Perspective

Game Idea Development

Arno Minikkinen

• http://www.arnorafaelminkkinen.org/

Show and Tell

• Student presentations of mystery box– You get 5 minutes each (this will take 1 hour –

15 minutes)

The view

• In business you will often hear a mountain climbing metaphor

• For Example: people will say “what is the 10,000 foot view?” – They want to know what the big picture is

• In order to explain perspective I am going to use this metaphor.

100,000 feet up

• The world is in a paradigm shift.• It is a BIG one.• We are at the beginning of the Creative Age.

– The Industrial Age went from roughly 1750 to 1900 (the revolution in America was from 1790 to 1860)

– The Information Age began with invention of the telegraph in 1837 and we are at the tail end of it now (notice the overlap?)

– The Creative Age has just begun.

95,000 feet up

• During the industrial age workers like weavers lost their jobs to machines.– Workers learned how to make machines work as their new job.– Then the factories moved overseas.– And people lost their jobs again.

• During the information age communication boomed.– Workers who could make the communication happen got the

jobs– Computer science, math, engineering (left brained jobs)

were/are the most coveted. – Now these jobs are being outsourced again– People are loosing their jobs again.

• Now the creative age has begun– What does that mean?

Richard Florida

• http://creativeclass.com/richard_florida/video/index.php?video=02_CreativeEconomy

What is the Creative Age?

• This is the age when creative professions will be more valued

• As jobs that can be done by automated processes or easily defined requirements go overseas (accounting, programming etc), the jobs that need creative input will replace those jobs.

• Right brained activities will replace left brained activities

• The jobs that will not go overseas are the ones that require the synergistic relationship between people for innovation purposes.

Dan Pink

• A whole new mind

• http://www.poptech.com/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=158

75,000 feet upthe Creative Economy

• I looked for a more recent set of statistics

• Howkins has a new edition of his book coming out – it is not available yet.

• I have posted a pdf from a conference – not sure how “good” the information is….

50,000 feet upthe super creative core of the workforce was 12% in 1999

10,000 feet up:The super creative core

• You are a member.• Your creative education is very important

because your livelihood depends on it.• It is the goal of this class to give you guidance

on being creative but also give you the practical aspects so that you can survive in the industry.– It is my personal goal to help give you the tools to be

a leader in that industry so that you can thrive (not just survive)

100 feet up:Club Creativity

• A common myth is that creativity only happens with in the confines of special places and that the only people capable of creative endeavors are these special people in these special places.

• This predilection has permeated our world and education itself.• I have heard repeatedly from children and adults that they have

gotten the message from their schooling that they were incapable of creativity and only those “with talent“ were creative.

• That’s crazy. People are naturally creative and everyone is capable of creation. It is a part of being human.

• Everyone is a member of club creativity and what is more, because of the challenges we face in becoming a global village this creativity is essential to the growth of the global community.

• We need to cultivate the creativity club and make sure everyone knows that they are a valuable member in the club. It is not just for special people in special places.

Sir Ken Robinson

• This guy agrees with me • http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/

ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

At the base of the mountain -Creativity-what is it?

• The process of making up new stuff that has value.• As soon as you have made something visible you have

created something that has a possibility of value. – (and you need to protect it)

• It is powerful to create value… but expression in a “professional" environment can be … challenging

• Free, creative thinking is important, but so is the ability to critically view what you have created and what others have created

• The trick is not becoming too self-critical and therefore reluctant to speak, while at the same time not bombarding others with ill-formed or unformed thoughts

You have PERMISSION

• To fail

• To be wrong

• To have your own thoughts

• To have your own point of view

• To see the world as you wish it could be

• To form the world as you wish it could be

YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO CREATE

As a game designer, it is your job

On the benefits of failure

• http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html

In the zone

• Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernable).

• Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

• A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.

• Distorted sense of time - our subjective experience of time is altered.

In the zone, continued

• Feedback, direct and immediate (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

• Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

• A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

• The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

In the trenches - Professionalism:Appropriate Communication in Business

• There are times when any ideas are appropriate (brainstorming, blue-sky sessions, etc.)

• Other times, ideas should be considered…– They don’t have to be good.– Interjecting ideas just to be heard is inappropriate.– Stick to the subject

• If someone asks you a question, examine what they are asking you and answer the question appropriately.

• Don’t digress into a tangent. (that is really annoying)– Suggest “concepts” over “specifics”

• “Flying and Freedom of Movement” rather than… “Cool Bat Wings” (for example).

– The former being the why for the latter.

In the trenches: Communicating with co-workers

and the importance of intelligence type

• There are many types of intelligences• Discover your intelligence type.

– http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm

• Take the quiz and email me the results at tdevine@colum.edu– Yes right now

Minisaga as Game [in class project]: Practicing Creativity, Collaboration and Appropriate Communication

• Using the mini sagas you wrote work with your group to create a new game idea.– You can pick someone’s saga and use it– You can combine sagas – You can use the sagas in your group as a jumping off

point for a new idea.– You can make up your own usage of the sagas

• Artifact 1: Balloon brainstorming chart• Artifact 2: In one sentence tell us what the game

is and is about.• Pick a spokesperson from your group to present

your artifacts.

Homework (do it in this order)• Watch these videos

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYnfk33iYH0– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4YvGFg9dwg– http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=D6MNAdSCuHQ&feature=PlayList&p=ABC06614AB883140&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

– Think about these videos– Think about all the videos (Richard Florida and Dan Pink) that we watched in class.

• Write a paragraph about what these ideas and theories have to do with you.– Answer these questions:

• What role do video games play in society at this point in time?• What role do you play as a game designer in society at this point in

time?• What contribution does your creative identity make to society?

• Upload your paragraph to the ftp site to turn it in.