CHEGheads Blog

GDC 2010: Game Psychology 101

Posted by Jon-Paul C. Dyson - 03/31/10 at 11:03 am

Ever since 1986, when Chris Crawford invited leading game designers to his home to discuss their work, the Game Developers Conference has been an annual forum for the world’s foremost innovators to share ideas and consider the future of the industry.

Each year at GDC, I am drawn to sessions that explore what makes for good play. This held true for GDC 2010, which I attended with my fellow CHEGheads, Marc and Eric.

Three presentations stood out in this regard. In his keynote address, “The Psychology of Game Design: Everything You Know is Wrong,” Sid Meier drew lessons from his own games like Civilization and Pirates! to illustrate how good game design sometimes means giving the psychology of the player priority over the reality of the simulation. For example, players expect to win battles at rates far greater than the odds they face and therefore are disappointed if they don’t ultimately win every game. Game designers are well served when they remember that the rules of play aren’t always the same as the rules of life.

Chris Hecker cited psychology and motivation theory in his talk “Achievements Considered Harmful.” He contemplated whether using extrinsic means of motivation (such as awarding achievements  for accomplishing certain tasks) in video games might be less effective than using intrinsic means (such as the fun of the game itself) to engage players. Hecker’s talk responded in part to Jesse Schell’s recent D.I.C.E. presentation, “Design Outside the Box,” which painted a vision of a future in which huge swathes of life outside games are governed by external awards like points.

Brenda Brathwaite spoke about a series of non-electronic games she created to tackle tough topics such as African slaves’ experience of the Middle Passage, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and the Holocaust. Recalling the impact of these games on the players, Brathwaite noted how they inspired conversation, debate, and even tears. Her presentation reintroduced a much debated question first proposed more than two decades ago in an EA ad: “Can a computer make you cry?”

Can an electronic game make you cry? It’s a question worth considering, and it illustrates the importance of all three of these sessions. They show how examining players’ psychological responses to games can help designers stay inspired, challenged, and creative. I look forward to next year’s GDC, but meanwhile, I’m curious. Has a game ever made you cry? If so, which one(s)?

Katamari Damacy: What’s a Pint-sized Prince to Do?

Posted by ssymonds - 03/26/10 at 03:03 pm

Your father, the King of All Cosmos, had too much fun partying last night and accidently destroyed all the stars and constellations. Whoops! Being a mighty king, you’d think he’d be able to rectify this problem easily, but he’s never been a particularly effective king. As a matter of fact, he’s not a good father, either—he definitely never liked you. He’s as big as a planet, and he doesn’t consider you, at 4 inches tall, much of an heir to his kingdom. He always orders you to clean up his messes, and without so much as a thank-you. While he’s having a good time, you’re stuck on Earth with a tiny adhesive ball that’s supposed to grow large enough to transform into a star in the heavens.

So goes the premise for Katamari Damacy (塊魂 or “Clump Spirit”), one of the most unique video games ever created. When I saw it delivered to the ICHEG Lab, I knew I was in for a treat.

Katamari Damacy began as a school project designed by Keita Takahashi, a student working out of the Namco Digital Hollywood Game Laboratory. Developed for under $1 million, mere pocket change compared to most other Namco hits, and published in 2004 as a PlayStation 2 game, it was intended to be funny and entertaining yet simple to play, and the high level of its success took everyone by surprise.

The game play is basic. As prince, you are given a small katamari (adhesive ball) to roll across the planet. As you roll, the ball picks up tiny objects, such as ants and thumbtacks. The larger the ball becomes, the bigger the objects it attracts, and before you know it, you’re picking up mountains and skyscrapers. However, if you bite off more than the katamari can chew, you risk getting stuck or digressing. For example, if you try to pick up a house when your ball is the size of a car, the house may knock off some of the other things you have collected, and the ball will shrink. Eventually, however, you may be able build a katamari large enough to turn the King into a star.

