Administrative

• Reminder: upcoming deadlines (email is fine)– Optional: 1-Page describing game proposal:

(Deadline: September 25th) 3 groups so far. Not a contract. Final exam exemption

– Mandatory: design analysis (1) name of the game and (2) group members (deadline: September 30th)

– • Test # 1: Monday September 30th.

– Covers: all of Unit 1 in the book (including details and topics not discussed in class)

– All material covered in class (including topics not covered in the book)

Definition of Game and History of Games

Dr. Héctor Muñoz-Avila

Assigned readings:Chapters 7 (Rules of Play Book)

Sources:• Gamespot.com• investor.about.com• emuunlim.com• designboom.com• Wikipedia• my own

Play and Game

• Game as a subset of play– Considering all activities that we can play– Tag is a game and it is also play– Swing can be seen as play but it is not a game

• Play as a subset of game– Play as one aspect (the experiential system) of a

game

• Awareness on the distinction between play and game“juego un juego”“ich speile ein Spiel”

Some Definitions of Game

• (Parlett) A formal game structure based on ends and means

• (Abt) an activity among two or more decision-makers seeking to achieve their objective– Example of a game not meeting this definition?

• (Avedo and Sutton-Smith) a voluntary control system, contest between powers, confined by rules, outcome

• Book has 8 definitions (read them!) with some common elements (see Table!): – following rules is the most common requirement– Having a goal is also common

Definition of GameElements:• A game is a system• In which players• engaged in an artificial conflict• defined by rules• That results in a quantifiable

outcome

Game design: process of creating a game from which meaningful play emerges when experienced by a player

Are virtual environments games?

Examples of games fitting this definition:

• Chess • Tekken

History of Video Games

By: Héctor Muñoz-Avila

Sources:• Gamespot.com• investor.about.com• emuunlim.com• designboom.com• Wikipedia• my own

Introduction: A Long Journey

• Some ideas in the 1948• First video game:

– Tennis game in an Oscilloscope– Space game on DEC-1

• Current videogames:– Crysis 3

• In between:– Space Invaders: http://www.spaceinvaders.de/

Chess Origins

• 6 AD: Believed to come from India

• Came to Western through Persia

• 1769 Fake chess machine

• 1952 Turing design a chess algorithm

• 1956 Maniac versus Human

Origins of Some Companies

• 1889 company create card game:

• 1932 COLECO (short for Connecticut Leather Company)

• 1947 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company:

• 1954 David Rosen makes machines for GI’s in Japan

Sony

(Service Games) SEGA

Nintendo (“leave luck to heaven”)Hiroshi Yamauchi credited for transformationGunpei Yokoi created the game boy

Other Origins

• 1951 Ralph Baer (@Loral) suggest adding game to TV– May be considered the inventor of video

games – Only until 1967 he realized his dream of an

“interactive television”

• 1952 A.S.Douglas (@Cambridge): Interactive Tic Tac Toe

• 1958 Willy Higinbotham (@Brookhaven National Laboratory): Oscilloscope

Other Origins (II)

• 1961 Steve Russell (@MIT) creates Spacewar!

“If I hadn't done it, someone would've done something equally exciting if not better in the next six months. I just happened to get there first.” - Steve Russell

Spacewar! Legacy

1971 Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck formed Computer Recreations

Galaxy Game Cost: $20KPlay cost: 10 centBuilt: dozens

1972 Noland Bushnell and Ted Dabney (@Nutting Associates)

Galaxy Game Built: 1.5K 1972

PONGBuilt: 10K“Breaks down”

Early Game Consoles

• Pong • 1972 Magnavox builds

Odyssey

Early Stages: 1976-1977

• COLECO builds TELSTAR

• Cartridges are born (Fairchild Camera & Instrument: Channel F)

• Atari bought by Warner Communications ($28M)– Atari releases first console (later known as Atari 2600)

Early Stages 1977-78

• Nintendo releases Othello• Taito creates Space Invaders!

– Midway bought license

• Apple and Atari release PCs– But Atari is seen as a gaming company

The Golden Age 1979-1981

• Atari releases Asteroids!• Frogger, Konami/Sega, 1981 • Pac-Man, Bally/Midway, 1980 • Donkey Kong, Nintendo, 1981 • Namco releases Pac-Man, 1982 (+300K machines sold)

– Own television show (games culture)• US Army commissions Atari for a tank simulation game

– Start of a long and sustained effort• Nintendo releases first console in 1981• Nothing to do over the weekend? Check this out (some retro

games):– http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/

The Great Crash 1982-1984

• The Commodore 64 PC is released• Coleco releases the Adam PC• Too many competitors small and large saturate the market

– 1982 Warner Corp. stock fell 32% after Atari announces less-than-expected sells of consoles

– Atari sold to Jack Tramiel (owner of Commodore)– New company: Atari Corp. pulls from Console market

• Bright spot: Nintendo releases famicon, which does well in Japan

The Return of the Video Games 1985-1988

• Nintendo releases NES– Met with skepticism by market observers– Turns out to be an instant hit– Legend of Zelda

• Apple releases the Mac, Atari releases 520ST– Who won?

• Tetris is released!

• Coleco files for bankruptcy

• 1985 MS releases Windows

• PC as a gaming platform

• 2006: Games for Windows

The Story Continues

• 1989 Nintendo releases Gameboy, Sega releases Genesis

• 1991 Nintendo releases SNES, Sega releases Sonic• 1993 32-bit consoles

– Nintendo releases Mortal Combat!

• 1999-2001 Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox• 2006: Nintendo releases wii (out sales PlayStation 3 and

Xbox 360)

Current Trends

• Games for mobile devices are the fastest growing sector

• Which is the most played digital game in history?

(perhaps)

Homework Next Wednesday (x2)

Assigned Reading: Chapter 8 (note: make your own examples when asked for. Do not use the ones from the book)

For each of the 4 traits of digital games, discuss an example• in a digital game (*) that illustrates that trait • in a non-digital game (*) that illustrates the difficulty non-digital games have coping with the lack of that trait

1.Immediate but narrow interactivity

2.Information manipulation

3.Automated complex system

4.Networked communication

5.Open question: despite the shortcomings in dealing with these four traits above, discuss an advantage across any dimension of non-digital games over digital ones(*) describe this game in one paragraph including name, what type of game it is - RPG, RTS, etc-, and what is the objective of the game