GAME DESIGN MERIT BADGE PART 1 Counselor Joshua Wolfsohn GOALS

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

GAME DESIGN MERIT BADGE PART 1 Counselor Joshua Wolfsohn GOALS GAME DESIGN MERIT BADGE PART 1 Counselor Joshua Wolfsohn https://tinyurl.com/scoutingathomefallmb GOALS EXPECTATIONS REVIEW PREREQUISITES SPRINGBOARD HOUSE RULES BUILD ON WHAT WE KNOW HOMEWORK EXPECTATIONS (Be Respectful) Don’t Forget Design Notebooks PLEASE USE REAL NAMES TAKE TURNS AND SHARE THE AIR ENGAGE AND SHARE KEEP YOUR SCREEN ON RESPECT OTHER’S OPINIONS COLLABORATE AND CREATE REQ. 1A MY EXAMPLE Solitaire: card, single player, clear the Analyze four games you have played, field by making piles by suite, no theme each from a different medium. Identify Risk: board, multiplayer, occupy all 42 the medium, player format, objectives, territories by rolling dice, conquer the rules, resources, and theme (if relevant). world Discuss with your counselor the play Minecraft: electronic, open player, play experience, what you enjoy in each with blocks, use resources to … yeah, game, and what you dislike. square world Quidditch: sport, 2 teams 7 players each, score the most points and catch the snitch, no theme. WHY DO WE PLAY GAMES? REQ. 1A MY EXAMPLE Solitaire: card, single player, clear the Analyze four games you have played, field by making piles by suite, no theme each from a different medium. Identify Risk: board, multiplayer, occupy all 42 the medium, player format, objectives, territories by rolling dice, conquer the rules, resources, and theme (if relevant). world Discuss with your counselor the play Minecraft: electronic, open player, play experience, what you enjoy in each with blocks, use resources to … yeah, game, and what you dislike. square world Quidditch: sport, 2 teams 7players each, score the most points and catch the snitch, no theme. WHY DO WE PLAY GAMES? REQ. 1B NOVELTY: EXAMPLE: Galaxy truckers Players get new or unexpected experiences. Game focuses on the senses. CHALLENGE: EXAMPLE: Carcassonne Players apply themselves to overcoming. Game focuses on reward for hard work. Describe four types of play value and STIMULATION: EXAMPLE: Forbidden Island provide an example of a game built Players get emotionally invested. Game around each concept. focuses on roles and pacing. HARMONY: EXAMPLE: Chess Player interactions. Game focuses on how players play together. THREAT: EXAMPLE: Fortnite Players get action and one up each other. Game focuses on conflict and resources BECAUSE THEY ARE FUN WHY DO WE PLAY GAMES? REQ. 1B NOVELTY: EXAMPLE: Galaxy truckers Players get new or unexpected experiences. Game focuses on the senses. CHALLENGE: EXAMPLE: Carcassonne Players apply themselves to overcoming. Game focuses on reward for hard work. Describe four types of play value and STIMULATION: EXAMPLE: Forbidden Island provide an example of a game built Players get emotionally invested. Game around each concept. focuses on roles and pacing. HARMONY: EXAMPLE: Chess Player interactions. Game focuses on how players play together. THREAT: EXAMPLE: Fortnite Players get action and one up each other. Game focuses on conflict and resources “A game is a way to play by a set of rules. Good rules help you find the fun. Bad rules obscure it. But the rules are not, themselves, the fun. It sounds obvious when you say it like that. But game designers of all skill levels fall into the trap of believing that the mechanics and the game are the same thing. A game is a whole package. It is not a collection of parts. A game can have a theme, and mechanic, a brand, a hook, a lifestyle. But these parts are not interchangeable with other games. It's only as a complete unit that the game resonates, draws attention, engages players, and becomes a part of their lives. If you want to invent a new game, you have to do better than just improving on existing rules. You need to consider why the game, as a whole, will get into players heads.” -James Earnest, Origins Award Winner, The Game is Not the Rules REQ. 2 Discuss with your counselor five of the following 17 game design terms. For each term that you pick, describe how it relates to a specific game STORY/THEME NARRATIVE STORY: Example: Pandemic The story created to attract players and keep them interested. The problem the game gives every player. Themes are often given by the artwork and title of the game. However mechanics should agree with the theme and give the players an actual picture of what is happening through the pieces and graphics. Stories are told in 3 parts a beginning, a middle, and an end. Game play should feel the same way. PLAYER-CREATED STORY: Example: RPG’S The story of each individual’s play experience: the actions and choices they made that led to victory or defeat. This will be unique every time you play a game, and if the game allows many choices: players