DOCSLIB.ORG

Games and Culture Fall 2018 Tuesdays, 10Am—12Pm Alumni Hall (AH) 302

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Games and Culture Fall 2018 Tuesdays, 10Am—12Pm Alumni Hall (AH) 302 University of St. Michael’s College University of Toronto SMC430H1F Advanced Topics in Book and Media Studies: Games and Culture Fall 2018 Tuesdays, 10am—12pm Alumni Hall (AH) 302 Instructor: Dr. Felan Parker E-mail: [email protected] Office: PIMS 30 (59 Queen’s Park Crescent East, third floor right next to the stairs) Office hours: Thursdays, 3pm—5pm (or by appointment) “Games are popular art, collective, social reactions to the main drive or action of any culture.” – Marshall McLuhan From playgrounds, arenas, and tabletops to computers, mobile devices, and video game consoles, games and play are a vibrant and diverse cultural form and a fundamental part of human society. Why do we make and play games? How do games produce experiences, make meaning, and reflect or refract ideology, and what impact do they have on players? Who gets to make, play, and find representation in games and who is left out? What role do games play in the contemporary media ecosystem? This seminar-style class will explore issues around games both analog and digital from a variety of critical perspectives, including history, industry, technology, culture, politics, and aesthetics. Marking scheme Attendance and participation – 20% Gaming autobiography (500 words, due Thursday, September 20) – 10% Game commentary presentation (5-6 minutes, in class October 30 or December 5) – 20% Final research project proposal + bibliography (500 words, due Thursday, October 18) – 15% Final research project (2500-3000 words, due Wednesday, December 5) – 35% Required readings: All course readings are available digitally via the Quercus portal. All readings are mandatory unless otherwise indicated, and must be completed before class. Access to games: This course is about games, and so students are expected to play games of various kinds during the course in preparation for class discussions and as part of assignments. The games listed on the syllabus are generally downloadable for cheap or free and will run on most computers and/or mobile devices. If you don’t have access to game consoles at home, Media Commons at Robarts has two gaming rooms (Xbox One and PlayStation 4) and a collection of recent games for a variety of platforms available for student use. Students in SMC430 can book the gaming rooms in advance by using the "Program/Screening Room request" form on the Media Commons homepage: https://mediacommons.library.utoronto.ca/av- request-form – you must include the course code and specify which room you want (Xbox One or PlayStation 4), and you can also reserve specific games using the same form. (You can also access the rooms without booking by visiting the Media Commons service desk, on a first-come first-served basis). A list of games in the collection can be found here: https://mediacommons.library.utoronto.ca/were- game Course announcements: All course announcements will be posted to the Quercus portal and forwarded to your @utoronto.ca e-mail address. Students are responsible for making sure they are not missing announcements. Assignment submission: All assignments should be submitted in PDF format digitally via the Quercus portal, in the appropriate section. The file name should include your last name, the course, and the assignment (i.e. lastname_smc430_essay.pdf) for my reference. All assignments are due at 11:59pm on Thursday night, except the final essay. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade increment (B+ becomes B, etc.) per day of lateness, starting at 12:00am, including weekends. Extension requests or excuses should be made in advance whenever possible and require proper documentation. Formatting and citation style: All assignments should be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman font with 2.54cm margins. Always cite your sources properly and include a Works Cited page! You may use any citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) as long as your citations are correct and consistent. Writing, library, and research help: The St. Michael’s College Writing Centre, the Academic Success Centre, and the UofT Writing website are excellent resources available to all students hoping to improve their academic skills. The Book & Media Studies liaison librarian is James Roussain. He is available to help you with any issues related to research and the library. [email protected] Attendance and participation – 20% This is intended to be a seminar-style class, so participation is very important. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class and students will be evaluated both on their attendance and on their contributions to discussions and other in-class activities (including gameplay), questions and responses to student presentations, as well as extracurricular activities such as visiting my office hours and sharing relevant links or events. Students should come to class having done the readings, ready to share thoughtful questions, comments, and examples. Lateness and absences will have a negative effect on this grade. If you have a disability or any other issue that makes in-class participation difficult, please bring this to my attention as soon as possible. Gaming autobiography (500 words, due Thursday, September 20) – 10% Write a short reflection on your personal history with games, and your current relationship to gaming culture. Some questions to think about: What preconceptions do you have about games and gaming culture going into this course? When did you first encounter digital games? What kinds of games do you play (analog or digital), on what platforms? How did you form these preferences? Do you consider yourself a “gamer” or a gaming enthusiast? Why or why not? If you don’t play games at all, write about why that is. If you reference external sources, cite them properly and include a Works Cited page. Submit as a PDF (double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman, 2.54cm margins) via the