Design Teams for Radical Games #2 - 2012

Below is a list of the second design teams for your radical games. You will be presenting on 23rd April.

G. Shaun S, Amanda B, Adam W http://edproject2.tumblr.com/
H. Amy H, Patrick W, Dakenum J http://the-soggy-saharan-cornflakes.blogspot.com.au/
I. Alex J, Tim D, Anushka D.M http://tri-eyedbandits.blogspot.com.au/
J. Alex T, Charlie Le http://aradicalgame.tumblr.com
K. Sarah C, Chris B, Jayden G http://theawesomedesignteam.tumblr.com/
L. Kamila K, Ahn-Tu T http://jamgaming.blogspot.com.au/

Please post below or email me your team member names and blog URL so that I can put them up on the list.

Radical Games - Students' works

Mimicry - A children's game to learn sounds

Mimicry

Studies show that many children in the early years of primary school don’t have verbal skills suitable for their age.^[1]  Worse, there sin’t a fitting number of toys and games that focus on verbal skills for this demographic available. So how do we help to remedy the problem? Mimicry! is a game about sound to be played with 2-8 people, aged 7 and up. Each turn a player will draw a card and using only the ‘instruments’ at hand or their voice to help the other players guess what their item was within the time limit. Basic verbal reproduction and recognition skills can translate to better language and even arithmatic skills.^[2]
http://mimicrygame.tumblr.com/ http://fyeahradicalexperiencedesign.tumblr.com/







[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Domestic Dash - A remote-controlled toy for lonely dogs

Domestic Dash

We aim to give something that both the player and the animal partner can consider as a true game and yet give something that benefits them beyond simple gameplay. The problem we face to solve is the psychological problems that arises from the long term physical separation from the owner and the pet dog. We looked for something that dogs innately find interesting, which is hunting, and add a more personal element, the voice of the owner, to it. A short training will ensure the desired effect. The solution is an RC car with attached speaker and cameras. This provides a mean for physical, visual and audio interactions between the owner and the pet dog that is aimed to benefit both the player and the dog psychologically. This is a simple means to an end. This method can be reapplied to any other types of pets in a similar way.
http://the-exotic-antarctican-cabbage.blogspot.com.au/

Smell this - A game based on smell alone

Smell This

Through “Smell This”, we are able to invite players who are vision impaired. Although taking away a primary sense of the human body narrows down our audience, it at the same time increases accuracy of our secondary senses. The major problem we encounter is that no one likes being vision impaired for a long duration of time, even for a short duration it can be slightly frustrating. This can be a deterrent from training one’s sense of smell. As we needed an incentive, we decided to make our game competitive. Rather than doing an action on your own, the game is played with 2 people and is a race against time. 

Even when taking away a person primary sense it is still possible for a person to have fun for a duration of time provided there is a proper incentive. Our overall contribution is that games can be played with the things you smell, as opposed to things you see. While our game may not be world changing we hope people can see, from a different light, ways that people play and design games. The results from players will help improve their sense of smell, something they may not always actively pay attention too. http://bforbenzin.blogspot.com.au/

Blind Buzz - A game based on smell alone

Blind Buzz

People have become accustomed to being able to locate a sound's direction with the visual aid of eyesight. Blind people do not have the aid of visuals to guide them, they must rely on sound to guide them through everyday life. Because of this, Blind people have always had to cope with this disadvantage in life. Blind buzz introduces a radical new way to play a game where the players vision is taken away from them and blind people actually have a distinct advantage. The game requires the people be able to locate the position of each sound they hear, factoring in factors such as sound direction and distance. In order to compete with blind people, people must train their hearing to adapt to the visionless game world of blind buzz. Blind buzz isn't just about the player scoring as many points as they can by throwing a ball at different sound locations within a time limit, although that is the player's primary motivation while playing. Blind buzz is a game where people and blind people can play together and introducing a new sightless environment for the player to experience.

