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阐述游戏设计基础之游戏理念和想法

发布时间:2012-10-02 08:38:51 Tags:,,,

作者:Roger Pedersen

游戏并非线性结构

书籍和电影是以叙事方式讲述故事。它们是以一个直线路径贯穿始终。虽然这两种媒介都试图让读者或观众选择通往不同结果的路径,但我认为这只是它们为了让自己更具“游戏性”(即非线性化)的一种尝试。

游戏拥有目标

国际象棋的目标就是让一方玩家通过“围攻”或让对方弃权而获胜。许多体育运动的目标是获得比对手更高的分数。《Othello》的目标是占据桌面上的多数空间。而让玩家监管一座城市或一个星球这类游戏的目标可能就是平定混乱的局面,使一切恢复井然有序。

一些更无私的目标也可能成为游戏目标,例如“自我牺牲”,“帮助更不幸的人”或者“为慈善事业而捐献一切身外之物”。

《模拟人生》和《模拟城市》等之所以被称为“沙盒游戏”,那是因为它们没有明确的游戏目的或目标。

模拟人生(from berkeleyside.com)

模拟人生(from berkeleyside.com)

游戏必须具有获胜可能性

只有傻子才会想玩抛硬币定输赢的游戏。而扔三次骰子获得12点(即有两次是6个点)来定输赢也并非很好的游戏理念。这样的游戏具有可赢性吗?当然。这种游戏值得玩吗?并非如此(因为人们获胜的概率是1:46656)。

你得设计具有可赢性的游戏,或至少是能够通过多种方式获胜的游戏。

在多人模式游戏中,一开始就要给予每个玩家相同的优势和弱势。优秀的游戏会让每个玩家拥有相同的机会和能力去获胜。你得多留意游戏平衡性的问题。要让随机事件,玩家决策及操作来决定新的游戏形势(例如玩家当前的地位)。

游戏的开始

所有游戏一开始都会让玩家处于某种初始地位或设置。在象棋中,玩家一开始都有16个白子和16个黑子。在统治世界或战略型游戏中,每个玩家一开始都占据一些地形。在角色扮演游戏中,玩家刚开始时必须选择不同的种族、技能(游戏邦注:包括魔法、战斗、锁匠等技能)以及职业(例如战士、祭司和铁匠)。在体育游戏中,玩家队伍刚开始都有一定的结构或地位。冒险游戏则以一个谜题作为开端,或者为玩家指明一个探索方向。

益智游戏的开端会设置一个益智挑战。而也有些游戏则会设计随机性的起始位置。有些游戏可能并不平衡,也许会让技能更高超的玩家处于较为不利的起始位置。

游戏的中间和结局

无论是哪种游戏类型,都应该为玩家提供大量可选择的路径,或者出现随机事件以推动玩家继续前行,并最终分出胜负。许多游戏(例如冒险游戏)会在结束时给予玩家分值。这种游戏的主要目标是完成指定任务,次级目标是获得突破以往的分数,最终获得满意的分数。益智游戏则会奖励玩家一个访问更高级关卡的密码。

游戏的目标就是获胜,但在许多游戏中,输给一个技能更强大更高超的玩家,或者与之打成平局才是令人满意的结局。

所以设计游戏的时候,要心中有用户,牢记你推动玩家奔向终点的挑战,以及他们最终获得的奖励是什么。要设计一个对赢家公平,但同时双让输者愿意接受的结局。例如添加燃放礼花、抛彩带或欢呼声等元素。

这看起来可能有点傻气,但对一个花了许多时间游历了你设计的游戏世界的玩家来说,壮观的结局可能就是一个非凡的奖励。要将玩家想象成一个凯旋归来的英雄,正进入城市准备拜谒设计师,或者一个刚赢得全国冠军的体育团队获得人们的夹道欢迎。

交互式游戏

我们所玩的PC、视频主机、掌机、街机、无线设备以互联网上的游戏都具有交互性。玩家使用输入设备给予游戏反馈或进行操作。

一些传统输入设备包括键盘、操纵杆、轨迹球或其他鼠标类型的物件、游戏控制器、触摸屏、光笔、声音识别输入方式。更新的游戏输入技术还利用了眼球活动、脸部表情、脑波输入等方式。