Quercus portal. Game commentary presentation (5-6 minutes, in class October 30 or December 5) – 20% Choose any game not listed on the syllabus that you want to talk about, and play it through (or in the case of very long/never-ending games, play for at least 8-10 hours). Using YouTube, Twitch, or your own tools, find or record five minutes of video footage that illustrates why you think the game is interesting, such as a particular moment, level, or mechanic. Prepare a “live” commentary to be presented orally in class – think of it as an academic version of what streamers and YouTubers do. The specific topic of your commentary is up to you, but it should incorporate concepts from the readings and class discussions, and relate directly to the video you’re showing. Some questions to consider: How does this game work? What is it about? What values does it embody? What is the role of the player in the meaning-making process? What does it tell us about gaming culture more generally? You will be graded on the substance of your commentary and the relevance of the video, your effective use of course concepts, and the overall confidence of your presentation. Students will sign up for one of the two dates in the first few weeks of class. OPTIONAL: If you are familiar with video editing, you may produce a 5-6-minute commentary video using the game footage to be screened in class, instead of giving a “live” presentation. Research project proposal + bibliography (500 words, due Thursday, October 18) – 15% Final research project (2500-3000 words, due Wednesday, December 5) – 35% Come up with your own research project for the final assignment! Topics can be related to any aspect of games, play, and gaming culture or related issues, expanding on the material covered in class. Your essay proposal should describe what you plan to write about in depth, including a thesis statement or research question, the methodological approach you plan to take, and some possible key points or examples. It is important to have a clear argument or question guiding your project – for example, “The representation of women in mobile games reinforces cultural stereotypes,” or “How is competitive esports changing the design of fighting games?” If you have trouble thinking of a topic, feel free to contact me. As you prepare your proposal, you must also do preliminary research on your topic, and include a bibliography listing at least 10 academic articles, books, and other sources beyond the course readings you plan to use in your final essay. Remember that reading is an important part of writing! Your thesis should be well supported with both external research and your own analysis of specific examples. In my comments on your proposal, I will provide feedback to help you develop it into the full-length essay. In both the proposal and the final essay, be sure to cite your sources properly and include a Works Cited page. Submit as a PDF (double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman, 2.54cm margins) via the Quercus portal. OPTIONAL: I am open to the possibility of alternative/creative formats for the final project, but you must consult with me for approval before submitting your proposal. Finding game studies resources Although game studies is a relatively new field, a lot of academic work on games has been published in a wide variety of disciplines and venues, and you should be engaging with this body of work. The library system has numerous books and journal articles on topics relevant to this course. You can browse the catalogue using the “video games” subject heading here or search for relevant keywords. Some of the most important game research has been published in the following venues, so they are a good starting point, but this is not an exhaustive list. Analog Game Studies http://analoggamestudies.org/ Critical Distance www.critical-distance.com Digital Games Research Association Digital Library www.digra.org/digital-library Eludamos (no longer active) http://www.eludamos.org/ First Person Scholar www.firstpersonscholar.com G|A|M|E: The Italian Game Studies Journal www.gamejournal.it Game Studies 101 http://gamestudies101.com/ Game Studies www.gamestudies.org Games & Culture http://journals.sagepub.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/home/gac Journal of Games Criticism www.gamescriticism.org Loading..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Game Oscars, Recap, and Evaluation
    "Every creative act is open war against The Way It Is. What you are saying when you make • “Everything should be as simple as something is that the universe is possible, but not simpler.” – Einstein • Occam (of Razor fame – parsimony, not sufficient, and what it really economy, succinctness in needs is more you. And it does, logic/problem-solving) actually; it does. Go look outside. • “Entities should not be multiplied more You can’t tell me that we are than necessary” • “Of two competing theories or done making the world." explanations, all other things being equal, -Tycho Brahe, Penny Arcade the simpler one is to be preferred.” • Mikhail Kalashnikov (of AK-47 fame) • “All that is complex is not useful. All that is useful is simple.” • “Perfect is the enemy of good” • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_ the_enemy_of_good Course Recap & Game Oscars 2019-11-25 CIOS: The Course Instructor Opinion Survey • Please do CIOS: http://gatech.smartevals.com • Disclaimers: https://www.academiceffectiveness.gatech.edu/resources/cios/ • Please complete. I take them seriously and use them to improve my methods • Should only take 10 to 15 minutes, tops. • Surveys are anonymous, and instructors do not see survey results until 5 days after grades are due. Also, please address comments directly to your instructors. Comments for your regular instructors are shared only with those instructors (not with school chairs or other administrators, as they see the numerical results only), while comments for your TAs are shared with both the TA and their supervising instructor. Announcements • HW 8 due December 2, 23:55 • FINAL EXAM: • Friday, December 6, here.
