Trap Machinations

Noise source dispatches noise to the detectors. The detectors decide based on probability of the routes, which pool to send the noise resource to. If the central pool has greater than 20 points and the alarm has greater than 15 points, then the internal gate will be enabled (dice with the asterisk). This internal gate will send a point to lock a door when the roll is a 1. If the number of doors locked equals 6, then the character is trapped and the scene ends. The player needs to click on the two sinks (when activated) to empty the two pools to keep the internal gate from "rolling". If enough time passes, the doors locked pool will empty one point to an automatic sink.

Chapter 10 Adams Questions

1. In Khonsi: The Search for Hydra, the entities will be the weapons and armors that each character can use. The resources are money [in Dollars US] and energy ammo dumps. There will also be additional resources which the player can unlock (i.e. solving a puzzle) such as weapons and game bonuses. There are no "mass noun" objects.

2. The unique entities are the playable characters Adi and Chaya as well as the NPCs in the game.

3. All playable characters compose other "entities" because they are uniquely armed for battle. Our characters have different distinct dialog choices which function as assets for the player.

4. Our attributes would be the experience points "xp" that each character has and that can be quantified. The color of the character's clothing would be an attribute that is characterized as symbolic.

5. All entities are presumed tangible. The money and ammo resources are tangible and the level of charm or renegade is considered intangible (because they open up dialog and interaction options). Energy fields could be classified as having a state change from intangible to tangible entity by enabling special powers.

6. Adi has the task of negotiating entry points for Chaya to gain access to key resources. The two characters can "level up" by defeating enemies and solving puzzles. Leveling up allows the characters to absorb more energy before needing to pick up energy shields. It also enhances their power skill set. A black hole has the mechanics that are connected by themselves because it sucks in spacecraft without intervention by any player actions.

7. There is a global mechanic that takes the player from action to dialog. But we do not know what that is yet.

8. The resources enter at the source of conflict when the player has extinguished a hostile enemy, that player assumes the enemy's resources (picks up a gun, ammo, money, ...). The player may also obtain resources at a store selling weapons (Target for weapons). The production rate is controlled entirely by completing challenges.

9. The characters will not go to a drain. They may only be disabled or "taken out of action". The disabling of an entity is temporary but requires a large resource to enable again. The drain for money is the store where assets are purchased. The drain for ammo is into walls, or enemy shields, of course.

10. You can convert resources back to cash at a greatly reduced rate because the store needs to make money. Trading vehicles for cash is done so at certain stores but not at others. Larger vehicles can provide a feedback mechanism because you can now transport heavier weapons to deal more damage and take out larger bosses to accumulate more wealth (a positive feedback loop). If you exhaust all resources, you can break out of deadlock, but it will be slow and relatively hard.

11. There is no such equilibrium because nothing equalizes in the game. Enemies keep getting harder to beat as you progress, so the rate that you gain money helps a little.

12. The active challenges are the shooting of hostile enemies and hacking a computer system by solving a puzzle. The screen will inform the player once a challenge has been successfully completed or if failure has occurred. No other special mechanics are required.

13. The core mechanics allow the player to choose the dialog choice that she sees fitting for the conversation. This is accomplished through button clicks or slider drags.

14. The nonplayer characters are positioned by the AI according to their importance. Important characters are found at large, easy to spot compounds, whereas less crucial ones are scattered throughout the playfield. Their behavior is determined by their own paragon or renegade score chosen at random by the AI.

Jesse Schell Lecture Questions

1. What do the major games console manufacturers feel about the idea of microtransactions?

None of them want to be the one that offers free games. Uncomfortable with no upfront payment of games.

2. What made the Wi-mote on the Nintendo Wii different from other consoles? Who were the intended target audience?

Aiming at those who don' t like complicated controllers (requiring simultaneous ambidextrous control). Appeal to casual gamers.

3. In the section called the "Curiosity Gap", Schell argues

c) curious people are rewarded by instant access, if you are curious, you are rewarded more quickly with answers

4. In the future, Schell predicts "building worlds that exist beyond the spectrum of media types will be vital for making people want to inhabit them.

c) building worlds need to focus on one or two media at any given time

5. While games talk to their audience, they can't listen. For that reason, Schell predicts that speech recognition will be absolutely vital to the coming gaming revolution.

6. Unlike "Nerds" or "Imagineers", Mundanes like things in the real world - theirs is the realm of activity, of physical sports. Schell pointed out that it seems noteworthy that no sport, not a single one, contains any element of fantasy in it? Do you think this is true?

