Introduction

 Who’s in the class?  Class structure  Introduction to content  Team and concept brainstorming

 Game Development  Teams  Any platform: RYI, engine, Flash, Mod  Game Critique  Paper Critique  Designs

 Critiques  Definition: A critical review or commentary, especially one dealing with works of art or literature.  Should include  Context  Elements  Effectiveness

 Background  Type of game  Synopsis  When  Platform  Purpose  Evaluations  Design Issues  Cohesiveness  Game mechanics  Effectiveness  Feedback  Narrative  Social  World  Characters  Audio  Graphics

 Katamari Damacy  Biographical and New Critical Analysis  Part 1 Part 1  Marxist, Structural, and Jungian Analysis  Part 2 Part 2  Feminist, Psychoanalytical and Post-Colonial Analysis  Part 3 Part 3

 2009 US revenue $19.7B ($21.4B ‘08)  Software $10.5B  Hardware $9.2B  Movies: $10B  Subscribers  World of Warcraft: 12.5M subscriptions  Second Life: 1B hrs Sept 2009

 Online gamers  middle income ($35,000-$75,000)  age  Casual gamers  76% female  71% 40 or older (47% 50 or older)  46% college graduates (14% adv degree)  53% income $50,000 or more  67% married (53% at least one child )

44%: card, puzzle, arcade, word games 25%: family-oriented games 19%: RPGs, MMOGs CAVEAT: lots of contradictory stats

Computer games Board games Card games Parlor games Sports games Miniatures games Role-playing games Alternative reality games

are an activity have rules have conflict have goals involve decision making are artificial are safe are outside ordinary life provide no material gain are voluntary have uncertain outcome are a representation are make believe are inefficient have closed systems are a form of art

 Play  “work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and … play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” Adventures of Tom Sawyer  Pretend  The Magic Circle (Huizinga)  Goal  Challenges  Win, Loss, Termination  Rules  Meanings, gameplay, sequence of play, goals, metarules

PLAY GOAL RULES

 What’s the difference?  Games: restrictive rules, limit-testing strategies  Toys: fantasy and free play.  Children  captivated by versatility of toys  Adults  lose interest in toys  Create games around toys  tactics, strategies, results (Schiesel 2008)

 games with a serious purpose beyond entertainment  built for serious purpose  used for serious purpose

 Education  Training  Social change  Health education  Pain control  Rehabilitation  Business  Art

 Gameplay:  Challenges Challenges  Risk/rewards  Creative expressive play  Storytelling  Novelty  Learning  Immersion  Socializing

 Challenges  Actions  Fairness  Symmetry  Competition/cooperation

 Style and skill, not beauty  Harmony  coherence and consistency  Harmony isn’t something that you can fake. … It’s a sensual, intuitive experience. It’s something you feel. … it doesn’t come from design committees,,, And it never happens by accident or by luck. … Games with harmony emerge from a fundamental note of clear intention. Brian Moriarty

 Reach emotion, not just adrenaline  Key in all well-crafted entertainment  More specifically  Add to entertainment value  Wider audience  Keep interest  Marketing

 Are these the first interactive stories?  NO. Audience participation!  What does the player want?  New experience  New place  New person  New activity  Recommendation: learn good storytelling rules

GENRECONSIDERATIONS  Arcade games  Strategy games  First person shooter  RPG, adventure  Length  Characters  Realism  Emotional richness