what are we doing here

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what are we doing here?

• To understand how to use emapps.com game engine
• As teachers administrator /content creation and
  gameplay definition
• As children user
• As game designer
• To play a game and see what is ok and what is
  missing

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what result do we expect to achieve

• You imagine a game
• Defining the way it works
• Describing the elements that make up the game (
  conceptual, functional, artistic and others)
• Transmitting that information to the team that
  will build the game
• You know all about emapps.com game engine

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The Anatomy of the game design

• No magic formula each game is different
• So no set of instructions and process that you
  can follow
• But we can give you some practical information
  about how to structure the game
• And we give you the game engine that enables you
  2 things, play the game and create the game.

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The ABC of a game
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The Storytelling

• All games tell a story
• So we need an story but in our case the story
  need to fit the CV curricula because the purpose
  of your game is to make the children to learn
  whilst they play the game.
• The complexity and depth of the story depends on
  the game.
• No story? no interest from the player side

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Narrative

• Means that part of the story that is told by you
  to the player.
• Narrative is the noninteractive, presentational
  part of the story
• Playing games is an active process and listening
  to a narrative is a passive one.
• There are some tensions between interactivity and
  narrative we will see it later.

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Interactivity

• Is the way that the player sees, hears and acts
  within the game world, in other words is the
  way the player plays the game
• That covers lot of diverse topics, maps, pre-set
  scenarios, video, audio, photos, texts but also
  in our case the user interface and how this
  interface works with the content.

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documenting always documenting the design

• You as game designer will produce a series of
  documents to tell others about your game design.
• Simply you cant design a game by lets try it an
  see approach.
• Hercules Poirot Order and Method!!!! To organize
  your ideas.
• Dont worry you are lucky today we have some
  documents for you, but you have to fill in.

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Begin with this

• The High Concept
• Level 1 - Your draft, your imagination
• Express the fundamental spirit of the game, is a
  resumé no more than two to four pages long
  including
• The premise of the game CONTENT
• The audience ( just define your children profile
  people involved if is ARG )
• Its genre ( normally Adventure, Discover and some
  touches of strategy)
• The overall story line
• It must also describe the gameplay what the
  gamer supposed to do and the technology s/he uses
  and for what purposes.
• Define your game team ( the visionary, the
  techie, the writer, the content creator and the
  supporters)

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eMapps.com Game Desgin Worksheet

• Level 2 and includes
• 1.Team Creation and role distribution
• 2.Primary Game play mode (playing field,
  interaction model, challenges, actions
• 3.Mechanics of the game (game internal economy,
  victory and loss conditions
• 4.Writers role ( CV curricula story players
  deliverables)
• 5.Technical interface ( digital devices
  networks)

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THE PITCH

• We will use this document to sell the idea to
  somebody else for example
• The Project Coordinator and Mr. Rob Davies
• Hey!!!! Look at what nice game I have
  developed!!!!!!!!!

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SOME GAME CONCEPTS I

• Getting a game idea based in your School CV, in
  games the universe is artificial but in your game
  is not.
• elements of the Game are Rules, they frame the
  challenges or obstacles players must overcome to
  win/content creation.
• Challenges together with the actions the players
  can take to meet them, make up the game play.
• Puzzles, enigmas normally worked by one person,
  it requires problem solving skills and the
  ability to think ahead.
• Victory or not Victory, that is the question!!!!

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SOME GAME CONCEPTS II

• Perpectives is the way how the player sees the
  world, on emapps.com game engine this is
  different from video games.
• Players role
• In Monopoly you are a tycoon, in Goldeneye you
  are James Bond, the players role also helps the
  player to understand what he is trying to achieve
  and what rules hes playing by.

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SOME GAME CONCEPTS III

• Understanding your audience requires
• Know about your children what they like some
  of them might be core gamers and other casual
  gamers and that make a diference in the way oyu
  develop your game and to whom you assign the
  roles.
• . Your game is Adventure game based on puzzle
  solving and conceptual challenge.

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SOME GAME CONCEPTS IV

• what is the nature of the gameplay? That is, what
  challenges will the player face, what actions
  will the player take to overcome them?
• what is the victory condition for the game if
  any? what is the player trying to achieve.
• what is the players role? Is the player
  pretending to be someone or something, and if so,
  what?. How does the players role help to define
  the gameplay.
• what is the games setting? Where does it take
  place( vector/orto/pre-set/territory) and that is
  related to the Physical dimension of the game.

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SOME GAME CONCEPTS V

• What is the players interaction model
  (Omnipresent, some combination?
• What is the games primary perspective?
• What is the general structure of the game, What
  is going on each level and what function does
  each mode fulfill?
• Is the game competitive. Cooperatime, team based
  or single player?
• Does the game have a narrative or story as it
  goes along? Summarize the plot in a setence or
  two.
• Does the game fall into an existing genre, if so
  wich one?
• Why would anyone want to play this game? What
  sort of people would be attracted to this game?

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Immersiveness and Suspension of Disbelief

• Suspension of the Disbelief is a mental state in
  which you choose, for a period of time, to
  believe that this pack of lies, this fiction, is
  reality. When you go inside the game world and
  temporarily make it your reality, you suspend
  your disbelief.
• But we also integrate pervasive technologies that
  contributes.
• And ARG game concept blurring reality and game.