Some players complain about the game’s simplicity and say, “All you do is roll the ball around,” or “The graphics aren’t even realistic.” Others say the game is too short—you can finish in about 10 hours—but even the harshest critics admit they’ve never played anything like it. In fact, some of these perceived weaknesses translate into great strengths. Young children understand the basic concept of the game—roll around the sticky ball, pick stuff up, and watch it grow. Adults love the underlying complexities thinking, “I could pick up this pencil, but since it’s longer than the ball that means the ball will roll at odd angles until I can collect enough objects to make it round again!” In addition, the innovative music, which combines traditional video game sounds with jazz, samba, and pop, is one of the game’s highlights.

Katamari Damacy had a modest introduction in Japan, and European publishers believed it was too quirky for their market. So Namco released the game in the United States without high expections. Katamari Damacy quickly became a cult favorite, however, and stores sold out at a rapid pace. The game won numerous awards, including recognition for “Excellence in Game Design” at the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards. Since its release, Namco has created five sequels: We Love Katamari, Me & My Katamari, Beautiful Katamari, I Love Katamari, and Katamari Forever. Given all that success, I can’t believe I’d never heard of this game before it made its way into the ICHEG Lab! I’m hooked now, though.

Neo Geo is Big

Posted by ssymonds - 03/19/10 at 09:03 am

Growing up, I never owned a single video game console. I owned a few sports games that I played on my old Apple IIe computer, and I recall playing Super Mario World when I was at my babysitter’s house. But that was about the extent of my gaming knowledge. All this changed when I got married, however.

My husband is a hard-core gamer. He favors RPGs, puzzle games, and platformers and also plays his share of shooters and fighting games. But what amazed me most when we met was not the breadth of genres he played, but the sheer number of consoles he played them on! I quickly gained an education in the differences between systems manufactured by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. I learned about the evolution of handheld systems, and how PC gaming was still going strong. Whenever a new console came out, I knew he’d be waiting in line to purchase it. Today I’ve fallen in love with Nintendo’s DS and Wii, and he can generally be seen playing his Xbox 360. The one modern game console he didn’t buy when it first came out, however, was Sony’s PlayStation 3. He didn’t believe he would play enough of the then-available games to justify spending $499 or $599, depending on the size of the hard drive. At the time I had no idea how much game systems normally cost, and so I assumed this must be the most expensive console yet produced. It wasn’t until recently, when a shipment of games from Japan entered the ICHEG lab, that I learned that a console that débuted 16 years earlier actually cost a lot more.

While cataloging this group of Japanese games, I came across Ryūko no Ken 2 (龍虎の拳, 2. Released in the United States as Art of Fighting 2, this game was made for the Neo Geo console. First produced in 1990 by the Japanese company Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK), Neo Geo began as an arcade game system that stored up to six different games inside one cabinet. Arcade centers with limited space especially liked this efficiency.

Subsequently, the Neo Geo home console model impressed consumers by bringing arcade-level graphics and game play into their living rooms. However, many people didn’t like its selling price of $650, the equivalent of more than $1,000 today!  In addition, a single game sold for as much as $200, more than most consoles these days.  Some gamers were willing to shell out the money for the system because they were intrigued by the graphical benefits inherent in the system, but its steep price kept it from competing with other consoles such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. And once 3D graphics became the gaming industry norm, the Neo Geo could not successfully hold onto its player base, as it only produced 2-D games.

Neo Geo games are still around, both as downloads on virtual consoles and as collector’s items, but if you decide to collect them, be forewarned. They take up a lot of space; they measure more than seven inches in length! My husband never bought the Neo Geo, but luckily ICHEG has an abundance of  Neo Geo games. And there is plenty of room for them here, so I get a chance to try them out while cataloging.