will be involved in their own stories. This leads to high replay value. SETTING Example: Carcassonne VS Galaxy Truckers The setting is similar to the story/theme. The setting is a part of the story that will change the feel and flow of your game. The same mechanics in two different settings will have very different feels to the players. CHARACTERS Characters come in all types of strengths. Some are completely empty, allowing the player to BE the character they play in the game (Chell from Portals). Others are only defined by their art and the actions they can take (the countessa from Coup), while others are partially full, allowing the player to step into their shoes (Luke Skywalker from Star Wars). While others are so full that the player has no say in the character (Sergeant Calhoun from Hero’s duty in Wreck it Ralph). When making characters a useful tool I was taught in high school was the Hero’s Journey Cycle. Every main character follows it and modelling even supporting characters off it makes them stronger. The strength of characters, or their potency, is up to you as the designer. PLAYER FORMATS SINGLE PLAYER Example: ATARI When one player plays alone. MULTI PLAYER Example: Smallworld When many players get to play together. CO-OP Example: Pandemic When all the players work together to achieve one set of objectives (playing against the game). TEAMS Example: TF2 When many players get to play together AND AGAINST another group of players playing together. PLAY SEQUENCE TURN ORDER Example: Dutch Blitz The turn order tells everyone when each person gets to play whether that be turns for the players, turns for the characters, or everyone play at once. PHASES Example: Risk Phases tell when players do what on their turn (or lack there of). INTERUPTING COWMOO! Example: SmashUp It is completely OK to allow other layers to interrupt another player’s turn. LEVEL DESIGN/ENVIRONMENT DESIGN Example: LEGO Star Wars The process of making the game space agree with the theme and mechanics. This is separate from creating the rules, mechanics, and theme. The play space should be easy to use and well organized, so players don’t have to spend a lot of extra time learning how to navigate it. (non example: Egomania) The play space should be easy to understand so that players know what they need to do in order to win. INTERFACE DESIGN Example: Sushi Go Similar to the environment design, the interface design is how the game communicates with the players. “A game is an interactive mathematical system, made concrete, used to tell a story. just to clarify a bit: interactive mathematical system = mechanics and rules made concrete = pieces and graphics story = theme” -Rob Daviau, creator of Seafall The interface design is the way that the mathematical system (the mechanics) is cleverly hidden in the story and graphics without losing its ability to be understood and used. DIFFICULTY Example: Minecraft Difficulty is how easy or hard the game is to win and can be changed in many ways depending on the type of game you are making. Consider steps and parts to puzzles, number of resources or points that give better resources or victory points. Look at time, availability of resources, and player restrictions as well. Consider the strength of characters and their gear, and the strength of the enemies faced. BALANCE Example: SmashUp Balance is almost MORE important than difficulty. Balance relates to how different elements of the game effect the players. Perfectly balanced games don’t let any action, item, or resource decide which player will win. COMPLEXITY Example: Axis and Allies Complexity relates to the number of rules and parts as well as how easy it is to learn to play. The more complex the game, the harder it becomes to balance. Complicated games can become difficult, so it is important to find a “sweet spot.” Your games should be easy to learn, but interesting enough that you want to play again. DEPTH Example: Chess Depth often goes hand in hand with replay value. Depth talks about a game’s ability to allow someone to continually get better at playing great balance, appropriate difficulty, and matching complexity result In great depth STRATEGY, REFLEX, AND CHANCE Strategy Example: Pente When a player’s skill in making choices effects the game’s outcome in a predictable way. Reflex Example: Basketball When a player’s physical skills effect the game’s outcome in a predictable way. Chance Example: Yahtzee When a player’s skill has no effect on the game and the outcome is decided randomly. GOOD GAMES HAVE BOTH CHANCE AND SKILL PACE Example: Concentration Pace is how fast the game goes. More importantly it is how fast players receive information and how fast they can make decisions on that information. Pace can change during the game. Remember a story is told in 3 parts, a beginning a middle and an end.
