The Haunting Aesthetics of Tacoma

2019 ◽  
pp. 155541201989440
Author(s):  
Ashley P. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Video games are well suited to exploring questions of philosophical intent through their construction and design. Exploring the layered and complex forms of video game design and aesthetics is a growing area of gaming studies that is pointing toward these larger and important questions, even changing the way gaming studies is being approached by scholars. This article examines the relationship between video games’ design and aesthetics and Derrida’s conceptual framework of hauntology. Using Mannon and Temkin’s definition of glitch aesthetics, I conduct a close visual analysis of Tacoma as a case study in how Derrida’s hauntology is present within video games. Tacoma’s aesthetic choices bring to light how video games play with Western understandings of presence, life, and death.

scholarly journals Semi-automatic construction of video game design prototypes with MaruGen

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Italo Felipe Capasso-Ballesteros ◽  
Fernando De la Rosa-Rosero
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
L Systems ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Game Designer ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Expression Mechanism

Machinations Ruleset Generator (MaruGen) is a semi-automatic system for the generation of mechanics, rules, spaces (environments), and missions for video games. The objective of this system is to offer an expression mechanism for the video game designer role based on the definition of rules, and the ability to explore the concepts of progression and emergence in video games by using a formal, usable, and defined tool to design games with innovative and complex elements, and behaviors defined from combinations of basic elements. Based on the expressed designs and with the participation of programmers and video game artists, MaruGen allows the generation of agile video game prototypes in the Unity game engine. These prototypes can be analyzed by the entire workgroup to look for games with diverse complexities that make them attractive to their users. MaruGen is based on the expression of rules on elements of interest in video games and the rewriting mechanism using L-Systems for the generation of procedural content. MaruGen was evaluated in the construction of the Cubic Explorer video game and tested by gamers and video game developers during the Game Jam Ludum Dare 38.

Waltzing on Rooftops and Cobblestones

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-55
Author(s):  
Ailbhe Warde-Brown
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Real World ◽  
World History ◽  
Interaction Model ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Open World ◽  
Integrated Approaches ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between music, sound, space, and time plays a crucial role in attempts to define the concept of “immersion” in video games. Isabella van Elferen’s ALI (affect-literacy-interaction) model for video game musical immersion offers one of the most integrated approaches to reading connections between sonic cues and the “magic circle” of gameplay. There are challenges, however, in systematically applying this primarily event-focused model to particular aspects of the “open-world” genre. Most notable is the dampening of narrative and ludic restrictions afforded by more intricately layered textual elements, alongside open-ended in-game environments that allow for instances of more nonlinear, exploratory gameplay. This article addresses these challenges through synthesizing the ALI model with more spatially focused elements of Gordon Calleja’s player involvement model, exploring sonic immersion in greater depth via the notion of spatiotemporal involvement. This presents a theoretical framework that broadens analysis beyond a simple focus on the immediate narrative or ludic sequence. Ubisoft’s open-world action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is a particularly useful case study for the application of this concept. This is primarily because of its characteristic focus on blending elements of the historical game and the open-world game through its use of real-world history and geography. Together, the series’s various diegetic and nondiegetic sonic elements invite variable degrees of participation in “historical experiences of virtual space.” The outcome of this research intends to put such intermingled expressions of space, place, and time at the forefront of a ludomusicological approach to immersion in the open-world genre.

Does Game Quality Reflect Heuristic Evaluation?

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 1991-2004
Author(s):  
Björn Strååt ◽  
Fredrik Rutz ◽  
Magnus Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Usability Evaluation ◽  
Heuristic Evaluation ◽  
Design Issues ◽  
Evaluation Tools ◽  
Video Game Design

Usability evaluation tools in the form of heuristic lists can be very helpful in software development. In the field of video game design, researchers are continuously developing new heuristic tools aimed specifically at video game productions. However, through previous studies, the authors have found that even though these tools are frequent and common, design issues regularly appear in video games. This study examines whether video game heuristics are able to capture and evaluate softer values of video game interaction, based on the challenges, flow and immersion of gameplay. By conducting a heuristic evaluation on low scoring and high scoring games the authors manage to show which kind of design issues are most frequent in both high and low scoring games. As a further result of the study, two new heuristics are presented.

Designing Curricular Games

2018 ◽  
pp. 213-232
Author(s):  
Janna Jackson Kellinger
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Video Games ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Teaching Video

Most teachers only dream of their students spending the amount of motivation, attention, passion, and critical thinking on their classes that some do playing video games. Many teachers have thought “How can I compete with that?” as they confiscate a hand-held gaming device from a student. However, more and more teachers are incorporating video games into their curriculum, instead of banning them. This chapter argues that it is not just video games that can transform teaching, video game techniques can as well. By using video game design principles such as game stories and quests, teachers can restructure their teaching so students do not just learn the curriculum, they experience it. This chapter explores the research on using game-based teaching and learning with the Next Generation including how game-based teaching can be used to achieve 21st century goals as outlined by business leaders within 21st century educational constraints.

