Writing For Games

Loss Points
A loss point happens when you believe that you can’t win. Loss points are a big problem in game design because they are the moments when players stop engaging. In turn-based games, for example, they often result in lots of orphaned (half-finished) games. In real-time multiplayer games they are the moments when players log out mid-game, screwing the balance for everyone else. And in narrativist games, they are the moments when the player sees that he’s not really doing anything meaningful in the game, just following instructions.

It’s very difficult to convince a player to keep playing beyond a loss point. They have no real incentive to continue, and sense that their time would be best spent doing something else. That is why games are bad at storytelling, irrespective of the quality of their writing. It’s why LA Noire and Heavy Rain are both initially impactful, but pretty boring to play. They’re easily mastered, their frames are not particularly fascinating, and the sensation of being a rat in a maze (the loss point) only grows. At some point I simply forget to pick up the joypad.

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2012/09/great-story-bad-game-should-the-walking-dead-be-nodal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WhatGamesAre+%28What+Games+Are%29

The Occupy Session: Critical Game Design

http://thatcampgames.org/2012/01/19/session-proposal-occupy-game-design/

Attendees have interest in Occupy movement, serious games, critical pedagogy

Some of the games mentioned in this session:

Monopoly Mod: http://games.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2011/07/15/monopoly-mod/

A Force More Powerful http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/game/

Up Against the Wall… http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12246/up-against-the-wall-motherer

Grow a Game http://www.tiltfactor.org/growagame/play.html

Spent http://playspent.org/

The Curfew http://www.thecurfewgame.com/

Kabul Kaboom http://www.acmi.net.au/68A5FD6A7EC34525948645CE443F8227.htm

Phone Story http://phonestory.org/

McDonald’s Video Game: http://www.mcvideogame.com/index-eng.html

September 12th http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm

Serious game designers can’t control how players will take a game and run with it

With serious games in the classroom, is it possible to design with no agenda? To learn how to think about these issues on a meta level? (fostering critical thinking)

What about students designing their own games to learn about these topics?

Make an argument with a game? Remember that trying and failing is also a learning experience

Encouraging students to mod games

Creatively misuse what already exists

Approaching games as text, ask students to deconstruct it

Use Grow a Game to highlight specific Occupy issues

Can pull out specific mechanics or models too

Genre descriptions

Spent: “bad” game design, it’s unwinnable, but that’s the point

What makes a game critical, serious?

a “message”?

Are there commercial games with a critical/social justice component?

Sim City, Civilization

These games have an agenda, a point of view

And are they preaching to the choir?

Is knowing why/by whom the game was made affect how you feel about it? Whether …

You may not believe it, but your professor loves video games. Educators are becoming passionate about gaming and The Humanities and Technology Camp: Games, put that passion to work.

THATCamp Games, taking place January 19 to 22, was an un-conference focused on the the intersection of education and gaming. Attendees came from a number of different perspectives, there were educators looking to integrate games into the classroom, instructors in game design, game makers and more.

Over the four days, the attendees watched a film about gaming, participated in game design and development workshops, and attended self-generated sessions on a variety of topics.

Of the many sessions there were three strong threads: teaching through games, teaching game theory, and teaching game design.

Teaching through games.

Of the three strong threads at #THATCamp, using games as teaching tools was one of the strongest.

Alternate Reality Games were a significant part of the event, there were two ARG-focused workshops.

“Build your own practomimetic (ARG/RPG) course” was run by Roger Travis[http://livingepic.org], Kevin Ballestrini[http://kevinbal.blogspot.com/], Emily Lewis[http://twitter.com/#/blueathena14], Mark Pearsall, and Stephen Slota[http://practomime.com]. The goal of the presenters was to provide a framework for educators to build an “ARG wrapped around an RPG.” The work was based off of Operation LAPIS, the team’s …