Creating a Premise

The dramatic elements within a game provides context to the core gameplay experience. Through the premise, the player is allowed to quickly consume the dramtic elements, like character, story, conflict, background and plot, and move into the game with a solid undestanding about the world their are about to participate within. In many ways, the premise initially establishes the core gameplay experience for the game. Without the premise, the player will begin the game confused as to the goal, possible outcome of the game and lacking comprehension of the end-user experience. The premise, in many ways, is the hook that gets the player excited about the game and emotionally invested in the experience that will unfold in front of them. Lets take a look at a few premises of some major games in our industry.

Project Due: Week 11

Please answer the following questions and submit your answers to the dropbox. Please submit Powerpoint Documents, PDFs or Text documents only.

Take one of the games you have played recently and create a "game deconstruction" presentation. Analyze the formal, dramatic and dynamic elements of the game. Create a Power Point presentation from your analysis that visually communicates your exploration of your game. You will be presenting your game deconstruction in class next week. Please design your presentation to be completed in 5 minutes.

To complete this project successfully, ensure your game deconstruction discusses the following critical components:

The formal elements of a game are those elements that form the structure of the game. Without them, games cease to be games. A game without an objective, without rules of procedures, is not a game at all. Players, objectives, procedures, rules, resources, conflict, boundaries and outcome: these are the essence of games. A strong understanding of their potential interrelationships is the foundation of game design. Make sure you discuss the role of these formal elements in your presentation.

Dramatic elements in the game are elements that engage the players emotionally with the game experience and invest them in its outcome. These dramatic elements give context to gameplay, overlaying and integrating the formal elements of the system into a a meaningful experience. Basic dramatic elements, like challenge and play, are found in all games. More complicated dramatic techniques, like premise, character and story, are used in many games to explain and enhance the the more abstract elements of the formal system, creating a deeper sense of connection for the players and enriching their overall experiences.

Systems exist throughout the natural and human made world wherever we see complex behavior emerging from the interaction between discrete elements. They can be mechanical, biological, or social in nature. A system can be as simple as a stapler, or as complex as a government. In each case, when the system is put in motion, its elements interact to produce the desired goal. Games are also systems. At the heart of every game is a set of formal elements that, as we have seen, when set in motion, create a dynamic experience in which the players engage. How the interaction of the formal and dramatic elements is structured forms the game's underlying system and determines a great deal about the nature of the game and the experience of the players. Please include a brief description of a few of the more prevalent systems in the game you have chosen to deconstruct.

After you have saved the project file on your personal external storage device (like a thumb drive), please upload your presentation materials (.pptx, .pdf, .doc) to the 6.2 dropbox on D2L.

** Please note ** - We cannot support Open Office file formats. If you are using Open Office, please export a file format that is supported (.pdf, .ppt, .doc or .txt)

Before you upload your files to D2L, please ensure your files meet the following naming conventions:

Project Due: Week 11

Over the next few weeks, we are going to start to develop a number of the dramatic and formal elemenst for the game you will be creating for your final project. As you have discovered this semester, designing a game takes some significant time and resources, so we're going to begin the design phase of your final project now so that you have enough time to complete the prototype by the end of the semester.

As with all games, the design of your experience begins with a solid understanding of the premise of your game. Take some time tonight and brainstorm some of the possible directions you can take your game. Once you have a solid idea, write the premise for your game. Remember, the premise provides context to the player on the end gameplay experience. It should only include a description of the dramatic elements. Don't include features; the technical elements of the game. Think story, character and conflict. Believe it or not, but these are the elements that a gamer needs to understand before they can emotionally invest in the end-user gameplay experience.

Once you have completed writing the premise for you game, post your premise to the "Creating Your Premise" discussion board on D2L. In addition to writing your own premise, provide constructive feedback on two other posts in this class. At the end of this lab assignment you will have written your own premise and commented on two others. Please note, participation in this assignment will yeild you 25 points towards your final grade.

Ready to go? Have to written your premise for your game? Sweet! Lets post your work to D2L so you can get feedback from your peers. In many ways, you are playtesting your "idea" for a game in this lab assignment. Hit the button to jump to D2L!