以下是从美国软件娱乐协会(ESA)网站页面http://www.theesa.com/facts/salesandgenre.asp所截取的一些内容。据NPD Group以及ESA在2008年1月发布的数据显示,电脑及视频游戏公司在2007年创下了历史销售纪录。这一行业售出游戏达2.678亿份,收益达95亿美元。

主要销售数据包括:

*主机游戏软件销售额为66亿美元,销量达1.539亿份;

*电脑游戏销量为9.107亿美元,销量为3640万份;

*掌上设备软件销售额为20亿美元,销量达7750万份。

NPD调查数据显示:

*2007年游戏行业每天每秒平均售出9份游戏。

*2007年最热销游戏《光晕3》发布首天销售额超过当时《蛞蛛侠3》和《哈里波特》最后一部书籍首天销售额。

*2007年娱乐软件行业便携式游戏销量超过1340万份,轻松打败了当时被热捧的苹果iPhone销量(400万部)。

游戏理念

在这一阶段,你可能已经了解了游戏题材并渴望成为游戏设计师。下一步需要的就是掌握清晰的游戏概念。

如果你心里还没有什么想法,你可以“创造性地借鉴”其他来源的想法,并根据自己的喜好进行调整。这些可借鉴灵感的来源包括书籍、电影、历史、科学、美术、音乐、体育、纸牌及桌面游戏,以及日常生活。如果说想法确实无处不在,那么我这里就列举一些至少值得作为游戏设计理念基础的想法。

Sports-Champions-archery(from thetechjournal.com)

Sports-Champions-archery(from thetechjournal.com)

体育运动

1.箭术

2.掰手腕

3.羽毛球

4.棒球

5.篮球

6.冬季两项(越野滑雪射击比赛)

7.自行车越野赛

8.滑雪橇

9.滑板活动

10.保龄球

11.拳击

12.板球

13.槌球戏

14.越野滑雪

15.冰壶

16.自行车运动

17.飞镖

18.撞车比赛

19.跳水

20.躲避球

21.赛狗

22.狗拉雪橇

23.马术

24.终极格斗比赛

25.剑术

26.陆上曲棍球

27.钓鱼

28.足球

29.F1赛车

30.高尔夫球

31.体操

32.冰球

33.赛马

34.掷蹄铁(游戏邦注:一种两个人或者两队之间进行的户外竞技运动,是一种正式的现代运动项目;简单的说就是两位选手或者两队轮流将马蹄铁投掷到两根木桩上。)

35.打猎

36.滑冰

37.回力球

38.喷气式滑水车运动

39.马上长枪比武

40.柔道

41.空手道

42.皮划艇

43.剑道

44.中国功夫

45.长曲棍球

46.小型雪橇竞赛

47.迷你高尔夫球

48.巨轮卡车

49.摩托车赛

50.汽车竞赛

51.彩弹球

52.五项全能

53.马球

54.壁球

55.旱地滑冰

56.赛艇

57.英式橄榄球

58.帆船运动

59.沙狐球

60.滑板运动

61.射飞碟

62.滑雪板

63.雪地摩托

64.垒球

65.速度滑冰

66.相扑

67.冲浪

68.游泳

69.乒乓球

70.网球

71.平底雪橇

72.田径赛

73.蹦床

74.飞靶

75.铁人三项

76.排球

77.水上滑板

78.水球

79.滑水

80.摔跤

桌面游戏

1.西洋双陆棋

2.围棋

3.西洋棋

4.猜字游戏

5.象棋

6.麻将

7.多米诺骨牌

8.黑白棋

纸牌和赌博游戏

baccarat(from beatingbonuses.com)

baccarat(from beatingbonuses.com)

1.百家乐(游戏邦注:baccarat,起源于法国,最早是只有庄家和玩家两人参加的数字赌博游戏。由庄家给玩家和自己各发两张牌,谁的两张牌加起来的总数最接近9,谁就赢。)

2.二十一点

3.桥牌

4.加勒比海扑克

5.花旗骰

6.克里比奇牌戏

7.金罗美(一种两人玩的纸牌游戏)

8.红心大战

9.基诺游戏

10.牌九扑克

11.德州扑克

12. 轮盘赌

13.老虎机

14.单人纸牌

15.黑桃纸牌

16.电动扑克

模拟游戏

1.成为摇滚明星

2.成为火车司机

3.驾驶越野摩托车

4.驾驶直升飞机

5.驾驶飞机(例如727、747、F-16、F-18)

