Design Lab 5: Game Media   [ Monday 6pm - Rm 908]

instructor: Jonah Warren
email: jonah AT feedtank DOT com
url: http://www.feedtank.com/2005/gamemedia/

Homework 4

  1. READING.
    Read pages 313-327 in Rules of Play. This will explain the concept of a "core mechanic." It should help in the completion of Homework 4.
  2. ABSTRACTING ACTION / CORE MECHANICS.
    For next week, you are going to develop a core mechanic in GameMaker. You will show them in class next week.

    I am looking for simplicity and originality. These should not be games. They should be an interaction that could potentially be built into a more fully functioning game.

    THE ACTION (get a concept):
    • Think of a real world action, verb or game that is interesting to you (verbs: avoid, catch, hide, distribute, search, hit, pile, run, organize, kill, stun, clear, destroy, clean...). Try to choose an action that you wouldn't ordinarily associate with a video game, if you can. To think of interesting actions, try thinking about physical or mental activities that you enjoy and how you would represent them. If you are having trouble, you may use actions we discussed in class when discussing core mechanics.

    THE TRANSLATION (write a paragraph):
    • Now that you have an action (core mechanic) to base your interaction on, you are now going to translate this action into the video game world. Think about subactions make up your chosen action. What is essential to your action? What part of that action should you represent? Write a short paragraph discussing these issues. Post this on your site.

    BUILDING A CORE MECHANIC (make a simple interaction in GameMaker):
    • You have a limited knowledge of GameMaker. You can only do so much with it. Using the list we came up with in class, think about how to translate your action into a GameMaker interaction. You can create a lot of different interactions by simply, moving objects, detecting collisions, and using keyboard and mouse input.
    • I want you thinking about interaction, not graphics. Limit yourself to red, green and blue rectangles as your graphics.
    • Post the gm6 file on your site.
    • (If you are having problems with implementing your idea in GameMaker, write another paragraph explaining how your game will be translated taking into account GameMaker's constraints.)

    Download and play with this example to get a sense of the kind of thing I am looking for. I chose to represent the game dodgeball. My core mechanic was dodging / catching (I ignored the throwing part of the game). I thought about dodging and what makes up that action in the real world. When you dodge, you move and change shape, though you take up the same amount of space (turn, duck, jump, twist). I chose moving and dodging to represent in GameMaker. In my GameMaker interaction, the blue bar is the dodger. You are trying to catch green blocks and avoid red ones. Use the arrow keys to move, and the spacebar to change shape.