Jesse Schell

In the games design book written by Jesse Schell, one of the first things he tells us is that being a games designer is an act of will. He tells us persistence can help you overcome any obsticals you encounter when making a game and that all of your skills are of use especially your listening skills. If you feel as if your skills are not enough, your passion for designing games makes up for it since it is better than talent.
Jesse tells us that when designing your game, you should keep in mind that if you plan to share your games with others, you should concentrate on designing the game for the others and not yourself. It is essential that you know what the people you're making the game for like to be able to make something they will love.
Remember to embrace your failures as they can only be learned from!

Paidea and Ludus

Paidea games are designed to let the player do whatever it is they please, there are no goals and there aren't any rules or restrictions from doing anything.

An example of this would be game names Spore. The idea of Spore is to start out as a single cell organism then to consume, grow and evolve into whatever creature you so desire. You get to control what the creature does, eats, how it acts and how it evolves by making it friendly to birds and not reptiles or giving it big fluffy ears or huge scaled wings.

Ludus games give you very little freedom, they give you an objective and a specific way to do it. The goal of the game is to reach the end by doing what they have told you to do. Sometimes here are little instructions given and you may feel as if you are making your own choices, but really you aren't.

An example of this would be Half-Life, you are told that you need to go to certain places and do certain things and if you don't, you can't progress through the game.

There are some games which can be classed as both such as the Saints Row franchise, when looking from a Ludus point of view, you have to do each mission the way the games says otherwise it's not possible. On the other hand, looking from a Paidea point of view, you can also freely roam the city doing anything you feel like such as; driving quietly around roads sight-seeing or seeing how much you can destroy before the police are forced to either kill or arrest you.

The Interview

Our first task of our induction to Critical Games Studies was to be interviewed by and to interview other members of the class. I was grouped with Harry and Jon and I answered the following questions.

What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?
The last book I read was the last in a trilogy written by Katherine Langrish, it was called Troll Blood.

What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?
I'm pretty sure it was a true horror story based on a river side holiday resort, it was so long ago I don't remember the name.

What is the last live performance (music,drama or dance) you attended?
The last live performance I went to was Plaitum at the Art's Center, I went to school with them.

What is the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on DVD?
Whip It, I couldn't sleep one night and ended up watching it at 2 in the morning.

How often do you read a newspaper?
Sometimes once a week, not very often at all.
Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?
I went to Eurogamer with first and second years studying Games Design, I played a bunch of new games, had coupons, promo codes and shirts thrown at me.

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?
Too many, maybe 40 to 50 playing a variety of different games.

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?
I'm thinking around 1 or 2

First post!

Hello and welcome to my blog, here I will be keeping you somewhat up-to-date with the things I do while studying Computer Games Design at The University Of Ipswich! My first week has been nothing but fantastic and the net three years seems as if it will be nothing less! I'm sure nothing's going to be particularly easy but it's going to be an awesome experience and it would be amazing to be involved in the games designing industry. So buckle up, it's going to be one hell of a ride!