COMP 585 Serious Games GAME ELEMENTS GAME ELEMENTS

COMP 585: Serious Games GAME ELEMENTS

GAME ELEMENTS

KEY ELEMENTS � Gameplay � Storytelling � Aesthetics � Novelty � Learning � Immersion � Socializing

GAMEPLAY � Challenges � Risk/rewards � Creative expressive play � Actions � Fairness � Symmetry � Competition/cooperation

WHY STORIES IN COMPUTER GAMES? � Reach emotion, not just adrenaline � Key in all well-crafted entertainment � More specifically � Add to entertainment value � Wider audience � Keep interest � Marketing

STORIES IN COMPUTER GAMES � Are these the first interactive stories? � NO. � What Audience participation! does the player want? � New experience � New place � New person � New activity � Recommendation: rules learn good storytelling

GENRE CONSIDERATIONS � Arcade games � Length � Strategy games � Characters � First person shooter � Realism � RPG, adventure � Emotional richness HOW MUCH STORY DO YOU NEED?

AESTHETICS � Style and skill, not beauty � Harmony � coherence � and consistency Harmony isn’t something that you can fake. … It’s a sensual, intuitive experience. It’s something you feel. … it doesn’t come from design committees , , , And it never happens by accident or by luck. … Games with harmony emerge from a fundamental note of clear intention. Brian Moriarty

GAME MECHANICS LONELINESS

SCHELL’S TAXONOMY � Space � Objects � Actions � Rules � Skill � Chance

SPACE � Number of dimensions � Continuous vs. discrete � Boundaries � Sub-spaces

OBJECTS � Attributes � States � Secrets

ACTIONS (EMERGENT PLAY) � Operative and resultant � Number of actions � What you can act on � Ways to reach a goal � Number of objects � Side effects: changing constraints

SKILL � Types � Physical � Mental � Social � Dominance � Real vs virtual � Improvement � Necessity

CHANCE � Probability � Human element � Skill of understanding chance

RULES � Types � Operational � Foundational � Behavioral � Written � Modes � Enforcement � Goal

GOAL � Must be � Concrete � Achievable � Rewarding � Series or single � Short or long term � Related