Instructinator

Games can be broken down in many ways, you could divide the level design and the core design, when describing the application of challenge. You could further divide that core into UI, mechanics, and couple them with the level design and talk about gameplay. But before you have any of that, during the conceptual phase it is important to look at the game in lager sense.

The Hook:
The hook is the fun new thing in the game that makes it stand out from others in the genre. This is usually a primary feature of the game.

The Core:
The core mechanics, including but not limited to; perspective, genre, UI standards, and primary mechanics.

The Fantasy:
The fantasy aspect in a game refers to the intended level and focus for the suspension of disbelief. It’s the illusion that you are not sitting in a chair, that you are controlling an avatar doing something else somewhere else.

Its a quick way of describing a game and hitting the high points. A good tool for elevator pitches, marketing speak, and to identify the pillars of the game during the conceptual phase.

This method can be applied loosely to other forms of new media. Film will sometimes have a hook, a core and obviously the big one in film the fantasy aspect.

What is a game?
Jesper Juul’s definition is: “A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels attached to the outcome, and the consequences of the activity are option and negotiable.”

I agree with the first part: “A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome,…”
This is essentially the prime directive for interactivity, Choice.
But requiring the player to feel attached to the outcome, or asserting that consequences in games all have negotiable outcomes by definition is a bit restrictive for a definition of all games.

If you take this definition from a different standpoint, it could be a definition that developers could strive to achieve for every game they make. Because games that do fit this definition, in all aspects of their mechanics, would only be better for having it.

FF6 – Evolution of adventure storytelling

Description:
Final Fantasy 6, was an RPG for the Super Nintendo which is widely known by fans of the series to be the best. There are several reasons for this. However these reasons do not include best graphics, or best sound quality, or the best characters, or the best enemies or combat system. The reason for this being voted best final fantasy game by an overwhelming majority of 81% in 2001, is because of it’s illusion of non-linearity, it’s great ending and its diffusion of the ancient recipe for myth and heroism.

System:
Who is the main character in FF6? There is none. There are cohesive arguments for at least 6 of the characters to be the “main protagonist” in FF6. because they all have equal screen time and equally important roles in the overarching story.

The player starts off controlling the enemy. Which includes one of the heroes who later joins the rebels. Then the scene cuts and you are thrust into the shoes of another avatar. This one meets up the first and they escape, meeting up with an old friend of theirs in the next town, and by this point the player’s expectations are already thoroughly confused. This pattern is amplified in the beginning of the second half when you wake up on a beach with none of your party but a girl who had only recently joined the group as your only available avatar.

By hopping between characters and their motives as the focus for different segments of the game the player cannot easily determine the outcome based on the formulae they are used to experiencing. The normal arc of a story is cut up and divided among the group with an overarching story which affects them all. Other games that have tried this and failed have not gone so far as to make precisely equal that amount of content for each character, or worse have not had the balls to take the player away from the “main protagonist” for more than a short period of time.

Implication:
This is the evolution of the “hero’s quest” story structure. This is the “party’s quest” story structure that has yet to be fully discovered. Other mediums have done other things to try and put this feeling of decentralization across to the user. The movie Pulp Fiction used a non-linear showing of it’s scenes to isolate the protagonists and their conflicts and was successful for those of the audience who were not simply confused by it. In games we have the luxury of interactivity and huge amounts of time to get the job done. So it falls to us to flesh this tool out and document it for whatever medium will follow.

Jeff Mundee March 11, 2004

Black and White – Learning AI

Description: Black and White is a game in which you play a god sent to a planet to do good or evil. The path you choose shapes the land and the inhabitants. You are given a creature of your choosing to act as your visible avatar in the world. But you have limited control over this creature and they must be controlled somewhat like a pet animal.

System:
In Black and White you are given a creature which you can train to work for you. You can teach them to play and work but the use of a praise/ punishment system. When you show the creature something an action, you can then access the interface for the praise/ punishment. Then you can either encourage the action or discourage it by either beating the creature or petting it.

Implication: This system could be used in any game where you have in-direct control of an avatar for prolonged periods of time. This is the foundation for a great system for teaching a program what behavior you would like to be performed, and what ones to avoid.

AI, of this nature is comprised of a set of available actions for a context. Say there is the context of a villager in front of the character. There is a list of actions to choose from. Either the creature can kill the villager, perform a food miracle and feed the villager, or pick the villager up and transport it to where it needs to go. If killing the villager has a lower rating then the probability that the creature will perform the killing action will decrease.

This way, simply making lists of actions with ratings in context we could perhaps have an enemy stalking the player, use ratings of actions in context to learn the players objectives and motives. Use that information for the AI character to formulate plans to track and thwart the player, or even move ahead of the player and lay traps where it knows the player is likely to fall for them. Think if Kefka had this AI in Final Fantasy 6. That would be a fun gameplay experience.
Jeff Mundee March 18, 2004

Final Fantasy, two games in one

All of the games in the ever popular final fantasy series have a few things in common. One of the core elements that these games always share is the “Battle system”. In the beginning this was done because the most effective way to display combat and the most effective way to navigate a map for the purposes of exploration were different. So rather than toning down the combat system or making the exploration weaker, they decided to make a hard cut between the two.

Now, here in the land of 3D this problem no longer exists. But the fans of the series are so used to this setup that it cannot change. For other RPGs though in this generation I think it is a bit of a copycat cop-out to cut to battle. This is an old design standard that can be replaced with more transparent design.

RPGs don’t need to be two games in one anymore, they can now be a smooth integration of these gameplay standards.

Jeff Mundee Jan 29th 2004

Challenge is fun, so why are some challenges in games not fun? One of the primary factors that lead to frustration for the player comes right down to communication. Because the player is an active participant in the medium, you need to instruct them or inform them about what is going on.

In some instances this can be compared to not telling someone how to play poker before you start. In other circumstances though, it is like taking the production of a linear medium back a step. Imagine a director not telling his editors what the movie is about, or what the target audience is .. imagine they don’t tell them any thing at all. How the hell are they supposed to do a good job cutting together hours maybe days of shots into a 90 min thing that’s fun to watch. I’ll tell you how; trial and error. Frustrating, tedious, repetitive work. Exactly the kind of response that not communicating effectively or informing the player will produce.

If you let the player know somehow that there are traps in the dungeon, by maybe having an NPC die from one in a cinematic, the player will be prepared for the event of dying by surprise. The shock and surprise will still be there in the instance of the trap that kills them, but their reaction to it will be tempered by their mental preparation. This preparation for challenge can be the difference between fun and not fun, return it to EB.

Inspiration, preparation, fear.