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Thoughts on Critical Game Studies

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Title: Thoughts on Critical Game Studies


1
Thoughts on Critical Game Studies
  • David Finkel
  • Computer Science Department
  • Interactive Media and Game Development

2
Purpose of this series of talks
  • To describe the contents of the new courses
  • To get feedback on the course content
  • So well all know whats in the courses
  • So the other courses can be designed knowing
    whats in this course, and vice versa
  • To have some general discussions about the IMGD
    curriculum

3
What is (are) Critical Game Studies?
  • Course description
  • a non-technical study of games, the history of
    games, and the game industry. The course will
    develop a vocabulary for discussing games, an
    approach to discussing the relative merits of
    different games, and tools for analyzing why
    certain games are successful.

4
Inspiration Courses in Film Studies
  • Topics covered in a film studies course
  • The Film Industry (production, distribution,
    exhibition)
  • Film Form and Principles of Narrative
  • Types of Films (Genres)
  • Film Style
  • Critical Analysis of Film

5
Show and Tell
  • Film Studies Text (Bordell and Thompson)
  • Game Design (Rollings and Adams possible text
    for CGS course)
  • High Score (History of Electronic Games)
  • Magazines
  • Game Developer
  • Computer Games

6
Outline of the CGS Course - 1
  • The Game Industry
  • Developers, Publishers, Distributors
  • History of Electronic Games (How much?)
  • The Elements of Game Design
  • Storytelling
  • Character Development
  • Game Play and Game Balance

7
Outline of CGS Course -2
  • Genres of Games
  • Design issues relevant to the different genres
  • Example Role-playing games and character
    development
  • Example Vehicle Simulations and User Interface
    Design
  • Mathematical Game Theory?
  • Throughout Examples, video clips of games.

8
Outline of CGS Course - 3
  • Assignments, projects
  • Analyze an existing game
  • Identify genre, storytelling elements, character
    development, etc.
  • Analyze a newly designed game
  • From an existing game design
  • From a student-generated game design

9
CGS Topic 1 Why Do People Play Games?
  • Because theyre fun

10
Whats fun about playing games?
  • Overcoming challenges
  • Mental (puzzles)
  • Physical (speed, coordination (twitch games))
  • Escapism fantacizing about being someone /
    somewhere else
  • Adventurer
  • Participating in dangerous activities
  • Participating in anti-social activities

11
Whats fun - 2
  • Having control over things
  • especially for young players
  • Social activities
  • Playing in a group
  • Outscoring other people

12
CGS Topic 2 Story telling -1
  • The role of stories in life. Why do we tell
    stories?
  • A way of organizing our experiences
  • To inform other people about our experiences
  • To amuse other people
  • To create a shared emotional experience

13
Story telling - 2
  • Why do we have stories in games
  • We dont always Space Invaders
  • To motivate the game play
  • To create a more long-term interest than the
    game-play alone can create
  • To provide an emotional experience
  • To provide an experience different from our
    everyday lives

14
Story telling - 3
  • The role of stories in games
  • The backstory
  • The story of the game
  • Who is the storyteller
  • What is the role of the player in determining the
    narrative?
  • The stories the players tell each other

15
Story telling - 4
  • How to write an effective story
  • The monomyth / the heros journey
  • Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
    (1949)
  • Christopher Vogler A Practical Guide to the
    Heros Journey see handout

16
Multipart-stories Series
  • Different narrative formats for multi-part series
    (Terminology from Rollings and Adams)
  • Series Story is broken into epsiodes, each of
    which resolves its own story line and also
    advances the overall theme.

17
Multi-part stories - Serial
  • Serial Episodes, but there are multiple
    overlapping story lines. Each episode advances
    one or more story lines. No overall story, so
    potentially infinitely many episodes.

18
Story telling - Episodic
  • Epsiodic Overall story line developed
    throughout, with tight integration between
    episodes and significant overlap of plot threads.

19
Questions
  • Whats the relation of the CGS course and a
    course in game design?
  • Where should we cover game design be in the
    curriculum? Early? Late? Both? In several
    courses?

20
Thoughts on Critical Game Studies
  • David Finkel
  • Computer Science Department
  • Interactive Media and Game Development
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