Multimedia Development

Image - Rick and Morty Gif How To Playtest  This video explains that you should always start to play test as soon as possible because if you leave it to late you could realise the game isn't fun or isn't how you wanted it to be after hours of work. Anyone can play test for you once they understand the basics of how the game works. The video explains different types of play testing and also gives examples of different games that had problems that could've being easily fixed with enough play testing. It even explains how some bugs in games can be turned into cool features! Watch the video here. 7 Different Types of Game Testing Techniques This article explains all about different types of game testing, it explains the major risks in game testing and also gives 7 examples and explains them.  Here are the major risks: If the game doesn’t create a compelling experience for the niche audience If the fun ...

Image - Story GIF Telling Stories with Systems This video explains all about story telling in games, firstly it explains how some games are designed to make the player feel like they are making big decisions when in fact no matter what choice you make it will still lead to the same outcome.    It also explains how some games have other ways of making the player feel like the game is more based on what decisions you make for example the game Shadow of Morder has a feature were some enemies you thought you may have killed can come back with a scare on their face and wanting revenge.    More on this video here. What Every Game Developer Needs to Know about Story   This is a great read if your interested on getting to know more about game story telling.   An example within this article is when it explains how important and how much character matters in game.    “Character  is what he chooses to do. He's driving by a burning school bus. There...

Overall I feel as if the reading and writing assignments have seriously benefited me. Posting blogs has made me more comfortable writing and I also feel as though my reading and writing skills have improved a lot. So far, my favorite reading has being the reading in week 5 on games MDA, I think it was a great read and that it really thought me a lot of new things I never knew. The reading notes are helping me when creating my game because they have thought me a lot about game developing, I have being a gamer my whole life really but I have never really learned about creating games I’ve always just played them but these reading help me view games from a different perspective. When I started doing the reading tasks I was literally reading every last bit of the readings which I think was a mistake for me anyways because it was almost an overload of information, I learned that I should of course read but if there’s parts that are kind of repeating or if it’s something not going to benefit ...

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 types of fun that are involve...

Image - Reading GIF “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 improving Flow is to ...

Image - Class Work GIF 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 used to create a GDD. These includ...

Image - MDA Framework MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research This article teaches you about the MDA framework, MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics.  Aesthetics   The aesthetics of a game are as follows: Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship Discovery Expression Submission Basically saying a game is fun isn’t enough to describe a game there are lots of different games that are fun in different ways which is when this list can be used to describe different ways in which the game is fun.  Dynamic Models Dynamics work to create aesthetic experiences. In this article it shows how challenges effect a game and how it makes you play the game and how some games can feel like there is no comeback and may turn the player the player in the losing position off continuing, for example, Monopoly when the winner in Monopoly goes so far ahead it causes the loser to go so far behind that the loser then knows more than likely there is no w...

Image - Virtual Ping Pong What are the qualities of Games? By Ian Schreiber   In this article the writer talks about all the qualities of a game. There are some recurring themes in games: “rules, conflict, goals, decision-making and an uncertain outcome”.    Ian also explains what the atomic elements in games are, the list as follows are some parts of games: Players Objectives Rules Resources and Resource Management Game State Information Sequencing Player Interaction Theme (Narrative, Backstory, Setting) Game as Systems Ian also leaves a link for each one of these which they are explained a lot more in detail. Critical analysis may not exactly be what you thinking as it is not as simple as just rating the game or just saying it’s fun there’s a lot more to it and it’s a lot more complicated than that.  Find out more! Game design research    This article goes into detail on how all game designers have different perspectives on what exactly game design is. It...

Image - Stack of books You ever wondered what a game is exactly? The article "what is a game anyway" will tell you exactly what a game is and how to create one.  This article shows that everyone has a different perception on what a game is for example when the word game comes to mind some people may think of a board game, some may think of a game of cards, some may think of a video game all of these are games but their just all different types of games.  If you ever thought you would never be able  create a game this article will surely change your mind in fact it will teach you how to create a game, a simple one but still a game.  Find out more - What is a game anyway? Coming up with an idea to create a game may be simple which w as shown in the paragraph above but getting a good idea is a different story. In the article "the organic nature of game ideation" 23 game designers are interviewed. They show the different ways some of them fi...