Video game

Towards a Language of Video Games, Part I: Creating Meaning with Game Mechanics – Gamasutra


In some games the designers cater to the different player types by allowing them to choose between the extra-diegetic and the diegetic. Alternatively, there may be no diegetic means of accessing UIs. How do these decisions impact the narrative and themes of the game? Do they undermine player experience or support it? Are games missing opportunities to build meaning by not including diegetic access to UIs? By thinking about game elements in terms of the spatial triad, the negotiation of the world and meaning creation are clarified and we can understand better how a narrative is constructed between designer, environment and player action. When applied to game spaces, the spatial triad helps us understand how players might construct experience so that designers may more fully leverage the potential of ludic storytelling.


This is the first part of a pretty large essay that I’m chunking out into smaller sections. My goal is to apply some of the theory from academic research to practical design application. This is all very much a work in progress as I struggle to reconcile these two worlds so I very much appreciate any feedback!

This is also posted in my blog explorelostworlds.blogspot.com

 

Works Cited

[1]          R. Koster, “A Theory of Fun 10 Years Later,” GDC Vault. .

[2]          R. Koster, Theory of Fun for Game Design. Sebastopol, UNITED STATES: O’Reilly Media, Incorporated, 2013.

[3]          “The Chemistry Of Game Design.” [Online]. Available: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129948/the_chemistry_of_game_design.php. [Accessed: 27-Sep-2019].

[4]          R. Hunicke, M. Leblanc, and R. Zubek, “MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research,” in In Proceedings of the Challenges in Games AI Workshop, Nineteenth National Conference of Artificial Intelligence, 2004, pp. 1–5.

[5]          K. S. Tekinbas and E. Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2003.

[6]          E. Goins, “Structuring Digital Game Stories,” in Interactive Storytelling, 2018, pp. 265–269.

[7]          M. Nitsche, Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds. The MIT Press, 2008.

[8]          J. H. Murray MIT Press, Hamlet on the holodeck: the future of narrative in cyberspace. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001.

[9]          E. Aarseth, “Allegories of Space. The Question of Spatiality in Computer Game,” in Cybertext Yearbook 2000, M. Eskelinen and K. Raine, Eds. (Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2001.

[10]        D. Carson, “Environmental Storytelling: Creating Immersive 3D Worlds Using Lessons Learned from the Theme Park Industry,” Gamasutra, 2000. .

[11]        H. Jenkins, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture,” in FirstPerson: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, N. Wardrip-Fruin and P. Harrigan, Eds. MIT Press, 2004, pp. 118–130.

[12]        H. Jenkins, “Narrative Spaces,” in Space Time Play, 1 edition., F. von Borries, S. P. Walz, and M. Böttger, Eds. Basel: Birkhäuser Architecture, 2007.

[13]        H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1991.

[14]        G. Charnock, “Lost in Space? Lefebvre, Harvey, and the Spatiality of Negation,” South Atl. Q., vol. 113, no. 2, pp. 313–325, Apr. 2014.

[15]        J. Harrington, “Infra-Ordinary Rewritings: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp as an Introductory Study,” in DiGRA ’18 – Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference: The Game is the Message, Turin, Italy, 2018, p. 13.

[16]        G. Bachelard and J. R. Stilgoe, The Poetics of Space, Reprint edition, 1994. Boston: Beacon Press, 1957.

[17]        D. Harvey, “Space as A Key Word,” presented at the Marx and Philosophy Conference, Institute of Education, London, 2004.

[18]        F. Ueda, Ico. SCE Japan Studio, Team Ico, 2001.



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