6.成为汽车维修人员

7.成为脑科医生

8.成为牙医

9.成为医生:诊断病情

10.运营汽车出租公司

11.建设并运营赌场

12.经营电影院

13.经营一家公司

14.管理游轮

15.管理游戏公司

16.运营高尔夫度假村

17.管理医院

18.管理报社

19.管理电影工作室

20.经营比萨店

21.经营铁路公司

22.管理度假小岛

23.管理餐饮连锁店

24.管理动物园

25.管理游乐园

26.管理快递公司

27.管理大学

28.竞选总统

29.竞选议员

30.模拟人体内部疾病

31.管理核电站

32.模拟一个蚁群

33.模拟股票市场

34.运营经纪公司

科学:

天文学

生物学

化学

地球学

生态学

物理学

历史

时事

探索

名人

发明

战争

文学

圣经

古典文学

现代文学

神话

美术

美术作品怎么能制作成游戏?

我们也许可以设计一款需要布置出自名家之手的美术作品。开始目标可能是“博物馆需要你去获取一幅雷诺阿的名画”,然后你开始世界之旅并寻找《船上的午宴》这幅画。还可以借鉴《偷天游戏》这部电影中的场景,你在其中想偷窃名画,并用膺品移花接木。

你甚至可以看着一幅杰作并依此创造一个故事,想像一下画中发行了哪些行为和情景。

Sunday-Park-Georgefrom-gothamist.com

周日与乔治同游公园(from gothamist.com)

例如,音乐剧《周日与乔治同游公园》(Sunday In The Park With George)就是从Georges Seurat的那幅《大碗岛的星期日下午》汲取灵感而诞生的作品。

Georges Seurat是19世纪法国“点彩派”创始人,导演和作家James Lapine同Stephen Sondheim根据乔治·修拉这幅杰作而创作了这个音乐剧,并赢得了1985年的普利策戏剧奖。

音乐

音乐又如何能做成游戏?我们可以追溯并借鉴过去作曲家的音乐作品,从中获取灵感并创造游戏。

我们可以将音乐作为游戏设计的基础,例如柴可夫斯基的《彼得与狼》或Rossini(意大利作曲家)的《William Tell Overture》。

我们可以利用不同类型的音乐,例如在RPG的不同城镇和城市中,我们可以播放不同类型或风格的音乐。汤姆·汉克斯的电影《挡不住的奇迹》整个片子完全只用了一个乐队演奏一首歌。

《吉他英雄》系列和任天堂DS游戏《电子浮游生物》(Electroplankton)等销额数据足以说明玩家对这类游戏的喜爱程度。2008年1月,动视及NPD宣布《吉他英雄》创下了北美零售游戏销售纪录,仅28个月就吸金超过10亿美元。

舞蹈和乐器

舞蹈和不同乐器也能启发我们制作出有趣的游戏。在奇幻的冒险之旅中演奏乐器或者拨弦与世界互动,或参与体育竞赛是一个有趣的方式。有些乐器可以在一款游戏中合奏,例如同时学习钢琴和风琴可以算是一个不错的游戏理念。

1.舞蹈

2.演奏弦乐

*小提琴

*中提琴

*大提琴

*班卓琴

*低音吉他

*吉他

3.弹钢琴

4.弹风琴

5.弹钟琴

6.演奏木管乐器:例如长笛

7.演奏铜管乐器:例如喇叭

8.演奏打击乐器:例如打鼓

9.拉手风琴

10.吹口琴

Konami在1999年面向欧美市场推出了《热舞革命》(Dance Dance Revolution),玩家在其中踩在标有彩色箭头的地上,随着音乐节奏做出舞蹈动作。他们可以独自玩游戏,也可以同其他玩家相过招。该游戏原先发布于街机平台,后来又入驻索尼PS及之后的PS 2、微软Xbox、Xbox 360、任天堂Wii、N64、PC、Gamecube和Dreamcast平台。

2003年12月,Konami宣布该游戏全球销量超过650万份,其中欧洲为150万份,美国为100万份,日本为400万份。

影视:

