Bibliography

We were asked to compile a short bibliography - I did not use Zotero to compile the bibliography, because I do not use Mozilla Firefox.


- Brathwaite, B., and Schreiber, I. (2008) - Challenges For Games Designers, [Charles River Media]

- Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E., 2003. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, The MIT Press.

- Murray, H. J. R. (1952) A History of Board Games Other Than Chess. pp. 19-23.

- Rosenweig, G (2011) -ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University, Second Edition, Updated for Flash Professional CS5 [Que Publishing]

- Williams, S.M., 1992. Simulation/Games for Learning : Journal of Sagset, Volume 22 No 2 June 1992, Kogan Page Ltd/Sagset.

- Dugan, P. (2005) - Rag Doll Development – An Interview With Rag Doll Kung Fu's Mark Healey [Gamasutra]

- Tristan Donovan (2011) - To Play Or Not To Play? [Gamasutra]

- Costikyan, G. (2006) "I Have No Words & I Must Design". In K. Salen and E. Zimmerman, eds. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, pp. 192-211.

- Finkel, I. L. (2008) "On the Rules for The Royal Game of Ur". In I. Finkel ed.Ancient Board Games in Perspective. London: British Museum Press. pp. 16-32.

- Bell, R. C. (1979) Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Revised edition. pp. 23-25

Gender and Gaming

Originally computer gaming was thought of as a pastime for young males, and one which was just for the geekiest members of the population. Over the years gaming has become more mainstream, allowing it to appeal to a wider audience. Both the popularity of gaming, and the technology behind it, has improved tremendously over time.

The graph below shows the percentage of the uk population that plays video games, and the average number of hours spent per week on video gaming (split into make and female respectively):

As you can see, the percentage of people that play video games is fairly evenly spread between males and females. However, the graph also shows that males tend to play video games a lot more often than females.

So overall,  playing video games does not seem to tend towards one gender over the other, but how about when it comes to making video games?

Only about 4% of people employed in the video games industry are female. And of this 4%, very few of them actually have roles that influence the creation of the video games. As shown in the table above, very few women are employed as programmers or audio engineers. The design and art side of the industry also has a low percentage of female employees - most females tend to be employed in admin and PR roles.

So while video gaming as a whole is currently quite balanced, actually getting into the video games industry is another matter entirely. That won't stop me from trying though!

Remediation

Bolter and Grusin describe remedation as the representation of one medium in another.


Immediacy
Media that aspires to a condition of transparency.

• The aim is to make the viewer forget that they are watching fiction, and also ensures that the viewer is drawn into the experience.
• Examples: Virtual Reality, Photo-Realistic Images etc.

Hypermediacy
Artifacts that are aware of, and wish to display, their own constructed nature.

• They constantly call attention to their own constructed nature all the time.
• Examples: WWW., Video Game HUDs etc.

Technoludic Film as Quotation:
Films that use the concept of video games for illustrative purposes. They are not the central theme of the film but form part of the fictional world that the film is attempting to create.

Games Britannia

The Britannia series is a series of documentaries from BBC Four that began in 2005. The documentaries most often deal with the evolution of a music genre or other aspect of musical culture over a period of decades within the United Kingdom, although occasionally episodes have covered diverse subjects as comic books, games, satirical works and wildlife. The shows are usually presented in a three-episode format, but are often broadcast as one continuous block as part of a schedule of themed programming.

Games Britannia is a three-part series presented by historian Benjamin Woolley about popular games in Britain from the Iron Age to the Information Age, in which he unravels how an apparently trivial pursuit is a rich and entertaining source of cultural and social history.

Part 1: Dicing with Destiny
In part one, Woolley investigates how the instinct to play games is both as universal and elemental as language itself and takes us from 1st-century Britain to the Victorian era. Woolley goes on to talk about various ancient games, such as the Stanway game, Alea Evangeli, Backgammon and Nine Men's Morris.

According to the Libro de Los Juegos (the Book of Games) there are 3 types of games:

• Chance games
• Skill games
• Combination games

Games featured in this episode:

• The Stanway Game
• Alea Evangeli
• Backgammon
• Nine Men's Morris
• Hazard
• Faro
• Game of the Goose
• Gyan Chaupar
• Chess

Part 2: Monopolies and Mergers
In part two, Woolley traces the surprising political and social impact that board games have had in Britain over the last 200 years. 

Games featured in this episode:

• Brer Fox an Brer Rabbit
• Monopoly
• Cluedo
• Scrabble
• Game Shows
• Kensington
• Dungeons and Dragons

Part 3: Joystick Generation
In the final part, Woolley explores the journey games have taken from the board to the screen, reflecting the rapidly changing history of modern Britain.

Games featured in this episode:

• Elite
• Black and White
• Tomb Raider
• Wipeout
• Carmageddon
• Grand Theft Auto
• LittleBigPlanet

Christmas Hugglebunny! :D

I uploaded Hugglebunny to Flash, and decided to make a more festive version:

Design Methods Script - Aiyana and Hugglebunny's Grand Quest

Act One:

·         Flashback of main char’s (Aiyana’s) past

·         Lead’s to present time of the story – shows Aiyana and Hugglebunny sitting under a tree in a forest

·         Aiyana sees a village in trouble and goes to help

·         Helps village – villagers tell Aiyana that the attackers were under the orders of HADEON, and that he is planning to invade with a full scale evil army of doooooooom!

Act Two:

·         Aiyana decides to attack Hadeon in his own territory, before he has a chance to attack.

·         Aiyana gathers a group of allies and sets off

·         Aiyana and the group fight/sneak/adventure their way to the Hadeon’s [EVIL CITADEL OF DOOOOOM!]