Sports are activities with real rules but have players who use imagination. Sports can have fantasy. Martial arts contain a lot of fantasy and artistry.

7. He suggested that the real promise to OnLive is that it allows:

b) sharing

8. Schell suggested that we read Alfie Kohn's book "Punished by Rewards", which lists study after study that illustrate that the more people come to associate an action or task with reward, the more they

resent the task.

9. What does Schell say is going to be outcome of sensors, screens, systems and games coming together?

b) whole life tracking

10. Schell argues that our faces, our bodies, our locations, our likes and dislikes, our habits, our friends, our families, are being tracked. Do you think this is a good thing or can it improve our condition?

It is beneficial to business because it gives them metrics about our personal spending habits and styles. Privacy is a serious concern for many. Therefore, compromising someone's personal thoughts may be easily thought of as an unwelcome intrusion into their life. Tracking should be used with caution and sparingly.

Scratch Exercise

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15594772/#editor

Us versus IT

Robot Images

         

Robot Move List: 1. Move one space, rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise, shoot laser eye.

The robot has 10 hit points and 5 action points. If a tank enters a 3 square perimeter of the robot, then,

the robot will automatically initiate a 90 degree turn towards the direction of the tank without using up any action points. When the tank takes a hit, the tank will drop a mine which will explode when the tank's hit points drops below 2.

The Metaphysics of Game Design Questions

1. Wright talks about companies asking for advice on 'gamification'. What does "MSG" stand for in this context?

Make it Seem Gamelike. It means to turn some form of media into a implement to entertain through playing.

2. What does Wright mean by the idea of "Interdisciplinary Entertainment"?

He is stating that entertainment is polymorphic, meaning that movies, art, music, and games all have common attributes.

3. Technology, culture, Psychology are described as being different types of:

Platforms

4. Wright argues that "play builds models". What kinds of models is he talking about?

mental frameworks of how phenomena work

5. Will Wright talks about the following schema: - lightbulb joke schema       - classification schema       -causality schema       - false schema
Why are such schema important when it comes to working with interactive media and entertainment?

These schema explain the connections between models that people formulate about the world.

6. Wright describes how network culture has given rise to a world of "narrowcast" where everyone is a publisher but to a small narrow group. What is a good example of this?

Twitter, Facebook, Blogs

7. Using the example of the '20 Questions' toy, Wright argues that we are moving to a world in which the power of collective effort is playing a larger role online.
What is another name for this type of activity?

Crowdsourcing - harvesting info

8. What does Will Wright say about the future?

The future is unpredictable. If one person thinks the market will rise, then it may just bottom out.

9. Despite the rise of online distribution in almost every arena in digital culture, what two formats continue to enjoy sales, albeit in fewer numbers?

Compact discs (CD) and record LPs.

10. What did you find most useful from the Will Wright lecture on "The Metaphysics of Game Design"?

The lecture gave me insight on how game designers think about how to find ideas for making games. His association of cognitive processes with game design was a strong argument for researching the customer base before embarking on any game idea.

King of Kong Questions

1. Mitchell is unabashedly cocky and fond of self promotion, proclaiming himself the "Sauce King" of Florida for his successful line of homemade hot sauces. Next to his family, Mitchell considers his arcade scores his greatest achievements in life.
How typical are these types of values and attitudes among 'core' gamers and how important is it to understand these values if you are a game designer? What *are* these values, exactly?

"Cocky" and "egocentric" are common terms that describe core gamers because most of them share a competitive spirit that at times can overwhelm their sense of sportsmanship. Professionalism according to Ngo, does not run in the family of core gamers because gaming is rarely considered a true "profession" (unless it is a service provided to some game company or competition). It is important to understand their attitudes because it allows you to design the gameplay to suit their desires.


2. Steve Wiebe has been laid off as a Boeing engineer, and now spends his time as a science teacher. His friends and his wife, Nicole, describe him as a tragic figure who always comes up short despite being proficient at music, sports, art, and mathematics.
Is Weibe's 'tragic' aspect typical of core gaming 'types'?

If all they are concerned about is games and nothing else, then the absence of responsibility is tragic.

What role does self esteem (high or low) play in the culture of hard core gaming and such subcultures as competitive vintage or 'classic' game playing? How would you best describe the relationship between low self-esteem and videogame mastery?

