Games are a set of rules that constrain action, to make action meaningful and playful. Games in esports, or the professional play of competitive games, are known for the their fast paced interaction, cognitive stress, and extreme multi-tasking. Interaction design in these games takes into account a number of concerns not normally considered in other contexts. How do we design a game to be difficult, fun, entertaining to watch, and a practicable skill? How do we design with new modalities in light of these considerations.

In this project, the team will examine existing games and game design literature. They will construct a prototype game and test this prototype with users. They will construct a complex and creative digital game with new modalities; they will evaluate and playtest the game with users; if possible, an experiment should be used. Participants will gain knowledge of a set of existing games and background in their chosen project; they will create game mechanics, interfaces, and understand games as systems; they will produce a game and playtest it, with the goal of producing publishable results.

expected benefits

• learn to develop with unique input modalities; understand the unique design constraints of these modalities
• learn about game design, including existing designs, creating game mechanics that enable play
• learning and discovering interaction design principles for high performance game interaction

design constraints

• must be a game: "a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome" [Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play, p80]
• a real time strategy game is highly encouraged, but is not required
• the developed game must have well designed, integrated, and novel interactions
• must make use of at least one non-standard input modality (i.e. multi-touch, pen, kinect, etc.)

bonus objectives

• mixing multiple input modalities
• game is serious (teaches the user, changes behavior, persuades them, etc.)

provided development platform

• Zero-touch Sensor
• Wacom Tablet
• Windows 7 Machine
• Spring RTS Engine with Multi-touch Support (Optional)
• Xbox Kinect

required reading

• selections from Rules of Play (Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman) [electronic reserve]
  • 2. The Design Process (p11–21)
  • 3. Meaningful Play (p30–37)
  • 4. Design (p38–47)
  • 5. Systems (p48–55)
  • 6. Interactivity (p56–69)
  • 7. Defining Games (p70–83)
  • 8. Defining Digital Games (p84–91)
  • 9. The Magic Circle (p92–99)
  • 11. Defining Rules (p118–125)
  • 12. Rules on Three Levels (p126–139)
  • 13. The Rules of Digital Games (p140–149)
  • 22. Defining Play (p300–311)
• Juul, J., Norton, M. Easy to use and incredibly difficult: on the mythical border between interface and gameplay In FDB '09: Proceedings of the 2009 conference on Foundations of Digital Games (New York, NY, USA, 2009), ACM Press, p107–112.
• Cheung, G., Huang, J. Starcraft from the stands: understanding the game spectator, Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems, 2011, 763-772.
• Tse, E., Greenberg, S., Shen, C., and Forlines, C. Multimodal multiplayer tabletop gaming, Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 2007.
• Brandl, P., Forlines, C., Wigdor, D., Haller, M., and Shen, C., Combining and measuring the benefits of bimanual pen and direct-touch interaction on horizontal interfaces, Proceedings of the Working Conference on Advanced Visual interfaces, 2008, 154-161.
• Hinckley, K., Yatani, K., Pahud, M., Coddington, N., Rodenhouse, J., Wilson, A., Benko, H., and Buxton, B., Pen + touch = new tools,Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, 2010, 27-36.

recommended viewing

• If you are unfamiliar with high level esport game interaction techniques watch: Day[9] Daily #242 Secrets of Hotkeys, APM, and Mouse Movement (you'll have fun)

recommended reading

• (the rest of) Rules of Play (Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman)
• Half Real (Jesper Juul)

project-specific deliverables

Throughout your project you are encouraged to play a variety of games. This activity will expose you to a variety of game mechanics and experiences, it will give you new ideas about games and play.

Game Analysis

The objective of this deliverable is to engage you in thinking about the foundations of game design, and develop a deep understanding of a single game design element.

• Select and play two games of a similiar quality to the proposed game. In the best case your team will be able to play the games together and discuss your experiences during and after play. Play in pairs, for each team member actively playing another should be watching and/or commentating.
• Consider the game design literature, select two core game mechanics (mechanics that are often repeatedly invoked) for each game and
• Develop a report (in narrative, not outline, form) that addresses the following question for both games:
  
  1. Briefly, what are the rules of the game? What meaningful choices do players make?
  2. How were the selected game design elements (above) implemented in the game you played?
  3. What made these mechanics and their implementation fun? difficult? rewarding? entertaining to watch?
  4. Find another game (it can be the other analyzed game) that contains a similar mechanic?
  5. How was this mechanic different? What do you think the motivation behind these differences was for the designers of both games?
  6. How were the experiences of the players and the watchers different?
  7. Was the experience rewarding/fun for both the player and the watcher? Why or why not for both?

  The majority of the report should address the application of the game design elements of the game you played. Your report should be 6–8 pages long (10pt, 1.5-spaced). Be thorough with your analysis, but concise. Photographs, diagrams, and other visual aids are expected, they will help you present your ideas coherently.

  Alternative versions of the analysis will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If you are interested in undertaking an alternative, specify what you want to do early and obtain your mentor's permission!

Lightweight Prototype (addendum)

• Your lightweight prototype must include game mechanics and simulate their associated interactions; it is insufficient to present only interface design.

Project Plan (addendum)

• In your project plan, reflect on your game analysis and discuss it. Your project plan should address the following questions:
  1. How did what you learned from the game analysis inform your game design?
  2. What game design elements (from the literature) are you employing? Justify your decisions.

Research Notebook (addendum)

• In your research notebook, you are encouraged to report on interesting gameplay experiences. How are these informing your design? What have you discovered about game mechanics and systems of rules?