Development Blog

Impact of visual style on gameplay experience-

How I used it: I wrote a section all about visual style. I talked about semiotics, colour schemes and complex meanings.

What did I use it for: I used it to show the colour scheme of each chapter. I give be a clearer understanding of the overall design of the game. Then the symbols that I'm going to use.

How has the research helped me: It helped me understand the importances of making the visual style suit the target audience and genre. So I'm using a lot of reds and black with are standard colour scheme for a horror.

Flow Channel- 

How I used it: I made a flow channel diagram for my own game.
What did I use it for: It demonstrate how hard my game is.
How has the research helped me: It helped me consider what skills the players has compared to the challenge of the game and how I could work with this to make my game a true horror and making the challenge and players skill unmatched. 

Endogenous Value-

How I used it: I talked about how the achieve of getting to the Altar is the emotional value of the game.

What did I use it for: To give emotional value to the goal

How has the research helped me:It helped me understand the different types of values.

Interaction Model-

How I used it:I explained the model of interaction my game is using.

What did I use it for: I wrote a paragraph about how the player can only use the character's avatar to interacte with the game world.

How has the research helped me: It helped me understand the different types for I could choose which would best suit my game concept.

Importance of rules in games-

How I used it: I wrote a list of the rules of the game

What did I use it for:To help me understand the rules of my concept

How has the research helped me: It helped me understand why rules are so important.

The use of semiotics in games-

How I used it: I wrote about all the different symbols in the game world. 

What did I use it for: I showed the symbols through images and explained the meaning behind them.

How has the research helped me: It helped me understand the importance of semiotics and how they communicate with the viewer. 

Defining games

A game can be defined as a set of elements  working together that enables a person to have an experience through interaction with it. The aim is for the player to have a good or fun experience and to do this it is generally agreed that a game should include the following concepts:(Schell.J 2008) -

"Games

- are entered willfully

- have a goal

- have conflict

- have rules

- can be won or lost

- are interactive

- have challenge

- create their own internal value

- engage the players

- are closed, formal systems

This is based on theory developed by Chris Crawford. He discusses what a game is by asking questions and identifying what a game is not e.g.:-

 -a movie is not a game as you don't interact with it, 

 - a toy can be played with/ you can interact with it but it is not a game because there are no      goals. 

 - A rubic cubic whilst having a goal and a challenge is not a game as it has no competitors.(Stevens, M. 2013)

The diagram below shows Chris Crawford's logic tree on the definition of what a game is.

(MMORPG.com. 2013)

bibliography

MMORPG.com. (2013). Chris Crawford's definition of a game. [online] Available at: http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/380397/chris-crawfords-definition-of-a-game [Accessed 26 Apr. 2016].

Schell, J. (2008). The art of game design. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.

Stevens, M. (2013). Why Do We Play Games?. [online] Vsauce/YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jDspIC4hY [Accessed 26 Apr. 2016].

Horror (notes)

These are my notes on how to make a good horror game

Extra Credits - Horror That Lingers - How the Uncanny Instills Fear(Floyd, D. and Portnow, J.2014A)

Surivival:

Slow burn

Tension

Psychology – into the cognitive flow  in the zone full enjoyment and focus. Rewarding. Passage of time

Clear goals and direction

Feedback

Confidents of being capable of completing the task – level of challenge vs. the level of skill

Control- belief that if you succeed it’s because of your actions and if you fail it’s down to you. –control of actions

Silent hill – psychological horror

Discomfort

Feeling less and less safe

Losing control

How the Uncanny Instills Fear – when something is not right. A disturbing feeling. Tense

Most of the scene is normal but a little dose of uncanny

The truth master is making the idea that is can exist in the real world

Extra Credits - Shiver with Anticipation - How Horror Games Create Tension Cycles

(Floyd, D. and Portnow, J. 2014B)

Pacing –

Start with tense start to get the players interested

Settle down and draw the baseline of what is going on

Before this gets too boring another tense moment where what you can learnt is establish

Down back down again

Then make this an even bigger tension scene than the last

Learn more about the goal before going to the main part of the game

This will be where the character has his last clam moment. The quite before the storm. The last reflection of his journey so far before the facing the challenge yet

The final tense scene which will stand the longest and will be the best scene for the full game.

After it was all said and done the silence after the war.

Tension and release curve in horror – intense engagement and rest.

