CS Purchases

Stating in my essay I was going to look at some different authors such as Stephen King and his Book Danse Macabre and some of H.P Lovecraft's work. Today I just popped into Waterstones and had a browse in the horror section to find two books that interesting and brilliant research. The first one is the Stephen King book previously mention; Danse Macabre. This one though is an updated version and includes an essay of 'What's scary?'. The other book is a collection of short stories by H.P Lovecraft. Both of these books I feel will help with research and to back up what I said in my essay draft report.

CS BA7 Research

CS BA7 Research

I intend to create an academic report based on the research that will be used for my studio work; horror. I have a working title and subject to change; how is horror designed into videos? This will help me to start researching into the different methods used in video games, whether it be psychological, symbolism, fear or phobias. I’ll be looking at a definition of horror and then writing one in my own words. Through doing this it will help me to engage in what horror really is. I am going to do this report by splitting the research up into a few different categories; technical, visual and mechanics. For other research I’ll be looking at how psychologically horror can affects us within horror video games or of the like. I’ll be looking at symbolism and how this is presented within different media. Another area which I find of interest is phobias and how these can play a part in horror, especially within video games such as Alien. For some of chapters I plan on analysing two games; one that is an obvious horror game such as Dead Space 2 and then a more subtle game.

Through analysing these games I will get a better insight as to what makes them a horror genre game. Throughout the report I will be looking closely at the mechanics, interactivity and visual designs.

Research will be a combination of reading books found at different resources and also online where there are articles and blogs. Some of the books that I have already been looking at are; The Wow Climax by Henry Jenkins. Although about 80% of the book doesn’t relate directly to my field of research there is one chapter which does. Other books such ‘A History of horror’ by Wheeler Winston Dixon has a chapter dedicated to the Origins of horror. A book by Manuel Aguirre called ‘The closed space, Horror literature and western symbolism’ can provide valuable research and information to me. I also have various other books by authors such as Stephen King, Tim Weinberg and other books that look at horror such as one called ‘Horror and fantasy’. All these books will provide me some way or another with research and information that will help to write this research report. The research report will compliment studio work and help to really get a better grasp on the design used for my scene.

So far I have a list of the resources that I am going to be using for the essay:

Books

Aguirre, M (1990) The closed space: Horror literature and Western Symbolism. Manchester University Press

Barron, N (1999) Fantasy and horror: a critical and historical guide to literature, illustration, film, TV, radio and the internet. Scarecrow P

Dixon, W.W (2010) A history of horror. Rutgers University Press

Jenkins, J (2006) Tracing the emotional impact of popular culture. NYU Press

Jones, Stevens E (2008) The meaning of video games: gaming and textual studies. Routledge

King, S (2012) Danse Macabre. New York: Hodder

Perron, B (2009) Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play. McFarland

Robinson, M (2013) The art of Dead Space. Titan

Weinberg, T (2009) Phobias: the way of the worrier. Marshall Cavendish

Internet

A history of horror games
http://www.examiner.com/article/a-history-of-horror-games-part-one

A history of horror
http://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/

Agency mechanics: gameplay designs in survival horror video games
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14626268.2013.776971#preview

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia:_A_Machine_for_Pigs

Are haunted houses the original horror videogames?
http://killscreendaily.com/articles/articles/are-haunted-houses-original-horror-videogames/
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Arkham Horror
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham_Horror

Butchering Pathologic – Part 1: The Body
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/04/10/butchering-pathologic-part-1-the-body/#more-1517

Case study 3: the horror genre
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415448239/downloads/horror.pdf

Dead Space 3 (Russian language)
http://gamingda.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/dead-space-3/
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

 
Definition of Horror
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/horror
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Defining the horror genre
http://theblackboard.blcklst.com/forums/topic/defining-the-horror-genre/
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Defining games mechanics
http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart

Dynamic Lighting for Tension in Games
http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/elnasr_niedenthal_knez_almeida_zupko

Evoking emotions and achieving success by breaking all the rules (video)
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014889/Evoking-Emotions-and-Achieving-Success

F.E.A.R: Project Origin review
http://www.machinered.com/2013/02/f-e-a-r-2-project-origin-review/
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Frictional games blog:

10 ways to evolve horror games
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/10-ways-to-evolve-horror-games.html     

 (Thomas, Frictional Games, 2012)

Narrative not a game mechanic?
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/narrative-not-game-mechnaic.html

