A Design Approach to Game Research going beyond games for entertainment only

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A Design Approach to Game Researchgoing beyond
games for entertainment only

• Staffan Björk

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Games have many potential uses
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Takeaway

• Knowing how to create games with specific
  attributes requires knowing how to create games
• Much of that knowledge is independent of the
  specific attributes

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Basic facts about IPerG
University of Tampere, Nokia Research
SICS, Daydream, Interactive Institute, Gotland
University

• Three and a half year duration
• Budget 10 M Euro, 6 M contribution from
  commission
• Ten partners
• Three phases
• Started September 1st2004

University of Nottingham, BlastTheory
Sony
Fraunhofer
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IPerGs objectives

• Aims
• input to infrastructure standard for pervasive
  games, where the IPerG infrastructure forms the
  basis for a reference implementation.
• develop tools to support rapid and commercially
  viable development of pervasive games.
• develop pre-competitive demonstrations of
  innovative pervasive game concepts and genres.
• develop business models as well as a design and
  evaluation framework for pervasive games.

• Success Criteria
• successful staging of a range of pervasive game
  prototypes.
• successful uptake of solution packages for
  specific industrial segments, including software
  prototypes, design guidelines and suggestions for
  business approaches.
• Wide-spread awareness about IPerGs activities in
  relevant European industry.
• The commercial exploitation of IPerG showcase
  games.
• The commercial exploitation of IPerG tools and
  other software components.

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Pervasive games

• Technology-based perspective
• Position-based mobile games
• Online-Onstreet Games
• Games in an area with a complete virtual /
  physical mapping
• Described through examples
• Botfighters
• Majestic
• Can you see me now?

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Project structure

• Four research themes
• Business Models
• Design Methodology
• Infrastructure
• Tools
• Several showcases
• Crossmedia Games
• Socially Adaptable Games
• Enhanced Reality Live Role Playing
• City as Theatre
• Massive Multiplayer Reaching Out
• Learning by Experience

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Commission Review
Commission Review
Commission Review
Project Kick Off
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INFRASTRUCTURE
INFRASTRUCTURE
INFRASTRUCTURE
TOOLS
TOOLS
TOOLS
Tutorials
NEW BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
DESIGN EVAL.
DESIGN EVALUATION
DESIGN EVALUATION
SELF-ASSESSMANT RISK ANALYSIS
SELF-ASSESSMANT RISK ANALYSIS
SELF-ASSESSMANT RISK ANALYSIS
-Social impact report -Solution Packages -Genre
design requirements

• Second prototypes
• Design framework

-Design guidelines -Tech. guidelines -First
prototypes
DELIVERABLES
CROSS MEDIA
CROSS MEDIA
TELLING PERVASIVE GAME STORIES
CITY AS THEATER
CITY AS THEATER
SOCIAL ADAPTABLE
SOCIAL ADAPTABLE
MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER
MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER
TRANS-REALITY GAMING
LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY
LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY
-Game Prototypes -Play tests -Genre analysis
-Game Prototypes -Play tests -Genre design rec.
-Game Prototypes -Play tests -Final evaluation
report.
DELIVERABLES
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Iterative Processes

• Separates qualities as entertaining from other
  qualities
• Need to look at games with explicit design goals
  not related to entertainment

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Types of research

• Focus on players
• Understanding social interaction between players
• Study how players behave during gameplay
• Study the meaning of games to players
• Focus on gameplay
• Understanding game mechanics and player
  interaction with these
• Analyzing games both during gameplay and purely
  analytically
• Exploring new areas of the design space of games

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Research issues and design concepts

• Identify research issues
• Based upon earlier research
• Based upon identified problems
• Based upon user studies
• Identify potential design concepts
• Based upon research issues
• Based upon various design perspectives

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Case study Socially Adaptable Games
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Social Adaptability

• The ability of a game system to adjust, either
  actively or passively, to changes in the social
  environment so that negative effects on gameplay
  or activities overlapping the current game and
  play sessions are minimized.

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Rationale for the showcase

• Acknowledge that pervasive games are not played
  in environments set up for the purpose
• Similar problem to developing applications for
  mobile phones, PDAs, and other pervasive systems

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Board Games

• Augmenting existing board games
• Hypothesis that they already have social
  adaptability
• Using existing game removes focus from creating
  entertainment to maintaining it
• Creating original designs
• Exploring new parts of the design space of games

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Steps in Phase 1

• Complete outer loop
• identify research issues
• create prototypes
• evaluate research results
• Multiple inner loops
• iterative design of prototypes
• several prototypes

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Research issues

• Identify core issues
• background survey
• calm technology, social weight, interruptability,
  seamfulness, design for ambiguity, player types,
• technology survey
• atomic gameplay actions
• user studies (late)
• Analyze core issues
• social interaction
• functional roles, social roles, modalities,
  player types, social groups
• changes in the magic circle
• design experiments
• Systemize core issues
• guidelines

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Research issues, cont.

• Functional roles
• observational, basic, dedicated, unique,
  supporting, meta
• Social roles
• banned, outcast, recluse, motivator, negotiator,
  mediator, helper, violator, dominator,
  exhibitionist
• Atomic gameplay actions
• Take OBJECT from POSITION, Place OBJECTS on
  POSITION, Give OBJECT to PLAYER/NON-PLAYER, Find
  OBJECT, Perform SKILL BASED ACTION, Randomize,
  Compute EVALUATION FUNCTION, Select OPTION from
  SET OF OPTIONS, Order PLAYER to perform TASK

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Research issues, cont.

• Guidelines
• support interruptability
• allow multiple communication channels
• consider ambiguity
• design for external events
• allow modes of play based on social roles
• minimize social weight
• analyze intended player groups from several
  perspectives

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Design concepts

• Create design concepts
• Using functional roles, social roles, game design
  patterns,
• Analyze design concepts
• Create design briefs
• Systemize design concepts
• Create design documents

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Design concepts, cont.
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Design concepts, cont.
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Implementation

• 3 selected design concepts
• 2 completed designs
• 1 explored from a technology infrastructure
  perspective
• Iterative design process
• Low fidelity prototyping

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Implementation, cont.
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Implementation, cont.
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Implementation, cont.
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Feedback to IPerG

• Integration still in progress
• evaluations, guidelines, methods, design tools
• but direct input to terminology report
• Definition of a pervasive game
• a game that is ambiguous regarding the spatial,
  temporal, social or interaction aspects of the
  game.

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Socially Adaptable Games Next step

• Identify research issues for next step
• User studies
• Game concepts
• Social roles
• Functional roles
• Gameplay Game Design Patterns
• Technology
• Play modes due to variable level of connectivity
• Play modes due to variable levels of gameplay
  immersion
• Sidekick play style
• Different types of ambiguity

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Thank you! Questions?

• staffan.bjork_at_tii.se