3. Recent work â˘âŻ âUnderstanding Video Games as
on games & Emotional Experiencesâ
emotions â˘âŻ B.Perron & M.J.Wolf (eds.) Video
Game Theory Reader 2. London &
New York: Routledge. 2008.
â˘âŻ Adapting the âOCC modelâ into
game analysis
4. Exploring
models for
analyzing
events,
agents &
objects in
game worlds
5. My design
research
into games
as results of
design
practices &
solutions
6. â˘âŻ The author introduces means for
analyzing existing game designs with
âStargazingâ particular emphasis on identifying their
emotionally relevant features.
summarized
â˘âŻ The method aims to give tools for
uncovering the secrets of successful
game designs, so that such findings could
be creatively reinvented for new
designs.
â˘âŻ The method applies terminology from
object-oriented programming in order to
produce results that can be
reformulated into a game design
document, or channeled into a rapid
prototyping task instantly.
7. â˘âŻ Recognition of something significant
Phasic
â˘âŻ Evaluation of the situation; plans to cope
emotions with the situation
parallel â˘âŻ Action readiness; tendencies
phasic â˘âŻ Bodily and expressive effects
gameplay
â˘âŻ The four-fold phasic nature of
emotions is constantly at work in
gameplay
â˘âŻ Such, admittedly totalizing view to
gameplay emotions, lets us to try to
design them, knowingly
8. â˘âŻ Metaphor of stars, sky, and their
Emotional relationships
game design â˘âŻ A romantic metaphor for a romantic
through the design practice
metaphor of â˘âŻ In terms of the stargazing method, the
design elements of a game represent
stargazing the stars that align into certain
constellations...
â˘âŻ ...thus creating so-called eliciting
conditions, i.e. âconditions under which
an emotion can be triggered.â
10. â˘âŻ The premise: any particular emotional
episode of a player, or players, can be
Game Design traced back to a certain game state, or a
Research sequence of game states.
Problem â˘âŻ Examples:
â˘âŻ Scripted events in Gears of War or Dead Space
â˘âŻ Sequences of dialogue interaction in Animal
Crossing
â˘âŻ Instance in World of Warcraft
â˘âŻ Behavior of fire in Far Cry 2
â˘âŻ How to analyze their emotional constituents
& consequences with a rigorous method?
11. Game States â˘âŻ Game state is the âfrozen sliceâ of
gameplay, a recognizable phase,
as emotional that can be used
waypoints â˘âŻ as a focus point when analyzing games
â˘âŻ as the smallest factor in designing game
play from an emotional /experience
design standpoint
â˘âŻ Game states combine into
sequences, and emotional
experiences are sequences of
emotions, where the result is more
than the sum of its parts
12. â˘âŻ Goal monitoring is a concept originating
Goal from psychological studies in personal goals
monitoring; â˘âŻ It conceptualizes the constant tracking of
how one is doing in terms of the goals under
where does it pursuit
focus, â˘âŻ i.e. as behavior that has to do with both
perceptually? predicting and experiencing of emotions
â˘âŻ Are there certain perceptual and cognitive
vectors or formations â constellations - that
emerge in the game play process, and are
particular important for goal monitoring
â˘âŻ ...and consequently, for the emotional
design of the game?
13. Stargazing at
Zuma:
âThe vector
of suspenseâ
between the skull
and the closest
ball as the focus
of goal monitoring
14. Stargazing at
Tetris:
âThe skyline
vectorâ
as the focus of
goal monitoring
15. A practical
â˘âŻ Future work: Turning stargazing
results into concrete design tools
future with which emotional gameplay
application: dynamics, similar to the above
examples, could be modeled and
tested through abstractions
Emotional
wireframe
prototypes
19. â˘âŻ The emotional vector, rather than being
Stargazing at a concrete visual set of dynamics, is a
mental projection into the game space
Braid & Portal: that has to be figured out, and then
executed, by the player
âProjected â˘âŻ Goal monitoring consists of a sequence of
logical deductions and their outcomes
vectorsâ
â˘âŻ Perceptual goal monitoring is used to
inform cognitive goal monitoring, and
vice versa.
â˘âŻ ... This type of goal monitoring has
different consequences to the emotional
flavor of the play experience
20. Stargazing
3D & sound:
Flower:
âmusical
time-space
vectorâ
heavily based on
aesthetic
perceptions
22. Practical
design case:
Jukem the puzzle
game prototype
with a design
where the
skyline and
suspense vectors
combine
23. How to â˘âŻ Research question in the works:
extrapolate â˘âŻ How can more complex game
mechanics & dynamics be modeled
the method in abstract forms?
to more
complex
â˘âŻ Hypothesis: With the help of
analyzing metaphors, and how they
genres? relate to the events, objects, and
agents
â˘âŻ Left 4 Dead: how is the âleft to
oneâs own devicesâ metaphor
emotionally aligned in the design of
the game?