Game Design - Crossing Frustration line and achieving Nirvana

Well till last sunday I was quite frustrated with the advancement we made in designing a game.Lots of idea were coming to mind but was not able to concentrate on one. Finally the idea of simulating Football on a board came to my mind and we started playing the game and developing the rules for it. While playing the games we encountered situations which were not mentioned as rules, but they did gave us chance to formulate new rules to counter those tricky situations. And when we took it to sir he liked some of the ideas of rules of game. But he said that simulating a real world game on board is nothing new. Lot of work has been done on it. And yet they are not quite successful. Also we have computer simulation games too for them. So why would anybody play a board game. It's not possible to introduce the elements of real physical world and their constraints on a board game. Even when we take analogy it comes with it's own set of rules and directions. And so our idea of football was kinda right away rejected. With frustration in mind me any my game design partner sat together for brain storming. We were very much attached to the game of football we developed on board. But we need to leave the idea. Also many of the moves in the games were kinda unique and original which we didn't want to reject also. I kept on thinking for 3 hours with nothing substantial. Each time I came up with an idea and in the process of developing it, ideas of new games were emerging. We discussed the strategies of football and other games that popped in our minds and decided to stick with game of football. But we changed the concept entirely and now it's no more a football. Infact I won't say the idea of our final game emerged from football only. It was a combination of many ideas. One of our ideas in the beginning of game design was a treasure hunt sort of game, which really didn't took up (thanks to my lack of concentration on just one game and highly efficient brain which was giving new ideas each second). But we thought it's a nice idea coz it has got all the elements of forming a game (will make a new post of evaluating a game for it's gameness). So we took up this idea and combined it with football and lot many other ideas, resulting in a new game called "......" well the name is not decided yet.

Game Design

Playing game is very fun filled experience. And there are lot many criterias to evaluate whether a game is a game or not. First of all a competition is not a game. Game have to have element of interaction between player. And the interaction has to be a significant ones. When a turn of one player affects other player's turn it induces challenge and more fun in the game.
Also there has to be an abstract goal and a manifested goal for the game. An abstract goal is something which is indirected e.g. teaching maths and a manifested goal is something that needs to be achieved while playing say in chess you need to defeat your enemy in some condition.
Abstract goal becomes clear as you go further in game design.
And as you proceed further in game design the level of frustration increases. Deciding game plan becomes very important aspect of designing a good game. It can be as simple as stealing treasure from a castle and coming back home. And on it is developed the entire game. You develop rules as you play the game. And this requires at least 5-10 iterations of play. The hardware evolved too. You need to add graphics and styling to the game to make it more interesting and meaningful. Themes in game add variations and charms and can bring fantasy in it.

Right now I'm also in the process of developing a game. And I'm very frustrated. First I am getting lot many ideas of different game plans but not able to concentrate on one. This is because am not able to frame rules for them easily and this results in shift in the game concept. Second, the game that I selected, sir didn't like it. I don't know I need to evaluate the game against the criteria. Though it may succeed the evaulation it has to succeed in making people play.

Sunday morning

When I was child I used to get early on this day (yes it's true) go for a walk have breakfast and settled before TV screen for the shows of He-man, spider-man and super-man. Well those days Doordarshan was the only channel available and so you didn't had any option of switching to some other. The cartoon shows were followed by "Mahabharat" the serial which is said to be longest running TV show in Indian history. It also has the record of being the most expensive TV serial in those days. Even though today TV is flooded with so many mythological serials showing special effects with latest technology the charm and color of old serial do not fade even by a bit. Remember the scene when the arrows of Ram and Ravan hit each other. If we see those effects today they seem to be pretty laughable. But the kind of audience it captured cannot be seen today even with realistic and mind blowing special effects.
Was it the content or way of presenting or no competition responsible for such a spectacular audience capture?
Well my next project is going to be on Interactive Television. I need to understand this phenomena to make the latest technology work for the same effect.

My first attempt on illustrations

Well I have tried this in past also, but never took it seriously.

Now this is some serious work from me. I thought about doing some illustrations with some thoughts in mind and drew it.



[the above one is a copy from newspaper]

Time management for designers

Designers are free souls. They like to do work whenever they like. There are no time constraints for them. Till now what I have experienced is that we do most of our work in the last minutes of submissions or deadlines. Though we try to follow a strict timeline and management system, last minute change is cent percent expected hence whatever significant work is done is in the last minutes/hours.

So do you agree with this?

Well I don't agree fully. It's true that creativity needs time ( a lot of time for really creative and logical work). But then what's the use of it if it doesn't happen at the required hour?

We need to atleast chalk out our activities and deadlines and most importantly what is to be done. The last part is the most important and deadly one. As a designer you need to fix your mind to one thing that is most appropriate. You can't experiment till the last minute and still say that the work would have been done better. Well then it's not the final design.

One of my professors is too good in this. From the very beginning of the project he's quite clear of what needs to be done and how much time it'll take. And then he plans the things leaving buffer time at the end to cope up with any unexpected jobs. Yes true that the kind of foresightedness he has comes with experience, but we need to start practicing it from now.

Lotus in IIT

DSCN9466
Originally uploaded by Kumar Ahir

In these rainy days a beautiful pink lotus has come in the a small pond in main building in IIT. And it stands still with stiff petals as if to mark it's triumph.

Saw a firefly

How many of us living in city has ever seen a firefly.
Well no wonder nobody of us would have seen it.

I was walking past main playground in IIT today and I saw some small leds lighted and flying. And they were blinking. The whole picture was unforgetable. Even taking a photography would'nt have done justice to it.

I searched internet to know more about it.
This one gives very good information >>

In this fast moving life we have gone so far from nature that it's hard to compensate the same. How much do we think of mother nature? How many times do we thank God for giving us such a beautiful place to live? And do we appreciate the wonders that these small creatures do?

think...

Rainy Ahmedabad

These are some of the coolest pics of Ahmedabad in rains.
Clicked by my brother.
Check it out here >>