    [Show full text]
  • LUDIC VISUALS the Visualizations of Game Mechanics
    LUDIC VISUALS The Visualizations of Game Mechanics Laura Laakso Master’s Thesis Master of Arts in New Media New Media: Game Design and Production Department of Media School of Arts, Design and Architecture Aalto University 2019 P.O. BOX 31000, 00076 AALTO www.aalto.fi Master of Arts thesis abstract Author Laura Laakso Title of thesis Ludic Visuals: The Visualizations of Game Mechanics Advisor Laura Valojärvi Supervisor Miikka Junnila Department Department of Media Degree program New Media: Game Design and Production Year 2019 Number of pages 167 Language English BSTRACT A There is a lot of systemic information in games, but its visual expression has been a relatively under-researched phenomenon. Earlier research tends to pair the visual presentation of games together with the game narrative. However, game mechanics can also be expressed visually. In this thesis, game mechanics are the parts that form the game system such as the rules, the events, and the pieces of a game. This thesis studies how game mechanics are visualized. My research hypothesis suggests that there are components that consist of both game- mechanical and visual aspects. I have named them ludic visuals. This research identifies and explores the presence of ludic visuals in games from the perspective of what is available for a player. This thesis is largely based on previous game research and various theories of perception and experiencing. The experience of being inside a gameworld is deemed similar to the experience of being inside the real world, which made it possible to approach ludic visuals as functional parts of gameworlds.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Know If It Is Art ? the Case of Video Games
    How to know if it is art ? / P Krajewski – Juin 2018 How to know if it is art ? The case of video games Pascal Krajewski Context : Proposal for : Pascal Krajewski et Jorge Martins Rosa, Convocarte N°6-7: Ars Ludens, l'art, le jeu et le ludique, 1st trimester 2019. Index Table of contents: Prolegomena to the question Enrolment in an institutional artistic context Analogy with reputed concomitant arts Integration into an extended fine arts system Identification of universal art markers Election of (Ur) masterpieces Highlighting art compatible principles Conclusion: “to do as if” 1 / 17 How to know if it is art ? / P Krajewski – Juin 2018 How to know if it is art ? The case of video games What good would it be to demonstrate that video game is an art ? Or is not ? Why trying to link it to a discipline is not even eyeing ? Do we wonder if sport is art ? No, sport is sport, and that sounds OK to anyone. Yet, even sport do use occasionally some artistic terms : this player is an artist; that gesture was almost art; such game will stay as a masterpiece of great game; such a sport, played at this level of skills, is reaching art (fencing, skying); and eventually some sports do deserve the adjective of “artistic” since they aim at the beauty of a sequence and not the efficiency of a gesture (figure skating, synchronized swimming). Sport could – by chance, temporarily or specifically – produce “artistic” results, when they prove a perfect mastery allied to a gracious beauty. And even then, they remain sports, because, by vocation, they don't aim at being art.
    [Show full text]
  • Universidade Do Estado Do Rio De Janeiro Centro De Educação E Humanidades Instituto De Letras
    Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Centro de Educação e Humanidades Instituto de Letras Simone Silva Campos Jogos eletrônicos: ficções e playgrounds filosóficos? Rio de Janeiro 2019 Simone Silva Campos Jogos eletrônicos: ficções e playgrounds filosóficos? Tese apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Doutor ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de concentração: Estudos de Literatura. Orientador: Prof. Dr. João Cezar de Castro Rocha Rio de Janeiro 2019 CATALOGAÇÃO NA FONTE UERJ/REDE SIRIUS/BIBLIOTECA CEH/B C198 Campos, Simone Silva. Jogos eletrônicos: ficções e playgrounds filosóficos? / Simone Silva Campos. – 2019. 222 f.: il. Orientador: João Cezar de Castro Rocha. Tese (doutorado) – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Letras. 1. Jogos eletrônicos – Teses. 2. Literatura e tecnologia – Teses. 3. Literatura e sociedade – Teses. 4. Literatura e antropologia – Teses. 5. Literatura e filosofia – Teses. 6. Retórica antiga – Teses. 7. Dialética – Teses. 8. Ficção – Teses. I. Rocha, João Cezar de Castro. II. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Letras. III. Título. CDU 82-3:[004:793.7] Bibliotecária: Eliane de Almeida Prata. CRB7 4578/94 Autorizo, apenas para fins acadêmicos e científicos, a reprodução total ou parcial desta tese, desde que citada a fonte. ________________________________________ _________________ Assinatura Data Simone Silva Campos Jogos eletrônicos: ficções e playgrounds filosóficos? Tese apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Doutor, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de concentração: Estudos de Literatura. Aprovada em 1º de Julho de 2019.
