Not entirely sure whether i have done this correctly or not, but i had a go with Zotero and heres what i came up with.
Books
Maw-Ding, J. (1982) Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 2nd ed. American Mathematical Society.
Braithwaite, B. & Schreiber, I. (2009) Challengess for game designers. Course Technology PTR.
Articles
Zyda, M. (2009) Computer Science in the Conceptual Age. Communications of the ACM, 52 (12), pp.66-69
Igarashi, T. (2010) Computer Graphics for All. Communications of the ACM, 53 (7), p.71.
Contributions
Blake, M.B. & Gilbert, J.E. (2010) Black Computer Scientists in Academe: an Endangered Species? Chronicle of Higher Education, 57 (5), pp.35-37.
Jovanovic, N., Popovic, R. & Jovanovic, Z. (2009) A web-based computer network simulator. Communications of the ACM, 46 (4), p.384.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
Group Project - Ideas and Iterations
We are currently creating an educational game which would appeal to children studying key stage 1. We are in a group of 5 and so far things have been developing really well. The game that we were given to design is called Missing Arrows, and currently the object of the game is to form small words by shooting down bubbles/balloons from the sky with your bow and arrow.
I say "currently", because we have been through many ideas and iterations and every aspect of the game subtly changes, or perhaps I could call it "evolves" into a more refined concept. Each day we have new ideas which work better than the previous one, or ideas which are too good not to add.
Even though this is a tiny game in comparison to the massive hits that companies like EA or Blizzard release, it still gives you an appreciation of how long game development and design can take. Having said that, Duke Nukem Forever better be amazing considering they've been developing it for roughly 14 years. Fingers crossed.
I say "currently", because we have been through many ideas and iterations and every aspect of the game subtly changes, or perhaps I could call it "evolves" into a more refined concept. Each day we have new ideas which work better than the previous one, or ideas which are too good not to add.
Even though this is a tiny game in comparison to the massive hits that companies like EA or Blizzard release, it still gives you an appreciation of how long game development and design can take. Having said that, Duke Nukem Forever better be amazing considering they've been developing it for roughly 14 years. Fingers crossed.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Types of games
Using various terms you are able to describe the gameplay of games in one word.
Agon: Competition
Alea: Chance.Randomness
Ilinx: Movement
Mimicry: Simulation, Makebelieve, role-play
Paidea: Play for pleasure, little/no constraints
Ludus: Constrained by rules, clear outcome
Games which offer Paidea and Ludus gameplay:
Probably one of the best modern examples of a paidea game with ludus elements is the recently released Dead Rising 2. Dead Rising 2 is essentially a sandbox zombie apocalypse game that takes place in Fortune City. Fans of the game will immediately know what i mean by "ludus" elements because it is often one of the most contriversial aspects of the game, it seems that some people love it and some people hate it. I am ofcourse talking about the dreaded "Time Limit". I am in the latter catagory. They have constructed a sandbox world that is extremely fun to explore and navigate, yet they insisnt on pushing you through the game, barely giving you time to look at your surroundings before you have to rush off in order to maintain the various time restrictive checkpoints.
Another example of a paidea game is Fallout 3. This one is much more enjoyable for me, simply because Bethesda (the makers of Fallout 3) creates games that are the definition of freedom. You are free to explore the world at your own pace, take as much time as you need and then if you choose, you can start one of the many missions and side missions that are scattered throughout the game world.
Agon: Competition
Alea: Chance.Randomness
Ilinx: Movement
Mimicry: Simulation, Makebelieve, role-play
Paidea: Play for pleasure, little/no constraints
Ludus: Constrained by rules, clear outcome
Games which offer Paidea and Ludus gameplay:
Probably one of the best modern examples of a paidea game with ludus elements is the recently released Dead Rising 2. Dead Rising 2 is essentially a sandbox zombie apocalypse game that takes place in Fortune City. Fans of the game will immediately know what i mean by "ludus" elements because it is often one of the most contriversial aspects of the game, it seems that some people love it and some people hate it. I am ofcourse talking about the dreaded "Time Limit". I am in the latter catagory. They have constructed a sandbox world that is extremely fun to explore and navigate, yet they insisnt on pushing you through the game, barely giving you time to look at your surroundings before you have to rush off in order to maintain the various time restrictive checkpoints.
