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I have played many Atari games in the last weeks. From time to time, I have this nostalgic feeling and I start to remember the good old classics from my childhood. In these “archeological sessions”, I once again played this masterpiece: Missile Command. Well, this one has special importance for me because it’s the very first game that I have ever played in Atari and I can perfectly remember the experience.
Missile Command is a class in game design. Seriously. Everybody that is developing or researching games must, at least one time, play this Atari title. The interface is very simple, but the idea is elegant and instigating: you are in the control of a defense tower and must destroy waves of missiles to protect six cities. The game goes like this: you need to move a crosshair across the screen to launch a counter-missile from the appropriate battery. Before continue the reading, take some minutes to watch the gameplay below and play the game in this online version (click here).
Missile Command offers some excellent points to discuss the game designing process. Let’s put them in a short list to dwell over:
1) Minimalistic design: with a few pixels is possible to create an instigating gameplay (the game’s cover tells the narrative to the player).
2) Procedural information: stage after stage the missiles become faster. It’s important to understand the patterns of the game to launch the counter-missile in the right place.
3) Elegant game mechanics: point, click and destroy. As simple as that. Missile Command has one interesting and inspiring mechanism. We can reimagine this process in lots of other situations (specially for mobile platforms).
4) Infinite gameplay: Missile Command has no end. You play it until all cities are destroyed. It’s a test for higher rankings, a very common logic in mobile games.
The simplicity from Atari is one point to be highlighted nowadays. In times of extreme complexity in many games, it’s good to look back and find inspiration to create objective, simple and rich new experiences.
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This week on Super Adventures I went and did that thing I wasn't supposed to do and played another RPG! I've got nothing against the genre, they just take so much time and so many words.
Dungeon Siege has gotten a bit of a reputation for being a game that basically plays itself, but I've got fond memories of it. Well, I've got a vague memory of being fond of it at least. I've beaten the game, but the only thing I can recall after 14 years is that the steampunk goblins were cool. So I plan to keep going in the game at least long enough to run into those guys.
You know I still get surprised when I'm reminded this got an movie adaptation, though I can very much believe it was nega-director Uwe Boll who made it happen. 'In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale' came out five years after the game, in actual cinemas, with folks like Jason Statham, Ron Perlman, Ray Liotta and Burt Reynolds collecting paychecks for their participation. Boll really was on a mission to ruin the chances of us ever getting a decent video game movie back then, releasing three of them in 2007 alone ('Dungeon Siege', 'Postal' and 'BloodRayne 2'). He's slowed down a bit since then, but that hasn't saved us from 'In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission'.
(Click any image to see the original sized screenshot. The game can apparently support more modern resolutions, but I’ll be playing at 800x600 because I want to give you a fighting chance to read the on screen text.) Read on »
A new addition to the family is an exciting event, but sometimes dogs don’t exactly understand what is going on which can cause stress and anxiety.Here are 3 tips for preparing your dog for baby’s arrival:
1.Enforce new rules and boundaries
Decide on the new rules and boundaries that your dog will need to adhere to with the baby around.It is a good idea to get started on a new schedule several weeks before the baby is due.The new schedule for your dog will likely involve varied feeding times, quiet time in their crate, an unpredictable exercise routine, and a higher enforcement of obedience.
Obedience training should be revisited with an extra focus on commands such as “drop”, “corner” or “bed”, “stay”, and “quiet”.Your dog should be comfortable responding to verbal cues as your ability to give visual cues or hand signals may be diminished when you are holding your baby.
2.Introduce them to baby’s household objects
Set up the baby’s room early to give your dog sufficient time to adjust to the new objects.Introduce your dog to baby equipment gradually with lots of praise and treats as positive reinforcement.Baby gates should also be installed if you plan to use them and the car seat placed in the car.Aim to have everything set up so prominent furniture is not a sudden addition once the baby arrives.
Introduce your dog to baby products such as lotion, powder, and diapers.Let them sniff these products in their own time so they can become familiarised with the new smells.
3.Allow them to interact with other babies
If your dog has never been around other babies or small children, it is a good idea to introduce them.Friends with babies should be encouraged to visit so that your dog can see you holding their baby.Another useful tactic is playing a CD with baby noises for your dog.It should be played at a quiet level to begin with, which can be gradually increased once your dog becomes comfortable with the noises.
Your dog should also be introduced to the idea that they will receive less attention when there are babies around.Discourage your dog from attention seeking behaviour so that your dog doesn’t associate less attention with your new baby.Do not let your dog directly interact with a baby, and never leave them unattended.
The exercise of game designing is not an easy challenge. Behind the gameplay, beta test sessions, prototypes, interviews with beta testers, meetings, information architecture and gaming art lies a player filled with emotions, wishes, wills and a great desire to experience something unique in their life.
So, this post’s question is: what does a player want when are experiencing a game (and here we are talking about any kind of game: blockbusters and indies)? It's a pretty broad question and, in my humble opinion, impossible to be answered in a simple blog post. However, we can find great insights from gaming theory.
Rose III (2001, p.2-18) in his book “Game design: theory & practice” elaborated a very interesting list trying to answer some questions from the player’s side. About the theme “what players want and expect”, the author has some good points that I’ll reproduce and comment below:
1. Players want a challenge 2. Players want to socialize 3. Players want a dynamic solitaire experience 4. Players want bragging rights 5. Players want an emotional experience 6. Players want to fantasize 7. Players expect a consistent world 8. Players expect to understand the game-world’s bounds 9. Players expect reasonable solutions to work 10. Players expect direction 11. Players expect to accomplish a task incrementally 12. Players expect to be immersed 13. Players expect to fail (this point creates good dialogue with the first one) 14. Players expect a fair chance 15. Players expect to not need to repeat themselves 16. Players expect to not get hopelessly stuck 17. Players expect to do, not to watch
Let’s take Star Wars Battlefront (EA DICE, 2015) as an example. Players want challenges to play online or the possibility to play alone if the Internet fails. In this gaming ecosystem, to achieve better rankings works as a very important symbolic currency. The Star Wars universe offers a consistent world and the game has clear rules about how you can up your level, buy equipment, kill an enemy etc. There are tutorials to teach each new movement in the game. From time to time, EA DICE launches new maps, new characters and new challenges to keep the community engaged and immersed in the experience. A player can play in a professional level or just for fun. The Star Wars brand surely helps a lot in the marketing success, but the details and the strategic game thinking behind the production is the point to highlight in this discussion.
With good humor, Rose III (2001, p.18) ends this chapter from his book with the following thinking: “Players do not know what they want, but they know it when they see it”.
This list is a brief example of a universe of possibilities. So, the games studies need to be more and more interdisciplinary. Different views on the same subject could generate good ways to research and develop.
#GoGamers
Reference:
ROUSE III, Richard. Game design: theory & practice. Texas: Wordware Publishing, 2001.
