Games Stories

                                    Story in games

Hello

Welcome to my blog

I will be looking over some readings. I will be looking at articles on the website Gamastura. These articles will have to do with story in games.

The first article I will be looking at is “Into the Woods: A Practical Guide to the Hero's Journey” by Bod Bates. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130742/into_the_woods_a_practical_guide_.php In this article it talks about the type of story Hero’s journey. It talks about the games that use it like super Mario and the legend of Zelda. The hero’s journey is  “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” It also talks about how games with this story need a great villain.

The second reading talks about how game developers need to know more about story and to use in games more. It talks about how games can tell a story in different way compared to other mediums. It says in this article that “story is conflict” and I feel like that is true and is a good way to summarize what a story is.

The additional reading, I read was also on Gamastura. This article is called Should games have stories? By Soren Johnson https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/191861/Should_games_have_stories.php This article talks about if games actual need a story and how the story and the gameplay would clash. The article goes into detail about how hard it can be to have a story in a game and having a good gameplay in the story as well.

Overall these articles talk about how important it is to have a story in a game and you have to be smart when making it so the story and the gameplay don’t clash.

Week 9 Reading and Writing

                              looking back at the readings

Hello

Welcome to my blog

If you read my blog, you can see that I have written posts about readings I have read. So far I have done 8 posts on readings I read. This range from readings about growth mindset to readings about what makes a game fun. All these readings are lifted from different place like websites like Gamasutra. https://www.gamasutra.com/. These readings talk about all different things but they mostly have to do with game development. The readings go through all the stages and aspects of game development so through every reading I read I’m able to learn more about game development.

I enjoy going through these readings and writing a blog about them. I have read though a good few articles and written blogs about them. When I read them and write about them it gives me a good understanding of the articles and I am to remember the article as well. This helps me with my own game development.

My favourite reading so far is on “introduction to games and game design” http://md2019.cdmonline.ie/reading-week-03/ this reading I found the most interesting because it gave me a good understanding of what games are like and they are developed. Not only is this interesting but it has also helped me with making my own game. The reading goes into detail about how games are developed and the stages of making a game. I t really gives you a good view of what making a game is like. So overall this is my favorite reading.

http://md2019.cdmonline.ie/reading-week-03/

This reading talks about what games are like and how rules are important in it.

These readings for the most part these readings are helping me developed my own game. From telling how game development starts and works to important parts of game development like how there must be rules in games so the game will be fun. I’m learning a lot from these readings and I’m starting to apply these to my game like how I should add some rules to my game more fun and easier for players to play. It has also thought me all the steps I need to do before I even make my game.

So far my game project I something I find difficult. My idea for my game is to ambitious and I won’t be able to make the game I want to with the limited time I have so I will to make a less version of game. This is not what I wanted but I must do it.

If I want to get more out of these readings, I need to make a better timetable and plan out a time I can read and about the readings without being in a rush. This will help me not being in a rush doing the readings and I’m able to more out of the readings.

Overall I enjoy the readings and it has helped me a lot through the year and it has helped me make my game.

Game Fun

                      What makes games fun

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Welcome to my blog

Making a game fun is the most important element of a game. If players don’t find the game fun they won’t play it. The readings I looked at that tell me about how to make a game fun.

The first reading was an article called “Natural Funativity” by Noah Falstein.  https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130573/natural_funativity.php This article talks about all the elements that makes a game fun. It talks about how survival games are the best examples of what makes a game fun. Games can also be fun through the social aspect of it. As players can play with other players online which makes the game more fun.

The next reading was “Hearts, clubs, Diamonds, spades: Players who suit muds” by Richard Bartle.  http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm A Mud is an multi-user domain. This article talks about the type of players who play these type of games and how they interact with these types of games. This games also talks about how players interact with each other in games and this effects how the game is played and how the player thinks. There are list of types of players and they interact with other types of players. Example of this is Achievers players interacting with Socialisers type of players.

The next reading was “ MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research”  by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc and Robert Zubex.  https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf This reading is about MDA which is Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. This an approach to understanding games and how there designed. Using MDA breaks a game into a long detailed  process. The mechanics of the game are the particular components pf the game. The dynamics are the behaviour of the mechanics acting on the players inputs. The aesthetics our how the game looks and how it effects the player.

The next reading was one I found online called “why are video games fun?’ by Wesley Yin-Poole

https

://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-08-why-are-video-games-fun. This article talks about what makes video games fun. The main reason why players find games fun is that players get to act like there ideal self. Players get to act the way they want and it gives them freedom to do what they want. 

Games Decisions

                                                      online games and decision making  

Hello

Welcome to my blog 

Today I’m looking over some readings to help me make my game. 

