Where to start?
Aims & Objectives
I would like to take what I have researched and learnt over the last few weeks and use it to influence fun, exciting game ideas that can transport the player into another world. World does not necessarily mean a planet or dimension that has unique abilities or creatures, but one that lets the player disconnect from reality for a moment to enjoy a play through of a game. I want my game to be meaningful and not just fun for the sake of fun - like an arcade game.
Criteria
- Fun engaging experience
- Meaningful experience
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How to achieve these?
Fun is a fairly simple word with a simple definition. However, fun is a complex phenomenon which can be difficult to execute. For my project, I can attempt to make a game that a majority finds fun. However, from my personal experience and exposure to the gaming industry, generally making something that tries to appeal to everyone never goes well. It is impossible to please everyone and for that reason, by taking that path, sacrifices will be made that will leave a part of the majority unhappy. So, therefore, I have to choose a specific target audience. I am not quite sure what my group would be, as parkour is a mechanic that is present in some form within most games. If I was to look at specifically parkour games, there isn't a specific trait or characteristic in the player base that plays parkour games specifically. I will ask those I know who have played parkour games in order to make a judgement as to what qualities can contribute to making the game fun. I think that If I can make the game fun for myself, it will naturally be fun for other groups of people. Furthermore, I have a group of people around me who I think would provide fair and good feedback during testing phases later on in the project.
1 to 1 Feedback
What to explore next?
During my 1 to 1 feedback session with my lecturer, the following points were discussed:
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- Worth looking at Mirror's edge narrative - in order to gain better deeper understanding of the most successful parkour game ever made.
- If taking forward maze game concept, looking into mazes labyrinths and other variations.
- What makes things fun (Research to back up my game development and design process).
- Rapid Idea development
- Look at parkour from another person's perspective
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Actions after Feedback
I decided to begin with putting myself in different people's shoes, as suggested by my lecturer. What would Parkour mean or look like to :
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- Someone from the Middle Ages : something criminal or cool (if younger person) used in order to get access to places that you should not have access too. [This thought process led me down a path leading to game ideas similar to Assassin's Creed]
- Someone from Ancient Egypt : A form of vandalism and disrespect. Also seems very, very challenging as Ancient Egyptian architecture
- King : A way of out manoeuvring your opponent (duelling as Henry VIII)?
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Etc...
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After that, I looked into mazes and labyrinths, in order to understand their differences and how I can apply that knowledge within my game design. Furthermore, in order to support rapid idea development I spoke to different people of various ages giving them specific limitations and explaining to them that the theme is parkour ; in this context "the ability to climb, jump and move around obstacles". Lots of ideas were generated. Many of which similar or ones that I deemed either unimaginative or not appropriate for my brief.
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I have not looked into the lore behind Mirror's edge in too much detail, as honestly I feel that the game is successful and identifiable because of its successful mechanics. Additionally, I want to try and stay as far away as possible from copying Mirror's edge. I think that the more I look into it, the more likely my future game designs will be influenced by it and so staying away seems like a better process in order to keep my ideas fresh and genuine.
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R.I.G (Rapid Idea Generation): Quickly Spewing out whatever comes to mind
- Jump park, run around jump, flip - do lots of movements for points
- Olympic Speed Climbing
- Tiny People in a big world
- Making use of a single movement throughout the whole game?
- Parkour through different dimensions (portals or switch through worlds)
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I looked into "fun" and how I could achieve it. In order to understand that, I needed to figure out what fun is and how it can be triggered. Upon reading multiple research papers, I learnt that fun has many different triggers and occurs in the present due to a mix of psychological/neurological and physiological factors. First and foremost, neurologically fun is made up of 4 main chemicals : dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. A mixture of these can result in an increase in happiness.
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When breaking down the word "fun" it either comes from the Gaelic "fonn", meaning pleasure or "fonne", which meant "fool" before the 16th century. Fun is achieved from a source of enjoyment - which can be physical stimuli, aesthetic appreciation or direct chemical manipulation.
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Within the book "Theory of Fun for Game Design - by Ralph Koster" he discusses that fun arises from mastery and comprehension. "It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun". Ralph speaks within his book that the best definition of fun - in his view, is the act of learning and discovering new things. He goes on to state, "learning is the drug".
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