Fundamentals of Game Design Lecture Final Exam Study Guide

A classification of video game genres was first published by Chris Crawford in:

1984

In its first year to market, "The Settlers of Catan" sold how many copies?

400,000

What is MDA?

A framework for understanding the structure of games and is a formal approach to game design and game research

The 7 Approaches to Game Design

Blue-Sky, Slow boil, Mechanic, MDA, IP, Story, and Research

Story

Create a game adaptation of a story

This is the pattern of play that comes from rules of the game being set in motion by the players.

Dynamics

Aesthetics refers to how a game looks. True or False?

False

All games must contain an avatar, or something that represents himself or herself. True or False?

False

Any process that you, as a game designer find fascinating should inherently translate into a fun and exciting game. True or False?

False

Bottom-up game design is based on taking an existing board game and developing a video game from it. True or False?

False

First-person shooters are typically played from the antagonist's viewpoint. True or False?

False

High-level technology is a requisite to make an "immersive" game. True or False?

False

Play testing and tuning is a one-step process. True or False?

False

Playtesting your own puzzles gives accurate and informational results. True or False?

False

The process of designing and developing an electronic jigsaw puzzle is much the same as as creating an analog jigsaw puzzle. True or False?

False

Mastermind is an example of what type of puzzle:

Logic

The rules of a game are known as:

Mechanics

MDA

Mechanics (rules) Dynamics (play) Aesthetics (experience), and in this approach, designers ask themselves which aesthetic they hope to achieve, define the dynamics that would lead to this feeling, and then create the mechanics to produce the desired dynamics

What is Game Design?

Process of creating the content and rules of a game and when it is good, it creates goals the player is motivated to reach and gives rules that the player must follow as he/she makes meaningful decisions in pursuit of those goals

Requirements (SDLC)

Product requirements document and analyze requirements stage

This genre is know for casting players as an "adventurer" who specializes in specific skill set while progressing through a pre-determined storyline.

RPG

What does SDLC stand for?

Software Development Life Cycle

Implementation (SDLC)

Software and code/implement stage

What are some examples of IPs?

Spiderman, Halo, and The Sims

One of the highest honors a board game can be awarded is the:

Spiel des Jahres

This type of game is characterized by a player having a top-down perspective of the game world, in which many aspects fall under their power, and there is direct competition with other forces.

Strategy

Prototyping

Tabletop games can be quickly prototyped with pen, paper, scissors It is much harder to test video game designs without having the right assets in place It is much easier for a tabletop designer to realize their vision

Action is a genre of puzzle games. True or False?

True

All puzzles have a goal: to find the solution. True or False?

True

More board games are sold per capita in Germany than anywhere else on earth. True or False?

True

One advantage of developing board games over video games is the instant gratification of developing and playtesting a prototype in a relatively short period of time. True or False?

True

Survival is a core dynamic that involves surviving and thriving in a game world. True or False?

True

The designer's perspective of game design, with regard to MDA, is the inverse of the player's perspective. True or False?

True

Using IP in game design mitigates risk. True or False?

True

Violence is taboo in Germany's gaming culture. True or False?

True

How the player interacts with the game and how the player receives information and feedback from a games is known as:

User Interface

Writing Game Essays

Write like a book report Not a game review Be sure to explain what and why Use a formal tone

Game State

a collection of all relevant virtual information that may change during play

Playtest

a full or partial play session to identify strengths and weaknesses in the design

What is a Video Game?

a game that uses a digital video screen of some kind

A puzzle is:

a toy, a series of non-combat events that a player must complete to progress play, a problem, and a contrivance designed to amuse

Changing Play Order

adding in mechanics such as a player repeating their turn or forcing a player to skip a turn would make things interesting...

Blue-Sky Design

allows designers to consider lots of possibilities and ideas with a few exceptions imposed by time, money, interest, or all of the above, and this design approach assumes no constraints other than the designer's imagination

What is a Game?

an activity with rules, it is a form of play that often has conflict but not always, , either with other players, with the game system itself, or with randomness/fate/luck

What are game bits in video games?

art assets like icons, sprites, models, and objects, when talking about their representation in the programming code

Constraints on game design

budget, time, platform, audience, rating, manufacturing cost, physical dimensions, genre/game category, and additional game features

Revision

changes are made in the design to fortify weaknesses and build upon strengths. Sometimes, changes are small incremental changes incorporated one at a time. Other times, designers happen upon unexpected play dynamics that cause the game to go in a completely different direction.

How to Overcome Game Designer's Block

changing a resource's availability, change in-game player interaction, change play order, remove a rule, "Rule of Two"

Waterfall Development

classic approach to SDLC, move through each phase to produce system

If you are not a programmer, your most critical (and perhaps daunting) task to get your game developed is:

communicate your idea perfectly to a team of specialists required to turn that idea into a finished videogame.

