Game Design - Oh my.

" 52,405 characters. 8,699 words. 377 sentences. 122 paragraphs. 35 minutes reading time. " 

 Sometimes, you read an article, you follow the sentances with your eyes, letting the words sink into your brain... and then you realize that someone is just so terrible at writing that reading is impossible. Greg Costikyan is one of those people. In the article "Don't be a Vidiot", which is also his speech from 1998 game conference, he talks about games so old that most students won't even recognise them.

So, due to complicated language and very old information, I have decided to go straight to the next article - The Essence of Euro-style Games.
Euro-styled games are tabletop games, which used to be extremely attractive back in 1990s. At first, Euro-games were the ones that were created by European publishers - which makes sense - but those games have their own, very specific requirements to be even considered Euro-games.
Those rules are as follows:

1. Rarely take more than an hour to play - This means that the players need to rely on intuition, rather than logically analysis. 
2. Simple rules - this allows anyone to play, as the rules are easy and quick to learn. 
3. Only a few plausible or reasonable choices each turn - Too many choices usually mean that players would have to consider their choices, making the game longer. 
4. Uncertainty of information - stops players from game theories, analysing and mathematical thinking. Instead of dices, those games usually use cards as they have more character, variety and are visually more interesting. 
5. No player elimination - Those games are designed so every player can win at the very end of the game. 
6. Very pacific - Instead of trying to tear apart the other player, you simply prevent them from building up. 
7. Player interaction without overt conflict - Players have to use bidding, trading, object placement to their advantage, rather than create conflict. 
8. Short intervals between playing ("down time") - Less waiting time, making the game shorter. 
9. There are not many pieces - cards, counters, etc.—for a player to manipulate in a given turn - In Euro games, there might be many pieces and cards to play, but players cannot manipulate them at any given time. For example - once tiles have been placed, they can't be move. 
10. Great visual interest - Colorful boards, designed cards and hexagonal shapes make those games seem more appealing.
11. Abstract to the point that the "theme" appears to be tacked on - theme and the game cannot be divided, so the game itself has to tell the story, but Euro games are more admired for their clever mechanisms. 
12. A dislike of dice - Instead of dices, those games use cards. 
13. Positive scoring mechanisms - Euro-games use point scroring system, which means that everyone improves over time and has a chance to win at the end. 

I don't really feel any particular way after reading the article about the euro-games. I don't think I have learned anything interesting or useful, but maybe I could use the knowledge later on when developing the game. 

Star Manor Board Game by Lilla Bölecz, via Behance

The next article is Pulling the Plug: In Defense of Non-Digital Teaching and Learning, 

This article goes through a list of things, and it is as follows: 

1. Prototyping is faster and more efficient - Lewis suggests that students should prototype their designs on paper, than trying to go straight into digital version. This allows beginners to quickly prototype, test and redesign their ideas.
2. The iterative nature of game design becomes evident - Designing digital version takes so long, that students are often afraid to experiment and change. Paper prototype simply shows that the beginner can change it many times without wasting too much time and energy. 
3. Graphics and other visual effects are absent and thus cannot obscure the game design - When creating a digital game, people often pay a lot of attention to the graphics, rather than focusing on the game design. Paper prototype is stripped of fancy computer graphics, therefore showing all the areas to improve in the game designing aspect. 
4. More ideas can be generated - Because storyboards and paper prototypes can be done in an hour or two, it allows beginners to explore more ideas, rather than sticking to one because they fear the commitment of changing their creation. 
5. Gameplay becomes the focal point of creation - Lack of graphics means that the whole attention goes to the gameplay. 
6. Computers can never be the scapegoats - A lot of beginners rely heavily on computers and blame them for their mistakes or, otherwise, hope that computer and its graphics will cover up any mistakes and bad decisions. 

This article was very interesting to read. Written by Lewis Pulsipher in a simple, understandable way. I quite liked his idea of creating somehow playable prototype without using the technology, but at the same time, I wonder how would that would work in real life and with a real game. Its easy to create a board game, but how easy it is to change electrical game into paper one? 

But in theory, developing a paper prototype allows students to really focus on the gameplay, rather than the graphics of the game. Its also so much easier to change and redesign parts of a paper game, whereas it would take hours and hours to redesign digital game.

Screenshot of the game. 

The last thing I looked at were the games which help understand the game.
This article shows us that a game has set of rules that define possible actions of the player. They are usually easy to understand and apply to all the players. The next thing is that a game cannot be played without interaction from the player side. You can play against a computer, but if you are simply watching the game being played, its not playing; its watching. The outcome has to be uncertain, otherwise nobody would play to see what will happen at the end.
I quite enjoyed the game. It was quick and easy to understand.