CSC 281 Final

Qualities of Rules (2)

1. Above discussion (fixed in advance) 2. Create a state machine

Clark Abt defines a game as needing what four aspects?

1. Activity (actions over time) 2. Decision-makers (players are actively making decisions) 3. Objectives (goal) 4. Limiting Context (rules that structure and limit the activity)

When we design with meta-gaming in mind, what are the two key elements that must be considered?

1. Affordances 2. Goals

Greg Costikyan defines a game as needing what five aspects?

1. Art (cultural importance) 2. Decision-making players (players are making choices) 3. Resource management (decisions are based on and alter available resources) 4. Game tokens (representation of the game state) 5. Goal

Name that game: 1. ____________ many of the significant objects/artifacts are procedurally generated. 2. ____________ many of the character bodies and animations are procedurally generated. 3. ____________ many of the game levels are procedurally generated.

1. Borderlands (any version) 2. Spore 3. Rogue

We discussed four (4) types of segmentation of gameplay. List these types.

1. Challenge segmentation 2. Spatial segmentation 3. Temporal segmentation 4. Narrative segmentation

What are the four key words that Roger Caillois' uses to define play?

1. Free (no obligation) 2. Separate 3. Uncertain (players create outcomes) 4. Unproductive

Roger Caillois defines play as needing what two aspects?

1. Governed by rules (establish new laws) 2. Make-believe (awareness of a second reality)

"A game is a series of interesting choices." What are the four qualities of an "interesting choice" in a game?

1. Informed (have some idea of the outcome) 2. Balanced (not forced, with some tradeoffs) 3. Consequential (have an effect on the game) 4. Dramatic (has something important riding on the outcome)

Kinds of Rules (3)

1. Operational (written) 2. Constitutive (mathematical/logic) 3. Implicit (unwritten)

In the context of persuasive games, we discussed two types of rhetoric that are used. List and define these types.

1. Procedural rhetoric involves the construction of a world simulation that players interact with. 2. Visual rhetoric tries to persuade by the display of images.

Jesper Juul defines a game as needing what six aspects?

1. Rules 2. Variable, quantifiable outcome (varying endings that can be assigned numbers) 3. Valorization of outcome (different outcomes can be positive and negative) 4. Player effort (must take effort from the player to steer to the desired outcome) 5. Player is attached to the outcome (emotionally, wants to win) 6. Negotiable Consequences (the game can be played with or without real world consequences)

List three (3) of the challenges that may exist when implementing 3rd Person Camera Controls (either system or player-controlled).

1. Target 2. Occlusion 3. Angles 4. Collisions 5. Just follow or intelligently move?

In the context of games as simulation, we discussed that the design of a simulation involves choice. List the key (or principal) choices that need to be made when designing a simulation.

1. What to simulate and how. 2. What is meaningful in the context of a simulation? 3. Scope and depth OR Limitations 4. What kind of procedural representations are provided to players.

List components of a Finite State machine.

1. a series of states 2. finite set of possible input events 3. set of state transition arcs, also known as the transition function.

What is the cardinality of gameplay of most space shooters?

2D

What is "the magic circle"?

A zone created by games that removes one from the real world and gives the players confidence that its contents will not cause real-world harm.

Which of the following are benefits of scrolling in a platformer game (select all that apply)?

Access for the player to a larger, continuous world

Define Gameplay.

All player experiences during the interaction with game systems.

In the RadioLab podcast, where is Hermione from?

Antartica

During our lecture on challenge, we discussed a puzzle that players of The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy must solve in order to obtain an item. Name that item.

Babelfish

What is the name of the card game that we played in class during Lecture 2?

Bartok

Which aspect of games was identified by the E-GEMS project as being liked by both boys and girls of middle-school age?

Challenge

According to Brenda Laurel, a good approach to creating games for women should include which of the following activities (select all the options that apply) ?

Conduct an extensive survey of the scientific literature and perform studies of your audience and learn from them

When was the first game rating system implemented?

Congressional hearings of 1993

Underlying formal structure that exist "below the surface" of the rules presented to players. Logical and mathematical.

Constituative

In the game Rock-Paper-Scissors, the options for player choice forms a directed graph. In this graph, each choice ties with the identical move on the part of the opponent, wins over exactly one opponent choice and loses under exactly one opponent choice.

Constitutive

Of the three game theorists Abt, Costikyan and Juul, which one does not consider rules as being a central part of his definition of a game?

Costikyan

What is the name of the game developed at NC State, which Dr. Barot used as an example of EDUGAMES?

Crystal Island

What was the first platform game?

Donkey Kong

Games where interactions among rules combine to create indicate and complex gameplay are called games of ______.

Emergence

According to Dr. Camille Barot, games such as Wii Fit, Zombies Run, and Brain Age are examples of what type of serious games?

Exergaming

According to Jim Brown from Epic Games, storytelling in games has been keeping up with the advances in video games technology.

False

In the context of game design, it is essential to be able to fully represent every single facet (or characteristic) of the phenomenon that is being simulated.

False

In the game Monopoly, the fact that a token must move 9 spaces from one corner to the next is an example of a gameplay rule.

False

Many of today's modern digital games (e.g. Call of Duty) are released in multiple countries, not just the United States. According to Stephanie O'Malley from XLOC, it is NOT a best practice to do simultaneous development, i.e., you should first finish the American English version of the game and then work on translating it.

False

Pac-man is a game of emergence.

False

T or F. The word addiction has the same meaning in the medical community and the game community.