Super Mario Brothers: Doki Doki in Disguise

Posted by ssymonds - 03/12/10 at 11:03 am

Cataloging a large collection of video games and related materials involves a ton of research and leads to game development stories that often are as fascinating as the games themselves. ICHEG’s recent acquisition of a group of games and game systems from Japan brought Super Mario Brothers’ history to the forefront. Mario, the Italian-American plumber designed by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, is one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. Mario began his career in 1981 as the protagonist “Jumpman” in Donkey Kong, and in 1983, he and his brother Luigi appeared in their very own arcade game, Mario Bros. Mario has since appeared in games designed for every Nintendo console invented.  And he has made guest appearances in titles such as Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and Super Smash Bros. Given Mario’s iconic status, it is likely that if you have ever fired up a Nintendo system, you have played this character at least once. But did you know there’s also a good chance that one of the times you thought you were playing Mario, you really weren’t?

In 1985, Nintendo published the game Super Mario Brothers as a sequel to the Mario Bros. arcade game, and the new title became the best-selling video game of all time until Wii Sports surpassed it in 2009. Due to Super Mario Brothers’ phenomenal success, Nintendo quickly produced the sequel Super Mario Brothers 2. However, the firm’s U.S. division, Nintendo of America, chose not to publish it because they considered it too difficult for their player base and too much like the original Super Mario Brothers game. They didn’t abandon the concept completely, though.

As an alternative, Nintendo of America turned to a lesser-known game for the Famicom Disk System, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (夢工場 ドキドキパニック), which translates to Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic. Doki Doki Panic already incorporated many famous Mario elements, such as coins, POW blocks, and level-warping. The company replaced the original Arabian-themed characters with Mario-related sprites and made minor alterations to the game’s soundtrack while hardly altering the game play. Nintendo of America released this rendition of Doki Doki Panic in the West as Super Mario Brothers 2 and the tagline “Mario Madness,” and the vast majority of American consumers had no idea they were not playing the same version as their Japanese counterparts.

American audiences got a chance to play the original in 1993, when Nintendo published the compilation game Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This included the American versions of the first three Super Mario Brothers, as well as a segment called Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which is the original Japanese version of Super Mario Brothers 2.  Today, however, when most people boot up their old Nintendo console to enjoy a game of Super Mario Brothers 2, they’re still running and jumping their way through a disguised version of Doki Doki Panic.  As someone who clearly recalls Mario as her first video game experience, I especially enjoyed cataloging this game. Who would have thought that such a classic icon could be so easily disguised?

CHEGheads Head to GDC

Posted by Eric Wheeler - 03/10/10 at 09:03 am

The CHEGheads are heading to San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event. The conference, which attracts more than 17,000 attendees, is a forum for industry professionals to exchange ideas on the future of electronic gaming. This is a special opportunity to meet with game designers, producers, programmers, and others who are the creative force behind games currently in the ICHEG collection and others we will collect in the future.

We are looking forward to several GDC activities, too.  Legendary game designer Sid Meier, creator of Sid Meier’s Civilization and an inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame, is delivering the keynote address, “The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong).” John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, is being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 10^th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards for his groundbreaking work on titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. And we can’t wait to hit GDC’s Expo Floor to see the latest in game innovations!  

The CHEGheads will keep you up to date on what’s going on at GDC via ICHEG posts on Twitter—follow us at http://twitter.com/icheg—and next week we’ll share some of our post-conference impressions on this blog.

A Final Fantasy and International Gaming Revolution

Posted by ssymonds - 03/08/10 at 02:03 pm

Over the past year and a half, I’ve had the privilege of cataloging more than 10,000 electronic games for ICHEG. As a gamer, I’ve found this a great way to learn about the various genres and mechanics that make up the history of electronic games.

One of my favorite games is Final Fantasy XI (ファイナルファンタジーXI, or FFXI,), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) published by Square Enix. Like World of Warcraft and EverQuest, FFXI is composed of multiple online servers that enable players to interact in a virtual environment. However, unlike other games of its genre, FFXI’s servers are completely international, meaning they are not separated by region or time zone. When asked if they would consider adding servers for specific regions, the developers said no, citing their desire to foster international gaming cooperation.