    [Show full text]
  • NG18 Program (Screen)
    PROGRAM 2018 PROGRAM#nordicgame 2017 #nordicgame Welcome to Nordic Game 2018 It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to this fifteenth edition of Nordic Game, the only conference in the world with a dedicated focus on the entire Nordic games industry. Over the years we’ve evolved from a humble regional conference into a truly global industry event, as our vision of a strong, united games community and the values so many of us share - openness, innovation and diversity - have resonated with games industry professionals around the world, and they have been welcomed into our extended family. Of course, we continue to proudly celebrate the sheer quality and variety of games developed in the Nordic countries, and this year’s Nordic Game Awards (Thursday, 24 May from 18:00 in the Unreal Theatre) once again reflects the imagination and vitality of developers from the region we call home. However, our rapidly changing, interconnected industry doesn’t allow us to rest on our laurels, and our opening keynote (Wednesday, 23 May at 11:00 in the Unreal Theatre) brings together a panel of leaders from some of our most prominent Nordic studios to explore key challenges and opportunities for game developers moving forward. True to the many values we share with our extended global family, we’re also introducing a string of talks - the Impact sessions - that delve beyond the albeit important business and technical aspects of game development, to encourage all of us to think more deeply about the real impact of the games we create - and how we create them - on our world.
    [Show full text]
  • IGD 720 Essay
    Juan Uys - IGD 720 Essay Introduction Contumacious Commuter (Uys 2021) is built with Godot Engine (Engine n.d.). The game is a combination of many prototypes across the 7 disciplines of game development. This essay discusses three of the disciplines in depth, which are narrative design, game design, and art direction. These are also the disciplines I highlighted at the start of the module as being most excited about mastering (Uys 2021). I’ll also cover a bit of programming, as it’s my dominant skill, but there’s always room for improvement. A lesson I learned during this process was that I, as a programmer, can’t rely on just my programming skills to make a game. A game designer needs as many skills as they can muster, as almost anything that you can be good at, can become a useful skill for a game designer (Schell 2019). This is a tall order, especially for a small studio, or a single-person micro/nano studio like myself. As such, Renaud Forestié reminds us to minimise scope, as “it’s really about putting the minimum eort possible to do what works” (Unity 2018). I set out to consider the development of this prototype the “pre-production” phase of Mark Cerny’s The Method (Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences 2012), aer which I would have a “publishable” rst playable, and be ready to enter the production phase, which should only involve content creation for the game, and not be spent making any new game-changing decisions. More importantly, prototyping is supposed to be a time-saving experiment in that each prototype should be designed to answer a question (Schell 2019: 109), which I certainly feel I’ve achieved.
    [Show full text]
  • Independent Video Games and the Games ‘Indiestry’ Spectrum: Dissecting the Online Discourse of Independent Game Developers in Industry Culture By
    Independent Video Games and the Games ‘Indiestry’ Spectrum: Dissecting the Online Discourse of Independent Game Developers in Industry Culture by Robin Lillian Haislett, B.S., M.A. A Dissertation In Media and Communication Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Robert Moses Peaslee Chair of Committee Dr. Todd Chambers Dr. Megan Condis Dr. Wyatt Philips Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December, 2019 Copyright 2019, Robin Lillian Haislett Texas Tech University, Robin Lillian Haislett, December 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is the result of the supremely knowledgeable Dr. Robert Moses Peaslee who took me to Fantastic Fest Arcade in 2012 as part of a fandom and fan production class during my doctoral work. This is where I met many of the independent game designers I’ve come to know and respect while feeling this renewed sense of vigor about my academic studies. I came alive when I discovered this area of study and I still have that spark every time I talk about it to others or read someone else’s inquiry into independent game development. For this, I thank Dr. Peaslee for being the catalyst in finding a home for my passions. More pertinent to the pages that follow, Dr. Peaslee also carefully combed through each malformed draft I sent his way, narrowed my range of topics, encouraged me to keep my sense of progress and challenged me to overcome challenges I had not previously faced. I feel honored to have worked with him on this as well as previous projects.
