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A Design Approach to Game Researchgoing beyond games for entertainment only

Staffan Björk

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Games have many potential uses

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Takeaway

• Knowing how to create games with specific attributes requires knowing how to create games

• Much of that knowledge is independent of the specific attributes

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Basic facts about IPerG

• Three and a half year duration

• Budget ~10 M Euro, 6 M€ contribution from commission

• Ten partners• Three phases• Started September 1st

2004

University of Nottingham, BlastTheory

Fraunhofer

Sony

University of Tampere, Nokia Research

SICS, Daydream, Interactive Institute, Gotland University

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IPerG’s objectives• Aims

– input to infrastructure standard for pervasive games, where the IPerG infrastructure forms the basis for a reference implementation.

– develop tools to support rapid and commercially viable development of pervasive games.

– develop pre-competitive demonstrations of innovative pervasive game concepts and genres.

– develop business models as well as a design and evaluation framework for pervasive games.

• Success Criteria– successful staging of a range

of pervasive game prototypes.– successful uptake of solution

packages for specific industrial segments, including software prototypes, design guidelines and suggestions for business approaches.

– Wide-spread awareness about IPerG’s activities in relevant European industry.

– The commercial exploitation of IPerG showcase games.

– The commercial exploitation of IPerG tools and other software components.

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Pervasive games

• Technology-based perspective– Position-based mobile games– Online-Onstreet Games– Games in an area with a

complete virtual / physical mapping

• Described through examples– Botfighters– Majestic– Can you see me now?

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Project structure• Four research themes

– Business Models– Design Methodology – Infrastructure– Tools

• Several showcases– Crossmedia Games– Socially Adaptable Games – Enhanced Reality Live Role

Playing– City as Theatre– Massive Multiplayer

Reaching Out• Learning by Experience

Research Theme

Activities

Evaluations,

Software Components

Guidelines

Tools

Infrastructure

Technology watch

Research awareness

Infrastructure

Tools

Methods

Game Designs

Genre Analyses

Showcase

Activities

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Commission ReviewCommission Review

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DELIVERABLES:

DELIVERABLES:

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Commission Review

TELLING PERVASIVE GAME

STORIES

TRANS-REALITY GAMING

CROSS MEDIA

CITY AS THEATER

MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER

LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY

SOCIAL ADAPTABLE

CROSS MEDIA

CITY AS THEATER

MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER

SOCIAL ADAPTABLE

LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY

DESIGN & EVAL. DESIGN & EVALUATIONDESIGN & EVALUATION

TOOLSTOOLSTOOLS

NEW BUSINESSNEW BUSINESSNEW BUSINESS

INFRASTRUCTURE INFRASTRUCTUREINFRASTRUCTURE

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Project Kick Off Project Re-planning

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-Game Prototypes-Play tests-Genre analysis

SELF-ASSESSMANT& RISK ANALYSIS

SELF-ASSESSMANT& RISK ANALYSIS

SELF-ASSESSMANT& RISK ANALYSIS

Tu

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Project Re-planning

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-Game Prototypes-Play tests-Genre design rec.

Project Wrap-up

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-Game Prototypes-Play tests-Final evaluation report.

-Social impact report-Solution Packages-Genre design requirements

-Second prototypes-Design framework

-Design guidelines-Tech. guidelines-First prototypes

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Iterative Processes

• Separates qualities as entertaining from other qualities

• Need to look at games with explicit design goals not related to entertainment

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Researchevaluation

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Designevaluation

Backgroundresearch

Researchquestion

Iterative Game Design Process

Iterative Game Design Research Process

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Types of research

• Focus on players– Understanding social interaction between

players– Study how players behave during gameplay– Study the meaning of games to players

• Focus on gameplay– Understanding game mechanics and player

interaction with these– Analyzing games both during gameplay and

purely analytically– Exploring new areas of the design space of

games

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Research issues and design concepts

• Identify research issues– Based upon earlier research– Based upon identified problems– Based upon user studies

• Identify potential design concepts– Based upon research issues– Based upon various design perspectives

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Case study – Socially Adaptable Games

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Social Adaptability

The ability of a game system to adjust, either actively or passively, to changes in the social environment so that negative effects on gameplay or activities overlapping the current game and play sessions are minimized.

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Rationale for the showcase

• Acknowledge that pervasive games are not played in environments set up for the purpose

• Similar problem to developing applications for mobile phones, PDAs, and other pervasive systems

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Board Games

• Augmenting existing board games– Hypothesis that they already have social

adaptability– Using existing game removes focus from

creating entertainment to maintaining it

• Creating original designs– Exploring new parts of the design space

of games

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Steps in Phase 1

• Complete outer loop– identify research

issues– create prototypes– evaluate research

results

• Multiple inner loops– iterative design of

prototypes– several prototypes

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Researchevaluation

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Backgroundresearch

Researchquestion

Iterative Game Design Process

Iterative Game Design Research Process

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Research issues• Identify core issues

– background survey• calm technology, social

weight, interruptability, seamfulness, design for ambiguity, player types,

– technology survey• atomic gameplay actions

– user studies (late)• Analyze core issues

– social interaction• functional roles, social roles,

modalities, player types, social groups

– changes in the magic circle– design experiments

• Systemize core issues– guidelines

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Research issues, cont.• Functional roles

– observational, basic, dedicated, unique, supporting, meta

• Social roles– banned, outcast, recluse,

motivator, negotiator, mediator, helper, violator, dominator, exhibitionist

• Atomic gameplay actions– Take OBJECT from POSITION,

Place OBJECTS on POSITION, Give OBJECT to PLAYER/NON-PLAYER, Find OBJECT, Perform SKILL BASED ACTION, Randomize, Compute EVALUATION FUNCTION, Select OPTION from SET OF OPTIONS, Order PLAYER to perform TASK

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Research issues, cont.

• Guidelines– support interruptability– allow multiple

communication channels

– consider ambiguity– design for external

events– allow modes of play

based on social roles– minimize social weight– analyze intended player

groups from several perspectives

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Design concepts

• Create design concepts– Using functional roles,

social roles, game design patterns,

• Analyze design concepts– Create design briefs

• Systemize design concepts– Create design

documents

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Design concepts, cont.

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Design concepts, cont.b c d ea

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Implementation

• 3 selected design concepts– 2 completed designs– 1 explored from a technology

infrastructure perspective

• Iterative design process– Low fidelity prototyping

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Implementation, cont.

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Implementation, cont.

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Implementation, cont.

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Feedback to IPerG

• Integration still in progress– evaluations, guidelines,

methods, design tools– but direct input to

terminology report

• Definition of a pervasive game– a game that is

ambiguous regarding the spatial, temporal, social or interaction aspects of the game.

Research Theme

Activities

Evaluations,

Software Components

Guidelines

Tools

Infrastructure

Technology watch

Research awareness

Infrastructure

Tools

Methods

Game Designs

Genre Analyses

Showcase

Activities

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Socially Adaptable Games: Next step

• Identify research issues for next step– User studies– Game concepts

• Social roles• Functional roles• Gameplay – Game Design

Patterns• Technology• Play modes due to

variable level of connectivity

• Play modes due to variable levels of gameplay immersion

• Sidekick play style• Different types of

ambiguity

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Thank you! Questions?

staffan.bjork@tii.se