The first reading is an article by “LostGarden”. This article is called “social Design Practices for Human-scale Online games” by Daniel cook https://lostgarden.home.blog. This is a long article that goes into a lot detail. This article takes about the process on making a multiplayer game. It also talks about the aspects on what makes multiplayer games work. The article goes into detail about how friends playing  together  online is a big aspect of multiplayer games and how games must make ways for players to play with their friends. It talks about Dunbar’s layers which is “An individual has a highly structured distribution of relationship bonds” So it talks about how people have friends  and those friends have even more friends and this creates a network of people with one person in the centre. The article also talks about social groups and all the elements that go into a social group , game designs that will make online play better for players and for friends to play together. 

https://www.macgamerhq.com/guides/best-online-games-for-mac/

The second reading is “Decisions, Decisions”https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-6-dot-0-decisions-decisions?module_item_id=44556. This reading talks about how decision making are the core of a game. If you remove decision making from  game it’s no longer a game. The fun of game is making a decision and seeing how it turns out.  It also talks about the types of decisions that should not be in games like pointless decisions, obvious decisions and Blind decisions.   

http://www.brandnewgame.com/2013/05/decision-making-in-games/

Overall these two articles when into detail about how to make an online game and how decisions making in a game is one of the most important aspects in making a game. So these articles are helping me make the right decisions to make my game and learn more about game making.

Games GDD

                              The process of designing 

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Welcome to my blog

This week’s reading is about the components and process of game designing.  This will help me with designing my game.

The first reading was “Design Considerations”  by Greg Aleknevicus. http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/DesignConsiderations.shtml

This reading talks about the physical presentation of the game. This article talks about more about broad games and the way there put together. It first talks about the components of a game like making cards and spaces in broad game the same size or to use colour to distinguish game pieces. He also talks about how the box of the game is the most important part of the physical presentation of game. He talks about how the theme of the game should work with the rules of the game. This article talks more about the physical appearance of a game and important it is to a game. It also talks about how make a good physical presentation of the game.

https://www.autodesk.com/industry/media-entertainment/game-design-and-development

The additional reading I found online is “What is game design” https://www.internationalstudent.com/study-game-design/what-is-game-design/

This article talks about what game design is. “Game design is a subset of the field of video game development”. The article goes into detail about the process of game designing. There is a huge team of developers working on a game.

1.       The game writers

2.       Level designer

3.       The content designer

4.       Programmer for the game

5.       The world designer

6.       The interface designer

This is the team that design a game. All these teams work together to design a game.

These reading gave me an insight on game designing and I’m able to learn from this. I was able to the process of game design and what the important elements are in game design from the aspect of the game and the team that designs a game.

Games MDA

                                   Process of making a game

Hello

Welcome to my blog. 

There’s a lot to making a game. One part to making is the formal to the game so how the game works. From what I read from the readings this week I was able to find out more about game development.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/radjose/4460564381

The first part to making a game is the formal model of game consumption which is a game must have rules and a system behaviour both of these will make the game fun. There is also the three views of a game which are:

The mechanics: These are the rules of the game. These are the actions the player are limited to.

Dynamics: This how the game is played, like how the player plays the game with the set of rules.

Aesthetics: This how the game works so it’s the elements of the game that give the look of the 

game.

I also found out that there is eight kinds of fun to game they are:

Sensation

Fantasy

Narrative

Challenge 

Fellowship

Discovery

Expression

Submission.

There is a lot of elements to the formal of a game and the types of fun you can have in a game.

https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/666462444834401765/?nic=1

There was also an additional reading for me to read. This was a 2006 lecture on designing to promote intentional play by Clint Hocking. http://md2019.cdmonline.ie/designing-to-promote-intentional-play-by-clint-hocking/ This lecture talks about intentional play and the elements of it. Intentional play is “player intention is the ability of the player to devise his own meaningful goals through his understanding of the game dynamics and to formulate meaningful plans to achieve them using the information and resources provided by the game”. The lecture also talks about the orders of intentional play, connecting systems together and intentional play in a messy system.

Overall both these readings helped me understand what I have to do to make my game.

The many Game Elements

                                      Game Elements

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Welcome to my blog

There are many important elements video games and if I’m going to be making a game, I should read up on these and learn the elements.

An important element to look at for a game is critical analysis. As I read though a reading, I was able to see the three-step process in analyzing a game.

https://instabug.com/blog/game-making-tools/

1.       Describe the game’s elements.

2.       How do the elements interact with each other and what the game play is like?

3.       Look at why the designers of the game in the way they did.

So, looking at a game critical is an important element of game making as you can learn from your mistakes and other people mistakes so you can fix them in the future. From the reading I learned the core of game is the part of the game that you do over and over in the game e.g Call of Duty shooting is the core of the game.

I also read an article called “Formal Abstract Design Tools” by Doug Church. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131764/formal_abstract_design_tools.php?page=2 This article talks about how the modern game has changed compared to what it uses to be. Like how the machines we play games on now are much more powerful and processing is much faster now. In this article Doug talk about how important it is to have a language for game design so we can discuss game making in a better way so games can be made better.

Another article I read was “Where to find good video games criticism” by Helen Lewis.  https://www.newstatesman.com/helen-lewis/2012/12/where-find-good-videogames-criticism This article talks about how big video game journalism is and how criticising games needs to grow and there’s not as much of it as there should be. So, more people can learn to make better games.

Overall an important part of elements of game making is criticizing games so we can learn and become better game makers. Another element is to have language foe game making so it will better to discuss games.