Low self esteem sometimes makes videogames inviting because according to Ngo, it provides a universe away from the mundane atmosphere of everyday existence. However, the relationship between the two is non sequitur because people with low self esteem do not always appeal to videogames as a solution.


3. Despite Wiebe's protests that his own first score was disqualified for being submitted via unsupervised videotape, Twin Galaxies accepts Mitchell's score over Wiebe's and proclaims that Mitchell is still the record holder.
How valid do you think videotaped gameplay should be in establishing videogame playing records? If valid, why? If not valid, why not?

Videotaped gameplay should be valid as long as it is supervised. It is impossible according to Ngo to examine every hardware component to see if it qualifies as a valid game though.

4. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, wondering "Who would have guessed that a a documentary about gamers obesessed with scoring a world record at Donkey Kong would not only be roaringly funny but serve as a metaphor for the decline of Western civilization?"

What do you think of the film? Is it an accurate protrayal of what makes videogames so compelling for those who play them?

It is funny but as long as some people put it in perspective, this is not the "decline of western civilization". It was about a niche of game players addicted to playing particular games as Ngo sees it. If they know how to lead an honest life, then they are not more hostile than the group of people who follow Oprah's book club.


5. On November 10, 1981, Walter Day opened an arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa called Twin Galaxies. Though it was a modest arcade of merely 22 arcade games, it soon became known as the International Scorekeeper for the burgeoning video game industry. Under Day's direction, Twin Galaxies set rules for gameplay on hundreds of games, while maintaining a records database of competitive high scores. Twin Galaxies is considered by gaming historians as being the first organizer of professional gaming, putting competitive electronic gaming on the world map.
How important do you think organizations like Twin Galaxies are in the vintage arcade gaming community?

They are important because arcade gaming is not nearly as popular in ngo's opinion as it was in the past. Twin Galaxies tries to keep the spirit alive by bringing those who have nostalgia together in a forum to discuss arcade games.

Could such communities exist without such organizations?

The communities can exist in small numbers without Twin Galaxies. But it depends on the location and other factors.

What role does Twin Galaxies play ultimately, and why is this significant to the film and its story?

Twin Galaxies is the ultimate moderator for all competition by establishing ground rules. They are supposed to be impartial according to Ngo, but have shown a penchant for bolstering the accomplishments of one man "Mitchell".


6. The film depicts Wiebe's skill at Donkey Kong being linked to his ability to deeply understand the title's game mechanics, particularly the way that rhythm and timing work to ensure a successful outcome.
The film in one scene compared his love of drumming and his abilities at basketball as well as his musical talent as part and parcel of his gift at playing Donkey Kong.
How would you describe this set of inter-related skills?

Hand/eye coordination is key to success in these types of games. You have to react accurately to timed events to be successful at these games. He was already primed for the role of player because of his background in sports and music.

Have you experienced anything like this yourself when playing games? Have you been able to associate the skill of playing games with similar related skills and talents and how would you best describe the nature of this set of inter-relationships between skills/passions/abilities?

Yes, hand/eye coordination and timing helped me play organized baseball in Wallenberg high school. My skill did not necessarily translate to better VIDEO game playing though. Conversely, not all core gamers are by default "gifted" at playing sports.


7. In the film, Wiebe, while playing the game says hello to Mitchell. Mitchell didn't respond. As he's walking away from Wiebe, Mitchell says, "There's certain people I don't want to spend too much time with." Mitchell offered no explanation for his behavior towards Wiebe but did later explain that at the time of filming, he had not played video games for "more than a year", and that the filmmakers had not given him enough advance warning to train for a public record-breaking attempt. Seth Gordon, the film's Director, in referring to Mitchell's character says that Mitchell "is a true puppet-master", "a master of information-control".
What do you think Gordon means by this? What role does such behavior play in general terms in videogame culture?

Gordon probably means that Mitchell knows how to manipulate people into believing things without knowing the full story. He knows that Wiebe is not privy to believing anything like those who were gullible enough to believe anything that Mitchells says. Information-control is probably a description of the way he speaks carefully and calmly. I do not believe that Mitchell knows how to control dissemination of information, Ngo thinks going a little too far.

8. What did you think of the film? Is it really only about the game "Donkey Kong" and those who seek to hold the highest score or is it really about something more?

It is really about psychology of competitive spirit. Who wants to be on top more? What measures does one take to stay on top? It also describes the nature of a support system around people.

9. Have you ever played "Donkey Kong"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it?

I have never played the game. I was too young.