2.3 Game Design Innovation
Game innovation can be split into the following 4 categories: 1) Technological, 2) gameplay, 3) presentation and 4) narrative innovations (Alha, 2011). At times, it is not even necessary to make something distinctly new, as long as there is an effort to reinterpret or subvert existing notions of what video games should be.
On the other hand, Peltoniemi (2009) uses two main categories to classify gaming innovation: Technological and stylistic. Technological innovation can be further divided into three categories: 1) graphics, which improve the game’s appearance, making it much more photorealistic; 2) simulation, which improves the physical realism of the game such as creating; and 3) gameplay, which allows for
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It does not define how the end aesthetics of the game will end up. But, these technological capabilities have resulted in “many poorly developed games” (Alexander, 2010). The restrictions older-style games impose upon image and sound quality force developers to ensure that the final product is of a high quality while being selective. It is an ode to minimalism and focuses solely on the fundamentals the game, ultimately making it much more immersive.
Game design is seen as a key to designing innovative, emotionally engaging game experiences and is always designed with the player in mind (Fullerton, 2014). Game design innovation in particular includes unique play mechanics or thinking beyond existing genres of play, appealing to casual gamers, strong integration of story and gameplay, as well as generating new thoughts and discussions on how games actually impact us socially and culturally (Fullerton, 2014). As the game’s core mechanic is a big part of the experiential building blocks of player activity, it is vital for designers to integrate patterns of behavior within the game that will manifest itself as a player experience (Zimmerman, 2004).
Cook (2005) uses the “Onion Metaphor” to further divide game design layers into six categories: 1) Core mechanics, 2) Metagame, 3) Base Setting, 4) Contextualised Tokens, 5) Contextualised Levels, 6) Story.
Game Design Layers Definition
Core mechanics - Basic Risk and reward schedules
Tom Bissell, in his essay, “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” has described video games and how they are unique and different from movies, books, or even interactive films. Bissell says “I came to accept that games were incompetent with almost every aspect of what I would call traditional narrative.” This is showing the readers that even though there is a plot and story line, as characters can control and alter the story line or outcome by what you do or see throughout the game.
Today's computer games have a lot in common with early cinema. They draw from so many other creative cultures to create its own. They can incorporate narrative, acting, animation, choreography, music, pictures and text to fuse them to create something that is entirely new and can be powerful or - as I will admit is often the case – ridiculously unpopular and
Using persuasive writing, Wright begins to influence his audience that game play is a beneficial source of entertainment not a wasteful one. Playing video games increases creatively, self esteem and improve problem solving skills of the players. Video games are becoming test runs that appear or feel close to the real thing. Where you can control everything with added effects like magic or future technology. Games have the potential to exceed almost all other forms of entertainment media. They tell stories, play music, challenge us, allow us to instantly communicate and interact with others. Encourage us to create things, connect us to new communities, and let us play with people across the world. Unlike most other forms of media, games are inherently tangible. According to Wright young children spend their days in imaginary worlds, substituting toys and make believe into the real world that they are just beginning to explore and understand. Wright states that games are the result of imagination and that they consist of rules and goals. Generation of teenagers has grown up with different set of games. Teenagers use the scientific method rather than reading the manual first. Games today maybe a person’s only place to express a high-level of creativity and growth. Older generations have a lot of criticisms for games, the games can help a person learn to think on his or her own.
Video games are an ever-growing franchise that is constantly undergoing change. Ever since the dawn of video games, new consoles, games, developers, and teams have come together, fallen apart, triumphed, and failed. What is it that has allowed some to thrive where others failed? Several different factors have changed and influenced the world of gaming, including the history that is continuously being written, the people who have built the games behind the scenes, and, of course, the actual video games themselves. Numerous video games have been more successful than others, but identifying what components set the successful apart from the unsuccessful is something definitely worth observing.
Video games are a big part of life in modernized countries. It is one of the biggest entertainment money makers and of the things people enjoy doing. They are now mostly played inside the comfort of your home, with a console or computer. But things weren 't always like this. About 40 years ago you would most likely go to the arcade to play. The consoles they had out were either expensive or not good enough to compete with the arcade ones. Classic video games were made with 4-bit pixels and in very low resolution than modern day games. Over the decades, game machines continuously evolved and become more and more powerful, capable of stunning visuals and graphics. In the 21st century, social media, smart phone and tablet technology entered the gaming scene. Casual games become the norm attracting previously non-gamers into the market. However, if those low-quality games were never made, the games would not have evolved into the games they are today. In this article, I will cover main game a platform from the 1970’s to present day explaining what they are, their key development dates, features and limitations.
