Game Design Principles
Part 1 : Milestone Games and Play
Jehee Lee
Seoul National University
Taxonomy of Creative Expressions
Art Creative Expression
Movies, Books, etc. Entertainment
Toys Playthings
Puzzles Challenges
Competitions Conflicts
Games
beauty
non-interactive
no goals
No competitor
no attacks
money
interactive
goals
competitor
Attacks allowed
Definitions
• A form of play with goals and structure (Kevin Maroney)
• A form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal (Greg Costikyan)
• An activity with some rules engaged in for an outcome (Eric Zimmerman)
Milestone Games: Old-Styles
• Monopoly– The most successful board game– Designed in 1930s– It concerns real estate transactions
Milestone Games: Old-Styles
• Traditional card games
• Board wargames– Flourished in the 1960s and 1970s
Milestone Games
• Space Invaders– designed and programmed by Toshihiro Nishikado in
1978
Milestone Games
• Pac-Man– Midway, 1980– A yellow, pie-shaped character named Pac-Man runs
along inside a maze, eating dots as it avoids four ghosts.
Milestone Games
• Platform games– Space panic, 1982
– Donkey Kong, 1981• Tilted floors• Jumping over barrels
Milestone Games
• Moria, Wizardry, 1990s– Implementation of Dungeons & Dragons– Map explorations– Designed for the Plato networked computer system
Milestone Games
• M.U.L.E.– Electronic Arts, 1983– the first multiplayer resource-based strategy game– Players must manage several resources: food, energ
y, smithore and crystite.
Milestone Games
• The 7th Guest– Puzzle-solving adventure– Playing video from the CD nonlinearly
Some Milestone Games
• Doom• Civilization• SimCity• Starcraft• Populous• 리니지
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
“ A voluntary activity or occupation executed within certain fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is ‘different’ from ‘ordinary life.’ ”
Play
• Early mammals learned to play as a way of polishing the complex neural circuitry that they were born with
• Play’s role in our childhood is dominating
Play is Metaphorical
• All play represents something from the non-play universe
• But, play is not necessarily a simulation of anything in the real world
Play must be Safe
• The whole idea of play is to give the player an experience without the danger that might normally accompany that experience
• Frequent game saving in role-playing games– Players want to feel that their investment is safe
• The paradox of play is that it provides the player with dangerous experiences that are absolutely safe– Eg) Roller coasters– Eg) Intro of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” by Spielberg
Play Need Not Be Exotic
• Players want to face and overcome interesting challenges, but not necessarily be spirited away to an exotic world– Eg) skateboarding in environments forbidden to real s
kateboarders– Eg) The Sims
Fun Factor
• Game : formal activity that you perform• Play : actual behavior that you engage in• Fun : experience or emotion that you derive from
that behavior
• Fun factor is sometimes ambiguous– Two friends play a hard-fought game of tennis. It is fun?– Do bird watchers brave the elements to have fun ?– How about the lady who putters around in the garden
trying to raise the perfect rose?
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