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?