Another example of a paidea game is Fallout 3. This one is much more enjoyable for me, simply because Bethesda (the makers of Fallout 3) creates games that are the definition of freedom. You are free to explore the world at your own pace, take as much time as you need and then if you choose, you can start one of the many missions and side missions that are scattered throughout the game world.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Keystage 1 game reviews
Game 1: Shape Lab (KS1 maths)
Game Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/shapes/index.shtml
Interaction
Basic interaction
No meaningful influence on the game state
Little feedback on choices - Incorrect or Correct
No educational feedback - The player may not know why they got the question wrong.
Goals
Only one goal.
The player has no choice and no chance to influence how the goal is completed
The player also has no influence on how the game ends, even if they get multiple wrong answers, they will always get the same ending eventually.
Struggle
The game has no struggle because there is no life system. The player can guess as many times as they want until they get the right answer.
The game does have 3 difficulty levels, however, you can still guess until you get the right answer, with no negative side effects on every difficulty.
Structure
Linear structure.
The player only has one path they can take, which leads to the one goal i mentioned earlier.
No freedom within the structure.
Endogenous meaning
The shapes and the knowledge/education that you gain from playing the game has value in the real world. Some may argue they have even more value in the real world than they do in the game. However, if the game relied solely upon fiction, it would not be educational.
Evaluation
The game needs to provide useful feedback to the player to explain to them why they got certain questions wrong, otherwise the game will not be educational, and more of a test.
It also needs to include a point system, so that the player has motivation to get the answers correct instead of guessing and it will also encourage external competition.
And finally, it needs to provide struggle, this could be achieved by losing points when an incorrect answer is chosen.
Game 2: River Rhyming
Game Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/rhyme/index.shtml
All of the games on the key stage 1 bitesize website follow the same basic structure. They all ask a question and you will need to pick the correct answer from multiple choices. Everything i have said about the previous game also applies to this game. The only real difference in how they play, is the way they look graphically and the amount of answers you can choose from.
Game Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/shapes/index.shtml
Interaction
Basic interaction
No meaningful influence on the game state
Little feedback on choices - Incorrect or Correct
No educational feedback - The player may not know why they got the question wrong.
Goals
Only one goal.
The player has no choice and no chance to influence how the goal is completed
The player also has no influence on how the game ends, even if they get multiple wrong answers, they will always get the same ending eventually.
Struggle
The game has no struggle because there is no life system. The player can guess as many times as they want until they get the right answer.
The game does have 3 difficulty levels, however, you can still guess until you get the right answer, with no negative side effects on every difficulty.
Structure
Linear structure.
The player only has one path they can take, which leads to the one goal i mentioned earlier.
No freedom within the structure.
Endogenous meaning
The shapes and the knowledge/education that you gain from playing the game has value in the real world. Some may argue they have even more value in the real world than they do in the game. However, if the game relied solely upon fiction, it would not be educational.
Evaluation
The game needs to provide useful feedback to the player to explain to them why they got certain questions wrong, otherwise the game will not be educational, and more of a test.
It also needs to include a point system, so that the player has motivation to get the answers correct instead of guessing and it will also encourage external competition.
And finally, it needs to provide struggle, this could be achieved by losing points when an incorrect answer is chosen.
Game 2: River Rhyming
Game Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/rhyme/index.shtml
All of the games on the key stage 1 bitesize website follow the same basic structure. They all ask a question and you will need to pick the correct answer from multiple choices. Everything i have said about the previous game also applies to this game. The only real difference in how they play, is the way they look graphically and the amount of answers you can choose from.
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