False

The first platformer game was Pitfall!

False... Donkey Kong

Provide an example of a Core Game Mechanic. Name the game and describe.

Game: Most platformer games (e.g. Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong) - Player moves left and right, and jumps - Avoid moving enemies

According to Chris Lloyd and Tobias Jackson from SparkPlug Games, which of the following are some of the reasons why serious games are important?

Games are more engaging than traditional methods, games are cost effective, and games are portable.

In the game of golf, play is typically called to a halt during a thunderstorm

Implicit

What was the essential element of computer games that made them so compelling, and allowed the industry to grow so quickly?

Interactivity

What are the core elements of a 2D platform game?

Jumping and platforms

In his description of the way that rules give games structure, Juul says that rules specify ________, that is, prohibitions keeping players from taking some actions.

Limitations

What does MDA framework stand for?

M echanics D ynamics A esthetics

What is the phrase coined by Huizinga that is used to describe the distinct state of being in an "enchanted zone" of play?

Magic Circle

What was the first violent game, versus fighting game, to stir up the media?

Mortal Kombat

When the game's story has been completely told is an example of ____

Narrative exhaustion

Based on Juul's definition, is Children playing with dolls considered a game?

Not a game

Based on Juul, Jumping Rope is....

Not a game

Based on Juul, Noble war is considered....

Not a game

In the game Chutes and Ladders, two or more pawns may be on the same square at the same time.

Operational

In the game of Chess, a knight moves either one square forward/back and two squares right/left or two squares forward/back and one square right/left.

Operational

Unwritten, implied, rules of a game. Surface visible rules. Same as the written out rules for a game.

Operational

Name the game discussed as a typical example of Game World Exhaustion

PAC-MAN

What is the causal link that connects rules of a game to having fun?

Play

According to Jim Brown from Epic Games, narrative in games must be adaptable to accomodate their interactivity. What is the name of the specific narrative component he discussed?

Plot

What was the first game?

Pong

A simulation is a _____ representation of aspects of "reality".

Procedural

When the player runs out of some element needed to play the game (e.g. lives) is an example of _____

Resource exhaustion

What is the last name of the politician in the Assassins Creed video that we watched in class?

Robespierre

When a game becomes software, what do rules, play, and fun become for the designer?

Rules become mechanics (code) Play becomes dynamics (process) Fun becomes aesthetics (requirements)

First 2D side scroller?

Scramble

Stringing together a long series of steps in order to solve a puzzle in an interactive fiction game is an example of what type of challenge?

Sequential reasoning

What was the first SHMUP?

Space Invaders

During his lecture, Jim Brown from Epic games discussed the No Russian mission in Call of Duty as an example of emotional context. He compared this mission to which classic digital game?

Space invaders

What was the name of the EARLIEST game credited with creating special interest in space themes?

Spacewar

During Stephanie O'Malley's lecture, she indicated that some game and/or comic characters that are very popular in the United States are not popular in other countries. What is the example she gave of a character that is NOT popular in Italy?

Spiderman

Define the concept Cardinality of Gameplay

The degrees of freedom a player has in her movement.

Define core game mechanic.

The essential play activity players perform over and over again. It is what the player does.

Explain why the game "John Deere American Farmer" is successful in its objective of persuading opinion about John Deere's products.

The game uses demonstrative advertising to create a conversational space between the farming and non-farming communities. This space need not entail actual spoken conversation; it can also include conceptual conversation—empathy. When John Deere supports empathetic relations with the lifestyle their products help support, they accomplish political and social end, not just commercial ones.

In a finite state machine describing a game of tic-tac-toe, what aspects of the game define the transition arcs from any one game state to its successor states? (CHOOSE THE CORRECT DESCRIPTION)

The possible moves of the current player from the current game board. The open squares where moves could next be made.

What are aesthetics? (MDA)

They are the emotional responses evoked by game dynamics.

What are mechanics? (MDA)

They are the rules and concepts that formally specify the game as a system.

What are dynamics? (MDA)

They are the run-time behavior of the game as a system with the players.

According to Dr. Barot's lecture on serious games, one of the main concerns in the development of simulations and transfer of training is ecological validity, that is, behaviors and strategies learned have to be applicable in the real world situation.

True

According to research conducted during the 1990's, boys tended to use computer games more than girls?

True

Companies that develop serious games use similar methodologies as traditional games companies.

True

Game localization includes not only language, but also cultural issues.

True

Monkey Island made use of a 3rd person stationary camera control scheme.

True

One of the benefits of Procedural Content Generation (PCG) is that it reduces the authoring (or authorial) burden.

True

Overpowering and cheating are examples of negative effects of meta-gaming.

True

Suppose that a new game called Penultimate Fantasy XXVI has a strategy guide. This likely means it is a game of emergence.

True

T or F. Conway's Game of Life is an example of emergence.

True

The fireballs in Donkey Kong are an example of push.

True

The game "John Kerry: Tax Invaders" is a reskinning of the classic Space Invaders, launched by the Republican National Committee during the 2004 presidential campaign. The objective of this effort was to influence opinion about the massive tax increases that would be expected if Kerry became president.

True

From Juul, is playing monopoly a game?

Yes

In his description of the way that rules give structure, Jesper Juul says that rules specify ________, that is, additions that give allowable actions meaning.

affordances

According to Chris Crawford, this element is essential for Challenge in games. It is also what makes challenge personal.

conflict

Define valorization of outcome

the different potential outcomes of the game are assigned different values.. some positive some negative.