Game Elements
For the readings this week we were set with a few readings to further discuss the vocabulary needed for games.
Firstly I read What are the qualities of games?, in this paper the atomic elements of games are discussed. This paper states that there is no one way of describing a game and none is perfect but there is almost always a recurring theme that sheds light on the things we need as designers to create games.
Here is a list of game elements listed in the paper that almost always occur in gameplay:
- Players
- Objectives(goals)
-Rules
-Resources and resource management
-Game state
-Information
-Sequencing
-Player interaction
-Theme(Narrative, backstory, setting)
-Games as systems
This article also states why critical analysis are important for designers to understand why or why not the games they make are enjoyable or aren't enjoyable.
In the academic paper I read Game Design Research , game studies, games research, game design and design research are discussed. This article discusses how game developers explain game design, with some saying it's emotion engineering, some say that it's mostly communication and others saying that anything that goes into a game is game design. Design research has large emphasis for further research into theoretical outputs and is highly encouraged in game development. This adds dept to games and brings relevant topics closer together.
From the video I watched Introduction to Game Design: Prototype Your Game I learnt how important prototypes are while developing games. Prototypes are model versions of your game to try out different ideas and to see what gameplay would be like. I never realised before how many prototypes are made before the actual game comes to life. In the video they even make prototypes with paper and pens and also use themselves and a ping pong table to try out different ideas. Prototypes are great for generating more ideas that you may have not even considered in the concept phase.
Overall I feel I've learnt a lot more about game elements with this weeks reading and feel I've definitely broadened my understand of everything to do with game design and elements!
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