Act Three:

·         Aiyana fights Hadeon

·         Aiyana defeats Hadeon, either by killing him OR by bringing him back to the side of good.

(My Script will be focusing on the first Act of my story)

 =============================

EXT.SHAAN FOREST – DAY

The camera pans across a picturesque forest - flowers blooming, birds singing, the nearby stream winding its way off into the distance.

CAMERA PANS OVER TO AIYANA, SITTING AT THE BASE OF A TREE

Aiyana is sitting under a tree. She is cutting an apple and feeding it to Hugglebunny. Aiyana hears a loud explosion and looks up.

CUT TO CLOSE UP OF AIYANA’S FACE: she looks shocked and concerned.

MID RANGE CUT: Hugglebunny gets scared and hides under Aiyana’s cape.

Aiyana climbs to the top of a nearby tree to get a better view of what’s happening.

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT: Aiyana sees smoke billowing in the distance. She puts the hood of her cape up. Hugglebunny peers out from under the hood cautiously. Aiyana sets off in the direction of the fire.

EXT.MIETTE VILLAGE – DAY

We see a village in chaos: buildings are burning and villagers are running around in a panic. Sinister-looking, armour-clad figures are rushing around rounding up the villagers and herding them together into a long line, ready to march them away. More of the sinister soldiers are ransacking buildings for supplies.

CUT TO AIYANA: she is watching from the tree line.

CLOSE UP ON AIYANA’S FACE: She furrows her brow angrily

LONG SHOT: Aiyana yells a battle cry and charges in, raising her sword high above her head as she charges.

Aiyana leaps on the nearest enemy, bringing her blade hurtling down onto his shield, splintering it into pieces. The soldier tries to retaliate, but Aiyana whirls around and smashes the hilt of her sword into his chin before he can react, sending him crashing to the ground. More soldiers come and one by one they fall, until the last enemy falls to the ground, and lies still as a rock. Aiyana is left standing alone, grasping her sword securely, still ready for another fight.

CLOSE UP OF AIYANA’S FACE: Aiyana sees  a soldier scrambling back to his feet and attempting to flee.  She grabs a throwing star and hurls it straight at him, the blades whirling through the air noisily. The throwing star careers into his shoulder, the force of the impact pinning him to a nearby tree. Aiyana approaches the soldier, who is flailing around helplessly.

AIYANA

Who sent you?

SOLDIER

(defiantly)

I’m not telling you anything.

Aiyana holds her sword up against the soldier’s throat. He looks confident at first, but he starts to panic as the sword starts to cut into his skin.

SOLDIER

(choking)

Alright alright!

Aiyana reduces the pressure of the sword just enough for the soldier to talk comfortably, but not enough that he may feel inclined to try and escape again.

SOLDIER

(breathing heavily, panicked)

He is going to spread terror and chaos through this land until

no living thing is left standing.

AIYANA

(sternly)

Who is he?

SOLDIER

(proudly and with confidence)

Hadeon.

The mention of the name strikes fear into Aiyana’s heart.

FLASH TO: 

EXT. INIKO VILLAGE - DAY

FLASHBACK to Iniko Village. Buildings are crumbling beneath endless flames. Corpses are strewn across the village, and a tall, armoured figure is standing over the bodies, laughing maniacally. 

Cut to young Aiyana, hiding at the edge of the forest, watching in horror. She can’t bear to watch the slaughter any longer, but can’t bring herself to look away – her eyes are glued to the horrifying scene.

Aiyana catches some movement out of the corner of her eye. She wheels around in terror, expecting to meet eyes with one of the armoured figure’s soldiers. Instead, she sees a small pile of wreckage, shifting feebly. She reaches down to slowly move the wreckage, and reveal the cause of the movement. A tiny baby bunny comes crawling out from the wreckage, and upon seeing Aiyana, immediately bounds over and clings to her ankle. Aiyana kneels down, and the little creature hops up onto Aiyana’s shoulder,  and buries itself beneath her cape.

Aiyana fastens her cape securely to keep her new friend safe, and sets off, running as fast and as far away from the village as she possibly can, never stopping to look back.

FLASH BACK TO PRESENT:

EXT.MIETTE VILLAGE – DAY

Aiyana’s thoughts snap back to the current situation.

AIYANA

(sternly)

Get out of my sight.

The soldier scrambles to his feet and rushes away as fast as he can.

Aiyana turns to one of the villagers.

AIYANA

(in a friendly tone)

I need to get a message out to a few friends.

Hadeon needs to be stopped, but we will need reinforcements.

VILLAGER

(Enthusiastic)

Of course, anything we can do to help.

We’ll send out messengers first thing in the morning.

CUT TO MID LENGTH SHOT OF AIYANA: Hugglebunny peers out from under the cape. Hugglebunny squeaks happily as Aiyana tickles her nose.

AIYANA

(Wearily)

I knew we couldn’t avoid it forever.

Oh well, guess now is as good a time as any.

Hugglebunny scrunches up her nose determinedly.

Aiyana takes a deep breath, puffs up her shoulders and heads off to prepare for the coming battle.

Character Bio: Hugglebunny

Hugglebunny is Aiyana’s trusty sidekick, and travelling companion. She loves hugs!

Archetype: companion, friend, sidekick.

Characteristics: timid but brave, friendly, good natured, energetic, eager, loyal, intelligent.

Bio: Wherever Aiyana goes, Hugglebunny is sure to follow. Aiyana found her when she was just a tiny baby bunny, and the two have been inseparable ever since.

Hugglebunny loves hugs, carrots and exploring.

Hugglebunny is scared of birds of prey, the dark, and being alone.