Project Proposal - "Reach Korean addiction!"

"REACH KOREAN ADDICTION!"

Since my entrance in the computational art program my main interest as been game design. To this time, I can say my main interest in game design was the exploration of narrative (see references) as I consider myself first and foremost a storyteller. However, recently and in part because of some topic explored in this class, I have become interested in the basic concept of game design and the exploration of a simple physical immersion and interaction. Also, for this class final project, I would like to develop a game with a very light narrative and a emphasis on basic physical immersion from the user.

My first reason of interest for basic game design concept is the lasting popularity of early videogames. While many of these early videogames cannot compare with current industry standard in term of technology, general public still agree that in term of gameplay and game design they are often better. While there is certainly a nostalgia factor to this phenomenon, it is clear that gameplay dynamic was much more important and diversified in early game. As a result, these early game gameplay dynamic will serve as a basic inspiration for my project.

Secondly, despite this general lack of understanding of the medium from the current industry, the study of games theory is not recent. The study of game theory is popular in the field of mathematic and biology since many years and there is a solid theoretical foundation for the study of game dynamic. While early literature try to analyse the different dynamic of a game, my challenge will be to apply them to make something “fun”. To help me reach my goal, I will inspire myself from more contemporary book like Ralph Koster Theory of fun, for game design who try to apply some game theory concept specifically for videogames. All in all, trying to apply theoretical game theory concept to my game is one of my main interest for the project.

Thirdly, recent study in psychology on videogame addiction will serve as an influence for the engineering of my game engine. The Norrathian Scroll, a recent study of the massively popular MMORPG Everquest pointed out that many players developed an addiction to the game through the game mechanic which was sometimes comparable to a skinner box. While I don’t believe game addiction is a good thing, for the purpose of this class, I wish to try and reach a very basic and physical immersion from a user. I hope to be able to reproduce the concept of a skinner box and produce an addiction from the player to my game.

From a general interest in videogame design, I wish for this project to explore the basic interaction principle of game. I propose to develop a game with a very light narrative and a emphasis on basic physical interaction with the user. Basing my concept on early videogame, game theory and recent studies in interaction and immersion my ultimate goal is to create major immersion with basic game design concepts. Let’s play!

References

Books

Ralph Koster, "A theory of fun, for game design" , 2003.
http://www.theoryoffun.com/excerpt.shtml

Katherine Isbister, Better game characters by design, a psychological approach, 2005.

Articles

Nicholas Yee, "The Norrathian Scrolls: A Study of EverQuest" (version 2.5) , 2001.
http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/report.html

Sherry Turkle, Videogame and computer holding power, 1984. http://mrl.nyu.edu/~noah/nmr/book_samples/nmr-34-turkle.pdf

Skyler Miller, Milestones in videogame history, http://www.gamespot.com/features/vgs/universal/milestones/index.html

Leonard Herman, Jer Horwitz, Steve Kent, and Skyler Miller, The history of videogames,
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/

Gamespot editorial team, The greatest games of all time,
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/index.html

Bob Colayco, So you want to be a: Videogame designer,
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6129276/index.html

Gamespot editorial team, A 20-year old legend (Nintendo),
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6144735/index.html

Works

Different classic videogames: Pong, Pacman, Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, etc.

Interactive dungeon project (multiplayer and interactive oriented game design), Cart 351 Final Project. http://hybrid.concordia.ca/~domin_no/portal/dfar351/html/enter_final.html

In_Human (Prototype for multimedia installation based on a game design), Cart 453 Final Project. http://hybrid.concordia.ca/~domin_no/portal/in_human/