An Introduction to Situational Game Design

[@anthonywritesfantasy]

Another wildly good talk! "Meaning is the residue of the experience of playing the game" is such a good mantra.

[@Rad_Roxxi_Music]

This is shockingly similar to the game design philosophy I've been developing over the course of my research into game design, but phrased by someone who seriously knows what he's talking about and can back it up with two decades of experience. I'm definitely picking up his book when I get a chance.

[@ginxxyami]

dude is brilliant, concise and impactful speaking like this is rare

[@ginxxyami]

i'll be sure to share this!

[@LordMarlle]

This man should have had at least an hour, still very valuable

[@chasewilliams2635]

The Aesthetic of Play literally changed my life and how I think about games.

[@bencourtemanche]

Should a new game designer read it

[@chasewilliams2635]

@@bencourtemanche Anyone who is interested in videogames as a medium should read it. yes yes yes

[@bencourtemanche]

@@chasewilliams2635 Bet will do

[@evilmarc]

This made me realise why I don’t enjoy Asssassins Creed games anymore. I’ve played them so often there is no longer any choice or variation for me. I know what I can do and am gonna do when tackling a camp/enemy and I also know the outcome. There’s no uncertainty, skill checks or subversion to speak of anymore.

[@kalleskit]

Holy shit, this is gold.

[@DarkThomy]

It always kills me that NOBODY had questions in such great talks !.. Very very interesting, and applicable to all sort of games (boardgames, video games,..) !

[@Mysda_]

That was actually helpful in a very short time

[@Bluedune86]

this is incredibly good

[@TheMAciusiowaty]

Wow an great talk, putting myself as a player in certain situations is exactly how i apporach designing my ideas for games

[@pabloascencio7397]

03:10

[@ministryofloafing3305]

Start time. Thank you on behalf of youtube.

[@harshmudhar96]

Guy has two books: Aesthetics of Play, which provides a theoretical philosophical model, and Situational Game Design, which provides more concrete game design methodology. That's all in the 3 minutes. The video is like an introduction to situational design.

[@jeshweedleon3960]

You are a beautiful sonnuvabitch and I love you.

[@Alpha-kt4yl]

Thanks

[@goopaspect536]

the medium really do be the message

[@lukasfletcher4732]

If anyone finds any information on "Ubisoft's rational game design approach" that the guy asking the question talked about, please share it with me. All I could find was a talk on the GDC Vault named "Level Design Workshop: 360 Approach for Open World Mission Design". Wish there were more talks like this, find the topic very interesting. I also found an article on Gamasutra called "Rational Design: The Core of Rayman Origins".

[@bzdirt]

I haven't worked at The Big U, but someone from there was hired to show it to the studio I was working at: Rational Game Design really ain't that complexe (AFAIK). I've seen it used mostly in level design, where the idea is to, basically, plan your stuff ahead. You can use it in micro scale, e.g. giving a scores to types and variants of encounters, and then make sure that every level has stuff in it to match a desired score. Or that the score move smoothing within a level. On a macro scale you could look at different kinds of missions, your wow moments, etc, and spread them evenly across your game. (Not sure, but I believe it can fall into RGD) So, basically, the idea is to have a left-brain approach. To structure your stuff ahead, cuz you can have an idea of what you'll be doing, on paper, before the first line of code has been written. In contrast to waiting for inspiration, starting from first level to the last and running out of idea when you're halfway, or having to shuffle the levels around (or cut/redo them) because the difficulty curve is all over the place. I was working that way years before hearing of Ubi's method. I think they mostly put a label of just, good practice. I wouldn't be surprised though if some out there pushed it to the extreme.

[@NeoShameMan]

@@bzdirt to add further context, rational game design came to a counter point, in the french dev culture, to the artist/author led approach of the then "french touch", exemplified by the excesses of cryo entertainment, to shift it toward an industrial/engineering predictable approach, therefore minimizing risk. That's why authors like Desilet get push toward the door. The first assassin creed production's story is actually a great case of thar dichotomy, they had a game stuck in development hell where they couldn't find the fun for most of the dev time, but they had a beautiful world, a great story and a tech showcase. Until ubisoft override the creative director and had someone apply emergency rationale design in 3 month, given the time it lead to a repetitive structure, but the rest is history. This also show the limitations of rationale design, ubisoft most successful franchise were all originated in an author mentality first, then faltered by excess engineer mentality, on one side author lead to beautiful directionless mess, on the other hand engineer are stuck in functional but steril experience, they work best together. Most highlights in ubisoft game are authorial accident, like vaas finally giving an identity to farcry, it was a voice artist who did a vastly different interpretation than the one asked, and defined the model for the tone of all the sequels, else ubisoft games feel very paint by the number.

[@SpaceDodo]

helpful

[@coltonjohnson9739]

Really cool talk, terrible title. I was working and had GDC talks on in the background, otherwise I'd never pick this video. It sounds like a really, really boring college textbook or class. Pleasantly surprised though-- that was a cool talk!

[@vista777]

Funny, I had the opposite reaction. I was pretty bored of gdc talks but this title piqued my interest because it sounded really meaty and applicable. Wasn‘t disappointed, might read the book

[@maybeonce8537]

Meaning is not what a title tells us.

[@dddmemaybe]

@@vista777 Me too, the title feels really cool to dig into myself.