To facilitate game-play, developers configured an auto-translation system  that immediately translates  in-game locations, weapons, armor, spells and abilities, along with simple phrases such as “Hello!” and “Thank you!” into a player’s native language. FFXI is also the first and only MMORPG published on multiple platforms, including the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PC.

The Japanese company Square, Co. (the predecessor to Square Enix) entered the video game industry in the mid 1980s, publishing racing games, early role-playing games, and side-scrolling platformers for the Nintendo Famicom. These games proved unsuccessful, and by 1987, the company was all but bankrupt. In a last-ditch attempt to save it, designer Hironobu Sakaguchi created a fantasy RPG with elements drawn from the acclaimed Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest series. In reference to his upcoming retirement plans, Sakaguchi named the game Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジ ). Sakaguchi’s creation not only saved the company from ruin, it also became Square’s flagship game series. The company never anticipated a sequel, therefore all subsequent Final Fantasy games are connected only thematically and with similar styles of game-play, rather than by plot or characters. Currently, there are 12 main Final Fantasy games, along with several spin-offs and sequels. Two additional main series games are hitting the stands this year, including the series’ second online iteration.  

The initial game remains one of the most influential RPG console games in history, and Final Fantasy VII is credited with being the first RPG to heavily appeal to the mass market instead of only hard-core gamers. Whenever I boot up FFXI, I thank my lucky stars that one man’s fantasy turned out to be anything but final.

First There Was Famicom

Posted by Eric Wheeler - 03/05/10 at 02:03 pm

A few days ago a researcher in our ICHEG lab sparked a rich conversation about her favorite childhood gaming platform, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Like so many gamers in the late 80s, she spent endless hours assuming the role of Mario and squashing Goombas in the Mushroom Kingdom. Her memories of Super Mario Bros. and NES brought up the system’s groundbreaking predecessor. 

Several years before the phenomenally successful NES launched in the United States in 1985, the Nintendo Family Computer—known as Famicom—hit the Japanese gaming market. The brainchild of Masayuki Uemura, Famicom was Nintendo’s first cartridge-based home video game console. It became an instant hit, with game titles like legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s arcade classic Donkey Kong fueling sales. Early Famicom units experienced technical problems and many were recalled, but this proved only a temporary setback. Nintendo sold more than 10 million units in Japan, and that was just the beginning.

The next iteration of Famicom, the NES, was bundled with our guest’s favorite, the Miyamoto classic, Super Mario Bros. NES quickly became the “must have” system as tens of millions of gamers raced around the track on Excitebike, battled hand-to-hand on Kung Fu, and sought to move the chains in 10-Yard Fight. Other popular launch titles included Duck Hunt and Hogan’s Alley, both of which used the NES Zapper light gun accessory.

Nintendo sold more than 50 million units in the United States and in the process reinvigorated the worldwide gaming industry, which had endured several years of severely declining sales. Perhaps more importantly, the Nintendo brand became the dominant name in home console gaming in both Japan and the United States.

Nintendo later released the Super NES (1991), Nintendo 64 (1996), Nintendo GameCube (2001), and their current system, the Nintendo Wii (2006). Since the launch of Famicom, worldwide sales of this Nintendo line of home consoles have totaled a staggering 235 million units. Talk about a unit inspiring unity!

Let’s Get Physical! NCHEG Home Plays Finnish Game

Posted by Marc Check - 03/04/10 at 04:03 pm

At Strong National Museum of Play, home of NCHEG, we recently installed an exhibit that allows the public to experience one of my all-time favorite games, Crayon Physics Deluxe. It derives from the original Crayon Physics, which a co-worker got me hooked on a few years ago. The museum is a natural home for the game because of the whimsical nature of the graphics and musical soundtrack, and because (Crayola) crayons were inducted into our National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999. Through a generous donation of equipment by Presentation Source, local audio-visual technology gurus, our guests (which is what we call our museum visitors) can play the game via a large touch screen in our National Toy Hall of Fame exhibit hall.

