2. Computation as an Expressive Medium Lecture 13?: Games! Jason Alderman

3. Project 6: Make a game!! What’s the assignment? What’s the assignment? Where do I begin? Where do I begin? Ludology: videogame theory! Ludology: videogame theory! Where to go for inspiration… Where to go for inspiration… Some examples… Some examples… Q & A! (if you have questions) Q & A! (if you have questions) Discuss the readings! Discuss the readings!

4. Your mission: While computer-based interactive games (a.k.a. video games) have been a pop- cultural force since the arcade scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, in recent years video games have been recognized as a major emerging art form, poised to have as much cultural impact on the 21 st century as cinema did on the 20 th. The game industry is making Hollywood- sized amounts of money, with designers of the most popular games achieving a geeky sort of celebrity. Museums and galleries are offering exhibitions of “art games”, computer- scientists are beginning to treat games as technical objects worthy of serious attention, and in humanities departments around the world, games studies is a hot new topic. What kind of game would you create? Create a simple game.

5. Your mission: While computer-based interactive games (a.k.a. video games) have been a pop- cultural force since the arcade scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, in recent years video games have been recognized as a major emerging art form, poised to have as much cultural impact on the 21 st century as cinema did on the 20 th. The game industry is making Hollywood- sized amounts of money, with designers of the most popular games achieving a geeky sort of celebrity. Museums and galleries are offering exhibitions of “art games”, computer- scientists are beginning to treat games as technical objects worthy of serious attention, and in humanities departments around the world, games studies is a hot new topic. What kind of game would you create? Create a simple game. (games have been around for a long time) (games are getting (more) popular) (games are being considered as an artform)

6. Your mission: While computer-based interactive games (a.k.a. video games) have been a pop- cultural force since the arcade scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, in recent years video games have been recognized as a major emerging art form, poised to have as much cultural impact on the 21 st century as cinema did on the 20 th. The game industry is making Hollywood- sized amounts of money, with designers of the most popular games achieving a geeky sort of celebrity. Museums and galleries are offering exhibitions of “art games”, computer- scientists are beginning to treat games as technical objects worthy of serious attention, and in humanities departments around the world, games studies is a hot new topic. What kind of game would you create? Create a simple game. (games have been around for a long time) (games are getting (more) popular) (games are being considered as an artform) [Games are what make us human.] Broadly paraphrased from: http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~murray/digra05/

7. Your mission: Create a simple game. No need to make any epic 20-hours-of- narrative kind of works, just a simple casual game.

8. Thinking about games… Chris Crawford says that games are made up of verbs Chris Crawford says that games are made up of verbs Raph Koster agrees and does a good job breaking down games further Raph Koster agrees and does a good job breaking down games further Take a look at games out there… Take a look at games out there… Guess how many verbs go with BIG FREAKIN’ GUN, eh, punk…?

9. Survey of the state of the art (Consulting one of our good friends…) (Consulting one of our good friends…) (Honestly, Professor Mateas did this last year, too!) If you can read this, your vision is really good! This is for the people who print slides: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.swfhttp://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.swf

10. Some starting points… retro (with a twist) retro (with a twist) (underused) verbs (underused) verbs …and (unlikely) simulations …and (unlikely) simulations (novel) means of interaction (novel) means of interaction

11. Any questions? Examples from last year… Examples from last year… A few good sites to check out: A few good sites to check out: http://www.theoryoffun.com/ http://www.theoryoffun.com/ http://www.theoryoffun.com/ Raph Koster’s analysis of games Raph Koster’s analysis of games http://escapistmagazine.com/ http://escapistmagazine.com/ http://escapistmagazine.com/ http://erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/Index.html http://erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/Index.html http://erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/Index.html Chris Crawford on game design Chris Crawford on game design http://grandtextauto.org/ http://grandtextauto.org/ http://grandtextauto.org/ Learn what Mateas & Friends think is nifty about games! Learn what Mateas & Friends think is nifty about games! http://del.icio.us/tag/gamedev/ http://del.icio.us/tag/gamedev/ http://del.icio.us/tag/gamedev/ google for “ludology” google for “ludology”

12. We’re done! Let’s discuss the veritable plethora of readings!