MIT OpenCourseWarehttp://ocw.mit.edu CMS.608 / CMS.864 Game DesignSpring 2008 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.CMS.608 – 13 March 2008 Notes by Clara Rhee A bit of a recap… - This class takes the historical approach on games - Games began with chance (dice, casting lots, cards) which can be divided into: - Random (which is not fun) - Statistics Race Games- What’s new? - The focus changes to the counter rather than the die - Visual info -> counter; environment -> board - The board comes first! - Designing a space where the game takes place - Very clear in sports, looser in card games - Each object has a rule attached to it - What kind of rules can you enforce on a board? - Number of players - Relation of spaces - Movement of the pieces - In most of this, we’re thinking in 2D - What’s the starting point of the design of a board game? - Who came up with these games we’ve been playing for hundreds of years? - Oral traditions, iteratively spreading - The rules can be lost and reconstructed, but the boards are left behind to give information - Race games are the basis of proprietary games - Traditional vs. proprietary; Evolved vs. invented - How do traditional games survive? - Cultural phenomenon, religion, fads - Ease of access to materials - Thousands of years of tweaking - So how can contemporary designs compete? - Pull elements from old games - Analysis - Layers of fiction - The fictional layer can help you understand the rules - Game of Life and Careers For Girls (played on Tuesday) - Both games are versions of the originals - Representations of life as a single path - ‘Life’ games are found in most cultures - Life games are reassuring – all you have to do is follow very simple rules and Professional Success, Happiness and Wealth follows! Life is winnable! - Are there video life games? - The Sims, Fable- Life games can’t be an exact simulation - What would be the point of playing? It wouldn’t be fun - It misses the opportunity to make a statement (see the careers in Careers For Girls) - Diner Dash models the job of a waitress - Legend of Zelda models a boy growing up - By getting weapons and killing things - Complaints - (A lot about Careers For Girls and stereotypes in games) - The ideologies and assumptions can be very offensive - In the available options, the way the goals are calculated, which resources are easier to obtain - Vicious cycle of media artifacts and ideology - Don’t rely on stereotypes when you’re designing a game! - Playing games are about experimentation, so the ideology should be about change Choice - Usually only in simulation videogames - Not very present in race games - Less choice is more reassuring in some ways - Current trend is for more choice - But even in videogames, choice is often either obvious or
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