Synechism in the Video Games Design

2015 ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
Francisco V. Cipolla-Ficarra ◽  
Jacqueline Alma ◽  
Alejandra Quiroga
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Interactive Design ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Software And Hardware

The authors present an analysis of the first set of elements belonging to the interactive design categories: layout (naturalness of metaphor) and content (storytelling), which make up synechism in video game design. In addition, they examine the evolution of the notion of the video game in relation to the advance of the software and hardware. Finally, the authors include in that analysis the changes in storytelling, due to the greater or lesser presence of the dynamic means and the static means of hypermedia communication.

scholarly journals Interfejsy intymności. Tendencje intymistyczne we współczesnych grach wideo

2021 ◽  
pp. 215-239
Author(s):  
Piotr Kubiński
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Final Conclusion ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Media Form

The article concentrates on a specific tendency that can be observed in some video games created in recent years. This trend is that more and more video games present an intimate perspective and focus on the individual experience of the protagonist. The author of the article approaches the phenomenon in question mainly from the interpretative and genological perspective, since video games are not a media form commonly identified with the expression of intimate, formative or identitycreating experiences. The author starts with an analysis of the reasons why video games and intimistic texts are commonly perceived as very distant genre forms. Then he analyzes those video games that represent the intimistic tendency: Bury me, my Love (The Pixel Hunt, 2017), A Normal Lost Phone (Accidental Queens, 2017) and Wanderlust: Travel Stories (Different Tales, 2019). The analysis leads to the following conclusions: what is common for all the three discussed games is i.a. a particularly important role of the text as the basic semiotic material in which the game is realized. Even though Interfejsy intymności this concentration on the word is not a necessary condition of intimistic poetics – it definitely helps introducing such a dimension into the work. What is more, two of the three discussed games use the strategy of remediating a smartphone. In both cases, the creators designed new interfaces modeled on the real ones and turned navigating on the phone screen into basic game mechanics. This, in turns, means that intimistic tendencies in video games stimulate reaching for new genre forms. This process of remediation is possible mainly because modern intimacy has shifted very clearly towards the digital, and smartphones have become its basic tool. This phenomenon, which the author of the article calls ‘intimacy 2.0’, is a result of the fact that: (a) contemporary culture is deeply anchored in the digital and its interfaces, and (b) the importance of smartphones in everyday communication and media consumption has been growing enormously in recent years. The final conclusion of the paper is as follows: all the discussed games use an intimate perspective to evoke empathy, which was not a typical video game design goal. This is especially interesting, given the fact, that all the analyzed games remain primarily commercial products that are driven by the laws of the market.

scholarly journals On the environment-destructive probabilistic trends: a perceptual and behavioral study on video game players

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Hoang Vuong ◽  
Manh-Toan Ho ◽  
Minh-Hoang Nguyen ◽  
Thanh-Hang Pham ◽  
Ho Hoang Anh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Simulation Game ◽  
Behavioral Study ◽  
Environmental Perceptions ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Game Environment ◽  
The Relationship

Currently, gaming is the world’s favorite form of entertainment. Various studies have shown how games impact players' perceptions and behaviors, prompting opportunities for purposes beyond entertainment. This study uses Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)—a real-time life-simulation game—as a unique case study of how video games can affect humans' environmental perceptions. A dataset of 584 observations from a survey of ACNH players and the Hamiltonian MCMC technique has enabled us to explore the relationship between in-game behaviors and perceptions. The findings indicate a probabilistic trend towards exploiting the in-game environment despite players' perceptions, suggesting that the simplification of commercial game design may overlook opportunities to engage players in pro-environmental activities.

Employing Co-Design in the Video Game Design Process

2012 ◽  
pp. 1048-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Real World ◽  
Game Design ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Design Techniques

Innovative and engaging video games can be created if the target audience is included in the design process. Co-design is the process of working with your intended audience as colleagues in the design of technology. Co-design requires techniques that bring together designers in a way to create new technologies. New design techniques are developed to be used in real-world situations, but they require refinement through their own use. Video games offer technique designers an abundant source of material to design and refine techniques in real-world scenarios. This chapter discusses co-design, and the use of co-design techniques in the design of a serious video game to explore history, to help children be more environmentally minded, and a virtual world that reinforces positive social behavior.

Indie Rocks! Mapping Independent Video Game Design

2005 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Design Production

Though many video games scholars and journalists tend to train their sights on ‘big gaming’, there is a vibrant and varied sector of independent game design, production and distribution. Indie gaming is not a unitary field and, as well as producing a diverse range of games, indie designers occupy a range of positions vis-à-vis mainstream video gaming. Therefore, while this article gives examples of this diversity, it is by no means an exhaustive account. Industry watchers and events are together suggesting that low-cost, independent modes of production will become increasingly important and prevalent in the immediate future. Scholars and practitioners alike will do well to understand the historical trajectories of indie design, and to keep pace with its present and future diversity.

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