Constraints

confines on which designers build games

Agile Development

continual prototyping and improvement feedback loop with customers

Mechanic

design built around core mechanic

Rapid Prototype

designers focus on play over graphics and this step is so they can get the overall feel of the game

Prediction

doing the right thing or being in the right place at the right time, the players have room to guess what will happen, are rewarded for predicting the possible outcome of a game before it continues to the next round, and most times, the player's prediction involves luck or consideration of odds

Game Space

entire area of the game

Changing in-game player interaction

forces more strategic thinking out of the players and adds uncertainty to the game

Research

game created to answer a research question

Race to the End

games in which players compete against one another to be the first to the finish line, the first to cross the street, or the first to learn a particular technology

Collection

games that involve pattern-matching, collecting items/resources determining the winner, or matching similar objects together

Chasing or Evading

games that involve running away from enemies or avoiding them

Repeat

go back to the prototype and start the next iteration

Goals

goals in game are called missions or quests, ultimate one is obviously victory, and provide rewards that motivate players to defeat creatures, search for treasure, equip themselves with better and better armor, and compete against their friends

A well-written academic review of a video game should be void of:

hyperbole

Metagame

interactions that take place between players outside of the game state

Building

involves players being required to build something

Advantage(s) of paper prototype include:

it is inexpensive, it can reduce final production costs, and helps developers validate the idea as being good

What is a puzzle?

it's fun and has a right answer

How to learn game design

learning the basic concepts, practicing designing games, and playing with the games you create will give you a good sense of mechanics that do and don't work

When you buy a board game, what you take home and play is the original concept precisely as it was in the designer's head. This is known as ________ design.

lossless

Spatial Reasoning

makes the player think not only of the piece they're putting in, but also the piece they may put in, or the piece they may desperately need to put in before the whole pile goes to pot and involves the manipulation of objects, either in the mind or on the playing surface

Design counterparts to a game's components of rules > system > fun are:

mechanics > dynamics > aesthetics

Maintenance (SDLC)

operate/maintain stage

Game bits

physical items required to play the game

What are some examples of metagame dynamics?

player negotiations, discussion, alliances, online chat, and trash talking

What is good game design?

player-centric, Must communicate how the game works: What is it about? How to play? How to win? Why do I want to play? What to do? and it must create intrinsic motivation

What does the term, "IP", refer to?

pretty much anything or anyone upon whose likeness a game is built

According to the Diablo II article, the Diablo II team was consisted three main teams:

programming, character art, and background art

What are the steps of the iterative design process?

rapid prototype, playtest, revision, and repeat

What are the steps in the SDLC?

requirements, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance

Design (SDLC)

software architecture and design system stage

IP

stands for intellectual property, and is the process of creating games based for existing property

"Rule of Two"

take one of the game's values and either multiply or divide it by two would give insight into how the game's values interact with each other and what effects they have on play

What are some core dynamics of games?

territorial acquisition, prediction, spatial reasoning, survival, destruction, building, collection, chasing or evading, trading, race to the end

Verification (SDLC)

test/integrate stage

Theme

the concept of what the game is about and is this game aspect that lies outside of the mechanics and yet somehow, when chosen well, can make the mechanics feel more natural

Destruction

the flip side of the survival dynamic, or the companion side if it's a player versus player (PvP) game, is the wreck-everything-in-sight dynamic

What does it mean if game design is an iterative process?

the game is quickly prototyped, played, and refined again and again before it is finalized and it requires the understanding that no one gets it right the first try, NOT EVEN the most skilled designer

Game Mechanics

the ingredients of game design and are the rules that act upon the players, avatars, game bits, game state, and game views, and describe all of the ways to change the game state

Game Dynamics

the pattern of play that comes from the mechanics once they're set in motion by the players

Survival

the player uses whatever he/she has to survive

Game View

the portions of the game state that a player can see

What is a core dynamic of a game?

the single thing gameplay is about - the single play experience the designer is trying to convey

Avatar

the thing that represents the player in the game world and is how players mark their location in the game view

Territorial Acquisition

things are usually "zero-sum," meaning there's only so much to go around, and when it's gone. it's gone

The author of the "Bottom Up Game Design" article thought this would be a good simulation game:

traffic control

Slow Boil

when a designer is given a theme and/or setting, allow the ideas to mull over or write them down until they let a good prototype idea come to them

Trading

when players cooperate and negotiate with one another for resources

Removing a Rule

when the designer identifies the core of the game, and gets rid of rules that don't directly affect the core of the game

Changing a Resource's Availability

would force the players to think more strategically with their limited resources and would uncover new play dynamics that were never thought possible at first