Administrative Assign Design Projects Present Game Creation project

Administrative • Assign Design Projects • Present Game Creation project

Homework Discussion Question: indicate examples in games where the question below are not properly answered and as a result there is a breakdown in meaningful play • What happened before the player was given a choice? • How is the possibility of a choice conveyed to the player? • How did a player make a choice? • What is the result of choice? How affects future choices? • How are the results of choice conveyed?

Definition of Game and History of Games Assigned readings: Chapters 7 (Rules of Play Book) Sources: • Gamespot. com • investor. about. com • emuunlim. com • designboom. com • Wikipedia • my own Dr. Héctor Muñoz-Avila

Play and Game • Game as a subset of play – Considering all activities that we can play – Tag is a game and it is also play – Swing can be seen as play but it is not a game • Play as a subset of game – Play as one aspect (a crucial one) of a game • Awareness on the distinction between play and game “juego un juego” “ich speile ein Spiel”

Some Definitions • (Parlett) A formal game structure based on ends and means • (Abt) an activity among two or more decision-makers seeking to achieve their objective – Example of a game not meeting this definition? • (Avedo and Sutton-Smith) a voluntary control system, contest between powers, confined by rules, outcome • Book has 8 definitions (read them!) with some common elements (see Table!): – following rules is the most common requirement – Having a goal is also common

Definition of Game Elements: • A game is a system • In which players • engaged in an artificial conflict • defined by rules • That results in a quantifiable outcome Game design: process of creating a game from which meaningful play emerges when experienced by a player Examples of games fitting this definition: • Chess • Tekken But problematic for other games: • MMORPG Games

History of Video Games By: Héctor Muñoz-Avila Sources: • Gamespot. com • investor. about. com • emuunlim. com • designboom. com • Wikipedia • my own

Introduction: A Long Journey • Some ideas in the 1948 • First video game: – Tennis game in an Oscilloscope – Space game on DEC-1 • In between: – Space Invaders: http: //www. spaceinvaders. de/ • Current videogames: – Crysis

Chess Origins • 6 AD: Believed to come from India • Came to Western through Persia • 1769 Fake chess machine • 1952 Turing design a chess algorithm • 1956 Maniac versus Human

Origins of Some Companies • 1889 company create card game: Nintendo (“leave luck to heaven”) • 1932 COLECO (short for Connecticut Leather Company) • 1947 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company: Sony • 1954 David Rosen makes machines for GI’s in Japan (Service Games) SEGA

Other Origins • 1951 Ralph Baer (@Loral) suggest adding game to TV – May be considered the inventor of video games – Only until 1967 he realized his dream of an “interactive television” • 1952 A. S. Douglas (@Cambridge): Interactive Tic Tac Toe • 1958 Willy Higinbotham (@Brookhaven National Laboratory): Oscilloscope

Other Origins (II) • 1961 Steve Russell (@MIT) creates Spacewar! “If I hadn't done it, someone would've done something equally exciting if not better in the next six months. I just happened to get there first. ” - Steve Russell

Spacewar! Legacy 1971 Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck formed Computer Recreations Galaxy Game Cost: $20 K Play cost: 10 cent Built: dozens 1972 Noland Bushnell and Ted Dabney (@Nutting Associates) Galaxy Game Built: 1. 5 K 1972 PONG Built: 10 K “Breaks down”

Early Game Consoles • Pong (http: //www. apn. gr/pong. html) • 1972 Magnavox builds Odyssey

Early Stages: 1976 -1977 • COLECO builds TELSTAR • Cartridges are born (Fairchild Camera & Instrument: Channel F) • Atari bought by Warner Communications ($28 M) – Atari releases first console (later known as Atari 2600)

Early Stages 1977 -78 • Nintendo releases Othello (http: //www. mattelothello. com/) • Taito creates Space Invaders! – Midway bought license • Apple and Atari release PCs – But Atari is seen as a gaming company

The Golden Age 1979 -1981 • • • Atari releases Asteroids! Frogger, Konami/Sega, 1981 Pac-Man, Bally/Midway, 1980 Donkey Kong, Nintendo, 1981 Namco releases Pac-Man, 1982 (+300 K machines sold) – Own television show • US Army commissions Atari for a tank simulation game – Start of a long enduring activity (Lehigh included!) • Nintendo releases first console in 1981 • Nothing to do? Check this out (some retro games): – http: //www. tripletsandus. com/80 s_games/

The Great Crash 1982 -1984 • The Commodore 64 PC is released • Coleco releases the Adam PC • Too many competitors small and large saturate the market – 1982 Warner Corp. stock fell 32% after Atari announces less-than-expected sells of consoles – Atari sold to Jack Tramiel (owner of Commodore) – New company: Atari Corp. pulls from Console market • Bright spot: Nintendo releases famicon, which does well in Japan

The Return of the Video Games 1985 -1988 • Nintendo releases NES – Met with skepticism by market observers – Turns out to be an instant hit – Legend of Zelda • 1985 MS releases • http: //www. nintendoland. com/zelda/home. htm • Apple releases the Mac, Atari releases 520 ST Windows • PC as a gaming – Who won? platform • Tetris is released! • 2006: Games for Windows – http: //www. miniclip. com/tetris. htm • Coleco files for bankruptcy

The Story Continues • 1989 Nintendo releases Gameboy, Sega releases Genesis • 1991 Nintendo releases SNES, Sega releases Sonic • 1993 32 -bit consoles – Nintendo releases Mortal Combat! • 1999 -2001 Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox • 2006: Nintendo releases wii (out sales Play. Station 3 and Xbox 360)

What’s Left? • PC Games – We will cover these in coming classes but by Genre: • FPSs • RTSs • RPGs (including MMOs)