Thursday, September 30, 2010

My gift to You

Imperfect information, Terminal Conditions and Conflict

Ludology Minigame exercise 29/9/2010

I found this weeks minigame exercise very interesting. I came up with a 5 card rummy style game with a dice roll to obtain a score on each round. A very simple game with imperfect information (players did not know the other players hands). The rules were simple and it was easy to play but it was quite dull. Using cards and dice together was interesting but my game added nothing more than a twist on an old variant.

A far more enjoyable game to play was elevens, this was more interesting due to conflict. The ability to snipe a card from another player and possibly obtain their good cards was a welcome twist. This game also used a dice to better effect than a simple score - a meaningful branch in the game with choice based on the dice.

We then play tested another groups game. This was a simple linear path with different coloured squares with some squares causing a player to get a card with a play modifying behavior. Conflict arose again in this with the ability to make a player miss a turn or force the player to retreat back the play surface.

The conflict in both these games made them enjoyable and the tension created between players added to the overall experience.

Do we need to win? One thing I noticed with some of the games was the unendedness of them. We are supposed to finish the game in 8 minutes but some of the games from this week might never reach an ending. Does a game need to end? In some games there is no terminal condition, experience goes up, the character gets more abilities, the world gets more complex - do they ever need to end?

anon

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

the consequences of games

just watched the last episode of this is england on 4od
a veritable work of art
thinking of the real life consequences of games
flirting escalates to rape and murder
is hardcore gambling any less dangerous?

just words for thought

Designing for Queens - Words and Images

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

first ludology class

really enjoyed the first ludology and gameplay class
was a bit out of my depth
got going in the end

created a game and rules for a triangular 3 pie game trivial pursuits style
setup startup conditions and rules to play
played the game and took 8 mins to finish play cycle

my partner in crime came up with a groovy straw construction game
i didn't really understand it - it was really thinking out of the box
it made me realise how static my thought can be

swapped games with another group and played their battleships style game
as the game progressed and the rules and gameplay revealed itself it became richer
implicit or undescribed play can be far richer

The second time defining the rules for the game to give to the other group
was not as clear as the first time - ambiguity had crept in after play


my first real post - I need to get better

My first blog entry

Setup my blog
This is my first entry during authoring lab
Happy days