‘Digital Games: Theory & Design’ – Autumn Term

A little before Christmas, I went for dinner with an old friend of mine: we met in 2006 while prancing around the York Dungeons, dressed as vampires, witches and plague-ridden corpses (we both worked there, I hasten to add). He’d been following my blog and teased me about its incessantly upbeat tone: “Every sentence seems to end with the phrase, ‘And that’s just the way I like it!'” he quipped, a sardonic smile playing upon his lips like some kind of a horribly evil snake.

So hurt was I by his cynical attitude – and by the blatant untruths he was spouting – that I haven’t written an entry into my blog for nearly two months now (…the hiatus is definitely Simon’s fault and not that I’ve just been a lazy toe-rag.) Anyway, what with the new year coming about, alongside new resolutions, I intend to fire up this blog again.

Simon be damned!

In an attempt to set myself a slightly more attainable goal, however, due to the MA’s fairly intensive workload, I intend to upload my posts monthly. Let’s see how it goes.

Here’s Simon offending a camel (another creature he’s psychologically tormented…)

The biggest news from the MA’s Autumn term – which I’ve yet to mention in this blog – relates to the game pitches we had to prepare and present in December. Back in October, my MA pals and I were assigned teams and tasked with inventing the concept for a game that was to be affiliated with a company. Over a month and a half, we were to consider factors such as the rules, mechanics, art, narrative and commercial placement of this game and then, in December, pitch our group’s ideas to the class. It was a really useful (if slightly nerve-wracking!) experience and I learnt a great deal from working on this project.

(N.B. None of our games were officially endorsed by any of the companies I mention below: they were ‘affiliated’ with these companies only in a fictional sense for the sake of the Games Design project.)

My group began the afternoon of presentations by pitching our game, Classroom Simulator: an epistemic game that aimed to educate initial teacher trainees in the nuances of behaviour management. It saw players assume the mantle of teacher, tackling some of the daily challenges of a classroom practitioner – like the quashing of unruly student behaviour – and it was affiliated with the organisation, TeachFirst. We hoped that Classroom Simulator would act both as a simulation-based tool for teaching training and improvement, while at the same time providing an engaging narrative experience for the player. Overall, we were pretty happy with how the pitch went and felt we’d managed to convey most of the main ideas that lay behind our game.

Naila & Ashley exuding festive cheer while rehearsing their pitch.

The second group pitched their game, The Warehouse: a stealth action game with an emphasis on user-generated content. Affiliated with Spirit Halloween, an American firm that specializes in Halloween fancy dress, players could sneak through levels, avoiding enemies while adorning themselves with a range of costumes (each costume having its own, unique ability). The ‘user-generated content’ aspect of the game’s design was especially interesting: like Little Big Planet, players of The Warehouse would be encouraged to create and upload their own stages, using items (purchasable, in real life, from Spirit Halloween) to spruce up their levels. I thought this was a highly imaginative way of both promoting a company, while also allowing for replayability in the overall game design.

The final group presented their game, Kuokoa. Named after the Swahili phrase “To save” – thank you, Samantha! – KuoKoa was an infinite runner that also offered the players opportunities for customisation. Affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund, this game had players protect endangered animals from the perils of poaching, while also offering a Sims-like experience for the player who could observe the animal in their natural habitat, customising the habitat to make it a more pleasurable environment for the creature. With its stunning artwork – and jaw-dropping PowerPoint! – KuoKoa was a pleasure to behold.

I realise I may be sounding too positive; therefore, I’ll counter everything I’ve just written with a healthy dose of negativity.

So…

I haven’t yet showered today.

I stink.

Are you happy, Simon? You monster.

As we begin the Easter term of the MA next week, we’ll be exploring the social-cultural contexts of videogame design, while also beginning our Games Design II module in which we’ll make a game a week. Next weekend also sees some of my MA buddies and me participate in the Global Game Jam! I’m excited about the new challenges that await.