Intro to Multimedia, Let's make a game.

Stories in Games  Controler photography Image source Reading 1 by John Sutherland Reading 2 Case Study Video about storytelling A good story in-game is a key factor to raise the quality of your game. Looking back what story has turned out to be successful in former story games is a good starting point for your story in the game. It is important for the developer to know the basics of storytelling when approaching this topic. Over the years the digital games have matured massively and raised the level of potential high.  There are many important features that the developer of the game must consider and focus on in their story. There must be a protagonist which is often the main character that the players engage with the most and love. To give a reason for the story an element of an inciting incident must be added which will apply the main character to have a function or a role that must be completed towards the end of the story game. This can also be the object of desire that t...

Reflect Week Game controller  Image source It is not so long ago that I started here in the second year but it feels like it was only a few weeks ago. the time flies by and along with it my progress that I have made so far. I definitely feel like I am improved my academic writing and spell checks, not only because I downloaded Grammarly which helps me and teaches me but also because I have had a lot of practice so far. I don't think I'm great at academic writing but feel like I have improved and more often now, I try to sound more formal and think about how I'm phrasing my sentences. Despite the improvement and the practice I have I still don't like the readings and find some of them difficult as they can be very descriptive. I managed to do them myself but found it very helpful when we started to do the readings together, it was also a nice way for us all to work together and to change the way we work. After doing the readings together I feel more comfortable with them...

What is Fun in Games?  Games can be described by the 3 components Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) or otherwise stated as rules – system – “fun” . The three reading selections this week and the synopsis below all address the term “fun” in relation to game design. There are eight types of Fun outlined by the MDA. These eight are both a source of reference and player experience that blend together in many ways, and essentially what makes a game engaging and enjoyable. Figure 1: Eight kinds of Fun Both Oxford and Merrian dictionaries define Fun as an enjoyment, delight. But within the context of a game, it refers to a form of pleasurable entertainment. MDA papers define the '8 kinds of fun' sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, and submission, remain a source of reference and possibly the most popular list of player interactions combining in various forms to attract each player to a particular game. Nicole Lazzaro presents four type...

Game Flow   Game Controller Image Source “In order for the player to be optimally engaged, challenges should be presented at a level equivalent or slightly higher than their current skill. Not too easy, not too hard”( Gigity McD ) The word 'flow state' was coined by Csikszentmihalyi (1975) also known as being “in the zone” This is when the player is fully engaged in the game experience. Csikszentmihalyi put a lot of work into observing and analyzing various groups of people. This theory is focused on the idea of how people should balance their skills and the demands of particular tasks. An example of Flow would be a challenge in a game that interests the player such as a puzzle or a boss battle meant to keep the player interested and not get bored. Csikszentmihalyi also states that flow is related to an ideal psychological condition when a person engages in a challenge-skill activity, often resulting in concentration and a focused emphasis on a task. A practical technique for ...

 All in This together Screenshot of our document What is the GDD for? A Game Design Document (GDD) is a blueprint for the design and development of a game. The GDD is a way of being creative and documenting the approach to the development of the game. Gonzale (1999) states that “ the important thing is to have something that describes your game project (or any other project for that matter) before jumping into production .( Gamasutra ) It should help to plan out your game. Though it is recommended that the GDD should be short it needs to be detailed enough so as game developers and artists can coordinate the development of the game independently whilst still keeping to the design.  The GDD is a blueprint for how the game is going to be designed and built, similar to a mind map. In conclusion, the game design document is vital to making a game and it is important to have in order to describe your game project. How do we make one? There are a variety of tools that could be use...

 Games MDA Game Dice Image source  links: MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. Youtube video Addictional video It is shocking the amount of thought that goes into each game, all the procedures and different test each game goes through. The first reading was telling us about the MDN and was very detailed. There is a lot to it and I found it a bit hard to read about it, probably because as a play a certain game, I don't think about the theory part of the game or how it was developed. As a person who games a little bit for fun, I look at the more visible part of the game like the graphics or the story. I found the Youtube video very good as it helped me to understand the MDA in games. It made the reading above more clear and more comprehensive. The MDA stands for "Mechanic, Dynamic, Aesthetics" and from the video. I Learned that as a game designer we only have control on the mechanic in the game which then decides how the player will experience the game a...

Reading about game elements Game controller  Image source Links to the readings: What are the qualities of Games? Game design research Video link The game is composed of many different elements, there are elements such as atomic Elements which refer to players, objectives, rules, etc. There are the things we focus on when we are thinking of making a game. However it is hard to be specific about what are the actual atoms of the game in the same way as it is hard to give a proper definition of what is a game. Critical analysis for a game differs a lot compared to other critical reviews for other things like food for example. A game is reviewed under a more positive way rather than negative. The point of the review of a game is to make it better and learn what works and what doesn't instead of giving it a star review. In my opinion I think the critical review for a game is more of a game test and improvement.   The reading of "Game design research" is very detailed. Persona...

 Reading about Games Type of a game Image source After doing the reading, I realised that there is a lot more to games than just a good idea, plan and software tools. I think that the question in the first reading "what is a game" is an extremely hard question to answer because it can mean something different for everyone. The truth is that most things in our life that we interact with a lot will have a different meaning to an individual. For someone a game might be nothing more than just a little fun way to complete a level or task and move on to the next one. Gamers see it as being part of their life, their break from reality, a brain exercise etc. There are some people that don't find a big interest in games and will have an even more different opinion on "what is a game?" I myself like gaming, I do it often if I have the time however thankfully I never get obsessed which means I can play whenever I have time and still be have my chores done. In my case I wou...