Build the tension – scare you – then release

Don’t have keep to a high level of tension through all your game as it will be exhausting for the player.

Don’t keep scaring the players are they will grow custom to the scare and find it less scary

-The player needs closure to reflect on the overall experience

survival horror: Tension, satisfaction, curiosity and sorrow.

Break games into three pieces = Arc, Scene and  Action

Arc: the overall experience – the piece as a hole

Scene: sub-section or a level- a level should follow the same engagement pattern tension – scare – rest

Action: a specific moment. Example raising the gun, aiming at the target...BANG! then satisfaction and chill after you put the gun back.

Tension and release curve in horror –

The tension building is as important as the pay off. Those moment when then

You know something is coming, you fear when it comes but you don’t know when it comes

Minimal – spending long amounts of time before anything happens

Just waiting for it to happening. The longer you wait the more you get scared. Thinking to second guess when it comes.

Expectation of what going to happen.

Limits I perception: in the dark, right angles and closed doors.

The sound of a door opening  ‘EEEEe’, shhhh’ of leaves. The ‘pinggg’ of objects dropping.

Red herring

Key themes:

Fear, distrusting, discomfort, irritating

The Psychology of Scary Movies 

(Hess, J. 2013)

Tension

Mystery

-Suspense

Gore

Terror

-Shock

Relevance

The universal fear of things like death and the unknown

cultural relevance dealing with societal issues

personal relevance to the protagonist or in a way that condemns the antagonists

Unrealism

-comfort in knowing that this isn’t real.

-hyperrealism

-Enjoyable and not too serious 

-soundtrack, video game cliché, black humour

Sigmund Freud -Uncanny

Aristotle -Catharsis

Dolf Zillman – Excitation transfer theory

Film Scholar Noel Carroll - Curiosity and Fascination

Societal fears

4 CATEGORIES OF HORROR WATCHING

Gore watching – low empathy – High sensation seeking – identify with killer

Thrill watching – high empathy – high sensation seeking – identify with victim

Independent watching – high empathy – positive outlook (overcoming fear)

Problem watching – High empathy – negative outlook (sense of helplessness)

Horror = nightmares

Horror is a safe place to practice  survival skills – face our fears. Try and fight back. The face impossible odds and win. 

Bibliography  

Floyd, D. and Portnow, J. (2014A). Extra Credits - Horror That Lingers - How the Uncanny Instills Fear. [online] Extra Credits/YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKtTBjSBg0 [Accessed 27 Apr. 2016].

Floyd, D. and Portnow, J. (2014B). Shiver with Anticipation - How Horror Games Create Tension Cycles. [online] Extra Credits/YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyiAR2BXtKU [Accessed 27 Apr. 2016].
Hess, J. (2013). The Psychology of Scary Movies. [online] Filmmaker IQ/YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcAfzK4YPSI [Accessed 26 Apr. 2016].

McMahon, J. (2007). Aesthetics and material beauty: Aesthetics naturalized. New York: Routledge.

 Neuendorf, K. and Sparks, G. (1984). effect of forewarning on emotional responses to a horror film. Journal of Broadcasting. [online] Available at: 

Personality test and target audience

Myers Briggs is a way of breaking broke people's personality's into 16 different types. This is determined with four key aspects with have two opposite: 1. Extroverted Vs. Introverted.  2. Intuitive Vs. Observant. 3. Thinking Vs. Feeling. 4. Judging Vs. Prospecting. With these 8 different aspects there are worked out like the image below. Where the outcome is determined by which one you choose in the 4 layers. 

 (Cunningham, 2012)

 When I first took the test (on 16 personalities)first back in the summer. I got 'the campaigner' ENFP . which is Extroversion, intuition, feeling and  perceiving. This is what I got
Extraverted: 76%, Intuitive: 77%, Feeling: 80%, Prospecting: 93%, Assertive: 65%.

But when I did it again I got this: 
Extraverted: 76%, Intuitive: 83%, Feeling: 82%, Prospecting: 96%, Assertive: 71%. 

This shows that this personality test isn't dependent on the person's mood but accurate  on their personality. Personality tests like this can be used to understand what game would an individual better. 

