Quiz / Case Study Robin Burke GAM 224

Outline Admin Rules paper Play paper Game designs Quiz Case study

Rules paper Grades A: AAA B: BB---++ C: CC D:D- RW: R

Rewrites Must RW grade or C- or below May anybody but grade is not guaranteed to go up Cannot if no original paper Rewrite due date 3/4 Must submit original graded assignment and new hard copy As well as to turnitin.com Grading (2 * rewrite_grade + original_grade) / 3 example: Rewrite = A, Original = C- (2* ) / 3 = 3.22 = B / B+

Problems Citation Correct Grand Theft Auto III Rockstar Games, 2001, Playstation 2. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), 390. Blizzard Entertainment, "Honor System F.A.Q" (Accessed 5 February 2007.) Incorrect anything else 2 nd citation none necessary for the game Salen and Zimmerman, 232. "Honor System F.A.Q" Unsupported assertions "World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG ever." Might be true needs to be supported with a citation – according to whom?

Thesis More specific is better Blah "Halo 2 shows a lot of emergence." Better "The weapons systems in Halo 2 are tightly coupled with many aspects of the game generating emergent gameplay at both the strategic and tactical levels." In many cases the conclusion of the paper contained a good thesis statement grab this and put it in front

Focus Do not "brain dump" the description of the game's premise should be just enough to get the reader started should focus on those areas that matter for your argument Example Unfocused "Madden has rules about.... [2 pages of description]" Focused "The main conflicts in Madden are set up by the standard rules of NFL football and the operational rules for controlling the game.... [2 or 3 paragraphs about these rules]" Warning sign Your paragraphs are too long 10 lines maximum otherwise you probably don't know what your point is Many papers had this problem

Focus cont'd A 5-page paper is very short You cannot argue persuasively for more than one or two points Many papers tried to do too much every conflict in a game every game theoretic decision Pick the most significant points that support your case argue them in depth with concrete examples from the game Don't slavishly follow my outlines if it doesn't apply, don't mention it

Proofreading The spellchecker is no substitute for human judgment their (belonging to them) there (location reference) losing (not winning) loosing (what happens to your shoelaces)

#1 Tip Read your paper out loud You will learn if your overall argument holds together if your syntax is garbled if you are rambling on and on if your transitions are abrupt

Schemas Emergence ≠ finding two object coupled together ≠ complex gameplay you are looking for a system in which one object / behavior / variable is highly coupled to many other things you are looking for the whole being greater than the sum of the parts if the parts are themselves complex, it is a tougher argument Game theory ≠ finding decisions that balance risk / reward what is the larger system of such decisions? how does the player learn about the risks and rewards? Conflict ≠ identifying one or two types of conflict that are present what is the system of conflict? how do different types of conflict interact? Information ≠ what forms of information there are what is the underlying system of hiding and revealing? what are the costs/payoffs of learning something?

Play paper Due in two weeks 2/26 No rewrites Schemas Experience Pleasure Meaning Narrative Simulation Social Play

Game designs Please review my comments on COL. NW = needs work Assignment requirement “The theme of the game will be a treasure hunt: collecting items in a Mexican village. Each player will have different items that they need to collect.” Many games did not have this theme not hard to incorporate Play testing Some games did not appear to have been playtested

Quiz 30 min.

Katamari Damacy

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