Our testing and installation of Crayon Physics Deluxe reminded me of the addictiveness and lasting power of what is, on the surface, a relatively simple game. With the basic objective of getting the ball to the star on any given level, players can create any two-dimensional line or shape to move the ball, all subject to the natural laws of physics. The game often requires unique and creative solutions, but for many players, moving the ball to the star is secondary to the fun of experimenting with the physical interplay between created shapes. As the opening screen states: “It’s not just about finding the right solution. It’s about finding the awesomest one.”

After two years of playing this game regularly I still take pleasure in even the most basic levels. This is a testament to good game design and the seductive power of physics-based games.

Games based on physics are a genre in their own right, but definitions of it vary. Many Web sites are devoted to physics-based games that can be played online, but few such sites attempt to explain what makes a game physics-based. Many early games—from Spacewar and Asteroids (thrust and gravitational pull) to Tetris (gravity) to various current titles—use a variety of vehicular and skeletal physics. Silvergames. com describes physics-based games as follows:

Physics-based games are designed to mimic the basic laws of physics. Unlike many popular games that do not specifically follow natural law, most physics-based games are designed around Newton’s Three Laws of Motion:

I. If an object is not moving, it won’t start moving unless something else moves it. If an object is moving, it will continue to move unless something else stops it.

II. The amount of force required to move an object is equal to the mass of the object times the acceleration.

III. If something pushes on an object (an action), the object will push back (a reaction).

I would add that physics-based games not only adhere to these laws of motion, but also use them as the centerpiece of game play, where manipulation of objects within these laws becomes the method by which the game is played.

Physics-based games tend to have roots with independent and international developers well outside the classic markets and distribution channels in which many of the well-known genres have emerged and matured. Crayon Physics Deluxe, developed by Petri Purho, a Finnish independent game developer, won the grand prize at the 2008 Independent Games Festival Awards. A 2006 predecessor, Slovenian university student Boštjan Čadež’s Line Rider, introduced the world to physics-based game play through viral Internet distribution. The most commercially successful and recognizable physics-based game of recent times, however, is World Of Goo, by 2D Boy, an American (yet independent) game studio.

We hope some of you will have the chance to visit and play Crayon Physics here at the home of NCHEG, but for those of you unable to make it here I suggest you download the demo, or enjoy a variety of other physics-based games by a variety of international and independent developers at the following sites. Be sure to let us know which physics-based games you find unique and the most fun. There’s certainly plenty to choose from!

PhysicsGames.net         Fun-Motion           Silvergames          The Game Telegraph

Russian-born Tetris Illustrates Good Design

Posted by Jon-Paul C. Dyson - 03/03/10 at 03:03 pm

Tetris is a great example of how simple ideas often inspire the best video games. In my recent conversation with Alexey Pajitnov, he recounted how a simple wooden puzzle game inspired him to create Tetris.

Pajitnov was working at the computer center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1984 when the thought came to him that Pentominoes would make a great computer game. Pentominoes are a mathematical puzzle in which players need to place 12 different shapes made of 5 units each into a rectangle.  Inspired, Pajitnov programmed the game on an Electronica 60, the Soviet equivalent of a DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.) PDP-11. He made the shapes out of brackets because the system had few graphics capabilities. Pajitnov quickly realized that adding gravity to the game made it more exciting—as the pieces fell, they had to be moved or rotated to fit together on the bottom of the screen.

He encountered a problem, though. Solving a Pentomino puzzle was hard enough without time constraints, and when the pieces cascaded down the screen, the game’s difficulty skyrocketed. To alleviate some of the pressure, Pajitnov decided to reduce the size of the pieces from 5 units each to 4 units, thereby decreasing the total number of unique shapes from 12 to 7. Now it was much easier! Searching for a name, he reasoned that since pente was the Greek word for five and he now had 4 units per shape,  he should name it after the Greek word for four, tetra. Tetris was born.

