Download - Ignite Portland 9: 5,000 Games of Solitaire
5000 Games of Solitaire
The Casual Gaming Revolution, Narrative, and Pleasure.
How Many?!
Pleasant Diversions
A Game of Patience, Meredith Frampton, 1937. http://www.artrenewal.org
“Solitaire is the only thing in life that demands absolute honesty.”
-Hugh Wheeler
Wasted Time?
“…playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”
-Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia
Step One: Delimit
= × (∞)
But What About Narrative?
“These fictions, however weak, thematically unify a level.” -Chaim Gingold, “What WarioWare Can Teach Us about Game Design,”
http://gamestudies.org vol. 5 no. 1
Heroic Narratives FTW
Step Two: Personalize
We Crave Stories
“The lightest dusting of narrative will cause adults to devote countless hours to ‘unworthy’ causes.”
-J-P Voillequé, Ignite Portland 9
Story Matters
I hate puzzles like this. I am bad at puzzles like this. Will I solve this puzzle to move forward? Yes. Yes I will.
Click Here to Win
Corian Slabb: • 170 Double Fanucci Cards • Level 50 (maxed) • 1.7M Zorkmids • 68 Coconuts (~$20 US) • Zero Skill Required
"In some ways, if a developer wants a player to gain an emotional attachment to something in their game, a location is a much safer bet than an NPC."
-Quintin Smith, “Azeroth is Burning”
Image from h+p://farmvillefreak.com/
Step Three: Socialize
Safe Interactions
“More than one-third of the comments described how social game play enabled them to reconnect with [folks] while the remaining third focus on how social games enable them to [meet new folks].”
-Information Solutions Group “2010 PopCap Social Gaming Research”
Farmville Otaku
“Beyond the social interaction, social game players like the friendly competition including leader boards and achievements (59%), followed by the interactive game play (49%) and the opportunity to win prizes (35%).”
-Information Solutions Group “2010 PopCap Social Gaming Research”
The New Business Plan
1. ??? 2. Achievements and Badges
3. Profit
We are All of us Gamers
Hey guys, I owe you money. Call me!
“Casual” “Hardcore” Rock Band
Next Levels
1. Multiplayer – historical/new “board games” 2. Interface/mobility as central mechanic of play 3. Collaborative modeling – Sims-esque 4. Indie development within “casual” channels
Press Play to Continue
As always, comments, critiques and conversations welcome:
@lawduck [email protected] http://voilleque.com