Formal Abstract Design Tools

Thoughts on 
"Formal Abstract Design Tools"

Gaming fuses a many forms of media such as art ,audio ,level design ,code etc. Most of these areas are evolving. Design however is not evolving anywhere near as fast as other forms of media.

Doug Church suggests that a lack of technical vocabulary plays a significant part in this. This is because designers have trouble discussing design on a complex level. The vocabulary must be able to describe common concepts in very different games. Formal abstract design tools are an attempt to create a framework for such vocabulary.

'design tools' is straight forward. The Formal abstract rules out terms that are too nebulous such as this game has good gameplay because without further information on what type of genre the game is good gameplay is irrelevant when used as a comparison to other games.

These tools are not like building blocks. You cannot add a bunch of these tools to a game to make it good. you must make sure it goes well with the experiences the game is trying to create and whether it clashes with any of the other mechanics a good example of this is Mario 64. It gives players a lot of choice of what to do whilst stopping the player from either becoming stuck or losing interest in the game. It does this by giving players multiple goals in each world. Often the earliest one has the player travel through most of the world showing them points that will be important in later levels as well as allowing players to learn the way around.

With Mario players are made to feel control and encouraged to set goals for themselves. This is as a formal abstract design tool(FADT) is known as intention. Another example of a FADT is perceivable consequence this is When the player performs the action and fails it is very clear why the action failed.

RPGs often use perceivable consequence by stating why a story event has occurred. However RPGs also make actions that are direct results of a players actions seem random. often RPGs have choices in which the consequences are perceivable but the player has no way of knowing which choice will have the negative effect.

Perceivable consequence is often sacrificed for story by giving the designer a greater control over the narrative. Story doesn't quite mean the same thing in video games as it does in books. In games the term means the narrative thread of the game. While some games have a predetermined story much in the same way as a book. Yet in sports games the narrative of the game is how the match went.

I Have No Words & I Must Design

Thoughts on 
"I Have No Words & i must design"

Costikyan says:- 

'A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals'

At the start Costikyan discusses the concept of gameplay and how it had become a ubiquitous term when in reality it means nothing. This is because by itself the term “gameplay” is irrelevant without context for example, if I was to say that battlefield 3 had good gameplay without background knowledge of it being a FPS what would you define gameplay as, only be narrowing the context does it give the term meaning as with a FPS you would expect realistic gun control, precise movements however you wouldn’t expect easy unit control like you would with most RTS.

Later in the article Costikyan discusses how a game needs to be interactive and the differences between puzzles and games. Crawford describes puzzles as static entities, and is just a logic structure which requires solving. He compares this to the text-adventure "game" Zork.
While not defining simply as a puzzle, Costikyan thinks Crawford's idea is a basis to improve upon puzzles are static with a logic structure; games need interaction.

Endogenous is defined as substances that originate from within a body. When you apply this to games, we discuss the idea of games creating their own meaning. This sounds obvious when you think about it, but the point is most people often don't. Costikyan cites monopoly money and a weapon in an online RPG, and it can really apply to anything that would have no value to anyone outside of the game, including goals and enjoyment. For example in simcity until you add your own goals and meanings it is just a toy only when you give it a goal such as I want to destroy the city with natural disasters.

In the beginning, There is the Designer

Thoughts on

"In the beginning, There is the Designer"

The chapter begins by discussing confidence and a lack of fear in the designer, in order to succeed within the industry. Utilising a method of self motivation as one of the opening paragraphs sets how the rest of the chapter will pan out, in an informal method. I think that the point of self determination is shown best by  'Some of the greatest inventions have only come from people who only succeeded because they were too dumb to know what they were doing was impossible'. The chapter then continues prepare the reader for a career in the games industry as a designer by making it clear that they will fail in design. But it is shown that your faliures shoud be used a an experiment for iterations and also to be as a tool in order to fuel the success of becoming a designer. This sense of trial and error is pushed upon as a necessary tool to become a successful games designer and I agree, learning from mistakes and using these lessons at a later date in future projects is the only way to progress as a better designer.

The chapter continues by listing multiple skillsthat are needed for a games designer. These skills vary from Animation to phycology, and history to Visual Arts. This list is broad and varied, with some obvious and yet others most would not associate with games design.

The following section within the chapter mentions the single most important skill that a Games designer requires: Listening. The chapter continues to mention this skill and engages the reader with a mention to how listening can be developed in a method of even deeper listening, utilising a story that involves body language and deeper meanings.

There are five types of listening, as stated in this chapter of the book and they are as follows:

The first is listening to the Team, ensuring that the team has a good spectrum of skills and opinions that can be mixed together in order to form a good team and create a good game.
The second is to listen to the Audience, they are the gamers who will be playing the game and therefore the ultimate goal of game design and making is to make the gamers happy.
The third is to listen to the Game,  a more vague form of listening, this involves listening to how the game runs and deciding if it is ok or not; not disimilar to a mechanic and a car engine, to quote the book.
The fourth type is to listen to the Client, the moneybags, the provider, the sponsor, or pretty much the person paying for the game to be made. If the game is not what they want, when they want it they may choose to stop paying for the game.
The fifth and final type is to listen to your Self, this is an important type because it involves working within yourself, and discovering exactly what it is you want.

 The chapter concludes with a talk about gifts. Gifts are split into two types, Innate and Major. The Innate gifts are natural talent in an action, such as piano or designing a game. The major gift is to love your line of work, and to enjoy what you are creating. What is the point of entering a long career line without any interest in the career itself? Without this love of the work you will never be able to use all of the minor skills you may possess to their full potential and then create good games.

What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?

The last fiction book that I read was lord of the rings return of the king

What is the title/topic of the book (non fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non fiction book you read)?

the last non fiction book i read was stephen hawking a brief history of time 

What was the last live performance you attended?

the last performanc i was at was jon bon jovi down in london 

What is the title of the last film that you saw at the cinema/online or watched on DVD?

the last film i saw was the avengers

How often do you read a newspaper?

i don't very often read a physical newspaper however i do check the bbc news website a few times a week

Which art gallery/museum/exhibition did you last visit?

The last exhibition I visited was Eurogamer Expo at Earls Court

How many hours a week do you spend playing computer games?

if including i usually play around 40-50 hrs a week. 

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

 i dont very often get a chance to play non-digital game now so about 1-2 hrs a month