Tetris spread throughout the Eastern Bloc and onto PCs. But it was too good a game to stay bottled up behind the Iron Curtain. A number of entrepreneurs made arrangements to bring it to the West, and it achieved worldwide fame when Henk Rogers worked with Nintendo to secure the handheld rights for the 1989 debut of GameBoy. Tetris quickly became one of the most beloved games of all time and ultimately built the market for puzzle and casual games. It remains highly popular today, especially on mobile phones. NCHEG’s collection includes dozens of copies of Tetris on many platforms, from an arcade version to copies on key chains to numerous handhelds. We also have Pentominoes as a reminder of the source of the original idea.

Tetris’s success demonstrates that the best video games don’t just mimic previous video games—they draw inspiration from other sources. In his superb book, The Art of Game Design, Jesse Schell urges game designers seeking ideas to “stop looking at your game, and stop looking at games like it. Instead, look everywhere else.” That’s great advice. A quarter century after its creation, Tetris is proof positive that the best sources for innovative games are the play and life experiences that most move and fascinate us.

Japanese Jewels Excite E-Bidders

Posted by Marc Check - 03/02/10 at 01:03 pm

Over the last few weeks my e-mail  filled up with friends and other electronic games enthusiasts bringing to my attention a couple of eBay  auctions. Amused at first, I quickly saw a collectors’ chain reaction happening.

These auctions centered on the rare and elusive Stadium Events video games by Bandai, a Japanese toy making company founded in 1900. The first e-mail I received referred to an auction on eBay for an “Old Nintendo NES system and five games” that sold for $13,105.

At first glance, this group of artifacts may look like nothing special, but note in this picture the Stadium Events game box on the left; it accounts for an estimated worth of 95 percent of the lot’s value.

Bandai’s Stadium Events is a rare gem in the world of video game collections, with only 2,000 copies produced for the North American market, and only approximately 200 rumored to have made it into the hands of U.S. consumers. Released in North America in late 1987, the game was intended for use with an early alternate controller for the Nintendo Entertainment System—the  Family Fun Fitness Mat produced by Bandai. Early in 1988, however, Nintendo purchased the rights to this technology and remarketed the controller as the Nintendo Power Pad. During this transfer of rights, Nintendo pulled the previous Bandai copies from shelves and had them destroyed, and the few copies of Stadium Events that trickled into the hands of consumers became the coveted Bandi Stadium Event games that sat in basements and attics awaiting the advent of eBay.

When the  eBay auction generated lots of press, geeks across everywhere started rummaging through their boxes of old cartridges for these Japanese jewels. Dave, from Kansas, won the scavenger hunt.

A few days after the first auction ended, Dave began his own eBay auction for a single cartridge of–you guessed it–the coveted National Television Standards Committee (NTSC)  Bandi Stadium Event cartridge. It was still in its factory shrinkwrap, complete with the original price tag. Asking price?  $20,000!

That asking price seemed a little steep to me. I thought perhaps Dave’s reasoning was sprinkled with a touch of wishful thinking left over from the initial auction hype. But a few days ago I learned that he sold the game for $41,300!

I thought this feeding frenzy couldn’t go any further, but yesterday, eBay had yet another mint condition NTSC Stadium Events cartridge auction. With just over five hours to go and fifty-two bidders, the top bid was $800,200! Five hours later, this top bidder won.

It amazes me that what started as a small ripple in the international video game market in early 1988 has become practically a collecting tsunami within 23 years.

Since these recent auctions began, I’ve scoured my basement to no avail, and my credit card has a limit well below $800,000. And NCHEG won’t have Stadium Events in the collection this week, either, but we’ll forever be on the lookout for nuggets like this and other significant finds. Meanwhile, we’re glad that events like this one around a single Japanese game bring so much attention to the importance of collecting and preserving historic electronic games.

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