Fundamentals of Game Design | Chapter One
Design Practice | Questions
1. As a potential designer, do you see yourself as an artist, an engineer, a craftsman, or
something else? Why do you see yourself that way?
a. As a potential designer, I see myself as a World Builder more than anything else. This
may fit in with the term craftsman, but from this point on I will refer to World Builder to
describe myself as a potential designer. I see myself this way because I enjoy the
creation of the game world through narrative as well as the construction of the game
world within the engine. World Builders, in my opinion, are the back-bone of every
game in that they serve as the anchors to keep the other aspects on track in terms of
the overall vision of the game. World Builders set the stage of the game world and lay
the ground work for the creation of player challenges, mechanics, and the art style of
the entire game and that is something I see myself wanting to do as a potential
designer.
2. Do you agree or disagree with the definition of a game? If you disagree, what would you add,
remove, or change?
a. According to the textbook, the definition of a game is as follows: A game is a type of
play activity, conducted in the pretext of a pretended reality, in which the participant(s)
try to achieve at least one arbitrary,non-trivial goal by acting in accordance to the rules.
This definition makes solid points through its emphasis of play, pretended reality,
arbitrary goals, and rules. The idea of a pretended reality goes back to the concept of
the magic circle where once players enter this imaginary circle, they actively participate
in the game by giving certain actions contextual importance and meaning based on the
rules of the game. One of the more thought provoking aspects of this definition of what
a game is, as well as many others, is whether or not a game needs a goal in order to be a
game. I personally think that they do because I have found that in games where the
rules do not specifically outline a goal or some sort of victory condition, players
themselves create one. In the Golden Age of arcades, arcade games did not have an
outlined goal for the player, though they may have had milestone goals for the players
to complete such as individual levels or destroying individual enemies. The idea of
having a high score chart/list became the overall goal for players because they made it
their goal to achieve the highest high score and specific machines. If a game does not
have some sort of goal, and just has repetitious actions for the player to perform, then
that is where I draw the line and say that is not a game.
b. To think about this concept in a different light, people can turn remedial tasks such as
doing the dishes or raking leaves in the front yard and turn them into a game by adding
the element of an achievable goal such as raking all of the leaves until the biggest leaf
pile on the block, or washing the dishes within a certain time limit. The process of
turning chores into games by just adding some sort of achievable goal emphasizes the
concept that games are games because of those goals. Another idea about the
definition of a game provided by this textbook is whether or not everyone in the magic
circle should be aware that they are participating in a game in order to be participating
in the game. In other words, can it be possible for one or more players to be unaware
that they are playing a game in order to actively participate in that game? Can one
players’ unawareness to the magic circle be the driving force behind their actual
participation in the magic circle?
3. We have defined game-play strictly in terms of challenges and actions, leaving out the game
world or the story. Do you feel that this is appropriate? Why or why not?
a. I feel that the definition of game-play being strictly defined in terms of the challenges
and actions, while leaving out the game world and the story, is very appropriate because
game-play is simply how the player plays a game. The game world and the game story
set the stage in terms of giving the challenges and actions that the player needs to
perform and accomplish contextual meaning, but in most cases the game world and the
game story do not get involved with game-play to the extent of being included in its
definition. Space Invaders, for example, challenges the player to shoot and destroy alien
space ships that are heading towards Earth. The game-play of Space Invaders is simply
to move back and forth horziontally at the bottom of the screen and shoot upwards to
destroy the slowly descending enemy space ships. Additional elements such as the
barriers placed just above the player to use as temporary cover, the speed and overall
motion of the enemy ships, the slowly increasing music/beat that causes anxiety in
players as the game progresses, the speed of the projectiles for both the enemies and
the player, as well the UFO type enemy that appears on screen for extra points and the
overall point value associated with destroying an enemy ship are all a part of the gameplay of Space Invaders. The idea that these enemies are extraterrestrial beings coming
to destroy the planet and the player is Earth’s last defense has nothing to do with the
game-play of Space Invaders and just provides context/background to the players’
actions, perhaps making it more enjoyable or enhancing the overall experience, but is
not part of the game-play.
4. Why is it fair if one athlete trains to become better but not fair if he takes drugs to become
better? What does this say about our notions of fairness?
a. The idea of using any type of performance enhancing drugs is thought of as cheating on
some level. The more popular drug, steroids, is thought of as cheating in most sports as
well, and the reason that I think this is the case is because athletes are putting
external/foreign chemicals into their bodies that the body does not produce itself
naturally and therefore is cheating or looked at as being unfair. What if an athelete
takes off the shelf or behind the counter vitamins to help boost different chemicals
while they train? Is that the same thing? My thoughts are that on a very basic level using
steroids and taking vitamins are the same thing; you are introducing external chemicals
into your body in order to make some sort of enhancement. On a more ethical level,
that is where things become different for most people. I don’t know much about the use
of steroids and how strongly it effects the human body, but it does seem to effect the
body in more drastic ways than any kind of vitamin available in stores. Is there a point
where an athlete is introducing too much of a foreign chemical to call it cheating or
unfair and should there be? Would things be different if all athletes were able to use
steroids while training for their respective sport? If there were to be a baseball league
where all of its players were able to use steroids if they wanted to, what would change?