Recommended publications
  • The Resurrection of Permadeath: an Analysis of the Sustainability of Permadeath Use in Video Games
    The Resurrection of Permadeath: An analysis of the sustainability of Permadeath use in Video Games. Hugh Ruddy A research paper submitted to the University of Dublin, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Interactive Digital Media 2014 Declaration I declare that the work described in this research paper is, except where otherwise stated, entirely my own work and has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university. Signed: ___________________ Hugh Ruddy 28th February 2014 Permission to lend and/or copy I agree that Trinity College Library may lend or copy this research Paper upon request. Signed: ___________________ Hugh Ruddy 28th February 2014 Abstract The purpose of this research paper is to study the the past, present and future use of Permadeath in video games. The emergence of Permadeath games in recent months has exposed the mainstream gaming population to the concept of the permanent death of the game avatar, a notion that has been vehemently avoided by game developers in the past. The paper discusses the many incarnations of Permadeath that have been implemented since the dawn of video games, and uses examples to illustrate how gamers are crying out for games to challenge them in a unique way. The aims of this are to highlight the potential that Permadeath has in the gaming world to become a genre by itself, as well as to give insights into the ways in which gamers play Permadeath games at the present. To carry out this research, the paper examines the motivation players have to play games from a theoretical standpoint, and investigates how the possibilty of failure in video games should not be something gamers stay away from.
    [Show full text]
  • Preparation of Papers for R-ICT 2007
    Use of Graph Theory in Video Game Artificial Intelligence for Promoting Replay Value Case Study: “AI Director” of Valve’s Left 4 Dead Alvin Natwiguna - 13512030 Program Studi Teknik Informatika Sekolah Teknik Elektro dan Informatika Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132, Indonesia [email protected] Abstract—One of the main factors that makes a video game The Infected is split to two types, the Normal Infected – as a product – has a long life cycle is its replay value. Replay and the Special Infected. The Normal Infected are zombies value describes the ‘depth’ of an entertainment medium; in that attack at close range. Each has a low pool of health, this case, a video game. Besides the content of the game, one but they sometimes attack in large mobs. The Special of the main factors that influences a video game’s replay value is the system on which the video game is built upon. This Infected are zombies that have special features which paper will discuss the use of graph theory in explaining makes them quite deadly to the survivors. For example, the Valve’s Left 4 Dead artificial intelligence system – the “AI Tank has a monstrous, large body capable of taking large Director” – that promotes its replay value. amount of damage, punching cars and throwing a large chunk of rock to the survivors. It also has a deadly punch Index Terms—Artificial Intelligence, Graph, Left 4 Dead, that can incapacitate a survivor in one hit. Special Infected Replay Value. is further divided to normal and boss infected, based on how frequently they spawn, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Game Review | the Legend of Zelda file:///Users/Denadebry/Desktop/Hpsresearch/Papersfromgreen
    Game Review | The Legend of Zelda file:///Users/denadebry/Desktop/HPSresearch/PapersFromGreen... Matt Waddell STS 145: Game Review Table of Contents: Da Game Story Line & Game-play Technical Stuff Game Design Success Endnotes In 1984 President Hiroshi Yamauchi asked apprentice game designer Sigeru Miyamoto to oversee R&D4, a new research and development team for Nintendo Co., Ltd. Miyamoto's group, Joho Kaihatsu, had one assignment: "to come up with the most imaginative video games ever." 1 On February 21, 1986, Nintendo Co., Ltd. published The Legend of Zelda (hereafter abbreviated LoZ) for the Famicom in Japan. It was Miyamoto's first autonomous attempt at game design. In July 1987, Nintendo of America published LoZ for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States, this time with a shiny gold cartridge. Origins: where did LoZ come from? Miyamoto admits that LoZ is partly based on Ridley Scott's movie Legend. Indeed, Miyamoto's video game shares more than just a title with Scott's 1985 production. But Miyamoto's fundamental inspiration for LoZ remains his childhood home, with its maze of rooms, sliding shoji screens, and "hallways, from which there seemed to be a medieval castle's supply of hidden rooms." 2 Story Line: a brief synopsis. In the land of Hyrule, the legend of the "Triforce" was being passed down from generation to generation; golden triangles possessing mystical powers. One day, an evil army attacked Hyrule and stole the Triforce of Power. This army was led by Gannon, the powerful Prince of Darkness. Fearing his wicked rule, Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, split the remaining Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them throughout the land.
