Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
ChAptEr 12
The conventional video game industry devotes its attention to creating entertaining
(and profitable) games, but games can be used for much more than entertainment.
An increasing number of companies are dedicated to building games to teach, per-
suade, enlighten, and even heal. Many of these games try to transmit a message of
some kind to their players. They can do this in various ways, but here we are con-
cerned with mechanics and their interaction with the other parts of the game—the
setting, the artwork, and the story (if any).
In this chapter, we will discuss how you can create mechanics that are meaningful.
First we'll look at
serious games
and what they do. Then we'll examine communi-
cation theory and semiotics and apply the lessons learned from these disciplines
to game design. Finally we'll look at games that offer multiple layers of meaning,
including meanings that contradict each other, a phenomenon known as
intertexual
irony.
Even if you're primarily interested in building entertainment games, you can
use the lessons in this chapter to create entertainment games that are more mean-
ingful and have a message of their own.
Play and learning share a long history. Humans, and many animals too, have always
used play to prepare for more serious tasks in later life. When children play hide-
and-seek, they exercise some of the same skills that hunters use. Hunting skills are
not as vital as they once were, but other children's games such as playing house and
driving pedal cars are still relevant and prepare them for activities that will probably
be in their futures.
When play evolved into the more structured activity that we call gaming, it retained
this learning aspect. Game designer Raph Koster wrote a book called
A Theory of Fun
for Game Design
(2005) about the relationship between fun and learning in games.
He argues that, no matter what game you play, learning and mastering the game is
what triggers our fun experience. You probably recognize the triumphant feeling you
get when you figure out a puzzle in a game and execute the right moves to beat that
level. Playing games is a constant process of learning: learning the goals, learning the
moves, learning the strategies to achieve those goals. This goes for all types of games,
even if they are abstract puzzle games like
Tetris
that have no obvious similarities to
tasks in real life. Although Koster's viewpoint is a bit overstated (there are many sources
of fun in games besides learning, such as social interaction and aesthetic pleasure),
his essential point is correct: Gameplay involves learning in an enjoyable form.
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