Game Idea Generation Games

Game Idea Generation Games

• 1.
  Bluetooth planets &Shave my baby! Breaking the Magic Circle with Game Idea Generation Games Annakaisa Kultima, Johannes Niemelä, Janne Paavilainen & Hannamari Saarenpää
• 2.
  Main points Gameidea generation games as… serious games, games for production Games, magic circle & creativity Playfulness = relaxed atmosphere “ Other worldliness” = thinking outside the box Structure = facilitated ideation Unique design challenge Support for creativity Structure for game design Ease of use
• 3.
  Background GameSpace projectStudying design and evaluation methods for casual mobile multiplayer games Frans Mäyrä, Janne Paavilainen, Jussi Kuittinen, Annakaisa Kultima, Johannes Niemelä, Hannamari Saarenpää Funded by Finnish Technology and Innovation Funding Agency (Tekes), Nokia, TeliaSonera, Veikkaus (Finnish National Lottery), Sumea/Digital Chocolate, Sulake Workshops on ideation, prototyping and evaluation Understanding of casual games, mobility and multiplayer features
• 4.
  Idea generation gamesWhat are (game) idea generation games? Tools for creating game ideas, meta-games Automatic facilitators Games for production Previous work Aki Järvinen, GameGame http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net/lecture-materials-requests/the-gamegame/ Kes Sampanthar, Thinkcube http://www.metamemes.com/
• 5.
  … AsSerious games Smith & Sawyer taxonomy Games for Health, Advergames, Games for Training, Games for Education, Games for Science and Research, Games for Production, and Games as Work Games for Production Machinima The Movies Video Unreal Art PGR Camera Mode Graphics Remixed Audio Elektoplankton Audio Media Mash-Ups Game Generation  
• 6.
  Creativity & Magiccircle Playfulness Relaxed atmosphere Other world Breaking the “box” Structure Facilitation
• 7.
  THE GAMES Workshopexperiences Three workshops Over 20 participants 16 ideation methods Pilot study experiences 3 months use period 7 user groups Authentic environments
• 8.
  VNA (verbs, nouns& adjectives) Fast and easy method for rapid ideating - Simple and fast method for creating casual game ideas Three decks of cards filled with verbs, nouns and adjectives Players take turns to reveal one card on their turn Word set based on content analysis of 40 casual games Design process: Changing the word set (based on the domain) Polishing interface Tentative results from the pilot study suggest that VNA was the most popular method “ Beauty in simplicity”
• 9.
  GameSeekers Associative techniquefor producing casual game ideas Free cards: pictures, patterns “ Casual games” cards: genres, selected social aspects Idea game cards: actions Simplify, rethink, remove Design process Combining two separate games Structural / stimulative Network instead of linear form Polishing interface Tentative results showed that it was rarely most favourite or most disliked Negative: too shattered and complex ideas Positive: potential cards
• 10.
  GameBoard Game forcreating structural and solid game ideas - Includes co-op and solo versions - Players create ideas but also compete in a meta-game Features game board, set of different cards and score tokens Game idea is based on structure of the game (mechanics, theme, UI, challenge, content etc…) Design process: Tweaking the point system and rules Polishing interface Tentative results show that it was liked, but also disliked, mainly due the score- keeping Negative: unbalanced gameplay Positive: structure
• 11.
  Conclusions Game ideageneration games work! Produce ideas that one wouldn’t have come up with otherwise Changes the mood, helps to think outside the “box” Easy to use Design challenges Balance between the structure and freedom Playing the game vs. playing the idea Trying to win vs. trying to create a good game idea Players face situations where the goal of the game might be in contradict with the goal of the session Balance between simplicity and complexity Simple games -> high level ideas Complex rules, difficult to use, difficult to design Documenting?
• 12.
  Thank You! AnnakaisaKultima Johannes Niemelä Janne Paavilainen Hannamari Saarenpää [email_address] or [email_address]