Would there be players who would choose not to use sterioids and try to prove
themselves naturally?
5. We’ve listed only the most important things that computers bring to gaming. What other
things can you think of?
a. For this answer, I will first reiterate the most important things that computers bring to
gaming as presented in the textbook. They are as follows: Hiding the Rules, Setting the
Pace, Presenting a Game World, and Creating Artifical Intelligence. The first aspect that
computers bring to gaming that I can think of is Massive Multiplayer Experiences. In
today’s world, games are able to support thousands of players connected through a
networked server and this allows different types of players to effectively communicate
and coordinate with one another in order to play the game differently. The primary
examples of this are World of Warcraft and EVE Online; these games bring thousands of
players together in order to create a world that feels alive. A second aspect that
computers bring to gaming is Global Sharing of Content. By this I mean that players can
now share their gaming experiences with one another from all around the world.
Through services like Ustream and YouTube, players can record their game-play and
show essentially the world that content. Sony has implemented Ustream services into
its next generation console, the Playstation 4, and now the sharing of video content
from the player to the world is becoming much easier. To extend even further, players
are able to share game related information with one another through computers.
Information such as video game reviews, previews, strategy guys, and overall game
industry news is only possible at this scale it is today because of the power computers
possess. The third and final aspect that I can think of that computers bring to gaming is
Mobile Gaming. Mobile gaming has become extremely in most recent years, but the
concept of mobile gaming has been present ever since the creation of the original
Game-Boy. Having the ability to play a game while away from the television or the
conveniences of the home is only really possible because of computers. Some may
argue that table top games like Magic the Gathering can be played almost anywhere
and not just in the home have a solid point, but one main difference is that a game on
the phone can be played while moving, whereas players must be stationary to
effectively play card games such as Magic the Gathering.
6. The list of ways that video games entertain people is only a beginning. What else would you
add?
a. The list of ways that video games entertain people provided by the textbook include the
following: Gameplay, Aesthetics, Harmony, Storytelling, Risks & Rewards, Novelty,
Learning, Creative & Expressive Play, Immersion, and Socializing. On my first attempt at
answering this question, the two additions I thought of were already part of this list in
some shape or form. My first addition was Social Interaction through play, with my
example being Sissy Fight 3000 but I realized that the original list already contained
Socializing as one of the ways video games entertain people. My second addition to the
list was Realistic Simulation, with my game example being Microsoft Flight Simulator but
this addition can already be found in the original list provided by the textbook;
Immersion. To start over now, the first addition to the original list of ways that video
games entertain people would be Real-World Change meaning the use of the serious
game genre to express a real-world concern through game-play. There are many
examples out there for this type of entertainment, so I will choose one. My game
example of this addition would be Darfur is Dying because this game aims to teach
players about the real-world living conditions of those in Darfur through its game-play.
There are some developers that want to send a strong message or at least bring some
sort of real-world issue to the general public and choose video games as their medium
for that message. My second addition to the original list provided by the textbook would
be Competition. At one perspective, Competition can go hand-in-hand with Socializing in
that competition is a potential off-shoot of socializing with friends such as when two
friends come together to play a multiplayer shooter such as Halo. There are a tone of
players, especially in the MLG (Major League Gaiming), that are entertained by video
games that provide the possibility of competition like the Call of Duty or Halo franchises.
The third and final addition to the list provided by the textbook of ways that video
games entertain people that I would make is Stress Relief. For some players, video
games are a safe outlet to relieve stress from their everyday lives. Perhaps after a long
day of work, a gamer would like to play a video game to get his/her mind off of the realworld or to get out their frustrations through a interactive digital media.
