Readings and Homeplays

Reading Responses

Read the assigned material, and submit your response to the given questions in your own words.

Reading Response 1

Read Kate Compton's "So you want to build a generator" https://galaxykate0.tumblr.com/post/139774965871/so-you-want-to-build-a-generator

Optional

If you're hungry for more, below are some recommended talks on more methods and applications of procedural generation:

• Kate Compton PROCJAM 2015 Talk (15:58 - 49:53) "Let It Grow: Practical Procedural Generation From The Ground Up" (34 min) https://www.youtube.com/live/s_eyo_m_hnc?feature=shared&t=958
• Herbert Wolverson 2020 Roguelike Celebration Talk "Procedural Map Generation Techniques" (27 min) https://www.youtube.com/live/TlLIOgWYVpI

Reading Response 2

Read these two writings by Steve Swink:

• Game Feel: The Secret Ingredient
• Then read Chapter 17 of Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation (pg. 316 of the PDF).

Respond to the questions in the form in your own words.

For this reading response, it helps to have some idea(s) for what you'd like to do for Project 2 beforehand -- some questions will ask you to apply concepts that introduced in the writing to your plans for Project 2.

Optional:

Watch Juice it or lose it - a talk by Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho for a live demonstration of how to get juiciness with tweening, particles, and other visual design decisions.

Homeplays

• Sign up for game(s) to play in groups of 2~3;
• 30 ~ 60 minutes of total game play;
• Take notes, ask questions, consider the prompt;
• Take screenshots / recordings if needed.

PC / HTML games will also be available in the PC work stations next to the 4th floor Undergrad Lounge (Exit the elevator, turn right into the lounge, and the PC work stations will be on your right.)

Homeplay 1

Plan to spend about 30 ~ 60 minutes playing the game(s) with your group members, then prepare a short 5 ~ 7 minute presentation in response to the following:

1. Tell us about the project
   • What is being generated?
   • What generation method, properties, and constraints (do you think) are being used?
   • How do you interact with it?
2. Consider the effectiveness of this generator and your experience of it -- what works, what doesn't, and why?
   • Do the generated results feel meaningful, memorable, merely distinguishable, or pretty much the same?
   • Was there something else about the project that was notable in your experience of it -- the camera, gameplay, interface, etc. ?

Please share a link to any presentation materials in the sign up sheet next to your group names. You will share your responses with the rest of the class during lesson time on the due date.

Homeplay 2

Spend about 30 ~ 60 minutes playing the game(s) you signed up for with your group members.

Choose a level / gameplay mode to focus on, then take down notes on the following topics -- you may use a shared word / presentation document OR pen-on-paper:

Player Mechanics

1. Write a list of actions and behaviours your player can take in the game, and note how they are mapped onto the physical controllers.
   • How do player(s) interact with the game environment / other players?
   • Do these interactions feel aligned with the way you are operating the physical controller, and how so?
   • How do these interactions express the physical properties of the videogame's characters / environment?
2. Then, organise these actions into a flowchart to illustrate how your player can transition across different states of activity / motion.
   • What can and can't players do throughout different points in the game?
   • What are the conditions that trigger these state changes?

Level Design

Consider the rules of the game environment and how they are conveyed through visual / audio cues or props.

Draft out a blueprint / sketch of the level's layout to support your analysis.

• How are objects and locations in the level arranged in time and space / revealed to the player? (camera perspective, physical dimension, sound effects, legibility, etc.)
• How does the level change or progress over time? (difficulty progression, game states, checkpoints, etc.)
• How do you think the level is trying to get the player(s) to behave? How do its design elements encourage players towards these behaviours?
• What happens if the player tries to break these rules? (gamers go left)

At the end of class the same day, you will present your key findings to the class and submit your a link to your discussion notes on the sign-up sheet.

Homeplay 3

Note: This homeplay is optional for extra credit.

Plan to spend about 30 ~ 60 minutes playing the game(s) with your group members, then prepare a short 5 ~ 7 minute presentation in response to the following:

1. Tell us about the project
   • What is the project about? What aspects of the project offer you context - the writing? the objects in space? the player interaction? the game rules? the sound? the visual language? the camera perspective?
2. Consider your experience of the project -- what works, what doesn't, and why?
   • overall feelings, reactions, thoughts about the game's subject matter, before/during/after playing.
   • anything from this game that you're interested in applying towards your own project.

Please share a link to any presentation materials in the sign up sheet next to your group names. You will share your responses with the rest of the class during lesson time on the due date.