Games and

Interactive Systems
Welcome
1 Welcome to the module
2 Who are you?
3 What is a game?
4 How to succeed at this degree
0 Me, Me, Me
1 Biology -> Teaching
MA Games Design -> Supermassive
Until Dawn/Killzone ShadowFall
PhD at Goldsmiths
UCA -> Goldsmiths -> Greenwich
Qualitative HCI/Games Studies
Mixed-Affect/Eudaimonic Gameplay Experience
AdventureX
Game Jams…?
1 Welcome to the module
1 Thursday: Lecture 10-12, Labs 1-2/2-3 <-check
3 Parts
- 1st Semester (solo):
- Games Design
- Unity (2D)
- 2nd Semester:
- Group Game
- Unity (3D)
1 3 Parts
- 1st Semester (solo):
- Analytical Essay
- 2D platformer
- 2nd Semester:

- SMALL 3D game
1 - USB **EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE**
- Cf. pen drive/key ring/thumb stick etc.
- Unity 2022.3.7
- Pen/paper (duh!)
- Come equipped to learn!!!
2 Who are you?
 A few questions

2
3 What is a game?
 "At its most elementary level then we can define game as
an exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is
an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure
and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome."
3
Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith
 "At its most elementary level then we can define game as
an exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is
an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure
and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome."
3
Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith
 “To play a game is to engage in activity directed toward
bringing about a specific state of affairs, using only means
permitted by specific rules, where the means permitted by
the rules are more limited in scope than they would be in the
3 absence of the rules, and where the sole reason for
accepting such limitation is to make possible such activity.”

Bernard Suits
 “To play a game is to engage in activity directed toward
bringing about a specific state of affairs, using only means
permitted by specific rules, where the means permitted by
the rules are more limited in scope than they would be in the
3 absence of the rules, and where the sole reason for
accepting such limitation is to make possible such activity.”

Bernard Suits
 “A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and
quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are
assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to
influence the outcome, the player feels attached to the
3 outcome, and the consequences of the activity are optional
and negotiable.”

Jespur Juul
 A game is:
1. a rule-based formal system with
2. a variable and quantifiable outcome,
3. where different outcomes are assigned different
3 values,
4. the player exerts effort in order to influence the
outcome,
5. the player feels attached to the outcome, and
6. the consequences of the activity are optional and
negotiable.

Jespur Juul
 "A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning
that requires players to struggle toward a goal."

Greg Costikyan
3
 "A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning
that requires players to struggle toward a goal."

Greg Costikyan
3
 "A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable
outcome."

3
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
 "A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial
conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable
outcome."

3
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
 "A closed formal system that engages players in structured
conflict and resolves its uncertainty in an unequal
outcome".

3 - Tracey Fullerton
1 "A closed formal system that engages players in structured
conflict and resolves its uncertainty in an unequal
outcome".

- Tracey Fullerton
 "A game is problem-solving activity, approached with a
playful attitude."

- Jesse Schell.
3
 "A game is problem-solving activity, approached with a
playful attitude."

- Jesse Schell.
3
 “A good game is a series of interesting choices.”

- Sid Meier
- (unintentional)
3
 What’s the difference?

Both involve play

Both involve ‘fun’
3
You play a game
You play with a toy
 Toy has no goals.
Games have goals.

3
4 How to succeed at this degree
 Turn up…on time!
Don’t talk
Don’t sleep/browse phone!
Take notes
4 **My slides are not notes**
TIME MANAGEMENT
 Open a game dev tool everyday
Conferences, meetups, events….GO!
Play more games
Different games
4 Games you don’t usually play
Old games, unheard of games
Learn about your medium
Learn, analyse, understand.