    [Show full text]
  • UN LINE-UP 2019 RICHE EN ACTION ET ÉMOTION Tous Publics Avec Avertissement Tous
    UN LINE-UP 2019 RICHE EN ACTION ET ÉMOTION Tous publics avec avertissement Tous Distribution : SEVEN 7 73, rue de Courcelles 75008 Paris Tél. : 01 56 43 12 00 - Fax : 01 56 43 12 52 email : [email protected] Informations et visuels non contractuels www.sevensept.com PUB LINEUP S7 MM1 Double 2E 3E Trim 2019.indd Toutes les pages 13/02/2019 14:45 UN LINE-UP 2019 RICHE EN ACTION ET ÉMOTION Tous publics avec avertissement Tous Distribution : SEVEN 7 73, rue de Courcelles 75008 Paris Tél. : 01 56 43 12 00 - Fax : 01 56 43 12 52 email : [email protected] Informations et visuels non contractuels www.sevensept.com PUB LINEUP S7 MM1 Double 2E 3E Trim 2019.indd Toutes les pages 13/02/2019 14:45 LES COURSES DU FUTUR ! 26 MARS 2019 SOMMAIREMM1 N255/ FÉVRIER 2018 NEWS 14 REPÈRES DOSSIER : RÉINVENTION DOSSIER DU RETAIL Le retail ne peut plus se contenter des RÉINVENTION DU RETAIL / 14 anciennes recettes. Il doit se réinventer - Alexei Kounine - Selligent - « Retailers : êtes-vous prêt à vous réinventer ? » grâce à de nouvelles idées. Tour d’horizon (Microsoft) des concepts et outils qui pourraient augurer - Qunkai Liu - Alibaba d’un avenir radieux. - La 2e vie du smartphone : un secteur en pleine expansion - Mediaclinic, un 5e magasin pour cette nouvelle franchise 38 - Patrick Richard - Recommerce. 2018 : NOUVEAU DOSSIER CES / 26 MILLÉSIME RECORD - French Tech et EGP au CES 2019 POUR LE CINÉMA - Asus ROG réinvente les codes du gaming au CES - Pixminds en vedette au CES MONDIAL - Les biens techniques franchissent la barre du milliard 2018 a été à nouveau un très bon cru pour les salles de cinéma.
    [Show full text]
  • Several Developers About Their Own Opinions On
    Index About the Project and KeenGamer ….....……………………………………………………. 1 Past and Present An Introduction to the Future of Gaming ………...……………...…… 3 Chapter 1 The Future of Video Games Distribution .…...………….……………. 8 Chapter 2 The Future of Virtual Reality Games ….…………………………….. 27 Chapter 3 The Future of Gaming for Social Good ……………………………... 41 Chapter 4 The Future of Video Game Platforms .................................................. 51 Chapter 5 The Future of eSports ........................................................................... 59 Chapter 6 11 Companies that May Build the Road to the Future ......................... 75 Chapter 7 Additional Interviews ........................................................................... 90 Afterword ............................................................................................................. 106 Credits ............................................................................................................. 109 www.keengamer.com © KeenGamer s.r.o. About the Project and KeenGamer I am sure that you are wondering what KeenGamer is and who wrote this eBook. And why should you read it, am I right? Firstly, you are already reading it, which is great and we thank you for your interest. Let‘s be short here and let you dive into more interesting chapters than this one. KeenGamer is just a website for gamers, where you can find all the things you would expect: news, reviews, guides, interviews and much more around great AAA games but also about unknown indie titles. One day, we asked ourselves with the team about what else we could do to enrich our content and differentiate us from our competitors. And because we love games and are all keen to know the future, we realized that everyone is asking all the time what the heck will happen in gaming in few years from now. Certainly there are many theories. That is where we stepped in and tried to provide the most optimistic, pessimistic and realistic points of view on several aspects of the gaming industry.