Normally when one thinks about observing a creative activity they immediately think of sports or the arts, their mind being flooded with images of dancers gliding across a stage, painters swiping their brush across a canvas, or strong-abled bodies dribbling a ball down a field. All of these activities are undoubtedly creative, but as American society has grown and changed with advancing technology, so has the way people are able to engage in creative processes and events. In the last fifty years, the gaming world has exploded, bringing with it a new form of creativity. From electronic gaming to board games and live action role playing games (RPG), these new forms of competitive entertainment have been laying the foundations for a new outlet of creativity.
Tom Bissell presents an article in 2010, to college students of which is “Why Video Games Matter.” Bissell isn’t intending for the argument to be about video game criticism, the history of the gaming, or an assessment of anything. On the contrary, he wants to articulate his own opinions and thoughts on what playing games feels like, why he plays them, and the questions they make him think about. Being a gamer myself, I have also endured the struggles of what being obsessed with a video game feels like. It is understood that when first purchasing a video game, all one thinks about is getting home and popping it in the console, disregarding everything else that is happening in the vicinity.
In Trigger Happy, the author Steven Poole elaborates on the many aspects of video games, ultimately revealing them as complex. Poole covers in this book his explanations on the purpose of video games, past influences, art and icons, and a number of other fascinating details, along with his own opinions on video games. Besides revealing the reason for playing, Poole’s details on games ultimately serve to show the author’s positive opinion on the subject, along with his argument against the negative viewpoint of critics, who regard them being a waste of time and being detrimental for one’s mental health. One important point that Poole continues to stress is the importance of engagement between the game and the player;
Edmund was challenged with creating a game that was, well, challenging for fans. He decided to recreate his classic, Super Meat Boy, for mobile phones, which is an intensely challenging game. He found this solution by recreating a game that was challenging enough, but that also properly rewarded the players, unlike the majority of mobile games (Rose, 2012). As a gamer and a student of the gaming industry I feel blessed to have learned this lesson before working on my own games. I now know that you need to research what games exist in the area you are creating in, not only so another game isn’t copied, but to ensure that the game being created does justice to the people playing the games. I discovered through Edmund’s success that I don’t have to create a game that only exists to make money infinitely, but a onetime cost of a worthy game is just
Rhetorical Analysis 1 The critical article “Video games can never be art” was written by Roger Ebert, who was a famous American film critic. Ebert was a very popular and well celebrated journalist and film critic in his field. He was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, which is the highest honor in journalism (rogerebert.com and Wikipedia). This article is about Roger Ebert’s critical analysis of Kellee Santiago, a professional video game designer, presentation about video games as already being a form of art.
So by playing video games you learn how to analyze each choice you make to see if the overall outcome is beneficial. He also states that many videogames now allow it players to “build, design, and populate”. This gives the gamer the ability to be creative and expand their mind. “Dream Machine” all in all defends the use of videogames by stating the favorable characteristics of gaming - “creativity, community, self-esteem, problem-solving”. The author uses his authority and knowledge of video games to display a position towards video games that most people have never seen before.
Due to this “possibility space,” people can not only imagine different scenarios, but they can be involved in and create them. Gamers expand their people skills learning “creativity, community, self-esteem, and problem-solving” because they are able to “create and interact with elaborately simulated worlds, characters, and story lines.” Thus, video games have become a vehicle for self-expression. Moreover, in the near future, these games will adjust themselves in accord with who the players are and what they like. “And more than ever, games will be visible, external amplification of the human imagination” (279-283).
Ever since the first interactive entertainment also known as a video game, they have evolved and changed through the passing time. Some to most games in the present time, games have more of a story than a goal to reach to finish the game. Sometimes even games can be mistaken for films due to it having more a story than actual goals. Though is a game with no goals not technically a game and more of a film? Well that is not entirely true as it comes to game mechanics and game logic but when it comes goal and story, then it really comes back to what the game you are playing. In this essay, we will critically reflect which of either story or goal has more of an impact on the players of the game and how the superior or equal one has actually accomplished this task. Two games that have been identified in this report and will show viewpoints are The Stanley Parable (2011, 2013) and Coffee Rush. Each of these games have been chosen as
Many video games use visuals to mentally immerse gamers into a virtual world filled with seemingly living, breathing people, animals, or cities. According to Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey, game designers for Tale of Tales, video games increasingly develop into a true medium of artistic expression (Lamb). In just forty years, video games transformed from an abuse of the new computer for entertainment purposes into a sophisticated form of popular art. The development of video games recently produced results that arguably equal other similar, representational arts. Video games share many qualities with other forms of art, but they are also artistically significant in their own way. “This seems to be something
Games have been enjoyed for generations, whether they are board games, computer games or console games. However, to succeed in making a good game, it must be enjoyable and must include many different aspects. Through researching, several of the most common and important aspects that a game should have to include to be a ‘good game’ have been found. The most regularly mentioned aspects of what makes a ‘good game’ are: