design materials – outcome 2 - sqa academy · mmorpg massively multiplayer online role playing...

Design Materials – Outcome 2

Computer Games: Design - Outcome 2 F915 10/11/12

Contents

Adventure................................................................................................................ 3

Fighting ................................................................................................................... 3

FPS ......................................................................................................................... 3

MUD ........................................................................................................................ 4

MMORPG ............................................................................................................... 4

MOO ....................................................................................................................... 4

Platform................................................................................................................... 4

Puzzle ..................................................................................................................... 5

Racing ..................................................................................................................... 5

RPG ........................................................................................................................ 5

Shooter ................................................................................................................... 5

Strategy................................................................................................................... 5

Game genres by purpose ....................................................................................... 6

Everyday Tasks ...................................................................................................... 7

Skills Needed .......................................................................................................... 7

Knowledge and Enthusiasm ................................................................................ 7

Technical Skills .................................................................................................... 7

Artistic Ability ....................................................................................................... 8

Teamwork ............................................................................................................ 8

Educational Requirements ................................................................................... 8

Further information .............................................................................................. 8

Job Adverts .......................................................................................................... 9

Narrative Design ................................................................................................... 11

Gamebooks ........................................................................................................... 11

Story arc ............................................................................................................ 12

Narrative structure ................................................................................................ 12

Storyboarding ........................................................................................................ 13

Gameplay.............................................................................................................. 15

Playability .............................................................................................................. 15

Game Mechanics .................................................................................................. 16



Turns ................................................................................................................. 16

Action points ...................................................................................................... 16

Capture/Eliminate .............................................................................................. 16

Dice ................................................................................................................... 16

Resource management ..................................................................................... 16

Game modes ..................................................................................................... 17

Victory condition mechanics .............................................................................. 17

Level Design ............................................................................................................ 19

Navigation Bar ...................................................................................................... 21

Feedback quantity/quality ..................................................................................... 21

Haptic Research ................................................................................................... 22

Instructions ............................................................................................................ 22

Buttons .................................................................................................................. 22

Ergonomics of hardware ....................................................................................... 23

External Factors ....................................................................................................... 25

Social Cultural an Legal Issues ............................................................................. 26

Things a designer needs to think about ................................................................ 28

Games and Gender .............................................................................................. 28

Gender ............................................................................................................... 29

Game Rules ............................................................................................................. 33



Introduction (L4, L5, L6)

This document contains the on-line content for Learning Outcome Two of Design

Materials. The brackets at the right-hand-side of each section title you will see the

level for which the material is written. However, don’t be constrained. If you are

studying at a lower level, level 4 or 5, and what to enhance your knowledge by also

reading material written for a higher level, please feel free to do so. There is nothing

wrong with aiming for excellence.

Gaming Genres (L4, L5, L6)

Just like movies which fall into categories such as Action, Comedy, Romance etc,

games fall into genres and we shall look at some of the most common. There are

too many to cover them all here, but carry out some research of your own to see

which others you can find.

Adventure

Adventure games require the player in interact with their environment and often

require tactics or strategy. They can be based around a story or puzzle and

interaction is usually driven by point and click or keyboard interaction. Fighting plays

a minor role and the emphasis is on conquering or achieving a given task.

Adventure games include Zork and Myst.

Fighting

These games involve an amount of violence, sometimes graphic and involve the

player fighting to render characters unconscious or dead using differing moves and

techniques. The interaction usually involves two or more players and a certain

amount of skill is required to carry out the technical combinations of buttons or clicks

required to perform particular moves along with quick reactions and timing. Popular

fighting games are Street Fighter II and Tekken 3.

Play Street fighter online here:

http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/street_fighter_flash.shtml

FPS

First Person Shooter (FPS) games focus on shooting and combat from your

perspective as the main character. This gives the feeling of being in the game and is

http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/street_fighter_flash.shtml



the main focus for this gaming genre. Doom was the first major title in this genre and

has been followed by a constant stream of successful titles – Halo, Killzone, Unreal

Tournament, Call of Duty, to name a few. War and violence feature highly in this

genre and there are ethical arguments against these games. A sub-genre of FPS

games is First Person Sneaker where the focus is on stealth rather than combat or

shooting.

MUD

Multi User Dimension (MUD) also known as 'Multi User Dungeon' or 'Multi-User

Domain’ is a text-based, game-world on the internet where the players can interact

using text commands. Generally role playing games these have been popular since

1978.

MMORPG

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) are multi-player role-

playing games that enable thousands of players to play in an evolving virtual online

world at the same time. These emerged in the mid 90’s as a graphical alternative to

MUD’s. MMORPGs include Diablo, WarCraft, Dungeons and Dragons – watch the

video for further popular titles during 2011.

MUD and MMORPG games involve completing quests and developing your

characters abilities. The most popular game World of WarCraft holds over 60% of

the pay to play game market.

MOO

Multi-User Domain - Object Oriented is a type of MUD that allows players greater

freedom such as creating new objects and character descriptions and programming

new verbs.

Platform

Platform games are also referred to as platformers or side scrollers and are games

in which the background scrolls and the player jumps from platform to platform by

running and jumping. Games usually involve several different levels which are

populated with enemies and puzzles or problem solving tasks. Players can collect



abilities, potions and health as they journey through the level. There have been

several iconic platform games through the years Donkey Kong, Sonic the Hedgehog,

Mario, and many more.

Puzzle

Puzzle games are those addictive little games that we struggle to put down, the king

of all puzzle games continues to be Tetris. Puzzle games usually require the game

to solve a puzzle, maze, logical or positioning problem. This genre frequently

crosses into educational and adventure genres due to its nature.

Racing

Racing games involve the player competing in races traditionally in a car or

alternative vehicle. They cover a wide range of styles from fantasy to real life

simulations in Formula 1 or World Rally. Racing games are sometime put into the

sporting sub category but are a well established genre.

RPG

Role Playing Games are games in which the player's character has skills and

abilities represented by statistics. Gameplay involves the characters exploring and

completing quests that build up their statistics and possessions. Can be single or

multi-player. RPGs include Everquest and Ultima

Shooter

Shoot em’ Up or shooter games involve shooting or destroying object, in games like

Asteroids, and opponents, in games like Doom. The character comes with an array

of weapons which have specific uses to help the player shoot their way out of

dangerous or volatile situations. Although these games are violent by their nature, it

is frequently the tactical nature that has players hooked.

Strategy

Strategy games require the player to be quick thinking and forward planning and

usually focus in a war context. Strategy gamers enjoy the tactical and skilful thinking

necessary for success. The origin of strategy game is found in traditional board

games.



Game genres by purpose

It is also possible to classify games by their purpose. Casual games and education

games are two prevalent categories. Casual games have very simple rules and are

extremely easy to play, many of the mobile and social games played fall into this

category. The purpose of these games is to entertain with little commitment or skill.

Educational games teach the user and are frequently targeted at young users to help

with learning the alphabet or simple numeracy.



Role and Attributes of a Games Designer (L4, L5, L6)

Careers in game design are rewarding but challenging. Game Designers must be

extremely knowledgeable about programming, design and game play. Jobs are

highly sought after and competition is fierce. Having exceptional knowledge of the

industry and job roles will be highly beneficial.

Graphics and animation are pivotal to game design; therefore all games designers

and developers must have at least some of these skills. Games are often judged on

graphics alone, as these give the feel and realism to the game play.

Knowledge of the market and the main players is crucial. You should be familiar with

the main consoles from Playstation, Nintendo and Microsoft. You should be familiar

with the hardware and software setup for each.

Along with technical skills games designers need strong all round skills in the areas

of communication, team work and organisation. Game designers work closely with

programmers and receive feedback from testers ensuring that the functionality of the

game is practical and balanced. Designers also work alongside level designers to

ensure that the game experience is consistent.

Everyday Tasks

Work as a game designer tends to focus on a specific area, especially in larger

organisation. You can focus on planning, designing characters, level design,

programming or management.

Skills Needed

Knowledge and Enthusiasm – you should know the industry inside out and be

familiar with all of the main players and titles. Playing games is the best way to

develop an eye for detail and good design – you need to vary the genre and type of

games you play to ensure you have a broad range of understanding.

Technical Skills – whether you are creating graphics, writing code or managing the

process, you need good technical skills. You should be familiar with the latest

programming languages and graphics packages. Developing skills in these areas

will help build your portfolio by creating graphics and sample game demos to add to

your portfolio. Being a games programmer involves taking the design specification

from the game designers, adding in the graphics and sound, and translating it all into



a playable game. This requires great expertise and integrates mathematics, logic

and computer skills. Programming can include mapping the terrain of the

environment, implementing the AI for non-player characters and adding in the

character control. Programmers are the largest section of any game studio and can

be split into sub-categories as graphics programmers, network programmers and AI

programmers.

Artistic Ability – artistic individuals are highly sought after in the games industry

and the graphics are crucial. Whether you work in graphics or not, you should

develop some graphic skills in both 2D and 3D.

Teamwork – games companies involve groups of people, working together, to

achieve the same final goal. You must be a good communicator, who can cooperate

with people and meet deadlines, working well under pressure if necessary. Your

written and verbal communication skills must be of a high standard. These skills can

be honed by writing pitches for your games ideas and giving presentations to class

mates of your pitch.

Educational Requirements – a degree or higher is required by most studios along

with an impressive portfolio. Your portfolio must showcase your skill in a variety of

areas including programming, 2D and 3D graphics and scripting languages.

Further information

There are several computing and software engineering associations and

organisations which can give you further information on the industry.

British Computer Society (BCS)

http://www.bcs.org/

Skillset

http://www.skillset.org/

e-skills UK

http://www.e-skills.com/

Association for Computing Machinery

(ACM)

http://www.acm.org

http://www.bcs.org/

http://www.skillset.org/

http://www.e-skills.com/

http://www.acm.org/



International Game Developers

Association

http://www.igda.org/

Job Adverts Company XXX

www.Gamasutra.com

www.GameCareerGuide.com

We are Company XXX, and we build virtual worlds. Our technology has been

used by Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, The BBC and more. These are

customers with awesome ideas for their worlds, and we're here to make sure

that those ideas get realised.

We’re looking for a multi-purpose, penknife of a developer in the North of

England. Actually, we're looking for several! If you're looking for such a role in

or near Leeds, then this might be what you're after.

If you can construct a multiplayer server, maintain thousands of users, and

their beloved avatars, architect large, object-orientated code bases, or script

new and intriguing experiences, we want to hear from you!

We're looking for people who can recognise their skill set from this list:

Experience in Java.

A computing related degree (or is just damn smart!)

Familiarity with concurrent programming.

Awareness of Open Source tools and developments around them.

Any familiarity with the Spring framework would be exceedingly useful.

Understanding of MVC architecture.

Knowledge of OO design patterns and best practice techniques.

Experience with socket programming.

Experience with designing Servlets.

Games scripting experience.

To apply for this position, please send a CV, cover letter and example of any

programming, game mods or game design you have done

http://www.igda.org/



Company AAA

http://wallstcheatsheet.com

Fantastic Opportunity to work on one of the most exciting RTS projects around.

My client is a world class AAA studio with an incredible track record. This

fantastic studio needs an equally fantastic Designer think you’re up to the

task??

Must Haves

A strong academic background (including 2:1 degree or equivalent)

industry experience in working on at least one published game or

extensive modding experience with a strategy or RPG title.

An analytical approach to, and a deep understanding of gameplay.

Must be a creative but practical and relentlessly self-critical problem

solver.

Must be resourceful, self-motivated and organised.

Good communications skills to work with artists, programmers,

producers, management and marketing staff.

Ideal

Proven ability to design engaging gameplay elements.

A good understanding of the game development process, including

technical limitations and opportunities.

A deep and broad grasp of game mechanics (especially within the

strategy genre)

APPLY NOW



Design Elements (L4, L5, L6)

The design elements of a game cover a huge array of subject matter and content,

from the plot of the story to the character creation and level environment. In this

section we shall look at narrative design, game play and mechanics, character, level

and user interface design.

Narrative Design

As players of a game we take the narrative and plot of the storyline for granted, but a

coherent and well-thought out storyline can make the difference between a good and

a great game. The narrative design sets the stage for the game and typically

introduces the object or goal of the game. The storyline begins immediately and the

opening scenes of any game are often taken over by cut scenes which set the plot

and story to come.

The idea of narrative design has existed in story writing throughout the ages, with all

good stories being designed around a beginning, middle and an end. The essence

of a narrative designer’s job is to create a compelling story, to create compelling

narrative elements and define the systems and content through which they will be

delivered to the player. Narrative design can take many forms, from storyboards to mind

maps and even scripts themselves.

Gamebooks

Gamebooks are forms of text based adventure books which prompt you with a series

of options about what to do next and are the basis for many fantasy games today.

“You are standing in front of a small cottage. The door is open and a garden path

runs up to the north by the back of the cottage. There is an old chest on the ground

in front of you.” Do you:

Follow the path north (turn to page 12)

Open the chest (turn to page 17)

Enter the cottage (turn to page 21)

This type of structure is easily replicated in computer games.



Story arc

This is the principle storyline in the game and may weave through several different

levels. Traditional storytelling arcs can be applied to games and may cover the

emotional rollercoaster that the player’s characters follow throughout the game. Two

main forms of narrative are embedded and emergent. In an embedded narrative the

story exists with cut scenes advancing the story at each stage of the game

irrespective of the gameplay on screen. The cut scenes could often be watched

back to back to reveal the plotline of the entire game.

In an emergent narrative the storyline is undetermined and changeable. This type of

narrative is highly evident in games like The Sims in which players manage and

develop their characters through a series of choices and random events.

Skillset has an array of document relating to the games industry and the following

pdf which can be accessed here, or through their website, contains detailed

information about the job description for a script writer.

Narrative structure

There are two common types of structure in use – tree and web. The structure is the

way in which the story is told, in a paper book, the storytelling is linear, from front

cover to back page, in a fixed order. A game tends to have a more nonlinear

narrative structure where there are multiple paths and options that can be followed.

The most basic structure is like a decision tree. At points throughout the game

decisions are made which send the player down a particular path. These decisions

can be the direction the player takes or even their success in defeating enemies or

unlocking doors. This increases the reply value of the game and is used in games

such as Fallout which contain multiple paths. Where the options and paths are

advanced and interlinking throughout the game, the structure becomes more like a

web.

There are four narrative layers:

1. Events – these are actions that are carried out in sequence to progress

through the game. For example, enemy is attacking > kill enemy > collect

points.



2. Story persons – are the fictional characters that carry out the events which

allow the player to progress through the game.

3. Storytelling – the techniques and methods through which the story is

portrayed to the player. This could be through dialogue, in game presence,

cut scenes etc.

4. Narrative situation – this is the broader rules and conventions that dominate

the game and is more the cultural circumstances and code of conduct that is

followed throughout the gameplay.

Storyboarding

Wikipedia defines storyboarding as ‘graphic organizers such as a series of

illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a

motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including

website interactivity.’

The objective of a storyboard is to determine the sequence of game play or cut

scenes, to give details of graphics, text and audio. The storyboarding process was

developed by Walt Disney Studios in the 1930’s.



Narrative Designer Job Description

Summary

Reporting to the Lead Designer, the Narrative Designer is responsible for creation and implementation

of the game story. The Narrative Designer will also be relied upon to collaborate with other designers

to assist in design and implementation of game world systems and mission/quest design, using game

editors and scripting systems as part of the iterative process to maximize player immersion within the

game play experience.

Job Responsibilities

Under supervision of Lead Designer, design and document interactive narrative systems to

facilitate story and emotional delivery to player.

Collaborate with other designers to assist in design and implementation of game world

systems and mission/quest design, using game editors and scripting systems.

Collaborate with design team and external talent to create and maintain game dialogue

documentation, NPC character information, world back story, and cinematic direction.

Assist when needed with actor voice direction.

Collaborate with art team to develop fully fleshed-out characters and locales.

Work Experience

Three years game writing, game design, and cinematic experience.

Preferably shipped at least two titles.

Education, Professional Training, Technical Training or Certification

B.A. degree preferred, or equivalent game writing and design experience.

Knowledge/Skills

Superior writing ability

Understand techniques to elicit player emotion.

Familiarity with concept art creation and storyboarding.

Knowledge of cinematic creation tools.

Experience working with art team on cinematic development.

Strong understanding of fostering a community and fan base for our games.

Other Requirements

Strong interest in computer and video games.

Ability to work well under pressure and with deadlines.

Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.

Passion for action games.

Excellent Communication and Collaboration skills

Experience with game editors and scripting systems

Excellent Organizational skills; self motivated

In-depth knowledge of industry trends in interactive storytelling

Passion for games and gaming



Game Play and Mechanics (L4, L5, L6) Gameplay

Gameplay is the way in which players interact with the game. It is what you can and

cannot do in the game e.g. walk, run, pickup, throw, fight etc

Playability

Playability is the term used to describe the ease of play and is often the means of

evaluating the game experience. It takes into account the efficiency, engagement

and satisfaction gained from playing the game along with several other attributes.

Satisfaction is the amount of pleasure the player gains from completing the game or

just playing. This is a very subjective attribute and is influenced by personal

preferences.

Learning is the ability to understand the objectives, rules and controls of the game.

Some games have a learning curve where the player can learn in a step-by-step

manner as they are guided through the first levels.

Efficiency is defined as the necessary time and resources to offer fun and

entertainment to players while they achieve their game objectives and reach the final

goal.

Immersion is the capacity to believe in the game contents and integrate the player

in the virtual game world or environment.

Motivation is the manner in which players will persist to achieve goals and

outcomes, repeatedly attempting the same level or puzzles to achieve their desired

outcome.

Emotion is differing emotional states: happiness, fear, intrigue, curiosity, sadness

etc that playing the game can induce.

Socialization is the social factor of the game experience when playing in a group.

The game socialization allows players to have different game experiences when they

play with others and promote new social relationships.



Game Mechanics

The purpose of game mechanics is to constrain a game’s interactivity so that it

guides the player toward a fun experience. Game mechanics fall into several

categories and we shall look at just a few of them here.

Turns

In games a turn is a fundamental concept which has been around since games were

invented. In board games a turn may be a throw of the dice, in sporting games it

may be a game or set, in war games a turn may be a specific amount of time.

Action points

Action points control what players can do in their turn of the game by allocating a

budget of action points for each turn. These control what players may do on their

turns in the game by allocating each player a budget of “action points” each turn.

Capture/Eliminate

In some games, the number of tokens a player has is related to their current strength

in the game. In such games, it can be an important goal to capture opponent's

tokens, meaning to remove them from the playing surface. The capture mechanic is

often used in the kill count (‘frags’) and reflects the number of enemies eliminated

during the game.

Dice

These involve the use of dice, usually as randomisers. Most dice used in games are

the standard cubical dice numbered from 1 to 6. The most common use of dice is to

randomly determine the outcome of an interaction in a game. An example is a player

rolling dice to determine how many board spaces to move a game token.

Resource management

Many games involve the management of resources. Examples of game resources

include game tokens, game money, and game points. The game will have rules that

determine how players can increase, spend, or exchange their various resources.

The skilful management of resources under such rules allows players to influence

the outcome of the game. This type of resource management is fundamental in



many driving games where faster and better cars are purchased or in FPS games or

strategy games where additional artillery and weapons can be managed.

Game modes

The most common example of game mode is the single player vs. multiplayer choice

in computer games, where multiplayer can further be cooperative or competitive.

Power-ups are modes that last for a few moments or that change only one or a few

game rules; for example power pellets in Pac-Man give the temporary ability to eat

the enemies for a few seconds.

Victory condition mechanics

These mechanics control how a player wins the game and this can be achieved in a

variety of way from achieving a particular goal, by completing a puzzle, winning a

race, gaining control of a territory or evening rescuing the maiden in distress.



Character Design (L4, L5, L6)

Character designers have great artistic skills and create the feel and graphical

expression of the game through the characters. The characters must fit the story

and plot of the game and should have a reason for being there. They could be the

main character, the enemies or a non-player character (NPC).

The characters play a central role in the game design and can span generations.

Highly successful characters are Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog which has

even made the transition from 2D to 3D. Good character designs can help to make

a game much more interesting and propel sales and build branding.

The character design produced during the initial pitch or planning stage usually takes

the form of a sketch and description.



Level Design

Level design is the creation of the game levels, locales, stages or missions within the

game and can also be referred to as environment design or game mapping. Level

design is usually carried out using a level editor or 3D modelling software.

The level design process starts with concept arts and sketches which can be made

into physical models. These are then transformed using the level editor and include

several steps:

Large scale features map such as mountains and hills, cities, rooms or

underground tunnels.

Environmental conditions – day, night, weather

Non-static elements such as doors, buttons, teleporters

Start and end location for characters

Graphic textures, sounds, lighting and music

When considering level design it is important to consider whether it is based on a

real location or fantasy. If there will be plant, trees, insects, farm animals etc in the

scene.



User Interface Design (L4, L5, L6)

The principles of usage-centred interface design are: structure, simplicity, visibility,

feedback, tolerance and reuse.

The structure principle is concerned with overall user interface architecture. The

structure principle states that an interface design should be based on clear

consistent models that are apparent and recognizable. Interfaces should put related

things together and separate unrelated things, differentiate dissimilar things and

make similar things resemble each other.

According to the simplicity principle, an interface design should make simple,

common tasks easy, communicating clearly and simply in the user's own language,

and providing good shortcuts that are meaningfully related to longer procedures.

The visibility principle states that an interface design The design should make all

needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting the user with

extraneous or redundant information.

The feedback principle states that an interface design should keep users informed of

actions or interpretations, changes of state or condition, and errors or exceptions that

are relevant and of interest to the user through clear, concise, and unambiguous

language familiar to users.

According to the tolerance principle the interface design should be flexible and

tolerant, reducing the cost of mistakes and misuse by allowing undoing and redoing,

while also preventing errors wherever possible by tolerating varied inputs and

sequences and by interpreting all reasonable actions.

And finally the reuse principle states than an interface should reuse internal and

external components and behaviours, maintaining consistency with purpose rather

than merely arbitrary consistency, thus reducing the need for users to rethink and

remember.

We will now attempt to apply these rules to a games interface by looking at the

navigation bar, feedback, instructions, menus, buttons and hardware ergonomics.



Navigation Bar

Navigation should be intuitive and easy to

understand and follow. The basic navigation for

games is fairly standard, but screen specific design

features will vary depending upon the device and

game.

When the game is launched, there is typically a

splash screen that will identify the game and the

developer. When the main menu loads, the first

item should be highlighted ready to play. Options

such as volume on/off and vibrate on/off High

Scores, Instructions, and Exit should be included in

the main menu. If a game has been saved, the

application displays the in-game Paused menu.

The figure on the right shows the basic architecture of a games navigation bar

design.

Within the play of the game itself, there must be a quick Pause function. When the

game is paused, the "paused menu" is displayed, which allows the user some

context-specific functions including Exit. However, the first item in this menu should

be Continue, allowing immediate one-click return to the game.

Feedback quantity/quality

Feedback is important in gameplay. In something like a flight simulator feedback

through the joystick can be used to simulate bad weather or a system failure. In

another situation a player might where a pressure vest that simulates being hit in a

fight game by applying a momentary force of approximately10 ib/si. These are all

examples of haptic feedback.

Haptic feedback takes advantage of a user's sense of touch by applying forces,

vibrations, and/or motions to the user. Haptic feedback can be used in to create and

control virtual objects that exist in a computer simulation. Although haptic devices

can be used to measure forces that are applied by the user, it should not be



confused with touch or tactile sensors that measure the pressure or force exerted by

the user to the interface.

The first game to use haptic feedback was Moto-Cross, which caused the

handlebars to vibrate if the rider had a collision with another vehicle. Game

controllers that use haptic feedback are now quite common, atypical examples being

Sony's Dual Shock technology and the handheld remote controller for the Nintendo

Wii.

The Novint Falcon, which was released in 2007, was the consumer 3D touch device

with high resolution three-dimensional force feedback, allowing the haptic simulation

of objects, textures, recoil, momentum, physical presence of objects in games.

Haptics are gaining widespread acceptance as a key part of virtual reality systems,

adding the sense of touch to previously visual-only solutions

Haptic Research

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed 3D holograms that can be

"touched" through haptic feedback using "acoustic radiation" to create a pressure

sensation on a user's hands. This type of research has some way to go before it is

mature and inexpensive enough to be built into mainstream games but the potential

is evident.

Instructions

Instructions need to be clear simple and concise and should be accessible at any

point in the game so that a player can check the instructions as they play.

Instructions that are difficult to read might well put a prospective gamer off.

Buttons

For the last seventeen years, the face buttons on Sony games controllers have been

marked with a square, a triangle, a circle, and a cross. At first sight an odd choice

but thinking again they have some advantages. They are culturally neutral and

language independent. The can be recognised by young children and the colour

blind.



Buttons also appear on the graphical interface. Typically these will consist of a Begin

Button, Continue Saved Game Button, Quit Button, Options Button, and Credits

Button. Typically the button's appearance is determined by the title screen image.

Ergonomics of hardware

The five main principles of ergonomics are: safety, comfort, ease of use, productivity

and performance and aesthetics. Appropriately designed hardware makes the

gaming experience more enjoyable because the user will be comfortable using it.

This reduces fatigue and lessens the risk of a repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Ergonomically hardware comes in many forms from a mouse or keyboard to a

games controller or console. For example, an ergonomic mouse places your hand to

be in a relaxed vertical handshake position which eliminates forearm twisting and

allows the muscles of the hand, arm, and shoulder to relax. This reduces fatigue,

discomfort, and risk of injury such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

An ergonomic joystick should have a comfortable dent for the thumb of the player so

that it fit comfortably over the top of the joystick together with a groove to cover a

portion of the thumb of the player. The joystick controls buttons should be visible in

poor light conditions and should have good control of the forward and reverse

movement.

An ergonomic keyboard is designed to minimize muscle strain and a host of related

problems. Ergonomic keyboards are typically such keyboards are constructed in a V

shape, to allow right and left hands to type at a slight angle more natural to the

human form.

An "adjustable split keyboard" typically comes in two independent parts so that the

right and left-hand parts can be aligned precisely to the user’s requirements. By

contrast a “fixed split keyboard” is a single unit but with the keys separated into two

or three groups, allowing the user to type at a different angle than the typical straight

keyboard.

A contoured keyboard places the keys into two depressions set approximately at

shoulder width, with function keys set between the key groups for use with the

thumbs. This is to minimize arm and wrist movement



The angled split keyboard a split keyboard, but the middle is raised so that the user’s

index fingers are higher than their little fingers while typing.

Other variations include those with fixed, vertically aligned keys, so the user types

with their hands perpendicular to the ground, thumbs-up.



External Factors (L6)

Games developers often think in terms of “hardcore gamers” and “casual gamers”.

Casual gamer make up the silent majority of gamers and you might think that if you

create a game for such a large audience there is money to be made from it.

Unfortunately “casual gamers” are difficult to define. Various definitions have been

formulated including:

Someone who has inferior gaming skills to any hardcore gamer

Use games as a means of socializing or to connect with friends rather than as

an achievement or to further their reputation as a skilful game player

Play mainly console based games due to their ease of setup and "plug & play"

capability People who are really bad at games, so need easy games

People who only play games at work during lunch breaks People over the age

of 40 who play on the Wii

Casual gamers are not really a target audience at all. If you try to develop a game to

target such a diverse group you will most likely develop a game that tries satisfying

everyone and will be so full of compromises it satisfies no one.

It’s much better to identify and target a specific audience and write a game to suit

their particular profile, for example traditional gamers, Mums, Slacking White-Collars

or Older gamers. This list is by no means exhaustive.

A traditional gamer is likely to be male 18 – 35 and have good quality gaming

hardware, and played a massively multiplayer on-line (MMO) game. When they play

games, they tend to play for at least an hour. They will be literate and have good IT

skills.

Mums tend to be in the 30 – 50 age group and female. They have free time because

the children are at school or have moved away. They do not upgrade their

computers very often. They do not buy games at game stores instead they like web

games, and occasionally download casual games and enjoy a 30 minute diversion

on Pogo.com or Yahoo Games. Mums may need the IT skills associated with a

traditional gamer

Slacking white collar workers tend to be people who play games from work, or

between classes, or in the library at college. They can’t install software on their PC



because it may not even be their PC. They enjoy a quick 15 minute game session at

Kongregate or NewGrounds. Students, especially computing students have good IT

skills.

Older gamers tend to be over 30 and with a family. They tend to be traditional

gamers no longer have the time to play as they once did and they miss it. Because

of family commitments they can’t afford to upgrade their computers very often, but

they still know the difference between good graphics and bad. They can sometimes

find an hour or two on the weekend to play a game. They will have good IT skills.

Another factors you will need to take into account in identifying the target audience is

do they have a disability. For example just because a person is visually impaired it

does not mean that they cannot be computer literate or not want to play games.

You may feel that once you have identified your target audience you are ready to go

but there are still vital issues you need to consider.

Social Cultural an Legal Issues

There are many cultural and legal issues that can have a major impact on the

process of creating a game or developing a game to be sold in another country. For

example it may be necessary to make changes to satisfy more stringent censorship

regulations. Sometimes the changes are based on a marketing decision to get a

lower rating, or to prevent the game being banned altogether.

Mindless violence that has no purpose or is particularly gory will not endear a game

to the censors. One way around this is to develop two versions of a game a version

for a mature audience and another version for younger gamers.

Germany is often quoted as being the country that requires the greatest amount of

change but Australia, New Zealand and South Korea will scrutinize and insist on

changes if the regard it as too violent. Even in some US states a games store can

be fined for selling excessively violent games to minors.

Crime is illegal and if your game features a lot of crime, expect to have to make

changes if you want to sell it in some countries. For example, censors may take a

dislike to any overt use of drugs in your game. If your game features overt use of

drugs that are illegal in your country then it is likely that these drugs are also illegal in



other countries, but some other countries may take an even more serious view of the

depiction of their use.

Some cultures are particularly sensitive to racist or insulting particularly in the

religious context. Something that may seem innocuous to you may be insulting to

another culture as Microsoft discovered to their cost.

Even if a game is fictional, if it is based in a real country, you need to be careful not

to upset people by the way you depict their country. Recently Sony had to remove

references to Bangladesh from one of their games.



Things a designer needs to think about (L4, L5. L6)

When designing a mature game you are trying to give your audience what they

expect, but keep in mind that the people who will never buy your game can have a

big influence on whether your game can actually go on sale. It is better to anticipate

change than to find your game in an unexpected media storm without an exit

strategy. Be prepared to make the following types of change to things like blood

colour, blood splash sprites, gory textures, how dead bodies are depicted, death

animations and sounds and innocent bystanders should not be killed.

The games industry operates in a global market and designers should make sure

that their game could not be construed as insulting or racist. Spending time in courts

defending a game is time consuming and costly and counter-productive – the courts

will generally win!

Internationalization is a general term for the process of designing a game so that it

will work correctly in all territories and so that the game can be localized efficiently.

Some of the major design issues include:

Thinking about localization at an early stage as it is easier to develop your

code with localization in mind than it is to modify a game for localization

Separate localizable components from the rest of the game components. By

storing localized components in unique directories, a localized version of a

game can be created by swapping in or out of specific directories.

Leave room for text expansion because translated text can be longer than the

original text.

Games and Gender

Most video games are designed by males, for males. The result is that some video

games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series, include content that is misogynistic and

may condone violence towards women

Video games can also confirm gender stereotypes. A 2007 study showed that male

characters were significantly more likely to be portrayed as aggressive while female

characters were much more likely to be portrayed in a sexualized way.

Some games do feature strong female characters, for example Lara Croft from Tomb

Raider, however, don't offer a healthy alternative because they are simply highly



sexualized females who engage in the kind of violent, aggressive actions usually

associated with male characters.

Gender

Playing computer games is still considered a masculine activity and a number of

studies have concluded that playing computer games is more popular among males

than females. It has been argued that a game has a female player population of

15% it is classified as being “girl-friendly”. However some research by the

Interactive Digital Software Association has suggested that females represent nearly

50% of the gaming community. A number of studies have suggested that men

spend more time playing games. Likewise, many girls in another study preferred

other activities over playing games, although they did express an interest in gaming

Some academics suggest that it is not “socially rewarding for females” to identify

themselves as gamers because gaming is considered a male dominated area.

There is research to suggest that within domestic gaming settings, girl gamers often

take on the role of watcher while male family members act as the expert but

researchers found it difficult to decide whether it is the girls’ “stepping aside” from

their opportunity to play or the boys were crowding them out. One study concluded

that girls’ gaming rights existed under conditions of “social dynamics and gender

hierarchies”

It has been suggested that the context in which a game is played can influence how

girls perform. When a game was introduced as a test there was little difference in

boy’s and girl’s performances. However, when the game was introduced as a game

the girl’s performances was adversely affected whereas the boys were hardly

affected at all. Girls tended to perform better in gender neutral games.

It has been suggested that there may be basic gender differences in handling tasks,

whereas males adopt a trial-and-error approach when using computers and playing

games many females find it difficult not to take failure personally, and prefer games

that they can understand the rules of before starting to play. It seemed important for

boys to be able to beat the game but when girls were first exposed to the game in

their study, they spent more time on the story plot while boys rushed to complete the

game.



There is evidence to suggest that males prefer Action-Adventure, sports and

racing/speed games whereas females prefer traditional games such as Classic

Board Games, Arcade, Card/Dice, Quiz/Trivia, Puzzle, and Kids games. This may

be because girls are better on verbal tasks and pattern-matching tasks. In addition

evidence suggests that that older girls tend to prefer educational games while

younger girls seek more entertainment-oriented content.

A number of studies suggest girls prefer creating content than destroying it.

It would appear that girls prefer game playing on a computer than on a games

console. Video games have larger male gamer populations than female while the

gender difference for computer games is much smaller. This may be the result of

the basic difference in the input devices between that of consoles and of computers,

but may also relate to the fact that many console games, especially the fighting

genre, require reflexes and hand-eye coordination.



Flow Chart of Game Play (L5, L6)

A Games Flowchart is the name given to a set of game design methods that use

diagrams composed of shapes, icons, images, etc. connected by arrows used to

document the logical sequence of gameplay. Flow charts can be applied to the

game as a whole or used to document specific aspects such as game mechanics,

play mechanics, game architecture, vertical slice, horizontal slice, core gameplay

and so on.

Flow charts comprise of well-defined symbols including start and termination

symbols, arrows showing flow of control, processing steps, symbols showing where

data is input to or output from the game, decision boxes wait boxes and sub-

routines.

The Start/Stop symbol shows exactly where the flow of

play starts and ends. Decisions made during the flow of

play are indicated by a triangle. In the example, the flow of

play enters at the top of the

flow of play branches to the left

or right depending upon

decision. For example in the

example the decision to be

made is whether an entity is friendly. If it is then the player greets it otherwise if it is

not the player draws a weapon. The illustration all so shows two processing step

boxes, which indicates a process of some

kind. In this case saying “hello” or drawing a

weapon. A variation on the decision-box theme

is the symbol shown to the right.

It may be necessary to insert a pause into the flow of a game. It

might be to wait until another player has caught up or to lay an

ambush. To indicate this in your flow chart use the wait box

illustrated on the right.



Essential to any game is the ability to input commands to the

game in the form of pressing a button or moving a joystick and to

get video and audio output from the game. To indicate this in

your flowchart, use the data I/O symbol shown on the right.

The symbol to the right is used to represent a subroutine of a predefined process.

All of the symbols in a flowchart are linked together by lines

with arrows on that indicate the direction of flow through the

program.

This next illustration which is taken from the website:

http://www.physicsbox.com/RobotProg%20Tutorial/contents/tutorial2.htm is a simple

flowchart for moving a robot. Visit this website and work out exactly what the

programmer trying to achieve.

http://www.physicsbox.com/RobotProg%20Tutorial/contents/tutorial2.htm



Game Rules (L4, L5, L6)

Whereas games are often characterized by their tools, they are often defined by their

rules. While rules can be modified, if the changes are big enough the result is likely

to be a new game. Typically the rules determine turn order, the rights and

responsibilities of the players, and each player’s goals.

Rules can be divided into four types according to where the rules are created and

where they reside during gameplay.

Type 1 rules are created in advance by a game designer, and there are few enough

that they can be held in the player's mind during game play, for example simple or

action computer games.

Type 2 rules are by the games designer and held in a book or umpire during play,

with limited rules being held by the player's mind at any one time. Computer

adventure games would fall into this category.

Type 3 rules are created by a game designer in advance, and as it is played, extra

rules are created or changed by an umpire or player.

Type 4 rules are created at the start of the game by the player or umpire and

modified as it is played. Here the designer is creating rules freeform to suit the

situation and audience.

As we have already noted there are computer equivalents of types 1 and 2, however

as yet there are no equivalents of types 3 and 4.

A computerised version of type 4 would have the rules created at the start of the

game and modified by an artificial player or artificial umpire.

In a type 3 game the players would be motivated to do things "beyond the rules" -

and an artificial umpire would generate new rules in response to this desire, in real-

time. In war-gaming context a player might want to commandeer some vehicles and

then the artificial umpire would have to decide whether to allow this, which is not

covered in the rules. Unfortunately, given the current state of games technology it is

not difficult to find situations where the number of possible unique inputs is far

beyond the number of represented rule-creating restrictions within the judgment

system.



Type 4 games offer an even bigger challenge as this amounts to having the

computer create a new game for us, even as we sit down to play. In terms of

complexity this is close in difficulty to the different dream of interactive stories.

Fortunately, we can start with something like a simple puzzle, and respond to what

the player prefers seems theoretically possible without first devising a fully human

level of AI.

An interesting thought is if such a system could be created and its libraries of rules

significantly generative, would an artificial artist emerge? Perhaps, but if it did then

the creator of this artificial artist would be a game designer.

There are many parts of a capture, translate a user input and output the game’s

responses to those inputs and because technology makes some of those responses

spectacular it's tempting to regard the game's actual rules as less important.

However, studying the rules in advance and crafting a message from them

represents one of the clearest and easiest creative opportunities for game designer.

design materials – outcome 2 - sqa academy · mmorpg massively multiplayer online role playing...

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