    [Show full text]
  • University of California Santa Cruz Learning from Games
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ LEARNING FROM GAMES FOR GENERATIVE PURPOSES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPUTER SCIENCE by Adam J. Summerville June 2018 The Dissertation of Adam J. Summerville is approved: Professor Michael Mateas, Chair Professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin Professor Santiago Ontañón Dean Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Adam J. Summerville 2018 Table of Contents List of Figures vi List of Tables xiv Abstract xvi Dedication xvii Acknowledgments xviii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Research Contributions ........................... 5 I Learning From Game 7 2 How Humans Understand Games 8 2.1 Human Annotation Tasks .......................... 17 2.2 Entity Persistence .............................. 17 2.3 Camera Motion ................................ 18 2.4 Room Detection ............................... 21 2.4.1 Teleportation ............................. 23 2.4.2 Traversal ............................... 25 2.5 Animation Cycles ............................... 32 2.6 Mode Dynamics ................................ 34 2.7 Conclusion .................................. 36 3 Mappy – A System for Map Extraction and Annotation via Observa- tion 37 3.1 NES Architecture and Emulation ...................... 41 3.2 Operationalizing Entity Persistence ..................... 43 3.3 Inferring Camera Motion .......................... 49 iii 3.4 Determining Room Transitions ....................... 59 3.4.1 Automatic Mapping ........................
    [Show full text]
  • PROCEDURAL CONTENT GENERATION for GAME DESIGNERS a Dissertation
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ EXPRESSIVE DESIGN TOOLS: PROCEDURAL CONTENT GENERATION FOR GAME DESIGNERS A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPUTER SCIENCE by Gillian Margaret Smith June 2012 The Dissertation of Gillian Margaret Smith is approved: ________________________________ Professor Jim Whitehead, Chair ________________________________ Associate Professor Michael Mateas ________________________________ Associate Professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin ________________________________ Professor R. Michael Young ________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Gillian Margaret Smith 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................................................. ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................ xvii Abstract ...................................................................................................................... xviii Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... xx Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................1 1 Procedural Content Generation ................................................................................. 6 1.1 Game Design...................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Learning Human Behavior from Observation for Gaming Applications
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2007 Learning Human Behavior From Observation For Gaming Applications Christopher Moriarty University of Central Florida Part of the Computer Engineering Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Moriarty, Christopher, "Learning Human Behavior From Observation For Gaming Applications" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3269. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3269 LEARNING HUMAN BEHAVIOR FROM OBSERVATION FOR GAMING APPLICATIONS by CHRIS MORIARTY B.S. University of Central Florida, 2005 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2007 © 2007 Christopher Moriarty ii ABSTRACT The gaming industry has reached a point where improving graphics has only a small effect on how much a player will enjoy a game. One focus has turned to adding more humanlike characteristics into computer game agents. Machine learning techniques are being used scarcely in games, although they do offer powerful means for creating humanlike behaviors in agents. The first person shooter (FPS), Quake 2, is an open source game that offers a multi-agent environment to create game agents (bots) in.