I did another personality test which showed a number of different characteristics of my personality. Esspecially strengths and weaknesses which should be a good indication of what type of games I would be good at and not so good at 

(Seemypersonality.com, 2016a)

Big five personality test is another form way of determining what type of personal an individual is. In the image below it shows the five areas the a person is judged on. It is with percentage of that area which tells how open they are, how agreeable they are est. So someone with a low percentage with extrovert is more of an introvert and someone who is really open has a high percentage of openness. 

(Dr. Schofield, K.2013)

For myself I this is my result:

(Seemypersonality.com,2016b)

Now focusing on a personality test that looks at what type of gamer are you. Bartle test has types of player: the Killer, the Achiever, the Social and the Explorer. So using the results I got form Myers Briggs and five personalities. Being an extrovert I most have more social skills to be the social player, then I have a high percentage of Intuitive so be an explorer player being that I could use my intuitive for where to go next and not be so observant which would be more of an achiever. Then looking at my strengths which say "always stay cool" and "always calm and balance" so a killer be less likely as I wouldn't  be competitive.   

(MMORPG.com,2015)

Learning there are many different aspects of people's personalities to consider and how that affect what they would want to game. When designing a game it is an idea to understand what type of individual you are designing for? Are they Extroverts who enjoy playing with others? Are they they thinkers who enjoy working out and achieving puzzles. Are your player have an openness to enjoy experiencing new culture and exploring new lands. Personality has a key part to play in a game as you don't want to design a game that won't suit your target audience. 

One of the important parts of any product design is to understand who your audience is. For games the producers need to understand who they are panning to sell their game to. The demographic of the audience which breaks the population into category of a subject like race, age, gender, income est.  So with gender there is three categories male, female and other. For age that can be: toddlers, kids, teens, young adults, middle age, old age.   Knowing your target audience effects all aspects of the development of a game: pre-production planning, pitching, production of game and advertisement. The main goal of the game producers and publishers is to make the game sell- able. If the target audience isn't know then  how can the game be suited any audience? How  would the advertisers sell the game?  It is important because when designing a game you have to think of "player-centric design, you test every design decision against your hypothetical representative player to be sure that the decision helps to entertain your target audience." (Adams, E. and Rollings, A.2014)

(Userreport.com, 2016)

Socio economic group: When companies need to understand what target market to appeal to they have to get research “agencies divide the population into different grouping” (Socio-Economic Group?. 2014). I subject companies have to look at his  Socio economic group. This is where researching They divide the population by their occupation; the categories are in the table below. This helps market agencies to draw comparisons between the different groups and create a produce that would be suitable to that group.  For example in the fashion industry it is very clear which market they are going for; places like primark is more affordable and less higher standards which is suited to social grade E to C . Whereas HarveyNichols would sell to group A of the social grade. In the game market it is less based on social grade than fashion market but the newly release AAA games will be targeted at social grades A to B. Whereas free to play games on Facebook like Farmvile will be suited to the lower grades like D and E. Consoles and computers are a big part to this socio economic group. A high end gaming PC are extremely expensive with someone on the lower social grade wouldn't have to money to afford such a thing. Whereas consoles are normally targeted at people who are earning less money the price of a console is even suited to someone who is grade C.

Age: This stereotype is so often used in media; with games, films and shows. It can be very obvious what’s the  target audience’s age just by the colours and topics of that produce. Game companies often make the cover art suitable for their target audience like the two pictures below. Games for a younger audience like the ‘Lego Movie Video Game’ often have brighter colour, rounder shapes with a light hearted theme and are easier. Whereas games likes ‘MadWorld’ which is for a more mature audience have less colour, more violents, sharper edges and darker themes.

Psychographics:  Psychographics looks at people differently than demographics. Where demographics look at: age, race, regional and Socio economic group. Psychographics looks at personality, attitudes and lifestyle. The best way to do this is by looking at what people do in their spare time and making assumptions about them. For example someone may enjoy doing go-carting as a hobby; a researcher could assume that this person would like a high end racing game without being too car technical like Need for Speed or Forza. It’s a way of knowing what people like and how to make a game which will appeal to them.   

-The 4Cs table:  Young & Rubicam’s 4Cs This stands for "Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization" 

Young & Rubicam There Are Seven Kinds Of People In The World. 1st ed. London: Young & Rubicam, 2015. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.

