1. Game Aesthetics (Week 7, Class 12)
Today’s Agenda
Art Gallery Expansion Project
Aesthetics
Game Design
Game Aesthetics

2. UC Merced Art Gallery Expansion
Cynthia Romero
UCM Art Gallery Student Curator

3. So what does the word mean?
Aesthetics
So what does the word mean?
How do you use it?
How have you used it?

4. Aesthetics - Dictionary

5. Aesthetics - Dictionary
Beauty
Taste
Art

6. Aesthetics – Keyword
mid 18th C - Baumgarten - Beauty as phenomenal perfection; sensible (material) as opposed to imagined (immaterial)

7. Aesthetics – Keyword
mid 18th C - Baumgarten - Beauty as phenomenal perfection; sensible (material) as opposed to imagined (immaterial)
mid 18th C – Kant – sensuous perception (not about beauty, as such)

8. Aesthetics – Keyword
mid 18th C - Baumgarten - Beauty as phenomenal perfection; sensible (material) as opposed to imagined (immaterial)
mid 18th C – Kant – sensuous perception (not about beauty, as such)
early-mid 19th C – high/low battles (non-English word and elitism)

9. Aesthetics – Keyword
mid 18th C - Baumgarten - Beauty as phenomenal perfection; sensible (material) as opposed to imagined (immaterial)
mid 18th C – Kant – sensuous perception (not about beauty, as such)
early-mid 19th C – high/low battles (non-English word and elitism)
20th C-present – subjective vs. objective (both individually and culturally)

10. ngram : beauty, taste, aesthetic, aesthetics

11. ngram : beauty, taste, aesthetic, aesthetics, art, culture

12. Game Design
“Iterative Design is a play-based design process… a rough version of the game is rapidly prototyped as early in the design process as possible. This prototype has none of the aesthetic trappings of the final game, but begins to define its fundamental rules and core mechanics. It is not a visual prototype, but an interactive one.” (Salen and Zimmerman 2003, p. 11)

13. Game Design
“Iterative Design is a play-based design process… a rough version of the game is rapidly prototyped as early in the design process as possible. This prototype has none of the aesthetic trappings of the final game, but begins to define its fundamental rules and core mechanics. It is not a visual prototype, but an interactive one.” (Salen and Zimmerman 2003, p. 11)

14. Game Design Rules are fundamental Mechanics are the core of the game
Aesthetics are added on audio, visual, and haptic trappings

15. Game Design – MDA
Mechanics
Dynamics
Aesthetics

16. Game Design – MDA
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

17. Game Design – MDA
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

18. Dynamics: means through which specific emotions are brought out
Game Design – MDA
Aesthetics: “fun”; player emotion; player engagement; what the player should feel/experience
Dynamics: means through which specific emotions are brought out
Mechanics: specific actions, behaviors and controls that enable the dynamics

19. Game Design – MDA Example

20. Game Design – MDA Example
Aesthetics: challenge; memorization
Hidden Aesthetics: active learning
Dynamics: challenge comes from competition; must remember readings in order to win and in order to vote; active learning comes from voting and speaking
Mechanics: rhetorical battle with opponent; can change game card to help with drive and memory; class pays attention to decide winner; drive to play comes from extra credit for winning and participating

21. Game Design – MDA Example 2
Aesthetics: ???
Dynamics: ???
Mechanics: ???

22. Game Design – MDA
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

23. Game Design – MDA Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics
The way the industry approaches these is, however, flipped

24. Game Design – MDA
Aesthetics
Dynamics
Mechanics

25. Game Design – MDA Aesthetics Dynamics Mechanics (surface level)
(underlying core)

26. Game Design – MDA Aesthetics Dynamics Mechanics (surface level)
(underlying core)
For the game industry, the mechanics drive the aesthetics; for the player, the aesthetics are critical

27. Niedenthal thinks that players are important
Game Aesthetics
Niedenthal thinks that players are important
Niedenthal thinks that the industry and academics focus too much on “core” mechanics

28. Niedenthal thinks that players are important
Game Aesthetics
Niedenthal thinks that players are important
Niedenthal thinks that the industry and academics focus too much on “core” mechanics
Niedenthal thinks “it is undeniable that games can give rise to an aesthetic experience” (Niedenthal 2009, p. 4)

29. Game Aesthetics – meta review
Game aesthetics refers to the sensory phenomena that the player encounters in the game (visual, aural, haptic, embodied).
Game aesthetics refers to those aspects of digital games that are shared with other art forms (and thus provides a means of generalizing about art).
Game aesthetics is an expression of the game experienced as pleasure, emotion, sociability, formgiving, etc (with reference to ”the aesthetic experience”).
(Niedenthal 2009, p. 2)

30. Niedenthal’s Conclusion
“The core of formal meaning of a game, according to many current approaches, radiates out from the procedural nature of games, through rule sets and mechanics to sound, graphics and the controller; the core of experienced game meaning radiates out from the brain and cognitive awareness towards the senses and hands… Where hands, senses, bodies and the tangible qualities of games meet, the aesthetic meaning of games emerges.” (Niedenthal 2009, p. 7)

31. Niedenthal’s Conclusion
“The core of formal meaning of a game, according to many current approaches, radiates out from the procedural nature of games, through rule sets and mechanics to sound, graphics and the controller; the core of experienced game meaning radiates out from the brain and cognitive awareness towards the senses and hands… Where hands, senses, bodies and the tangible qualities of games meet, the aesthetic meaning of games emerges.” (Niedenthal 2009, p. 7)
Aesthetics are experienced bodily; the player’s body in play is where we should be studying games

32. Designers and Players
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

33. Authors and Readers
Reader
Author
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

34. Artist and Experiencer
(Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2)

35. Roland Barthes – “The Death of the Author” (6 pages)
Next Up…
Readings:
Roland Barthes – “The Death of the Author” (6 pages)
Reading Tips
What does he mean by the “death” of the author?
Are “authors” and “writers” the same thing?
What is the relationship between “author” and “artist”?
Who matters if the “author” is dead?