Useful tips for horror game designers
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/useful-tips-for-horror-game-designers.html

5 core elements of interactive storytelling
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/5-core-elements-of-interactive.html

Games are the ideal place for telling great stories
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/12/games-are-the-ideal-place-for-telling-great-stories/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Google scholar – various articles and PDF’s on psychology, sound and emotions
http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=X24TJzQAAAAJ&hl=en

Horror Games in Eastern and Western Cultures (university presentation)
http://prezi.com/kigey0ag0awa/horror-games-in-eastern-and-western-cultures/

Jess Smith Blog
http://jessgamergirl.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2013-11-12T14:42:00-08:00&max-results=4
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

NUA library research online

Original game mechanics for horror games (or just games…)
http://steamcommunity.com/app/238320/discussions/0/846963711021503301/

Survival horror, then and now
http://www.dreamdawn.com/sh/key_view.php?key=Game%20Design

The horror genre an overview
http://www.slideshare.net/jontowlson/the-horror-genre-an-overview

The Garden of Earthly Delights
http://www.computus.org/journal/?p=1178

The psychology of Horror in video games and movies
http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/02/23/0459247/the-psychology-of-horror-in-video-games-and-movies
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Understanding horror in gaming, why Slender: The Arrival does it right
http://egamer.co.za/2013/03/understanding-horror-in-gaming-why-slender-the-arrival-does-it-right/

Using frustration in the design of adaptive videogames
http://comp.eprints.lancs.ac.uk/921/1/p228-gilleade.pdf

Ways horror games use psychology to scare the crap out of us
http://www.gamesradar.com/ways-horror-games-use-psychology-scare-crap-out-us/

What makes a video game scary
http://kotaku.com/5379285/what-makes-a-video-game-scary
(Accessed 17/11/2013)

Why do people watch scary movies, stay in Ice hotels or eat bacon-flavoured ice-cream?
http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/04/why-do-people-watch-scary-movies-stay-in-ice-hotels-or-eat-bacon-flavoured-ice-cream.php

Where the scary things are: whatever happened to real horror video games?
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/10/30/where-the-scary-things-are-whatever-happened-to-real-horror-video-games?%3A+ign%2Fall+(IGN+All)

Ludography

Blue Isle Studios (2013) Slender: The Arrival. PC. Blue Isle Studios

Capcom (1996) Resident Evil. Playstation. Capcom

EA Redwood Shores (2008) Dead Space. PC, PS3, Xbox 360. Electronic Arts

Eetu Rosenqvist (2012) SCP Containment Breach. PC. Eetu Rosenqvist

Frictional Games (2011) Amnesia: The Dark Descent. PC. Frictional Games

Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (1999) Silent Hill. PS, PS2, PSP, PSV, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, PC. Konami, Konami Digital Entertainment

Playdead (2010) Limbo. PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, OS X, Linux, OnLive, iOS. Microsoft Game Studios

The Chinese Room (2012) Dear Esther. PC. Steam

Red Barrels (2013) Outlast. PC. Red Barrels

Visceral Games (2011) Dead Space 2. PC, PS3, Xbox 360. Electronic Arts

Some of the most interesting research I have found comes from Frictional Games blog posts in which Thomas KL talks about 10 ways to evolve horror games, now this is coming from a company that has made Amnesia. Amnesia is a very successful horror game in which defies normal rules in which a horror game is designed upon. The first ‘way’ is:

(I have broken the points down)

Normality;
a place in which is real to use, normal and not out of the ordinary.

Long Build-up;
rather than jumping into introducing elements of horror quickly you build them up slowly, increasing the fear level.

Doubt;
doubting whether you or the protagonist is believing/hear or seeing things within the game.

Minimal Combat;
less combat = less guns = less ammo. The less combat the more you can evoke fear and panic into the player

No Enemies;
not necessarily no threats but more a case of not adding in physical conflict.

Open World;
giving the player more freedom and not so much of a linear path.

Agency;
making sure the player feels as if they are there when the horror takes place, immersing them within the game.

Reflection;
getting the player to reflect upon themselves

Implications;
associating something in the game to real life and the being scared or fearing that object.

Human Interaction;
bringing human drama into the games actions.

The full versions of these 10 points can be at Frictional Games blog:
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/10-ways-to-evolve-horror-games.html

Although they don’t point to what’s necessarily used always in games now it gives me a good insight into what is needed and quite frankly what is seen within the game Amnesia.

