Weeks 8, 9 Game Design
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The 1980s saw the introduction of fictional storytelling and characters in digital games. Pac-Man, designed to appeal to both genders, avoided violence and became a global phenomenon. Donkey Kong introduced cutscenes that advanced the narrative and gameplay. Role-playing games also became more popular and began to feature character attributes and customization. Adventure games transitioned to computer platforms and included both text-based and visually represented genres like roguelikes. The Ultima series established Richard Garriott's reputation for deep, ethically-themed RPGs.
Weeks 8, 9 Game Design
- 1. History of Videogames Part Two: The 1980s From Introduction to Game Study Chapter 5 Thanks to Frans Mäyrä & SAGE Publications MontanaTech
- 2. 1980s: Learning the Lexicon 1980s are remembered as “the culture of selfishness” and carried contradictions – the decade that brought prosperity and computers to homes was also the decade of Chernobyl and AIDS.
- 3. 1980s: Introducing Adventure, Characters and Fiction in Games From 1970 to 1980 the total recreation expenditures in the US more than doubled. Games profited from evolving technology by providing more complex digital entertainment. The 1980s introduced fictional storytelling and character elements to mainstream digital games.
- 4. Pac-Man as a Pop Phenomenon Pac-Man (Namco, 1980) was originally designed by Toru Iwatani, and in Japan it was called „Puck Man‟. Designed to appeal to a wide audience, also females - one of the all-time most popular games. Consciously avoided references to killing and war in its shell (imagery, thematic level).
- 5. Pac-Man‟s Characters The main character was designed to illustrate the game‟s main activity: eating. Chasing and escaping while navigating is the other main player activity. Four ghost characters were differentiated by their colour and style of movement (which also gave them personality). The ghosts‟ animated eyes showed their direction of movement. Image credits: Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.
- 6. Auteur Toru Iwatani http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxa5IDkOghc “I was interested in developing a game for the female game enthusiast. Rather than developing the character first, I started out with the concept of eating and focused on the Japanese word „taberu‟ which means to eat. The actual figure of Pac- Man came about as I was having pizza for lunch.”
- 7. Pac-Man Design Pac-Man game design: arcade cabinet (US version, published by Midway), screenshots Play a Pac-Man clone online: http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/media/pacman_flash/ Image credits: The International Arcade Museum, www.klov.com.
- 8. Game Genre Systems Game genre can be based on the game‟s shell or iconography („space game‟) or its interactivity (type of action: a „shooter game‟), From a descriptive linguistics perspective, genre terminology needs to be recognised by players to be truly useful. Game genres are constantly being named and renamed by players, experts and game media: living game cultures are in a state of flux.
- 9. Genre of Pac-Man If action and iconography decides the genre, Pac- Man can be called an „eating game‟. Many classic board games are based on „eating‟ other player‟s game pieces. Perhaps more importantly, Pac-Man is a „maze game‟: labyrinth navigation is a central feature. The dynamics of chase increase the difficulty: player needs to multi-task in real time while navigating the maze.
- 10. Visual Storytelling By the early 1980s, there was already an entire generation (shikaku sedai, the visual generation) living immersed in Anime and Manga in Japan. Japanese popular culture influenced digital game design. The Japanese games enhanced the gameplay experience by introducing recognisable characters, exploration-inviting places and rudimentary storylines to motivate action.
- 11. Donkey Kong (1981) Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong included cut scenes (short non-interactive sequences or movies) to advance the plot. The villain of the game is the ape, which escapes with „Jumpman‟s‟ girlfriend and the player is faced with the task of winning her back. Jumpman would later be known as Mario, the most famous game character of all time. The game narrative progresses through four different game screens with different building platforms to climb - making this the archetypal „platform game‟.
- 12. Donkey Kong Art Donkey Kong arcade cabin, screenshots Play a Donkey Kong clone online: http://donkey-kong.freeonlinegames.com/ Image credits: The International Arcade Museum, www.klov.com.
