Game Building: What Is The Frame? How Is The Signal?

Session Summary:

A rambling, cross discipline exploration of the meaning of games and how games can engage in diversifying both audience and game technique. Partly technology, partly theory, partly artistic contemplation, this will touch on a variety of game industries, as well as a range of accessibility interfaces / endpoints.

Description:

A rambling, cross discipline exploration of the meaning of games and how games can engage in diversifying both audience and game technique. Partly technology, partly theory, partly artistic contemplation, this will touch on a variety of game industries, as well as a range of accessibility interfaces / endpoints.

This exploration will start out framing a dialogue about the nature of games, how game as a goal is different from communication as a goal, and how technology shapes game structure and gameplay. We will then move on to open discussion about games, creative use of technology and constraints, and imagining different methods for games to interact with players. We will also discuss why we game? What are we trying to get out of a gaming experience?

What will you learn?

You will look at games from several vantage points; as engagement, as interactive systems, as conceptual structures.

You will explore some of the different goals we might be trying to satisfy through games.

You will be asked to think about Frames and how approaching different interfaces is a chance to design better games and explore new game possibilities.

Practical Skills:

• How to question games
• What goals are you trying to address in a game
• How ‘frame and interface’ allow you to serve different gaming needs as well as different audiences