Studio 7 - Exploring Playability

The 4 Fun Keys create games' four most important emotions:
1. Hard Fun: Fiero - in the moment personal triumph over adversity
2. Easy Fun: Curiosity
3. Serious Fun: Relaxation and excitement
4. People Fun: Amusement
From http://www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames.html

Game 1 - Spin the Black Circle

Aim: Get a ball from one location to another, by spinning a black circle to change the gravitational pull.

www.onemorelevel.com/game/spin_the_black_circle

Notes
Hard fun

Challenging
Game can be frustrating, but happy at the end of each level - sense of accomplishment.
User feels like they have achieved something when they complete a level.
User eventually become frustrated with a harder level and gave up
High learning curve, few tips.

Types of fun

This fits in with hard fun because the main sense of achievement came when the user completed the level.


This does not fit under, Easy fun because games that count as easy fun are usually relaxing and easy to play, with very little challenge


This does not fit under, Serious fun because it is not an exciting type of game, and the main enjoyment comes from completing levels.


This does not fit under, People fun because there are no other people to play with. There is nowhere to submit high scores and there is no multi-player option, so you can't compete or with work with anyone else.


This does not really fit under the flow theory because once you get to a certain point, you can become stuck easily, and with the lack of competition, there is no real reason to carry on. Once the main enjoyment factor of being able to complete levels is taken away, you are mainly left frustrated.
It is also, not engaging for a long time, there is a steep difficulty curve, which can make the game too hard, which is shown by the player getting stuck at certain points for a long time.

Game 2 - Blueprint

Aim: Use a range of devices to move a ball from one place to a target

http://www.teagames.com/games/blueprint/play.php


Notes
Hard fun
Serious fun
Flow Theory

Challenging
User looked frustrated at times, but looked like they were having fun at others.
Best part of the game appeared to be completing the level, which is when the best sense of achievement came.

Types of fun

This fits in with hard fun, because some levels can be frustrating while trying to figure out how to complete them, and the main enjoyment from the game comes from completing it.


This fits in with serious fun to a certain extent because it can be exciting to see how your designs play out. Parts of the game can be relaxing, but it wouldn't be a good work to describe the game with.


This fits in with the flow theory because you know what your goal is throughout the game, and there is a good balance of the difficulty, which is helped by being able to select which level to play.


This does not fit in with Easy fun, because the main aspect of easy fun is learning new things and exploring, which this game doesn't offer much of.


This does not fit in with People fun because you cannot talk to, play against or play with other people. There is no social interaction. The only part that comes close to this is a high scores table.

Studio 6 - Exploring Playability

Part 1 - Summary

• Every game development project is unique
• All games need new content and must focus on improvements
• The game development process consists of two main parts
• The first part is going from an idea to a plan, the plan will change as it moves into the production phase
• During preproduction, the team prepare all the elements that are involved in the main process
• The idea gets put into a design document, which is used as an outline throughout the development process
• Having the right development team is the most important ‘resource’ of game development
• Members of most teams are put into their positions during preproduction, and each team has a leader, and each group of teams will have a leader
• The project leader will be the one who produced the ‘high concept’
• Before anyone begins work, everyone must understand the main aims
• The design document is a blueprint for the game, it describes everything, including how the game will be played
• A design document should have a world diagram or mission flow chart, which maps out where the player should go. These will usually start out as a list of locations and objectives.
• Level designers use the design document as a guide to create a level diagram

Part 2 - Similarities

• Both readings state that the design document is extremely important
• Both think that the design document shapes the idea
• Both readings say that the design document includes everything about the game, including the characters, the controls, what you do and how the game is played
• The design document is where games designers get to ‘flesh out’ their ideas
• A design document requires input from the entire team, it is very hard to finish one(for a big project) on your own

Part 3 - Differences

• Bethke states that the design document should be used to answer further questions about the game.
• Bethke doesn’t mention mission flow charts
• Bethke does not go into as much detail about how all the members of each team have to communicate with there ‘leaders’, so that the design document can be continuously improved until everyone is ready to move forward with the development process.