从电影借鉴游戏理念时,我们通常会借用电影的一些条件(例如故事情节、主题和活动),但不会照搬它的角色名称、服装、怪物设计和视觉效果,地理或物体的名称。

《异形》这部电脑有一个独特的角色(即异形怪物),特定的太空飞船设计,以及著名的演员阵容和角色名称。如果我们想在游戏设计中模仿《异形》,我们首先要为游戏取个有趣且具有描述性的名称,例如“太空掠食者”或“太空食人者”以便获得对此感兴趣的观众、发行商的支持,以便为人们塑造一个先入为主的游戏故事概念。

假如我们要让自己的异形怪物看起来像是肉食恐龙,我们可能就会将游戏命名为“太空猛禽”,以便吸引《侏罗纪公园》的观众。我们可以用美术人员所绘制的异形骨骼来描述自己的角色,可能会使用电影《异形》的角色阵容结构,例如每个成员的等级、性别、年龄和程度,然后更改这些角色名称及长相,以便让游戏不同于电影。

alien-resurrection-ripley(from iwatchstuff.com)

alien-resurrection-ripley(from iwatchstuff.com)

我们向发行商推销自己的游戏理念时,以及在未来销售和营销材料中,可能会以《异形》为基础并将其与潜在销量、用户兴趣、营销策略联系起来。我们可能会声称自己的游戏比已经衍生出两部续集(游戏邦注:即《异形2》和《异形3》)的电影更恐怖更出色。我们面向发行商的推销提案中可能会包括《异形》是1979年畅销电影,《异形3》是1997年卖座电影等事实情况。另外还会根据电影的相关数据,列出我们目标用户的年龄、性别、收入情况以及海外票房潜力等信息。就像生活一样,在书籍、电影和游戏中,“天下没有所谓的创新”。

布置作业

任务1:

1.列出5款游戏,并描述它们的玩法和获胜策略。

2.列出5个平台以及它们所支持的输入设备。

任务2:

选择输入设备,并描述玩家对其使用方法及其工作原理。

例如,鼠标有两三个按钮,玩家会如何移动鼠标改变X和Y的位置。程序会接收到与屏幕分辨率对应的鼠标位置。每个鼠标按钮对应的是上、下,单击或双击状态。

任务3:

选择一部电影,以及上文列表中的一项运动。

从这些挑选内容中,使用所选择电影的条件来描述该项体育运动游戏。例如,这是一款棒球游戏,双方团队由《加勒比海盗》以及《指环王》中的角色组成。

练习

练习1:

从以下游戏设计师中挑出5个人:

Chris Crawford

Richard Garriott

David Perry

Roberta Williams

Hideo Kojima

Shigeru Miyamoto

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Shinji Mikami

Jason Rubin

Sid Meier

Jordan Mechner

Warren Spector

Kazunori Yamauchi

Will Wright

Peter Molyneux

Yuji Naka

1.这5个设计师所在地是哪?

2.他们设计过什么游戏?

3.哪些公司发行了他们的游戏?

4.为何该设计师适合制作这种题材或主题的游戏?

练习2:

从以下公司中挑选出5家顶级发行商:

任天堂

南梦宫

育碧

卡普空

THQ

科乐美

Take-Two Interactive

NCSoft

世嘉美国

Buena Vista Games

索尼电脑娱乐

Atlus Games

微软游戏工作室

LucasArts

Eidos Interactive

Midway Games

Square Enix

1.列出这些发行商总部所在地或国家。

2.它们的代表作品是什么?

3.这些公司向哪些平台发行游戏?

4.这些公司最近收益如何?

5.这些公司目前有多少员工?

任选练习

任选练习1:

为何“沙盒游戏”不能视为交互性游戏,玩家为何喜欢这类游戏?

任选练习2:

简要描述下自己最喜爱游戏的起始条件或背景故事,初始游戏设置,游戏中间的变化,以及胜利条件。

总结

1.你想开发哪种游戏?

2.讨论电影或书籍如何制作成一款出色的交互式游戏,以及玩家与故事互动的一些独特方式。

3.描述电影与交互式故事的不同之处。

3.游戏如何添加更多情感元素并让玩家开怀大笑或失声大哭?(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Game Design Foundations: Game Concepts and Ideas

- Roger Pedersen

[Here, GameCareerGuide presents an extract from Game Design Foundations, Second Edition by Roger Pedersen, (©Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC www.jppub.com) entitled Game Concepts and Ideas, which is designed to help you with kickstarting your own project.]