On the same subject of Amnesia and Frictional Games, I found a brilliant and informative video from GDC in which Thomas Grip, a key person at Frictional Games talks about ‘Evoking Emotions and Achieving Success by Breaking All the Rules’.

Video can be found here:
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014889/Evoking-Emotions-and-Achieving-Success

CS Research: The fun part

Now I say the fun part because quite frankly it is. What do we think of when it comes to educational games? Well Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell says that "A lot of times [the label] 'educational games' is a way of being an excuse for bad game design or poor production values." (Gilbert 2011). I too feel this to be true and totally agree with Newell. It's unfortunate really because educational games do have the potential to become good 'entertaining' games. The article that I am reading by Ben Gilbert on the keynote that Newell made is interesting because Newell outlines the points of how if Portal can be an educational device then why can't 'educational' games become just as good, I mean after all Portal made "$165 million dollars in gross revenue" from the game since April 18' (Gilbert 2011). That is of course a lot of money for a game that is essentially dressed up as a commercial game but underneath its pretty dress is an educational tool in which people can learn from. This I do feel is partly down to tangential methods used within the game, what do I mean by this? Well simply put it's a way of subtly putting an educational fact or device so be it into a game in which the player then takes in interest in and researches it. Of course this doesn't just apply to games, it can be seen in other media such as films. Take the movie 300, it's a film no doubt to entertain those amongst us that like a good film. However the movie is about historical characters and battles that actually happened, no one told anyone to then after the film go and research into the Battle of Thermopylae but some people did because they took an interest into it. Now Portal isn't solely based upon this of course but it does carry that subtle way of hinting at different learning scenarios that you could encounter in real life, and no I don't mean use a portal gun. Anyway I digress, games as they are, commercial that is are entertaining, they don't all intentionally aim at being educational and yet some of them are successful in becoming an educational device, for instance Little Big Planet was made to entertain people but became popular with schools and becoming a way of educating kids into collaborating and creating different designs and also the basic principles of being patient, working together and other scenarios. Media Molecule, the creator of the franchise started to make Little Big Planet teacher packs in which schools can use the game a way teaching. For instance "Little Big Planet is a game based around physics and within the game you can create your own level -- millions do this already. We are going to be creating teacher packs where class teachers with a specialist subject knowledge in science, technology, engineering and maths -- the stem subjects -- create 'levels' with content aligned to their specific age range." (Pereira 2011). This is interesting because it means that games such as Little Big Planet might just making their way into schools and teaching and the best part is that they're entertaining which if not some but all the kids will enjoy. If only a lot more companies such as Media Molecule could start creating 'teacher' editions of their games so that they could be taught in school. The rest of the article is very interesting, a link will be in the bibliography. 
So what about educational games? Well I found a fun 6 minute video on the top 10 educational games, somehow Reader Rabbit got into there, god knows how.

(Top 10 Educational Games, 2013)

Whilst watching the short Youtube video I stumbled upon this other one which talks about tangential games and how games can use them. This one I found most entertaining and is definitely worth a watch.

(Video Games and Learning, 2008)

 
Back to Portal. Valve and their efforts in convincing us lot (I use that loosely) that Portal can be used as an educational tool need not to really, after all I hope that many would agree that it is an educational tool in which we can use in schools to learn or even at home. Valve is or has being creating a tool in which Portal enhances this 'education' title properly and Newell said that "If you give us a lesson plan, we can give you a tool that allows kids to build content to lock down those lessons," Newell detailed. "The number of times I solved problems about how fast will this be going at this time -- how about if it's on the moon?" In his words, "It's a lot easier to get people excited about it [education] if they're on the moon and they get to throw the rock at the piece of glass that breaks the glass that lets all the robots fly out." - (Gilbert, 2011). Just thinking about this quotes put a smile on my face because it's so true, educational games just haven't got that same vibe or feeling as a more popular commercial game where it does actually teach. I feel that the way forward to is stop trying throw numbers at kids where they get bored and start doodling in the back of their maths book but rather do it in a more practical way, a way through which they engage in the thing that they are learning, a bit like the Youtube Video Games and Learning explains using tangential learning devices. Once the student has got their mind in the right place and are interested they will learn quickly if not better. Of course there will be a mob of angry parents with pitch forks and fire waiting for me outside my house saying that games aren't the way forwards or that they poison the minds of our kids, so be it but in this day and age when we are young we learn things better through interactivity, hell I still do. I'd rather sit down and actually do the thing that I am trying to learn than look a white wall of text. This leads me on to Jean Piaget; a 'Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children' - (Google/Wikipedia) Yes I know that's through Wikipedia but it sums it up nicely and isn't exactly un-true, point being is that he explored ideas in which interaction allows you to experience procedural rhetoric. Now I for one agree in that when we are kids we learn more from interactivity and what better way to do that than to, here it comes, play games. You see playing games that also use educational devices within them are a great way to learn, Little Big Planet uses all kinds of interactivity and if what Piaget studied is true than why not use games as a way to learn. Here's the thing though, I say why not use 'games' as if though I'm not referring to either education or commercial and this is because I feel the two shouldn't have this boundary between them and so should merge into one thing; A commercial educational popular game. That was quite a mouthful I know but if what Media Molecule and Valve is working then why can't this be the same. To answer what my question was to begin with; Can commercial games become educational devices? Yes, they can but with the right teams behind them and the right support.