    [Show full text]
  • Special Topics: Game Oscars
    Game Oscars 2018-04-19 Announcements • HW 8 due Apr 22, 23:55 • Extra Credit 1: MOBA competition: Due Apr 22, 23:55 • Extra Credit 2 • The plan is to run the study the weeks of April 16th and 23rd. • https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~surban6/2018sp-gameAI/extra-credit.html • https://tinyurl.com/level-design-study-times • FINAL EXAM: • Thursday, April 26, here. 2:50 PM ‐ 5:40 PM • Like midterm: can bring 2 pages, 5.5”x11”, both sides • Similar in nature to midterm. Learning and action prediction 1. N-grams: Increasing the window size helps initially, but hurts later. Why? 2. What is a hierarchical N-gram and what does it do? 3. What are the 4 processes, each beginning with an "R", commonly used to describe the CBR methodology? 4. The ______ metric is used to find the problem/solution pair in the casebase most related to the new problem, by comparing the relatedness of the features of the new problem to the features of known problems in the casebase. 5. What are some advantages of CBR? Disadvantages? 6. A foundational assumption in CBR is that "Similar problems have _________ __________". ~9minutes in – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etj5ykJugwU CBR: Takeaway 1. Sometimes natural (e.g., law, diagnosis) 2. Cases simplify knowledge acquisition • Easier to obtain than rules • Captures/shares people’s experiences 3. Good for some types of tasks • When perfect models are not available • Faulty equipment diagnosis • Online sales • Legal reasoning • Games 4. Commercial applications • Help-desk systems (e.g., Inference corp.: +700 clients) 5.
    [Show full text]
  • The Design of Indie Games, a Different Paradigm
    THE DESIGN OF INDIE GAMES, A DIFFERENT PARADIGM by Enrique Alejandro Pérez Domínguez, “KIX” A dissertation presented to Bayreuth University in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD First Supervisor Prof. Dr. Jochen Koubek Second Supervisor Prof. Dr. Jens Junge 1 Diese Dissertation von der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung gefördert wurde. 2 Dedicated to Koala and Koali 3 SUMMARY This dissertation explores thoroughly the design of the so-called indie games. It portrays in detail the design activities undertaken by indie designers and the design context in which indie games are devised. With this knowledge, a comparison with game design as it has been formulated by academics and game industry veterans is undertaken. This with the purpose of finding out if the design of indie games represents a different paradigm in regard to game design. This work takes the reader through a series of chapters providing the epistemological context to analyze comparatively the design of indie games and game design. The indie games movement is defined and contextualized within indie cultures and put in perspective in relation with mainstream games. The historical and theoretical foundations of game design are also covered. And to get an understanding around what designing implies, theories from the disciplines of design, engineering, architecture and product design are explained. Thirty award-winning designers of indie games at Indiecade and the Independent Games Festivals of the Game Developers Conference participated in this research providing accounts on their repertoire of design activities. These accounts were analyzed using design theoretical standpoints and then composed as a case of study to be compared with game design.
    [Show full text]
  • 『Gorogoa』 (Annapurna Interactive) Platform: Nintendo Switch / Xbox One / Ios / Android OS / PC
    Press Release September 20, 2018 Game Designers Award 2018 『Gorogoa』 (Annapurna Interactive) Platform: Nintendo Switch / Xbox One / iOS / Android OS / PC Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) Japan Game Awards 2018 (JGA 2018), organized by the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA; Chairman: Hideki Hayakawa), has selected Gorogoa (Annapurna Interactive) as the winner of the Game Designers Award for 2018. The head judge, Mr. Masahiro Sakurai (President of Sora Ltd.) explains the reasons for selecting this title as follows: Gorogoa is a puzzle game in which users progress by moving layers of images, laying them side by side or on top of each other. That description, by itself, may make it seem like a game commonly available, but the splendid art, the unexpected solution, the mysterious story progression and presentation without the use of any text—this software is filled with virtues unique to itself. The Game Designers Award recipient is selected with the utmost emphasis on originality. However, if a title has not become known, it would not be voted for. I don’t think too many people have played Gorogoa. However, many of the judges had played it and awarded it many votes, making it the winner this year for both the number of votes awarded and the number of fans on the panel of judges. For sure, this title is unlike any other. The recipient of this year’s Game Designers Award was selected by 10 top creators representing Japan based on criteria such as creativity and originality. The Game Designers Award will continue to select highly creative works as an indicator for the future growth of the games industry.
    [Show full text]