Games Are Not Linear

Books and movies are linear forms of storytelling. They have a straight path from the beginning to the end. Although there have been numerous attempts in both mediums to allow the reader or viewer to select the next path leading to one of several endings, I consider these to be attempts to make them more “game-like” (nonlinear).

Games Have a Goal

The goal in chess is for one player to force a winning situation by “check­mate” or having the opponent resign (quit). The goal in many sports games is to outscore the opponent. The goal in Othello is to occupy the most spaces on the board. The goal in a game where you oversee a city or a planet may be to restore balance to a chaotic environment.

Other noteworthy goals for games might be based on “losing for a greater good,” like in the film Brewster’s Millions where Richard Pryor must become penniless to inherit the family fortune. In a game based on this movie, each turn the player receives a set amount of money to invest unwisely and after a set number of turns, the player must be broke.

Or more altruistic goals could be the game’s goal, such as “self sacrifice,” “helping the less fortunate,” or “giving up all worldly possessions for a cause.”

Games such as The Sims and SimCity are called “sandbox games” since they have no goals or objectives.

Games Must Be Winnable

Only a fool would agree to play the “Heads I win, tails you lose” game. Almost as bad would be a game where you need to roll the dice three times and get a 12 (two 6s) each time to win. Winnable?

Yes. Worth playing this game? No. (The winning odds are 1 in 46,656.)

You should design the game to be winnable, or at least possibly winna­ble through multiple paths.

In a multiplayer game, give each player equal strengths and weaknesses at the start. A good game lets each player have an equal chance and ability to win. You should spend time and pay attention to designing balance in your game. Let random events and the player’s decisions and actions determine the new game situation (such as the player’s current position).

Start of the Game

All games have the players in some initial position or setup. In chess, it’s the opening position of the 16 white and 16 black pieces. In a world domination or strategy game, it’s each player’s currently occupied terrain. In a role-playing game (RPG), it’s the adventuring party consisting of various races, skills (magic, fighting, learned skills like locksmithing), and occupations (soldier, priest, blacksmith) preparing to start a quest. In a sports game, it’s the team’s or player’s starting formation or position. In an adventure game, it might be a puzzle to solve or a direction to initially explore.

In a puzzle game, it’s the initial setup of the puzzle’s challenge. Perhaps the game could be designed to have a random start position. Some games can be unbalanced, allowing the more skillful player to have a handicap in the initial position.

Middle/Ending of the Game

Whatever the game type, there should be numerous paths for the player to take or random events to occur to move the player along and finally determine the winner. Many games (for example, adventure games) give the player a score at the end of the game. The game’s main goal is to finish the assigned quest. The game’s secondary goal is to better the previous score and eventually earn the perfect score. Puzzle games could reward the player with a password that would allow access to higher levels.

In games, the goal is to win, but in many games tying (drawing) or losing a well-played game against a much stronger and skillful opponent is a rewarding and satisfactory outcome.

When designing your game, think about your audience and the challenges and hoops you’ve put them through to reach the final plateau where they now stand awaiting their reward. Design an ending worthy of a winner and acceptable to the non-winner who has just finished your game. Think fireworks, a ticker-tape parade, or the cheers of millions.

These may seem overboard and silly, but to a traveler who has spent time journeying across the game you’ve designed, the spectacular ending is a marvelous reward and justly warranted. Think of your gamer as the conquering hero who is entering the city to pay homage to you the designer, or the parade for the sports team that has won the national championship, or the audience’s excitement and atmosphere before an encore at a concert.

Interactive Games

The games that we play and design for PCs, video game consoles, handhelds, arcades, wireless devices, and the Internet are interactive. The player uses an input device to give the game feedback or an action.

Some traditional input devices include keyboards, joysticks, trackballs or other mouse-type objects, game controllers, touch screens, light pens, and voice recognized input. Newer technology input devices for games utilize eye movement, facial expressions, brainwave input, and the “sip/puff controller” that was designed for the disabled.

The following is a quote from the Entertainment Software Association’s website page at http://www.theesa.com/facts/salesandgenre.asp: According to data compiled by the NPD Group, a global market research company, and released by the ESA in January 2008, computer and video game companies posted record sales in 2007. The industry sold 267.8 million units, leading to an astounding $9.5 billion in revenue.

