Games Britannia

Games Britannia: Dicing With Destiny

On 30th October 2014 our lecture Eddie showed us a video called Games Britannia on BBC4. It was a interesting show to look about all the history of games. The fact that all of the origin games that was made long time ago was evolved and developed in the present.  

Benjamin Woolley, the host of the Game Britannia showed us all the old game that was made in the past and also talked about how he grew up playing different types of old games. He then talks about some example games that were made in the past like snakes and ladders, chess, ludo and even showed us complex games that were similar to snakes and ladders for example.

Then later he focus on how a lot of people used to play games to pass time as a method, like in the church for example, there were a lot of board games carved/inscribed in the stone because they could use it to play while they had to wait. then pretty much looked at interacting and gambling game. The gambling was growing more fast because it all about to winning or loosing money based on the cast of dice. Also another thing he also mention about dice to be something evil when it was seen in the church. So basically it means it affects religions. 

In the last video he talks about chess, a very known game that everybody plays and requires lots of strategy and thinking. What i learned was that chess was used as a method of training troops to battle in the old days. Now in the present chess used to have different types of rules until when the international championship took part the rules was set. Benjamin spoke with one of the professional chess player and he said it easy to play chess but it takes time and it difficult to master it. 

Ancient History Games

Ancient Games: Ur and Senet

 Last week lecture (on 7th October 2014) we looked and learned more about the ancient games. What we played was a game called the royal games of ur and senet. I played the royal games of ur with my partner and the game was around 2600BC.

The rules was bit complex but then we figured it out. It basically was a strategy game where the player takes turns on rolling the dice, and whatever number we get, we move at the space where the card tell us how many space we can move and if we get another roll or not. It wall all based on strategy and it makes the game more fun and competitive to try outsmart your opponent.

Senet, (which was a 5 thousand years old game) i didn't get  a chance to play that game, but i heard it pretty similar to the royal games of ur just the layout and the rule were bit different.

Overall i think learning about ancient board games can be bit of fun to know more knowledge about it and learning the history of old board games.

Battleship

Iterating Battleships

On Friday 17th October in Rob lesson, we was given a task to play a well known game called Battleships. The only thing he wanted us to focus on was what enjoyment we was getting from that game and which mechanic led the fun.

So basically i played the game with my partner and what i observe was there are some tension where i feel happiness and accomplished when i land a hit. Sometimes i get bit frustrated and tent to swear a bit when i can't control my action from what i say, but other than that i mostly enjoy the game play of Battleship. 

Near the end of the game we both were at our last ship (or as i would say the last showdown. Sorry just had to say it). We get to the feeling where the pressure gets too high and if one of us makes a mistake on not landing a hit, then you start to feel more worried and more pressure builds up inside of you. It the feeling where you absolutely have to win at no cost and hoping to land a hit to win the game.

After playing our 1st game, we then get a chance to iterate the game with our own rules. What my partner suggest was adding 3 more smaller (or one-ers and he would say) so that it will be more harder to find the small battleship as we known that we will always go for the largest or midway ships. 

After giving it a try, we seem to feel that it wasn't working out since it still the same game we play previously before iterating it. And also the game will last much longer to find the small ships. 

I would still keep iterating the game to find the best solution on making it fair and more enjoyable for both players to have fun. But other than that, the lesson learned me how we can have more fun with board games and other different emotion by iterating the game.

Bibliography Update

Bibliography

Full length books:
Richard, R. III and Steve, O. (2005). Game Design: Theory & Practice, The Function of the Focus. 2320 Los Rios Boulevard Plano, Texas 75074: Wordware. Page 74 - 77.

Jesse, S. (2008). The Art of Game Design: Good Games Are Created Through Playtesting. Morgan Kaufmann: Elsevier . Page 389-390.

Academic journals:
Cho HY, Boster FJ (2008). First and third person perceptions on antidrug ads among adolescents. Commun. Res., Page 169-189.

Brosius HB, Engel D (1996). The causes of third-person effects: Unrealistic optimism, impersonal impact, or generalized negative attitudes toward media influence? Int. J. Public Opin. Res., Page 142-162.


Articles in books:
Nick, F. The strange case of the casual gamer. Page, 143-163. In Isbister, Katherine. Schafer, Noah. (2008). Game usability. Burlington, USA: Morgan kaufmann


Geoff, K. Die hard/try harder: narrative, spectacle and beyond, from hollywood to videogame. Page, 50-64. in King, Geoff. Krzywinska, Tanya. (2002). Screenplay:cinema/videogames/interfaces. London, U.K.:Wallflower Press