Lesson 1: Read and Respond Game Design I A Unit 1: Games and Gameplay

Sid Meier, the designer and producer of the popular strategy video game series Civilization, says,

"a game is a series of interesting choices." The more interesting and consequential the choices are, the more engaging and fun the game is likely to be.

Skill or Chance?

At the most basic level, there are games of chance and games of skill, although most games contain elements of each.

What's in a Game?

Games need four elements to work well: players, a goal, rules, and feedback.

competitive

Influences demand for brand in the growth phase of the PLC Often uses emotional appeal

What is play?

Play is not ordinary life.Play is separate and distinct from 'ordinary' life both in terms of locality (the literal or metaphorical 'play circle') and duration. It is a special time for something other than the usual. Again, it provides escape. Play creates order. This is especially true of game-play, as opposed to free form play, since it is based on a formal, rule-based system. In this sense, play can be constructive, even creative. It also plays a role in development from childhood through to adulthood. Play is not about profit; there is no material gain to be had from engaging in it.

game mechanics.

Score accumulation, attacking, and player health are examples of:

Play

Set of activities done for recreation or enjoyment

artificial intelligence

Type of software that can process information on its own without human intervention.

Mastery

expertise

cooperative game

game in which participants can negotiate binding contracts that allow them to plan joint strategies

Play is free

in fact, it is freedom itself. We are psychologically free to enter or leave a state of play at will, it cannot be bought or sold. Play provides escape.

pseudorandomness

measures the extent to which a sequence of numbers, though produced by a completely deterministic and repeatable process, appear to be patternless.

Caillois said that a basic characteristic of a game was

that players choose to participate of their own free will and for their own pleasure, and that play should be a source of joy and amusement.

personal record (PR)

the greatest time, distance, or score they have ever achieved in an activity. As a note, there is often debate about the difference between a sport and a game. Sports that have goals, rules, players, and a feedback system basically fit our definition of a game.

feedback

the messages, usually nonverbal, sent from a listener to a speaker

Gameplay

the way in which a game's rules, rather than the graphics, sound, and narrative style, structure how players interact with a game

Randomness

unpredictable movement from one time period to the next

player turns

where only one player performs actions at a time. Some games, like the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, use semi-simultaneous turns. This means that other players can perform some actions during any one player's turn.