Of these sales:

◦Game console software sales totaled $6.6 billion with 153.9 million units sold;

◦Computer games sales were $910.7 million with 36.4 million units sold; and,

◦There was a record $2.0 billion in portable software sales with 77.5 million units sold.

NPD’s research also showed:

◦On average, nine games were sold every second of every day of 2007;

◦Halo 3, the best-selling title of 2007, took in more revenue in its first day of sales than the biggest opening weekend ever for a movie (Spider-Man 3) and the final Harry Potter book’s first day sales; and, The entertainment software industry sold over 13.4 million portable game units in 2007, easily trumping the much-hyped Apple iPhone, which sold just 4 million units.

Game Ideas

At this stage, you understand the gaming genres and are probably eager to become a game designer. What you need next is a clear vision of a game concept.

If you don’t already have an idea in mind, you can always “creatively borrow” ideas from other sources and tailor them to your liking. Some sources that are great to “borrow” from are books, movies, history, science, art, music, sports, card and board games, and everyday life itself. If ideas are truly worth a dime a dozen, then here’s over $10 worth of ideas for you to use as the basis for a game design concept.

Here is a sampling:

Sports

1. Archery

2. Arm wrestling

3. Badminton

4. Baseball

5. Basketball

6. Biathlon

7. BMX biking

8. Bobsled (and Skeleton)

9. Boogie boarding or bodyboarding

10. Bowling

◦Standard 10 pin

◦Candle pin

◦Duck pin

◦Bowls, Bowling on the green, Lawn bowling

◦Bocce

◦Skittles

◦Canadian five pin

11. Boxing

12. Cricket

13. Croquet

14. Cross-country skiing

15. Curling

16. Cycling

◦The match sprint

◦The Olympic sprint

◦The individual pursuit

◦The team pursuit

◦The points race

◦The keirin

◦The Madison

◦Sprint race

◦Messenger race

◦Freight bike race

◦Unicycling

17. Darts

18. Demolition derby

19. Diving

20. Dodgeball

21. Dog racing

22. Dog sledding

23. Equestrian

◦Dressage

◦Show jumping

◦Eventing

◦Combined driving

◦Endurance riding

◦Reining

24. Extreme fighting

25. Fencing

26. Field hockey

27. Fishing

28. Football

29. Formula-1 racing

30. Golf

31. Gymnastics

32. Hockey (ice or roller)

33. Horse racing

34. Horseshoe pitching

35. Hunting

36. Ice skating

37. Jai Alai

38. Jet Skiing

39. Jousting

40. Judo

41. Karate

42. Kayaking

43. Kendo

44. Kung Fu

45. Lacrosse

46. Luge

◦Timed luge races

◦Dual luge races

◦Mass luge races

◦Super mass luge races

◦Street luge

◦Classic luge (buttboard)

47. Miniature golf

48. Monster truck rally

49. Motorcycling

50. NASCAR racing

51. Paintball

52. Pentathlon

53. Polo (horse)

54. Pool

◦Straight

◦Rotation pool

◦Snooker

◦Billiards

◦Bumper pool

◦Eight ball

◦Nine ball

55. Quoits

56. Racquetball

57. Rodeo

58. Roller derby

59. Roller skating

60. Rowing

61. Rugby

62. Sailing

63. Shuffleboard

64. Skateboarding

65. Skeet shooting

66. Skiing

67. Snowboarding

68. Snowmobiling

69. Soccer

70. Softball

71. Speed skating

72. Squash

73. Sumo wrestling

74. Surfing

75. Swimming

76. Table tennis

77. Tennis

78. Tobogganing

79. Track and field

◦The decathlon

◦The heptathlon

◦The high jump

◦The long jump

◦The triple jump

◦The pole vault

◦The shot put

◦The discus

◦The javelin

◦The hammer throw

80. Trampoline

81. Trapshooting

82. Triathlon

83. Volleyball

84. Wakeboarding

85. Water polo

86. Water skiing

87. Wrestling

Board Games

1. Backgammon

2. Go

3. Checkers

4. Hangman (like Wheel of Fortune)

5. Chess

6. Mahjong

7. Dominoes

8. Othello

Card and Gambling Games

1. Baccarat

2. Blackjack

3. Bridge

4. Caribbean Stud poker

5. Craps

6. Cribbage

7. Gin rummy

8. Go fish

9. Hearts

10. Keno

11. Old maid

12. Paigow poker

13. Poker: Draw, Five-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud, Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha

14. Red dog

15. Roulette

16. Sic bo

17. Slots

18. Solitaire

19. Spades

20. Video poker

21. War

Simulations

1. Become a rock star

2. Operate a semi-truck for cross-country delivery

3. Be a train engineer

4. Drive a motorcycle across the country

5. Pilot a helicopter

6. Pilot an airplane: Cessna, 727, 747, F-16, F-18

7. Be an automotive repair technician

8. Be a brain surgeon

9. Be a dentist

10. Be a doctor: diagnose patients

11. Race a 4×4 truck

12. Run a car rental company

13. Build and operate a casino

14. Manage a cinema chain

15. Run a corporation

16. Manage a cruise line

17. Manage a gaming company

18. Operate a golf resort

19. Manage a hospital

20. Manage a major newspaper

21. Manage a movie studio

22. Manage a pizza delivery restaurant

23. Manage a railroad

24. Manage a resort island

25. Manage a restaurant chain

26. Manage a zoo

27. Manage an amusement park

28. Manage an overnight delivery carrier

29. Manage a university

30. Run for president

31. Run for senator

32. Simulate a human internal disease

33. Operate a nuclear power plant

34. Simulate an ant colony

35. Simulate the stock market

36. Operate a brokerage company

Science

Astronomy

Biology

Chemistry

Earth science

Ecology

Physics

History

Events

Explorers

Famous people

Inventions

Wars

Literature

The Bible

Classical literature

Modern literature

Mythology

Art

How can artwork be made into a game?

We could design a game in which we need to locate various artworks of famous painters. The beginning goal could be “The museum would like you to acquire a Renoir” and you adventure into the world seeking “Lun­cheon of the Boating Party.” Another scenario could be like in the film The Thomas Crown Affair, where you desire to steal famous works of art and replace them with perfect forgeries.

You can even look at a masterpiece and create a story from it. Imagine what actions and situations preceded the painting as though it was a photograph.

A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play Based on a Painting

For example, the play Sunday in the Park with George was inspired by Georges Seurat’s painting entitled “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”

Georges Seurat was the founder of the 19th-century French school of Neo-Impressionism whose technique for portraying the play of light using tiny brushstrokes of contrasting colors became known as “Pointillism.” Director and author James Lapine’s collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, based on Georges Seurat’s masterpiece, won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Sunday in the Park with George takes place on an island somewhere in the Seine where an artist, George, and Dot, his model and mistress, are involved in an elaborate painting session. Later, Dot decides to leave George for a pastry baker and travels to America. She secretly is carrying George’s child. The play continues years later (1984) following Dot’s family and the painting, which is being celebrated at its 100th anniversary. Wow! All this from a single masterpiece.

Music

How can music be made into a game? We could go back in time and aid each composer in creating his or her masterpiece.

We could use the music as the basis for a game design, such as Tchaikovsky’s “Peter and the Wolf” or Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” (also known as the “Lone Ranger Theme”).

We could educate ourselves on the different types of music, and in an RPG where we have several towns and cities, we could have a different type or style of music being played in each town. The Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do was based entirely on a band that really only played one song for the entire film.

The sales figures for music games such as the Guitar Hero series and Nintendo DS’s Electroplankton demonstrate how much players enjoy games of this nature. In January 2008, Activision and the NPD Group announced that the Guitar Hero franchise had set an industry record by surpassing $1 billion in North American retail sales in just 26 months.

Dance and Musical Instruments

Dancing and playing various instruments are educational but can also be fun if the game is designed that way. Playing an instrument while adven­turing through a fantasy land or playing chords or notes to interact with the world or to compete in a sport are interesting and fun ways to learn. Some of these instruments can be merged together in a game, like learn­ing the piano and organ at the same time in one well-designed game concept.

Here are a few specific game ideas for this topic:

1. Dancing

Country-western

Competition ballroom

2. Play the strings

Violin

Viola

Cello

Bass

Banjo

Guitar

3. Play the piano

4. Play the organ

5. Play the carillon

6. Play the woodwinds: flute

7. Play the brass: trumpet

8. Play percussion: drums (snare and bass)

9. Play the accordion

10. Play the harmonica

In 1999 Konami released in North America and Europe their game Dance Dance Revolution (also called DDR), where players step on a special floor marked with colored arrows matching the symbols displayed on the screen as pulsating music accompanies their “dance movements.” Players can play DDR alone or in competition with other players. Originally, DDR was released for the arcade platform, and then with a dance pad as an input device for the Sony PlayStation and later the PlayStation 2, Microsoft’s Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, N64, PC, Gamecube, and Dreamcast.

