Vevina, my lovely daughter, is seven months old and despite me trying to be a 'typical old school parent', cannot help buying new toys for her. Toys are essentially tools that breed creativity amongst all. And Vevina tries to manipulate her toys in all possible ways. She being a Leo has a special affinity towards cows, giraffes and other prey animals (toys) whom she enjoys bossing and biting. No matter how we interpret these actions, nobody really knows what goes through that innocent mind. And eventually, because she is new to this world, she runs out of options to deal with her toys and gets bored.
And only when she is bored do we play. And when we play, it is not mere manipulation of toys and observing them at different angles, but we play by some rules. You poke the cow in the eye and she will dart at you, you pull her ears and she will say 'moo moo.' If you don't play with the cow for some time she will tickle you with her nose. Eventually, the baby starts anticipating these actions and feedback. And she draws immense joy when a particular action results in an expected (sometimes new) reaction.
There are many complex definitions for games and game design. In the simplest form of the definition, Game Design is formulating and applying rules of play to the toys. And a game is essentially a toy with rules of play attached to it.
And unless you are trying hard to get a place in my design team, we will not cram in concepts such as fun, interactivity, challenge, motivation at this stage and will not have them pollute our simple definition of games and game design. Because all these words in vogue are absolutely subjective. We will dig deep into them once you acquaint yourself with the simple basics.
By now, you must have realized that at some point in time in your life, you did design a game. :)
Gear yourselves up for 'Game Designer - Myth Busters' in the next issue. Some virtual hilarity is promised there.
And only when she is bored do we play. And when we play, it is not mere manipulation of toys and observing them at different angles, but we play by some rules. You poke the cow in the eye and she will dart at you, you pull her ears and she will say 'moo moo.' If you don't play with the cow for some time she will tickle you with her nose. Eventually, the baby starts anticipating these actions and feedback. And she draws immense joy when a particular action results in an expected (sometimes new) reaction.
There are many complex definitions for games and game design. In the simplest form of the definition, Game Design is formulating and applying rules of play to the toys. And a game is essentially a toy with rules of play attached to it.
And unless you are trying hard to get a place in my design team, we will not cram in concepts such as fun, interactivity, challenge, motivation at this stage and will not have them pollute our simple definition of games and game design. Because all these words in vogue are absolutely subjective. We will dig deep into them once you acquaint yourself with the simple basics.
By now, you must have realized that at some point in time in your life, you did design a game. :)
Gear yourselves up for 'Game Designer - Myth Busters' in the next issue. Some virtual hilarity is promised there.
4 comments:
Brilliant! love the comparison with darling Vevina! So true! Waiting for the next one! :)
Well written!! :)
Thanks a lot :).
No one told me that I may be a game designer. Feels good though :)
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