Gilbert, Ben  (2011) Newell sees no distinction 'between games and educational games'. Available from: <http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/23/newell-sees-no-distinction-between-games-and-educational-games/ >[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Gilbert, Ben (2011) Portal 2 authoring tools for schools: Newell Explains. Available from: <http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/22/portal-2-authoring-tools-for-schools-newell-explains/>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Pereira, Chris (2011) Little Big Planet wants to teach you math and science. Available from: <http://www.1up.com/news/littlebigplanet-teach-math-science>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Top 10 Educational Games <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OSl4MT8mmA>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Video Games and Learning <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN0qRKjfX3s>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

CS Research: Jump Start games

Jump Start

Created by Knowledge Adventure which has been providing games partnered with teaches for more than 20 years. The game is more commonly known as Jump Ahead in the UK. The game provides a way of learning that is different from most educational games for kids and has a lot to offer.

Structural Framework

How do the rules and conditions of the game create conflict?

Again like Dolphy Educational Games is doesn’t really create any possible conflict with any rules or conditions other than solve the puzzle and answers, I guess this in itself can cause issues for the player but that is determined upon the player themselves not the game.

Are players struggling against each other or the game or both?

The player of course can struggle against the game is the player does not know the question or puzzle presented to them. There are boundaries in the way of problems being between each other.

What are the interactive experiences provided for players in the game?

There are many interactive experiences provided for the player such as the solving of the puzzles and questions but also moving around in the world such as walking to an area that is desired by the player and also being able to interact with a pet in game.

Does interaction create meaningful play?

This interaction creates meaningful play for the player because it really involves them in the game and therefore achieves in giving then education. It gives a very personal meaningful play as the player gets to customise their characters and other things within game.

Aesthetic Framework

What are the possible visual influences?

Possible visual influences to be honest are that of the norm. The visual influences are possibly from a kids cartoon show or any other media of the sort. It’s a fun looking and quirky game that provides colourful scenery for the player to engage in.

 Does the game offer intertextual references?

Either factual, learning or from previous Jump Start games.

What other aesthetic qualities does the game present – movement, sound?

Everything about their games is fun, bright and colourful and this goes to be the same with the sound of the game, its fun.

Contextual Framework

Consider the game in terms of context: Origin, Year of manufacture, Company (do they have a ‘house style’)? Target audience, Does the game have a persuasive purpose? What would make the game more effective? What potentials does the game point to?

They have a persuasive purpose in being able to teach kids however it’s not done subtly, after all it’s an ‘educational’ game. The target audience is very specific since it ranges in age depending on the game so it could be from 4-10 years old or other ages but mainly low and young age groups. Things that would make the game more effective is tangential devices, exploring the idea of almost subliminally teaching the kids without them knowing so that than they show more of an interest in them. The potentials the game points to is simply put learning, however it points towards thinking about things on a more personal level with the customisation with the characters and pets so it teaches a bit life skills and how to react to different situations. overall this game is probably one of the more successful and interesting ‘educational’ game that I have looked at, it uses a gameplay system that isn’t just ‘click here’ and ‘click there’ which in all honesty is boring, what kind of entertainment is that for kids, sure some may like it but in all honesty they are just doing what the game tells them to do rather than like Jump Start allowing the player to interact with the environment and become involved with the game on a more personal level.

References used:
http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/school/jumpstart/Aboutus.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsvdiD0X2I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLC4AWumoL4&NR=1&feature=endscreen
http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/school/jumpstart/SecondGrade.aspx