Doug Church - Formal Abstract Design Tools (Notes)

Doug Church explains that games are always evolving, technology is always evolving, but games design is not. He proposes that we have a shared language - Formal Abstract Design Tools. 

Formal - A precise definition and the ability to explain it to someone else.

Abstract - Emphasize the focus on underlying ideas, not specific genre constructs.

Design - We are Designers.

Tools - The common vocabulary we want to create.

Intention and perceivable consequence

Intention - The players decisions within the game.

Perceivable  consequences - You can see the consequence of your decision.

Story

Story driven games take the narrative away from the player.

Player driven games involve lots of different choices therefor lots of different narrative. 

The more the player has decisions in the game the less narrative is involved. 

The more a game has story the less player decision it will involve. 

Jesse Schell: The Art of Games Design

In this post i will be writing up the notes i have taken while reading Jesse Schell: The Art of Games Design, Chapter 1: In the beginning, there is the Designer.

Anyone can be a games Designer it's an act of will, if you repeat things eventually you will become what you say. "I am a games Designer".
"I am a games Designer"
"I am a games Designer"
"I am a games Designer"
"I am a games Designer"

In games designing nearly every skill is utilised, passion is needed, however the most important skill you need is the ability to listen, to be able to listen and understand what other people are asking of you, for example your target audience.
You are not making a game for yourself, you are making it for other people to enjoy and play.
To do this you must understand your audience, you must learn them, find out things from them.. You must listen to the so that you can make a game that they truly love.

Embrace your failures they will make you better at what you do, a failure today will be a success tomorrow.

Passion is better than talent, if you have the talent but lack the passion you will never be able to make as good games as people that have passion but may have less talent than you. 

Paidea and Ludus

Paidea games are games that are meant to be played for the pure pleasure of playing them, there are no goals for the player to achieve nor are there rules that bind them from doing certain things.
An example of a Paidea game is The Sims, in the Sims you can freely choose what you want your character to do, and there is no long term goal, the idea is to just live your life and take every day as it comes. There are also no significant rules that set you back, or completely stop you from doing something. All options are open. You play The Sims for the pure enjoyment of playing.

Ludus games are games that have a distinct set of rules and objectives/goals, the player must obey the rules and follow the objectives to eventually reach the goals and "complete" the game.
Ludus games tend to be competitive games such as the classic game, Chess. or for example the Halo Trilogy, in the Halo Trilogy you must follow a strict set of rules so that you can progress further through the game and ultimately finish the game.

However there are some games that have Paidea and Ludus aspects, a good example would be the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the Paidea aspect is that you can freely roam around the city, doing near enough anything you please, from gunning down innocent civilians to robbing liquor stores. But then there is also the Ludus aspect, the player can partake in missions which often have a strict set of rules that the player must follow in order to complete the mission.

Interview

In our induction to Critical Game Studies we had to take part in an interview process with members of the class, I was in a 3 man group with James and Harry.
These are my answers to the interview questions.

What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?
The last fiction book i read was a Star Wars novel called Death Troopers, it follows an inmate on a prison ship that breaks down in the middle of space, but when the crew goes to scavenge parts from a derelict ship only half return and with a  virus that kills most of the inmates on the broken down ship.

What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?
I cannot remember the last non-fiction book i read, it must have been back in primary school. I prefer to read fiction over non-fiction.

What is the last live performance (music,drama or dance) you attended?
Battle of the Bands which was hosted in my secondary school, Philip Morant.

What is the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on DVD?
The last film i watched was The Last House on the Left the 2009 remake. It was a very gruesome movie and funny at times, but it wasn't the best movie I've seen.

How often do you read a newspaper?
I never read a newspaper, the last time i read one was back when i was about 10 years old while visiting my Grandma and Granddad we used to buy them the newspaper and i would sit in the back of the car reading them.

Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit? 
The last one i visited was Euro gamer courtesy of my University, it was great to play so many new games and get a lot of freebies.

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?
I play games everyday probably earning me over 50 hours a week, maybe even more.

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?
I spend time with my brother playing things like Monopoly and Chess, we probably spend roughly 3-4 hours a week together playing non digital games.

First post!

Hello one and all, I'm Jonathan, i am a student of the University of Ipswich currently studying Games Design.
This will be my blog to share with you my experiences and journey through University, so far i have got through my first week at University and it has been fantastic, the initial welcome to the University was amazing and i am looking forward to my 3 years studying Games Design, it will be tough and i don't expect anything to be super easy but it will be a new experience for me and it is the start of the rest of my life, So join me on this epic adventure!