The ESA: (entertainment software association) Research the statistics of video game market. They research stuff like which Gender, age and what plays do people play.  Esa statement is “ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers, including conducting business and consumer research, providing legal and policy analysis and advocacy on First Amendment.” (The Entertainment Software Association,2015) This shows that the important of this research is to provide game companies and publishers the research to understand what is happening in the computer game market at the moment. This will help companies to target the right audience for their product to be a success. 

(entertainment software association,2015)

Bibliography


Userreport.com, (2016). Demographic profile data on people that visit your website | UserReport.com. [online] Available at: https://www.userreport.com/features/demographics/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].



16personalities.com, (2016). Free personality test, type descriptions, relationship and career advice | 16Personalities. [online] Available at: https://www.16personalities.com/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

Adams, E. and Rollings, A. (2014). Fundamentals of game design. 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, p.47.

Cunningham, L. (2012). Myers-Briggs: Does it pay to know your type?. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/myers-briggs-does-it-pay-to-know-your-type/2012/12/14/eaed51ae-3fcc-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

Dr. Schofield, K. (2013). The Science Behind Personality Types. [online] Good&Co. Available at: http://good.co/blog/2013/03/11/the-science-behind-personality-types/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

entertainment software association, (2015). 2015 sales,demographic and usage data. Essential facts about the computer and video game industry. [online] Washington, DC: entertainment software association, p.3. Available at: http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf [Accessed 19 Feb. 2016].

MMORPG.com, (2015). Which Bartle Personality Are You?. [online] Available at: http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/441784/which-bartle-personality-are-you [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

Seemypersonality.com, (2016a). Take a Free Personality Test | See My Personality. [online] Available at: http://www.seemypersonality.com/#q1 [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

Seemypersonality.com, (2016b). Take a Free Personality Test | See My Personality. [online] Available at: http://www.seemypersonality.com/#q1 [Accessed 18 Feb. 2016].

The Entertainment Software Association, (2015). The Entertainment Software Association. [online] Available at: http://www.theesa.com/ [Accessed 19 Feb. 2016].

What is a Socio-Economic Group?. 2014. What is a Socio-Economic Group?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marketresearchworld.net/content/view/2918/78/. [Accessed 18 Feb 2016].

Why people play games

The main reason people play games is to have fun. The difficulty arises in defining fun. Scott Rigby, author of 'Glued to Games' identifies the reasons people play games can be varied and individualistic but tends to fall into one of three broad groups:-

Autonomy - players in this group enjoy being able to make their own impact on the game. This is often achieved in a game by giving people choices of action. these players like to express their individuality in the game through making their own character or game (Little Big Planet'), choosing their own method of combat in fight, eg magicians, assassins or thieves in 'Oblivion'. The games most suited for this audience are Role Playing Games, as they give that freedom of choice and a chance to impact on the game play.


Competence - players in these group enjoy the challenge, they play games to achieve goals set by the game and personal targets. They are the completionists who enjoy achieving any task put out for them. People in this group tend to enjoy platform games because it gives them obstacles to overcome and a sense of achievement when they obtain a skill or knowledge.

Relatedness -This final group of players, enter the world of gaming for the social aspect. They enjoy the interaction with others, achieving goals or tasks as part of a team. Being part of a team or connected with others gives them a sense of belonging. Multi-player or on-line gaming is the preferred choice of games for this group. Games like World Warcraft have a massive group of followers and include team working to complete goals. (Rigby, S. and Ryan, R. 2011)


bibliography

 Rigby, S. and Ryan, R. (2011). Glued to games. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.

Game design document

"method for tracking all the information...you'll need a method for communicating information to them [the team]" (Mitchell.2012). The design document is a key way of communicating the designer's ideas to the team, from documenting the high concept document, to the art style. The document reference audio, lore and plot, game mechanics, quests and over aspects of the game. It is basically all you need to know on how to make the game. A game design document is different to a proposal design or a pitch presentation which is also used in the pre-production stage of the development of a game. A proposal design is a less detail document which describes the need to know basics of a game to use to proposal the concept to those you are working for to see if they like the idea. A pitch presentation is pitching the concept to a client to get them on board with the concept so the game gets a green light to go into development stage or get investment so a team has money to make this game a reality. The design document differs from these two as it is purely for the development team to understand what's the plan for the: audio, art, gameplay, goal ,challenge. feedback, reward est. 



Bibliography 
Mitchell, B. (2012). Game design essentials. Indianapolis, In.: Wiley.

