So what's the Game Design course about?
Originally it was planned as a subject on programming computer games, and until recently it's been in the handbook as Computer
game programming workshop", and the first thing I tell my class is that there are two things that are wrong about that name - computer" and programming".
I don't talk about computer games, I talk about games. That means board games, card games, computer games and running around games. We don't talk about programming,
we talk about design. This isn't a subject about graphics programming or artificial
intelligence - we already have plenty of subjects for that.
What we're interested in is the game itself.
How do you design the rules of your game so you have a fun experience. So we start by asking the question, what kinds of fun can a game provide?" Then we look at ways of making a fun game.
It's a bit of a mystery, really. Just reading the rules of a game isn't fun, but when you play the game you somehow end up with a fun experience. So we're about asking how
does the fun come out of the rules?" and how do you make the rules more fun?" We analyse games to work this out, and we try to turn this on its head and design our own games.
What goes into that kind of analysis?
There's a model that's been proposed in the industry called the MDA framework, which stands for Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics.
The mechanics are the rules and the mechanisms that determine how the game is played.
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The aesthetics are the kinds of fun that come out of it. The interesting things are the dynamics which link those two together.
The dynamics are the processes that happen
when you start playing the game. Let me give you an example: in Diplomacy (a strategy game similar to Risk), there's a strong social element of making deals with one another, backstabbing and being
backstabbed.
But the rules just dictate how you move your pieces, and the consequences of certain moves; they don't mention alliances at all.
The question then is how does this aesthetic
come about, and the answer is to look at dynamics. The rules about how you attack
mean that support from other players is generally necessary. You can't really win the game by working on your own; you need to make deals. But there are times when it's more advantageous to not stick to
your deals. So you start with the rules, you then work out what kind of dynamics those rules make when you actually play, and that tells you want kind of fun you generate.
So, you use that framework to find good dynamics?
Yes. So if you want to build a game that is fun in a particular kind of way - say, a co-operative game in which everyone works together
then I have to say "what kind of rules do I need to make that happen?". Co-operative
dynamics happen when you have multiple players with the same goals, but they all have to work together to achieve those goals. So we start picking apart the dynamics
that are necessary because they
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dictate the kind of games we make.
If you're making an artwork; writing a book or painting a picture, what you make directly controls the aesthetics. In a game you have this intermediate stage; you don't make
the play, the play only happens because
the players follow your rules. It's a challenging design problem.
What kind of people should think about doing your course?
This year my class are mostly programmers,
but I work hard to get artists and designers involved as well. I have in past years had digital media students from the College of Fine Arts. Essentially, my criteria
for entry are that you have to have some skills to contribute towards the making of a game. If you're good at graphics or network programming you can contribute that. If you're an artist you can
contribute those skills too.
I try to bring together students with a number of different skill bases, and together
we all look at the game design problem. I have some fairly high entry requirements on the subject, merely because I don't do any hand-holding. I don't teach any programming
or tools. I expect students to be able to go out and learn the tools that they need to make the game. I concentrate on design; there's not a line of code taught in my subject.
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