In December 2003, Konami announced DDR sales surpassing 6.5 million units worldwide with 1.5 million copies sold in Europe, 1 million copies sold in the U.S., and 4 million units sold in Japan.

Movies and Film

When obtaining game ideas from a film (or movie) we want to utilize the film’s premise (plot, theme, and action) and not its character names, cos­tumes, creature design and look, or names of places and objects.

The film Alien has a unique character (the alien), a specific spaceship design, and a famous cast and character names. If we want to mimic Alien in our game design, first we would call our game something interesting and descriptive like Space Predator or Space Cannibal to get the audience, publishers, and stores interested and to give a preconceived notion about the game.

If we decided that our alien creature was to look like a carnivorous dinosaur, we might title the game Space Raptor to bring in the Jurassic Park audience. We would design our own alien, perhaps describing it or using an artist’s sketch of our scary alien vision. We may use the crew dynamics of the film Alien, such as each member’s rank, sex, age, and race and then change the character names and faces to differ from the film.

In our pitch to publishers and in future sales and marketing material, we would utilize the Alien basis to correlate potential sales, audience interest, and a marketing strategy. We would obviously claim that our game is scarier and better than the film that spawned two sequels (Aliens and Alien 3) as well as several lesser rip-off films. Our pitch would include the facts that in 1979 Alien was the top-grossing film and in 1997 Alien 3 was that year’s top-grossing film. Also based on the film data, we could list the demographics of our audience like age, sex, and income level as well as international appeal. As in life and in books, films, and games, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

Workshop

Assignments

Assignment 1:

1. List five games and describe their gameplay and strategy to win.

2. List five platforms and the input devices that they support.

Assignment 2:

Select an input device and describe how the player uses it and technically how it works.

An example would be a mouse that has two or three buttons that can be pressed, where the player moves the mouse to change the X and Y posi­tions. The program receives the current mouse position in relation to the screen resolution. Each mouse button updates that button’s status, such as up, down, single-click, or double-click.

Assignment 3:

Select a film, and a sport from the list of sports.

From these selected items, describe the selected sports game using the premise from the chosen film. An example would be a baseball game between teams composed of characters from The Pirates of the

Caribbean and those from The Lord of the Rings (Golem is the umpire with a double dose of Orlando Bloom).

Exercises

Exercise 1:

Select five of the following game designers:

Chris Crawford

Richard Garriott

David Perry

Roberta Williams

Hideo Kojima

Shigeru Miyamoto

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Shinji Mikami

Jason Rubin

Sid Meier

Jordan Mechner

Warren Spector

Kazunori Yamauchi

Will Wright

Peter Molyneux

Yuji Naka

1. Where does the designer live?

2. What games has he/she designed?

3. What company has published the designer’s games?

4. Why is this designer suited to work on games of this genre or theme?

Exercise 2:

Select five of these top game publishers:

Nintendo

Namco Bandai

Electronic Arts

Ubisoft

Capcom

THQ

Konami

Take-Two Interactive

NCSoft

Sega of America

Buena Vista Games

Sony Computer Entertainment

Atlus Games

Microsoft Game Studios

LucasArts

Eidos Interactive

Midway Games

Square Enix

1. List the address or country of the publisher’s main office.

2. What are their best game titles?

3. What platforms does the publisher sell games for?

4. What was this company’s latest revenue?

5. How many employees does this company currently employ?

Unguided Exercises

Unguided Exercise 1:

Why are “sandbox games” not considered interactive games and what do players enjoy about these games?

Unguided Exercise 2:

Every player has a favorite game. Briefly discuss that game’s beginning premise or background story, the initial gameplay setting, the middle of the game’s variation, and the winning conditions.

Thoughts for Discussion

1. What game idea would you like to work on?

2. Discuss how a film or book would make a great interactive game and some unique ways in which the player interacts with the story.

3. Describe the difference between a film and an interactive game.

4. How can games add more emotions and make players laugh or cry?(source:gamecareerguide


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