Archives for the month of: May, 2009
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The Art of Rules, Ctd.

May 14, 2009 //

From Game Culture:

Games are supposed to be safe places, where we experiment with strategy and compete without fear of consequence. When we play, we come to even the most violent, sadistic variety of game bearing an implicit assumption — an assumption so ingrained and absolute that we don’t even acknowledge it consciously — that we are not responsible for our actions. One of the deepest evolutionary tenets of play, embraced not just by us humans but by the entire mammalian world, is that play is free of repercussion. Play, at least temporarily, is supposed to liberate us from morality.

Brathwaite has smashed this covenant, brilliantly, and anyone who plays Train — or even reads about it — will never be able to approach a game so naively again. Forever after, they will have no choice but to question the mechanics of the games they play, to interrogate their rules instead of blindly following them and to be wary of their shifting contexts.

Categories game criticism, game culture, game design, videogames

The Making of Spacewar!

May 13, 2009 //

From Edge:

It’s a computer lab as we know all computer labs to be: whitewashed concrete-block walls; linoleum floor; a long row of blinds that are, of course, always closed. A group of long-haired coders in their mid-20s are gathered around the bright light of the screen. It’s 3am, but no one wants to go home: they’re all clamouring to play next. The two lucky enough to have the controls are holding their arms up, their elbows sore with repetitive strain injury from playing the game. “No!” they shout. “Turn! Fire! Argh…”

Categories videogames

1st International Conference on Computational Creativity

May 12, 2009 //

From Grand Text Auto:

Although it seems clear that creativity plays an important role in developing intelligent computational systems, it is less clear how to model, simulate, or evaluate creativity in such systems. In other words, it is often easier to recognize the presence and effect of creativity than to describe or prescribe it.

The purpose of this conference is to facilitate the exchange of ideas on the topic of computational creativity in a cross-disciplinary setting. It will bring together people from AI, Cognitive Science and related areas such as Psychology, Philosophy and the Arts who research questions related to the notion of creativity as it relates to computational systems. This focus on creativity in the context of computational systems has the potential for increasing innovation in existing fields of research as well as for defining new fields of study, including:

  1. Artificially Creative Systems: development of computational systems that produce or simulate creativity. These systems may be inspired by human creativity or by the possibilities of artificial systems beyond human capabilities.
  2. Computational Models of Human Creativity: construction of cognitive models of human creativity that can be the basis for computational creativity.
  3. Computational Systems for Supporting Creativity: production of user interfaces, interaction design, decision support, and data modeling techniques that lead to the development of intelligent assistants that support the user in being more creative.
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Categories game culture, game design, videogames

Boy Multiplies as Girl Grows

May 4, 2009 //

Noby Noby Boy, Keita Takahashi’s ever-growing experiment in massively multiplayer (pseudo-) co-op gaming, will soon release its biggest and most ambituous expansion. Thanks to Maite B. for pointing this out to me.

Categories videogames

The Art of Rules

May 3, 2009 //

Rules are to game design what editing is to film: a craft that is at once unique to its medium and forms a central (if at times overlooked) part of its distinct expressive powers. Rod Humble’s recent article for the Escapist serves as a useful and rather accessible introduction to the history and modern use of game rules:

there is a simple tool at the center of all game design, whose exploration requires no team or cost, and from which any game designer can learn by its consideration: rules. Furthermore, I believe that the creation and selection of game rules is an art form in and of itself. By this, I mean that the rules of a game can give an artistic statement independent of its other components. Just as a poem doesn’t need pictures and a painting doesn’t need music, a game needs nothing else apart from its rules to succeed as a work of art. It can certainly benefit from other elements but it doesn’t need them.

Categories game criticism, game design, videogames
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