We should play games

I am a huge fan of computer based games. Not that I don't play outdoors, but with time I have embraced computer games as my favorite pass time. Playing with my kid is lot more fun and enriching, but computer games give me direction in which our future interaction with computers is heading. More and more devices and software and in the core information are becoming tangible and graspable. Future lies in having a system where you can easily sense the appropriate information of the context you are in. And when I say computer based games, they are not just limited to screens. Nintendo Wii is an excellent example of out of screen games, which is marvelous combination of physical and virtual environment. So are Sony's gesture based game control and the latest in news is project Natal by Microsoft. Natal is an excellent example of how gaming is taken a step further to take advantage of computational power to utilize virtual information in a tangible manner.

Project Natal by Microsoft

Nintendo Wii game setup

Take for example Google maps open on a mobile device. If you open google maps on any mobile and tag your current location it'll automatically zoom to your current location and show information around you. May be based on your previous searches it shows sequential information. If you have been searching for restaurants in past on your laptop/pc and/or mobile on google maps, next time you do a search on your mobile it may/will automatically provide you with restaurants information around you. So you are in a game.

Project IGI game screenshots

A game is nothing but consumption of information in a context which is realistic. I have been playing project IGI. It's a third person, strategy based, shooter game. Information in there, is real like a physical world. You don't have dashboard or graphs or table to play with. you have actual physical objects. And once you are in game you will just play it rather than figuring out what's what? It's quite natural. Just see how lot of information weather, life of soldier, ammunition available, light conditions, time of day etc. can be easily figured out just by looking at the screen. It's real and natural.

If we take scenario of enterprise applications there has been lot of efforts in bringing the complexity of UI down to natural usage and very small amount of time investment to learn them. One way to achieve this is to create a game like scenario and then let the users (system admins, CEO etc.) play with the tangible information about outside world in the same fashion. Challenge is to figure out a way to represent the complex virtual information and relations between them in more natural way. Hence comes data visualization and mapping part of Design. It's altogether a separate topic in itself.

So in a nutshell if you want to learn UI design concepts you better be playing games !

Happy Gaming

And the day has come - Mahawar

The day I have been eagerly waiting for has come.

Mahawar - our game is out in markte. It's being sold and marketed by Funskool India Ltd.

Check it out online at Funskool site.

Thought the graphics in the game are not upto the mark that we delivered and the game play also seem to have been tweaked a bit to suit the market and manufacturing, I am anxious to get myself a copy of it and play.

And we are there ...

So the wait for few of us has ended.
The efforts of a 15 days of slogging and playing for one common goal, Designing a game has shown colors.
I can't keep my mouth shut any more now but just boast of it...

For those who feel strange to this post some track back in time >>
Games are in market. Go grab it, before it's out of stock.
It's available online at Indiaplaza.

Here's the screenshot of page where they are available for sale online.

Alternatively you can visit any toy/game store nearby selling Funskool products and ask for these.
Currently following four games are in market
1. Triplets
2. Chakraview
3. Gotcha
4. Sixteen Fixteen

2 more are yet to come in short time.
Holding my breath till then.

All of these games are effort of Prof. Uday Athvankar who guided M.Design students of IDC, IIT Bombay and taught them how to play and set the rules for game design.
More on game design at >>

After DNA it's Times of India

So why other leading news papers stay behind covering what's going to shake the Indian gaming industry. This time Times of India gave an exclusive article what have been fun and learn for us.

Read this >> article on Game Design in Times of India.

The game is in news now

What we did last semester as a 15 day module is in news now.
The games of the students of "Game Design" module conducted by Prof. Uday Athvankar have made it to market. The games have been patented (Design registered). Funskool one of the largest game and toy manufacturer have bought the games to be released by the end of this year.
DNA-the national news paper of India published in 4 major cities has noticed this venture and published an article on it. Online version ->>
Congratulations to all the gamers and game designers @ IDC

MahWar - the ultimate treasure battle designed by me and Suri is also a part of this.
More images of Mahawar here >>

Mahawar - the ultimate treasure battle

The final game of game design elective.

Mahawar - the treasure battle

You have the key ....

And your opponents too have it ...

There lies a treasure hidden somewhere in the treasure zone no one knows where, but you and your opponent have a cryptic treasure map, which is different for all yet leads to the same treasure at same place...

You need key to open the treasure ....

but whose key will open the treasure .... can be yours or your opponents !?!?
Discover the treasure and the key to it and open the treasure to become winner in this
Maha War

















Some of the teaser pics.
Well the game has been completely designed and developed and packaged to give it an international feel.
It's ready to play.
But wait for a while...

Let there be hot talks...

Striking the market soon...

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.