http://awesomedesignblog.blogspot.com.au/

Metcycle - A radical cycling game to promote Melbourne Bike Share

Metcycle

http://tikachgames.tumblr.com/

Sign Monster - A radical game to learn sign language

Sign Monster

With this game the initial idea was centered on implementing sign-language (by proxy intricate hand gestures & recognition) as an element of game play into video games. Motivating this decision was the reasons of wanting to create empathy with deaf people who sign as a means of communicating with the world & wanting to create a new experience in games via the novelty of signing. At first I had a convoluted narrative to implement the mechanic (via the use of kinect & or playstation move) but then we settled on a simple mini-game-esque design that was transparently educational yet fun. Sign Monster  is a game where the player must defeat a monster by delaying his sense by spelling out the “English” word he/she presents in Sign language in the time of 7 seconds or less (normal level of difficulty) , while delayed the player can escape from the monster. The monster will catch up with the player & have another word of higher difficulty that the player will have to spell out & so on & so on.  This game will help the player to learn while they play.
http://signmonster.tumblr.com/

Radical Games Exhibition No.1 - Photos

Well done to everyone. You all ended up with great projects! Looking forward to your next projects now.


A. Alex J, Shaun S, Sarah C http://fyeahradicalexperiencedesign.tumblr.com/ (http://mimicrygame.tumblr.com/)

Mimicry

B. Patrick W, Dakenum J, Georgie Z http://the-exotic-antarctican-cabbage.blogspot.com.au/

Domestic Dash

C. Anushka D.M, Christopher B, Amy H http://bforbenzin.blogspot.com.au/

Smell This

D. Jayden G, Adam W, Priscilla W http://awesomedesignblog.blogspot.com.au/

Blind Buzz

E. Timothy D, Kamila K, Chuong L http://tikachgames.tumblr.com/

Metcycle

F. Ahn-Tu T, Amanda B, Alex T http://signmonster.tumblr.com/

Sign Monster

Radical Games Exhibition No. 1

Today week 4 started, and we had a Radical Games Exhibition of all your games!
Chad will post some pictures next, and we are looking at your game ideas, associated webpages, videos and abstracts right now in order to give you your grades, in addition to the feedback you already received as part of the exhibition, including from the great Hugh Davies.

Homework for next week:

• Read the 2 papers for next week and bring them with you including your comments on them, as you will need them to engage in group exercises around the content in the next class
• Comment on the blog below
• Form new teams of 3 and start working on your new, even more radical game for the next exhibition, the bar will be raised once more!

Madness

Today you discussed various game definitions based on Jesper Juul's work and you learned how to pronounce the name of one of the most influential play theorists: Johan Huizinga. Also, we discussed the magic circle and how considering it can help you create radical games. Lastly, through the Madness session you got feedback from everyone in the room on your most recent Radical Game idea.

Homework for next Monday:

1. Comment on the class below: what did you learn? How does it help you design more radical games?
2. Prepare your game for Monday, it will be an ongoing game exhibition!
3. You will also need a webpage and a video for your game. I said you will also need a paper, but for now, you do not need to write a full paper, but an abstract that you put on your webpage for the game please.

Here is how to write this abstract:

An abstract is usually <150 words and consists of 5 sentences:

• Motivation:
  Why do we care about the game? This is where your learnings from gaining empathy comes in: games are always designed for a reason and for someone. Thinking about these might help articulate the motivation for your work.
  Example: Games that support exertion can help address the obesity epidemic.    
• Problem statement:
  What problem are you trying to solve with your game? Even though games often do not seem to solve a problem, they do: this can be ranging from preventing the player from getting bored, to you opening designers' eyes on what games could be if they would only listening to you.
  Example: The problem with Exertion Games is that although people enjoy them, they do not play them for long enough to experience health benefits. 
• Approach:
  How did you go about solving or making progress on the problem? You can answer this by articulating why the novelty of your game helps you make your point. Why did you have to create a new, novel game, instead of just buying one to solve your problem?
  Example: In order to address the problem, we designed an Exertion Game that supports long-term use to demonstrate that this is possible.  
• Results:
  What's the answer? What have you learned from designing your radical game? This is your contribution.
  Example: Our experience of designing the game suggests that 3 aspects are important when designing for long-term use of exertion games: easy to understand high-scores, more bosses than in non-exertion games and offering players calorie counters. 
• Conclusions:
  What are the implications of your answer? Is it going to change the world (unlikely), be a significant "win", be a nice hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating that this path is a waste of time (all of the previous results are useful). Are your results general, potentially generalizable, or specific to a particular case?
  Example: In conclusion, our work can help designers create better exertion games, which means players profit more from the benefits of playing these games. 