Design Practice | Exercises
1. Create a competitive game for two players and a ball that does not involve throwing it or
kicking it. Prove that it is a game by showing how it contains all of the essential elements.
a. The competitive game that I have created for two players and a ball is an off-shoot of
hide & seek, but instead of one player hiding while another tries to find them, the goal
of this game is for one player to hide the ball and for the other to find it. The first
objective for both players is to define the boundaries/borders of the game that will limit
the space in which the ball can be hidden. Once the boundaries are defined, one player
must count to a pre-determined number with their eyes closed and the other player
takes the ball and hides it within the bounds of the game space. After the ball has been
hidden and the seeking player has finished counting, the search begins. The player who
has hidden the ball keeps track of time in that the seeking player has a limited time to
find the ball before they lose. The goal of the player who has hidden the ball is to
manipulate/deceive the searching player into wasting their time searching in places of
the game space that the ball is not located. The goal of the seeking player is to find the
ball within the given time limit as well as determine whether or not the other player is
misleading them or not. The game will also contain a three round-structure where
players will alternate roles after each round so that each player has an opportunity to
both search for the ball and to hide the ball. Based on whether or not the ball is found, a
point will be rewarded to a player. If the ball is found within the given time limit, the
seeking player will receive one point, but if the ball is not found within the given time
limit, the player who had hidden the ball will receive a point. The player with the most
points after three rounds is the winner of the game.This is a game because of the
following reasons: each player has his/her own unique set of objectives, there is a
winning and losing condition, and there is no throwing or kicking of the ball.
2. Using a chessboard and the types of pieces and moves available in chess, devise a cooperative
game of some kind for two people, in which they must work together to achieve a victory
condition. (You do not need to use the starting conditions of chess, nor all the pieces.)
Document the rules and the victory condition.
a. The cooperatieve game that I have in mind involving a chessboard and the types of
pieces and moves available in chess would be for both players to choose a total of 7
chess pieces: 1 King, 1 Queen, 1 Rook, 1 Bishop, 1 Knight, and 2 Pawns. The goal for
both players is to get all of their chess pieces onto the opposite back row of the
chessboard without accidentally removing one anothers’ pieces. The same rules of chess
apply with this game, but the goal is not to remove the other players’ queen; it is to
cooperatively move across the board without removing any of their pieces. This game
will require in-depth knowledge of the rules in chess as well as require careful
cooperative tactics to ensure that each player keeps all of their pieces and successfully
reach the opposite end of the board. The initial set up of the board requires players to
place their 7 chess pieces at opposite ends of one another on the back row of the board.
The game-play will be exactly like chess in that it will be turn-based so players must play
cautiously and cooperatively in order to succeed. If either player loses at least one chess
piece, the game is lost for both players.
3. Definte a competitive game with a single winner, for an unlimited number of players, in which
creative actions are available. Be sure to document the termination and victory conditions.
a. The competitive game that I have in mind is intended to be generic because of how
large a spectrum creative actions thrive within. The goal of the game is to create a piece
of visual art using any type element the player deems fits. Participating players cannot
work together, but can find individuals outside of the game to participate or assist in the
creation of a players’ visual art. Players have a total of 24 hours to go out into the world
and create the most creative/stunning piece of visual art as possible within the given
time frame. Players must also document the visual art through the use of photography
or vide and players also need to make sure all proven documentation is accessible to all
players before the conclusion of the 24 hours. After the 24 hours have finished,
participating players will then be placed into brackets randomly, much like a
tournament. From there, each round will compare two pieces of visual art by two
different players and a winner will be chosen based on the number of votes from other
players. The winner will then move onto the next round until there is only one player
left who then becomes the overall winner of the game. There are only two termination
conditions for this game; the first is to not submit any documentation or evidence
before the end of the 24 hours of play and the second is to have the smaller amount of
votes when it comes to the round-based judging. The overall victory condition is to win
each round, earning the most votes than your competing players. This game will
challenge the creative minds of the players to use any resource available to them within
a 24 hour time period to create the most compelling and creative piece of visual art.
4. Describe the elements of the game-play in each of the following games: backgammon, poker,
bowling, and Botticelli. (Use the Internet to look up the rules if you do not know them.)
a. Backgammon – The main game-play of Backgammon consists of moving your set of
chips in a horse shoe path to your home section and then systematically removing those
pieces from the board; all of which takes place based on a dice roll of two die. I have
never played this game and just reading the rules does not clarify the game-play to me,
but I will do my best to describe the elements of game-play here. Based on the numbers
rolled between two dice, the player must slowly move all of their chips beween 4
quadrants in order to get them all on your home quadrant. Once all of the players’ chips
are in the home quadrant, the player must roll the dice in order to determine from
which spaces that the player can start removing chips from their home quadrant. When
all of the players’ chips are removed from the board that player wins. The specifics of
the dice roll when players need to move their chips to their home quadrant still
confuses me, but the main game-play involves moving chips systematically based on the
numbers rolled by the player.
b. Poker – The main game-play of Poker consists of players combining their hole cards with
the community cards to make the best possible 5-card Poker hand. One of the larger
aspects of the game-play is to psychologically convince your opponents into thinking
that you have a better hand than you do. This can be done by placing large bets on the
table to trick opponents into believing you have a better hand than they do, or by
physically showing no signs through-out the game of how good of a hand the player has.
