MIT OpenCourseWare http ocw mit edu CMS 608 CMS 864 Game Design Spring 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 binary
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