Game Elements

Game Elements
Source: wikimedia

Hi!

So, for this weeks reading, I've spent a while reading different articles all on game elements. Here are some of my thoughts on them.

Article 1 
The first article I've read titled Formal Abstract Design Tools written by Doug Church, focuses on the different parts of what makes games good and fun. To be a game designer you need to understand why a certain game is fun instead of annoying because with that knowledge you can avoid making mistakes and make  'fun' games in the future.

The part that I've found interesting is where Doug began to compare the different industries. He mentioned how doctors know latin to describe body parts in medicine or engineers know their technical jargon when talking about their industry. Where am I going with this? Communication. The article mentions how there is a progressive decline or halt in design evolving. Why? The primary inhibitor for this is the lack of common design vocabulary.
The reason why I found this interesting is because I had no idea that this was a thing or I should say that this was even a problem. In my head I always pictured designers having their own complete technical language with millions of words they use when making 'fun' games.

Article 2
The second article I've read titled Atomic Elements of Games talked all about different atomic elements of games. You may be wondering, what the hell are atomic elements of games? (you probably aren't but... if you are) Elements of games are all the different parts that make up the game like -
Objective - Also known as goals is one of the main focuses of the game. What is the player doing? Is it a game about chasing? collecting? capturing? you get the point. I liked how the article said "Once you know the objective, many of the other formal elements will seem to define themselves for you." This made me think about how really important the objective is because without it, the game has no point.

Players - This element talks about things like, how many players does the game support 4, 8, 12? Can they leave any time they like and would this affect the gameplay, if so how? It even goes into their relationships in the game. Are they on a team? Are they alone? So on and so on. This really puts things into perspective and makes me think about how much things have to be thought about when designing, especially a game.

Article 3
The last article I've read titled The Future Of Data Analysis by Ian Dransfield. Even thought this articles doesn't talk about the elements of games it does talk about a different topic that I've mentioned before. Communication. 
It decibels the decade long change that took place in the game industry regarding analysing games to see what makes games 'fun' and not 'boring' or 'annoying'. Like I've mentioned before communication was a primary inhibitor to game evolving. The articles got interesting when it mentioned how game analysing is still in its early days but began to play a huge role among game studios that are trying to see what makes a game good and what makes a game fun. This is of course in their interests to analyse games and make new ones that the public will love and buy. BUT! There is a question, if game analysis becomes even bigger, which it probably will. Is there a chance that big names/studios will abuse the information that they discover to turn it over and place it in a way so its much more beneficial to them than players. 

Thanks for reading.