape up. Mama Penguin needs a new job.

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active & passive visual interface

manual & visual interface

character archetypes - using the game you play for your blog - pick one character and tell what archetype it is. define the archetype

what do they mean when they say “a game is its rules”

what are some characteristics of “good enemies” according to the textbook?

interplay rules & evaluation rules

ex: why is it good to develop your characters early on in game development?

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going to look at 3 games

twivia_bot - question posted on twitter, you direct message back the answer/quess, you get nudges if your answer is close, you get messages if you’re the first to answer right and if you answer right. There’s a website with some player stats, time count down to  the next round, and wher eyou can see the question

• player stats - http://www.twivial.com/?nav=top-players
• count down and info on past rounds - http://www.twivial.com/

• all extrinsic knowledge - you win based on what you know about hte real world
• rules conveyed on the twivial.com site - DM the bot your answer. wait till the next round. you can re-DM if you get a message that your guess was class. or if ya realize you messed it up (i forgot capital letters)
• each round has a victory condition - you DM the right answer. There’s no overall winning condition - just more and more rounds.
• It’s not zero sum - lots of people can win. A little more attention/recognition if you’re the first with the right answer
• limited interactivity - you DM, you get a DM back with nudge or message that you’re right
• mostly it’s player to game - you don’t really know the other people are playing till round is over
• game is explicit challenge - challenge put in by the game designer
• you have imperfect info - you don’t know what hte others have guessed or even how many people are playing
• game goal - probably best described as solution (solving problems before competition does thru reasoning and usng knowledge intrinsic or extrinsic) or outwit (use knowledge to defeat enemy), just a little race (type in the answer before them - but you both win if their answer is also right)
• no leveling up, no capture, no pattern recognition or matching…
• What could we do to make this game more fun?

facebook game - Photograb from ShuffleBrain - play (don’t invite your friends) using whatever pics are in themain window - you get feedback with each click of how accurate you were (more on the spot, the more points), sometimes ya get double points (don’t know if that’s based on teh round or your point total). At end you get the leaderboard -your total points and the top 20 which reshuffles to put your score in if you’re higher than any of them. Then you get to your rating board and it compares you with your friends on a bar graph. There are awards based on your score (i just won the novice player award after 4 rounds) Your visual score keeps getting bumped up. Each game maker has a leaderboard for hteir games - so some gmae smight have been played by 100s of people and it would be hard to break into the top 20; other games maybe only played by 1 or 2 people. Searchon Kim Gregson and play the game I created with photos from our play test day

player to game interactivity - no head to head competition with other players

has a timer - have to find as many things in each picture as you can in the time allotted - so it’s a reaction time challenge

has pattern recognition and matching

have perfect info - you can see the whole picture

you see your score (tho who has time to look since you’re trying to find circles to match)

has a social angle - can invite yoru friends, can post a news story when you create a game, can see what games your friends are paying, see how they’re doing

has advancement - you get awards, get more points - but the games are the same as far as i can tell

has solution - try to find the answer before the time’s up

uses extrinsic knowledge - pattern recognition. game really doesn’t teach you anything

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theme - boardgame (retro look, simple, what’s the goal for getting to the end), pinwheel (bright colors, click on the pieces to go to info on different kinds of fun, animated), pie chart (bright colors, click on pieces, graphs not normally associated with fun), amusement park (each “land” in the park is a different kind of fun or a different to experience fun (read, do, talk), map (of what? Funland), puzzle with pieces turned over till you do stuff, game to test specific kinds of fun, blue sky with fluffy clouds

could organize around types of fun - cooperative, compeititve, discover/explore, create, pasive fun

could organize around read & do research/study fun  (bibliography, passive - reading, links), experience fun/do fun (videos, games, puzzles, competitive fun, talk about fun/social fun (cooperative fun, forums, twitter feed)

maybe create a consumer end firs tand then a separate research portal

maybe have activities for different kinds of fun (do fun), people vote on them (social) and we report results (research on fun)

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