My name is Jesper Juul, and I am a Ludologist [researcher of the design, meaning, culture, and politics of games]. This is my blog on game research and other important things.
For Japanese readers, I am happy to present a translation of my article on The Game, the Player, the World.
ゲーム, プレイヤ, ワールド : ゲームたらしめるものの核心を探る
This article is my take on the question of what a game is, whether there is anything in common between the things we call “games”, and why some games can be considered borderlines cases.
http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/gameplayerworld_jp/
A big thank you to Haruhisa Tanaka for the translation!
You know the game. Must … post about the Honest Game Title mockups over at Somethingawful.com.
Good reading at Gamasutra: Kyle Gabler, Kyle Gray, Matt Kucic, and Shalin Shodhan write up on their experiences prototyping games using the following rules:
1. Each game must be made in less than seven days,
2. Each game must be made by exactly one person,
3. Each game must be based around a common theme i.e. “gravity”, “vegetation”, “swarms”, etc.
You can see the resulting games at the Experimental Gameplay website.
I find most of the experiments quite fabulous, but I think they also show that it is easier to prototype the basic mechanics and controls in such a short time, but that it’s harder to get to the “game”.
So here is a proposal for some other rules which might make more game-like games:
1. Each game must be made in two weeks, with the first week spent on basic mechanics and controls, and the second week spent on tweaking gameplay and making game progression.
2. Each game must be made by exactly two people.
3. Each game must be based around a common theme or experience i.e. “gravity”, “vegetation”, “swarms”, “fear”, “chaos”.
(This is not to say “you should have done it like I would have done it”, just a quick thought on what results follow from different rulesets.)
I am happy to announce that we have launched the new issue of Game Studies today.
http://www.gamestudies.org/0501/
The new issue was edited by your truly and is a theme issue on game design research, originating from a symposium on the same topic in Copenhagen last May.
A survey method for assessing perceptions of a game: The consumer playtest in game design
by John P. Davis, Keith Steury, and Randy Pagulayan
The computer and video game industry has only relatively recently burgeoned into one that rivals the film industry in terms of consumer spending. In the United States alone, the games industry reported about $6.9 billion in sales in 2002, and sales increased to $7 billion in 2003 and $7.3 billion in 2004 [1]. Increased sales have also led to increased competition among games developers, as they vie for a share of the growing wealth. Because higher-quality games tend to sell better, game developers are increasingly looking for ways to improve their games …
The Hunt for Collaborative War Gaming – CASE: Battlefield 1942
by Tony Manninen and Tomi Kujanp??
This paper analyses the interaction forms of a contemporary multiplayer game in order to offer implications for multiplayer game design. The motivation for the research originates from the fact that the lack of intuitive and perceivable interaction cues is one of the distinctive features separating networked game settings from face-to-face encounters. The analysis of the interaction forms in multiplayer game sessions indicates that the players can use various forms of non-verbal communication and perceivable actions to reduce communication difficulties …
Player-Centred Game Design: Experiences in Using Scenario Study to Inform Mobile Game Design
by Laura Ermi and Frans M?yr?
There is need for systematic, research-based and tested game design methodologies that would take the needs and preferences of different players into better consideration than the current industry practises. In order to investigate the future of pervasive game playing on mobile devices the University of Tampere Hypermedia Laboratory?s research project Wireless Gaming Solutions for the Future (MOGAME) has developed a prototype …
Formal Models and Game Design
by Stefan M. Gr?nvogel
In this article results from mathematics are used to create a formalism for games. Games are considered as systems and the design of games as the creation of models for games. By abstract control systems, a formalism for describing models of games is introduced. Methods to create new models from given ones are described. To handle complexity problems in game design, simulations of models by other models are explained …
The Semiotics of Time Structure in Ludic Space As a Foundation for Analysis and Design
by Craig A. Lindley
The concept of a ludic systems encompasses a family of media forms and experiences involving elements of simulation, game play and narrative or story construction. These three elements can be regarded as different classes of semiotic systems, or systems of meaning, having their own structuring principles and methods of informing experience. For any particular ludic system, such as a computer game, time structure can be considered in terms of a number of distinct layers …
What Wario Ware can teach us about Game Design
Chaim Gingold reviews Wario Ware
The story: Wario, realizing there is lots of money to be made in video games, decides to found his own game company. The resulting game: Play through a rapid-fire series of bizarre micro games. Each WarioWare level consists of 24 micro games, each about 5 seconds in length.
Wario Ware is a game about games …
A Conversation with Raph Koster
Celia Pearce interviews Raph Koster
Celia Pearce: You?ve been on quite an an adventure the last few years between Ultima Online into Star Wars Galaxies. What?s that been like to go from Ultima to Star Wars? It?s almost like an evolutionary leap from one to the other.
Raph Koster: I think the first thing that strikes me is some similarities, and then there are some differences. The big similarity is both are well-beloved universes, and working within the boundaries of that …
Can A Table Stand On One Leg? Critical and Ludological Thoughts on Star Wars: Galaxies
Timothy Burke reviews Star Wars: Galaxies
In 2002, looking ahead at the next generation of massively-multiplayer online games (MMOG), some observers of the computer game industry placed their hopes for new innovations in the upcoming game Shadowbane (Wolfpack Studios 2003) with its strong emphasis on unregulated player-vs-player (PvP) combat. However, many more looked to Star Wars: Galaxies and The Sims Online (Maxis 2002)…
Ars Technica has a new article up on The evolution of gaming: computers, consoles, and arcade.
This one’s slightly different in that it takes individual genres and trace their history, screenshots and all.
The genres here are the slightly idiosyncratic Sports / Space Combat / MMORPG / Adventure / Driving / Turn-based strategy / Simulation / RPG / Platform / FPS / Real-time strategy.
As a European, the focus on Apple II and TRS-80 is weird as they hardly existed in these quarters – gaming history was Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and later Amiga / Atari ST (the latter especially in the UK I think).
Somebody needs to write the big global history at some point.
The Nobel prize being awarded to Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann.
According to BBC online:
Professor Aumann’s work has centred on a different element of game theory, the question of whether co-operation increases if games are continually repeated.
He showed that co-operation is less likely when there are many participants, when interactions are infrequent, when the time horizon is short or when others’ actions cannot be clearly observed.
Does say a thing or two about online games, no?
After the rants about the problems of the game industry, Greg Costikyan is now forming a company with the goal of promoting indie games:
And its purpose, of course, will be to build what I’ve been talking about: a viable path to market for independent developers, and a more effective way of marketing and distributing niche PC game styles to gamers.
Following what I have commented previously, I think a crucial part is building public awareness that there is a special set of unique, interesting experiences to be had from “indie” games. Players need to know that they want it.
Best of luck to Greg, who promises to blog the process.
Aki J?rvinen has released his game about games, the GameGame.
The GameGame is a crazily recursive idea of Aki’s, to make a game about game design, where the cards of the game represent ideas and components in the game design process. It does make sense, and I completely believe it can work as a teaching tool.