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Formal Game Elements Review: (and attendance) What are the formal elements of games we talked about? Players Objectives Procedures Rules Resources Conflict Boundaries Outcome

Group Exercise #2 Back in the same groups as before Identify the formal game structures of your previous game Players, Objectives, Procedures, Rules, Resources, Conflict, Boundaries, Outcome Now redesign your game for a different platform: If your game was a video game, try to make a non-digital version of the game If your game was a physical game, try to design/describe a digital version Group Exercise Follow Up Identify the formal elements of your games

Discuss the redesigns Was this easy or difficult for your game? Which game structures did you have to change? Did any group not have to change any structures? How much did the nature of the games change?

Mini Assignment 1 Describe your own original game idea Can be any genre on any platform State the genre and platform clearly Describe your game in detail (and how to play it) by identifying its formal game structures Min. 150 words, Max. 500 words (approximately) Email me your assignment or hand it to me at the beginning of class next week email: max.piesner@sheridanc.on.ca

Engaging Players Some players don’t need anything more than the formal elements of a game to be hooked. Others need more for a game to capture their imagination – they want to connect emotionally with the experience Generally, good entertainment moves us both intellectually and emotionally In games we call this engagement (and sometimes immersiveness) A sense of engagement is caused by different factors for different players and the games don’t always have to be elaborate to be engaging

Spector on Game Design Dramatic Elements Challenge: The conflicts we spoke about last week causes challenge Like a good story there should be a rising tension – challenge should increase as the game progresses If challenge is too great players will get frustrated and quit If challenge become flat or decreases may feel they’ve mastered the game and move on Flow theory TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness...” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) Flow Balance Challenge Name three games you found too challenging and why Ninja Gaiden Braid

Name three games you found too easy and why Dramatic Elements Play: Or free-play: the free movement within a more rigid structure Like a steering wheel. How much can it move before it turns the tires? Game systems can provide opportunities for players to use imagination, fantasy, inspiration, social skills, or other free-form types of interaction to achieve objectives Can anyone think of games that allowed them lots of freedom? Did the freedom and free-form play make the game more fun or less? GTAIV Can anyone think of games in which the free play made the game less fun? Play cont. Play can be serious – like a chess match between grand masters Can be aggressive – like online multiplayer shooters Can be an outlet for fantasy – like World of Warcraft Can be flippant – like Little Big Planet or Super Mario Brothers We should design for the type of play that will appeal to our players Know your audience! But also design for freedom of free play within your game structures Dramatic Elements Premise: Games also create engagement with their overarching premise Lends context to the formal elements Premise of Monopoly is that players are each landlords – buying, selling property in attempts to become richer and more powerful This premise was very appealing during the Great Depression And it remains appealing today – because most of us enjoy the fantasy of being rich and powerful, of wheeling and dealing Can anyone think of other appealing premises for games? Which fantasies/desires did they tap into? Rockband

Dramatic Elements Character: In traditional storytelling characters are the agents through which dramatic stories are told and they are also a tool for engagement in video games They are a way for players to empathize with the situation or live vicariously Can be vessels for participation, entry points to experience conflicts and actions – almost like a mask to wear Can anyone name a video game character that they enjoyed playing or becoming? One you didn’t enjoy playing – didn’t want to be and so quit playing that game? Kratos? Laura Croft?