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Games
Writing for Interactive Media
In the Beginning . . .
• First game: pong (nonnarative, developed on oscilloscope) Play Early Games
Chris Crawford says a game
• Usually has a “win condition” or at least a challenge and reward (there’s a difference).
• But there are many theories.
• There are narrative and nonnarrative games (examples: solitaire vs. Tomb Raider)
Espen Aarseth says a game has:
• 1) Rules• 2) A game world
(material/semiotic systems)• 3) Gameplay
(events resulting from application of the rules to the game world)
• (even nonnarrative games have this – solitaire)
Janet Murray (neo-Aristotelian):
• “Games are games” and saying they’re narratives ignores the fact that games are a distinct for in and of themselves.
• He points out, for example, that animals play games and they’re not telling stories while they do it.
Espen Aarseth:
• Believes that games can be narrative: that stories can naturally intersect where protagonist and antagonist meet for a challenge.
• The game holds the contest and the story narrates it.
Janet Murray’s Charts
• Murray believes that areas of game and story have both independent and overlapping features.
Janet Murray’s Charts
• Thinking about nondigital overlap cases, in multiple directions, as a comparison.
Janet Murray’s Charts
• Also suggesting that “game” and “story” represent two directions of an axis.
Chris Crawford’s Tips
• What is interactivity?Playing with your dog?Reading a novel?
• “Act” is the key word in interact.It starts with verbs: run, jump, kill, build, feed, talk, die, etc.
• Allow the viewer to have inputAvoid too much “speaking” to the viewer.
Hero’s Journey: Point of View
• First Person: Viewer is the hero (e.g., first-person shooters)
• Second Person: Viewer is projected onto a character who is the hero.
• Third Person: Hero is separate from viewer
Example
First-person narrative viral marketing game(promotes shopping and buying these toys)The Asylum: Psychiatric Clinic for Abused Cuddly Toys
• “Plan Your Future Park” in Gotham Gazette.First-person game used as a journalism storyabout public works and park development.
Example
• Burger King’s Subservient Chicken (viral marketing piece) is third person
Example
Third-person narrativefor self-esteem-buildingwww.josietrue.com by video artist Mary Flanagan
DivaStarz third-person narrative toencourage shopping behaviorin young girls.
Educational Games
Also called “Serious Games”
Interactivity in Learning
• Play is foundational to learning (interacting with material versus lectures)
• Interactivity engages the mind more profoundly than any other kind of expression (more than passive observation)
• The computer’s competitive advantage and artistic opportunity is this interactivity.
• Educational Games on the computer work for children under 10 (not advanced enough for older)
Guidelines for Good Interactive Software Development
• Start with verbs. What can my viewer do? The more the better (example: Zoo project)
• Keep it fast.• Give feedback (example:
v1 Pieces of Herself)• Let player act and don’t tell
to much.• Don’t chastise your viewer
(e.g., “Wrong answer!”)• Make everything undoable
—they can try a different way and succeed.
(Cont’d)
• Combine joyful play (exploration) with competitive play (kill or be killed).
• Extremes don’t work: too boring, too intense
• Intensity does not necessarily mean richness (example, a ball is fun to play with as long as it’s going where it wants to go)
• Focus on process rather than facts (quizzes are deadly). Let people PLAY.
• What not to do: Math problems, quizzes, and meaningless puzzles that have to be solved to get to the next place or win.
Questions?
Group Work
Bibliography
• The Art of Interactive Design: A Euphonious and Illuminating Guide to Building Successful Software by Chris Crawford, No Starch Press, 2002.
• First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game by Noah Wardrip-Fruin (Editor), Pat Harrigan (Editor), MIT Press, 2004.
