Week 7: Readings

GDW Chapter 3: Working with Formal Elements (pages 55—90)

Since I have already described what this chapter has talked about in the Week 2 readings, I'm not going to do that again. Rather, I analyze the different formal elements me and my group have decided to use for our asymmetrical multiplayer game. Our game will be a multilateral competition where all players compete against one another. While the structure of the game is having serveral jouranlists vs a magical creature, it isn't a fully unilateral competition since the journalists are also encouraged to compete againts each other due to the context of the story, as well as the fact that there can only be one winner. As for the objectives of the game, they are teh combination of: time-based, capture, race, collection, survival, and escape.

As for the prodecures, there are two different ones, one for the journalists and one for the magical creature. The journalists have to find and take a certain amount of pictures of the magical creature to win. On the other hand, the creature would have to survive being taken pictures of for a certain amount of time to win. As for the rules, it is that the game have to be played in the amount of time that we have placed. In addition, the players cannot go out of the playable area that we have decided. They also cannot use their abilities repeatingly without a cool-down time since that would destroy the balance of the game. In the end, the outcome of the game will result in one player winning, and this can be either one of the journalists or the magical creature.

The resources all the journalists share is time, where they have to keep track of and manage in order to win. As for all players, their resources are their individual abilities that cannot be used all the time. The conflict in this game will mainly come from the competition between the players. The players will have the ability to destroy the picture that another player have taken, resulting in players employing different strategy within the game, whether it is to be more defensive and avoid conflict, or to be more offensive and start the conflict.

GDW Chapter 10: Functionality, Completeness and Balance: Symmetry & Asymmetry (p319—324)

Symmetrical games are ones that give all of their players the same starting position and resources, with the same winning condition. On the other hand, asymmetrical games are ones that give each players different abilities and resources, and sometimes even different objectives. If balanced, these asymmetrical games can create intersting conflicts and competitions between the players.

Time, more than just adding the dramatic element to the game, can become one of the element that drives the player towards completing the objective. Many mission-based games are time-based. More than being part of the objective, limited time can also ensure the amount of time that the game can remain interesting as well. In my asymmtrical group project, we decided to use time as an objective for one player, where they have to keep themself hidden for a certain amount of time without being found (taken pictures of) to win. In contrast, the other players have the time as a limited resource, where they have to complete their objective before the time is up to win.

Many asymmetrical games also employ the combination of different types of objectives for the games due to the different players' abilities and winning conditions. In the game that me and my group are making, we also use various objectives which fit into the theme of the game, which is several journalists competing between each other to take pictures of a magical creature in the forest before the sun sets. In this game, some of the objectives are capture and collection, which is for the players playing as the journalists to try to get a hold of the magical creature and snap enough pictures to win the round. The objectives for the player playing the magical creature can be survival and escape, since they would have to avoid being taken pictures of and staying escaping until the time is up to win the round. In addition, each journalists would have to race each other, and they can sabotage each other's pictures to derail the other player from winning, which race and sabotage could be counted as objectives as well.

GDW Chapter 12: Team Structures (p383—410)

This chapter talks about the manu crucial roles needed in order to develop and publish a game. The roles ae divided into two sections, the Publisher and the Developer. While the Publisher does the testing, marketing, and distributing, the Developer mainly focuses on creating the actual game with the money from publishers. The roles within the Publisher's team are: producer, marketing team, executives, quality assurance, usability specialists, and user research and metrics. On the other hand, the roles within the Developer's team are: game designer, producer, programmers, visual artists, QA engineers, specialized media (usually part-time), and level designer.

As the groups I have worked with and the one I'm currently in are always a small group of no more than 4 people, I have taken on many roles on the developer's side, from visual artist to programmer and producer. I also have to take on more than one roles for thr projects, the same goes for my group members, due to the amount of workload and time that was available. This required me to have understandings of programming, as well as art and project management, which, according to the reading, is something all of the roles should have. Every member should have a basic understanding of how the other aspect of the game operate, so that the workflow can move along smoothly from one person to another. In addition, everyone should be on the same page and have the same vision of what the final product would look like, while allowing rooms for creativity as well. I think that each members of the team should also be responsible for completing their tasks on time, but also helpful with each other when a problem does surface. Most importantly, communication is the key to working together as a team, whether it is the publisher's or the developer's. Everyone should communicate well right from pitching a clear idea, to communicating during the working progress, making suggestions and respecting the opinions of other people.