At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt two cards. Once the first round of
bets are placed, the dealer reveals three cards on the table called the flop. After a
second round of bets and players choosing to fold, to exit the game, the dealer will then
reveal the turn; a fourth card that players will then use in conjunction with their original
two cards and the flop to begin concocting the best possible hand. Finally, the dealer
reveals the river, a fifth and final card, that players must then use to complete their final
hands. At this point, players can choose to fold or place one final bet. After the last
betting round, all remaining players must reveal their hand and the player with the
better hand wins and receives all of the money that was used to bet by all players
throughout the course of the game. In short, the game-play of Poker consists of players
trying to obtain the best hand at the table or convince their opponents that they have
the best hand at the table.
c. Bowling – The main game-play of Bowling consists of rolling a ball down a lane in order
to attempt to strike down a total of 10 pins. The game consists of 10 frames and within
each frame the player has two attempts to roll the bowling ball down the lane in order
to knock down the 10 pins at the end of the lane. The 10th frame is special in that if a
player earns a strike, meaning they knock down all 10 pins in one roll, or if the player
earns a spare, meaning that they knock down all 10 pins in two rolls, then they are given
an additional frame. Within this additional frame, with the player earns a strike they are
given one last frame, but if they earn a spare on the first additional frame then their
game ends. Bowling is a unique sport in that there is a fixed “high score” in that the
highest score attainable is 300 and the goal of the game is to reach that score or earn
the highest score among competitors.
d. Botticelli – The main game-play of Botticelli consists of one player thinking of a famous
person, either fictional or non-fictional, and the remaining players take turns in either
guessing the famous person or asking the player yes or no questions to reveal more
information about the famous person. The game-play of the player choosing the famous
person is to answer the questions posed by the other players of the game as best as
possible. The game-play of the players guessing the identity of the famous person
chosen is to either ask the one player questions about the unknown famous person or
try to make guesses to the identity of the unknown celebrity. It is a general rule to make
sure that the player choosing the celebrity chooses a celebrity know by all players. If, by
the end of the game, the guessers give up and the identity of the famous person is
revealed, the guessers can come together to claim that the celebrity was too abstract or
unknown by most guessers.
5. List examples not already mentioned in this book of video games designed for single-player,
local multiplayer, and multiplayer distrubted play. Explain how the games’ design supports
these different modes.
a. Single-Player – Most single-player experiences are based around some sort of story that
the developers want to tell to players. Some examples of video games designed for
single-player include Banjo Kazooie, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, Dishonored,
and Bioshock Infinite. These games are purely story-driven games that challenges a
single-player to complete challenges that coincide with major story elements. Banjo
Kazooie, for example, holds potential for local multiplayer game-play because of the
separation of the characters Banjo and Kazooie. Having two players individually playing
as either Banjo or Kazooie would allow for more cooperative play, having each player
possess a certain skillset that they can use to solve puzzles individually or to solve
puzzles together.
b. Local Multiplayer – In today’s video game world, there aren’t many games that support
only local multiplayer; in most cases games support both local multiplayer and
multiplayer over a network. In the past, there have been games that only supported
local multiplayer game-play in conjuntion with a single-player campaign. The original
Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox is a good example of a game that did local
multiplayer well, and containing a single-player experience. The same goes for the
original Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Mario Party
series found throughout the Nintendo console history. Halo, for example, was designed
for multiplayer cooperative play through the single-player campaign as well as
multiplayer death-match game types. As technology advanced, the Halo series
introduced online multiplayer as well.
c. Multiplayer Distributed Play – In most recent game releases, especially on the PC
platform, there have been titles that only allowed for multiplayer distributed play. Some
of the earliest games to do this were EVE Online and the World of Warcraft. Both of
these games took advantage of the connectivity that is used in PCs and allowed for large
groups of people to come together and play. In these games especially, players can
choose to play the game by themselves while others form groups/clans to play the game
together, which is a very interesting concept. A newly released PC title that only allows
for multiplayer distributed play that I enjoyed is Planetside 2. Planetside 2 pits three
teams against one another in the acquisition of territories across three continents (very
large maps).
d. All Three Game Modes – Examples of games that have all three game modes available in
their designs have already been mentioned in previous answers to this question such as
the most recent entries from the Halo series like Halo 4. Halo 4 has a single-player
campaign, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer available. The design of Halo 4
allows this because the games’ roots are in single-player and local multiplayer game
modes, and the advances of technology, especially in the fields of network and
connectivity, allows for multiplayer distributed play.