    [Show full text]
  • A User's Guide to the Apocalypse
    A User's Guide to the Apocalypse [a tale of survival, identity, and personal growth] [powered by Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine] [Elaine “OJ” Wang] This is a preview version dating from March 28, 2017. The newest version of this document is always available from http://orngjce223.net/chuubo/A%20User%27s%20Guide %20to%20the%20Apocalypse%20unfinished.pdf. Follow https://eternity-braid.tumblr.com/ for update notices and related content. Credits/Copyright: Written by: Elaine “OJ” Wang, with some additions and excerpts from: • Ops: the original version of Chat Conventions (page ???). • mellonbread: Welcome to the Future (page ???), The Life of the Mind (page ???), and Corpseparty (page ???), as well as quotes from wagglanGimmicks, publicFunctionary, corbinaOpaleye, and orangutanFingernails. • godsgifttogrinds: The Game Must Go On (page ???). • eternalfarnham: The Azurites (page ???). Editing and layout: I dream of making someone else do it. Based on Replay Value AU of Homestuck, which was contributed to by many people, the ones whom I remember best being Alana, Bobbin, Cobb, Dove, Impern, Ishtadaal, Keleviel, Mnem, Muss, Ops, Oven, Rave, The Black Watch, Viridian, Whilim, and Zuki. Any omissions here are my own damn fault. In turn, Replay Value AU itself was based upon Sburb Glitch FAQ written by godsgifttogrinds, which in turn was based upon Homestuck by Andrew Hussie. This is a supplement for the Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine system, which was written by Jenna Katerin Moran. The game mechanics belong to her and are used with permission. Previous versions of this content have appeared on eternity-braid.tumblr.com, rvdrabbles.tumblr.com, and archiveofourown.org.
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping the Intersection of National Identity and Gaming Culture in the Pacific Region
    Virtual Rivalries? Mapping the Intersection of National Identity and Gaming Culture in the Pacific Region International Studies Association 15 June – 17 June 2017 Hong Kong Timothy Kersey, Ph.D. Kennesaw State University [email protected] [Draft version; please do not cite without author’s permission] Introduction: Identity Formation in Electronically Mediated Contexts1 Since the widespread rollout of broadband internet availability in the early 2000s, the increased usage of networked communications technologies has generated a great deal of speculation and scholarship regarding potential social, political, economic, and cultural changes. Such changes emerge from the massively increased capacity for groups and individuals to communicate with each other outside and alongside of pre-existing (or ‘legacy’) forms of mediate communication. As the underlying infrastructure of communication changes (e.g. the ascendancy of smartphones), the behaviors and practices of communication change as well; commenting, retweeting, upvoting, liking, and sharing have become fundamental actions within the communications landscape structures by social media applications. Such changes in both technologies and cultural practices are commonly referred to as a shift from a mass-mediated public sphere to a networked public sphere.2 This change from mass-mediated to networked forms of communication is not simply a shift in technological applications (i.e. from television to internet), but also of different sets of organizing principles. Mass-mediated communications processes generally reflect ‘top-down’ processes through which similar messages are sent by a limited number of information producers to a mass (and presumably homogeneous) audience.3 Within this process, subject positions are relatively static: those in the audience function as consumers with little to no 1 Author’s note: This paper is a partial component of a broader work exploring relationships between contemporary political theory and forms of online communication and sociability.