Inspired by the advice on how to write a good abstract.

As an example, this is what Chad and Josh wrote for Bubble Popper (this is a bit too long):

Exertion games, digital games that involve physical effort, are becoming more popular. Although some of these games support social experiences, they do not consider nor support body contact, mostly due to technical limitations. We believe ignoring body contact as part of a social play experience limits the richness of exertion games. To explore this design space, we present Bubble Popper, an exertion game centred on a merged physical-virtual space that supports considering and facilitating body contact. This is achieved without the need for sensing body contact, hence Bubble Popper also demonstrates how to consider and facilitate body contact with very simple technology. Through reflecting on our design process and play observations we analysed what impact physical space, screen size and physical disparity between input and digital display can have on body contact and how to design games that aim to consider and facilitate it. Our results aid game designers creating richer exertion game experiences, supporting players profiting from the benefits of playing these games.

Groups & Design Teams 2012

Below is a list of the groups of two, you will be presenting to the class your chosen topic:
1. Georgie Z, Patrick W (19 Mar)
2. Anushka D.M, Christopher B (19 Mar - see email)
3. Alex J, Shaun S (2 Apr)
4. Kamila K, Ahn-Tu T (2 Apr)
5. Adam W, Jayden G (16 Apr)
6. Sarah C, Amy H (16 Apr)
7. Timothy D, Dakenum J (30 Apr)
8. Alex T, Chuong L (30 Apr)
9. Priscilla W, Amanda B (14 May)

Below is a list of the design teams of three, you will be creating your 3 radical games (26 Mar, 23 Apr, 21 May):
A. Alex J, Shaun S, Sarah C http://fyeahradicalexperiencedesign.tumblr.com/ (http://mimicrygame.tumblr.com/)
B. Patrick W, Dakenum J, Georgie Z http://the-exotic-antarctican-cabbage.blogspot.com.au/
C. Anushka D.M, Christopher B, Amy H http://bforbenzin.blogspot.com.au/
D. Jayden G, Adam W, Priscilla W http://awesomedesignblog.blogspot.com.au/
E. Timothy D, Kamila K, Chuong L http://tikachgames.tumblr.com/
F. Ahn-Tu T, Amanda B, Alex T http://signmonster.tumblr.com/

Please email us if there are any errors or if you are not yet listed.
Design teams of three must post their blog URLs below in the comments or email them to us.

Second Class on Radical Games: Design Workshop

Today we learned some strategies on how to come up with a Radical Game. Basically, sitting on your own and waiting for your creative spark is probably not going to do it! 
Try instead to:

1. Design the game FOR someone
2. Gain empathy with this someone
3. Interview deep (ask "WHY?")
4. Reframe what you found in your own words
5. Check what others have done to address the challenge
6. Articulate the
1. Novelty and
2. Contribution
7. Get feedback from who you are designing the game for
8. Ideate (jot down as many ideas as possible)
9. Re-frame: ask outsiders for feedback
10. Iterate and re-iterate through getting feedback
11. Build and test 

Next week is a public holiday, so we meet again on the 19th, again in the Exertion Games Lab, 9.1.27.


Homework:
Prepare a 90 sec elevator pitch for your team's (design team of 3) radical game idea (1 presenter): Finish with the sentence "it is novel because ... and the contribution of our game is ...". Practice it. (We will cut you off otherwise!). In the next class you will get feedback from everyone Madness-style!
Update your design team's tumblr (design team of 3)
Read the papers for next class
Prepare your group discussion task (group of 2) (check the schedule to see when you are on)
Write critical reflection on blog below


Thanks for participating in the design workshop today!

