Administrative
• Assign Design Projects• Present Game Creation project
Homework Discussion
Question: indicate examples in games where the question below are not properly answered and as a result there is a breakdown in meaningful play
• What happened before the player was given a choice?
• How is the possibility of a choice conveyed to the player?
• How did a player make a choice?
• What is the result of choice? How affects future choices?
• How are the results of choice conveyed?
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 (a crucial one) of a game
• Awareness on the distinction between play and game“juego un juego”“ich speile ein Spiel”
Some Definitions
• (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
But problematic for other games:
Examples of games fitting this definition:
•Chess •Tekken
•MMORPG Games
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
• 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
Nintendo (“leave luck to heaven”)
(Service Games) SEGA
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 (http://www.apn.gr/pong.html)
• 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 (http://www.mattelothello.com/)• 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
• US Army commissions Atari for a tank simulation game
– Start of a long enduring activity (Lehigh included!)
• Nintendo releases first console in 1981
• Nothing to do? 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
• http://www.nintendoland.com/zelda/home.htm
• Apple releases the Mac, Atari releases 520ST
– Who won?
• Tetris is released!
– http://www.miniclip.com/tetris.htm
• 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)
What’s Left?
• PC Games– We will cover these in coming classes but by Genre:
• FPSs• RTSs• RPGs (including MMOs)