    [Show full text]
  • Reporting from a Video Game Industry in Transition, 2003 – 2011
    Save Point Reporting from a video game industry in transition, 2003 – 2011 Kyle Orland Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press Pittsburgh, PA Save Point: Reporting from a video game industry in transition, 2003— 2011 by Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Copyright by ETC Press 2021 http://press.etc.cmu.edu/ ISBN: 9-781304-268426 (eBook) TEXT: The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NonDerivative 2.5 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/) IMAGES: The images of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NonDerivative 2.5 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/) Table of Contents Introduction COMMUNITY Infinite Princesses WebGame 2.0 @TopHatProfessor Layton and the Curious Twitter Accounts Madden in the Mist Pinball Wizards: A Visual Tour of the Pinball World Championships A Zombie of a Chance: LooKing BacK at the Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott The MaKing (and UnmaKing) of a Nintendo Fanboy Alone in the StreetPass Crowd CRAFT Steel Battalion and the Future of Direct-InVolVement Games A Horse of a Different Color Sympathy for the DeVil The Slow Death of the Game OVer The Game at the End of the Bar The World in a Chain Chomp Retro-Colored Glasses Do ArKham City’s Language Critics HaVe A Right To 'Bitch'? COMMERCE Hard DriVin’, Hard Bargainin’: InVestigating Midway’s ‘Ghost Racer’ Patent Indie Game Store Holiday Rush What If? MaKing a “Bundle” off of Indie Gaming Portal Goes Potato: How ValVe And Indie DeVs Built a Meta-Game Around Portal 2’s Launch Introduction As I write this introduction in 2021, we’re just about a year away from the 50th anniVersary of Pong, the first commercially successful video game and probably the simplest point to mark the start of what we now consider “the video game industry.” That makes video games one of the newest distinct artistic mediums out there, but not exactly new anymore.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategic Timing of Entry: Evidence from Video Games
    Dis cus si on Paper No. 13-117 Strategic Timing of Entry: Evidence from Video Games Benjamin Engelstätter and Michael R. Ward Dis cus si on Paper No. 13-117 Strategic Timing of Entry: Evidence from Video Games Benjamin Engelstätter and Michael R. Ward Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server: http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp13117.pdf Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar. Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. “Strategic Timing of Entry: Evidence from Video Games” Benjamin Engelstätter Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung Michael R. Ward University of Texas at Arlington and Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung December 2013 ABSTRACT This paper investigates how video game publishers’ choice of game release date is affected by the expected level of competition within the game’s product niche. We identify game niches by genre, age-appropriateness, a four week window cohort, publisher and console system.
    [Show full text]
  • Procedural Content Generation for Computer Games
    Procedural Content Generation for Computer Games Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Yinxuan Shi, B.S. Graduate Program in Computer Science and Engineering The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Roger Crawfis, Advisor Dr. Yusu Wang Dr. Eric Fosler-Lussier Dr. Neelam Soundarajan Copyrighted by Yinxuan Shi 2016 Abstract Procedural Content Generation (PCG) is no new concept for the gaming industry. From early games like Rogue (1980) and The Sentinel (1986) to more recent games like Diablo III (2012) and Path of Exile (2013), PCG is heavily used in dungeons, quests, mini bosses and even storyline creation. The advantages PCG offers is not just limited to empowering game designers with fast content prototype/creation, but can also provide in-game adaptation to player’s response and small memory footprint. While there is much research on PCG, few results contribute to the evaluation: Does the generated content makes the game more interesting/fun? To answer this question, we examine two applications of PCG. One is level creation and another is visual content creation such as crowds. For level creation, the existing techniques mainly focus on map/terrain generation. In games where the player either avoids or engages in combat against hostile targets, the player’s experience involves other aspects such as enemy and resource placement and navigation. The problem of creating a fun level can be formulated into searching for a good combination of these aspects. This leads to two problems: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction: Unpredictable Play
    1 Introduction: Unpredictable Play Few games are fully deterministic – which is to say, games where a player performing a given action knows precisely what the outcome of that action will be upon the field of play. The player who moves a piece in chess knows where that piece will end up and whether it will take an opposing piece in the process; the player who places their stone at a particular vertex in Go knows whether it will make a group of stones alive, dead or unsettled, and whether or not it might result in a ko fight; the player considering their next move in draughts can always see how many captures are possible in a single sequence. The chess piece cannot be sometimes defeated by the piece it tries to capture; a Go stone cannot switch to the other colour upon a lucky roll of a die; draughts pieces cannot fail to capture the piece they jump over. The same action repeated across multiple instances1 of play is guaranteed to result in the same outcome each time. The encyclopaedia of such games is, however, modest compared to the great compendium of those which include at least one non-deterministic game mechanic – the rolling of a die, the flipping of a coin, the generation of a world map, the drawing of lots to determine which team plays first, randomized damage outputs, percentage-based drop rates, unpredictable artificial intelligence decisions, the shuffling of cards, virtual weapons without perfect aim, spawn point selection in multiplayer games, randomized placement of enemies and items, the drawing of unseen cards or tiles and many others besides.
    [Show full text]