First class on Radical Games

Today we learned what a Radical Game is and how it can make a significant contribution to the field of games and play. Furthermore, we discussed how some existing games can serve as examples how the novelty (seems relatively easy) and contribution (seems often the more difficult part) can unfold.

Next week, we do a design workshop so we meet in the Exertion Games Lab, 9.1.27.
You need to bring money :-). Also, you need to setup your tumblr or alike for your design team of 3, so you can start designing your radical game (email us the URL please). You should also start reading the papers and write your critical reflection about the class by adding a comment below.

Thanks again for contributing to Radical Games today!

Radical Games

New class 

The year 2012 introduces a new class in the games program: Radical Games (codename: Experience Design)

Radical Games are unconventional games that advance the gaming field significantly by challenging our understanding of what games are and play is, confronting us with our assumptions about the way we play and design games, and provoking us to reassess our believes in our work. Radical Games are often considered ground-breaking, advocate extreme change, are labelled as breakthroughs and being ahead of their time.

We will be focusing on digital Radical Games.


Learning objective

You will learn about the following:
What is a radical game, what makes a radical game, how do we recognize a radical game, how do we articulate what a radical game is, how do we design one, and how do we argue that our game is radical?

This is a research-focused class, preparing you for a senior position in industry or academia.


Outcome

You will produce a portfolio of games which includes research papers about your games.

Contributions

Your class contributions to Radical Games.

Schedule

Schedule for Radical Games.  

New class

There will be a new class on the topic of Radical Games to be offered in the RMIT University Games program, featured by the Exertion Games Lab in 2012. More info will be announced here shortly.

Lecture 12: 27May2010 Final demo night!!!!!!!

This was final demo night!!!!!!

Awesome games by everyone, fantastic fun, it was great to be part of so many creative ideas!
Thanks to all of you for joining every Thursday night, and thanks for creating, designing and developing such awesome exertion games! Everyone was really impressed!

If you post your webpages, your promotional pics and youtube videos here, I will collect them and make a nice demo out of it that you can send off to the press!

Thanks again for making this such an awesome time, I have learned a lot from you also, for which I would like to thank you very very much!
Keep up the good work,
your exertion gamer
Floyd








Dark Horse Defender Nerf Game Webpage





Waterfall climber's webpage



Spongeoline's webpage



Pin the Tail's webpage




Peak Hour BMX's webpage








Team M's webpage



Team Nymphora's webpage



Team Popzat's webpage



Team M's webpage

Hardcore swimming team interviewed!

Nice interview by the hardcore swimming team:
http://www.healthgamers.com/2010/making-games/hg-interview-hardcore-swimming-wii-game-design-team/
Well done!

Analog Tetris

http://www.geekologie.com/2010/05/just_buy_a_game_boy_already_an.php

Lecture 11: 20May2010 Bringing it all together

Hi all,

Thanks for joining tonight. During this lecture, you saw how all your hard work on the presentations and the posters came together to help you in your career when it comes to talk about and analyze games such as Guitar Hero or the bar game. You have also seen how the theoretical work from the various game academics worldwide you were exposed to during this semester can support you in your quest to create more awesome games.

I am looking forward to playing your game next week!

Homework:
* 1 exertion game without a conventional screen
* 1 website that describes the game and its benefits (example see pacmanhattan)
* 1 video on youtube
* promotional photograph (collage)
** 1024x768 landscape
** gametitle
** 1-2 sentences describing how the game works and why we need it
** URL
** team
* Promote demo night
* Bring cameras etc
* Report red dots at end of demo night
* Return hardware at end of demo night


Please post in the blog any feedback you might have on the use of the design dimensions in you creating your upcoming game (or any other games where you might have used (any) dimensions).

Hanging off a Bar

Thanks to Luke:

Demo Night 27 May 2010