Game Design


This week for our Reading Task we read the following:


When it comes to what a game might be, a definition I have come across in my readings is 'A play activity with rules that involve conflict' which is an easy way to put it. In fact it is more complicated than that especially when you compare different game styles. To get a solid meaning of what a game might be, you have to be using the same vocabulary across all games, which is still being defined as new games come out and new words are added. 

To put simply these are some of the definitions when it comes to games:
Games are an activity 
Games have rules, conflict, goals and involve decision making. 
Games are artificial, safe and outside of ordinary life. 
We, as players gain no material gain
And many more

When it comes to game ideation, from the paper that I read, the interviewees have seen game ideas differently, they can range from a quick one-liner to a more indepth eighth-page document. The idea is more of a starting point for a game and not the most fundamental part of the game itself, which leads to ideas changing and altering during the process of making a game. 

Four basic methods for generating ideas are:
Concentration 
Brainstorming 
Scamper
Ramsey 

Concentrating is basically just thinking until you have an idea. The place or atmosphere of where you think then comes into play on what ideas you come up with. By always being in the same place when thinking you would generally come up with the same ideas which is why a change of environment is good when you want to come up with some fresh and new ideas 

Brainstorming is a well known method and a way it is used in industry is by splitting it into 3 stages. First you collect information on the resources you have available for a game. Secondly by deviding up a group, you give one group the task of generating ideas. Thirdly, the group that generated the ideas present then to the second group and the second group then discuss and look over those ideas to pick some. 


Images:
(3 dice balancing, source) 

Comments

  1. Justin UOctober 17, 2020 at 1:45 PM

    Hey Fineas, it was an interesting read of you going through the idea of what a definition for a game is and the different ways of coming up with ideas for games. To be honest, I didn't think there was any deeper meaning to the word 'Game', but I was quite surprised at what I found after reading the first article. I do also believe that brainstorming isn't everything, and that coming up with ideas can come from other factors too :)

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  2. Andy AlsafiOctober 18, 2020 at 3:39 PM

    Hi Fineas, I enjoyed reading your understanding of game design, we tend to forget that no matter how simple looking games are, what goes into it is the most important aspect, we play video games and get deep into them but its rare we ever wonder what process the creator decided to pursue in order to create a good, functioning game. Your blog showcases good understanding of game design.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sophie's SecretsOctober 18, 2020 at 11:11 PM

    Hi Fineas!
    Really liked this blog, it was really interesting to read about what your understanding of what a game is and I think you explained it really well. Games are so much more complicated than we ever seem to think when we play them, we tend to just look at them at surface level and take them for face value without appreciating the process that went into creating and developing them. Also I agree with you that a change of scenery is important to be creative and come up with new ideas :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wiktoria November 19, 2020 at 10:02 PM

    Hi I like how you structure your blog post, it makes it easier to read and follow. I think you picked out the most interesting and important things out of the readings and have written up a good summary. I thought it was very interesting to learn about all the game designs and think it will be very helpful for our own game design.

    ReplyDelete
  5. FJDecember 4, 2020 at 11:59 PM

    Hi Fineas! Your blog about game design is very informative and very straightforward. I think that you really explained the topic really well. You're thoughts about game design is also very interesting and I totally agree with you when you said that "The idea is more of a starting point for a game and not the most fundamental part of the game itself, which leads to ideas changing and altering during the process of making a game." because there are more difficult things that needs to be done in order to create a game. For example, you also have to consider about the technical aspect, codings, and designing the game itself.

    ReplyDelete

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