4.11.24 Mass Incarceration and the New Jim Crow.pptx
Game Design Fundamentals: The Formal Elements
1. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Game Design
Fundamentals
@cwodtke | cwodtke@eleganthack.com
www.eleganthack.com
CHRISTINA WODTKE
Formal Elements
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4. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Create a way
to move
• Dice roll
• Answer a trivia question
• Everyone moves
• Person behind moves
• Roshambo
• Card draw
• Pass, but gain currency
• Physical skill
6. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
What is a game?
A closed, formal
system
That engages players in
a structured conflict
And resolves to an
unequal outcome.
A dynamic system that
supports interaction
for an aesthetic goal.
Tracy Fullerton
11. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
What is a game mechanic?
Game mechanics are rule based systems / simulations that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties
of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms.
Raph Koster
http://www.moc-pages.com/moc.php/218077
12. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
The 7
Formal
Elements
(Mechanic
s)
• Players
• Objectives
• Outcomes
• Rules
• Procedures
• Resources
• Boundaries
Fullerton, T. Game Design Workshop. 2008
44. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
5. Rules &
6. Procedures
• Rules
• Requirements that must be
followed.
• Procedures
• How the game flows from
state to state.
45. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Procedures of
Solitaire
• Setup: 28 cards dealt into 7 tableau
piles with the number of cards
increasing from one to seven, left to
right. Top is face up, rest are face down.
• The rest of the cards are the draw pile.
• Cards are laid out in descending order,
alternating red and black.
• Aces can be removed to the
foundation.
46. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Rules of
Solitaire
• Move any aces up to the
foundation.
• You can place a card on
the aces pile if it’s the
same suit
• You can place any card in
your hand on the preceding
card if it’s a different color
(red 8 on a black 9)
• Then go to the draw pile.
48. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
The Magic
Circle
“All play moves and has its being within a play-
ground marked off beforehand either materially
or ideally, deliberately or as a matter of course…
The arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the
temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court,
the court of justice, etc. are all in form and
function play-grounds… within which special
rules obtain. All are temporary worlds within
the ordinary world, dedicated to performance
of an act apart.”
Johan Huizinga
Homo Ludens, 1938
52. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Magic Circle
• “To play a game means entering into a
magic circle, or perhaps creating one as a
game begins.”
• -- Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman,
Rules of Play
53. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Magic Circle
• “Games are a context from which meaning
can emerge.”
• -- Eric Zimmerman,“Jerked Around by the
Magic Circle.”
• https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/13
5063/jerked_around_by_the_magic_circle_.p
hp
60. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Ravaja, Niklas, et al.
The Psychophysiology of Video Gaming: Phasic Emotional
Responses
to Game Events.
Digital Games
Research Association International Conference 2005.
http://tinyurl.com/7rsfz
• More pleasure and excitement in
active failure than in success
• However: passive experience of
failure makes players disengage.
• Attaining a goal DECREASES player
arousal and interest.
61. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
“Flappy Bird is a perversely,
oppressively difficult game.
Scoring even a single point takes
most players a considerable
number of runs. After an hour, I’d
managed a high score of two.”
- Ian Bogost
74. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Dynamic
System
• “The designer and the
player are both active
– if not equal – parts
of the entire creative
expressive experience
which is mediated by
the machine.” – Clint
Hocking (GDC 2006)
77. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
8 Kinds of fun
• Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure (For
example, skiing or driving the
92 way too fast. Any ios game
that leverages the
accelerometer. Arguably
Monument Valley.)
• Fantasy
Game as make-believe (I am a
hobbit! or a fashion designer!)
• Narrative
Game as unfolding story (What
will happen next???)
• Challenge
Game as obstacle course (This
game is so hard—said while
grinning maniacally)
Via Matt LeBlanc
78. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
8 Kinds of Fun
• Fellowship
Game as social framework (playing with others. Apples
to Apples, and most board games.)
• Discovery
Game as uncharted territory (What is over that
mountain? Bastion.)
• Expression
Game as soap box (Making stuff- Minecraft, Farmville.)
79. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
Last of the 8
Submission/
Abnegation
Game as mindless pastime (Games that let you
tune out. Solitaire. Candy Crush.)
80. CHRISTINA WODTKE @cwodtke
The Player
decides the
Aesthetics
And if it’s actually fun.
Playtesting helps you get to your goal.
Games are unknowable until you play
them.
Are other kinds of software really that
different?