Semiotics

This is the study of meaning in signs and images. "The semiotics of the game are the meanings and relationships of the various symbols that the game employs." (Adams and Rollings, 2014). Semiotics have many different uses and can depend on what cultural meaning of an image or colour. For example in the image below which is titled 'colours around the world' it shows that the colour red in the western world represents love, action and danger. Whereas with fair eastern cultures it represents prosperity, fortune and vitality. This just shows the vast differences between the meaning of a colour between to culture. Looking at the image below with the title ' Semiotics: Decoding the Hidden Message'. This splits images with meaning into three sections. Looking at the icon of a gun is is a graphic image of what a gun looks like and this graphic image doesn't have a direct meaning but it can imply meaning in the right context: It could represent violence. The dollar symbol you have to learn the meaning. The symbols means nothing unless you understand that it represents the dollar. The smoking cigarette is a direct link the action of smoking a cigarette. It has no hidden message other than representing smoking a cigarette.  "a sign represents something other than itself, we take the representation as the meaning of the sign. The smell of smoke (sign) represents the concept of "fire,"." (Tekinbaş, K. and Zimmerman, E. 2003)

In video games semiotics are used through out it's design. The use of colours to represent a health bar. The screen going colour to represent the western idea of red and danger. The graphic images of guns to display gun select menu. Index symbols in game maps. Books in Role Playing Games are icons of quests. Red barrels in shooting games means that they are flammable and will explode if shoot at. 

(Teachertoolkit.me, 2014)

(Stathoyiannis, Vlachos and Zakkas, 2013)

Semiotics in games normally have a standard icon like red bar for health but in 'Dead Space' the health bar is displayed along the characters spine. The image below shows how they presented the health bar. The impact of this in the game is a nice change from the normal red bar and made it so that the screen won't have anything in the HUD. The change was still understandable as when the character is hit the meter decreases and begins to turn red. 

(Andrews, M.2016))

Then a game that has too many symbols in it's HUD have become rather confusing. Looking at the image of 'Mass Effect' before it shows a number of different icons that present an upgrade but there is too many different types of upgrades that it is hard to show what icon means what upgrade especially that there isn't any letter to describe what that icon means. Then there is 'Daggerfall' there a fourth of the screen that is covered by the HUD and I feel that it is limiting to the experience as it is ugly and cluttered with icon's that I don't know what they mean. The health bar is green which is  confusing for me as a player as my eyes are drawn to the health bar which I think is health. 

(Hamilton, K. 2012)

(Imp Daggerfall.2016)

Looking at semiotics in culture and in video games it is important for the audience to understand what the semiotics represents so it can have an impact and relation on the viewer. It is important for game design that the icons used are relate to the regional audience you are designing for. It is also important that the player will learn the meaning of the icons very quickly by not overloading them with too many icons to remember. In games like 'Dead Space' it is nice to see games that break for the traditional representation of health and added it's own twist but is still understandable what it represents. Overall icons are there to make the gameplay experience easier and more visually pleasing with little to not text and easy to understand icons which are remember-able and pleasing to the eye. 

Bibliography

Adams, E. and Rollings, A. (2014). Fundamentals of game design. 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Andrews, M. (2016). Gamasutra - Game UI Discoveries: What Players Want. [online] Gamasutra.com. Available at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4286/game_ui_discoveries_what_players_.php?print=1 [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016].

Hamilton, K. (2012). [online] Kotaku.com. Available at: http://kotaku.com/5888170/the-first-mass-effects-user-interface-sure-was-terrible [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016].

 Imp Daggerfall. (2016). [online] Elder Scrolls. Available at: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Imp_(Daggerfall) [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016].

Teachertoolkit.me, (2014). Can semiotics be used to improve teaching and learning? by @TeacherToolkit | | @TeacherToolkit. [online] Available at: http://www.teachertoolkit.me/2014/01/26/can-semiotics-be-used-to-improve-teaching-and-learning-by-teachertoolkit/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2016].

Tekinbaş, K. and Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of play. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

 Stathoyiannis, Y., Vlachos, G. and Zakkas, S. (2013). Color Perception by Culture - iNFOGRAPHiCs MANiA. [online] iNFOGRAPHiCsMANiA. Available at: http://infographicsmania.com/color-perception-by-culture/?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=ZAKKAS&utm_campaign=SNAP [Accessed 5 Feb. 2016].