Session Information
| Title | Come Closer: What We've Learned About Creating Powerful Player Experiences |
| Presenter(s) | Jamie Antonisse and Sean Bouchard, Vaguely Spectacular |
| Time | Friday, October 22, 10:30a-11:30a |
| Location | Ballroom |
| Format | Speaker |
| Description | This talk will be a discussion of techniques for developing games that leave a powerful impression on their players. Anyone interested in producing such games, whether to educate or entertain, is a potential audience for this session.
We will begin by explaining, using examples, how the meaning a player gleans from their game experience can be very different from a designer's intended message or theme. In fact, through an improper combination of game mechanics, setting and visual direction, the player can be left with a confounding (or worse, completely uninteresting) experience. As designers, we can never have direct control over a players' experience, but by carefully using all the tools at our disposal, from the sound design to the control inputs, from the characters' vocabulary of action to the narrative that takes you through the world, we can make it easier for a player to meet us halfway. At this point we will begin the meat of the discussion in earnest: the best practices on how to align your game experience with your intended message, with a special emphasis on the use of evocative story/setting and appropriate game mechanics. As primary material, this talk will present work developed throughout a three-year course of study in USC's Interactive Media Department, based around the development of deep, engaging game moments that convey their messages through play. In the course of this discussion we will talk about the process and lessons learned on a variety of projects, including the madcap silent-film themed Misadventures of PB Winterbottom, the nostalgia-tinged narrative platformer Spectre, the 5-minute meditation experiment pOnd, and the rhythm/horror Hush, (the "Best Overall" and "Most Innovative" award-winner at 2008's Meaningful Play conference). Other selected works from the commercial, independent and serious games realm will be analyzed as positive and negative examples of cohesion in interactive experiences. Finally, using the language of film as an example, we will examine an emerging "language" of digital game design, again from the perspective of player experience instead of designer intent. We propose several questions a developer must ask (and answer) in order to make a coherent, interesting, and powerful game. Examples include the pace of interaction (frantic to serene), the potency of avatar (from super-potent to frail/erratic), narrative connection (from immersed to removed) as well as a review of some more traditional definitions of style in visuals and sounds. At the end of the talk, we hope to leave serious game-makers with a better idea of how to deliver their messages to players (and perhaps more importantly, how to spark interest and discussion) through more thoughtful consideration of experience design. |