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Dimensions of the game world

• Physical dimension, limits of your territory and
  connection between maps/orto/pre-set scenarios.
• Temporal dimension
• But in the sense how we control the time for the
  game, teachers can give a specific period of time
  for playing the game and that need to be pre
  defined.
• Human dimension
• Are you going to involve external people in your
  game?
• Ethical dimension
• Define what is right and what is wrong, fix your
  standards.

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THE SAVE CONTENT ISSUE

• Allowing the player to leave the game and return
  to it later.
• Letting the player recover from disastrous
  mistakes.
• Encouraging the player to explore alternate
  strategies.
• You save the content not the game be aware of
  that if you want some how to stop the gameplay
  time then that is different concept.

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Storytelling and Narrative

• Remember we use the story and narrative to drive
  knowledge based on CV content.
• No Storyincreasing importance of the story
  Story-Based Gameplay
• Arcade strategy games First person shooting
  Aventure games
• Increasing game complexity
• LETS SEE A WAY TO STRUCTURE THE STORY

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Possible way

• 1.The ordinary World is used to set up the story
  using a prologue to give to the player an
  explanations of the event but make them to work a
  bit to put the pieces together. The player will
  enter in this world so is important how you tell
  the facts.
• 2.Call for adventure
• Is the catalyst or the trigger that initiates the
  storyline it can takes many forms and it becomes
  the task of the player to prioritize these calls.
  Any idea how to start? SMS, MMS, emails, voice
  call, etc.

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Possible way

• The Refuse of the call
• You as designer can give multiple options that
  the player can refuse without penalties. The
  players actions determine which call he has
  refused.
• Meeting the Mentor (Teacher)
• Provides further tips and helpful suggestions
  until the player is more familiar with the game,
  all set of rules applied here see emapps.com
  engine how deals with this.

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Possible way

• Crossing the first Threshold
• Often the player express misgivings, concerns and
  fears but makes the crossing anyway. It is
  important to prepare them properly, so clear
  goals!!!
• The Approach ot the Innermost Cave
• This is the core of the story where the player
  finds the reward he seeks mostly toward the end
  of the game, if that is the case then there is
  not much attention paid to the journey back, BUT

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Possible way

• But if the reward is in the middle of the game
  then pays special attention ot the journey back.
• That is our case!!!! On the journey the player
  creates content and get rewards but only at the
  end of the journey when the whole content is
  created s/he is able to deliver a final result
  and get the final a real reward. See the
  mechanics of the game engine on emapps.com.
• The final Reward giving by the teachers approving
  game levels.

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Balancing gameplay and narrative

• 1.too much narrative and too little gameplay, no
  good.
• 2.too much narrative the game looks very linear.
• We cannot choose the times in which we live. All
  what we can decide is what to do with the time
  that is given to us
• Players cannot decide the world in which he
  plays that is for you, the designer but he must
  be allow to decide what to do within that world.

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And now the questions

• 1.Can the story begin at the beginning of the
  game, or would the game benefit from a backstory
  as well.
• 2.Will the story have a three act structure.
• 3.How the plot will be placed? Graph out of the
  major points of crisis, climax or along the game.
• 4.Will the game include narrative is the
  narrative essential for the player to understand
  and play the game.
• 5.Will the narrative material be integrated
  seamlessly into the gameplay or it will be a
  separate interface element.
• What form will the narrative material take? Pages
  in the manual, Introductory text in the program?,
  Movies, Podcast?

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What is the user experience

• The interface very different from games,
  pervassive is the point
• The visual element for playing the game The
  Desk concept, lets explaining it!!
• The Media element, audio, video, photo
• But the teacher Experience is?

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The GAMEPLAY

• One or more casally linked series of challenges
  (tasks, activities) in a simulated or real
  environment.
• What kind of challenges?
• 1.Logic and inference test the ability of the
  player to assimilate information and use that
  information to decide upon the best course of
  action.
• 2.Lateral Thinking Challenges
• The player to draw on her previous exprience and
  knowledge and combine them in a new and
  unexpected way. For example to solve a math
  puzzle to move ahead in the game.
• 3.Memory challenges tax players memory of recent
  game events some exmaples of this done in
  chimer.org
• 4.Intelligent Based Challenges rely pure on the
  intelligence quotient of the player.
• 5.Knowledge Based Challenges rely on the
  knowledge of the player for example Trivial
  pursuit.
• 6. Pattern Recognition based in the human brain

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THE GAMEPLAY

• 7.Coordination Challenges, the ability to
  perform many simultaneous actions.
• Applied challenges such as Puzzle when solved
  opens another part of the game.
• Exploration, in adventure games is a key element
  players enjoy moving into new areas and seeing
  new things. Doors, Maze and trap are examples of
  this.
• Conflict , how to defeat the others, and Strategy
  is a mental planning

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SOME QUESTIONS

• What types of challenges do you want to include
  in your game? Do you want to challenge the
  players physical abilities, his mental abilities
  or both?
• Does the game include implicit challenges?
• Given that not all players enjoy the same kinds
  of challenges, how does the games target
  audience influence the challenges it includes?
• Will the player be required to face more than one
  challenge at the time? Which one?

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A now!!!!!!!!

• A BREAK for questions