- 13. Legacy of Donkey Kong From the starting screen of escaping ape to the final screen with Jumpman rescuing the lady, Donkey Kong was able to convey an entire storyline. The story progressed as a reward to successful player action - a solution that many games have replicated since then. Many later Mario series games had similar features to Donkey Kong: sideways-depicted jumping landscapes, and „rescue the lady‟ type plots.
- 14. Popularity of Mario The game designer of the Mario games (Shigeru Miyamoto) has become the most celebrated of all time - known also for the Legend of Zelda series. More than 200 games with Mario characters have been published, selling nearly 200 million copies worldwide. Relating to their popularity, Mario games have generally been well-designed: their high playability includes clear goals, immediate rewards from the successful use of game controls, enjoyable visual and audio design, and a „sense of magic‟ permeating their fictional universe.
- 15. More Depth of Character: RPGs First tabletop RPGs (like Dungeon & Dragons, 1974) had their roots in miniature war games. Typically RPG games involve the creation of a character with various attributes, such as strength and intelligence. A game master (GM) will present the challenges of an adventure to players, who take on the roles of their player characters (PCs) during the adventure.
- 16. Early Computer Games: Text Adventures Early computer games often relied on text and typing rather than graphics and audio. The earliest text adventure game was ADVENT (1975-76), programmed by Will Growther and Don Woods. Infocom produced famous games like Zork (1977-1980), and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984). EXAMPLE OF A TEXT ADVENTURE
- 17. Rogue-like Games An alternative to text description was to use the computer monitor to draw images by using text characters. Famous games of this type: Angband, Hack/NetHack, Moria, Rogue. Known as ASCII graphics, these games only relied on basic letters and numbers (ASCII characters) to display the game world. Rogue-like games often featured randomly generated dungeons, adding to their replay value.
- 18. Typical Rogue-like Interface ------ - Wall |....| ############ # Unlit hallway |....| # # . Lit area |.$..+######## # $ Some quantity of gold |....| # ---+--- + A door ------ # |.....| | Wall # |.!...| ! A magic potion # |.....| # |..@..| @ The adventurer ---- # |.....| |..| #######+..D..| D A dragon |<.+### # |.....| < Stairs to the previous level ---- # # |.?...| ? A magic scroll ###### ------- Source: www.wikipedia.org
- 19. Adventure Game Types Several distinctly different types of games with „adventure‟ elements exist. Taking two key features, interaction temporality and the consistency of game world, the following table can be constructed: Game Genre Interaction Game World Example Temporality (mostly) Action RPGs Real time Random Diablo (1996) Interactive Fiction Turn-based Pre-scripted Zork (1980) Platform Games Real time Pre-scripted Donkey Kong (1981) Roguelike Games Turn-based Random NetHack (1985- 2003) Contemporary games are often „action adventures‟, featuring both real-time interaction as well as interlinking puzzle structures.
- 20. Ultima RPG Series Richard Garriott started the design of computer games while still at school. His first published game was called Akalabeth (1979), made for Apple II personal computer. Akalabeth screen (Image His Ultima series of computer RPGs is credit, Wikipedia, www.wikipe considered the longest dia.org) running RPG franchise.
- 21. Ultima IV: Game with Thematic Depth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwEwcOgi6o The fourth game in the Ultima series represented an attempt to go beyond hack- and-slash battles or straightforward puzzles. The game follows the main character’s struggle to understand the Eight Virtues and reach Avatarhood. The player can become engrossed in the fiction and ethical dilemmas, but it is also possible to face Ultima IV as „just a game‟.
- 22. Ultima IV Art Ultima IV screenshots; install and play original Ultima IV for DOS or XU4 remake from http://xu4.sourceforge.net/download.php Image credits: Origin/Electronic Arts; source: www.mobygames.com.
- 23. Auteur Richard Garriott aka Lord British http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIoGLAfqf6w Richard Allen Garriott (born July 4, 1961) is an English- American videogame developer and entrepreneur. Also an avid magician. Quotes A.C. Clark “Any technology sufficiently advanced in indistinguishable from magic.”